What A Team!

As we head towards our first Preview Service on Easter Sunday one of the things that really has me excited is how we are coming together as a team. Here are some ways some of the folks are contributing.

• John Haasis is coordinating the First Contact Team (greeters, ushers, communion supplies, name tags and on and on).
• Debbie Haasis will be our front door greeter. (Man is she good at that!)
  
• Tim & Kathi Vetter will see to it that we have some delicious snacks and drinks on that morning. They too will be greeters.
  
• Jeff & Michele Drey are working with me on community engagement activities (CSI's). Jeff will be ushering and Michele greeting as well.
  
• Bill Stewart worked with Mike Lawson on an A/V proposal to ensure we have everything we need when it comes to sound, electronics, etc. Bill is also our bass player.
  
• Gayle, Kelley Hainline and Sandy Stewart are working hard on putting together a top notch Sunday morning kid's program. (I can't wait for everyone to see the set up for the kids area.)
  
• Joe Hainline will be our sound man.
• Matt Ehlen will run the computer during the service.
• Ebie Ehlen and Amanda Hartwig will make sure there's plenty of coffee on Sunday mornings. (A very important job, indeed.)
• Mark & Gina Goede sorted 15,000 postcards for our second mailing that will go out the week of March 9. (You two are my heroes!)
• Tim Vetter is also helping me with our assimilation strategy. (Sounds dangerous doesn't it?)
• Dave Bull will be one of our stud ushers. Go Dave!
  

I appreciate the sense of commitment demonstrated by everyone. To those of you who have volunteered to do more, I'll make sure I pass along things as they become available. In the meantime, GO TEAM!

The Power of Listening

One of the many weekly newsletters I subscribe to had a great article on the topic of listening. Here were my thoughts after reading it.

• I'm glad I make the effort to expose myself to things that spur me on evangelistically.
• I can do this!
• "God, don't let me miss those You send my way who need a touch from You."
• I wish I would have read this before our group meeting Monday night.
• I can't wait to share this with others.

Here's the link.

S.M.I.L.E.

With less than one month to go things are moving fast as we approach our first Preview Service. Tonight was a great time with the Wentzville Discipleship Group as we got into the nitty gritty details of what is going to take place at that first Preview. It was exciting to share with the group our ideas for how we plan to follow up Preview Service guests. I'm so pumped about what God has in store for us and I'm honored to be joined with the group we have. I want to remind everyone of our strategy to always S.M.I.L.E.
Smile
Make people feel at home.
Initiate conversation with guests.
Learn one thing about those you converse with.
Extend an invitation to return.

Great Book On Assimilation

I just purchased Nelson Searcy's book on assimilation, titled Fusion. The book is a printed version of the assimilation seminar he teaches to church planters everywhere. I've listened to the seminar on CD and have all the documents that come with it, but I would recommend the book first. This will give you a much clearer understanding of all the assimilation materials contained in the seminar.

I'm over half-way through and am overwhelmed by Nelson's passion and thoroughness in assimilating first-time guests into fully developing members. This guy really knows what he's talking about. This is such an important part of helping our churches grow and yet most churches have little or no plan in place to assimilate guests. This is a must read for every lead elder and those who share responsibility for assimilation.

Are You Kidding Me?

I subscribe to a number of blogs, most of them have to do with church planting or leadership. Yesterday one of these blogs asked the question, "What is it about the first three hundred years of the church that made it so powerful?” As I read the question I started to get excited about seeing what kind of conclusions he would come to. And then I read his conclusions and thought, "Are you kidding me." Here are some of his answers.

• Passion for Jesus
• They were nonreligious
• Strong community
• Urgency
• Anticipation
• A recognition and respect of leadership
• Involvement
• Willingness to be persecuted
• They saw things happen
• They taught truth

Not a bad list, except for one thing. He says nothing about the Holy Spirit! How can you provide an explanation for what happened to the church in the book of Acts and not give credit to the Holy Spirit? Why is it we think that all we have to do is do what the early church did and we'll have a great church? Why is it we are so scared of the Holy Spirit?

What Can We Do? - Part 2

The first thing we can do to help people respond to the good news of Jesus is pray. The second thing we can do is to eliminate barriers that would cause people to feel excluded. This is why we will take the time in all our meetings to explain why we do what we do, such as how and why we worship, take communion, experience community life and receive offerings, just to name a few.

Many of us have forgotten what it's like to visit a place of worship for the first time. Just imagine what would be going through your mind if you were to visit a Mosque this weekend. You would want to know, "What do I wear? Do I stand, or do I sit? Am I expected to say anything? Will they ask me to give money? Will I understand what they're talking about? Will we sing and if so, what kind of songs?" The whole experience could be rather nerve racking to say the least. This is just a portion of what first time guests feel when they visit one of our church services.

The other reason we’ll explain all “the stuff” we do is the fact that our assumptions create our congregation. If we take the time to explain things, people who come will quickly figure out that this is a place they can bring people who know nothing about God, Jesus or church. If we talk in a language these folks do not understand, or do things they have no idea why we’re doing, they will quickly come to the conclusion that everyone else knows what is going on except them. And now the very people we want to include feel on the outside. Helping our guests understand the various elements of the service will go a long ways toward eliminating barriers that would cause them to feel excluded.

What We Can Do - Part 1

I recently heard a pastor use the following metaphor to describe his church. He said it’s like having a steak restaurant for members of PETA. Let’s face it; the people we want to share the good news of Jesus with are not particularly interested in church. If they were, they would already be attending a church service. It’s not that they are not searching for a connection with God, because they are. They simply don’t want much to do with the church.

The amount of baggage the word “church” carries with it these days is mind blowing. People have formed some pretty wild opinions about what they think church is or should be. Unfortunately, some of their opinions are based on real experiences. Regardless, somewhere along the line something has got to give if people are to respond to this good news we keep talking about.

So what can we do? The first thing we can do is pray. Why is this the first thing? Because it’s the most significant thing we can do! In Acts 16 Luke tells the story of Paul going into Philippi. This was uncharted water for Paul and his Jewish background. There was little or no Jewish presence in Philippi, not even a synagogue. How was he going to connect with these people with whom he had almost nothing in common? In the end he located a group of women and talked to them about Jesus. The breakthrough came however, when a woman named Lydia responded. How was it she responded? Luke writes, “The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel.”

The truth is Lydia’s story is everyone’s story. No one comes to faith in Jesus without the supernatural work of God opening their heart to truth. Saving faith is a miracle. It is not something anyone can plan or make happen. It is completely and unequivocally a God thing. This is why we pray.

Why We "Do Church"

On a recent late night visit to the local department store I was reminded once again why we do this thing called church. I was engaging the clerk in casual conversation, like I always do, and before you know it she's telling Gayle and me about her life. She works the graveyard shift, has two school-aged girls and a stay-at-home husband. He stays at home because he's legally blind. She's doing the best she can to provide for the family, while at the same time making sure her girls make it to soccer practice, Girl Scouts and all the other things they do. Her husband feels bad that he's not more help than he is. While I was saying, "Bless your heart" on the outside, my heart was breaking for her and her family on the inside. I reached into my pocket and gave her a card with our website on it and said, "We're a part of a group that is starting a new church in town. Our first service is Easter Sunday, please consider yourself invited." After hearing her story wild horses couldn't have kept me from giving that card to her.

Though I don't know this clerk's name I'm praying for her and her family. I'm asking God to bring her to the Easter Preview Service. I want to see her and her family connect with Jesus! I want her to know there is more to life than scraping out a living. I want her husband to not go through life feeling condemned for something he has no control over. And who knows, maybe God might even heal him.

This precious lady represents a multitude of people throughout this city who are in desperate need of a connection with Jesus. I don't know about you, but that's more than reason enough for me to give myself to this thing we call the church.