Sailors, Saints, & Sinners

Twilight: What Can the Church Learn?

In an attempt to learn about our culture so we can better minister to our culture, I will stay on the Twilight bandwagon for one more post (first post is here).  This time let’s see how we in the church might learn from this series.

1)  People like a good story and the Bible is full of them.  Bible & boring do not belong in the same sentence.

2)  People are starved for people they can identify with and relate to and will even pursue pseudo-relationships with fictional characters.  Church & the opportunity for meaningful relationships should go hand-in-hand.

3)  People want a hero.  Jesus is the ultimate and only real hero.

Why Is Twilight So Popular?

{Forgive me for this momentary lapse in my blogging to comment heavily on pop culture, of which I try to study or at least be somewhat aware …}

The #’s are in and they are shocking: Twilight New Moon took in $140.7 million dollars on its opening weekend (#3 all-time)!!  It was the biggest Fall opening in history.  And what is even more remarkable is the storyline seems so, well, so outlandishly freakish: girl falls in love (nothing new there) … with a vampire (Whoa!) … who is opposed by a pack of guys who become wolves (What!?!) … one of whom likes the girl who fell in love with the aforementioned vampire (Say that again!).

So here’s my question: Why is it so popular and why did I, of all people, get drawn into this freakishly weird love-gone-wrong story?

1) People like realistic love stories. I know the vampire-wolf part is not “realistic” but love is never easy, is way more complicated than we care to admit, is opposed by forces often outside our control, and takes a lot of effort to work.  At the core the Twilight series is a love story … the vampire-wolf stuff is just part of the “complications”, as Edward would say.

2) There is a character in the story that most people can easily identify with. Again, look past the vampire-wolf mythology to the heart of the characters.  We all want someone who understands us, someone who shares an experience, a struggle, a hope or a dream that we have.  This is the power of a good story … fiction or not, realistic or fantasy … it does not matter.  People will flock to something they can relate to either personally or emotionally, either in real life or only in their dreams.

Do you struggle with a habit? Do you have a “fatal flaw” that sometimes holds you back? Are there things about you that you wish you could change?  Then look no further than everyone’s favorite vamp, Edward Cullen.

Have you ever fallen in love with someone or something that you couldn’t have … or have in the way you wanted? Ever had your heart broken?  Ever struggle with where you fit into life’s big plan?  Then you’ll identify with Bella Swan, the main character who tells us this story.

Ever compete for something you valued and lose?  Ever feel like you’re always a day late and a dollar short? Ever feel like the nice guy who always finishes last?  Jacob Black is your guy!

{Incidentally, regarding points 1 & 2 … this why I love the Bible: full of real people experiencing real life! I can relate!}

3) The plot line is anything but predictable and routine. Most stories fall into a predictable pattern that has the audience or reader guessing with incredible accuracy how everything will end.  Not so in this book.  The twists and turns are virtually non-stop.  This is why we see the two camps: Team Edward and Team Jacob emerging.  People are pulling for their guy, but unless you read all the books you really never know who Bella will choose or how or why she will make her choice.  This is creative story-telling at its best because routine is death to creativity.  Now some will say that this creativity is too much and is big-time “jump the shark” stuff.  That criticism may be fair but the audience is so desperately hooked on getting to the final answer, they tolerate and even enjoy it.

4)  Twilight scratched an “itch” by finding a good niche. This series has proven that teenagers and women are a powerful bloc of people who were ripe for a blockbuster made for them.  80% of all ticket sales on opening weekend were purchased by women!   A film, book, or movie rarely succeeds by trying to be all things to all people.  It’s wise to know your target audience.  It’s also wise to know that your target audience will bring people outside of your target audience with them for the ride (i.e. the husband or boy friend).

5) For whatever combination of reasons Twilight has reached a cultural “tipping point”. Tipping point is a term that basically means unstoppable momentum.  People on the outside of this momentum can’t understand it, they criticize it, question it, mock it, and even hate it … but they are powerless to stop it.  Think about the emergence of social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  Many of these tools have reached a tipping point where now we see CEOs, football coaches, and politicians updating their status and sending out “tweets”.  Only in hindsight do these waves become explainable.  So it is with Twilight — we can’t really explain it … yet.

Rock Bridge and the World

Sometimes I think our Christianity is too small.

• We define Christianity solely in terms of our personal relationship with God, instead of community with others where radical love is experienced and sacrificial service is given.
• We think only in terms of our church instead of His Church which is both local and global.

Consider how God described the impact of Christianity when he was speaking to just the 11 disciples:

• Matthew 28:19 — Go, and make disciples of all nations …
• Acts 1:8 — You will be My witnesses … to the ends of the earth …

These verses are raising new questions for me as a Christian, as a pastor, and for our church.

• What does it mean to be a global Christian? A kingdom-minded local church?
• What are our responsibilities to fulfill Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8?
• The church in America has been blessed with an abundance of resources.  The church in the rest of the world is either severely persecuted or stricken with incredible poverty or both.  How do we respond and come alongside our global brothers and sisters?

A few weeks ago our Elders affirmed for Rock Bridge to move forward in 3 broad areas, praying and exploring where God would leverage us for His glory to show His love, serve His people, and help the downtrodden.

LOCAL IMPACT: efforts in NW Georgia to come alongside various local agencies with manpower and resources to share the love of Christ.

GREAT COMMISSION PARTNERSHIPS: partnering with others to make disciples all over the world.  These efforts include church planting here in America and missionary work overseas.

GLOBAL POVERTY: 1 child dies every 5-6 seconds due to hunger.  Thousands die daily because of malaria.  The orphan crisis in certain countries is epidemic.  While the statistics are staggering, the resources are available to reverse poverty and combat disease worldwide.  We are looking at exactly how we should leverage our God-given resources to be part of the solution to these challenges.  Specifically, we believe God is calling to focus on a particular nation and community in that nation.

Much more to come … but let’s all start by praying for God to broaden our vision of His Kindgom and deepen our burden for all nations and all peoples.

Weekly Rundown (11.1.09)

• Appreciate all the prayers for my trip to Charlotte to speak at a conference.  I had a great time reconnecting with some friends around the country, was challenged, and hopefully brought encouragement to pastors/church leaders.
  • On a side note to the NASCAR fans, my hotel was right next to the future NASCAR Hall of Fame!! It is a sharp looking building.
• For the first time in years, Beth & I were home on Halloween … it was fun but our neighborhood was pretty quiet.
• Our two Fall Festivals (Calhoun & Dalton) were amazing.  The volunteer effort was once again tremendous.  We blessed our two communities with something free and family-friendly … Jesus was well-represented by His church.
• Ok, Georgia is just sad and bad.  Can’t say much more … I’m still eager and curious to see how Coach Richt handles this from a leadership standpoint.
• I’m loving the Fall weather!
• The week is FIRST WEDNESDAY at both campuses!!
• I’m out!

Random Mid-Week Stuff

Some random things:

Coming Up:

• They moved the Dalton-Rome football game to Thursday night (10.22) because of the bad weather.  Don’t know what that means for Football Friday …?
• Calhoun Fall Festival is Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm
• Student Ministry Hayride is Sunday afternoon/evening … GREAT event!!
• Dalton Fall Festival is next Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Next Connect Dinner for Dalton Campus is November 3rd.  Sign-up here.

Cool Stuff:

• Great video of Stage 123’s design and construction.
• We had a great celebration on Tuesday night … we just passed the $2 million mark in our Next Step giving efforts … pretty amazing considering +12% unemployment in Whitfield County during the past year!!

First Wednesdays and A House of Prayer

Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about making a shift in our First Wednesday services to be more focused on prayer.  Previously, our First Wednesdays included a message, some worship, and the Lord’s Supper.  In the future, we’ll shift this time together to include a shorter message (with some “Family Talk” about issues in our church), more time in worship, more time in prayer, and the culminating act of the service will be the Lord’s Supper.

I want to summarize why we are making this change.

1) We need it!! Jesus reminds us that much of the work He calls us to do for people requires prayer for it to be successful (Mark 9:29).  There are marriages that need restoring, lost & dead souls that need saving, bodies that need healing, and people in bondage that need freeing.  There is so much that can only be done and will only get done by us praying.

2) Corporate prayer is critical. The vast majority of us pray everyday. Personal time in prayer is important and biblical.  However, praying together as a church is also biblical and I would argue critical.  Nothing shows we are unified in our dependence on God like praying together.

As we looked at our church calendar, we asked ourselves, “When is there quality time given to church-wide prayer?” While we pray during our weekly worship services and our small groups spend a good amount of time in prayer, we sensed God leading us to take our prayer life as a church, as His body to a whole new level.

Jesus said, “My House shall be called a house of prayer.” (Matthew 21:13)

Jesus said that praying together increases the potency of our prayers  (Matthew 18:20)

3) What makes a church a church is the ability to offer people grace & mercy.  Grace and mercy are obtained because of the death of Jesus and THROUGH PRAYER!!

Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Online Giving Now Available!!

For anyone and everyone who likes to bank online and rarely uses checks, we’re rolling out online giving. You can now give to the church online to either your campus’ operating & ministry account OR to the Next Step fund (Dalton campus building expansion).  Beth & I just enrolled and it is really simple.  Here’s how it works:

1. Go to the Rock Bridge website and click on “Online Giving” (lower right hand corner of the home page).
2. You’ll be prompted to set up an account by creating a user name and a password.  You can create multiple accounts.
3. Rock Bridge Community Church (Dalton, GA) will be listed as your “recipient organization”
4. You’ll then enter your bank account information.  This works as a bank draft (credit or debit cards are not an option).  You’ll need your bank’s routing number and the account number that you give from (this information is found on checks … the site will demonstrate how to locate this information).
5. You’ll be asked to verify some things (site is very secure).
6. Then you can set up when to give, how much to give, what church accounts to give to, and how often to give (one-time, monthly, etc).  You can also track your giving history.

A Week in My Life

Sometimes I get asked what I do during a typical week.  While few weeks are ever “typical” here is the basic routine I try to maintain.

In general, I try to get up fairly early (between 5 and 6 depending on when I got to bed the night before) and workout, eat breakfast, and have some personal time with God.  I like to get to church between 7 and 7:30 am.  I also try to use lunch to meet with different people (staff, guests, church members, other pastors, etc.)

Monday

Monday is the day Beth & I have set aside for us.  I call it “date day”.  We do something together as a couple.  If one of needs to do something else, we must get permission first

Tuesday

Tuesday is a day for meetings.  I meet with some men from our church to pray at 6:30 am and then I am in solid meetings (regular meetings with staff) usually through lunch.  On Tuesday afternoon I am around and available for either more project-specific meetings, counseling & pastoral care, chats with staff members, or basic administrative stuff like emails, phone calls, church-wide communications, etc.

Our regular Tuesday meetings include all-staff prayer & worship; a “tactical” meeting to review the weekend and discuss priorities, projects, and strategy; a worship planning meeting to discuss upcoming messages; a meeting with our small groups’ staff to work through group questions.

Wednesday

I study and prepare for the message (I usually prepare 2 weeks ahead).  I pray.

Thursday

I spend the morning working on and finalizing the message I began preparing on Wednesday.

Thursday afternoons are for other meetings, touching base with staff, getting progress reports, counseling, etc.

Friday

Friday is miscellaneous day.  I start going over the message for Sunday, get the Scriptures and bullet points over to our Tech & Worship staff, and go over the service with our worship leaders.

Friday is also my day to visit the hospitals (Each staff pastor is assigned a day to make hospital visits).

I catch up on emails, phone calls, and other communications.  I also try to do some reading and praying.

Saturday

Beth & I usually do something together but we try to keep this day light.  We try to be settled in for the day around 5 or 6 pm.  I spend a few hours Saturday evening getting ready to preach on Sunday.

Sunday

I’m up pretty early and get to church to start praying and reviewing the message.  At 9 am we have a prayer team that assembles.  Then it’s off to greet folks and preach!  Sunday afternoon I write blogs, email, reflect, and sometimes grab a nap.

Possible 3rd Worship Service!?!?

Over the past few weeks we’ve experienced an increase in our worship attendance at all our campuses and venues.  While growth is not our goal (glorifying Jesus is), we are excited because MORE people are hearing God’s Word and MORE people are experiencing God’s love for them.

However, this growth is not without its challenges (but they are the ones we like to have).  At our Dalton campus, we have very little room to add more people, especially at our 11:00 service time … and this is the time a guest is most likely to show up!! There have been occasions where people have left because they could not find a seat!!  The challenge for us is “What do we do? How do we respond to the ‘increase’ God is giving us?”

In Calhoun the answer is keep inviting people!!  Keep loving those God sends! Fill up the Civic Auditorium and then add another service!!

In Dalton, the answer is less obvious.  However, we are considering adding a THIRD WORSHIP SERVICE!! Additional services help us free up seats and perhaps reach more people at more times.  The big question is “When?” We are looking at three options and want to survey our church about which option might be best.  Please be in prayer and ask God to give us His wisdom and direction.  Also please remember that at this time we are only considering this option, nothing has been decided.

As you read these options, ask yourself “Which option would have the most appeal to an unchurched person?” AND “Which option (if any) would I attend?

8:15 or 8:30 am SUNDAY MORNING: for early risers and those who like to get the day started quickly

12:30 or 1:00 pm SUNDAY AFTERNOON: for late risers

THURSDAY EVENING (between 6 and 6:30 pm): could be attractive to people who work on weekends (i.e. shift workers), weekend travelers, and college students

If you would be willing to regularly attend and support any of these services, please complete the survey by clicking the link below:

3rd Worship Service Survey

Michael Vick and the Wisdom of Alcohol

Just read a news report that said Michael Vick had an alcoholic drink after an NFL practice.  His mentor, the well-respected Tony Dungy (led the Colts to a SuperBowl title), criticized Vick’s decision (check out the article here).

Now I’m not one for piling on or adding more condemnation than Vick has received but this story offers us insight into lots of things: guarding our reputation & integrity, being above reproach, and most importantly, making wise decisions.

Often we try to reduce life and Christianity down to right versus wrong with the result that we become moral minimalists who walk close to the edge of the cliff and sometimes we fall or slip or get pushed over the side.  Yet the Bible tells us to resist sin and contend for our faith.  So God calls us to walk by wisdom not merely right or wrong.  Wisdom keeps us safe, wisdom keeps us on the right path, protects our integrity, and sets up a positive future!!

• This past weekend the Coast Guard, life guards, and the Weather Center warned thousands of would-be swimmers of the dangerous waves and currents Hurricane Bill was bringing to east coast.  Yet several decided to brave the waters.  Was this right or wrong? Who can say? Was it wise? No, clearly it was foolish and tragically several lives were lost.
• Married men often spend time alone with women other than their wife. Is this wrong? No … at least not on the surface. But is it wise? We protect what we value and is this a way to protect one’s marriage when countless number of affairs have begun this way by well-meaning people who said “It won’t happen to me and there’s nothing wrong with it.”?
• Lots of people spend money without a budget. Lots of people use credit without thinking about the bill they will receive in a few weeks.  Is this wrong? No.  Is this foolish? Yes.

When wisdom is applied to the equation of decision-making we are forced to think about the future, we are forced to get past our emotions (which can convice us we are right!), we are forced to pause and think, AND we are forced to ask other people … because part of wisdom is SEEKING ADVICE (Proverbs 12:15).

Proverbs 14:8

The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.