I had a great lunch today with an old friend. He started out in ministry, went into full-time business, and is now considering a return to full-time ministry. We were talking about how ministry has a tendency to either attract lazy people or turn good people into lazy people. At many churches, the pastor supervises himself and can set his own hours. If the pastor is not intentional about working hard, it's very easy to hardly work. If the pastor is not a self-starter, there is no supervisor or boss at hand to "encourage" them to get busy.On the other extreme, is the pastor who becomes a workaholic -- eventually doing damage to his family, himself, and his ministry. These pastors can do unnecessary damage to themselves and others. I certainly am all for giving one's best to God ... but we must be careful not to justify hidden or…

I almost included this in the previous post but it was already getting windy.Back during the pre-launch days of LifePoint, one of the ideas I bounced around in my head was the idea of launching the church in several coffee shop locations simultaneously. Several of the coffee shops have an open mic / concert room that typically seats any where from 50-100 people. They are already staged and have tables and chairs.The idea was to offer the same type of worship style in multiple locations and try to build on the foot traffic of each coffee shop. I believe all of the coffee shops are open early on Sunday mornings and none of them has a group that uses them at that time.The crowd would be smaller by necessity, which could create an awesome opportunity for a real sense of community to develop.Maybe next time ...

Don Bosch, in his blog The Evangelical Ecologist, described LifePoint as "coffee shop Christianity." It's hard for me to be offended since I'm writing this blog from a coffee shop. In fact, I may adopt the phrase myself -- with proper references, of course.An entire marketing/sociological concept has arisen over the past few years known as "third place" thinking. The idea is that after home and work, people need a "third place" to feel connected.Starbucks has sought to master the idea of creating an environment that invites lingering. The most popular independent shops have the same mojo -- people go there as much for the environment and connections as they do the coffee. You begin to see the same faces, you know which chairs will be comfortable, and there's a barista behind the counter who remembers your drink.Robert Putnam wrote an interesting book a few years ago entitled "Bowling Alone."…

After a few hours at Twiggs, I'm feeling a bit reflective. Besides being rich in antioxidants, coffee can also move a person to moments of inspiration. Indulge me as I share a few thoughts regarding LifePoint's grand opening.Diversity. One of the things I've been praying for in regards to our new church community is for it to reflect the diversity that exists in San Diego. I believe an apostolic church will be a diverse church. Perhaps the most diverse church that ever existed was the first one in Acts 2. In that text we're told that the Holy Spirit enabled the earliest Christ-followers to speak in multiple languages. Why? Because they were speaking to a diverse crowd.Among our 112 people yesterday we had black and white, Hispanic, Asian, Filipino, and more! We had a healthy mix of ages and generations. We were geographically diverse as well. We had folks from…

Here are a few pix from LifePoint: Day One! This is Ken interviewing Will Edwards, our first featured local artist.The crowd at our 9 AM gathering.The crowd at our 10:45 gathering.Another shot of the 10:45 gathering.Jay and Ben trading acoustic licks.Our way of doing communion.The couch lounge.Holy Joe's, the LifePoint Cafe.That's Kirby behind the shield.Jay with Will Edwards.The Kids at KidPoint.Getting ready for KidPoint.What a surly group of kids!Matt helping a little buddy shoot pool.The tech guys are under a lot of pressure.Yes, this really is our band.Will Edwards performing live at LifePoint.Will Edwards still live at LifePoint.