Innovation today is at a high; tomorrow innovation will be a new high. In other words change is happening quickly. In the last few years we have gone from the simple iPod to the iPod Video and today we have the iPhone. This has brought a major change to Apple, Inc. The iPod brought about iTunes, which has brought a new industry to the company. Apple has been able to do something that a lot of churches have not been able to do, incorporate new ideas to move the company forward.
There are many innovative leaders today. Jason is 28 and is serving at his fourth church. He has done some amazing things at each of his churches. I also think of Ben who is 27 and is one of the most talented young pastors I know. He has put a lot of time and energy into the ministry. He comes home exhausted and worn out and does it again the next day. Churches can learn a lot from these Pastors, but what can churches do to help them?
A young assistant pastor went to his Senior Pastor and told him he felt like he had to resign. He felt led to make movies that would lead people to Christ. The Senior Pastor asked, Why not do that within our church? This was the start of the movie Facing the Giants. What would happen if more churches would receive pastors ideas like this?
Churches need to 1. Encourage people in their efforts. The church board voted to bring them on staff and now needs to help develop them. 2. Volunteer to be involved in a ministry position. Pastors are overworked because they are filling roles that can and should be filled by others in the congregation. 3. Understand that “New ideas are usually germinated from a sincere desire to see a church increase or improve its ministry” 4. Give them time to be creative and implement them. You cannot change them from being an innovative leader. You have a choice of letting them create or snuffing the passion because they no longer have the time. When this happens, you will more often say goodbye. 5. Send them to conferences to spark their creativity even more. This will give them opportunities to spark their creativity.
If you do these things I will not guarantee success. Every church is not meant to make movies. But when a church focuses on innovation you might end up with the churches version of the iPod, something that might change your church for future generations to come.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
taboos in the church #2
i am also still a little dumbfounded by another taboo in the church. taking sides on the football grid iron has become quite an interesting situation. i am from maine and i love the new england patriots. a few months ago the pastor invited us to wear our football jerseys to church to support our favorite team. so i did, thinking nothing of it. of course the favorite team he was talking about were the colts.
i was also very new to the church, so when i show up to church with my jersey on not really thinking too much of it, i received borderline harassment. i became that patriots guy. at the beginning of the service my good friend john welcomed the crowd by asking if there were any colts fans in the house today and asked them to stand, the crowd erupted. then he suggested that his friend was wearing a patriots jersey. he asked me to stand and turn. we had a good laugh out of it.
but what pursued in the next months made me realize that today sports can be a big taboo. even though i know it was in good fun i really just got sick always being referred to as the patriots fan. most conversations were started out that way, it became very old. i never realized that colts fans were so bitter against the patriots.
i just moved here from new york which is the middle of yankee country. of course i am a red sox fan. but in my two years in new york i never received near the trouble that i did in the last couple of months living in indy. does that mean yankees fans actually have more class?
what other taboos have you seen with the church?
i was also very new to the church, so when i show up to church with my jersey on not really thinking too much of it, i received borderline harassment. i became that patriots guy. at the beginning of the service my good friend john welcomed the crowd by asking if there were any colts fans in the house today and asked them to stand, the crowd erupted. then he suggested that his friend was wearing a patriots jersey. he asked me to stand and turn. we had a good laugh out of it.
but what pursued in the next months made me realize that today sports can be a big taboo. even though i know it was in good fun i really just got sick always being referred to as the patriots fan. most conversations were started out that way, it became very old. i never realized that colts fans were so bitter against the patriots.
i just moved here from new york which is the middle of yankee country. of course i am a red sox fan. but in my two years in new york i never received near the trouble that i did in the last couple of months living in indy. does that mean yankees fans actually have more class?
what other taboos have you seen with the church?
taboos in the church
when i grew up there were certain things you just did not discuss within the church. when i was young i remember my mother telling me how people viewed things differently. even though someone votes for one person over another does not mean they are any less christian then the other. but of course there was the underlying idea that she would vote republican no matter what.
when i was in college profs emphasized in classes that pulpits were not the place to endorse a candidate over another. it came out which professors were democrat and which were republican. i am not sure what year it happened, if i was still at iwu or shortly after i left.
this year it seems like everyone has taken sides. i have friends that have definately supported huckabee from the very beginning. others who supported romney, well atleast til today. i have some friends who are all about the obama sensation. while i usually just sit in the background and listen to the conversation or read their blog.
about 6 weeks ago a friend asked me who i was looking to vote for. this was back before no candidates had dropped out yet. and i knew that indiana's primary still would not take place until may. i told them "at this time, i have it narrowed down to five candidates. they laughed and chastised me for not knowing this very critical decision. i figured i had plenty of time to figure it out. i knew by the time that i had a chance to place my vote in may most of the candidates would be out anyway. i definately knew i would be ready to voice who i would vote for in november.
today 4 candidates are left are left. i have now narrowed it down to three candidates. even though i still am reserved about all three of them. i do have a front runner. but personally i am still involved in the church and do not feel like taking sides. i still believe that this is a taboo within the church and there are other battles that i am concerned with more then duking it on on who will be a better president.
today though people are a little more open minded then they were when i was growin up. as long as you back up why you are planning on voting for this person it wont necessarily mean that you will be chastised from the church. but i am still not going to tell you who i am voting for.
stay tuned next week for social taboo #2
when i was in college profs emphasized in classes that pulpits were not the place to endorse a candidate over another. it came out which professors were democrat and which were republican. i am not sure what year it happened, if i was still at iwu or shortly after i left.
this year it seems like everyone has taken sides. i have friends that have definately supported huckabee from the very beginning. others who supported romney, well atleast til today. i have some friends who are all about the obama sensation. while i usually just sit in the background and listen to the conversation or read their blog.
about 6 weeks ago a friend asked me who i was looking to vote for. this was back before no candidates had dropped out yet. and i knew that indiana's primary still would not take place until may. i told them "at this time, i have it narrowed down to five candidates. they laughed and chastised me for not knowing this very critical decision. i figured i had plenty of time to figure it out. i knew by the time that i had a chance to place my vote in may most of the candidates would be out anyway. i definately knew i would be ready to voice who i would vote for in november.
today 4 candidates are left are left. i have now narrowed it down to three candidates. even though i still am reserved about all three of them. i do have a front runner. but personally i am still involved in the church and do not feel like taking sides. i still believe that this is a taboo within the church and there are other battles that i am concerned with more then duking it on on who will be a better president.
today though people are a little more open minded then they were when i was growin up. as long as you back up why you are planning on voting for this person it wont necessarily mean that you will be chastised from the church. but i am still not going to tell you who i am voting for.
stay tuned next week for social taboo #2
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
pursuit of perfection
if it is possible it is very tough to be perfect. perfection as a wesleyan is something that we are supposed to shoot for. but i am wondering if it is possible. when i was a sophomore in high school my jv basketball team went 15-0 and then we played our last game of the season and lost. we were so close to the possibility of perfection.
this season the new england patriots had the same shot. they won all 16 games of the regular season and the first two games of the playoffs. unfortuntely in the superbowl they fell short. i however want to concentrate on the first 16 games. they were undefeated. which the record portrays perfection. but in reality was it perfection?
in the first 16 games tom brady who was voted mvp of the nfl set an record in most touchdowns (50), had 69% completion in passes with 4,806 yards. as good as tom brady was though. he threw a total of 8 interceptions. sure that is amazing but it is not perfect. he was also sacked a total of 21 times. still not bad by any means but definately not flawless.
randy moss caught 98 passes with 23 of them being for touchdowns which is also an nfl record for td receptions. and i know this is hard to bellieve but did actually drop a few passes.
in the end though during the regular season the patriots were perfect as a team. their record is now in the history books. the perfection was a team effort, individually they would have fallen short.
in the church you will experience the same thing. imperfect people messing up striving to be perfect because that is what we are called to achieve. what would happen in the church if we picked on everyones faults. left them to achieve it on their own. in football teammates pick each other up when they are down. they also defend each other in the media. you have to in order for your team to be strong. the same thing needs to happen within the church, if we are ever to be perfect we have to fight as a team, protect each other from the enemy. build an encourage other believers.
it will only happen as a team if we are going to change the direction of the church. people will never change their opinion on the church, unless we try to work together.
this season the new england patriots had the same shot. they won all 16 games of the regular season and the first two games of the playoffs. unfortuntely in the superbowl they fell short. i however want to concentrate on the first 16 games. they were undefeated. which the record portrays perfection. but in reality was it perfection?
in the first 16 games tom brady who was voted mvp of the nfl set an record in most touchdowns (50), had 69% completion in passes with 4,806 yards. as good as tom brady was though. he threw a total of 8 interceptions. sure that is amazing but it is not perfect. he was also sacked a total of 21 times. still not bad by any means but definately not flawless.
randy moss caught 98 passes with 23 of them being for touchdowns which is also an nfl record for td receptions. and i know this is hard to bellieve but did actually drop a few passes.
in the end though during the regular season the patriots were perfect as a team. their record is now in the history books. the perfection was a team effort, individually they would have fallen short.
in the church you will experience the same thing. imperfect people messing up striving to be perfect because that is what we are called to achieve. what would happen in the church if we picked on everyones faults. left them to achieve it on their own. in football teammates pick each other up when they are down. they also defend each other in the media. you have to in order for your team to be strong. the same thing needs to happen within the church, if we are ever to be perfect we have to fight as a team, protect each other from the enemy. build an encourage other believers.
it will only happen as a team if we are going to change the direction of the church. people will never change their opinion on the church, unless we try to work together.
Monday, February 04, 2008
updates/ thoughts
1. the movie juno is a must see. very well written.
2. grad school is going well. but takes up a lot of my free time. my first class was an A. non profit management has started well and has sparked the business side of me already after just one week.
3. a lot of changes are taking place at church. i pray they are the right decisions. starting march 2 we are cancelling the poorly attended traditional service and moving to one unity service for a time. possibly up to six months.
4. the patriots season was amazing. if only they could have finished well (future blog coming on this)
5. i am speaking on the pros and cons of the internet to a group of 5-6 graders on wednesday.
6. i think one day i would like to plant a church in portland, me
7. i cant wait for the writers strike to be over. i need the office back in my life (by the way john krasinski is a patriots fan
2. grad school is going well. but takes up a lot of my free time. my first class was an A. non profit management has started well and has sparked the business side of me already after just one week.
3. a lot of changes are taking place at church. i pray they are the right decisions. starting march 2 we are cancelling the poorly attended traditional service and moving to one unity service for a time. possibly up to six months.
4. the patriots season was amazing. if only they could have finished well (future blog coming on this)
5. i am speaking on the pros and cons of the internet to a group of 5-6 graders on wednesday.
6. i think one day i would like to plant a church in portland, me
7. i cant wait for the writers strike to be over. i need the office back in my life (by the way john krasinski is a patriots fan
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