TechPastor.net » change

Farewell To Christ’s Church of the Valley

frank — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:55:27 +0000

I can’t even begin to explain the excitement in my soul, and sadness in my heart to be leaving my extended family at Christ’s Church of the Valley. I first moved to this area of PA in January 1998, two years prior to the launch of the church. I officially came on staff in June of 2001 to join the church planting effort, and its been a WILD RIDE. I feel so privileged to have worked with such a great staff and wonderful congregation over the last 9 years. Together we have made a big impact and I’m certain CCV will continue to do some great things in my absence.

For those of you that don’t know, my next endeavor is serving the city of Rochester, Minnesota with Hope Summit Christian Church as Senior Pastor. While the people in Rochester are open to spiritual things, about 65% of the people that live there have little to no faith involvement. Hopefully, as I serve with the people at Hope Summit, that will change and we can make an impact for the kingdom. For those of you that are curious, here are a few facts about Rochester Minnesota:

- The city’s nickname is “Med-City” because it is home to the Mayo Clinic

- The Mayo Clinic is consistently rated as one of the top hospitals in the United States

- The Mayo Clinic employs around 48,000 people and is the largest employer in the city of Rochester

- IBM is the second largest employer in the city and employs close to 10,000 people

- The Mayo Clinic draws over to 2 million visitors each year

- Rochester is regularly rated as one of the nation’s top cities to live in

CCV has been such a great place for me to grow, change, and develop as a leader. Thank you all for allowing me the privilege to serve with you and to work with such a great congregation. For all of you that I’ve volunteered with over the years, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your journey, and I look forward to what God has for you and the CCV family in the coming years.

I also want to thank the CCV staff: Brian, Kevin, Terri, Alyssa, Dan, Ben, Kelly, April, Adam, Steph, Amy, Robin F, Scott, Robin W, Dianne, Leanne, Jodi, Dave, Matt, and Jen… It has been incredible to serve alongside you. You each have encouraged me, and contributed to my personal, spiritual, and professional growth. I’m looking forward to applying the lessons I’ve learned here as I lead at Hope Summit.

Please stay in touch and I look forward to seeing what God has for us all next!

Can You Control Your Happiness?

frank — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:25:00 +0000

The older guy in this video has some interesting advice. Pretend that it is not a Coke commercial and answer this question:

How much control do you believe you have over your own happiness?

Churches Dissapearing In the UK

frank — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:32:00 +0000

The below video is an interview with a gentleman (Sir Roy Strong) who is behind an initiative to turn abandoned church buildings, in his country, into a useful community space. It is really too bad that these churches didn’t maintain that type of attitude while they still had people in them. That is one of the reasons I am so excited about our church facilities and campus maintaining a community friendly posture on a daily basis. During seasons of nice weather people enjoy the walking path on rollerblades or walking their dog. Daily there are families on our campus bringing kids to our pre-school and many them don’t attend our church. Now with a new gymnasium I am looking forward to basketball, indoor soccer and other activities at our facilities and seeing sports teams utilizing our field space. Hopefully CCV can be a force of change in our region and an encouragement to other churches. The last thing I want to see in our area is this discussion that they are having now in England.

I Find Joy In Order

frank — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:03:00 +0000

I recently ran into this quote and found it interesting…

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.

– Gustave Flaubert

I know that I find myself being the most creative when I am at peace and removed from stress. For me that is sitting down with a fresh cup of coffee or after a good night’s sleep, first thing in the morning. When are you at your best? Maybe you schedule a time to tackle that big problem at that moment.

Hatchet Man

frank — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:28:00 +0000

I tend to be the kind of guy that wants to cut someone off at the knees when they mess up. Jesus extended grace and I struggle doing that… I want to extend the hatchet, or maybe a baseball bat, or perhaps a sledge hammer. I recently didn’t extend someone grace and God showed me that quite clearly today . Maybe God returned the favor and hit me with the hammer.

Today I was reading Galatians and it says this:

Galatians 6:1 – Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.

I need to get better at the “gently” part. I tend to lead towards shoving people into restoration.

The Greek word for “restore” that Paul uses here is kat-ar-tid’-zo and it means to completely and thoroughly repair.

How does that translate into life application?It does not simply mean stating the obvious mistake someone has made and moving on. It means that God expects us to participate in completely and thoroughly repairing that person to full health. In order to really do that we have to be in relationships with the people we are confronting, we have to care for them and they have to know we care. If people don’t know that we genuinely care they often wont allow us to help them.

Bill Hybels – Interview

frank — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:59:00 +0000

J.D. Greear recently interviewed Bill Hybels who speaks of some changes he has made in his own life and beliefs in recent years. Bill describes it as a second conversion. I have posted the interview below:

Second Conversions: Bill Hybels
Got to meet and have breakfast with Bill Hybels yesterday. An incredible learning experience. Sure, there are things we do differently. But the man is a leader, and is leaving the world a legacy of doing whatever it takes to get the Gospel to people. I’ll rise to applaud that any day.
He talked about second conversions…certain things that he has been “reborn” to in recent years of his ministry. Here is a handful of them (in my paraphrase):

“A church is to be missional, not just attractional.” Jesus did not die to attract a crowd on Sundays, but to train believers to work righteousness in the streets and bring the Kingdom of God to the world.

“A church ought to be diverse IN EVERY WAY that its community is diverse if it is to properly be called an Acts 2 church.” That means age diversity, ethnic diversity, socioeconomic diversity, and religious tradition diversity. Many of us have figured out we can grow a church more quickly by doing our music and programming to attract only one kind of person. But how does getting a group of people who all resemble each other and like to hang out with each other anyway demonstrate the awesome mystery of the body of Christ? Wouldn’t a group of young people who got along with old people and black people with hispanic people and rich people with poor people be a mystery the world would have to notice?

I asked Pastor Hybels point-blank… “If programming for diversity meant that you could only grow half as large as a church, would you still do it?” Without batting an eye, he said “Absolutely… The larger witness of the church is more permanent than a temporary number surge. Plus, it’s biblical. The Bible is the manual for the church and it tells us that in the same Christ-community ought to be people of all flavors. The church is to be a house of prayer for all nations. It angered Him when the Jews turned it into something different. I imagine it angers Him still today when we do it.” (My paraphrase)

He continued, “The New Testament strategy for church growth is not to find a niche of people to reach, but to strive to make the footprint of your church resemble the footprint of your community.”

“Numerical growth is not the best, and certainly not the only, indicator of the health of the church.” This has been a lesson that I will probably forever be relearning. We do care about numbers because we want to reach as many people as possible as fast as possible. But I have to remind myself that God evaluates disciples, not numbers. And I have to remind myself that I should never sacrifice what the Bible says a church should be for what works in bringing in a big crowd or lots of money (not that those two are always opposed). I have to remind myself that God’s evaluation has much more to do with how faithful I am to Christ than how large my church is.

“It is the church’s responsibility to speak out against injustice and care for the poor in their community and around the world.”

“White churches are often oblivious to the racial dimensions of the society around them.” For example, predominately white churches often don’t see why they should acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, since they don’t acknowledge Lincoln or Washington Day either. But black Christians can’t fathom why they don’t, and feel it disrespectful and denigrating not to do so. White Christians think that because they have black friends they have fulfilled their role in racial reconciation. But the issue is more complex than that.

One other thing that stood out to me was his humility… It always amazes me how some great men and women never lose the learning edge. And not fake, smarmy humility either. Bill was honestly trying to learn something me (and the other pastors I was with), who collectively have not done 1/10 of what he has done.

OK, those were just a few teasers… it was awesome and inspiring. And please don’t write me and tell me that you have concerns with Bill Hybels. That’s not my point here. From the conversations I often have at pastor’s conferences, you’d think that his middle name is “now, we don’t really support everything he says.”

I do not deny do we need to be discerning, but I do maintain that we can always learn from spiritual giants.

Getting Older And Growing Younger

frank — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:24:00 +0000

I love helping my son Michael learn to physically navigate where he wants to go. Lately we have been learning to climb up and down stairs. I will ask him, “Are you ready to go?” and he will vigorously nod his head telling me yes and spinning his hands around in circles telling me go in sign language.

He then will dart for the stairs anxiously awaiting the bath or a trip in the car. As he approaches the edge he will look up at me just waiting for permission to take the first step. I will reach my hand down and Michael will wrap his little palm around my index finger and grab onto the spindles that make their way down the banister of our staircase. Slowly, his left foot will approach the edge of the first step and his right knee will begin to bend as he slowly slides his foot down on to the next step.

I am currently visiting my parent’s house this weekend and I couldn’t help notice the similarities between my young boy that is almost two, and my grandfather. We traveled to upstate NY this particular weekend to celebrate his eighty-seventh birthday. While there may be a gap in physical age, there are some things they have in common. There is an innocent stubbornness that they both have. They want to do things their way and in their time. Plus, they approach stairs in much the same way.

I have mixed emotions about this comparison. It is sad and slightly humorous to see two people I love going through such a unique but amazingly similar experience… one getting older and the other growing younger.

Video Of The Week – Shift Happens

frank — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:28:00 +0000

I ran across this video on another blog and found it to be facinating. Take a look!

So, where do we go from here?

I think hearing or reading statistics like that might cause some people anxiety or fill them with fear. I have to be honest though, I get excited. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I think the data raises more questions then answers and I hope that my efforts, in the small circle of influence that i have, impact this changing world in a positive way.