Externally Church Conference

here is a review with insights from Alan Nelson. He is the executive editor of Rev! Magazine, the author of a dozen books, and has been a pastor for 20 years.

I just attended the Externally Focused Church (EFC) Conference in Longmont, Colorado, and have one more take on authenticity and its rising stock in terms of attracting people to your church, as well as to yourself as a leader.

EFC leaders were anticipating 250 to 300 people but were pleasantly surprised by an attendance of more than 600, which reflects an increasing movement across the nation of churches thinking outside the box in order to develop their congregants inside the box. As post-modern skepticism increases, people are more and more interested in who we are rather than what we know. Apologetics are going the way of the 8-track and cassette players because people have little time to invest in Christian marketing ploys. They want the real deal.

Churches that are getting people into the community, whether through fixing up widows’ homes, building Habitat houses, painting a neighborhood school, or providing water to homeless people, are doing what Jesus did. What is interesting is that many “mainline” churches have been doing social service for decades, but for some reason, there wasn’t always the connection between the good deed and a more personalized relationship with Jesus.

Now “evangelicals” feel as though they’re discovering this concept of social outreach, but they’re retaining the good news that this is what Jesus did and what those who follow him do, and you can know him, too. Far too many churches have not earned the right to speak into the lives of those around them, and then we wonder why modern marketing and slick attraction programs aren’t cutting it like they did in the ’80s and ’90s. It’s a new day.

Look at your budget and program calendar and assess how much you do for your immediate community. The osmosis approach of hoping that your church leaks into the community isn’t working. These days, you need a focused impetus on getting talent, time, and treasure into people and projects around you.

Authentic leading, the real deal, is needed for people to follow you, now more than ever. Authentic service—altruistic acts of kindness outside the church, not just to bring people inside your church—is needed for us to share our faith. This new network of churches catching the spirit of beyond-the-church-walls is an exciting piece of what God is doing all over the nation. I’d encourage you to get involved and see what you can do to lead authentically internally, as well as to lead authentically externally.

Go to www.rev.org and click on the “Links to other great pastor sites” (and then on Externally Focused Church Network).

Alan Nelson is the executive editor of Rev! Magazine, the author of a dozen books, and has been a pastor for 20 years.

Flowers everywhere!

good day sunday...flowers everywhere...went well...it was good to hear: hey it's kindness to go weekend, flowers how cool
guest to attendee...what are the flowers for?...it's kindness to go weekend, it's one way we reach out to our community... really!??

hey, let's take some flowers home and plant them...nope the flowers are not for us but for our friends, and neighbors.

a lady loaded up a bag of potted plants, we are going to plant them in our neighborhood today.

mom's, kids, grandmas, dads, uncles, aunts, and friends will be planting flowers everywhere this week. touching one life at a time. that's kindess to go! big time

SunBuddy Sunscreen

Summer is nearly here...Sun beaming, families out enjoying the sun at the beach, parks, soccer games, baseball games, air shows, 4th of July celebrations etc. Many people forget to bring the sunscreen.

Solution take some SunBuddy sunscreen with you as you attend the events with your family and friends.

SunScreen Kindness to Go:

How it works: Purchase some small packets of SunBuddy Sunscreen (I buy the family packs in bulk and get great deals call SunBuddy for details)

Attach a connect card (you can get your cards form Market Place Printing) with some hot glue or tape

Hold up a packet during the plugs, or during the message Say, 'Today is a kindness to go weekend. As you leave pickup some sunscreen to give to the people you meet this summer. It's our way of showing God's love in a practical way.'

Have the prepared sunscreen available at the exits so people can grab a few on their way out.

Kindness to go a simple way of helping people begin to look outward.

Flowers Everywhere

This month we will be serving our friends, neighbors by planting flowers. How it works...

I've ordered hundreds of small plants like, Petunias, Pansies, Calibrachoas, etc.

I pop up a shade tent, and have the plants on racks, when people leave the services they go to the racks and pick up some plants...

They then take the plant home to give to their neighbours, or friends...

We have a card that goes with the plants...

you can order the cards from Marketplace Printing

Here is a story from last year.

A lady attended the Vineyard for the first time during our May, ‘Flowers Everywhere’ outreach weekend. As people left the services they would pick up flats of four flowers from our main entrance and take to their neighbors, friends and family just to show God’s love in a personal way.

As I was cleaning up I noticed a lady fidgeting in her car, looking my way, a bit shy and sheepish. I continued to clean up. When she walked over she held out the cash she had removed from her car and asked, ‘How much are the flowers?’ I said, ‘They are free!’ She asked, ‘Can I have two flats?’ I exclaimed, ‘Wow that’s a lot of flowers! Who are they for?’ She replied, ‘I heard the message today, and as I watched people taking flowers, I thought, ‘Who can I show God’s love to?… My dad. I can plant flowers for him, and bring some light into his day.’ I replied, ‘That’s a nice thought.’ She replied, ‘By the way, my dad lost both of his legs and can’t plant flowers anymore.’ I replied, ‘Here’s eight flats, have a great time loving on your dad.’

Then I thought, ‘now that’s what kindness to go is all about.’ Outward focused communication combined with practical application, helps nurture the heart of the Vineyard people empowering them to reach outward to their family, friends and daily connections.

Thank you

Sowing seed is hard work...Jesus said, 'I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.' John 4:38 NIV

Most of the time the seeds we sow don't spring up in a day, sometimes it takes weeks, months, or years to see the harvest. It is a spiritual principle foundational to outward focus and outflow.

What we sow into our lives will bear fruit someday...That's why it is important to continually sow positive, good things into our lives. It is also why it is important to sow seeds into the lives of the people in our communities...the principle no sowing, no harvest.

My friend Doug met with some church planters recently all stated, 'We don't have the funding to sow seeds.' Doug was stunned, he then asked what business they were in? He clarified we are spiritual farmers, we sow seeds it is what we are called to do...the principle, begin where you are...with what you have. If you wait for tomorrow, you may have a long wait...He encourage them to begin now, invest in the community, fling seeds, invite, encourage, challenge the people to do the same, and experiment with what you have.

Last week I talked to a church planter who is beginning where he is. They went out to a local laundry mat to feed some quarters into the machines...only problemo...no people...many leaders would have become discouraged and quit...He being a good leader led the small group to a coin operated car wash and fed quarters to pay for the car wash...They returned encouraged.

Later, when asked how can he and his church begin to kick up the volume, by inviting people to become shareholders? I gave a tip...Invite the people to bring outreach items to the meetings...

i.e.
This month is granola bar, trail mix and packs of peanuts. When you go shopping pick up a box or two of the above items we will store the items for our monthly outreach.

Are we a coke church or a pepsi church or a water church...I did this in Cincy and we raised 28,000 drinks for a summer outreach. Encourage the people to bring cokes, or pepsi, or water to the church each can or bottle is a vote...plan a 4th of July drinks outreach...and use the drinks as your outreach items.

etc. etc. be creative...


Yesterday at 11am we went out to a low income housing area with mainly a bunch of guys out of the 25 people who showed up only four were women. We delivered groceries and offered prayer. At one door one a single mom with 4 kids opened the door...she burst into tears...she didn't have any food to last that week...When prayed for she sobbed.

At 5 pm a van drove up in our parking lot. I noticed a lady looking lost so I went and greeted the lady and the 4 kids in the van...She was the lady. ... She had been so moved by her experience she felt she just had to come and see who we were...She also said thanks...

It is moving when something like this happens...it's not the norm. Most of the time seed sown is hidden in the ground of a persons heart. How it grows? Nobody knows it is a mystery.

Watering Planted Seeds
I was washing my car yesterday...a guy pulls up in a truck...gets out asks about the house next door...mentions his parents are returning from Vietnam that night, they are missionaries...I noticed he was a searching, needy guy...After our conversation, I ask if I could pray for him...Startled he agreed...I grabbed his hand and prayed blessing prayers over his life...that God would crown him with favor just as God had given favor to his mom and dad and family, that God would provide for him, that God would open doors for him. At the end of the prayer he said, 'You know, you're not the only person who has prayed for me lately.'

My job, your job, to water the seeds already sown in the hearts of men. God brings the increase.

I'm hoping my boys Mattie, Andrew, and Nathan will be prayed for by the believing people they meet...If you have a minute why not pray for them now. ... ask that God's favor would be on them and that they'd meet believing believers I'd appreciate it very much.

2nd Saturday Kindness to go...

Kindness to go...a variant... every 2nd Saturday we gather a group of people and head out into the community.

This past Saturday, our mission to Honduras team and several others gathered to learn, go, and serve.

Here's what it looks like... Caleb my friend and Jedi knight arrived early, we made a couple pots of coffee, set up tables to place the items for our Kindness bags, prepared the computer with graphics, prepared maps, readied the name tags, turned up the volume music, and prayed together.

People arrived, we welcomed the troops, offered the coffee and waited for most people to show up.

Once everyone arrived...we went into our Outreach / Teen space.

Every 2nd Saturday we usually have a short training element. This past weekend I spoke to the Mission team.

Having lived in Scotland for 18 years and having hosted 1 to 2 teams per year I shared some of the things we learned.

1. Learning to serve at home is important for serving in other countries.
2. Most teams don't realize that they are part of the process...they will add to what is already on the ground. Good teams seek to build upon what has already been accomplished by the local church / missionary group and seek to be a positive influence while serving and seek to leave a positive vibe when they leave.
3. Expectations are important...both for the team and the church / missionary group being served by the team.

Most frustrations happen when clear expectations are not spelled out. Good team leaders ask great questions. What are you expecting us to accomplish while we are with you? Do you expect us to be 'on' all the time or will be have some down time? What will we be doing? Who will be seeking to reach? Do you want us to train / teach / equip? What's our schedule look like? Do we need to help cover your costs? If so how much?

When I hosted teams I always gave the group serving a few evenings off and made sure they had at least one day off per week. I also, sent a schedule and an overview of the outreach and spoke often on the phone to the team leaders.

One team sent a couple of people over to Scotland to spy out the land. As a result they came back for 7 years.

4. Sowing and reaping on purpose.

I then spoke about 1 Cor 3 and Paul's attitude as a servant and the Jesus method of evangelism in John 4.

We broke up into groups to pray asking God to send people who would be workers in the harvest.

Caleb then told the people how to pack the bags. I described the outreach, where we were going, and handed out the maps.

We now have a mini green bus so the Honduras team went in the van and the rest of us car pooled to our area.

We arrived and prayed again.

Headed out in pairs of 2 for the outreach. We agreed to meet back in an hour. When we met back we shared stories, prayed again and headed home.

Some things that happened...

When prayer was mentioned at H&R Block a lady jumped up an said yes please pray for a boy in Atlanta that has Bacterial Meningitis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever!

A young worker said 'Hey, I live just across the street from your church.' He had a positive conversation and an personal invite.

One bank teller said, 'You are the Vineyard that pretty good church.' continued 'Aren't you guys going to plant a church in our area in 2008?'

Kindness to go on 2nd Saturday is a great way we've discovered to continue the outflow value at the Vineyard.

quotes

"Kindness gives birth to kindness."

Author:Sophocles (447 BC)

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
Chinese Proverb

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

Author:Winston Churchill

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Author:Maya Angelou