Happy Halloween!
Oct 31, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Friday Random Linkness Youtube Edition
Oct 30, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
Video, video and more video! You should be able to waste more time on this edition than you have to spare.
Please view responsibly.
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Think I can talk Steve, Paul, and Dan into doing something like this?
Feeling lucky?
The new Grocery Store Musical isn’t as good as the Food Court Musical, but it’s OK.
Check out the Pygmy Gecko.
It’s a Disco Cement Truck!
How long does it take to change the engine in a car? Would you believe 32 seconds?
Continuing the car theme, check out this awesome BMW commercial featuring Madonna.
Still trying to figure out what to dress up as for Halloween. How about this?
I couldn’t help but smirk at 1:25 in this video. Nuff said.
Questions about Team Leadership
Oct 29, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Last Tuesday, I did an interview on The Show about Riv’s leadership structure. We got to several of the questions, but there were several that came through on Twitter that we didn’t have time to answer. Here they are:
I am a church planter that watched you on leadnet. I would love info on how you grow pastors in your church.
There are three things that we focus our energies on:
Character – Scripture is very clear that a man isn’t qualified for eldership unless his character is “above reproach” (see 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1). This definitely doesn’t mean perfect, but it means he really needs to have his stuff together. It bothers me greatly when pastors/elders are ordained or appointed without significant time taken to examine their personal and family lives.
Ministry Skills – If they are going to do the “work” of ministry, they need to prove they can do the work. That means they have honed their skills in the areas they will be serving in. If they haven’t ever done any ministry, they need to get their hands dirty and have a proven track record before they are recognized.
Doctrine - Pastors need to be able to teach and correct wrong doctrine. That means they need to know right and wrong doctrine. This is not only in areas of Christian orthodoxy, but also in areas where your church has specific convictions. In order to have unity, you need to be in agreement on many issues that you consider close-handed. See this post for more on what issues you should have agreement on.
Is it better when you teach a whole series or when each pastor takes a turn each week inside the same series?
I don’t know if there is a better or worse here, it boils down to what you like. We have found it is pretty difficult to share a series because each of us has such different styles. The only time it seems to work is when we have many stand alone messages, with a single thread tying them together. For instance, we once did a series on our favorite passage of Scripture. That went well.
You mentioned a volunteer on staff – how does team leadership extend beyond paid staff?
I answered this one a bit on The Show, but I want to add a few more thoughts. I love the idea of more and more unpaid pastors in the church. I think we will always need a few paid pastors, but I love having guys who work in the community serving as pastors as well for several reasons:
1) They are cheaper.
2) They model serving, giving, and leading as volunteers.
3) They break down the “paid expert” mentality.
Did @noeljesse choose his own lead-in music?
I didn’t get to hear it. I’m hoping it was Guns N Roses.
Watching The Show via @leadnet and wondering if shared leadership operates at all levels – or just the top?
That varies quite a bit. Many of our ministries are led by teams and many are led by individuals.
What is the place of small groups in the church?
At Riv, we are all about our Weekend Services and Life Groups. Those are our two big focus areas and we tie them together by having Life Groups study message notes from the Weekend Services.
Hell
Oct 28, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I promised I would link to Steve’s excellent message on hell, so here it is:
You can download the audio instead by clicking here.
I’m on THE SHOW today
Oct 27, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Today at 4:00EST, I am going to be interviewed on Leadership Network’s THE SHOW on the topic of team-based leadership structure. It’s a free webcast sort of deal, so make sure you tune in.
Of course I’m hoping to divert the conversation to the topic of 24 and of course add in a healthy dose of apple fanboyism along the way. But assuming I am unable to do so and they really want to talk about teams, I have a question for all of you Riv people.
In your experience, what are the Pros and Cons of having a team of pastors instead of a solo senior pastor? I can speak from the standpoint of a pastor, but I’m curious what you guys think from the perspective of church members / attenders. If I like your thoughts, I may even work them into the show. You’ll have to watch to find out.
Halloween Dignity
Oct 26, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Just read an amazing piece in The State News : Dignity has place on Halloween.
Here’s an excerpt (but you really need to read the whole thing):
Dear Starbucks Girl:
Standing in front of you, waiting for coffee, I heard you rather loudly talking to your friend about your Halloween plans. You said you were invited to some “awesome” parties during that weekend but hadn’t yet decided on your costume. One thing was for sure, though: you were definitely going to “slut it up,” to use your own words. The only dilemma in your mind seemed to be whether to get one slutty costume for the weekend, or two.
Starbucks Girl, you didn’t notice, but I turned around to look at you. You were pretty! Too pretty to parade your body around on a cold October night just for attention, and far too pretty to risk being taken advantage of by some drunken idiot at a party or bar…
The author goes on and makes a very compelling case for dignity in the costume you choose. His closing paragraph says it all:
Women of MSU — Oops! I meant to say Starbucks Girl — I realize that I might not have changed your mind. But I also hope that after Halloween you realize that you are beautiful the other 364 days of the year, and you don’t need to show off your body simply to get noticed. I hope you know that you, like every single woman on this campus, are worthy of respect and deserve to be treated like a lady. If nothing else, know that.
I am a big fan of Halloween, which any frequent visitor to my blog will know. I love Trick or Treating with my kids, hanging out with my neighbors and all of that, but this is the one thing that bothers me. Every year, the costumes seem to get racier and racier. I have commented on the “Slutty Halloween” phenomena before on this site.
For all the women out there who follow Jesus, take a minute, think about your costume and reflect on this verse:
Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Tags: femininity
Pumpkin Time
Oct 25, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
It’s time for the obligatory family pumpkin carving post!
Enjoy.
Coffee Fail
Oct 23, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Here’s a little Friday Random Linkness bonus! I took this picture last year while chaperoning my son’s trip to the UP. Gotta be the worse coffee condiment ever.
Friday Random Linkness
Oct 23, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
Awesome creepy commercial.
And another awesome commercial from AirTran. I just may have to start flying with them.
Cool facts from South and North Korea.
My favorite cover of Single Ladies yet…
…OK, I just watched more videos by the Single Ladies cover band….awesome.
Wow. Check out this crazy helmet video of a skier getting buried in an avalanche and rescued.
Thanks to Adam for this awesome site: thereifixedit.com
10 Minutes of Slow Motion Bullet Impacts may be a bit too much…or is it?
How The Terminator should have ended.
Who can perform Baptisms?
Oct 22, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This past weekend at Riv, we did one of my favorite things we do as a church: baptisms. It is so awesome to hear people publicly share their stories of faith and then have someone who is important to them perform their baptisms. Often, when we do this the question comes up:
Why do “lay people” at Riverview perform most of the baptisms? Shouldn’t the pastors do that?
I figured since I get this question often enough, I’d do a quick blog post on it.
Commentators are generally agreed that Jesus’ Great Commission applies to all Christ-followers. Here it is:
Matthew 28:18-20 “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
If you take this to be applied to all believers, then Jesus is telling each of us to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey him. Now, even if you don’t agree that passage applies to all Christians, then you still see the New Testament supports the idea that any Christian can perform baptisms. Here’s a breakdown of every passage where someone performs a baptism in the early church:
Acts 2: Peter preaches (for a long time…which means they got a late start on the baptisms) and 3000 people are baptized in a single day. Let’s assume for a second that only the apostles performed the baptisms. If that was the case, each one of them would have had to perform 250 baptisms. I think it’s reasonable to assume that other people helped in the baptisms (perhaps the newly baptized)!
Acts 8: Philip preaches and we are told “many” were baptized. There is no indication who performed the baptisms. Later in the chapter, we see Philip baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch.
Acts 9: This is perhaps the most telling passage for our particular situation – the baptism of Paul. Here are a few of the verses…I’ll bold a few relevant parts:
Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.
Acts 9:10-12,17-18
Who did Jesus send on this mssion? A “believer” named Ananias. He appears to be the only person in this story except Paul so we can imply that he performed the baptism.
Acts 10: Paul preaches and then “gives orders” that the new believers would be baptized. He doesn’t perform any of the baptisms himself.
Acts 16: Either Paul or Luke baptize Lydia and her family. Later on they baptize a jailer and his family.
Acts 18: Crispus and his family are baptized. Paul was there, but there is no indication whether or not he performed the baptism.
Acts 19: Paul baptizes 12 dudes.
1 Corinthians 12: Here’s another telling passage. Paul talks about the fact that Jesus didn’t call him to baptize people but to preach the Gospel. He struggles to remember who he baptized and who he didn’t. He shrugs it off as no big deal.
That’s it. That’s every recorded instance of a baptism from the point the church was started in early Acts forward. Did you notice what was conspicuously missing? Any local pastors (elders) other than Paul performing any baptisms at all. Instead, we have:
4 instances of Paul baptizing someone or recalling baptizing someone.
3 instances of people being baptized but no reference to who did it.
1 instance of Philip (a disciple of Jesus) baptizing someone.
1 instance of a “believer” baptizing someone.
1 instance of 3000 people being baptized in one day, presumably by a bunch of people.
Here’s the bottom line: both from Jesus’ Great Commission and the example of the early church, we can conclude that any follower of Jesus can perform a baptism. This is not a function of the leadership of the church, rather a function of anyone who is making disciples (which should be all of us).
That’s why it is so cool when people pick someone spiritually significant to them to perform their baptism. It shows the baptism to be part of the discipleship process.
