Church

We had a great kick-off to E4U at Mountainview last night.  E4U is our new spiritual formation initiative, based on four tracks (or themes) of spiritual development and growth. Overall, we had more than 120 people involved in a Bible class last night (including our Women's Encounter group).  This isn't including the over 100 kids and adults involved in 24-7, our Tuesday night kid's program.  It was exciting to see the building buzzing with activity. I'm teaching "Introduction to the Bible" and had 30 students.  It's going to be a fun class because it's a great topic and the people are eager to learn.  One of the things I enjoy the most is fielding questions during class.  The end goal of the class isn't just information; it's transformation.  As I told the class last night: "The goal isn't to master the Bible but to have the Bible master us." Our…

The following is from a post entitled "10 Power Principles on Church Strategy" by Will Mancini. #1  Programs don’t attract people; people attract people (Aubrey Malphurs) #2  Think steps not programs; strategy makes the next step simple, easy and obvious. (Andy Stanley) #3  Strategy is a missional map, therefore communicate it visually (Church Unique) #4  As a whole, cluttered and complex churches are not alive. (Thom Ranier) #5  Growing people grow people; consuming people consume programs. (Church Unique) #6  Strategy as assimilation should not be confused with spiritual formation; one is about getting individuals into the body of Christ, the other is about getting the life of Christ into the individual. #7  Strategy connects programs and events vertically with the mission and horizontally with one another. (adapted from Bill Donahue) #8  The fewer specials you have the more you sell. (An executive chef  said this in an Auxano Vision Pathway, talking…

Yesterday morning I spoke to our middle schoolers at Mountainview about building relationships of influence with others.  To help underscore the point, I relayed the story of Philip and the chariot-riding eunuch from Ethiopia (Acts 8:26-40). This particular part stands out: "The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.  The Holy Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and walk along beside the carriage.'  Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'  The man replied, 'How can I, unless someone instructs me?'  And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him" (Acts 8:27-31, emphasis mine). Each day we are surrounded by people who are on a journey, whether they know it or not.  Some…

In the mid-1800's, pioneers traveled the Oregon Trail on their way to a home on the west coast.   It was a journey that took between four and six months, depending on the weather and the will of the people.  It's estimated that over 400,000 people traveled the trail until the arrival of the railroad hastened its demise. This was no easy journey.  Many of those who set out from the eastern states never arrived in Oregon. As the trail winded its way into what is now Idaho, many travelers would carve their name into a large rock along the trail.  The rock became known as "Register Rock" and it contained the names and dates of those who had it made there safely. Those who carved their names did so in part to highlight the courage it took to travel the trail.  The names also stood as a sign of encouragement…

For those of you involved in the creative process -- writers, designers, preachers -- here is an excerpt from a blog post by Donald Miller.  He's the author of Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (among others) and it's a great little post about how to jumpstart creativity. Sometimes a writer will sit for an hour or so, just thinking of a creative setting in which to place a conversation. It’s important work, that sitting and thinking, because the scene will engage the viewer or reader much better. And it’s important work in life, too. Here are some tips on creating memorable scenes: 1. Say yes to awkwardness: Is your buddy a mortician? Ask him if you can take him to lunch in exchange for a tour of his funeral home. I did this once. Talk about a memorable scene. I’ll spare you the details, but it was a…