Fly wheel #2 is what goes down on Sunday…..

Our faith is not only about Sunday. The work of a minister goes way beyond Sunday.

If we were however to ask people who don’t go to church what they thought of when they thought of Christianity I am almost sure Sunday would show up at the top of their list.

People are looking for a non threatening environment to “check out” church. People are looking at our venue, music, kids program, and preaching. Although these are very superficial stuff and may not seem spiritual to you this is the stuff new people are looking at.

The bottom line. If we want our churches to grow Sunday has to be good.

Based on a fantastic book by Andy Stanley, this series is designed to help us become better decision makers.  We will spend 4 weeks looking at what the bible has to say about decision making.

we got a bunch of cool stuff happening this month.  here is a quick preview of what is going down:

week 1 compass:  direction not intention determines destination

week 2 today matters:  what i do today will affect my tomorrow
-our very own worship director TC will perform a special song driving home our main idea for this week

week3 know your role:  submitting to God’s will in my life
-special testimony from an awesome couple who had to make some tough career choices

week 4 attention:  what i pay attention to will direct my life.
-communion Sunday.  as we gear up for Easter we pause to remember our Lord.

you seriously need to be at this series.

The role of the church is to help people get closer to Jesus. I don’t care what kind of message series, campaigns, slick outreaches, food, or website we have. If we are not making disciples we are not doing what we are supposed to do.

Discipleship is a command that Jesus gave to ALL believers.

Discipleship is not dictating what people should or should not do. Making disciples is not about being the sin police.

Discipleship is about influencing and inspiring others toward faith, connection, and life with Jesus.

Working for the church full time I have to ask myself what are the fly wheels that we as the church should be constantly improving. What are the “same old boring strokes” that we should work at every day?

Countless hours are wasted by many church workers because this question can not be clearly answered. In some cases we are able to answer the question, but lack the discipline to focus on these activities.

Over the next few days I will take the time to share what I think these flywheels are that we as pastors and church leaders should be focusing on.

check out this promo vid.

Here is our process:
1. Develop my faith. Here are 4 practices to help us develop our faith:
-Sunday worship experience
-Essentials
-Encounter weekend
-Water baptism

2. Deepen my connections. Here are 2 practices to help us deepen our connections:
-Small groups
-Team grace

3. Devote my life. Here are 3 practices to help us devote our lives:
-Personal evangelism
-Community micro-missions
-World Missions

As we work to create this culture, we have summed up the job of our small group leaders into 2 words.

influence: motivating people to follow Jesus through our leadership.

inspire: motivating people to follow Jesus through our example.

The role of small group leaders is to influence and inspire people towards faith, connection, and life.

check back tomorrow as I unpack faith, connection, and life.

I will be using this blog to record all the action from our first son.  Check back as Benaiah continues to move through his developmental milestones.

We create this scary culture of claiming people as “our disciples”

We must remember that we are ALL disciples of Christ and no one else. As much as we need each other to grow in Christ, ultimately it is Jesus that changes the heart of men.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

-great staff meeting.  pushed us forward into 2nd half of the year.  definitely excited about stuff we got planned.

-unreal word meeting.  digging into James and uncovering some solid stuff that we will use as a starting point for sermon series for the back half of the year.

-weekend was off to a great start with a bunch of new people at xchange.  gotta love this.

-definitely learning a lot about parenting as we walk through this series.

-super blessed with Pastor Camille Omo as she unpacked learning to let go as our kids get older.  Seriously love this woman’s love for Jesus.

-definitely learning a lot of stuff from our parenting series.

-Join us this coming week as we launch our “rock the doc” segment featuring Dr Hale Akamine.