Meetings, and lots of work to be done....

This is not the typical Monday/Tuesday blog update because I wanted to get two meetings in this post that I had with two different people. So let me start with a summary of the interview/meetings that I had had:

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Brian Wells:// teaching pastor @ Crossroads Community Church in Cinci.

The last blog post I was running off to go meet with Brian and the talk/interview went very good. I shared with him who I was and how I got to KY/Cinci. and a little about what we are attempting to accomplish in the tribe extension. And then he basically shared the history of their church and I would but in and ask questions that might be related to what we are doing and see if I can gain some insights.

basically the history of Crossroads is 11 people that most or all of them worked in P&G in Cinci. and were are attending different churches and had a single Bible study going on. Eventually the Bible study turned into about 150 people attending a Bible study and one of the men involved asked another one who was Brian (in Marketing and a Preacher's Kid) if they should just start a new church instead of just doing the Bible study. Bryan having no idea what to do...assumed that you had to get permission or a grant or something just prayed about it and eventually they decided that may be that was what God was desiring for them to do. So 11 of the core team went to a Willow Creek seminar and found out that even though some of the stuff they were doing was cheesy that maybe it did have lots of power in it and possible could actually reach their friends that did not know Christ. So in March of '96 those 11 guys after gaining the blessing of the pastors in the churches they were attending decided to put their 6 figure tithes into the new "church" and put a want ad in a Willow Creek publication. Well, they got around 40 responses and finally found the current Sr. Pastor of the church.

And with-in one direct mailing and the current average 150 in attendance already they had around 400 in attendance right off the bat. They purchased a old Home Depot competors warehouse building and created the church in that building. I have no idea how many are in average worship but lets just say it is a lot. The advice he gave me when it came to planting a church was: The thing that most suprised him was the amount of conflict. The number of people who what worship and the church to be exactly what THEY want instead of keeping to the vision to what God desired for the church. I summed that advise up as EXPECTATIONS. I personally believe the great difficulty that everyone deals with are expectations. expectations of what the church should look like, and how children should act, and what should happen in each worship service, and how everyone should dress including the pastors...Expectations....and how our own expectations might not be the same as those of God.

He also in looking back said that he really wished that the development of small groups would have been a natural progression and an organic ministry growth of small groups......instead of making small groups a "launched program".

The church was created for the purpose of reaching people who are not Christians. So a lot of the conflict that they had to address was Christians looking for a cool church to attend but wanted that church to be just like the church they think is good...but some of those things are not effective at reaching non-Christians. So they would have to turn down large sums of money in the form of a tithe...because those people could not see that this church exists for those who do not know Christ....not those who do.

So.....this church is very open and up front about reaching the 30 year old male. This is the one group of people that you rarely find in large numbers in church...and actually it is the greatest challenge to all marketing firms. the 30 year old male. So this church will always try to cater to the lifestyle and mentality of the 30 year old male. If they build a building then it will be attractive to a 30 year old male....they they use language then our language will be their language. Music is their music, etc..... He example was that the church has become very feminine. For example...he says...when is the last time you heard a male gangster in a movie that is sitting around his gang members and turns to one of his friends and says, "Hey Guido, SHARE with us how you jacked that Lincoln and stripped it". So, they focus on trying to reach the non-Christian 30 year old male.

He also says that when it came to finding servants to be in charge of ministries that they had to learn over time that they had to value character over competency. There are several competent people out there....but if they did not have the character of Christ then it would get them into major problems.

He believes that they are, and always will be in the battle to make sure the church continues to be a revolution verses an institution.

Then lastly I asked if he had any books that he would consider would be helpful to us and he suggested:

Repenting of Religion by Greg Boyd

Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow

I guess I can add these to the list of 100 that I need to read.

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The next meeting

Bryan Sims:// Leadership Coach with SLI:

Bryan is a personal friend of mine and I actually am meeting with him first and foremost as a personal prayer and accountability fellow tribesman.

But, we played catch-up and Bryan considering what he does for a living offered support and guidance as much as he could and of course in his support we are considering bring Bryan along side us to help with the strategic understanding with the Tribe Extension as well as help develop and form a second 1st start development team that would be made up of people that will make the commitment that they will start and stay on board the entire time and allow this new ministry to be their new home after it is officially "launched" (please notice the emphasis on the quote marks!). I believe this team would be extremely beneficial and would include members of the already formed prayer team, current 1st Start development team, the possible starting "sample" home church, and maybe even possibly one or two from the Florence UMC FOCUS team.... This idea is no where but in the conception understanding of its life...and this is different then the first thoughts of starting the 1st start Dev. Team and eventually finding new members to form a team like I am suggesting...but current the 1st Start Dev. Team is primarily consisting of a report time and time and energy accountability of me (which is greatly needed and a must have in the process)....But, they are not part of a team that is helping developing vision and living out the actual ministry (one or two are, but the meetings are currently not set up to be that way). Anyway, the meeting was very beneficial to me to my personal growth of course to include prayers for one another, but also for the possible future relationship of the Tribe Extension and SLI.

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the next meeting:

Markus:// Associate Pastor of Union Pres. Church in Union

This was a very exciting meeting with Markus! I had previously met with the Sr. Pastor there and during the entire meeting the Sr. Pastor kept reminding me to meet with his associate and that we would have lots in common to talk about. Other than the fact that we both have a lot in common individually, love movies, worship, etc....) we found that we both had a desire to reach non-Christians and that we were both disappointed in how the majority of both of our denominations have attempted to develop relationships with non-Christians. He told me that he was brought on board there @ that church to start a contemporary worship service for the people in Union and of course just like all churches (that I have talked to except one) their understanding of Associate Pastor also includes Youth Ministry......so, when he heard what we are doing and our immediate plans for the future (i.e. block parties to find out the needs of the people in Union) he was very excited and so was I . I offered that we could some how develop a relationship that would go beyond denomination's walls and was focused on people's lives and would be centered on Christ focused transformational community relationship he was excited about the chance to dream with God. So, right now he is trying to see if I can come and share the current vision for Union to his A-Team of the contemporary worship service...and we are seeing how God might be bale to bring our hearts together to reach deeper relationships with the people in Union. Great meeting!!!

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Well, the prayer team met for the first time last Sunday and they are going to start out meeting on a monthly basis for now, and hopefully when they meet again they will return with the acceptance of the name of the ministry, as well, as how often they feel from God that they should be meeting and forming some kind of covenant between them and God. The meeting was wonderful and the people who make up this group are wonderful and excited prayer warriors for God's desires for this ministry! A wonderful praise indeed!

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Now that the Union map is full of house locations that have been pinpointed this week I plan on developing a contact list in geographical groups that I can start to call and have local house meetings with the possible supporters of the block parties and determine the amount of support they would be willing to give and who might possible offer their house as a possible block party location....Please be in prayer for their support and to catch the exciting vision of this possible new ministry.

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Please continue your prayers for God to keep sending us people who can grow with us in this ministry and our relationship with each other and God.

Next steps:
1. Develop the geographic specific phone and contact list of houses in Union
2. Work with FUMC outreach team to start a recurring consistant Living Out Loud Ministry to train relational evangelism for existing members of FUMC.
3. Set-up meeting with Markus and Union Pres. Contemporary Worship Team.
4. Continue to red and finish the books I am reading:
Organic Church by Cole
The Naked Christian by Borlase

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"Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all comin' to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you, than I have before. Sure as I know anything, I know this. I aim to misbehave."
--Capt. Malcolm Reynolds in the new movie Serenity

Another week and another joy....

Times are good and I am please with the process...but as with anything I believe it is normal to always look back and forward and continue to ask God if you are going in the right direction, need to slow down, speed up, or be open for new areas and directions for what He desires. And the more and more I am thinking about it the more and more I am told to be patience and listen or in other words...be still and know that I am God...or perhaps better yet I am because I AM. heh heh.....

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So far the map of union is finished with all the names of the existing membership of FUMC and this Sunday we even had those who attended worship to come by and make sure that the arrow was indeed pointing at their house. There were a few that we did not have on the list that I was given and a few moves of the arrow were made....over all I was impressed on how well Google Earth pinpointed the member's houses on the street. There were a few that it was wrong...and there were a few that the members changed where their house was originally pinpointed and then after close inspection changed it back to where I put it, ha ha ha....oh well, not many of us know where we live from a map satellite view....(when was the last time you flew home from work to your drive way? heh)

Now that the map is finished I think I might allow for one more Sunday of worship attendees to check the house marking and then I will start o group the existing membership into geographical groups to find out who I need to contact and call to start having our geo-cluster house meetings for me to share the vision for what we are doing and to find out the level of commitment they would be willing to provide for the near future house block parties.

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We are still in line to start the parties in November/December/January and hope to have a few of them to reach as many neighbors as possible and get to now them and find out what needs they may have for us to add their needs into the demographical pot and see if we can listen to God and find out what need we can focus on and meet that need in the Union community and invite those people who needs are being met into a tribe extension.

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The prayer team will be meeting for the first time this coming Sunday between services to finalize the specifics as to how often to meet, where to meet, and other basics and then I plan on giving them the purposed name of the Tribe extension and ask them to put then name into their prayer lives and if their hearts reflect the same as ours after prayer then I will officially share the name of the Tribe Extension and I will be able to call it by name!!! (I am looking forward to that!)

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I am still in search of finding or searching out someone with a background or currently deals with marketing and branding. After the talks we had with Linda it seemed that that is an area that would be of benefit of us in offering a few minds that market and brand companies or people for a living to allow their creative minds to have a shot at taking the name of the tribe extension and playing around with a logo, slogan, etc.... besides I love doing that kind of stuff and I would love to sit around a table of very creative people and watch their minds have fun with this.

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We had a wonder concert this past Saturday evening. The music was just amazing...Will is really talented. The coffee and desserts were amazing as always! The turn out was not exactly what we would have wanted, but the artist Will Solomon was happy with the CD sales (Will said he has had 75 people come to a concert before and only sold 12 CDs and Saturday night even though only 9 people showed up (including children) he sold 6-7 CD's) considering the low turn out. And the owners of Sterling Manor Coffee Shop seemed pleased to know that we are very interested in working with them for the block parties and that we care about them. So, the purpose of the concert was accomplished and the Joy that is developing new and lasting relationships was and still is celebrated! Here is a picture of the concert!


Free Will Solomon Concert @ Sterling Manor!

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Well, on to the next steps. Today I am meeting with the teaching pastor @ Crossroads Community Church in Cinci. This is a major church in the Cinci. area that is providing an amazing ministry to the city of Cinci. and one that looks like it may have a lot of insight for us to gain from. I hope to find out about how they do Small Groups and if they were, are, or plan to do any other campus ministries. So, I am very excited about this opportunity!

I also plan on contacting a church planter in Santa Fe (Christ Church) that has a good history of these block parties and I hope to gain any more insights and suggestions for how to makes these an authentic way of allowing those who come to these parties to know that we honestly care about them and desire to help them anyway we can.

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Please pray for our continued focus on God and his direction for this ministry and also, pray for a possible new opportunity that might involve a small sample of what we are thinking about that would be a real life example of true community and in a creative way that could be a real possibility! And I will share more as it gets fleshed out.

Thank you again for all your prayers and YHWH bless!!!

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"I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
--Morpheus in The Matrix

The map is up and I have two more pages of addresses to go....

Well, not too much has happened since I last posted (probably in reality EVERYTHING has happened since I last posted, but one week goes by and you can forget what you have done), but times are just as much fun and it seems that even though the work has seemed to come to a normal flow...it is still just as exciting and fun as it has ever been.

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The "younger" Associate Pastor @ the Presb. Church in Union has contacted me (said that he was intrigued by my title, heh) and I him and we hope to get together sometime soon to discuss God's desires for Union and to see if any of them are similar and how we can both support one another in God's vision and direction for the people of Union. I hope to meet with him soon....just a matter of getting a hold of each other and not voice mail, heh....

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I am still processing the information we gained from our meeting with Linda. I also have finally finished the first Erwin McManus book (An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind) I started reading a year ago this week....and I think I need to just go ahead and start reading it again, heh....it is one of those books for me that I can not just read...I discuss in my reading and it is not uncommon at all to have me form a discussion with the author's words over 30 mins per page...but it is very good and now that Gary is reading the same book maybe we can have some discussions, as well.

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Great news!!! The Union map has been cut, laminated, and it now currently up on the wall in our offices! It is huge...but there is a part of me that wanted it that way...not only is it extremely useful to be that large..but it symbolically reminds me and everyone who walks past it that the task before us is impossible to do on our own and that we are constantly going to need God's help and direction for this Tribe Extension. You can see the pictures below. Basically what I will do is place an indicator arrow at each home that is a current member of FUMC and then I can start to contact these homes to share the vision and God's leading and find out how much help they could provide in support and time and even possibly the opening up of their house to the block parties we would like to sponsor with area businesses. At first I was going to meet with each home and family/individual separately...but then I cam e to my senses and have decided to set cluster meetings of each area of houses. If you look close to the pictures (and you can zoom them a little if you click on the picture) you will be able to see the arrow stickers that are marking the current membership of FUMC in the Union area.

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The biggest event that we are focusing on right now is our:

Free Concert @ Sterling Manor Coffee Shop this Saturday night (17th)
from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

(need directions?)

This is a concert that we are helping put together to promote the coffee shop and to help out a friend of ours that is moving to Nashville to see if he can follow God's leading and possibly join the music industry. His Name is Will Solomon and please feel free to check out his website and get a taste of his music.

So as a reminder...please come by and bring a friend to this free concert @ Sterling Manor Coffee Shop (take the Richwood Exit off of I-75/I-71 and the Coffee Shop is behind the McDonald's) The coffee is amazing...and the music will not disappoint...and it even has free wi-fi access...so if nothing else you can come by and check your email, heh heh

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Here is me in front of the huge Union map...(and BTW it is between the office doors of the Sr. Pastor and the other Associate pastor...it is not what most interior decorators would choose...but it is a wonderful reminder of a need for prayer and support of the ministry God is doing!


And here is a close up of a very small part of the map. Crazy huh? It is huge! And you can see a few arrow stickers that we have placed on the map that show where the current FUMC members live so I will know who to call for a cluster meeting to find out how they can support the Tribe Extension.

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Please KUTPs and pray that God continues to lead us (not us God) and that we stay focused....I am finding out that even I am having preconceived ideas of what this tribe extension might look like...and I am dealing with those....it is a good thing that I am dealing with them with God...but it is a constant challenge to make sure that I stay focused in prayer along with you!

Oh and the prayer team should be meeting some time this month so that is great news! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers, and please keep them coming!

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Organic Culture Forming: The development of a way of living in relationship through a natural means.

The wonderful world of relationships...

I finally met with the Sr. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Union…and he was very supportive of what we are doing and even offered his church as a space to meet if we needed to do so…apparently they have a history of doing these things for the Catholic church and a few other churches….even ones that have tried to do ministry there in Union and failed (still looking to try to find those that attempted that plant and failed so I can find out the previous mistakes they made). So that meeting was a good one….and I also found out that they are trying to have a contemporary Worship service on Wednesday nights once a month and hopes to make it twice a month soon and eventually a weekly worship service…and their new younger Associate Pastor is heading up that worship service aimed primarily at young couples. Both ministers will be wonderful relationships to have!

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I also made first contact with the owner of Double Decker Sandwich Shop in the hopes to develop a relationship with them for the block parties….and I need to do the same with a Chinese restaurant in Union that I hear has Christian owners. The owner seemed excited about the proposal and wanted to talk more when the parties came closer. I still don’t think that the owner understands what I am talking about yet…(his thought is we just order a to-go platter….but I want to offer him the chance to develop relationships with his customers…and us! The more we talk to them more I have a feeling he will understand.

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I also finally got the maps from the Boone County Planning commission office and I cut the maps down so that they can now be laminated and then put on the wall for us to be pin-pointing the current FUMC families who live in Union and I can start a few 1-2 weekly meetings with homes in the area to share the vision, develop deeper relationships, and find out the level of support they would be willing to offer towards the ministry.

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I am also starting the Relational Evangelism training called “Living Out Loud” Sunday 25th after Church to offer a look into how to share Christ by developing relationships with others first and then over time sharing Christ. We will open it up for all the church to be a part of and then go from there….we already have a lot of people excited about this opportunity.

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I also helped pack and prepare the supplies that we took to the Conference office for hurricane Katrina relief. And I have a feeling that this new ministry will really need to focus on missional opportunities like this one and promote a culture of creative relationships with each other, God, and those that need them!
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I also just got back from visiting the Master Gardener @ The Garden "a Blossom of St. Luke's UMC ". Gary and I went there today to ask Linda questions about their tribe extension of 10 years this Saturday. Meeting with Linda was extremely informative and very helpful. It is nice to talk to someone who has done what we feel God is desiring to do through us...and we are discussing a coaching relationship between us. Gary and I feel very strongly about not reinventing the wheel, but being creative with God in what we do to provide new and exciting relationships with the people of Union....so Linda and others like her are going to be a key element in dreaming with God and the creative passionate movement of this specific tribe extension that we are accomplishing through Christ's help!!

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So, with all that said.....KUTPs!!!! God bless each one of you and rest this week in God's green thumb and hands.

RELATIONSHIPS!!!! <-----can you see the theme here?)