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Juliet the Wonder Pug

For week 3 of WonderBread - Dough Helps the Bread Rise - I introduced everyone to Juliet the Wonder Pug.  By popular demand, here are the pix I shared:

 

 

 

We look back upon history, and what do we see? Empires rising and falling, revolutions and counterrevolutions, wealth accumulated and wealth disbursed. Shakespeare has written of the rise and fall of great ones, that ebb and flow with the moon.

I look back upon my own fellow countrymen (Great Britain), once upon a time dominating a quarter of the world, most of them convinced, in the words of what is still a popular song, that ‘the God who made them mighty, shall make them mightier yet.’

I’ve heard a crazed, cracked Austrian (Hitler) announce to the world the establishment of a Reich that would last a thousand years. I have seen an Italian clown (Mussolini) say he was going to stop and restart the calendar with his own ascension to power. I’ve heard a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin (Stalin), acclaimed by the intellectual elite of the world as being wiser than Solomon, more humane than Marcus Aurelius, more enlightened than Ashoka.

I have seen America wealthier and, in terms of military weaponry, more powerful than the rest of the world put together – so that had the American people so desired, they could have outdone a Caesar, or an Alexander in the range and scale of their conquests.

All in one lifetime, all in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.

England, now part of a tiny island off the coast of Europe, threatened with dismemberment and even bankruptcy. Hitler and Mussolini dead, remembered only in infamy. Stalin a forbidden name in the regime he helped found and dominate for some three decades. America haunted by fears of running out of those precious fluids that keeps their motorways roaring, and the smog settling, with troubled memories of a disastrous campaign in Vietnam, and the victories of the Don Quixotes of the media as they charged the windmills of Watergate.

All in one lifetime, all in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.

Behind the debris of these solemn supermen, and self-styled imperial diplomatists, there stands the gigantic figure of one, because of whom, by whom, in whom and through whom alone, mankind may still have peace: the person of Jesus Christ.

I present him as the way, the truth, and the life.

- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) via Tullian Tchividjian

Can't. Wait.

baptizo (v): to dip under; to fully immerse.

Oreo + Milk = baptizo

Amazing stories of life-change are
pouring into our offices.

My favorite?

The 80+ year old little old lady
who is getting dunked at Colwood.

Sprinkled as an infant, going public as an
octogenarian believer.

Throw in some baptism tailgating and...

Can't.  Wait.

Tips for Churches Seeking Lead Pastors During the Great Recession

Last week I shared some Tips for Church Job Seekers During the Great Recession.  For what its worth, let me turn the tables and now share some ideas for churches:

- Be Specific.  Create an ad that clearly filters out unwanted resumes (because you are about to have your inbox flooded in this economy!).  Be unapologetically specific.  For example, if you want a lead pastor who understands 2009 technology, ask in the ad, "Are you addicted to your iPhone?"  Trust me, that will weed out resumes quickly.

- Cast a Wide Net.  Don't just think outside the box in writing/listing your ad.  Ask yourself, "There's a box?"  Cast crystal clear vision within your ad.  God's Spirit will use your descriptive words to grab the right man's heart.

- Say No Quickly.  Don't string guys along.  Within 24 hours of receiving their resume, reply back with a clear next step (i.e. "We will contact you by xx date").  Filter through resumes quickly or the backlog will paralyze you.

- Say Yes Quickly.  Don't get me wrong, follow your search team's process.  But don't drag it out for 6 months either.  The longer you wait, the more people/giving/momentum your church is hemorrhaging without their lead pastor.  Examine your candidate, but jump through the hoops with speed, not lethargy.

- Keep Solo On-Site Visits Short or Bring the Whole Family.

- Seek Consensus, Not Unanimity.  Within your search team, don't allow a small voice to become a big voice.  Consensus is your goal, not a unanimous vote.

Monday Reflex | 11.02.09

- 499 people across 3 services!  We were down 31 people from last week - - swine flu season. 

- Anytime somebody asks me if we keep a Sunday morning count, I always answer unapologetically: Absolutely.  You count your money, don't you?  Aren't individual souls more important to keep track of?

- Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to teaching on generosity this coming Sunday in week three of WonderBread: Dough Helps Make the Bread Rise.

- Here's something to get excited about: 45 people are registering to get baptized so far!  Take the plunge on Nov 15th - email us for info: hello (at) colwood (dot) org.

- Loved watching jaws drop mid-message when I unveiled the coffin on-stage!  People really seemed to grasp the gravity of Romans 6.  Thanks to our friends at Ransford Funeral Home for making that happen.

- I mentioned how fun it would be to have baptism tailgating on Nov 15th.  Already seeing it take on a life of its own on Facebook!

- I actually got booed during 2nd service when I talked about the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Just you wait - this is our year!

- The video highlighting our student ministries struck a chord.  A number of individuals approached our youth pastor, Dave Dickson, with stories and generous gifts for our ministry to area teens.  God is exceedingly faithful.

- Excited about how Christmas Eve is shaping up for Colwood.  Prayers are appreciated as our staff team fleshes out strategic outreach details this week!

Tips for Church Job Seekers during the Great Recession

I've been getting lots of DM's and emails asking about my 5 month experience of church-world interviewing during this Great Recession.  Here are some easy tips:

- Scrub the Interwebs.  Google/Yahoo/Bing yourself.  Whatever comes up in online searches WILL appear on the computer screens of pastoral search team members.

- Make your resume stand-out.  You have 30 seconds to be different from the 400+ other resumes someone is skimming (I am not exaggerating).  Personality, creativity, and recommendations tell your story.

- If the potential church does not have a website, beware.  Just sayin'.

- If you do not have a website, get one.  Like, yesterday.

- Leverage your contacts.  There is no shame in emailing your resume to ministry folk/bloggers you know.  Everything is relational during the Great Recession.

- Build a prayer network.  Amber & I would regularly update close friends & family via email who had committed to praying over specific pathways.

- Blog & Twitter with purpose.  Every digital footprint needs to share your heart, passion, and vision.  For example, during my search process, I blogged updates like this.

- Keep your references in the loop.  Your references should never be surprised by a phone call or email.

- Shoot straight with search teams.  Don't exaggerate.  Keep teams honestly informed of any on-site interviews you have in the hopper.  Over-communicating (without being obnoxious) builds trust.

- Cast a wide net.  Every day I would carve out prime time to research new openings and follow up with search teams to see if there was any additional info I could provide them with. 

Here are the sites that were most helpful to our search (honestly, denominational job boards were of no help during our search):

ChurchStaffing.com

Denver Seminary Job Boards

Ashland Seminary Career Development

Christianity Today Jobs

The Shepherds Staff

Finding Our Place

Phriday is for Photos | 10.30.09

More photos at Flickr.com/FollowJon.

Random pix over the weekend at Twitter.com/FollowJon.

What I Wish They'd Told Me in Seminary

November 15th will mark a decade for me in full-time ministry.  I have learned a TON over the years - more often than not the hard way! 

Chuck Swindoll is right: "When God has an impossible task to be done, He takes an impossible person and crushes him."

If I could go in a time-machine and give myself advice on the crushing back on Day One, here are some thoughts I might share with myself - - this is what I wish they'd told me in seminary:

1)  It's all about Jesus. 

2)  Sheep bite.  But love wins.

3)  You are not the Messiah. 
Being the Messiah gets you killed.

4)  Protect your family.

5)  Say "No" more than you say "Yes" (see #4).

6)  Don't try to be "well-rounded." 
Amplify your strengths and hire out your weaknesses.

7)  Ask questions.  Never stop reading and learning.

8)  Grace builds trust.  Truth builds confidence.  Balance builds community.

9)  Your church will never be perfect so long as you are the pastor!

10)  Have fun.  Don't take yourself so seriously!  God will accomplish His work in spite of your messiness (see #1).

Anything else you'd say to yourself back on Day One?  I'd love to learn from you!

Get Wet

This Sunday our WonderBread teaching series continues with a look at baptism (after all, bread requires water). 

2 weeks later on November 15th, we'll celebrate with a ton of baptisms (I want to see tailgaters pre-service!).

For what its worth, Brian Jones blogs today about The Power of Getting Wet:

It is like God is saying through this image, “Let me clarify something from the very beginning. This whole spiritual journey is about death. Death to your self. Death to the culture in which you live. Death to your ambitions, your dreams, your wishes, your everything.

But it’s also about life. My life within you. My life to recreate. My life to work in and through and around you to accomplish my will on this earth.”

SimChurch: Online Worship Experiences

A few weeks back I received an advance copy of Douglas Estes' new book, SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World.  Seeing the in-house conversation sparked on the interwebs this week, I peeled back the pages to dive in for myself:

"At no other time in world history since the time of Genesis has more than 20 percent of the world's population been in direct communication with each other."

SimChurch is a must-read for church planters and growing churches to understand.  While I might disagree with some of the author's hermenuetics (for instance, citing Matthew 18:20 as a proof-text when church discipline is Jesus' intent), Estes' book helped me come to a personal conclusion on online church experiences: they are strong 21st Century evangelism tools for connecting people far from God with the local church, but not churches in and of themselves. 

Independent of a local church, these would be parachurch ministries at best.  Which is why I advocate for the expansion of online worship experiences as one ministry tool among many of the local church. 

Physical-proximity to a body of believers is a biblical principle that limits online worship experiences from being substitutes for a local church (my friend Drew Goodmanson more eloquently unpacks this here). 

Further, the anonymity of flickering pixels allows Second Life participants to hide and mask identity (deeper heart issues).  While one might argue that can also happen in the pew, the difference lies in how biblically the Gospel penetrates false facades within the community of physical proximity.

That said, online worship experiences are a strong tool among many.  I loved Estes' introduction the most:

"As with all revolutionary advances, there is a period of uncertainty and exploration immediately followed by a time of adjustment.  For example, even though Nikola Tesla invented the radio in the early 1890s, it was almost forty years before the world really figured out how to use it..."

I would love to hear your thoughts and wrestle through this together in the comments section...

Inaugural Monday Reflex

In an effort to organize my post-Sunday thoughts and share weekend "wins" with our larger church community, here's the very first ever Monday Reflex!

• Great turn-out for our new series, WonderBread: 530 in attendance!
  
• 8 people turned toward Christ - wow!
  
  
• Can't believe tomorrow marks one month that I've been at Colwood Church.  Time flies!
  
• In one month, we've seen 44 lives transformed by the Gospel.  Breathtaking.
  
• The KidStuf environment came within a few seats of maximum capacity!  Once we hit the cap, we're going to work like it depends on us and pray like it depends on God to reach even more families for Christ!
  
• I loved seeing teenagers serving seasoned citizens communion during the 1st service.  Beautiful moment.
  
• To curb swine flu fears, we tried a new experiment yesterday with the Lord's Supper - pre-packaged communion wafer-cups.  After seeing it at Catalyst Conference, we gave it a try.  The experiment worked!
  
• Our lead worshiper, Mike Whipple, is raising up fresh new talents musically in the 3rd service.  Love seeing students engaging and serving within the local church.
  
• Next Sunday we're unpacking what baptism is and is not.  If you've ever wondered (or know someone who has), don't miss this coming Sunday!
  
• In 2 weeks we're going to give one of the toughest challenges in the message that I've ever been a part of.  WonderBread is shaping up to be a tremendous teaching series.
  
• November 15th = Public Baptisms!  Get ready to party!

Phriday is for Photos | 10.23.09

Catalyst 2009:
I love how they incorporated their 10th anniversary ("X") in environmental detail; this is a shot of the lighting rigs of the arena.

 

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday:
As the moving truck packed us up last Friday in Ohio, Josiah's friends surprised him with gifts in our front yard.  Very special moment for the Little Man.

More photos at Flickr.com/FollowJon.

Most Powerful Moment

Long-time readers here know that I rarely embed videos.
But this is one video you NEED to watch.

The most powerful moment, hands-down, for me at Catalyst 2009 was the highlight on adoption.

Niagra Falls.

There are 143 MILLION orphans around the world. 

This MUST end. 

Mac Powell of Third Day offered a very personal, transparent glimpse into his own journey. 

Watch, cry, & take action:

Adoption - Are You Open? (full) from Catalyst on Vimeo.

MidWeek Rewind

Some links from the interwebs:

- Malcolm Gladwell is interviewed in latest Time Magazine.

- "The best thing we can do as a communicator is communicate what God is setting our hearts on fire with because then we don’t have to produce the passion – God produces the passion inside of us." - from Perry Noble's How Do You Prepare a Message?

- Ed Stetzer shares latest research on how young people view the Bible...

- Speaker Summaries from 2009 Catalyst Conference.  Good stuff.

- Tim Keller is blogging.  Yes.

WonderBread

"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal...

"For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

                     - Jesus of Nazareth in John chapter 6