Celebration Church turned 10 years old this past fall and I have to say that it has been an awesome ride. God has been so good and it has been deeply rewarding to watch the church grow from a launch team of just 7 people to over 10,000 in weekend attendance. 

While we have experienced some great milestones, there have also been some very difficult times and we’ve faced some tremendous challenges.  I have made a lot of mistakes as a leader, but by God’s grace I’ve learned some really good lessons from them.  In leading our church through these first ten years, these are the top three mistakes I’ve made.  I hope God will use these lessons as a source of encouragement and inspiration to you in your own areas of leadership. 

Mistake #1: Allowing Ministry “Business” to Affect My Personal Time with God
This mistake is a killer for pastors.  Right now, there is a lot of emphasis on “how to” leadership and that is very important.  Pastors today can very easily get tons of leadership resources, “how to” church books, ministry philosophies, creative ideas, and these are all good things, but it is possible to fall out of balance in this area. There were seasons when I devoted so much of my time trying to develop the ministry and reading leadership books that I didn’t spend enough time with The Leader of the Church, Jesus.  I was spending a lot of time in meetings, and brainstorming sessions as the church was growing so fast and I was just trying to keep up and survive.  I was always looking for the next good idea for a message series instead of just seeking God and waiting for Him to burn something on my heart.  The most important thing I have learned over the last 10 years is that my personal time with God is a non-negotiable for my health as a leader.  We are all blogging and twittering, but are we praying and fasting and seeking God?

Mistake #2: Not Being Me
I have heard that your 30’s are the years where a strong foundation for your life is being established.  They are crucial years for defining who you are, what your personal style is, and what God has specifically called you to do.  Having just turned 40, I believe this to be true. During these last 10 years, my ministry style, gifting, and unique calling have become increasingly defined.  As recently as last year I still felt pressure to preach a certain way, lead in a certain style, and do ministry in ways that just were not authentically “me.”  The root of this was the fear of man and it took me nearly 10 years to realize that this was limiting my life.  There will be a lot more trials in my next ten years, but at least I am finally comfortable in who I am.  I can preach and lead from a place of authenticity and total dependence on Christ.  I don’t worry about what others think, or if my message was the best. I just need to bring Stovall to the table and be myself.  That is what glorifies God best and that is how I will continue to grow and be used by God.

Mistake #3: Over Committing
Momentum is a double edged sword.  When you have it, everything seems to be growing and working.  Even your mistakes don’t seem so bad.  But the dangerous side of momentum can be the tendency to think you can keep endlessly pulling from the energy it lends without suffering real consequences.  One huge momentum killer is calendar overload.  When the church calendar is overloaded, the soul of the church (staff, leaders, and volunteers) starts to fatigue, killing the spiritual momentum.  We learned the hard way that the best strategy for sustaining positive momentum is to simplify the calendar and stick to activities that reinforce our mission.  When you say yes to one thing, you are in fact saying no to something else, so keep the main thing, the main thing.  Reach people, make disciples, and serve your community.  One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is how to say “no” and keep from over committing myself or the church.

Our friends can't wait another day. They need justice to come. Now.

Our community, Word Made Flesh, lives among the dying. Though we are young people, it seems we routinely go to more funerals than weddings, visit more gravesites than delivery rooms. It's not uncommon for our friends to fall because of AIDS, police violence, street fights, or domestic abuse. We live in a world that cries out for justice - a world that needs God's Kingdom to come.

We are sort of a peculiarity in mission. We are a community of over 200 board members, staff, interns and volunteers who have given ourselves to serving Jesus among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor.

We have sought to fuse ministry and spirituality in such a way that our commitment to justice is an extension of our relationship with Christ. With communities in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, India, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Sierra Leone and Thailand we marvel at the movement God has allowed this to become.

When Word Made Flesh began its registration process nearly 20 years ago, those of us who are on staff now were just children. We were kids with dreams of becoming teachers, marine biologists, professional surfers and baseball players, doctors, fashion designers, astronauts, firefighters, rock stars and successful businesspersons. Very few of us ever thought we would be doing what we do now.

Over the past 20 years we have grown up and become adults. We have grown up by giving ourselves to children who have been robbed of their childhood. We have become adults by learning from little ones who were forced to grow up too quickly. We have become adults by learning to help heal wounds that have been caused by adults who act wrecklessly in their disregard for justice.

We have been called to give ourselves in selfless service among the poor.  We have fallen so deeply in love with Jesus, that our love compels us to love Christ in this broken world. 

Our vision statement reads:

Word Made Flesh is called and committed to serve Jesus among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor. This calling is realized as a prophetic ministry for, and an incarnational, holistic mission among the poor. We focus our energy to make Jesus known among the poor while reconciling the Church with the poor.

To find us you might need to search the trash heaps behind local businesses in Galaţi, Romania where our staff go to find the children who have been pushed back to hidden places. To find us you might need to stumble down the narrow streets of some of Asia's most notorious red-light districts where our community goes to visit women and children enslaved in the commercial sex industry. To find us you might need to brave the darkest corners of some of South America's worst neighborhoods, the places where homeless youth smoke their paint or glue bags to forget their hunger and fear.

Justice can and will be realized through a transformed community of faith. Injustice can only be confronted by a community that has been internally transformed so that it can take part in the external transformation of the world. We believe that Jesus said we'd do even greater things than he did when Christ was with us. We know that Christ wants to use us more than we want to be used. We believe that as Jesus transforms us he will complete this transformation by allowing us to see God’s world transformed through our lives.

Our community has given itself to an intentional spirituality that we refer to as our Lifestyle Celebrations. Each quarter we publish a free journal focusing on one of these Lifestyle Celebrations and how we seek to live it incarnationally among the poor. In these theological and spiritual reflections you can read the musings of some of the church's greatest minds alongside testimonies of children struggling to live on the streets of some of the most violent cities in the world.

We follow our friends who are poor to the heart of God. In this posture, the Word Made Flesh community shares our spiritual journey as it has been nurtured, sustained, and defined in our relationships with our friends who are poor.  Our friends who can't wait another day. They need you to answer their cry for justice.

When we launched Deadly Viper at Catalyst two years ago we had no idea what would transpire. We weren't sure how people would receive this quirky little leadership book with lots of pictures in it. Currently we still run this thing out of my Mom and Dad's garage and we are totally trailer park. But God is doing something that is blowing our minds.
 
Last week I was having a business lunch with a couple of guys I hadn't met before. We were discussing some new projects and getting to know each other. Then completely of out the blue one of the guys stopped our conversation and asked if he could share something personal. He then opened up with me how he had read Deadly Viper Character Assassins and it really got him through a difficult season of life. The message of living with radical integrity and avoiding deadly assassins in our life struck a chord with him. But what really hit home for him during this tough season was the message of radical grace and second chances. Needless to say, we all abandoned the "business stuff" of our lunch and spent the rest of the time discussing this important topic. 
 
When Jud Wilhite and I sat in his "mancave" and dreamed up this Kung Fu survival guide for life and leadership, we knew that radical grace had to be at the core of Deadly Viper. Too often when we talk about living with character and pursuing God's plan for our lives, we forget about grace. We talk about justice. We talk about discipline. We talk about accountability and holiness. But somehow the idea of a second chance comes very late in the conversation.
 
It's important to know that my lunch last week is not an isolated incident. My new friend's comments did not come as a surprise to me. Without question, the majority of my conversations with leaders, pastors, and business leaders revolve around our outspoken advocacy for those who have failed, struggled, and have been annihilated by a character assassin. We celebrate with the leaders who are succeeding but we totally identify and stand with those who are broken and have blown out.
 
About a year ago we started a project called "People of the Second Chance" to continue this dialogue. We filmed stories from 2 days spent in a Texas prison with inmates who were putting their lives back together. We documented my friend Tony's story of being involved in an affair, quitting ministry and then being fully restored. Our clarion call is simple: let's be people of the second chance. When we truly adopt this idea into our life and leadership I truly believe it will completely revolutionize everything.
 
So what's next for Deadly Viper? I'm not sure. I just hope it involves more lunches like the one I had last week discussing radical grace.

Hi Kids,
I can start this article like that because, for the most part, I am older than almost all of you who attend or read catalyst stuff.  That’s good and bad. I’ve been around long enough to know what you think is entertaining and what engages you and how the heck a program ought to be produced. 

So, thanks to Catalyst I get to put that 93 years of experience to use…and then they let me come out on stage with a camel or an elephant, or a llama…I conducted the Guinness book of world records famous biggest pillow fight in the world, most whoopee cushions sat on at once, largest dodge ball match, most Frisbees ever thrown at one time in one building and of course, the time when we broke the record of breaking the most records.

 So…the question is…what is the most memorable time I have ever had at Catalyst?

Here it is.
I stood on the stage with 24 kids from Kenya who were either orphans or in very vulnerable situations at home.  I stood there and watched and listened as they led 12,000 people in worship and I wept almost uncontrollably, realizing how incredible our God is.

Those kids are part of our ministry called the 410 Bridge.

I know…a lot of you thought I was the director of Bigstuf Camps and some of you just thought I was the full time enhancer to help Andy Stanley write his sermons and books. All of the above were circumstances that eventually caused me to find myself on the streets of Kenya wondering why in the world God had put me there.

The answer is…I have a tendency to think differently than a lot of people and it seems like God wanted me to use that gift to create a unique kind of approach to making a difference on a dying, somewhat hopeless continent.

So I am writing this article to influence you. You have a chance to make a difference in the lives of millions of people…not an exaggeration

1 Peter 4:10 says this:
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

That’s where we get our name—at least the 410 part. The “Bridge” reference, though, is what makes us unique. Our passion lies in connecting people and organizations within the body of Christ to enable the self-developing capabilities of the Kenyan people through long-term relationships. This approach does not involve quick fixes overseas before retreating back to the States. Instead, it lays a foundation across the Atlantic, building a long-term bridge that significantly impacts both sides. It’s a vision of sustainable transformation. It’s a merger of hope and purpose.

The 410 Bridge partners with Kenyan communities and their leadership councils to assess specific medical, educational, nutritional, economic or other needs, and assists the community as they progress through growth and stability. It is a philosophy that helps pull them along towards success in what they are already doing (rather than pushing something on them that is unlikely to be completed) thereby creating hope.

I appreciate your laughter and all your notes of encouragement about the fun stuff that we do at Catalyst. I love that. But, If you were there when our Daraja Childrens Choir sang, then you know what it feels like to see God doing something extraordinary. I would love for you to join us and support us as we pursue a vision that shakes the planet.

Q SHORT
Artists recognize, capture, and create beauty in our world of brokenness. In this short, David Taylor offers indispensible wisdom for encouraging artists in your community. Check out this Q Short preview, The Little Things: A Medication of the Art of Encouragement.

Q TALK
Hear a unique perspective of 'creation conversation' from Richard Cizik, a leading evangelical voice called to educate others on climate change. Listen to this Q Talk here.

It started on a whim at a wedding reception.

We were sitting at a table with a few strangers and an awkward silence. Ignoring the look of embarrassment on my wife’s face, I decided it was my chance to test an idea that had been running through my head, but had never moved forward. “How many of you have gift cards in your wallet or purse that have been sitting in there for more than 6 months? You know, the ones that are starting to stick together from being there so long?” Of course, everyone gave an affirmative head nod. “What if you give them to us and we promised to give them to people in need?” They emptied their wallets and we walked away with $50 in Gift Cards and a new responsibility called GiftCardGiver.com.

After testing our theory in this small social experiment, we started researching and learned that the Gift Card industry has risen to be a $60 billion a year industry. Ever wonder how many of those Gift Cards are unused every year? Between 10-15% are never redeemed. That means $6 billion dollars are waiting to be used for good but sitting on Gift Cards in America alone.  A new form of giving has emerged in our culture and we think there is an opportunity to give hundreds of thousands of dollars away in the years ahead.

Giving opportunities happen at the least convenient times.  On December 23, just two nights before Christmas, we got a call from a friend informing us of a single working mother with five children named Amina who had just had her home broken into in a South Atlanta neighborhood.  She lost all the Christmas presents she had purchased for her children, children’s clothes hanging in the closet, food from the pantry, and even the decorated Christmas tree. While we were dreaming about what we were going to open under our tree in the coming days, she lost everything. Within 24 hours, because of a community of people giving small gift cards from around the country we were able to change her unfortunate situation. We went to Wal-Mart and Target and were able to buy new clothes, new toys, new coats and new shoes for all five children, plus give a Gift Card to restock the kitchen with essential groceries.

A hole in the drywall from where the door was kicked in greeted us that day. Amina’s clothes were still thrown all over her bedroom since she’d been focused on her children. The tears streaming down her face as she told us her story and received our simple gifts are worth more than any gift I have ever received at Christmas. She called us angels, and we were touched immensely by the sacredness of the moment.

How many unused Gift Cards do you have? We guess you have at least five dollars of gift cards in your wallet or purse right now. Your five dollars can give families like Amina’s a glimpse of hope in the midst of the harsh injustices of our broken world. So, please send us your small gift that is making a bid difference in others lives. Thanks for joining a new community of giving.

Have you ever thought about a prison inmate—ever really taken a moment to think about him? Not about the prison system, or criminals in general, but just one inmate?
 
Does he have a face, a name, a story? Is he a monster or a human being? Can you empathize with him? Could you love him? Do you think God loves him? Do you think grace would be big enough for an inmate?
 
In our safe, comfortable lives these questions are probably somewhat foreign. Before a few years ago, I had never once thought about an inmate in all my years on earth. The little I did know was from TV. An inmate to me was a nameless, faceless person in an orange jump suit. He was someone I didn't know or understand. If you put me in a room with him, I’m sure I would have been nervous—even afraid.
 
I was in graduate school when I received an interesting email with the headlines "Prison Entrepreneurship Program" and "free pizza." It doesn't really matter which influenced me more, the bottom line is that I went to the meeting.
 
It was there that I had my first lesson about who an inmate was and who he could be. My eyes were opened to this new world when I heard the story of Catherine Rohr. It went something like this:
 
With no prior experience related to prison, 26-year-old venture capitalist Catherine Rohr, held some pretty harsh views of inmates. "I didn't even consider them human," said Catherine. A friend's compassion for prison ministry intrigued Catherine, and she accepted an invitation to attend a prison tour in Texas. "I thought I was going on a zoo tour. I expected to see a bunch of crazy, caged-up animals."
 
What she ended up seeing were human beings, and Catherine was immediately ashamed of her hardened heart. As a professing Christian, she had written off this population as being in the "bad pile," beyond the reaches of grace. The experience was humbling, and it touched her to the core.

Wearing her venture capital hat, she quickly recognized that behind prison walls lies America's most overlooked talent pool. She identified not only their entrepreneurial ability but also their proven entrepreneurial skills as former drug dealers and gang leaders. She wondered what would happen if these men were actually equipped with real, legitimate business tools.
 
That one thought changed her life and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) was born. Today, PEP is a pioneering non-profit organization, uniting executives and inmates through entrepreneurial passion, education and mentoring. The program engages the nation's top business and academic talent to constructively redirect inmates' ambitions by equipping them with values-based entrepreneurial training—enabling them to productively re-enter society.

Since inception, PEP has graduated 440 men and has achieved a 90+% employment rate within the first 30 days of release. Fifty-five graduates have started their own companies, and less than 10% have gone back to prison which is great considering the national average is around 50% or more. PEP volunteers, mostly business executives and MBA’s, logged 7,800+ volunteer hours behind prison walls in 2008.

Today I think a lot about inmates. But now they are individuals with faces, names and stories. I’m grateful to have been born in a place where the path to prison was a foreign concept, but I feel even more grateful to have the opportunity to witness the transformation that is possible in the hearts of these men and to share the potential that lies within that world with others.

This began simply as an attempt to tell a story and a way to help a friend. I met a girl named Renee in Orlando in February 2006. When I met her she was struggling with drug addiction, depression, self-injury and had attempted suicide. She had just been denied entry into a treatment center so my friends and I enthusiastically gathered around to support her. She spent the next five days coming back to life in our living room. These were her first days sober in a long time and we would stay up late talking about her life, the moments and choices and patterns that had become her story.

I had the privilege of sharing some of that story -- two pages of writing that took on the curious title “To Write Love on Her Arms”. We started printing t-shirts and selling them as a way to raise money for her treatment. Then we made a MySpace page to give the story and the shirts a home.

My friend Jon plays and sings in a band called Switchfoot and he was the first to wear one of the shirts, at a sold-out Switchfoot show in March 2006. There was no mention of a web address, no table at the back with information, but the messages began to pour in after that show. We heard from people that had been in the room that night, people that had lost loved ones to suicide, people who confessed that suicide was something they had considered.

My friend Chad plays drums in Switchfoot and he wore the shirt the following night in Jacksonville, and more messages arrived. We heard from people battling depression, people stuck in places of pain. People shared secrets, asked for help, asked how to help their friends…

We realized quickly that this story we were telling was connected to a much a much bigger story. We learned that millions of people live with these problems of pain but very few people talk about them.  We learned that in America alone, 19 million people struggle with depression, that untreated depression is the leading cause of suicide, and that 2 out of 3 people who live with depression never get help. That last statistic suggested that the majority of people who live with depression walk through it alone. It all pointed to the stigma and the shame and confusion that imprisons millions in silent suffering.

The shirts continued to end up on surprising stages and different doors kept opening. Fast-forward to today, TWLOHA is now a non-profit organization and the messages continue to arrive, people asking for help and people asking how they can help. As a team, we’ve now responded to 100,000 messages and emails and those messages have come from more than 100 different countries. We’ve been able to give nearly $500,000 directly to treatment and recovery.

Beyond all of that, we continue to get opportunities to bring a message of hope and help and community to surprising places.  In the media thanks to NBC Nightly News, CNN, MTV and more. Online with Facebook and Twitter and one of the most-read blogs on MySpace. At concerts and festivals and college campuses across America and as far away as Europe and Australia. And we get to challenge the Church to be a people and place willing to engage pain and questions, willing to admit their own struggles and willing to learn what Jesus meant in all that talk about love.

For more information about To Write Love on Her Arms, please visit www.twloha.com

[This article originally appeared at the Hillsong United blog - go there for more awesome content.]

Sometimes you have to laugh at yourself.. Hahaha.!!

Cause all this time I have assured myself that when it comes to cover-art, our creative story-telling genius is as clear as day for all the world to see; communicating the timeless message of Christ in such grandeur clarity and relevance that it’s impossible not to find redemption simply by looking at the front cover of our albums; graphical design so deep and complex that it speaks eternal truths to the soul through the iris’s of all who are privileged enough to set eyes upon such visual masterpieces.

HA!

Think about it; 2004; “MORE THAN LIFE” - a clip-art-extravaganza which involved hundreds of meticulous hours spent cutting out images of people in our youth ministry and zoo animals and other random objects that represented all that life entailed to us at the time. And above it all we blasted the word “UNITED’ and had some random images of musicians worshipping our God, so as if to visually declare “ohhh I looove yoouu.. Moooooore than liiiiiife”.

I mean for real.. It was brilliant!! And yet, in response, all we got was a hundred angry emails about how in amongst the plethora of layered images there was a particular image of MGC making a symbol that apparently represented the devil!!!

Now while I can see how that conclusion has been derived, and it was probably a blight on our behalf to leave it in there knowing the vast chasm that exists in regard to what is culturally acceptable around the world, I was still taken aback, cause honestly; are we really that religious?? I mean, is the devil even worthy of that measure of credence?? I don’t know.. I reckon the devil is a tool, and not worth the effort it takes to make a 2 fingered salute.. (perhaps a single digit salute is more suffice.. Haha)! but still, some people were unhappy, and so we apologized to all whom we offended, and did our best to clarify that in the context of our culture the symbol in question simply refers to the idea of ‘rock and roll’ - and less the 80’s inspired back-masking-subliminal-evil-messages-snake-head-biting kinda rock and roll.. But more the hug-your-mate-shrug-off-the-shackles-of-scrupulous-religious-nitpicking kinda rock and roll.. i know i may have just offended more people, but please.. hear my heart. Bigger fish to fry I reckon...

Then there was 2005; "LOOK TO YOU’ - got to deadline day and realized the artwork was less than satisfactory. Came up with the bright idea to paint the artwork on a blank wall in the community youth service; time lapse it; tell a story within the booklet pointing toward what it means to ‘look to God’ in the midst of all the distractions of a world consumed with itself. At the time spray paint was all the rage. So in an 11th hour contingency effort we raided the local hardware store; printed live images on gridded A3 sheets; stocked up on red bulls and krispy kreme’s and painted the night away, and as the sun began to creep over the horizon we sat back and marveled at our ‘mona lisa’. It was beautiful. Less for the quality of artwork, and more for the experience. But did anyone really notice.? I just remember getting jibes about the fact that it was called ‘look to you’ yet everyone was looking down?? Eyes to the sky people. apparently that's where God is..?

The year 2006; UNITED WE STAND was a shift away from torn paper layers, spray paint and handwritten blah-blahs towards  a clean, photo-based approach. But not the classic picture of the passionate worship leader appropriately poised mid praise-move (made famous in the 1990’s and unfortunately continued all too often 10 years later). No this was about capturing the heart of OUR PEOPLE. Not just the few involved in playing an instrument or singing the song way up on that wonderful platform we so crave called the stage. No, it was about positioning the minor-christian-pseudo-celebrities such as my tall-lanky-self where we belong; in and behind the real heroes; the crew who are doin it week in, week out, unseen, unsung.

It was a response to struggling with the contradictory nature of being a 'church-based-worship-band' passionate about pointing people toward God and dealing a little too often with the awkward nature of photographs and autographs and fan-mail and realizing that some people are perhaps focusing a lil' too much on us. So reactively we positioned ourselves in and amongst and behind our crew at large. All of us together, united, making a stand. Even made it so the cover was black, making it hard for the conventional sharpie to make it’s mark. All was going to plan till we found ourselves at a christian book store in orange county doing a CD signing with, wait for it... silver sharpies!!!

huh? Didn’t everyone get it? Did anyone get it? Did our management even get it? Did we get it??

Of course i'll smile awkwardly for a photo, or sign a CD or t-shirt or shoe if asked at the appropriate time - kinda rude not to, but still I wonder if anyone, anywhere got the symbolic message wrapped up within the artwork. I don't know if even we did.  Brooke put it best while recently being bombarded mid-worship set with budding photographers.. "we're not golden calves people.." I had to laugh.. heavy.. but frighteningly appropriate none-the-less.

So given this was a perpetuating issue we continued the theme with ALL OF THE ABOVE; a simple little play on words, taking a leaf from feedback gleaned from 'look to you' assuming that God is only up above us (as opposed to the idea He is perhaps everywhere, being omnipresent and all?), and given that we're all about all that He is about, we thought it novel to capture once again our crew-at-large adorning t-shirts blasted with sharpie, and this time not signatures, but rather core-value-statement-words; FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, TRUTH, PEACE, OTHERS ETC....  so much as to say that these are the things that we're about.

Inside we had pics and statements of some of our crew, one of which caused particular controversy because he was revealing his ink; praying hands across his left pectoral. again there were letters questioning whether we were truly following Christ if we were endorsing such a thing..... hmm... don't get me started.. either way, seems the point was lost... or was it?? i really don't know.. perhaps all along we're making a point? But is anyone getting it...?

After 2008 spawned the first installment of the I-Heart journey;"WITH HEARTS AS ONE", once again the letters flooded in. This time regarding our use of the 'Christ the redeemer' statue in Rio De Janeiro; a statue that for many (in brazil most notably) represents idolatry and even forms of paganism, which is intriguing given the magnificent statement the statue makes to a visitor such as myself. the "I-Heart" made out of images wasn't supposed to represent our christian worldview of the world as much as it was simply supposed to portray the diversity of the world in full.

But having read into it, I do have to agree that Jesus didn't come to earth and die a criminal's death upon a cross meant for us, and rise again so that we would view Him 2000 odd years later as a statue.. but like anything, you choose to make of things what you wanna make of things.. the point is; are we lost in our visual semantics, or is it possible there's a point to all of this??

Cause it's 2009 and finally i'm holding a finished, printed, real-life copy of our new project, dual title and all; a CROSS // the EARTH : TEAR DOWN THE WALLS.  it has no cover.

And already we’re receiving the letters. "i didn't receive the booklet", "did the recession bite your production budget?", "how am i supposed to open it?" etc....

And I have to laugh.. cause in my mind I thought it was obvious.. I thought it was genius.. no cover... a wall adorned with bill posters representing the EARTH... four triangles (representing worship nights) revealing a CROSS.. all of which revealed without a cover; representing transparency; the walls removed; nothing to hide; just as we are; but by the grace of God etc.. and for added effect we'd wrap it in a paper sticker that you literally have to 'tear' to get into the album...

But obviously not so obvious.. And apparently less than being anything close to genius.. cause here I am spelling it out for everyone... I definitely underestimated the significance of a booklet... and here is my promise, next album.. we're goin all out with the booklet.. (recycled paper of course).. It’ll be how people choose to define ‘booklet’ in years to come.. taking it back to the 'ENDS OF THE EARTH' days, where we literally cut our teeth with no idea of what we were doing, experimenting the limits of photoshop, and spending weeks on end trying to make the booklet work (we spent four days working out how to crop..), whatever it took to redeem UNITED and it's tagline "radical worship" from KING OF MAJESTY.. hahaha..

So our disclaimer (aka pride-mechanism) is that this was before we had any creative control.. In fact it was in dissatisfied response to this that we got involved in the art in the first place.. But have we done any better?? Or are we kidding ourselves? I reckon it's arguable at best.. And only time will really tell.. one thing is for sure; everything dates, and what we think is cool or rad or dope or whatever is more than likely – not.. and at the end of the day, our art is simply a donkey.. Just like the one that carried Jesus.. just a donkey, who’s purpose was to carry the Savior.. The same goes for all our creative expression; our music; our photography; our design; our talents and gifts etc.

Whatever it is, our challenge above all else is to make sure it carries HIM. That it serves to carry the life giving message of Christ. We get that right, and it'll do the job..

if you got this far, thanks for reading.
Love.
Jth.

And if you have further complaints, please send them to: iprobablywontreadthem@betterthingstodo.com

Our church’s name is Healing Place Church: A Healing Place for a Hurting World. That’s a big statement to put on all of our signs. So if we’re going to say it, then we’re going to have to deliver it. But we know that this is why we are here and it’s what we are called to do. Whatever name your sign says, whatever your family name is, wherever you’re from, if you’re a follower of Christ, your mandate is to “love one another,” to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and to “preach good news to the poor,” “bind up the brokenhearted,” and “proclaim freedom for the captives.”

God has called his Church (all believers throughout the world included) to be a healing place for a hurting world. It’s the reason we started Healing Place Church, and my wife DeLynn and I have done our best never to sway from this call. This is the heartbeat of everything we do, and almost every lesson I teach resonates with it. We do not approach a need with the idea that this really should be someone else’s job. If someone is hurting, then the Church should be the first to offer help.

When I was a kid, I got a pretty nasty burn on my leg. Over the large open wound, the doctor applied a bandage designed to adhere to the burned skin. The bandage was made of material that had a healing ointment in it, and as the burn healed and the skin began to grow, the bandage and the skin fused. It worked almost like a skin graft, and it was very effective in the process of healing.

This is a picture of what the local church should be. We are not to be a band-aid that provides a small amount of healing and protection for the hurting people around us only to be taken off and once again made separate. The church and the community should be fused, working as a unit to bring about healing. Part of our strategy is to become a vital part of life in our region, not just to be a place for people to visit on weekends but truly to be a healing place for a hurting world. We want to be involved, to be part of the cure, and to be a resource for rehabilitation and restoration.

Being a healing place for a hurting world is our mandate. And we’ve discovered nine other cultural definers of a “Servolution” as well:

1. We are not looking for a badge
We don’t need to be recognized, and we don’t need an award. We do what we do because we love people and it is the right thing to do. We’re all just people God loves, and we are walking together through this thing called life.

2. There are no excuses

   “The problem is too big.”
   “We’ll never be able to make a difference.”
   “We don’t have the money.”
   “We don’t have anything to offer.”

All of these statements are cop-outs. It is true that we cannot do everything. But we absolutely cannot let that thought keep us from doing what we can. All of us have gifts and talents to offer, and all of us are able to do something to meet the needs of the hurting around us if we are willing to let God use us.

3. Give with no strings attached
We never want those we serve to feel like they owe us something. If we’ve left them with that feeling, then we have not done our job. We are determined to be like Jesus, who went about blessing and healing people freely.

4. Be ridiculously generous
Ridiculous generosity is exactly what we received from God. He’s the perfect example of extreme giving. Look at the incredible exchange God offered us: we get Christ, forgiveness, and an amazing life, and in return, he gets us. Obviously we have made out with the better end of this deal, but amazingly, God doesn’t see it that way at all. In his unbelievable love, he wanted us badly enough that he gave his only Son to die on a cross for you and me. That’s some pretty ridiculous generosity. My desire is for the Church to see the world around it with those same eyes of unconditional love and grace and to reach out with the same level of generosity.

5. Do justice intentionally
Social justice is a hot topic right now in our culture; it’s becoming a cool thing to talk about in Hollywood and in the music world, and that’s fine with me. But I’d really like to see the Church lead the way in social justice efforts. We hold the key for true hope and eternal salvation, and we need to be that shining light in the dark world. We need to stay focused, stick to our game plan, and be intentional. We have to follow through and finish projects we start. It’s only in being good stewards of our resources and of the opportunities given to us that we can make a long-term impact for justice.

6. Help people become overcomers
We want to help people prosper in their souls – to move beyond a culture of blaming the world, having a victim mentality, and being addicted to handouts. We want to see them replace all of that with the abundant life Jesus gives. We want to build a sustaining ministry that builds people on the inside, one that convinces them that their environment doesn’t have to defeat them and that by God’s grace they can overcome.

7. Increase your capacity
We never want to stop growing and increasing our capacity to serve, to love, and to be able to get our arms around the needs of our community. If we settle into the thinking that who we are today is all we will ever be, then we will never be able to increase our influence and our impact. New skills mean new and exciting ways to serve. New dreams mean new opportunities to make an impact in someone else’s life.

8. Build the local church
Everything we do points back to the local church, because the local church is where Christians are strengthened in their spirits, souls, and bodies. It is where we come together to energize each other through corporate praise and worship, the giving of our resources, and the teaching of the Word of God. It is a place where healing and restoration can take place, where strong families are built, and where God-relationships are built.

9. Remember the poor
Psalm 41:1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor” (NKJV). This is our theme. It is a filter for all we do and how we do it. It permeates all that we say and how we say it. We regularly evaluate ourselves using this guideline: How are we doing at considering the poor? And what have I done lately to help the poor?

These principles define our culture and keep us on course. By checking ourselves against them continually, we help ensure that the culture of servolution is being communicated – and lived out – by our staff, leaders, and volunteers. If you’ll adapt these principles of servolution to your church, they can help you ignite a servolution in your community.