America's Idol Week 4

Student's Reflection

Last night by far was the most moving and powerful service we have ever experienced at AMP*D.  I seriously sit here today typing this blog still speechless at how God moved last night.  I am at a loss complete loss in trying to put into words what we experienced last night, the real life change and awakening that happened last night.  With that being said, I thought I would share with you an e-mail I received from a student last night in response to what God did and is doing in his life...

"Tonight really did it for me. I had been on hold for a long time with my faith because of my problems with my mom not having a job, my family about to lose our house, school work, the stress of living at home in a non christian environment, my friends problems/sufferings, and so much more...I just cannot express just how much tonight thawed away all the ice and coldness from life. For the first time though, I can honestly say now that I can feel my heart. That is how I know that tonight was intimate and I thoroughly enjoyed how quiet it was. All I can say as far as this wednesday night is that it was awesome and it really spoke into my life ten fold."

America's Idol Week 3

America's Idol 1-21-09 from Barefoot Church on Vimeo.

Connection=Construction

Nehemiah 2:17-18 (New Living Translation)

17 But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!” 18 Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me, and about my conversation with the king.
They replied at once, “Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!” So they began the good work.

Nehemiah connected with the heartsof his volunteers before asking them to sacrifice their time and energy. He appealed to their sense of identity and responsiblity. The wall went up in record time because he won the hearts of the builders prior to winning the hands of the builders. As leaders, where is our focus when it comes to our volunteers? Are we only concerned about the work of the hands or passionate about God moving in the hearts of the people we serve with? I am convinced that when people's hearts are won, when peopel fully understand and are sold on the vision, you have an unstoppable force and great movement to build the kingdom of God. My prayer is that we would not miss the opportunity and essentials moment to share vision with our people, for this very thing will serve as a catalyst for greater things!

Ownership of Results, Not Tasks

Do YOU own the vision of your ministry? This has been something I have giving a lot of thought too as it relates to our students. I envision the day where the students and volunteers in my ministry take ownership of this ministry much like their first car....they invest in it and take care of it while utilizing it as a means of taking them somewhere.

Team members own the outcomes of their organization, the actual results not just the description of their job or place in the organization. When members of the team see something that needs to be done in order to accomplish thier team goals, they do it, whether it is their job or not. A good team takes pride in the results of their unit as well as their personal contributions. They look for ways to support one another, to fill in the cracks, to do whatever is needed to achieve the results the team is seeking. A good team always keeps the larger picture in view and measures its success by results.

A challenge to everyone....leadership in times of change, which is something we have seen and will continue to see here at Barefoot, is going to require us to focus on results rather than tasks or strategies. It is so easy for us to lock into the way we do things, the tasks or strategies, as though the strategy is the mission. If not careful, we can lose sight....we must focus on a vision of results (students taking their first step towards Christ and their next steps with Christ) and be willing to change our strategies if necessary to fulfil the mission. Our vision must be written in stone but our plans written in the sand.

Power of Influence

We are in the middle of a series titled, America's Idol, and we are hanging out in the book of Jonah. As small as the book of Jonah, it is packed with some awesome application for our lives and it seems the more I read this book, God reveals even more application to me as a leader, one of the applications that continues to resonate inside of me is found in Jonah 3, where the king of Nineveh leads in the deliverance of Nineveh. When the news of Jonah's message of judgement reached the king, he immediately repented. He took of his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. He repented for his own sin. Then he used his INFLUENCE to bring about a city-wide revival. The king issued a decree that every citizen follow his lead. When God saw his response, He had compassion on the Ninevites and did not destroy them. This king, the leader, influenced the fate of an entire population, that was nearly 120,000 people. The king did this by providing some fundamentals that every person under our leadership needs...

1.) A clear model: He repented first, setting an example (vs. 6)...as leaders we should constantly be praying for clarity from God so we can clearly communicate the vision to those we are leading.

2.) A clear message: The king called his people to a specific action (vv. 7, 8)

3.) A clear motivation: He gave the people a reason for taking action (v. 9)

WHY?

In the spirit of our church's current series, WHY?, I thought I would take a moment today to tackle why we are moving forward in launching an internet campus as a church and even more personal, why launch an internet campus environment for students? Before going into all of that, I just have to say I love Craig Groeschel's "defense" for doing church outside of the box: "to reach people that no one else is reaching, you have to do things that no one else is doing." That is the very heartbeat of our church in this huge next step in opening up our new internet campus. As a student ministry we must add a generational element to this. How do you reach 20s and younger if their parents didn’t raise them in the church? How do you bring them back? Well, you go where they are–and they aren’t all hanging out in bars anymore. Nowadays, students are sitting at home browsing Myspace, playing WoW, or blogging. Our DNA as a church is to take what is familiar and spin it toward Christ–Jesus did it with parables, and we need to keep up the effort.

I have found my own blog and our website to be a real point of connection with people and I find the more effort I put into these mediums, the more people frequent these sites. The internet generation expects to be able to connect online with a church community as well as in real life. It would be a mistake to avoid the step of an internet campus simply because it really is like taking sail on unchartered waters. We should be at the forefront–not the tail end–of engaging culture.

Service Map

We are in the process of gearing up for our upcoming AMP*D service and with that comes a lot of planning, prayer and teamwork. We are becoming more intentional as a team to ensure our services flow and point to the big idea of the message, meaning that each element in our service points to the big idea of the series...from the music, to videos, to songs...we work to make sure the message, the big idea, is communicated clearly and that all of the elements point students to one direction so they can process and digest it once they leave. After time is spent on Thursdays planning for upcoming series and the next two weeks of a current series we place what we call "service elements" onto a "service map" which literally is the go to reference during our pre-AMP*D production run-thru and during AMP*D on Wednesday nights. I thought I would take a moment to share with you what our service maps look like and consist of. We currently produce these in Excel...click here to view a sample.

Lord Send the Rain

Last week's staff meeting here at Barefoot seriously was the most emotional, challenging, and inspiring meeting I have been a part of. God messed me up and pretty much everyone else in that room. What we are seeing here at Barefoot and what many of you are probably seeing is God doing something that is never easy for us to grasp...He is breaking us and stretching us in times of uncertainty and doubt. We are currently reading the 'Blessed Life' as a staff and are about to make it available to our entire church and if there is one underlying principle from that book that I can share with you, it's that God provides even when it doesn't make sense, but He calls us to TRUST and sometimes by trusting we go through the fire and have to experience the fire before God sends the rain that we long for.

We have seen more people in the past couple of days share theirs stories of how they have been brought from what they thought was the top, down to the valley, mostly in the area of finances...what's amazing is that these same people who are in the "valley" and experiencing fire are testifying that their walk with God has never been stronger and their families closer.

“…The god who answers by fire-he is God.”1 Kings 18:24

So, what do you do when you really need rain, but instead, God answers by fire?
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah declares to the people that God is going to show up and prove himself after 3 years of drought. And God does exactly that.But…When it hasn’t rained in over 3 years, and you hear that God is about to show up, wouldn’t you expect him to show up by sending rain?

I wonder how many of us are praying for God to send rain into an area of our lives, but it seems like He’s turning up the heat instead?-Praying for God’s provision…but the bank account continues to dip-Praying for God to grow your church…but another person got mad and just took their tithe and moved their membership elsewhere-Praying for God to heal your marriage…yet your husband seems to be getting colder and more resistant by the day.

It can be difficult to trust the intention of God when He’s forecasting more fire in your already scorched situation.Remember:God eventually did send the rain that Israel so desperately needed. But first He had to reveal His glory and authenticate His sovereignty by fire.

God often answers by fire before He sends the rain.The fire incinerates our altars of idolatry, and burns away all of the false securities that we tend to trust in.That way, when the sky finally opens, and the rain starts to pour, there’s no doubt: He is God.

Excited About This

It's Friday and I thought I would take a few moments to share some things that really have me excited and eagerly anticipating...

1.) I am leaving today for a 3 day vacation to Disney World and Universal with my beautiful wife, my dad and little sister. This will be the first vacation we have taken a vacation with my dad and sister, and I can hardly wait.

2.) Saturday night experience at Barefoot. Seriously, get your friends, co-workers, and family members to Barefoot this weekend. We are kicking off our BRAND NEW Saturday night worship experience this weekend at 6PM. It will be fresh and loaded with energy! Come Saturday and sleep in on Sunday!

3.)Our new interns serving in student ministry. We have two college students that are just making it happen, they are doing an awesome job and I just praise God for sending us 2 AWESOME interns, it is seriously a blessing to have them on our team and also, my wife is serving on our team as well...pray for her as she moves into serving as my assistant, she is doing a phenomenal job!

4.)Winter Xscape throws down next weekend! It's hard to believe it, but we are heading to the mountains next weekend with 70 leaders and students for an awesome weekend of skiing, boarding, and worship. Totally looking forward to having Steve Fee and Stuart Hall leading us in our worship experiences!

5.)Over the next couple of months, we are rolling out with some of the most real, intense, and uncomfortable series we have ever experienced here at AMP*D. I seriously can't wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of our students over the next couple of weeks as His Word comes to life! Right now we are planned out through May with our series, and all I can say is HOLD ON!!!

6.)Over the holiday break we solidified our new volunteer process and I am excited to see new volunteers serving in our ministry and the energy our volunteers have toward bringing new people on our team. I feel really good about what our team has come up with in the area of new volunteers!

7.)One last thing, our new campus! Final prep work is being done to prepare for our official launch of our internet campus here at Barefoot. New lighting, new sound, studio is almost finished, and we are in the planning stages of integrating student ministry on this campus like we have never done before! Stay tuned to this blog for more info as we prepare to open our brand new campus! It's gonna be next level!

Infinitely More

Ephesians 1:19-20“I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” (NLT)

Ephesians 3:20-21“Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.” (NLT)

Potential. A word that I hear very often now in our church's leadership circle. Webster defines potential as, existing in possibility : capable of development into actuality. Am I as a leader pursuing and living out my God given potential? The same power that Paul talked about in Ephesians, the same power that raised a dead man back to life, is for me. God is working in me and wants to accomplish infinitely more than I can ever hope for or imagine. Not so people will see how great I am, but so that Jesus will be glorified through me and people’s eyes will be directed toward him because of it.

This challenges me in my approach to ministry. Too often I place unfounded limits on what my service in student ministry can accomplish for Christ. Common excuses relate to a lack of funding for different ideas, not enough man-power to execute the plan, or how uncomfortable/offensive it might feel for me or others involved. However, I think the biggest reason I don’t dream outside all boundaries is because I really don’t believe my dreams will actually fly. They’re too big, outside the limits of my resources. And if I try anyway, I’m afraid they might fail and erode my credibility. I’m afraid of the criticism that will come as a result. Plus, it’s just so much more comfortable to work within the human boundaries I set for myself. I like to talk a lot about vision and passion and I highly respect those who dream and run with their calling in life, but for too long I’ve been too timid to do likewise. I’m really my own enemy. I have potential to do great things through Christ and for Christ and so do you. The question is are you using it? Don't be afraid.

I pray God gives me vision, passion and an unstoppable drive to “accomplish infinitely more than I could ever dare to ask or hope” so that he might be glorified through me.