Tips for a great sermon misses mark
There’s a good post over at churchrelevance.com about making a great presentation. Unfortunately, author Chris Brooks writes about tips for a great sermon. Nowhere in the post is the importance and primacy of scripture mentioned. Perhaps it’s just assumed. it shouldn’t be.
We have too many folks these days spouting off at the mouth and calling that preaching. Preaching should begin with God’s Word and end with God’s heart.
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A review of “The Prestige” (rated 5 stars)
by Christopher Nolan
Mark told me in a comment on my review of The Illusionist that if I enjoyed it, I would love The Prestige. He was right. It’s a must see. A little pat on the back for myself… After watching this movie, I was able to make my DVD remote disappear for a full 30 minutes, prompting a late-night couch sweep. After giving up, it reappeared magically in my shoe that I had taken off during the movie. Very cool.
Let me know what powers you get after watching the movie. I think I’m going to go watch Smallville next. The whole flying thing is appealing…
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Time says the Bible should be taught in schools…
What think ye of last week’s (April 2, 2007) cover story in Time magazine that encourages the Bible to be taught in schools? Here is another good article about the shock of the Christian community to a positive report from the magazine that once ran a cover headline of “God is Dead.” On top of that, here’s a good article in the April 9, 2007 edition about how pastors’ wives are finding fellowship and encouragement from one another in online community.
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Cartoon for Mac switchers
Love this cartoon for Mac switchers! Thanks, Jason!
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Soda geyser tube
I am such a sucker for stuff like this. I agree with Tim. I just gotta have one of these…
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A review of “Creating Community” (rated 4 stars)
Creating Community: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture
by Andy Stanley
An intensely practical book for those who understand that smaller is better for life change and transformation in ministry.
Stanley and Willits are staffers at North Point Community Church in Atlanta. From the beginning, they desired that the church focus around life transformation by intentionally creating a small groups structure.
They ask three questions that help direct their focus. The questions, I think, are essential to keep one’s ministry focused and help it stay in ministry mindset rather than degenerating to a maintenance mindset:
- What do we want people to become?
- What do we want people to do?
- Where do we want people to go?
The answer to the first, he says is that people need to be a growing disciple of Jesus Christ. The second question is answered in three parts:
• Disciples should pursue intimacy with God.
• Disciples should pursue community with insiders.
• Disciples should pursue influence with outsiders.
They also encourage a church to find their “word.†What one word or idea summarizes your church or ministry? It’s important to be known for something. Before you give the Sunday School answer, and say that you want your “word†to be “Jesus,†consider that many people don’t want to know Jesus at the outset. Northpoint picked the word “relational.â€
Northpoint is strategically focused around creating community. They give several reasons and advantages for small groups in their book:
• Groups support their evangelistic strategy of “invest and invite.†They say many irreligious people often want to belong before they believe and groups enable them to process the claims of Christ in a nonthreatening environment with friends.
• Groups decentralize church leadership and care. Groups place pastoral care in the hands of laypeople instead of requiring a professional staff to service an entire congregation.
• Groups enable more people to serve.
• Groups help develop authentic community.
• Groups offer maximum flexibility.
• Groups allow a church to be better stewards. They make the point that small groups enable a church to focus resources on people rather than buildings. By not having to build to accommodate Sunday School or Christian education, money is freed up for ministry and trained personnel.
• Groups remove the primary limits to growth.
One of the interesting findings about North Point in this book was that they have closed groups. That means that once they begin their life cycle (usually 18-24 months), they generally aren’t looking for new people for their groups. Newcomers are assimilated into new groups rather than existing ones. That’s a little different than how we’re doing things at Journey, but it may be more of a necessity for us than a strategy.
Willets also says that they work hard to strategically move people from Point A to Point B spiritually. They use the visual analogy of foyer-living room-kitchen to communicate the progressive steps of community they try to lead people toward. Your foyer is for formal introductions and welcome. Your living room is an environment for visiting and entertaining; however, your kitchen is where intimate conversation and talk often takes place. In fact, it’s around the table that many deep friendships are begun or cultivated.
Willets also says that training is essential for a small groups system, and they have poured the proper resources into this area. They put qualified, visionary personnel over their groups process as well as having small groups leaders go through an application process. He stresses that your small groups ministry must be “real.†It must work in the real world. I can vouch for this, in that we’ve tried many things at Journey that sounded good in conversation but didn’t work out in real life. Your system must fit people’s lives.
As they train their leaders, they focus on six things. (Go read the book.) and continually train their leaders in these six areas. Stressing that less is more, they practice this in their training as well. It’s not important to fill a leader’s notebook with pages of guidelines but to realistically develop their leaders in essential areas.
Finally, they mention the importance of being a small groups ministry, rather than just saying you have a small groups ministry. They do this by financially investing in personnel, training, and childcare. I was very intrigued, especially for the implications for our own church, that they apparently reimburse parents for childcare costs while they are attending small groups. They have a reimbursement form and payment chart even. Interesting.
All in all, it was a fast read for me. Not revolutionary, but supplementary. I can highly recommend it.
See more about Creating Community: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture
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Sanjayah lives!
I laughed rather heartily last night as my wife gasped in dismay when she discovered that Sanjayah had made it through another week on American Idol. She has rebuked me thoroughly for my earlier post and told friends, “Jeff is ruining American Idol.” My little blog can’t do much damage, I don’t think, but that hasn’t prevented me from reveling in the fact that an obvious no-talent (but with amazing hair gymnastic ability) has made it so far in AI. Even Simon said last night, “It’s obvious that America doesn’t care what we think.”
I helped Carolyn clean/clutter the house today for a yard sale tomorrow and Saturday (come spend money! Oh, and Jason, I’ll link to your shameless yard sale post as well!). I stepped over the Amazing-Ever-Growing-Pile-of-Junk-and-Treasure accumulating in the hallway and tried to file an old receipt in our filing system. I discovered the following there:
I’m considering an intervention at the house. If you know of a good obsessive-compulsive disorder counselor, please let me know… ;)
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Wii may be wiinning
Now I’m not quite ready to run out and purchase a Wii, obviously. My trusty Xbox still give Sam and I hours of fun and entertainment. However, with the release of two new gaming systems over the holidays, I’ve been following them to see what may become the “must-have” system of the future. Many thought it would be the PS3; others said the Xbox 360, which was released during the holiday season 2005 would stay on top. However, it’s price seems to be it’s detriment so far. Normal gamers like myself aren’t ready for Blu-Ray and having to upgrade their TVs to HD just yet, and the $250 tag of the Wii seems to have pulled quite a few back to Nintendo’s side. In addition, the innovative game play, using the interactive nunchuk controller may also be winning of many non-gamers, as gaming becomes more of a fun, interactive experience for everyone. (Or is it that folks just enjoy laughing at the gyrations of a gamer on a Wii?)
Whatever your conclusion, there’s a great analysis over at the compete.com blog you’ve gotta check out that includes this image:
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A review of “She Calls Me Daddy” (rated 3 stars)
by Robert Wolgemuth
This was a nice book. The author is humorous, which I really appreciate, and his suggestions for being a father to your daughter not only are challenging, but they’re also deeply practical.
You can’t go wrong, if you have a daughter. Put at least some thought and time into how you can be a more effective dad.
See more about She Calls Me Daddy
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About
Notes from the Trail
The Personal Blog of Jeff Noble
Info: From the misty hills of Virginia, "Notes from the Trail" seeks to encourage you on your journey. Written by a graphic designer-pastor, this blog is a blend of humor, insight, and faith discovery.
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RT @TheFactsBook: The ancient Greeks believed that redheads would turn into vampires after they died. Eeek. Be nice to @libby_bish. [journeyguy]
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I just became the mayor of Blacksburg Middle School on @foursquare! http://t.co/EDjfDQ81 [journeyguy]
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Cool. http://t.co/3kqbSwYa [journeyguy]
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RT @jackieflake: @vthoneybee, Melissa u lived as Christ, your death is gain. God thank u for sharing our sister w/us. Living well yields ... [journeyguy]
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Praying for the@bcmvt and Cheliras families upon learning of Melissa's death from cancer today. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 [journeyguy]
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