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Clever or Effective?

I love the church.  Absolutely love it.  When it works right, there's nothing like it.  Not a thing like it in this world.  When people are surrendering to God, turning themselves over to Him, beginning to act like ministers to the world and each other....there's not an organization on the planet that can compare with it.

I believe that one of the biggest roadblocks that will be in the way of the church in the future - and really now - is something that at first doesn't sound like a big deal. 

It's the quest to be cool. 

The desire to be clever.

Ed Stetzer (you should check his blog out here, great stuff) said this recently at a conference and it has been rocking my world.  The church is called to do what it has always been called to do - preach Christ crucified.  He was talking about this, and then he said something mind-blowing:  "I believe that the church cannot show itself to be clever and show Christ as crucified AT THE SAME TIME."

Here's the problem - a lot of churches out there, especially churches like ours - try really hard to be clever.  Here's what that means - it's being funny to be funny, being dramatic to be dramatic, being creative to be creative, being cool...   You get the picture.  I love creativity in the church, don't get me wrong.  God is the Creator, right?  So we ought to be pushing the edge creatively.

I was thinking about this today as I was mowing the grass (great thinking time out there, btw).  And it hit me - when it comes to the church, my passion is for us to be EFFECTIVE.  I want to see the church - our church - really WORK.  Really reach people. 

And it hit me that being effective and being clever are not the same thing.

Being clever makes people say "Look at how funny/great/creative/smart THEY are."

Being effective makes people say "Look at how amazing GOD is."

Being clever makes us chase rabbit trails we should never chase when it comes to planning, resources, budget, staffing, facilities, websites, etc etc etc

Being EFFECTIVE keeps us centered on the most important thing - the message of Christ to a dark and dying world.

What gets me up in the morning and excited to do what I do is the possibility of the church being effective.

We are going to be (and already are!) a VERY creative church.  We are going to be a church where the arts are used in a lot of different ways.  We want to be a church that encourages people to use their God-given creative ability.  But here's the key - THIS IS ALL FOR A PURPOSE.  To honor God and to lift up the name of Jesus. 

That is the point - and that is what we will focus on - and THAT is what will cause us to be effective...and not settle for just clever.

Second-to-last Krazy Kyle video!

here it is, the next installment of "krazy kyle"  from our "Dangerous - Is Jesus safe?" series - kyle, you are truly a crazy dude...

Unleash!

Several of us from Connection Church are attending the Unleash Leadership Conference tomorrow at New Spring Church in Anderson, SC.  Trips like this are always good, but this one was especially attractive because hey, it's one day, it's close, and we get a chance to check out what's happening at one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States, right in our own backyard.

I love stuff like this.  Will we become just like them?  No.  Will we try to do everything just like they do it?  Again, no.  But if you're not ready to learn from someone else, how do you take steps forward?  There are churches out there that I have had experience with that don't seem interested in learning from other people.  I don't get that.  If someone is knocking it out of the park, I want to know how and why, and more importantly - how does what they do translate to our ministry context? 

I'm sure that stylistically, and personality-wise, there are some things that are very different at New Spring.  I am equally as sure that we will learn a ton of great stuff from Perry Noble and his staff!  I am ALSO equally sure that every person that goes with us tomorrow will say at the end of the day how glad they are that they went.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Krazy Kyle #3 - Parents

I LOVED this one.  This is Larry and Nickie Durham's acting debut!  Way to go guys!!  Oscar material.

(If you haven't seen the others, scroll down.  These are the intro videos to our Dangerous: Is Jesus safe? Series.)

When Church Starts

We had a great service on Sunday....great worship led by Clark and the team - way to go guys!  FX was awesome, kids dancing and singing and jumping around.  And we talked about the fact that Jesus is dangerous, and that when it comes to sin in our lives, it's not just the outward act that he is concerned with - it is the heart and the mind. 

But one of the most important things that happened Sunday was after church was "over".  A group of people gathered around a couple in our church and prayed for them, for physical healing, for protection, for peace...that was AWESOME! 

So - it's making me think - "When does church start?"  We talk about church starting and getting to church on time.  (And hey, we definitely need to do better at that!  We're committed to starting the service on time every week - so get there!!)  BUT - in the bigger picture, church doesn't "start" or "end".  Because the church is not a service or a building.  It is the community of God, God's kingdom which is advancing in our world.  It is a group of people - seekers, skeptics, and Christ-followers - pursuing God together.

When this group of people gathered to pray, it made me think - "This is the church.  This is what it is all about." 

It made me proud to be a part of Connection Church.

Living Off of the Map

While I was at this church planter's conference, a guy named Dave Ferguson shared a great quote from Alexander the Great.  Alexander's army was travelling around and had conquered the entire known world, meaning, everywhere on the map that they had.  At one point his general came to him and said, "We can't find ourselves on the map.  We need to turn around.  We are literally in uncharted territory."  Meaning - they had gone into a territory that wasn't even on the world map as they knew it.

Alexander turned to him and said, "Mediocre armies stay in the territory that they already are familiar with.  Great armies are willing to march off the map." 

Wow - that is so relevant for us as a church right now.  We are at a point where I believe that God is getting ready to bless this place to a new degree.  And we have to be willing to march off the map. 

In other words, we have to be willing to be Spirit-led, and to take risks.

Being Spirit-led - we are going to be a church that not only listens to the Lord, but goes where He wants us to go.  We are not going to put limitations on ourselves that God himself doesn't put on us.  When He says go in a direction, we are going to go - and He'll help us figure out the who, where, how, and how to pay for it!

Taking risks - we are going to be a church that takes risks to connect with the disconnected in our community.  We are going to stretch ourselves and go for it when it comes to reaching our world.  This means taking risks on people, on outreach efforts, on ministries.  And by the way, we are going to give ourselves permission to fail, to get back up, and to try it again. 

It's time for us to begin to figure out what life "off of the map" looks like - I hope that sounds like fun to you, because to me that sounds like a blast!