Paradigms the Church Must Embrace (Intro)

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to spend some time with my good friend Doug Cowburn. We were in Virginia Beach, VA attending a required workshop for our Life-Coach certification. One evening we were just dreaming and talking about the future and the church. Several things just flowed out as we stayed up past midnight. (Since turning 40 I don’t stay up past midnight much, so this was a big deal).

Apparently I started getting a little passionate about some issues regarding the future of the church. Doug challenged me to write some of them down and begin to blog about them. I appreciated the push. So here we go…

I passionately believe the local church needs to consider how it will change. If the local church is going to be effective in the future then things cannot stay the same. I totally support church planting but I am also beating the drum for church revitalization. I have the faith to believe that dying churches can be revitalized and experience a resurrection. Over my next several blogs I want to discuss some paradigms I think the local church must embrace if it desires to be effective in the future. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but these are issues I am passionate about.

They are: 

1. Simplicity – The move from programs to choices

2. Reflection – The move from activity to depth

3. Transformational Conversations – The move from white noise to clarity

4. Powerful Questions – The move from neutral to intention

In my next few blogs we will go deeper with each topic one at a time.

How about you? What are some things you think the local church must embrace as we head into the future?

Here Am I! Send Me.

This past Sunday I had the privilege of Speaking at SpringWell. I spoke from Isaiah 6:1-8 and compared how Uzziah and Isaiah were different based on the way they responded to God.

Check out the podcast.

I’d love to receive your feedback.

The Writers Strike Needs to End…Now!

OK…this is my opportunity to reflect on my frustration with the writer’s strike currently taking place among the television studios. At first, I just ignored all the news stories. My thinking was, “this really doesn’t impact my life at that much.” I wasn’t engaged with the issues and to be honest…I really didn’t care.

But over the weekend I heard the strike was impacting the return of 24 in January. Now I am engaged. It has been reported that 24 will be “postponed” until January 2009. My first thought was…NO!! This can’t be happening. Once I saw the trailer and that Tony was back, I was in full 24 readiness.

I am now supporting the writers and the demands they are making. The studios need to respond and end this strike quickly. I don’t even care about all the issues being negotiated. I just care about 24 returning in January. J

By the way….check out this personality quiz and discover which 24 character you are most like.

I will tell you who I was….if you tell me who you were.