What does it really look like to be a person who walks with Jesus? The answers often create more questions and Jesus had a knack for leaving people scratching their heads in wonder, disbelief, mystery and even anger. In today’s day and age we are far from having Jesus figured out, but his Gospels do provide several things that when looked at closely give us a deep sense of what it is to Walk with Jesus. Join us as we learn together over the next six Sundays.

 
Sunday February 26: Week 1 // Seeing is Believing;  John 1
Sunday March 4: Week 2 // Come & See the Unlikely; John 4
Sunday March 11: Week 3 // Come & See Commonplace Miracles; John 6
Sunday March 18: Week 4 // Come & See Insane Sacrifice; John 10
Sunday March 25: Week 5 // Come & See a Life Worth Dying For; John 11
Sunday April 1: Week 6 // Come & See a Humble King; John 12

• Plan to stick around after church April 1 for a great afternoon at our 3rd Annual Family Fun Day.

When I hear of malaria in the villages of Tanzania or dental needs in the jungles of South America the needs can seem so far away. When I hear that simple nets in Africa and floss in South America could curb these afflictions many are compelled to act. But what about the needs in our own backyard? Did you know every month, in YOUR neighborhood moms and kids go to bed hungry? The immediate action for us is so simple. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25 that those who Walk with Him simply give food to the hungry. No deliberation needed.

On a recent trip to the newly formed Orangevale Food Bank our church staff was moved to see that with VERY few resources this  5-week old ministry had already served 200 local families with a week’s worth of groceries each. As we toured their humble facilities we were all inspired to action. So let me be one of the first to invite the Disciples Church community to join US in action to help curb hunger in our own region.

The first of what I expect will be an ongoing partnership with the Orangevale Food Bank is happening Saturday March 17.

• They need gardeners to prep for fruit trees & landscapers to clear ground.
• They need people to bring canned soups & chili and help organize shelves and stock boxes.
• They need contractors to update electrical & roofing.
• They need people with cars to run and pick up donations.

Please carve out some time in your day to join us as we serve. Getting involved is so simple, just email info AT disciples church and let us know you plan to help. We will be in touch to coordinate jobs in line with your skills. Get your Small Group together. Bring the whole family, there are ways to serve for anyone from school age and up.

Many more details to come, but for now, just let us know you are coming. I and my family are excited to serve alongside you Saturday March 17.

-Pastor Stu

January 8: Dealing with Life’s Delays; Genesis 37:1-17
January 15: Enduring Difficulties; Genesis 37:18-28
January 22: Breaking Through Dead Ends; Genesis 39
January 29: The Day of Deliverance; Genesis 41

As we ring in 2012 together with our normal 10a gathering on New Year’s Day we will also be kicking off a new series. Life is full of changes, and often times change brings darker days. Days and seasons, sometimes even years of delay, difficulty and dead ends. But as we Walk with Jesus these experiences IN THE WAITING ROOM can be some of our most powerful experiences with God and community.

Join us each Sunday in January, beginning Jan 1 as we explore others who are Walking With Jesus and navigating THE WAITING ROOM. New Year’s Day will kick off the series with our Annual BEST THING I LEARNED THIS YEAR sharing time from our Ministry Staff. Several of our ministry leaders will take stools and simply share, in five minutes, what God taught them this year.

Every Sunday in January, 10a. We hope to experience the joys, yes joys, of THE WAITING ROOM together.

For more info on Sharon and what she will be doing on staff to serve, see her bio: http://www.discipleschurch.net/staff/sharon-bollum/

It’s Wednesday afternoon, 4p. I am sitting in a local pub (Starbucks was so 90’s). As I scroll through a bunch of junk email from Amazon and Apple trying to look more important than I am I see him walk in the door and begin his search for me. We’ve never met but I know right away it’s my 4p meeting, but since I am so cool I wait patiently for him to find me. How do I know it’s my 4p you ask?  Simple really, he’s a 20-something wearing plaid and has this year’s edgiest interpretation of a Pastoral Fow-Hawk—or whatever you call it.

He sits down, we both order the most obscure pint on tap and start talking about how it’s not nearly hoppy enough for our bold taste. Just after we discuss beer selections we start talking about church. He is a planter, failed planter, wannabe planter, gonna-be planter or something in that region…As we discuss models for ministry I am careful not to say any of the 4-letter words that pastor’s disdain these days. No, not curse words. Pastoral 4-letter words.

Lost
Save
Hell
Or the doozie of them all, so much so it gets TEN letters: Evangelize.

I don’t mention these words, instead I let him enjoy his first beer while he talks about all he intends for his city through church planting, his plan has everything to do with MISSIONAL LIVING. Puke.

He and his team of six are going to clothe the homeless, serve the city, adopt teachers, end slavery, baptize chimps on the moon & do it all in Toms shoes & sunglasses.

I sit quietly by, listening with some level of authentic interest, after all these are GREAT things to do. But are they really things to be ABOUT? This goes on for a while: the t-shirts they will print, the websites they will launch, even a coffee house or retail store giving proceeds back to the needy. He is pumped and I am, despite my current snarky demeanor, excited for him as well. But there is a part of the conversation that is still suspiciously lacking, evangelism!

Our second beer comes. He gets a few sips in and I drop the bomb. He has by now lost a bit of his inhibitions (because he usually drinks 4% with an orange slice, not 8% in an Imperial) so he can’t dance around it as well as normal. I ask, “Can you remember a time when Jesus did ANYTHING that you would constitute ‘missional’ without also talking about lost-ness, need for salvation, impending doom, money or personal sin?”

He has no answer right away, other than to allude to their strategy that will patiently “earn the right to share the Gospel after building a relationship”. We finish our beer with some small talk, compare “friend counts” on Facebook and go our separate ways. I am left troubled.

This is a quality guy, and I am decent too. How did one of us go so wrong? Who is right? Are we both wrong?

Then I am reminded when Jesus met the woman at the Well in John 4, he not only failed to be very “missional” with her, he actually asked HER to serve HIM. Then he debated theology with her (a no-no), told her she was lost (Pastoral 4-letter word) and invited her to surrender to God.

No food pantry.
Not a Bounce House or free cappuccino in sight. And yet, she turned her whole city upside down in three days.

Nicodemus’ experience wasn’t much different, except for he was what we would think of today as a Seminary Professor, and Jesus basically called him a pagan.

You see, I am not suggesting that DOING missional things is bad. But I am suggesting that making our churches or ministries ABOUT whatever “missional” means these days is not only bad it may be anti-Jesus. Being missional while simultaneously forgetting THE Mission is as pharisaical as a Christian in our times can be, right?

Aren’t we supposed be focused on leading people into developing relationships with Jesus?

Recently in a strategic planning meeting we noticed as a team that no resources or leadership energy was being committed to “missional projects” in the coming year at our church. I was unhappy with that, as were the rest of our team. I want to see our church serve our city and make a difference, of course. As I pondered how it could have happened that missional projects slipped from our focus one of our more outspoken pastor’s spoke up and said something to the affect of, “isn’t the act of inviting people to walk with Jesus every week pretty darn missional?” He nailed it.

All the extreme home makeovers and city-serving initiatives are more than a bit void if we do not precede, accompany AND follow the acts with what we are REALLY ABOUT as Christians, which is to walk with Jesus. Do them, yes, but don’t forget to ask people if they would like to join you in walking with Jesus. Amazing things just might happen. Everyday.

Matthew 28

¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

To read more from Stu, our Lead Pastor, click here

But the sheer amount of baptisms done yesterday in our service is only part of the story of yesterday. Yesterday marked a final step in a monumental journey for us as a church.  The monumental shift has been moving for some time and I think it finally clicked completely for me yesterday. It’s a simple thing, really:

SUNDAY MATTERS, BIG TIME.

When we started Disciples we were so focused on the bigger picture of what we wanted to be in the city and what we wanted to do for the culture of church planting in Sacramento that we made the Sunday Gathering sort of an afterthought. And believe me we paid the price. After all, if we cannot inspire people and connect them with Jesus in a planned 90-minute gathering each week, how can we be trusted to lead them in far more intangible and mysterious ways throughout the rest of the week? Furthermore, we often work under such pressure to pump out the next Sunday’s “product” that we often gloss over the power of THIS Sunday. In all of the leading that we all do, we must never forget or minimize the power of the weekly gathering for inspiring and calling people to the life of Jesus.

Today’s article is designed to give you some tools and encouragement to make this Sunday great! In my travels with GHC Network and my involvement in my local pastor’s group, I am privileged to rub shoulders regularly with some of the greatest leaders around. So today, I hope to synthesize a few of their wise nuggets on how to make the Sunday Gathering great. And for those of you not involved directly in the planning of your church’s Sunday gathering, I believe these principles will translate smoothly to your youth gatherings, small groups or even your next staff-meeting agenda.

Have a Menu, Use the Menu

I am notoriously bad at using the menu in most restaurants. I tend to know what I like and what I want to eat in most places I frequent. I guess that is a fine practice for me, since I am the one who will eventually eat the food, but imagine the frustration for my wife and our double-date companions if next time we went to a restaurant altogether I ordered for everyone what I like?

This is unfortunately how many people in your church feel a lot of Sundays if you are not using the menu you created. Every church has a list, whether explicit or implied, of elements they use in a service. My suggestion is once you have established the overall content and direction of your service, have an actual list of elements you use. In addition have dates next to each element indicating the last four times you have used them. This goes even for the songs, scripture passages, message series ideas and more.

Here is a near-complete list of the elements on our “menu” so-to-speak:

• Message/talk/sermon by your Key Communicator
• Message/talk/sermon by Guest (this is indeed a different element and I would argue should be listed as such)
• Congregational Singing by your key Worship Leader(s)
• Congregational Singing by guest
• Communion
• Text-in Q&A panel discussion
• KidsChurch performance/song/skit
• baptisms
• baby dedications
• testimony interview
• video announcements
• other video or film use
• prayer circles
• platform/stage prayers for local churches
• Mingle
• Interactive response time
• Tactile objects to be interacted with during service

Content is King

In their book, Renovation of the Church, Pastors Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken unpack in rare clarity their journey to reorient the mission of their church in a new direction, and the importance that their Sunday Worship Service played in making that shift. While their ecclesiastical shift is not the topic of this article, it does go some distance in emphasizing how much your gatherings say about WHO you are, WHERE you are going and finally, WHO will go with you. Taking it a step further, I will say, show me your “main room” as we call it at Disciples, and I bet I can tell you the demographic of your congregation and the tone of your service. Creepy, maybe, but if true (which I promise it is) imagine how much more that weekly gathering defines you.

So in their chapter on the Weekend Service, Kent describes the importance to first and foremost establish what the content is for each service, then work on a structure that will best reveal and respond to said content. Style is a final factor, one that I think is likely more cultural than intentional, unless of course you are shifting as were the authors.

Content is the single most important and first thing to establish. Too often, we force the content into a mold of what our morning provides. For example, maybe not every sermon needs to be the same length. Maybe we can say some things in 15 minutes and other weeks we need 40. In addition, there are some subject matters that likely need more reflection afterwards and still others that need some group discussion to fully engage. When Content is king in your service, everything you do and even how/when you do it will be tailored for that day and your target group.

Plan in groups

NEVER, I mean NEVER, have a service or gathering planned by one person. I know this is pretty elementary, but I am amazed to find out when I talk to other leaders who struggle with creativity and fresh ideas for their gatherings, that they are planning alone. If it’s a holiday week, or everyone on your planning team is sick, I think you’re better off in “reruns” than trying to “write a new show” alone.

In addition, plan multiple services at each meeting. Every planning meeting might be more productive if you’re talking about more than just the immediate, but also looking down the road a few weeks and at least giving a glimpse of the next few months too. This will be most natural for those who teach in series format, but valuable to every type of teaching model.

A QUICK THOUGHT ON SCHEDULING OF PLANNING MEETINGS

Even the day-of-the-week you choose to plan your weekly service will have some bearing on how creative and inspired that actual service will be. If you meet on Mondays, as we often do, you might be too fried or too euphoric from Sunday to actually speak with any objectivity about the previous day’s gathering. In contrast, if you wait to meet until Friday, you might not have enough time to pull together any creative elements you want to integrate.

Learning Styles Matter

There is a staggering number of school teachers who are bored in church. Bored in my church. I think this can be attributed to more than just the surface reasons, but this learning style thing is key. Teachers know that every student learns differently. Just ask them to lecture all day long with no other elements in the classroom and they will laugh at you. So when you are working to put together a service or even a grouping of services keep Learning Styles in the forefront of your planning process. Think about how much you are depending on people’s hearing, it’s likely too much! Be careful to integrate Kin-esthetics & Visuals into every gathering or meeting so the content gets a chance to make it’s biggest impact.

Yesterday at Disciples Church we made a shift. A monumental shift, indeed. In our first two years as a church we did baptisms in a backyard pool, or down in the river. This seemed great and communal, and it was certainly both. But after being convinced of the power of the Sunday Gathering it took this “cool personal experience” of baptism and made it far more amazing. After the several scheduled baptisms were conducted, a woman came forward who had not yet made the commitment publicly to follow Christ. Her name is Amanda, and many of us have been praying for her for a very long time to begin her Walk with Jesus. After my talk she tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I’m ready to be baptized, will you do it right now?” Amanda was now ready to Walk with Jesus and be baptized, God was doing something powerful in that Sunday gathering that had never happened before in a backyard or beach setting. I invited her into the baptismal on the spot, and there in her church clothes we all witnessed a life being changed.

SUNDAY MATTERS, BIG TIME.

To read more Leading thoughts from Lead Pastor Stu Streeter click here: http://www.discipleschurch.net/info/leading-thoughts/

I remember with haunting clarity the two hour meeting I once sat in with ten other well-paid pastors as we debated what to include in the Easter program and what to cut in an effort to save money on color printing costs. At the end of the meeting when asked why I was uncharacteristically quiet I just pointed out that I had been doing some math. I had figured that in all likelihood we had just spent over $4000.00 of the church’s money in pastor salaries to try and save a few hundred on printing. Insanity.

Like a restaurant where one manager wanted to make Mexican food, another french and yet a third who wanted Cuban. It sounds ludicrous when I put it that way, but how, I ask, is it any different in a church when ministries compete with one another for resources, volunteers or space!?

In the earliest days of our church planting journey, this was a welcomed shift in culture and thinking. Everyone on our team knew what we were trying to do and worked hard together to make this a reality. As time goes on staff are added to the team, ministries diversify and those competing ways can slowly creep in: The Children’s Ministry Team want ‘their’ rooms left untouched. The worship team want to make sure the youth never touch ‘their’ equipment during youth group. I know you’ve heard these discussions, and if you’re a senior leader your response was hopefully a bit more mature than mine, because I just said something like, ‘don’t forget YOU work for ME.’ Nice Stu, real classy.

How do we get back to the beauty of the days when EVERYTHING we did was designed to serve the overall mission of the church? What are the right questions to ask in the midst of those conflicts over available funds, volunteers or space? Here’s a few that I found to be helpful:

1. Why do we exist as a church?

In the midst of the conflict, ask your team member with the issue that very question. At the very least they should be able to regurgitate your printed mission and values in some effort to get back to their well-crafted argument for why they should be able to set fire to the drum kit during youth group. But after their regurgitation, press a bit more:

What efforts are making the biggest gains for our mission RIGHT now in our church?
How will your request have a positive affect on those highly successful efforts?

2. To whom have you already promised the resource?

I am amazed at the squirming that takes place when I wait for a response to that question. I know, it’s a bit evil. But I think it’s a valid question. I want to know if they are emphatic because they really believe what they’re asking is imperative or if they have just jumped the gun knowing that any request they make with a fountain soda offering in their hand will get a ‘yes’.

3. What are quantitative results that we can expect on the other side of this allocation of funds, people or space?

In other words, have you set goals? This line of questioning will always help me circle them back to round one of questioning, because if their goal setting gets back to fulfilling our mission, vision and values I know we are on to something great.

4. When is the absolute drop dead date for a decision?

Steven Sample reminds me often that any decision that can wait, can wait. So find out how urgent the need is and if it can wait. Ask questions like, ‘when do you need a decision?’ I am amazed at how often an ‘urgent’ need comes to my desk only to find out it really is not as urgent as it was presented. Sometimes if I just have some time I can help the team member get the resource they need without costing anyone else.

And finally, and sometimes most painfully, I ask

5. Are you loyal to the Leadership Team or to your particular Ministry Team?

This is a scary question and if the answer is anything other than an emphatic and convincing reminder that they are loyal to the Leadership Team  FIRST (i.e. elders, staff team, yada yada) then you have a serious problem. The minute you allow silos to develop and exist in your team structure you will be having way more of these conversations with competing staff/team members than you care to, believe me. And in a worst case scenario you may end up debating color printing costs for two hours instead of working to fulfill the mission God has put before you.

I bet you love your team, deeply even. So do I. So the fact that you WANT to resource every team member to the fullest is no surprise, but you know as well as I do, we cannot resource everyone 100% all the time or even at the same time. We need to do a bit of a juggling act to be sure every team member gets what they need to fulfill their piece of the vision. Having solid answers to the above questions will give you insight and provide you the best info to make the wisest decision possible to fulfill the vision for the church you lead.

To read more from Lead Pastor, Stu click here: http://www.discipleschurch.net/info/leading-thoughts/

Proverbs 16:15

When the king smiles, there is life;

his favor refreshes like a spring rain.

We could all learn a thing or two from a good kindergarten teacher: Recently I helped in my kids classes at school and was impressed with all of their teachers and the great work they do. But I have to say, after spending an hour in my son’s kindergarten class I was not only impressed by his wonderful teacher but reminded again of an important and seldom pushed leadership principle. FUN. His teacher was making sure that while those kids learned they had fun in the process. Food, games, laughter. FUN!

It’s a difficult principle to push too much as a church leader because it’s tough to see a passage in the Gospels where Jesus had a ping pong challenge with the Disciples, or King David raced go-carts with his inner circle. But that does not negate the power fun has on people who lead and those that follow.

Leadership is stressful. The stakes are high and the expectations are even higher. It is so vitally important that as leaders we regularly grab those that follow us and take some time to just have fun with them. And of equal importance, when they appear to be getting burnt out or lacking productivity, maybe we should poke around at their team and see if they are having fun together too. All work and no play sucks. -or something like that, right?

Here are a few tips I am learning:

1. When stress is high, Pray & Play more, Press & Plan less.

So when things are spinning out of control, for most of us the tendency is to get more directive, more passionate for results, more clear about direction. STOP IT! How about, call out the difficulties, pray and then go play together. I’m not encouraging you to be cavalier about people’s pain or insensitive to their troubles. But I am suggesting that giving them an outlet to escape that reality in a healthy manor for a time before you tackle the obstacle TOGETHER will do worlds of good. On the other side of the play time you will all have released some tension and may have also created the kind of comraidarie that will be needed to get over the next obstacle together.

2. Think of FUN for your team in the same light as FUNDS.

Every ministry, every leader, every organization is thinking of how to fund the next event, effort or outing. Funding is hugely important, no doubt. I suggest you hold FUN in the same high priority for any team or ministry. If they need twice as much money next year to accomplish the challenges before them, they will need twice as much fun too. That may mean losing a difficult member of the team, or adding a goof-ball. Maybe it is a weekend retreat to play or a planned thank you dinner.Maybe simply getting the worship band together for some bowling and a pitcher of beer will go a long way in sorting out who stole who’s solo…and who really cares after a spare anyway?!

Ecclesiastes 8:14 reminds:

3. SOME DAYS YOU’RE A HERO, SOME DAYS A VILLAIN. FUN WILL HELP YOU COPE UNTIL THE RESULTS COME!

 

Matthew 11:18-19

For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon. ’  The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners! ’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”

Recently at a staff meeting we went around the circle for some updates and it was a dark and cold set of circumstances. Life tragedies, relational loss, financial crisis, emotional meltdown. We had it all. After prayer I looked down at my agenda of important things to discuss for the remainder of the meeting and knew in my heart we had to pause. I told everyone to get up and come with me into the next building. For the next hour we played around-the-world-ping-pong. WE laughed, we competed. We had fun together. Oh, and ff course I won.

No, it did not erase the pain or end the heartaches, but our hearts were that little bit more knitted to one another. So play some ping pong, go to lunch, have a beach day. But whatever you do, be sure your team is having fun together. Your leadership will easier and your team more united, I promise.

To read more LEADING THOUGHTS from Lead Pastor, Stu Streeter click here