Attention Walmart shoppers – paying it forward on aisle 6

So I am standing at the end of aisle six at one of our local Walmarts last weekend visiting with a family from Water’s Edge about how they were planning on shopping for their recipient family, and a quick statement by the wife caught me off guard… at least when my slow-moving mind figured out the power of the statement.  As you may have read here, our church engaged in an all-out weekend to serve our city with fierce intentionality.  As a leader you hope that these chapters in the life of a church will somehow plant themselves deeply in the hearts and minds of the congregation so that the actual activity level begins to see a shift to things that really matter.  You pray, work, plan and execute with this in mind, but many times what you bring to the venture is just to set the stage for God. 

Went and Was

Go and Be, 2009

Today our church celebrated what has become an annual emphasis on community engagement… “Go and Be.”  We literally shut the doors and did not hold services today and instead had projects all over the region to serve others.  It may appear to be somewhat concocted, and it probably is, but necessary to help a typical congregation to be others-focused.  As good of an idea as it is, we still hear complaints.  You just have to press through those comments and be about what’s right.

Our little band at Water’s Edge met at the church before being sent out to provide groceries to a number of families in the area.  We found out about these families through the grapevine, so they didn’t know we were coming.  I was a little concerned as to the reception our families would receive when they knocked on any of those doors.  You hope that poeple would be appreciative, but it has be to tough to be confronted with your adverse circumstances by a complete stranger.   So we sort of warned our folks and asked them to be prayerful as to how they would approach the family.  Some simply left the groceries at the front door, while others had the privilege of having a conversation to encourage the recipient.  All in all, a good day.  

Our families had a simple and effective teaching moment for their children.  It was great to hear the families mixing it up with one another talking about what should be purchased and how they would want to bless this mysterious family.  It was certainly one my best trips to Walmart!  Sometimes the easiest way to come alongside another and help them is to meet their most immediate need, and a few groceries was just that.

Much to share…

Sorry for the delay in updating this thing… I keep saying that! 

There is so much to share about what’s happening in my life and those around me.  It’s been a surreal last few weeks for my family, staff and ministry.  Case in point – one of my staffers was punched out at a local gas station last Sunday night after our services.  FBC is in our Transform Your World season.  This is a time where the church really ramps up its efforts to impact the local community.  Our global efforts are year-round, but we make a special effort to reach out beyond normal ministry to our region in April.  This stretch is usually referred to “Go and Be.”

We had t-shirts made this year that read “Don’t go to church” on the front, but on the back they read “be the church!”  Well some ignorant soul thought he was doing God and the church a favor by assaulting my staffer and decked him for what the shirt said.  My team member ended up waking up, picking himself up off the concrete and driving the 15 minutes to his house.  As he stumbled into his own home, that was when his wife took him to the 24hr clinic for attention.  He hasn’t pressed charges, and from what we know there weren’t any witnesses.  Long story there, but he felt that pressing charges wouldn’t really accomplish anything in the grand scheme of life. 

Bottom line is that this nut had some real issues and was probably used to getting his way and abusing others.  The t-shirt simply provided a trigger to beat on someone new.  Never-the-less, the shirt sparked a manifestation of this guy’s world view of God and church… and that my folks is why it is so important to engage culture.  We have to put to death this mindset that we have to answer the opposition to the Kingdom by various acts of social, relational and even physical toxicity.  We can get on our soap boxes and shout, scream,  wave our arms to get the unbelieving world’s attention and figuratively punch them in face with the “Gospel” or we can love them and share the real and literal truth of God’s forgiveness and grace. 

So much more to talk about… maybe I can get to that later in the days ahead.

Good stuff!

Had small group tonight.  We have been hosting since our normal host home is now occupied with a newborn!  A few weeks back, one of our couples announced their new pregnancy.   Tonight we were presented with yet another announcement… another baby!  The uniquely exciting component to this announcement is that this couple has been trying for years to get pregnant and were disappointed a number of times, but now they have huge smiles on their faces…. good stuff! 

It’s always a exiciting to welcome new life into this world.

Grounds of Hope

Some time ago I referenced a desire for us at Water’s Edge to work toward opening a coffee shop that would also host our worship gatherings weekly.  That plan has morphed over the last 6 months, but the Grounds of Hope project is still perculating.   This whole concept has gone viral.  Our Facebook group has eclipsed the 1,000 member mark and there is certainly a buzz around Water’s Edge and FBC. 

Please take a moment and check out the website link to the right and investigate for yourself the scope of this dream.   Pray about it.   You may want to contribute to the movement somehow.   As a teaser, here is Jon Glidden giving us some glimpse of the Grounds of Hope impact during his trip to Malawi in January.

Core time vs expendable time

December 10, 2008
Mission and Recession
Building a church on “core time” rather than “leisure time.”

by Skye Jethani

The financial talking heads are attributing the current economic crisis to a number of things: lack of regulatory oversight, bad mortgage lending practices, and globalized market structures. But some of the more plainspoken pundits sum up the mess in a single word: Debt.

Simply put, for too long people have been spending more than they have. We have been purchasing homes we cannot afford, saving less than we should, and racking up debt at an unprecedented rate. The average American currently has a negative savings rate and over $8000 in credit card debt. As Dave Ramsey says, we are not “acting our wage.” On a national level, we have been importing more than we export and borrowing money from foreign governments to make up the difference.The picture is not pretty. We’ve made the foundation of our economy consumer spending rather than manufacturing, saving, or production. All that debt simply cannot hold the weight of the economy over time, and now we’re starting to see the system crumble.

How does this apply to ministry? Well, most American churches have based their mission on the assumption of affluence.