Wow!!

This is great.

I know people will debate it ad infinitum but I can see Jesus doing this. Oh wait! He pretty much did do this in Mark 2! Let's not even talk about 2!

If the link doesn't work go to vinceantonucci.com and read the post 'More from the Bar'.

Monday Mind Dump

Cool Quote..."There's nothing like a trail of blood to help you find your way back home." ~ Nikki Sixx

Always amazes me...God always sends people to visit AFBC when we are involved in E.E.

Who would have guessed? I think people are actually enjoying the Sun AM messages on giving. I am enjoying preaching them.

Doulos Church. Cool name for a hip new church. I ought to trademark it in advance. Doulos means 'voluntary slave'. That's how Paul refers to himself in Romans and other places.

Chris Daughtry's song, 'Crashed' makes me remember my encounter with the power of the Gospel 20 years ago. "I didn't know I was going down...then I crashed into You (Jesus = my interpretation)...like a runaway train, Your Will consumes me, I can't walk away."

I love common grace. C.G. is where God exhibits Himself through the everyday 'non-religious' experiences. Romans 1 refers to this in relation to nature. In the absence of C.G. you only have a caricature, a shadow of the God of the Bible.

Vision

As a leader I find myself in a position to constantly think from a position of vision. What do I want to lead? How do I feel I should lead? Where am I trying to go? How will we get there? What will it look like when we arrive?

There are some quotes that float around the edges of my thinking on leadership.

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell. I wish to run a rescue mission a yard from Hell." CT Studd. That sounds cavalier, but it feels right.

I really like in Acts 11 where the new to town, founders of the Antioch church in essence said,
"I don't know if these Greeks can be saved, but let's take Jesus to them and see."

I did have one pastor friend quote a pastor he spoke to as defining ministry as "seeing that people keep coming to church." ~ If the context is winning = keeping everyone here 'here' I wouldn't sign off on that.

What should be the vision of church?

Homelessness = Driving Force for Ministry

One of the great pleasures in ministry for me right now is my attempts to reach out to the homeless/inner city around 5th street in Covington.

Each week I spend about 3-5 hours hanging out at the Covington Library where the homeless, addicted and jobless often congregate. The thing that makes this attempt @ ministry different is you have to earn your way into their world. These people are often socially backward and distrusting.

So, I go where they go, dress as they dress, no matter how hungry I may get I don't eat because they don't eat and try to meet them as they are where they are. So far it's been like fishing. There's a lot of waiting and watching.

How does this translate into a driving force for ministry? I believe you have to know your culture and enter your culture to truly earn the opportunity to minister. With the inner city people you watch people eat out of garbage cans, talk to themselves and listen to language that you won't hear during Sunday School. You end up shaking hands with men who have ground in dirt in every pore on their body or talking to guys who are getting publicly intoxicated. You don't approve of the sin. You don't participate in the sin. You just can't get to the sinner unless you get around his sin.

Much of modern day culture is unable to be approved by Christians. Nevertheless, just as you cannot remove the offense of the Cross as a part of the Gospel, you can't remove the messiness of dealing with sinners when trying to reach them with the Gospel. The idea that we can dart out of 'Camp Christian' quickly do something for Jesus and dart right back in behind the walls and moats of the Christian castle is both illogical and unbiblical.

We get one life to do something exciting and daring for the Gospel. The challenge must be taken up.

Jesus, "Be in the world (culture) but not of the world (don't let the sin of the culture overcome you.)"

A Giving Party

The month of October is our Stewardship Month.

Typically, this sounds like an endurance event or watching Curling during the Olympic Games.

What we are shooting for is making it do-able and enjoyable. A part of setting the culture is relax and create an atmosphere of enjoyment. This Sun AM Sept 30th we got rolling. The offering was introduced by the Black Eye Peas, 'Let's Get It Started' and clapping.

No doubt it took people by surprise. But AFBC has a great attitude and they began to smile and relax.

Our goal is to introduce people to stretching in their giving by giving extra (or start giving) in October. We have set a goal at $3,000.00 for Oct 28th. This is HUGE for us.

On Oct 28th we'll have a big Breakfast Giving Party. We'll be celebrating in advance for God working through His people to meet this Giving Goal.

For any AFBC remembers that read this remember....Baby Steps!

Mark Driscoll hits it out of the park!!

Comeback Churches #4

As I re-work through Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer quote after quote leaps out worth reflecting upon.

Under the chapter 3 Faith Factors these quotes leaps off the page...

On the subject of evangelism:

"Most churches love their traditions more than they love the lost."

"Most Christians don't like people. We wish it were not so but it is."

On the subject of empowering the membership:

"I think we have to stand by people and give them the confidence to do things. We have to give them the power to do the work of the church, then we must stand back and cheer them on as they carry out their tasks."

On the issue of relevancy...

"Internationally known church consultant Lyle Schaller frequently asks the same question when beginning to consult with a church, 'What year is it?' Every church lives in some era. The issue is whether it aligns with the reality of the era where the Gospel needs proclaimed."

"We need to repent of any traditional idolatries."

The good thing concerning Stetzer is he is a successful church planter 3 times over. He knows what it's like to start a church, grow a church and pastor a church. So he is a practitioner not a theorist.