Coffee House Reminder

Just a quick reminder that this Tuesday Night we will be hosting a coffee house with Matt Green and the Undead Machine at the Book Nook at 7:30pm. For those that don't know Matt is a great musician and is well worth your trip alone if you are anywhere near Dalton. So if you are not into the music thing then join us and just hang out. Come and go as you please.

The Book Nook which sells used books and pretty good pastries will be hosting us and Starbucks is providing the coffee. Wondering how to get there? It's located at 229 North Hamilton Street in Dalton GA.

Swerve on Leadership Lids

Craig Groeschel began the first in a series of posts titled Leadership Lids, which proves to be insightful. In his first post he writes of High and Low Altitude thinking with the basic idea being that Low altitude deals with the minutia of day to day events such as:

• Did we have enough greeters?
• Did the bulletin have typos?
• Did all the first time guests receive a letter?
• Is the air conditioner in the kids’ wing repaired?

High Altitude thinking deals with questions related to leadership proper-- that is the direction of an organization. This point is common to good leadership books and write ups because it leaders must fight to spend their time focused on the big or high altitude picture rather than the minutia of day to day life, which is really management. Leaders are to lead rather than manage.

Here's a list from the post of his High Altitude questions:

• How can we increase the spiritual climate of our church attenders?
• How can we as a church better live the gospel?
• What needs to change about our strategy to better make disciples?
• How can we create a bigger “vision-buy-in” from the people in our ministry?

How are you doing leading versus managing and to what extent has this placed a "lid" on your leadership? Further, any idea how those of us in smaller organizations can get away from managing and spend more time and effort in the arena of leading?

Free Online Books

I've been planning to do some historical reading in the area of Philosophy for some time now. It was a avid hobby of mine in the past and I've gotten away from it so I'm planning to reread some of Plato's works and such and then turn toward some Hobbes and Aristotle. Reading such books is of great value to any of us, honestly, if you haven't read many of these in your past pick some up they are huge in the conceptual development of Western thought. The best part is there's a site I stumbled upon that has many of these classic works online free of charge.

http://www.fullbooks.com/

Check it out!

The Golden Compass and Movies

For a movie that many spoke so poorly of, particularly those in the religious right, I was amazed by the lack of controversy. Joylene and I went to see it tonight at the cheapy theater in Chattanooga tonight (only 2.50). I found the movie entertaining and enjoyed it for the most part. I especially liked the Polar Bears! They Rock!

There were obviously some interesting religious and philosophical overtones such as the fact that ones spirit as a demon, the fact that the bad guys "the magisterial" were very Catholic Church like, and finally the idea of dust which was akin to sin. I'm sure there is much more I one could dig out from the movie, however I enjoyed it for it's story. Nothing like a good story.

I also saw Cloverfiled this past week and watched Adrift in Manhattan -- an indie film-- on DVD at home. Both were decent although not for everyone.

What have good films have you watched lately?

Good Times Hanging Out

I had a great time hanging out with Bobby McGraw on Thursday. We ate some Cancun Mexican food at the Mall and spoke of churches, ministry, life, love, and church planting. I always enjoy getting together with Bobby and hanging out, because Bobby is one of those unique guys that simply speaks his mind. Apparently he reads this blog too because yesterday during lunch he referred to a particular post below about Seth Godin. It's always interesting when a conversation starts with "so I was reading your blog and..." Good times.

Today I had the chance to hang out with my Mom over lunch. Once again I truly enjoy hanging with her and connecting over some good food. We spoke of health, life, Fellowship Bible Church of Dalton GA, and Matthew's Table. Good Times.

In the afternoon today I hung with Jeremy Brooker, you know the Jeremy Brooker of Brooker Ford! We had some heavy conversation over Halo 3 Slayer matches. Good Times.

Tonight I had the chance to hang out with Joylene, my lovely wife, we chatted over Starbucks and talked about Matthew's Table, ministry, and the future.

Who have you hung out with lately? Where do you find your good times?

Jesus Loves Me?

Some of you that read this will be offended by it... especially so if you are religious, self-righteous, or the like. I found myself mildly offended by the part about his wife. On the other hand this is far more important than most of us might imagine. It's not the video itself that is so important, not in the least, rather it's the fact that our faith is so confusing to those that are far from God. Give it a go.



Thanks Dave.

So what do you think?

Discipleship Again

There's a very good post over on the Blind Beggar that you should read.

Go here.

It will send you to an article labeled, "Authentic Discipleship in Missional Churches" which you should read as well.

The part I'm hoping we all get is the Blind Beggar's response to this... "Authentic Discipleship in Missional Churches" writes,

Becoming a missional church is about being–being conformed to the image of God, bearing His heart–before it is about doing. Therefore, leaders must connect their congregations with His heart via the Scriptures.

Blind Beggar responds,

[This quote] appears to separate “being” from “doing.” This false dichotomy is one of the major errors practiced in many evangelical faith communities. Discipleship is equated with connecting to the heart of God primarily “via the Scriptures” (exclusively in many cases).

Discipleship of the bible is connecting to the heart of God both “via the Scriptures” AND by doing. It is the combination of the two that lead to spiritual formation and “being."

Right on the money! I've been feeling this for some time now, however the Blind Beggar expressed it far more clearly. What do you think? Is this true? What corrective measures does this lead us toward as a people of faith?

AT&T Wireless Parody

I find this funny. I found this from Dave's blog, who pastors in Decatur, Alabama at Crosspoint. You should read Dave's blog if you aren't yet.

What is Discipleship?

What is discipleship? What does it look like to disciple another? Is it imparting facts or going through a specific set of core studies together? Is it living life together? Is it ministering together? Is it leadership? What does it look like to disciple another?

Those questions are hard, but not as hard as the ones below.

How do we know when we are finished discipling someone? Are we ever finished? What does maturity in Christ look like? Is God concerned about our theology as much as our lifestyle?

Coffee House Concert

Matthew's Table is putting on a coffee house on Tuesday Feb. 5th 7:30pm.

Matt Green and the Undead Machine will be playing from the new EP Stickers for Fighting. If you haven't had the opportunity to hear Matt's music you are missing out his style is raw and acoustic, however he is a great singer songwriter. You should not miss this show if you are anywhere near Dalton that night (This includes you Chattanooga).

The night is about more than coffee (Starbucks... thank them) and music. It's about hanging out and getting to know people. It's about reaching out beyond the normal bubble. I want to encourage you guys to be there at the Book Nook in Downtown Dalton on Feb. 5th.

Community Groups

A few months back I mentioned a video that was later removed from Godtube.com it's back...



So are you involved in community?

Blog Changes

As you can see I'm experimenting with some Blog changes. Hang in there and things should be more organized in a few days.

Anyone want to leave some feedback? Let me know how you like this look? Check out the updated look of www.matthewstable.blogspot.com too, I might update this one like it.

Are you living out your faith...

Thanks to Scott Hodge.

Prayer is Foundational

Tomorrow... on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month... the leadership of Matthew's Table, some friends, and those who feel the need come together to Pray. Join us if you like at the Book Nook in downtown Dalton 229 North Hamilton Street.

We don't make a big deal of praying. We don't publicize it far and wide. We just come and pray. We pray for the community, for our personal lives and struggles, we pray for ministry, and for those that are hurting or far from God.

Prayer is foundational.

Breakaway Update 3

Well I'm blogging from home again! Internet was available but harder to come by at Breakaway. Sunday began with Eddie Taylor speaking a message of mission. He hit the need to be involved in personal and relational outreach with force and passion.

After an extended time of worship we were free to "hang out" during the afternoon-- no break out sessions-- this meant tackle football for many, naps for others, long walks in the cold for some, and a journey out to watch the AFC championship for me!

After returning from some needed time away from camp and after getting my game fill I joined Alfred, Heidi, Joylene, Sarah, Heather, Lauren, and others for Rodney's talk which also dealt with our need to be missional in the "seeking and saving the lost" vein. Interesting enough he used the Future Farmers of America crest to propel his talk-- the camp was an FFA camp and the crest had lingered in the background all week. Rodney's talk was powerful and moving.

Myself and many others spent the remainder of the evening in worship and relationship with those attending. Joylene and I eventually decided to head home at 1 am... later arriving in Dalton at 3:15 or so and enjoying the comforts of home.

I can honestly say that God met me and many others at Breakaway this year calling on many of us to renew a vision for the lost and do something about that renewal. I'm not sure this year will or should be the same.

Has God spoken to your heart lately? What are you hearing?

Curious Vlog

Seth Godin ...



Thoughts? Are you curious?

Breakaway Update 2

Last night things got a little wild at Breakaway. Lee Grady continued his discussion on the gifts of the spirit, something I'm not sure myself or many others was comfortable with entirely, however there was no doubt God was moving. The call, aside from gifts of the spirit, was for cross-cultural missions and more specifically the leadership here were hoping God will move in a major way on the hearts of these young adults. God showed up it seems! Somewhere around 25-30 young adults committed themselves to cross-cultural missions!

We can only pray that God will continue to move in their hearts! What crazy and wild thing is God calling you to these days?

Breakaway Update

So far Breakaway has been just that ... a needed time of breaking away. Last night worship began around 9pm and lasted until almost 1am. There are about 150 young adults who have journeyed from Florida, Alabama, Georgia and many other southern states. There is a very real sense that God is here and connecting with us... I for one know that God has spoken to me intimately over the last 24 hours--more on that later.

Today, Saturday, we heard Lee Grady bring a message that essentially spoke toward social justice. The crux of his talk was focused on living a missional life filled with the Holy Spirit. He used parts of Acts 2 to weave this theme through four points:

1. Ethnic Barriers
2. Gender Barriers
3. Generational Barriers
4. Economic Barriers

Good stuff. Very challenging stuff. The call was to free ourselves of these social injustices and to lead out in being the church Christ intended us to be in a missional model. God is definitely speaking to this community.

When is the last time God spoke to you and how?

Breakaway

I'm excited to say that Joylene and I will be heading down to the Atlanta area for Breakaway, which is put on by Family Discipleship Ministries. We have never been but we hear it's laid back and a great time to relax, connect with others, and hear from God. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Pray for us over the next few days.

Becoming a Disciple

I've been giving a lot of thought to the type of disciples I'm making these days. These thoughts have led me to repeatedly question the type of disciple I am in my own walk. Questions such as these do not have clear, neat, uniformed answers. I am certain that I can draw nearer to my Lord, grow in intimacy, and love others more deeply and authentically. I also realize that discipleship is far more about living the faith in front of another than it is about exposing facts or spurring the development of disciplines. Don't misunderstand it is those things too, however if there is a disconnect from the learning then it is NOT discipleship.

What kind of disciples are you making? What kind of disciple are you? Do these line up with the kind of disciples Jesus made?

(the above picture is from open.lifechurch.tv)

One Recap 1/15/08

I personally thought One went great tonight! Numerous people told me that enjoyed the time to connect with potential small groups and community service orgs and if even 1 person volunteers regularly in the community the event will have been a success. No doubt the turn out was low, something we as leaders have been struggling to get our heads around, but that's another issue. Here's how the night went:

Simple Fool did a set of 4 worship songs with Jarrod leading worship. Great Job! I'm looking forward to hanging with the band at Breakaway this weekend!

I did a 5-10 minute talk casting vision and explaining some changes that will be going on over the next few weeks. If you missed it the main news was that we are taking One back to once a month (third Tuesday each month) and replacing the other date (first Tuesday each month) with a Coffee House type environment that will meet at the Book Nook in downtown Dalton.

I also took a few minutes during this portion of the evening to cast a vision for Community. Namely, a vision for Community Groups or Small Groups, a vision for serving in the Community via the Community Service groups, and finally vision as it relates to the vision for young adults in the Whitfield County and Murray County area.

The talk ended with a challenge:

• get involved in a small group through May
• get involved in a community service org through May
• begin making the young adult community your own--take ownership

After this we broke out for a time of coffee and had a community service and small group fair of sorts! Great night all together with a lot of chatting and good vibes.

MacBook Air and Envy

I have mac envy... bad mac envy.

Out of the Loop with Dilbert

Maybe it's just me, but I find this very funny... enjoy.

The Church is having an Affair...

As I was checking out the Ooze today, which serves as a place where young leaders seek to think through issues related to connecting with an increasingly post-Christian and postmodern world. It's a very good site with loads of articles and information you should add it to your rotation. So I was checking out the site, which I do from time to time, and I came across an article titled The Church is having an Affair, the title itself had me. What followed as an insightful article that most of us need to read over and over.

Without rehashing the entire piece, which is short enough itself, I'll just say that the author Nick Jones of Fresno points us toward a church that has become affair or event oriented in it's outreach rather than long haul oriented. The idea is that most evangelical, upper middle class, suburban churches would much rather throw around 10 grand for an event with balloons, clowns, and what have you than to go into an impoverished community monthly, weekly, dare I say daily.

So go read the article found below and let me know what you think. Am I being too harsh on the church I love? Is Nick pointing to a problem that is real or just creating fodder for thought?

Go and Read... then Return.

Community Service and Small Group Fair

I'm really excited about this next Tuesday at One! We are gearing up to put on a fair of sorts with some 7-8 local community service orgs in attendance along with our community groups around for deeper involvement. The idea is that following a brief time of worship and vision casting we will break out for coffee, hanging out, and a time to connect with tables for each org or community group. In a perfect world it is very much our desire that you who attend will get involved personally in a local community service ministry and get involved in a community group!

Here's a list of the orgs attending:

The United Way
Compassion House
The Teen Resource Center
The Women's Enrichment Center
Providence Ministries
Girl Scouts of America
Habitat for Humanity
4H Club
World Vision

I'm excited about us as a community of young adults connecting with God through service in our local community. Check us out next Tuesday at 7:30pm in downtown Dalton.

Missional

There's an exceptional post over on the Blind Begger regarding what they call the Essence of Missional. It's exceptional because there is so much discussion about being missional these days, however most err or miss the essence of being missional. So if you have ever wondered what all this missional stuff is about just read that post as it is concise and clear.

Here's the definition provided,

The essences of missional is both loving God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength and, loving our neighbor as ourselves.

In the post the author goes on to point out that our institutionalized, corporate church environment tends to focus it's attention far to much on the later-- loving neighbor. In fact there is need within the Christian community to focus on both. This would entail not only going out to love and making disciples, but becoming a disciple and falling in love with God ourselves. Great thoughts!

Here's another great resource in the missional discussion... Friend of Missional.

Rock Bridge CC Hire Connection Pastor

I'm really excited for a good friend, Alfred Turley, who has now been hired as Rock Bridge Community Church's Connections Pastor. Alfred has worked dilligently with Shaw Industries over the last 10 or so years and has often dreamed of making a move into full-time ministry. Alfred also serves on the Board of Directors for Matthew's Table of Northwest GA. This should be great for both Alfred and Rock Bridge!

Rock Bridge is located in Dalton, GA and has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last 5+ years. They have a second campus that launched in September in Calhoun, GA. If Matt Evans hasn't been on your radar check out his blog here.

Floating Axehead--> Real Thing

I'm digging a post that just popped up in my feed reader on the Floating Axehead dubbed The Real Thing. This nifty and rather short post distills one piece of what has been on my mind regarding the current state of the church-- at least it's teaching-- over the last year or so.

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow for the post you are better off just clicking above and heading there. I will say that among other items the churches rather lax view of what it means to be a follower of Christ needs a serious overhaul. We ought, no we must, refocus on making disciples rather than merely presenting a truth that leads our community toward mere outward expressions of faith that are often easily abandoned come morning. Such followers awake to find themselves feeling rather obligated to come back to that said church over the next years with no true spiritual growth, formation, or fruit-- all the while feeling rather naively, yet strongly, that they are "saved". Is it saved? Or damned? I think damned is a bit too strong, however it's not the type of discipleship our Lord spoke toward.

You get what you preach...

There's an interesting thought on Church Marketing Sucks today that deals with the power of spoken word. I guess in a very real way this is all about vision casting too. Essentially the post speaks to the fact that those within your org or church or what have you will become what you teach them or to put it another way over time those listening will follow. This thought obviously has a lot of exceptions to the rule, however it presupposes no doubt that you are good at communicating.

Here's an excerpt from the thought,

When you preach salvation, people come to know Jesus.
When you preach about loving Jesus, people become better lovers of Jesus.
When you preach prosperity, people want to be prosperous.
When you preach about the second coming, people get ready.
When you preach healing, people will be healed.
When you preach hope, people are more hopeful.
When you preach about tithing, people tithe.

What do you think is this true in your experience? Head on over to Church Marketing Sucks and check them out!

Doing Versus Learning

I stated yesterday that I would follow up with the idea of using the ascertaining of truth as a means to an end. So here goes, it has become painfully apparent lately that so many of our ministries, small groups, churches, etc are consumed with explicating truth, extrapolating it from the "word" and getting it in the minds of those that attend the said events. Most of us are now nodding our heads yes that's the ticket, that's what a good teacher does, he (or she for the moderates and liberals out there) teaches to infuse information in the mind (always first) and then the heart.

No.

Discipleship is not the process of learning information. The root does derive from "to learn", however that learning in a cognitive Western frame is/was not the intended end. Rather, it would appear that the learning we now so lack is a learning that leads to doing. There are so many that sit and learn, filling our minds with facts, theological musings, however there are so few loving, holding, walking beside those that could frankly care so little about what you know. When we become a people consumed with learning and dotting our t's and i's over and against merely loving and doing the content of that faith we are Pharisaical in our living. This grieves God. Please wild eyed reader do not misunderstand... I am not saying that knowing and learning of God through his word is not important, rather I am saying that doing what we learn is paramount and pleases God far more than adding another conference badge to your resume.

Go be pure,

James 1:27, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

It's a lot easier to learn. It's a lot easier to sit in a seat for a few hours a week or go over to someones house and argue about or hear about the musings of someones devotional life. It's easy. We like easy it is comfortable, clean, nice, neat. It's not your calling if you are a disciple.

The Church, the Bible, and Truth

I've been thinking a lot lately about the fact that the church, the church we call relevant, the church of tomorrow, has somehow become this place where truth, if that's what you want to call it, is packaged in a nice, neat, marketing friendly box, that is always user friendly. I know I sound pretentious and angry... I'm not, well not entirely. I'm part of the problem, being part of the church. But seriously, when was the last time you (those that attend the "seeker sensitive", church growth movement, "simple church", Market driven church) heard an expositional message that got in the face of the church? It's been a while on my part and I think this is part of what is lacking in the church.

Truth. We say we believe that the bible contains truth, some say it is truth. I definitely believe it contains truth, sometimes hard to get at than I would like but there's meaningful truth there-- I think that saying it is truth is a step too far, perhaps toward making it an object of worship?- I digress. It's truth that is missing from our churches. Well that's harsh, but honestly is it truth that's missing or has it been packaged in such a way that one can hardly actually experience or taste that truth? Is it accessible or has it become a mere 3 main points with a hook?

I could go further, but I won't today. Perhaps tomorrow. Yes tomorrow I'll take this a step further and deal with the concept of using the ascertaining of truth (knowledge whores if you will- that's what I call them--I'm recovering) as a means to an end. The end is living not stating, but that's for tomorrow.

What do you think about the church, the bible and truth? Have we lost our way?

Kiva.org

I've been excited for a while about organizations and ministries that are doing the faith rather than talking about it. In that vein I've been meaning to post about Kiva for the last few weeks.

From the about page,

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

That's pretty sweet in my mind. You can follow the below link and read more about it, but do not fear it's legit. Here's a thought... what if the churches, ministries, and helping orgs in your community took the money from the latest building project or remodeling project and invested that money in your local community or in orgs like Kiva. Well that would be sweet. I'm just not sure God will look down and say wow nice building... but maybe I'm wrong.

Here's that link go explore and dream.

Man Falls 47 Stories and Lives

I just want to go on the record as saying that next time I feel the world is against me and life sucks I'm gonna remember Alcides Moreno the window cleaner.

Read this and then return.

And you and I thought we knew what a bad day was right?!

The Minor Prophets

I've been reading through the minor prophets recently and I'm just amazed by the grace of God over and unto his people. I mean I realize that grace is one of our God's attributes, but then again I didn't realize. Do you ever have those moments where you feel you know, but then a switch is flipped or you realize ah... now I get it. Well that epiphany is what's been taking place during my reading of the minor prophets.

Joel and Hosea specifically were eye opening. I remember working through Hosea and after some 7 or 8 chapters of judgment and anger pronouncements God relents and states that his love for his people will over come and over whelm their sin. This is a message the church needs to hear a bit more of... maybe it's just me?

I find so often I'm tossed back and forth from the Law toward Grace and then back again. At any rate I would encourage you to read the minor prophets with me sometime this winter.

What are you currently reading?

Blogging Break

Well I guess I'm ready to return from my blogging hiatus. I think the absence was a combo of blogging burnout, the holidays being very busy, and a bit of funk/mild depression on my own part.

At any rate I hit 301 entries last year so I guess that's alright... more later.