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As you may have figured out after seeing the girl at Starbucks with the big black X on her forehead – Today is Ash Wednesday.  The start of Lent.  A season of Preparation, Introspection, and Devotion as we move towards Easter Weekend.

Instead of breaking down Lent, we thought it would be best to point you to one of the BEST Daily Lent Reflection Guides we’ve found.  It’s from an organization called CRM (Church Resource Ministries).  It’s a collection of Daily Readings from a book they printed a few years back.  They are incredible.

We’d love for you to join with Soul City in this journey as we prepare together for Easter.

You can get your CRM Lent Reflections HERE.

It would be really cool for you to Comment and let us know that you are doing this with us.

You can follow our adventures through Jarrett’s Twitter Feed.  However, we would ask that every time you see a Tweet, you PRAY BIG that God would continue to provide above and beyond what our Family needs or could possibly imagine.  We are excited to see what God brings….in the next few hours!  Thank you for being a part of this with us.

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How do you find a HOME in a day?  You don’t.  You find a house and you make it a HOME.

So, if you’re not yet a Subscriber, you can do so by clicking HERE.  Once you do, you’ll become a member of an elite society of insiders who’s inbox’s shutter with shear delight at the start of every month.  We promise.

However, I’ve noticed that for every 1 FAN of Lost there are 784,593 people who are not into it.  Several friends this week have told me that they would love to watch, but it’s just too complicated, too confusing, or they missed too many episodes.  They reiterate the fact that there is no such thing as a Casual Lost Fan.

I think the same could be said of our Churches.  Without even realizing it, we’ve created Churches that are more complicated than Lost.  There’s too much Insider Language.  Too many Complicated and Confusing Linear Strategies.  Too many Detours that make it difficult if not impossible for an “outsider” to get it.  While there is no such thing as a Casual Lost Fan, there are 100,000’s Causal Church Goers in your community.

The question is – How are you making it SIMPLE for people to Get It, Get Started, and actually Grow.

Here’s Four Ideas for how you can make your church Simpler

1) Change Your Language.  Listen to what you’re saying.  Listen for what you’re not saying.  From Worship Leaders, to Teachers, to Printed Materials.  Think first of the First Time Person who hasn’t been here as long as you and don’t have a clue what things like Connexxus or Axiom are or even mean.

2) Change Your Website.  This is your Virtual Front Door and if someone has to walk around the house two or three times before they can find the front door, they’re not coming back. I love the simplicity of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley.  Clear and to the point.

3) Have a SIMPLE Strategy and stick to it. I know that you’re a Linchpin and you love changing, tweaking, and tinkering, but you have to remember – They Are Not.  They weren’t here when you used to call it Area Home Groups.  They weren’t here when you used to do it Tuesday Nights.  They don’t care.  They need to be able to get within the first 2 minutes WHAT you about and WHERE they can START.

4) Go to another Church.  Learn from their simplicity.  Learn from their complexity.  Listen to their Language.  Better yet, go to the Apple Store (which you probably have in the last 7 days).  Within 60 seconds you can find what you need and figure out what to do with it.  And in the case that you can’t – there’s always an Apple Cult Member Employee within 5 feet to help.

Following Jesus is hard. Finding him shouldn’t be.  Let’s fight for Simplicity!

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(btw – if you know what the picture is at the top of this post…than you truly are as much of a nerd as me.  I’m praying for us now.)

• This post was written by Jarrett Stevens
• Co-Leader of Soul City Church,
• who believes that Nikki and Paulo are the key to it all!
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“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.”

• James A. Michener (Red Rubber Ball)

For many years I have worked hard at drawing boundaries, making sure there were clean lines of separation between me and the “ministry.”  Lately I have been sensing a need to let go of some of my control freak ways and let the lines get a little blurrier for the sake of a more holistic me.  While I will always be a strong proponent for distinction between when to work and when to rest, and when to say YES and when to say NO, I am wanting all of me to be a blaring signal of a woman pursuing the vision that God has given to me for my life.

I want it to almost be confusing to others when they look at me as to whether I am playing or working.  I want to have as much excellence in my unseen mommy moments as I do in my clear managing with the vision of Soul City.  I want to step as deeply into a world of imagination with my children as I do with dreaming up ways to creatively communicate.  So here is one control addict loosing the grip a bit in the hopes for a healthier way of living and loving.

How do you need to let the lines get a little blurrier in your life?

This post was written by Jeanne Stevens (Leader // Soul City Church)

While listening to an over-excited Vaynerchuk on a recent podcast, he passionately pontificated on the new “THANK YOU ECONOMY” that we are now a part of.  In his words, we are living in a day when it’s no longer ok to push your “product” on people, tell them to buy it, and be done with them.  We are here to SERVE those who are somehow engaged and connected to us, and when we do that well, we won’t have to push or sell anything to them.

He’s right. But this is not one of Gary’s crazy ideas, or even a new idea.  This has been / should be the posture of the Church from day one.  We are created and called to Love and Serve in and especially Outside our walls.  It is precisely our forgetfulness and neglectfulness of this posture that has led to Overt Evangelism Campaigns and Strategies, and Bring A Friend Weekends.

When we love and serve, first and foremost, we position ourselves to be heard, respected, and followed.  In other words, “…let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16 NLT)

So, HOW are you “Thanking” the community that your church serves?  Do they even know you exist other than the traffic hassle you cause on Sundays?  What do they “get” from your church that is above and beyond Attending one of your services?

AND

WHO do you personally need to “Thank” this week?  Who and How can you extend the Gospel in your neighborhood with no expectation in return?

I have only recently started following Jarrett Stevens closely, but I am instantly inspired by his vision. Jarrett has a pedigree resume, having served in key roles at Willow Creek Church and North Point Church. He is the author of The Deity Formerly Known as God.

The part of his story that inspires me the most is his current venture. Jarrett and his wife Jeanne are leaving the comfort of the mega church to launch Soul City Church in Chicago. It is one of the most publicized and talked about starts of a church of which I have been aware.

I am curious on the front end of this planting experience to learn more about how Jarrett thinks, so here are my 10 questions with Jarrett Stevens:

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1. When you were growing up, is this what you thought you would be doing vocationally? If not, what did you want to do?
No. For the longest time I wanted to be a Christian Stunt Man (this is sadly too true to be funny or ironic). I wanted to be a light to those in the Action Stunt Industry. Once that dream faded, I thought for sure that I would be a Third Grade School Teacher.

2. What’s the most different job you’ve had from what you are doing now and how did that job help you with what you are doing now?
Pizza Delivery Guy, or as I like to call it – Domestic Food Export Industry. It taught me that I love serving people and playing a small role in their joy. It also taught me how to drive stick.

3. Who is one person, besides Christ, who most helped to shape your leadership and how did they help you?
Sheryl Fleischer. She was a Spiritual Mentor who shaped my leadership by dissecting, dismantling, and slowly rebuilding my soul. I didn’t learn a single leadership principle from her in the three years that we met. But I would not be the leader I am today without her.

4. Besides the Bible, what is one book that has most helped to shape your thought process in life and ministry?
Just One? Not possible.
Moments with the Savior – Ken Gire
Inner Voice of Love – Henir Nouwen
War of Art – Steven Pressfield
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Signature of Jesus – Brennan Manning
Rise of the Creative Class / Who’s your City – Richard Florida
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – Peter Scezaro

5. What are three words other people would use to describe your work style/ethic?
Ideator
Developer
Fun

6. What is your greatest strength in leadership?
Ideas.

7. What is your greatest weakness in leadership?
Intentional Thorough Follow Through

8. What is the hardest thing you have to do in leadership?
Submit myself fully to God and live from His love and approval.

9. What is one misconception about your position you think people in your church may have?
That I’m the only Lead Pastor

10. If you could give one piece of advise to young leaders from what you’ve learned by experience, what would it be?
That Christian Culture is a tiny bubble in light of a world filled God’s love and acceptance and millions of people who desperately need it. Seek first the kingdom of God in every corner and crevasse of your life and in this world and settle for nothing less.

Jarrett has a huge vision. I look forward to following him in the years to come.

Thanks Ron.  We are so grateful for your friendship and support.  And thanks for taking the time to do this interview.  You could have spent your time doing so many more productive things than this!

What is perhaps most amazing in the midst of our National Canonized Respect for MLK is that at the time of his death, he had the LOWEST Public Approval Rating of any point in his life.  Abysmally low.  His continued persistence in the work our country had yet to do in the ongoing struggle of equality, his stance against the Vietnam War, and relentlessness presence left him rejected not only by those that opposed him (largely White), but by those who first supported him and sought to make him live up to his name – King (mostly Black).

At the time of his death he was on a downward spiral of rejection and abandonment within the country he fought so hard to unite.  This is perhaps why we celebrate and remember him to this very day.

He could have very easily settled for Acceptance.  He could have said what people wanted to hear.  He could have taken a nice job on a Sunday Morning Talkshow and enjoyed a lifetime of the unripened fruit of legacy.  But…he did not.  And here I am today not only remembering, but reflecting.

Am I willing to Speak Up and Speak Out, even it means that I will be Kicked Out.  Am I willing to Stand For and not just Stand By.  Am I willing to Walk On into my convictions no matter what the cost, rather than just Walk By.

And I suppose I would ask the same of you – Where are you being given the Gift of Rejection that affords you in it’s solitary fire the opportunity to have forged within you what God has put inside you?  What are you willing to say?  What are you willing to do?  Even if it costs you everything that you thought once mattered.

• A numbed sense of powerlessness and detachment
• or
• A harried sense of temporary responsive activism

We are praying instead that God leads us and leads you to a God Given, Holy Spirit Driven, Sustainable and Responsible Response that reflects the way of Jesus.

We are asking that you

• Pray Now (For those suffering, for those serving, for families, new orphans, new widows)
• Give Some (Click the button to the right to give to Compassion International.  Whatever amount you have in your head, add 25%)
• Go Soon (Tweets and Posts like this are good, but you and I are going to need to go soon and for a long time to come)

We are praying for Haiti.  We are praying for those of us that are connected to Soul City Church, that we would live a Gospel that has always been for the poor, the outcast, the forgotten.