Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Three Prayers

I work.

Have you ever shown up at work and right away something just goes wrong?  You know what I mean.  Somebody says something that irritates you.  Or you see something that isn't right and you know it needs to be fixed.  Or you hear something that you know is going to lead to a problem down the road.  For one reason or another your work day starts off on the wrong foot.

I work at church.

I showed up for work this weekend and got started on the wrong foot.  I'd love to tell you how through years of experience and Christian maturity, I was able to handle this.  I could say, "Here are the steps I followed.  Go and follow steps one, two and three, and you too will prosper on those days when you start off on the wrong foot."  Mostly, though, I just felt sorry for myself and tried to avoid saying anything to anyone that might hurt them or come back to haunt me.

I work at a church as a pastor.

This weekend was a learning experience for me.  One of those learning experience you have to really experience to learn well.  While I was willing to remain inside my own private huff, God had other plans for me.  He arranged my weekend so that I would involved in three different men's lives, praying for God's healing in their lives.  But as only God can do, He was working in my life as I was praying for Him to work in their lives.

Daughter's First Weekend Home

Let me get personal just for a moment.  I have a great relationship with my children.  I love spending time with them.  This weekend is especially great because my youngest daughter, Jillian, is home from Cedarville University for the weekend.  She's only been gone for a couple weeks, and I know when she goes back, she will be gone for a much longer time.  Jillian came home this weekend to attend the wedding of a close friend.  However since she's been home, I've had two long conversations with her about her first two weeks at Cedarville.  The picture to the right is from the coffee shop where we talked last night.  This morning we had breakfast together.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote here that Cedarville and Jillian were made for each other.  Everything she's told me about her first two weeks have confirmed this to me. 

• She and her roommate are getting along great. 
• Jillian is already beginning to form new friendships. 
• The number of ministry opportunities is overwhelming.
• The food is great, but she wishes there was more yogurt.
• She's attended Apex Community Church in Dayton and is thinking about continuing there every week, but it's a 40 minute drive to get there. "Dad, it's even more Crossroads than Crossroads."
• She tells me she's well prepared for her college experience from her education here.
• Chapels are great - especially Pastor Rob Turner (not surprising since Rob is the lead pastor at Apex.)
• She's being careful about signing up for too many things so she doesn't overload herself.  (She knows herself well!)
• She is held accountable every week for spiritual formation.  Each week she must respond to an email asking her about spiritual formation for the previous week.  She must be involved in 3 spiritual formation activities, one must include church and one cannot be her own personal devotional time.
• Jillian tells me that she usually goes to bed early and gets herself up early.  I wonder if this will last?
• Being a PK (preacher's kid) to a pastor in a contemporary church, she's a little bit sensitive to negative viewpoints from some of her contemporaries on the contemporary style church. 

We talked for more than 4 hours between last night and then this morning over breakfast.  Not once did she appear to be "forced" to talk to me - we really enjoyed our time together.  It's times like this that being a dad is so GREAT!  (I can't help but think my Heavenly Father feels exactly the same way!)

Pt. 3 - Organizing Under Qualified Leadership

What is the local church?  What does leadership look like in the authentic church?  How is it different than leadership outside the church?  What does the Bible have to tell us about qualified leadership?  This is the third audio podcast of my series, What is the Local Church?  Over these seven weeks I hope to answer this question.  Listen in to this August 27, 2008 Midweek teaching by downloading the audio file or by subscribing to the podcast.

Want to understand more about podcasts?  Check out this Podcast FAQ!

Pt. 2 - The Church is Community

What is the local church?  In this technological age of facebook and twitter, IM and email, what does it mean to be in community today?  Should the church be different today than it was 2,000 years ago?  This is the second audio podcast of my series, What is the Local Church?  Over these seven weeks I hope to answer this question.  Listen in to this August 20, 2008 Midweek teaching by downloading the audio file or by subscribing to the podcast.

Want to understand more about podcasts?  Check out this Podcast FAQ!

Organizing Under Qualified Leadership

Wednesday evening, August 26th, I spoke to our Midweek crowd.  What follows are my sermon notes for the evening, "Organizing Under Qualified Leadership."  I hope to have the audio file available for you soon.

Introduction – Tonight we continue our series, What is the Local Church?  Let’s begin with our working definition of the local church.

Working Definition – The local church is a community of confessing believers in Jesus Christ, who obeys Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership, who gathers regularly for preaching and worship, who scatters to evangelize and care for people everywhere.  They observe the Biblical ordinances of baptism and communion, are unified by the Holy Spirit for mission in the world and discipline to live out the great commandment and the great commission to the glory of God.

Tonight we want to talk about “obeys Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership.”

Obeys Scripture:  There may be no other teaching that is more under attack than the one I am going to share with you tonight:

• Attacked from outside – Unpopular, counter cultural, because as we’ll see, qualifications for leadership are very high / restrictive.  They might even be said to be “un-American!”
• Attacked from within by tradition – what we’re used to, not what’s Biblical.  And what has happened throughout history – celibate priest
• Attacked from within by scholarship – pastoral letters, pseudepigraphal?  1 small step to lacking authority=>2 tiers of Bible?

Mind Dump #1

I woke up at 4 this morning.  That's not all that unusual for this 51 year old body, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  So at 4:30 I decided to get up and showered.  I went downstairs and had a great QT with God (Psalm 139 always does the trick for a troubled soul!).  Now it's 6:45 AM, I've driven to Panera Bread, I'm eating a turkey and sausage egg souffle.  Since there's so much stirring around up in my mind, I think I'll try a mind dump.  It seems to work for Gary Lamb and Perry Noble.

• Last night's talk on Biblical Qualifications for the Elder went well.  I watched the video this morning.  It always looks differently than it feels when I'm up there.  I felt anxious about the talk.  That didn't come across in the video.
• Attendance down again last night.  Last couple of weeks, Midweek attendance has been down.  I haven't seen the count yet today, but it felt sparse.
• Preparing the talk yesterday was a greater battle than usual.  I can't separate the operational leadership of the church the way the Senior Pastor can (and should) do.  My job is to make sure the operational, day-to-day tasks of the church still take place.  Still I can usually close myself off for a few hours.  Not yesterday.

Social Networking Technology - Soon a Job Requirement?

Scott McClellan, who started Collide Magazine one year ago writes this morning that he would not hire a pastor whose job focused on age 12 to age 30 demographic, if they did not have skills and vision to use social media technology.

The ways in which 12-30 year-olds communicate and connect has radically changed in the last few years, and frankly, as someone who wants to minister vocationally to that demographic, I’d expect you to understand that. On top of that, there are too many free or inexpensive tools out there—ROOV, Twitter, Facebook Groups & Pages, MyChurch, Flickr, Vimeo, Ning, and on and on—for me to be enthusiastic about a job applicant who is unaware of them and their potential for ministry application.

If I’m choosing between several equally-qualified candidates, I wouldn’t hire you unless without a competent plan for leveraging social media in ministry to emerging generations.

My question is this:  Why stop at the age 12 to age 30 demographic?  While our younger generation is much more likely to use social connection technology than is the older demographic, the real question today's leaders should be asking themselves is this:  "What will be the technology that the majority of our church will be using five years from now?"  I believe the younger generation is simply at the forefront of using these technologies and that they will be much more prevalent as we progress down the path of the next few years.  If I'm right, then any visionary leader should be thinking about how to make that work for the benefit of his / her church tomorrow.  And the time to start that kind of thinking is NOT when it is happening, but to be planning for it today.

Our overall demographic at Crossroads is more baby boomer, but that does not mean that this same baby boomer demographic won't be using these new communication tools in the near future.  And before you dismiss my forecast as invalid, ask yourself this.  If I have a young person I want to communicate with - and I want to use every means possible to do it - wouldn't I learn a new technology if it meant I have another channel into my son's or daughter's or grandson's or granddaughter's life?  I know how I answer.  I do it all so that in every possible way, using every possible channel of communication, I might reach my children.  (Hey that kind of has a ring to it!)

Multi-site Webinar Today!

Yesterday as I was reading the Monday Morning Insight Weblog by Todd Rhoades (also from the  Buckeye state), I learned of a webinar taking place this afternoon and again next Tuesday afternoon.  It is being provided by "Multi-site Exposed", the same folks putting on two conferences this fall.  We are sending several people to the Multi-Site Conference in Chicago September 15/16.  (There's a second conference in Mount Pleasant, SC on September 29th and 30th.)  It makes so much sense for us to take advantage of this webinar offer!

The webinar is free.  All one has to do is sign up.  The signup process is quick and painless.  I've already done so.  Today's session (3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CDT - that 4 PM East Coast, right?) includes speakers Dave Ferguson, Mark Jobe, Jim Downing and Darrin Patrick.  There's another webinar next Tuesday featuring Greg Surratt and Mark Batterson. 

What a great deal this is!  Anyone interested in the topic of Multi-site should take advantage of this chance.  In fact, I'm going to invite some of our staff to sit in my office with me while I put the webinar up on my TV screen.  Maybe we'll even pop some popcorn!

Why Churches are Going Multi-site

I've been following several churches, who have made the decision to go multi-site.  While such a decision can be primarily for strategic growth purposes, these churches made the decision because their churches are growing so much that it is unrealistic to build a larger campus or to offer even more services.

Last night I was listening to the podcast of the August 16th weekend services of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, led by Matt Chandler.  Here is some of what he had to say to his weekend audience:

Last week, here's what happened.  We had six services at this campus... At the 5 o'clock last week, we had 665 people (in this auditorium), which left 50 seats.  That's all we had...  We turned away over a hundred people from the 7 o'clock... On Sunday morning there were 41 seats at the 9, and there were 72 seats at the 11, which is the third time in four years that we did NOT turn away from the 11 o'clock... On Sunday night, 581 left 144 seats open (at the first evening service) and 615 which left 110 seats open (at the second evening service) and at 7 o'clock on Sunday night there is nothing, no childcare; it's worship and the sermon.  What I want you to see and feel here is that there is no where to tell people to go... The weekend before we turned away from three of our services.  So half of our Highland Village services ended with someone getting into the parking lot, checking in their children, walking up to the front door and having our hopefully very gracious greeting team say, "I'm so sorry."

Matt goes on to tell his congregation that the answer is not adding yet another service.  "We're done," he said.  Unless certain things line up, there's just no more places to put people in their Highland campus.  This is a multi-site church, which has already added the Denton campus.  So many people are coming that they have no more places to put people at their main campus.

Use Social Opportunities to Connect!

Check out pictures from two great social opportunities at Crossroads:

 

These pictures represent two great social opportunities that I've enjoyed over the last day.  The first two pictures are from the Operations Picnic last evening..  About 75 different people showed up at the Biddle's place for some good eating and to get to know each other better.  Then this morning, I was invited to bicycle with a men's small group that bikes 22 miles every Monday morning and enjoys a good breakfast together.  Being a leader in a large church, it's not always possible to say "yes" to such invitations.  But I always try to make it.  These are great opportunities to connect with people, who I wouldn't be able to connect with in the normal weekend.  And the food is just downright GREAT!

Church Web Design Wisdom

One of my current top priority projects is the implementation of a new website for our church.  This project has had two primary phases.  Phase one is the choice, purchase and implementation of a new church management software.  Phase two is the web design itself.  In phase one, we chose Church Community Builder and expect to transfer all of our membership data this coming week.  Stay tuned to this channel to see how that goes.

Phase two is the design of the website itself.  As you can see from the attached photo of the front of our church, we have plastered the web address in bold letters so everyone in Mansfield can find us on the web.  Yet none of us are particularly happy with our current Flash-driven website.  We think we have two potential companies (Synergema or Element Fusion), who could help us with the project.  But we need to give them some idea of what kind of design we want so they can give us a reasonable quote for the design work.  For their sake and ours we hope to be able to avoid THIS from happening.  Watch this video and then continue reading!

So, we are reviewing some of the best of other church websites and creatively thinking about how we would like ours to look.  Yesterday I came across three other articles that could be of help to us. 

Alltop - One Stop Internet Church News

How would you like to have one page on the internet where you can find the best of the best and see in one place the most recent 635 headlines from the top 27 church weblogs?  This is now possible from church.alltop.com. How do they do it you might ask?  According to Alltop:

You can think of an Alltop site as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points—they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In other words, our goal is the “cessation of Internet stagnation” by providing “aggregation without aggravation.

Most of the blogs I've been reading lately are listed there, plus a whole bunch I've not read before.  I'm looking forward to checking out some new websites soon!  Thanks to HolyCowABlog.com for the link.

Two Reminders of Why We are Considering Multisites

This week I read two different blog articles that served as reminders to me about why Crossroads is examining the possibility of multisites (one church - many locations).  First, the evangelical church is falling behind.  Even though there has been growth in the number of churches, it's not nearly enough to keep up with the population growth.  There are more unchurched people in America than ever!

Statistics regarding churches in America according to Starting New Churches on Purpose by Ron Sylvia, lead pastor at the Church at the Springs in Ocala, Florida.  (Thanks to Vince Antonucci for the link.)

• We had a net gain of 4,600 churches from 1990-2000, however to merely keep up with population growth during that same period we would have needed a net gain of 38,202 churches.
• In fact, the combined membership of all Protestant denominations has declined by 9.5%, while the national population increased by 11.4%.
• The number of unchurched adults in America has nearly doubled from 1991 to 2004.
• If the current trend for church attendance continues in America, by 2050 only 11.7% of America will attend church.

The second article I read this week states that by 2010, George Barna predicts that 50 million Americans will rely upon the internet for their religious experience.  Sadly this is not, I think, what Jesus had in mind when it comes to the concept of the community of the church.  I believe we should take advantage of every technological innovation and potention ccommunication channel to share the good news of Jesus Christ.  The internet is a great technological innovation and provides a great channel for the church to reach people.  But the internet is a tool - it is not a church. 

The question we have to ask ourselves is, "What are we doing about it?  What tools (internet) and places (multi-sites) can we offer to bring people into relationship with one another and into relationship with Christ?"  These are the questions that consume much of my waking hours these days.

The Secret of Creativity

Have you ever wondered where Crossroads gets all of its creativity for its weekend services?  The truth can now be told and is a secret no longer.  Watch this to learn our secret connection to creativity.

Thanks to Michael Buckingham for the link from HolyCowABlog.com.

Jesse Starts New Blog!

Jesse Rider, our Senior High Student Pastor, just started a new blog today.  You can check it out at http://chiefrider.wordpress.com/.  I'm not entirely sure what the "chief" aspect is, but I'm sure for those who continue to follow his blogs, we'll all find out shortly.  His first post is about "The Top 5," in which he says he describes the best 5 things he's enjoyed in the Olympics.  If he ever does a "Top 5" for executive pastors or for blogs - I'd better make the cut!

Jesse's blog now brings the total number of Crossroads staff blogs to six.  Every week the pressure keeps building.  Every week another staffer decides to join in the fun.  Stayed tuned to find out who comes to the blogging party next week!

A Little Crossroads at Panera

I just had the greatest experience at Panera Bread.  Over the summer I have been developing a relationship with Cassie, one of the young gals who works there early in the morning.  Earlier this summer she identified herself as someone who has been attending Crossroads and so she said she “knew who I was.”  This morning, from my seat and unknown to Cassie and her friend, I heard the two of them talking to each other by the grill while they were working.  I had just taken a sandwich back that hadn’t been prepared right.  They gave me another sandwich.  I left to sit down.  They started talking to one another.  The conversation went something like this:

Cassie:  “Do you know who that was?”

Friend:  “No.  He comes around a lot, but I don’t know who he is.”

Cassie:  “That’s the pastor over at Crossroads.”

Friend:  “Crossroads?  You go there?”

Cassie:  “Yeah, I’ve been going a little while.  At first I was so scared.  There are THOUSANDS (her emphasis) of people who go there so I was scared at first.  But then I saw they had a café and I could take my coffee into the auditorium so it was cool.”

Friend:  “So is it laid back?”

Cassie:  “Laid back?  No…. Wait, you mean the dress.  That’s totally laid back.  I wear jeans.”

Friend:  “I’ve been thinking about going back to church.  But do they make you stand up?”

Cassie:  “No, nothing like that.”

Friend:  “When do you go?  I wouldn’t want to go by myself.”

Cassie:  “I should get up earlier, but I never make it ‘til 11 on Sundays.  You could come with me.”

Friend:  “Maybe I will.”

And they were off talking about something else.  I took out my napkin and started writing:  “Your personal invitation to attend a laid back church from a laid back pastor.  I’ll be wearing jeans and crocs.  Pastor Mark.”  I took the napkin and my card and handed it to her across the counter.  She was so pleased and excited!  “Wow!  My own personal invitation.  How cool!”

We can become so busy about the job that we forget “the buzz factor” that is created by all the hard work.  As I go about my day today, I do it with the knowledge that at least one new person will probably be at church this weekend and that my efforts today could have eternal value!

Pt. 1 - What is the Local Church?

What is the local church?  In this technological age of facebook and twitter, IM and email, how does the church respond?  Should the church be different today than it was 2,000 years ago?  This is the first audio podcast of my series, What is the Local Church?  Over the next seven weeks I hope to answer this question.  Listen in to this August 13, 2008 Midweek teaching by downloading the audio file or by subscribing to the podcast.

Want to understand more about podcasts?  Check out this Podcast FAQ!

Top Church Websites

Ken Shaffer from churchrelevance.com has just updated his list of top church websites.  Currently 90 church website make the cut of the best of the best.  All 90 are listed here in alphabetical order.  Ken chose these websites on the basis of design, usability, and innovation.

At Crossroads, we are currently working on a much needed new website design.  The two companies we are considering for design are Synergema and  Element Fusion, which recently has collaberated with Church Community Builder (CCB) - our church management software.  Now that we've made the decision for CCB, we need to put together an attractive web design.

This list of the top church websites from Ken comes at a perfect time for us.  Look over the list and let me know your favorites.  It would also help me to know what it is you like about your favorites.  So click on the comments below and tell me what you think. Thanks!

The Church as Community

Last night at Midweek I continued our series, What is the Local Church?  Last night was part two of the series, "The Church is a Community."  If you'd like to listen to or watch the talk, go to the Crossroads website, hover over "Services" in the top right hand corner, then click on "Wednesdays."  You can then choose either video or audio options.  These Midweek talks are usually up by Thursday afternoons and will be available for one week.  For those who would like to read my sermon notes from last night - here they are!  Click below where it says "Continue Reading" to see the sermon notes.

Birthday Boy Lunch

Ron Biddle, our Membership Director, turned 51 today. We're all getting old! Wherever Ron is, there's always an excuse for a party! This is one of the things I love about our staff We all love hanging together.  (Ron is the one sitting in the front all the way to the right.)