Today we stopped by Wheaton College one of the premiere Christian colleges in the nation.  We got there after Saturday visiting hours but we drove around their beautiful campus. We followed that up by watching the new Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz movie Knight and Day.  It was much better than the last time they teamed up together in a movie, but probably worth waiting until it gets released on DVD.

The highlight of the day was attending the 4PM service at the YellowBox campus of Community Christian Church.  I got to know their senior pastor Dave Ferguson (author The Big Idea & Exponential) a bit through the years and was hoping to meet up again but his schedule wouldn’t permit it.  Some of the things they do and have done are similar to parts of the vision that God has given me for ExponentialChurch.tv.  We did get to meet their campus pastor briefly before the service and he seemed like a great guy.  We we’re going to try to catch up with him at the end of their 2nd service of the night but since we had another 2 1/2 hour drive yet tonight we didn’t want to wait any longer.

CCC currently has 11 locations and we were at one of the originals.  Even though they are multi-site, most of the the time their campus pastors preach live a message that the entire team has co-written together.  Tonight they were wrapping up a series on being transformed and so it was a combination of Dave Ferguson via pre-recorded message and then the campus pastor Shawn finishing up live.  The band did a great job covering some really familiar songs and even a couple of hymns.  Lisa and I both commented that both male singers were two of the best we’ve ever heard.

One interesting thing is the people of CCC take communion every week.  I did notice that a lot of people seemed to be taking it  sort of non-nonchalantly.  I think there is a fine line between not taking it so often that it just becomes something we do and then taking it often enough that it is honored in the way Jesus wants it.  Not saying they’re doing anything wrong…just my observations.

The picture  is of people coming on stage at the end of the message showing how they’ve been transformed.  They would hold the poster board one way showing how they used to be and then flip it showing the difference Jesus has made in their lives.  My favorite was the couple who walked on with the sign saying, “28 years in a destructive marriage”.  They then flipped it and it read, “1st anniversary of marriage in Christ”.  I’ve seen this kind of thing done before and it never fails to have an impact on me…not sure why I haven’t stolen the idea yet.

All in all it was a good service and the building was easy to find and easy to navigate.  On the way out I picked up a copy of the Exponential book for obvious reasons.  Hopefully I can read it soon and pass along my thoughts.

Really cool night.  At the conference they did special recognitions and awards.  First, Earl Mills the senior pastor where I just finished serving was honored for having the church with the most conversions, most baptisms and highest growth in the last 3 years.  Glad I could serve there and play a part in the awesome things that God did.

Next, Earl’s brother-in-law, Dave Draper was given the first ever John Winebrenner Leadership Award for his years of faithful service to God and the Churches of God.  Dave is the President of Winebrenner Seminary and has been one of the more influential men in my life even though I’ve only known him for a few years.

Again so awesome to see two guys I love and respect so much be honored for their leadership and faithfulness to God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

• 1.  I am sent.
  • John 20:19-25
  • When missionaries go overseas and learn the culture so that they can better reach the community, we applaud that.  When we do that in our local communities, we are looked down on.
• 2.  To all different kinds of people.
  • Matthew 28:18-20
  • When Jesus says all nations, His listeners wouldn’t have thought of nations like we do…after all many of them didn’t yet exist.  Instead He meant the Gentiles, those not like us.  We must have a heart to reach people that don’t look and talk like us.
  • We should celebrate churches that are not like our own.
  • Ed…”They Yee’d and Haw’d” in the church I spoke at last week”.
  • If you are going to be a part of a multiplying movement then you need to branch out to other people.
• 3.  To preach about repentance of sins.
  • Luke 24:46-49
  • Repentance is all about a bloody cross and an empty tomb.  It’s not about how to be a better person so you can feel better about yourself.
  • We need to hold our models of ministry loosely and our Jesus closely.
• 4.  Through the power of the Spirit.
  • Acts 1:6-8
  • Worry less about who are all the characters in the end times and more about who are your neighbors in your community.
  • No church is effective if they are not reaching people locally, planting churches nationally and adopting unknown people groups globally.
  • Do be satisfied with addition.  You need to multiply but that only comes through the help of the Spirit.

• First the picture is of my wife Lisa who is celebrating her birthday today!
• 1 Peter 4:8-10
• 1.  ALL have gifts.
  • True Christianity isn’t knowing more minutia, it’s serving others.
  • We are all called to ministry at the moment of conversion.
  • If you end up with more spectators than servants in your church something is wrong.  We need to encourage people to get up off their blessed assurance and get to work for God.
  • A bad economy is good for churches because instead of finding more paid professionals to do the work of the ministry, we instead do it the biblical way and have people volunteer.
  • Many times we take the super great volunteers and start paying them but that only hinders the mission of God because it again tells the church that ministry is only for people who get paid.
• 2.  God intends all to use their gifts.
  • Our job is to be good managers of all that God has given us including our gifts.
  • We lead our people into sin when we teach people to know but not do the Bible.
  • Too many churches don’t look like a body, but instead a pile of dismembered parts acting dysfunctionally like our government.
  • The church needs to be more than just a show where we simply come to be a spectator…it needs to be a group that together are on mission to change their community for Christ.
  • The people are not to just pray, pay and get out of the way.
• 3. For which He empowers us.
  • We have created a culture where our people are more dependent on the pastor than they are on God.  (Codependency)
  • In a codependent church relationship the people need the pastor (hospital visits, teach me the bible, etc) and pastors get their identity from it (I’m the hero, I met their needs, I rescued them, etc) but eventually we resent them because they get mad when we’re not there for them and we realize that nobody is doing ministry but us.
  • We need to unleash the Susan Boyle’s of the world to use their talents if they don’t look the part.
• 4.  To bring God glory.
  • Ephesians 4:11-13
  • When the church becomes a Sunday only performance, then it looks like only a few get the credit instead of God.
  • Churches should look like airports.  Planes come in for a short time to get fueled up but then they leave to do what they are designed to do.
  • Sunday’s should be a place where your people come in to get re-fueled so they can go out and be on mission.
  • Pastors stop doing the ministry.  If people keep insisting then tell them, “Let me teach you how to do that”.

“There are more verses you can find in the bible that would point to you having a concubine than forming a denomination”.  Funniest line Ed had today.  He’s not against denominations he just wanted to make sure we don’t get bogged down in bureaucracy.

3 questions to ask:

1.  Am I looking for the gifting in people?
2.  Am I putting people into the roles they were created for?
3.  Am I willing to stop doing something so someone else can?