Mentoring Others...

Yesterday after worship, we headed off to my sisters to help my nephew celebrate his 10th birthday. I have been enjoying introducing hunting to my nephew, Benjamin. He and I spent several days last fall deer hunting together before he got his liscence and after. This year for his birthday, my sister purchased him a really nice bow... and I got the accessories for it... and then yesterday after he openned it, I taught him how to shoot... it was FUN! And he is pretty good!

It is great to mentor others!

Visiting the Congregation....

In May and June, I have put on the miles to visit some of my parishioners... the three that are in BVS (Brethren Volunteer Service).

First it was to Guatemala to visit Becky and Aaron Johnston and see the work they are doing there. We enjoyed a week together.

And then on Thursday, I was able to drop in and surprise Janice Miller in Harrisonburg, Virginia at her current BVS assignment at CrossRoads... a Brethren and Mennonite historical farm and display. It was fun to catch up with Janice and to see where she has been working. I even insisted that SHE give me the tour...when she suggested that the tour guide on duty would do that, I said, "NO WAY! I want to know what you have learned." It was very informative and neat to see!

The Power of the Positive No!

For a long time, I have known that it is important to say no to lots of things in life. It is even necessary to say no to good things... so that you can remain focused on vision and mission.

In Will Mancini's book called Church Unique, he shares some quotes from William Ury's book "The Power of a Positive No."

Here are some of them...

1. All good no's are in service to a higher yes.

2. The right No is not the opposite of love but comes from love and grows toward love.

3. Saying no has always been important, but perhaps never as essential a skill as it is today.

4. There are three A's that trap us from getting to the positive No: Accommodating, which is saying yes when we want to say No; Attacking, which is saying No poorly; and Avoiding, which is saying nothing at all.

5. Anytime you have to say No make sure you root it in a deeper Yes.

6. It is easier to say No with a deeper Yes burning inside.

Keep the Stories coming...

I am currently in Virginia with my family visiting my in laws. First chance I have had to get near the computer today... my niece is doing some coursework online and had been on all day. They are all gone to a birthday party now and I am home with Sharon's mom... keeping an eye on her... she is sleeping right now.

I've been busy reading a couple of books that I think will be helpful to me as I prayerfully consider how to lead our congregation to the next level.

Here is a quote that I found very interesting... "Religious people have preferences: missional people have stories." by Will Mancini in "Church Unique" Let the stories abound!

Another cool quote... "If you copy someone else's vision, who will accomplish yours?"

An interesting thought....

I read this today .... "Who do you think the most important person is to the Coca Cola Company? The consumer? Which one? The coke drinkers? NOPE- it's actually the Pepsi drinker.

Likewise... the most important people to the church... are those outside the church! Neil Cole sums it up well... "if you want to reach people for Jesus, you're going to have to sit in the smoking section."

Deitrich Bonhoeffer said it this way... "The church is only the church when it exists for others."

Our mission is to go into the world and help people meet Jesus so that he can set them free to live the life God intended for them to live! And we can't do that sitting in the building!

A Great Concept....

Today lots of Bloggers are having a conversation of the Missional Church. Just read a blog by Alan Hirsch where he ended with this statement, "Mission always sets our Agenda and Incarnation must always describe our Way."

I think this is a VERY helpful thought! This is how I would say what Alan has said...The mission of God is our agenda as a church and being the hands and feet of Jesus is the way we do mission!

One Prayer Guide for this week....

Here is the One Prayer praying guide for this week...

June 23: What Did God Do in Your Church? / Daily Devotion
June 24: Fasting Focus: Countries and World Leaders / Daily Devotion
June 25: What Has Your Church Done in Your Life / Daily Devotion
June 26: How Can We Pray for Each Other? / Daily Devotion
June 27: Pray for Your Church this Weekend / Daily Devotion

You can use the One Prayer Website to join the conversation.

A neat blog ....

Here is a neat blog with a wealth of info on the Missional Church....

Two crabcakes and...

That's right... last Saturday night I had two crab cakes at a restaurant in St. Michaels, MD as we celebrated my mother's birthday and Father's Day with my dad. Two crab cakes and then on Tuesday it hit... and Wednesday was unbelievable and Thursday, I couldn't get a shoe on and even today I sat with my foot up most of the day... Gout is NOT a pleasant thing!!!! My foot swelled almost double in size and got RED and HOT and percocet nor darvocet took the edge of the pain off... And I have been taking my meds faithfully since the last uprising in April. So, I walked into the docs office when she hadn't returned my call in 5 hours ... walked in on crutches and interrupted her lunch and thankfully she prescribed a high powered ant-inflammatory pill that took the pain away quickly for a day and a half and now is only taking the edge off... and the make matters worse... it has upset my stomach that I don't dare venture too far!

And I think I am still young! Can't wait -- actually I can wait forever... to see what it's like when I get old!

Missional Church....

The question has come to me from the "Trendy Words Police" -- "What is Missional?" Good question!

Here is the definition of Missional Church that comes directly from Alan Hirsch's book "The Forgotten Ways"... "a missional church is a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible."

To be a disciple of Jesus is to live like Jesus lived, to love like Jesus loved and to leave what Jesus left! He lived a life in constant connection with God and God's purposes for the world and he loved everyone, especially the marginalized and forgotten and he left behind other followers who would carry on his mission... that's why we are here today as a church! I just love that concept...

Live like Jesus, LOVE like Jesus, LEAVE what Jesus left! In fact, I'd like to put those words on banners in our worship space of the Ministry Center!

A great question to ponder...

Here is a great question to ponder as a church that desires to make in impact (be missional) in our community and world.... How can we (the church collective and we as individuals) bless people in this community and in the world?

That's really what Jesus did... he blessed people by healing them, setting them free, pointing them toward God, valuing them.... and that's what he sent his followers into the world to do... to bless it just like he did.

A great blog and video....

One of the things I have been diligent about during this sabbatical from preaching thanks to One Prayer, is reading. I've been reading books to try to get a handle on how I can lead our congregation to the next level of development and out into the community to make a bigger impact for the Kingdom of God. I've read the following... Exiles: Living missionally in a post-Christian culture by Michael Frost (I actually read this in Guatemala), Breaking the Missional Code: your church can become a missionary in your community by Ed Stetzer and David Putman (suggested by Jeff Glass), Breaking the Discipleship code: becoming a missional follower of Jesus by David Putman and Ed Stetzer (actually bought this thinking it was the one listed before it!) and finally I am almost finished reading The Forgotten Ways by Allan Hirsch. Allan has a website and on that website there is a GREAT message by Reggie McNeal called An After Dinner Mint. I encourage you to check it out!

Finally, the other thing I have been doing is praying for God's guidance in leading us into becoming a truly missional congregation!

The Walking Group a GREAT Metaphor...

The Walking Group is a GREAT metaphor for Following Jesus! Besides the obvious that walking and following Jesus are both good for you and improve your life, there are many other good characteristics!

Walking is something that is fun to do with others. And often is easier to keep committed to doing it when you do it with others. Walking is something that is easy to invite others to join in doing. And while you do it together, you grow deeper in your relationships with each other.

As you see, the walking group continues to change and expand! And it is making a difference in all of our lives. Our walking together is also being noticed by other walkers and people at the mall.

One other neat thing about the walking group is that it is something we do in a public environment. So too should Following Jesus be done in a public environment!

Following Jesus is fun to do with others and easier to be committed to when you do it with others. Following Jesus is something that we can invite others to join in doing. And while we follow Jesus together, we grow deeper in our relationships. When we follow Jesus in authentic ways, other people notice and some are drawn to exploring what it is all about!

Following Jesus is fun and easier to do and remain committed to when you do it in the context of a group... That's why I love small groups and especially Life Transformation Groups. This fall, I hope to help start several Life Transformation Groups at Community of Joy so that we can multiply the number of people who are committed to following Jesus daily wherever they find themselves in a way that not only transforms their lives, but also transforms the world!

Please pray about your involvement in a Life Transformation Group this fall!

Praying for our pastors today...

It's hard to ask for prayers for yourself... at least I find it so. But today our One Prayer guide suggests that we pray for our pastors. I appreciate your prayers on my behalf and thought I would give a few areas that you could pray for in this regard.

1. Pray for a fresh anointing in the preaching arena. (sometimes I find that preaching week in and week out gets tiring! and coming up with creative ways to communicate the message is hard week in and week out... )

2. Pray for insight, discernment and direction to lead our congregation past the 100 barrier and in the starting of another worship gathering. Also as we seek to engage our community in new ways.

3. Pray for my ability to navigate the waters of beginning to release my teenage daughters and for my ability to guide them as they move toward adulthood. (this is one of the hardest tasks of parenting for me!)

4. Pray for my marriage to Sharon to continue to grow deeper and stronger. This year we will celebrate 20 years of marriage!

My Prayer today....

That God would miraculously help our congregation to jump over the 100 barrier by the year end and that part of that growth would be from people of various backgrounds. I've been focusing my prayer energy on college aged students. Bring it on, God! Bring it on! And THANKS!

The Mall Walking Small Group....

Theresa Townsend had the vision to get a group of people together in the early morning to pray and walk together at the Mall. Due to her work schedule, she is not able to be present each day... but she discipled a new leader in her nephew, Whit Townsend, and he quickly recruited his mom and dad to join the group so that it happens every day! He even asked me yesterday if I was going to join him today at 7:30 a.m. On Friday, Whit motivated his Dad to take an extra lap!

It's lots of fun and good for you too! Join us weekdays at 7:30 in the food court for prayer and a walk.

One Prayer -- Yesterday.

In case you missed it... here is both a synopsis of Craig Groeschel's excellent sermon "Lord Make us One!" and a link to the video of it.

The impetus for this series came out of God convicting Craig that Christian Churches are not each other's competition or ememies. Using Jesus' prayer in John 17 "Father make them one." and Pauls writing on oneness in Ephesians 4:1-6, Craig says his prayer for the church at large is "Father in Heaven, Make us One!"

To do that, he says we need 3 things.

1. One Enemy -- Satan is our enemy not the church down the street.

2. One Heart -- for Jesus and people! Unity is NOT uniformity. Strength is in diversity!
Looking at the example of the early church in Acts, Craig asks... "what if we become so generous and so compassionate that we sold our possessions to meet the needs of others?

3. One Purpose -- Which Jesus said was to "Go and Make Disciples of all nations"
The church is the Called out ones! The problem is that we are playing for OURSELVES NOT JESUS!

What if we (the church) answered Jesus' prayer?

Here's the link to the actual sermon. ENJOY!

Father's Day....

Celebrated Father's Day a bit early yesterday... Took my mother out to supper for her birthday and my father out to supper for Father's Day at a great seafood place below St. Michaels, MD... then went to Claiborne Landing... where my Grandfather and some of us grandkids and my Aunt Elsie often went to dip for crabs... we would wade in the water towing a floating crab basket and a row boat and dip crabs... LOTS of fun... Took advantage of the beauty last night to do some pics!

A HARD Day's Work....

What a great guy Glenn Costa is... he willingly gave up most of the day on his birthday-- HAPPY BIRTHDAY Glenn!-- to work at the Ministry Center. With his friends tractor, Glenn and I were sucessful in making a HUGE pile of vines, root, and twigs! The lot looks TWICE the size it used to... and it is well on it's way to being usable once again!

THANKS Glenn!

Paul's Prayers...

Connie P. gave me some research she did that was inspired by the One Prayer series... Not knowing what her One prayer for the church might be, she decided to look at the Apostle Paul's prayers for the churches in his letters. In so doing, Connie discovered that Paul's number one prayer for the church was to KNOW God! His second prayer for the churches was that they would bear FRUIT! And his third prayer for the churches was that LOVE would abound!

Thanks Connie for sharing this with me!

It occurs to me that when we KNOW God and that knowledge grows, we will bear FRUIT (give evidence of that knowledge of God) and part of the fruit is LOVE!

A GREAT Question....

Here is a great question to ask yourself and to spend some time thinking about your answer...

When it comes to the church, are you more interested in going to church or being the church? And what is the difference between the two?

A Sneezer is....

NOT someone who sneezes! But in Seth Godin's language a sneezer is someone who likes something so much that they tell everyone they know about the thing they like and a significant percentage believe them.

He draws his illustration from how when we sneeze often people hear it at a distance and it spreads germs like crazy.

My prayer request... updated!

My prayer request for today is that God would open more doors for our congregation to connect with the college students living in our neighborhood. Part of this would involve the possibility of starting a Saturday night worship gathering and the HUGE need to find a musical worship leader and other musicians to lead this more contemporary gathering. Part of this is also connecting with a few students who will be "sneezers" that boldly proclaim the value of being connected at CoJ. Part of this is also about developing a strategy to reach out to this population.

Also, a prayer answered.... I just heard from the City, that we can put the name of our church on our building and then can re-do a front sign to be changeable!!!!!! YEAH GOD! And we can use our yellow real estate sized signs periodically.

I think for now, due to not having a great place to put our name on the building, we will first see about modifying our existing sign by making it larger and by adding moveable letters. Will explore that soon.

One Prayer .... one liner!

I don't want to give away the punch line of Craig Groeschel's sermon on Sunday... BUT... it is so powerful -- I have heard it several times now and it still impacts me in a HUGE way.

Craig, says...."It was Jesus who prayed to God, "Father, make them one." What if we could be a part of answering his prayer?"

Part of the power is in turning prayer around from the usual way we think of it... instead of us asking God to answer our prayers... what if we part of the answer to Jesus' prayer!

What if?

How many....

How many instruments can a dentist stick in your mouth at one time and have the nerve to ask you a question while they are in there?

This morning it was 4! Never have understood why they wait until you are totally numb, can't feel half of your face, and have several instruments in your mouth to ask you how you are doing!

Had a tooth prepped today for a crown.... 1.5 hours in a dentist chair is fun! Actually it wasn't that bad. I tried to listen to a Rob Bell sermon on my ipod while he was doing the work, but the sound of the drill was too loud to hear.

Now the worst part of it all is waiting for the Novocaine to wear off! They actually had to give me more, so it will take longer to wear off! ... Glad I don't have to go anywhere today where I have to talk much...

One Prayer responses...

What would your one prayer for the church at large be?

I would love to hear some responses to that... Cathy Brady, a fellow blogger and new member @ CoJ sent me the link to her blog where she is recording her One prayer engagement exercizes.... check it out...

Today, we are encouraged to fast and to pray for salvation for someone. I will fast over the noon meal and I am praying for my friend Jack to find Christ!

How about you?

My One Prayer...

I shared with the congregation @ CoJ yesterday that my one prayer is... Lord make us Peacemakers! Peacemakers is ACTIVE! And it is more than the opposition to/absence of war or conflict.

Two statements of Jesus guide this prayer... In Matthew 5:9, Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called Children of God." And in Luke 19:42 Jesus is crying over the city and says, "If you, even you, knew the things that make for peace."

Becoming Peacemakers starts in our own lives... inviting God to extend his peace to us. Once we have made peace with God, then we can share his peace in our homes, neighborhoods, and in the world.

Making peace is a really big task that is best accomplished by small steps.

Becoming peacemakers involves... addressing hurt feelings immediately and dealing with problems face to face.

Becoming peacemakers involves seeing all people as God sees them... BELOVED and WORTHY!

Becoming peacemakers involves finding alternative ways to work out struggles... moving beyond the hook.

Becoming peacemakers involves learning to LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN then talk to those with whom we disagree.

Becoming peacemakers involves exposing ourselves to other cultures and customs and finding that we have much in common as humans!

I also think it is time for us to make peace with our environment...

Some small steps toward that...

Waste less
recycle more
consume less
recycle old electronics... www.myboneyard.com they pay shipping and might even pay you.
Eat veggies in season... (I used example of tomato, but don't know why anyone would eat a tomato in or out of season... and with today's news about salmonella, I would strongly discourage eating tomatoes!)
Plant trees, shrubs, flowers.

Let us pray... Lord make us peacemakers!

What if? What if we knew and practiced the things that make for peace in our homes, neighborhoods, with people in our world and even with our environment? I think if we did, we would see the Kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven and Jesus would SMILE!

What is your One prayer for the church at large?

Praying about the sign deal....

Ever since we lost the ability to have a changeable sign in front of our Ministry Center in addition to the standard sign we have, we have seen the number of new visitors plummet! I knew that the sign was a significant help to us and therefore want to explore ways to do something that can be changed regularly, but within code and improves the looks of our facility.

So, I have made a call to the City of Salisbury Sign Enforcer to see what our options are. I expect a call back this week. I have also asked our congregation to pray for favor and cooperation in this regard. I am praying to that end.

The pictures are one of SEVERAL possibilities that I would like to explore. If we put our church identification/ name on the building, then we can replace our existing sign with one that we can change the message on regularly. But it will all depend on finding favor with the city and the cost of this venture... two things that are easy for God! So we pray...

OnePrayer Kicks-Off this Weekend.

I am excited to be part of the One Prayer effort!

From an email I received this morning from OnePrayer...."Currently, there are over 1300 churches and over 760,000 people participating.

We encourage you to engage in the conversation with hundreds of thousands of believers on the OnePrayer.com website during this series.

Each day on OnePrayer.com, we will share and discuss a special One Prayer devotional.
Every day of the week, we will unite together.

The schedule for this coming week is:
Monday: What did God do in your Church? Share what God is doing in your church and celebrate with other believers.

Tuesday: We will fast together and pray for salvations. Go to the website to write the first name of someone you are praying will come to know Christ.If you can't fast, you might devote an hour to praying for salvations by sacrificing your time from the TV or another activity.

Wednesday: What is your One Prayer? If you could pray one prayer for the Church, what would it be?

Thursday: How can we pray for each other? Share requests with each other, and lift each other up in prayer.

Friday: Pray for your church this weekend. Pray specifically for your church and the upcoming weekend. "

My prayer is that this OnePrayer effort will be the beginning of something HUGE... the Christian Churches coming together and cooperating NOT competing! Please join me in prayer for our united efforts and for God's blessing on us as we join with brothers and sisters around the world in this effort!

Sunday, I will share my OnePrayer for the church at large.... Lord Make Us... And the following 4 weeks we will have a guest speaker from a church somewhere in the world.... Finalizing those messages now... there are some AWESOME options from which to choose!

Proud Parents....

We were invited to a special Wicomico County Board of Education Awards Ceremony this past Tuesday evening. It was a ceremony for retirees, staff recognition, and student recognition. We were invited because our girls are leaders in the Regional Student Government Association. This Regional group consists of the lower 4 counties in MD.

Caroline was elected this year's President of the Regional Group and Emma was elected for a second term as the Regional Group's Second Vice President! Presenting the Award was Mrs. Kim Miles, now of the Board of Ed, but recently their Principal of Wi- Middle, and a very supportive proponent of the SGA. Also in attendance was the girl's favorite former advisor, Ms. Jetta Reynolds! It was a moment and honor that makes parents proud!

Some final pics from my Guatemala Trip....

Guatemala Day 15 - May 22 FINAL DAY!

Awoke this a.m. a little later than normal... 5 a.m. instead of 4:30 a.m.. Walked to the Bagel Barn to get some good coffee and a bagel.

Dad called home to tell mom we were on our way shortly.

After leaving the Bagel shop, we walked around the central park and we confronted almost incessantly by merchants selling their wares. One was an 11 year old girl who was an excellent salesperson and knew English fairly well. She was PERSISTENT and her favorite line while she was trying to bargain with you on prices was "business is business". The very next vendor used the same line on me and I asked her if she was related to the girl but she told me they were just friends, obviously they were learning from someone or each other. Dad ended up buying a necklace from her as we felt bad that she was 11 and not in school because her family needed her to be selling necklaces to make ends meet. A huge contrast from the school girls her age that were on their way to school walking through the park with their school uniforms on!

Walked around the growing fruit market there too... this was the day for it. About 45 ladies all were selling the same kinds of fruit. The only thing different in most cases at their booths was the lady sitting behind the fruit!

Met up with Becky and Aaron to say good bye and then got on a private shuttle for $25 to go about 45 minutes to the airport. The flight was to be 3.5 hours and it was. I think we even flew over Cuba on the way home.

It was a great trip, but I am happy to be home!

Guatemala Day 14 - May 21

Last night was the first night since coming to Guatemala that I didn't hear dogs barking and roosters crowing all night long... it was a refreshing break! Did hear a couple of dogs around 5 a.m. but they only barked a time or two and then were quiet!

Met Becky and Aaron for breakfast and then met Oscar... spent some time letting the three of them get acquainted. Then we all went in a Tuk Tuk to the top of the hill where the cross is to see the view of the city and the volcano... spectacular! We enjoyed a walk down the mountaind and through the neighborhood to visit some more ruins and then spend some time in the central park. After that, we parted ways and went with Oscar to see more ruins... I was starting to get sick of them by now!

After that, we met back up with Becky and Aaron and went to lunch at a restraunt that was recommended to Oscar by a friend. Becky and Aaron seemed to enjoy visiting with Oscar... he says that he is going to visit them in U.V and when they come to Guatemala City they should call him and he will give them a tour!

After lunch @ 2:30 p.m. we walked to a famous and EXPENSIVE candy store and Oscar treated us to some sweets!

This town is very touristy and thus more expensive and not quite as nice as San Lucas. I really enjoyed the cleanliness though and the architecture here in Antigua, but I like the peaceful tranquility of San Lucas.

My favorite part of the trip was our time with Becky and Aaron in U.V. (except for the bed!)