130 Million Dollars: Something Feels Wrong

I was reading over on Monday Morning Insight and they were discussing in one of their blog posts First Baptist Church of Dallas’ campaign to raise 130 Million Dollars to build a new complex in downtown Dallas.  FBC Dallas has an information page that has an extensive video collection which covers their history, and gives an explanation of the project.  You can tell they spent some serious change on these videos.  Take a minute to check the videos out when you can.  As I was watching the videos, I was just flooded with several thoughts on this.  Here are mine, would love to hear yours.

• I’ve got to admit, while watching it, I felt like I was watching something from Disney.  Very well, done mind you.  I don’t know if you’ve seen any reruns of the wonderful world of disney from the 60’s where Walt Disney is describing the layout of disney world before it was constructed.  Kinda felt like that.
• 130 million is alot of dough.  Yeah, I have a problem with that.  I understand that construction costs in the US are what they are.  I just think that there are way better solutions than that.
• How many of the families that come to FBC Dallas are driving into the downtown area for church.  You could take half of that, and fully fund 3 to 4 multi site campuses all over the city and suburbs, including full time staff.
• The project is based on a broken paradigm.  It is the “come and see” vs the “take the church” to where the people are.
• Is this about building the Kingdom or preserving our historical and geographical heritage in downtown Dallas?
• I’m sure that there are people from their pastor to the leadership that have wrestled with some of those questions.  I don’t doubt their sincerity to reach people for Christ.  Just think their methodology here is busted.
• I’m sitting here today editing a video of one of our folks who is just broken and blown away over seeing the FIRST converts in a previously unreached people group in a language where not even the whole Bible is translated as of yet, and I’m thinking to myself “What if we took just half of that 130 million and used it to reach more unreached people?
• Those arguments could be made about a lot of things that we spend our money on, and there are people on both sides that have legitimate points.  I mean, I’ve stood in some incredible cathedrals and was led to worship just from the architecture.  Just incredible.  Would love to hear your thoughts on your reaction to the videos.

to reach people that no one is reaching….

…you have to do things that no one is doing.  The message doesn’t change but the methods MUST.  Check out this clip from Craig Groeschel.

the cussing pastor

confession: I have a draft in my draft folder of my blog called “The Cussing Pastor”….it’s been there for around 8 months.

It’s not about anyone in particular at all, but just a growing trend that has emerged among pastors, leaders and communicators.  I didn’t finish the draft and probably won’t.  I think Ed Young nails what I was thinking.

Social Networking and the Church

I was reading a Nielsen report on social media networking (facebook, twitter, etc.) and some of the highlights struck me.  Your can download the full report here but here are some bullet points:

• The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
• Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
• In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.
• There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
• In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
• In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.

Here are some questions/thoughts to consider, some of which I’m asking myself:

1. What is your church doing to engage people using social media networking and website interaction?
2. Is it just one way communication (ie: watch our video, read our website, etc.) or are you actively engaging people online in a conversation?  More and more people are looking for the latter.
3. Does your “online campus” have any type of interaction (live chat)?
4. If your lead team doesn’t use any kind of social media or blogs, I would say a few things: 1. Get your head out of the sand!   2. Find someone on your staff that will or does and utilize them to get your church connected.

Paradigm Shift – Part 2

Okay, so it was more than a few days, but I wanted to finish up my thoughts on Paradigm Shift that I started in this post a few days earlier.  As I read through Acts 10, this process of change seemed to look like this.  I won’t go into detail, but you can hit Acts 10 when you get a chance:

Process of a paradigm shift for a leader:

1. Need – Cornelius was hungry for God, but he had yet to hear the story of Jesus.
2. Truth/Vision – In his vision, God laid down the truth that God has called him (and us) to do what it takes to tell the story of Christ to anyone, regardless of background, etc.
3. Calling – it was the Holy Spirit (v19) that told him to get up and go with the men to Cornelius’ home.  Just a thought here, am I  (and are we) listening to the voice of God for His vision for our life and ministry or are we just adopting someone else’s?
4. Obedience – Peter left and went to Cornelius’ home.  Once he heard from God, there was no more prayer needed about whether or not he should go.  “God, give me ears to hear like that” is what I’m praying for.
5. The Shift – “I now realize…” (10:34) The truth that he knew with his head was now internalized in Peter.  It was no longer just something he knew but was in his bones at that point.
6. God Moves – When Peter acted on the vision, calling and truth that God had given to him, the Bible says that while he was “still speaking these words” (v44), the Holy Spirit came on all who heard.  God showed up in a big way.  What an incredible picture for our ministries and lives that is.  That whole point could be a sermon
7. The Shift spreads in others in the ministry and organization – v45 says that the “circumcised believers” ie Jewish believers, were astonished b/c the Holy Spirit had been poured out “even on the Gentiles”.  Because of the paradigm shift that happened in Peter, it affected the other Jewish believers and would eventually open new doors for many Gentiles to receive Christ in Acts 11.

Thoughts & Questions on The Shift:

Here are some of the ideas and questions that I’m asking myself as I’m thinking through this process of change and having a shift in the way that I think.

• The paradigm shift began in one person.  Yet it impacted the entire Church and everyone at Cornelius’s house and help spread the news about Jesus.  He was also a centurion so he had much influence over his regiment and others.
• Churches and organizations that refuse to change their methods will eventually die.  This is the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.  That can be true for the church that’s been in existence for 100 years or for even 2 years.
• What assumptions do I have that are simply cultural and traditional that are not necessarily Biblical?  What sacred cow needs to be turned to T Bone?
• What are the 1 or 2 changes (maybe more) that I need to make in my church or ministry area that could facilitate a move of God?  What are the 1 or 2 changes that I need to make in my life?
• What could/would your church look like if you made that change?  Dream big!
• What are the assumptions that I have that have placed God in a box?
• Some common questions that I’ve struggled with. Maybe you have to: What if I fail?  What if that idea/method doesn’t work? Did I hear God right on that?
• I think it is important that we think through is it change for the sake of change or is it change because our methods are busted and ineffective.  You MUST be honest here.  Drag the elephant in the corner of the room to the middle and talk about it openly and honestly.

Ed Stetzer on the Baptist old guard

A friend of mine sent this article to me today, and I wanted to pass it along.  It’s Ed Stetzer speaking at a conference hosted by southeastern baptist seminary.  He is one of the sharpest minds in the American church, imo.  If you’ve ever been to a baptist convention meeting (state or national), you will appreciate his remarks.  The reason why no young people are showing up?  1. There are no young people on stage 2. Sniping remarks at newer methodologies and my personal opinion 3. they’re boring as crap.  I went to one….that was enough.  Anyway, thought it was a good read:

Ed Stetzer Article

Paradigm Shift – Part 1

Some people embrace change, some people are okay with it, some people despise it.  Change is inevitable, sometimes painful, but in the end necessary.  That’s been a principle that has been hammered in my life over the past year or so.  I think Perry Noble at UNLEASH (see Session 1) kind of encapsulated this idea for me.  He said, “I think that most churches are one or two changes away from doubling in size.”  The message for the Church doesn’t change, but the methods MUST.  I would say that is true for churches, organizations, businesses, and people as well.  One or two changes in our lives have the ability to make a profound impact on so much.  Lasting change, I believe, begins first with a Paradigm Shift.

Paradigm Shift: a fundamental change in approach or assumptions

I’ve been reading through Acts 10 and came across what I would call a serious Paradigm Shift: a change in the way we think and view things.  Peter experienced a Paradigm Shift that rocked an assumption that he had held as a fundamental truth his whole life.  I’m going to stretch this out over a few posts because there’s just so much there that stuck out at me about this.

Here’s what’s going on here.  Cornelius was a non-Jew.  He believed in God, gave to the poor, prayed regularly and yet hadn’t heard the full truth about Jesus.  God sends an angel to him, instructing him to call for Peter to come to his house.  In the meantime, Peter was up on a rooftop praying.  He has a vision while he’s up there.  The vision had all kinds of animals in a large sheet being brought down from Heaven.  It included all kinds of animals that Jews were not suppose to eat b/c they were “unclean”.  Peter hears a voice that says, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter says “no way, I’ve never eaten anything unclean.” (my paraphrase)  The voice speaks back saying, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  Same vision happened three times to Peter.  At that point, the Cornelius’ guys show up asking Peter to come to with them.  The Holy Spirit tells Peter to go with them.  So Peter does.  Peter goes to Cornelius’ house and tells the news about Jesus.  Everyone there gets saved and then they’re baptized by Peter.  You can read the full account in Acts 10.

Here is where the paradigm shift has to happen for Peter.  Peter had grown up believing that Jews were not allowed to have fellowship, to have community, to live life with a non-Jew.  Just like the food in his vision, the non-Jews were seen as unclean.  It was first century racism.  Even though Jesus had said to go into ALL the world, it seems that most of the Jews didn’t REALLY think that he meant THEM, especially to the unclean.  God wanted to shift Peter’s paradigm: “Peter, you’ve thought for so long that these people are lower than you, beneath you, unclean…maybe unworthy.  The truth is that every drop of blood that I shed for you and every other Jew was shed for Cornelius and every other non-Jew.  And I want to use YOU to go reach them.”  God wanted to change the way Peter thought in order to change the way Peter lived, led and ministered.

Tomorrow I’m going to bullet point the process of a Paradigm Shift for a leader as I see it in Acts 10, but for now, here are a few questions that I’m processing:

1. What are the assumptions, methods and processes that my church or ministry area has that could possibly be limiting us from reaching our community?
2. What paradigm shift do we need to make?  Do I need to make?

photoshoped movie posters

If you live in the world of professional design, graphics and video, at some you’re going to tangle with Photoshop.  There aren’t too many videos that I produce that don’t utilize photoshop on some level, and definitely for most graphic stuff.  I came across this list of some pretty incredible movie posters that were all edited and created using photoshop.  I think my favorite is Lord of War simply because of all the detail and time it probably took to create it.  Check them out here.

bunch of twitter tools

I think I read somewhere that Twitter has grown at an insane rate over the past year…like 1400%.  With the growth has come a bumper crop of Twitter helper apps, most of which are free.  Here’s a mega list of more Twitter apps than you could ever use.

99 Twitter Tools

The Church and Marketing

Today I was taking the kids to school, and the local Christian radio station was on.  I heard a commercial that really took me back.  It was for a new church plant that was about to launch over in Augusta in the next week or so.  The voiceover for the commercial was inviting people who were disconnected to church or had been turned off to/by church to come to their launch service.  The thought hit me “that commercial totally missed the mark.”  Think about it, how many people do you know that have been burned by church or are disconnected to church and are riding around listening to Christian radio.  I guess it is possible that some may listen to Christian radio…..but not the majority for sure.  Granted, it didn’t cost that church any money as the commercials are free there, but it did cost, time, resources and possibly attract some “lookie lou’s” that are just taking up seats to check out the new show in town; seats that could be open for people that need Jesus, the unchurched/dechurched.  It’s the same broken concept of advertising a big outreach event on Christian radio.  It misses the target.

I think one of the reasons why so many churches miss the target in marketing is that they don’t understand who and where the competition is.  If you’re a restaurant, your competition is other restaurants.  If you own a dry cleaning business, your competitor is….other dry cleaners.  For the local church, the competition is….other churches….right?  Wrong.  The competition for a local church is every thing that vies for the attention, time and commitment of people in our community – NOT other churches.  That may seem like a no brainer, but it is huge if you take it to its logical conclusion.  It means that every church, instead of trying to think through the framework of “how can I fill my church with more church people?”, we began to seriously ask the question “What can we do to help create a worship environment that someone who doesn’t know Jesus would want to come to?”

A final word on marketing in the church.

At Cedar Creek when we ask people, 95% of first time guests come because of a personal invitation.

That has been true since day one back in 1993.  The best marketing practice is to encourage people to invite a friend (it helps them to come back if they’re not bored out of their mind when they get there, but that’s a different post for a different day).  That’s not to say that marketing using mailers, facebook, invite cards, billboards and the like aren’t important.  They are.  What those marketing pieces do is equip your people with name recognition and branding so that when they do invite someone, Cedar Creek will possibly be familiar to that person: “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that church” or “I saw that billboard the other day on the way to work”.