Saturday Night Thoughts

With HBC Saturday Night now 5 months old, we are asked frequently how do we think things are going and progressing.    In case you don't know...here is some quick history:

• HBC made the decision to launch a new service with the idea of reaching people who do not attend church regularly and to minister to people who think church isn't relevant.  
• We assembled a launch team and made preparations for over a year (research, meetings, advertising, etc...).  
• We launched this new service on September 10, 2011. 

Did we have our ups and down in the preparation?  Absolutely...but we assembled a strong team of volunteers, worship band members, children's workers and many others who made commitments to help begin this new service.

Has this been successful?  Well...

• 18 people have made first time decisions for Christ  
• 12 people have been baptized in our Sat Night service
• Many people have taken HL101 & HL201 (our assimilation process)
• Many people are now involved in Connection Groups
• New people are discovering their gifts and are now using them in ministry

Are we perfect?  No!  Do we have a long way to go?  Yes!  But we are seeing fruit and seeing people experience new life.  Our prayer is that we would witness this happen over and over again and see more people in our community find a home at HBC!

Finish

That's right, I am finishing up my final 2 classes at Southwestern Baptist Seminary to complete the MDiv program.  Looking at the syllabus and emailing back and forth with the professors have reminded me why I have "put-off" finishing the degree since 2008.  Why have I put these classes off?  First, I could only take these classes online since moving Michigan and one class in particular (Baptist Heritage) hasn't been offered since 2008, and the second reason is because I haven't been motivated to finish the degree (yes, I admit that I have been lazy).  Although, I expect the next few months to be challenging, I am excited to begin, excited to learn, and excited to finish the degree.

Here is my challenge:  Regardless of any decision that we are "putting-off" in our lives (relational, financial, losing weight, completing a major project, etc...), I encourage each of us to finish strong and complete what we have started out to do.  There is joy to be found and I think we will simply just feel better about ourselves.

Top 5 Books of 2011

On a regular basis, someone will ask me what books I am reading or have currently read.  I try to tweet each book, although tweeting is still a work in progress for me.  So I figured that I would answer these questions here in my blog.  I read many great books in 2011 but here is my list of the top 5 books from last year:

1.  Great By Choice (Jim Collins) - I have read every book that Jim and his research team has put out in the last 10 years and I thoroughly enjoy each and every one.  Great By Choice is an incredible book on leadership and I am looking forward to implementing these principles in my ministry both now and in the future.

2.  Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Peter Scazzero) - Right time and right place.  This book greatly encouraged me in a time of great spiritual need in my life.

3.  Onward (Howard Schultz) - I read this book on my summer vacation.  You just can't go wrong with a leadership book by the founder of Starbucks.  Before you read Onward, I would encourage you to first read, Pour Your Heart Into It. That would give you a good base line for Onward.

4.  The Principle of the Path (Andy Stanley) - This book was packed full of great reminders.  I encourage everyone under the age of 25 to read this book now.

5.  Deep Church (Jim Belcher) - I am thankful for the approach that Belcher took in writing this book.  It cleared up some confusion and encouraged me to strive for balance.

How about you?  What are your top 5 books of 2011?

Journey Through Philippians

At HBC Saturday Night (if you still haven't checked it out...you need to), we started a new series last weekend on the book of Philippians. I try not to get too excited about the next series until I am finished with the current series so I remain focused and centered on the sermon series at hand. Don't get me wrong, I loved teaching on the attributes of God and we saw much fruit from it, but there is just something special about the book of Philippians.

If you missed last week check out the sermon here: 11-05-2011 - Jared Moore

Hopefully you will see what I mean when I say that there is something special about this book written by Paul 2000 years ago that has enormous relevance to our lives today.

Book of the Month

Since I get asked by people what books I am currently reading, I have decided that each month, I will show you a book I have read or am reading for the month.

So the book for month that I would encourage you to read is: 'Sun Stand Still' by Steven Furtick. This book has encouraged and challenged me more than any other book I have read in the last year. As I finish the last few chapters, I have been challenged to pray a 'high-risk' prayer and live a life of faith believing that God wants to accomplish the extraordinary in my life/ministry.

As we embark on HBC Saturday Night, I'm believing God will do the extraordinary in our ministry!!

Video Blog - June 13

Video Blog (June 13, 2011) from thegatheringgr on Vimeo.

Mission Trip Preparation

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for our upcoming mission trip to Haiti (we leave in 2 days). When I mention to some of my pastor friends that I am taking 23 college/young adults with me and for 15 of them this is their first time on a cross-cultural mission trip, they look at me with that look which says that I am crazy without actually telling me that I am crazy. Normally, I wouldn't take this many, but we have a great group of young adutls going and I am confident they will do just fine. I have learned a lot over the last few months so I thought I would share a few pointers for the brave few, and I mean few, who wish to maybe one day plan a mission trip for their group.

1. Plan Enough In Advance - If you know me, you know that I am a planner and try to be well-organized. I would encourage you to begin the initial planning one year out. Time always moves faster than you think and I refuse to allow things to sneak up on me. Things always change when working with missionaries on a foreign country so being well prepared makes these changes a bit easier. This is also helpful in raising funds, we needed to raise $35,000 for our trip and all of our money has come in.

2. Use a Travel Agent - Takes all the headache away in using a quality travel agent. You will pay a fraction more for using an agent but it is a small cost for not having to worry about dealing with the airlines. As a leader of a group, the last thing you want to do is make sure you get enough seats on the plan and have every ones names spelled correctly.

3. Have Enough Team Meetings - We had 1 meeting each month (6 months out). We gave each team member enough information and made sure that each member knew exactly what is expected of them. Even though we had several meetings, I still get questions. I simply refer them to the handouts and tell them to read and memorize the booklets.

4. Pray - This should go without saying, but already we have seen God work in our group in numerous ways. God has proven himself faithful and we are already experiencing the fruit of our labors. Our prayer is that the gospel will be made known through us and God will receive the glory that He deserves!

Assimilation Processes

Over the past 3 months, I have been working with our Christian Education Pastor (Mark Antram) to develop a new assimilation process for HBC. There are tons of definitions for assimilate/assimilation but the easiest way I have defined this term is this: It is the basic process of taking new attendees of a church and giving them easy steps to become part of the local body.

My boss (my father and pastor) has given us the challenge to create this new process. We did plenty of research into other churches who have successful processes but we felt we needed to create something that fits our DNA. This has been a HUGE undertaking because we are creating from scratch a process that is original with us and fits into the purpose of HBC (Making much of Jesus by Worshiping, Growing, Building, Serving, and Reaching).

We have been blessed by God at HBC over the last year with many new families/people coming and many people trusting Christ. But if you know me, I’m never satisfied with how things are. I always think things can and should be better. Because of our lack of a process over the years, I believe we have hindered the spiritual growth of many and have made it difficult for new Christians to be effectively assimilated.

I believe more now than ever before that a successful assimilation process is a successful discipleship process. They go hand in hand. Not only will our people be encouraged to take their “next steps” in their faith, but they will be taught what it means to make much of Jesus by Worshiping, Growing, Building, Serving, and Reaching!

Vision

Over the last several weeks, I have presented many changes to thegatheringgr.org about this ministry and HBC. It has been exciting to see the enthusiasm we all share about our ministry and the opportunities that await us. In case you missed it, here is some basic...and I mean basic info:

• There are 65,000 people in our local community that do not attend church regularly.


• HBC is launching a Saturday Night service (September 2011) to remedy this problem.


• I will be leading/teaching this service under the leadership of our senior pastor, Bo Moore.


• Nate Manning and the gathering band will be leading worship for this service.


• Saturday Night @ HBC will be committed to Bible Teaching, Contemporary Worship, Loving our Community, and Sharing the Gospel.


• Saturday Night will have a nursery, preschool, and full KiDS Ministry.


• The gathering will still exist but will be a "true" college ministry.

Continue to pray with us as we endeavour to reach our community with the life-changing message of the gospel. We have a BIG vision, but our God is BIG and our desire is that He will be pleased with what happens at HBC.

Stay tuned...more info to come soon about HBC Saturday Night!!

Preaching/Communication

I've been challenged in the last few months by personal accountability and study to rethink if my preaching/communication style is making the text clear. I came across this article today by Steven Smith (my preaching professor at Southwestern) in the Southwestern Journal of Theology:

Preachers are communicators. There is more to say about preaching, but it could be said fairly that contemporary preaching is often cursed with individuals so committed to a certain style of preaching that they fail to communicate. The ministry of the word is not the attempt to mirror a style or react against a style, rather it is to make the teaching of the text plain.

Does anyone else need to rethink their style of communication?

Talent Offering

Last night at the gathering everyone in attendance received a $1 dollar bill. We discussed the passage of Matthew 25 (the parable of the talents), and explained that God has given everyone gifts and abilities and it is up to us if we are going to be good stewards or waste them.

We encouraged everyone to take a $1 dollar bill and ask God what he or she should do to raise money to renovate our worship room. I got some really creative responses from some of our college students: yard sales, selling hotdogs at the beach, doing yardwork for people, etc.

It is up to you to raise the funds...we are excited to see what God is going to do this month as we raise money to renovate the worship room! What are some of your ideas?

Anyone been invited?

I am studying for this weekend's talk at the gathering and I am going over some research that discusses how many active church goers actually invite their friends and co-workers to church.

"Only 21 percent of active churchgoers invite anyone to church in the course of a year. But only 2 percent of church members invite an unchurched person to church." (The Unchurched Next Door, p.25)

This is a staggering statistic that needs to be reversed. Any thoughts on how we can do this?

Summer Schedule

In the past 9 months, the gathering has grown really fast...we are seeing more and more people come every single week! This is definitely a God thing, but there are a few opportunities that we need to address so we can continue to see the growth we desire.

The biggest issue that we are facing is that there are a few people that are failing to make a connection when they come to the gathering. We can't tell who is a guest or who is a regular attendee. Our welcome team does a good job most of the time, but there is always one or two that come that we don't get a chance to meet. There are also some who come weekly because they enjoy the music or teaching but they have yet to connect with another college/young adult.

So this summer, we are going to focus our attention and resources on building healthy relationships. We are going to have multiple events/activities with the sole purpose of getting to know each other better. Please check this website and our facebook page for the summer schedule so you can connect with other college/young adults in our community and church!

Do You Have Vision?

Dwight Smith had this to say about people with crystal clear vision:

"There is an itch about something that must be done that animates their lives. They cannot let it go! It is important to emphasize that such a vision does not come from trying to have one. In all of these people, it simply comes! God has so demonstrated Himself that they are filled with a picture of something that must be done." (www.scpi.org/index.php?page=peopleofvision)

Is the vision for your life self-centered or is it God-breathed?

Cell Phone

My phone is broken and I will be without a cell phone for a few days. I guess I will be able to enjoy some quiet evenings. I'm just glad I'm not the pastor on-call this week! ;)

HIllsong London

On Tuesday night, the band from the gathering went to Hillsong London at Granger Community Church. Needless to say, the concert was incredible and many people trusted Christ.

I heard this quote that night from the lead singer of the band and I have heard my father say this before: "Stop asking God to bless what you are doing. Find out what He is doing because it is already blessed."

There is some major truth to this quote! What do you think about it?

Leadership Proverb

I read this proverb from a Chinese philosopher some time ago and have been pondering it ever since. What do you think about it?

A leader is best when people are hardly aware of his existence, not so good when people praise his government, less good when people stand in fear, worst when people are contemptuous. Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who speaks little, when his task is accomplished, his work done, the people say, "We did it ourselves!"

Out-of-balance

Many of us are out-of-balance. We do not recognize who God is, and we don't recognize the critical balance between fear and love.

If we focus our attention on the fear side, we become legalistic. Christianity becomes nothing but rituals and regulations. "I must jump through this hoop, I must do this and do that, or else God might punish me."

On the other hand, we can go in the opposite direction when we take too many liberties with God. We think that since God loves us unconditionally, it does not matter how we live our life. Yes, God does love us unconditionally; but His judgment is connected to our love for Him. We should obey Him because we love Him, but a part of that love is a fearful realization that God is an awesome and powerful judge who will hold us accountable for our actions.

If we fall too far on the side of love and liberty, we can become lazy about our Christian commitment. Achieving this perfect balance between fear and love is one of the greatest goals of spiritual maturity.

White Paint

My wife and I bought a house two weeks ago. This is our first home and we are incredibly thankful to manage this home that God has given to us! Unfortunately or fortunately (however you look at it), this home is a foreclosure.

If you know anything about foreclosures, most of them have been trashed by the previous residents, and our house is no exception. The carpet was molded to the basement floor and the walls and ceilings have been stained by years and years of smoke. To say the least it has been an interesting experience for the both of us
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The last few days, I have been spraying white paint over the ceilings and trim to give our house a fresh new look and make it attractive to live in.

Last night I couldn't help but think that what Amanda and I are doing to the nasty walls and stained ceilings is exactly what Christ has done in our lives. He has taken all of our mess ups, our junk, our mold and our screw ups and He has washed them clean and made them white never to be seen again.

I don't know about you, but I am thankful that I don't have to look at all of my stains and mold. I can look at my life and see that I have been made clean by the blood of Christ.

Monday Morning Thoughts

Last night we held the gathering at Davenport University. I am grateful to Davenport and the many volunteers that helped make last night incredible. We saw many many people walk into the room and most importantly we saw four college/young adults give their lives to Christ!

God is doing some amazing things in this ministry and I humbled that he has allowed me to be a part of it. I can't wait to see where God is going to take us in the next few months, and we want you to join us on this incredible journey!