ministry

church planting / leadership / ministry — 1 Comment
4
Aug 10

The Jasonisms of church planting

[This is a repost from August 29, 2008 with updated links]

Found what seems to be a huge blessing via twitter today. I’m now following Jason Salamun (@jsalamun) on twitter  [actually, as this is a repost, I've been following him for over two years now] and linked through to his blog about an awesome church plant in Rapid City, SD: projectchurch.net. Just as Tony Morgan posts about Perryisms, I’m totally digging on some Jasonisms. Jason Salamun posted a list titled “101 Nuggets for Church Planters” and it’s very awesome! All 101 are necessary, but here are some that really made me say “Ah ha! Someone else gets church planting!” or “Wow! I definitely need to work on this!” I’ll let you decide which is which for me :)

    2. If you are called, you have permission.

    4. Don’t just plant a church; start a movement.

    6. Don’t make the church your idol. It’s easier than you think.

    14. There’s a lot of wisdom in the words of dead guys.

    22. Don’t talk about church all the time to your wife. Pace yourself.

    26. You should be able to explain the vision on the back of a napkin.

    29. You’ll get criticized for things you never even said or implied. Get used to it.

    40. Start a church where it’s okay to be a dude.

    66. Typical is boring.

    74. Be intentional.

    77. Prepare- but understand that you’ll never been prepared enough.

    79. Stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all.

    80. Time alone with a notebook, a pen, and a Bible often lead to something special.

    81. Authentic people are led by authentic leaders.

    87. It will be messy.

    88. When was the last time you went to a bar or sat in the smoking section of a restaurant?

    92. Repeat after me, “I heart simplicity.”

    100. Church all boils down to relationships.

Rock on Jason! Praise God for putting the desire to be passionate for the Lord and minister to people and open enough to help other ministers stay on-track and to share in your victories!

  • Share/Bookmark
Dave (personal) / culture / ministry — 3 Comments
30
Jul 10

Ministry: is it just another form of sales?

First of all, I must confess something. I am a big fan of John Cusack and 80′s films in general. However, only after watching Cusack’s Say Anything for the first time after having had some experience in formal ministry, the movie was quite different for me. It became more about the underlying tale of lives intertwined in everyday stuff–where people aren’t always what they seem, and not everyone strives to be an achiever.

One of the things that stuck in my brain this time was when Lloyd Dobler (played by Cusack) was asked about his aspirations once he graduated from high school. His response was:

“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.”

When I heard this, my mind immediately went to ministry. I have stayed away from ministry for some of the reasons that Cusack’s character Lloyd Dobler mentioned staying away from choosing a career path. Yeah, it’s kind of a convoluted thought, but if you stop and think about it, don’t you know of someone in ministry that has been guilty of selling something (church, religion, tithing, serving), buying something (doing something in exchange for getting financial support), processing something for sale (personalizing a theology or doctrine and then preaching it, rather than Christ crucified) or ____________ ? (add your own thoughts here)

Ministry shouldn’t be about sales or buying something or having an agenda. It should be about people and connecting them with the eternal love of Christ.

Now, it’s your turn to say anything…

  • Share/Bookmark
Dave (personal) / church / ministry — 3 Comments
28
Jun 10

Marketplace ministry: Church at a Kia dealership?

I must admit that for the longest time I felt like a failure…not because our first church planting experience wasn’t a success, but because after all of my time in seminary and as an assistant pastor and lead pastor, I suddenly found myself working at a Kia dealership in Portland, Oregon. To me it was a job–the only job I could get after a two month job search–not a ministry. How foolish of me though! God has been unpacking a lot of things for me in just the 30 days I have been an internet sales manager at this Kia dealership. I have several stories I could share, but one is so poignant that it never seems to leave my mind.

Mr. H is a very successful businessman. He makes over $200,000 a year at a business he has owned for about 20 years. He grew up in the church and has been a pretty faithful Christian until a year ago. You see, Mr. H lost his brother at the age of 57. One night his brother went to sleep and never woke up. His heart stopped beating in the middle of the night and he passed away. A few months after the loss of his brother, Mr. H felt like God had left him. He blamed God for taking his brother away from him and his family. Mr. H was still hurting and still resentful towards God. He stopped going to Sunday services and didn’t want anything else to do with what he thought God wanted. Know that I did not force my faith upon Mr. H, nor did I manipulate the conversation to direct to this topic. Through some crazy, convoluted series of events we ended up on this subject and I never see it coming, until I’m immersed in the dialog.

Through just listening to Mr. H tell his story, I could see that there was some revelation and some healing happening right before my eyes. Mr. H asked me to share my story of how I went from being an atheist of 37 years to a seminary graduate and pastor. Mr. H told said to me that it was obviously God moving in my life. He said that it would just that kind of miraculous act of God coming upon him in his voice in order to resurrect his faith. However, I knew that Mr. H knew that deep down inside he knows God and that he knows God is there. He’s just stinging from the pain of losing his brother to a heart condition that could ultimately take his own life as well. It’s a hereditary condition that the doctors don’t know why it happens or when/if it will strike. That’s scary! Mr. H is in pain, but I know he is also scared. We talked some more and I shared how in Ecclesiastes and the final chapter of Jonah of examples God gave us of being angry or not being able to understand why things happen as they do. It’s a real emotion to be hurt and confused about God’s actions and that he understands that. It’s not a punishment and it’s not for us to feel sorry for ourselves over. As we come to realize that, we free our mind to begin to see some sense in the losses.

The craziest part of all of this, is that a successful businessman named Mr. H came in to buy a truck for his business, yet chose to reveal some painful experiences from the loss of his brother and his personal relationship with God to a stranger. You see, for some strange reason these are the stories and conversations I was never able to have with regular attenders of a church service. However, sitting across from me at my desk as I hold the title of internet sales manager, people seem free to discuss personal aspects of their life and faith and God with me in a very real and meaningful way. I’m at a Kia dealership worried about whether I’ll make enough money to pay my rent, yet God is bringing people to me that have impacted my life and given me opportunities to do what I always dreamed about doing as a lead pastor of a church plant–I’m reaching people outside of the church, speaking language they understand, and getting them to look at church, God, Christ, and people in a different way. What I call a job, God is using as a new ministry. I still find it a mystery, but am very grateful for the opportunity I have been entrusted with to be a small part of the process to (hopefully) seeing some people renew their faith in God and his church.

  • Share/Bookmark
Bible / church / church relevance / ministry / social justice / worship — 16 Comments
23
Jun 10

tithing…is it relevant today?

Currently having a great conversation via twitter that started with this initial question:

@AaronBird: What do you say Christian leaders: Does supporting a missionary or ministry outside of your church count as your tithe?

How would you answer? Before you do, here are some snippets of additional dialog that you may consider as well:

  • inworship: @daveingland Gotta be honest. That question from @AaronBird sounds very religious and selfish.
  • aaronbird: @inworship …worthy ministries also require funds. Conflict of interest? Dunno. Just thinkin’.
  • daveingland: @aaronbird @inworship i think your tithe/offering should go to those in need. i’m more in line with paul’s teaching on gracious giving.
  • soverpeck: @daveingland @aaronbird @inworship modern way of doing church is a money pit. in the bible the “10% tithe” was about giving food to the poor
  • inworship: @AaronBird Biblically, we need to encourage heart giving. Any expectation to the local church/organization, opposes that teaching.
  • aaronbird: @inworship I don’t disagree. Just wonder what a church leader feels when giving is down & has 2 make cuts but ppl expct more but give less.
  • daveingland: @soverpeck @inworship @aaronbird in acts 2, they sold what they had & gave to those in need. way more than 10% & definitely money, not food
  • soverpeck: @daveingland @inworship @aaronbird absolutely. again, not to pay salaries or for cool sound systems and a mac
  • aaronbird: @soverpeck @daveingland @inworship Do we always have to defer to “the way it used to be”? Why not forge ahead & be relevant to now?
  • aaronbird: @soverpeck @daveingland @inworship Should we not pay or pastors & other church leaders because that’s how they used to do it in the NT?

So, should one tithe to the church? Is a tithe 10%? Should giving be considered a tithe? Can one–in a biblical sense–give to those in need outside of the church and consider that their tithe…thereby not giving to the church as well? Your thoughts are appreciated.

  • Share/Bookmark
church / ministry — No Comments
25
Mar 10

What Drives Your Church?

Paralleling some thoughts I’m having as I begin another chapter in my journey, Dennis Bickers posted the following on his blog today:

I found the following paragraph in Kennon Callahan’s book Small Strong Congregations to be very powerful:

“Small, strong congregations are gift-driven, not getting-driven.  They are strength-driven, not weakness-driven.  They are spirit-driven, not size-driven.  Small, strong congregations are high-compassion congregations.  They are mission-driven congregations.  They do not ask, ‘What’s in it for us?”  They are not interested in church growth.  They are interested in people growth.”

The question each of us must ask is what drives our church?  It’s essential that we answer this question honestly and not answer it as we think others would think we should answer it.  The back-up question then for those of us in leadership is what drives us.  Ministry is, or should be, about people.  One of the strengths of smaller churches is that people are more important than performances or programs, but I have seen some smaller churches that were so intense about growing larger that it forgot the people while it focused on finding the elusive program that would lead to dynamic growth.  Usually, such churches never find that program, and having abandoned the people, they only grow smaller until they finally die.

I’ll ask the question again.  What drives your church?  What drives your own personal ministry?

I learned this lesson the hard way. As a church planter I spoke about loving people where they were at and building a relational community, yet in reality every action was in the context of building a church. It was a constant struggle: I truly loved people and made myself available to them, but at the same time I was always evaluating them as to how they would be a part of our ministry.

For me, a lot of the initial difficulty is rooted in my being naturally introverted. In a public setting or after being in several meetings in a day, I get wiped out. So, I try to make the most of my time with people and extract all that I can–or give all that I can–so that I don’t need to duplicate the experience later. I’m a people person, but only through a lot of intentionality and work. The strange thing to me is that so many other pastors I meet are introverts as well.

So, while loving others and encouraging them really drives me, it isn’t easy and my natural tendency is to revert back to working the system and operating in the fringes rather than being where the people are or receiving attention from my efforts.

Seeing others be successful at what they want to do and then being able to watch them help others do the same is what I would deem being successful in my ministry. I feel as if I was created to help empower others and foster an environment of collaboration. Only in such a setting can we truly have people see Christ rather than our own hard work.

What drives my ministry? Seeing people come together in community with a heart to give back to others selflessly; What drives my church? The same thing! This is why I feel called to serve the community through the church, rather than next to the church or in lieu of the church.

How about you? What drives your personal ministry? Your church?

  • Share/Bookmark
← Older Entries