Tools to Gain Perspective

2009-11-05T15:52:00.001-05:00

In the afternoon session we talked about using a handful of tools that would help us gain perspective when planning strategy for our churches.

Here are 3 of them:

1. Turning Points

The leaders shoot out the God moments
Tell the story of the church or ministry
Put it up on a big stick it note and see it as a timeline
Don’t rush it, let it take time
What you’re doing is gaining perspective and where you’ve been together
This lasts about 2 hours

2. Four Helpful Lists

Four Questions to See Where We Think We Are

What’s Right?
What’s Wrong?
What’s Confusing?
What’s Missing?

You’re attracted to the What’s Wrong first, but don’t go there
Don’t try and fix or defend. We’re just dreaming
The beauty of all of this is that everyone sees it together
Do this for kids vols meeting

3. Opportunity Mapping

Allows us to celebrate the present and dream about the future
Four Questions
- Sensing: What do we sense God is calling us to do?
- Seizing: What opportunities are begging to take?
- Building: Which opportunities are normal part of our church?
- Reaping: Which opportunities are gaining wins?
Churches that are plateaued or declining don’t have much in the sensing

Session 2: Good to Great Debrief

2009-11-05T12:00:00.001-05:00

One of the disciplines/homework for each of the participants in the training the EFCA is providing for me is to read a book a month to be discussing at this meeting. This past month it was the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. It falls into the genre of buisness, but can be applied, at some level, to any organization.

The book is the unveiling of a study that was done by a well degreed, insightful research team that asked a question. What are the common denominators, if any, of every company that turned from being a good company to a great company. They define the terms of good and great.

I don’t want to do a book review here, but I do want to share some of the takeaways that impacted the way we do leadership, systems, evaluation, team building, technology, and decisions.

1. Level 5 Leadership: This was one of the first common denominators discovered. The team discovered that every CEO of the good to great companies had leaders who were extremely humble but had intense personal will. They were extremely concerned that the mission succeed and were willing to do whatever it took to make that happen. However, they cared none that they get credit or that they get applause and accolades. This is how God defines greatness, regardless of the results of the organizations we lead. So “ level 5 leadership” needs be an aspiration of mine even if Collins had shown that it kept us from being great in the eyes of his study or others (Luke 24:24-27). It’s nice to see they discovered as true what God had already promised (James 4:6-10).

2. Create a Culture of Discipline, Not a Bureaucracy. Page 121 describes exactly where we’ve been and where we are. It describes what can happen when systems and policies are put in place so that organization results, but it snuffs out creativity and enables incompetency. This page alone may have saved our future from being described as bureaucratic oversight. Crew recently brought in a disciplined, executive minded leader, Tim Holmes, to bring order from chaos. Chapter 6 vividly woke us up to the need for less systems (though systems are badly needed), but the real need is for disciplined people with discipline thought who make disciplined decisions. Crew needs to be developing leaders that lead, not implement what other leaders tell them to do.

3. Stop Doing List. Not only should leaders have a list of things to be doing, but they should also regularly evaluate what they need to stop doing. This task is helpful across every ministry team. But we’ll be specifically thinking this way as we go into our budget planning this month. We structure our budget across our ministry priorities (i.e. Evangelism, Community, Training, Equipping, and Multiplying). This is helpful in that keeps us on mission to develop disciples. But we’ve not been disciplined in making sure that every program, process, and ministry fits our mission. We’ve faked ourselves out because we were able to put each program somewhere in those 5 priorities.

4. Long Obedience in the Same Direction (The Flywheel Chapter). This chapter talks about how when you push a flywheel at the start it’s hard and it moves in small increments. But by continue to push regularly the momentum builds so that it takes less effort and makes larger gains as you go. This was one of the most encouraging and empowering points in the book for me. Two reasons I say this. First, it makes every single task important. There are no little decisions. There is no reason to get sloppy with the tiniest choice. Second, it builds confidence. It would be easy to get overwhelmed with the thought of becoming what we dream of becoming as the church. But this gives me confidence that if we keep making the right choice little by little in seemingly insignificant decisions, that one day we’ll look up and see significant strides.

5. Balance Between Right People & Training. This may not qualify as a takeaway. But I see it as one because it’s a question I struggled with. It has to do with looking for the right people (discipline people with disciplined thought making disciplined decisions) to put in the right place on the team. What is the balance between saying this person is not disciplined in character, thought, and action so they cant’ be in a leadership position on the one hand. But on the other hand, let’s train, challenge, and equip this person to become a disciplined person.

Thanks for allowing me to learn by sharing this with ya’ll. Any thoughts? Questions?

Hymn Help

2009-11-03T12:08:00.001-05:00

Hey guys. We kicked off our hymn project this past Sunday. Sean Knisely, Crew’s song guy, decided to record this month’s hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross to help us memorize it. You can download it here.

The Story of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

2009-10-29T14:22:00.001-04:00

In 1707, Isaac Watts wrote what many consider to be one of the greatest hymns of all time: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”. It was written for his church to sing during communion under the title, “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ”.

It stirred a great amount of controversy (nothing new) because it was written in the first person as a personal experience rather than simply singing doctrine. Watts wanted music that would give the church a way to express personal devotion to God instead of exclusively singing the Psalms and other Scripture set to music.

Although 5 verses were written, it was eventually reduced to only 4 being sung. Watts placed the abandoned fourth stanza in brackets indicating that it could be left out. It reads:

"His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o'er His body on the tree:
Then am I dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me."

As the title indicates and the context prescribes, it is to be sung with communion in order to look upon the cross of Christ. It is a song of contrast:

The prince of glory dying on a cross
The greatest gain being counted as loss
Love and sorrow mingling in Christ’s blood

A weakness in the song would be that it doesn’t mention what the cross of Christ actually accomplished. The vindication of God’s glory and the salvation of believing sinners. This is clearly not a blight on Watts, as his songs are extremely salvific. However, we’ll be careful to place songs in our set that allow us to survey the cross as well as it’s results for us.

Isaac Watts Bio

2009-10-29T13:59:00.001-04:00

The writer of the hymn Crew is memorizing this month (When I Survey The Wondrous Cross) and likely the one we’ll memorize next month (Joy to the World) was written by Isaac Watts. He is regarded as one of, if not the, greatest hymn writer of all time. In order to deepen even further our appreciation of what we sing I thought it would serve us well to get a brief look at the man behind the story.

Mars Hill Church created a short well done video of his life:

Some other resources for Isaac Watts Music are:

A modern album of all Isaac Watts hymns: Sojourn Music
The Preface to Hymns and Spiritual Songs, his hymn book published in 1707
The Psalms. He wrote a hymn for all 150 Psalms in the Scripture. It is amazing how he maintains integrity to the Scriptures while using vivid and compelling poetic language of his own.

Crew Will Be Memorizing Hymns

2009-10-29T13:20:00.001-04:00

Recently, I discovered that Covenant Life Church started memorizing hymns as a church on Sunday mornings. The reasons they give are:

Memorizing hymns is one of the ways we can obey Scripture’s command to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16)

We’re doing this project because we want to benefit not only from the songs written in our lifetime, but also from hymns that have served the people of God for generations and will endure long after we’re gone. They are time-tested and true. They speak to every circumstance of life and point us to the wisdom, love and power of our gracious God and Savior.

This completely fits with our philosophy of corporate worship. One of the surprising things that folks discover when worshipping with Crew is our commitment to Christ’s work throughout church history. We intentionally use ancient songs that add depth of theology and style to our time together. We badly want to be connected to our past even as we add our present contribution to the body of Christ.

So starting this Sunday morning we’ll be adopting this project for ourselves at Crew. The hymn we’ve chosen for November is When I Survey The Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts. To make this project most meaningful and Christ centered, here are a few things to serve you in this project:

We’ll be singing the hymn for that particular month on each Sunday in November. On the last Sunday of the month (Nov.29), we’ll sing the hymn completely by memory, without projecting them on our screen.
We’ll post the story behind the song as a blog post in order to give us a fuller appreciation of the context in which it was written and the greatness of God that it points to.
Sean will be creating an audio file of the song that we’ll make available for you to download in order to facilitate memorization through the week.

Enjoy.

Should Crew Preach A Sermon Series on Converting People To Christ?

2009-10-22T12:06:00.001-04:00

John Piper answers the question well. Check it.

Community Wins

2009-10-17T17:34:00.002-04:00

I want to take this opportunity to tell you all about some of the good things that have been happening recently as a result of the community being developed in our small groups. When Clay Holmes had surgery Greg Lucas dropped by and spent significant time with the family in the hospital. Brian and Sunny Patton also dropped by to love on them as well. This activity is real ministry that anyone can do, but few do. We appreciate Greg and the Pattons taking time to love on the Holmes family. These are all members of the same small group. It is great to see real community in action.

Another example is that when Anna Keffer lost her grandfather several members of her small group made the drive to the Ironton to spend some time loving on her during the funeral home visitation.

It is great to hear about these types of ministry being performed by members of our small groups. I look forward to relaying more of these type of stories to you in the future.

A Christmas Album Like No Other

2009-10-13T11:48:00.001-04:00

Christmas has officially started. Dig it.

Crew Small Group Micromission in the News

2009-10-10T21:38:00.003-04:00

Cleaning Graffiti: Church Group Spends Saturday Scrubbing City's Eyesores

Reported by: Bryant Somerville
Reported: Oct. 10, 2009 5:01 PM EST

Eyewitness News Photo

"It's part of micro-missions for our church," Jonathan White said. "We really want to reach out to this city."

"We just really love our city and want it to look as best as it can," Lauren White said.

The old saying is "every little bit helps," and if you add that with a bucket full of cleaning supplies and a little bit of good old fashioned elbow grease, you get what members of the Crew Community Church are calling a solution to Huntington's black eye, also known as graffiti.

Tim Bailey doesn't mind getting up on Saturday, working and righting the wrongs of someone elses mistake. He doesn't even mind not getting payment, because for him it's about the payoff.

"Doing this, making Huntington look better, helping Huntington be a more inviting place benefits everyone," Bailey said. "I don't care to give my time to benefit the city."

White feels the same way, and he and his wife, Lauren, believe if you want to see change in your community...do it yourself.

"That's been an attitude I've seen since I've been here," he said. "Let somebody else do it...we don't feel like we're responsible for it. Christ didn't do a thing...He died for us."

"If every person does their little part, it's a lot easier than to depend on 10-20 people for the entire city," Lauren said. "If everybody did their part, it'd look really nice."

Doing their part, following in the steps of their Savior, forgive the sin and the sinner...and wash it away.

VIEW THE FULL STORY ON WCHS-TV 8

SO... What can your small group do as a micromission? E-mail info@crewcommunity.org if you have an idea and want to take advantage of the monthly $250 funds set aside for the Micromission ministry. Talk to one of our leaders for more details.

Session 1: Leading From 30,000 Feet

2009-10-08T15:48:00.002-04:00

Looks like Session 1 is closing in here a little.

It looks like the focus of not only this session, but the remaining ones is going to be essentially geared on helping us grow our churches numbers through the 150 attendance mark and beyond. This is what some call the 100 barrier. The conventional wisdom says that the next barrier should come to 300.

The idea is that once the growth barrier is broken you sort of naturally grow until you hit a ceiling.

This is a debatable thing among leaders and I don’t want to go there here. If you have thoughts or comments about the legitimacy of thinking in these terms, please email rather than raise hell on here.

It’s obvious that Crew has sort of bumped up against a natural growth momentum at exactly this number. So, I’m open to evaluating my leadership, our systems, any obstacles that churches and leaders who’ve gone before us can help with. So…here are some things that they’re teaching us in this session.

THINKING ABOUT OBSTACLES:

Many churches think of getting through obstacles by beating through them. This may work, but you’ll leave a body count behind us. It will be change and growth, but you’ll really hurt people in the process. It’s an our way or the highway mindset. Instead of that, leaders need to get above the obstacles and circle them in order to get perspective. Then you zero in on the solution.

A book recommendation they gave is The Dip by Seth Godin.

LEADERSHIP CAPACITY

Know leadership capacity of yourself and team. What can you do as a leader or what can this leader do? What kind of capacity do you need from that position or this one. Then make sure you have someone with that capacity.

Most likely barriers come because of the leaders. The church leadership doesn’t know what steps to take now to take the church to another level of growth.

They’ve suggested:

Go to a church that is at the next level and go pick their brains. Types of Questions to Ask Folks Who Are Ahead of You: What kind of leadership does it take? Tell’em where you are and ask them what you ought to do. Make them consultants. Ask system questions: How do you discipleship? What do you do with folks who come to Christ? Ask personal life questions: Who are you learning from? How do you lead staff?

Several other nuggets I could post, but this will do for now.

A Little Scared After The Meet & Greet

2009-10-08T12:19:00.001-04:00

If you haven’t read the previous two blogs, do that. If you don’t you won’t understand what I’m talking about. We’re spending quite a bit of time going around and telling our stories.

One thing that emerged for me that I mentioned to the group was the extreme suffering most of them had experienced. One man had a 5 year old daughter die from cancer. One had a brain tumor. Another had a wife die. One had a son become paralyzed on an ATV. The same man’s son had his fiance get killed by a drunk driver. That’s scary to me.

I’m living a charmed life in regards to these experiences. Am I next? Hope not.

Quick Hit From the Webinar…hate that word!

2009-10-07T16:22:00.001-04:00

I sat in on a webinar for the last hour. Had a few of my questions answered live! It was with Larry Osbourne of North Coast Church in Cali. He wrote a book we use for our elder training called The Unity Factor.

He talked on the topic of Multiplying Leaders. There were several points that were helpful. I plan on walking through the whole web…i….nar with CH, JB, and TH (Elders/Elder in Training) when I get back. I’m posting the ones that most resonated with me and where Crew is right now. We’re either dealing with these or need to be cultivating these.

(1) Ministry is Addictive. This point was to put emerging leaders into situations where they can be stretched but effective. Give them enough equipping/training so that they aren’t completely overwhelemed. But leave some discovery and to some degree inadequacy so they can depend on Christ and see him use them in it. In these situations leadership is caught.

(2) The Ponies are More Important than the Mail. This alludes to protecting our team from burnout. We’re dealing with this, but through this discussion I was alerted to some other folks at Crew that I need to serve better by giving them a break. Others will need to step up.

(3) Beware of High Passion, High Contentious People. Obviously people who are divisive shouldn’t be leading, but the ones that get by us are the folks who are passionate about the right things and yet become troublemakers. Those who are contentious for the right things are still contentious. Be alert for those who like to argue about doctrine all the time. Look out those who feel spiritual elite.

(4) Empowerment & Excellence will Always Be in Tension. Don’t you know it. I feel like Crew has always done a good job at empowerment at the expense of excellence. And there is certainly a need for excellence on our end. But we’ll need to be careful we don’t let the pendulum swing too far the other way and lose the freedom to fail as we learn.

(5) Always Make Room at the Table for Young Eagles. Thought I don’t like the “Young Eagle” term I like the point. There always needs to be a young emerging leader(s) involved in the leadership process. This will train/equip them and attract young/emerging leaders.

Love to hear your thoughts or questions as you learn with me.

A Few Days of Leadership Training

2009-10-07T14:49:00.001-04:00

Hey guys. It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. I’m primarily microblogging on twitter. My username is JDPCrew. You can follow my more regular comments there.

But today I wanted to make sure I share with you all some of the things I’ll be learning over the next few days. I’ve been invited to participate in a leadership collaboration in Minneapolis for the next 6 months. It’s a few days a month for 6 months. I’ll be meeting with some of the best church planters and leaders in the EFCA. Some of the pastors who I’m joining with are pastoring churches around our size and facing similar obstacles that we’re facing.

The training sessions will revolve around ways that we can move our church to the next level of growth and multiplication of the gospel. I’m not sure of a lot of details as of yet, but anticipate that it will be more pragmatic in nature. This can be be good or bad. Knowing the heart of the EFCA and the leaders involved, I’m counting on the former. I want cross centered practicality, don’t you? I want an intentional strategy that is reliant on the power of the gospel.

So we’ll evaluate things like systems, multiplying leaders, facilities, setting strategy for our future.

I’ve mentioned lately that I feel we are at a pivotal place as a church. It’s time to move from the cute chaos of a new church to the need to grow up and get more organized. I’m hoping that things like this collaboration will be helpful. We’ll see.

Pray for me over the next few days as I’m here in MN. Follow this blog as I plan on posting several times a day sharing what I’m learning. I’d love to get thoughts from ya’ll as well.

GO.

2009-09-30T10:22:00.002-04:00

Announcements Week of September 27

2009-09-28T11:37:00.000-04:00

Small Groups have officially begun. This is how you can truly connect to community at Crew, and we think it is essential to Christian life. If you are not in a group, we encourage you to do so. If you are in a group, but wanna check out a different one, please do - we want you to be in a group that will allow you to grow and connect with true community.
Last chance to sign up for a small group interview. We’re shutting sign-ups down September 30, and will close the groups for the fall/winter.
E-mail smallgroups@crewcommunity.org for more information.

______________________________

Break In begins next week, Sunday, October 4. break in is our 8 session journey of theology, ecclesiology, and missiology and is foundational to who Crew is and what we’re about. This class will be 1-1.5 hours each session and will help you discover who we are, what we do, what we expect of members, and what to expect of Crew. So, if you’re thinking about joining up for the long haul, break in is THE way to start. It’s 8 weeks, starting October 4 @ 5:45 PM. Renaissance Center. Orange (Sandbox/Playground room) Room in the back. Break In is open to anyone (aka no commitment required). Interested? E-mail info@crewcommunity.org.

______________________________

One of the clearest measures of our success as a church comes through believer’s baptism. Jesus told us to make disciples and baptize them in His name and we get all jacked up about doing it. So, we’re going to dunk a few folks right after our gathering on Sunday, October 11 and then spend the afternoon feasting and celebrating Christ’s glory. if you would like to be baptized, email josh@crewcommunity.org. in any case, mark it down and clear your calendar.

______________________________

You can check out all our announcements at http://www.crewcommunity.org/announcements/

Welcome to Crew

2009-09-24T09:46:00.000-04:00

Opportunity to Support Local Missionaries - The Taylors

2009-09-22T12:03:00.001-04:00

Two of my friends from college, Mikey and Cindy Taylor, have returned to Huntington to serve as full-time missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ at Marshall. They recently had a kiddo and are at about 60% support - and need to raise some more moola before they can start serving our city and Marshall. Even if you can't give financially, be praying for them as they are getting into MU students' lives and sharing the gospel. Here's their bio and how to give:

"After spending the 2008-2009 school year in Kosice, Slovakia, we are very excited to return to Cindy's home state and Mikey's first ministry assignment. We will be living in Huntington, West Virginia and working with Marshall and West Virginia State Universities. Both these schools have established ministries. The Marshall ministry is over 10 years old, and the WV State ministry started just last year. We will be working with student leaders, leading Bible Studies, and doing evangelism on these campuses. Our goal is too see every student on each of these campuses a chance to respond to the message of Jesus Christ. We would love to have you join with us in financial and prayerful support of our ministry. "

Here is their blog: www.mikeyandcindy.blogspot.com
Link to Give: give.ccci.org/give/View/0558311

Feel free to e-mail myself (kim@crewcommunity.org) or Mikey at mike.taylor@uscm.org.

2009-09-13T16:25:00.005-04:00

John Owen on Killing Sin

This morning Josh called on us to embrace personal holiness. It was an excellent sermon; thank you, Josh, for serving us so well with that sermon this morning. If you missed it, I strongly urge you to get the podcast when it becomes available.

In the sermon, Josh quoted from 17^th-century Puritan John Owen: "Be killing sin, or it will be killing you." Owen has written more insightfully on the idea of putting sin to death than perhaps anyone in the history of the church. I thought it might be helpful to add some more quotes by Owen on this topic. (Note: When Owen speaks of “mortification,” he is simply talking about the process of progressively putting sin to death in our lives.) First, a fuller version of the above quote:

(T)he choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin… Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work.”

One of the things I appreciated most when I read Owen on killing sin was the helpful way he pointed out that we as believers have an enemy within—it is called “indwelling sin” (See Romans 7:17-23). It’s the original “resident evil”. Here’s how Owen described it:

This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make but little or no progress in this work of mortification… This is every man’s ‘knowing the plague of his own heart’ (I Kings 8.38), without which no other work can be done. It is to be feared that very many have little knowledge of the main enemy that they carry about with them in their bosoms.”

Here are some other quotes; I pray that meditating on these will help you in your own battle to slay the enemy within:

“The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.”

“The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of deeds of the flesh.”

“Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death.”

“Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also!These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root.”

“There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so while we live in this world.”

“Sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion.”

“Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who does not kill sin in his way takes no steps toward his journey’s end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it.”

“Is it not enough to make any heart to tremble, to think of being brought into that estate wherein he should have slight thoughts of sin? Slight thoughts of grace, of mercy, of the blood of Christ, of the law, heaven, and hell, come all in at the same season. Take heed, this is that which your lust is working toward—the hardening of the heart, searing of the conscience, blinding of the mind, stupefying of the affections, and deceiving of the whole soul.”

Owen hits the nail on the head when he describes the most devastating effect of sin:

“[Sin] untunes and unframes the heart itself by entangling its affections. It diverts the heart from the spiritual frame that is required for vigorous communion with God; it lays hold on the affections, rendering its object beloved and desirable, so expelling the love of the Father (I John 2.15. 3.17).”

For those interested in reading more from Owen on mortification, the best place is the edition edited by Taylor and Kapic titled, “Overcoming Sin and Temptation”. Banner of Truth also has “The Mortification of Sin” by Owen. The fullest (and probably most difficult to read) is in Vol. VI of “The Works of John Owen” (also by Banner of Truth). Finally, Kris Lundegaard has put together a modern book on fighting sin which borrows from Owens’ principles. It’s called “The Enemy Within”.

One final quote: Owen, in describing the importance of the gospel in the fight against sin, says,“Live in the light of Christ's great work, and you will die a conqueror." Amen.

Preparing for Sunday

2009-09-10T18:03:00.002-04:00

Here's an e-mail from Josh that went out to those signed up to receive official Crew e-mails. If you are not on the list and would like to be, e-mail info@crewcommunity.org.

"Hope ya'll are having a great week. Two things this week. I want to continue our monumental effort to get everyone connected and to get you prepping for this Sunday.

COMMUNITY: Small groups are filling up and we've gotten an awesome response from ya'll. Again, it is our desire that there be no solo Christians out there. It's unbiblical and doesn't work, so put us down for against loner Christianity...if you can call it that. In a few weeks, the groups are going to close for the fall. Only some of them will open again in January, so you have a few more weeks to let us know you want in. Email: smallgroups@crewcommunityorg for questions or connection.

THIS SUNDAY: This Sunday we're going to continue the True series by looking at godly living. We want to create an environment for repentance and Christ's call to be holy. All of our schedules are different for the weekend, but I encourage you to prepare for Sunday starting Sat. night. Here are some things to help you prepare:

Read Isaiah 64:1-7; Romans 3:10-18; Psalm 139:23-24
a. Identify any sinfulness that needs repented of and repent.
b. Identify sinful tendencies/temptations you struggle with and ask God for the power to fight.
Read Eph. 2:1-10; Romans 7:15-25; Gal. 5:16-25
Stir up your affections to Christ with something substantive and deep. I suggest this week that you read Questions #14-21; 35-39; 82-87 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism: http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC_frames.html. You can read what the Catechism is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Shorter_Catechism.
Pray against everything that is competing for you heart, pray for me, pray for our Sun. service teams, pray that gospel be received, pray that the gospel be lived.
Get 8 hours sleep. You don't want to be tired in worship.
Get up and give yourself enough time to get ready (including kids), pray, eat, and get to worship. You don't want to be hurried.
Eat well. You don't want to be hungry in worship.
Make your prayer all morning that God would show you Jesus and his beautiful death and his supremacy in all of life, including yours.
Come make much of Christ with your brothers/sisters at Crew.

See you Sunday.
JP"

Destination: Marshall University

2009-09-04T13:09:00.002-04:00

Anyone interested in handing out Gospel Tracts and creating conversations with people at the Marshall University please contact me: Vernon Costolo: vwoodshop@hotmail.com. I'll be going Tues from approx. 11am-2:30pm.

Vernon

How to Study the Bible

2009-09-03T09:25:00.003-04:00

Josh challenged us to study our Bibles and get in the Word daily in Sunday's sermon, "True Story." This sparked a lot of conversation, as well as stirred some emotions. Something I realized through talking to several people is that the average person doesn't know how to truly study their Bible. But it's not your fault if no one has ever taught you how, so don't fret. Matt Chandler from Village Church in Texas did a workshop series on "How to Study Your Bible." It is absolutely amazing, relevant, and will change your perspective on studying the Bible. Make sure you download the PDF study guide as well. You can use a search engine to look online for resources as well. PLEASE don't hesitate to talk to your small group leader or another leader at Crew about this - we want to help you grow!

Help For Mom’s and Dads

2009-09-02T08:55:00.003-04:00

I’ve had several parents ask me about the Jesus Storybook Bible (see previous post). Well, Bob Kauflin (worship pastor at Covenant Life Church) linked to family worship guide.

I haven’t dug in yet, but enough to see that it is:

Biblically/theologically Christ centered and trustworthy
Nuts and bolts practical for parents and/or leaders (includes daily guides, tips, suggestions)
Full of singing, Bible reading, verse memory, creeds, quotes, and Q & A. This stirs up our enjoyment of God and aids in retention of what we learn from Him.

Most evenings, my family and I have been reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible, praying for each other, and I would ask them questions about Jesus and who he is and what he’s doing in our lives and how we should respond.

This guide will be a huge resource to me as I lead our family in worship from day to day. Hope it helps ya’ll.

Anybody already using it? Love to hear your thoughts.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

2009-08-31T14:51:00.003-04:00

Josh read from the Jesus Storybook Bible in his sermon yesterday. Buy it online buy it local and online from Empire Books.

Singleness and Christian Community (Married people too)

2009-08-28T10:44:00.004-04:00

Here's an article from Relevant Magazine that goes right along with the sermon on Sunday:

Singleness and Christian Community

Andreana Reale

Thursday, August 27, 2009

I’ve never really identified as a Single Person before. I’ve had long periods of singleness, yes—but a primary identity as a Single? No. I’ve been Woman, Christian, Activist, Writer—but never Single Person.

For most of my life, singleness has been the norm. Growing up, my parents had lots of single friends. My own friends had always mainly been single. Throughout life, singleness held a status no more unique than that of being coupled.

About a year ago I moved into an intentional Christian community. We live together inside a Melbourne city church, trying to connect with people who are homeless or otherwise marginalised. The transition from student to a more intentional life of radical discipleship brought many changes, not least in the area of relationships. I have found myself in a world dominated by couples. For the first time, I have come to perceive myself as quite starkly Single.

I first thought I might be a Single Person when my housemates and I went to an Anabaptist conference at the start of this year. Before I went, a small hope flickered at the back of my mind that I might meet Somebody Interesting. When I got there, all I could see were wedding bands. I was put in a cabin with the other Single Women—a mixture of the transient Singles, like myself, and more permanent Celibates. There were a few Single Men—about three, I think. One of them slipped me his number. I suppose we all had the same thing in mind. I’d never felt so Single in my life.

A few months prior, two of my housemates announced, over dinner, that they had become an item. I burst into tears. Great lumps of grief emerged from some place inside of me. I hadn’t even realised they were there. Part of it was sheer loneliness—the announcement of a new couple held the mirror to my own state of being Alone. I was caught in that ravine that many a new community member has found themselves in, the gap between a partial departure from old friends and support networks, and the arrival in a new community that absorbs most of your time but with which deep intimacy has not yet had time to develop. I was at a point where a boyfriend might have gone some way to fulfill my need for closeness.

Part of my grief was also tied to the fear of becoming more lonely as a result of this new coupling. Prior to my housemates getting together, half of the community members (three out of six) were single. There was one married couple and one guy who was engaged. Our team was well-balanced and I just fit in with the mix.

Now, five-sixths of the residential community was in a romantic relationship with somebody else. Where did that leave me? When everybody around you is sharing most intimately with one other significant person, how is it possible to have any deep relationships within a new community? I began to feel a bit silly±like the spinster aunt who bakes and is generally very sweet, but is relegated to the position of amusing minor character. I presented my various romantic exploits as entertaining titbits, stories of adventure and desperation told with smiles and laughs and received as such … but failed to get across the very deep needs and desires at their heart.

I am thankful to say that my fears were not realised as drastically as I thought they might have been. I think that others in my community have understood my situation, and have been intentional about including me in their lives in a deep, meaningful way.

I have fared well, but have also come to understand the potential vulnerability of the single person within Christian community (church, live-in arrangements or otherwise) whose makeup and culture is dominated by couples—or perhaps even more potent, families. When churches and communities are segregated along relational lines, it’s often single people who get left out. Couples inviting other couples round for dinner; parents with young children going on family holidays with other parents with young children … we always need to ask the question: who is being excluded here?

It’s not so bad if there’s a group of single people who can all hang out together. It’s harder when you’re the only one. But there’s more at stake here than feelings of exclusion. Married people need single people. Single people need married people. Unmarried couples need married couples. We all need each other, because we all have unique things to offer.

“[R]elationships require more than having honest heart-to-hearts with one another,” writes Lauren Winner in her book Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity. “Relationships require that married people must invite single people into their lives, and vice versa. This means not just inviting your friends over for dinner; it means going grocery shopping together and taking vacations together. It might even mean—as it does for Christians who create ‘intentional communities’ in houses or neighborhoods—married couples or families with kids living with unmarried folks.” Supporting single people is more than making sure their social needs are met (a rather patronizing prospect!); it’s about recognising that, like couples, they are integral parts of the community. It’s about singles and couples and families doing life together.

I refuse to take on the identity of Single Person. I’m just Me. I’m excited that I’m able to do life with people of all relationship statuses. I feel blessed that I’ve been able to offer my gifts and energy to enrich my community, and that people care about my romantic plight but don’t seem to take pity on me. I appreciate what the couples in my community offer. As I say, I have fared well. I wonder how many others can say the same thing?

Andreana Reale is a writer, researcher, busker and member of an intentional Christian community in Melbourne, Australia. She has a special interest in radical discipleship, relationships and sexuality.

You can view the full article here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/blog/18023-singless-and-christian-community

- Dr. Jason Black
jason@crewcommunity.org

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