Cool Survey Tool

I went to the pre-conference on "Multi-Site Church Planting" at the National New Church Conference this week in Orlando, Florida.

It was an incredible blessing.

The two-day conference was lead by Jon and Dave Ferguson from Community Christian Church in Chicago, Illinois. http://www.communitychristian.org/ &
http://www.newthing.org/

In the next couple of days I'm going to blog on some of what I learned, but one resource Jon Ferguson mentioned looks like it may provide immediate--and positive--results for our church planning and programming. Jon mentioned that CCC uses an online survey to evaluate their programs called, www.zoomerang.com.

Zoomerang is an online survey software which allows users to create and send surveys. We are using the free version.

We held a volunteer appreciation event last Sunday night, so I prepared a survey to evaluate the event and sent it to 40 attendees. I immediately began receiving surveys and--so far--the response has been both enthusiastic and informative.

We are going to continue testing this tool, but it looks like zoomerang may be a valuable--and free--resource that we can use to evaluate and improve our outreach and programming.

We are considering adding an anonymous online zoomerang survey on the homepage of our website for first-time guests at Southside.

I'll let you know how it works.

Officer Torres, A Citation, Humility, and A New Appreciation For Grace

I got a ticket yesterday.

It's only the second time I've been ticketed and the first time since college.

I was on my way to have lunch with a man on our Missions team when I was pulled over in front of Starbucks. The Police Officer seemed to be in a very bad mood. He didn't tell me why he pulled me over, but sternly asked for my license, insurance, and registration.

He pointed out that my registration had expired 2 days ago (!!!!!!) .

I said, "Oh no."

He said nothing and went back to his car.

He returned with a citation for $71.

Before I signed it, I begged, "Is there anything you can do? My registration on my tag says that it's good through 04 of 06, so I thought I had until the end of the month to renew."

"You don't," officer Torres mumbled gruffly.

Feeling unjustifiably indignant I continued, "I'm a preacher and I promise you I'll pay this immediately. I didn't realize I was in violation . . . " (If you're a preacher, you know that it's sometimes a powerful tool--mentioning that one is a preacher, that is--that can diffuse and divert potential problems.)

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Officer Torres asked.

I smiled hopefully.

"There's nothing I can do about it now," Officer Torres concluded, handed me the citation, and walked away.

I stopped smiling.

He was right. The fine print on my registration clearly reads that my tag expired on April 17th--my birthday by the way--and it was April 19th, so I was a law breaker. Happy Birthday to me.

I was late to my lunch meeting, so I rushed off slowly.

Over the next 23 minutes in the car I felt anger, frustration, embarrassment . . .

I'm not, nor was I, angry at Officer Torres . . . although, I won't add him to my Christmas card list. He was just doing his job and I deserved a ticket . . .

but I also felt gratitude for the fact that if God had been the one who pulled me over yesterday, Jesus would have appeared out of Starbucks, set his grande vanilla cream on the top of my car, paid the $71 fine, winked lovingly at me before picking up his grande vanilla cream and walking back to Starbucks . . . and I would have made it to my meeting on time.

Communion Stations

In our staff meeting today we discussed using communion stations. We used one last week for the second time and it went pretty well.

A communion station requires participants to get up and come to a table to get the emblems.

Some congregations may not be comfortable with this method--and I completely understand--but our church has never had our own building (in 12 years), let alone our own communion table, so we have the flexibility necessary for this type of service to work.

We are beginning an Emerging service next fall, so we are planning for it now. In our Emerging service we are going to have at least 4 communions stations around the room and each station will allow the participant to focus on a different aspect of the crucifixion. Here's what we're planning for now:

Station One--The Love: Symbol--Heart

This station will help the participant to focus on crucifixion as an act of love. This station will have a huge paper backdrop on which participants can write words of love to Christ.

Station Two: The Grace: Symbol--Gift

This station will allow the participant to focus on the grace shown to us in the crucifixion of Jesus. Participants can bring a present (personal item, offering, gift box, etc.) to leave on the table.

Station Three: The Mercy: Symbol--Cross

This station will have a cross, nails, paper, and a hammer allowing people to write specific sins (fold paper) and nail them to the cross. We think the pounding of these nails will have a dynamic impact on those at the rest of the stations.

Station Four: The Hope: Symbol--Crown

This station will allow the participant to focus on the fact that the death of Jesus means life--and hope--for us.

Our goal is to facilitate focus on the cross and remembrance of Christ's sacrifice.

I'd love to hear if your congregation uses, or plans to use, communion stations in the future.

Baptisms in Non-Denominational Churches

I just finished reading an interesting article on baptism on USAtoday.com dated 4/13/06:

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060413075509990019

In the article, the author, Cathy Lynn Grossman--defining "baptism" in the broadest terms (sprinkling-Holy Spirit baptism)--notes that the rate of baptisms is declining in all of the major denominations: The Catholic Church, Methodists, Lutherans, Assemblies of God, and the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention has seen its rate of baptisms drop about 35%.

The author spends the majority of the rest of the article trying to detail the reasons for the decline in the rate of baptisms, citing fewer babies (infant baptism), secularization, and interfaith marriage as the major reasons, but then--in the last few paragraphs--she notes a trend in non-denominational churches that is interesting.

Here's how she ended her article:

Churches in the '90s began actively courting church-wary people. These "seeker" churches often de-emphasized strict theology and practice, and gave a less prominent role to baptisms. “ We focused so much on the personal decision, the big deal of turning your life over to Christ, that the public, external identification - baptism - was less important in practice," says the Rev. Brian McLaren, who co-founded the non-denominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md.Yet McLaren, who retired in January to write and lecture, sees change in the air, particularly when he looks at young church leaders such as the Rev. Rob Bell, 35, who Christianity Today once said "puts the hip in discipleship."At Bell's non-denominational Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., where 12,000 worshipers gather weekly in a former mall, they roll in a portable tank every few weeks so baptismal candidates can witness their conversion to the whole congregation. "We are baptizing more people than ever," because "people are desperate for something ancient and lasting and meaningful," Bell says. (emphasis mine)Even if baptisms aren't rising in numbers, they're on the rise in significance, McLaren says.

For me, this was the real news in this article . . . and an encouragement to me.
At the congregation with which I serve, we have also found that "people are desperate for something ancient and lasting and meaningful", so we continue to creatively emphasize and celebrate communion, offering, confession of Christ, public testimony, public reading of Scripture, preaching, praying, and baptism--and the people are responding.

It's not an accident that the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ are one of the fastest growing religious groups in America. Our hermeneutic, our ecclesiology, our theology, and our methodology have all positioned us--at this important time in history--to continue to reach people in a dynamic way.

Merging Churches

Last week, the Christian Standard enewsletter contained a blurb that caught my eye:

Northland Christian Church and Old Union Church of Christ (both in Danville, IL) also dreamed of working together in ministry. "Old Union bought a hardware store and planned to renovate it for use as a new building," says Miles Clark, who served as Old Union's senior minister. "This move would have placed us just a mile from Northland, so we began looking more closely at a partnership."
The elders of both churches met to discuss the possibilities and agreed to move forward as one united church in Danville. The newly christened Crossroads Christian Church held its first combined services as a new congregation last week. Clark serves as preaching minister of the new church, and Doug Hargrave (formerly senior minister with Northland) leads as the executive minister.

http://www.christianstandard.com/

I know of 2 churches in Florida that are the result of churches merging together and they both seem to be experiencing healthy growth.

I'm fascinated by this strategy.

There are several things that excite me about churches merging together:
1. It seems that too many of our churches have been started through division (splits, hurt feelings, power-plays, etc.), but this method starts churches through radical unity. For church mergers to work each congregation and leadership must sacrifice power, agendas, vision, titles, and resources to pull together as one.
2. It can create one healthy church where two struggling congregations existed before.
3. It appears to be wise stewardship of God's resources. A church of 300 has financial opportunities that 2 churches of 150 do not. This is even more true when one of the merging congregations runs 50 people, or below.
4. It's a great witness to the community.
5. In the New Testament we read that Paul set up one church per city. I'd argue that that strategy is not practical, realistic, or even wise now, but I'd also argue that Carter County, Tennessee doesn't need over 30 Christian churches, either.
6. This may seem counter-intuitive to you, but I think this might be a great way for a multi-site work to begin. If two churches come together as one, with one vision, one team, one clear purpose, and twice the financial resources, they would immediately have the staff and resources necessary to target multiple areas of population growth.

Some of my questions:
1. Can one church in one location really get more work done than two churches in two different locations?
2. What steps need to be taken to facilitate two Elderships and two staffs becoming one without power struggles emerging and one Eldership (or Preacher/Staff) dominating the other?
3. What about the members of each individual church? What steps need to be taken to ensure that the members of each church are involved in a process that will have a significant impact on them?
4. Is this a last option to be taken only in a time of crisis, or should it be considered as a wise option, even if both congregations are healthy, but happen to be located in close proximity to each other?
5. What can be done to honor the legacy of each individual church before the new church is birthed?
6. It seems like it would be unwise--and a hindrance to growth--to have a merger lead by two Preachers. Can this work if one of the Preachers doesn't agree to step into an Associate, or Executive Minister position and let the other one be the point person?

Churches merging together? Who would have thought that would have ever worked?

Next thing you know we'll be hearing rumors about a lion laying down with a lamb.

Confessions of a 36-year-old Preacher Bound for Louisville

"Hi, my name is Arron. I'm 36-years-old, I'm going to the NACC in Louisville this summer, and . . . (big breath) I am looking forward to it."

Does my confession surprise you?

I wonder.

Perception is not always reality, but the perception is that a lot of younger (40 and below) ministers don't view conventions like the NACC as relevant anymore, so they aren't coming, or encouraging their members to come.

I don't know if this is true, but it's the perception I've picked up in conversations I've had with dozens of ministers my age (and younger) and from a recent experience.

I had the privilege of working with the Florida Christian convention for about 5 years--with the last 2 as President. It was rewarding, challenging, and--to be completely honest with you--an extremely frustrating experience.

My team and I invested countless hours--and dollars--trying to convince the preachers in the state to come to, and tell their congregations about, the state Christian convention. Many of them told us that the Convention is just not "relevant" anymore. They told me that they get all of their ministry needs met through their own congregations and/or through one of the many conferences offered by Saddleback, Willow Creek, etc., so--even though they admit enjoying seeing old friends, hearing a good speaker, visiting the exhibits, and worshipping with a large group--those pleasures are not compelling enough reasons to come to the convention.

If the next generations view it as irrelevant, the future of the Florida Christian Convention is in jeopardy.

What about the future of the North American Christian Convention?

I've read the books and the blogs on post-modernism and I'm still relatively young, so I understand--and regularly share--the postmodern distaste for institutions, centralized religion, and large organizations, but I've also been blessed by my many experiences at Christian conventions, so I can't wait to go to the NACC.

What about you?

Are you going to the NACC in Louisville? If so, why? If not, why not? Are you a "young" ministry leader? Do you think the NACC is still relevant?

I am, I am, and I do.

And, I don't think I'm going to be alone with my family at the NACC. It seems like everybody I've talked to is going to Louisville during the last weekend of June. I'm happy and I'm surprised, but then I'm also not . . . surprised, that is. The program looks great, the theme is important, the location is excellent, the time is right, and people seem eager to get back together again.

I also think this convention is going to be relevant, so I hope that the perception is wrong and the reality will be a blessed time in the bluegrass state.