Month: May 2005 (page 3 of 5)

I got this quote from Leonardo da Vinci in my Inbox this morning…

There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.

NOTE: I’m reporting on a half-day conference I attended today. See Part One over here.

1. The Decline of the Belief in Exclusivity. According to our presenter, this is the greatest danger of the postmodern mindset and movement. His statistics show that 1 of 5 Southern Baptists believe one “might get saved” without a commitment to Christ. He also told us that this number is growing annually.
2. The Move to “Simple Church.” A sort of “back to basics” movement in which churches focus on doing a few things with excellence. He said this is the great attraction and beauty of Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven stuff. It helps churches focus on what’s important and how to do the important stuff well. This movement to “simple church” (look for his book by this title in 2006!) involves four components: clarity, movement (how do you get from point a to point c?), elimination (what are you going to get rid of?), and alignment (how do you make sure your actions are matching your values?). Interestingly to me, he didn’t make the correlation between the emerging church phenomenon and this desire to move to “simple church.” I see the emergence of the emerging church as a prime example of this move to “basic Christianity” without all the extra fluff and trappings that get in the way for this generation of postmodern believers and seekers.
3. The Move to High Expectation Churches. In 1997, 1 in 30 churches had some sort of membership class. By 2004, that number was 1 in 3. Our presenter said the importance of a membership class and other high-expectation components is information (what the church is all about, etc.) and expectation (what the church expects from members).
4. The Move to Greater Evangelistic Intentionality Among Young People. Our presenter said that 75% of people who accept Christ do so before age 15. It was during this part (I think! Gary, help me out here…) that he talked about the importance of being accepting of those who are “different” than we are – particularly “those young people with purple hair and multiple piercings.” His quote: “Accept them like they are now, because they are going to change their lifestyle later.” He related the story of one young woman who visited 11 churches before she found one that would accept her just as she was. She expressed the thoughts of many in the “younger” generation when she said most churches might as well put on their signs “Young people, go to hell!” (I was getting a little sleepy about this time, but I do remember thinking how true that is. I also remember thinking how most of those in attendance today probably were thinking, “if we can just make ’em all look, walk, smell, talk, etc. ‘like us,’ then we’ve got ’em.”).
5. The Decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. Now I know that’s a huge influence on most of you. NOT! Our presenter’s point was that we (Southern Baptists) are baptizing the same number of people now as we did 50 years ago, even though we have 10 million more members than we did then. Interestingly, he didn’t mention (although it was in a “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t” bullet point) that the “conservative resurgence” in the SBC has not improved our evangelistic success. (I was going to ask him about that, but I was too tired to rock the boat at that time.) I have read elsewhere our presenter’s thoughts on the matter: “Imagine where we’d be if we hadn’t had that course correction!” Funny, I thought the “return to our roots” was the cure for everything that ails Southern Baptists. Seems to me, from this vantage point, we were just looking for something to fight about and control. Now that we’ve “rescued” the Bible, who’s the boogeyman keeping us from doing what God called us to do?
6. The Great Facility Showdown. Our presenter’s own bias had been that we spend way too much money on facilities and that we should spend that money on real ministry, real evangelism, etc. But after conducting extensive research (commissioned by large church-construction companies), he had changed his tune to see that the facilities do indeed have an impact on the effectiveness of churches. The most valuable piece of information he learned through this research? Women care about how clean the restrooms are and whether or not their preschoolers will be safe and secure. Go figure…
7. Lost Church Members. Our presenter estimated that 45% of church members in the U.S. are “unregenerate.”
8. When Good Does Not Survive: The Story of Breakout Churches. More of a plug for a recent book than an actual trend with great impact.

I could say a lot more about the conference itself. However, I really don’t want to be considered a cynical jerk. (“Too late,” some of you are saying!).

I really do appreciate the guy’s experience and insight. I really do appreciate our local folks putting on this kind of thing. I really do appreciate the people who attended, took copious notes, nodded, and “Amen-ed” at the appropriate times. But I left with a let down feeling that I hadn’t really taken much away that would help me and my church.

But, wait! I said earlier that I did, in fact, get something important and valuable out of the conference. I’ll tell you about that later. Don’t let me forget…

…Least Likely to Impact You and Your Ministry, But Most Likely to Bore You Silly and Pretty Much Waste Half a Day. No, that really wasn’t the name of the conference I attended today, but it could’ve been.

I usually get something – even if it’s a little something! – out of every conference I attend, and actually I got something out of this one. But overall, I don’t think it’ll rank right up there with the greatest learning experiences I’ve ever had.

First, the good…

• The price: You can’t beat FREE, no matter how you slice it! Our local association does a pretty good job of putting these things together from time to time, and the fact that they do something like this at no charge is to be commended.
• The eats! Sausage, country ham, biscuits, nuts, cheese thingies, muffins of all kinds, Starbucks coffee, juice, and “Miss Janice’s” blueberry cheesecake pie…Yes! Yes! YES!
• The fellowship: I know that word gets thrown around and misused, but it was good to get together with a bunch of guys and gals that are looking to learn.

Now, to the conference itself…

My buddy and everyone’s new favorite golden boy and leadership guru blogged about the conference. He didn’t include any of the material, so I will (thanks to my trusty little notebook!).

Here are the 12 Trends presented today…

1. The Decline of the Open-Ended Small Group. Our presenter said he wasn’t necessarily advocating a return to the traditional Sunday School model. Funny, it sure sounded like it to me. He did make some pretty good – though maybe unintentional – points about the value of getting folks involved in a worthwhile small group experience.
2. The Single Most Correlative Issue in Evangelistically Growing Churches: The Pastor’s Personal Evangelistic Involvement. He talked about how important and vital it is for pastors to intentionally share their faith – not just for the not-yet-believers but for the pastors’ spiritual health as well. Pretty good stuff here, except I got the sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of those attending the conference would neither (a) be very comfortable at all with spending any significant time with unchurched folks, nor (b) be very hip to their pastors “neglecting the church” to do so. Of course, we had the obligatory “witnessing on an airplane” story – this time, including George Foreman’s personal encouragement!
3. A Growing Receptivity to the Gospel. According to our presenter’s statistics, just about 4 in 10 unchurched people in the U.S. are “receptive” or “highly receptive” to the gospel. Their biggest obstacle to coming to faith in Christ? “No one ever invited me to church or showed me how to become a believer.”
4. The Emerging Church Phenomenon. Did you know that there are only two major spokesmen for the “emerging” church? Dan Kimball and Brian McLaren. One is “orthodox” and one has “left the building” of evangelicalism. Guess. No…go ahead! Guess! Our presenter predicted that Dan Kimball will more than likely “declare a schism” in the emerging church movement, probably within the year, and move to break all ties with Brian McLaren. Interesting. The emerging church is anti-megachurch, anti-seeker-sensitive, anti-almost-everything. Our presenter recommended D.A. Carson if we really want to get a handle on the emerging church phenomenon, which all of us will be addressing from our pulpits this year.

Stay tuned…more to come…

The other day, someone “accused” me of being a pretty good “pointer-outer” of stuff – websites, book, other resources. (I think they meant I’m full of useless information, but I took it as a compliment nonetheless! Everybody’s gotta be good for something, right?)

OK, so for all the millions! and millions! of faithful Just Charlie users out there, I’ve got a huge favor to ask. And not only will it help me (thanks in advance!), but you just might have the opportunity to impact someone else’s life in a positive and practical way. Here’s what I’m looking for…

What are your current and/or favorite “Top 5s” in these categories?

• What music you’re listening to (may be CDs, streaming Web audio, whatever)
• What you’re reading (books, journals, magazines)
• What you’re surfing (“non-blog” websites)
• What blogs you’re checking out (this, of course, would be Weblogs)

I can’t wait to see what goodies you come up with! Let the “pointing out” begin!

I’ve spent most of today studying, thinking, planning, and learning. As my bud and everyone’s new golden boy leadership guru says…

…man I forgot how much I enjoy digging in God’s Word.

Anyway, I’ve spent some time reading, studying the Word, and listening to some CDs from the first Catalyst conference.

Howard Hendricks opened that first conference five years ago with a powerful challenge for us to take care of the things that really matter. In that message, Dr. Hendricks referred to a poem called “The Night They Burned Shanghai.”

The poem, written as the Japanese were taking over China leading up to World War II, talks a lot about apathy and how we are so busy with what we think are important and crucial matters, while we miss the really important things going on around us. The poem ends with these lines…

And after greetings, Waterman exclaims,
“A fine mess in the Far East, boys and girls,”
And we agree, and we sit down to play.
Tonight they burn Shanghai, and we are safe –
Safe from the world and all its puzzles-safe
From everything except our own contempt.

(Tonight Shanghai is burning,
And we are dying too.
What bomb more surely mortal
Than death inside of you?

For some men die by shrapnel,
And some go down in flames,
But most men perish inch by inch,
In play at little games.)

Life is too short and too precious for us to waste it in piddling little games, activities that take our time, but rob our souls. The slow death of idling the days away is killing too many people. I don’t know how many years or even months or weeks or days I have left.

But God help me invest that time in something that matters!

Andy Stanley talks about courage in his great book The Next Generation Leader. Courage is a necessary but often elusive quality for leaders. It takes courage to take any initiative to move an organization forward from where it is to where it needs to be. Beyond the courage to act, there are three expressions of courage that are absolutely essential…

• The courage to say no. Don’t allow the many good opportunities to divert your attention from the one opportunity that has the greatest potential. If we don’t choose our opportunities carefully, we will dilute our efforts in every endeavor. (p. 70-71)
• Courage to face current reality. When someone refuses to face reality, we call it denial. We say that person is sick. The same is true of organizations. Not surprisingly, organizations in denial are usually led by leaders who are in denial about the current state of affairs. But the truth is that there is very little to show for all the meetings, messages, and mothers’ mornings out. The church is making far more dinners than disciples. And while there is a general awareness that things are not going well, the average church attendee is content to show up once a week, do his time, and pretend that all is fine. Leaders worth following are willing to face and embrace current reality regardless of how discouraging or embarrassing it might be. (p. 71-72)
  
• Courage to dream. Dream no small dreams, for they stir not the hearts of men. (p. 75)

Do I have the courage to face the current realities in my own life? My family? My church? Am I so busy putting on a good game face that I have lost touch with the stark realities of life? Do I have the courage to dream boldly, declare the dream, and move forward to see it come true? Have I limited God’s ability to use me by limiting my own vision and usefulness?

Note to self: No matter how much they protest, and claim that they despise the “white trash rednecks” in your county, chances are, if they have that combination in their Ford pickup truckExplorer – and hang out all night long with the same people they supposedly despise – they are one. Big time!

Note to self, part deux: Google tattoo viagra redneck. Don’t do it. Just don’t do it. Just don’t. Trust me. Just don’t.

Unless you want to find this story. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

I’m almost finished with The Next Generation Leader for the second time, and I’m finding some great stuff that I either missed or didn’t need – or didn’t think I needed – the first time around.

I picked up Howard Hendricks’s Color Outside the Lines at the very first Catalyst conference, and it’s sat on my shelf since then. I was looking for something else this morning, and it caught my attention.

Stay tuned for quotes and other goodies…

Everywhere I go today, I find that people are talking about “authenticity,” about being “real.” It is indeed a prime value that we need to espouse, in the face of so much Pharisaism and self-righteous behavior.

But we need to be sure that our “being real” doesn’t turn into a sorry excuse for doing things that will bring dishonor to the Boss with Whom we apprentice. We need to be careful that our quest for authenticity doesn’t lead us to ignoring or covering up our sin.

Check this challenging little read from over at TheOOZE

Authenticity should not trap us into being blind to sin in our own lives or the lives of those we are in community with.

Our task as Jesus-apprentices is to model our lives after the Master, to walk in truth and love, and to continually be molded and shaped in His image. Being “real” cannot become a justification for living an unexamined and unrepentant lifestyle.

Good food for thought early this Thursday…

Some quotes from An Unstoppable Force…

[Martyrs] didn�t survive, but they died facing the right direction.

�the real tragedy is not that churches are dying but that churches have lost their reason to live.

Unfortunately, for too many people, when the conversation is no longer about them there�s not much left to be said.