Excitement
Today is the beginning of The Crossing Internship Program and I am beside myself with excitement. Not only is discipleship my passion, the overall impact this program will have on The Crossing is huge.
I thought before I get going with the ins and outs of the internship today I’d jot down just a few specific things that I’m excited about. Thoughts to reflect back on at the end of this year’s program.
1. Personal Growth – I am so excited to see this group of interns grow personally, spiritually, professionally, etc. I believe a great deal of growth is going to take place and It will be so much fun to watch.
2. Momentum – The momentum that will be gained by having this group of interns will be huge. We will be able to establish a presence on 4 different college campuses, connect more effectively and regularly with people, improve the overall quality of the ministry, etc.
3. Ministry Growth – We will be able to reach more people, plain and simple.
4. Discipleship – To be able to have a group of people to regularly pour into is going to be a blast for me. This is what I love to do!
5. Ownership – I am excited to provide a group of passionate people, some ownership over the ministry that they are a part of.
This is going to be a fun ride.
…The ride begins in 60 minutes!
Posted on August 19th, 2009 by David | No Comments »
An "Authentic" Sacred Moment
I love days like yesterday where I get to be involved in sacred moments. Things like baptisms, baby dedications, etc. Yesterday I actually got to be a part of both, two memorable and sacred moments. The funny things is, my favorite moment, the most sacred moment to me, took place behind stage before the doors to the baptismal were even opened.
As we got ready for the baptism, I stood in the tank with Sandi our baptism candidate listening to the worship music. At some point all four of us back stage, our baptism host, the photographer, myself and Sandi were all singing.
Worshipping.
Sandi with both hands raised high and tears flowing down her cheeks, our photographer doing likewise the host team member singing and keeping time with bouncing knees.
Surrender took place in that baptismal. It was an offering. Something sacred and “authentic.” We use that word “authentic” a lot in the church and I sometimes wonder if it’s lost its meaning. But in that sacred moment, back stage, hidden from the hundreds of people worshiping out front, an authentic moment of surrender took place, and it was beautiful.
Posted on August 17th, 2009 by David | 1 Comment »
Hands & Feet : Thoughts on Sharing and Experiencing Him
A good friend of mine started a blog a couple years ago called, “hands & feet: thoughts on sharing and experiencing Him” and it is exactly what it sounds like; a blog devoted to thoughts and reflections on living a life for Christ.
Last weekend was my friend’s birthday and I had the opportunity to celebrate with him. We had great food at a this beautiful studio in Bellingham and my friend got some great gifts.
I gave some C.S. Lewis books and a journal, someone else gave an ipod touch, he got some first editions of a couple of Lewis’ works (He’s a big Lewis fan), but the most incredible gift was saved for last.
In a medium sized square box wrapped in light blue paper and embellished with a ribbon bow, were ten hardback and ten paperback copies of a book.
His book.
hands & feet : thoughts on sharing and experiencing Him by R.J. Pemberton
One of his friends had taken some layouts of the blog and had it compiled into book form.
From my perspective standing across the courtyard watching a close friend open his first book, it was a historic moment.
I couldn’t help but imagine what it was like the first time C.S. Lewis held a copy of The Pilgrim’s Regress. How incredible that must have felt flipping through page after word filled page.
Perhaps some day R.J. Pemberton and D.N. Miles will discuss life and God the same way Lewis and Tolkien did.
Or share stories and essays like Hawthorne and Melville, Emerson and Thoreau.
It’s fun to think about where God might lead him… as well as to know that I was given a first edition, hands & feet by the great R.J. Pemberton.
Posted on August 14th, 2009 by David | 1 Comment »
1 Pastor, 6 Interns And A Whole Lot of Excitement
About a year ago, I was given the privilege to launch a young adult ministry – The Crossing. This was a pretty big step for us (New Life Church) because we had never had a full time young adult ministry and the though of adding this sort of ministry was not something that happened without a great deal of dialogue and thought.
Looking back a year later I am incredibly happy with what we have accomplished.
- 70-80 college students and young professionals engaged regularly in ministry
- 5 small groups
- Small groups that go out and serve the community together
- Regular events and service projects
- An incredible group of leaders
- multiple services each month
- etc. etc. etc.
It’s been a great year!
But this coming fall is a whole new ball game. Here’s why…
- at least 6 interns
- weekly services
- regular presence on 4 college campuses
- increasing from 5 small groups to 7 or 8
- Bringing in incredible guest speakers
- the possibility of a weekly leadership class
- new branding
- the establishment of The Crossing as a community ministry, by partnering with other churches/young adult ministries
So while we have a great thing going, We’re kicking things up about 10 notches this fall. Oh it’s going to be a fun ride!
Posted on August 14th, 2009 by David | No Comments »
"The Michael Phelps of student ministry "
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY]
VERY funny stuff.
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by David | 3 Comments »
Plant Seeds, Grow Roots, Bear Fruit
At New Life we are in the process of evaluating our mission statement, strategy statement and core values. It’s a healthy process and one that all organizations need to do every so often if they are going to maintain their effectiveness.
A church is no different.
Yesterday I jumped in the car with Troy Jones our senior pastor as he was running an errand just to get his ear and to share my thoughts on our key statements and values and to cast a little vision for The Crossing (the ministry I over see). One of the things we talked about was our use of a house metaphor to convey the different types of environments we have for “Leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Front Door – Those environments that are a safe and easy first step for someone wanting to check out New Life or get involved.
Living Room – Environments designed to begin interaction, connection and teaching
Kitchen – Environments where relationships are really formed and more in depth sharing and studying takes place.
While this has been a great model, it lacks an “outwardly” focused environment and that’s where the rethinking begins.
As part of our conversation we talked about something very common place here in the Northwest, trees. We discussed how the church is very much like a tree or a fruit bearing plant, in that you initially plant a seed, it begins to grow roots and establish itself before bearing wonderful fruit, which in return will start the cycle all over again.
This metaphor is very representative of how we want New Life to function and is very commonly used in the Bible. We want to plant spiritual seeds, nurture them so that they begin to grow roots and spiritual maturity and in the end, bear great relational and spiritual fruit that will begin the cycle all over again.
This is a much more complete metaphor and one that if adopted will help keep us focused on producing good spiritual fruit. Fruit that should lead to the planting of more seeds that will result in more deeply rooted, fruit bearing followers of Christ.
…It’s the spiritual circle of life.
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by David | 3 Comments »
It's Time To Re-Up
Well it’s been a struggle to maintain, web pages and twitter accounts, facebook pages and blogs so in the end I had to make a choice of what to shelf and it ended up being 24/7 Life. However over the last week or so I’ve really felt compelled to pick it back up again.
Has anything changed in terms of what I have manage on the interweb, no. But, I feel like I have a lot to say and a great deal of inspiration so lets give the ol’girl a go. Perhaps I can rekindle the passion for blogging that I had last year.
I say this all to segue into a series of new post.
So…let’s begin.
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by David | No Comments »
