Discipleship Program

In contrast to the majority of our class so far, I have not chosen a discipleship program that involves an 'event' or that is primarily interested in attracting new people. Instead, I have chosen to pursue a small group series for Journey Church, entitled, "The Blessed Life." This is a six-week sermon series that is followed along by video small group sessions led in the homes of the church members [hence, "home groups]. This series by Robert Morris and Gateway Church leads people into a deeper understanding of the role of finances in the life of Christians, and provides Biblical truths in a unique, fresh way. Because this series has been so successful in the past, I propose we schedule it for our Fall Home Groups in 2014.

These series of Home Groups are primarily focused on those who would consider Journey Church their 'home church' but it is not exclusively for those types of people - anyone is welcome. In fact, we have seen astounding success in the past amongst people who don't know Jesus - they are comforted by the holistic approach to finances that Robert Morris presents, even if they aren't willing to adopt it. It really has been a game-changer in the past for Journey - countless stories of God's blessing coming when people began to tithe, and tithing jumped more than 100%!

So with that, I propose we invest the remaining finances needed [I say this because most of the purchases have already been made in the past when this series was used] to encourage the next round of new believers that enter Journey's doors to take an honest look at how our finances should be viewed. Because money is often the 'last straw' to the heart of the unbeliever, we will also be planning baptism in conduction with the 5th week - this has worked very well in the past as well. I believe this will help people step from death to life in our church, and not only so, but also, with the additional finances that come from this series, we will be able to look into beginning work for another campus in late 2014! This stirs up the body and creates vision and excitement, God willing.

So here is the breakdown:

What: Sermon based small group series - "The Blessed Life"
Who: People who consider Journey Church their 'home church' as well as any unbelievers that are interested
When: Sunday Nights, October 19th-November 23rd, 2014, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Located in the homes of small group leaders to be determined
Why: To teach our congregation about the role of finances in our lives and to encourage each other through fellowship to follow through with these Biblical principles… and to eat food together!
How: Purchasing the materials and providing ample announcements and opportunities to sign up [both in person and online]

God, move in a new and powerful way through this series, we ask.

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013; Discipleship Project

Everyone needs someone.

Tonight, we worked on the discipleship of a specific type of person: our group was assigned a 14-year old guy, coming from a single-parent home, shy, not very popular, an average student, kind of considered a 'geek' to many. The significance of this type of student to be responsible to disciple was that he is quite different from the members of our group - this is so important. We cannot simply be effective at reaching people like ourselves - there are far too many other lost people in our world.

I think, the actual discipleship process we determined aside, that was the most significant thing for me. I'm very used to paying less attention to those who lack confidence. In fact, if I'm being honest, growing up, I didn't like to show my sisters attention because they felt too 'needy' to me. If I'm being real honest, I think I need to learn to be more 'needy.'

Needing companionship is an absolutely normal human trait. I can pretend I don't need friends, but that doesn't make my need go away. In fact, we all feel this way. If we have been hurt in the past, we don't want to be willing to admit we need community. But we do.

It's important as pastors that we keep this in mind because our job is, often, to be the friend to the friendless and ultimately show people Jesus in that way. For our 14-year old 'assignment,' that is exactly what it means: being a friend. Our potential is released in the company of kinship.

God, help me to never forget my need for relationships.

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013; Discipleship Brainstorming

Discipleship is... [our group was #1]

A disciple... [our group was #3]

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013; Sam Farina

This Tuesday night, we had ministry and life coach Sam Farina join our class. It was quite the interesting class from the start. Professor Rees let us know that Sam would be guiding us in 'designing' the rest of the course, that is, the remaining 7 weeks. We all kind of assumed it was a hypothetical 'designing' in that we just needed some test example by which we could learn and observe Mr. Farina's coaching abilities, and perhaps, glean some of the information off of this 'test case.' This is not what was happening. We were actually designing the class - we discovered this about 45 minutes into the activity.

*Some notes on the things I learned about coaching: I liked that he helped the 'client' to develop their own goals and to get them to talk through what they wanted to accomplish. The only problem with coaching is that, if the person has the wrong idea of what they need to get to, or perhaps goals that will end up being detrimental, there's little the coach can do inside of his 'coaching' role. To step further to help them, as I understood it, would no longer be coaching, but counseling. So coaching seems to be for people who are a little more steady - further down the road than someone, say, who would be referred to for personal counseling [where they might also develop goals]. Again, my understanding was that coaching primarily related to the professional fields [insofar as we understand that character is actually a large part of the profession of pastor].

However, as funny/tricky/interesting as our class situation turned out to be, I think the coach needs to be clear when letting their client know that the things that will be suggested/dreamt up/fooled with are actually part of the plan. If the client doesn't know that the conversation is not 'ideal' or hypothetical, they may suggest outrageous things that, perhaps, would lead them to inevitably fail, and be worse off than before? I'm not sure this is the case, because I have little experience in coaching, I'm just trying to hash this out.

All that said, I think coaching can be an effective tool to guide leaders in becoming more effective with their time, resources, and efforts.

God, teach me to be coachable, as well as to be a good coach for others.

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013; Body Maps

On Tuesday night, we worked on body maps. This is something that everyone who goes through Church Planting Bootcamp will be involved in, and helps to get the creativity flowing, helps to brainstorm new, helpful ideas to reach people, helps to narrow who those 'people' even are [demographics], and puts it in a systematic order.

I thought this exercise worked well enough - we chose the youth of Phoenixville. The only difference or issue that presented itself was that I felt like I was making up the needs of the teens specific to this area - I mean, I knew what needs all teens shared, but not the ones that might be specific to this area. I believe we made an educated guess, but I believe the activity would be even more fruitful if I knew the area better [unfortunately, it's my own fault, given I've lived here for three years, and I don't know by now what the teens are like in this area].

However, armed with that knowledge, I believe our solutions or potential practical programs/events would've been more suited. If our educational guesses about our demographic were in fact right, however, then I think our ideas would've done well to reach teens. In fact, we even found ourselves overlapping some ideas with other groups, perhaps opening up the door for synergy and teamwork amongst people with similar passions.

Overall, it was a fun, interesting project for a Tuesday night.

God, help me to really learn who it is that You're calling me to reach.

Portrait of a Disciple: Lazarus

Though the words 'of Bethany' are sometimes tagged after my name, most of you know me simply as Lazarus. Now, because this happens all the time, I might as well open with it: I am not the Lazarus from the Bosom of Abraham, the Rich Man did not refuse me food, and I am not talking across a great chasm to him concerning his loved ones after our death. That's a different Lazarus.

I'm Jesus' best friend. Or at least I think so. John and I have a bet going. But, after all, Jesus wept over me. I think I win.

The most prominent portion of our best-friendship is obviously 'that story' which you all know about me. I'd like to paint a word picture if I could. See, many of you have felt 'under the weather.' I guess you could say I was feeling that way. With every day that passed, I had less and less energy, to the point where my sisters would have to bring me food and water (which, before knowing the severity of my illness, I was pretty excited about - everybody loves when their sisters have to get them stuff). Anyhow, after about a week, I knew something was wrong. I could hear their whispers. I knew what was happening. Then Mary told me that they had called for Jesus, my best friend. Surely things were not good - I would get to see my best friend for the last time. But day after day went by - three grueling days, and he did not show.

I understood though - he was an important man. He had people to see and things to do.

On that fourth day, I remember getting quite tired. I told Martha to leave so I could take a nap. All the sudden, darkness swept over my eyes [key lights turning off in room]. What felt like a matter of seconds I would later find out was an entire day. I felt this unbelievable peace surrounding me. I had no thoughts or feelings - just comfort. Everything seemed right. Then, as quickly as I had entered this state, I left.

Oh. My. Gosh.

The most disgusting smell flooded my nostrils. It was like Martha's egg salad, but worse! What could that possibly be. Wait. I could feel my arms, and my legs, though mostly I was constricted. What was happening. And that stench - what could that be? As I was gathering my senses, and trying to make something out of what my senses were gathering, I heard a voice. Like thunder, it boomed, "Lazarus, come out." I stood up, though unable to see, and began to feel my way out of the room I was in.

As I removed whatever the strips from my eyes [key lights turning back on], I could see it all. There stood my great friend Jesus, my sisters, who were weeping uncontrollably by the way, and all of my neighbors. Only later did I understand what happened.

It was truly incredible. Jesus, my best friend, turned out to be the Messiah we had been waiting for, though He was much different than we had pictured.

As it turns out, that smell was in fact me. I can't stress to you how many showers it takes to get that 'dead' smell off of you. My sisters complained for months.

There are some who speak of Jesus bringing them from death to life. And of course, He had the power to do so. But we should clarify - they mean spiritually.

If I were to say Jesus took me from death to life, I would not be speaking figuratively.

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013; Bob Hulett

Tonight we had Pastor Bob Hulett of Bridge Community Church in class who spoke with us.

People are more loyal to "Why's" than "What's"

This is something powerful I was reminded of tonight by Pastor Bob. When it comes to discipleship, people are always looking for why's behind the what's. Especially when it comes to controversial things like lights, cameras, loud music, etc. Ignorant pastors just barge through attenders/elders and enact new things like this. Smart pastors, when confronted with questions, or before even enacting such policies in established churches, let their congregants know why they do things like this, bringing passion and the Great Commission into it. Meeting with the movers and shakers in your church, or even by letting new volunteers know the why behind the what eases tension surrounding change more than anything else. This is valuable information for me as a church planter - letting my core team know the why's behind the what's will help them to get on board with the vision, and then they can help to establish a particular environment in the church. This goes so much further than we know.

God, help me to deeply understand the "why's" to all the "what's" in Your future church.