A one man army spells…DEFEAT!

I remember several years ago, after planting a growing church, family was good, ministry was good, time with God was good, but there was a deep emptiness inside I couldn’t explain, or really identify. After “dealing” with this for a time, I was invited to join a group of other pastors from my state that were pastoring (more…)

I’m in Deep Do-Do!

As a leader right now, I feel I am in deep “do-do.” Ever feel like that? Way in over your head, tackling something above your ability? So much so, you sit almost completely numb, just thinking to yourself, “I better run away right now, before everyone finds out I really can’t do this!”

Having taken the helm of theSticks conference and gatherings, along with continuing to develop The COMB Network, and pastor Cornerstone, I say, WHAT!!! How can I do all this? The answer is simple I can’t. I need HELP! What God has has done is… (more…)

Right Where They Are!

I’ve been going through the 5 distinctions of the Comb Network. Today, I’m gonna tell you about the third..

Indigenous.

Indigenous means: A system of recognizing and empowering local leadership… (more…)

Church Planting Challenge!

I will be sharing this vision tomorrow at the National Leaders Meeting for  Southern Baptists. Really excited to see what God is about to do! It’s all about seeing a great move of God in smaller communities. You can check out the COMB NETWORK web site too. Please, tell me what you think…

6 Steps to…Simple Church Planting

There are a lot of new buzz words and strategies these days for planting churches. I must admit, I am from a small town and I need things to be simple in order to understand them. Studying through the book of Acts, it seems the first church planted new churches and “turned the world upside down’, and they used a simple 6 Step plan: (more…)

What if people DESIRED church like chicken McNuggets?

Police: US woman punched McDonald’s drive-through window because restaurant had no McNuggets. 

Can you believe the thoughts of passion, desire, expectation, anticipation and stimulation that were occurring in this woman’s mind over the idea that her McNuggets were coming soon?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100104/koddities/us_odd_mcnugget_arrest

(more…)

3-Legs Of A Strong Church

In a strong church there is an essential element called BALANCE. Balance is always difficult to reach, and at times may seem impossible to maintain. However, all the strong, vibrant, growing & maturing churches I have observed are maintaining balance on these 3 legs… (more…)

Why It’s Worth It

Is it really worth the extra effort, energy and planning to establish and maintain a multi-ethnic church? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? After all, only 2.5% of mainline Protestant churches can be described as multi-ethnic so why should my church be any different?

The short answer is a resounding, “Yes!” It is absolutely worth it. That only leaves the question of why it’s worth it. A multi-ethnic church:

•  truly mirrors culture – We are a diverse world, nation and, more often than not, community. Should not our churches look like the community we serve?

• greatly impacts culture – It illustrates the available potential we have when we tear down walls of prejudice and various -ism’s.

• rightly represents heaven – There are no seating assignments in heaven based on race, socio-economic status, denomination, education or any other box society likes to put people into. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a taste of that before we get there?

Yes. It takes extra effort, energy and planning to be multi-ethnic. But the rewards are unbelievably limitless. Imagine what we could do in our world when we stand united: one voice, one people serving one God.

5 Musts for Multi-Ethnic Churches

Being ethnically diverse is at the heart of who Cornerstone is and why we do church the way we do. On more than one occasion we’ve been asked how we maintain such a multi-ethnic congregation. We have found there are 5 "musts" for any church that wants to be multi-ethnic:

1.   You must have conviction.

2.   You must have intention.

3.   You must have education.

4.   You must have adaptation.

5.   You must have exclusion.

The first must is conviction. Breaking ethnic barriers must be a conviction your church carries. Miriam-Webster defines conviction as a “strong belief.” You must strongly believe that:

-   God’s desire is that His church be multi-ethnic

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations (people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

-   Not being multi-ethnic in approach is a sin

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism…if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin…You are guilty of breaking the law.  James 2:1 & 9 (NIV/NLT)

-   Multi-ethnic unity reflects God’s love

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  John 17:23 (NIV)

Remember, conviction drives choices. In choosing to be a multi-ethnic church you must first have a conviction to be one.

LONELY IN LEADERSHIP?

All leaders know the feelings that come with leadership, misunderstandings, burn-out, rejection, criticism & many times a feeling of great loneliness. If you have never felt this great feeling of loneliness, you have never been called out to go against the flow, and run with a new big vision.

With great vision comes great "separation." What I mean by that is when you have a HUGE vision, you have to run far ahead of all the others you are leading. This leads to many questions and concerns for the future. So you have to give time for those you lead to catch up with you. But you can't allow yourself to fall into fear, or discouragement or doubt during this "catching up time." Rather you have to press into the promise God gave you with the vision and know, God says…  I have purposed it; I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:9-11). 

So when you are running with a big vision, communicate, communicate & communicate the vision to others, this will lessen the time span of loneliness, when you feel you are the only one that "really gets it."

So to recap… When loneliness comes… Commune with God and Communicate vision to others.