It's All Because of Jesus

I have to be really careful in the upcoming weeks. There are so many exciting things coming up that I am dizzy. The Bridge just this month will kicking off the Great Adventure Project at the Community Supervision Center, our 22,000 square foot building will rise into the skies, and I will have the opportunity to tell the world about the discipleship of our church to thousands of church leaders at the Reveal Conference in Chicago. Wow! Plus God has brought us literally a hundred new folks in the last few weeks to get to know, tell about the Gospel, and start helping them grow in their faith.

As exciting as all of that sounds, I have to be careful. I must continue to seek the Lord while He may be found, to focus on His word, and to remember that while I was yet a sinner, the spotless lamb out of sheer love took my sin and bore it for me. I must remember to abide in His presence. I must remember that I have been loved and are loved to degrees that I cannot even begin to understand. I must remember that my response must be one of humble obedience and a passionate return love. I must remember to love others. I must remember that all of the above excitement is caused by Jesus and is about Jesus.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians 1:15-23

Lance Smith from Sunday

I thought that God showed up in a big way through Lance Smith on Sunday. He had some of the best lines I have ever heard in a sermon such as:
"They are subject to a Kingdom that they cannot see, and
they serve a King that they do not know."

and

"It is good thing that Moses and God never got mad at the Israelites on the same day."
Moses would get mad at them and step aside and say, "Go ahead God, they are maddening -- smoke em." God said, "No, no Moses." On other days, God would ask Moses to get out of the way because he was going to wipe them out due to His frustration with them and start over, and Moses would say, "Please no Lord, our enemies will scoff." Good thing that they were never mad on the same day.

IT at The Bridge -- Laser Focus & Community

In Chapter 4 of IT, Craig Groeschel says that IT churches are focused on a “limited set of targets.” IT churches do not try and do everything – they have laser focus. They know what they are called to do, and they go after IT with tremendous vigor. God blesses faithful churches with IT – “His mysteriously awesome presence, power, and peace."
He then talks about the dangers of ministries losing IT because they get arrogant and focus on something (too many things) other than what God is blessing. Sometimes that happens. Leaders figure that if God blessed the small focus, surely He will bless a bunch of new ministries. They get distracted and IT slips away. We will have to make sure that we do not attempt to do everything. In Luke 10, Martha is trying to do everything when Jesus visited. Jesus rebuked her for being worried about everything. Mary had laser focus and that was what Jesus was looking for. If our church is interested in not having IT, we will take on everything.

At The Bridge we will always only have five ministries: 1) hopefully, the best Sunday morning worship CELEBRATION around, 2) hopefully, the best children’s ministry around (Bridge Kids), 3) hopefully, the best youth ministry around, 4) a CELL ministry that creates disciples, 5) a GAP ministry that fills needs in two international ministries and our target ministry in the local area. That is it; that is our laser focus. There are hundreds of other ministries that have validity, and some of our cell families may become involved in them on the side, but as The Bridge, those are the five that we will attempt to do very well for the glory of God. We will help other churches start men’s ministries, women’s ministries, singles ministries, car ministries, etc., but those five are all that we will ever sink money and staff into. The clearer our vision becomes, it is easier to guard what God calls us to do. To be great at a few things and experience IT, we will have to say ‘no’ to many quality things.

Ministries that have IT, enjoy IT together. There is an unmistakable camaraderie. If the leaders do not have IT, IT will have to be faked. Friendships matter. Staffs need to enjoy each others company and be committed to each other and trust each other. They must be friends. They cannot just put up with each other. Cells must get close and trust each other. Laughter is huge! Staffs and cells with IT love each other. They do life together. Are you meeting with people that you are doing life and ministry together with in social settings? You should go shopping together, to sporting events together, to trainings together. The development of team IT takes time. Craig suggests that you should give refrigerator rights. That means someone can walk in your house and eat out of your refrigerator without asking. Teams from other walks of life should envy our refrigerator rights. Doing life like this creates IT.
There is a problem because America wants to be independent. People do not think that they want to be interdependent. There is no IT in independence. God intended for us to rely on Him and to rely on each other. Not doing either kills IT. Read Ephesians 2:19-21 and see what it says about our interdependence. Read it in the New Living Translation – what does that say to you?
You cannot experience IT alone.
God wants you to share IT.
You will experience IT best when you live out authentic community with God’s people.

Some staffs and some CELLS have IT. When staff members only focus on their particular area of ministry, they kill IT. When a cell family ignores the other members of its cell or worse yet all of the needs of the other cells, they kill IT. Read 1 Corinthians 12 and see what God says about interdependence.

Saturday IT Thoughts

This has been quite a week as our excavation for the new Sprung building has really taken shape over the last few days, and I am really excited to hear Lance Smith speak from God's Word over SEND IT and the Suppan Suwaan church in Thailand tomorrow. We finished up a very spiritual, Biblical set of Elder interviews this week with our current Board of The Bridge. I am extraordinarily impressed with how far these people have come in their discipleship with Christ in the past three years.

Then, on Wednesday night, I attended (with the Board, Jon Bird, and Murphy Thomas) the debate between Christopher Hitchens and Danesh de Souza at Powell Symphony Hall on the existence of God (God on Trial). The crowd was split rather evenly and Hitchens was a superb villain as he is passionate about his distaste for Christianity and all that it entails. Danesh was brilliant and witty, but the evening was not a stunning knockout. The secular humanists that were present to support the atheist Hitchens are deep into "for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images...Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not be done. They have been filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity" Romans 1:21,22,28,29). There was very dark thinking present in the room, but Danesh shined some light through the darkness with the true Gospel. Hitchens main attacks came against some of the historical failures of the Catholic church which have some validity, but these failures do not hold the true Church in contempt. Danesh is Catholic, and he is obviously one of the Catholic church's successes. I did find myself appreciating Hitchens though because at least with him we know what we are dealing with. He is very outspoken in his opposition to the true Gospel of Christ. Many of these midwestern chair 3 Bible-belters who think that they are in the Kingdom make making disciples quite difficult. The secular-humanist's rejection of the Gospel is angry and misguided, but at least it is overt and honest. It was really interesting to see liquor served by PSH at this event and many delving deep into it before the debate began. There were many of the seculars drinking heavily (and probably some closet-Baptists pretending to be atheist - HA) before the debate. The atmosphere was tense and spiritual warfare was thick, but I do not think the presence of IT was recognized except by those who came with IT. However, the Gospel was presented and IT never comes back void, so who knows.

Secular-humanists can recognize IT when there is time to develop a relationship. Kelley, Justin, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Isaac Grimm's blog last night as he described how he and his travel partner (the beautiful Melissa Sandoval) perceived their encounter with our Chacocente team. Isaac is a magnificent writer, so I suggest that you take your time and read his blog on their trip experience where they ran into the "Missourians." Isaac's Blog on Chacocente.
Isaac's Blog on Bridge Medical Clinics. Isaac & Melissa were blatant secular-humanists from the east coast who outwardly denied the Bible as truth when we first meant, but who knows what effects IT has had on them now.

IT Stuff from Craig Groeschel -- 2

Craig cut to the chase by giving the best explanation that he could, IT is what God does through a rare combination of these qualities found in his people:
 Passion for His presence
 A deep craving to reach the lost
 Sincere integrity
 Spirit-filled faith
 Down-to-earth humility
 Brokenness
Wow! Did you see yourself in there?

In Chapter 4, Craig discusses how foolish it would be for a church to have no vision. “Without a God-given vision, our ministries will never have IT.” It is exhausting to serve in a vision-less church. People are busy, but no IT business ever gets done. MINISTRIES THAT HAVE IT ALWAYS HAVE A CLEAR VISION. The people know the vision, believe the vision, and live the vision. Has our church clearly defined our vision?

Craig proposes that there are three levels of vision buy-in:
1. The people believe in the vision enough to benefit from it. Consumer mentality. People come to church because they like it. Church is for the people.
2. The people believe in the vision enough to contribute comfortably. People will contribute as long as it is easy. Happy to help if it does not interfere with their other priorities.
3. The people believe in the vision enough to give their lives to it. These people realize their lives are not their own. They belong to Jesus. They understand that they are a part of greatest cause on earth.
There is no IT in #’s 1 & 2, but IT flourishes in #3. The cause of Christ is the greatest cause on earth.

So now we have chair 1, soil 4, and vision 3. That is where you want to be!!!!

IT Stuff from Craig Groeschel -- 1

Craig Groeschel says in Chapter 1 of his book, IT, that IT is caused by off the charts excitement about Jesus. When they started their church, LifeChurch.tv, the initial meetings were held in a garage with 75 green felt-back chairs, a closet for their children’s ministry (they would bring the kids out of the closet at some point in the service), an overhead projector, and a guy named Jerome that changed the transparencies that only had three fingers on one hand due to a drug deal gone bad. The whole production was lit with a floodlight purchased from the local hardware store for $19.95. However, they had IT, and so new people came by the dozens because they were attracted to IT, followed by hundreds, followed by thousands. That is a similar story to what we have experienced at The Bridge. At this point, from what you have heard about IT, and what has happened to IT at The Bridge, what do you think IT is?
Craig also talked about that IT sometimes seems to be random even among their own organization at their church. They have 13 campuses at LifeChurch.tv and there appeared to be explosive IT at times among some of their campuses. During the last year, all of their campuses experienced explosive growth and discipleship except one – the one that he taught at live. There seemed to be a randomness and an ebb and flow to IT. He pointed out that the good news is that: if you don’t have IT, you can GET IT, and If you have IT, you can lose IT. The former-Baptists can relax; he is not talking about salvation. There are saved people who at times appear not to have IT.

C.S. Lewis said, “The perfect church would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.” It appears that some churches that have magnificent facilities, a lot of money, and every advantage do not have IT. Sometimes when we visit churches we feel like we are not dressed in the right clothes or whether we even qualify to receive a bulletin. There may be a lot of people there, but when we leave, we never experience IT. Sometimes the beautiful cathedral churches don’t have IT, but some small poorly lit, poorly equipped churches like Pastor Pedro’s in Nicaragua have huge IT. New, excited believers die if they stay in these places. Craig tells the story of the first time he experienced IT as a new believer. It was at a Bible study / prayer meeting at college that was simply built around an electric excitement about the majesty of Christ and the power of the Gospel. He, then, attended his first church with IT. The people were warm and ECSTATIC to express what was in their hearts. The preacher almost actually glowed; his words from scripture pierced hearts. This church had Craig at , ‘hello.’ They had IT. He wanted IT. He needed IT. And he got IT.