H1N1 Implications

I always hated cancelling church. Had a mentor that never believed in it. You should have seen the look in his eye when he told me I better never either. Been too scared ever since to even think about it...until I was on my way home one day (Christmas Eve actually) sliding down a huge hill backwards in the snow with my young family holding on for dear life as I "drove" home. Then I realized there are worse things, especially when people's safety is at stake.

For the first time in my life last week I realized we might face a church closing some Sunday, not because of snow or ice, but because of flu.

It is causing us all to rethink some things...

1. How do we handle the greeting time now? Do we stop altogether? Give people an out? Do we pass the Purell at the same time we pass the plates? Is there a litany we can incorporate that makes people feel just as welcome or even more so? Instead of a hug, we could pass the peace by saying, "God is glad you're here and so am I!" or whatever you like.

2. And then there's communion. Do I dare dip my bread after someone else just dipped their fingers too? Saw it done recently where it was really done well. The servers broke the bread off for me and handed it to me, right after they washed with Purell before they stood at their stations. They explained that as hard as I might try I can't "possess it" for myself, I couldn't. Grace is given.

Got any other ideas that you can share to help us all figure out what very well be our new normal?

Building Momentum, "In My Life," part 1

Someone recently commented, "Waiting for your post now on building momentum for your life." And I immediately thought of a book written by one our region's leading pastors with that exact intent, "Momentum for Life" by Michael Slaughter. In it, he shares his "five life practices for balance and self-leadership" which "together form the acronym D-R-I-V-E:

1. Devotion to God
2. Readiness for Life-Long Learning
3. Investing in Key Relationships
4. Visioning for the Future.
5. Eating and Exercise for Life.

Following the metaphor of the above as it relates to me, under...

Devotion to God...I stay in the word and prayer with both a deliberate, "setting-down-all-else" time as part of my Daily Rule as well as taking advantage of moments of centering all throughout my day. Studying the Contemplative Prayer movement has been a real soul-saver. Merton and Thomas Keating have both been invaluable on that.

I serve and try to lay down my life daily. I don't "go to work." My work I treat as part of my service in addition to other. I pray I am devoted to God in every breath. And there are a myriad of things I do to stay in tune with that.

I recently signed up for just a simple thing, a daily scripture sent to my email in-box which I can get on my cell phone. Each day it feels like I am getting "a special message from heaven sent just for me." They have actually really hit me personally each time. A quick internet search can sign you up too.

Probably the biggest thing thing I do is to keep my daily faith practices fresh. Instead of doing the same thing week in and week out of every year, I live more as a free-bird according to the season. Others might be wired though different. Right now I am reading through the Bible in a year (or so) and journaling what I am learning in the Book of Judges, in addition to a new book here or there. I've also been deliberate recently in retreating where I can in nature, getting away and getting quiet to gain clarity in what can be the flood of my life.

If someone is actually interested, I'll finish what I've been doing with the R-I-V-E in successive posts. Stay tuned...

Building Momentum, "In Worship"

More thoughts...

1. Teach on worship.
2. Eliminate all but 2-3 pulpit announcements.
3. Outlaw dead space. Make sure people are prepared when it is their time to go.
4. We called it "traveling music." Instead of dead space, use some transition music.
5. Become the best, kick-butt preacher you can be. We are competing with everyone on TV, the internet, and the self-help industry. We have to make it worth people's while to listen to us. Feed their soul with the richest of truth and in the most enthralling of manners. Channel a combination of T.D. Jakes and Henri Nouwen. Ok, now I'm kidding, mostly.
6. Recruit and train first class musicians. God is worth our most excellent effort. Putting money here is usually well spent. In planting a church, the worship leader/musician is often a more important position than even the pastor. Sorry, it's true. :-O
7. Sing mostly what people know. People can only handle so many new songs in one service. Usually, it's about one.
8. Make sure everything connects back to the theme. We can make our churches disjointed in the flow as well as the logic. We are shepherds. Shepherd their hearts and minds.
9. Start with a bang: something upbeat, that everyone can participate in.
10. Find the spiritual-emotional flow of your service/people, i.e. get in touch with the movement of the Spirit.
11. Leonard Sweet said post-modern worship needs to follow the E.P.I.C. pattern... experiential, participatory, image-based, and connective.
12. Make it as multi-sensory as it can be.
13. Throw cheeseburgers to the balcony (I confess, I did that once.)
14. Keep them guessing.
15. Creativity, creativity, creativity... God said it was good.

Feel free to share your ideas...

Building Momentum, "In the Life of Your Church"

Just some things that you can do...

1. Begin a visioning team and process for your church.
2. Launch a new ministry to reach out to the community.
3. Start a small group for those that are willing and have the capability to launch their own small group. I called them "turbo groups." Can start a small group ministry from 0 to 60-80% in a very short time.
4. Divide the church up in small groups and do a church-wide study. It can do the same thing.
5. Get a new haircut and become a new kind of leader. Seriously.
6. Do a creative sermon series that kicks it all up a notch.
7. Deliberately try to up your quality level of worship over the long haul.
8. Start a new service.
9. Deal with your own angst and anger.
10. Be just a tad bit more positive and treat people just a tad bit nicer.
11. Just do one cool event that no one has ever done before. See what God does through it.
12. Celebrate people's accomplishments. Thank people.
13. Make eye contact and say hi to everyone you meet (Oh, you'd be surprised...).
14. Balance your church's budget and get them out of the red. "Right-size" your ministry. That can alleviate a lot of extra stress that no one needs.

Others??? Feel free to add your own in a comment...

Church Visit, "Committing to the Long Haul," Greenville EUM

My wife and worshipped with Greenville EUM last week at their big, blow-out community service held at the city park. What a great outreach opportunity: free food and carnival for all, over 1,000 likely in attendance. What we’re seeing there is the result of a long-term, committed effort of solid work. Every step of the way Bill Lyle and his team try to do it right, exploring the issues thoroughly and making the right calls missionally. Their discipleship development and missional outreach efforts are largely now driving it all. There’s a level of fruitfulness that can only be achieved after several years, and many of them in the trenches. I pray God meets you at a depth of soul with a strength that runs deeper than your need.

Building Momentum, "Pulpit Announcements"

I have been to a lot of different church services lately. Have seen and experienced lots of great hospitality. Seen a lot of the same things I used to struggle with though too in the pastorate: like balancing all that sometimes needs to get included in a particular service. On my first Sunday in one of the churches I served, I received 13 different requests for special, pulpit announcements at the last minute that included virtually everything, including the kitchen sink. That can really kill the momentum of a service. I have found that a pulpit announcement is sometimes a poor substitute for inviting someone personally to your event. I tried to teach my folk all the many ways that they can create momentum and interest in their event or program. Ministry is, at the heart, relationship building, and not program promoting. Announcing something from the pulpit was very strategic though when trying to mobilize the whole church behind a key initiative supporting the overall vision of the church. Our attention spans are only so long, 22 seconds the last time I checked. We already speak “at” them in our preaching. Maybe one more moment at the max, but much more than that can kill the Spirit’s movement and flow in the service. Reading all the prayer requests and then praying all the prayer requests can be more than enough sometimes too. Town and rural churches, though, seem to love that, however sometimes our practice inadvertently keeps us small. There are creative ways to incorporate it all. Found anything that worked effectively for you?

Stewardship, "Some of the Best Stuff I/We Ever Did," Part 1

Some of the best stuff I/we ever did to enhance the level of stewardship in my church included...
1. As uncomfortable as it was, determined not to be afraid to talk about money.
2. Keep people (my givers) informed on the status of things.
3. I made it a point to do a stewardship focused series each year to keep that imbedded in the culture of our church.
4. Picked up Mike Slaughter's book, "Money Matters," one of the best resources on the topic, and learned how to talk about money.
5. Instead of trying to get more people to give to the church, I tried to identify and speak to their real, felt need.
6. Instead of trying to get more people to give to the church, I tried to feature the mission of Jesus and invited people to participate in that.
7. Divided the need into measurable chunks so that it seemed within reach.
8. Helped people see the abundance of God rather than the scarcity within the world.
9. Thanked people, hopefully a lot.
10. Built into people's lives. When the opportunity came to give back, they were more than happy to.
11. Asked.
12. Featured and told of the stories of life change, that their dollar was really making a difference.
13. Tried to be as creative as I could get to teach the biblical principles.
14. Tried to help people see stewardship as a "Get-to" and not a "Have-to," i.e. "We get to participate in the kingdom movement."
15. Realized the Bible teaches at least a little "health and wealth" as much as it does the "suffering for Jesus," (but not necessarily in the same way that some of the televangelists teach).
16. Helped people see that it wasn't just about the money, but our whole life of devotion to God.

Church Visit, "Community Involvement," Jackson Center UMC

Jackson Center UMC recently dedicated a new community center, a refurbished warehouse about a block away from their traditional church site. Some said it needed to be torn down. Old fashioned hard work and ingenuity turned it into a seniors' center, banquet facility, conference center, after school program site, and fitness center for the community. They remodeled it all virtually themselves with community volunteers. A gift for the community it was built by the community. Everyone got involved. City officials really wanted it to work so they did their best in supporting the effort and getting it through government hoops. City workers stopped by after work to pitch in too. The grand opening was a "gala affair" of "who's who" in J.C. Even and, one might say, especially in a small town, people responded to a vision, one that wasn't self-serving but community-serving, that actually fulfilled some real needs and wasn't just to get people in the door and help the church. The folks at Jackson Center UMC helped the community fulfill a long held dream.