Modern Poor

Recently I was at a conference, and like many conferences, in order to make the participants feel like they get their moneys worth, they give you ton's of 'free stuff.'   Don't get me wrong, I like the 'free stuff' and I like the conference, but lets just cut the junk and call it what it is, "my conference price is paying for a bunch of magazines, along with keynotes and bands."  But anyway, thats not what this is about, this is about an article in one such free magazine.  This article was detailing statistics about the modern poor in America, and if you look above, the graphic is staggering.  99.6% of America's poor have a refrigerator that they can keep food in!  This indicates America's poor are all eating well enough to keep food from the day before!  63.7% are well entertained, because they have a satellite dish to watch quality HD television.  Combined between the iPhone and the iMac, 92.7% own an apple product, which is by far the most expensive item a person can purchase in the electronic world.  No slight on Apple intended.
Here is the issue.  We cry out about needed to redistribute wealth to the poor, but there aren't poor people in our country anymore.  I don't have an iMac or an iPhone and i'm not considered poor by the standards of this article!!  What the bottom line?  Some sort of financial training should be required before we start giving out money.  These stats simply indicate that our 'poor' will always be poor because they don't know how to save up and build wealth!  Why would they, they don't have to do much to get more than I have!

Now don't hear what I'm not saying.  While I believe there are plenty of people capitalizing and profiteering off of generous Americans, I know there are those who need our help as Christians and/or generous people.  I'm not opposed to giving a hand up, just frustrated with what people are doing with their handouts.  It has not always been this way, the 'poor' used to be 'poor' and it was a noble thing to offer assistance.  Now, you have to wonder, what device will this person be purchasing that I don't even own yet!

Fellowship One (the software conference)

     Recently I had a chance to go to the Fellowship One conference, at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas.  Before going, I asked myself the question 'why would I want to go to a software conference?'  However, soon after learning what the software was capable of, I began to see great value.  While I'm still not a Fellowship One 'evangelist' per-say, it has worked for CrossRoads and I believe it can be a great ministry tool.
     Interestingly enough, at this conference, it was more than just software, there were theory tracks which covered the 'why' behind the 'how to' of the more practical classes.  Its the summary of these classes that is  contained below.
     Eric Soon was the communicator of this information and began by outlining the Systems Trinity.  People, Process and Technology.  Process is where software system comes in, but it is what you use to make your systems efficient.  The goal is to be centered in the 'systems trinity' with a solid balance on the value of people, process and technology in your organization.  Eric reminded us of a great story about meatloaf.  A new wife was making meatloaf and cut off the ends of the loaf and threw it away.  The husband thought it was a waste, so he challenged her thinking.  Other than that was the way she as taught, she didn't have answer, so she asked her mother, who also didn't have an answer, other than thats the way she was taught.  They together went to the next generation above them, the mothers mother and asked her why they cut the ends of the meatloaf off, and Grandma informed them it was because it didn't fit in the oven otherwise.  All these there, mother and daughter were following a process simply because it had always been done that way.  This is the danger in process and why it must be revisited and reviewed.
     Eric then proceeded to dive into the 'process of processes' which is a never ending cycle.  It begins with 'define' -> 'document' -> 'communicate' -> 'implement' -> 'evaluate' -> repeat!
You always want to get more out of a process then you put in.  Further, it is important to begin with the end in mind.   Finally, Eric wrapped up with some observations that are quite valuable:

• Change is a process NOT and EVENT.
• The goal is not to innovate the MOST (goal is efficiency).
• Its not enough to have the best ideas (must have implementation)
• You need to redefine the resistance.
• Re-culturing is the main subject of change.
• Relate, represent, and reframe.  Work the relationship you have and cultivate new ones!

Preaching Rocket Wisdom

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to tune into a 1 day web-inar that was really the kick off for The Preaching Rocket (www.preachingrocket.com).  It was a great opportunity to gather nuggets of preaching preparation wisdom from several of the nations top church communicators.  Below are some of the nuggets I picked up on that I will be applying to the next message I prepare this weekend!

Perry Noble: (Pastor at NewSpring Church)

     "If you want to communicate for change, you need to have ONE main point....most of my content ideas for my sermons come from my quiet times....it is important to utilize other peoples creativity in message preparation in order to ensure the most creative gospel presentation that can happen..."

Jud Wilhite:  (Pastor at Central Christian Church)

     Three phases of a message communication:
     1) Grab the attention of the audience.
     2) Establish the problem that the audience needs to know about
     3) Address the issue with scripture

Jud doesn't see any problems with using life stories in your message.  In fact, he encourages it, "no life related stories are ineffective..."  Preaching is simply truth through personality.  The key is honest communication, and a solid understanding of truth.  Its not a revolving target.

Andy Stanley:  (Pastor at North Point)

     Andy grabs the attention of the audience by generating a creative tension in the first few minutes, and he believes in order to get better, you MUST watch and critique yourself.  He uses the following message structure:

Me - This is what I think is going on, and the tension that I bring to the table.
We - This is how it relates to you, and how you are involved
God - This is what God has to say about the issue.
You - What are you doing to do with this new information, its a personal decision point
We - What are we going to do with this information as a body?

Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff believes that integrating humor into sermons is very important.  He believes you should always trim from jokes, and never add to them.  This will leave them always wanting more. Start you joke with the end in mind, where do you want to take them.  And remember, making an impact is a good thing, making an impression is a great thing.

Leadership Essentials

     Recently in staff meeting at CrossRoads, Lead Pastor Griff put in front of us some teaching from Andy Stanley, a pastor out of Atlanta.  He was teaching on creating and maintaining a culture of trust in your organization, as well as the importance of that culture.  The reality is, in our world, so many fellow employees are always at each others throats, arguing and fighting about things that are usually insignificant.  Worse such, church staff members who are attempting to complete an ultimate purpose are completely unaware how to work together in a manor worthy of their purpose.

     Andy makes a few suggestions.  Employees need to take up two positions 1) I'm going to trust you. 2) I'm going to be trustworthy.  Its simple, basic Christianity.  As employee's we must choose to fill the gap between what we currently know about a person, and what we are discovering with trust.   Unity is a must to create this positive culture and extinguish suspicion.  These are the highlights of Andy's talk:

• Being trustworthy does not mean being flawless.
• We must committed to do what we say were going to do, and if something changes, commit to be the one to notify of it.
• Harboring suspicion and mistrust will eventually poison the culture of your organization.
• People know who you have a hard time trusting based on your attitude. This is impossible to hide.

Grace Credit Card

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
- 1 John 3:6-9

Recently we had a staff devotional about sin. It was a real thinking experience. The topic was, if we love Jesus why do we continue to sin. This among other verses was brought up in the conversation. After much thought, and contemplation, I believe all to often, we as Christian use the excuse, "no-one is perfect" to excuse our sin. If Jesus is really in our hearts, and he really is the Lord of our lives, wouldn't we be a little differant. Should we use that excuse? Do we really "HAVE" to sin after coming to know Jesus because of our nature? Do we really "HAVE" to sin, is it really beyond our control, or are we just dumping blame elsewhere like we do in every other area of our culture...or worse, are we claiming the grace of God and putting our sins on the "Jesus Paid It All" credit card. Jesus did die for our sins, but we don't have to attempt to make his sacrifice more valuable by sinning more. How will anyone else every know him?....thinking about about...

Twitter the worlds leading Killer

So a few weeks ago, our Worship Pastor at Marathon Greenville, introduced me to Twitter, an online website used to keep up with what your friends are doing. I thought it was really neat, and so i began to use it. Then, in all its newness and my glee, i began to receive updates to my phone and really be able to follow people. Text messages would pour in moment after moment according to what friends were doing. Then i stopped. And realized. Something very important. While there is nothing wrong with this website, other than it is consuming my time, cultural websites for keeping in touch with people are probably damaging relationships. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, may be great to keep up with old friends, or talking with people you don't really know well, but while it may bring those people seemingly closer, it pushes other away. Those close to you, you then talk to mainly on facebook, or twitter, and never actually visit or make a phone call to see what their doing. It puts all people at a distance. The distance of the Internet, however close or far you consider that. Its interesting the direction our culture is traveling with more intimacy in bed being encouraged for singles, and less real life conversation for real people being required in the "in" crowd.

Leadership Secrets

So lately I've been reading this neat book called Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham. Its pretty awesome, I would highly recommend it to anyone, even if your not in what you consider to be a position of leadership. The reality is that we all lead something. Recently, the portion that I have been reading is about critism and how to deal with it. The authors goes on to tell about how Billy Graham rarely dealt with issues like that in the moment. He almost always took time to think, pray, and then react. Seems like a good bit of wisdom. Further, the author goes on to state this as Billy's approach..."Billy's approach to handling criticism was to 'Go directly to the people causing him the most pain and basically say, "Teach Me." That takes a lot to say. It takes a lot of courage to live your life that way. It takes a lack or rather, destructing of your pride in act in this fashion. What an example...