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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.

Craig Groeschel has been blogging this week about how to be original and not try to emulate other pastors. He posted a list of pastors with a notable trait and professed that he would never be like them in those areas (click here to see the list). I found it incredibly interesting as I would have commented on the exact same things. Two that stood out in particular were:

I’ll never be as funny as Perry Noble

I’ll never be as passionate as Steven Furtick

I’ve got to say that after following these two pastors and speaking to my church during the One Prayer series, I was feeling less-than-capable and a little dejected. I’m a passionate guy! I like to think I’m funny too. Somehow it just never translates into my preaching persona. Through prayer I’ve come to accept the gifts God has blessed me with to connect with the people he puts in my path. It’s all about me, because God created me to be the best me I can be. Not the best Craig Groeschel or Perry Noble or Steven Furtick, just the best at being all the Dave Ingland that God calls me to be.

In Craig’s post he ends with a question: What are the top three gifts/talents/abilities God has given you? My response would be:

1. Relevant- As an atheist for the first 37 years of my life, I can relate to anything someone would say about why they believe God does not exist or how Christians are hypocrites or the Bible is just some book no different than a fairy tale read in elementary school. I’ve all of it at some point and now know why I don’t think those things any more. Having been in their shoes, God uses me to be relevant so that they can see the transforming power of the salvation of God within me.
2. Conversational- I am not a bold and loud speaker when I deliver messages. I also don’t come across as being out of reach. God has given me the ability to break out of my shyness and to just talk to people where they are at and to engage them in thought and conversation. I don’t really feel like I am preaching on Sundays, but it is more like being in my living room and I am leading a discussion on a topic and asking for feedback. I definitely doubt I’ll ever be invited by Brian Houston to preach at Hillsong Australia like Perry Noble.
3. Visionary- I never want to settle for less than my best for God and I always want to be moving forward–this is something I am passionate about. Anyone can do something halfway, but if it only requires half of my ability, then anyone could do it. Anyone can do what is assigned to them today, but it takes vision to do something today in a way that it will affect tomorrow. I believe that God has placed me in a journey that causes me to help people realize their dreams through embracing hard work and seeing the bigger picture. Living the Christian life isn’t easy, but it causes us to fulfill that which God created us for–loving God, and loving others above ourselves. Even though we are not to emulate others, this is an area where I would say that I will never be as bold of a visionary as Craig Groeschel. Craig is amazing and when he finds what works he opens up his experiences so that others (like me) can learn through the LifeChuch.tv online resources, his blog, or through writing books.

What are the top three gifts/talents/abilities God has given you?