Donald Miller at Hope – We’re Excited

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
6:30 PM in the Sanctuary | Free

Tim Keller Helps Pull the Log out of My Eye

I was flipping through channels today being my day off and I came across a preacher who was upset about something in the church.  I should have kept on flipping to ESPN, but I just had to see where he was going with the rant.  He was in the process of attacking churches who use entertainment and “worldly” methods to bring people into the church.  He did not call out any names, but it was clearly directed toward the Willow Creeks and Saddlebacks of the world.  Since I serve in one of those wicked churches, I felt a little attacked —- like I was part of a movement which did not care about God’s Word and only wanted to “tickle the ears” of the attenders.  To the preacher’s credit he did have a brief caveat that he was not saying all innovation was wrong — after all he was on TV and thought that Spurgeon would cringe at his use of the evil organ!!!

I eventually turned the channel saddened that this pastor felt like he had to take shots at churches that actually have the same Lord as the Head of their church.  But I also realized that I am guilty too of being critical of different philosophies of ministries.  I do this because I appreciate where I serve and have seen God work there in a huge way.  And if I am honest, I also can take shots to make myself look and feel better.  Pretty selfish.  Pretty wrong but we all do it just maybe not on a national televised program.

So, as I was removing the log out of my eye I read a blog post that put this all in perspective.  It was from Tim Keller and his reflections after speaking at Willow’s Leadership Summit.  Here is what he said:

This summer I spoke at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. It was an honor to be invited. No one pulls off a conference like Willow Creek. Who else could bring their content to 120,000 people?  And the three other talks or sessions that I saw were extremely high quality.

The time at Willow led me to reflect on how much criticism this church has taken over the years. On the one hand, my own ‘camp’ — the non-mainline Reformed world — has been critical of its pragmatism, its lack of emphasis on sound doctrine. On the other hand, the emerging and post-modern ministries and leaders have disdained Willow’s individualism, its program-centered, ‘corporate’ ethos.  These critiques, I think, are partly right, but when you are actually there you realize many of the most negative evaluations are caricatures.

John Frame’s ‘tri-perspectivalism’ helps me understand Willow. The Willow Creek style churches have a ‘kingly’ emphasis on leadership, strategic thinking, and wise administration. The danger there is that the mechanical obscures how organic and spontaneous church life can be. The Reformed churches have a ‘prophetic’ emphasis on preaching, teaching, and doctrine. The danger there is that we can have a naïve and unBiblical view that, if we just expound the Word faithfully, everything else in the church — leader development, community building, stewardship of resources, unified vision — will just happen by themselves. The emerging churches have a ‘priestly’ emphasis on community, liturgy and sacraments, service and justice. The danger there is to view ‘community’ as the magic bullet in the same way Reformed people view preaching.

By thinking in this way, it makes it possible for me to love and appreciate the best representatives of each of these contemporary evangelical ‘traditions.’ Nobody provides more practical help for organizing and leading ministry than Willow Creek.  I also am humbled that Redeemer is well-regarded in each of these ’streams’ of evangelicalism, though we have our feet firmly set in our own Reformed tradition.  That is quite unusual, and it makes it possible for us to both teach and learn across the spectrum of church life today.

Click here to see this post and to read some of the comments connected with it.

Donald Miller – “A Million Miles” Interview

I am a big Donald Miller fan.  His best-selling “Blue Like Jazz” is a classic, and I am really looking forward to his new book coming out soon — “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”.  Here is the first in a series of interview post from Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers.  What really excites me is that Miller is coming to Hope Church on Wednesday, November 4th as part of his “Million Miles” book tour.  Also, if you want to get a sneak peek of the first 30 pages of the book, click here.

First Time Visitors: Don’t Scare Them Away

This picture shows the lanyard worn by our Information Host volunteers.  As you can see, it has a simple message — “Ask Me About Hope”.  We have these Hosts around the halls of Hope and greeting people as they pass by.  They are easily recognized, without being overbearing, as someone a visitor could approach with a question.

We talk a lot about visitors at Hope and how to make their experience as positive as possible.  One goal we have is to not scare them away.  I found this list today that gives 15 reasons why people will not return a second time to your church.  See if you can relate or better yet, if your church can relate:

1. No welcome from the parking lot to the pews.
2. Finding the right door to sanctuary appeared difficult.
3. People in the pews held on to their “good seats.”
4. Too many “churchy insider words” like doxology and introit throughout the worship experience.
5. No safe, clean nursery for the babies and toddlers.
6. No sincere greeting extended by pastors or members.
7. No warmth or hospitality extended.
8. Missing joy and a spiritual atmosphere.
9. No sense of family in the church community.
10. Very limited reaching out to outsiders or strangers.
11. Very few ministries or activities for youth or children.
12. Public recognition of guests that left them feeling uncomfortable.
13. Appears to be no vision or purpose for the congregation.
14. On Sunday morning, members and ushers seem focused on “member only” conversations.
15. No one invited them back.

(For full post click here)

This list emphasizes again the importance of reaching out and making people feel welcome without making them feel more uncomfortable than they already feel as a visitor.  When people come to visit, their antennae are fully tuned and looking for what this church is all about and if this church seems to fit them.  When I walk around on the weekend, my antenna is also fully tuned into looking for people who might be new.  These are people who seem to be looking around and grabbing material off the tables or walking like they are just not sure where to go.  I do my best to welcome these folks and see if they need some direction.  I’m tempted to connect with the familiar faces I see, but I try to resist that and look for the new folks.

I thought it was interesting that none of these on the list relate to the worship service (except # 4) and especially the impact of the sermon.  I think that relating with the pastor and the sermon is huge.  In fact another survey, “The National Survey of Megachurch Attenders”, stated these factors as to why people attend and stay with a church (specifically a megachurch).

What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church’s reputation.

These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.

So, I think the whole package comes into play — from being a welcoming place to a solid worshipping place.

See also — A Wired to Serve post from the past. “Greeting Not Freaking”

See also — “Is Your Church Calling Visitors by the Wrong Name?” When talking about the culture of the church, this blog asks this great question:

“Is the purpose of your church to serve as a social club for its own members?  Or is it in existence to welcome, embrace, and assimilate any newcomer that walks in the door?”

Ministry Efficiency — Pick up the Pace

We are in the process of doing a lot of reevaluation around Hope along with the “excitement” of performance reviews.  It is a great time to learn and to use the evaluation process to grow personally and see my team grow.

Improvement comes with the challenge of looking at the way things are currently being done and looking for ways to be more effective and efficient.  Here is how one company is taking employee performance and accountability to another level — from the web site Ministry Best Practices:

“The president of Canon Electronics, Hisashi Sakamaki, is also the author of a book proposing the removal of all the chairs in the office and installing security so that an alarm goes off if you don’t walk fast enough. These are some of the same measures he takes with his own company. His theory is that forcing employees to stand not only saves money but increases productivity and enhances employee relationships. In the hallway, if an employee walks slower than 5 meters every 3.6 seconds, an alarm and flashing lights are set off, reminding the poor startled worker that he’s an inefficient waste of air. Even better (or worse), there’s a sign on the floor in said hallways that reads, “Let’s rush: If we don’t, the company and world will perish.” The big boss, as a reward for thinking up all this stuff, gets to lounge in a nice, relaxing chair.”

I pray our management team does not see this!!!!

Click here to see the rest of the Ministry Best Practices post.

Family Movie Night

We  hosted one of the locations for the Dave Ramsey “Town Hall for Hope” last week.  It was a great evening with some good encouragment.  One other thing that we are doing to try to help families out at this time is to offer free movie nights at Hope.  We already have over 2000 hot dogs ordered for the evening.  I do not know how many bodies will be here to eat those hot dogs but it looks like we are meeting a need.  Should be a blast!!!

The Nones are Rising

I met with a guy yesterday who over the years has rejected any type of religion.  He does seem like he has moved from a hard-core atheist to a semi-open agnostic.  He has been visiting Hope with his girlfriend and has found himself being moved.  He certainly has not embraced a concept of God, but he is open to the possibility. 

It appears that this type of nonbelief is rising across the nation and even here at the buckle of the “Bible Belt”.   Here are some highlights — or lowlights — of what the survey found:

• 86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008.
• Even Tennessee followed that patternwith 92% of adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 83% in 2008
• The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non-denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001.
• The challenge to Christianity in the U.S. does not come from otherreligions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.
• •The “Nones” (no stated religious preference, atheist, or agnostic)continue to grow, though at a much slower pace than in the 1990s, from 8.2% in 1990, to 14.1% in 2001, to 15.0% in 2008.

John Ortberg in an article on the blog Out of Ur asks this question:

“Are we witnessing the process of secularization here in America similar to what Europe experienced in the middle of the twentieth century? “

What are we doing to help stem the tide?  I want to reach more people like my agnostic friend and I am grateful that Hope feels like a place where questions are welcome and doubters can enter safely and hear of the life changing power of Christ.

A Shining Example

We are having a funeral today for a wonderful man — Frank Braden.  Frank passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 82.  What makes his death significate in the life of Hope Church is that he was the first adult batism here at Hope.  This was way back in 1988.  Frank is a shining example of why we do what we do as a church.

My brother told this story at our staff meeting today about how Frank came to church —- Frank was your classic unchurched person.  He had not been to church in years and had absolutely no desire to waste his time on a Sunday morning sitting around with strangers being bored out of his mind.

He had a woman who worked for him who kept asking him to come to Hope and he kept saying no.  In desperation she said, “Just do one thing for me and I will never ask you to do anything.”  He said, “What’s that?”  “Just come to church with me once, and I will not bug you again.”  Frank reluctantly came, and it completely changed his life.  He found a group of real people how loved him and accepted him right where he was.  Ultimately, he found Christ.  Today at the funeral there were no family members present — he had outlived them all.  But family was there — his family of faith here at Hope.

Frank, we will miss you, but know for sure that we continue to reach out to people who are just like you were some twenty years ago.

Neither Rain nor Snow….

Last weekend we had a huge snow. Now, it might not be huge for folks in the north but for us southerners it was a biggie. We had anywhere from 6 to 10 inches in the Memphis area. With the snow came church cancellations scrolling across TV screens. But you did not see Hope listed there. We have an “always open” policy.  This commitment refects deeply into some of our core values.  We are open because:

• We are committed to positively outrageous service.
• We achieve the unexpected.
• We do whatever it takes.
• We sacrifice our wants for other’s needs.

Here is an excecerpt from an email to the staff from our senior management team:

“Do you know that even with the snow, and most churches closing, we had well over 2500 folks to chose to come to church.  That is huge! We had a full choir, all the worship team here, even when that means coming at 7. We had staff who stepped in and made coffee ( including our Sr. Pastor)  others who shoveled snow, and we made it all work.  Since it’s been some time, I have been asked to update you all, and let’s see if we can put together some action steps to make sure we are “super ready” for the next time.

· In case you don’t know, Hope doesn’t cancel worship services. We’ll have them even with 5 people, so if you ever wake up and  it’s snowy, or  such, WE ARE ON”

So, like our nation’s postal service, we deliver the love of Christ no matter what the weather!

Greeting Not Freaking

This past weekend we received this comment regarding one of our zealous greeters:

“I love his passion and energy, but the greeter that wants to shake everyone’s hand kind of freaks me out a little. I keep thinking about the germs! I know some of that is my problem, ha. Maybe he can just smile and say hello?“

It is a great comment. This is a great example of why we do comment cards in the first place. We learned something that we were not aware of. These comments are our eyes.

But how do we respond? Do we say, “Sorry, but we are a friendly church. Deal with it!!!” Or “Just shake his hand and carry some hand sanitizer in your pocket!!” That is not exactly our response. Here is what I said:

“I read your comment from the weekend regarding an aggressive greeting issue. I want to say that I agree with you and am sorry that we made you feel uncomfortable. I think it is an issue of training, and I am going to work on that. As you know, we try to make Hope as welcoming a place as possible without making people feel uncomfortable. We do not slap name tags on folks. We do not make visitors stand up during the service. We do want people to feel welcome and yet, be as anonymous as they want to be.

With that in mind, our shaking hands policy has always been to shake the hand of someone who reaches out to shake your hand but to not initiate the hand shake.

Thanks for pointing this out. We are going to spread the word so we don’t freak people out”

Each church has to come to their own conclusion as to what best fits their culture when it comes to welcoming and greeting people who walk through their doors. As for me and my church, no shaking unless shaken upon — or something like that….