C3 RECAP: DAY ONE

Jeff and I are here in Texas with 12 of our staff and leaders. What an amazing conference! Let me preface this post with the statement that I cannot express all I have experiences or learned in one recap. It will take several posts along with months of prayer to meditate and process through what I know God is doing in me. I posted on Monday that I wanted to be open to what God wanted for me. I have truly had more than one encounter with God.

Yesterday, I spent all afternoon in Fellowship Church's Small Group Ministry Department. They have done a lot of trial and error in this department and I was able to glean great wisdom. Why reinvent the wheel? Why NOT learn from other's mistakes? Everything from structure, to curriculum, training and placement in homes was discussed. Not a whole lot of new information, just a whole lot of permission to do what God has place in the heart of The Rock Church.

Would you let me share one major ahaa moment I had? I sat with a man who was the head of the Sports Ministry here at Fellowship Church. Unsaved and saved people came to this ministry by the thousands. It was popular and successful in the eyes of a lot of people. When I was here last year, I would have agreed it was successful, prior to yesterday. This man shared with me each week he would report his great statistics including the thousands of people coming out to the church for sports. One staff meeting, Pastor Ed Young, while writing the ministry's stats on a notepad, ripped the paper off the wall and asked: How many of these people are coming to the weekend service? Is each person in attendance directly and on an ongoing basis, connected with a leader in your ministry? Would each and every person be personally recognized if they missed a weekend service?

The answers were surprising to me. They found it was impossible to personally connect with each participant...weekly like a small group could and the ministry wasn't connecting people to the weekend as much as they wanted. If a person was connected to the weekend, they didn't have the personal connection from a leader to notice whether they were at service or not. They cut the ministry altogether...a ministry of thousands! Essentially, it wasn't as beneficial as the weekend nor was it as beneficial as a small group. Pastor Ed shared that it wasn't about the big numbers or large group but about the personal connection. What did a meeting with big numbers do that the weekend didn't? It really just stole from the impact the weekend had. Now done as a small group, it is much more effective for Fellowship Church.

I was really challenged to look inside myself and every ministry I am leading and ask the questions..."Why am I holding this event or meeting? Could a Reach Team connect with these people on a more intimate level? Is it doing what a Sunday morning could do but only at a lessor degree; thus stealing it's impact?"

I know that when someone serves, there is a deeper connection to the church but had to ask myself, what if we didn't just serve in our specific ministries outside of Sunday morning? What if we pulled forces for the weekend? What if in spending time organizing leaders, I didn't just include women but pooled all forces to create a fantastic weekend experience? Is it of more benefit to serve at a specific women's event or can you imagine having wonderfully decorated bathrooms and a pamper zone on the weekend...every weekend!

I believe with the launching of Regional Reach Teams, we will connect with more lives and their families. With the going away of Wednesday evenings, the impact of the weekend will be even greater. As I said, I am still processing and praying things through. Maybe my large meetings need to stay or maybe they need to go and pull forces to the weekend. I am not one who is quick to think of questions to challenge the status quo but I believe the ability to ask these questions is another thing God has done in me this week.