Appleseed Travel Journal - The New Missionaries
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Minggu, 28 Juni 2015
Stop Wasting Your Time Doing This!
FrankViolaBlog - Stop Wasting Your Time Doing This! |
Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:41 AM PDT
Before I launch into today’s post, I’m seriously perplexed.On Monday, I posted my 2015 Blog Reader Survey and asked nicely — I said “Please” with a capital “P” even — that you take 2 minutes (yes, 2 whole minutes) out of your busy schedule to fill it out.
To my surprise (no, to my shock), only .05% of you have done so.
So I want to thank those of you who took the 2 minutes out of your busy schedules to respond to my really nice request.
But to the rest of you, can you pause and take 2 minutes to fill it out for me? Pretty please?
Right now, the numbers are way too small for me to get an accurate sample. And I use the information in the survey to improve this blog and my other writing and audio projects for you, my readers.
So pretty please with cherries and blueberries on top – take 2 minutes out of your grinding schedule and answer the survey.
HERE IT IS AGAIN
Okay, I’ll now wait for you to go fill it out and return to read today’s post . . .
Waiting … (thumb roll) 1 minute past.
Waiting … (humming) 2 minutes past.
Okay, here we go.
Stop Wasting Your Time Doing This!
While I’m not a fan of Facebook groups, I do enjoy connecting with people on my Facebook page.
However, from time to time, I’ll look at some of the news feeds of my friends. And I’ll see some of them getting roped into full-blown doctrinal beatdowns on their walls.
In like manner, I’ve been pulled into countless Facebook groups – meaning, people “joined” me.
I don’t follow these groups and rarely make a comment.
However, once in a while I’ll get tagged, so I end up looking at the thread.
For the last seven years in observing these groups, I’ve lost count of the knock-down, drag-out, WWE-styled smackdowns over biblical topics I’ve seen.
The people go back and forth, some ending up being so infuriated that they end up blocking their debating opponents.
In addition, some of the befuddled contentious souls are routinely banned from these groups.
(Oh, these are all “Christians” groups mind you, Ahem . . . )
Not once during these blood-lettings have I ever seen anyone change their minds.
Lots of wasted time and energy is burned up in these threads. And for that reason, people leave them constantly.
Why, then, do people continue to argue and exchange theological blows on Facebook?
These are the thoughts that have gone through my mind whenever I’ve observed these things:
“Has it not dawned on them that their comments are not making a dent in the minds of others?”
“Do they have too much time on their hands, so debating and angering people is a pleasant hobby for them?”
“Do they have a lot of pent up frustration that they are unwittingly unleashing on the pour souls who are part of these groups?”
“Have they still not discovered the other means that actually impact people and change hearts and minds?”
Now, I’m sure there may be a few exceptions to the above. (In life, there are always the .001% exceptions.)Surprising, shortly after I wrote this post and put it in my queue, one of my Facebook friends made this comment on his wall:
Facebook is not a place for
intelligent dialogue. I have learned very few people can have a rational
discussion about just about anything. I look, but have learned to
refrain from engaging current political, religious or cultural topics.
The vast majority of people already have their minds made up on a given
issue and viewpoint. Facebook is merely a place they use to reinforce
that viewpoint and anything challenging them is viciously attacked.
Interesting, eh?My point is simple.
Facebook isn’t the place to change people’s minds.
It’s a great way to keep up with old friends or — if you’re a writer — to connect with your readers.
But in terms of real impact and changing people’s minds, there are far more effective ways of doing both.
Oh, if you saw my post on the mentoring project from last week, I’m working on a safe place where Christians can receive mentoring and connect with others of like mind and heart at the same time.
And that project will have nothing to do with Facebook.
John Fenn, Weirdness from God #3 (Is Shaking from God)
Hi all,
Last week I shared how God will never cause a person to lose control of themselves in convulsions. That doesn't mean the human body doesn't shake or feel warm when in the presence of God - because it can.
Heaven created, but earth formed
A believer's spirit has been recreated by the Spirit of God and can therefore withstand the fullness of heaven. But the human body at this stage of our eternal lives is formed of the earth, and things made of earth are a lower form of creation than the heavenly, so doesn't react well to the things of the Spirit.
Like an electric stove top which has elements made to resist electricity flowing into them, which causes them to heat up, so too does the earth-body resist and react to the Spirit of God.
A person may feel a warmth, 'goose bumps', shaking in one's limbs, or weakness in the body when in the presence of the Lord. If the power is turned up a bit more, like the stove top element that heats up more when more electricity is allowed into it, the human body may be 'slain in the spirit' - poor term to describe a person losing physical strength and falling down as a result.
If the power is turned up a bit more, a person may have a trance or vision as Peter did in Acts 9, or a person may appear to be deeply asleep, and sometimes they are having amazing experiences with the Lord, and yet other times they don't recall a thing afterwards.
If the power is turned up high enough, it will kill the human body, which happened to Uzzah in II Samuel 6:6-7 who touched the Ark of the Covenant to steady it as David had incorrectly transported it by ox cart rather than by priests. If the power is turned up higher than just killing a person, it will change the molecular structure of earth-flesh into heavenly-flesh, which is what happened to Jesus at His resurrection* and what will happen to all believers when our earth bodies are 'changed' into the heavenly**. *Romans 6:4 says Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. **I Corinthians 15:35-55.
I said I'd share about God, the devil, and the flesh...here is the flesh
When a person feels the Holy Spirit come on them and their flesh starts to shake, that can be a natural reaction to the Holy Spirit by the human body, as it is made of earth and reacts to the Spirit of God.
But my point from last week that Paul taught remains true*, God will never cause you to lose control. A person can give themselves over to the shaking because they haven't been taught they can stop the shaking yet still feel the anointing. I have instructed many over the years in this. *I Corinthians 14:32
A typical conversation will be to talk to them while they are shaking, and ask if they feel the presence of God - normally they will say something like 'Yes, this happens to me in the presence of God', or something like that, as they know their body and how it reacts - each person is different.
Then I'll share Paul's teaching, and ask them to take control of their shaking (arm for example) and as they do I continue to ask them if they still feel the presence, which they always answer they do. Within a couple of minutes they have stopped shaking, and testify they still feel the presence of the Lord just as strongly.
They've now been taught scripture and the ways of the Spirit, therefore no longer focused on themselves and their shaking, but are now able to focus again on the Lord and receive from Him.
Ignorant leaders
What happens is that pastors and ministers are ignorant, and frankly, sometimes use these reactions to the Spirit as ego and ministry boosters because news of shaking builds their ministry up in the eyes of many.
And because they are willingly ignorant of the ways of the Spirit and the human body and it makes a good show, well meaning people who attend are allowed to shake, convulse, roll, bark, laugh, and all sorts of things as they give themselves over to it, never knowing God will never cause you to lose control of yourself.
God doesn't interrupt Himself, so He won't have x person teaching while y person in a pew is drawing attention to themselves by shaking or laughing or convulsing - the minister needs to talk to that person and teach them how to regain control of their flesh, or let the meeting go to all laughing or all shaking. God isn't divided against Himself nor therefore does He contradict His purpose in a meeting by interrupting Himself.
And there are some who shake because they like the attention, in a sick way thinking somehow they are more spiritual because they shake. But what if that shaking is not the flesh, but a demon?
How the Holy Spirit uproots a demon so that it manifests
In Matthew 12:25-28 Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of the devil, but He responds: "If I by Beelzbub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast them out by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you."
Jesus worked then and continues now to work with the Holy Spirit to cast out demons, for His whole ministry is cooperating with what the Father wants to do by His Spirit*. Jesus hasn't changed which means we as His body must also cooperate with the Holy Spirit in ministry. *John 5:19
No one just walks up to a person and says "I command that spirit in you to come out" - the exception in scripture being the person knows they have a spirit and wants it out, their will with the Holy Spirit bringing it to the surface to be dealt with, or a parent of a dependent child asks on their behalf as it manifests.
Notice in Jesus' ministry spirits were manifesting when Jesus cast them out, 'pushed to the surface by the Holy Spirit' for lack of a better way of saying it. We see this in Matthew 15: 21-28 with the woman whose daughter was tormented, evidently as she spoke with Jesus, and in Matthew 8:28-34 where two men possessed with demons manifesting came to Jesus, who cast the spirits out.
In Mark 1:21-26 Jesus is teaching and a demon in a man starts manifesting during His teaching, and He casts him out. In Mark 5 a man with 2,000 demons led by Legion came running to Jesus to be delivered.
We see this same cooperation with the Holy Spirit in Acts 16 with Paul who was followed by a slave girl with a 'spirit of divination', saying; 'These men are servants of the most high god and show us the way of salvation', which in Greek culture was Zeus the sky god, so this spirit was lying about Paul and Silas, and Paul cast out the spirit as it manifest.
As it was then it is now; the Living Word and Spirit agree and work together.
A person convulsing because of a demon is doing so with little or no control over it - the Holy Spirit pushes it up to manifest so it can be cast out. A person convulsing in the flesh can regain control quite easily.
If you ask a person if it is God on them or if God is on them because they have a demon, you will know by their reaction - a demon will often speak up at that point with a hate filled response, and if in the flesh a person will look at you like you're crazy to suggest they have a demon. If its a demon tell it to leave, and if the flesh try to help them grow a bit by regaining control of their body. And if they won't cooperate, then know there are times you have to give up on people not because you don't care, but because they don't.
I never got to what the Argentineans said...So next week Argentineans, where gold dust, feathers, and jewels came from - and more...until then, blessings!
John Fenn
Last week I shared how God will never cause a person to lose control of themselves in convulsions. That doesn't mean the human body doesn't shake or feel warm when in the presence of God - because it can.
Heaven created, but earth formed
A believer's spirit has been recreated by the Spirit of God and can therefore withstand the fullness of heaven. But the human body at this stage of our eternal lives is formed of the earth, and things made of earth are a lower form of creation than the heavenly, so doesn't react well to the things of the Spirit.
Like an electric stove top which has elements made to resist electricity flowing into them, which causes them to heat up, so too does the earth-body resist and react to the Spirit of God.
A person may feel a warmth, 'goose bumps', shaking in one's limbs, or weakness in the body when in the presence of the Lord. If the power is turned up a bit more, like the stove top element that heats up more when more electricity is allowed into it, the human body may be 'slain in the spirit' - poor term to describe a person losing physical strength and falling down as a result.
If the power is turned up a bit more, a person may have a trance or vision as Peter did in Acts 9, or a person may appear to be deeply asleep, and sometimes they are having amazing experiences with the Lord, and yet other times they don't recall a thing afterwards.
If the power is turned up high enough, it will kill the human body, which happened to Uzzah in II Samuel 6:6-7 who touched the Ark of the Covenant to steady it as David had incorrectly transported it by ox cart rather than by priests. If the power is turned up higher than just killing a person, it will change the molecular structure of earth-flesh into heavenly-flesh, which is what happened to Jesus at His resurrection* and what will happen to all believers when our earth bodies are 'changed' into the heavenly**. *Romans 6:4 says Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. **I Corinthians 15:35-55.
I said I'd share about God, the devil, and the flesh...here is the flesh
When a person feels the Holy Spirit come on them and their flesh starts to shake, that can be a natural reaction to the Holy Spirit by the human body, as it is made of earth and reacts to the Spirit of God.
But my point from last week that Paul taught remains true*, God will never cause you to lose control. A person can give themselves over to the shaking because they haven't been taught they can stop the shaking yet still feel the anointing. I have instructed many over the years in this. *I Corinthians 14:32
A typical conversation will be to talk to them while they are shaking, and ask if they feel the presence of God - normally they will say something like 'Yes, this happens to me in the presence of God', or something like that, as they know their body and how it reacts - each person is different.
Then I'll share Paul's teaching, and ask them to take control of their shaking (arm for example) and as they do I continue to ask them if they still feel the presence, which they always answer they do. Within a couple of minutes they have stopped shaking, and testify they still feel the presence of the Lord just as strongly.
They've now been taught scripture and the ways of the Spirit, therefore no longer focused on themselves and their shaking, but are now able to focus again on the Lord and receive from Him.
Ignorant leaders
What happens is that pastors and ministers are ignorant, and frankly, sometimes use these reactions to the Spirit as ego and ministry boosters because news of shaking builds their ministry up in the eyes of many.
And because they are willingly ignorant of the ways of the Spirit and the human body and it makes a good show, well meaning people who attend are allowed to shake, convulse, roll, bark, laugh, and all sorts of things as they give themselves over to it, never knowing God will never cause you to lose control of yourself.
God doesn't interrupt Himself, so He won't have x person teaching while y person in a pew is drawing attention to themselves by shaking or laughing or convulsing - the minister needs to talk to that person and teach them how to regain control of their flesh, or let the meeting go to all laughing or all shaking. God isn't divided against Himself nor therefore does He contradict His purpose in a meeting by interrupting Himself.
And there are some who shake because they like the attention, in a sick way thinking somehow they are more spiritual because they shake. But what if that shaking is not the flesh, but a demon?
How the Holy Spirit uproots a demon so that it manifests
In Matthew 12:25-28 Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of the devil, but He responds: "If I by Beelzbub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast them out by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you."
Jesus worked then and continues now to work with the Holy Spirit to cast out demons, for His whole ministry is cooperating with what the Father wants to do by His Spirit*. Jesus hasn't changed which means we as His body must also cooperate with the Holy Spirit in ministry. *John 5:19
No one just walks up to a person and says "I command that spirit in you to come out" - the exception in scripture being the person knows they have a spirit and wants it out, their will with the Holy Spirit bringing it to the surface to be dealt with, or a parent of a dependent child asks on their behalf as it manifests.
Notice in Jesus' ministry spirits were manifesting when Jesus cast them out, 'pushed to the surface by the Holy Spirit' for lack of a better way of saying it. We see this in Matthew 15: 21-28 with the woman whose daughter was tormented, evidently as she spoke with Jesus, and in Matthew 8:28-34 where two men possessed with demons manifesting came to Jesus, who cast the spirits out.
In Mark 1:21-26 Jesus is teaching and a demon in a man starts manifesting during His teaching, and He casts him out. In Mark 5 a man with 2,000 demons led by Legion came running to Jesus to be delivered.
We see this same cooperation with the Holy Spirit in Acts 16 with Paul who was followed by a slave girl with a 'spirit of divination', saying; 'These men are servants of the most high god and show us the way of salvation', which in Greek culture was Zeus the sky god, so this spirit was lying about Paul and Silas, and Paul cast out the spirit as it manifest.
As it was then it is now; the Living Word and Spirit agree and work together.
A person convulsing because of a demon is doing so with little or no control over it - the Holy Spirit pushes it up to manifest so it can be cast out. A person convulsing in the flesh can regain control quite easily.
If you ask a person if it is God on them or if God is on them because they have a demon, you will know by their reaction - a demon will often speak up at that point with a hate filled response, and if in the flesh a person will look at you like you're crazy to suggest they have a demon. If its a demon tell it to leave, and if the flesh try to help them grow a bit by regaining control of their body. And if they won't cooperate, then know there are times you have to give up on people not because you don't care, but because they don't.
I never got to what the Argentineans said...So next week Argentineans, where gold dust, feathers, and jewels came from - and more...until then, blessings!
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
Update from China
Appleseed Travel Journal - Update from China
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10 Common Elements Between Reproducing GROUPS and Reproducing CHURCHES
10 Common Elements Between Reproducing GROUPS and Reproducing CHURCHES
Groups that
experience a multiplication carry a DNA that can be scaled into bands of
leaders with a contagious attitude to expand His church to new
horizons.
One of the reasons my church (Real Life Church, Sacramento, CA; Pastors Scott and Karen Hagan), has a vision for reproducing groups, is that we also have a vision for reproducing church sites. At the time I am writing this we are a nine-year church plant with five other church sites outside of our Sacramento Campus.
I am aware of many churches that have a vision of starting new campuses but they don’t have an intentional focus on starting new groups. Having small groups that are multiplying may not be a requirement for success in every instance, but there are some significant parallels to take into consideration.
Below are 10 elements that reproducing groups have in common with reproducing churches…
1. Desire to start something new. The pre-season before my high school football team won a state championship, myself and the other seniors chose a tagline as a theme for that year. On the back of our practice shirts it said the following: “If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.” The concept was that if we set uncommon goals and uncommon standards for ourselves, we would go to uncommon places and see uncommon things happen.
A small group that desires to see their group turn into many groups is still an uncommon vision today. It’s uncommon because most people don’t want something new; instead, most people want something familiar.
An environment full of existing groups that want to see new groups launched is healthy soil for sowing vision about launching new churches. This leads me to my next point…
2. Speaking vision to potential leaders. In order to reproduce small groups, you have to deposit vision into people who aren’t currently leading. You have to look them in the eye and call forth their leadership potential. Building this type of muscle memory through the groups ministry allows a body of believers to flex when needed and call forth new pastors and leaders for new church extensions and services.
3. Cultivating new leaders. I hear many pastors complain that they don’t have enough volunteers. This reminds me of a mentor I had who said, “Leaders don’t grow on trees. You have to develop them yourself.”
Apprenticing green group leaders conditions a church for the task of cultivating new leaders of leaders.
4. Transferring responsibility to new leaders. If you’re going to raise-up new small group leaders, you’re going to have to give new people more responsibility and ownership. For some odd reason, human nature can resist giving ministry away. The rhythm of passing the baton of leadership for new churches can be nurtured on a grass roots level with a heart to enlist more people into the mission of group life.
5. Culture of SENDING. You can’t multiply churches when you’re also trying to amass power and centralize resources. Jesus demonstrated a decentralized mindset when He sent his small group out two-by-two to bring the gospel to new homes in new towns (Luke 9:1-4).
Having a culture of “sending” is a can’t-miss-ingredient to plant new sites and communities. Small groups that are releasing new leaders to start new groups can make the process of “sending” second-nature to a church.
6. Risk-taking faith. It’s an adventurous process for a rookie group leader to take a step of faith and attempt to do something they have never done before. It’s a vulnerable feeling to put yourself out there and begin something fresh for God’s kingdom.
What if it fails? What if I make a mistake? What if nobody shows up? What if people are disappointed with me? These are all the common questions a new group leader will have to overcome internally. It’s all risky-business.
The good news is, “God rewards faith.“ Thus, multiplying groups becomes the training ground for a church to practice the same trust it will need to multiply churches.
7. Asking for sacrifice. When you ask people to plant a new group or a new campus, you’re asking them to sacrifice. You’re asking them to give more of themselves. You’re asking them to increase their commitment towards a spiritual endeavor. You’re asking them for more of their time, resources, effort and emotion.
Some churches have hesitated to ask their people to sacrifice out of a fear of rejection, while others have avoided it out of ignorance. Getting people more acquainted with the habit of kingdom sacrifice can be fostered through thriving group life and then refined in church planting.
8. Willingness to get out of comfort zones. Change makes people strange. Most believers gravitate towards predictability. The problem is, Jesus is in the business of telling us to “get out of the boat.” The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, which makes Him irrelevant if we’re already comfortable.
Exhorting your groups to birth new groups will challenge the same comfort zones your organization will face in birthing a movement.
9. Inviting New People. To get any ministry off the ground, leaders have to be able to rally new people to the new dream. This is true for young groups and young churches.
Both undertakings require the same instincts of reaching out and gathering.
10. Determination to forge a foundation. The process of establishing a new group is a smaller, but similar, pattern of establishing a new congregation. Once the initial burst of adrenaline and excitement is gone, there must be enough perseverance to form relationships and solidify a collective identity.
Entrepreneurial groups, that successfully sink their roots down deep, adopt realistic expectations about what it takes to anchor a new work for God. It’s the identical psychological toughness needed for church multiplication.
In conclusion, I believe that reproducing groups can be the seed for reproducing churches. Groups that experience a multiplication carry a DNA that can be scaled into bands of leaders with a contagious attitude to expand His church to new horizons.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below…
Andrew Mason is the Small
Groups Pastor of Real Life Church, a family of churches across the
Northern CA region. He oversees Small Groups, Discipleship Ministries
and Assimilation. He is Founder of SmallGroupChurches.com, an online
community of leaders dedicated to growing churches one small group at a
time. Andrew resides in Sacramento, CA with his wife Camille and their
son. More from Andrew Mason or visit Andrew at http://www.smallgroupchurches.comAllen White: Why Off-Campus Groups Are Just BETTER
Allen White: Why Off-Campus Groups Are Just BETTER
A group’s location says a lot about the group.
children’s space. I remember leading a group for Pete Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality in a third grade classroom. A child had created a poster for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. While I really wanted to help people work through their ennagrams and get to their family dynamics, I kept thinking, “No, it’s chocolate. Really!”
This is why off-campus groups are just better:
1. Better for the Group.
A home is more personal than a classroom. While a group could cover the exact same content in both environments, there is something about a home that reframes the meeting as “group life” rather than just a class. Hospitality has become a bit of a lost art. Growing up families would regularly have each other over for dinner. Today, families are generally too exhausted to think about volunteering for another thing. Inviting a group into a home is a meaningful gesture. Group members can get to know the group leader by asking about family pictures or mementos from years gone by. What’s even better is having the group trade off homes. This way the group can meet in every member’s home and get to know them better as well.
A home is a more casual environment. The meeting doesn’t necessarily feel like a “church thing.” They are meeting with a group of people to encourage each other, study God’s Word, and pray for each other. Granted, it’s not a Thursday night poker game, but you can have that kind of community.
This can also apply to a third place like a bookstore, a coffee shop or a community room at an apartment complex. While these settings are not as personal as a home, they certainly are not as formal as a classroom. The other great thing about meeting in a third place is there is no cleaning up before or after the meeting, and possibly no refreshments to provide. Latte anyone?
2. Better for the Church.
Now, by better for the church, I don’t mean less wear and tear on the building or giving the childcare workers a night off, but that’s not a bad start. Most churches do not have adequate educational space to house every small group who meets. When I served at Brookwood Church, groups met every day of the week, Sunday through Friday, morning, noon and night. Even though there were a couple hundred groups, we completely ran out of space. We weren’t going to build anything else, so where do you turn?
Once we embrace the idea that the church is not merely a building, but the body of believers, suddenly the church has all kinds of space. In fact, churches have millions and millions of dollars worth of property that they aren’t even utilizing—the homes of their members. No need for a capital campaign or building a new building, the church has buildings. They just need to plant group life there.
3. Better for the Neighborhood.
Pastors debate whether their churches should be missional or attractional. I would argue they need to be both. Churches should offer a weekend service where unchurched people would feel welcomed and interested. A place where they friends can invite them, and they can hear the Gospel. But, the church should also go to them. When our church in California, New Life Christian Center, launched our first self-produced curriculum (read more here), we encountered a result we didn’t count on—people who had never darkened the door of our church were meeting our pastor in the homes of their friends. As our group leaders reached out to friends, neighbors, and co-workers, they were invited into a comfortable place, their friend’s home, rather than a church service where they might not feel as comfortable. After a few weeks of watching our pastor on video, the leader asked if they like to come to church with them. When they came to a service, they felt like they already knew our pastor because they had just spent a few weeks with him at their friend’s house.
4. Transitioning Your Groups Without Transitioning Yourself Out
There are some exceptions to where groups meet. There will certainly be some resistance. In some places, there will be a flat out sense of entitlement. After all, didn’t the church members fund the building campaign, so why can’t they use the building?
As I mentioned, when I first arrived at Brookwood Church, the vast majority of groups met on campus, and I wasn’t about to change that. It’s not that I’m a chicken. I just lack the gift of martyrdom. After all, what we were doing was working for a lot of the groups. If it ain’t broke…
I made two commitments to the existing on-campus groups. First, while we were starting many new groups off-campus, I would never ask them to move off-campus. Second, I promised them I would never split up their group if they exceeded 12 members. That’s for another day. Remember, if you kick them out, they might just kick you out.
Now, over the course of the next four years, we started hundreds of new groups off-campus. And, we started a few groups on-campus. Now by “few” I mean four groups. A couple of people could not figure out another way to have a group, so I gave them a room. Then, we started a group for single moms. Not only did I give them a room, I gave them free childcare, free curriculum, tickets to a Chonda Pierce concert (with free childcare)—the whole works. After all, single moms and their kids are our modern day “widows and orphans.”
Once we changed the expectations for most groups to meet off-campus, they figured it out: meeting place, childcare, and whatever other objection they had. They didn’t feel like second-class citizens. They just understood that we were out of space. We may have missed starting a few groups along the way, but the groups we started were better in so many ways.
Allen White consults and
speaks in the areas of small group strategy, staffing structure,
volunteer mobilization, and spiritual formation. He blogs at
http://allenwhite.org. More from Allen White or visit Allen at http://allenwhite.orgLast Day in China
Appleseed Travel Journal - Last Day in China
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GOD'S ENTIRE PLAN: in 5 Simple Verses
Hi Dave and church,
This is one of the most talked-about posts I've ever put out:
GOD'S ENTIRE PLAN: in 5 Simple Verses
You don't need to know more; you need to know less.
Peace is on the side of simplicity, while complexity leads to confusion and chaos.
Try just one verse at a time:
Chip Brogden
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)