Some advice I gave

A friend wrote me about a change in ministry opportunity and asked my opinion on what he should do. Here was my reply:

Things are really going well. We survived a very icy winter down here and have avoided much of the cold/flu stuff. Ministry-wise, things are going really well. We are making some really tough decisions right now concerning some major building renovations and it is forcing us to get to the nitty-gritty of our philosophy of ministry. We have to invest in what we value...and when you have 7 departments all trying to state why their area has value, it's tough to get anything done really well. It's a great leadership learning experience for me!

Yeah, I got your message a while back and have been praying about your opportunity. In my 11 years of ministry (including 2 moves), I've come to really believe and trust that generally God's will is not as specific as we try and make it. Don't get me wrong...I know there are promptings of the Holy Spirit to act then and there. And I also believe that God does have plans and purposes for us. However, from what I read in Scripture about and specifically in Paul's journeys, I see him making choices where he would go and sometimes even how long he would stay.

I think the greater question you have to ask is where can I be most effective for the Kingdom and making Jesus famous. That doesn't mean I have to work in a mega church or be in a city to accomplish that. My dad was never in a town over 5000 people in his life. But I look back through his records of ministry and see hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of souls that he got to introduce to Jesus Christ. And for him, it was in the small town where he knew many people and could share Jesus in the everyday. And Dad knew that when crisis came (not if, but when) all those conversations and connections that he had with people would give them a reason to come to him to find answers to their problems. And the answer was always the same...Jesus.

So, my friend and brother - I pray that God opens your eyes and heart to see how He can use you to do what He's wired you to do with the greatest Kingdom impact as possible. You just have to sort out where that is. You've only got so many breaths to take and days to make Jesus famous.

I love ya, bro!
-Mark

A Bag of Chips

Shearer's Buffalo Wing Bleu Cheese Kettle Cooked Extra Crunchy Potato Chips to be exact. I found them at Big Lots for $1.70. They aren't bad. Actually, they are pretty good...but man, are they hot! I'm into spicy stuff. This will rip your tongue apart and just as you suck air into your mouth thinking that will extinguish the blaze, you find yourself really wanting to put your hand in the bag and pull out the next chip and do it all over again. If I had to complain about this bag of chips it would be that the Bleu Cheese hits you too hard too fast and the only thing that lingers is the vinegary heat. All in all, it's a good chip.

I love the staff at the church where I work. Simply put, we have a lot of fun together. We enjoy doing absolutely stupid stuff and laughing out loud as we make fun of each other. Someone gets pranked at least every other day and more often than not, everyone else is in on it. Beyond the friendships, it's a great collection of people that are really good at what they do.

After 10 years of ministry, I'm truly understanding that building a good team is really hard. Building a great team is even harder. What I absolutely love about the staff I get to work with is how the lines of departments are starting mix like flavors. We are making hires of people that are gifted in multiple areas and can be seen in several areas of the church rather than sporting a title or role. We aren't hiring round pegs to put fill holes. We are starting to see some really cool results from this and there are some things on the horizon that keep me up with so much excitement I can't sleep.

Mixing flavors puts Youth Minsters, Small Group Ministers, and Worship Leaders on the Preaching Team so that different connections can be made by the body. Mixing flavors lets students see the heart of the Senior Minister so they have ownership that they are a vital part of the body. Mixing flavors means making excellent decisions when building a great team. Because when people head home, in all the flavors they encountered on a Sunday, we hope that they simply tasted Jesus.

One Big Sonic Slush

So, my family and I are living in a hotel. The room is 20' x 15' = 300 sq feet. In this room is a full size refrigerator, cook top stove, dishwasher, sink, 37" plasma TV, 2 double beds, a closet containing an ironing board, a bathroom with a sink, toilet, tub & shower. Two adults and three small children. This isn't a social experiment on the breaking point of my sanity. This is a week long winter storm that is beyond frustrating.

Saturday night, we all went to bed in our warm home with the pending storm on it's way. About 1:30, not only did the rain start, but with it came thunder and lightning. It rained and rained and the temp was already at 30 degrees. Thankfully, the ground temperature never caught up to the air temperature. We received a massive amount of rain...and it hasn't quit. It's weird to hear the NOAA weather radio talk about a winter storm warning containing flash flooding.

I headed to church on Sunday about 6:00 AM to find a cold, dark building. We scrambled to find a generator to run a portable sound system. Our worship center slowly awakened with light from random pillar candles and a set of wedding candelabras complete with an arch. We ended up scrapping the sound system and had two acoustic guitars, communion, and some preaching. No nursery, children's programing, or teen programing. Come one come all to "Big Church". All in all, we were down about 1900 on Sunday, but the 200 that made to one of our three services had a memorable experience. As people entered the building, they couldn't believe we still had church without power or heat. It was rather awesome. How much more "in the moment' could you be considering the birth story of Jesus.

Just as first service began, Rachel called to tell me we lost power at home around 6:30. Another staff member and I grabbed a phone book to find us some hotel rooms. Knowing the magnitude of the storm and the forecast for the rest of the week, we knew it could take a while to restore power. We picked a hotel near the hospital and hoped that we were on the same power grid as them thinking that it would be a priority for uptime.

The trees and power lines didn't fair as well as the roads with the temperature. The word "warzone" is used on the news and by many people around the hotel. I've never been in a warzone, and being that our country is at war, I feel that those words are an overstatement. Nevertheless, we are in a disaster area. The sounds of trees breaking are as frequent as spring time birds chirping, though not as soothing to hear. The roads are cluttered with limbs.

Because the roads are wet, but not icy, people are out and about. Mind you, traffic lights aren't working, but people are out. I believe when a major storm of this magnitude is pending, news channels should be required to play a 15 minute loop of how to drive without traffic lights. It is an absolute free for all. The four-way stop concept is gone. You'll see a string of 3-4 cars just take off (from all directions). Once the middle of the intersection is full of cars, they all slow down and creep through to the direction they need to. Once it clears, the next round beings.

In that 15 minute news loops, they should also include reminders to the general dense of the population: When the power goes out, gas pumps, ATMs and credit card machines don't work. Fist fights are breaking out at gas stations over powdered donuts and loaves of bread. You won't be able to buy a chainsaw or a geneartor for 500 miles around the city. When the power does return, most gas stations that are open, are only taking cash as their satellite uplinks are iced over to run credit cards. Chaos.

Good news, both Starbucks are still open. The drive through will take you about 25 minutes from order to pickup, but you can still get your hot "necessities".

Today, we went back up to the house to check on it. We cleaned out the fridge and freezer and what we salvaged, we brought back to the hotel to refreeze or eat. Nothing like an ice storm to clean out and deep clean that appliance. We stepped out into the garage and the storm damage from last year quickly was remembered as our garage ceiling had fallen in and insulation was all over. Thankfully, the 5-year warranty by the construction company will be utilized, however, I'm sure we'll be low on the priority list since it is out of their pocket.

So, no power at home and more nasty is in the forecast. We've made friends with all the front desk clerks and we're here until we get power restored at home.

As I drove back to the hotel, I noticed Sonic's bright LED sign attempting to entice those passing by with 1/2 price drinks from 2-4 with a picture of a 44oz slush. I'm sure they aren't getting too may people paying out anything for an icy drink.

REVOLUTION

We're just wrapped up a sermon series here at CCO. I was challenged by someone to blog about our series design so that others in the Creative Arts could share our ideas. Here it goes. Click on the pictures for larger detailed images.

The series aim was to get people into their gifted areas of service. The take-home was that love is our motivation as we have been loved first. After a friend of mine posted some pictures of his business trip to Las Vegas, I learned there was a club near the Cirque Theater in the Mirage Hotel & Casino called REVOLUTION. On the outside of the club, you can see these giant letters spelling REVOLUTION, but once you enter all you clearly see is the word LOVE.

We decided to build our stage design around this textual prop, but take it a little further. First, we made our graphic design for the series. Next, we went to Lowe's and purchased two 4'x8' sheets of 3" insulation foam board. After tracing out the letters with the help of a video projector, they were cut out with a jig saw. The foam cuts great with a jig saw, but you will have tiny shavings everywhere. Do this outside if possible. If you have a jig saw with a Shop-Vac attachment, that would be even better. The letters were painted red and black like the logo. Be sure and never use spray paint on the foam. The aerosol will eat the foam. If you have plenty of time, one or two layers of Kills primer will keep the wording printed on the foam from showing through your color.

We really wanted to let 'LOVE' move, so we purchased a sign motor from a local electrical supply company that rotates at 1 RPM ($75). Actually, it isn't motor, rather a gear (as there isn't a good way to keep a motor properly cooled with that much electrical resistance). After taking measurements based on our letter size, we cut and painted some 1x4s to put our letters on. They were attached to the boards with 10-minute drying epoxy. The boards had to be 3 layers thick in order to span the 16' word yet leave a space for the LOVE part to rotate. Bible College math came in very handy here! After figuring out where the balance point was on EVOL, we mounted the motor. The long word was placed on concrete blocks that we covered with black material. The motor was plugged into a dimmer channel so we could control the rotation from front of house. Timing the word to stop in it's proper location came with a learning curve.

We back lit the word with some milky Plexiglases panels we built last year. We've used these for several different sets in different configurations. Because we're limited on power on our stage with dimmer packs, we opted to use some small halogen shop lights. We covered the metal frame with gel sheets. They gave a nice glow without major hot spots. The gels lasted all 6 weeks running 5 hours straight each Sunday.

During the countdown clock before each service started, we played David Crowder Band's "Revolutionary Love" while LOVE spun around.

When You're Here, You're Family

Rachel and the kids made a grandparents tour this week. Their plan wasn't intentional in leaving me stranded in Joplin. I was supposed to be in San Diego for a week as of Wednesday. The purpose of my trip was to get away from the office and do some major planning for my department at church. Some changes are coming for my department and I want to be prepared as much as possible. I have family in San Diego that extended an invite to visit, so I thought a good place to do some thinking and planning might be on the beach. However a small brush fire changed those plans.

So the family went on their way to see grandparents and I stayed back so I would actually do some planning. The next best place I could think of besides the beach was Panera Bread. I'd been there for lunch a couple of times for meetings. I'd noticed people who "set up camp" in a corner or on one of the nice leather chairs or love seats. I thought I would try endless coffee, high speed internet, a comfy chair and the aroma of bread baking as my work environment! Four lunches and two dinners later, I've become part of the Panera Bread family.

It is an interesting environment. I've met Greg, a district manager for a major bank who is in the area each Thursday and Friday. Colson is a non-traditional student at Missouri Southern that spends the days working on papers and such taking advantage of the WiFi and free soda refills. Tonight, there are three girls doing a Bible Study over by the fireplace and a lady in her 30s showing some older people (I'm guessing they could be her parents) pictures of a recent vacation on her laptop. (I recall the days of setting up the portable screen and slide projector in our living room and watching my parent's slides of their years in Puerto Rico as missionaries).

What is amazing to me is the investment that places like Panera and Starbucks put into their environment to keep people around. And more than that, they've arranged the place to work in community. On a Friday or Saturday night, most places are eager to serve you your meal, present you your check and get you out the door to reseat that table about seven or eight times that night.

Does the church really put time, energy, and resources into creating spaces for community? I believe too often we are guilty of trying to empty seats and parking spaces so the next service can start and usually with less than 5-10 minutes to spare. Is it any wonder that we have churches that are full of pew sitters and bystanders? People are herded in and out because we are on a schedule. We squeeze into announcements about getting plugged into a small group so you can experience community, but once they step out the door and fight the congested hallways to grab their kids, the last place they want to go is check out the resource center to find out more info about community. And so they don't. But they'll be back next Sunday for their sixty two minutes and the next week and the next. Kind of like the hurried dining experience at a restaurant like Olive Garden who claims "when you're here, you're family". I've always been confused about that...when I leave, am I no longer family?

I need to go pick up my bagel pack for the greenroom in the morning. The work crew just cheered because it's 9:00 PM and they can start cleaning up. The song "Closing Time" was just sung by one of the girls. She actually sang the lyrics, "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here". Sounds like a good benediction for some churches.

Iced Caf con Leche :: Refreshing

We have a family blog that serves the purpose of keeping family and friends updated on all the happenings of the five of us. However, I've recently been challenged to intentionally spend more time being personally creative. In previous positions in churches that I've worked, I had a weekly opportunity to think about and craft a meditation or segue for the worship service. Many commented to me over the years of my ability to see Jesus in the everyday and to share that in story. My intent is that this becomes a place for me to share such stories and to see how God puts his divine fingerprints on everything. Mold me.

I love coffee. There are many on this planet that love it more than I do. These connoisseurs take their roasting and brewing to a whole new level complete with popcorn poppers and heat shrink guns and the occasional modified bread machine. Yet, there are also many who think that Folgers is still the best part of waking up. I am somewhere in the middle and probably lean a little to the crazed fanatic side.

The summer brought about a whole new opportunity for coffee. While some insist on hot and black all-year round, I need temperature variety. The last few months, I've been starting my morning and evening with an Ice Caf con Leche. What once was a weekly pick me up from Starbucks has become an at-home pursuit of the perfect recipe. So far, I've come up with the following:

1. 12 brewed cups of Don Quijote from The Roasterie brewed strong in my Mr. Coffee showering brewer.

2. Chill this brew in the refrigerator in a clean milk jug for 24 hours.

3. Fill a 20oz glass with 1/3 of ice (I prefer crushed).

4. Fill with milk until ice is covered

5. Add a touch of flavored syrup (I prefer sugar free vanilla)

6. Fill the remaining of the glass with chilled coffee.

7. Mix and enjoy with a straw.

This isn't rocket science...it's iced coffee with milk. It isn't complicated to make, but it is convenient to run through the drive thru. Starbucks and recently, McDonald's will create this beverage for their customers for about $3.19. Calculated out, I have about $0.30 each in my morning and evening routine.

Recently, I've been stretched with some of the same issues within the church. For many, the church has made the educational process for a growing Christian into an expensive drive thru experience. The incredible substance of the Word has been complied into expensive marketing packaging to be redistributed to those in search of convenience. What's even more frustrating is the amount of this stuff that is used for it's 6-8 week purpose, then moved down to the massive curriculum storage room also known as the church library. All the while hoping that the UPS man arrives before the end of the week so that Sunday can happen.

What if a marketing campaign swept the country that challenged leadership teams, small group leaders, and Sunday School teachers to take a book and walk through it together. Stop by that church library and find a commentary or bring your computer to and use the WiFi to pull up an online commentary and walk through a book together. Will it be messy - yes. Will it be a nice packaged 45 minute session - probably not. But I'm reminded of a couple old sayings,

"Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime."
:: Confucius

or

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
:: 1 Peter 2:2-5