Connecting Through Groups

I had the privilidge of teaching at LifeWay's Women's Ministry Leadership Forum last week.  While being one of the few males among hundreds of ladies can initially seem a bit awkward, it's actually become an event that I really enjoy each year.  I am always appreciative of the opportunity to challenge leaders as they consider how to impact future generations.

In one of my sessions, I spoke about the concept of connecting through groups.  Whether that's a small group in a home, a Sunday School class in a church building, a discipleship group, accountability group, open group, closed group, or whatever - we must connect people strategically and we must teach them effectively.

We discussed the need to give significant attention to both what we teach and the methods for how we teach it.   As teachers and leaders of all sorts, we must never lose sight of this important principle.  We must always seek to know the Word and understand how our people need to be taught the Word.  And, above all else, we must lead our groups with a commitment to both building community while also teaching with depth.  Be careful of compromising one for the other.  Our people need both.

For those of you in attendance, below are the notes that I promised:

You can also learn more about our work at www.threadsmedia.com.

Transform Conference

Thanks to everyone involved with the Transform Conference in Memphis this past weekend.  I truly enjoyed myself.  Your receptivity and engagement made it a lot of fun.  As I mentioned at the end of our time together, let me know if I can ever be of any further help to you in the future. 

As promised, you can get my notes HERE.  It's the same material.  

Images of NOW

I'm incredibly grateful for what the Lord did at the NOW Conference.  We continue to hear stories of life-change and inspiration.  We truly believe that God is continuing to raise up a new generation of believers who are committed to radical obedience - in this very moment, right NOW.  We're already making plans for next year's gathering!

Thanks to Amy Haywood for so wonderfully capturing the essence of the event through photography.  You can see the full set HERE.

FREE TICKETS FOR THE NOW CONFERENCE

I mentioned my excitement a few days ago about the NOW Conference.  Here's your chance to join us for FREE.

The NOW conference is a weekend gathering of young adults led by 15 of the top visionary and missional leaders in the country.  We are anticipating a gathering of young leaders from across the country with a passion to take what God has given them and impact the world for change. The event is at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, TN on April 15-16, 2011.

The first 10 people who click THIS LINK and fill out their information will get a FREE ticket. Hope to see you there.  If you win, we'll be in touch.  If not, we'll still be in touch with a special message that you won't want to miss.

Oklahoma

I had a great time today at Oklahoma Baptist University at the Missional Ministry Conference.  Thanks so much to all of you who participated in my sessions.  It was an honor and I pray that it was beneficial for you.  As promised, here are the notes from my talks.  Of course, I have a tendency to leave my notes on occasion.  Thus, I can't say this is 100% of what said.  I do, however, think it gives you a decent summary.  Again, please let me know if I can ever serve you in the future. 

You can also learn more about our work at www.threadsmedia.com.  In addition, here is a summary of the research I mentioned.

Notes:

Reconnecting Cause and Christ.pdf
Gospel Centered Home.pdf

NOW

 Here's what I'm spending lots of energy working on, dreaming up, and praying about.  I'd love for you to join us.  Just take one look at who we're bringing together and I think you'll be interested.  Praying this brings glory to God and is used to advance the Gospel!

Experiential and unconventional, the NOW Conference is an event for young adults designed to help them discover and live out the reality that they can live significantly in whatever context God has placed them in the present or calls them to in the future. 

Follow Me

Past and Present

I love the Church. And I believe in the Church. I believe in the authority of Scripture, and so I believe what it says about the Church. I believe that the Church will always exist and that the Church will survive despite the many obstacles it faces in today’s culture. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, I believe that it is the primary vehicle in which God desires to reveal His glory to the world.

I also believe, however, that the Church is wrongly defined and extraordinarily misunderstood by many. I believe that all too often we’ve defined the Church to be a physical building of bricks and mortar as opposed to the body of believers that gathers there. These people are what make me love the Church. They, not our buildings and programs, are what make it worth loving.

I also believe that most non-Christians stand on the outside of our faith communities with inaccurate perceptions as to what the Church is and wonder why on earth they would have any need for it. Oh sure, most people, regardless of whether they’re Christians or not, want something “spiritual” in their lives, but they’re far more likely to turn to Oprah, inside themselves, or Hollywood than darken the doors of a church. They like Jesus but not the church.

It’s true that people’s rejection of the church is partly a result of various “x-factors” like poor experiences in the past, exposure to false teachings, and the broad impact of mainstream media.  But, I also believe that much of the blame for this misunderstanding can be placed firmly on the shoulders of Christians themselves. It’s our fault they want Jesus but not the church. It’s no big secret as we gaze across the landscape of “churchdom” that there’s a lot going wrong.

There’s no shortage of material pointing out what’s wrong. What’s interesting to me is that the problems we have in the church aren’t exactly new. We struggle to have an authentically deep relationship with the Lord where we truly love Him rather than just perform perfunctory religious duties. We struggle to take care of those around us because we’re consumed with our own desires getting met. We struggle to bring our best to the Lord rather than what is left over. And we struggle to articulate our faith and stand for truth in the midst of a culture that frowns on anything claming to be “absolute.”

So did our parents. So did their parents. So did their parents before them and so on, all the way back into Old Testament. Before there were church buildings or programs, before there were denominations or factions, there was the chosen people of God struggling with many of the same things the Church is dealing with today.

And there was also the prophet ready to hand down a rebuke—a ringing condemnation—from heaven. There was Malachi.

Beach Reach

Carrie, the boys, and I are at Beach Reach for the next two weeks.  I'll be speaking in our worship services each evening.  If you aren't familiar with Beach Reach, HERE is the skinny.  In short, it's a gathering of hundreds of college students committed to sharing the love of Christ to other Spring Breakers. 

In our first week alone (3 total weeks), our teams provided  4,931 free van rides while also serving 4.240 free pancake breakfasts.  In addition, we have teams involved in ministry on the streets, participating in an all-night prayer experience, and more.  Jesus is central to all we're doing.  And it's cool to see these students reflect His love with both the spoken gospel and lives that meet the needs of the world around them. 

You can also view our worship services live at 7:00 pm CST.

Confronting Empty Religion

I'm continually blessed to hear the stories of people across the globe who are choosing to confront empty religion.  Join us