I had hoped to summarize the rest of our conference but got too distracted by all the fun in the sun. If you don't believe me take a close look at Dave and Lenie - they are the ying and yang of the value of sunscreen!
If I can put 35 pages of notes into a couple of thoughts they would this:
We must do all we can as individuals and a s a church to assist believers in growing to maturity. It must be woven into the very fabric of who we are - we will be talking about this thing called "Life on Life Missional Evangelism" in the weeks to come. We already have some basic processes in place, we call them Grove 101, 201, 301. I went to work developing 401 before I left for Orlando and will be rolling it out soon.
The final thought for tonight is this: the world is looking for Real People and the Real Truth, Really! More on what this means later.
I hope you will join us this Sunday at 9am at the Y for Melanie Rodriguez's baptism!
She is a young woman who has worked very hard to put herself through college - just graduated with her degree in nursing and now wants to get more serious about her walk with the Lord. I hope we can blow her away by supporting her in this Next Step.
Are you hearing God's voice tell you it's time to be baptized? Give me a call if that's the case.
Til next time - stay In His Grip
Jeff
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Update From Exponential 08
Hello again!
It's been an exhausting day. Our first workshop began at 8am and we went til 5:20pm. So much to process and consider as it applies to The Grove.
It has been good on several fronts to realize that we are doing some great things already!
At the same time there are things we could be doing we are not.
I need to make sure the clear vision that God has given to me for His church is stated clearly in our vision - so expect some further writing about that. The prevailing theme throughout this conference has been the development of disciples and leaders. I have been challenged by Randy Popes definition of "Life on Life Missional Discipleship". He has 40 years of discipling men in small groups and if he ever had to choose between pastoring his church of 3,500 or raising up leaders in a small group and he wouldn't take 20 seconds to choose the small group.
In order for The Grove to fulfill it's mission of planting new churches in N/E Ohio we must raise up more leaders and more artists.
A lot of conversation has taken place over a church's DNA. At the same time I've been reading a book on the subject and am curious what others think is unique about us. What sets The Grove apart form any other church.? I don't mean better or superior, just what makes us unique?
Alan Hirsh has challenged us to look at 4 areas that we need to recover in order to get back to our "ethos" - or our characteristic spirit of our church culture.
Here are two of them (I hope you find it as interesting as I):
We must recover the absolute centrality of Jesus of His own movement. (meaning the Christian church movement)
We must recover discipleship as the core task of the church.
I especially enjoyed seeing an old friend, Steve Andrews from Kensington Community Church in Troy Michigan. I'll write more tomorrow about his thoughts and any additional insights I get in the final sessions tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for Lenie, Dave and I that we will capture all we need to in order to come home inspired and motivated to take the next step in church planting.
In His Grip,
Jeff
It's been an exhausting day. Our first workshop began at 8am and we went til 5:20pm. So much to process and consider as it applies to The Grove.
It has been good on several fronts to realize that we are doing some great things already!
At the same time there are things we could be doing we are not.
I need to make sure the clear vision that God has given to me for His church is stated clearly in our vision - so expect some further writing about that. The prevailing theme throughout this conference has been the development of disciples and leaders. I have been challenged by Randy Popes definition of "Life on Life Missional Discipleship". He has 40 years of discipling men in small groups and if he ever had to choose between pastoring his church of 3,500 or raising up leaders in a small group and he wouldn't take 20 seconds to choose the small group.
In order for The Grove to fulfill it's mission of planting new churches in N/E Ohio we must raise up more leaders and more artists.
A lot of conversation has taken place over a church's DNA. At the same time I've been reading a book on the subject and am curious what others think is unique about us. What sets The Grove apart form any other church.? I don't mean better or superior, just what makes us unique?
Alan Hirsh has challenged us to look at 4 areas that we need to recover in order to get back to our "ethos" - or our characteristic spirit of our church culture.
Here are two of them (I hope you find it as interesting as I):
We must recover the absolute centrality of Jesus of His own movement. (meaning the Christian church movement)
We must recover discipleship as the core task of the church.
I especially enjoyed seeing an old friend, Steve Andrews from Kensington Community Church in Troy Michigan. I'll write more tomorrow about his thoughts and any additional insights I get in the final sessions tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for Lenie, Dave and I that we will capture all we need to in order to come home inspired and motivated to take the next step in church planting.
In His Grip,
Jeff
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Delays, Alligators and 84 Degrees
Well its been way too long since I last wrote. I'd have written Sunday but we were stuck in the airport for a 3+ hour delay and didn't get here til late. Then we learned our rooms weren't set up for Internet. On top of it all I had to pay when I got to the Internet cafe.
Dave Orloski, Lenie Pitsenbarger and myself are attending Exponential 08 in Orlando this week. We started our week out at Kissimmee Wildlife Tours and an airboat ride which was a blast!
We ended the evening wandering around downtown Disney and watching people and the beautiful lights in the warm evening air.
Today we went to First Baptist Church of Orlando for the start of this church planting conference and were treated to an excellent band from 2/42 Community Church. (Those who helped us start 2.0 will remember visiting this church on our field trip.) Their church has grown from the 350 at the grand opening to over 1200 today.
Then Andy Stanley spoke on the subject of vision. He clarified several things for me and helped generate more conversation with Dave and Lenie and I. They're at the beach/waterfront and I'm slaving over a hot keyboard. Not really - really wanted to keep in touch with all of you.
Hope you enjoy the few pics I've attached and we ask for your prayers as we continue to seek God's revelation about our next church plant! Talk with you soon - in the meanwhile I remain,
In His Grip,
Jeff
Dave Orloski, Lenie Pitsenbarger and myself are attending Exponential 08 in Orlando this week. We started our week out at Kissimmee Wildlife Tours and an airboat ride which was a blast!
We ended the evening wandering around downtown Disney and watching people and the beautiful lights in the warm evening air.
Today we went to First Baptist Church of Orlando for the start of this church planting conference and were treated to an excellent band from 2/42 Community Church. (Those who helped us start 2.0 will remember visiting this church on our field trip.) Their church has grown from the 350 at the grand opening to over 1200 today.
Then Andy Stanley spoke on the subject of vision. He clarified several things for me and helped generate more conversation with Dave and Lenie and I. They're at the beach/waterfront and I'm slaving over a hot keyboard. Not really - really wanted to keep in touch with all of you.
Hope you enjoy the few pics I've attached and we ask for your prayers as we continue to seek God's revelation about our next church plant! Talk with you soon - in the meanwhile I remain,
In His Grip,
Jeff
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