Because Relationships Matter

Buzz '07

I'm in Washington D.C. attending the Buzz Conference hosted by National Community Church. NCC is a vibrant church that meets in a movie theater in Union Station.

Besides being a great church in our nation's capital, it has given me a chance to step back and see our own church through the eyes of others. It is an amazing experience, and I don't know if I have words to describe it, but let me try.

Our Executive Pastor, Tim Stevens, spent an hour talking about leveraging pop culture to tell people about Jesus. As Tim shared stories and taught principles and reinforced them with multiple media examples of things created at GCC, pastors and church leaders from over 27 states responded with intense listening, laughter, and applause! There were times it was difficult to hear the media because of spontaneous cheering!

Now we don't often get the opportunity to hear Tim from the platform at GCC, but he is a great speaker with an incredible passion for our church, our community, and Jesus! I am very proud of him and grateful for the opportunity to serve under his leadership.

There are great churches and leaders serving Jesus well across our country. This isn't about being better - it's about appreciating where God has us. As leaders and members of our groups and our volunteer teams, it's easy to lose sight of the unique privilege we have to serve a great God. I'm taking some time today to thank God for the opportunity. I hope you join me!

Goodbye Honda!

I sold my Honda!She was good to me for the last 10 months, but I'm glad she has a new home.

Wayne and Cheryl and their two daughters and various pets are now her family. We quickly discovered that Wayne works with a good friend of ours, so it gave us both some instant credibility. They trusted that we weren't hiding any facts about the condition of the car, and we trusted them to take it for a test drive without fearing that they'd never return. We also accepted a verbal agreement for several days that it was sold when we agreed to the price over a phone call. (We ultimately didn't sign the title over to them without a cashier's check from their bank. We're trusting but not stupid.)   

It's all just more support for Mark Beeson's consistent teaching on how we extend influence. If I like the way you live your life, your character, your family relationships, etc., then I'll pay attention to what you think is important in life, who you consider to be friends, and maybe even where you go to church.

It was even more fun because they were as excited to get the car as we were to part with it. I hope Wayne and Cheryl have many happy miles with their new Honda!

We're a one car family for a short time. I'm grateful Jeff likes to drive!

Cancel the Closing Prayer?

We're not trying to create a heretical atmosphere in groups. Really. We're trying to help people develop relationships with one another.

We have seen a great example of it's effectiveness during the last couple weeks of our current Turning Point session.

In our church (and churches around the country), it looks like this at the end of groups, meetings and Bible classes. Groups are having great conversation. The faciltiator says something like, "Ok, that's it for the night. Let's go around and share our prayer concerns." They stop talking. They pray. They leave.

At our Turning Point groups, the facilitator says something like, "Ok, that wraps it up for this week. I'll look forward to seeing you all next week." People turn to one another. They keep talking. Some stand. They keep talking. Some continue sitting in groups of 2 & 3 all over the room. They keep talking. After 30 minutes, there were still people in the room talking! It was great!

Prayer is important and there is a great place for it. We opened the meeting with prayer. It centers us, focuses us, slows us down, and reminds all of us that God is present.

People are smart. Let them ask others to pray for them. Facilitators can model it naturally and as needed by including it in their normal conversation. "...It's going to continue to challenge me. I'd really appreciate your prayers as I continue to redefine the relationship with my adult children." (That's a real prayer request from me, so thanks!)

Go ahead. Try it! It's like -- oh, I don't know -- wait! I know. It's like answered prayer!

Encouraging people!

I received this voice mail message from the facilitator of one of our Starting Point groups that we launched last week. For full effect, it was an excited tone of voice and spoken very quickly:

"Hey Kath - it's Heather. I just wanted to give you an update on how group went. I'm telling you, I have the best group ever! Everybody showed up. We had conversation like you wouldn't believe. It was just non-stop talk talk talk. It was awesome! I have the - aw - it was a great, great group! We're planning on meeting next week at Adams [a local high school]. We're gonna play some tennis, some bocci ball and some other things. It's just an awesome group! I'm so thankful that you let me - that you took a chance on me and let me lead. It's just fantastic. I love it! I'm so thankful that you gave me a shot. I'll see you around. I'll talk to you soon. See ya'. Bye."

It doesn't get much more fun than this!

The truth is - there was no risk involved in asking Heather to lead! She's warm, welcoming, has a smile that lights the room, loves Jesus, and is real about who she is and where she's been in life. She's a perfect leader - hesitant but willing, characteristics we look for in leaders. I love her!

 

Financial Peace News

We wrapped up the first session of Financial Peace last night. It was great! Read here to learn more about the decision to use the Dave Ramsey materials. From a duration perspective, 13 weeks! That is a ridiculously big time commitment - if you go the distance, you gotta make it a priority.

Over 50 family units did just that! There were about 65 households who started the journey, and 50 that attended 11 of the 13 sessions. Incredible!

We had a party! Pizza, cake, and plenty of time to celebrate. A media team showed up to give people a chance to talk about their experience and the changes they are making. Some good stories already!

They have a fish bowl at the front of the room. During pizza eating time, a woman brought her stack of credit cards to the front and started cutting them over the fish bowl. With spontaneity that only comes when people are having some fun, people noticed and voices started as they celebrated with her the number of cards destroyed, "2, 3, 4, 5 . . ." (I lost count of how many she destroyed!) Applause broke out. Fun!

The volunteers who lead this team are doing a great job! They're on the ground floor. They'll be able to say, "I was there in the beginning." With a plan to launch two sessions a year - the next session is scheduled for August 21.

Caleb Shikles, Hug Nation

Check out this story from Yahoo News! Caleb is a 95 year old ex-Baptist preacher and his 35 year old grandson, John.

There's a 2 part brief media review of the story - it's a great story!

Pay attention to how they got started 3 years ago on a Thanksgiving Day. People are lonely. They crave relationships - virtual ones matter.

Cars

Kem Meyer makes me laugh. She's just funny. Kem's our Communications Director. She's really smart too! She says what others are thinking, but she says it unfiltered. I like her...a lot!

She just posted about her car (ok, mini van) and I couldn't help but think of mine. It's an Accord. It doesn't have a cool name like Vue or Vibe, so, yeah, Honda needs to talk to Kem before they name their product line.

It was an impulsive purchase. We're really conservative financially, except for big ticket purchases. We think too long about the $29.95 lawn chair, and not long enough about car and timeshare purchases!

I was in the doctor's office last year for an exam. (New job = new insurance plan = new doctor = new exam routine.) So, I'm getting the gown on, and Jeff's calling my cell phone a ridiculous number of times. "What? I'm in the exam room waiting for the doctor. Is someone dying?" (modeling patience)

"Alan called. He's at an auction. He's got an '04 Accord. 24,000 miles. Great condition. You want it?"

"The doctor's outside the door. She just picked up my chart. Go for it. I gotta go."

Home equity line of credit checks are from Satan! They are ridiculously easy to rack up debt in a very short time frame. We're debt averse, although a little slow at connecting the dots that you have to actually pay back the money that you borrow via those litte checks! Hate it.

I don't need a car that I can't pay for or save for. Besides, I drive 4,000 miles a year. My son's '90 Honda has 186,000 miles and just made the trip from Indiana to Maryland flawlessly! It would take me 35 years to put that many miles on this car. I'd be 82! It cracks me up to think of me driving this car at 82!

There's really a relational story about all the people I've talked to that have expressed interest, but I don't feel like talking about it now. It's a beautiful day in Indiana, and we're going to take Olive for a long walk and decide what projects we want to avoid doing this weekend. Don't want to do anything too impulsive!

New Eyes

When you first step into a new area of leadership, you have a fresh perspective. New volunteers look at things through "new eyes".

Well, I used to have them! It's been less than two years that I've been in this role, and I didn't expect atrophy to set in so soon. I want them back!

As I'm getting ready to leave for the gym this morning, I have this heightened awareness that my vision muscle is experiencing atrophy.

Twice over the last several months, I have had different volunteers ask me a question about the Starting Point ministry. On both occasions, they were just casual questions that really challenged me. As I learned more about what they were experiencing at the launch event, they were making amazingly simple, yet brilliant, suggestions.

As we implemented the ideas and found that they worked, I experienced the "Duh....how did I miss that?" feeling. I'm grateful that we discovered the need for change, but I wonder what else I'm missing that others are seeing as glaringly obvious. I'm grateful for new people who ask questions.

Who's new in your group? On your team? What are they asking? Learn more about their experience.

Paying really close attention to new volunteers is going to be my "workout routine" to keep this muscle active! 

   

Airplanes

I don't initiate conversation with the person next to me on airplanes. I just don't. On the way to DC last Friday, I followed a nudge to do something differently.

The window seat was occupied by an attractive woman who was looking through a notebook. I glanced. Scripture. Notes. I was just curious! What was her story?

She offered gum to me as the flight pulled from the gate. I asked about her notebook. She is teaching a new member class at her church in California and has been thinking about content. She takes lots of notes but rarely reviews them. She thought she'd take advantage of this trip to read through her journals. Her name is Michelle.

Michelle was traveling back to Baltimore to surprise her parents and siblings; her father has been ill, and she wanted to take the opportunity to spend time with him in case he worsens. She has a successful marriage, family and business.

As we talked about my role at GCC, I learned that she has considered a career in counseling, which opened the door to my passion. People have lots of questions about counseling. My concept of counseling is simple: people matter to God. Michelle connected. It's her story of life change.

Michelle moved to California as a drug addicted young woman. It was too painful for her family to watch her slowly kill herself. With love for them, she moved from the east coast.

In one of her times of searching, she went to a church. She wanted change, but she wasn't ready to follow Christ. She was still living with her boyfriend and getting high regularly. There was this woman she had met at church. "We'd be sleeping, and there'd be a knock at the door. It's that lady from church. That crazy lady wouldn't give up. No matter what I did, she was there. She'd invite us over to their house. Cook a meal for us. We'd just hang out. She took us to church."

Michelle mattered. She mattered to people. She mattered to God. She's teaching a new member class at her church. 

Mark Waltz said it well last night. (Watch it here.) The person you invest in may be the person who tells lots of other people about Jesus. Who is sitting next to you in your neighborhood, your office, your family, or...the airplane?