As I’ve been thinking more and more about leading a missional community through Revolution Church Sacramento next year, I’ve also had thoughts about video preaching as part of what we do. Coinciding with these thoughts was a blog post by Perry Noble that reinforced his position that video teaching honors God and connects with people.
When we did our first month of preview services to share our vision with the members of our mother church, it was video preaching for 3 weeks, with me preaching 1 week. We participated in the One Prayer with LifeChurch.tv which many of you know about already. I was so totally blown away by the quality of the preaching from Perry Noble and Steven Furtick that I was hooked. I mean, I think I can be a pretty funny guy, but usually I evoke a laugh or two during a message while Noble just raised the roof and kept it up the whole 30 minutes. The guy seems like he isn’t even trying, yet he causes us to fire on several emotions in just one message. All this and he wasn’t even in the building! How can a guy in South Carolina talking about eating big, buttery biscuits and people believing or not believing in the power of Christ connect so well with us here in California? I don’t know how or why, but I just know what I saw and how people responded and it was amazing and incredible. Pastor Furtick is another one of those guys that doesn’t seem like he is trying, yet he can convey passion about watching an ice cube in such a way that you never thought possible all through the power of Christ in his life and his love for seeing people hear the gospel and come to know the saving grace of Christ. I was teary-eyed during the last half of his message and again, he wasn’t even in the building!
Can a guy like Noble or Furtick cause things to be stirred up here in Sacramento through video preaching? I think they could. As Revolution Church Sacramento takes shape and launches next year, we are looking to connect with a younger generation for Saturday and/or Sunday evening service. Mostly singles and young couples. However, could we partner with a great visionary preacher like a Pastor Noble or Pastor Furtick (or a Craig Groeschel or Ed Young, Jr. or…) and provide a gathering for families on Sunday mornings and see the kingdom grow even more? Could being missional and putting our faith into practice and sharing the love of Christ with the world be the glue that binds us together, even though we have two different worship styles, with two different meeting times, and two different demographics? I’m beginning to think we could. I’m feeling like the work that needs to be done here in Sacramento is far greater than what I could do even on my best days, and that partnering with another ministry with someone that can lead the way through their preaching and teaching while we work to connect people into service could honor God hugely. Who says that multiple services on a weekend must be the same exact message with the same exact preacher every time?
Maybe this is just another one of those dreams too big for the moment or my abilities. Could be that my mind is wandering and this isn’t what my thoughts should be on these days. However, I just can’t help but feel like this is worth some prayer and discussion and seeing what God would have me do here. My preaching doesn’t really translate well to video, but I’ve seen others with the gift for it and know that it’s being used to make a big impact on people in awesome ways. Just consider me more than a little intrigued at this point.
I invite your prayers and thoughts on this.
Related posts:
- It’s all about me!
- Sometimes pastors just suck!
- Want a personalized lead-in for your One Prayer message?
- Attractional church represented on video by North Point
- Sunday night thoughts…One Prayer has ended, but…
Tags: craig groeschel, ed young, multi-site, perry noble, revolution church, Sacramento, steven furtick, video preaching
Interesting thoughts. Certainly ones I have thought about. Would we be better off with better teaching?
I think one must also ask God if that is His will. None of those people you talk about started out delivering messages at that level.
What if God wants to take you to a place in time where you can have such an impact in the church?
That one is hard because of pride. What if the vision God has given you for church needs a spokesperson?
I struggle with this same question. These guys are clearly better then me. Have more resources etc.
But what if you have been called to develop your talents and gifts? Does it matter if they are better?
If it doesn’t then I would jump on them big time and keep me informed because I would love to see how it goes.
Lifechurch.tv is very open to partnering with churches. Lifechurch.tv has the Network where you use their material but keep your identity. Then they have OPen where you can use their material as you see fit mixed with other material as long as you don’t change the work you get from them.
Lifechurch.tv is very cool with what they do. I respect what they are doing in sharing. It is the one I have looked at because I’m not at Craig’s level but again the biggest question is what is God’s purpose in it all and I know you understand that.
Darin, it’s interesting you commented about LifeChurch.tv as I got a message from a pastor asking to talk to me after reading this blog post.
I think I need to have a little more clarity in how I write as my thoughts aren’t getting conveyed as clearly these days. My main point in the video venue was to have a second service that could speak to families and older adults on Sunday morning with me preaching/teaching/leading the evening service with a more missional focus of sharing Christ’s love with his people, particularly outside of the four walls of the church building.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have a long way to go in my abilities to be an effective preacher and have been blessed with a mother church that has allowed me to preach almost weekly since July to help find my style and get my stride before departing to focus on the plant. However, I do feel called and equipped to be relational and conversational in a relaxed setting with younger adults that are exploring faith and trying to understand the message of the gospel and how redemption is at the core of Christ’s death. In working in this environment I think it’s much more conducive to attracting younger singles and couples than baby boomers and families. So, with a full Sunday, but only one evening service, I have been wondering if I will find a calling to partner with someone or some other ministry to try to be more broad in their presentation so that some baby boomers or families can come to know the Lord that may not connect with our missional, evening gatherings and demographics. This is where I think a Craig Groeschel or Perry Noble could really bring it on a Sunday and connect and fire people up.
I had a great talk with Pastor Andrew of LifeChurch.tv and he caused me to think and refine some of my thoughts and ideas. At this point I don’t know how a partnership with LifeChurch.tv or any other multi-site ministry would fit within the vision for Revolution Church Sacramento, but I can’t help but think that moving forward as we have been doing will cause us to relate to a specific demographic, and while my heart is burdened for the younger generation and I feel that they are always being effectively reached by the mainstream church, I do feel like I have more to give to all people that need to know Christ, and am wondering if I am being limiting in the vision for Revolution Church or if I am just being obedient to the full calling on this ministry. Maybe it’s just my wanting to see all come to know Christ, yet only being called to relate to a narrow group that is what this is all about. However, if my vision isn’t big enough or I’m just trying to stay in my comfort zone, that is what I want to discern. I don’t want to be obedient in some things, I want to see the big picture and pledge myself to all of the work the Lord is calling me to do. At this point, I’m just praying and discerning and keeping my ears open to his whisper and seeing where I go next in this journey of church planting.
Thanks so much for your awesome response!
I would be interested in hearing more.