In.Motion

Today was a fitting end to a great series. We’ve been in a series based on the book The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns that examines topics in the book through the lens of our missional aim as a church (Go Across the Street, Across the City, Across the Border, Across the Ocean).

Pastor Mitch did a great job of wrapping up the series by reminding us that through all we gave talked about, we must hold ourselves accountable personally (according to our specific calls from the Holy Spirit), especially as it relates to our neighbors and those around us.

Mary Kate Mannino shared her story and journey to Rohi School in Nikiru, Kenya this past summer. It was a powerful reminder that we are ALL created with a mission, no matter our stories or circumstance. I’m so excited about New Harvest’s involvement and partnership with Rohi going forward. Lives, children, will be changed in a real way by the work of Jesus and that is a beautiful thing.


Worship Recap:

Our worship team was on it today. Even though I started a tune a step too high, they adapted and recovered from my stupidity and killed it. We sang songs reflecting the glory and power of the Lord, and we landed in a cool moment of reflection and response to what we had been singing.

The question I posed was: What is blocking you from being totally and wholly satisfied by the love of God. A beautiful time of renewing our hearts and affections for the Lord.


Set:

Salvation is Here – Hillsong United

Glory to God – Fee

Mighty to Save – Hillsong United

Enough – Chris Tomlin


What did your Sunday look like?


One.Love

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Well, a trip to California and a Graduation later, it looks like we’ve come to the end of this little mini series inside the DNA of an Effective Creative Ministry. Our final principle is Work On It. Work On It is all about the concept of self-evaluation. No matter how great of a musician you are or how great of a designer you are, you can always look to improve and hone your craft and skills. Even the great athletes and artists of our day have people who coach, mentor, & critique them. This is nothing new, but it is something that must be done intentionally.

Because we are human, and because humans are prone to settle into routines and possible ruts, we will never naturally evaluate ourselves and our processes. We need to place time in our schedules that we intentionally evaluate our programs and our systems to ensure that we are in line with our mission and values. Sometimes, unless things are pointed out to us, we don’t even realize the actuality of a situation. Here’s an illustration that might help:

A man walks in on Monday morning to find that his office is being painted. As he walks down the hall to his office, he begins to smell the fumes. You know, the fumes that burn your nose and make you feel a little light headed. The man decides to duck in, grab a few things and get out. As he enters, one of the painters initiates some small talk. After a few words, the man says to the painter, “So, don’t you mind the fumes?” To which the painter replied, “What fumes?”

Sometimes we don’t notice the funk around us because we’ve been knee deep in it for so long.

I think this relates to Creative ministry very well. However, I think it is fair to admit that most creative types don’t like critique. They don’t like to be told that the thing they poured their heart and soul into, whether it be a song or a painting or a program, could have been better. Therefore, when it comes to working with creative types, such as ourselves, it is good to know how to enter into this conversation of evaluation. The key factor here is trust. There must be the foundation of trust beneath the team and the assumption that we are all working toward glorifying God through our ministry, not towards our own personal agendas.

When we fail to Work On It, we fail to steward and shepherd the ministries we’ve been allowed to lead, and that is not a place I want to find myself. Personally, this is one of my favorite principles. I’m huge on self evaluation, and I’ve had the benefit of having people in my life that I trusted to always give it to me straight, so that I could develop myself and continue to grow as a person, musician, and leader. If you don’t have these people around you or don’t find this type of discussion beneficial or valuable, I would encourage you to seek them out and to start to develop this type of culture in your group.

So, are you Working On It?
How?

One.Love

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Round 5 brings up to our next topic: Listen to Outsiders. I think this is the biggest hurdle to get over for most churches in general. The chapter starts with an illustration about car salesmen and how they usually interact with customers. Usually, when you walk onto a car lot, you’re bombarded with several money hungry salesmen looking for the biggest sale. You’re seen as a commodity and a pocketbook and are treated as such. But what if you walked onto a car lot where they were concerned with helping you rather than selling you a car? When the motive changes, the reaction changes.

This is something we can definitely take to heart as the church. Maybe some of the ways we approach visitors at our churches make them feel like they are at a car lot. Do they feel like a commodity? Like they are being bombarded? “But this is how we’ve always done things” or “If we change our approach, people might get upset a leave”. This begs the question: Who are we trying to reach? Let me back up. In churches, or any organization for that matter, there are insiders and outsiders. Insiders have been around and are plugged into the mission of the church. Outsiders are those who aren’t in the church.

“The church is primarily characterized by insiders reaching insiders” & “millions of outsiders see what the church does as being irrelevant, and yet most continue to do business as usual.” That sums up the two biggest problems we face when it comes to outsiders. We keep catering to those who have already committed their lives to Christ. If our mission is to reach the lost for Christ, then they are now a part of the mission rather than the object of the mission. And if we continue to focus on how insiders see things, we will only attract insiders, when it is outsiders we are trying to seek out.

So how does this relate to our worship/creative communities? I think this has great weight when it comes to how we do what we do. I find it to be foolish to ignore our culture when it comes to seeking inspiration for creative elements. Whether it be ideas for videos or for series topics, we should look to what people (outsiders) find interesting or are asking questions about. If we are seeking them out, we should know them. Know what they like. Know what they need (besides a relationship with Christ). This is more important than a “customer/business” relationship, therefore, I think we’ve got to put in the due diligence in understanding the outsiders. Staying “outsider-minded” has got to be a priority when it comes to programming our services.

How can you Listening to Outsiders help in your worship/creative community?

One.Love

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