Fall Series Complete: Intimacy?

The series starts August 21st @ 7:30pm in Downtown Dalton! It's gonna rock.

Culture of Change

I'm often obsessive about learning how to relate to twenty somethings. I read marketing books. I hang out in coffee shops and chat. I run small groups. I meet one on one with guys and gals. I read cultural studies articles. And yes I watch youtube.com as well as using those clever social networking sites that strip me of oh so much of my time. (myspace, facebook, virb, pownce). I was astounded by the following figures.

• Today’s 21 year olds have spent 20,000 hours watching television, 10,000 hours playing video games, 10,000 hours talking on the phone, and have sent and received 250,000 emails or instant messages.
• More than 70% of U.S. 4 year olds have used a computer.
• 1 out of every 8 couples married in the U.S. in 2005 met online.
• The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. By 2010, it is predicted to double every 72 hours.

Those in their twenties are different than those of us outside that age range (give or take). Heck we didn't have cell phones in high school and I remember regular Internet use beginning in college for most of us in our mid thirties!

What does this mean? It means we must get the church online. We must create social networking sites, cool websites that are interactive, we must blog (join a conversation), and we must not misunderstand the fact that those twenty somethings and younger aren't just like you!

Authenticity, Vision, and Clarity

Kem Meyer's Less Clutter and Less Noise Blog had a gem the other day... well actually it was a condensing of someone else's gem (that's what this is too... only two gems removed!). I read it. Paused. Reread it. I thought I already knew that... then I realized I hadn't known it on an accessible level, which is to say I couldn't have written it myself.

Here's the part that struck me and her.

• Authenticity is the new marketing speak. Tell the truth in a simple, compelling way and dispense with the fluff.
• Sell through is marketing’s no-brainer metric. Everything you do should convince someone to buy your stuff. Buzz, loyalty, awareness, and everything else is a means to this end.
• Clarity is the new creativity.

You may read it or perhaps find it via original form here!

Ben Arment on Finishing Strong

Actually the post was titled Why so many church planters quit too soon

in which Ben writes that in most church "markets" or cities etc the successful church becomes the default church for the community leaving the "long tail" or left overs for others. Ben provided this diagram, which I hope will explain.
Now these other churches, the long tail churches, get the left overs. Ben puts it better,

They simply don't have the resources, manpower or momentum to be a viable choice for the community. Over time, many of these churches either die or stall-out.

Ben goes on to say it is at this point that most church plants or ministries call it quits. The leader/community of faith feels that the community at large or "market" just doesn't want another church. However, it is precisely at this point that such ministries must hang on because by their exiting the scent it creates more scarcity, which provides more value to the "champion" church.

What's the point here? Stay in the game. Keep marketing your plant, casting your vision clearly and regularly, don't be distracted by others opinion of what you ought to be doing. Do this, pray like crazy (it is Christ that builds the church), and just keep on keeping on.

If you didn't catch on I'm guessing this principle applies to far more than just church plants... aka young adult ministries that are community wide.

Praize Jam

So Joylene and I went to the Praize Jam tonight because it benefited a very good cause (two good ones): compassion house and the women's enrichment center. Both are non-profits and stand on the front lines in the area of justice and work for women in Whitfield and Murray Counties.

The "jam" itself seemed thrown together with much variety as far as the musicians/teams that played. Simple Fool was the highlight of the show for me and as a reminder you can see them each month at One (August 21).

The incredible thing about the night was that I was able to connect with a lot of guys that are interested in doing missional work in the Dalton area! I'm psyched about that and particularly following up with Ricky and Boyd of Relationship Church in Dalton and Calhoun.

Our Leaders

I just needed to say again how awesome our core leaders have been over the last year or so. Big shout out to Alfred, Ray, Jeremy, Jared, Joylene, and Miki. Each of them has contributed in a major way to getting Matthew's Table where it is today!

I love being around this crew. Honestly, I love them and I find energy from them. They are so faithful and so encouraging.

Case in point last night we had our monthly leadership get together and we were celebrating the success we have seen over the last year or so. WOW was that an encouraging time. I find that far to often I focus on the now or the next project so to speak... I'm ready to climb that next hill I say. I'm glad I have such a faithful leadership team that stops to celebrate our successes together!

Here's a list we named:

• the communities small group/community group ministry has grown from 2 to 10 over the last year!
• we were only dreaming about ONE last year
• we have seen increased involvement and growth in our ministry teams
• we are seeing new people each month at ONE

And that's just a few items to celebrate!

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A Night Out

I spent the evening out with an old friend, Caleb Burgess, who will be in town until mid-August for those wondering. We drove up to Chattanooga and spent the evening hanging out at the Pickle Barrel doing mostly nothing. I mean we had some decent conversation that ranged from the mildly political (mostly of a Marxist and Libertarian vein) to that of Xbox. There really wasn't anything inherently special about the night... we went and we came back. It seems we spend a good portion of our lives waiting for some kind of "special" it or thing to happen and we just wait and wait... most of us.

Lately I've been reflecting about it happening, that is the thing that's "special" happening in the midst of the mundane. During our relating and during our relationships where we revel in and despise the ups and downs of the day and the lack of truly meaningful connection... yea during those periods I think something special can happen and often does.

We are given to each other in community. This is special because God has placed you together in community.

I don't know but that's how it felt tonight.

Haystack Party at the Owens

We had something called a Haystack meal at the Owens (Jeremy and Greta) tonight! It was awesome I'm a big fan. What's more awesome is community! I love just being around people, loving people, and being loved and known myself. We watched the Devil's Playground too, which is a movie about Amish youth and the period of time when they must decide about staying in the church or not. I recommend the movie to each of you.

Great time!

You can read more about the following below:

Haystack Recipe

The movie: Devils Playground

The Week in Review (kinda)

This was an extremely busy week--thus that lack of posting. It was also an extremely productive week. I've had the time, with a few others, to review our Marketing options for the remainder of the Fall. These options include:

• Direct Mail to 4700 residences (20-29 yrs)
• Direct Mail in part to some 2100 residences (20-24)
• Radio Ads on the Monday and Tuesday of One with Additional Branding with weather during the week
• Movie Ads approximately 16000 touches over a 16 week period
• Road Signs around town
• Mini-Invites to the tune of 2500
• 13 x 18 Posters around town
• Revamping/Upgrading our lacking website (Flash site)
  

We don't have the budget to do it all. So I'm praying this one through and hoping that whatever we choose to do God will provide an abundance from our loaves and fishes! He will you know because he always does that sort of thing--God loves to show up when the we think the there's no discussion left to be had.

So... This week was composed of finding out the specifics of the above coupled with much deliberation and discussion. However, we also made a lot of head way with those needed business accents namely, letterhead, business cards, support letters written, and a brochure in it's rough beginnings.

One Round Up (July 2007)

One went smoothly again this month with a good summer turn out considering the utter lack of marketing we've done lately. :(

We had an average crowd for the summer of about 80 or so in the door. However, the conversation was lively and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves (for the most part). Simple Fool rocked!! What's new?! and Brad Dunlap of Green Hills Church in the West Hills area of Nashville really spoke to my heart about my need to let go and trust God. His style and message was just what we needed as it was a bit more relationally bent than others we have heard the last few months.

Honestly, I myself am looking forward to do some teaching in the Fall and I'm very excited about the four part series I'm starting on August 21! The series is called Intimacy? and will deal with the following:

1. what culture is selling us regarding intimacy (August 21)
   
2. what God has to say about intimacy (September 4)
   
3. what intimacy looks like when we are loving God (September 18)
   
4. what intimacy looks like when we are in right relationship with others. (October 2)
   

Changing the Future (Godin's Rule)

There's a great post on Seth Godin's blog titled Changing the Future that really got my motor running today. It deals in part with a subject I've been thinking about and struggling with over the past six months or so, namely that I want change to happen NOW. I have this false belief that acting in x way will produce a change right away.

Let's be honest this world seldom changes with such immediacy. Thus as Seth writes,

"Changing tomorrow is really, really difficult. It's expensive and abrupt and rarely works out for the best...Changing the future of tomorrow is tough."

However, he reminds me, which makes me smile, that

"Changing next week's future is a little easier, next month is easier still. You can lay the groundwork now to change your team and your products and your story so that over time, you're in a different place than you are now."

Yea I like that... building for the future is where we are right now at Matthew's Table. We won't see the fruit of our marketing this month at One, but rather as we continue to build we can hope that if we have built, planned, and prayed "correctly" we will see results in the not so distant future.

You can read the whole article here.

The Book Nook Community Group

Once again we had a great group last night! I've said it recently but I'm just amazed at the intimacy and authenticity that's being expressed in this group. We talked about loving our enemies as Christ has called us to and how radical that call is in such an isolated and lonely culture. We identified people in our own lives that we hold forgiveness toward and prayed for each other regarding those situations.

This is not uncommon.

When a group meets together over a period of time and when that group allows the Spirit of God to open their hearts awesome things happen. On the outside this group looks like misfits who are struggling with sin and life... and I'm glad that's the truth in many ways because in a lot of Christian communities we hide behind a false facade of holiness and feel unable to open ourselves up to the reality of Christ's grace and mercy in our lives. Those realities change everything, namely the way we interact within community.

Selling Matthew's Table or Getting the Word Out

Yep. We are planning to sell Matthew's Table beginning this Fall! No but seriously we are in the midst of deciding the best plan to get the word out about the ministry and in this way connect young adults to God. That's our goal you know, our purpose, and our commission= to connect young adults of North West Georgia to God.

We are considering doing a direct mailing to all homes in Whitfield and Murray Counties with individuals between the ages of 19-29. We would advertise the first Fall series for One which will deal with Intimacy and the things we fill our time with to falsely meet our intimacy needs, that is exchanging real intimacy for false intimacy. The total number of mail pieces would be around 5000 residents.

We are also considering advertising at the local movie theater in the Mall which would produce 15,120 touches of the ad over a 16 week Fall period. Wow. This direction is much more expensive than direct mailing, however it probably fits in better with our target audiences demographic.

We WILL be doing street level marketing again this Fall at the college and around town to the tune of some 150-200 signs and about 3000 mini-invites.

All this to get people to One so they can connect with community and Christ.

One and Prayer

We are only one week from July's One!

Brad from Green Hills Community Church, the same church plant that Mike Harder is planting, will be speaking this week and I'm excited to have him joining us. As usual, although I'm so excited about it, Simple Fool will be leading us in worship.

If you are free tonight (July 9th Tuesday) we will be getting together to pray at the Book Nook in downtown Dalton. A handful of so of us gets together each week (when we don't have One) to pray for One, our Small Groups/Community Groups, and the community at large. Join us!

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Gospel Awakening

As usual Drew over at Goodmanson.com hits the nail on the head in his round up of the Gospel Coalition and what is referred to as the Gospel Awakening. I won't spend the time filling in the blanks here as it isn't worth the time just read his blog post.

Basically the contention is that the following will transform the church in America in such a way as to radically change the landscape of that church and likewise America. The three change elements include:

• The Bible as Story
• The Gospel as more than a salvation entry-ticket
• A Missional Posture toward Culture

Head over to his blog for the rest of the story.

"here we are now entertain us..."

A lot of you don't remember that line, or maybe you do... dare I negate the power of early 90's grunge and more specifically Nirvana and the catch phrase from Teen Spirit?

Honestly, I've got little to say about that song and a lot to say about that phrase and the meaning therein. I've found that we are obsessed with being entertained. I'm tired of it. I truly believe that deeper inside, in the deep dark recess of our heart we long for something that connects with our soul rather than merely entertaining us.

Hang with me here.

I find myself going to movies, watching them at home, prime time on the tube, second life, computer games, xbox, etc etc. Problem is none of that really soothes my soul... rather I'm finding more and more that intimacy with friends (appropriate intimacy) is the soul soother. Specifically as Joylene and I have unplugged in many ways this summer: finding ourselves without cable (only a few fuzzy rabbit ear channels), online less and less off the clock, myspace is old, facebook too... we spend a lot of time talking. Further, I find myself connecting with God.

I don't know.

Maybe it's just me but I'm feeling that this entertainment buzz, which in fact is so very understated... this entertainment idol just isn't doing it for me. In the end I find entertainment far less entertaining than connecting. It seems that our felt need to be entertained is merely a marketing ploy that I'm just not buying anymore.

I know ... whatever right?

Like Wine Community Groups Age Well

It's true. Joylene and I have been apart of the Book Nook community group since November of 2005 when it first started and during that period of time we have seen friends come and go. Some have moved on and started other community groups, some are off at college, still others decided it wasn't the right time for such a journey, then there's life of course: jobs, kids, relationships.

Through it all we currently have a base group both like and unlike our initial start up that includes some 8-10 individuals weekly. The group has matured, not in the Christianese way we usually talk about maturity, but we have matured as a body of believers on a journey. We have learned to appreciate each other. We have learned to listen to each other. We have learned to empathize with each others struggle. Finally, we have learned, in part, to love one another.

Wow.

Community doesn't just happen. Community takes time like a good wine.

The Fall

I'm deep in Fall planning at this time and I think you will be very happy to know that there are a lot of great things happening.

We will be heading toward multiple One's each month (first and third Tuesday) beginning on August 21 and following. I'll be speaking during the month of August, September, and early October and I'm so excited to share what God is doing in my heart.

BTW Rica Cobb and Ray Owens (two separate groups) have just started community/small groups this month so contact them or myself and check one out!

Joylene and some other ladies will be starting a gender specific (girls) small group this fall that should be great. I hear, don't quote me, that the group will be more relational in nature and more of a sharing time than a bible study. There should be some great community at that group!

Likewise I myself will be starting a Monday Night small group for guys that will precede Monday Night Football... the idea is that we will hang out, connect, and perhaps do some topical study or whatever then watch the game each week! The group will be starting in the early Fall. Let me know if you are interested in either.

Back and Excited

I'm back from an extended vacation and I feel excited!

God really spoke to me during my time away. The funny thing about when God speaks is that there are both things you like to hear and those you don't! I heard a bit of both and even if I didn't like the critique so to speak I am more than ever interested in following God and growing in my intimacy with him.

I'm glad to join the community again!