Comfortable verses compromise

What hits you first is the sweet aroma of Italian food cooking in the kitchen -  the lasagna and all sorts of pastas and pizza. The wood floors, tables, and chairs, and simple place settings give off an immediate warm feel in the place. Friendly and inviting people greet you. Everything has the feel of an informal, relaxed Sunday evening. You’ve just entered an Inside BridgePointe Event at Tuscany Restaurant in Townelake. We do these events about every other month.

Inside BridgePointe is all about connecting and communicating with people in a more personal way. We connect with people through relaxed conversation over a fantastic dinner and then communicate where we are going as a church and how people can be a part of it. Last week we hosted 12 guests. What I love about these events is the opportunity to be relationally intentional. Creating a relational environment is key to making space for new people.

Relational intentionality is the personality we want to see permeated in all that we do. A value is an intentional “vibe” that we seek in the DNA of our identity. It stems from a high premium we place on people. Ultimately, the way we connect with people as a church becomes the very platform for our message of life in Jesus Christ.

For many church leaders creating a comfortable environment for people, and especially for people far from God, is a debate often accompanied with understandable tension. The Scripture makes it clear that it is normal for unbelievers to be uncomfortable with the cross of Jesus, his message, and spiritual things no matter what we do at church.  

We are reminded that the “person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) No matter how passionate we are in wanting to be a friendly church, we must never disguise the message of the cross nor gloss over the life-changing implications of what it means to be a Christ Follower. 

However, we must never use this truth to justify falling short of creating an inviting environment at BridgePointe. The cross should be the only “stumbling block” and “foolishness” that outsiders should face when entering our church. (I Corinthians 1:23) The Scripture gives clear space for the cross to offend, not for our church to offend. In other words, we want to create a safe place to hear a dangerous message.

Comfortable does not mean compromise at BridgePointe.

That's not my job!

This is a story about four people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, and NOBODY.  There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that SOMEBODY would do it. ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry about that because it was EVERYBODY’S job. 

EVERYBODY thought that ANYBODY could do it, but NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY would do it. It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have done. 

At BridgePointe we count on everybody to pitch in so we can run on all pistons and function at an optimum level.  Being part of the greatest enterprise on earth demands a “whatever it takes” attitude. That’s why God designed his church to run like a team where we all have a part in it. This is nowhere more real than on each Sunday morning. Sunday morning is “game day” for BridgePointe because it is where we impact the most people and first time guests each week. Our Sunday service is the front door for most people at BridgePointe so this must be our “Alamo stand”.

One of the targets this year is to rally a Volunteer Revolution that will focus directly on filling the serving opportunities on Sunday morning. During the entire month of October we are asking each person who makes BridgePointe their home to volunteer at least once a month in one of the six primary Sunday morning areas. In fact, you have already risen to the occasion. Just last week 25 of you responded in one Sunday and it was so appreciated:
1.     Pre-school Kids:  Need 20 more/ 2 signed up.
2.     Elementary kids:  Need 20 more / 1 signed up.
3.     Student ministry:  Need 6 more / 2 signed up.
4.     Greeting/ushering:  Need 55 more / 12 signed up.
5.     Technical Arts:  Need 7 more / 7 signed up.
6.     Set up & tear down: Need 55 more / 6 signed up.
The needed numbers are beginning to lower. We are asking for an “all hands on deck” to be our best on Sunday. We only get one chance to make a first impression.  

So here are two turnkey ready opportunities where you can make a difference this month:

• Sign up for one of the six areas noted in the bulletin for at least once a month.
• Update your contact information on the tear of portion of the bulletin or on CCB. (See insert card in the bulletin) 

Everybody should not assume that somebody will respond to what everybody can do, but that nobody does. 

We have a lot in common!

My blog has an avenue for feedback. Last week an anonymous writer commented:

“This is embarrassing. You seem to know what you are talking about on the blog, but it feels like our church is falling a part. What is your plan to start building bridgepoint again? Since you have been here things seem to be dropping instead of getting better. Please help save my church not tear it apart.”

I don’t know who this person is, but this I do know: We have a lot in common. It may seem like the person making such statements is on an opposing side, but I don’t see it that way. This is a person who cares deeply about BridgePointe. If they did not care about their church they would not be reading their Pastor’s Blog, taking the time to comment, or asking  if there is a plan for BridgePointe. We actually have more in common than the commenter may think. We both deeply care about BridgePointe, as well as my Staff and Advisor Team.

I am also appreciative of their honesty in wanting to understand a particular plan for building BridgePointe. That’s a lesson for me to know that I need to step it up in communicating as the Lead Pastor. That’s why I am looking forward to our first Vision Sunday, October 2, where I can articulate more clearly the course I am setting for BridgePointe. I can give you a preview now.

1.     Be driven by strategy:  Draw people close to God

We will provide opportunities for movement in people’s relationship with God through 3 markers:

·      First, our worship service will provide a safe place for people to discover faith.

·      Second, our Growth Path will provide opportunities to develop faith. Next Steps include Inside BridgePointe, Basics, baptism, volunteering, Life Groups/Starting Point, and Deep End Workshops. These steps are being currently ironed out.

·      Third, our Compassion Ministry will provide opportunities to demonstrate faith. Under the direction of Pastor Keith Norman, local avenues are being designed for us to give ourselves away in meeting the practical needs in our community. His Local Team’s first meeting is in October. Internal counseling programs are being designed, as well as a Global focus planned for the future.

2.     Be driven by quality:  Seek ongoing improvement.

This is an ongoing task but there are 3 primary areas we are focusing on this year.

·      Relocate BridgePointe’s Sunday’s meeting place to a more permanent facility that would allow us 7 days of ministry opportunity.

·      Bring significant upgrades to our children’s programs so they are a major feature of BridgePointe on Sunday mornings and also design a Middle School program apart from High School.

·      Create a Volunteer Revolution to ensure that Sunday morning programming is operating at optimum potential and effectiveness.

3.     Be driven by unity:  Work together as a team.

·      Establish creative means to communicate effectively and regularly with the church family, from updated printed materials to a new web site.

·      To increase cohesiveness, organization, and team identity among the major ministries at BridgePointe.

·      To afford the Advisors and staff the time and opportunity to connect with new leadership from a new Lead Pastor.

In a nut shell … closer, better, together. There is nothing more important to me as a Lead Pastor than for BridgePointe to know where we are going and how to be a part of it. So in the end, I’m grateful for opportunities that allow for more clarity. We all genuinely care about BridgePointe. That’s a great start … but it’s only a start. Let’s talk together, work together, pray together, dream together, and build together. My office door remains open so I can answer questions, communicate more effectively, and work together to build BridgePointe’s future.

We have more in common than you think.

Philippians 2:1-5  Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:1-5

The Right Questions

It was like drinking from a firehouse! That’s what I felt like when I darkened the door of graduate school in Southern California. My head was spinning with new insights and knowledge. I had never read so much nor learned so much at such a fast rate. The abundance of knowledge did something to me. Returning back to school awakened me to just how myopic my paradigm and world had become. It was a great reminder to me as a Pastor that knowledge is out there ... and plenty of it! It dripped from every book, leaked from every discussion, and rained from every lecture. I had professors who were so smart I thought the classroom would tilt.

It was clear that there was no shortage of information, data, facts, or smart people. I simply realized that somewhere along the line I had stopped asking questions … and the right questions.

It happens to everyone who settles for the status quo in life, and yes, even the status quo in church. “That’s not only a personal challenge but also a corporate challenge for the local church”, according to Tony Morgan, Executive Pastor at West Ridge Church, right here in Georgia. “Sometimes it’s not about the size of our faith as much as it is the barriers that need to removed in our ministries in order for us to be effective in our mission.”

He has shared his top ten questions he feels churches need to address and consistently revisit in order to maximize their ministry in today’s culture. Here are the questions:

1. Is your church creating a buzz in your community? If people aren’t talking about what’s happening at your church, they’re not inviting their friends. What are you doing to create dialogue and make people think “I need to check that out and see for myself”?

2. Do volunteers own the ministry of the church? A church cannot hire enough staff to accomplish all of the needs to be accomplished in a growing church. There must be a culture created where the volunteers are empowered, believed in, and inspired to be a part of the greatest enterprise on earth.

3. Do you exceed the expectations of your first-time guests? Whether we like it or not, our guests are consumers before they’re convinced they should become learners, worshipers, or servants. That means they’re walking into your doors for the first time with high expectations that reflect the quality of their community and culture.

4. Are you attracting the very best talent? This isn’t just about staff, but about the kind of volunteer team being developed. Quality attracts quality. Ministry success begins with gifted people who are committed to the vision. Are you getting and keeping the best?

5. Are people having fun? You have to give people hope, encouragement, and lots of chances to laugh. This is centric to understanding how people relate and the type of environment they are attracted to. We live in a fast-paced, stressful culture. If people can’t find health and balance in your church, they’ll find it someplace else.

6. Does your church and volunteers know, embrace and champion the church's vision and values? People need vision. They need targets. They need tracks on which to run. Resources will follow vision. If you aim at nothing you’ll always hit it.

7. Do people accept change as normal? Believe it or not, even churches can develop a culture where change is both expected and embraced. And change is certainly critical in a culture that is continually morphing. Has the church settled for the status quo of what they are used to and personally prefer at the expense of something more effective?

8. Are you addressing the real issues of real lives? People are looking for more than a three-point message that exegetes the Biblical text. They’re trying to parent their kids, save their marriages, deal with losses and illnesses and addictions. They’re trying to find purpose and fulfillment in their lives. Is your message relevant to their lives?

9. Are you as committed to developing effective systems as you are to innovation? As churches grow, they need to move from a purely entrepreneurial approach to one that also values the development of effective systems, strategies, and structures for programming, policy, staffing, technology, and finances.

10. Is your church building a church, or a church of leaders? No one person can do it alone. It takes a team of empowered leaders to take ministry to the next level. Is the church structuring itself to multiply and release the leadership potential in the church? And, are you creating an environment where high-capacity leaders are welcomed?

As Lead Pastor of BridgePointe, I am committed to challenging what we do and why we do it. We have to boldly be willing to ask the questions in which we fear the answer. There is no shortage of knowledge, answers, or solutions to our challenges. We just need to be willing to ask the right questions.  

Unchurched Harry and Mary

You’re in the car, in an unfamiliar area, on your way to see a friend who has invited you to dinner. Your MapQuest directions aren’t exactly helping and now you’re lost. So, you get out your phone and call him. He picks up and you explain to him that you’re lost. Question: What is the first question he is going to ask you? That’s right: “Where are you?” Before he can guide you he needs to know where you’re at.  

The same is true if we are going to lead our unchurched friends to spiritual truth. You have to understand where they’re at. Certainly each individual has his or her own unique story. But there are some commonalities that reflect the average unchurched American living in Post-Modern, Post-Christian culture, according to Lee Stroble, author of “Inside of the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary.” His fifteen reminders just might be the directions we need to connect with a friend, co-worker, neighbor, or family member far from God:

1.     Harry has rejected church, but that doesn’t mean he has rejected God.

2.     Harry is morally adrift, but he secretly wants a moral anchor.

3.     Harry resists rules but he responds to reason.

4.     Harry has legitimate questions about spiritual matters, but he doesn’t expect Christians to have all the answers.

5.     Harry doesn’t just ask, “Is Christianity true?” Often, he’s asking, “Does Christianity work?”

6.     Harry doesn’t just want to know something; He wants to experience it.

7.     Harry doesn’t want to be somebody’s project, but he would like to be somebody’s friend who is accepted unconditionally.

8.     Harry may distrust authority, but he’s receptive to servant leadership and integrity.

9.     Harry is no longer loyal to denominations, but he is attracted to places where his spiritual needs will be met.

10. Harry isn’t much of a joiner, but he’s hungry for a cause he can connect with.

11. Even if Harry’s not spiritually sensitive, he wants his children to get quality moral training.

12. Harry and Mary are repelled by arrogance, but attracted to people who are humble and real with life.

13. Harry is proud that he’s tolerant of different faiths, but thinks Christians are narrow-minded.

14. There’s a good chance Harry would try church if a personal friend invited him.

15. Harry and Mary need you to start faith dialogues about a Creator whose ways are designed for their good, not church or religious tradition.

You don’t have to agree with their thinking, but you need to understand it. This will help you understand why I teach the way I do on Sunday mornings at BridgePointe. If we are to be a church that creates a safe place for our unchurched friends to explore faith, we must meet them where they’re at. This does not mean we alter spiritual truth, but it does mean that we consider how we translate it. You know you are off to a good start when you genuinely want to understand, before being understood. It is then that you will begin to connect with your unchruched Harry and Mary who are far from God.

" We're putting our chips on kids"

I’m not much of a gambling man.  We all know there are no guarantees at any card table in Vegas.  The skill in gambling comes down to the ability to calculate probabilities … and that’s about it.  Any fool knows that anything is possible.  But there is a tipping point where the factors lend to the higher odds of something being probable.

BridgePointe is just like any other church.  It has limited resources, volunteers, promotion time, and money.  So we as a church have to decide where to put our “chips.”  The leader in me wants to maximize all of our resources and desires the greatest return on our investment.  I want to minimize the gamble by identifying the most probable payoff spiritually.  Research shows that Children's Ministry is the best investment for our return. It is far more probable that people will respond to spiritual truth before the age of 18 than at any other season in their life.

In regard to spiritual decisions made about God, The Barna Institute research puts the probability at 32% for children between 5 and 13 years old, 4% for children between 14 and 18, and 6% for people 19 years and older.  In other words, attracting younger children to a church to learn about the Love of God will have 5 to 8 times the impact of attracting the same number of older children or adults.  Barna's research on faith development and discipleship also found that the moral development of children is complete by age 9. Research affirms that the foundation for lifelong values and morals are formed at the earliest years.

Barna's research also showed that church attendance by children has a lifelong impact.  The majority (61%) of adults who attended church as children still attend regularly, while only 22% of those who were not churchgoers as children attend church today.  Early churchgoing also has an impact on whether parents bring their children to church.  For parents who were churched as children, 63% take their own children to church.  That's double the proportion among adults who were not churched and now have children of their own (33%).

 This is the ancient insight the Bible gave us: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it." 
(Proverbs 22:6)

So at BridgePointe, we’re putting on chips where there is the greatest spiritual return:  our kids.  The greatest outreach and ministry window today is among young children.  Look soon for a re-branding of our pre-school.  A new look, new name, new logo, new toys, new matts, new check in lap tops, and new t-shirts for our volunteers.

We’re not gambling at BrigdePointe.  No need to second guess what is possible.  We have probability working for us.  With the odds on our side, we’re investing, not spending.

"Who Carries You?"

Meet a man who has no money, no job, no influence, no family, and no future. He is a paralyzed man living in first century Israel. He has spent his life on a mat that was maybe 3 by 6 feet. That’s his world. Someone has to feed him, clothe him, carry him, move him from getting bedsores and clean him up when he soils himself. It’s humbling; it’s humiliating. He is a grown man who will never be independent.

He cannot contribute to society so he is forced to be a beggar. Most depressing is that there is no real solution.  There are no medicines, surgeries, rehab, or treatment centers that can help him. It’s only in his dreams, really, that he walks, has a job, enjoys a woman as a wife, or plays with kids.

But the one thing he has going for him in life is that he has friends … and great friends. According to Mark 2, his friends courageously go for broke and with a “whatever it takes attitude” they manage to carry their paralyzed friend to see Jesus. Since the house Jesus was teaching at had drawn a crowd, they are forced to be creative:

4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Imagine that? Jesus directly alludes to the faith of paralyzed man’s friends. There were a lot of things that were completely out of this man’s control, but he knew that having friends was a choice he had to make. And the paralytic’s friends had to make the same choice as well. Imagine how costly it was to be the friend of a paralytic. Truth be told, it’s a choice we all have to make. Waiting for a convenient time to invest in friendships is like waiting for a convenient time to give birth. Simply put, it’s going to cost you no matter what.

But the pay-off is huge …. because all of us have a need for someone to carry us in one way or another. We may not be paralyzed but we will not experience all of what God has for us without a close circle of friends. Friends do to your soul what water does for your body on a hot day. We are designed and shaped to be interdependent on each other and there are no short cuts.

So who carries you? Who encourages you? Who allows you to be real? Who tells you what you need to hear? Who listens to you?  Who visits you? Who eats with you? Who laughs with you? Who cries with you? Who care for you?

Life Groups at BridgePointe are small circles of friends that commit to meet once a week to share life together. There is a Life Group waiting for you to belong to so that someone can carry you and you can carry another. Sign up this Sunday or sign up online. There is a group that fits your availability, community, and interest. Make the choice to have friends.

Who will carry you?