Ben Habeck

I want a tattoo! There are a ton of people I know who say “do it” and look forward to seeing it soon. It seems to be more acceptable these days, even in the Christian community. (By the way, Carlos goes to our church so I stole this pic from him. I’m sure he doesn’t mind, as long as I give him some love… www.ragamuffinsoul.com) Here’s what is stopping me… for now. I have a strong desire to be authentic and with the popularity of tattoos these days, I want to make sure I get one for a great reason and not just because it’s the thing to do now.

I think this struggle has taken place in the church for years and today is no different. Conferences are a great example of churches coming together to share “best practices” and inspiration for leading in new ways. The problem though is there are a lot of church leaders who attend these events, see a successful church or ministry, and go home to implement the exact things they saw and heard about. Now don’t get me wrong… there is a time and place for best practices or “plug-and-play” resources being put into place to help improve systems or effectiveness. But it seems like often times, the message of courageous leadership is lost in the results that are seen on hand.

What would it take to evaluate our current situation and make some bold new leadership decisions to ensure a healthy organization, and more importantly, an effective ministry to the community? Or better yet… what could the church be doing to lead the way as an example of healthy spending, saving, and giving habits whether the economy is in the tank or not? It’s a tough gig these days to try and keep up with culture and high levels of expectations without breaking the bank to make it happen like everyone is. Or maybe, this is the perfect opportunity to step out and create a culture in which God is edified through excellence, pure hearts, and a desire to thrive in a way that is counter-culture to the rest of the organizations in America. Maybe it’s time to extend a collaborative hand to the denomination down the street, to maximize resources and capitalize on the opportunity to model for the community, God followers working hard together to express His explicit love for everyone…

I’m sure it’s not easy, or we would have figured out how to do it already. I can’t help but wonder though if God’s willingness to allow us to make massive mistakes in the way we handle resources and people is just another facet of His undeserving grace for us. I pray that we take this opportunity to evaluate how we have been living, both as individuals and organizationally, and how our learning can be a catalyst for truly authentic ministry.

- Nathanael

It’s strange to be old enough that I can look back at the trends that have taken place in church over the past several years. Everything from colors to worship styles, approach to children’s ministry, catch phrases, and even the baptism pool placement… there seems to be a few central events that drive these things and the church seems to follow along until something new and more relevant forces change.

I’ve spent a lot of time on various church websites and it seems that the idea of “being the church” has caught on and it is dominating across the country. It really is exciting to think that a massive group of Christian communities have grasped the importance of living out our passion for the lost and hurting. It is even more troubling to think that this may be just another catch phrase or idea that will last as long as it takes to come up with something better.

It’s no secret that we have more people in need of help, support, and encouragement in our communities than in the last two decades (at least). Are we [the church] really prepared to “be the church” in an economy like this… where things like weekly giving, new ministries, and spending cuts could dominate our staff meetings? It’s a bold move that we all would agree should have taken place a long time ago, but will take a great amount of attention and focus amidst all the other distractions.

I spent some time with Erwin McManus (www.mosaic.org) a few months ago and was blown away by Mosaic’s approach to being the church. We began discussing “small groups” and the effectiveness / ineffectiveness of how the church utilizes that environment. I discovered that Mosaic’s version of a small group is actually just a group of people who begin meeting together to be the church for each other. No stipulations, covenants, or specific time-lines, just a group of people meeting together to encourage each other to go deeper and explore their relationship with God in new ways. Because of their approach to and idea of what the church really is… they are able to break into arenas that most churches / Christians would never be invited to.

There is a stirring among many where the desire to see God’s church rise up in a new and influential way has become so strong, they can’t help but focus on anything else. What does it mean to “be the church” in your community? What are the needs that go unnoticed… that if the church addressed with a pure heart, would cause waves within our culture… not because of a drive to be noticed or to live up to the idea of doing something different… but because we have taken the time to seek out His vision for the church and to follow His lead, whether “church culture” is telling us to or not.

- Nathanael

I’ve been in Chicago for the past few days. (That’s my niece and I on the right, there! Isn’t she so cute?) I met with the President of our Payroll partner (www.paylocity.com) on Friday and then spent some time with my brother and his family through the weekend. It was a great time. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, just know that my phone got hijacked and my brother thought it would be funny to change my status. It actually was pretty funny, but just know, I’m not moving to Chicago! Anyway, the people in Chicago talk differently than me! A women told me on Saturday that I remind her of my brother, just with a southern accent. If you know me, you know that I am far from having a southern accent. Regardless, to her, I had an accent. AND, to me, everyone up there has an accent! So, as I was traveling, I was paying attention to the differences between Chicago and Atlanta. For example, the roads in Chicago are MUCH bumpier than in Atlanta. The people in lines (at, say, Starbucks) seem to stand really close behind you. Perhaps they’re afraid someone is going to cut in front of them? People drive very slow in the left lane, but everyone seems to be “On a mission” to get somewhere. By the way, why do they have so many tolls? Bottom line, the people who live in Chicago are very different from the people who live in Atlanta. Even though, Atlanta is often considered the “Chicago of the South”!

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about our current economic / political / whatever situation and the Church’s response to it… MY response to it! Our country has been through it’s fair share of difficult times, however, this is the first time I’ve seen or been a part of a time like this. I wrestle with my role in all of this. What do I do? Do I just sit back and hope things work out? Do I worry about my friends and family? Do I help people? Do I fend for myself… Protect my family and let everyone else deal with themselves? Part of me thinks that the people in Washington couldn’t give two rips about what I think or what happens to me and the other part of me doesn’t give a rip about what the people in Washington think. So, what in the world do I do? What is my role? What is YOUR role?

People are people! Whether they’re from Chicago or Atlanta or Baltimore (Hi Matt!) or San Diego or Russia! People are people… We all have different ways of doing things but, at the end of the day, we’re all people and we all long for security… For hope… For SOMETHING to trust in and something to rest in. I don’t have a masters in Theology or a Bible degree or any of that, but in Acts, Paul was talking to some folks about their shrines. He said, “…for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it.” He goes on to say, “From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him — though he is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist.”

I think the “Church” needs to be real with people! I think the “Church” needs to be authentic with people! We’re all going through struggles, whether we admit it or not. We need to quit trying to give people all the “Answers” and quit trying to sound like we can defend anything and fix all the world’s problems. I believe we need to breath truth and life into people! In this time where people are so diligently searching, not for answers, but for HOPE, we (The Church) needs to share “Hope” with them… With each other! “From one man, he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.” This [all that we're going through] is no secret to Him! “For in Him we live and move and exist.” This is the hope that we need to share. We need to quit debating, quit arguing, quit pointing fingers, quit being frustrated and depressed… We’re all different and we all have different struggles and fears but, we all long for the same thing!

It’s a crazy time in the world right now!  My parents came to visit last weekend and my dad randomly asked if we could drive through an elementary school’s parking lot and count how many American made cars were there.  So, we did… it turns out, 12 cars were “American made” and 22 were foreign.  I asked why the heck we were doing that?  He explained that, in Ohio, the schools are asking for tax increases in order to just cover the expenses.  It’s not like they want to go out and buy a bunch of new projectors or anything, they are just trying to make ends meet.  So, what the heck does that have to do with the # of American made cars in the parking lot?  Well, in case you haven’t heard, the American auto manufacturers are having a very difficult time.  Thousands of people are losing their jobs in the Mid-West, and across the country.  So, why would Bill Smith, who lost his job at the GM factory, vote to approve an increase in his taxes so the schools could have more money when they aren’t supporting HIS efforts by driving a GM?  In other words, why would Bill (who has NO income right now) support a levy when those teachers haven’t supported him by buying a car from his company?

Think about it… This is a crazy time!  Bill Smith lost his job at the GM plant (unemployment goes UP) and won’t support the levy to just cover expenses for his kids to go to public schools.  So, what happens?  Bill loses his job, Bill doesn’t vote to approve the levy, schools suffer, Bill’s kid gets a bad education, Bill can’t afford to make ends meet, Bill’s stress goes up, Bill’s marriage suffers, Bill’s family struggles!

Where does Bill turn?  What does Bill do?

This is just one situation of hundreds.  Think about it…  People are struggling all around the world because of this type of situation and most of us don’t even realize it.  We can point fingers and blame this or that or him or her or whatever, but the reality is, we’re here!  What are we going to do about it?  Well, interestingly enough, we’ve seen attendance in churches increase because of this.  People don’t know where to turn or what to do!  So, they go to church!  Why not?  We’ll try anything if we think it’ll help!

So, what is the church’s response to this?  My opinion… BE THE CHURCH!  Love people!  Care for people!  Quit being negative!  Encourage one another!  I honestly think that this is going to change church’s and their philosophy of ministry.  I think it already has!  Think about it… We’re shifting from this “Whatever it takes to get people in the door” mentality to “How can we support people”.  How can we be the “Church” to people?  How can we build TRUE community?  Honestly, this is a GOOD thing.  The time is NOW to re-think your philosophy of ministry.  What are you going to do to support these people?  What are you going to do to LOVE these people.  What are you going to do to build TRUE community?  Everyone is struggling… Re-THINK your ministry, your philosophy, now!

A good friend of PS20’s sent an excerpt from Seth Godin’s April 20 blog post that addresses an interesting option facing the church in today’s marketplace:

Prediction: The effort required to outsource a task involving the manipulation of data of any kind will continue to decrease until it will be faster and cheaper to outsource just about anything than it will be to use in-house talent. What will you do today to ensure your prosperity when that happens?

I had the opportunity to hear Seth speak last year at Catalyst ’08, here in Atlanta. While he isn’t a “churchgoer,” he has an amazing ability to present the challenges and trends of sales and marketing in today’s culture in a way that those of us in the church or non-profit world can understand and apply.

Seth’s view of where we are headed when it comes to sales and marketing is exciting to a lot of us and scary to many others. Where do you stand when it comes to the church and outsourcing?

Here is my experience: I worked on staff at a church plant just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, as the director of administration, and experienced first-hand the challenges and time-consuming nature of administrative tasks. There was a daily struggle with wanting, no, needing to do everything with precision when it came to accounting and data tracking while thinking about volunteer teams, relationships with attendees, the guest experience, small groups, spiritual development, staff relationships, and by the way, Sunday is coming! There is a lot going on, to say the least, and all of it seems to carry a huge weight of responsibility.

I’ve talked with many in the same position, and the story is the same. If anything has to take a back seat, most often it’s the administrative tasks, as we are passionate and determined to impact our community for cause. And yet, I’ve talked with a lot of lead pastors who struggle with the idea of outsourcing their administrative positions even though they admittedly don’t know where the church is with weekly giving, monthly expenditures, or if they are operating at or near budget.

I would argue that Seth’s statement is exactly what the church should consider. What are you doing today that you could outsource in an effort to allow the valuable resources of time and money to be directed toward the mission and vision of your organization?