Watch Full Show! Listen!Often times when we look back at old pictures, they bring back laughter and the stories behind each of them. Greg has a good laugh as he talks with Pat remembering their time together at a Promise Keepers conference. During that time together on one of the days, lunch was in a parking garage, on the hard cement in the New Orleans Superdome, now known as the Mercedes Superdome. They also share about the bad hotel room and a two story McDonalds in New Orleans on Canal Street with ONE EMPLOYEE with thousands of hungry men from the Promise Keepers event waiting in line. This one employee would ring up one man’s order, then go back to fix the breakfast. Then hand it to him and take the next man’s order. It was a looooonnnnggg morning, not just a long line. In the picture is Greg Lancaster, Pat Hamilton, Bill Holzinger and Vince Cooper
August 2021
Watch Full Show! Listen!Greg and Pat share how they were doing all they could to raise money to sponsor more fatherless boys to be able to come to the Next Step Outback Father and Son Camping Trips. Not only do fatherless children not have fathers in their live, but they also often live in poverty because of their mother having only a single income to raise all her children. One year, as a way to help raise money to sponsor more fatherless boys to be able to come, they decided to have a raffle. They chose a large screen TV from their local Sam’s Club, who by the way were one of the sponsors for the Next Step Outback’s, and began their raffle. Convicted to make sure what we were doing wasn’t or didn’t look like a lottery, Greg told the leadership, repeatedly, “This is not a lottery!” Greg made sure that everyone on the team was aware, this is NOT a Lottery. As Greg was sharing about the Next Step Outback and the need to raise money for the fatherless, on a local television network, BLAB TV, the first thing that came out of Greg’s mouth on LIVE TV was, “We’re having a lottery.” It was a hilarious moment after all this buildup of him saying this is not a lottery! God is and was faithful each year, for almost ten years, assuring we had an awesome encounter with fathers, sons, fatherless sons, and mentors at these events. God would always show up with His glory presence and melt our hearts. You can see all those who attended standing in front of an 8,000 square foot tent that was called the “Tent of Meetings” where all came to meet our Father and our Father (God) came to meet us. Truly, it was a time of the hearts of the fathers turning to the hearts of the children and the hearts of the children turning to the hearts of the fathers. You can find out more information about this memorable event at NextStepOutback.org.
Watch Full Program! Listen! Simon Sinek, who rose tofame by challenging us to find out our “Why” in our lives, businesses, corporations, and ministries flips it all on its head, in a good way, when he is asked how the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the working from home and the smaller gatherings taking place is having an impact on the church. He calls this an opportunity saying “the purpose of the church is to SPREAD THE GOSPEL!“
The world that we are presently in is a night and day difference compared to where things were two years ago. Many throughout the world were taken by surprise when they found themselves on lockdown, having to live life now solely from their homes. Where many were “going to work” now they are “zooming” into work. One pastor Carey Nieuwhof, recently sat down with Simon Sinek to talk about the changing culture of today and how the Church can respond.
BREAKING THE MOLD
Sinek begins to share about the traditional model of medicine in society. So, look at a medical office. Right? Older generation, you have “your doctor.” That’s my doctor. My doctor is the best doctor. I go to “my doctor.” No matter what it is, if it’s the common cold or something severe, I go to “my doctor.” Right, and I go to this horrible waiting room. Very few people feel recognized or valued in that business model or operational structure of how doctors interact with their patients in that current design. But then, this generation has begun to approach how they view a doctor differently.
Sinek continues, “And then there’s a young generation that says, “I don’t care. For basic medicine? If somebody’s got the right degree, then they probably know how to give me an annual medical check or treat my cold. Right? I don’t need a specialist.” What would that even look like?
Sinek points to a new breakthrough company called ‘OneMedical.’ And so, you have an organization like OneMedical that shows up, where you walk in, and it feels like you’re at Pottery Barn. And it’s beautiful and the doctor doesn’t wear a lab coat; she comes up and says, “Hi. I’m Stacey.” Instead of you know, “I’m doctor whatever.” Right? And the customer service is incredible. And you can call, and you can talk to the doctor, or talk to them virtually, and they reply to your emails within 24 hours. It’s amazing! It’s amazing! Right!?” Simon says.
THINK OUTSIDE “THE BOX”, OR SHOULD WE SAY, THINK OUTSIDE “THE BUILDING”
What we’re now finding out is that how things were always done is not necessarily how things need to be carried out moving forward. This is where Sinek then begins to connect this same application as to how the Church can change their model of thinking in today’s culture. He goes on to say, “And so, I think the Church can learn from that. Which is, the opportunity to spread the Gospel. Nobody said that it has to be done one way. Nobody said it has to be done in one location, at one time, at one, you know, that suits you. And the people who like to schedule their entire day about going to this one location at this one time. Who said? Where is that written that it has to be done that way?”
IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS
Carey Nieuwhof responds, “Well in the early Church, it wasn’t. It’s just been that way for a few centuries.” Sinek continues, “There you go. You see, we got used to it, and now we think it’s the way it’s always been. We must begin to think differently. Yes, there may be people that don’t want change and like things the way they are. That is fine for them. What about those who don’t want the old manner of thinking? How can we change the present model of thinking to adapt to our changing world? Sinek begins to share some profound insights of possibilities. “What if people want to worship on their own time frame, in their own location, or in a remote location? Or I want to move from one city to another city, but I want to keep going to the same Church, the same people, with the same community, how come you don’t allow me to do that? And the Church’s opportunity is they’ve forgotten, the responsibility of a Church is not to get people in the pews. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCH IS TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. So, take advantage of changing cultures, and changing politics, and changing technologies, and find new ways. That’s existential flex.”
DIVINE OPPORTUNITY
How powerful is that? The purpose of the Church is to spread the Gospel! This unfamiliar environment may have snuck up on the nations of the world, but they definitely didn’t sneak up on God. This is a divine opportunity. This causes us to remember the final words that Jesus made known to His disciples before He ascended back to Heaven when He spoke in Matthew 28:19-20, “THEREFORE GO! and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
MEET MY BUILDING
How can we invite someone to “come” to Church if Believers“are” the Church? We cannot go to what we already are. Yet, it’s the fact that you are the church and the Christ in you draws you to Christ in them. It may look the same to others, but when it’s Christ drawing us together, He is the center of all things and Who we have in common. Many believers, when they want to lead someone to Christ, think about first inviting someone to a building they call “the Church” versus inviting someone themselves to know Jesus. Though they profess to know Christ, they lead the person to a building, never understanding that they are the “Building of God”, that they are the “Temple of God” and God’s Spirit dwells inside of them. They don’t know that they can lead that person, themselves, to Christ. Yet, when they invite them to the building, they expect the building to lead that person to Christ. They lay the burden on one pastor as fifty, a hundred, or one thousand of them look on and see if their pastor will do their job. We are all called to be witnesses for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the present mold we’ve adapted has lifted that reality from many in the church. When modeling family, gathering as the family of God, everyone knows it’s all our jobs to let everyone know of the Good News of Jesus Christ no matter where or how they meet or what we meet in or meet at. Not only do we know it, we all help each other in leading people to Christ and celebrate together when someone else is born again into the family of God.
TELEPHONE
Many people look at the present model of the Church and wonder why things are the way they are. Maybe you remember the game that many of us may have played together as school children, “telephone.” Gather a few children together and give a message to the first one. Instead of telling every child in the room, tell the first one to your right. Then that child whispers the message to the next child on their right so that the other children cannot hear, and the message is whispered to the next, one by one, until the last child gets the message. Everyone would be giggling with anticipation wondering what the last child heard. Laughter would erupt as the last child shared what they heard, and it was nothing like the first child shared. It is a funny game involving a dozen school children.
Now imagine one specific message that Jesus gave to His disciples 2,000 years ago! Haven’t we done the same thing? Instead of laughing and asking “what was the original word” as children do, we just continue on, besides we’ve got to pay this mortgage payment on this building, right? We can fix this by going back to God’s Word, scripture, instead of depending on what someone told someone, who told someone, who told someone over the past one hundred years. Jesus calls it, “returning to your First Love.”
FREE AT LAST
What God is about to do is so much larger than any building can handle, including mega buildings. For us to be a part of what He is going to do in these last days and with this last days harvest we have to understand that we, as believers, are the building of God. We are called to GO tell others, everyone, everywhere and Jesus will go with us as we do. We must begin to learn how to BE the Church outside of a building in our everyday life. “Free at last, free at last, thank God O’ Mighty, free at last.” Jesus came to set you free to follow Him and to spread the Gospel to those who have not yet heard of Him. This will take place in your neighborhoods, your homes, your workplace, your community, schools, states, nation, and world. What all these have in common, they are not in one building.
YOUR INVITATION
If this is new to you and you have not invited Jesus into your life, YOU CAN! You may have heard about Jesus, but you never knew that Jesus wants you to be a part of His family. You can read more stories about inviting Jesus into our lives and do the same at MeetMyFather.org! What a powerful moment!
Small is the New Big Phil Robertson, and Kirk Cameron speak on the Church Dynasty and Its Growing Pains into a Better Way
Watch Full Show! Listen! We find out that Kirk Cameron, of the television show, Growing Pains, and Phil Robertson, of the television show, Duck Dynasty and Unashamed, are family, though they are from two different areas of the nation, they both deeply love the Lord as members of God’s family. Cameron comes from the West Coast, and Los Angeles Hollywood from an upbringing of show business, and now is burning as bright as he can by doing all that he can to share the Gospel to the nations through media. In the same way, Robertson has also lived a life that has impacted many and you may have seen him and his family on the show ‘Duck Dynasty,’ running a family business of making duck calls for businesses worldwide. Robertson sees the place where our nation is and how the Gospel has been presented is not working. Some would think “show business” is what they have in common, but we find out it goes way deeper than that as they look deeply into the struggle in America with today’s church.
THE DILEMMA
Cameron and Robertson recently came together to talk about this important dilemma. As Robertson shares, there must be a way that the world hears and learns about the love of Jesus. “You have to show them through the way you behave. God’s people are the ones who are showing the world what Jesus is like. And if we don’t do it, Cameron, where else is it gonna come from? If God’s people are not gonna show the world around us Jesus, who’s going to do it?” This is such an important truth to recognize. This is very important and needs to be addressed. Robertson shares how the model of what this present generation has labeled as “church” is not an effective way to demonstrate the love of Jesus “And it’s hard to show them that two hours Sunday morning inside a church building. You’re not where they are. If whatever time the church doors are open, if I give you four hours out of 168 in a week. And you’re like, what are you doing the other 164 hours?” Robertson says.
“Where you work is where you can point them to Jesus. Where you work, where you play, that’s where you show them.” It’s like we’ve put God into a box, or as Robertson puts it, “We now have God confined to structures with tall steeples in front of them. [I guess you could call that a Church Dynasty?]They’re all in rows. And you really don’t even really know that person right down there.Phil gestures, as if he is looking down a long church pew at its other end. “Hey how ya doing?” “Pretty good.” One time a week. It’s not enough. Not enough.”
This is such a powerful moment to recognize as Cameron and Robertson are eating together, having relationship, talking about Jesus. This is the very way, as Robertson explains, this will be accomplished. “You’ve got to have family structures meeting together in their homes, where they eat. Like this… we’re interacting here… we have to do more of that.”You see, Phil took Kirk fishing, showed him how to clean the fish. They cooked it together and as they enjoyed the meal together, they had this meaningful conversation. That is what Phil was talking about, exactly what they did together. That is how the church should be the church; it’s family.
FAMILY IS A GOD IDEA
It is so important to recognize that as these men are talking about family, family is not a new idea. Family is not an American, or ‘Western Culture’ idea. Family is God’s idea. God is the one who has designed family. Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus these very words in Ephesians 4:11-16
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Could it be the world is so confused about family because the church is not walking out family? “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, BEING UNDERSTOOD FROM WHAT HAS BEEN MADE, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 God made the family and calls His church His family. Maybe the world can figure out family when the church has returned to what God says family is?
TRAINING ME UP
These are such amazing words! This is the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the words of Paul. Many people have gotten wrapped up into thinking their Pastor hasn’t done things right, when all the time those complaining are more than likely the very ones that the Pastor is trying to lead and speak truth to, because God has a call and a purpose for each of us and they are training us up to do the ministry. Many people think their pastor is supposed to serve them and do the work of ministry, but, as Paul writes, their job is to train us up to do the work. Instead of learning, growing, and acting on what we learn, many get frustrated with the pastors and run them off, or go find another, while never entering into ministry themselves. It’s an American church culture that needs to be shifted back to what God’s word clearly tells us and what Paul just wrote. Family doesn’t leave family, we grow, mature, get trained up and spread the family; expand it from generation to generation.
We cannot do this by ourselves, on our own. Just like children need someone to help teach them, guide them, help them tie their shoes, help them with their homework, so it is the same in the spiritual sense. We need someone to disciple us, to raise us up when we are first born again. What child is mature? None of them. That is why God created parents to raise children until they reach maturity. We all have a purpose and a calling to be raised up into. The five fold ministry, of which the pastor is one, was given to the church for that very purpose.
NEW BORNS NEED TO BE RAISED
It’s interesting that if you’ve ever visited the beautiful sight of the ocean and the continually crashing waves upon the shoreline, often time you will see children playing on the shore. If you look closely, you will notice that children will rarely ever go deeper than they’re able to have solid footing in the sand. If they do decide to wander into the depths of the waves, they can quickly be swept away. Is this what is happening in this present culture? Never before have we been exposed to so many prophetic words, teachings, messages, at our fingertips. If we’re not careful, we can be ‘blown here and there,’ like Paul is talking about. We must have those in our lives that guide us, that teach us, and direct us to solid ‘footing,’ solid teachings of Christ.
EVERY PART MATTERS
This is God’s design to be walked out and learned within the context of family. It is interesting how the Church is described with these words, ‘Body of Christ.’ Look at our natural bodies. We all have joints that connect one part of our body to the other. How important are your legs for walking? If our legs are important, how important are our joints? Imagine taking out someone’s knee, or their hip. How long would they walk? Not very long. Just like every joint is important to the functioning of the natural body, so every believer and church family being healthy and functioning in their role is vital to the health of the Body of Christ, the spiritual family. No one part of the body is more important than the other.
HEALTHY FAMILIES COME IN DIFFERENT SIZES
Jesus plainly said in Matthew 18:20 that, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Some have understood that a gathering must be a large gathering, and the larger the gathering the greater the impact. It’s actually quite the opposite effect. When you look at some of the largest Church gatherings in America, the local communities around them have the worst social statistics according to Kris Vallotton, except for four or five cities he found in his study. The larger the gathering, the less likely it is that people will recognize the individual responsibility to carry out what Jesus has called them to do. At the end of our lives, we will stand before the Lord and the lives we lived will testify about us, and we will have to give an account to Jesus for that life we lived.
HONOR JESUS’ BRIDE
Regardless of what “part” we may be in the Church, there are other parts of the body, that may be different, but that doesn’t make them any less important. It’s all the Church, each part has equal value. Truth be told, the Church is the “Bride of Christ.” Can you imagine how a man would respond if someone came up and instantly started criticizing his wife? It wouldn’t go well. How do you think the heart of Jesus is being affected if we criticize the Church? We can’t do that, yet there are some people that live their lives specializing in being fault finders of Jesus’ Bride. It’s not our job to discourage the Church, but to lift her up and encourage her. What better way than to relate and live in the fullness of God’s family expectations for His Church. It’s there each has the opportunity to be mutually encouraged.
IF IT DOESN’T WORK IN A CAVE, IT WON’T WORK IN A BUILDING
What is important to understand and begin to ponder, is that we must break the mindset that in order to walk out what Jesus expects of us as His Church, it requires a multi-million-dollar PA system, and building. Greg and Pat speak about their time in Israel and how much smaller things are there and how the places we read about in the Bible were so much smaller. For anybody that has traveled to Israel, you see that everything is small compared to what is described as “normal” in America. If what you do doesn’t work in a cave, or in a coffee shop, then it simply will not work. But, if it does work in a cave or in a coffee shop, or in a living room, it will work in a large building. You may ask why I say “cave.” Well, in some of the first centuries of the church, much was spent under great persecution, they had to secretly meet in caves. Guess what, IT WORKED! Because they lived and thrived in persecution, having to meet in caves, we, the church, are here today.
mEATing
It’s just so special when the Church comes together as family, breaking bread with one another, and spending time together. Instead of a “meeting” I like to call it “mEATing” because we always eat when we meet just like Jesus did. He did it so much, some people wrongly accused Him of being a glutton. Why? Because He ate with those who were His. It’s interesting how much we’re able to learn about people when we eat together. How special a moment is when someone invites you into their home, into their kitchen, and cooks for you. Presently, in many homes in America, people live individualistically. They live separately. They eat separately. They live isolated lives though they are in the same family and same house. If you want to strengthen your family, begin to eat together and pray together.
BLOOD FAMILY
This is how the Lord wants his Church to gather and walk out life together. When we say family, we’re not necessarily talking about natural family, but spiritual family. Jesus said very specifically to make the distinct difference between biological family and natural family when someone interrupted Jesus teaching as Matthew 12:47 states, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” Verses 48-50 reveal Jesus’ clear response, He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”We, who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord are true Blood Family, related through the Blood of Jesus.This doesn’t separate your natural biological family from you, it shows how they are presently not a part of the family of God, if they have not yet accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but also how they can join the family of God. How they can join the Blood Family!
DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
Even if you have a Christian family, if you weren’t trained up to be family, your understanding of “being family” can still be dysfunctional. To assume the revelation on how “to be a family” drops supernaturally out of the sky because you decide to have a family is ridiculous, yet most people live and decide to have family based on this assumption. Like in all things, we need to “learn” how to be family. It takes a humble man, a humble woman to admit that, but it’s a lot less humbling than that same man and woman going through divorce and their family being ripped apart. We need to see how family is supposed to be through the lens of God’s Word and leadership of His family. It is only by God’s hand and grace that family is held together and God’s Word, scripture, that tells us how God intended family to be.
Small is the New Big Phil Robertson, and Kirk Cameron speak on the Church Dynasty and Its Growing Pains into a Better Way
WHAT COLD CHICKEN, A PARKING LOT, AND PROMISE KEEPERS HAVE IN COMMON
Often times when we look back at old pictures, they bring back laughter and the stories behind each of them. Greg has a good laugh as he talks with Pat remembering their time together at a Promise Keepers conference. During that time together on one of the days, lunch was in a parking garage, on the hard cement in the New Orleans Superdome, now known as the Mercedes Superdome. They also share about the bad hotel room and a two storyMcDonalds in New Orleans on Canal Street with ONE EMPLOYEE with thousands of hungry men from the Promise Keepers event waiting in line. This one employee would ring up one man’s order, then go back to fix the breakfast. Then handit to him and take the next man’s order. It was a looooonnnnggg morning, not just a long line. In the picture is Greg Lancaster, Pat Hamilton, Bill Holzinger and Vince Cooper
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJluefg4t0[/embedyt]
THIS IS NOT A LOTTERY!
Greg and Pat sharehow they were doing all they could to raise money to sponsor more fatherless boys to be able to come to the Next Step Outback Father and Son Camping Trips. Not only do fatherless children not have fathers in their live, but they also often live in poverty because of their mother having only a single income to raise all her children. One year, as a way to help raise money to sponsor more fatherless boys to be able to come,they decided to have a raffle. They chose a large screen TV from their local Sam’s Club, who by the way were one of the sponsors for the Next Step Outback’s, and began their raffle. Convicted to make sure what we were doing wasn’t or didn’t look like a lottery, Greg told the leadership, repeatedly, “This is not a lottery!”Greg made sure that everyone on the team was aware, this is NOT a Lottery. As Greg was sharing about the Next Step Outback and the need to raise money for the fatherless, on a local television network, BLABTV, the first thing that came out of Greg’s mouth on LIVE TV was, “We’re having a lottery.” It was a hilarious moment after all this buildup of himsaying this is not a lottery! God is and was faithful each year, for almost ten years, assuring we had an awesome encounter with fathers, sons, fatherless sons, and mentors at these events. God would always show up with His glory presence and melt our hearts. You can see all those who attended standing in front of an 8,000 square foot tent that was called the “Tent of Meetings” where all came to meet our Father and our Father (God) came to meet us. Truly, it was a time of the hearts of the fathers turning to the hearts of the children and the hearts of the children turning to the hearts of the fathers. You can find out more information about this memorable event at NextStepOutback.org.
Small is the New BigPhil Robertson, and Kirk Cameron speak on the Church Dynasty and Its Growing Pains into a Better Way
We find out that Kirk Cameron, of the television show, Growing Pains, and Phil Robertson, of the television show, Duck Dynasty and Unashamed, are family, though they are from two different areas of the nation, they both deeply love the Lordas members of God’s family. Cameron comes from the West Coast, and Los Angeles Hollywood from an upbringing of show business, and now is burning as bright as he can by doing all that he can to share the Gospel to the nations through media. In the same way, Robertson has also lived a life that has impacted many and you may haveseen him and his family on the show ‘Duck Dynasty,’ running a family business of making duck calls for businesses worldwide. Robertson sees the place where our nation is and how theGospel has been presented is not working. Some would think “show business” is what they have in common, but we find out it goes way deeper than that as they look deeply into the struggle in America with today’s church.
THE DILEMMA
Cameron and Robertson recently came together to talk about this important dilemma. As Robertson shares, there must be a way that the world hears and learns about the love of Jesus. “You have to show them through the way you behave. God’s people are the ones who are showing the world what Jesus is like. And if we don’t do it, Cameron, where else is it gonna come from? If God’s people are not gonna show the world around us Jesus, who’s going to do it?” This is such an important truth to recognize. This is very important and needs to be addressed. Robertson shares how the model of what this present generation has labeled as “church” is not an effective way to demonstrate the love of Jesus “And it’s hard to show them that two hours Sunday morning inside a church building. You’re not where they are. If whatever time the church doors are open, if I give you four hours out of 168 in a week. And you’re like, what are you doing the other 164 hours?” Robertson says.
“Where you work is where you can point them to Jesus. Where you work, where you play, that’s where you show them.” It’s like we’ve put God into a box, or as Robertson puts it, “We now have God confined to structures with tall steeples in front of them. [I guess you could call that a Church Dynasty?]They’re all in rows. And you really don’t even really know that person right down there.Phil gestures, as if he is looking down a long church pew at its other end. “Hey how ya doing?” “Pretty good.” One time a week. It’s not enough. Not enough.”
This is such a powerful moment to recognize as Cameron and Robertsonare eating together, having relationship, talking about Jesus. This is the very way, as Robertson explains, this will be accomplished.“You’ve got to have family structures meeting together in their homes, where they eat. Like this… we’re interacting here… we have to do more of that.”You see, Phil took Kirk fishing, showed him how to clean the fish. They cooked it together and as they enjoyed the mealtogether, they had this meaningful conversation. That is what Phil was talking about, exactly what they did together. That is how the church should be the church; it’s family.
FAMILY IS A GOD IDEA
It is so important to recognize that as these men are talking about family, family is not a new idea. Family is not an American, or ‘Western Culture’ idea. Family is God’s idea. God is the one who has designed family. Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus these very words in Ephesians 4:11-16
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Could it be the world is so confused about family because the church is not walking out family? “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, BEING UNDERSTOOD FROM WHAT HAS BEEN MADE, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 God made the family and calls His church His family. Maybe the world can figure out family when the church has returned to what God says family is?
TRAINING ME UP
These are such amazing words! This is the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the words of Paul. Many people have gotten wrapped up into thinking their Pastor hasn’t done things right, when all the time those complaining are more than likely the very ones that the Pastor is trying to lead and speak truth to, because God has a call and a purpose for each of us and they are training us up to do the ministry. Many people think their pastor is supposed to serve them and do the work of ministry, but, as Paul writes, their job is to train us up to do the work. Instead of learning, growing, and acting on what we learn, many get frustrated with the pastors and run them off, or go find another, while never entering into ministry themselves. It’s an American church culture that needs to be shifted back to what God’s word clearly tells us and what Paul just wrote. Family doesn’t leave family, we grow, mature, get trained up and spread the family; expand it from generation to generation.
We cannot do this by ourselves, on our own. Just like children need someone to help teach them, guide them, help them tie their shoes, help them with their homework, so it is the same in the spiritual sense. We need someone to disciple us, to raise us up when we are first born again. What child is mature? None of them. That is why God created parents to raise children until they reach maturity. We all have a purpose and a calling to be raised up into. The five fold ministry, of which the pastor is one, was given to the church for that very purpose.
NEW BORNS NEED TO BE RAISED
It’s interesting that if you’ve ever visited the beautiful sight of the ocean and the continually crashing waves upon the shoreline, often time you will see children playing on the shore. If you look closely, you will notice that children will rarely ever go deeper than they’re able to have solid footing in the sand. If they do decide to wander into the depths of the waves, they can quickly be swept away. Is this what is happening in this present culture? Never before have we been exposed to so many prophetic words, teachings, messages, at our fingertips. If we’re not careful, we can be ‘blown here and there,’ like Paul is talking about. We must have those in our lives that guide us, that teach us, and direct us to solid ‘footing,’solid teachings of Christ.
EVERY PART MATTERS
This is God’s design to be walked out and learned within the context of family. It is interesting how the Church is described with these words, ‘Body of Christ.’ Look at our natural bodies. We all have joints that connect one part of our body to the other. How important are your legs for walking? If our legs are important, how important are our joints? Imagine taking out someone’s knee, or their hip. How long would they walk? Not very long. Just like every joint is important to the functioning of the natural body, so every believer and church family being healthy and functioning in their role is vital to the health of the Body of Christ, the spiritual family. No one part of the body is more important than the other.
HEALTHY FAMILIES COME IN DIFFERENT SIZES
Jesus plainly said in Matthew 18:20 that, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Some have understood that a gathering must be a large gathering, and the larger the gathering the greater the impact. It’s actually quite the opposite effect. When you look at some of the largest Church gatherings in America, the local communities around them have the worst social statisticsaccording to Kris Vallotton, except for four or five cities he found in his study. The larger the gathering, the less likely it is that people will recognize the individual responsibility to carry out what Jesus has called them to do. At the end of our lives, we will stand before the Lord and the lives we lived will testify about us, and we will have to give an account to Jesus for that life we lived.
HONOR JESUS’ BRIDE
Regardless of what “part” we may be in the Church, there are other parts of the body, that may be different, but that doesn’t make them any less important. It’s all the Church, each part has equal value. Truth be told, the Church is the “Bride of Christ.” Can you imagine how a man would respond if someone came up and instantly started criticizing his wife? It wouldn’t go well. How do you think the heart of Jesus is being affected if we criticize the Church? We can’t do that, yet there are some people that live their lives specializing in being fault finders of Jesus’ Bride. It’s not our job to discourage the Church, but to lift her up and encourage her. What better way than to relate and live in the fullness of God’s family expectations for His Church. It’s there each has the opportunity to be mutually encouraged.
IF IT DOESN’T WORK IN A CAVE, IT WON’T WORK IN A BUILDING
What is important to understand and begin to ponder, is that we must break the mindset that in order to walk out what Jesus expects of us as His Church, it requires a multi-million-dollar PA system, and building. Greg and Pat speak about their time in Israel and how much smaller things are there and how the places we read about in the Bible were so much smaller. For anybody that has traveled to Israel, you see that everything is small compared to what is described as “normal” in America. If what you do doesn’t work in a cave, or in a coffee shop, then it simply will not work. But, if it does work in a cave or in a coffee shop, or in a living room, it will work in a large building. You may ask why I say “cave.” Well, in some of the first centuries of the church, much was spent under great persecution, they had to secretly meet in caves. Guess what, IT WORKED! Because they lived and thrived in persecution, having to meet in caves, we, the church, are here today.
mEATing
It’s just so special when the Church comes together as family, breaking bread with one another, and spending time together. Instead of a “meeting” I like to call it “mEATing” because we always eat when we meet just like Jesus did. He did it so much, some people wrongly accused Him of being a glutton. Why? Because He ate with those who were His. It’s interesting how much we’re able to learn about people when we eat together. How special a moment is when someone invites you into their home, into their kitchen, and cooks for you. Presently, in many homes in America, people live individualistically. They live separately. They eat separately. They live isolated lives though they are in the same family and same house. If you want to strengthen your family, begin to eat together and pray together.
BLOOD FAMILY
This is how the Lord wants his Church to gather and walk out life together. When we say family, we’re not necessarily talking about natural family, but spiritual family. Jesus said very specifically to make the distinct difference between biological family and natural family when someone interrupted Jesus teaching as Matthew 12:47 states, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” Verses 48-50 reveal Jesus’ clear response, He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”We, who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord are true Blood Family, related through the Blood of Jesus.This doesn’t separate your natural biological family from you, it shows how they are presently not a part of the family of God, if they have not yet accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but also how they can join the family of God. How they can join the Blood Family!
DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
Even if you have a Christian family, if you weren’t trained up to be family, your understanding of “being family” can still be dysfunctional. To assume the revelation on how “to be a family” drops supernaturally out of the sky because you decide to have a family is ridiculous, yet most people live and decide to have family based on this assumption. Like in all things, we need to “learn” how to be family. It takes a humble man, a humble woman to admit that, but it’s a lot less humbling than that same man and woman going through divorce and their family being ripped apart. We need to see how family is supposed to be through the lens of God’s Word and leadership of His family. It is only by God’s hand and grace that family is held together and God’s Word, scripture, that tells us how God intended family to be.
THE WHY? FOR THE CHURCH, IS CHALLENGED BY SIMON SINEK 53:54 – End
Simon Sinek, who rose to fame by challenging us to find out our “Why” in our lives, businesses, corporations, and ministries flips it all on its head, in a good way, when he is asked how the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the working from home and the smaller gatherings taking place is having an impact on the church. He calls this an opportunity saying “the purpose of the church is to SPREAD THE GOSPEL!“
The world that we are presently in is a night and day difference compared to where things were two years ago. Many throughout the world were taken by surprise when they found themselves on lockdown, having to live life now solely from their homes. Where many were “going to work” now they are “zooming” into work. One pastor Carey Nieuwhof, recently sat down with Simon Sinek to talk about the changing culture of today and how the Church can respond.
BREAKING THE MOLD
Sinek begins to share about the traditional model of medicine in society.So, look at a medical office. Right? Older generation, you have “your doctor.” That’s my doctor. My doctor is the best doctor. I go to “my doctor.” No matter what it is, if it’s the common cold or something severe, I go to “my doctor.” Right, and I go to this horrible waiting room. Very few people feel recognized or valued in that business model or operational structure of how doctors interact with their patients in that current design. But then, this generation has begun to approach how they view a doctor differently.
Sinek continues,“And then there’s a young generation that says, “I don’t care. For basic medicine? If somebody’s got the right degree, then they probably know how to give me an annual medical check or treat my cold. Right? I don’t need a specialist.” What would that even look like?
Sinek points to a new breakthrough company called ‘OneMedical.’ And so, you have an organization like OneMedical that shows up, where you walk in, and it feels like you’re at Pottery Barn. And it’s beautiful and the doctor doesn’t wear a lab coat; she comes up and says, “Hi. I’m Stacey.” Instead of you know, “I’m doctor whatever.” Right? And the customer service is incredible. And you can call, and you can talk to the doctor, or talk to them virtually, and they reply to your emails within 24 hours. It’s amazing! It’s amazing! Right!?”Simon says.
THINK OUTSIDE “THE BOX”, OR SHOULD WE SAY, THINK OUTSIDE “THE BUILDING”
What we’re now finding out is that how things were always done is not necessarily how things need to be carried out moving forward. This is where Sinek then begins to connect this same application as to how the Church can change their model of thinking in today’s culture. He goes on to say, “And so, I think the Church can learn from that. Which is, the opportunity to spread the Gospel. Nobody said that it has to be done one way. Nobody said it has to be done in one location, at one time, at one, you know, that suits you. And the people who like to schedule their entire day about going to this one location at this one time. Who said? Where is that written that it has to be done thatway?”
IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS
Carey Nieuwhof responds, “Well in the early Church, it wasn’t. It’s just been that way for a few centuries.” Sinek continues, “There you go. You see, we got used to it, and now we think it’s the way it’s always been.We must begin to think differently. Yes, there may be people that don’t want change and like things the way they are. That is fine for them. What about those who don’t want the old manner of thinking? How can we change the present model of thinking to adapt to our changing world? Sinek begins to share some profound insights of possibilities. “What if people want to worship on their own time frame, in their own location, or in a remote location? Or I want to move from one city to another city, but I want to keep going to the same Church, the same people, with the same community, how come you don’t allow me to do that? And the Church’s opportunity is they’ve forgotten, the responsibility of a Church is not to get people in the pews. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCH IS TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. So, take advantage of changing cultures, and changing politics, and changing technologies, and find new ways. That’s existential flex.”
DIVINE OPPORTUNITY
How powerful is that? The purpose of the Church is to spread the Gospel! This unfamiliar environment may have snuck up on the nations of the world, but they definitely didn’t sneak up on God. This is a divine opportunity. This causes us to remember the final words that Jesus made known to His disciples before He ascended back to Heaven when He spoke in Matthew 28:19-20, “THEREFORE GO!and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
MEET MY BUILDING
How can we invite someone to “come” to Church if Believers“are” the Church? We cannot go to what we already are. Yet, it’s the fact that you are the church and the Christ in you draws you to Christ in them. It may look the same to others, but when it’s Christ drawing us together, He is the center of all things and Who we have in common. Many believers, when they want to lead someone to Christ, think about first inviting someone to a building they call “the Church” versus inviting someone themselves to know Jesus. Though they profess to know Christ, they lead the person to a building, never understanding that they are the “Building of God”, that they are the “Temple of God” and God’s Spirit dwells inside of them. They don’t know that they can lead that person, themselves, to Christ. Yet, when they invite them to the building, they expect the building to lead that person to Christ. They lay the burden on one pastor as fifty, a hundred, or one thousand of them look on and see if their pastor will do their job. We are all called to be witnesses for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the present mold we’ve adapted has lifted that reality from many in the church. When modeling family, gathering as the family of God, everyone knows it’s all our jobs to let everyone know of the Good News of Jesus Christ no matter where or how they meet or what we meet in or meet at. Not only do we know it, we all help each other in leading people to Christ and celebrate together when someone else is born again into the family of God.
TELEPHONE
Many people look at the present model of the Church and wonder why things are the way they are. Maybe you remember the game that many of us may have played together as school children, “telephone.” Gather a few children together and give a message to the first one. Instead of telling every child in the room, tell the first oneto your right. Then that child whispers the message to the next child on their right so that the other children cannot hear, and the message is whispered to the next, one by one, until the last child gets the message. Everyone would be giggling with anticipation wondering what the last child heard. Laughter would erupt as the last child shared what they heard, and it was nothing like the first child shared. It is a funny game involving a dozen school children.
Now imagine one specific message that Jesus gave to His disciples 2,000 years ago! Haven’t we done the same thing? Instead of laughing and asking “what was the original word” as children do, we just continue on, besides we’ve got to pay this mortgage payment on this building, right? We can fix this by going back to God’s Word, scripture, instead of depending on what someone told someone, who told someone, who told someone over the past one hundred years. Jesus calls it, “returning to your First Love.”
FREE AT LAST
What God is about to do is so much larger than any building can handle, including mega buildings. For us to be a part of what He is going to do in these last days and with this last days harvest we have to understand that we, as believers, are the building of God. We are called to GO tell others, everyone, everywhere and Jesus will go with us as we do. We must begin to learn how to BE the Church outside of a building in our everyday life. “Free at last, free at last, thank God O’ Mighty, free at last.” Jesus came to set you free to follow Him and to spread the Gospel to those who have not yet heard of Him. This will take place in your neighborhoods, your homes, your workplace, your community, schools, states, nation, and world. What all these have in common, they are not in one building.
YOUR INVITATION
If this is new to you and you have not invited Jesus into your life, YOU CAN! You may have heard about Jesus, but you never knew that Jesus wants you to be a part of His family. You can read more storiesabout inviting Jesus into our lives and do the same at MeetMyFather.org! What a powerful moment!
With all the things happening and shaking around the world, it is so important to have the strength and importance of the family unit in our homes. So many people are living their lives isolated from those around them and not having relationship in their lives. When we have the close-knit relationships that is found in healthy family, we find that it is much easier to walk it out and be victorious in times of crisis and difficulty.
When we choose not to have family, to have fathers in our lives, we find ourselves having to reach out to law enforcement, or government entities to step into roles that the family is supposed to be. Can the church rise up and support those who decide to walk out family. Truth of the matter is that, communities are made of many different small groups of people, families, who decided to have relationships together. This is the very model that Jesus walked out with His disciples: relationship. The Bible fits our lives when we read it from the context of family. The question is, is what we call the church in America, the Church that Jesus walked out and demonstrated in His life? When you look at the words of John Fenn, you may be shocked to realize the reality. “Christianity started as a relationship in Israel when God came to man. It went to Greece to become a Philosophy; to Rome to become a Religion; to Europe to become a tradition and part of the culture; and then to America to become an Enterprise”. What is so wild to ponder is to ask has the Church become a corporation while corporations are focusing on relationships and family?
Today, when someone says the word ‘church’, one may consider the large structure that has separated the ministry of women, the ministry of men, and the ministry of children, all in separate areas of the structure. While all of this is happening, no one is seeing each other in context of family relationship. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a stark contrast to what the present demonstration of church seems. Jesus focused His life on pouring into His twelve disciples. Twelve. There is a mindset that says value is size, and if all you focused on was three, you’re not important or valuable. Imagine the impact if we have the focus that Jesus has, focus on relationship, not the “big”. Remember too, family is not our idea, family is God’s idea.
Years ago, Promise Keepers was an organization that reached tens of thousands of men with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lead their lives, lead their homes, and impact their environments. What resulted with tens of thousands of men filling the Superdome in New Orleans, LA, and the Stand in the Gap huge million man gathering in the Washington D.C. Mall, started with small groups of men. Without the small relationships, there would never have been the large impact years later. One man shares the powerful testimony of how the Lord touched his heart so mightily upon seeing the reality of thousands of men worshipping the Lord. In that instant the Lord turned this man towards his son, and he knew instantly he needed to be more intentional in his son’s life. That is the very essence of Malachi 4:5-6,“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” This is what God does. God cares about relationship! Imagine the reality of being able to fill the National Mall because of a whole bunch of healthy small families.
This is the very essence of what Margaret Heffernan talked about in a TED Talk during a women’s conference of business leaders. She talks about a study of chickens that was conducted with two groups of chickens over six generations. One group was monitored, and the highest producing chicken, whoever produced the most eggs, was removed from that group and labeled as the “Super Chicken”. The “Super Chickens” were put into their own group and productivity was continually monitored. It’s really easy to study productivity with chickens. All you have to do is count the eggs. After six generations, the original group was still interacting and producing as they normally were. The interesting feedback was the outcome of the group of six Super Chickens. There were only three Super Chickens remaining as the others had been pecked to death.
Heffernan talks about how relationships between each other is the “Social Capital” that helps us in times of difficulty and stress. As Heffernan explains, it is this ‘Social Capital’ that benefits relationships: “Now, this isn’t about chumminess, and it’s no charter for slackers, because people who work this way tend to be kind of scratchy, impatient, absolutely determined to think for themselves because that’s what their contribution is. Conflict is frequent because candor is safe, and that’s how good ideas turn into great ideas. Because no idea is born fully formed. It emerges a little bit as a child is born, kind of messy and confused, but full of possibilities. And, its only through the generous contribution of faith and challenge that they achieve their potential, and that is what social capital supports.” When you have family, you can go through difficult times. You care about people when they care about you. You want their feedback. You can’t have authentic relationships with strangers.
Look at the reality of each of our bodies. If somebody is sick, what does the doctor look at? Our cells in our body? Its amazing that when we have a sickness, like the common cold or the flu, its because our cells have become sick and the doctor gives us medicine to strengthen our cells. The only reason our bodies are able to be healthy is because of the cells being healthy. If we tell ourselves that our cells don’t matter, it’s only a matter of time that the body becomes sick. It’s interesting to realize that of all the words that the New Testament uses to describe the Church, is the “Body of Christ”. How powerful is that!
So many people don’t want family because family takes time. In order to have family, we must deny ourselves. We must give up ourselves, compromise and slow down. When we want to share the Love of God, we have to make that decision on purpose, with intentionality. When you are with another believer, living life together, growing together, crying together, God really moves in that. In those small relationships, God is able to do things that some people would think to be so impossible. In one scenario, two family sized churches came together to meet the needs of the inner-city by starting a school. This can only happen when there is unity. If you are walking with intentionality towards Jesus, you want to have relationships with other people that love Jesus and are walking with Jesus. It’s hard to have relationships if you don’t love people.
This is why Jesus said plainly in Mark 3:24-25 “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” This is the words of Jesus. Unity and agreement is so important, without it destruction is inevitable. A Church is not going to survive without agreement. The agreement that we are walking in is not with each other, but with Jesus Himself. When you get down to a family, you must get serious. It is in these relationships within the context of family that we see each other’s frailties and imperfections. Paul calls this our “clay” in his words in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 , “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” This is normal. Jesus laid down His life, not for our clay, but for our souls. Since Christ cares about people’s souls, why don’t we?
It is the love of Christ in our lives that empowers us to love those around us. It is this very love that causes and compels us to love one another. In her TED Talk, Heffernan calls this ‘Social Capital’. “Now, we’re not really used to talking about this, talking about talent, about creativity in this way. We’re used to talking about stars. So, I started to wonder, if we start working this way, does that mean no more stars? So I went in and I sat in on the auditions of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and what I saw there really surprised me, because the teachers weren’t looking for individual pyrotechnics. They were looking for what happened between the students, because that’s where the drama is.” This caused Heffernan to go to other industries to find out if this same model was also being experienced. “And, when I talk to producers of hit albums, they say, “oh sure, we have lots of superstars in music. Its just, they don’t last very long. It’s the outstanding collaborators who enjoy the long careers because bringing out the best in others is how they found the best in themselves.” This is where we define success, when we focus on helping others succeed. This is what Jesus looks for. He sees all the intricate ways that we stop to help those around us. Hebrews 6:10 reveals, “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Your success is our success. Our success is your success. Our success together is Kingdom success. As the saying goes, in a rising tide all boats rise. If you want to be a superstar in the Kingdom of God, lay your life down for others. It’s hard to focus on others when you are only living for yourself. Did you know that the Bible talks about “one another” 59 times in the New Testament! That is powerful! Jesus said these words plainly in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
In today’s culture, value is size and numbers. But, is that really what Jesus was looking for? Or was Jesus focused on relationships? When we understand how powerful individual relationships are, Kris Vallotton, with Bethel Redding, highlights the opposite effect of our labors if all we focus on is the size of the numbers. “The cities that had the greatest Christian church going population in America, have the worst social statistics, with the exception of five cities.” Did you get that? In other words, the larger the gathering, the smaller the impact on the surrounding area of that gathering. Simply put, Vallotton says it this way, “gathering people and transforming cities are not synonymous. Putting butts in seats does not transform cities”. Vallotton emphasizes his point recalling a horrific tragedy when a woman was murdered in her neighborhood in broad daylight while nearly three dozen witnesses saw what happened. They were watching her murdered, but not one of them did anything to help her, not even call for law enforcement for help. “The more people that view a crime, the less likely they are to actually do something about it. Crowds become murky waters of inaction, and everyone is waiting for someone else to do something.” It’s no different in a large Super C. (Church), most watch what happens thinking and to be frank, hoping someone else will do it.
Greg recalls a time when his pastor, who pastored a 1,200 member church would call for help on a Sunday for someone to raise their hand to help with something that was needed at the church. The church had put up this mountainous Christmas Tree at the local mall to impact the community with with songs of Christ’s birth. The pastor asked for volunteers and it was like pulling teeth. The pastor would call a prayer meeting and 2-3 men would show up. It proved true what Vallotton shared. Think about it, if you are sitting in your house with a family of five and someone asked for help, at least someone would feel it’s the right thing to do! Healthy families always do.
This isn’t the life that Jesus called us to live, just part of a crowd. Jesus calls us to be an actual doer of the Word, not just a hearer. We are called to transform our communities. This is why God led us to create the Vine Seminar to learn “how to BE THE CHURCH” instead of just going to church, to help others learn how to walk out family in Christ. Family isn’t easy, but it is worth it. If you want to be connected to the family of God through His Church, and knowing your call is being related and connected in family, find out more at VineSeminars.org.
Super Chickens and the American Church Have We Turned the Gospel into an Enterprise?
When you hear someone talking about “Church” what comes to mind? Do you immediately think about how it was during the days that Jesus walked the Earth with His disciples; or do you think about what “Church” looks like in the present-day culture? As John Fenn puts it, the Gospel has changed dramatically since it was birthed in Israel compared to what we see today. Christianity started as a relationship in Israel when God came to man. It went to Greece to become a Philosophy; to Rome to become a Religion; to Europe to become a tradition and part of the culture; and then to America to become an Enterprise.” Think about that! Jesus came to spend time with people, introducing God as the Father. As it leaves Israel it goes through all these changes to become what we see today in America. Of all the entities, Corporations are conducting studies to find out that in order to maximize results and productivity, you must first focus on relationships. Shouldn’t the Church, the Body of Christ, be the leaders in this area?
As we continue to talk about the “Super Chicken Study,” we’re looking at a recent study of the productivity of chickens. You might ask yourself, ‘why chickens?.’ When trying to study productivity, it’s easy to monitor output with chickens by simply counting the number of eggs at the end of the day. After monitoring several chickens over a period of six generations, the scientists pulled out the most productive chickens in each generation and labeled that chicken the “Super Chicken.” There were two separate groups of chickens, the original group, or average producing chickens, and the second group which was made up of ONLY “Super Chickens.” At the end of the 6 generations, there were only 3 Super Chickens. Three of them had been pecked to death, by the OTHER “Super Chickens.” Talk about a rough working environment. Has the Church taken on the same corporate-like standards of the ‘Super Chicken’ mindset and focused on production and output? When Jesus would leave the 99 sheep to find the one lost sheep, the Super Chicken would quickly cast aside the one, in order to focus on the 99.
When Margaret Heffernan came across this study, she immediately saw the connection. As a leader in the business industry, she realized the reality that we cannot focus solely on productivity and results at the cost of the very people that we are working alongside and with. This is what corporations and businesses are realizing! In her Ted Talk at a women’s conference, Margaret Heffernan, calls this ‘Social Capital.’ She describes it this way, “the reliance and dependency that builds trust.” The terms comes from sociologists who were studying communities that proved particularly resilient in times of stress. Heffernan continues to share how ‘Social Capital’ helps corporations; “Social capital is what gives companies momentum, and social capital is what makes companies robust.” Robust means that we can endure trials and difficulties. Live life long enough and we realize difficulties is only a matter of time.
If we don’t have connectivity with the people to our left and right, we’re not going to make it through the difficult seasons of shaking. Isn’t that what Paul wrote about to the Church in Corinth? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, he states, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” How powerful is that? Love is the Social Capital between people. If we don’t have ‘Social Capital,’ Love, nothing will stand. Paul understood that because he also underscored the reality of what things look like when there is no love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Corporations are hearing about the Super Chicken talk from Margaret Hefferan and running with it. Corporations are borrowing from how the Lord created us to live and interact with each other. When Jesus Christ is the center of what we do, and how we interact, it is powerful.
Look at construction companies. Every time a foundation is built for a large commercial building, there must be rebar placed within the foundation, to help SUPPORT the foundation that gives it strength. Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church; He is the only Rock which the church can stand upon in the storms of life. Times of shaking are going to come, for a solid foundation to be built. It takes time to build relationships with those around us. Those relationship are the “rebar” that help us in times of stress. Times of shaking are coming for all of us. If we truly are going to obey Jesus’s words in the Great Commission, we need other people in our lives to walk it out together. Jesus never intended for us to live life without relationship.
Jesus would stop on His journey for the sake of love. He would stop for “the one.” We must redefine what success is, what success looks like., What comes to mind is Team Hoyt. A father and son duo that finished a triathlon, together. When most people compete the Ironman Triathlon, as an individual race, swimming 2.4 miles then biking 112 miles only to then finish the last part of the race with a full 26.2 marathon run, Team Hoyt did it together. What makes this story even more special is that Rick was born with a condition that makes him unable to walk or talk on his own. That did not stop them. Dick pulled his son Rick during the swim, rode a two-man bike, and pushed him the entire run. When all the cameras are focusing on the elite top performing athletes finishing this race in a few hours, a father and son team, Dick and Rick, crossed the finish line after the sun had set when most of the crowds had gone home. This is what Jesus is calling us to do every day of our lives, to slow down for the one next to us. It may take us three or four times as long to complete something, but this is success in the eyes of the Kingdom. This is the very essence of what the Super Chicken study is finding.
Think about it. Of all the words that Jesus could have used to describe God, He used the word “Father.” We are all called to be a part of the Family of God, as brothers and sisters in the Lord. That is a powerful realization! Family is not an American idea, or its concept. It was created BY GOD! When did we become ‘Super Chickens’? Much of the way we “do church” today could be described as being focused solely on “the production.” If so, that causes people to feel they have no personal value. Jesus Christ says you have value!
So now that we understand what ‘Social Capital’ is, described by Margaret Heffernan, what does this look like applied to our lives? Hefferan continues in her talk by using these words, “It means that time is everything, because social capital compounds with time. So, teams that work together longer get better because it takes time to develop the trust you need for real candor and openness. And time, is what builds value.” There are no microwave relationships. Family takes time. It takes time to build relationships. This is also the very essence of what Dr. John Van Epp writes about in his book, How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk. Relationships take time. Good relationships take time. Dr. Epp uses an equation to sum up this truth: I= T+T+T. In other words, “Intimacy = Talking + Togetherness + Time. Talking with someone is not just waiting for the other person to stop talking, so you can talk, but equal self-disclosure. Part of knowing someone is learning new things about them and sharing things about yourself. Togetherness is shared experiences in an array of different circumstances and environment. Time is just that, over a PROLONGED period of time. You can’t rush intimacy, relationships. Life is more productive and fulfilling when you slow down to build relationships with others. It’s impossible to truly trust someone that you don’t know anything about.
If it takes time to build healthy relationships, to build a healthy family, it’s the same if we want to build a healthy church family. It takes time. Once we get together, gather with other believers who love God, and love other people, and want to follow God, we can begin to get to know each other. We can rely on each other more and more and be committed to one another. Empathy can happen in a time like that. Hearing one another is healing one another. Many people are paralyzed because they are trying to do the ‘Super Chicken’ thing. Many people in the church don’t feel successful because they are not reaching 500, or 1,000, or 50,000. If you are speaking to one person, reaching that one person, that means THE WORLD to that one person.
When a particular woman was in desperate need of a breakthrough in her life, God moved mightily in the specific area that she needed it. She needed a car, a job, and that job needed to be specific hours so that she could take care of her son. Not only did God bless her with a car, but it was a sports car that was PAID OFF, He gave a job with the very hours that she needed, and ALL OF THIS happened on her BIRTHDAY! This is the God that we serve! How awesome is that!
When we continue to look at how much an environment changes when we focus on relationships, or as Margaret Heffernan puts it, ‘Social Capital,’ we begin to see the value that we may have been missing for a long time. Heffernan continues to talk about how this ‘Social Capital’ focus transformed a company. “When Alex Pentlen suggested to one company that they synchronize coffee breaks, so that people would have time to talk to each other, profits went up $15 Million and employee satisfaction went up 10%. Not a bad return on social capital, which compounds even as you spend it.” Imagine if you had the time to talk to the person who you’ve been sitting next to on the pew for ten years, and asking them about their life, and being asked about your life? This is about you being fruitful for Jesus.
Think about how many people think that relationships get in the way of their production? If we focus entirely on production, the task at hand, we will lose sight of the people around us, our relationships. When the truth is, if we forget the people around us and “focus on production,” production or fruitfulness will be what suffers along with the relationships. The cost is production or fruitfulness. We cannot be overly focused on one at the cost of losing the other. This is the very essence of what Dr. Henry Cloud writes about in a portion of his book, Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Your Reality. Every boat has a wake. You can easily look at a wake and the wake will tell you a lot about the boat. Is it an aircraft carrier moving steadily through the water or is it a 20-foot ski boat turning back and forth through the water?
The truth of the matter is this: we all have wakes and our wakes don’t lie. Every wake has two sides, one side of the wake is our tasks, and the other side of our wake is our relationships. Some people are production masters, ‘Super Chickens.’ Others are great at nurturing relationships, but they may not get much done. Just because you got a lot done, in reality it may not be worth it when you steamrolled an entire department just to complete a project. God has called us to focus on relationships in the context of our lives. God is not focused on our timelines, as He is focused on His timeline. Those ‘Jesus encounters,’ opportunities to love people like Jesus did, often happen at our most rushed, task-focused, moments in our lives.
It is important to realize that God sees YOU in your everyday life. You are not lost in the crowd. God cares about you and wants to know you personally, intimately. Often times, we don’t know that. We think that God is so big and indescribable, how could GOD see me or even care about what is going on in my life? That IS the Gospel. God WANTS to know YOU. This is the same reality that Granger Smith had when he suddenly realized that Jesus loves HIM and wanted a relationship with HIM. When listening to a preacher talk about the words of Jesus, an instantaneous change happened in Granger’s life. As he shares, “something about that, right then, I can’t explain totally what happened, but my eyes were opened. It’s like amazing grace, how ‘once I was blind but now I see.’ The floodgates opened for me.” Granger was suddenly overcome with wanting to know more about God. “Father save me. I want to seek you. I want to follow you. I want to learn you. I want to pursue you. I want to crave you. I want to desire you. Make me hunger for you. Make me thirst for you. Make me ache for you. Take my life. Do what you please. I’m your servant. I’m your sheep. Father, I’m your child. I’m yours.” Granger continues to talk about the reality of that moment. “Now later I learned what happened, I was reborn.” Today is your day. You can call out to Jesus Christ just like Granger Smith did and invite him into your life, and be born again in Christ. Make a decision for God today!
Father’s Day 1995 The Lord Himself did a mighty work when He poured out His presence in Pensacola Florida during the Brownsville Revival that resulted in the nations being reached with mighty testimonies of His Glory and many coming to Salvation through Jesus Christ. Steve Hill was the Evangelist who labored alongside Pastor John Kilpatrick night after night as thousands of souls repented for their sins and wept in the sweet presence of Holy Spirit. Jeri, Steve’s wife was also there night after night responding to the call to grow ever closer to the Lord.
From the moment that Steve and Jeri gave their lives to the Lord, they gave everything they had to give their Yes to Jesus, up until it was Steve’s last day on this Earth. For decades, Steve Hill was an evangelist who gave every breath to reaching the lost, he even preached at his own funeral. Jeri recalled how quickly Steve’s funeral was setup, “he passed on a Sunday and everything was planned by that Friday and it was done very, very quickly”. Jeri reminded Steve that there would be lost people at this funeral, “if you don’t have something prepared at your funeral, I’ll pick something from one of your messages”. And that is just what they did. When people were gathered together, remembering the life of someone who gave it all for Jesus, Steve was sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and the reality that eternity waits us all. Steve Hill quotes Jim Elliot who said, “when it comes time to die, make sure that’s all you have to do”.