Part 1 - Long illustration about Pastor Matt being sick and taking Nyquil. A real nail-biter.
Part 2 - More about Matt Doebler being ill and anxious.
Part 3 - Paul and Thessalonica.
Part 4 - Rock and Roll Church is three years old. Make it or break it time. Lost some major WELS synodical grants. Hoping for some other grants. [GJ - Church and Chicanery teaches its disciples how to eat high on the hog.]
Part 5 - Typical statistics about the unchurched in Round Rock, Texas. Assumes that people who do not go to church "have no relationship to Jesus Christ." [GJ - Maybe they are sick of apostasy from the pulpit, marketing the Gospel, and rock-n-roll seeker services.]
Part 6 - Calls Law and Gospel "theological mumbo-jumbo." Members are "filled with the Holy Spirit." Some baptisms coming up. Praising members up and down, especially for setting up and taking down [GJ - routine for most mission churches].
Part 7 - Pastor Matt is "totally excited about the new year." "God is working here, guys." [GJ - I am interested in these awesome new liturgical words. Grace, mercy, and peace, guys. I totally like it.]
Part 8 - Paul enters the sermon again. Briefly. "God wants grace to come to this community." Does a little voice quaver, which is popular among the Reformed.
Part 9 - Typical Church Growth section about outreach, Law-based. Everyone has to reach out and "love our community." Get on a ministry team. Sunday is not "just about us." Focus on the guests. Love them. This may be our only chance. [GJ - I would feel like a guest at a Herbal Life sales meeting.]
Part 10 - Hamburger joint section. "All about the experience." "How many have been to Mighty Fine Burger? They want you to have an experience." Oh, Oh, Matt just discovered another Church Growth principle - We should emulate Mighty Fine Burger. More Law - we have to show how great things are for us. We have to represent God and say we are "mighty fine."
Part 11 - Goals. Call a worship leader. What is Matt? Go to multi-site (GJ - which is the Mars Hill and the North Point model). $210,000 grant to Antioch request. Decide by January 10th. That is a "huge, huge deal." We need a worship coordinator.
Start two to three sites by the end of 2009. "Someone donated, like, three computers."
Small groups. Four non-church people for every Rock member. "It's time to draw the line in the sand. This is the point."
"We have to step it up."
***
GJ - I do not know what this Antioch grant thing is. A doctor of divinity found an Antioch Foundation in La Crosse, Wisconsin, giving grants to WELS.
There are many overlapping Emerging Church, Becoming Missional, and Church Growth businesses known to all the Church and Chicanery pastors. C and C pastors drop names and jargon which go right over most people's heads. Only the insiders understand. Suffice it to say, the epicenters of learning are still Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek Community Church. The Enthusiasts to emulate are Mars Hill, North Point, and a few others.
