A Week That’s Been A Long Time Coming

The journey that began almost eight months ago takes another significant step this week. It's boot camp week and with guys like Mahaney, Piper, and Driscoll as the drill sergeants, it promises to be a good one.

I'm excited for a lot of reasons:

• Seattle is awesome. I spent a lot of time there in my days with Upward. It's a great city and one that I enjoy being in. If it didn't cost $300,000 for a shanty to live in, I might consider moving there.
  
• It's going to be good to get away with my wife for a week and just immerse ourselves in this calling God has placed upon us.
  
• It's a chance to stalk (in a totally non-threatening, non-offensive, non-creepy, very Christian way) John Piper. It's funny that a reformation of my heart that began with reading Desiring God some six years ago is going to continue as take another step towards planting Eternity.
  
• If you had told me six years ago that this week would be happening, there's no way in the world I would have believed you. God can take you on the most unexpected of journeys. That's the fun part about being a Christian.
  
• It's a chance to reflect and crystallize the call.
  
• It's a chance eat some good food.
  
• It's a chance to live another day.
  

It all starts with worship this morning at LifePoint. I'm thankful for this church, its leaders, and its people. It's great to be a part of.

Then on to Tulsa, DFW, and Seattle for a late night arrival. And tomorrow starts off with a session by Dr. Steve Crain on "Biblical Stress Management"… (I didn't think church planters had any of that)..

Watch this video for the thrust of the conference…more later…

Church Planting Meeting At LifePoint

Today was a great day at LifePoint. Twenty some folks gathered, some as far away as Oklahoma, to pray, worship, encourage, and discuss church planting. Jonathan McIntosh, from the Journey in St. Louis, spoke to us today about the centrality of the Gospel in church planting and exhorted us to make sure we were keeping the Gospel front and center in our churches. Jesus is the hero of every sermon, and the point of every passage in the Bible. All of the Old Testament and the New Testament point to and expound upon Jesus. If we lose Jesus, we lose the church.

Over lunch, we had the opportunity to do some Q & A and talk about how the theology of the Gospel fleshes out in practical terms such as giving, growing members to maturity, reviving passion in our congregations, and seeing our church folks truly grasp how the Gospel plays out in their entire lives. We talked about the importance of the folks in our churches grasping that all of life is worship and not just the hour we spend together on Sunday.

The cool thing about this meeting was that it was the first we have done in the Southwest Missouri region and we had a good turnout. Prayerfully, as we move forward, we can build this network to serve as a support, encouragement, and help to men who are in church plants, looking to plant churches, or thinking about church planting and discerning whether it's for them. Lane did a good job of laying out what the objectives of such a meeting were and challenged us to consider our own pride, arrogance, and insecurities as church planters when we come together and to really pray to see this network be all it can be. We're looking at getting together again in January. I would suspect maybe January 8^th? Stay tuned…

It was a great meeting with great men. I look forward to continuing the friendships that were started today.

In his message to us, Jonathan McIntosh referenced Tim Keller quite frequently. For all things Tim Keller and more resources from Him than you can shake a stick at, you need to go here and check it out.

Thank you to everyone who attended today and to the folks who helped serve and make it happen. I'm grateful for a church like LifePoint who has a heart to see the movement grow.

Eternity Is One Step Closer

It's official. Yesterday, I was blessed with the honor of becoming the church planting intern at LifePoint church in Ozark, MO. The past ten weeks have been an awesome time for Jenni and I as we have gone through the process of being accepted into leadership at LifePoint.

Along the way we have gotten to know a great group of men who serve as the elders at our church. They are a wide-ranging group of businessmen and entrepreneurs but one thing is evident from the moment you meet them: They take very seriously their roles in shepherding, guiding, and protecting LifePoint and serving her well.

When Jenni and I interviewed with the elders, I must say it was one of the most interesting interviews I have ever been a part of. Mainly because of the focus and the probing into the strength of our marriage, our family, our beliefs, our devotional practices, our lives, etc. At every step of the way, we were asked hard questions, even at the last elder meeting before the announcement would make it official. I love that about people in leadership. If you are going to lead, and hold the office of overseer (in any organization) you had better be able to ask the hard questions of others and also yourselves. I've seen and am seeing organizations crumble from the inside out because they refuse to ask and answer hard questions and deal with the real issues at hand.

I also have to give some online love to Lane & Christin Harrison (Lead Pastor) and Dennis & Sue Smith (Worship Pastor). These guys and their wives have been awesome to get to know and even more cool to develop friendships with. They are men of integrity. They are men committed to the body of believers that God has brought to them. They are creative. They are energetic. They are passionate. They are in tune with God's vision for the church. They are focused. They are real. They are true. And they have welcomed me in and shown true Christian hospitality. I can't thank them enough for that. They are busy guys, but they weren't too busy to welcome us. I appreciate that and love them dearly for that.

And I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the great key leadership at LifePoint. Sarah (JazzyJo), Chris Austin, Micah Osborne, Heather and Dallas Gilion, Matt Solidum, Kellie Webb, and all of our Community Group leaders. They are great folks who want to see, and know God is doing something special at LifePoint. I have met and talked at length will almost all of them. It's a special group and LifePoint couldn't do what it does without them. They are truly the hands and feet.

And so, as a church planting intern, my dream of planting Eternity takes one more step to becoming a reality. I look forward to this time of learning and leading. Following and guiding. Listening and teaching. I can't wait to see what God is going to do over the upcoming year. I've learned that a year is forever and it's best not to think too far ahead. But I'm enjoying the ride right now.

Thank you Lane and Dennis. Thank you elder council. Thank you key leadership. Thank you community group leaders. Thank you LifePoint church. Thank you God.

Amen

Leading People To Be Real Christ Followers In Life…Together

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

And the last in this mini-series will focus on "In Life….Together". The last few days have been interesting for me in a lot of respects. It's always a unique time when you first plug into a church. You're new. You don't know anyone. You're trying to find those families and members that you can connect with. You're trying to be sensitive to how God could use you in this body of believers. There are more question marks than answers. But one thing I am absolutely convinced of one thing. There is no alternative to being a member of a local church.

And that's what has made the last few days so interesting. Over the weekend, I had the chance to hang out with some old friends. One of them was getting married so it was a reunion of sorts. And as I talked to people that were so instrumental in my early days as a new Christian, a recurring theme kept surfacing – "They were not involved significantly in the life of a local church"

Now mind you, these are not heathens. These are Christian people who for one reason or another have decided (at least subconsciously) that participation in the life of a local church is optional. I asked several friends where they were attending church and the answers I got were stunning. And you know, when you quit going to church, it's amazing the rationale you will come up with to justify it. You'll even begin to use Scripture in such a way that makes you feel better about your decision. But the truth of the matter is, that Jesus created us to go through life together..and there is no other place where we do life together more, than in a local church.

Now, one of the most common knock on the church is that it is focused more on church and not enough on life. I agree with that. And that is why LifePoint is on the right track. They understand that our growth, development, and progress and a Christian will not occur in a significant way just because we spend more time at the church building. Change occurs when we do life together. When we get one on one with one another and just go through our days together. Change happens in the homes and at the meal tables (either for bad or for good). If we are going to see our communities transformed by the Gospel, then we must realize that it will be through being "in life…together" with those at our local church. We must commit to them. They must commit to us. Membership must have meaning.

But to not do life together with folks that you see and interact with on a weekly basis is NOT an option. Read your Bible and you'll discover that Jesus never intended for you to be the Maverick. And at the heart of anyone's decision to leave the local church is pride.

Pride that says "I'm better than you".
Pride that says "You can't help me".
Pride that says "I won't help you".
Pride that says "This church is doing it wrong".
Pride that says "There's nothing for me to learn here".

It's pride, plain and simple. No matter which way you slice it. And the part of any good mission statement is to get across to people that we are in this together as a community.

For better or for worse…

Leading People To Be Real Christ Followers In Life….Together (3)

Part 1

Part 2

This is the post where I would like to focus on "Real Christ Followers". I have to be honest with you , I do not feel like I am the person to comment on being a "real" Christ follower. There are millions of people in the world that are infinitely more qualified than me to comment on such a weighty phrase.

But in LifePoint's context, I think what they are trying to get at is for folks to be passionate about Jesus and The Bible, not religion and "going to church". In Southwest Missouri, there is a definite tendency to believe "I was born here, I go to church, so yea I'm a Christian". I've been in other parts of the country where that is the case as well. Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, would call that "Churchville". But here in the Ozarks, it's definitely a bad tendency.

So you have to preach against the church and teach people what a real relationship and what real following of Jesus is. It's easy to fall into the "Churchville" mode and forget that being a disciple of Jesus is a radical calling. And to be honest, I see that as the struggle of any church. Tim Keller would argue that it's easy for folks to get sidetracked on "self-salvation" projects and begin looking to something other than Jesus as their salvation (ie their works, traditions, self-righteousness, etc).

But LifePoint at least understands that "Churchville" does not equal "Real Christ Followers". It doesn't always mean that they're perfect in following that, but the recognition and pushing against it is something that is definitely part of the LifePoint DNA.

So I ask this question of the loyal "Syndrome" readers: "What would your definition be of a "Real Christ Follower"?

Leading People To Be Real Christ Followers In Life...Together (2)

In part 1 of this mini-series (I finally get to use that word on my blog...remember growing up how ABC or CBS always used to have the "groundbreaking mini-series"...I feel so cool now) I focused on the word "Leading" in LifePoint's mission statement...

Now I want to focus on: PEOPLE

I'm sick of local churches, para-church ministries, and generally people out for their own fame and fortune using people as statistics and numbers to justify their own greed and power play. I see churches all the time throwing out how many people they're reaching...statments like:

- We saw 165 decision for Christ
- We reached 500,000 kids for Jesus this year
- We had over 8,000 in attendance this past Sunday (a 26.5% increase same time last year)
- Blah - Blah - Blah

And the list could go on and on. Now here's my question for all the number lovers out there. I want you to define for me the term "reach" and I want you to tell me why "attendance" is in anyway a signficant indicator of your "ecclesiastical" and "gospel transformation" success?

I am tired of us making people a number. They are not numbers. They are lives. Souls. Hurts. Pains. Hopes. Dreams. Disasters. Tragedies. And you want to know why the state of Christianity is in the shape it's in?

Because pastors, ministry leaders, para-church ministries, et all have cared a whole lot more about the "numbers" at their churches/ministries than they have about the lives of the people involved. When you see people as a means to an end to justify your success or existence, you have failed miserably as a leader.

Numbers are not indicative of success - at least Biblically. And I'll hear people talk all the time about Luke recording the 3,000 conversions at Pentecost. I'll also hear people talk about "and there were many being added daily"..

Yea, you know there were. But they were adding daily because there valuable as people, not as another notch in the ministry belt. How does all this tie into LifePoint?

Because over the last couple weeks, every person I have asked the question "Why do you like LifePoint?", their answer has been remarkably consistent..."The People Here Are Great". And it starts with the leadership, and flows down to the church. The people at LifePoint care about one another and that's obvious from the outside looking in. They get involved in Community Groups, they fellowship together on Sunday mornings, they serve together when called upon, and they check up on one another in times of need.

To LifePoint, a person walking in the door isn't a number, they're a person. A person to know. A person to love. And a person to care for. You know it's funny, the people who worry about numbers never seem to see those numbers get big enough for them. But the people who care about people and not numbers, always seem to have the joy and fulfillment that the Lord brings...

Jesus never once looked around and said "Hey...look at the big crowds that are gathering...I must be doing something right"...

He did however look around and intentionally avoid publicity by saying "Go and tell no one". Jesus knew the danger of looking at people as numbers and as a means to an end for a selfish vision. But he chose to focus on the person and their lives and why their lives mattered.

I'm excited to be a part of a church where the focus is on people. Numbers may or may not come, but people will always be there to love, care, serve, and minister. The mission statement says more than you think it does...

Leading People To Be Real Christ Followers In Life...Together (1)

As many of you have probably picked up over the last week or so's worth of posts, I've started attending LifePoint Church in Ozark, MO. They are a Southern Baptist Church who is also a part of Acts 29. A strange combination in many respects but one that I think is working well.

Anyway, I wanted to blog about their mission statement. The more I'm around this church, the more I'm beginning to like. God is faithful and has done amazing things since my departure from Upward. REALLY cool stuff going on and more sharing about that in the upcoming months.

We'll take this one/few words at a time over the next days.

LEADING
Everything rises and falls on leadership and that is absolutely true. However, many people think that this means our human leadership. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Everything rises and falls on Jesus' leadership. If He is the head of the church, limitless potential exists. If He is not the head of the church, we labor only in our human frailty and all is in vein.

Lane Harrison, Lead Pastor, gets this. He is a man sold out to God and is as close to the real deal as I have come across in a while. He is honest, a man of character, forthright, loyal, open, transparent, vulnerable, confident, outspoken, but also a good listener.

The more I have gotten to know him, the more I begin to understand why LifePoint has been successful over the last three years and why it's future is very bright. He has his flaws, we all do, but he is a leader sold out to God first, his family second, his church next. He is passionate about developing leaders in his church and creating an ethos where leaders are identified, trained, matured, and empowered to carry on the ministry of the church.

He gets it. He's not afraid on confrontation. Conflict doesn't bother him. Truth and integrity matter. All delivered in a very pastoral way.

After spending time tonight with him in a community group, I am more convinced of his pastoral heart and his love for his people.

Everything will rise and fall on leadership. Is Jesus - the real Jesus - leading the leader of your organization? Or is your leader concerned more about image than substance, legalism than grace, his own glory rather than the glory of God? Is your leader sold out on the Bible? And does your leader know the Bible?

LifePoint's does. Not perfect. But real. And he embodies the first part of their mission statement: "Leading"