Cluster of learning and community

Like I’ve posted earlier, I’ve had the honor of hanging out with some great guys who’ve been there, done that, learned a lot, are continuing to learn, and who are real. It’s been a privilege to soak up so much stuff from them. Here are some things that have resonated with my soul.

• What God wants to do in us is more important than what we want God to do through us. Maybe I’m the only one who struggles with this (I doubt it), but in my quest to do for God I miss being with God and letting God do his work in me. At times I feel as if this church planting journey is more about my sanctification than anything else and at times I feel bad for all of you that have to suffer the ramifications of my messy discipleship. At the same time, however, I don’t think any of you are a part of this church plant by accident, and God is working (or trying to work) in you just as much as he’s working in me. He wants all of us to be conformed into the image of his Son (Romans 8:30).
• Obedience to God’s voice and commands opens the door for God to do the work he wants to do in us. I wonder how many times we miss out of what God wants to do because we refuse to submit to him. I can’t emphasize enough how important obedience is for Christ followers. We’re going to discuss this one day soon.
• Obedience to God doesn’t mean everything will work out alright. We’ve believed the lie as American Christians that being a Christian and following Jesus will make us all shiny happy people, but that is rarely the case. But as I say often, God is more concerned with our character than with our comfort.
• Make your life a quest to hear the voice of God so that you know what to do. That’s pretty self explanatory. It’s simple, but it’s hard as @#$%^!
• I need to be more concerned with what God is doing in me than in building a church. Jesus is the one who promised to build his church. Why do I feel like I have to do God’s job? When I take over for God I miss what God wants to do in me (Do we see a theme here?). Intimacy with God must be my number one priority.
• Wake up each day asking: What does God want to do in me today, instead of, What do I have to do today. I get so consumed with my to do list because there’s always so much to do, but I need to slow down. All that crap really isn’t that important compared to what God wants to do in me. The same is true of you. No matter what you have to get done today or tomorrow or next week, none of that is as important as what God wants to do in you. Don’t miss out on what God wants to do in your life. Do whatever you have to do to change the pace of your life.

These are just a few of the things that God’s been teaching me this week. We’re going to use this Sunday night to discuss some of these. We’re going to create some space for Jesus. We’re going to talk about the most important thing. Our time may be a bit uncomfortable, but I think it will be the best hour of your week. You don’t want to miss it.

Fear

Sometimes I think that fear is the # 1 enemy that gets in the way of God working in and through our lives. Fear keeps us from developing real relationships. Fear keeps us from commitments. Fear keeps us from having the tough conversations. Fear keeps us from trusting God. Fear keeps us from seeing God work.

I see so many people (myself included many times) who let their fears dictate their lives. It’s a shame.

I read that the most repeated command in Scripture is do not be afraid. I think there’s significance there. Once again God knows more about us than we realize or would like to admit.

So what are you afraid of? What is fear keeping you from?

Really, fear is a trust issue. Do you trust God? When we give in to our fears we are essentially saying, “No, I don’t trust you God. You’re not big enough, trustworthy enough, loving enough to intervene, so I’m just going to play it safe.”

Don’t give in to fear. By doing so you will miss out on what God wants to do in and through you. You may even miss out on God.

Comfort: Ours or theirs

Anyone who's been a part of The Point for any length of time will recognize these verses: Listen! I Hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together (Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT emphasis mine).

I love that passage because I think it gets to the heart of who we are and who we will always be as a church. We want to do whatever it takes to bring people who are far away from God to a place where they are disciples who are making disciples.

But so often we, as Christians, get in the way of that because it can be very uncomfortable for us. We want to be comfortable in church...after all, we're the one's who are on the inside, right? (Churchplanters.com has a great post on that that you can read here.) But the thing we've got to remember is that our heavenly Father's heart is for those who are on the outside.

So let's work to create a church where outsiders feel comfortable. Let's be like our heavenly Father. Let's be less concerned with our comfort and more concerned with those who don't yet have what we have.

The B.I.T.S. Principle

So what am I talking about? Kibble's and bits? Alpha-bits? Kilobits? Bits and Pieces?

I must confess, I stole this idea from this church planter in Las Vegas (you can what he wrote here). B.I.T.S. stands for (warning: this may be slightly offensive): Butts In The Seats.

I challenged, and have been challenging our team to invite people. It's not that I just want to have a bunch of people coming to The Point (even though that would be awesome), but if we really are going to help people who are far away from God become connected to God then we need relational inroads into the lives of people who are far away from God.

So here's how it works: I have a certain relational network. I have a few people in my relational network who are far away from God, but unfortuately, most of the people in my relational network are Christians. But let's say that I invite someone from my relational network to The Point and they come, they like what's happening (who wouldn't?) and they decide to invite other people. This original person that I invited has some people in their relational network that aren't in my relational network, so they invite someone out of their relational network. Well, the person that they invite has their own unique relational network with people who have their own unique relational networks with people who have their own unique relational networks. You get the point.

So, when I invites someone I have the potential to influence many, many more people down the line because of the potential of each person's unique relational network.

That's why the B.I.T.S. principle is so important. When we have people coming and putting their Butts In The Seat then we are increasing our potential to influence and connect with people who are far away from God.

So who can you invite? (And if you don't attend The Point this principle is universal and will work in your context too.)

Chase the lion manifesto

I read this on Mark Batterson's blog today. I think it has a lot to say to everyone on our church planting team:

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Grab life by the mane. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!