Innovation

The Nines was awesome! It was an online "confer-ence". Each speaker had 9 minutes on 9-9-09 to share anything they wanted to with Christian leaders across the nation. I only got to listen in spurts because it was on a work day, but here were some great thoughts by Gary Surratt from Seacoast Church about Innovation (with my thoughts in orange):

1. You hit the wall. Something is not working. [Pretty much any vision begins with frustration about something not being the way it should be.]

2. You get discouraged. You see it as a failure. “It’s ok to sit on the pity potty as long as you don’t get ring around the hiney.” [Yes! That's awesome!]

3. Trust God. Never been a day when God said: “I didn’t see that one coming.” [True dat!]

4. You start by asking the barrier breaking questions. "If nothing were impossible, what could we accomplish here?" [He also mentioned a question that I've been thinking about often..."If God's will was being done on earth as it is in heaven, what would that look like?"]

5. You collect innovative ideas. Get people in the room. Pray. Brainstorm. If you start filtering first you never get creative. Our matrix is easy/hard and big win/small win. [I love this idea! We'll definitely use this one!] We pick two or three and then we filter.

6. You do it until it quits working. Every new idea has an expiration date. [I agree. Everything has its season--and then eventually needs to be reworked, or cancelled altogether!]

So...I ask the deep question: If God's will was being done on earth as it is in heaven, what would that look like? What would that look like in your life and in your community?

Calling: The Houston Intensive

This past weekend I went to Houston for the Vineyard Southwest Region Church Planting Intensive. It was a great weekend. It definitely confirmed much of what we've sensed God is speaking to us. There was a lot of information about your calling and character as a church planter. Here are a few quick summary points from Bert Waggoner, the President of the Vineyard, about your calling:

• God takes the initiative. We operate under His mandate, not just a good idea.
• It [church planting] is a horrible career, not just something you choose.
• There are no volunteers. You listen, wait and respond.
• Not based on what we have to offer, but on God’s ability.
• It’s not about us!

I think we constantly need to be reminded that--like Bert said--we need to hear God in any career path we "choose", and that it really isn't a choice at all. We listen and obey. And that's a good thing!

As a side note: The Vineyard in the Houston area has a 90% church planting success rate. Not too shabby (AT ALL!) since the rate at one time was in the 40% range for the Vineyard overall. (I think it's much higher overall than that now.) Sounds like the keys are better qualifying calling, character, and readiness of the church planter, and, I believe, improved relationships between church planters and other Vineyard leaders.

Question to think about: Are you currently doing what you're doing because God called you to do it?

The Principle of the Path

I've been soaking up Andy Stanley leader-ship podcasts on my way home from work. (Like I said, he's my new favorite!) On the last one I listened to, he talked about the Principle of the Path. Never before have I heard a principle that was so simple, yet so profound, and made me have one of those "AHA!" moments.

The principle is this:

Direction--not intention--determines your destination.

It seems like there are so many people who look back on their lives and think, "How in the world did I end up here??!" Failed relationships, loads of debt, poor health, moral crisis. The fact is that, despite their best intentions, they traveled down the wrong road, and kept going!

OK, to make it personal, I've wanted to be healthier for a while (lose some weight, gain muscle, and develop good eating habits). But the truth is, I find myself going over to McD's lately for mochas. That's the road I am choosing to travel, but it's not getting me to my destination. On the other hand, I've seen lately how the renewed vision and ever-increasing reality of our move has helped me to be more purposeful about taking steps to prepare for the church plant. I am listening to podcasts, reading books, learning from other leaders, blogging :) and getting our house out on the market. Instead of just great intentions, Shanygne and I are moving down the path that will get is to our destination.

There are so many applications to this principle that I feel a sermon series coming on!! :)

What roads are you taking to get to a destination? What roads are you taking that are not getting you to your destination?

Picture from www.sxc.hu, submitted by K_Alex.

Visioneering: Success

Andy Stanley is my new favorite. He is an excellent commun-icator! I've been listening to his podcasts and reading his book Visioneering. The book is right on target with where we're at in the church planting process (the "pre-start"). It's a great book for anyone who has a burden or vision for something that just will not go away. (Hopefully that's most believers!)

Here are some quotes that have been meaningful to me from what I've read so far. These are all related to success:

• "Success often leads to self-sufficiency. Rare is the successful individual who has not lost sight of what he would be without God."
• "God's work, done in God's way, in God's time, is always successful. And it come off in such a way as to point back toward the source: God."
• "Success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for you."

Good stuff, huh?

How would you define "success"--especially as it relates to ministry? What do you consider some of the successes in your life?

Getting Our Ducks in a Row

No deep thoughts right now. Just an update. The biggest news? The house is up for sale! We had our first showing yesterday (they only stayed for 5 minutes, so probably not going to be a bite), and we have our second one tonight. Please pray that all goes well and in God's timing!

Last night we touched base with Marty. Marty is the Church Planting Coordinator for our region. Every day we are trying to take another step forward, so Marty is helping us to do that and making sure we have all our ducks in a row.

That's about it, so I'll leave you with some prayer requests. There are two areas where we really need to see God move:

1. Selling our house

2. Building a team

We appreciate the prayers!

What is a next action you need to take right now to move you closer to a goal?

The Importance of Core Values

Of all the organi-

zations and denom-

inations I've been a part of, the Vineyard hits closest to the mark for me. It's definitely not that I think it's the only one, or the best necessarily, but I appreciate the strong emphasis on the kingdom of God. As you can see from the last post, it's a very big deal in the Vineyard.

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about is the Vineyard core values. If we are going to be part of this movement, I think it's important to understand what defines the movement and makes it unique. A new lady visited our church a couple Sundays ago. She said that one of the reasons she came is that she looked at the Vineyard USA site and was impressed by the core values. I'm embarrassed to say that I couldn't remember them and rattled off something about the great music and relevance. If you read the article in the link above, written by the President of Vineyard USA, you'll see why I needed to review them!

The Importance of Vineyard's Core Values | Vineyard USA

What are the core values of your church or denomination? Are they clearly defined? Does everyone know them?

There...up in the clouds! It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's...

...the Vineyard! I dumped in words from articles on the Vineyard USA website and this is what popped out on in a word cloud (from http://www.wordle.net/). I feel good about being part of the Vineyard movement because of the Vineyard's priorities and values. I think this is a good representation!

#1: The Kingdom of God (It doesn't get much better than that! ;))

Do you think there are any words missing from the word cloud? Is there anything the Vineyard (or the church in general) should be focusing on that could be added to the word list?

PS Click on the pic to get a closer look.