The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 4

I've been talking about the people that make our church great.  So far all of the groups and teams that I've mentioned serve in volunteer roles.  No church can be great without passionate, committed, hard working and competent volunteers and FCBC is full of them.  And I'm so thankful to pastor a church with such amazing volunteer leaders.

But a great church also has to have a great staff and at FCBC that's what we have.  Besides myself we have six paid staff members and everyone of them has tremendous gifts and strengths.  While I don't have the space to mention all that each person brings to the table I do want to share a couple of strengths of each of our staff.  Feel free to add to the list in the comment section.

Brian is our Student Pastor.  He's also a stay home dad which I think is amazing in and of itself.  Brian not only loves students and wants to see them commit their total lives to Christ, he also has a unique ability to understand their culture and help them translate their faith into that culture.  Brian has a unique way of communicating with students that not only helps them understand biblical truth and how it relates to their lives but also challenges them to be different people because of their faith and relationship with Christ.

Another strength of Brian's, that I've come to appreciate, is his ability to reframe a discussion in a way that creates unity.  Many times our staff and other teams need to have discussions about how to move forward, make a change or do something new.  Sometimes those discussions, because they are so important to everyone, can get serious and passionate and occasonally heated (it's actually a healthy process.)  Because he has the ability to understand different cultures (including generations) and their languages Brian has the ability to re-frame the conversation in a way that give clarity and brings people to the same page.

Cathy's title is Ministry Assistant but that title does not do her justice because of the many ways she serves and the many hats she wears.  Cathy manages the office, directs much of our communication, produces most of our publications, provides support for special projects and events, gives administrative support to staff and teams and the list goes on.  It's a position that requires a lot of flexibility and Cathy is one of the most flexible people I know.  Because we have a church that embraces change and is constantly in a state of movment there's always an element of chaos around.  Cathy also has the ability to do great work in the middle of that chaos.

She's also always willing to jump in where ever she is needed and has the ability to push through and do whatever it takes to make a ministry, event or project a success.  Her role on our team is very much behind the scenes and she deserves a lot of credit for our church's successes.  In writing this one of the things I've come to realize is that Cathy's work, in one way or another, touches every ministry, every event, every project - literally every aspect of our church.

Carolyn I. is our Pastor of Fellowship.  She wears several hats and leads two important areas in our church - small groups and hospitality.  Carolyn has the spiritual gift of hospitality and that gift is evident in the warm, friendly and inviting atmosphere she has helped us create on Sunday mornings.  In fact the number one positive feedback we get from first-time guests has to do with our hospitality ministry.  Carolyn also coordinates our small groups and since each of our small groups are unique with their own personalities this requires her to have a lot of flexibility, patience, and organization.

Another strength that Carolyn brings to our church is her experience in the corporate world.  Before joining our staff she was a nurse and adminstrator for Sunrise Assisted Living.  Time and time again she has used that experience as a pastor to support the senior adults in our church as well as our younger generations who have parents moving in to senior adulthood.  This can be a challenging time for entire families and Carolyn's willingness to use her previous experience has helped to support and encourage many of our families.

Carolyn R. is our accountant and all around financial expert.  Before she joined our staff our church's accounting had always been done by volunteers.  Those volunteers did a wonderful job with our finances but having a dedicated staff person in the position has made a huge difference and has helped us have even greater financial health.

Over the last few years Carolyn has made systematic improvements to the way we manage and report our finances.  She's worked along side of our Administrative Council to help us create financial policies that will protect our church and protect those who work with our budget and finances.  She makes sure that our church has transparency and integrity in all areas of our finances.  Carolyn is also a key part of our staff as she helps each staff member understand their area of our budget and helps them track their spending and plan for the future.

Elise is our Children and Missions Pastor and like most of our staff she wears lots of hats.  Elise was the first Children's Pastor in our church's history.  She also came to know Christ as a teenager at FCBC.  Children have always been a priority at FCBC and Elise, through her creativity and willingness to think outside the box, has brought a level of professionalism and a quality to that area of ministry that we didn't have before.  She has a heart to see children come to know God, grow in their love for him and allow that love to spill over into the people in their lives and around the world.

Elise is also passionate about "the least of these" in our community and in our world.  Over the last several years our church's heart has grow tremendously for the hurting people in our community and in our world and much of that is due to Elise's influence and leadership.  When she joined our staff Elise was one of just a couple of people in our church who had ever traveled on an international mission trip.  Today everyone of our staff have participated in a least one international mission trip and the number of people who have served internationally through FCBC is well over 50 people.

Elise' also has what I call a pastor's heart - she genuinely cares about people and is great in situations where people are going through a difficulty and need pastoral care, support, guidance and wisdom.

Susan is our worship leader and she's a gifted musician and songwriter.  Leading worship is more than just creating great music, it's about creating an environment that helps individuals shift their focus and attention to God.  Through Susan's leadership that happens every Sunday morning.  One of the things I love about how Susan does this is the amount of prayer she puts into the process.  Not only does she spend personal time in prayer as she prepares, she also leads our team to be prayerful about what they do.

Susan has also created a great team.  I'm so impressed with her ability to take a group of passionate and creative people with many different personalities and shape them into a unified team.  That's no easy task and requires a lot of patience, humility, organization and love.  Another strength that I appreciate about Susan is her ability to spot talent and incorporate that talent into our worship team.  Our team is made up of a lot of voices and a lot of different instruments and Susan has found a way to blend them all into some truly great music.

As I said behind every great church is a great staff.  I'm so thankful that our church has a staff that loves what they do, has the gifts and talents to do it well and works together as a team to ensure the church's best interested are our focus.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what makes our church great.  Whether it's our staff or our volunteer leaders and teams, what qualities do you appreciate most?

10 Things You May Not Know About Senior Pastors

I have several people that I consider mentors in my life.  Some of them I know very well and in person, others I only know through their books, speaking and blog posts.  Ron Edmondson is one of those people.  I've never met him in person but have corresponded through Email with him a few times.  His blog is one of the few that I follow daily and his wisdom has helped me tremendously.

Today he wrote about "10 Things You May Not Know About Senior Pastors."  As someone who has been both an associate and senior pastor I have either witnessed or experienced most of the things on his list.   I've known and even worked with senior pastors who have dealt with all ten of the things Ron describes.

Looking at Ron's list I realize how blessed I am to serve and lead such a healthy church.  Our church is also blessed with a great staff that is mature and healthy and supports, encourages, and prays for each other.  And I'm so fortunate to have a wife who understands the dynamics of leading a church and supports and encourages me every step of the way.

Here's a link to Ron's post.  May it remind you to pray for and encourage your senior pastor.

The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 3

This is part three of a four part series.  

I love the church I serve in.  And I love it not because of the programs or the buildings or the great office that I have, but because of the people that I have the joy and honor of serving together with in making a difference in our community and our world in the name of Christ.

There are so many people and groups that make our church great and make the work that we do as a church possible.  Most of those people and most of those groups work quietly behind the scenes.  I want to mention three groups today that do that and do it with excellence.

Our Missions Team is made up of people who are not only passionate about doing missions outside the walls of our church but are passionate about bringing other people along in that journey.  For a church our size we do an extraordinary amount of mission work, local and international.  

Our Missions Team works to make sure we continue moving forward without taking on more than we can do with excellence.  They also have the responsibility of making sure that the way we do missions is such that it strengthens rather than harms the communities we are serving.  Many churches never give thought to how they are serving and if their methods are truly good for the community.  Our Missions Team is constantly asking questions and making sure that when we serve in another community we do no harm.  The team also tries to ensure that in all we do, the local church in the community is the hero rather than our teams.

The Missions Team has spent the last year working very hard to develop a mission team manual to guide our teams and to ensure things are done well, within the values of our church and that everyone is as safe as possible when serving.

The Vulnerable Children's Team works to lead our church to understand the needs of vulnerable children in our community and internationally and to work with our strategic partners to help meet those needs.  Our church serves vulnerable children locally through our partnership with FACETS and internationally through our partnerships with Nairobi Gospel Centre, The Royal Diadem for Excellence and Samaritan's Purse.

Much like the Missions Team this team is made up of people that are passionate about the vulnerable children in our world but also passionate about bringing other people into the conversation to be apart of the solution.  

Many times we don't even realize we are serving vulnerable children when in fact we are.  For example when we collect supplies for the FACETS Backpack Program we are supporting vulnerable children in the Fairfax area.  The children and families that receive the supplies would not be able to afford them on their own.  By helping to meet this need we help these children get a better start to the school year by having the supplies they need.  Providing quality education plays a major role in breaking the cycle of poverty.  That's also one of the things we are doing in Kenya.  Right now our efforts as a church support a program operated by Nairobi Gospel Centre.  We are currently making it possible for a young boy named Ancent to attend a private school which is far better than his community school.  Our goal is to be supporting ten children by the end of this year.

We also support vulnerable children through our work with Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  I love that OCC is more about relationships than anything else.  The shoe boxes that we pack and send give local pastors in developing countries a tool for building relationships with children and families in their communities.  The relationships allow the pastor and church to not only share the gospel of Christ with these families but it puts them in a position of being the hands and feet of Jesus as they meet real, physical and emotional needs.

There's no way to possibly list every group that makes our church great and the problem with doing a series like this is the risk of leaving a group out.  There are many individuals, teams and groups that lead annual events, events that only happen once and who serve in so many different ways throughout the year to make our church great.  There are volunteers who show up and fix equipment and make repairs to our building.  There are people who minister one on one to others in our church who are in need.  And there are people who quietly serve and without everyone doing what they do we simply could not do what we do.

That's why I love our church and that's why it's great. because of the people that I have the joy and honor of serving together with in making a difference in our community and our world in the name of Christ.

The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series of posts I'm writing about the people that make our church great.  In Part 1 I talked about the folks that make Sunday mornings possible.  In this post I want to talk about some of the people and teams that work behind the scenes to lead our church strategically and administratively.

• The Administrative Council oversees much of the administrative side of the church.  This team oversees and reports on our church's finances, prepares our annual budget, ensures the property and buildings are maintained and keeps our personnel policies up-to-date.  Over the last few years this team has worked very hard to up date our policies and create procedures designed to protect the church and allow for transparency.  I have the pleasure of working closely with this team and they make things that are difficult for me (crunching numbers) look easy.

• Our Alignment Team has an unusual name for a church team but the name fits its role.  The AT's responsibility is to make sure the church stays aligned with its mission, core values, doctrines and strategic objectives.  The Alignment Team has the wonderful and sometimes difficult job of keeping the "big picture" of the church in view.  By big picture I mean they seek to know where the church is and where it needs to be at any given time.  Forward motion is a key part of a healthy church and the AT makes sure that FCBC is steadily moving forward.

• The Family Ministry Team is a new team and has only been working together for a few months.  While we're still figuring out all the the roles and responsibilities of the FMT we do anticipate this being a "big picture" team as well.  In the past we had a children's ministry team and a youth ministry team.  Both teams led their areas of ministry in silos.  When we created the FMT we brought together leadership from our Kid and Student Ministries to work together strategically with the same goal in mind:  to partner with parents to help them build faith in their children.

• The Pastor Advisory Team is a team of four people who I meet with every three months.  They serve as a sounding board for me as I seek to lead the church and staff.  They ask great questions about my ideas or potential decisions and always provide good, candid feedback and wisdom. The team is made up of people who will tell me what I need to hear not what I want to hear.  In many ways I view them as my supervisor.  The team also helps me gauge the pace of change in the church and helps me keep check on my personal physical, relational and spiritual health.

• Our church Trustees are the legal arm of the church.  In Virginia they are appointed by the church and approved by the circuit court.  They deal with any legal matters including purchasing or selling property, long-term contracts or leases and insurance and liability issues.  Typically the Trustees are not called on very often but when they are their work is very important.

I so thankful for each of these teams and for every person that serves on them.  These folks work very hard all year to make sure our church is protected, that our staff has what they need, and that our church and ministries are moving forward in a positive direction.  Without them leading us from behind the scenes most of what we do as a church would grind to a halt.

The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 1

I love our church.  I think it's an amazing place to serve, grow, connect and be in community.  But the fact is we couldn't do church with out the dedication of so many leaders and volunteers.  Over the next few weeks I want to point out the many groups and people that make the ministries of FCBC, not only possible, but actually great.  Each group is an important part of our mission to develop devoted followers of Christ.

This week I'll start with the folks that make Sunday mornings possible.

Hospitality Team – This team consist of several smaller teams.

• The Refreshment Team are the folks that set up the coffee and snacks and then clean it all up after worship. They are an important part of our Sunday morning hospitality and are behind the scenes folks that do what they do with amazing hearts.  I love how they pay attention to details, try new things and really seem to enjoy what they do.  And whoever came up with the idea to serve OJ and milk is a genius.  We get an enormous amount of positive feedback about this aspect of our Sunday morning experience. 

• Our greeters also play a big part in our hospitality.  They are some of the first people that guests and regulars attenders meet on Sundays and their smiles, handshakes and assistance set the stage for many people’s worship experience.  They also are great at remembering people’s names and have helped me with that on many occasions.  I don’t plan to mention individual names here but one person has to be mentioned - Ray Pettus has been serving as a greeter for at least 15 years; in fact there were times when she was the only greeter we had.  Thanks Ray!

• Ushers are more than just the folks that take up the offering and hand out bulletins - although those are important roles and they do them well.  But they also assist people in finding where they need to go.  They help parents find our Kid's Ministry and nurseries.  And they help folks find a seat when things get crowded.  Ushers also provide a level of security for our building.  Once the service is underway they lock doors and check on the Kid's Ministry areas.

Kid's Ministry Leaders - Our Kid's Ministry is vital to our church and to our Sunday mornings.  The leaders there provide our kids with love, encouragement, Biblical teaching, and a ton of fun.  They also make it possible for parents to attend worship, fellowship with others and experience Biblical teaching themselves without distractions.  As a Pastor and as a parent I'm so thankful for the folks who serve in this ministry week after week.  I'm also thankful for the middle and high school students who faithfully serve in this ministry and that we have adult leaders who recognize the opportunity for our students to grow through serving.

Worship Techs - Our worship techs are another group that faithfully serve behind the scenes.  They make it possible for our worship team to lead us through music and for others and myself to teach scripture.  It's a difficult thing to not get drawn into the songs, music and teaching during the worship service but each person in this ministry is great at staying focused on what they are doing.  Even when we have problems with our mics, sound system and video system the team remains calm and focused and solve the problems. 

Vocals and Instrumentalists - Worship would not be worship with our music and the music at FCBC is great!  The folks who sing and play instruments meet every week for a couple of hours to practice and prepare for Sunday morning and to learn new songs to teach us.  The amount of musical talent that we have a FCBC is rare for a church our size.  I also appreciate the fact that this is an area where we have students serving and adults who are helping them grow.  It's also important to know that this team prays together each Wednesday as a part of their preparation to lead.

Thanks to everyone who serves on Sunday mornings.  Without your dedication we could not do what we do and could not reach our mission.

Thirteenth Birthday

My son Andrew turned 13 yesterday.  His mom and sister and I were singing "Happy Birthday" to him when we looked at the clock and realized it was 7:59PM - the exact time of his birth.  Very cool!

I've heard a lot of parents talk about how they don't want their kids to grow up and all of that.  I've actually loved every stage of my kids' lives and have always looked forward to the next one.  I love seeing them grow, take on responsibility, learn how to solve their own problems and increase their character.  I even love that they are becoming more and more independent from me because I see them becoming more dependent on God.

We got this Email from Andrew's math teacher this morning.  It was the icing on the cake (bad pun I know) to what has been a great few days of celebrating our son's life.

I just wanted to let you know how polite Andrew has been to me all year.  As he leaves the classroom each day, he is always sure to say “Good-bye, Mrs. Hawkins.  I hope you have a good evening” – or something similar.  He is a pleasure to teach.

Who Needs The Church?

This week our 15-year-old dog Ali died.  We'd had her since she was an 8-week-old puppy.  The loss was difficult for all of us, probably more difficult for our kids and especially difficult for our 13-year-old son.  After all it's the first living thing that he's lost in his entire life.

And this week Marsha and I were forced to make difficult decisions and have tough conversations with our kids.  It was not an easy week.  And as I've been thinking about it and processing it (in my mind rather than  through my emotions) I've been reminded that life is hard and that having people in my life is important.

Our small group prayed with us about this on Friday night.  Staff and other friends at our church encouraged us.  And family members were supportive and even helped with some of the logistical details (the burial at Grandma and Pop Pop's house.)  All because we were losing a family pet that meant a lot to us.

Here's what I know, there's a lot of people all around me, and you too, dealing with loss.  And their loss is a lot more substantial than a family pet.

• The loss of a family member or friend.
• The loss of a job.
• The loss of health.
• The loss of finances.
• The loss of a relationship.
• The loss of a dream.

That list could go on and on.  Here's what else I know.  NO ONE and NO FAMILY should ever go through any of those things alone.  That's why the church exists; to help people make it through life when life is hard.  And there's nothing in this world in a better position to do that than the church.

So let me ask you this, who do you know that needs to be connected to the church?  They may not being going through a loss or difficultly right now, but one day they will be.  Who do you know that's disconnected?  And what are you going to do about that?

Here's a simple suggestion:  Invite them to go to church with you.  They may say "no" - it's a risk.  But they may say "yes" and it may change their life forever.

Easter is just two weeks away.  If ever there's a time when someone will say "yes" to an invite to church it's Easter.  Easter affords us an opportunity that, with the exception of Christmas, we don't have the rest of the year.  

Invite them, bring them and help them connect.

Treat People Like People

Our church is operating a homeless shelter this week on our campus.  We've done this for several years in partnership with other churches, non-profits and our local government.  The shelter is hosted each week, from November through mid-March, by a different church.

Yesterday one of our guests told one of our volunteers how much they loved our church.  He said "not just because the food is good but because of the people; they treat us like we're human."

Wow!  That blew me away.  First, I'm just so proud of the heart that our church has for people - ANY people.  And second, I know this happens, but I can't understand how any church can operate in such a way that someone would walk away and say"They didn't treat us like we're human.  They treated us like we were less than that."

Even a casual reading of the Gospels and the way Christ lived his life shows he NEVER treated anyone like a second-class citizen.

The truth is it's become far too easy and we've become far too comfortable making snap judgements about people that we don't even know and haven't taken the time understand.

• We vilify our politicians rather than seeing them as humans, most of whom just want to make a difference.
• We judge people with different lifestyles without realizing they are just like us, trying to get through life, dealing with the same decisions, the same fears and the same needs.
• We look at someone who is homeless and quickly think "they just don't want to work" when in reality they would love to have a job but just don't know how to overcome the barriers they face.
• We see the "bully" and think "they're just a mean person," when the fact is hurt people hurt people.

So how does our church do it?  How do we treat people like "humans?"  We follow Jesus' example.  He saw others, EVERYONE, as valuable first and then he dealt with their issues.

Territorialism

I read a blog post this past week by Mark Batterson by the same title as this one.  You can read it for yourself here.

In the post Mark says "territorialism is caring more about your kingdom than God’s kingdom.  Plain and simple.  It’s selfish spirituality.  It’s caring more about your reputation than God’s reputation."  

I've experienced this first hand a few times.  Several years ago when I was new to the staff of FCBC I had a conversation with a church member who told me when she was in the youth group and would go on retreats that included multiple churches, one of the churches from our area was seen as a "rival" by our church's youth group.

And then there was the time, as a student pastor, I was working with a few other student pastors to create a monthly worship experience for our groups.  We all had small to medium size student ministries so we were coming together to create an experience that had the energy and momentum that a larger group could create.  We had two goals:  create great student worship experiences and develop great student leaders to lead them.

We invited several other students pastors to join us.  One in particular was beyond excited about her group being a part of it.  She saw the value it could have with the students that she led.  But when she told her pastor about the plan he immediately shut it down for their group.  He said "I afraid our students will like one of the other groups better and go to that church."

When I heard that I remember thinking "REALLY?  You're afraid that by doing what's best for the Kingdom of God might have a negative affect on your church?"

I decided then that I would never be that kind of pastor.  I've actually helped people who have attended our church connect with a different church because it was a better fit for them or their family.

I'm so thankful that our church sees the value in partnerships with other churches and other groups.  That our staff and leaders realize it's not about getting a little bit bigger piece of the pie for us but it's about enlarging the Kingdom of God.

If there's a church down the road that I can teach something that I've learned, I'm there.  And if there's a church in our community that can teach us something that can help us reach our mission, I want to know what it is.  And if there's a church that shares our values and wants to partner with us to make a difference in this world then I want to meet them and start a conversation.

Dark Stairwells in France

This morning I watched the 40 Days in the Word Day 24 Devotional with Tommy Hilliker from Saddleback Church.  I immediately resonated with the story he opened with about getting stuck in the basement of a building with the lights out - in total darkness.

If you know me well you know that I'm mildly claustrophobic.  OK, maybe a little more than mildly; if it less than 9 floors I'll take the stairs.  I had a similar situation as Tommy this past Summer when our family was visiting friends in Paris, France.  Our friends lived on the top floor (16th) of a high rise apartment.  We were leaving to do some sightseeing and the elevator was too small for all of us to ride down, so naturally I volunteered to take the stairs.

My friend Joel told me to be careful because the light in the stairwell was out two floors down.  It turns out that the lights were out for six floors.  It was a tight spiral stairwell with NO windows and NO light - pitch black.  Thankfully I had my phone with me and was able to use the flash from the camera to see my way down.

I think Tommy's and my stories are great analogies for what it's like when we are seeking spiritual direction in our lives.  Many times in my life I've been in a place where I knew God was leading me in a new direction in some way but I had no idea what that meant or what it would look like.  The two years between when I was serving as an associate pastor and when I became a lead pastor was one of those times - like an old Polarid picture slowly developing.

I find myself in that place again - knowing that God is on the verge of doing something new, or bigger, or more challenging in or through me but not knowing the details.  It's like walking down a small spiral staircase with just the light of a phone for guidance.

I have a list of things that I do during during these times.  Here's one that been especially helpful.  I listen to people who have been there and allow their wisdom to fuel me as I wait on God to give more details.  In the day of blogs, Twitter and Facebook this is especially easy to do.

Here's a few words of wisdom that I've held onto over the last few weeks.  If you find yourself in the dark with little, or no light I hope these words help you to.

"Barriers are blessings. God said 'no' to Paul for Asia so He could say 'yes' to Macedonia and Europe and the west. God turns everything to Good." - Jimmie Davidson

"God has given you what you need to fulfill what is in your heart. Follow Him, go after what ignites your passion, and change the world!" - Tim Schraeder

"What would you pursue today if you weren't afraid to fail?  If you were given permission to make it happen?  Might be time to go do that." - Brad Lomenick

"If your dream doesn't scare you to death you haven't really come to life."  Mark Batterson

Changing The World One Child At A Time

Our church has what we call "strategic partnerships."  We have strategic ministry partners and we have strategic church partners.

A strategic ministry partner is a partnership with a ministry outside the church that we support on particular issues as homelessness, poverty, orphan care and vulnerable children initiatives.

Our strategic church partnerships are with churches that have a similar vision and similar missional and theological DNA as our church.  Since we value the local church and we believe the local church should be the "hero" in their community, these partnerships are pastor to pastor and congregation to congregation.

In Nairobi, Kenya we have both.  We have a strategic ministry partnership with a ministry called The Royal Diadem Centre for Excellence.  It's a ministry of our strategic church partner Nairobi Gospel Centre International.  We are currently working together to meet the needs of vulnerable children in community near the church.  We are partnering together to change the world one child at a time.

My friend and ministry partner, Enock Matte is the project manager for our vulnerable children's initiative in Nairobi.  He recently put together this video that explains our vision and strategy in Nairobi.  If you want to support this project or find out more about it go to our non-profits website and click donate.

Mission Trips, Shoeboxes and My Son

I love mission trips.  I think every follower of Christ should go on at least one mission trip.  They are unique windows to our world that have the power to change our heart for the Kingdom of God.  I've been a part of so many mission trips that I've lost count.  But everyone of them have shaped my worldview, enlarged my heart for other people and have given me a better perspective on what I have and how God wants me to use what He's entrusted to me.

I love shoeboxes.  Not the kind with shoes in them, the kind with toys, school supplies and candy in them.  The ones that have Operation Christmas Child written all over them.  I've seen OCC, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, do amazing things in our church through the years and in people's lives.  It's also doing incredible things around the world as it points people to Christ.

And I love my son.  Since the first time I laid eyes on him and held him we've had an incredible bond.  We are similar in our personalities, likes and dislikes and we share the same struggle of not being able to focus when we need to (ie. ADD.)

So it's no wonder that a week spent with MY SON on a MISSION TRIP handing out Operation Christmas Child SHOEBOXES would rank as one of the best experiences of my life.  Simply put it was an incredible experience and I'm so thankful that he and I were able to share it together.

A Quick Report From Our DR Team

Greetings from Santo Domingo-

Happy Valentine's Day!  We swam in the waterfall on Sunday afternoon

and yesterday Collin and I rode on the back of the flatbed through

town.  It was more fun than the van.  We completed two distributions

so far.  One was very orderly and one was in a community park and was

chaos.  We almost packed it in and left because the parents were being

so aggressive.  God intervened as did our threats to leave and we

ended up doing a conga line distribution model.  Get a box and go

home.  Not the best situation.  Thankfully, it was the second of the

day and not the first.

Last night we counted out the antibiotics into doses and labeled them

for the doctor.  It was interesting and tedious.  Not the most

sanitary situation either even though we tried.  Our hands were clean

but who know about those used pill bottles...we were filling.

We are looking forward to the pig roast on Friday and of course more

shoe boxes.  Collin and Addisan are going to the school today to help

Claudia with vision testing and then they will help teach english.

See you next week.

Jaimie

Circles That I've Drawn

Our staff is reading Mark Batterson's book The Circle Maker together. I've gone on record before and said that Mark is an amazing writer and one of the most authentic and intentional people I've met. I highly recommend all of his books.

I was humbled this week when I saw a picture posted on FaceBook by one of the parents in our

church. Her daughter, who is in Kindergarten, wrote this in her prayer journal. Her brother has been sick for a while and has had to have a lot of tests. The family is still waiting for a diagnosis.

Prayer is about drawing circles around people and things that we're trusting God for. She's drawn a circle around her little brother and in doing so has taught us all a lot about prayer.

Here are three things I've recently circled in prayer:

• My son Andrew and I are going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. We leave in less than two weeks. Andrew has been out of the county (Europe) but has never seen real poverty. For the last couple of months I've been praying that while we are there God will enlarge his heart for children who have so much less than he has. I'm praying that this trip is a life-changer for him.
  
  
• I'm praying for our church as we launch a 40-Day campaign. I'm praying that in the end we will not only want to KNOW more scripture but we will want to DO more scripture.
  
  
• And I'm praying for an event that's coming up this weekend in Northern Va. It's called Mission Possible and it's all about helping students learn about the social needs in our world and how they can be apart of changing that world.

What or whom are you circling in prayer?

Prayer Circles, Big Dreams and a Kid Named Ancent

This is a picture of a kid named Ancent.  He's 5 years old and lives in Nairobi, Kenya with his mom and his 13 year old brother.  At age 3 Ancent's father was brutally killed by thugs who robbed him on his way home from work.   Last week he came into our lives at Fairfax Circle Church.  Here's the backstory.

About three years ago a woman in our church, after reading Kay Warren's book Dangerous Surrender, had a God-sized dream.  Actually at the time the dream was pretty vague - "orphans in Africa."  So we began, what Mark Batterson would call, circling that dream in prayer.   It's been amazing to see God work and bring clarity to that original dream.

It's also been amazing to see God bring the right people to help us chase this dream.  People like Pastor Charles and our partner church Nairobi Gospel Centre.  A group of ladies from NGC who, before we ever met them, were having the same dream.  My friend Enock Matte, who has done an incredible amount of work at lightening speed in Nairobi to get this dream off the ground.  The folks who launched Side By Side Ministries to help generate funds.  And countless others.

Our dream is pretty basic - to help vulnerable children like Ancent.  We want to find ways to help parents who are at risk of not being able to keep their kids, keep their kids.  And for those kids who have been orphaned or abandoned, we want to find them a loving home with family who will care for them and show them God's love.

We abandoned our original idea of building an orphanage.  Why we do something in Kenya that we wouldn't do in America?  We also knew that the family was God's idea and He created everyone for family.  So we decided to find ways to help families foster those kids that have no families and to help struggling parents find a way to provide for their kids so that abandoning does not have to be an option.

My dream for this ministry is pretty simple and pretty big - 1,000 kids in the next 10 years.  That's going to involve a lot of resources, a lot of work and a lot of people.  But God is a big God and I don't think he's interested in small dreams.

In Kenya they have a saying that goes like this "kidogo kidogo hujaza kibaba."  It means "little by little the cup is filled."  That's what our church and Nairobi Gospel Centre, are doing.  We're working together, at a steady pace, "little by little" filling the cup.  Our goal for this year is 10 kids by the end of 2012.  And then our hope and prayer is to have a snowball effect.

But today we're celebrating and praising God that Ancent was just enrolled in a better school and that some of his family's basic needs are being met.   And that God has allowed us to be a part, in some small way, of his life.

What the Church Can Learn From Apple

I'm an Apple fan. I wasn't always, in fact I used to give Apple users a hard time about their devices. But a couple of years ago I bought my first Mac, a MacBook Pro laptop, and I've never looked back. Last year I bought my first iPhone and this year I intend to buy my first iPad. And I still have my original video iPod.

But this is not an advertisement for Apple products, it's an encouragement to those of us who lead in our churches to learn from anyone and anything we can - including Apple.

I'm reading Steve Job's biography. It's a fascinating read that even the anti-Apple folks would probably enjoy. When the company was in it's infancy stage a guy named Mike Markkula invested and became a one third partner and Apple's first marketing director. Mike wrote what became Apple's marketing philosophy which was made up of three principles. Three principles that I believe every church should adopt. Here they are:

1. Empathy - an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer: "We will truly understand their needs better than any other company."

I DON'T believe the church should operate from a consumer mentality. I believe too many churches do that and in doing so create overweight (spiritually speaking) Christians that are not engaging the world around them for the Kingdom. I DO believe the church should do all that it can to understand the needs of the people who would benefit from our message and then meet them where they are based on those needs.

2. Focus: "In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities."

Anyone who knows me as a Pastor knows that I believe a church should be focused. Focused on what matters most - not on good things but on BETTER things. In the eight years I've been the Lead Pastor at FCBC we've probably stopped doing more things than we've started. Churches don't need more programs, meetings and ministries they need more focus.

3. Impute: "People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities."

The church has the greatest story in the world. God came in person to offer everyone forgiveness and a fulfilled life. Everyone on the planet needs to hear, understand and accept that message. But too many times we present it, and ourselves for that matter, in slipshod ways.

We sing songs that are emotional for us but don't connect with the current generation. We use outdated technology when the rest of the world uses, well, Apple products. We communicate in a language that outsiders don't understand. And on top of that we serve the worst coffee in town and make people sit on uncomfortable pews.

What if churches adopted these three principles? We probably wouldn't hit Fortune 500 status but I bet we would reach more people for Christ.

Reading Plan

One of the things I struggle with is consistency in reading scripture through reading plans. I read scripture all the time but I've never had a lot of success with organized reading plans. So I'm always looking for new tools to help me read more intentionally.

I came across a great tool that I'm trying this year. You might want to check it out too. It's called YouVersion. The folks at YouVersion have created a lot of different reading plans and give you access to nearly every translation every written. They track your progress, send you reminders and help you catch up when you get behind.

This year I'm doing the Project 3:45 plan. It has you read one chapter, five days a week from the New Testament. I like the idea of reading less and being able to focus on the text more than trying to read the entire Bible in one year. I also like the idea of having the weekend to catch up when I get behind - I tend to have enough pressure without adding more.

I can access YouVersion online, on my iPhone and they will even Email me each day's reading. I can even take notes and share what I'm reading through social networks.

Awesome too! Check it out.