Oh wow. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

This is the next progressive step after pipe organ music.

Are They At The Party?

So I work with a great team of people here at Atlanta First UMC. We are all very different, most of us very opinionated, some are passive-aggressive, and others just smile a lot. The one big thing we all have in common is we want what’s best for the church, our ministries, and the people in and around the city of Atlanta. This requires that we have BIG vision.

One of things I love to do is to experience new things. Now when I worked for Family Christian Stores it was like my birthday every day when we got new product in. I was always opening up boxes (to the criticism of my back room employee) to see if there was a new book or the next great CD (before street-date of course). At home, I’m always ready for the next addictive reality TV show or any new gadget I can get my hands on. Now I am always really excited to share my finding with anyone who will listen. They are not always as excited as I was.

So for my job at Atlanta First I love to research and experience what others are doing on the web, in ministry, etc… I regularly find new websites or fresh ideas from other churches whether it from blogs, twitter, or other crazy places. I get so excited about their creativity and passion that people often think I like redbull a little too much. The people I share my excitement with usually smile, nod, and say “that’s great..”. Fakers (liars seems a little over the top for this post).

The other day, two of my coworkers and I went to a great design/print shop just outside of Atlanta. We all stood in awe of their creativity and the excellence of the products they produce. We left excited and inspired by what we had just seen.

So I parallel it to this. You know how at a birthday party when you open the presents in front of everyone, there is often a gasp, or an “awwwe” moment. People get excited about your presents since they are experiencing it with you. Now the next day when you show off this AMAZING gift to someone who wasn’t at the party – and you usually get a smile, nod, and a “that’s great…”.

Two lessons I learned from this.
1) Always let your team experience as much excellence together as possible. This is the way teams are motivated and inspired to move forward. Not everybody wants to hear about somebody else’s experiences or findings that they didn’t get to experience or find themselves.
2) If the experience is so crucial to connect, motivate, and inspire people – then why isn’t our sole focus to lead people to experience things that will move them forward. In our churches we like to tell people of an experience and never truly connect them to it.

Jesus has given us many gifts yet when we show people those gifts – it is often a “that’s nice…” situation. May we move forward in creating experiences that will invoke passion, creativity, and connection – not only as a team, but as a church, ministry, and the body of Christ.

Are people “at the party” at your church – or do they get a second-hand glimpse of God?

Please feel free to comment.

Sought After

So I worked for Family Christian Stores for almost 10 years, most recently as the store manager in Fayetteville, GA for 5.5 years.  I struggled during that time with feeling like I could not move on from that job.  I longed for weekends with the family and being more than a retail manager (I loved it and miss parts of it, just felt like that season of my life was over).  And most of all, I had a boss who I just did not click with.  We were on two different pages and I felt I knew her job better than she did (and I still do – but that’s another story).

One day, I was talking to a customer in the store about my passions of marketing and branding in ministry and the local church, and she said “we’re hiring a business manager at our church, would you be interested?”  Of course I would have jumped at just about any opportunity that was thrown my way.  So 3 months later, I started as the Business Manager at Atlanta First UMC.  It’s an amazing place with a lot of history and subsequently a lot of tradition.  Nonetheless, I finally felt sought after for my skills and abilities that I had worked all those years to obtain.

So today I was chatting online with another guy I had met along the way in my career.  He said “You could always come work for me at my church.”  It felt great to read that (and I did over and over again, but that is not where God has me right now).  Maybe it just stroked my ego more than anything else.  But we all want to be sought after.  Whether in dating, family, friendships or jobs, we all have the desire to have somebody wanting us whether it’s to talk to – to work for – to just spend time with – or to even just be our facebook friend.

Then you stop and think… I have the creator of the universe seeking after me.  He wants to know me.  For me to know him.  To talk to – to work for – and to just spend time with – and I know he’d be my facebook friend if he was into that kind of thing.

So it’s not only “who’s seeking after you” but also “who are you seeking?”  Do you care more about approval from others than you do God?   Do you spend more time seeking out others than you do getting to know God more intimately.  I know I do.  

So are we ok with that?  Do we really feel the need to change the way we go about our day?  Do we feel that if we throw out our 4.5 minutes reading My Utmost for His Highest for that morning that true connection is happening?  Is singing along mindlessly to christian radio your sole way to hear God speak?  And are you willing to look past yourself long enough to see the guy on the other side of the street that may need you – or at least your God to change his life?  This all goes back to us seeking God and letting him change us.   

We sang a great song at church today that Todd Fields wrote that goes like this (also on itunes):  

 

Help me to want you
Help me to find you
Help me to listen
to Your heart

You have been willing
I have been wandering
there is a refuge
where You are

Hold me with arms that
made the universe
and shelter my heart
with all that You are

May this be your prayer. May it be my living prayer.  
May I seek after him with the same passion that I'm sought after.
May I move out of the way so that God can work through me daily and not just when it's convenient.
And may I show the creator of the universe that I do love Him - by making Him feel sought after.

 

Great blogs YOU read and some I do too!

I have finally got caught up into reading some great blogs online.  There are so many amazing people out there who do ministry well, yet are constantly raising the bar of excellence.  

There’s a great article I was reading the other day that showed with marketing and advertising in ministry, you can get to the point that it is so slick that it becomes fake.  Where is that balance?  I think a lot of these blogs get close to that line without going over.  

Please let me know of any other amazing blogs out there of people sharing ideas for ministry.  Here are the ones I frequent:

ragamuffinsoul.com  - Carlos Whitaker works at Buckhead Church and has some great stuff.

blog.buckheadchurch.org – Buckhead church itself has some GREAT ways to reach people.

stuffchristianslike.com makes me laugh – especially now that I am working at a church.

kemmeyer.typepad.com is great at keeping things simple in communication.

So what are you reading?

An adventure of my own.

So after having this site for a few months, I figured it was time to put it to some use.  This is a place where I will call out ideas and creativity utilized in the local church.  I agree with Mark Batterson’s post that we should not imitate others in ministry – but I do think we can be inspired and motivated by what others do well.  I can’t wait to share this adventure.