Production Blog: I don't want to be that church....

Please note that I write this blog by myself for my opinions. I play a small role in the decisions made at Discover Point Church. Just because I write it in my blog does not mean that it is going to happen or that that the rest of the staff agrees with me. If the rest f the staff does not agree with me then that's okay. I trust the leadership God has in place at my church period. I may not like it but I get it. That said, on with this blog post......

I don't get caught up in numbers too often. I like numbers, I like stats and I like to be able to use them to compare and plan with. I just don't get real excited about numbers or increase in numbers. At DPC we have experienced a lot of growth lately and it has been exciting to see new people come to Christ. We have had a lot of visitors over the past few weeks and that too has been exciting! It would be easy to assume that what we are doing is working. It would be easy to get comfortable and continue down the same path were going because guess what it is working. It would be easy except for one thing WE ARE NOT FINISHED FOLKS!

Our job is not done, we have not arrived and hopefully we will never arrive. We live in a culture of change and if we as a church are not willing to change with the culture then we will cease to be relevant (I hate the word relevant) in our culture. I am not saying be like the culture but we must continue as Tim Stevens says "to leverage the culture". Perry noble really inspired me this morning when he wrote this simple line in his blog. "I don’t want to be the guy who never attempts anything great and plays if safe…". I am going to take it one step further and say I never want to be the church who never attempts something great, who plays it safe. We are only at the tip of the iceberg folks, there are so many opportunities for us to reach our community. We have a few community projects coming up this fall that we really want someone to step up and organize. Our Discover Kids program is booming and will only continue to grow. I hope within the next we can begin a live stream of all of our services every Sunday online. These are just a few things that will take place over the next year. I have a feeling we are going to do some crazy stuff to reach people.
Side Note: If you are already volunteering somewhere thank you, and don't burn yourself out by volunteering for too much. We want new volunteers to step up.

If you think the move last year was big (and it was) then you are going to be blown away this year! There is change in the air. There is a spirit of excitement! There is a revolution coming to east Atlanta you can either jump on board and take part or you can sit on the sidelines and play it safe. I know where I will be.

Production Blog: When is it okay to program your service for unbelievers?

I found this blog today and thought it was very interesting. I love to read Tim Stevens work and a lot of times I agree with him and a lot of times I do not. His blog Leading Smart is one of my favorite Blogs. This blog ask the question when is it okay to program your service around unbelievers? Here is post from earlier today:

Is the Church REQUIRED to Meet on Sunday?

We have had quite the discussion going on related to a post I wrote last week about the purpose of a church service. I asked the question, "What is wrong with having a gathering every week where half the people who are in attendance don't yet understand salvation by grace?"

In response, Tom Becker said, "The meeting together is for the edification of believers. Sorry that's not what I say, it's what the Bible says. We are then to be prepared or taught to go out into the world and preach the gospel and make disciples."

Tom is likely referring to Hebrews 10:25 or Ephesians 4:15-16 where we learn of the importance of the church to gather, edify and exhort each other.

Gary Humble replied and added, "

I have to completely agree with Tom here. The church gathering or assembling of the saints as the Bible calls it is not meant to be primarily a tool for evangelism. While I have nothing against Granger or similar churches, I do think it's erroneous to treat our weekends as a time FOR the unbeliever. That idea is not supported by scripture, sorry. The Word does mention the unbeliever in the church. But nowhere does it define the church as a gathering FOR the unbeliever. In fact, scripture goes through great lengths to define it as just the opposite."

To continue this conversation, some of my thoughts...

• I agree with both Tom and Gary that we are instructed to assemble the followers of Christ.
• This time should include encouragement and exhortation.
• But, does that mean that EVERY time the church gets together, it has to be for the purpose of the edification of the believers?
• The church gathers hundreds of times every week, sometimes in large gatherings, and sometimes in much smaller groups. Sometimes it is to celebrate, other times it is to honor the passing of a loved one. Sometimes it is in a home setting, other times in a large assembly room. Sometimes it is to serve food to the hungry, other times it is to make organizational decisions.
• So are we saying that every single time the church gets together it must be for the purposes stated above? Or could we agree that the church should be gathering for exhortation and edification--but there is nothing in the Bible to prohibit that they shouldn't get together for other purposes as well?
• If that is true, than who is to say the exhortation/edification gathering MUST be on Sunday morning? Gary says it is "erroneous to treat our weekends as a time FOR the unbeliever." So when is it acceptable to have this gathering? Would it be okay to treat Monday nights as a time for the unbeliever? What about Thursdays at 2am? Why are the weekends sacred for the believer? I'm not a theologian, so I'd love someone to show me where believers are required to gather during the weekend.
• At Granger, the gatherings of the church for the primary purpose of exhortation and edification happen during the week in many places in groups from 5 to 2,000. We use the weekend to gather a crowd to hear Biblical truth and take steps toward Jesus.
• We seem to be given some instruction in I Corinthians 14 that there are times when unbelievers will be in your church service...and because of that you will need to modify what you do because of their presence. That is what we do every weekend. We say, "This isn't for me. This is for my neighbor or friend or co-worker who is not yet part of the church."

What am I missing?

Well what are your thoughts?

By if Tim is not on your blog roll add him and if you have not read his book "Pop goes the church it is a must read"

Explination

I stress the the creative team at church the importance of being original. I am in love with the idea of "creating culture". Therein lies my problem. I think sometimes I get so caught up in the trying to create something new that I forget that truly there is only one reason I am doing this, to help lead people to Christ and to help them grow in that relationship. God has been working on me lately about the reasons I do what I do. Why do I create graphics and websites? Why do make videos? The answer is because people need Jesus and if what I do helps just one person come to Christ then I have done my job. My job is not to put together the most creative, spectacular , audacious worship service possible. That said, I think we should always be creative and we try to be original but that should not be our focus. It's okay to copy what another church does as long as you adapt it to your culture. It is okay to use a sermon series from life church. Tim Stevens from Granger wrote a great piece on this in the most recent Collide Magazine. In it he simply says become a recycling expert. In other words learn to use other people stuff in different ways. I think he is absolutely right! Now I not going to go steal someones idea that doesn't want me to that's not what I am saying at all. I just think it is a great idea to adapt good ideas of others creatively to fit the needs in your church.We are a small church with a small budget. Everyone on staff works a full time job outside of their church work. We all have families. Its okay to recycle creatively. Am I crazy to get away from the idea of original thinking? What do you think?

Relevant vs Copying

I read an article the other day in Collide Magazine (A great Mag if you have never read it) about bad church design practices. In the last segment Cameron Smith rants about how annoying it is when the church copies popular TV Shows as the title of their sermon series and chalk it up to relevance.  The truth is it's lame. I believe as alot of others do that the church should be on the forefront of innovation. It is important to leverage the culture and to know the culture but copying is not nececary. I have a passion to be on the forefront of innovation for the sake of communicating the greatest story ever told. I worship God through my art and videos. I just wanted my first blog to give everyone a good idea why I do what I do. More Later!