"So they said to me, Ski, if you are going to publish a blog, don't start telling the truth. You're a Church and Changer. We don't do that."
Drive 08 Conference "Who went that you might know:
Pastor Ski, John Parlow, Jim Buske"
[GJ - Buske is a Church and Change presenter. So is Parlow. And so is Ski: 506...... In the Beginning…Your Guide to Starting
Your own Alternative Worship Experience
–James Skorzewski and Brian Davison.]
What is Drive ’08? That’s a great question. Drive is a two day conference for church leaders. During these two days church leaders from the three North Point campuses will share what they have learned over the last twelve years about creating and maintaining awesome ministry environments. The entire conference has been designed around questions from churches all over the world.
Over the two days Andy Stanley (Lead Pastor at North Point) will address the attendees in three main sessions. There will be five break-out sessions that will revolve around questions asked by the attendees. These sessions allow those in attendance to get pretty specific on certain areas of ministry as well as get great feedback.
I invite you to check out my blog while I’m gone. I’ll try to update the blog daily and share what I’ve learned. Please feel free to share your comments.
I’ll see you all when I get back!
After we registered we headed to the 5 Seasons for lunch. While we were there we heard this voice behind us at a table. Well, we turn around and sure enough there at the table is my old German teacher, Prof. Daniel Deutschlander sitting & eating bratwurst & drinking a beer. As it turns out he is speaking at the Peachtree Conference (I think that is what it is called - WELS churches in the ATL - Tennesee - Alabama area). He asked if we were down for his presentation. I had to say unfortunately, no. The conversation was pretty interesting after that. I mean, telling your old prof. that you are in town, not to hear him is bad enough, but on top of that you are in town to attend a non-denominational church leadership conference... Not normal WELS practice. By the way, he’s drinking a Maibock in the picture.
Breakout Session #3 - Connecting Adults To Small Groups
This session was lead (sic) by Jenny Boyett. She is in charge of Group Link, which is one of the Small Group programs at North Point. This was a pretty good session. I guess I was looking for more of a how to instead of this is what we do or this might work for you. Most of the information that was shared was theory. They have three types of groups.
Main Session #2 - Andy Stanley - Becoming A Great Staff
This was just awesome. The opening music could be confused with a rock concert. Lights, guitars, confetti, etc... The staff also ran through the aisles and threw out blow up guitars and microphones for the audience. I used the word audience, simply because congregation sounded kind of weird. To me what was interesting about the opening music portion, was it goes against everything that I have been taught as a Lutheran. We are called to put our emotions in a box. To not be emotional about the music, unless it is a moving hymn. This is tough, I mean, I may not be jumping around with my hands up, but should I look down on someone who does? Is their worship any less acceptable to God? I don’t think so. Maybe, we need to look at this, emotions are good as long as they don’t get out of control. I think that sometimes we also put down music because it is a repeating chorus and doesn’t have the depth of a hymn. Do we always need to do that? Can’t we have different kinds of music? Isn’t there a danger in saying that there is only one way to do things? I personally like variety. Think about it like this, Cherios (sic) are good, I like them, they are nutritious, they are good with or without milk. But let me tell you, I love Fruity Pebbles. They are colorful, tasty, & packed with sugar. Does that mean that I want to eat them every day? Probably not, but it doesn’t automatically mean that I want Cherios (sic) every day either. Maybe some days i want Frosted Flakes. I like variety.
Anyway, Andy’s session was great. Like I have said. He has this great gift of making things seem so simple. Here are his main points from this afternoon:
1.A great staff is made up of “great leaders.”
2.Best practices for creating a “great staff.”
a.Do for one when you can’t do for all.
b.Systemize (sic? - may be a new CG word) top down service.
c.In response to your staff’s key objectives, ask “How can I help you?”
d.Create & maintain a sustainable pace.
e.Celebrate & reward greatness when you see it.
3.Signs that things aren’t so great.
a.Competition between departments.
b.Double standards.
c.Loyalty lectures.
This was great just to hear & to have to look at our ministry and ask the question, “Do we have issues here?” I think that overall we do pretty well. Are there areas that we can improve? Of course.
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Andy Stanley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. He also founded North Point Ministries, which is a worldwide Christian organization.
Biography
Stanley was born in 1958. His father is Charles Stanley, who is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of InTouch Ministries.
***
GJ - Andy Stanley's books are sold at Fuller Seminary. His daddy divorced his mom but stayed in the ministry. Charles Stanley was in the tank with Paul Y. Cho decades ago. This father-son duo is Baptist and awesomely Church Growth. They will blow you away. Sorry, I read the blog too long and my mind began degenerating.
A few people think I am too pessimistic about WELS. A Wisconsin sect pastor flies to Atlanta, where he might listen to a faithful Lutheran--Dan Deutschlander--but instead listens to a CGM Baptist minister and loves it. How cool is that? And he really seems to brag about it.
PS - Here is Parlow at Church and Change:
501.... Creating Irresistible Environments
with Contemporary Worship
Pastor John Parlow
(john.parlow@stmark-depere.org)
Explore transferable principles that will help you build a church for outsiders to come to and hear truth that makes a difference now and for eternity. Now is the time
to shed ethnic rationalizations, personal preferences, and doomsday attitudes that
are offered as excuses for outreach failures. The truth is the Gospel is timelessly relevant, the church and its representatives may or may not be relevant; the
Gospel is timelessly efficacious, the church and its representatives may or may not be effective. Let’s talk about building ministries that are dangerously
Christian.
John Parlow serves as the lead pastor at St. Mark in De Pere, WI. St. Mark worships over 1,200 people and is currently building a 25,000 sq. ft. addition for
children/family ministry and a sixth weekend worship service offering an “upper room” atmosphere. [GJ - The only thing missing from this Upper Room is Jesus.]
