exponential09 session notes…

In an effort to process as much as possible from conferences such as Exponential I try to take decent notes from each session.  I can honestly say that out of the three years I have attended, I have taken more out of this past week personally than the previous two years combined.  Of course, I believe it is mainly due to my current season of life and the reality that our family will be taking a tremendous step of faith by moving back to Virginia soon!

My prayer for the week was simply that God would confirm my calling to continue down the road we are on to start a church.  I can honestly say I believe He has, despite my inadequacies at this point.

So, anyway, I am attaching .pdf files for each main session and workshop so feel free to check them out.  The notes are obviously raw and maybe hard to follow at times but I would love to fill in the gaps if you are interested.  That would help me retain more from my experience as well.

- Francis Chan (main session)

- Erwin McManus and Tim Keller intro (main session)

- Craig Groeschel and Mark Choi intro (main session)

- Bob Roberts and Pastor Eddie Leo intro (main session)

- Matt Chandler: the Leaders Capacity to Make Disciples (workshop)

- Matt Chandler: Together Toward Maturity (workshop)

- Ron Sylvia: Challenges When Planting a Church (workshop)

- Bill Easum: Things to Avoid When Planting (workshop)

exponential 09…prayer

This is the third year I have had the opportunity to attend the National New Church Conference in Orlando, which has been renamed Exponential.  Each year so far has effected me in different ways.  The first year I attended with friends from North Carolina who had felt led to plant a church so I tagged on with them.  After attending the conference I was not really sure if I was called or not, but I certainly recognized the fact that I belonged in that environment somehow.  Last year I came alone but shacked up with some friends who had started Brown Cow Design, a graphics company whose primary focus was new churches.  As I processed the personal results of last year I once again felt as if I was destined to land in a church plant.  For the past year, my wife and I have been praying for clarity and confirmation as to my calling to actually start a church…which has led me once again to Orlando this year.  I have been looking forward to this year, not only to hear from veteran church planters and to network with former and future planters.  I have traveled with my dad this year and am thankful to be sharing this experience with him.

From the experiences I have seen to the people I know who have taken this amazingly difficult step of faith I realize that it must be a spirit-led decision, or it is destined to fail.  It cannot be driven by frustration, or the challenge to start something new.  The responsibility of raising money, rallying people to a vision, and hopefully being catalyst to having an eternal impact on them is impossible to do effectively and consistently without the supernatural power of the God of the Universe!

My prayer for this week is simply that God will confirm what I believe is for me to start a church in Blacksburg, VA.

maybe lusting isn’t a bad idea…

One of the few benefits of a long road trip is the chance to catch up on some of my podcasts.  Our Easter trip was no exception.  As my family slept I pulled out my IPhone and E4 headphones and illegally proceeded to listen  some Matt Chandler, who is the lead pastor of The Village Church.

Although I chose a random message it did not take long for me to realize it was a good choice.

As he dove into several scriptures he began to paint a picture of guys who desired to know God on a level that would make most “Christians” uncomfortable:

• Guys like David, who in Psalms 42:1-5 “panted” and “thirsted” for God and was frustrated with himself when his soul had, “Become disturbed”
• David, again in Psalms 63:1-8 seemingly lusted for God with comments like, “My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for you…when I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches…my soul clings to You.”
• Guys like Habakkuk who said he would, “Rejoice in the God of my salvation” even if he had lost everything.
• Guys like Paul who in Philippians claimed, “All things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus…and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings…”
• Even creation in Romans 8 Paul says, “Groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together…we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

Scripture makes it clear that many people since the beginning of time have yearned, groaned, fasted, thirsted, meditated, and given up everything for sometimes a single opportunity to know God deeper.  Habakkuk praised God whether times were good or bad.  Paul, a man who was so close to God that his clothing healed anyone who touched it, and whose faith stirred up a riot in one of the largest pagan cities of its time wanted to know God more, at any cost!!

WHY DON’T WE?

Why do I find it so easy to pour my time into a book on leadership and yet struggle with the desire to read about the greatest leader (Jesus Christ) ever?  Why are we sometimes so content with giving God an hour or two a week at church and then clocking out until the next Sunday?  Why do we act like it is such a sacrifice to set even a small amount of time aside each day to pray and read the Word, and yet somehow we make time to never miss the game or an episode of our favorite show on T.V.

In the past I have always associated “lust” with a negative connotation, as does society.  However, my prayer from today on is that I can learn to lust after my Lord as David, Habukkuk, and Paul did.  I want to yearn for more of God, and earnestly put time with Him on the top of my daily “to do” list.

the next few weeks…

It is April and time is flying!  This month for the past two years has been one of the toughest because of everything hitting at once.  Already at this point the list of “to-do’s” and calendar events are stacking up:

• This weekend I am going camping with the family and then heading to Detroit on Monday for the NCAA final game
• April 10-12  the family is heading to Atlanta for Easter weekend
• April 13th I have a book review due for one of my classes
• April 18th Mandy and I have a date night with Ray Lamontagne
• April 20-24 I will be in Florida at the Exponential church planting conference
• April 25th we are having a golf tournament fundraiser as my last commitment with Eastside
• April 27th I have a 20 page research paper due for one of my classes

Needless to say, other than journaling my experience at Exponential in a couple weeks I won’t be spending much time on the blog…

Once school is done for the semester hopefully I can dive into some of the books on my waiting list to finish “The Church” series.

consistency, or lack of…

It never ceases to amaze me how inconsistent I seem to be, even with something that I am craving more than anything in my current season of life!   Specifically for the past several months I have set a goal to study more, pray more, practice spiritual disciplines more, and it seems like the harder I try the less I follow through with it.  It doesn’t take a genius to know that I am in a heated battle of spiritual warfare but it is so frustrating to look forward to spending quality time in the Word only to find myself getting caught up in anything but the original plan.

Am I alone with this issue?  

I am in my second month with our “Teleios” group and the book we have been reading is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.  The premise of the book is how we, as Jesus followers, should consistently practice spiritual disciplines in order to become spiritually transformed by the Holy Spirit.  Someone might as well had hit me in the face with a bat as I read it.  Chapter after chapter I continued to feel the conviction of Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure, there your heart will be also.”  I kept asking myself if I TRULY desire this transformation like I say I do, then I have to find a way to make it happen.

Life is about choice.  I am already trying to raise Jeremiah on that notion and attempting to get him to make good choices.  Adults are no different.  Ultimately, it is my choice to get up early to study, which is the most practical and beneficial time of the day for me, instead of hitting the snooze button for 2 hours!  It is my choice to spend time in prayer rather than playing “Word Twist” on facebook!  It is my choice to turn off the T.V. and open a book!  It is time for me to quit making excuses and put my money where my mouth is.

busy busy busy…

With grad school work piling up and a plethora of books that I want to digest I haven’t much time to post.  I am looking forward to continuing the series on The Church but want to research a little more before I vent my opinion about the modern day church world.

In the meantime, a friend of mine has introduced me to an author that has written several books about the same thing my heart has been trying to process for the past year or so:

Reimagining Church and Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola

If you get some time I would strongly recommend looking into some of his Biblically based ideas about an ‘organic’ church!

can you hear it?

In an earlier post I confessed that I have a soft spot for sentimental movies that tug on the heart strings.  It is usually the movies that climax with a community rallying together behind an underdog that I am referring to.  However, for a different reason, I need to include August Rush into my list of sappy favorites.  Freddie Highmore stars in the flick as Evan Taylor, an orphaned musical prodigy who believes that the key to finding his parents is in music that he hears in everyday life.  As a side note my son, Jeremiah, is a big fan of Freddie (a.k.a. Charlie Bucket on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, along with other main roles in Spiderwick Chronicles, and Author and the Invisibles).

In the movie, the 10-year old Evan escapes the boys home and finds himself in the middle of New York City alone.  Through a series of events and encounters with strangers that see his potential he ends up at the Juliard School under the made up name of August Rush.  Within a matter of months his musical gift led him to write a rhapsody that the New York Philharmonic Orchestra agreed to perform at a concert in Central Park.  All along he believed that his music would reconnect him with his long lost parents, if they could just hear it.  There is a great conversation that happens between August and the Dean of Students at Juliard as she attempted to learn how gifted he really was:

Dean: How do you do it August?  How does the music come to you?

August: “I just hear it.  Sometimes I wake up and it’s there or I hear it when I’m walking down the street.  It’s like someone’s calling out to me.  Writing it all down is like I’m calling back to them.”

Dean: “Who?”

August: “The one’s who gave me the music.”

Time after time Evan (or August depending on what point in the movie) was challenged by various people he encountered on his journey to forget that his parents still even existed.  And every time he would defy the odds to claim he could “hear” them.  He never quit learning and he never quit pursuing until his moment came to finally reunite with his parents (who had only recently discovered that he even existed).

If you haven’t seen the movie this might be a stretch but as I watched the movie I could not help but think how this conversation can totally describe our journey back to God.  Throughout our life there are constant distractions that keep us from hearing our creator, but the evidence is in everything!  Although many people will want you to deny it, and many will try to take advantage of you throughout your journey, if you persist eventually your desire to reconnect with who gave you the music!

Are we pursuing a reconnection with Him?  Can you hear the music in the midst of the chaos?

THE CHURCH part 1: what does a disciple look like?

My head has been buzzing lately with thoughts about the church.  Books that I have read, conversation after conversation I have had with friends of mine, and personal struggles that I have wrestled with in my mind all lead me to the same question.  Is the church doing what it was commissioned to do, which I believe is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19,20)?  And when you break the question down it gets a little personal.  Are we, as Christ-f0llowers, diligently and passionately loving God and loving our neighbors with the hope that we are also helping to create life change within our own circles of influence?

I want to split this question over a series of posts with the purpose of thinking through how I will lead a church one day and be able to consciously know I am doing what God has called me to do with the best of my ability.

So to start I believe we have understand what a disciple is if we are to reproduce them.  Here are a few definitions of “disciple” from common online sources:

THE FREE DICTIONARY.COM – (1) a follower of the doctrines of a teacher; (2) one of the personal followers of Christ during His earthly life

ANSWERS.COM – (1) one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another; (2) an active adherent, as a movement or philosophy

MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM -one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another

Obviously, there is a relatively common pattern that defines what a disciple is but I do not think there are many discrepancies in the definition alone.  The problems seem to show up somewhere between the definition on paper (or online) and the actual life change that has to happen in someone before they can become one.   A few key phrases stuck out to me: one who embraces, active adherent, accepts AND assists…

It blows my mind away that Jesus took twelve men and changed the world forever with them!  Yeah, everyone of them had issues, but that just gives me (and you) hope that God can use us too.  However, when Jesus was done grooming them for ministry their issues were put behind them and they became like an out-of-control wildfire for the gospel.  They wholeheartedly embraced the teachings and challenges as their own and wanted others to do the same.  They became active adherents to the Great Commission, baptizing people and teaching them to obey the message of Christ, even to the point of death.  They didn’t just follow Jesus around and expect to do nothing…they wanted a piece of the action.  Can you imagine what the Kingdom would look like if our churches and Christ-followers would persist in the commission to make disciples of this caliber?

WHAT DOES THIS EVEN LOOK LIKE TODAY?  What would a true sold out disciple for Jesus be like today?

disciplined grace…

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  And although I do wonder about it sometimes I also realize that God’s grace is sufficient, even for my ridiculously unstable spiritual life.  Speaking of good intentions, lately I have been constantly dreaming about how much closer to God I could be, if I really wanted to.  I don’t say this to insinuate that I have the direct ability to be used by God but I do believe everyone of us is in control of the choices we make.  If we truly want to be sold out followers of Christ then there are some personal changes I believe we could implement to help the process.  When referring to the practice of spiritual disciplines Richard Foster claims that, “The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.”  He goes on to paint a vivid but challenging picture in his classic book Celebration of Discipline of the spiritual journey that passionate Christ followers are on:

Picture a long, narrow ridge with a sheer drop-off on either side.  The chasm to the right is the way of moral bankruptcy through human strivings for righteousness.  Historically this has been called the heresy of moralism.  The chasm to the left is moral bankruptcy through the absence of human strivings.  This has been called the heresy of antinomianism.  On the ridge there is a path, the Disciplines of the spiritual life.  This path leads to the inner transformation and healing for which we seek.  We must never veer of to the right or the left, but stay on the path.  The path is fraught with severe difficulties, but also with incredible joys.  As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ.  We must always remember that the path does not produce the change; it only places us where the change can occur.  This is the path of disciplined grace.

What is even better to me is the fact that we are not meant to be on this journey by ourselves.  So I wanted to share an idea that my brother came up with for a 40-day fast.  Although fasting was common enough in the 1st Century world that the the New Testament writers didn’t feel the need to explain how it was done, today it is a severely underrated discipline.  The one Danny came up with is not easy, but neither is picking up the cross daily to follow Him!

• Days 1-5 — no eating after 6pm
• Days 6-10 — no eating after 5pm (begin limiting your high sugar intake…junk food, soft drinks, etc.)
• Day 11-15 — no eating after 5pm, no high sugars
• Days 16-20 — no eating after 5pm, no high sugars (begin limiting your carbs)
• Days 21-25 — no eating after 5pm, no high sugars, no carbs (limit your fast food meals)
• Days 26-30 — no eating after 5pm, no high sugars, no carbs (ONLY SOUPS FOR MEALS)
• Days 31-35 — “Daniel’s fast”…fruits and vegetables only (no eating after 5pm)
• Days 36-40 — nothing but water…but you can drink after 5pm!!

To add to this spiritual journey, try to give 10% of your day to studying and memorizing scripture, journaling, and praying.

IF YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE AND/OR TRY THIS 40-DAY FAST I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR COMMENTS ABOUT HOW YOU FELT GOING THROUGH IT AND HOW DIFFERENT YOU WERE WHEN YOU COMPLETED IT!

can i get a witness…

Ed Stetzer happens to be a pioneer of church planting and author of several emerging church books.  He recently spoke at a church planting conference in Atlanta and posted the notes to his blog.  To be honest I was completely blown away with what he had to say as I read through the notes.  To me it was one of those “A-ha” moments and I just had to post and share it.  I am a long way from being where I want to or should be when it comes to having my spiritual act together.  However, diligently pursuing a path of righteousness is something I truly believe in, especially as true Christ followers, not to mention leaders His church!  As I read through his post, which happens to be saturated in scripture, I sat there smiling and pumping my fist (you know…like Tiger does it)!

Here is the comment I read that led me to his post rethinking discipleship:

“Many church planters are spiritual bankrupt and strategy rich. It is time to declare bankruptcy and not pass it on like a Ponzi scheme to your people. It will all eventually come crumbling down.”

WOW!!