Live :: Learn :: Lead

One of the books I chose to read while on Sabbatical was “Surprised by Grace”, by Tullian Tchividjian. Tullian is Bill Graham’s grandson, and serves as a pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

This is a former sermon series on the book of Jonah that was transcribed and further developed into a book. The main idea explores the great lengths that God goes to pursue those he loves. While I first assumed that the book was mainly about God’s pursuit of those outside the Church, I quickly read that it included those inside the Church as well.

Tchividjian explains that Jonah was one of the religious “elite” of Israel. A Hebrew prophet, one who knew the Torah, spoke for God, opted to bow out of his assignment to speak God’s word to Nineveh. While I had always viewed the violent storm and Jonah being holed up in the belly of a fish as God’s punishment/judgment, Tchividjian explains that it was God’s grace to pursue Jonah to teach him, and bring him back from his rebellion. One who should have been willing, ready and able to reach Nineveh, was one who needed reaching himself.

God gives Jonah a second chance to go and speak to the great nation of Nineveh. Upon hearing their judgment, the entire city repents and turns toward God. They went from being a great, powerful and prestigious city, to an even greater, more powerful, and more prestigious city, transformed by the grace of God’s mercy.

Besides the obvious that both those inside and outside the Church are in need of Grace, Tchividjian further challenges his readers that we need God’s grace everyday as fuel in the Christian life.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Clear, concise, and compelling, I was captivated from page one, and could not put it down. It will be a book I continue to reference and learn from for quite a while.

If you are interested you can purchase the book here

Book Review: Surprised by Grace

Our Church staff recently had a discussion around a Leadership Journal article, called “Do Programs Help Or Hinder?”.  I always like these conversations because it typically reveals half of the people who believe one side of the conversation, and half who believe the other side.  I’ve been thinking a lot about this article over the past few days (probably because we are in planning mode for next year), because I believe there are two scenarios that cause programs to hinder:

Programs hinder when they take priority over relationships. I understand that programs are loved by people in congregations, and they are great tools in which to help a large group of people (I mean more than 10) grow deeper, connect with others and provide opportunities to serve.  The danger is when a ministry is all program, and there is no space to foster and develop relationships within a program that will exist outside of that particular program.

So, the question you may be asking is, “How do you know if a program is a priority over relationships?

When we shepherd our programs more than we shepherd our people.  If we are spending most of our time planning programs, setting up programs, running programs, and evaluating programs, I would argue that we are more of a shepherd of programs rather than a shepherd of people.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t have programs or have time dedicated to excellent programming (relationships can grow within the team leading the program), but if we look at Jesus’ model for ministry, he didn’t have programs, and he reached thousands of people!

Obviously there is a balance.  We can’t be all about programs (because we’ll never have deeper and personal connections with people), but on the other side, programs are part of our culture and society.  Maybe a healthy exercise to think about is “What would we do if all of our Church programs would cease to exist for six months?”

I would love for others to add to this conversation as well!

We had a little excitement (beyond the resurrection) during our last service this morning.  A transformer blew at the pole right in front of the building, forcing us to cancel the last service and evacuate the building.  Thankfully everyone is OK.  Here are a few pictures from the scene. Any creative ideas for a caption? 

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called Golgotha.  Here they crucified him, and with him two others–one on each side and Jesus in the middle.  John 19:17-18

Jesus was in the middle.  It wasn’t enough for the writer to say “one on each side” of Jesus, but he emphasizes the fact that between two thieves, Jesus was in the middle.  We might easily write it off as just a description of the crucifixion scene, but as I have been thinking about it this morning, I found there to be great significance in that phrase.  It’s not just the physical placement of where Jesus was when he died; “Jesus in the middle” means a great deal more.  Jesus is in the middle of :

• The Old Covenant and New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15)
• Death and Life (Romans 6:23)
• Condemnation and  Absolution (John 8:11)
• Defiled and Holy (Colossians 1:22)
• Robbed and Fortified (John 10:10)
• Old Life and New Life (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The purpose of Jesus Christ was not just to be a hero, a man of good deeds, or a king.  His purpose was to stand in the middle of you and I, to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin.  Someone had to die, and it should be us.  But Jesus hung on a cross on that Friday 2000 years ago, to take the place of our judgment.  Without Jesus in the middle, we are left unjustified, separated, and condemned.

Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”  Between God and us, Jesus is in the middle.

Iron Man 2 trailer is out. May 7th is the release date of the film.  Looks like a typical sequel, but I think it will be entertaining.

Our Church has been engaged in the discussion around multi-site campuses this past year as we try and figure out how to continue to reach wider into the greater Boston area, as well as help existing people at Grace Chapel grow closer and deeper. Yesterday the staff had the privilege of a Q&A session with Jim Tomberlin from Third Quarter Consulting in Scottsdale, Arizona. Jim is considered one of the pioneers of the multi-site strategy, and is sought after by many churches around the country seeking his expertise on the topic. Here are a few things I learned from Jim:

• The multi-site strategy was birthed during a Willow Creek Leadership Summit in 1995. Jim’s church in CO was asked to be part of an experiment with Willow Creek to established five multi-site venues around the country to host the summit via live broadcast feed. As Jim watched people engage in the broadcast as if it was right in front of them, he began to explore if it was possible to do this at his Church to deal with the “full factor” at the Church.

• Multi-site is not just a band-aid for mega-churches, it is a strategy for healthy church growth. People already part of the Church will potentially have a deeper Church experience because campuses are smaller.

• Multi-site puts the local back into the local Church. The compelling reason for considering multi-site is location. Most people want their Church to be within fifteen driving minutes from their home.

• Every multi-site is unique because it is a transfer of the unique DNA of your Church. You are essentially transferring whatever it is you do at your main campus to the other campuses. The goal of multi-site then is not to copy what another Church is doing; it is to copy exactly what your Church is already doing.
  

• Churches need to decide if they want to be an elephant or a virus. An elephant is big and has a huge presence, but it can be taken out in one shot. A virus spreads and grows. With multi-site it is hard for a Church to die when it is in multiple locations. It just keeps spreading and popping up in new locations.
  

Just got back from a week long trip to Florida. The first part of the week we were in Ft. Lauderdale, the second part of the week we took the girls to Disney. The reality of Disney is while there are some ways you can save some money, it is an industry and it is going to cost money. While it was still expensive, we did find some ways to save. Here is what we found from our experience:

HOTEL: Jayme found our hotel on mousesavers.com for $79/night. We figured where we were just sleeping there, we wanted cheap, but clean. We ended up at Hawthorn Suites in Buena Vista, which was clean and beautiful, and comes with a full breakfast. The rooms were mini-suites with a pullout couch in living room, and a kitchenette with fridge, dishwasher and mini-stove. There were a few $65/night hotel deals, but they got bad reviews.

FOOD: We bought food/drinks at the local Wal-Mart and brought them in to the park. We didn’t spend a dime in the park. We had breakfast in AM, snacks all day, and dinner at a restaurant at night.

TICKETS: Depending on what kind of risk you want to assume, you can get a deal on tickets. There are guys who buy 10-day passes at the largest discount from Disney, and sell them to for a typical 3-day rate, with a little savings. The discount comes when you return the passes to the vendor. We got a $70 refund on top of the typical savings when the cards were returned. They will then wholesale them to a side of the road vendor for the rest of the days for someone who is willing to buy from him. The vendor we used was stationed in our hotel as a service, so we felt comfortable with the risk. I do have the contact of the person we used, email me and I will send you his information.

TRANSPORTATION: We had originally planned on using the shuttle service to get to and from Disney. But after a little investigating, we decided to keep our rental car. We used Priceline to renew our rental contract for $46/day. Our credit card has CDW protection, so we found some savings there also.

STROLLERS: Bring your own stroller. They can be checked at the gate before your flight, and can be brought into the park. If you rent a stroller at Disney, it runs about $15/day.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me and I will be glad to help!

Jayme and I found a very good deal on a desk on Craigslist a couple weeks ago.  I stripped and sanded it, primed and painted it.  We added new hardware, and it’s ready to go.  Here are some pics of the process.

Found this on You Tube this morning.  A great rendition of a traditional classic.  Diverse, creative, worshipful and engaging.