Month: November 2009

By Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

Over two hundred years ago, one of the founding fathers of America, Benjamin Rush, had a dream. In this dream, a man was climbing atop Christ=s Cathedral Church in Philadelphia and began turning the weather vane. In effect, he had reversed the relationship between the weather vane and the wind. As Mr. Rush awakened, he analyzed this dream. He concluded that the weather vane upon the majestic church building was not a manipulator of the wind, but simply an indicator of which direction the wind is blowing. As he pondered the dream, he sensed he was the man ascending the church=s roof. In his critical role during the founding of our nation, he was convicted of trying to change the events of the time rather than indicate them.

Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Are you a manipulator or an indicator of God=s activity in your midst? Trying to manipulate the Spirit of God is not new news. One simply needs to read the books of Acts to see such behavior.

In the early church, no person is more poignantly present than the Holy Spirit. The decisions and directions of men and women were rooted in the moving of the Holy Spirit. Despite this reality, there were missteps, mistakes, misjudgments– you know, sin. The following two snapshots from the Acts of the Apostles through the Holy Spirit should serve as cautions for us in this realm of manipulation.

First, we may attempt to manipulate the Holy Spirit through organization (see Acts 1:15-26). Although God told the disciples to wait, Peter wanted to organize. His organization was filled with biblical interpretation (v. 20), appropriate nominations (v. 23), and election (v. 26). The organization was impressive. It looked good, but it contained no dynamic of God. Have you noticed another mention of the elected disciple named Matthias anywhere else in scripture? Please understand that I am not proposing through this scenario that the Holy Spirit is the sponsor of disorganization. We must submit the organization to God, not God to the organization. Here is the principle I want you to take hold of: The church should be so full of life that people beg for structure rather than the church being so full of structure that the people beg for life.

Second, we may attempt to manipulate the Holy Spirit for reputation (see Acts 5:1-11). Ananias and Sapphira participated in deliberate, deceitful, and demonic manipulation rooted in their motivation to be like Barnabas (Acts 4:37). They wanted a halo without holiness. As a result, they were both taken by God. Courting God and his Spirit for the benefit of one=s reputation is dangerous and deadly business. You don=t have to be eloquent, clever, sensational, logical, but you must be real. If you are not real, you damage incalculably the cause that you represent.

An old preacher was asked by one of his church members to explain John 3:8 (The wind blows wherever it pleases….). “Tell me about the wind,” the church member stated. The old preacher responded, AI don=t know about the wind. All I know is that when the wind blows, we better hoist our sails and catch it.” We cannot dictate the blow of the wind for this is a sovereign act. But, we can hoist our sails.

by Joel Comiskey

I believe there’s a place for the mountain-top experience. We all need an added boost once-in-awhile. The truth is, however, we do most of our normal Christian living on level ground and sometimes even in the valley.

Cell churches have often promoted the mountain top experience called “Encounter Retreats” to help members deal with sin and spiritual blockage. These events create a mountain-top high for members to experience powerful spiritual renewal. Over the years, however, cell churches have learned that the Encounter flame can easily diminish without clear plans and direction. One famous cell church learned the need to immediately connect those in the Encounter with the next step in the training track to keep the fire burning. Some cell churches have failed in this area. I remember one cell church in Latin America that became so enamored with Encounter Retreats that they turned into an “Encounter Retreat” church. They stopped making disciples through cell ministry. The goal became attending Encounter Retreats.

This past weekend we took over thirty youth to Acquire the Fire (ATF), a youth encounter established by Teen Mania (Ron Luce). Our youth had an incredible experience of repentance, sharing, and prayer. This morning, many shared in the worship service. We emphasized the need to keep the fire burning through personal devotions, involvement in a Life Group and picking up the cross daily. We even hope to start a new youth Life group with those who attended ATF.

During ATF, I talked with Ed and Oona Byer from Big Bear Christian Center. They also took a youth group to ATF. They said to me, “This year we’re only taking those youth who are also in Lighthouses [youth cells]. We’ve discovered from many years of experience that the fire dies out too quickly otherwise.”

Last year we as a church were not proactive in planning for ATF, and the fire didn’t benefit our local church and cell ministry (people from various churches went). This year was different. We sent key adult cell leaders from our church in order to prepare for ongoing follow-up.

What kind of mountain-top experiences do you have in your church? (camp meetings, Encounters, etc.). How do you keep the flame burning after those experiences? Was there a time when you lost your cell focus due to another ministry getting in the way? Please share.

Joel

by Mario Vega

It’s easy to think that leaders will always be prepared once they’ve received the initial training. But, nothing should be taken for granted. It is important to be dedicated to the patient task of continuous repetition of basic principles on a permanent basis.

This is called feedback. We try to make sure that all active leaders review key cell elements on a continual basis. We accomplish this repetition each week in our supervisory meetings. At that meeting, the Zone Pastor reminds the leaders of the essential elements.

Leaders are always grateful to be taught and reminded of the most important things. Eventually, the District Pastors can organize retreats or other activities in which they also give feedback.

Finally, we gather the leaders and supervisors togeher once per year to have a Growth Conference. Again, the key elements of the cell work is repeated at that conference–for one entire week! This conference generates a lot of expectation and enthusiasm among the leaders.

In your church, how do you repeat the basic principles over and over (feedback)?

Mario

In Spanish:

Repitiendo lo fundamental

Dado que el trabajo con células es hasta cierto punto repetitivo, se puede llegar a pensar que los lderes se encuentran capacitados una vez recibieron su entrenamiento. Pero, no se debe dar nada por sentado. Es importante dedicarse a la tarea paciente de continuar repitiendo los elementos básicos de manera permanente.

A esto le llamamos retroalimentación. Cada cierto tiempo todos los lderes en funciones vuelven a repetir el aprendizaje de los elementos básicos del trabajo. Se hace cada semana en la reunión que llamamos de supervisión. En ella, el Pastor de Zona recuerda a los lderes lo esencial de su trabajo.

Aunque se trata de decir lo mismo, siempre los lderes agradecen que se les enseñe y recuerden las cosas más importantes. Eventualmente, los Pastores de Distritos pueden organizar retiros u otras actividades donde también se imparte una retroalimentación.

Finalmente, en el ámbito de toda la iglesia, se realiza una vez al año una Conferencia sobre Crecimiento exclusiva para lderes y supervisores. De nuevo, se vuelven a repetir los elementos claves del trabajo. Es una semana dedicada a retroalimentar el liderazgo de la iglesia. La actividad genera mucha expectativa y la participación de los lderes es entusiasta.

En su iglesia ¿cuál es su manera de retroalimentar?

  by Jeff Tunnell

Have you slowed your efforts long enough to recognize/determine the need by honestly inquiring, “Do I/we need coaching for our cell church?”

Last week in this blog I wrote “In sharing my excitement with others, about re-entering a coaching commitment, it was suggested by some that I know enough to accomplish this coaching myself and probably don’t need to meet with Joel.”  (1) To say that I know enough is a great overstatement (especially when comparing myself to Joel Comiskey!) (2) The coaching is for my staff, and me, during the transition of Sr. Pastor leadership in our cell-based, cell-driven church, and while I could coach them to a certain degree, I recognize my shortcomings.  By using JCG, I will insure a greater benefit for the future of our congregation & its vision.

Those who subscribe to this blog are at different stages of the great work of advancing HIS kingdom.  Our blog readers represent church planters, newly transitioning churches, successfully completed transitions and those who have been cell-based from their inception.  Others are leaders of organizations, authors, publishers, cell leaders and hopefully all are friends.  We are from numerous nations with differing geo-political environs, but all called to the same ‘commission’. 

Some will not need coaching at this time.  But have you taken the time to determine if  is something you do need and from which you could benefit?  For me, this was the first part of coaching.

by Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

In light of Joel’s post yesterday, let me offer some thoughts about forgiveness. Yes, Iain, I agree with your encouragement to Joel. Thanks for taking the time to encourage him!

First, a few scriptures to ponder.

“If you forgive anyone, I will also forgive him. And what I have forgiven him- I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” II Corinthians 2:10-11

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

Most are brilliant concerning why we do not want to forgive others. Some of these reasons are:

 The offense was too great

 They do not agree that they offended me

 They are not truly sorry

 They’ll do it again

 They did it again!

 They did it on purpose

 Something keeps me from forgiving them

 I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget

 I’ll have to act as if it never happened

Mmmm? Any of these sound familiar?

So, what really is forgiveness? Forgiveness is a spiritual and judicial act where you CHOOSE by an act of your will to forgive based upon what Christ has done for you. Forgiveness is an act of grace.

Jesus said: “If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

For sure, the primary result of choosing to forgive is freedom. Lewis Smedes writes, “When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself.”

Comments?

Rob