17 Sep Target the Young, Get the Old

One of the blogs I follow is TonyMorganLive.com. Tony Morgan is on staff with Newspring Church in South Carolina, one of the fastest-growing and innovative churches in the country (as was his previous church, Granger Community Church, which he was lured away from two years ago).

Morgan told about a couple in their 60s who found Christ at one of their satellite churches. The curious thing, he said, is that the service isn’t designed for people that age, but for much younger people–loud music, video teaching, coffeehouse atmosphere.

“Here’s what we’ve learned,” he wrote. “If we design our service experiences for a younger audience, we’re more likely to reach that younger person and we’ll also reach older folks. The reverse is not true. If we designed our service experience for an older audience, the younger crowd would not show up.”

There is a lot to talk about here, and most of us have talked about it plenty. How much to cater to the younger set, while seemingly ignoring older folks. The mix of hymns vs. contemporary songs. Etc.

But in the end, there are several inescapable and competing realities:

• In most churches, the people calling the shots are older folks (baby boomers, like me, tend to be in control nowadays).
• Young people aren’t necessarily thrilled with the shots they are calling.
• Older Christians need to say, “The church shouldn’t need to cater to me. I’ll let other people’s tastes and preferences take precedence over my own.”
• Most older Christians aren’t mature enough to say that.

Do you agree with Tony Morgan?

16 Sep Hurricanes and Best-Laid Plans

Cathy Reich, administrative assistant to Bishop Ron Ramsey, is scheduled to leave on a cruise this weekend. She and several other friends. Here’s the original plan:

• They fly into Houston.
• They leave from Galveston.

What’s the chance of that happening?

15 Sep A One-Flight Book

When I traveled with Scripture Press, I always took books with me, since I sold books. I tried to read all of the Victor Books, which Scripture Press published.

But I also took a Louis L’Mour book with me wherever I went. A good Louis L’Mour book averaged 250 pages, and I could finish it on a flight from Chicago to L.A. A one-flight book. Some people can do work on a plane, but I can’t.

I don’t read much fiction now. I like Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and Lillian Jackson Braun, who writes the “Cat Who” books about her Siamese cats.

What do you like to read? Any particular authors?

10 Sep Voting in the Church

When I talk to churches about the governance model, several questions typically come up. One involves voting. 

In many of our churches, 10-25% of the people are on the board, and you vote for people on those boards. The issue of American democracy and having a vote is vital to people– they want to have a say in who sits on the board. But as I talk to people, I look at them straight, and say, “Would you agree that your voting doesn’t necessarily put the best people in the best spots?” Their answer is generally “yes.”

Voting is not a biblical model for putting leaders into place. It’s an empowerment issue. Under the governance system, we encourage letting people nominate persons for various positions. But your leadership team makes appointments to put gifted people in proper places. This follows the Acts 6 model. Deacons were “nominated” by the people but appointed by the Apostles.

08 Sep Organize for Growth

You always need to organize yourself beyond what you are. If you’re a church of 200 and want to be a church of 500, you need to organize like a church of 500. Otherwise, you won’t get there. 

When I became pastor of Mainstreet Church in Walbridge, Ohio, we started at about 220, grew, and began adding staff. I took the staff to larger churches on little field trips. How does it look and feel? How do they structure themselves? We began to tinker. God blessed us and the church grew. 

Over half of our growth was new converts. You get people who don’t know anything, and it’s fun. You get a chance to infect them with the real disease. 

I covet that for you. Not that you get big; that doesn’t make any difference to me. What makes a difference is that you become effective in what God has called you to do. 

05 Sep Ride of a Lifetime

Donna Hollopeter is a big Nascar fan. Her son-in-law builds cars for Jeff Burton, #31.

A couple weeks ago, she took the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Daytona speedway in Florida. It’s something she’s always wanted to do.

• You put on a fireproof suit and helmet.
• You climb through the window of a modified Nascar vehicle.
• You get strapped in real tight (including a device to support your neck).
• The driver looks over and asks, “Are you ready?”
• You give him the thumbs up…and off you go.

About halfway around the track, the driver asked, “How are you doing?” Donna gave another thumbs up.

At which point he floored it, taking the car to 170 mph. Donna says she wasn’t aware of how fast they were going, just looking straight ahead. But then she looked at the wall, “which was pretty close,” and realized–yes, they were going fast.

After three laps, it was over. Then Donna’s husband, Jason, took his turn.

“It was totally awesome!” Donna says.

28 Aug Ruth Boggs, Mother of Titus Boggs

We learned that Ruth Boggs, the mother of Titus Boggs (director of Laurel Mission in Kentucky), passed away Tuesday, August 26. Ruth’s late husband, Alvin, grew up at Laurel Mission and later served on staff there. Titus’s address:

Titus J. Boggs
77 Cedar Chapel Road
Big Laurel, KY 40808-7611

28 Aug Back to School for Bridger Fetters

L-r: Pat Jones, Ron Ramsey, Bridger Fetters, Jeff Bleijerveld.

A pizza buffet seemed like a good way to say goodbye to Bridger Fetters, the summer intern for Global Ministries. So the entire Healthy Ministry Resources staff headed to Pizza Hut for lunch. Bridger returned to Huntington University this week; he’s a senior English major.

Bridger helped out in a number of ways:

• Contacting missionaries and doing other groundwork for next summer’s Global Ministries Homecoming (with as many of our missionaries as possible coming to the States at the same time).
• Preparations for the Mission Team Leader Training events.
• Various promotional materials.
• Organizing hundreds of Global Ministries photos.
• Designing Powerpoint presentations.

Bridger also participated in the China English Camp in July and August (as he did in 2007).

So we definitely got our money’s worth out of Bridger. It was great having him in the office, and we wish him well as he finishes his schooling. (Bridger is the oldest son of Luke and Audrey Fetters.)

27 Aug They Say

I don’t know how I got on the email list for Beyond Borders, but I received an email from them yesterday. The subject is something that we have a lot of problem with in the UB Church: gossip (I don’t think we are unique in that). I suggest that you read the little article by Carl Richardson called “They Say.”

26 Aug The Cluster System After Three Years

We adopted the cluster system at the 2005 National Conference. At that time, two competing philosophies were at work:

1. We need to do everything at the cluster level, including who leads the cluster and what they do. Don’t appoint cluster leaders. 
2. We want clear direction. Tell us what to do, and appoint our cluster leader.

We’ve tried letting clusters develop the way most helpful to them, with the basic focus of churches becoming outward focused and healthy. But some structure works better for many of our pastors. So I’m working on ways to have more structure, but great flexibility, basically telling them, “Here are some things we’d like you to consider, but you figure out how to do it.” 

Every group is unique. I sent out surveys to see if pastors felt their cluster was effective and helpful to them. I found that a majority of the pastors enjoy their cluster and enjoy getting together, with a few guys wanting more instruction and leadership development. We’ve had people change clusters, because they wanted a more intentional approach and a nearby cluster was doing that. For the most part the clusters are working.