Soul (simpli)City Sundays
- Sometimes it’s the Simplest Things…
This past Sunday our Soul City Sunday Agenda was fairly simple:
- Connect
- Make Pizza
- Connect
- Eat Pizza
- Connect
- Pray
- Play Monopoly (Jeanne won, but almost lost her faith and friends in the process!)
In the midst of all the Dreaming, Praying, Planning, Team Building, Fund Raising, Location Scouting, and Blogging, we figured that the best thing we could to do together was…EAT. This simple idea is more than merely a human impulse, it is something Divine.
Again and again, throughout the pages of scripture we see FOOD. From the Feasts of the Old Testament, to the Feeding of the 5000, to the Last Supper, to the Shared Meals of the first church, to the Great Wedding Banquet – food plays a prevalent role in the pages of scripture and has a profound affect in the story of our lives.
Sometimes, it’s the simplest things, like good food shared together that can help us experience life as rich and full as God intended it. We experienced this first hand (and mouth) this past week at Soul City Sunday. And if I have anything to do with it…we’ll be experiencing it again Very Soon!
//What are some of the ways you’ve shared Intentional Meals with others? Was it a “Church” thing, friend thing, or a neighborhood thing? Why don’t we do this more?//
Sowing Seeds of Sabbath
Today is yet another Sabbath Saturday for the Stevens family and for Soul City Church. We believe that our Success as leaders and as a church is directly connected to the discipline of Sabbath. We believe that our posture of Dependence on God is directly connected to the discipline of Sabbath. We believe that our capacity to genuinely Enjoy each other and our kids is directly connected to the discipline of Sabbath. So today, we Sabbath.
Here’s what we won’t do:
- Email, Text, Twitter, Facebook, Blog (this post was written earlier smarty pants!)
Here’s what we will do:
- Rest, Play, Talk, Plant Flowers, Clean the House, and Wrestle (Daddy vs. Elijah)
See you on Sunday.
A 3 “D” relationship with God
(Part 1 of 3)
Jarrett often makes fun of my need to have words that start with the same letter when I teach – but the truth is that I am so forgetful that I often don’t’ even remember what I’ve taught if it isn’t simple. So having alliterations may seem like its straight from the creative genius of Sesame Street – but it works for me. That being said, I believe that there are 3 D’s that are critical to a healthy relationship with God.
Depend, Desire, & Discipline are the 3 closest companions to those waiting on God. Whenever I am in a significant season of waiting or when I am seeking God to reveal His direction in my life I hang out with Dependence, Desire & Discipline. Like three old friends – when one of them is missing – something is clearly off. All three are needed in the process of growth and waiting.
Depending on God is crucial to waiting. When we depend we essentially are saying, “I trust you God, I trust your process, I trust your timing, & I trust your outcome.” When I depend I release my own abilities to make something happen. To let go of that old self of cruise ship activities director of my life – always making something happen. Instead I trust and meditate on things that are ALWAYS true about God and that are not always true about me.
- God is ALWAYS in control
- God is ALWAYS present
- God is ALWAYS loving
- God is ALWAYS honest
- God is ALWAYS faithful
- God is ALWAYS good
Maybe today you can do a simple spiritual exercise to remind you of who God ALWAYS is. Fill in the following Blank:
I depend on you God to…
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What would it say? What does it need to say? Here is what I wrote in my blank…
“I depend on you God to provide all of the crucial leaders and volunteers that are needed to help launch and lead Soul City Church. I depend on you to provide all of the financial resources that are needed to start and sustain Soul City Church. I depend on you to provide a space for Soul City Church to meet in. I depend on you to sell our house so that we can get to Chicago.”
We would love for you to leave a comment with what you put in that space of Dependemce. It is such a simple excercise and such a good reminder of who God ALWAYS is and who we don’t have to try and be.
And make sure to check back over the next few days to hear how Dependence works with Discipline and Desire.
Either way, we find ourselves in tears…
The journey of launching Soul City Church has completely revolutionized our relationship with God. Never in our lives have we lived so utterly dependent on God. Better put – Never in our lives have we lived more AWARE of our dependence on God.
Our days end with Jeanne and I physically on our knees before God. That time together in prayer typically tends to go one of two ways. We find ourselves in tears because…
- We simply can not see how all of our needs are going to be met personally, as a family, and as a church.
- or because…
- God blows away our small expectations of His goodness and ability to meet exceedingly more than we are even able to ask for.
Either way we find ourselves in tears.
As odd as it may seem. we are becoming increasingly grateful for the dichotomous swing between fear and faith. We are learning to love living life this way. Fully aware of all of our fears, concerns, and challenges. Fully dependent on God. We often wonder how we went so long without living at this level of daily dependence. And the more we experience it, the more we can’t imagine living life any other way.
A Moment at 30,000 feet
While sitting on a plane headed to Portland this past week the flight attendant called for Mary & Larry to come to the front of the plane. Most of us remained oblivious yet curious as to why they were standing in the flight attendant galley. A few minutes later Larry took the microphone and proceeded to pledge his love and devotion towards Mary as he sweetly told her that he feels in the clouds when he is with her and he couldn’t imagine a more perfect place than at 30,000 feet to declare his love to her and asked her to marry him.
She of course said Yes!
The plane, filled with complete strangers all broke out into applause – the pilot came over the loud speaker and congratulated the newly engaged couple and bought them a drink to celebrate. Someone on the plane recorded the proposal on their phone and posted it on you tube so that we could all go back and experience it again.
It was a sweet moment. You could feel the joy and happiness in the air. Businesswomen put down their laptops for a moment to participate. People dropped their papers for a moment so that they could experience the rush in the air that rang of hope and future and love. Larry & Mary were smiling and hugging in front of a full flight of complete strangers applauding their love.
But after the moment passed – Mary & Larry headed back to their seats in economy class, people went back to their laptops, books, and papers, flight attendants starting pouring drinks and the moment was gone. This magical thing that we just corporately experienced did not MOVE any of us anywhere. We went BACK instead of going FORWARD.
The moment did not move us.
What if somehow in that moment we could have all decided that we should at some point in our lives take a risk and publicly declare to another human being how much we love them. Can you imagine the ripple effect?
What if somehow in that moment we could have all decided that we should celebrate when someone else is feeling joy or mourn with those that are experiencing pain . Can you imagine how that might change relational dynamics?
What if we would have each grabbed a note card, sent a quick e-mail, or made a phone call to someone that is in need of hearing some loving encouragement. Can you imagine how that might brighten someone’s day?
At Soul City Church, we are deeply committed to extraordinary moments. In fact, it’s one of our Values. Here’s a brief description taken from our Website.
We look forward to our weekend gatherings where the Vibe is refreshingly casual.
The experience is creatively engaging. The Music & Worship is excellent with both a local and transcendent feel. The Teaching is all at once helpful, conversational, reflective, authentic, and atavistic. The Focus is always around what God has done, is doing, and what’s next. Our kids are safe and protected, actively and creatively engaged, and challenged to take what they experience here and live it out everywhere else. We are excited about creating excellent, inspiring, thoughtful moments – but what is more important to us is what happens when we move. When we leave our space. We long for movements to emerge as a result of our moments together. This is how the world will finally know us by our love -through Moments that lead to Movement.
So to Mary & Larry – Congratulations! It was a joy to share in your proposal on United flight 0667. Thanks for allowing your moment to remind me how powerful Moments can be, and that they are never the POINT, just a PART of the puzzle.
Success is the Enemy of…(fill in the blank)
We’re not gonna lie, we hope to be incredibly successful as a church. We want the work that we do with God to have the highest SROI (Spiritual Return On Investment) possible.
That being said, we know that Success defined the wrong way and measured by the wrong standards can be one of the worst things for a Church, Organization, and Individual. Here’s a few examples of what we mean.
- Success can be the Enemy of DEPENDENCE
- It doesn’t take long for us to look at all that God has done and begin to say, “Look at all that WE have done.” Our Successful Systems subtly become what we put our faith in. And the more that people think we know what we’re doing, the more we think we do as well.
- .
- Success can be the Enemy of CLARITY
- The more you successfully accomplish, the more you begin to believe you can and should do…more. Before long you’ve added so much to your vision that you’re not even sure what it is you’re supposed to do other than spinning the impossible number of plates that occupy your thoughts and efforts
- .
- Success can be the Enemy of INNOVATION
- There is a living graveyard of Companies and Churches that made their mark 10, 20, 30 years ago doing something truly innovative for a time. For whatever reason, they made “that thing” – “their thing” and continued to do what once worked well until it no longer worked at all.
- .
- Success can be the Enemy of HUMILITY
- File this one under No Brainer. It is one of the most tragically inevitable outcomes of success. Too cliche to go into great detail. As soon as you believe you are as important as your success has led you to think you are, success has become your enemy.
Fill In The Blank :: Success can be the Enemey of… (and WHY?)
I Sleepy
(Taken from an article I (Jeanne) wrote about 2 years ago when I first started discovering the deep need for a Sabbath in my life.)
When my 2-year-old son looked at me from the back seat with his ocean blue droopy eyes and said “Mamma – I Sleepy”. It was his sweet but firm way of saying – enough is enough, no more errands, no more tasks, no more running around, I want to take a nap. Every day his little body reaches its limit and he usually crashes hard into a 2 ½, and if I’m lucky 3 hour nap. He knows when he just can’t take it anymore and he nestles into the corner of his crib and gives up to sleep. In those few short hours he is somehow replenished and refueled to scamper about for the rest of the day with boundless energy. Most of the time I hoard every minute of productivity that is available to me while Elijah is sleeping. I shift into my fastest gear possible so that I can fly through my never ending to do list. Being an efficient and capable person has always been important to me. I tend to live at one speed – always moving. I very rarely let myself switch into 1st or neutral. I am a doer. I have been a doer all my life. My mind is always moving, thinking about the next project, the next task, and the next thing that needs to get done. My treadmill is in constant motion, which often keeps me from recognizing that like my son “I sleepy”.
Sometimes it’s the physical exhaustion that I avoid. I wait until my two week disposable contacts which I have tried to turn into two month extended wear fog up and begin to burn and itch because my eyes just want to shut and not be opened until 8+ hours of sleep. Sometimes it’s a verbal fatigue. When I start to slur my sentences or confidently explain something with the wrong words and it ends up making no sense. This is always a dangerous one especially if I am speaking somewhere when I am over tired. Often it comes out emotionally for me. Usually I hit the wall of feeling buried in things that are late or need my attention and for some reason in the moment the only good response is to cry. I don’t like living this way but I have somehow yoked myself to the lie that it’s not cleanliness, but productivity that’s closest to godliness.
My productivity has somehow seeped into every area of my life. My friends will often begin their sentences with me by saying, “I feel like we haven’t talked in so long.” My extended family will often be surprised about something that I am doing because I have not found the time to tell them what is happening in my life. My husband and I will often have long conversations just to fill each other up on the events from the past week. People that I am ministering too often start their sentences with me by saying, “I know you are so busy…” and then they launch into their desire to talk or get together. I quietly wince every time my life communicates to another person that my tasks and responsibilities and priorities don’t include them. I know that they have subtly translated that my productivity is more important than our relationship.
I need to learn to stop sooner. To replenish. To take nap’s more regularly. So I decided to heed my son’s advice. I curled up on the couch in the middle of the day, grabbed the soft red blanket from the basket in the corner, got my pillows just right, took my socks off because I can’t sleep when my sock are on and fell into an invigorating slumber. I didn’t wake up until I heard Elijah’s voice start to project through his baby monitor. “Mamma – I up”
My nap was wonderful. Perfect in length. I felt great when I got up. I had a fabulous afternoon mindlessly playing with trucks and tractors on the floor with Elijah. We laughed and read books. I taught him how to play hide and seek. We took a walk in his big red wagon and stopped at a construction site so he could watch the tractors turn and move the earth around. We shared a meal together. After dinner we went upstairs so Elijah could take a bath. As he splashed around in his tub of mostly bubbles we traced the activities of the day. While he parrotted back to me our doings of the day I realized that it was the first time in a very long time that I had celebrated the Sabbath. So I decided to teach my son about what we really did that day. I broke it down toddler style why God created a Sabbath and how what we did that day was pleasing to God. As Elijah filled up his toy boats with water he said “Sabot Mamma”.
A simple but superb memory was crafted into my mind that I will hold for as long as humanly possible. Sharing a Sabbath with a two year old is about as good as it gets.
A Different Way of Asking
When we knew God was inviting us to start this church, one of the earliest conversations we had was about our deep commitment to doing this with a team. We have both been extremely blessed throughout the past 15 years to have served on several amazing staff teams. We’re grateful to have worked with people of high capacity, deep character, and natural relational chemistry. We would never think about trying this on our own. We believe that if we’re going to experience God’s transformational impact on the world, we’re going to experience it together, as a team.
So early on in the process we began to pray for the team that God was assembling to lead Soul City Church with us. Through the prompting of a wise member of our Personal Council (which we will talk about in another post) we were challenged to ask people to PRAY instead of asking them to COME. We know that we can cast a compelling vision – attract people towards the exciting idea of starting a new church – paint the idea of what Soul City Church can look like…but only GOD can lead them to come. We would much rather have a team that is assembled by God’s prompting vs. a team that we built through some savvy convincing and our vision casting capacities.
So instead of just asking people to COME – we have been asking people to PRAY. It has proven to be a huge step in our own development of Dependence. We have been able to put our complete trust in God to build this team. It doesn’t mean that we don’t share the vision – it doesn’t mean that we don’t lean into looking for the right people to get on the soul city bus – but we have chosen to invite our potential staff and leadership team and future soul city starter team to simply pray. To ask, listen, and respond to what God is doing through Soul City Church.
In fact, we would love for YOU to pray through the idea of joining what God is doing at Soul City Church. To ask, and listen, and respond to however God is leading you right now in your life. You can download our BE Prayerful exercise HERE.
Micro Church
The transformational process that God does in the life of an individual unfortunately can often times remain exclusive to that individual. The temptation to live in isolation – especially when it comes to the matters of our soul are enticing – but to live outside of community is to live outside of the way God created us to live. It becomes a completely different journey when the work that God is doing in your life is aided and assisted and spurred on by a loving intentional community of friends. They become a gift to you, you become a gift to them.
There are a many different Models and Strategies when it comes to Small Groups. Each with their own unique strengths and weakness. Each with their own creative name. We’re not sure what we’ll call it. At this point we’re simply calling the idea – Micro Churches. Because that is truly what they are. Micro Focused, loving, intentional, transformational hubs of community.
When we look to the idea of the First Church as found in Acts 2 it seems like the “Church” is happening in more than just one place at more than just one time. It was happening at Solomon’s Porch (The Carport behind the Temple) where they gathered to hear the disciples teach about the way and truth and life of Jesus. AND it was happening in homes where meals were shared, needs were shared, life was shared. 1000′s of people gathering together At Once and Clusters of people gathering All Over.
We long to see that same idea lived out in the city today. 1000′s of people gather together around the name of Jesus. And Clusters of people (Micro Churches) gathering together around the name of Jesus.
We want to see swarms of people gathering together to do the thing that we are created from (Trinity) and the thing that we are created for (Community). Open Circles of friends where:
- We share life
- We break bread
- We celebrate growth
- We share our resources
- We serve those in need
- We challenge stagnancy
- We pray fervently
- We listen intently
- We talk intentionally
- We laugh uncontrollably
- We cry unapologetically
- We party regularly
- We live authentically
Call it whatever you like, we just long to see God’s intention for our lives to be a reality in the city.
A Snapshot of a Bigger Story
As we watch God write the Story of Soul City Church we continue to see how much of Our Story is written througout it’s pages.
This is just a brief snapshot of the Story behind the Story from the Soul City Church Website.
We’re excited about all of the other stories that are getting caught up in what God is doing. We’ll be bringing more and more of those to you over the next couple of months. But until then…this…
This video was shot and edited by our good friend Josh Peters. His work is simply Amazing. He even found a way to make US look good!
Soul (simpli)City Sundays
Over the past couple of weeks we have been gathering in our home with friends on Sunday nights for a little thing we called Soul City Sundays. They have been such a beautiful reminder of the SIMPLICITY that became so contagious and transformational in the First Church.
Last night was simply amazing. And amazingly Simple. First off, there were almost as many kids as adults – scampering around the house laughing, playing, and occasionally working through their “Do I really have to share” issues. All of us, kids included, shared an amazing meal together – compliments of Heather Wittaker.
.
After all nine kids were tucked into their beds (we can fit a pack and play almost anywhere!) we went around the circle and each read aloud, slowly and deliberately the Sermon on the Mount – all 3 chapters of it. We shared how God was speaking to us personally through it and how He was speaking into the reality of Soul City Church. And then we worshipped.
The sound of our 13 voices was pure, strong, and sincere. I (Jeanne) fought off goose bumps the entire time as the spirit of God continually affirmed His vision of this church. After we worshipped people went around the circle and shared where they needed prayer and then another member of the circle committed to carrying that need with them throughout the coming week. We spent some time praying together and once we were done we lingered around for another hour or so laughing, connecting, and enjoying our friendships.
It was a powerful night. Powerfully Simple. There is always plenty of room for things like Production, Design, Structure, and even Complexity. We appreciate and engage regularly with each of those things. But there are times to just keep it Simple. To let the things that God has used for 1000′s of years be used again in a new and fresh and transformational way.
We’d love to hear about some of the “Simple” things you or your church are doing or have recently done. What did you do? What did you NOT do to do it. What did God do through it?
XTREME Sabbath!!!
It was yet another Sabbath Saturday here at the Stevens House.
- A day of Replenishment.
- A day of Play.
- A day of Family.
- A day of No Meetings.
- A day free from Blogs, Emails, Tweets, Texts, and Facebook.
- A day we didn’t think about comments and analytics.
- A day that we worked hard…at resting.
It was a great day.
We love hearing all the different ways that different people Sabbath. So, if you Sabbath, we’d love to know how. And if you don’t, we’d love to know why.
We Need Healthy Heretics (pt.2)
In the last post we looked at how Healthy Heretics are critical to our Teams, Ministries, and Churches. (Great thoughts still brewing). In this post we’ll explore how a TEAM can embrace and even become more Heretical…in a healthy way.
- A Team Without Any Heretics will stay stuck doing what they’ve always done, missing key opportunities to improve, innovate and succeed at the Mission God has given them.
- A Team with Too Many Heretics will challenge everything while accomplishing very little.
Here are a few ideas for how Your Team can lead in a Healthy Heretical Way
- Create a list of the Top Ten ASSUMPTIONS you are currently operating on
- Write out how you have REACTED and RESPONDED to these Assumptions
- Determine whether or not these Assumptions are even TRUE anymore (or ever!)
- Ask the TOUGH Questions -
- What are we doing that doesn’t directly accomplish our Mission and why are we still doing it?
- How do we measure and determine if what we are doing is working?
- Are we measuring the right thing? Are we measuring it the right way?
- What are we doing that nobody else is doing to reach people that nobody else is reaching? (Craig Groeschel)
- What do we need to stop doing so that we can do the thing(s) that only WE can do?
Once you’ve completely questioned and challenged everything you do, go out and get yourself a nice Iced Mocha. Breath. Pray. And begin dreaming and exploring how you need to Stop doing what you no longer need to be doing, Fix what needs to be fixed, and Innovate and Create new Mission Minded opportunities and experiences.
- Don’t just jump to the New (that’s too easy, and potentially too harmful)
- Don’t base decisions on hunches, assumptions, or that “one email you got” or that “one blog you read”.
- Work Collaboratively. Believe it or not, you are not the only person who know what’s wrong or what’s next.
- BETA Change. Some New Ideas need to be lead full force, most need to be experimented, tweaked, and tried again.
The team that I’m currently a part of is 2 rounds deep into Beta Testing a Whole New Way of helping people connect in our ministry called Micro Events, as well as Beta testing a significant addition to another part of our ministry (shhh…top secret stuff). We could have just Plowed Through with our new ideas (a speed that Heretics operate at), but we probably would have done more damage than good and would be right back in the same spot a year from now.
- While EVERY TEAM needs a few Healthy Heretics,
- ANY TEAM can begin to lead this type of Healthy Change.
How about you and your team? How are you breaking through your assumptions and leading Healthy Heretical Change?
- (In the next post in this series we’ll explore Biblical Examples of Heretics
- and why Jesus may be the Healthiest Heretic of them all)
We Need Healthy Heretics (pt. 1)
We don’t tend to have a very positive image of Heretics (someone smell smoke?) However, Heretics are absolutely critical to Churches, Organizations, and Teams being all that they could be. Heretics challenge, push, turn upside down, and ask that ever annoying question of “WHY?”
Heretics help us see what our success or assumptions have blinded us from seeing. They see through what we’re doing or not doing to what we could do, and sometimes…what we must do.
Know any good Heretics? I do. While I do on some days consider myself one, I have friends who have their PHds in Higher Heretics. My friend Doug Scott comes to mind. In the 7 years I worked with him at Axis he was constantly pushing and challenging our assumptions. He was never as satisfied as we were with our accomplishments. Like our own little Pythagoras he saw a round new world when all we saw around us was flat (to our credit, we were in Illinois – everything there is flat). He was absolutely necessary to our efforts, and his contribution to our ministry is immeasurable.
The question for you is not whether your Church or Team should have Heretics, but…ARE THEY HEALTHY?
- Healthy Heretics…
- :: Can Challenge without Personally Attacking
- :: Can back up Challenges with stories, examples, facts, and ultimately Vision
- :: Are always ultimately working to make things “better” vs. simply tearing down what they don’t like
- :: Are at their best on a Healthy Team
- :: Actually Do Something on the team (other than wax heretic)
- :: Are ultimately committed to the Kingdom of God more than Their own agenda
- :: Are ultimately committed to the Kingdom of God more than Your Church, Team, or Tradition
The evolution of the church has happened throughout history with the help of Heretics (some healthy, some not) Challenging, and Pushing us all into many times what God is already up to.
We Need Healthy Heretics.
- Do you know any? Do you lead any? Are you one?
We would love to hear about your experiences with Heretics, both Healthy and Otherwise.
In the next post we’ll look at how a Ministry or Team can seek out, listen to, and grow from Healthy Heretics.
Inspiration & Intention Can Be Friends
One of the books that we regularly read and re-read is called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. This tiny nugget of goodness could be read in an afternoon – but it is much better when you savor, ponder, and contemplate the challenge that lives within its pages.
Pressfield eloquently paints the tension that lives within anyone that has ever set out to reach a goal, chart an undiscovered territory, write a new song, lead a new ministry, write a thoughtful blog post, or in our case launch a new church. That tension is good old-fashioned Resistance.
Early on in the book Pressfield says, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.”
I (Jeanne) believe that on either side of resistance stands Inspiration & Intention. Most of the time they are billed as archenemies – ready to meet in a dark alley to prove which is stronger (ala MJ’s Thriller)… the Director or the Free Spirit. Those with intention are the ones that make a plan, stick to the plan, and never sway from the plan. Those with inspiration are able to live in the moment, savor experiences, and bounce through life with spontaneity.
Jesus took the moments right in front of him to be both Intentional and Inspiring.
- // A little boys lunch on a hillside inspired him to feed a multitude as well as intentionally communicate that he was the Son of God and capable of miracles.
- // A boat filled with doubting disciples and a raging storm was the perfect backdrop to inspire Peter to jump out into the water without a life preserver. It was also an intentional moment for Peter to be reminded that without keeping his eyes locked on his Savior he could not swim with only inspiration.
- // A mourning Martha & Mary wondered if Jesus would do anything after the death of their brother Lazarus – and Jesus intentionally waited and grieved to reveal his humanity and then invited Lazarus to come out of his tomb – inspiring all those around him that he was capable of taking that which was dead and giving it new life.
Inspiration & Intention must learn how to be friends if we are ever going to push though the resistance that exists to hold us back.
The Value of Moments that lead to Movement
I love a great Moment. I love experiencing it, love co-creating it, love sharing it. However, so often, Moments stay just that – Moments – Singular events that happen – are great – then gone.
What if the Moments we experienced together on Sunday were actually coming FROM other moments that happened all week? And what if the moments we shared together on Sunday sent us OUT to greater moments with God, each other, and our neighborhoods? AND what if the moments that Kids experience, and Parents experience, and Couples experience, and Friends experience are Intentionally Created to push us all in the same direction?
That’s what Soul City Church is trying to figure out – How Moments lead to Movement.
We believe that something unique and transcendent happens when people gather together in one place seeking God. We do all we can to create moments that are not only memorable, but transformational. Moments that move us forward together. Soul City Church is committed to creating excellent environments and experiences where people can encounter God and take steps in their relationship with Him.
- So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
- James 2:17
Doing Less To Do More
Last week I (Jeanne) hit one of those common walls that leaders hit. I looked at my to-do list and realized there were far too many boxes to check than I had hours left in my day. I confess that I am an activator and achiever and so often my first response is to come up with as many possible ways to push past the gift of my human limits and throw on my superwoman cape of capacity and power through. But I know that when I do that it leaves me feeling more exhausted, lacking in inspiration, impatient, and ultimately unsatisfied.
Every day I awake to a list of tasks that are calling out to me to accomplish them. I don’t suspect that there is a day in my near future when there will be nothing on the list. Starting a church, leading a ministry, raising a family, and following a dream happens through the constant accomplishing of tasks and goals one day at a time. But it should never be done alone. I know that if I am the only one looking at the list and tackling the list I am breaking one of our Core leadership Values for the staff & volunteers of Soul City Church.
Doing less is Doing more! Always be looking for someone that you can develop into leadership by giving away appropriate authority instead of developing a follower by giving away a task.
Far too many church leaders are burning out and giving up because they only give away tasks – not authority. Maybe you have hit this wall too – maybe you’re at it right now. My hunch is that there are some amazing people right around you that are hungry to lead with you, not just accomplish a task.
So how can you DO MORE by DOING LESS this week?
THEY will not suffer for OUR Sacrifice
There is a life altering difference between Sacrifice and Suffering. Sacrifice you choose. Suffering is chosen for you.
Before we finalized with God that we would actually do Soul City, we told Him and committed to each other in no uncertain terms that:
- If our kids’ relationship with God suffers because of this sacrifice we’re making to God…than we will have to walk away.
We know that what we are embarking on as followers of Jesus, as a married couple, as parents, and as leaders will come at great Sacrifice to our lives, plans, and dreams. We get that. We not only accept it, we embrace it. BUT. We shudder to think that this sacrifice that we choose would ever cause our kids to Suffer for something that they did not. We love Soul City Church, but never more than we love God, love each other, and love our kids.
We can’t imagine standing in front of a Soul City Church one day talking about all that God has done while our kids hate God and can’t stand us. We’ve seen it too many times in our own friends families. It doesn’t add up. “Why”, in the words of Andy Stanley, “would we ever choose something that anyone else can do (a church) over something that we only we can do (family)?”
We couldn’t agree more.
Maybe you feel the same, maybe you don’t. We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Sabbath Saturday
Today we choose to Sabbath. Today we choose to trust God with our lives and our work. Today we choose to not only acknowledge that we have limits, but to celebrate them. Today we choose Rest, Play, Family, Friends, Conversation, Reflection. Today we choose to sleep in (or at least Jeanne does). Today we choose to give ourselves, as Peter Scazzero calls it, “A Regular Voluntary Snow Day”.
You won’t find us Blogging, Texting, on Email, on Twitter, on Facebook, or on our Phones.
We do this as Individuals, as a Family, and as a Church. We’d love to know who else we’re doing this with.
So let us know :: Do you Sabbath? If so, how?
Are you Listening?
Elijah & Gigi have a focused mission for their day that lasts from sunrise to sunset –PLAY. They can’t get enough of it. I love watching their imagination and innocence flourish as they romp around through their young and free lives enjoying the simplicity of racing cars along the hardwood floors, flying toy airplanes through the air, and throwing balls up into the sky. The only problems is when we need to interrupt that play – somehow when we ask a question or proclaim a change in their plans they loose their capacity to hear us.
Simple statements like –
- Lets come eat
- Please pick up your toys
- Please don’t take that toy from your sister
- Please don’t throw that toy at your sister
- Please don’t pull the dogs tail
- Lets not take out every can of green beans in the pantry
When these phrases come out of our mouth its as if our children’s capacity to hear gets turned off and they ignore our voice entirely. I find myself regularly repeating the phrase – “Are you listening?” I so wish I only had to state the question once – but most of the time I don’t get their attention until the 2nd or 3rd time through the question.
I wonder if God is asking the same question to us.
As we romp around our lives filled with routine, task, responsibility, desire, hope, dreams, relationships, plans and prayers – I wonder if God is gently whispering – “Are you listening?” And because we are so locked into what we are doing – maybe we can’t see what He is revealing in our stories.
Most of us long to hear from God – we long to hear His voice, His direction, His prompting, His opinion on whether we should choose option A or B – and we find ourselves frustrated and stuck wondering why He does not speak the same way he did in the Old Testament – or why he won’t burn up a bush or throw some manna on the grass in our front yard each morning. I have often felt this way and I have been learning to listen to God in new ways – through my own story.
“Do you ever feel stuck, just going through the motions, not hearing from God, and not feeling any passion about your life? It’s easy to land there if you’re not listening to your story. God writes our story with great passion and desire , and he reveals our own passion and desires as we read and listen to our story.“
- To be Told – Dan Allendar
So if you are a little stuck today maybe you can quiet down and listen to God whispering through your own story. A few great questions to hear what he might be saying…
- Who am I?
- What about God am I most uniquely suited to reveal to others?
- How is that meaning in my life best lived out?
I think it is very healthy, human, and honest to wrestle with the question of “Does God speak?” but maybe a more important question to ponder is – If He is speaking – “Are you listening?
Church on the Cheap
Let’s face it - Churchin’ aint easy, and it ain’t cheap either. Especially if you are a young start up where the only reality you know is “bootstrap” (not sure we should ever loose that kind of creativity and dependence). We want to do Church on the Cheap. We are finding that limited resources = Higher Innovation!
Cheap, however, does not mean Low Quality. It means Low Cost in every sense of the word. In other words - How do we do the Absolute Best we can with the seemingly little we have.
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Here are a few things that we have found or done along the way to keep Soul City Church a Church on the Cheap:
1) Ask God to give you stuff
- I know this seems like the right thing to say when talking about church, but I can’t tell you how few times in the 14 years I’ve spent in established churches NOT asking God to provide. We just sorta knew it would be there one way or the other. Those days are done and we ask God for the things he already knows we need By Name and To The Penny.
2) Ask People to give you stuff
- This is sometimes harder than asking God, mostly because people can look you in the face and say “no”. They might, but they also may say “yes”. We’ve asked for Videos, Graphic Design, a Blog, Photography, Adobe Creative Suite, a Warehouse, people’s time, people’s help, and people’s prayers. We have been amazed at people’s generosity and willingness to give to God (not us). Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask people to partner with what God is doing through your church. If you believe in the vision of what God’s doing, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask.
3) Do what only you can do best, outsource the rest
- We have been amazed at how many resources there are out there to accomplish huge tasks simply, professionally, and cheaply! Here’s a few of the things / places we outsource
- PS20 – ALL (and I mean all) of our accounting is done though PS20 (a business set up to do this FOR churches at an incredible rate). Instead of us paying “someone” a full time salary to do our books, we pay PS20. We’re not that good at math (which is why we use PS20) and they are passionate about partnering with churches to be their accounting department.
- WordPress Blog – This blog is our most active and effective source of communication about the church. More people have heard about the church through this blog than any ad or announcement or mailer ever could and it cost us $0.00.
- Clover Sites – Instead of paying $4000 for a website that you don’t know how to work, Clover sets people up with a beautiful website that is incredibly easy to use and is only getting better later this year all for $1000 (+ $20 month).
- Free Web Services such as Mail Chimp, Jotform, and Picnik have saved us $1000′s in software and have changed the way a Start Up can get a Leg Up. I can’t say enough about how much we use them and how much we love them.
4) Staff Creatively
- Big Dreams don’t always require Big Teams. We’re exploring ways to Staff ONLY the positions that demand full time work. The rest comes from a combination of Part Time, Contract, and Volunteer. We’re exploring ways we ask companies we know to hire out members of our team on a contract or part time basis. We’re exploring creative ways to cover the high cost of Health Insurance. We are encouraging some of our staff to work Part Time in the community and Part Time for Soul City – this way we are engaged in the day to day life of the neighborhood.
5) Say NO
- This is an everyday battle. Some of our best ideas we’ve had to push back or shut down simply because they did not have the absolute highest ROI (Return on Investment). This demands of us clear Vision, great Wisdom, and deep Dependence on God that he will lead us through sifting out all of our Cool Ideas for the very Best Ideas.
These are just a few of our thoughts and some of things we’re working on right now. We’d love to hear what you’re learning or doing to keep you church a Church on the Cheap.
I’m Hungry
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. Matthew 5:6
Gigi (our 15-month-old daughter) always seems to be hungry. I left the refrigerator door open for just a moment the other day and turned around to find this. If she could have climbed in and made a turkey sandwich, I think she would have.
Her constant food cravings got me thinking about my own preferred hankerings. If I’m honest, most of the time I am craving my perfect snack – salted tortilla chips with homemade guacamole.
I wish my cravings were for apples, broccoli, and celery –– but I’ve got a thing for chips and guac. The problem is that one chip never seems to be enough… I always want more. I certainly don’t think that a steady diet of chips & guacamole make for a healthy consistent diet. Perhaps their only real benefit is the physical reminder they serve to my deeper soul longing.
You are I were created to hunger and thirst for God
To crave intimacy with him.
To long for more time with him.
To know his Word.
To see him in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.
To desire to be exactly who he created me to be.
To want more and more and more and more…
So today I’m asking God to help me long for more of Him just like I long for those chips and guacamole.
How about you?
Designing Church
I’ll admit – I’m a sucker for good design. I love great “album” art, love staying at a W hotel, love a slick website. Design is great. But design is never the point. Want proof? Look at the homepages of Google and Craigslist. Google and Craigslist sit as the crowned King and Prince of the Internet. And yet…they lack any sense of aesthetic. There is absolutely nothing beautiful or inspiring about how they look. Their beauty is in their platform. Their wisdom is in their simplicity, functionality, and usability.
They win because they work.
This is a profound truth that I need to be reminded of often. As we are in the process of building Soul City Church, the temptation is strong to focus on the aesthetic. To look cool. To sound cool. To be cool. To have a hip, eye-catching web site, to have creative names for ordinary things, to (for lack of a better word) – impress. These things may be important and they may attract people. But they will never, in and of themselves, keep people or transform people.
This is not to say that design doesn’t matter. Creation is a living breathing example of perfectly balanced form and function. God created trees and flowers that are unnecessarily beautiful. He created clouds that are regularly painting themselves anew across their great blue canvas sky. There are ocean waves that echo the ancient metronome of creation. These are all part of the absolutely beautiful design that is Creation. But what makes them divinely inspired is their function. They give fruit, shade, rain, wood, water, nourishment. They work…beautifully.
In laying the foundations of Soul City Church we don’t ever want our form to become more important than our function. We don’t ever want this church to look better than it works. Design is great and has it’s place, but I have yet to meet someone who’s life was radically transformed by Photoshop. Design is great and has its place, but that place is after, not before. That place is on the top, not at the bottom.
Design is great and does matter, but it must never matter more than people.
Leaving Comfort for Courage
This is a piece I (Jeanne) wrote earlier this year when I was facing one of the regular occurring visitors in my life – FEAR. It has served as a reminder to me when FEAR comes knocking on my door – That my God is faithful and that He called me to courage not comfort.
Courage will always require an element of leaving. Leaving is just plain hard. When My 3 year old knows I’m about to leave he will often squeeze as hard as he can around my neck to lovingly manipulate me into staying one more minute.
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I know how he feels – because leaving comfort for courage makes me want to wrap my arms around every ounce of safety in my life – hoping if I hold on tight enough that I won’t have to taste the pain of the leaving what I know is inevitable.
Leaving comfort and safety looks and sounds alluring and attractive – but the attraction fades quickly – in fact I have never felt so vulnerable, small, and needy…. words that are not known for their alluring appeal.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to question your decision.
It will cause you to look around for the safety bars, seatbelt, and any kind of security button.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to try to make something happen… scheme, make phone calls, send out hail mary e-mails– anything to distract from sitting in the fear.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to doubt your abilities – you will look at everything that you have failed at in the past… failed relationships, failed financial decisions, failed leadership calls, – and you will wonder will you repeat those patterns and are they indicators to go out and look for comfort again.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to doubt the author of the calling on your life. Thinking that God is too busy to take care of your little fear
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to be jealous of your neighbors who seem to be perfectly content with their lives – you will wonder if you are some sort of crazy person that has a unhealthy propensity to live on the edge.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to look for the easy way out.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to pray like never before… wonder if you know any scripture to cast out the inner demon of doubt.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to white knuckle yourself around anything that feels secure and semi safe – even though you know earthly security and safety is a mirage and the place where Jesus is, is most where you want to be.
Moving from comfort to courage will…
Cause you to feel weak in the knees – a good indicator that you should stop standing up and get ON your knees..
Moving from comfort to courage will…
Cause others to question you… especially those that have found security to be a bedrock to build their lives on. You will be misunderstood, questioned, and perhaps even seen as foolish.
So today God I feel every one of these fears. I am terrified… straight up terrified. I am calling out to you to be a voice of truth and freedom. Tell me to settle down, to trust you and to release every one of these fears into your arms of faith. I know it is impossible to invite others into a life of obedience if I am unable to live it myself – so today I am re-upping my commitment to obey and be faithful.
I am doing this out of the spirit that lives within – my will wants to go get a job at a church and ask them to take care of all of this. But I know that is not YOUR will. Send your angels to tend to me as I feel the temptation to trust myself today – with obedience I am choosing to trust you.
