ConvergeUSA Blog

ARE WE WILLING TO EMBRACE CHANGE? - Thoughts from the Unleash Conference

                           

Mark Doebler, pastor of Second Chance Church, recaps what he learned when he attended a session led by Perry Noble at the Unleash Conference - For Church Leaders recently:                            

Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church is underway, and I want to give you some thoughts about what I’m hearing and what I’m learning from this.

Perry’s message is based on scripture from 2 Kings chapter 7

*  It’s interesting how God uses people who are falling apart to serve his interests.  These lepers were thinking we’ve got nothing to lose…let’s take a chance.  

1.  ARE WE WILLING TO EMBRACE CHANGE? - 2 Kings 7:3-4

• Perry believes every church could be one or two changes away from doubling in size and scope of ministry…but embracing change is hard.
• Most churches would be far more willing to embrace change if they looked at kingdom issues as valuable as their own money.
• People who are having difficulty hearing the voice of God should be reminded that you will never hear the voice of God clearly if you aren’t willing to embrace some change.  
• Everybody can look at another church and call the change that needs to be made… but can you look at your own church and make the same call?
• The early church in Acts went through constant change:
  • Acts 1:14-15 (small number to begin)
  • Acts 2:41 (numerical changes) 
  • Acts 4:32-37 (financial changes) 
  • Acts 6:1-7 (responsibility changes)
  • Acts 8 (multi-site changes) 

2. ARE WE WILLING TO WORK? - 2 Kings 7:5-7

• To many times we ask for permission, instead of practicing submission to what God is wanting to do.  
• Investigate the obvious
  • Ask yourself… if you weren’t paid or on staff, would you go to one of your church events?
  • Are there ministries in your church that you are manufacturing energy for or is the energy there naturally?
• Ignore the jackass
  • “In Greek, jackass means blogger”…LOL…Perry is talking about ignoring the critic who feels called to set you straight.
  • In church, too many pastors are listening to the jackasses and not focusing on vision.
  • Perry says the jackass in the church is the one who says, “I want to go deeper!”  John Maxwell says that most Christians are educated far beyond the level of obedience.  If you want to talk about depth, let’s look at your tithing records… let’s look at how much worship you engage in during the week… let’s look at how much scripture you have read.

3.  ARE WE READY TO REACH THE WORLD? - 2 Kings 7:8-11

• Four terms causing trouble in the church
  • Contemporary - Our pastor wears a sweater vest and we sing songs that make it sound like he gets his underwear at Victoria’s Secret and pretend that Jesus is our boyfriend instead of our Crucified King.
  • Blended - No one in our church actually possesses a set and will proclaim where we actually stand.  In an effort to keep everyone happy, we reach no one.
  • Missional - No one is showing up, so we sought out a term to make us sound like we’re actually doing something.  
  • Emergent - We’re a bunch of spoiled former church kids who have a problem with authority… including the authority of Scripture.  So we have sided with the Devil, and Hell will be more crowded because of our efforts.  
• God didn’t call our church to condemn the city..but to reach it.  

Coach Mark’s Thoughts

Every now and then I need to be able to sit and hear messages like this.  Just like anyone else, I need to have the Word of God spoken into my life and my ministry from someone else.  I agree with Perry that the church needs to be about the business of reaching the world… and that means living and dealing with change on a regular basis.  We say on a regular basis at SCC that “We’re going to do something a little different today”.  But even with that, we find ourselves at times settling into routines.  May the Lord help me as a leader to never simply “settle” but to always be ready and willing to move into a new setting or new paradigm… whatever the Lord requires.  

I also agree that the church will be a mess…and we have made peace with that.  Because the very people that Jesus is calling us to reach are messy we should expect no less.  

I also am asking God to help me to stay focused on vision.  There will always be critics… but God is bigger and he is who I will stand before.  On that day, I want to be able to say that I stayed true to the course he set before me and was not side-tracked by someone who “hurt my feelings”.  HT

Baptism Video - Redeemer's Grace Church

The first baptism service of Redeemer's Grace Church in the Lincoln Park Area of Chicago planted by Raul & Connie Fermin.

Cool Video - Pray!

Heartland Church in Fishers, IN developed a excellent video called Pray!

Preparation for Launching a New Church - Dusty Taylor

We'll, it's almost go time. In a little less than three days we'll be an official community.  It amazes me that not long ago we were a Bible study with 12 people.  Here's a shot from our very first meeting.

This weekend we hope to top 150 people.  Granted, alot of these people will be from out of state.  They're just here to celebrate the start of something major, but we're hoping to meet some new "Connectors" too.  This is what we've been doing for outreach:

1.  We gave out hundreds of postcards to our regulars. Some were already stamped.  We encouraged them to mail them to their friends and family in the area. 

2.  We gave all our regulars cookie mix.  We encouraged them to make cookies and send them to neighbors and such.  It's amazing how many walls cookies break down.

3.  Tomorrow night we're making even more cookies and taking them around to houses close to the church where we meet. We're just knocking on doors and telling them about lthe launch.

4.  We did this . . .

 

I have to send some pics to a newspaper tomorrow.  Hopefully they'll run a story on Friday.  I've already got an email from a guy who saw the news coverage.  We're really hoping the story leads to some new people checking out a weekend service.

Thanks for all your prayers. I've encouraged our Connectors to fast and pray on Friday.  I'll be spending that day as quietly as possible (with three kids around the house). I'm really excited about the sermon this weekend, and the drama and the videos that we have planned.  It's going to be really great!  We'll be recording the service.  If you've been keeping up from the outskirts of Idaho, I'll do my best to get a version of it up so everyone can see it.  HT

 

Dusty Taylor is in Meridian ID and planting Connections Church with Converge Northwest. The weekend of their launch they had over 100 people attend. Way to go Dusty!

To read the complete story... HT

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