Thanks for Coming, Please Come Again…

There is a lot a excitement about the Paradise theater opening as our second site for Epikos Church. Excitement within the church for sure, and I am sure within the community of West Allis also.

In a book that Pastor Paul, the West Allis campus pastor, and I have been reading there is a lot of talk about about “Assimilation Rate” or the idea of moving people from first-time-guests to regular-attenders. We want people not just come once, but to come again, and again, and again. Because as this book (Fusion by Nelson Searcy) states:

“Encouraging people to stick around our churches is not about making our auditoriums full and our numbers impressive, it’s about leading them to faith in Jesus, through the Spirit’s prompting.”

So, I have been thinking about how with the launch at the Paradise on the horizon, we may see a lot of guests come to Epikos, but what will the “assimilation rate” look like? In deeper exploration of this I had to ask myself the question: Why would someone come to Epikos at the Paradise? Some possible possibilities…

• Alex is interested in seeing what all the construction of the old building is about.
• Rachel lives down the street and curious about the church with a weird Greek name.
• Frank remembers going to the theater in the 60′s thought it’d be fun to check out the old building
• Luke met one of the pastors at a local happening earlier and though the pastor was kind of cool.
• Sue is looking for a new and different church in the area, one for her and the kids.
• Erica got invited by a co-worker who goes to the church.
• Sam visited the other site once, but this site is way closer to home.
• and the list goes on…

But the question in my mind becomes: how do you get these persons to desire to come back again, to get involved, to learn more about Christ? Or, rather, why make them desire to come back again? Why should I desire to work hard to see them desire to come back?

As the above quote showed, we don’t desire to have people come back to our church in order to fill the seats so that we can count them. Instead we desire returning guest to see the Spirit prompt people in His time to make a decision to surrender their life to Christ, and eventually the deeper involvement so the process can go full circle.

However, these thoughts really stir in me a gut check, a deep challenge, a questioning of what my motives and heart level beliefs are on why ministry happens and why I place myself in the role of participating in ministry.

Motivation?…a question for evey situation!

So here is God calling me on something. In the last week, I have been talked to by two of my teammates on my affirmation of people, or lack there of. And then there is Tim Keller’s second morning talk at Campus Crusade’s CSU ’09, which God spoke some questions to me about.

This is not an easy blog to think through and write out, but I have the desire to write while things are still fresh in my mind, and heck, I am joyful to share that God is working and convicting. Amen to that…

The question: “what is my motivation?” is one that I am seeing I will need to continue to look at, work on, trust God with, etc. With my teammates, both asked the question “Why is it that, after someone says something, [I] am so quick to share another story or say something else that does not affirm what the person says?” It’s true, I know I do this, its something I have thought about and don’t care for. But, this has really made me think about, what is my motivation for anything that comes from my mouth? With family, friends, teammates, or how about people I share the gospel with (oh, now there is a big one!…and did Keller hit a heart string in his CSU talk).

Keller spoke from Luke 10, with the idea that this chapter describes our: mission, message, motivation, and method, as Christ followers. Jesus sends out the 72, then they come back. What is it that they say: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (verse 17, NASB). If you emphasize the word “us” Jesus response takes on new meaning (at least for me). Jesus says in verse 19-20 “Behold, I have given you authority…over all powers of the enemy…(19). Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (emphisis added). Pertaining to motivation, Keller talks about how we make it about US, and while this was in reference to sharing the gospel, I had to listen and apply it across the board in my life.

What is my motivation in saying: “Here is MY story…”, “This is what I think…”, “Guess what happened to ME…”, and so many others. Is my desire to look at me, or is the desire to care about people? This applies, I believe, because in the next part of Luke 10 Jesus talks about the Good Samaritan, and being a good neighbor. When someone shares their story with me. Am I being a good neighbor? If motivation is a driving force behind being a good neighbor, in that split-second between their story and my response (whatever it will be), I need to ask WHAT IS MY MOTIVATION HERE???

I know that I will have to work on this tons in the days, weeks, lifetime ahead. And I know there are some people that are already doing much better than I am at this. But, what if we asked about our motivation a little more? What if we thought about it, and decided (as Jesus tells us to), to rejoice that our “names are recorded in heaven, as opposed to responding about US?

***Thank you to those of you in my life who have been bold enough in my life to trust the Lord and lovingly discuss this with me.

The Forgotten People of Church History

Nerd Alert!

I am starting to work through a seminary class online on church history. Why? Because i am a nerd, and I find it fun. There is no other primary reason, even though I am sure I’ll get more out of it than that.

Today, I worked through the first class lesson (yeah, huge nerd, listening to mp3 of seminary lectures…that’s WAY beyond podcasted sermons!), and something really hit me when the prof started to talk about the problems in defining church history. One of the key difficulties in looking at this history is the difficulty in selection. Selection of persons, places, events that are considered important. When it comes to church history, we choose. “We” – as in sinful people, “choose” – as in select things and don’t select other things.

The prof went into wanting to not forget the “forgotten people” of church history, which I would say includes every person sitting in a pew for a Spurgeon, or Edwards sermon. These people are just as much of a player in church history as the man in the pulpit, arn’t they? Possibly. Maybe. When I started thinking about doing this class, my thoughts of course were “maybe I can learn more about the great preachers, martyrs, revivalists, etc.” But did I ever thing about these “forgotten people,” or course not.

To take this into another place, I really even started to think about how I, and we (those who like to think about the church now and before), like to so often ask questions like: Who was/is the “most important” Christian in the world? I know i have done my share of putting people on that pedistal, and this is even in talking about people that come after the times of the Bible. This prof stated that Edith Schaeffer (wife of Francis Schaeffer) was asked this question once, and stated “I don’t know, you do not either, and probably no one does.” If He ranks them (which I don’t know that He does, only God knows. As this prof made note, we may be suprised by what events and people are listed as “most strategic” by God in His working out of the Great Commission. It just makes me wonder, when people years from now look back at today, who will they see as “most important” and will that be truthful?

Who are the “forgotten people” of today, and should this have anything to do with our life and ministry in playing a role in God’s kingdom building?