connectingpoints

Power In Health

2011-11-15T13:31:00.001-05:00

There is power in health. How many times have you seen people that had wealth and fame but would trade them all in for health? What good is all the money or influence in the world if you do not have health to enjoy or use it? I believe that God wants us to be healthy. I also believe that God wants our church to be healthy. God worked this principle into creation. If a tree is healthy, it will naturally produce fruit. I live in Florida and many people have citrus trees in their yards. If the tree is healthy, there is plenty of fruit for everyone in the family and baskets to give away every year. Sometimes it can be a pain. A healthy tree will produce so much fruit that you constantly have to pick them up out of your yard. It’s a natural law. Healthy things produce. The same is true in the church. If we can get the church healthy, we can expect it to be productive. What constitutes a healthy church? There is no simple answer to this question. It can be as complex as discerning what makes a human body healthy. I would like to offer a few ideas:
* A healthy church is a growing church.
* A healthy church is an active church.
* A healthy church is a loving church.
* A healthy church is an evangelistic church.
* A healthy church is a benevolent church.
* A healthy church is a passionate church.
* A healthy church is a connecting church.

Redefining Success

2011-09-29T10:37:00.000-04:00

I think it is a mistake to equate success with numbers only. Don’t get me wrong, more people, money, property, buildings are good, but do they insure health and productivity? Jesus spoke a lot about productivity. In John 15 He said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful ... Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I have found that there are three principles of productivity. The Lord, I trust, showed me this as I was preparing Connecting Points for my church. These three principles are embraced in and enhanced by Connecting Points. They are the principles of health, intentionality, and alignment. Here is what I felt as though the Lord showed me. If we hope for productivity we must be healthy, intentional, and in alignment. The principle of health says very simply: “things that are healthy produce and grow”. The principle of intentionality points out that unless we know where we are going it is unlikely that we will get there. The principle of alignment reveals the power in the unified thrust of everyone moving in the same direction at the same time. If this is true, we can more accurately define success in terms of growth, productivity, and health. Do you agree?

Embracing Productive Change

2011-07-26T12:14:00.001-04:00

Sometimes we must change in order to be productive. Change is never easy. In some cases, it is necessary—no change, no increased productivity. Some time back, I felt as though the Lord spoke quite specifically. There were two major changes that needed to take place in my church. First, if we were going to be more productive, we would have to become less event oriented and more ministry oriented. It occurred to me that most people had limited their concept of ministry to the church sponsored events. I realized that if we were to go through the church calendar and remove the major all-church events, the perception among the people would be that there is no ministry happening. This had to change. Ministry would have to be redefined in the hearts of the people, much like it had been redefined in my heart. We will always have the large events, but they can no longer be the main emphasis of ministry. The emphasis of ministry must be in the lives of our people. We want to be in a place that if we were to do away with all major events (which we won’t) people would say “there is ministry happening in and through our church.” Connecting Points affects this change. We would become less event-oriented and more ministry-oriented. The second change had to do with me. We, as a church, must become less pastor-centered and more people-centered. Ouch! It was sad but true. I did not intend for this to happen, but it had. I had worked to become a strong leader, and had unintentionally built ministries that, for the most part, were dependent upon me. Don’t get me wrong. The leader must lead. The problem was that the people had grown so dependent on me that they almost equated my participation with success. I realized, in hind sight, that the programs I got behind and attended were always well attended and deemed a success. On the other hand, if I did not personally push it or attend, it was moderately successful. If the pastor visited the hospital everyone was happy. If a church member came to visit, it was as if there was no visit at all. You can see how limiting this was. Unless I changed this mentality we would forever be limited to my personal abilities and availabilities. My vision goes far beyond that. This too had to be changed. In relation to ministry we must get the focus off of me and on the people. This is where ministry must take place. It cannot be the private domain of the pastor and his staff. The people! They are the deal! We must become less-pastor centered and more people-centered. Now this is embracing productive change.

The Principle Of Productivity

2011-06-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

In John 15:8 Jesus said: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (NIV) Here our Lord points to the principle of productivity. God is glorified when we are productive. Every believer should produce fruit. I believe God wants us to produce “much fruit.” A few years ago the Lord challenged me to become more fruitful. Don’t get me wrong, we already had wonderful ministries in our church. It was not as though we were accomplishing nothing. Many good things were happening in the lives of people and in our church. The change that took place in us was in my perspective. I could no longer be satisfied with status quo. I felt an overwhelming desire to be productive. I realized that this was our time, and we could not just stand by and do nothing. In some respects I felt like a young wife must feel when she has a desire to produce a family. I began to ask God to make us more effective in what He had called us to do. I found myself with the desire to have accomplished something significant for our Lord and in His kingdom before I go to heaven. It became a driving force. I thought about it all the time. It sent me to my knees. It was what I prayed about all the time. The desire to be productive became an unquenchable fire. From that day until this my prayer has been that God will help me be more productive for Him every year than the year before. May God help us all stand before Him having produced “much fruit”.

The Harvest Is Worth The Risk

2011-04-14T09:12:00.002-04:00

Remember the story in the Bible about the four lepers. It was about nine hundred years before Christ was born in the days of Elisha. Samaria was besieged by the Arameans. Everyone in the city was starving and things got so bad that some resorted to cannibalism. Just outside the city walls were four lepers. They too were starving, but unlike everyone else, they dared to take a risk. They chose to go into the enemy’s camp where there was abundance. Listen to their reasoning, “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We will starve if we stay here, and we will starve if we go back into the city. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway” II Kings 7:3-4 (NLT). The story ends with a miracle. When they dared to take a risk, God stepped in. Instead of hearing the footsteps of four lepers, the Arameans heard the thunder of a great army and fled leaving everything of value behind. The lepers enjoyed the spoils, and the city was saved all because four men dared to take a risk. Listen to what they said, “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” The principle is nothing ventured; nothing gained. Too many churches are dying because no one will dare to take a risk. Connecting Points declares we will not sit here until we die! There is abundance outside the church walls! Let’s go out there and connect with people so we can connect them to God and to us! When it becomes obvious status quo is producing nothing, it is time to take a risk.

Let's Do Something

2011-03-11T22:05:00.000-05:00

In order to be effective in reaching people, we must purpose to do something. We must grow so sick of the status quo we can no longer just stand by and watch what others are doing. This is how we differentiate between compassion and concern. We can be concerned about something and do nothing. It is possible to watch Sally Strothers on TV pleading for relief for starving children and just shake our heads and say “isn’t that awful” if we are only concerned. Compassion, on the other hand, demands action. Compassion will always cause us to act. It was compassion that caused Christ to heal and help those He came into contact with. It was compassion that caused Him to cry out at Gethsemane, “Thy will be done!” It was compassion that caused Him to go to the cross. He was not just concerned about our sinful state, He had compassion for us. Thank God! When we purpose in our heart to do something we are, like Christ, moving with compassion. In one sense we could say that compassion mandates risk. We must dare to take a risk. Many never purpose to produce because of plain old fear. There is no room for fear in church leadership. It is time for us to square our shoulders and step out into the water of God’s purpose. We can never accomplish anything for the kingdom if we never go anywhere. The harvest is worth the risk. So come on. Let’s do something for our Lord!

A Passion To Produce

2011-02-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

Reaping a harvest begins as a challenge in the heart of the farmer. The challenge is to overcome the obstacles to producing a harvest. This takes passion. Once he develops a passion to produce a harvest he must reproduce that passion in the hearts of all who help him. This is the job of the church leader. We are supposed to be going out and making disciples. This must become our passion. Not making more money. Not gaining popularity. We must be passionate about what God is passionate about. He is passionate about connecting with people. We are passionate about connecting people with Him. We develop and fuel this passion by properly handling the challenge. If we do not do this we are in danger of becoming just another negative, cynical, irrelevant church leader. We cannot expect a harvest if we fall into this all too familiar trap. There are three ways to miss-handle our challenge. First, we can play the blame game: It is my board’s fault, if they would only support me. It’s the people, if they would only get behind me. Listen! The work is too important. The time is to short. We do not have the time to blame anyone including ourselves. This is our hour. We must move ahead. The second trap is rationalizing away the challenge. “This is not my problem.” “Reaching out is for leaders far more charismatic and effervescent than we are.” “My people are to set in their ways to embrace change.” The excuses can go on and on “ad-nausem.” Rationalizing only tends to paralyze us into complacency. Apathy is the great destroyer of progress. We cannot afford to rationalize. Thirdly, we can make the mistake of allowing the challenge to cause us to grow weary and give up. We cannot expect a harvest if we give in. We must develop a passion to produce!

Jesus Engaged Friendship Evangelism

2010-12-18T16:05:00.001-05:00

I firmly believe that every born again Christian is a God called minister. Too often we limit ministry to those on the platform. As a believer, you are the Lord’s minister and the people in your sphere of influence are your congregation. How do you minister to your congregation? Connect with them so you can connect them to God. How do you connect with them? Through similar interests. The pre-Christians in your community are going to be doing what they love to do anyway. Let’s just invite them to come and do it with us. Will they say yes? Of course! They love to do that! Once we connect with them, based on similar interests, and they realize we are genuine in our motive and we appreciate them for who they are, they will let their guard down and real relationship can take place. This is friendship evangelism. Does this sound familiar? It should. This is exactly what Jesus did. He went to them. He met them on their level. He went into their house for a party. Dare we say it? He had fun with them. He connected with them and developed a relationship with them. This gave people an opportunity to get to know Jesus; and you and I know that to know Him is to love Him. That’s what we want. We want people to get to know our Lord. The point of connecting with them is to give them an opportunity to see Christ in us. Not just at church. Everyone acts spiritual at church. They expect that. What about on the basketball court or out riding horses. How about at a ball game, camping or fishing or playing golf? This is where they can see that we are real. Not like their preconceived idea of what a Christian is like, just a genuine person who wants to be their friend.

The Power Of Relational Discipleship

2010-11-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

Connecting Points is built on the premise that there is no discipleship without relationship. That means that we must build relationships with everyone we are called to disciple. We must build relationships with believers and pre-Christians that we intend to impact for the sake of the Gospel. Try giving Spiritual instruction to the next stranger you meet and see how well that goes, or for that matter just walk across to the other side of the church where all those other people sit and share a little direction with them. The badge of discipler is earned through relationship. Without relationship we have no license to lead others, and they have no responsibility to respond. We respond to instruction and counsel from those who, through relationship, we have given the right to do so. Connecting Points is a ministry designed to facilitate discipleship for believers and for people who do not yet know Christ. When Jesus began discipling His followers, they had not yet connected with God personally. Relational discipleship brings people to the place where the conviction of the Holy Spirit can be effective and conversion takes place. After conversion the same relational atmosphere facilitates the work of the Spirit to build and strengthen lives. Imagine couples in your church building Connecting Points around camping or fishing or Nascar racing or antiquing or any other interest they may have. They already do these things and they want to do them with people they enjoy being around. Let’s release them to do what they are already doing, only now for the sake of the Gospel. Just as Jesus is the model for relational discipleship, Connecting Points is committed to its premise: “There is no discipleship without relationship.”

Our Purpose

2010-10-27T07:47:00.000-04:00

I think it is important to realize our purpose. God never intended for us to live, buy some things, and die. He wants us to make a difference in the lives of others. When Jesus was ready to leave this world, He left instructions with His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. He said “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” (NLT). Jesus basically told His disciples to become a connecting point. In essence He is saying: “I want you to be with people everywhere. Go to the ends of the earth and build relationships with people so that you may give to them the teachings I have given to you.” This is a statement basic to Christianity; however it seems that our emphasis concerning discipleship is related to believers. We understand that in order to disciple believers we must have relationship with them. But what about pre-Christians? Shouldn’t we build relationships with them to allow the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to affect their lives? Remember that Jesus started descipling his men before they ever connected with God personally. Jesus said make disciples of all people.

Making Room For One Another

2010-09-22T10:01:00.001-04:00

Let me share with you about connecting with one another, making room for one another, making room for our idiosyncrasies, our personalities, and sometimes even our faults. A young army officer was sent to the 48^th Infantry near Frankfurt during the time of the Cold War. In the days that he was in Germany, one of the prize weapons was the 280 mm atomic canon. They were guarded by infantry platoons. On this day, Tom Miller, captain of this particular group assigned a platoon and a young officer to guard one of the 280s. The young officer assembled his men, loaded his 45 caliber pistol, jumped into his jeep and left for his mission. Somehow later in the morning he realized he had lost his 45. You lose a weapon in the Army and it is serious. He was in deep trouble. He had no choice. He had to get on the horn and call Captain Miller and tell him of the loss.

“You what?”

“I’ve misplaced, I’ve lost my 45.”

Later when the young officer returned very uneasily contemplating his fate, the Captain summoned him. Now, he was really on the carpet. He couldn’t imagine the trouble he was in. What would it be? Could it be time in the guard house? Actually, a court marshal could be convened for losing a weapon. Would he get a dishonorable discharge? He told Captain Miller about his carelessness. He looked sternly at that young officer.

“I’ve got something for you.”

He handed the young officer his lost pistol.

“Thank you, sir, where was my pistol?”

“Some kids in the village you went through found it. We heard them fire a shot. We were able to get to them before they got off any more rounds.”

He couldn’t believe it.

“For God’s sake, son, don’t let that happen again.

He drove off. The young officer checked the magazine and found the magazine was full. The gun had not been fired. Later he found he had dropped it in his tent before he ever got started. Captain Miller had fabricated the scene about the kids to give him a real good scare and it worked. Now we don’t know what would happen today if the Army found some young officer that left his pistol lying around somewhere. It’s a serious offense. It’s something that can be dealt with severely.

The point is we should connect with one another and we should bear one another’s burdens because Jesus has chosen to do that with us. When we read the Gospels we see how often the disciples blew it, fell short, let Jesus down, showed little faith, and Jesus still connected with them. He still found reason to disciple them and keep them in the circle. At times they all showed faithlessness. But Jesus kept His relationship with His disciples. His kindness should be a catalyst, a motivation, to reach out to one another in kindness. We must find people with similar interests and connect with them. It is the responsibility for every Christian to build strong relationships with other Christians and pre-Christians.

Captain Miller’s intelligent and kind leadership was not lost on the young officer. He didn’t lose his weapon again. In fact he distinguished himself in his military career. You heard his name over a dozen years ago throughout Desert Storm. He made his name known in every household in America. He developed his leadership skills to such a great degree that when George Bush was elected president he turned to this foolish young lieutenant who left his weapon lying on his bed. He had such confidence in him that he asked Colin Powell to be the Secretary of State of the United States of America.

Discipleship Can Get Messy

2010-08-05T09:39:00.001-04:00

I must say, as I look at Jesus’ building relationships, that it is time consuming, requires an intentional willingness to see where people can be and not just where they are now and at times can just be messy. Jesus looked into the eyes of rough fishermen and saw that they could become apostles. We must be willing to do the same thing. We must look around us and see those people who can shine like stars if someone is willing to invest in them. If we are going to connect with one another, we must be willing to make room for one another, our idiosyncrasies, our personalities, and sometimes even our faults. We ought to bear with one another. We ought to build relationships with one another. None of us are perfect. We all have issues, and we all have difficulties in our lives. We all need friends. We all need someone to look after us. We all need someone to look after. There is fulfillment in relationship. The scripture tells us that we’re to have hearts of compassion, that we’re to have hearts of love, that we’re to have kindness and humility and gentleness towards one another. We are to even feel this way toward those who have complaints against us. In other words, find the people you can connect with and connect with them. We’ve all had problems; we’ve all failed in many ways. The point is we should connect with one another and we should bear one another’s burdens because Jesus has chosen to do that with us. When we read the Gospels we see how often the disciples blew it, fell short, let Jesus down, showed little faith, and Jesus still connected with them. He still found reason to disciple them and keep them in the circle. At times they all showed faithlessness. But Jesus kept His relationship with His disciples. His kindness should be a catalyst, a motivation, to reach out to one another in kindness. We must find people with similar interests and connect with them. It is the responsibility for every Christian to build strong relationships with other Christians and pre-Christians.

We Need More Andrews

2010-07-19T11:23:00.001-04:00

Mark 1:17 declares: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” This is what God has called us to do. We are called to be connectors. Connecting Points builds an atmosphere where connecting can take place. A great example of this is the story of Andrew found in John chapter one. Andrew believed that Jesus was the “Lamb of God” and arranged a meeting between Jesus and his brother, Simon. This connection literally changed the course of history. Simon became Peter and the world was impacted by his ministry. We have no written record that Andrew ever preached a sermon or worked a miracle but he did bring Peter to Jesus. Only in heaven will we know how many came to Christ through the preaching and overall ministry of Peter. The point we want to get is that it was Andrew who provided an atmosphere for the connection to take place. Andrew was the connecting point. Connecting points build an atmosphere where people can get connected to Jesus. In a very real sense, connecting point leaders become the Andrews of our day.

The Premise of Connecting Points

2010-06-30T15:16:00.000-04:00

The Premise of Connecting Points is that there can be no discipleship without relationship. God is all about community and He works through relationships. Mark 1:17 says: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” John 13:35 declares: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” When we are looking for role models for making disciples there is no need to look any farther than Jesus. What was it that made Jesus such a compelling leader of those men? There is no intention of doing an exhaustive look at the subject here; however there is a characteristic that stands out when we observe His connection to the disciples. Jesus built great relationships with the disciples. He spent time with them, He listened to their questions, He ate with them, He got to know their families and of course He taught them. Jesus became the compass for these disciples, and we believe that a major reason for that was that Jesus was intentionally relational. If we embrace the Jesus model of discipleship we must buy into the premise of Connecting Points: There can be no discipleship without relationship.

Where Community Begins.

2010-04-19T17:58:00.001-04:00

The kingdom of God benefits when people in the church get connected to each other. It goes something like this: you set up Connecting Points in your church. People in your church sign up and are trained to lead a connecting point based on something that they love to do. Other people in the church who have similar interests (who love the same things) join with them and they connect by participating in the same connecting point. They become fast friends because of what they have in common. Soon they catch the vision for Connecting Points and begin to invite pre-Christians in their own sphere of influence who have similar interests. They get connected and become a part. That is where the Holy Spirit takes over. Can you see how this will transform your church? Everyone in your church is passionate about something. People are different. What one loves, another loathes. You may love sports. Someone else may love to shop. (God help them!) The point is everybody loves something. People are going to be doing what they love to do. Connecting Points shows them how to do what they are going to be doing anyway and do it for the Lord. What a concept. Just being what God made them to be and doing what God made them to do—that becomes their ministry. People love what they love and enjoy what they enjoy because God made them that way. I believe that God made them that way, on purpose, because He wants to use those interests and passions to connect with others. What a wonderful thought. Everybody in your church connecting with each other and with pre-Christians by just doing what they are going to do anyway. There could be as many different Connecting Points as there are interests in your church. You can’t believe how many there are. Now it is getting exciting—people in our church connecting with each other around common interests and passions! This is where community begins. You cannot have real community by staring at the back of a person's head for an hour and a half each week in church. Connecting Points positions people face to face. They have something in common on day one because they are connected around similar interests.

Community In Christ

2010-03-17T18:23:00.000-04:00

We were created for each other. Community is a very important value in the church of Christ. It is important to the Lord as well. God never intended for us to be an island to ourselves. Community is the bedrock of our faith and was the backbone of the early church. Notice the description of the first century church in Jerusalem: “All the believers meet together constantly and shared everything with each other” Acts 2:44 (LB). In this day of personal isolationism, connecting is more important than ever before. God does not want us to be loners. Paul made this clear when he wrote the church in Ephesus. “You are members of God’s very own family … and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian” Ephesians 2:19 (LB). In many respects it could be argued we are commanded to be connected with each other. Notice the strong language in Paul’s admonition to the Hebrew believers: “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another…” Hebrews 10:25 (TEV). Community is critical if we hope to have a healthy church. It is a natural law that healthy things are productive. If we hope to produce fruit in the church we must get connected. “The whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” Ephesians 4:16 (NLT). How does that sound to you, “Healthy and growing and full of love”? That is what community in the church is all about. As leaders, we are to set the stage for real community to take place by providing an atmosphere where people can connect with other people in the church. The primary goal of each church leader should be to connect people who are pre-Christians to people who are believers so they can be impacted by the lifestyle and testimony of the Christian. We never want to lose sight of this priority.

Lifestyle Mentoring

2010-02-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

While in Ephesus, Timothy receives a letter from his mentor. Paul has chosen his closest spiritual child (1 Tim. 1:2) to set forth the organizational values and leadership expectations that would guide the church of Christ and cause it to grow. Timothy was, no doubt, chosen because of Paul’s confidence in him as a leader (Phil. 2:19-22). This confidence was developed through the relationship they had with each other. They had connected. In verses 14 and 15 of 1 Timothy chapter three, we see the purpose of the passage. Paul wants to establish the organizational values and draw a picture of what a leader in this “church of the living God” is supposed to look like. Paul had already modeled this and now formalizes it with this letter. Smith and Goetz describe this type of leadership as “Lifestyle Mentoring”. This has a focus on the lifestyle of the leader (modeling) and defines the values of leadership (the letter). Paul let Timothy observe him at work then he promoted him to the churches. In this letter, he gives the qualifications for the organizational structure previously set up. In the broad sense, we could call Paul a lifestyle mentor to Timothy. “This type of mentoring is a kind of parenting without the typical parental responsibilities. The real responsibility falls on the younger to absorb and to observe correctly.” Paul entrusts Timothy with values in order to insure quality in leadership. This quality in leadership will develop the stability needed to produce growth. Connecting Points is designed to build an atmosphere where “Lifestyle Mentoring” can take place.

Reference:

Smith, F., & Goetz, D. L. (1999). Vol. 5: Leading with integrity : Competence with Christian character. The pastor's soul series . Bethany House Publishers: Minneapolis, Minn. (p. 121)

Sick and Tired of “Phony Baloney” Religion

2009-11-09T10:35:00.000-05:00

There are many people who have lost confidence in the church because of the abuses and misuses of a few. I think it is safe to say that the television evangelist debacles of the 1980’s have made the job of the church more difficult. These days every shortcoming in the church of Christ is spread out over the media to such a degree that, to the outsider, it makes all of us look corrupt. There is a cynicism towards the church today that causes many people to turn us off before we ever get a chance to let them know how wonderful Christ is. I believe that anyone who has the opportunity to see Jesus as He really is will want Him. He is that wonderful. He is that loving and kind. The problem is that there is a distorted portrait of Christ out there that causes people to push away. This explains why conventional modes of outreach that were effective in days gone by are no longer effective today. When you mention Christ or the church, people in our society immediately think of a fallen evangelist or the latest scandal in the church world. If they cannot trust the preacher with their money or the priest with their children, why should they listen when we try to share life with them? The truth of the matter is the day of hard sell, cold turkey evangelism is over. The only way we will ever get people to listen to us is if we take the time to develop a relationship with them. The key is trust. We can only influence people if there is a bond of trust in place. Trust can only be developed through relationship. Relationships can only happen as we are connected with each other. It is the relationship that builds the bridge of trust. Our society as a whole is so sick and tired of the “phony baloney” religion they see all around them. Quite frankly, so am I. People are looking for something real. As they develop a relationship with real believers and get to know them they will become exposed to genuine Christianity. They will realize that Christians are real people just like they are, not perfect people, real people with real issues. They will see how God helps the believer with those issues. They will see the difference Christ makes in a real persons life.

A Vehicle for Discipleship

2009-10-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

Jesus, just before he ascended to the right hand of the throne of God, called together His closest friends. These were people He’d been spending time with, the people that He had been discipling unto Himself. When He got them together He said “Between now and when I come back again, here’s what I want you to be doing, I want you to go out from here and make disciples of all men.” This is the challenge that Jesus gave to those believers that day. Not only to them, that challenge comes down as a commission to every born again believer from then until now. You and I have been commissioned to make disciples of all men. Jesus went on to say, “Here’s how you do it. I want you to teach them the things that I have taught you.” Jesus had spent about three a half years with these men discipling them unto Himself. He didn’t disciple them through his great teachings only, although it was the greatest teaching the world had ever seen. Jesus discipled those men by spending time with them, by developing a friendship with them. He discipled them through relationship. Basically what He was saying, “Like I have discipled you, now I want you to go out and disciple other people.” That’s called the Great Commission. That’s what God wants all believers to be doing. Then Jesus gave a promise. He said, “If you will do this, I will be with you always even to the end of the world.” What a fantastic promise by the Lord Jesus Christ. Basically what He is saying is, “If you will go out and do unto others as I have done unto you; make them disciples unto me, then I will be with you.” This is what connecting points is designed to do. Connecting Points is a vehicle where discipleship can take place.

God is all about Connecting

2009-09-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

We were created for God. Our very purpose for existing is to have a relationship with the Lord. “You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created” Rev. 4:11 (NLT). The problem is most people do not have a relationship with Him. People need to be connected to God. Connecting Points is the process that we use to connect people with God. This is what God is passionate about. He desires to connect with people more than anything else. God makes His passionate desire known in Hosea 6:6. Here He cries out through the prophet: “I don’t want your sacrifices – I want your love! I don’t want your offerings – I want you to know me!”(LB). Do you hear His cry? “I want you to know me!” That is what He wanted then and that is what He wants now. God wants to connect with people. That is what we will say to the people in our community. God wants you to know Him. This is God’s number one priority. “He is a God who is passionate about His relationship with you” Exodus 34:14 (NLT). God is not interested in just a casual acquaintance. He wants a relationship. This is what Calvary is all about. God sent His Son to pay a heavy price that we might know Him personally and intimately. It was His plan from the beginning of time and it is still His plan today. The reason Connecting Points is so important is that the priority is building an atmosphere where people can become connected with God. God wants to connect with His people.

One Last Thing

2009-08-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

When you break down the word connecting and trace it back to its Latin roots, it breaks down like this:
“con” = together
“necto” = to bind. (Roughly to bind together.)
“ing” = a suffix that expresses continuation.
The word connecting literally means a continual binding together. This is the purpose of the church—to continually bind people together with God and with each other. How important is this to God? He showed us in Matthew Chapter 28. Here Jesus gave His last instructions to His followers. He had spoken many things to His followers in the three plus years He spent with them. But this was the last thing He would say to them on this side of eternity. This alone places a priority on these words. It’s the “one last thing” model. If you forget everything else don’t forget this one thing. He said “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” This is what the church is to be doing until He comes back. Many churches have lost focus of this. What is the purpose of the church? What are we supposed to be doing? If we lose sight of our purpose we are in danger of becoming a self-centered social club whose function is raising money to meet our own interests. We turn into a feel good society that values only what happens inside the walls of the church with little or no concern for those without. This sounds a lot like the religious institutions that Christ denounced so vehemently during His ministry. You can almost sense Him crying out just before He left: Whatever you do don’t be like that. Don’t forget what you are to be doing. Don’t forget your purpose. You are to be making disciples of all men. You are to be connecting people with God and each other. It is our prime directive. God help us to be a connecting church!

What is Our Purpose?

2009-07-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

Purpose has become quite vogue in the church of the twenty-first century. This is a good thing. Rick Warren from the great Saddleback Church in southern California has impacted the body of Christ in a powerful way with his book The Purpose Driven Life. I truly believe that this book is a word from the Lord for the church of Christ in these days. This book did for the people in the church what his previous book (The Purpose Driven Church) did for the church as a whole. For too long too many wandered aimlessly through life with no real sense of purpose. This “purpose driven” emphasis has greatly energized those who have embraced it. The purpose of Connecting Points can be summed up in two words. Those words are communion and community. This is God’s purpose for the church. Communion has to do with connecting with God and community is connecting with each other. This principle was illustrated beautifully by Christ in Luke 10:27. When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus responded with a two-fold answer. “Love the Lord with all that is within you and love your neighbor as yourself.” In many respects all the law is summed up in these two expectations. Life is certainly more complex than just this one concept, but when it comes to the church we can focus on these words of Christ as our purpose. What are we to be doing? We are connecting people with God and with each other. The work of the church is connecting, connecting with God (communion) and connecting with each other (community).

Have We Reached Our Full Potential?

2009-06-03T13:08:00.001-04:00

There is a fundamental question that every Christian should ask. “What does the Lord require of me?” As you are faithful to minister, this question will be answered in the hearts of those precious people that God has given you to lead in these days. Our message is simple. Just be who God made you to be. Do what God made you to do. See yourself as a God-called minister He wants to use to connect with people in your sphere of influence. See yourself as a witness for Christ by connecting with people, outside the church based on similar interests, and influencing them with your lifestyle and testimony. That’s it. That is what reaching your full potential all is about. That is how Connecting Points will change the culture of your church. When we change the pulpit into a place for equipping; when the people in the pews see themselves as the minister and not just the supporter of the ministry that is done from the pulpit; when we realize that the community is our congregation, and we begin to connect them to God and us; when we mobilize our people to evangelize our own culture in our own community; we can expect God to say, “Well done, you have done what you could.” This is when we can declare in our hearts, “We have reached our full potential for Christ.”

Balance is the Key

2009-05-20T09:41:00.000-04:00

How do we find balance as we attempt to redefine evangelism? It is shown beautifully by Christ Himself in Acts Chapter Eight when He said, “You will be witnesses unto me, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the world.” Here, Christ shows the biblical balance between missions and evangelism. We must do both. But, our priority should always be on evangelism. Notice He said, “First in Jerusalem.” The term “first” denotes priority. It does not belittle the others. They are important too. It only prioritizes Jerusalem. We are responsible for reaching the whole world but not at the expense of neglecting our own community. When we get things in the right priority, it enhances the whole. Think about it. The more people we reach in our own community and add to the church, the more resources we have to reach other cultures for Christ.
On the other hand, if we, as leaders, allow our people to go through life doing outreaches and going on missions trips and thinking they are doing evangelism when all the while they are ignoring the people in their own culture and their own community, we have done them a great disservice. This is one of the main reasons why many churches in the United States are on the decline while the church overseas is growing.
On the mission field, great effort is put into presenting the Gospel in a way that is relevant and tailor-made for any given culture. We should embrace the same principle here at home. We are living in a day when “hard sell” evangelism seldom works. Business people understand what that means. Hard sell is when you say I have a product. If you want it, you must come to where I am on my terms, at a time convenient to me and you can have it. This is how most churches operate. We spend our time trying to figure out a way to get people into our church. We want to reach them in a way we feel comfortable with. We want to reach them on our terms and on our schedule. If you can come to our church at our predetermined times and find Christ the way we dictate then you have a chance. Everybody else is just hard out of luck.
How arrogant! No wonder people are suspicious. Connecting Points is designed to work more like what sales people would call a “soft sell” approach. We are saying to people in our community we will come to where you are and do it at a time convenient for you. We will not be dogmatic, intrusive or demanding. In other words, we will consider your feelings. What Connecting Points will do is bring true evangelism back to the local church by mobilizing people to reach their community. This is done primarily by connecting with people based on similar interests. This non- conventional approach is much softer and we feel much more effective today.

Redefining Evangelism

2009-04-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

Evangelism! This is one of the most misunderstood terms in the church today. What is evangelism? There are many definitions that have been embraced by church leaders but what I want to focus on is what our people think when they think of evangelism. When the average church member thinks of evangelism, they think of reaching people in some other culture than the one they live in. The reason for this is, it is much easier to reach out to people we do not know. Most people think of evangelism as reaching out to the homeless downtown or the people groups in lands far away. This is fine if you live with the homeless or among the people in that foreign land. What about the people in your sphere of influence? This is a much more difficult proposition. There are many reasons for this, but chief among them is the fact that this type of evangelism comes home to where we live. We know them and they know us. There is a responsibility and accountability attached that we do not have to face at the homeless outreach or on the missions trip. Connecting Points is designed to redefine evangelism in the hearts of our people. Evangelism becomes connecting with people in our own culture and influencing them to Christ with our testimony and our lifestyle.

Culture Changers!

2009-03-18T09:38:00.000-04:00

We used to see mobilization of people as recruiting more people to do something in the church. If we can get 50 people to attend prayer meeting and 25 to go on visitation, then we have mobilized the people. We must redefine mobilization as empowering people to see themselves as God’s ministers and making connections with the people in their community. Talk about reaching our full potential. Imagine several hundred ministers from your church taking ownership and responsibility of people all over your community. Imagine them working with the Holy Spirit to move people toward Christ by their testimony and lifestyle. Now that’s what I call mobilization! This new understanding of old concepts will change the culture of our church. After all, isn’t that what we are called to do? We are culture changers. This is what Christ did when He was on this earth. The culture of His day was primarily religious with the hierarchy and hypocrisy that so often accompanies it. Christ came and changed the culture to one of relationship and genuine reality. He faced much opposition but with the help of the Holy Spirit was able to accomplish what He came to do. He changed the culture. Through Connecting Points God is helping us change the culture around us by changing the culture of our churches. It cannot happen overnight. Connecting Points is a process, not a program. We don’t need another program. We need the process of the Holy Spirit to work His plan in us. Once the people in our church begin to make connections with people in the community, we can help them get connected to God and each other. We know this is happening when we see the pulpit becoming the equipping place, the pews becoming the ministers, and the community becoming our congregation. Connecting Points is designed to make this happen.

You are God's Minister

2009-02-23T10:20:00.002-05:00

Jesus did not spend His time trying to get people into the temple; He went to where they were. In the church we spend most of our time and efforts developing ways to get people into our church. Connecting Points says it is our job to go to where they are at and make a connection with them there. This can only be done when we begin seeing ourselves as God’s minister. Most people have no problem understanding God placed the pastor in His church, but they have trouble seeing themselves in the same respect. Just like it is no accident the pastor is in the church he is in, it is no accident the people live where they live and work where they work. This is God’s doing. Why? He loves those people and He wants to make a connection with them. That is why He placed the Christian there. We must understand God has us there on purpose. We have been strategically planted there by the Lord. Most Christians think they live where they live because of a real estate agent. Wrong! Who is in charge of this thing, God or the real estate agent? The people in our lives are not just casual acquaintances. They are the object of our calling. In a very real sense they are our congregation. Once again, we have no trouble at all understanding the pastor has a congregation because we understand that he is God’s minister. Most believers never give any thought to the idea they may have a congregation of their own. Once we begin to see ourselves as God-called ministers, it only makes sense that we would have our own congregation. Who is our congregation? The people in our sphere of influence. The people at the job, in the neighborhood, even the un-churched in our family. If they are in our life, they are our congregation. Connecting Points mobilizes people to make connections with people in their sphere of influence based on similar interests.

Redefining the Pew

2008-11-12T11:51:00.000-05:00

Apathy is the great destroyer of purpose in the church of Christ. Lethargic, powerless Christians in the pew have created stagnation in the body and rendered us impotent. I feel that the misunderstanding of the pew perpetrates this problem. Connecting Points beats the drum and sounds the alarm for all to hear. “If you are a born again Christian, you are a God-called, God-ordained minister. Not just the pastor and the worship leader. You! You are God’s minister, and He has a ministry for you that was pre-ordained before the foundations of the world.” I want to show the church member that he or she is part of God’s great plan to reach this world. My message to the person in the pew is: “God has a ministry for you and He made you to do that ministry. God built you in a way that will enable you to do effectively what He intended for you to do in your life, your ministry. The giftings and talents you have are on purpose. Can you see that? You are who you are so that you can do what God intends for you to do. God was intentional with you . . . your personality, your physical and mental capacity. All were planned by God to enable you to do the ministry He planned for you before you were born. I believe that even the things you like and dislike are on purpose. Why? God wants you to connect with people in your world.”
People in the pews are not just supporters of the ministry, they are the ministers. Can you see how this philosophy runs apathy out the door? Once people begin to project the expectations of productivity they previously had for the pastor upon themselves, sitting in the pew and doing nothing is no longer a viable option. They no longer see themselves as cheerleaders whose job it is to inspire and support the pastor as he does the ministry. They realize: I am the deal. I am God’s minister with a calling on my life that is no less important than that of the pastor. This is the message the church needs to hear. The people in the pews are the ministers of God.

Redefining the Pulpit

2008-11-05T09:29:00.000-05:00

When the average Christian thinks of the pulpit they think about the place where ministry takes place. Ministry is something that happens on Sunday and is reserved primarily for those who hold credentials or maybe for those with a degree or two. A person can have ministry if they can preach or sing, play an instrument or in some other way exhibit talent in an ecclesiastical way, but what about everyone else? What about the people in the pews? Furthermore, what about the people outside the walls of the church?
The general misunderstanding is this: the pulpit is the place where ministry takes place. The people in the pew are the supporters of the ministry. The people out side the church are dirty rotten sinners that we are trying to get into the church so they can get into the pew and support the ministry that happens in the pulpit. I am not sure where this misunderstanding came from, but I suspect that it finds its genesis in organized religion. One thing is certain; it did not come from the scripture. The biblical model is altogether different. The pulpit is the equipping place. The pew represents the place where the ministry happens. The people in the pew are supposed to be Gods ministers. The community represents precious people that Christ loves and died for; they are actually our congregation.
The redefining of these terms must begin in the pulpit. Remember Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus: “And He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry…” (Eph. 4:11-12). Church leaders must realize that they are called to equip the ministers of God. We ordain the pastor, but really the pastor should be ordaining the people to be God’s ministers. Connecting Points moves the ministry outside the walls of the church. This is where real ministry happens. The pulpit is the equipping place.

What Does God Require?

2008-10-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

The purpose of Connecting Points is to empower people to develop a ministry by connecting with people, with similar interests, in their sphere of influence. This is accomplished by doing what they have a passion for and doing it for the Lord. Is that it? Is that all God requires? Why would God require something of people that He never equipped them to do? That is what religion does. God would never do that. Christ’s heart in this matter is revealed in Mark 14:1-9. When the woman anointed Christ at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, some were troubled. The perfume she poured over Jesus’ head was “very expensive”. They objected because of what seemed to them to be a waste. When Jesus heard their murmurings, He rebuked them and expressed His pleasure with what she had done by saying “Leave her alone … she has done what she could.”(Verse 6) What pleased God? She could not do everything, and there were some things that others could do that she could not. But what she could do, she did do. Think about this. God was pleased when she did what she had potential to do. She reached her potential and that was enough for God. It was true then, and it is true now. So relax! This is supposed to be a journey of joy. God will never require anything of you that He does not provide the means whereby it can be accomplished.

Reaching Our Full Potential

2008-10-22T09:23:00.000-04:00

God made us with different levels of potential. This is made clear in Jesus’ story of the talents in Matthew Chapter 25. Here the Master, before going on His journey, left one with five talents, one with two talents and yet another with one. The first point is found in verse 15. He gave every man according to his “several ability” or, stated differently, according to his potential. God is the one who gives the potential and everyone has different levels. The second point is that God only requires productivity that is proportionate to the potential that He gives. The scripture declares “To whom much is given much will be required” (Luke 12:48). God did not require five from the one He gave two. The one who produced two received the same accolades as the one who produced five. It is clear that the man who was given one would have received the same if he had produced only one more. Why? They each have different levels of potential.
What does the Lord require of us? The answer is to reach our full potential by simply being what God made us to be and doing what God made us to do. Our potential is always changing. Notice the three men in Jesus’ parable. Focus on the fluctuation of their potential. The man with five worked to reach his full potential and developed another five. Now he has ten. The one with two earned two more. His potential is now at four. Their potential has grown because of their faithfulness. The man with five grew even further because the master gave him one more. What about the man with one? His potential decreased. The master took his talent and gave it to the faithful man that reached his full potential. Can you see the pattern?
The principle goes like this. If we are faithful to work hard and reach our full potential; our potential actually increases. If we just stand by and embrace status quo; we lose the potential we once had. Use it or lose it! You can see that the possibilities are endless. Imagine with me the man with five talents. He reaches his full potential and he now has eleven. What will happen if he now reaches his full potential with eleven? Now he has twenty four. He’s faithful with that…well, you do the math. The point is it really starts to get exciting when we reach our full potential.

What is God's Vision?

2008-10-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

Most people look to the pastor for the vision of the church. We, too, feel that God will reveal the vision to the pastor and use him to lead the church in that vision, but we must be clear in one very important fact. It is the Lord’s vision. Please get that. It’s not the pastor’s vision. It’s God’s vision. When we speak of the vision of a church, we are not speaking of one man’s vision for a community. We are more interested in God’s vision for the community.
In most churches the Lord planted that church in that place for His purpose long before the current pastor ever arrived. In order to understand the vision we must come to grips with a very important question. Why? Why did God put this church in this place at this time? When a new pastor comes to a church the first question that is asked of him is “What is your vision for the church?” Most enterprising pastors have learned to keep a well-crafted vision in their suitcase should someone ever ask him about it. But how can a man who is new to that church and that community possibly know what God’s vision is for that church and community? When asked, most pastors pull out the mission of the church rather than the vision, with full confidence that no one will recognize the difference. The mission of the church was given by Christ to the church as a whole. It will be the guiding force for every vision, but it is not the vision.
The mission of the church is to “go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matt. 28:19). This is the same for all churches. The vision, on the other hand, will be different for every church and every community. No self-respecting pastor ever wants to be caught without a vision. This would be equivalent to being caught with your proverbial pants down. A better response when asked by the people from the church would be: “You have lived in this community and attended this church for years. What is your vision for the church?”
Actually the question should be asked collectively: “What is God’s vision for our church. The way you find this “right” vision is to look for the activity of God in that church and in that community. Once we find where God is showing up we can more clearly see what God’s vision for that church is.

Connecting Through Relationship

2008-10-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

A few years ago we started noticing that people in the church were not connected to God, they were not connected to each other, and they certainly were not connected to the greater community for the sake of the Gospel. It was obvious to us from scripture that the desire of the Lord was for relationship, after all Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love God and love your neighbor.” He had left us with the command to make disciples of all people. We were to make disciples in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, teaching them what He had taught. Certainly that meant discipling Christians and pre‑Christians. It meant connecting to Him and helping others to connect with Him so that we would understand His teachings concerning abundant life. We knew that Christ had connected with us where we were, so it seemed clear we should connect with others where they were.
Wow! What a thought! We should give both believers and Pre-Christians the same courtesy that the Lord gives us. He comes to us where we are and deals with us in our present state. Jesus did this for His disciples. He began discipling them before they became connected to God.
Maybe we should be talking to people with great resistance towards the Gospel about the things that interest them, and build relationships with them. Maybe the person who has just come to faith needs a relationship with us at least as much as he needs our Bible study. Is it possible that our co-worker needs our congeniality and compassion to make way for the Holy Spirit’s conviction?
We have closed our sermons for years asking people if they wanted a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Doesn’t that mean they need a personal relationship with us in order for that to be successful in the long term? We need to connect with others so we can connect them to God.

Are You Satisfied?

2008-09-24T10:09:00.001-04:00

As we look at the word of God and church history, there seems to be a pattern. Men and women with great visions from God started with great dissatisfaction about what they were seeing that did not line up with God’s plan.
· Moses’ complaint was God’s people should not be enslaved, and God’s response was: “Let my people go.”
· Gideon’s complaint was God’s people should not live in oppression from their pagan neighbors, and God’s response was: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”
· Elijah’s complaint was God’s people should not be serving other gods, and God’s response was Mount Carmel.
· Jesus’ complaint was that religion was dead; God gave Him the vision of abundant life for all who would come.
· Paul’s complaint was that God’s people were reverting to the ways of the flesh and the bondage that behavior brought on, and God gave him a vision of “who we are in Christ.”
It is told that Abraham Lincoln decided to run for president after viewing a disturbing scene. He was standing at the docks observing a ship pulling in to dock. After docking, African men, women and children were taken in shackles to an auction block and sold, often splitting up families three ways or more. Lincoln was so upset he clenched his fist causing his fingernails to cut into his hand and blood was literally dripping from his fist. His complaint turned into a vision that produced the Emancipation Proclamation.
Possibly the greatest complaint since Jesus was that of Martin Luther. Luther became so incensed by inequities that he observed in the church it drove him to study, which produced his Ninety-Five Theses and his assertion that “the just shall live by faith.”
That complaint didn’t just produce the Lutheran Church, but rather is the seed for Protestantism today. As we drive along the streets of our city we go past the fruit of Martin Luther’s dream in every neighborhood. The question is: what is your complaint and has it become your vision?

Connecting to the Community

2008-09-10T09:42:00.000-04:00

Church growth experts tell us that in order to stay the same size every church must grow six to eight percent each year. This growth will just about cover the ones who leave by natural attrition. Some go to heaven. Some go to live with Aunt Josie. Some even have the audacity to get mad at the preacher and leave for another church in town. The very idea! You have to grow six to eight percent just to break even, and if you don’t, you decrease in number. The sad reality is that most churches in America are either stuck in status quo or are actually declining. With only a few wonderful exceptions even the churches that are growing are doing it through transfer growth. We fell into this trap for a season. Maybe if we can come up with a new angle or shine a little brighter than the church down the street we can get a few families. This causes problems of competition and territorialism among churches that hurt our reputations and hinder our efforts for the cause of Christ. Instead of seeking sheep from other pastures, we want to focus our attention on the power of connecting. We must get out there and connect with the community if we are going to do what our Lord commissioned us to do…”make them my disciples”.

"Been There, Done That, It Didn't Work"

2008-09-03T10:59:00.003-04:00

A while back Randy and I were having lunch with a friend of ours. He is a seasoned pastor who has been in ministry for nearly fifty years. As we talked, he shared stories with us from His years of experience. Stories about the Sunday School revival, the Charismatic Movement, the Healing Movement, the Faith Movement-- he had been there to experience them all. His experiences watching the development of the church growth movement from his perspective were interesting. After he had shared for quite some time our friend announced to us, “I am going to write a book, and the title will be Been There, Done That, It Didn’t Work.” We said a collective and resounding Amen!”
As church leaders we are always listening for ideas, looking for tools, wanting to be sure that nothing happens to keep us from being in the know concerning trends in the life of the church. The problem is too often we only come away from those experiences with another chapter for our friends book, “Been there, done that, didn’t work-- or at least it didn’t last. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves with a fatalistic attitude towards much of what we see in ministry development. The concern is “this won’t last either.” We must be cautious against becoming a “negative” complainer about church life in general. The list becomes exhaustive:

* I am tired of the methodology of the month.
* I am tired of reading the statistics about transfer growth in the American church, and I am much wearier of experiencing it.
* I am tired religion.
* I am tired of territorialism in a church that is actually supposed to belong to Jesus.
* I am tired of an over emphasize on sensationalism.
* I am tired seeing pastors enslaved by church leaders who feel they must control the direction of the church based on their own personal whims, traditions and legalistic points of view.
* I am tired of seeing the church react to every little blip in culture instead of taking the lead to offer culture the claims of the Gospel.
* I am tired of meeting people in the community that have come to the conclusion that the church is an outdated relic because their perception of the church is that it is irrelevant.

These are problems in the church that are all too real for those of us who face them every day. Are they problems? Yes, but not “the” problem. The problem is that people are not connected to God or each other. Connecting Points comes from a sincere love for our people and a deep rooted desire to be more productive in reaching our community. At the center of every visionary leader and at the center of his vision is a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo. If you look at the men and women who have changed history there was anger with the way things were and an unwillingness to leave it that way anymore. May God help us to do the hard work necessary in building an atmosphere where people can get connected!

So ... What's the Problem?

2008-08-27T09:39:00.000-04:00

This is the last Sunday that Josh and Crystal will attend your church. Next Sunday they will continue their search for a church home and they don’t even know why. But we do. It’s not the church. This is a wonderful church. They love the preaching. The music is right up their ally. It’s not the people. The greeters were friendly and gracious. The ushers were kind and helpful. So why is this Josh and Crystal’s last Sunday at your church? It’s not the worship service. The experience was delightful, and they really felt the presence of the Lord. So what’s up? Why are we losing another couple before we get a chance to know them? The problem is they never got connected. A crowd of people can be a lonely place when you are the new face in the crowd. Put yourself in their shoes. People are talking and laughing, but not you. How can you enter in when you have nothing to talk and laugh about? We know what you are thinking, if my people would just be friendlier. That’s not the problem. People are people. They are not machines that can be programmed to do our bidding. They are just like Josh and Crystal. In order to be a part of any group of people there must be a point of connection, where they feel like they are a part of what’s going on and not just a lonely unconnected face in a large group of connected people. So what is the answer? How can we make sure that Josh and Crystal don’t join the long line of people to love our church yet leave because they don’t feel a part of it? We believe the answer is Connecting Points.

The Premise of Discipleship

2008-08-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

The premise of Connecting Points is that there can be no discipleship without relationship. Connecting people with God and each other has to do with relationship. Quality of life both here on earth and in eternity is dependent upon the relationships we develop. True discipleship is the work of God in a person’s life that takes place both before and after regeneration. Christ used His relationships to disciple those He called to follow Him. He kept them near and got involved in their lives. We can be taught, encouraged, exhorted, even rebuked form a distance. Real discipleship, on the other hand, can only take place if we take the time to get connected to and develop a relationship with people. True discipleship can only come through relationship.

The Standard of Christ

2008-08-13T10:24:00.000-04:00

Jesus prioritized connecting by commissioning all believers to go out and make disciples of all people everywhere. This cannot be done without connecting. Connecting helps us to understand and comprehend the true essence of ministry. There is no higher goal than that of obtaining the standard of Christ Himself. When asked which is the greatest commandment Christ answered with the standard of God. That standard is to love God and to love people. Connecting Points is designed to connect people with God and with each other. It is by this means that we will begin to see people experience the two great purposes of God. These two purposes are communion and community. We were made for God (communion) and for each other (community). As we help people find their purpose singularly, we will see our church find its purpose collectively.

Spirit Productivity

2008-08-06T09:23:00.001-04:00

Productivity is where the rubber meets the road. This is the intended destination of every church leader. We want to bloom where we are planted. This is our time. We only have a small window of opportunity, and it is incumbent upon us to produce. Imagine with us all God’s people seeing themselves as God-ordained ministers with a clear understanding that God has called and gifted them to reach the people in their sphere of influence. Imagine each one of them equipped to have their own ministry that is built around their own interests and giftings. This is what Connecting Points is designed to do. What would it look like if each one was being what God made them to be and doing what God intended for them to do when He made them. In the economy of God, no real productivity can take place outside of the realm of God’s Spirit. When we look back on times when we have tried to do the work of God by our power or by our might, we see clearly that we labor in vain unless the Lord builds the house. It must come from and through the Spirit of the Lord!

Building a Connecting Atmosphere

2008-07-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

One day I was having lunch with a friend of mine who had recently retired as pastor of a very successful church. When the new pastor came, there were some who had trouble adjusting and changed churches. Actually, there was a great exodus that took place. We ran into a family who had recently left the church and as we were talking to them, my friend asked them where they were attending church. Now understand that this family was third generation in this church. My friend was shocked to hear that they had joined a church of a completely different denomination that did not embrace the same traditional beliefs. When we asked why, their answer was enlightening. They said, “Well, we joined over there because the Bensons and the Wilcox’s are going there”. Wow! Talk about the power of connecting. Here was a family that prioritized their connections over their basic foundational beliefs. This opened our eyes to the importance of feeling connected to the average person. This marked the beginning of Connecting Points. We realized that if we were going to start keeping some of these folks who were visiting our church, we must begin to build an atmosphere in which people can get connected to God and each other. God help us build an atmosphere where people can get connected!

Are We Connecting to the Community?

2008-07-23T10:54:00.000-04:00

Church growth experts tell us that in order to stay the same size every church must grow six to eight percent each year. This growth will just about cover the ones who leave by natural attrition. Some go to heaven. Some go to live with Aunt Josie. Some even have the audacity to get mad at the preacher and leave for another church in town. The very idea! You have to grow six to eight percent just to break even, and if you don’t you decrease in number. The sad reality is that many churches in America are either stuck in status quo or are actually declining. With only a few wonderful exceptions even the churches that are growing are doing it through transfer growth. We fell into this trap for a season. Maybe if we can come up with a new angle or shine a little brighter than the church down the street we can get a few families. This causes problems of competition and territorialism among churches that hurt our reputations and hinder our efforts for the cause of Christ. The answer is found in the principles of relational ministry which will cause us to begin connecting with people in our community. Once we do this, we can become an influence in their lives that will draw them to Christ. We must become connectors.

Disconnected Society

2008-07-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

Can you name your neighbors? You probably cannot. We are living in a day when people are not as connected as in days past. Most adults, over the age of forty, remember a more innocent time. As a child, they could name every neighbor on their street. This is not true any more. Society has changed. People are more cynical and suspicious today and it is for good reason. Twenty-five years ago parents allowed their children to roam the neighborhood without fear. Only a fool would do that today. The deeper society plummets down this dark hole of innocence lost, the more disconnected we become. This is a problem. God created us to have relationship with Him and with each other. We, as believers, have a more involved problem. We are commissioned to connect to the greater community for the cause of Christ. This becomes more difficult, as society becomes more disconnected. The problem is that people are not connected to God, each other, or the greater community at large. May God help us to get back to the basics of relational ministry so that we can do what He wants us to do: Get Connected!

Let's Get Connected

2008-07-07T10:49:00.001-04:00

Let’s be honest. We did not invent connecting. This is something that the Holy Spirit is speaking to people all over the country. We believe that this is what God is doing in the church in these days. If we are going to reach people in this day in which we live, it will not be through tired, old methods that were effective in days gone by. We do not labor in the same vineyard that our forefathers tended. The world has changed, and society is changing constantly. If we are going to reach our culture we must have God’s current methods that are both time and place specific. We believe that God has a new plan for a new day. We believe that this plan is revealed to leaders who embrace the principles of relational ministry. If we are going to make disciples, we must get connected!

What is Your Vision?

2008-07-02T10:02:00.001-04:00

In most churches the Lord planted that church in that place for His purpose long before the current pastor ever arrived. In order to understand the vision we must come to grips with a very important question. Why? Why did God put this church in this place at this time? When a new pastor comes to a church the first question that is asked of him is “What is your vision for the church?” Most enterprising pastors have learned to keep a well-crafted vision in their suitcase should someone ever ask him about it. When asked, most pastors pull out the mission of the church rather than the vision, with full confidence that no one will recognize the difference. The mission of the church was given by Christ to the church as a whole. It will be the guiding force for every vision, but it is not the vision.
The mission of the church is to “go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matt. 28:19). This is the same for all churches. The vision, on the other hand, will be different for every church and every community. The question should be asked collectively: “What is God’s vision for our church?” By this means, the vision comes from the grassroots up as opposed to from the top down. As we redefine vision, we must realize the vision must come from the Lord by the Spirit through the grassroots—the people, God’s people. The way you find this “right” vision is to look for the activity of God in that church and in that community. Once we find where God is showing up we can more clearly see what God’s vision for that church is.

Let's Reach Out!

2008-06-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

We live in a sea of people who do not yet know Christ. There are enough people in your community to fill up every church in your town fifty times. This is one reason that we find transfer church growth so distasteful. God gave us Connecting Points when we began to hunger to reach the lost and not just to grow our church. It is critical that we are more interested in reaching the lost than growing our church. We are not sure how interested God is in growing our church; but He has proven how He feels about reaching the lost. He proved His heart at Calvary. It is a matter of priorities. Let’s face it, if we reach the lost we will not be able to stop our church from growing. If on the other hand we strive just to grow our church we may find ourselves wandering lost in the forest of other peoples’ methodologies and miss altogether God’s plan for reaching the lost in our own culture and more specifically in our own community. When we speak of community we are not just speaking of people who live near your church. In today’s society, community has more to do with culture and less to do with geographic proximity. We believe God wants to reach the lost in your community more than you do. If this is true then it stands to reason that He has a plan to reach them. We believe that the principles of Connecting Points will lead you to that specific plan. God help us to Reach Out!

Our Purpose

2008-06-18T18:40:00.000-04:00

Purpose has become quite vogue in the church of the twenty-first century. This is a good thing. Rick Warren from the great Saddleback Church in southern California has impacted the body of Christ in a powerful way with his book The Purpose Driven Life. I truly believe that this book is a word from the Lord for the church of Christ in these days. This book did for the people in the church what his previous book (The Purpose Driven Church) did for the church as a whole. For too long too many wandered aimlessly through life with no real sense of purpose. This “purpose driven” emphasis has greatly energized those who have embraced it. Steve and I can say of a certainty it did our churches. We worked together to do “Forty Days of Purpose” in our churches and it was a great success in almost every respect. It was during this time that we were first dealing with the principles of Connecting Points. The purpose of Connecting Points can be summed up in two words. Those words are communion and community. This is God’s purpose for the church. Communion has to do with connecting with God and community is connecting with each other. This principle was illustrated beautifully by Christ in Luke 10:27. When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus responded with a two-fold answer. Love the Lord with all that is within you and love your neighbor as yourself. In many respects all the law is summed up in these two expectations. Life is certainly more complex than just this one concept, but when it comes to the church we can focus on these words of Christ as our purpose. What are we to be doing? We are connecting people with God and with each other. The work of the church is connecting, connecting with God (communion) and connecting with each other (community).

Defining Leadership the Hard Way

2008-06-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

Recently I started my Doctoral program at Regent University in Virginia. We were required to do a two week residency to start things off. There were over 100 Doctoral students there studying leadership. All of them are leaders in their respective fields. When I saw the instructions for our first assignment at residency, I thought to myself, “This will be trouble”. Casting eight or nine doctoral leadership students who have never met into the crucible of expected productivity is a recipe for chaos…and chaos we had. Personalities clashed as these leaders rattled around the project. The real issue: who would lead and who would follow. As time moved on, we became a productive team and achieved our goals with excellence. I see this as a portrait that can help us define what characterizes both a follower and a leader. One component is key to success in both the leader and the follower. It is servant hood. Calvin Miller in his book “The Empowered Leader” pointed out the value of servant hood by pointing to the teaching of Christ in Matt. 20:27. Here Jesus inserts servant hood as a prerequisite to leadership. There was conflict yet we became productive as a group as each one began to serve others in order to achieve our goal. By the tenth day, the conflict had evolved into laughter and friendship. Bruce Winston, in his book” Be a Leader for God’s Sake”, points out that “peace is not the absence of conflict but it is the manner in which conflict is addressed”.

2007-11-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

I want to join Steve in welcoming you to our Connecting Points Blog. We hope that this will become a tool that we can use to help us share ideas. There are churches all over the country that have embraced the principles of connecting through Connecting Points. If you have any questions about Connecting Points or comments that you think might encourage others, Please jump right in. May God bless us all as we work toward connecting with our communities for the cause of Christ.

Welcome

2007-10-18T10:14:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new blog site. Randy and I want to start a conversation that will help us all develop in leading our people to connect with God, each other and the community. We are excited about what God is doing through Connecting Points. Let's go!