Whiteboard: Mark Batterson

I’m at the Whiteboard Sessions today. I’ve been waiting for this day for months now. I’m just gonna jot notes all day long (as long as the battery lasts!) and share them. Hope they bless you.

Mark Batterson: pastor of National Community Church)

Props to his team: see them do things that he can’t possibly take credit for (what a great role model)

the farther from home you are the more of an expert you are ☺

I’m not here to prescribe what we do – but to describe it

Being in the marketplace is part of their DNA; being in a theater is part of their mission

National Community Church wasn’t 100 by year 1, not 200 by year 2

The favor of God is Him doing something for you that you can’t do for yourself

Isaiah 55:8 & 9

“My thoughts are not your thoughts …” His ways & thoughts are so much greater and grander than ours.

“If we are in the right spirit, God can do amazing things through us …”

It would take us 163 years to drive to the sun, it take light 8 minutes to get here; the expanse of the universe is the distance from our thoughts to God’s thoughts.

“Your best thought on your best day is about 13.2 billion light years short of God’s thoughts on any given day.”

“Is systematic theology an oxy moron or what?”

We need a degree of critical realism: our best theories will be amended because we will make new discoveries that will require us to expand our thoughts.

1 Corinthians 8:2 “He who thinks he knows does not yet know what he ought to know.”

Everyone walked in the door today underestimating God by 13.2 billion light years.

Your dreams are too small; we confess our sin all the time, but when was the last time you confessed the smallness of your dreams to God?

Sins of omission (what we could do for God) break the heart of God; we live like God is not a part of our daily lives.

Climb up in a watchtower like Habakkuk with no agenda; seek God and pray; God will resurrect dreams that are deep inside; you will come back to life; God will reveal new dreams

Our dreams are way too small.

At some point, we stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing it out of memory.

God’s dream is that imagination begins to overtake memory.

How do we avoid the shift from imagination to memory?

It always starts with a dream that God puts into our heart.

We need dreams that God places in our hearts that if he doesn’t do it, we’re going to look foolish.

When you let God conceive these dreams in our spirit and you pray those ridiculous prayers, that’s when we’re doing what God intended.

Lee McFarland’s prayer: God, give me one soul for every stock option he gave up (he was a Microsoft Exec, elementary Sunday School teacher) – their Easter service was in an NFL stadium

I would rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas.

We need to believe that God wants to tell His-story through us.

I need to continue to seek the Lord so that my dreams get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Preach the gospel to everyone everywhere: I want you to climb the highest mountain, I want you to sail the widest ocean … tell everyone.

If there was ever the “greatest” dreamer, it was Jesus.

How does God accomplish the redemption of humankind? Through us; planting dreams in us.

I can’t do it; of course you can’t do it. That’s the point. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

excellence in the funniest of places …

That’s one of my bibles. It made it onto the online pictures from the wedding I did last week in Luray.

And that’s my morning coffee. See the little green thing sticking out of the lid? It’s something new that Starbucks made so your coffee won’t spill all over your car when you’re driving. Genius. You see, before when you wanted to cover your drink so that it wouldn’t spill, you had to put one of their stickers over the hole. And, when you removed the sticker, there was a bunch of sticky residue left for you to enjoy while you finished your drink.

I don’t expect things like that from Starbucks. Or pictures like these from photographers. Or from restaurants. Unfortunately, I don’t expect them from churches, either.

I only expect things like that from Apple. They seem to think of things before I even open the box.

What would happen if we paid that kind of attention in churches? What if we thought about the things that people were looking for … things to make their lives easier … things that would help them along the way instead of relying upon their resilience to make their way into our church?

Andy Stanley does a great job with this down at Northpoint. He uses the illustration of a ladder. Many churches, hoping to equip people, build bigger and bigger, taller and taller ladders. But, in doing so, they remove the bottom rungs of the ladder … because they become unnecessary in helping the people already there to grow.

I’m prepping for my next “big church” sermon. It’s from 1 Peter 2 and begins with a great passage where Peter admonishes the church help those far from God and new to the faith. John Phillips says, “many churches are more like refrigerators than incubators”.

God help us if we become so inward focussed that we become God’s frozen instead of His chosen.

cheers,
bc

Talking About the Two Things You Don’t Talk About

“There’s two things you aren’t supposed to talk about with other people,” I said to my mom and dad as midnight came and went last night, “religion and politics.”

My dad’s response shook me to the core: “we don’t talk about politics anymore – we talk about people who do politics.”

Not rocket science, but my response was the same: “and we don’t talk about Jesus anymore – we talk about religion.”

So in reality, when we should be talking about ideas (politics), we talk about people. If we could focus the message of politics on what we stand for (maybe some actual discussion on long term economic strategies, a feasible plan for operating a defense department that protects my children’s future … you get the point) rather than obsessing over focus groups and polls, maybe we could make progress on removing the apathy and pork spending that seem to consume the political environment of the US today.

But even more importantly, when we should be talking about people (or the person), we talk about our ideas. If we could preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried and resurrected, maybe our efforts to share the hope, peace, love and joy we have found would go a lot further. It seems that most Christians are arguing about something (I heard recently that the church down the street forbids their students from attending our churches youth group because we use that rock music stuff … that’s absurd.) Why is it that Christians are known more for what we are against than for what we stand for?

It was a great well-past-midnight reconnecting with my parents and the spiritual heritage that they placed in me. Thanks mom and dad.

cheers,
bc

Preachers & Teachers … this one hurts …

I’ve found it a practice of reading my email, flippping through blogs, and watching a sermon every morning when I come to work.

This one from Steve Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC got my attention quick this morning.

Long and Short of it: Since He’s [God] my only true audience in ministry, I’m always playing to a packed house.  Every show is sold out.

Remember that next time you’re doing what you do!

cheers,
bc

What do you mean a church can be worldly?

I was settling down last night after a HUGE first birthday party for Jake last night. It seemed like the last week of my life has been a gigantic blur. I think I’d slept a total of 30 hours over the last 7 days. I was exhausted.

I grabbed my Bible, jumped in bed and just began to spend time with God. The letters were red – so I knew these were the words of Jesus – a man I’ve committed my entire life to follow, serve and worship. I’d read this part hundreds of times before … so I thought.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV)

Like I said, it’s a thought I’ve heard Jesus speak hundreds of times before. But, honestly, it was like I was reading it for the first time.

I saw a guy yesterday wearing a t-shirt that read “He who dies with the most guitars wins.” And most of us think of that phrase (while inserting our favorite material possession) when reflecting on this passage. You can either invest in things of eternal significance or the things of this world. Giglio puts it like this: you can either play a small part in God’s HUGE story or you can play a big part in your small story.

In Eugene Patterson’s Under the Unpredictable Plant (highly recommended for pastors of any church), he points out that it doesn’t stop there, though. Our institutions also struggle with materialism. It isn’t like we set out to be materialistic, but just by trying to preserve the institution, we sin. We move far from God. It is not always God’s intention for small “c” churches to exist – but only for His big “k” Kingdom to exist.

Our institutions also struggle with materialism at another level – and this is what hit home for me. There isn’t anything wrong with excellent, narrative driven, highly planned out worship services … unless they have the wrong heart behind them. There isn’t anything wrong with leading people to a bondage breaking, life giving relationship with Jesus Christ … unless it has the wrong heart behind it. There isn’t wrong with starting new churches that are leaving an eternal footprint on a lost and dying culture … unless they have the wrong heart behind them.

It’s all in your motives. It’s all in my motives. Are we truly unconditionally sold out for God’s glory and His renown or are we – even in dealing with the things of God – doing things for the rewards and accolades of man?

I’m praying for option 1!

cheers,
bc

why christianity must change …

I saw the most absurd church sign last week.

Where have we come to in the Christian community that putting a circus act-esque “46 inch” label is in any way appropriate for our cause? I have to be honest: when I first saw the sign, I broke into laughter. But then I realized, “is this really what it’s come to?”

And then Rich (a worship leader friend at McLean Bible Church) sent me a link from a recent American Idol episode.

“What do you think about this” he asked.

At first, I thought, “man, that’s kind of cool … not my style … but still kinda cool.”

But, then it hit me. Why would American Idol do something like this? I think it’s just a way for Fox and the American Idol conglomerate that has taken our nation by storm in years past to try and attract the Christian community. And if I felt that most of the people singing the song were singing from their souls in a manner conduscive to anything that resembles worship … then that’d be great.

That’s not what I saw. But that’s all this is – the thoughts of one follower of Christ doing his best to glorify Him and to spread His good news as best as I know how.

cheers,
bc

integration vs. assimilation

I work inside of the church world. And inside the church world, sometimes we use words that the rest of you normal people just don’t understand.

This week, Chapy was asking me how it is that I can talk normal when I preach. Unlike him, he said, I had a very normal upbringing … outside the church with other normal people.

Today, while reading The Blogging Church, I realized another one of those words that us clergy folk use that really, really might not make any sense to you normal folk:

assimilation

The problem isn’t that we use that word – assimilation is a fine word to use. The problem is that we don’t fully realize what we mean when we say that so-and-so is in charge of assimilation. If we want to assimilate you into our church, then we want to make you more like us.

What would happen if the church would stop trying to change you to become more like us and instead we began to change to become something different because you were now a part of us? What if we took seriously the input and contribution you can make into our community? What would happen if we stopped assimilating people and started to integrate them into the church? How amazing would that be – the church ever growing and changing … depending totally on who is part of what we’re doing at this point in time?

The implications of this are huge: not what we can offer you (and how you can find a place in our system) but rather seeking to see what God can do through you in our place.

Not a sermon, just a thought (sorry Lon),
bc

Pro Presenter and my Mac lappy save the day

I got the fatal call at 8:29 yesterday morning. It had nothing to do with me or my umbrella of responsibility. Our “big church” tech room was running amiss with disaster – or at least that’s what the frantic voice on the other end of the line said.

Sometimes the person that can fix your problem quickly becomes the person that becomes responsible for fixing your problem. That’s not a good way to do business. Be careful to give responsibility and authority together.

Here’s a pic I grabbed with my iPhone yesterday. What you see is all of the duct taped PC’s pushed aside to make room for my Mac lappy running Pro Presenter. I could hear the choir singing, “here it comes, to save the day” in the background.

Here’s the way things went down for our 9 am worship service:

8:29 – received the fatal call
8:35 – first touched the bug ridden pc
8:40 – diagnosed pc #1 to be past the point of no return
8:43 – moved second pc to first pc’s spot
8:50 – diagnosed second pc’s version of MediaShout unable to perform, the MediaShout library to be corrupt, and the MediaShout file for the day to be useless
8:53 – bi-passed every piece of junk the computers in the tech room and plugged in my lappy with ProPresenter running
8:59 – had all of the songs imported … just waiting for the videos to download
9:04 – service starts a few minutes late, but with video

This is not a slam on PC’s or on MediaShout. I have used both over my years in ministry. What I’m trying to convey is that if you’re looking for a solid platform, you should give Apple a try. One of my fellow staff members keeps saying, “but I work in the business world and macs just don’t cut it there.” That’s simple ignorance: Apple has come a long way. Get out of the early 90’s!

And if you’re looking for software to use in your worship services, I cannot recommend Pro Presenter any higher. It is simply the best software package on the market. It saved our bacon yesterday, but it’s been running error free in our student ministry environment for two years now.

I now this stuff isn’t cheap – but neither are our volunteer hours. At least we shouldn’t treat them that way. Shouldn’t our volunteers be given the best opportunity to succeed?

cheers,
bc

efficiency vs. enjoyment

Alright. You knew this was coming. But for those of you who didn’t, I said goodbye to my crack berry this week and replaced it with an iPhone.

Before you stop reading because you sense the Mac addict in me welling up, stop. Because I’m not going to tell you that the iPhone is superior. Well, at least not for all of us.

You see, what I’ve found is that my iPhone isn’t as quick to the punch … not as efficient of an email and communication device as the old blackberry. Some things I’ve noticed:

1. There’s no green light that turns red to tell me I have email waiting.
2. There’s no way to have all my email accounts in one inbox.
3. The virtual QWERTY keyboard is a bit difficult to type in – especially for blackberry addicts.

But, this is not bad for me. What I’ve found is that I enjoy my new iPhone a lot more than I ever enjoyed my blackberry. I’m certainly not as efficient on the iPhone – nor do I ever assume I will be – but I thoroughly enjoy the experience.

I know there are a few brett.crimmel.com readers that would say, “then the blackberry is better.” And to you, I say it probably is. But for those of us who like to play just as hard as we work, the iPhone is far superior.

It’s made me think of every aspect of life – not just text messaging, email and cell phone calls. And I love it. The Wi-Fi on the iPhone connects every time I’m in range … I was in Panera today getting coffee and I was able to get T-Ball information on the fly. I’ve taken over 20 pictures and emailed them to friends – with a few modifications – while getting in the car. I can’t stop flipping between the Washington, DC and Denver weather screens. The map application puts the cross hairs right over my house. And I find myself smiling every time I touched the slick glass surface.

Maybe life isn’t as much about making ourselves only 100% efficient, but also investing in the things we enjoy so that we can be efficient at a high level over a longer period of time. The iPhone will help prolong that.

cheers,
bc

“The 30 Minute Check” Challenge

It’s friday and it’s just about time to head home. And I can’t tell you how excited I am!

We’ve got T-Ball, birthday parties, dates, the circus, and time with my brother in law on the docket. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. It’s going to be fun! Tomorrow has five different activities … it’s going to literally be a circus!

The best part, though, is I’m purposefully disengaging in otherwise distracting things (like email and the like) while I’m out and about. Disconnecting. It should be a good thing.

Some ways to be free this week – without giving up the connectivity that we’ve all grown to love (no need to throw out the baby with the bath water …):

1. Start using five sentences or less in every email. Try it. It’s amazingly freeing.
2. Empty your inbox  (don’t just delete everything, but deal with things now … I’ve been a big fan of Inbox Zero for some time now, more info here)
3. Have a list of tasks for today … don’t let your email inbox dictate what you will or won’t do.
4. Set aside time for checking email and keeping up to date with news/blog feeds. Then get back to work. In my life, that means actually talk to real people.

So, here’s the challenge: on your blackberry and laptop, set your email program to check every 30 minutes. You’re really not that important. And if you were, the other person would have called anyway.

Let’s do it for a month and see what happens.

cheers,
bc