At Innovation3, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) discussed righteousness, risk, and repentance.
#1 :: Righteousness
Righteousness is an effort to make ourselves righteous. We have a tendency to base on righteousness not on the gospel but on our own works. We try to be validated by others and not God.
Does success or failure effect how close you feel to God?
Does success or failure cause you to feel more or less holy?
Do changes of success or failure in any way alter how you see God?
If attendance goes down or someone does not get healed, do you question God?
Works righteousness is pervasive. Righteousness is very hard to measure, but we can measure attendance, giving, etc.
Ministry does not flow not for righteousness but from righteousness. We should not minister to get righteousness. We should minister because we are righteous.
#2 :: Risk
Having the proper mindset about righteousness allow you to be able to take risk without fearing failure.
Having a works righteousness mindset makes you risk averse or risk addicted because you always have to have more because Christ is not enough.
#3 Repentance
We need to repent whenever we use people to achieve works righteousness.
Do not religiously repent. Religious repentance repents with a religious motive so that God will help your works righteousness. It seeks to use people, use the church, and use God.
At Innovation3, Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) spoke via video about how leaders who have “it” are willing to fail.
Often leaders who have “it” succeed. And sometimes they fail, but they learn from the failure. Leaders who don’t have “it” often are afraid to take risk and possibly fail.
Failing is often a big part of success. Think about learning how to ride a bike.
When Peter experienced the grace of Jesus after his failure, he was able to preach in a way that few others could.
Sometimes you have to try and fail and learn and adjust. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And before long through your failures, God does something very special.
Failure is not an option. It is absolutely necessary. You must be willing to fail.
Often what works is born out of what did not work.
DO THIS
Create a culture that allows for failure.
You could call things “experiments.” You can let people know ahead of time that you will fail but fail aggressively.
Do not internalize failures.
Failing at something does not mean that you are a failure.
Debrief
Learn from your mistakes
Don’t give up.
The only thing standing between you and the next level of ministry success might be a failure that will teach you something.
At Innovation3, Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York, NY) discussed failure in ministry. Specifically, he addressed how to turn your biggest idol into your biggest benefit.
Everybody in ministry essentially bases their salvation on how our ministry is doing, and therefore, our hearts our contradicting our message. Until you experience personal failure, you will not even know it.
You have got to go after God for blessing.
Jacob (from Genesis) spent his life trying to get blessing, but he did not get it until he went after God in Genesis 32.
Human blessing will kill you because it never seems to last more than 5 minutes.
You have to take the gospel, and you have to see where you are not believing the gospel, and you must pound it into your heart day after day.
I often find myself wishing I had the time to attend more conferences each year. If I did, Catalyst West would definitely be on my list this year. Taking place at Mariners Church (Irvine, CA) from April 22-24, 2009, Catalyst West brings the experience of Catalyst Atlanta to the west coast.
SPECIAL DISCOUNT
Because you read Church Relevance, you can get your ticket for $199 (20% savings) if you register with the code “CR” before Friday, January 30, 2009.
You can even start the conference early by registering to attend the Catalyst Labs on Wednesday, April 22 and then partying at the “Before Party” that evening.
You can register online at www.catalystwestcoast.com or by calling 888.334.6569. Be sure to enter or mention priority code “CR” to receive your the special Church Relevance reader rate of $199 (only available until January 30th).
According to NDP Group, kids are increasingly using digital media to acquire information. While this is not surprising, the growth rate statistics are fascinating.
Among kids ages 2 to 14 in 2008:
92% use a computer (down from 94% in 07)
85% play video games (up from 80% in 07)
>> 82% of kids ages 2 to 5 play video games (up from 79% in 07)
>> 57% of girls play video games (up from 50% in 06)
>> 30% of kids ages 6 to 9 own a portable video game device
60% use portable digital music devices (up from 51% in 07)
>> 20% of kids ages 6 to 9 own a digital music device
51% use a cellphone (up from 49% in 07)
>> 30% of kids ages 6 to 9 own a cellphone
22% download ringtones
22% watched TV digitally on a computer, cellphone, gaming device, or music device (up from 17% in 07)
Three trends that particularly stand out to me are:
Video Game Momentum It has been a long time since Atari, Mario, and Duck Hunt, so I am surprised to see video game usage among kids still growing at such a startling of 80% in 2007 to 85% in 2008. It seems hard to imagine kid culture being more fixated on video games, but clearly the love for gaming will only grow stronger.
Diaper Gamers Four out of every five 2 to 5-year-olds play video games. Think about that. Some still struggle with pooping their pants or wetting the bed, yet they are learning how to master gaming. While playing video games at such a young age does not completely rewire a kid’s ability to enjoy childlike things, I do believe early gaming makes kids pickier and raises their level of expectations for entertainment.
Instant Gratification Unless you are 8 years old, it is difficult to imagine growing up in a world where you can often instantly watch your favorite show, listen to your favorite song, call your best friend, look up an answer, or play a game. While these conveniences are wonderful, they also eliminate many opportunities to learn patience and self-discipline.
Because these conveniences change kid culture, it is important that children’s ministers and parents both emphasize the importance of good character and provide kids with opportunities to develop their character.
For Discussion: - What do you think of these statistics?
- How do you see digital media changing kid culture?
- What methods work for reaching kid culture?
Yesterday I gathered data from Alexa, Bloglines, Google, and Technorati and created a list of the world’s top 60 church blogs. 110 popular blogs were measured, and the highest ranked were published.
The list is far from perfect. The data sources are not perfect. And it is likely that I am unaware of other eligible church blogs. I will be periodically updating the list, so I hope it improves with time.
Please use the comments to tell me of any other church related blogs that you think could qualify for the list.
For Christmas 2008, LifeChurch.tv’s Tulsa campus wanted to do something special at a low cost. The solution was temporary lights, scaffolding, and trash cans. And it looked like this:
