MoviePastor.com: Church, Culture, Christ

Girl Gone Mild - Ruth 3 - Ruth goes Wild

Don't forget - Ruth 3 this weekend.  Ruth Goes Wild.  This is a CRAZY chapter in the bible - but its probably one of the greatest chapters in God's Story of redemption.  I will be there Sunday because of this story.  Will you?  See you Sunday!

You are NOT a Church Planter

You are not a Church Planter Just Because:

• You have a cool church name that doesnt have your denomination in it.
• Your web site has flash or a flash video player
• You use Facebook or Myspace
• You wear jeans and t-shirts from Buckle, Abercrombie or Holister
• You hang out at or drink Starbucks
• You think its cool to call it "St. Arbucks"
• You have spiked highlighted hair.
• You have a goatee, soul patch, or other facial hair
• You think you can preach better than your pastor
• You wear trendy eyeglasses
• You read Relevant Magazine
• You have a blog
• You link to blogs from megachurch pastors
• You use a Mac
• You own an iPhone
• You wear flip-flops
• You look hip in a sports jacket and jeans
• You have a tattoo
• You have a piercing
• You've been to Willow Creek, Fellowship, Saddleback or NewSpring
• You ran demographics on your community and have a target audience
• You have a mission statement with 3C's, 5 M's, 6G's
• You know some Christians who are willing to be part of your core group or launch team
• You use movie clips as sermon illustrations
• You use cool titles for yourself and your volunteers
• You think projectors and powerpoint are way cooler than a broadman hymnal
• You think Rock Bands are way better than Choirs
• You read "Purpose Driven Church",  "Blue Like Jazz", and "UnChristian"
• You use cuss words because Mark Driscoll is cool and he has been called the cussing pastor and has 8000 people at his church.
• You are "Postmodern" (don't even get me started)
• You have 27 different series ideas for preaching about sex.

I could do this list all day long and at one time or another probably thought one or two of these things might help me be more relevant so that I could reach more people.  Churchplanters and pastors might do some of these things - but these things wont help you be a church planter.  Get it?

Sharpened!

Drove up to Nashvegas today with my Buddy Eric Taylor to hang out with a bunch of pastors and church planters for a "Roundtable".  It was organized by Joe Case at Uprising and hosted by Pete Wilson at Crosspoint (yes he stole our name and got a better domain name)  Anyway - there were a bunch of guys from different backgrounds at all stages in the process and I was challenged and encouraged by every single one of them.  The thing I liked about the "Roundtable" was even though some of the guys are pastoring large churches - maybe even mega churches - it felt like we were all equals.  Everyone faced challenges, everyone had insecurities, everyone was trying hard to find their voice and the keys to reach more people.  It was a great day and I took away a lot of things I can start doing THIS week that will make a difference.  Very cool stuff.

Close the schools...buy all the milk and bread you can!

Holy cow!  Monday it was 65 and I was in a short sleeve shirt enjoying spring.  Now its snowing outside and its like a freakin blizzard!  Buy all the milk and bread you can to survive!  I bet they close the schools within the hour!  WOW!

The Mirror

Today I looked in the mirror and I was shocked at what I saw.  To my horror the face staring back at me wasn't

• Steven Furtick - 28 Year old pastor of maybe the fastest growing church in America who seems to have the wisdom of someone twice his age with the confidence of a seasoned Marine Corp Veteran.  The person staring back at me is 47 and makes a lot of mistakes and is constantly second guessing himself.
• Ed Young - Pastor of Fellowship Church and perhaps one of the most creative communicators in the world.  The person staring back at me has to preach from a transcript and gets tongue tied a lot.  I tried to preach a sermon like Ed and I sounded dorky.
• Gary Lamb - Pastor of Revolution Church who has over 1000 people meeting in a theater and is about to go Multi-Site.  Gary has a Rock Star like personality and might be the Chris Rock of preachers.  The person staring back at me has about 150 people on a good day and no one knows who I am.  I steal Gary's jokes sometimes.
• Craig Groeshel - Anointed Pastor of Lifechurch.tv who practically invented multi-site church and probably has the most creative and innovative staff on the planet.  I think Lifechurch secretly invented the internet to reach people for Jesus and let Al Gore take credit for it.  The person staring back at me sometimes appears green with envy over the amazing video content they have. 
• Perry Noble - Lead Pastor at NewSpring in Anderson CS.  Perry is a funny, humble, confident, passionate preacher and in a small town was used by God to grow a BIG church - and he has Tony Morgan on his staff and made up a title for him.  I have good guys on staff but they dont get paid much and our titles suck and none of them have famous blogs, and they haven't written books.  I live in a small town and lead a small church and we wont be hosting a conference - but we are going to NewSpring
• Rob Bell - Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids.  I think Rob may actually have conversations with God where he asks "What does this mean?" and God tells him.  There may be a burning bush in his yard.  His gift of communication and helping people understand Yahweh/Jehovah/Jesus is mind boggling.  I did preach a couple of his sermons and even brought a goat on stage as an illustration.  I would have never come up with that on my own.
• Mark Driscoll - Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Mark was once known as the "cussing pastor" and while that might have made a lot of angry youth pastors happy its not who Mark is.  Mark is an apostle in seattle and probably the most intelligent pastor in america - and can even make people laugh when he talks about nose hair and then get them to love Jesus.  I am preaching through Ruth and listen to his sermons but I cant preach his stuff cause Im not very smart and the only cuss words I say are "suck" and "freakin".
• Chris Elrod - Chris has the smallest megachurch in the world.  He can blog about something someone else said and then get interviewed by newstations across america.  He got famous being a comedian but I never heard of him till he became a pastor.  But he's dang funny and whipped my tail in football.  Im never funny but I know when im being made fun of and I like it when Chris makes fun of me.  The truth is ever time he posts something on his blog I think "I wish I'd said that"

The face staring back at me is me.  Dave Anderson, Husband to Dana who proves that ugly guys really do get the pretty girls, father to Jordan and Lara, Grand Dad before his time to Kristyn and Madisyn, and Pastor to a small church with big dreams to change the world in Decatur Alabama.  I am 48, fat, not very smart, just short of ugly, lack confidence, have less and less gray hair every year - but  - I am blessed by God in ways I cant understand and called by God do something I am not capable of doing. Sometimes I wonder why He did that because all these other guys are so much better at it than me.  But I am fearfully and wonderfully made and even though I think I suck at most everything - God doesn't think that at all and believes that I can make a difference in the world - and thats pretty cool so every day I load the water pistol and charge the gates of hell with my friends at Crosspoint. 

Im glad Im me and not those other guys!

Easter - A Monster Sunday

Easter is 4 Sundays away!  I am leading our teams to do everything we can to have the best services possible on Easter and beyond but I want to challenge every one at Crosspoint.   We can plan the best music, the best video, the best series, the best experience but this is still about reaching disconnected people for Christ and there is something you can do to make Easter a MONSTER Sunday!

1 - Pray.  If you will devote time to pray for specifically our services and your friends you are inviting I believe with all my heart God will move heaven and earth to see that people who are far from Him are impacted by the gospel of Jesus.  If you will commit just 2 minutes a day to pray - 14 minutes a week - we'll have hours and hours of prayer coverage as a church for this important day.  Also pray for all of our volunteers and leaders as we build up to this big day.

2 - Invite.  Dont wait for us to put an invitation card in your hands.  Be talking to your friends about Monster - Energize Your Life!  Our Monster Series - based on the popularity of Energy Drinks, Extreme Sports and Grounded in the bible will be the best series we've ever done.  We are going over the top to reach people and speak truth into their lives -  but they have to be invited.  Research show MOST people come to church because they were invited by a friend or relative - not because they saw a slick advertisement.  Easter is the one time of year when people are most open to an invitation - so Invite your friends to church and we'll tell them about the Life Changing power of Jesus Christ!

3 - Serve.  Easter will probably be our highest attendance of the year.  It will take more volunteers than normal in every area.  If you arent scheduled - consider yourself scheduled and show up when the trailers get there and get your hands dirty.  Then ask - now where can I serve?  Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.   Contact Kenny (klopez at crosspt dot cc) for more info about volunteer opportunities.  Some special opportunities we'll have during monster include handling and securing a Nextel Cup Race Car, operating a video game station or facilitating a Guitar Hero Tournament.

Im jacked up about Monster - Energize your life - but mostly Im fired up about Jesus and what he's going to do through Crosspoint

Losing My Religion

Interesting article on CNN about Research done by the Pew Forum on religion in America. Every pastor/church planter needs to understand the shifting demographic of religious preference. This was a pretty big study!

Monster

I am beside myself with anticipation for our Easter Series.  We are calling it "Monster - Energize Your Life."  It has an Energy Drink theme based on Monster Energy drinks.  We are going to do everything we can to make this the funnest and most life changing series we have ever done.  There are rumors of things like Extreme Sports videos, Guitar Hero Tournaments, NASCAR automobiles, and tons of Energy Drinks involved in various parts of the weekend experience.  Most importantly EVERYTHING is about Jesus and the gospel.  Do NOT miss this series and INVITE your friends starting NOW.  The only bad thing about it is now I am addicted to Monster Kaos Energy Drinks.  Thats the price you pay to do ministry!

Buffaloes, Horse Shampoo, Monster and stuff

• There is one less buffalo in the world cause I ate him (well part of him)  Ted's Montana Grill was AWESOME. 
• I was taking a shower today and saw my daughter had some new shampoo called Tail and Mane.  I didnt think anything about the weird name till I read the label and it said "Instructions for Humans" - I almost pee'd on my feet laughing so hard at the idea that my 18 year old kid bought herself some horse shampoo - and conditioner.  I wondered if she was going to the farmer's co-op.
• I am JACKED up about our new series.  More later but its called "Monster"
• I have some ideas that will Raise the bar really high for our guest experience at Crosspoint.  Im pumped!
• We are going to do some REALLY big things for kids this year at Crosspoint.  I mean REALLY REALLY MONSTER big! 
• More MONSTER things are coming.  I can't wait!

Knights of the Roundtable

Thursday I am heading to Nashville with my buddies Eric and Mark to hang with Joe Case and Gary Lamb.  If you are a church planter in Tennessee, Alabama, or Georgia - heck - anywhere in God's country - you need to go.  I dont know if they have room - but if you want to go email me or Joe Case.  Joe and I have talked several times about starting a Tennessee Valley Church Planters Association.  Joe doesn't talk - he acts.  This could be the beginning of a huge movement.