The Study Corner    

Mark reports on one of the distinctions Tim Elmore talked about during a Catalyt lab session.

He talked about two kinds of change: programatic change and organic change.

Programatic Change is change from the outside-in. It is behavior modification. It is artificial and typically short-lived.

Organic change is change from the inside-out. You have to wait longer, but it is reproducing so it has a much greater effect over the long-term.

What does this mean for our Christian walks? For our church leadeship, programming, and preaching? Are we moving people simply towards modifing their behaviour or to change from the inside-out?

One of the many conferences I wanted to attend this year was Catalyst. Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, is one of the speakers I wanted to see. Out of Ur has some thoughts on the “lab” McKinley led at Catalyst…

“As pastors, we are tempted to build the church,” [McKinley] said. “So we send out postcards to targeted Zip codes and we promote church programs.” But that misses the point, he argued. “Our job isn’t to build the church. We’re supposed to BE the church, and build the kingdom.” He emphasized that the kingdom is to be experienced NOW, on earth, as Christians exemplify godly living, but he also pointed out, as the recent school shootings demonstrate, that the kingdom is also “not yet.” God’s kingdom won’t be realized in its fullness as long as such sin characterizes our world.

[...]

“The best expression of the church is NOT what happens on Sunday morning. It’s what happens in the world during the week. And that’s not something you can market.”

His most provocative statements focused on the Christian’s calling to love their neighbors, even if those neighbors don’t respond to Christ or clean up their act. He told of his church’s messy efforts to love those with addictions, mental illnesses, and other conditions that aren’t easily cleaned up.

“We’re not called to change people’s behavior; we’re called to love them whether they change or not. It’s up to God to change them.”

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson

Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn’t chase. You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued. Stopping running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture: Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it (II Samuel 23:20-21). Unleash the lion chaser within!

This book is an excellent read so far. I have had the honor of being allowed to read the first chapter before the book came out for public purchase today. It was an excellent appetizer for the main course of the book which I am sure is going to be a must read for anyone at any point in their walk. Chapter 1 is entitled Locking Eyes with Your Lion. Mark uses excellent imagery and well thought out word craft to draw you into the story of Benaiah with wonderful success. I highly encourage anyone looking for a challenging read to go pickup this book as soon as you can. It will be worth every moment of your time. Author Bio Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church (www.theaterchurch.com) in Washington, DC, and is a daily blogger @ www.evotional.com. Mark lives on Capitol Hill with his wife Lora and their three children.

Over at The Zone Gathering (a part of the NCC Online Community) they have a nice weekly piece call the Thursday Leadership Lesson. They are always encouraging and edifying.

This is a part of one of their most recent pieces.

Thursday Leadership Lesson: Developing an Attitude of Service

We are launching into our new series on service, and we begin today at the very beginning– developing an attitude of service in our own lives as leaders. Here is the bottom line: we need to view service as a lifestyle, not a project. If you are like me, there is a tendency to view “service” as an activity to schedule on the small group calendar. And we will definitely talk about service projects and how to bring those into the rhythm of your group life. But real service must take root in the attitude and life of the leader to make any real and lasting impact. We’ve got to throw out our ideas of what we think leadership is and follow Jesus’ example of leadership. We’ve got to obey the most fundamental command of all Christ-followers: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.” That’s what it means to “Be One.”

… Head on over to The Zone Gathering for the rest of this very good lesson!

This is a post from Mark Batterson‘s blog at Evotional.com from his presentation at the MinistryCOM.

At the end of my session at Ministrycom I shared a top ten list.

Here is it in edited form.

Top Ten Ways to Redeem Technology

1) Start blogging
2) Start podcasting your sermons
3) Communicate with your congregation via e-newsletter
4) Redesign your webpage all the time
5) Shoot, Edit, and Produce video trailers for your sermon series
6) Launch a leaders-only podcast for vision casting and leader training
7) Send out an email version of your messages
Do word of mouse marketing via evites
9) Brand all of your sermon series with series graphics
10) If all else fails, hire a Digital Pastor