An Image of Jesus

Today, Transformation House was featured in the City People section of the Greenville (SC) News. The article was based on an interview that Amber Anderson and I recently gave to a reporter. I thought the writer, Donna Walker, did an excellent job of capturing our message and the heart of our interview with her.

The article started with this statement, "Transformation House aims to be a place where people can connect with one another, or with an image of God that they may not have expected to find." That really caught my attention: "an image of God that they may not have expected to find." I'm sure that's not how we stated it, but it is absolutely true.

We know that many people have a preconceived idea of God based on their past church experience, or their upbringing, or how God is portrayed through various media outlets. Some see him as an angry overlord, some as a sugar daddy, some as a distant, mysterious figure, some as a close, intimate friend.

Our goal in starting this downtown ministry, is to present to the people of Greenville a crystal clear picture of who Jesus really is. We are convinced that when they see him for who he really is, they will find him completely irresistible.

You can read the newspaper article online.

Get Understanding

We would be wise to heed the Biblical proverb, "Though it cost all you have, get understanding."

I will be quick to tell you that there are many things that I do not understand. When I was in elementary school, some of the hardest things for me to grasp were the concepts of color and taste. I don't mean the difference between yellow and blue or between sweet and sour. My parents were great teachers when I was pre-school age, so I had that part down already. What I did not understand was how color and taste were functions of my brain. I thought that a stop sign was actually red and that chicken tasted like, well, chicken. But I digress...

As I said, there are many things I do not understand. If you would like a better understanding of something, have a conversation about it with someone smarter than you, or read a book.

Here are three books that have my attention this week.

 

Church Diversity by Scott Williams (center) former campus pastor of LifeChurch.tv
All through the planning and planting stages of Transformation House, we have prayed that God would save us from being a segregated fellowship. We feel strongly that on Sundays the church should resemble the church Jesus died to build. Church Diversity is a tool that helps keep us on track.

Destined to Reign by Joseph Prince (left) pastor of New Creation Church, Singapore
God has given me an opportunity to live in grace and to help others find accept the grace God offers them. I do not believe that grace needs a balance. Grace is balanced all by itself. To call grace unbalanced is to call God unbalanced. Destined to Reign is the best book I have read on a biblical approach to grace.

The Necessity of an Enemy by Ron Carpenter Jr. (right) pastor of Redemption World Outreach Center, Greenville, SC
Our family attended RWOC for 13 months before planting Transformation House, so I have heard Pastor Ron powerfully preach some of these concepts. I am just two chapters into this book and I have found many great statements. For instance, he says that all battles pertain to our future, never our past or present. Lord, help me remember that. I will allow the struggles of this day to keep me from my destiny, or I will allow them to propel me toward it. We often ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  This books explains that some bad things are good things in disguise.

These books are helping me be a better pastor and a better person. I am thankful that there are resources and people who can help educate me and help raise my level of understanding. Grab a book. Let's read.

NewSpring Leadership Conference

NewSpring Church, Anderson, South Carolina

Another week, another conference!  I think this is my last conference for this year - unless I'm invited to another one.  I am not a conference junkie, but this one was so close, and I admire the speakers.  I expected to receive a lot from the #NLC2010, and I was not disappointed.  I was pleased by several other things too: 1) The teachings were so Christ-centered.  Often, Jesus is left completely out as leaders are encouraged in their leadership skills and styles.  Not at this conference!  2) Lee and the worship team - despite the light show - faded into the background and let Jesus shine.  Please understand that I loved the light show, but generally you think the purpose of the lights is to illuminate the stage performers.  There were no performers, only worshipers. 3) I got to spend some time with friends that I didn't expect to see, and I got to meet some online friends. 

Here are some of my brief take-aways.

Francis Chan reminded us to walk in humble boldness.  Jeremiah 9:23-24 "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

Mark Driscoll used the Apostle Paul's example in Ephesians 3 to show the benefits that came from the apostle's suffering.  He said that, according to verses 7-9, Paul's greatest treasure was the Gospel.

Steven Furtick I was excited to hear Steven live for the first time - especially since this was the day his book, Sun Stand Still, was being delivered.  He chose not to speak from his book, but gave us all a copy to read for ourselves. He did tell us how to respond to critics and nay-sayers.  Just tell them, "Jesus told me to."

Perry Noble, our host, stayed in the background the entire day other than to preach once and to introduce the evening speaker.  I got so much from his message.  One thing that I want to always remember is this: You will never know what God wants to do through you until you know Him.

Jud Wilhite may be the speaker that I would most like to spend some time with.  He and his church (the place where it's okay to not be okay) are reaching people in Las Vegas.  Two things we should remember: 1) As long as we reach out to the broken, we will always have an audience, and 2) We should see restriction as an opportunity. 

Judah Smith was a Pentecostal powerhouse!  He said that when you launch out toward a God-given goal but you haven't reached it yet, what you do "in the meantime" is the key to reaching your destination.  We tend to see delay as denial.  I won't post all of the notes I took here.  I'm sure this one was just for me!

Andy Stanley gave what I felt was the most practical and encouraging information for church planters.  He helped me see the tension between what is, what has been, and what could be.  I won't post those notes either.  I need to study it out and see what God will do through it.

I'm so thankful to Perry Noble and the NewSpring staff and volunteers for this incredible day.  I was so proud to have our staff there.  I know that this day will affect the life of Transformation House.

He is the God of the Miraculous

Yesterday morning, during my prayer time, I was captivated by God's miraculous nature.  I was preparing for my day and anticipating having lunch with Pastor Chris and a friend who has been a tremendous blessing to Transformation House over the past 9 months.  At the same time, I didn't want this to just be another ho-hum day.  In my prayer I began to rehearse miracles from Biblical times:  blind eyes that were opened, lame people who were healed, children who were raised from the dead, the day the sun stood still. 

"God, if you did all those things, You are certainly capable of opening doors for me today and leading me to divine appointments with the right people, at the right time."

This phrase came to my mind, "He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think according to the power that works within us."

Lunch on Main Street, Greenville

Well, I met Pastor Chris and our friend for lunch.  We shared our hopes and vision for future ministry opportunities in downtown Greenville.  Our friend said, "There's somebody you need to meet."  He picked up his phone and made a call then asked if we wanted to ride a few blocks to meet this guy.  Of course we did!

I won't go into the details here, but before the afternoon was over, we had met three different people who are investing blood, sweat, tears, and dollars in ministry to people in downtown Greenville.  Each one of these men were encouraging and offered their support as we take our next leap of faith.  Chris and I spent the entire afternoon downtown.  We now have four different buildings that are possible locations for Transformation House.  And that's just the beginning!

Our families went to RWOC for the evening service.  One of the first songs we sang was He's Able by Deitrick Haddon.  Then, Pastor Steven Ward got up and told us that we need to keep knocking until God opens the door but that we shouldn't expect Him to open a door if we aren't knocking. 

After worship, Pastor Ben Miller preached a GREAT word on dealing with frustrations.  I won't describe his message here because I believe every word was straight from God's heart to mine.  But, he ended by reading Ephesians 3:20 - you know, the verse that says God is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

At Transformation House, we are believing for great things.  While we're believing, we're working as if it depends on us, knocking and expecting the door to open, asking knowing He will answer, bleeding because it's a cause worth dying for, praying because we know it depends on God alone, giving because if it's worth having, someone else needs it too, and living like King's kids.

Wouldn't you like to be a Transformer too?

Steering through Chaos

I have always been fascinated by the intricate details that you can find by reading a map or an encyclopedia. Even as a child, I would pull maps from the glove box to follow a vacation route or sit for hours on a rainy day with the SA-ST volume of the encyclopedia. Now, the age of digital information has me hooked. This may be part of the reason I was originally drawn to Steering through Chaos, a new book by Scott Wilson. After all, the cover pictures a paper map and a GPS!

Based on the subtitle, Mapping a Clear Direction for your Church in the Midst of Transition and Change, I expected to find information that I would shelve until sometime later. I am currently in the initial stages of planting a church, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t the kind of transition he was talking about. However, the stated purpose is this: “We’re addressing God-sized visions, kingdom purposes, and major transitions that shape the future and effectiveness of our churches.” While the book is primarily addressed to leaders of growing churches, I also found that there is so much in these pages that I need right now. I believe I can be a more effective church planter by addressing these issues in the beginning stages.  Rather than steering clear of chaos, I've learned that chaos can be a good thing.

I like to take notes as I read a new book, and I found myself wanting to write everything I read. I ended up with notes from about every page. Here are just a few of my scribbles:

p. 22 Change required hard decisions that would create tremendous pain.

p. 25 The effectiveness of the church’s ministry depends on an accurate analysis of the community.

p. 31 Leading transitions isn’t about changing the direction of the church or changing the staff. It’s about God changing me as a leader.

p. 50 Get solid leadership in place, then be ready for something new.

p. 52 Vision isn’t something I determine, it’s something I discover.

p. 69 Vision atrophies in people’s hearts.

p. 71 Vision is rock solid; strategy is flexible.

I could go on and on. There are lists, questions, examples, stories and so much that I have now included in my planning for Transformation House.

Besides being a map that I can easily follow, Scott, who pastors The Oaks in Dallas, also created a small encyclopedia of church growth. I’ve tried to figure out what he omitted, but I’m pretty sure everything is included. I expected topics such as Vision, Values and Goals, but I’ve never picked up a book that included those while also challenging me in areas of prayer, accountability, story-telling, honesty and multi-tasking. This book does just that – and more.

I would encourage ministry leaders to add this book from Zondervan to their libraries. I bet you’ll find it helpful too.