::Leading With A Limp::

Communism and Capitalism Meet at the Church

On Tuesday of this week we had Chapel for the staff, just like we do every week.  Usually one of the pastors or seminarians that is on staff teaches something from the Bible, but this week we had a pastor visiting us from Brazil.  We support his church in many ways, both with prayer, time and financial resources, and he was in town to visit. 

He spoke on several things, and the thick Brazilian accent made his talk all the more intriguing.  What really stuck with me though was his answer to a question that Pastor Mark asked him.  After he spoke, Mark asked, "what is the greatest obstacle facing the church in South America?"  His answer surprised me.

He told us about thee communist men that he knows of that came to South America to pursue business.  After a time of thinking what direction to take, they all agreed to start churches.  The result?  A house of worship that gives you everything you would expect...Sunday service, Bible studies, children's classes...but is run by an atheist communist.  Wow.  I was stunned.

This pastor continued by saying that this is a real problem in South America; people are starting churches as industry, not to bring people to The Lord.  Many of these "church plants" are not even started by believers. 

It is no wonder that the unbelieving world has such a hard time with our faith, there are wolves among the sheep.

Getting Hurt In A Small Group Setting

Last week I did a four part series on the speakers at the 34 Degrees conference that Bel Air Pres and Mosaic hosted.  I learned a lot from each of the presenters and was happy it to share it with you.

I received a few comments on the posts, but not too many.  However, I received a lot of email on the subject and most of it was from people that were emotionally wounded by a small group (care group, life group) in some way.  I was honestly quite surprised at the responses.

Most of the people that emailed me directly indicated that they were emailing and not commenting on the blog because the wanted to stay anonymous.  I will certainly honor those wishes so I won't be sharing anything that would reveal who they are, but I do want to pull out some common themes. I asked several of the emailers if I could share their thoughts, they all agreed.

• Many people told me that they know "a lot" or "plenty" of people that will not participate in small groups ever again
• One person said that they tried their best to "penetrate" the group but since they joined later than others they were never truly accepted
• One paragraph made me ache for the author.  It read, "Gossip has been rampant, slander, ego and complacency evident.  Yes, these are fully human groups.  It makes those rallying small group testimonies shared in church that much more wounding.  One can't help but wonder, "Why can't I be in a group like that?!"  One sits there in agony in the congregation and endures their heart-felt message. "
• Multiple people said that they would be willing to try small groups again, but they didn't have the confidence that the church had the ability to match them to a group that they would mesh with

These emails came in from different people in different churches in different parts of the country.  Wow.  Maybe I've been walking around with my head in the clouds, and maybe it's because I have been a part of an amazing small group for the better part of a decade, but I truly had no idea that so much pain and hurt existed within the small group settings. 

This is one of those touchy subjects in which people don't like to get identified, but if you are willing to share, I would love to hear about your small group experience, good or bad.

34 Degrees: Dr. Mark Brewer (4 of 4)

The fourth and final speaker at the 34 Degrees conference was my pastor, Mark Brewer, from Bel Air Presbyterian Church.  Mark's topic was "Changing People Through God's Word", and the primary theme was simply that reading your Bible and sharing it with your small group is essential to the health of the group.  Some take aways:

• There are four things that are rapidly killing relationships these days: the velocity of life, the complexity of life, the mobility of life and the technology of life.  Mark explained each of these, and all around the room people were nodding in agreement
• He spoke about the "war" again darkness in the world.  How do you win the war?  One relationship at a time
• We must know the word of God if we are to engage the culture
• You cannot help a relationship that you are not in.  Get engaged in somebody's life if you feel a need to guide them
• Mark explained Lectio Divina, a method of studying the Bible.  He spent a pretty good amount of time on this, for a great explanation look here.

34 Degress: Eric Bryant (3 of 4)

The third speaker at the 34 Degrees conference was Eric Bryant, the Navigator at Mosaic.  He recently wrote this book (which is fantastic) and touched on some interesting concepts.  He certainly delivered his talk with passion and it was very well received by those in attendance.  Among his main point:

• The way to prove to the world that Jesus is God is to love each other
• A healthy community is not just for those on the inside, it includes those on the outside
• The church isn't here to meet our needs.  We are the church, here to meet the needs of the world.  Note: Amen brother!  You drove this point home
• Acts 2:47, the early church praised God and had the favor of all the people.  That is a challenge to do
• Eric told a great story about a kid that he invited to "Youth Explosion '94", which essentially was not much of an explosion.  However, it turned out the kid was Muslim.  He shared in his story how this boy kept coming back to youth group and brought many of his friends.  The point?  Don't say no for others, give them an opportunity to explore the truth
• Regarding our neighbors:  in a big city like Los Angeles we see a lot of hustle and busyness.  We always assume that somebody is taking care of those we see around us, even though very often nobody is.  Much like Muslim boy that he invited to the youth group, we need to take chances and invite people to be a part of our communities...our small groups.  Don't say no for them.

34 Degrees: Bill Donahue (2 of 4)

This weekend Bel Air Pres hosted a small groups conference in partnership with Mosaic.  The conference was called "34 Degrees", named for the latitude of Los Angeles.  The second seminar was taught by Bill Donahue, the Executive Director for Group Life for the Willow Creek Association and he focused on "Becoming a Transformational Community".  Bill brings a wealth of knowledge to the subject, here are some key points from his talk:

• If people are thrilled when you have to cancel your small group, you are having meetings and not building communities
• When people ask you to describe your small group, do you tell them when you meet and what you study, or do you describe each person in the group like you would family?  To emphasize this point, Bill asked us, "how would Jesus describe his small group?"  He was referring to the disciples of course.  Would he describe when they met and what they did, or would he fondly recount each of his brothers?
• Bill suggested several elements that need to be in each small group to foster this sense of community:
• First, create a safe place.  As a leader, take risks and ask questions that invite people to tell stories.  Make it known that what is said in the group stays in the group
• Second, Be authentic.  Putting on a facade will only lead to the demise of your small group
• Third, bear each other's burdens as we are called to do in Galatians
• Fourth, care for the members of the group.  When somebody shares something deep, explore it, don't just say, "thanks for sharing, does anybody else have something to pray for?"  People hate tension, but growth takes place in tension
• Finally, encourage each other to grow stronger in the Lord.  Hebrews 10:24. Become a "learning community" in which you ask more questions than give answers.

34 Degrees: Dr. Henry Cloud (1 of 4)

This weekend Bel Air Pres hosted a small groups conference in partnership with Mosaic.  The conference was called "34 Degrees", named for the latitude of Los Angeles.  From Bel Air George and Jen did an amazing job of putting together a conference that would not soon be forgotten.  Throughout the morning and afternoon we were treated to amazing worship from both the Bel Air and Mosaic bands, as well as outstanding talks from Dr. Henry Cloud, Bill Donahue, Eric Bryant and Dr. Mark Brewer.

Session #1 was taught by Henry Cloud and was entitled "Becoming a Transformational Person".  He made a few points that I feel are important enough to pass along.

• "The most important thing you can bring to a small group is not what you know, it's who you are"
• The way that you lead a small group is a combination of what you have experienced in life and how you have experienced it
• "What happens when you are leading a group and sadness enters the room but you are afraid to go there? You cut people off from God. 1 Peter 4:10
• "Too often we have everything wrong; we eat the prescription (scripture) and not the pill (what scripture tells us to do)."  Note:  this statement is worth expanding on, it brought a lot of depth and clarity to his conversation.  What do you think he meant by this?
• To lead a small group you need more than the ability to teach, you must be pursuing sanctification in your own life
• Three key ingredients to growth: grace and truth over time
• Two very important elements in creating a safe environment for a small group: first, you need to understand where another person is coming from.  That is to say, they understand that you understand.  Second, there is an orientation toward the truth.  We need to hunger for the truth as a part of our character.

These are just a few of the touch points of an hour long talk, so I can't presume to capture it all here.  Henry did a fabulous job, his talk was not only important in terms of understanding the dynamics of a small group, it also is a good primer on leadership in the workplace or in life.

Turkey Basket Giveaway

Today I got to participate in a wonderful event, the Bel Air Presbyterian Church Turkey Basket Giveaway.  I arrived at the church early (5:40am) not sure of what to expect.  For the next several hours I was doing everything from hanging signs with Heather to hauling frozen turkeys around with Andy to loading boxes i nto cars with Helen.  It was an amazing day.

Throughout the morning we gave away two tractor trailers worth of food.  Just under 600 turkey boxes were given away which will feed upwards of 10,000 people in the Los Angeles area.  Praise God for his abundance,  and that we are able to share with those in need.

Good job to Brenda, Bobbi, Heidi and Len for putting together staggering amounts of money, time, and coordination to provide for those that could use a little extra love this year.  Oh yes, and thanks to Heather for putting together a super invitation that was included in each box, inviting each and every person to join us for church next Sunday.  I hope some of the people take us up on the offer.

Prison Fellowship Ministries

Last night I attended a dinner that was hosted by one of the families from our church.  The featured speaker was Mark Earley, CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, the organization made so famous by Chuck Colson.

It was a wonderful evening.  I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with Mark and getting to know him...what a great man to be serving in this position!  When he addressed the intimate group that had been invited to attend he spoke of the great need to minister to and disciple the inmates of the prison system.  The numbers that he threw out were staggering, and though I won't go into them here, it left me with the very strong impression that we need to be doing more to guide and disciple those that are in jail and to follow up with those that are released.

If you are interested in the work of PFM, go to their website to find out how you can get involved.

Zune 2: Amazing Technology

Although the iPod users greatly outnumber the Zune users (not just in terms of my blogging audience but also across the world), Zune is making great headway.  You can't be the #2 music player and not keep forging ahead.

Yesterday Zune released new hardware, software and firmware.  I've got to say, I'm incredibly impressed.  The new features are not just aesthetically pleasing, they are quite functional.  Some of the greatest additions are the ability to sync via wi-fi (incredible) and the new top-level organization.  I now have a place for podcasting (both audio and video) and it's just a lot more functional in terms of use.

I love the addition of podcasting, it was definitely overdue.  I have subscribed to a couple of video podcasts but since I didn't go to the gym today I didn't get to watch them.

Also, they have added Christian music as a top-level category.  I think that's pretty cool.  I could find it before by searching, but now it's really each to get to.  I must admit that the secular to Christian ratio of music on my Zune is probably 5:1, but I do like to have the best of the best on there.

The firmware update went very smoothly, it only took about 10 minutes all together.

I haven't purchased one of the new 8gb or 80gb players yet, I may hold off for a bit.  My 30gb is still treating me just fine.

Of course I still love Zune Marketplace.  The idea of paying just $15 per month for all the music I could ever ask for works so well for me.  It allows me to experiment with the music that I like, and if I download an album and don't like it after a couple of listens then I simply delete it.  It has cost me absolutely nothing extra.

I do have a question for the iPod fans that read this, and only one of them (ONE!) has ever answer me when I ask: how much do you spend at iTunes every month?  Be honest, I just want to know.  I'm not going to make fun of you for spending 3x what I do each month.

So, with all the new features, is it enough to get you to switch over yet?

Video: The Tightwad Zone

We are in the middle of an annual stewardship campaign in which we ask those that call Bel Air Pres home to consider what they will give to the church next year, both in terms of finances and time.

Money is a touchy subject...it always has been, it always will be.  Bob and the fine folks in the drama department put together a video with some pretty funny twists.  Humor takes the edge of a bit...okay, it takes the edge of a lot.  We played this for all three services last week and people couldn't stop laughing.  I think this one is a home run.  Take 4:40 to watch and let me know what you think.