Loud & Clear

pre-service run through

Here’s Paul and the gang getting ready for tonights service. Taken and posted from my phone (not an iPhone).

Man Day is coming…

To get you prepared for the insane amount of fun we’re going to have on Father’s Day this year, I present to you this video on how to tell how old your dad is from our friend Kenn Kington.

What’s a church service for? Pt. 2

This post is much later than I anticipated. A huge project landed in my lap this week on the fast track and has derailed my regular schedule. That said, I’d like to thank D Rho, Eric Rata, and Joe for great and insightful comments. What you guys said really resonates with me.

I think this discussion often gets confused between two concepts: what is the church for and what’s a church service for? I find that many young and growing believers get caught up thinking they are one in the same thing. This is not a style discussion, but a purpose discussion. Style has mostly to do with preference.

It’s a circular system. The style of your church will define the style of your service which influence the style of people your church will attract. Service style may revolve around deep exegetical teaching. It could be around passionate worship. It may be relationship and interaction. Each of these is important to a growing believer. The problem falls when people expect a service to be all of those at the same time. When people think the purpose of a service is to accomplish the entire growth process at one time, in one place.

Of course, this isn’t the picture of the life of a growing Christ follower. It’s something that permeates your entire life, schedule, relationships and habits. Our biggest problem is that we really just don’t want to work that hard at following Jesus. Especially now that culture confirms what human nature desires (immediate gratification marketing combined a disposable commodity society) it’s a tough job to lead people to engage at that level. But no one said this would be easy. Especially Jesus.

So, then if the church service can’t and shouldn’t provide a one stop shop for growing believers, what’s it for?

I think it is a big part is a) to get seekers and young believers moving in the right direction and b) be a gathering place for believers (of every stage of their faith journey) to worship, be challenged and experience God together.

More on a) since we can mostly all agree on b). (if you don’t, leave a comment and let’s continue the discussion!) For seekers and young believers, a church service creates God experiences they have a hard time finding elsewhere. It gives them tools they can use. It introduces them and moves them to understand worship. It gives people something to invite their friends to. And according to the Reveal Study, the largest comprehensive spiritual growth and the church study which we recently got to be a part of, confirms this is true. Worship services are only a significant part of spiritual growth to seekers and young believers. After that, it has to happen outside the service.

Because growth, real spiritual growth, has to take place outside of a service. It’s going to happen in a growth group, serving in ministry, reaching out to the poor and desolate through missions. It comes from reading your Bible on your own, through prayer, solitude and tithing. It comes through seeking out spiritual mentors and sharing your faith. It happens as you shape your life to look like Christ.

And equipping people for those things is the job of the Church. The discipleship process is there to provide people tools to grow in those areas. Still, it’s vital people realize the Church can’t grow you spiritually. That’s something that happens when you submit to Christ through disciplining yourself to become like him.

The Church provides the resources. You provide the commitment. God provides the transformation as you begin to look like him.

A final thought. Church services are for everyone: seeker, young, growing and mature believers. I absolutely love working in an area that engages and challenges every believer no matter where they are in their faith. Truth is truth no matter where you are on the journey. 65 minutes can change your life. But it’s the rest of the minutes that take that change and make it a permanent part of your life.

What’s a church service for?

So I’ve had this discussion a couple times in the last couple weeks. What’s a church service for? Your answer will likely vary by the preference of who you’re talking to.

• Those who connect with God most through music will say the service is for worship, hence it being called a “Worship Service.”
• Those who like to discover new things about God will say they come to service to “be fed” and prefer exegetical style teaching with lots of exposition on the original Greek.
• There are some who are wired and/or simply get the idea that we were created for relationships and would say fellowship is of primary importance. The Bible does tell us to make sure we don’t stop meeting together.
• Others are looking for a powerful God experience, stripped down of all the “entertainment” that is common in church with especially larger churches.

So what’s the right answer? Or is there one? It’s hard to tell since Jesus didn’t exactly give church services when he walking around. But he left some clues I think to help us out.

How did Jesus worship God? As a boy he went to the synagogue and was found outside talking and listening to scholars. As an adult, he no longer sat and listened to them, but challenged them and their way of thinking. He lead a growth group with his disciples, but it was more for them than for himself. He preached to big crowds (perhaps we could say Jesus was the first megachurch). He did miracles. He counseled the hurting and lost. It would seem at this point we think the answer was how we went off alone to be with God. And many make the argument they don’t need church and worship by themselves as Jesus did.

Hmm, no easy answer yet. Let’s look at what Jesus expected of his disciples, maybe that will give us a clue.

The first thing Jesus said to these guys was, “Come and follow me.” He gave them an invitation. He walked with them, shared good times and bad with them. He prayed with them, taught them. He sent them on a mission trip. He empowered them to do great things for the Kingdom of God. He was quick to get on them when the did or said something dumb. He was quick to forgive them and restore the relationship. He challenged them beyond what they could have ever imagined. And he loved them completely.

Two different perspectives: Jesus and his disciples. I think there are some big ideas in here that extend even beyond a church service, but that’s a different topic. So for now, what do you think? What is a church service for?

Mother’s Day recap

Well, it was another Clovis Hills slam dunk. Another can’t miss weekend.

The music smoked: Paul was awesome doing Mr. Mom, complete with a southern twang that just a little seemed “too natural” if you know what I mean.

It sounded like we had Point of Grace in the house with the message capper.
And I was told my rendition of Phil Vassar wasn’t too shabby. The band sounded great the whole weekend.

Steve and Kimberly co-taught a fantastic message about women of influence. This is one of my favorite parts of Mother’s Day. I still remember when Jen and I were struggling through the emotions of our inability to have a child of our own. Mother’s Day was such a hard day back then. A day celebrating what those we were incapable of becoming. We heard the stories of others like us. Or of those who had lost their children.

I’m proud of the fact that Clovis Hills takes the courage to expand this day to show how God has called women (and men, but that’s a different holiday) to take charge of the influence they have in the lives of others. To cherish them for the way they were created. And give them tools to continue to grow in the work of changing lives.

Mother’s Day photo’s were a big hit. A huge thanks to our photographers: Alicia Alejo, Michelle Koch, Becky Crecelius and Katrina Rocha for serving on what was technically their holiday so everyone else could get great family pics. Also, thanks to Amy Glines for working behind the scenes and making sure everything ran smoothly. There were many other volunteers who helped as assistants, with set up and take down and a dozen other things. If it wasn’t for these folks doing what they do, things like this could never happen. Way to go church.

If you didn’t make it, you can check out the pics at clovishills.smugmug.com/mothersday2008

What was your favorite part of the weekend?

Iron Man- thumbs up

Saw Iron Man this week with Jen, Dave MacNeill and Paul Haugen. Was looking forward to it as it is Marvel Entertainment’s first movie they self produced, with only distribution from a major studio. This gave them complete creative control so we don’t end up with Ang Lee’s version of The Hulk and, of course, all the profit in their pockets instead of a studio’s. Makes sense. If you create the character, why not make sure it turns out exactly as you want it AND get paid for it.

That said, I thought the movie was really good- thumbs up. Robert Downey Jr. is perfect in the role of Tony Stark. As with most comics, there’s a great moral in the story. In Iron Man, Tony Stark learns the weapons he’s built his career on actually destroy lives and discovers that a life of purpose trumps a life of indulgence.

This story doesn’t have quite the level of deep character conflict I’ve come to love from the Spiderman franchise, but it does allow us to keep the fun side of Tony Stark we like. Director Jon Favreau (of Elf fame) redeems himself from his prior comic book hero movie venture Daredevil. There are a few things I could complain about as a movie “purist” I didn’t care for in his directing style (I’ll fill you in if anyone of you asks about them), but there were enough fantastic scenes to make up for the slights.

One complaint to Marvel though. I’ve watched the trailer to the new Hulk movie they have coming with Edward Norton as Bruce Banner and it appears that both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk are both using the exact same plot device to drive the story. I find that very disappointing. Your first two movies as an independent studio and you use the same trick in both flicks. From a company that is at its core creative, I find this very uncreative, even reprehensible.

Doesn’t mean I won’t be in line to see The Incredible Hulk. I mean, come on. It’s The Incredible Hulk. I hope they use the piano score from the TV show.

…in a pinch

As I mentioned last week, my friend Brent Riffel transitioned off our staff. He leaves a pretty big whole to fill, as he lead a critical team- the Discipleship Connection team.

Now, this may not be a team you’re even familiar with, but these guys cover pretty much everything from the first time you drop of Response Card to helping people move into ministry and missions. Eventually, there’s plans in the works also to develop the LEAD portion of our growth process.

As I said, a big whole to fill. Now, because of the “recession” (are we allowed to call it that yet?) we’ve had to cut our budgets back and put a freeze on hiring. That means one of our current staff has to fill in. Who will temporarily fill this big role you ask? Kimberly MacNeill.

Paul’s been here over a year and doing the best job anyone ever has with our Music Team (I include myself in that) and the team is cruising right along. Not that means she has extra time, just that she has a kickin’ team that can help her do the impossible - lead two big teams.

It’s not gossip to say that spirits are high about this. Kimberly has always had a passion for discipleship. The DC team is in the best spot it’s ever been with help from Brent and excited about the future.

As always, keep the staff in prayer as we work along side you (we’re all ministers according to Jesus, paid or not) to become what God has in store for us at Clovis Hills. And thanks to KMac for stepping up in a pinch.