Intervention: Spiritually Empty
- "I want to line my life up with Truth"
- Don't wish a day away... all we have is today and to make the most of it
- "What would the church look like if your vision for the church came true?"
- The day of casual Christianity is behind- we're going to do whatever God calls us to do
- Jesus Christ will move our lives farther and faster than you'll ever imagine... like being pulled by a Maserati
- The day you gave your life to Christ you signed on for full-time ministry no matter where you are.... in your businesses, your neighborhood, your school....
- "When you start focusing on the things that important in life, the things that aren't important start disappearing...." - Bruno DeJesus
No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, you matter to God. You have been designed to live a life of purpose.
Intervention: The Intellectually Disconnected
Are you frustrated with the discourse that's out there on faith these days? Does it seem like the church has settled for sound bites rather than have an engaging, intelligent conversation?- Ever have a thought pop in your head that you never asked for?
- "I'm not sure I even believe in God"- has that thought ever been on your mind?
- Following Jesus will stretch your brain as much as it will stretch your heart
- "As I got older, the more I started reading the Bible deeper and started creating more questions.."
- Has it ever freaked you out that there are people that are happy that don't know Jesus?
- We have to find some way to engage our brains to find a life of meaning and where Jesus is leading us in our purpose
- "It's been said that you have to check your brains at the door to be a Christian, actually, it's quite the opposite- we all should be engaged in digger deeper into Truth & questions..." - Chad Meister- Bethel College
- There's some kind of "truths" that keep the universe to be together and maintained.... Like 1+1= 2
- Jesus has been described as this, "logos"- core truths that hold all things together
- We can easily forget the ridiculous intelligence and Master of all things that Jesus really is...
- Greatest commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength" - you've seen the obnoxious Christians that beat people over the head with the Bible
- We should engage in conversations with love, understanding, and insight- not battles
- Are we becoming smart in our study or fat on TV? (in areas of faith)
- When's the last time people have said of Christians, "They are a wise, understanding people..."
- Action items: #1 Ask questions, don't be quick to shove answers down people's throats
- #2 Work hard to understand where people are coming from
- Beginning of human civilization to 2003... as much information has been created from 2003 to present- lots for us to understand
- #3 Live a life of prayer - Makes sense to tap into the greatest Intelligence
Want to reach 1.5 billion people?
For the past several months, we've stepped out into a new frontier of Online Church by offering our three services on Sunday but equally important asking the question, "how do we best serve people all over the group with an Online Church strategy that can add value to people all week long?" It's bigger than Sunday's and has a potential audience of any of the 1.5 billion people connected to the internet.
So what's the opportunity? Here are some of the many roles people can play and are currently playing on the Online Church team:
- Engage in services. Engage with people during the services, help answer questions, pray, and help people take their next step via the chat room.
- Make it viral. Are you engaged in Twitter/Facebook and online already? Spread the word by getting links about the services, opportunities, videos, and more online. This is simply being part of getting the exposure and word out. We can share links and information with you weekly to simply get out to the networks you already have!
- Web skills. Got web skills? Programming, WordPress, blogging, layout, design? If we dream it, we could do it.
- Video gurus. Or simply, you'd like to assist in making YouTube style videos, video editing, man on the street, and be part of creating web videos to get out the masses...
- Entrepreneurs. That's right, with new frontiers come opportunities to do the unique, reach a new audience, and more... Online groups? Web sites created to integrate real community change? International launches of online church? We all need a vision bigger than ourselves!
- Want more information? Have questions? Please contact me (Mark Meyer) at mmeyer@gccwired.com, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maximeyer, or Twitter http://twitter.com/markmeyer.
We have an incredible opportunity to love and reach people in ways that weren't possible just a few years ago, what do you say? Let's get it done!
Think Global.
I often live my life with my head conveniently buried in the sand. My reality is what's right in front of me and if I don't look past that, I turn a blind eye to the problems in the world. What's also true is that I am also turning a blind eye to the potential opportunity and purpose God is placing right before my eyes.
Rob Wegner has led the charge at Granger in expanding our vision of a global reach as a church. While we can't "save the world" we can focus on a particular place to bring "up there down here" and thanks to technology, we can actually bring "over there (India)" right here (Indiana, USA or any other part of the world).
To get a taste of this in case you missed it, watch it with others here at 12:00, 6:30, or 8:30 EST today (August 8th) or catch it on demand later this week here. A few notes:
- Every generation has the opportunity to make a historic "intervention"
- "Extreme Poverty" : 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day
- We are in a generation where we can eliminate extreme poverty- we have the means and technology to get it done
- Granger has been investing in this area of India for several years now, training leaders, drilling wells, building homes and churches
- "No longer do we think of ourselves as the people of darkness, but now view ourselves as the people of the Light"- quote from a changed life in India
- Dec 26, 2004 the deadly tsunami hit- at that point we had been there for about 3 years... we were contacted by multiple organizations to help- same force as 23,000 Hiroshima equivilent bombs
- Imagine a tsunami that when it recedes, poverty is wiped out, people have hope in Christ, and all disease is wiped out- this is the new Heaven and new Earth we get to look forward to...
- It starts with small interventions- it starts with a cup of water, a small gift, a helping hand
If you had the means to feed 10 people in your country or 50 in another, which would you choose? If the same investment of funds could grow your local church 20% or grow a movement overseas 200%, which would you choose? In God's economy, it's yes and yes. In looking at our individual purposes here on earth, we need to think global purpose with a global church carrying out God's global plan. Think Global. The world has gotten much smaller.
What’s Your Fight?? (on Robin Hood :: Soulflix Series)
This past week Rob Wegner had a fantastic message from our Soulflix: Finding God at the Movies series. A few highlights to take with you*:
(*really more of what I took away with me. Your results can vary).
Robin Hood tells a classic tale that has been shared, retold, and romanticized in the movies and literature for 700 years. In short, it boils down to an epic GOOD vs. EVIL battle. Everyone loves the good guys winning, of course. This is a big reason for the staying power of the tale of Robin Hood.
In most places in the Bible, you can just about open your Bible and finger point to some sort of a store that is telling the same kind of tale. Arguably the biggest story of Good triumphing over evil (lower case... evil does not deserve a capital E...) is found in 1 Samuel 17, with the story of David triumphing over Goliath.
In that battle, "David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him".
So.. what battle line are YOU running towards?
Picking and choosing ones battles in life is never easy. Often we lose sights of the real injustices in this world, and take up fighting battles that don't have the same level of importance in a bigger context: arguing with the spouse on what to make for dinner, when others in our cities may be eating once a week. Honking at the jerk who cuts you off in traffic, and exchanging words as you drive down the street, just to ignore the woman who ran out of gas and is stranded needing a push out of the way, or a use of your cell phone to call for help.
Admittedly, its far easier to get caught up fighting smaller battles than taking up the bigger fight causes.
As Rob said, "until you understand that war is the context of our times, you will misunderstand life". Ouch.
As a result, the two most important days of your life are the day you are born, and the day that you finally understand why.
So I ask you, what is our purpose? What is worth fighting for? Homeless vets? Hungry Children? Disease?
On a smaller and personal scale, is it the friend who is self destructing while you ignore their calls? The hurting marriage of your best friends who need to know that someone still loves both of them because they dont feel love for each other anymore? The child you see coming in that you suspect something isn't right at home, but they don't have their own voice?
We need to identify our own Giants. We need to know what our Sling is.
How can we position our jobs, our life seasons and experiences, our skills into using them as something to fight these Giants? How can we use OUR good to fight the evil that is around us?
Let us have vision to see, the strength to fight, and the wisdom to recognize the fights around us that we are called upon to battle.
So.... what's your fight?
Twitter With Purpose
Got Twitter? You've got 140 characters to tell your followers and the Twitter community whatever you want whenever you want. Tweeple fill this stream with links loads of mundane information about their day, pushing products, showing pics of celebrity sightings, commenting about Lebron James, and scooping the latest news about to hit People magazine.
It's also a phenominal way we can "be" the church 24/7. In 140 characters we can:
- Encourage a friend who just got bad news
- Help someone with a nugget of financial advice we've learned over the years
- Answer questions people are asking about scores of subjects
- Connect people to others that may be able to help them
- Share a blog post relevant to someone's life
- Meet someone new and care and comment about their posts
- Repost a favorite one liner from a speaker you found to be helpful
- Post an open job position for the scores of people out of work
- Help spread the word of a local charity having a cool event
- Engage and comment with scores of people to simply let them know you're listening
- Give and help spread the word to a crisis like the Haiti earthquake disasters
- Let someone know they're funny
And... any other creative way you can think of to encourage people without being preachy and shoving unsolicited advice on people... We all have a purpose and sometimes it's only 140 characters away! This too is online church...
Here was a simple blog post I found to be cool by Elaine discovering a purpose in her daily life.
I'd love to hear your tweets, you can find me here on Twitter. 
Granger Notes 101
GCC attendees:
How many of you use the Granger Notes? Show of hands.... anyone? Okay- you there.. one in the back.. couple on the left. Got it.
I have to admit, my learning style involves a need to write things down. My Bible uses all four colors of highlighter. It has scribbles, notes, references all written inside. It is my textbook for living, so you should take some notes, right?
The Granger Notes are provided for the in house audience a few different ways. If you show up in person, the bulletin contains them. If you use your phone, the GCC YouVersion reader lists them for you, and if you do church online, then they are at the bottom margin when the Auditorium is open as we are live.
But what to do with them?
I find they are a fantastic way to go back and refresh yourself on what the message discussed every week. Not to say I am poring over them, but just as you don't eat just once a week, you also may feel a need to continue your spiritual feeding through the week. A quick review. Maybe a refresher of a particular key verse to share with a friend or coworker.
The Granger Notes let you do just that. When the Online Campus is active, simply click on the tab, type in the notes as the series progresses...and get this- you can print them out right there in the tab! What a great resource to help you get organized and interact rather than staring at the monitor.
Give it a try and see if it doesn't help you out too!
Welcome Aboard
I recently joined the GCC Online/idochurchonline.com team after a few meetings with Mark Meyer, who is our online campus director. One of the goals we have for online church is to evolve the experience to be more than just watching the message series and worship experience feed because you couldn't make it to a service this weekend, into thinking longer term.
Longer term means "where will people be doing church" in a year from now? 5 years? in 2020?
Technology is evolving so fast that our communication styles are shifting and evolving even faster. More teens text each other than making cell phone calls. In just a couple of years (like ...two..) the mobile phone browser will surpass desktop PC use as the main method of internet browsing.
As a result, church attendees will also modify their "brick and mortar" attendance to shifting busy families attending and rounding up the kids to head out to sharing worship and letting God meet us where we are at in more casual settings.. like in front of your laptop.
The question then becomes, where will the church reach these people that want to seek God but for various reasons, can't or won't seek Him in the 'traditional' church setting?
Where will people connect with other church goers outside of Saturdays or Sundays? By being Facebook fans? By following on Twitter? By gathering in traditional small groups that at one time were small Bible study and discussion groups in someone's living room, to what may now be a group at Starbucks sitting around their laptops following a message?
The answer is likely all of the above. And our mission at the GCC Online team is to figure that out and to bring others together.
We hope you'll join us as we shape what the online church community will becoming!
In the meantime, if we haven't me, feel free to join me on Twitter, or read up on the blogtastic writing that will be following here soon!
“Unstoppable Wednesday’s!”
The Unstoppable series through One Prayer continues on Wednesday nights beginning June 9th at 6:30 EST at the Online Campus! Here are a few fun tidbits:
- Experience what it's like to do service online with others using chat functionality from all over the world
- Listen to six more great messages from the One Prayer series from speakers across America and the world
- Missing Journey classes in the summer? This is a great alternative to be inspired by some new voices!
- Be part of supporting unity in the Church across the world as we're ultimately all on mission together for Christ
Here's the line-up (all at 6:30 EST):
- June 9th: Scott Hodge (The Orchard, Aurora IL)/Ray Hardee (Forest Pointe Church -Belmont, NC)
- June 16th: Matt Fry (C3 Church- Clayton NC) /Rick Bezet (New Life Church- Conway, AR)
- June 23rd: Herbert Cooper (People’s Church- Oklahoma City, OK) /Brian Houston (Hillsong Church- Sydney, Australia)
Hope to see you online!
“What Do You Think of Church?”
I'd love your input, what do you think of "church"? Really. I'd love your candid input and don't worry, we won't hound you down or bother you unless you ask to be contacted. Thanks! Mark
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