Perspective

The picture below is a picture that a child drew for a class project.  The kids were suppose to draw a picture of what their parents did for a living….

I know that the first thing that you think is this kids mom is a stripper.  Wrong!  This is the note the mom sent to school the next day.

Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.
I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn’t show me dancing around a pole. It’s supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.
From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

The reason that you saw an exotic dancer in the picture is because you were thinking within the  frame.  Have you ever heard of Framing?  Its when you piece together- images, environment, language to tell a story.  Framing is about learning to communicate by seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.   See without the proper framing you saw an exotic dancer and not a mom working at Home Depot.   It’s very hard to see the picture when you are inside the frame.

How does this play out for the church?  A majority of the time the church is looking at the picture from inside the frame. Their view is limited and often times very very wrong. We have to step outside of our comfortable frames and begin to take in everything surrounding the picture before we can begin to see the bigger picture.  When we do this the church will stop declining and will begin to resurge.  Because we can beging to see ourselves as others see us.

Book Review: Exponential

I have had the opportunity to read the book, Exponential: How you and your friends can start a Missional Church. Authors Dave and Jon Ferguson have put together a really good book.  This book will push you to start a church.  It should be a must read for ALL Church planters. The Fergusons give a practical guide to growing your church and starting new ones.  The Fergusons said, “The church must move from addition to multiplication: it cannot just be about us adding numbers to existing churches until they grow large. It also must also mean multiplying the actual number of churches, as well as empowering all of God’s people in every sphere of life to be the church.” This book will inspire and empower you to make a difference in the church.  I strongly encourage you to check this book out.

The Five Reproducing Principles:

1. Reproducing requires everyone to have an apprentice

• You cannot do it by yourself.  Stop trying to be superman.

2. Reproducing is proactive, not reactive

• Reproduction does not happen by itself.  You actually have to do something to make it happen.

3. Reproducing is not about size; it’s about leader readiness

• Don’t focus on the numbers…focus on the change in your community.

4. Reproducing isn’t about our kingdom; it’s about God’s Kingdom

• Support other churches.  Support other ministries, because we are all in this together.  Its God’s kingdom not ours.

5. Reproducing happens on the edge and at the center

Favorite Quotes:

• The change in the apostles wasn’t just in what they could do; it redefined who they were. pg. 33
• While the word Disciple os a brillant word (and a word used by Jesus Himself), it often does not mean to us what Jesus meant when he used it.  I believe that disciple is a ruined word.  When Jesus called people into discipleship, he was calling them for and preparing them for a mission. pg. 45
• When someone is lost or alone, God’s reaction is always to “go” and to “send”. pg. 105
• The math reveals that the early church grew exponentially  at a rate of about 3.5 percent every year.  pg. 200

Summer Reading List….

1. Primal- Mark Batterson

2. The Christian Athiest- Craig Groeschel

3. The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark

4, Exponential by Dave and Jon Ferguson

5. Wasabi Gospel by Shawn Wood

6. The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons

7. Steering Through the Chaos by Scott Wilson

8. The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olson

Messy and Flawed

One of my biggest struggles in life is admitting that I am a screw up.  Everything in my life is not perfect.  No one likes to admit their flaws, because our honesty exposes who we really are.  There came a day when I had to be honest with myself and with others.  In the midst of our honesty is this feeling of freedom.  A feeling of “I don’t have to hide anymore”.  I love what Mike Yaconelli said,

It’s not about perfection; it’s about our intimacy with God, or our connection, our relationship with God. Once we get through that, once we realize that we can be imperfect, flawed, broken; those kinds of things are the ingredients of spirituality.

Rather then trying to impress people by being something that we are not, why don’t we just be honest?  We are not perfect, we are just trying to be more like Jesus.  Like Yaconelli said, “Once we get through that, once we realize that we can be imperfect, flawed, broken, those kinds of things are the ingredients of spirituality.”