Church and Target

I realize I haven't blogged in a long time, in fact, I almost didn't remember my password, but I came across Tony Morgan's blog that really got me thinking. Mainly because it hit close to home. I decided to post it here, but if you want to check out more of Tony Morgan's musings you can check it out here.

Tis the season to shop for Christmas gifts, so I recently made a trip to Target. I love Target because I don’t have to spend a lot of money, and I avoid going to Wal-Mart.

After spending a little bit of time in the store, it struck me how different Target is from most churches I’ve visited in the past. That led me to wondering how Target would be different if it operated like the typical church. So, with that in mind, here’s my initial list:

What if Target Operated Like a Church?

• Instead of having men’s and women’s clothing departments, they would be called clever names like Impact and Embrace that are completely meaningless to new shoppers.
• Each department in the store would have its own logo to go with their clever name. And, of course, all those logos would be different than the logo on the front of the store.
• The workers in each department would all have their own t-shirts and flyers to promote what’s available in their departments. The youth clothing department would, of course, have the best flyers.
• The store manager and his wife would be pictured on the front page of the website.
• You wouldn’t actually be able to buy anything from the website, but each department would have its own page explaining why they are such a great department and the the information would be several months out-of-date.
• If you are in the shoe department and have a question about flashlights, the shoe department employee has no idea how to help you because it doesn’t have anything to do with shoes.
• Shoppers would be able to start their own departments so that they can buy the items that they want to buy. Don’t worry…that means there will certainly be a clothing department for singles.
• Shoppers would also be able to appoint their own store manager and then serve on committees and boards to tell the store manager what to do.
• The store would only be open one day a week between 9:00 a.m. and noon and on the first Wednesday evening of every month.

Hope this makes you laugh. And, maybe it also challenges some preconceived notions. After all, churches are sort of notorious for worshiping methods and traditions whether or not they actually produce results.

ST

What I Do All Day

The running joke around here is that I only "work" one day a week and the rest of the time I play solitaire all day. Well, after being asked all the time as to what I do, and thanks to Josh Griffin's blog, I came across this list of things I do.

Here are some examples of what I do: pray, study, read, keep up culture (not very easy to do), preach, teach, share, text, email, facebook, twitter, administrate, organize, make phone calls, return phone calls, conflict resolution, plan activities, confront, encourage, get frustrated, strategize, buy new tools for ministry, edit video, clean up, talk to parents, support my pastor, go to meetings, travel, meet new people, raise money, balance my time with my family, go to school events (concerts, games, …), develop leaders, update website, share life with others, stay up all night, drive a van and go out to eat!

That's my life in a nutshell.

ST

Creativity

Just read a post by Brad Lomenick about the most creative people in business. As I read through the list I realized I only knew a few of the names. It also made me think that we as Christ-followers should be the most creative people on the planet because we are believers in the Master Creator. It bugs me to think that we as a subculture are always following--we can't even come up with our own original t-shirts! We should be the ones starting trends and creating culture, but we can't do that if we are constantly trying to "maintain."

I realize this is a generalized post and not all Christ-followers fall into the uncreative category, but most do--including myself.

How can we reach our communities, or cultures if you will, in ways we never have before?

Just a brief, random thought to start my Monday.

ST

Nine or One

This is my first graduating class here in Indiana. I've been here long enough to see this year's grads go from jr. high all the way through to high school, and I can't help but ask myself, "Did I do my job?" They are all going their separate ways--college, military, jobs--but will they be part of the 9 or the 1. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 high school students graduate from God when they graduate from high school.

I can't help but feel that I haven't done all I could to prepare them. I should have spent more time with them, invested in them, and taught them more. Ultimately the choice is there's. That sounds like a cop out but it isn't. I can't want something for them more than they want it for themselves.

God, guide them, keep them, use them.

ST

What Jesus Didn't Teach

As a church, Hope's Point has been focusing on reaching others for Christ. We've focused our talks, sermons, small groups, and even our website around being "salt and light." So today I was catching up on some blogs and came across this (read the entire post here):

When Jesus began calling the first disciples into ministry, he used this phrase:

“Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

For whatever reason, I started thinking about what Jesus didn’t say to those first disciples.

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will teach you spiritual insights!”

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to worship together!”

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will gather you together in a home group!”

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to pray!”

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will make you members of the church!”

Gave me a new perspective on what our mission and focus should be. Thanks, Tony.

ST

Most Important Thing Today

I was extremely busy today and actually got most of my to-do list accomplished. I started off by updating the church's website and editing Pastor's sermon in order to upload it to the site. I then had a meeting discussing security/emergency procedures for the church (Sunday's incident in IL was a wake up call). Ran some errands before beginning premarital counseling with a soon-to-be-married couple.

All of these things are important and essential to the ministry I do here, but the most important thing I did today came when I got home.

As Rachel was cooking dinner I took Trent outside to ride his tricycle, which he normally pushes Flintstone style. Today I was able to put a new feather in my "Daddy" hat. I taught him to pedal his tric! As my chest puffed with pride and my grin widened by the second I realized that all the important things I do throughout the day take a back seat to my role as daddy to a little two-year-old boy. I choose to play the role that no one else can play over the role that anyone can play.

ST

P.S.

Photos will soon follow.

Raising Your Kids In A Fishbowl

I just read a great blog by Craig Groeschel about Raising a PK. Having been one I can really relate to what he wrote, and now that my son is a PK I want to be very deliberate and conscious about how we raise him. Here's his post:

Ministry can be very hard on pastor’s children.

• Your kids will hear you criticized.
• Your kids will watch you hurt.
• Your kids may see you wrongly strike back.
• Your kids might see your hypocrisy up close.
• Your kids might reject the church because you’re always there.
• Your kids may enjoy the extra attention when they are young and despise it when they mature.

No matter how healthy your church is, a pastor’s kid will likely feel a different sort of pressure. Here are a few things we do to help our kids grow up in the fishbowl:

• We put the kids’ activities ahead of the church calendar. If my girls have a piano recital on Saturday night, either I pre-produce the message or have someone else speak.
• I rarely work evenings. The evenings are family time. I also try not to compromise my day off with church needs.
• I don’t talk about my kids in a sermon without their permission.
• Amy and I work hard not to talk negatively about the church.
• We don’t make our kids go to church every week. Every now and then we let them stay home or do something else so going to church doesn’t become a legalistic chore.
• We live our private lives with personal devotion to Christ. We pray and talk about spiritual things with our children regularly.

I don't necessarily agree with not making your kids go to church each week, but the rest are really good. 

What are your thoughts?

ST