Generation99

Over the past year and a half, God has been working on my heart regarding the way we do youth ministry in America. As I have surveyed what is being done and what's not being done. I have decided that I need to be part of the solution. SO here's what I personally am doing.

Generation99 is a super-intense student group. It’s like the navy seals of student groups. Everything about the group is over-the-top. The students who will be selected will go through a rigorous interview process. The goal is not necessarily to pick the students who were already on track but to find the students who had the most potential. We will pick 12 who we feel have potential to be great leaders. NOTE: Applications are due this Sunday August 1st at midnight :) email the church office for an application at office@lifequest.tv

For 99 days we will take this generation of students through 3 books (Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis, Next Generation Leader – Andy Stanley, and DO Hard Things – Alex Y Brett Harris), they will also read the New Testament , participate in a 7-day fast together, recorded an audio blog, and serve over 200 hours of community service.

We starting the group as an experiment and we aren't sure where it will end up. I can't wait to meet the first group of Generation99 students on August 23th.

Paid Staff Can Hamper Spiritual Growth

Paid Staff Can Hamper Spiritual Growth

Here's a blog post that I could not improve upon, so I wanted to repost it from Tony Morgan. Church leaders pay attention. Incredible insight for pastor especially.

There are certain common refrains I hear as I’m talking with growing churches across the country. This is one of them. I’ve heard many leaders in recent months acknowledge that they’re trying to shift the ministry to volunteers rather than continuing to hire more staff. Likely, the economic challenges have precipitated that shift in strategy. Whatever the case, I think it’s a good thing.

Today, over on MinistryStrategies.com, Eric Geiger offered this thought as is relates engaging volunteers in ministry. He explains how pastors and other paid staff may actually be hampering spiritual growth by holding on to ministry:

“People who are gifted by God and called to serve Him are put on the bench as they watch the professional ministers make the ministry happen. Instead of fostering a serving posture among believers, this kind of “ministry” develops consumers. By keeping ministry from the majority of the people, they are taught to be moochers and consumers of the faith rather than participators and contributors. As their spiritual gifts go underutilized, they miss the joy of experiencing Christ by serving others.”

Wondering where your church stands on this topic? Do a little math. Take the number of people who volunteer somewhere in ministry at any given time each month. Divide that by the total number of students and adults at your church. That’ll give you a percentage. Here’s my suggestion:

• If the percentage of students and adults serving is over 45%, you are in a healthy range for engaging volunteers in ministry.
• If you are in the 30% to 45% range, you’re doing okay but there’s room for improvement.
• If you are under 30%, you need a volunteer strategy adjustment.

Now, I can hear the critics and skeptics already. You’re probably thinking, “The larger a church gets, the more likely they are to have a big staff team handling the ministry of the church.” It might surprise you to learn I see the direct opposite. For whatever reason, smaller churches I work with have a tendency to rely on the pastors and paid staff to carry the ministry load. In fact, the highest percentage I’ve ever seen (close to 60%), comes fromGranger Community Church — a church of several thousand people.

Check out the rest of Eric’s article on this topic. If you’re interested in coaching on how to improve your volunteer strategy, contact our team at MinistryStrategy.com. We’d love to help.

ONE Prayer

This coming Sunday we are starting a new series which is very unique, when it comes to the way we do sermon series.

During One Prayer, we share teaching, training, resources, and, most importantly, God’s love with the world. As a global body of believers, we're growing together as we learn about a Church that's...

Unstoppable!

SHARE
When the Church unites, it's unstoppable, and gifted teachers and pastors are exploring that theme in this year's One Prayer messages.

SERVE

Imagine what could be accomplished by thousands of churches working together to serve our communities. We can make it happen.

Take part in the outreach and service projects your church has initiated, or get your family and friends together and make a difference where you live.


GENEROSITY
Generosity that flows beyond the four walls of our church buildings... it’s the heart of One Prayer’s giving initiative. For this year’s offering, each church participating in One Prayer is encouraged to support an organization or cause they are passionate about. If your church is receiving an offering this June, please prayerfully consider how God is leading you to give. Think about the difference we can make by demonstrating generosity at a global level!

I can't wait to see what God is going to do through this series. Don't miss it!

Explosion of sorts

Recently my son Caden and I were preparing to grill. He loves grill in with his daddy. We prepared the chicken and went out on the deck to start the grill. He's got this down, you turn on the gas and then click the start button. I've told him over and over to not stand close to the grill when starting it, because it could explode. Time after time it never has though. Well, he went to push the start button with his face right there by the grill and BOOM! a flash of fire came out. It caught both of us by surprise. I rushed him into the shower and discovered that both of us were really lucky. It just cinched his hair and mine but no major burns.

Early the next day, I was drinking a cup of coffee reflecting on what happened. The first question I asked, was this, "Why did this happen?" You see a few days before this incident some friends of mine helped me build a deck and what happened was all the saw dust from the treated wood had built up in the grill. Then when Caden went to start it, the saw dust accumulation caused the explosion.

Then it HIT me. Many of us get close to sin but it never explodes. Time after time people warn us that if we are not careful that particular sin could destroy us. We get comfortable and start doing what my son Caden did, not even give it a thought. Then one day we get too close to that particular sin and ALL of a Sudden it Explodes in our faces.

Check out what James 1:13-16 says, "13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full‑grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers."

Look at the steps to explosion with SIN -
Step 1 Enticed - it won't hurt you. It will be good for you.

Step 2Desire is concieved.

Step 3 It give birth to SIN.

Step 4 Sin begins to grow.

Step 5 Sin EXPLODES and Kills YOU

What in your life are you dabbling with? What in your life are you getting comfortable with and starting to think, "I Got this", I can handle this. If that's where you are, Check out the steps again from scripture.

"Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay."

I hope you will begin to run toward Jesus and away from your sins!!!