God's Travel Agent

On Monday, LaRissa and I, along with our friends Mark and Bridgette, had an exciting meeting that represents a significant next step toward the vision of The Crossroads. We met with God's Travel Agent, Tiffany Smith. Okay, that's not really her title. Officially, she is "Missions Mobilization Associate" for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Her responsibilities encompass learning about missions efforts around the world, identifying needs, connecting with missionaries, and mobilizing mission teams from within the state of Texas to go all over the world to carry out the Great Commission. Tiffany is also passionate about what she does, and she has an infectious joy that spills over to others. Our wonderful, mission-minded, team of believers at The Crossroads have fallen in love with Tiffany and affectionately gave her the nickname "God's Travel Agent" because that really is what she does.

One of the central elements of the vision of The Crossroads is a passion for taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, for significantly impacting the world for the kingdom, and for seeing the fulfilment of the Great Commission in our lifetime. One of the pieces of that is identifying an unreached or unengaged people group (UPG or UEG) and adopting them as our own as a church. Now, for definitions. An unreached people group is a people group (group of people who share the same culture and same language) in which less than 2% of the population is Christian. An unengaged people group is a people group in which there are no Christians. For most of these people groups, they do not have the bible in their language and do not have a sustainable Christian movement. To make it easier to understand, if you live in one of these people groups, there is a great likelihood that you will be born, live your life, and die without ever even hearing the name of Jesus Christ. The task of fulfilling the Great Commission is really about penetrating these groups with the gospel.

So, the missions strategy for The Crossroads involves more than just taking sporadic mission trips to different parts of the world and feeling good about doing something. We want to be much more strategic. Our vision is to identify and adopt an unreached people group that we will do everything we can to reach that people group with the gospel and be a part of creating a sustainable church planting movement within that people group.

Our meeting with Tiffany was the first step in that process. We met with Tiffany to learn about how we can discover UPGs and UEGs, learn more about them, and begin the process of identifying which people group we will adopt as our own. We also talked to her about what adopting a people group would actually mean in terms of what we do, how to connect with a missionary who is trying to reach a UPG or UEG, and how we financially support people who are willing to go on mission.

This is just the beginning of the process, but it is an exciting start. We are so thankful for a great resource like Tiffany and for a church with a passion for reaching the world for Christ. We are truly blessed as a church because we are already light years ahead of where most churches are at this point.

Why Social Media Matters

If you are still wondering about the importance and value of social media, here's a rundown of my day and how my networks allowed some really cool opportunities.

I started the day having breakfast with a Facebook, pastor friend. We talked about different ways of connecting with people in our congregations. By the time breakfast was over, I had convinced him that he really needed to give Twitter a try. I hope to be able to connect with him there soon.

Next, I spent some time on Facebook connecting with some old friends from high school and college. One of them contacted me within an hour of my connecting with him to share some pretty heavy stuff. I was able to offer some encouragement and prayer and share some of the struggles from my own life. I really hope I am able to continue to redevelop this friendship with a really cool guy who has faced some tough times.

Then, I sent out a couple of tweets based on Sunday's message that were picked up by a couple of other guys in the Twittersphere and passed along to their network. Pastors, if you aren't using social networking for getting one more touch with people during the week and to reinforce what you taught on Sunday, you are missing out. It's neat to see the message you poured your heart and soul into the week before having more of an impact than just a few minutes on Sunday morning.

I also added a new app for Facebook called Seesmic that sends feed from your friends' Facebook status updates to your desktop. Very cool and makes staying connected with people faster and easier.

After lunch, I had to go to Jo-Ann's Fabrics to pick up some Spandex to use as a screen for our projector in worship. I tweeted about this, which sparked an ongoing conversation between friends and church members (one of them hundreds of miles away) on both Twitter and Facebook, very cool.

Then, a DJ from a local classic rock station contacted me via Twitter to ask if he could get an invitation to come visit our church sometime. That is so cool that it almost made me burst, that a guy out of the blue just contacts me via Twitter because he has been following me and heard about our church and wants to know if he can come. If you don't see the value of social networking, THERE IT IS! Don't know if this guy knows Christ, but he may get to know him BECAUSE OF TWITTER, PEOPLE! Oh, yeah, and I told the guy we'd love for him to come check us out.

Finally, on Facebook I got reconnected with one of my cousins who I haven't seen in a couple of years.

Totally awesome day on social networking.

The Kings and I

Last night I was pleasantly surprised by NBC's new series Kings. I had heard about the show earlier in the week, and was anxious to see it, although I did not expect much from it.

If you didn't catch it (I really encourage you to go check it out at NBC.com), here's a synopsis. The show is a modern retelling of the biblical stories of Saul and David. The first episode begins with King Silas (Saul) of the Kingdom of Gilboa celebrating the inauguration of the newly rebuilt capital city of Shiloh. The setting looks very much like a shiny new version of a 21st Century American City.

Silas has been waiting for Reverend Samuels (the prophet Samuel), his spiritual advisor, to appear to pray an invocation over the ceremony. Reverend Samuels does not appear, so Silas begins the ceremony without him. He recounts to the gathered multitude how he, a former soldier, had been chosen by God to be the king of the newly formed kingdom. The sign of God's choice of him as king was a flock of butterflies that flew around him and settled on his head like a crown. The crowd goes wild.

In the meantime, Rev. Samuels has been delayed because he is having car trouble. He stops at a rural farm house belonging to a woman named Jesse Shepherd. She lives with her seven sons. Her husband had died fighting in the war of unification (the war in which Silas rose to power). Her youngest son David helps repair the Rev. Samuels's car. Samuels wipes a smudge from David's forehead (anointing?) and gives him his broken gold watch. He calls David the boy who can fix anything.

Two years later, the kingdom is engaged in a war with the kingdom of Gath along the northern border. David and his brothers are soldiers in the army. The Gittites(?) have a technological and firepower advantage with massive tanks known as (you guessed it) Goliaths. Two Gilboans are being held hostage, and David risks life and limb to cross enemy lines and rescue the hostages. In the process, he stands up against and miraculously destroys a Goliath tank. One of the hostages rescued by David happens to be Prince Jack (Jonathan), son of King Silas. Okay, so you kind of get the picture. Silas rewards David with a post in his administration and he rises to prominence.

Now, to my evaluation. The first thing I was delighted and surprised to see was the faithfulness to the main points of the biblical story line. There are a few artistic liberties, and many of these simply relate to converting a three thousand year old story into a 21st century setting. The role of God in the story is not overlooked. In fact, it is even highlighted. Silas clearly believes God has placed him in the position as king, although he certainly takes liberty with that election (Wow, don't we all do that!). Reverend Samuels clearly represents the voice of God. In a line almost directly from Scripture, Samuels tells Silas, "The Lord has rejected you as king. He is going to take your kingdom from you and give it to a man after his own heart." David appears as a young man liked by all who is discovering God's calling for his life.

I also loved the character analysis of King Silas in the program. Silas appears as a man drunk on power who also has delusions related to God's choice of him as king. He has old war wounds that plague him (Saul's headaches?), and a brother-in-law who has a measure of control over him that causes him to make poor decisions and puts tremendous pressure on him (Is this the spirit from the Lord sent to torment Saul?). He has a lover in another town and an illegitimate son by her (possibly the Ishbosheth ("man of shame") who becomes king after Saul and Jonathan's deaths). He sees David as an asset politically, but is enraged by David's relationship with his daughter Michelle (Michal).

There was really only one point in the story that I thought took some liberties with the biblical story, and that is the character of Jack (Jonathan). The program presents Jack as a womanizing, partying, loose cannon who also is a valiant, risk, taking soldier desperately trying to please his father. I'm not sure this is necessarily an accurate portrayal of the biblical Jonathan. However, after rereading the Scripture, I think you could certainly make a case for the fact that Jonathan appears to be an adventurous, independent, young man, perhaps with some sense of entitlement, who shows incredible, albeit, sometimes risky bravery. And maybe that kind of character would also produce a wild lifestyle.

The aspect of Jack's character that is more troubling is that it appears that his womanizing tendencies are actually a cover for the fact that he is a homosexual. Silas berates Jack at one point telling him he knows about what he does with young boys at night and that if he is going to one day be king he will have to learn to control his desires. I do not think the Scripture portrays Jonathan as a homosexual, or the relationship between Jonathan and David as anything other than a deep friendship. I am troubled with what the show may do with the relationship between Jonathan and David. However, I think we need to be honest, the language that the Bible uses for the relationship between Jonathan and David is the most intense languge the Bible ever uses for describing the relationship between two men. I think we should at least be willing to enter into this conversation, to wrestle with the nature of the relationship between Jonathan and David, to be willing to discuss it with people who have questions, and to demonstrate through our relationships with other men what healthy, biblical friendship is all about. You can have a Bromance without it being anything other than deep friendship. So, we'll see where this aspect of the show goes.

If nothing else, Kings has inspired me to study the biblical story of Saul and David with more intensity. I hope that it does the same for other people and gives opportunity for discussions with others about the whole story of God's redemption.

I Hate Church Signs 2

I think I have just about talked myself out of the billboard idea. Every person I have talked to says effective billboards have to be up for at least six months. That's six months of the same message. What happens if your design idea happens to be one that doesn't really draw people in? Then you are stuck with it for six months.

For the same price, we could do six direct mail pieces utilizing different themes and designs. Additionally, we are doing a movie themed series this summer. I think sending out a direct mail piece with a movie ticket theme would work better anyway.

We still may consider the billboard sometime in the future. For now, we are looking at other marketing ideas as well. Please, let me know what you have seen as the most effective marketing tools in your area.

I Hate Church Signs

What is the most effective means of getting people to know about your church? Obviously the best advertisement for your church is a satisfied customer, when someone from your church takes the time to tell a friend about their church and invites them to come experience your church.

But what else? One of my pet peeves is church signs, the kind that have cutesy little sayings on them that only really make sense to people who have been in the church for twenty plus years. "Seven days without prayer makes one weak." "What's missing from this ch__ch? UR." Or, my personal favorite, "Hope wishes. Faith omniscies." I have two theology degrees and a couple of years toward a Ph.D. and I'm not sure I understand that one. All that to say, I'm generally opposed to those kinds of church signs. No, I hate them. They are rarely understandable to unchurched people, sometimes are offensive, and often only further the stereotypes that the unchurched have about us.

Yet, today, I found myself considering the possibility of a church sign. Not the cutesy, slogan, cliched type. Just a sign advertising an upcoming message series and channeling people to our website. Since we are a mobile church, we don't have a "presence" that people see throughout the week. A billboard is available in our town, which got me to thinking about the possibility. Still thinking about it.

But, I'm wondering, what is the most effective marketing tool for churches? As I have asked other guys, it seems that direct mail is still the predominant means of getting people at large to know about our churches. We have done several of these at The Crossroads and plan to continue to use them. But even the most effective direct mail pieces get a return of about 1%. That means, if you send out a 5,000 piece mailer, you can expect about 50 people to visit sometime within the next year. Not bad, but certainly not a terribly efficient marketing tool.

It would seem that effectiveness and use among church planters falls off after that with things like billboards, radio, newspaper, and television. All of which are impersonal means of connecting with people.

I spoke with the sales manager from a major car dealership in the DFW Metroplex this afternoon about marketing. He told me that they have had great success with direct mail, followed by billboards. He also said they have used Facebook advertising with some effectiveness.

The golden nugget in this conversation, however, was that they are now discovering that the most effective means of marketing is currently text messaging. Wow! Here's a totally free marketing tool that uses the personal touch of you people and gets the word out in a rapid manner. I'm thinking we can apply this to Facebook and Twitter as well. The most effective marketing tool is one most of your people have in their hands every Sunday morning, their phone. I know I plan to encourage our people this Sunday morning, as soon as church is over, to send out a text to a friend telling about The Crossroads.

Unspeakable

Being silent is hard for me. Really hard. I am a people person. I like to connect with new people. I am a church planter, so talking to other people is a pretty vital part of my job. So going for three weeks without speaking at all was a huge blow to me.

Here's the story. In June of last year, I began to experience some hoarseness in my voice. I do speak for a half hour to forty-five minutes every week, so, being hoarse is not something out of the ordinary. However, I put my voice under some additonal strain by doing some singing and preaching. I was also under the stress of getting ready to start planting The Crossroads. Stress causes tightness in the throat, so that created more strain.

I didn't worry about it at first, but a week turned into a month turned into three months. I began to suspect that I probably had a cyst on one of my vocal cords. The same thing had happened four years earlier, and I was pretty sure it felt the same. The solution the previous time had been surgery to remove the cyst, but I was not too anxious to have another surgery. The surgery is quick (like 10 minutes) and simple (if there is such a thing when it comes to surgery), but there is a risk with surgery that I would be left permanently hoarse (not good).

So, I was reluctant to go to the doctor, as in I didn't go to the doctor until December. The doctor confirmed my suspicions and gave me two options: repeat the surgery with the aforementioned risk or go on complete vocal rest for three weeks. I reluctantly chose option B. My enforced silence started the week after Christmas and went halfway through the month of January.

Tough, really tough, and frustrating. Tough trying to communicate everything imperfectly through hand signals, grunts, facial expressions, and writing on a marker board. Tough not being able to join in conversations. Tough not being able to give instruction and direction (being a type A personality). Tough and frustrating being misunderstood, misinterpreted, and "misquoted" even by people who love and care for you. It was so refreshing when someone "got" what I was trying to say and so frustrating when I just had to give up trying to communicate because the conversation had already moved on before I could get out what I was wanting to say or because other people simply could not understand me.

I have been asked by a lot of people what God told me during that time, and here's what I got. One of the weeks of my silence covered a week when we were on a mission trip to Mexico delivering blankets, stuffed animals, and Spanish gospels. Being in a vanload of your friends for a twelve hour drive, going into Mexico as one of the few Spanish speakers, and not being able to talk, that was sheer misery.

The trip was phenomenal, as it always is. The first day in Mexico, I did what I always do. I cried. We took about 700 blankets into a little fishing village on the Gulf Coast. As we distributed them, I came face to face with the reality that always hits me: "It's not enough!" There are so many millions of people who need to know about Christ. There are so many hurting, hungry, cold, impoverished people. We as Americans are so blessed. And it's not enough. For the 700 people whose lives we blessed and with whom we were able to share something of Christ's message, there are millions more who need to feel his love and hear his message. It's just not enough.

Okay, okay. So, here's what I learned. The church is the body of Christ, and the vocal cords are getting strained. For too long we have relied on "career missionaries" to get the job done. We send them money every once in a while, we pray for them, we may send them cards and letters. But we have placed the full responsibility of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth on a tiny segment of the church. As a result, the voice of the church is often silenced, and maybe it has even become sick.

How can you see this? USAmerica is now the third largest mission field in the world. Our voice has been silenced even on our "home court." Our voice is no longer being heard. We do not have the strength to proclaim to the world, much less our own nation, the message of Jesus Christ. Why? In part because we have relied almost exclusively on the vocal cords of the church (missionaries, pastors, evangelists) to communicate the message. And that's not the way God designed the body.

You see, there is far more to communication than just the vocal cords. I learned from my doctor that I have to take better care of my voice by doing more than just pushing my vocal cords harder. Effective speach requires much more of the body. Good projection depends on the abdominal muscles, the lungs, lung capacity, breathing techniques, the mouth, the tongue, even what you eat or drink and when you eat or drink. Effective communication also requires more than just the voice. Facial expressions, eye contact, hand gestures, tone of voice, choice of words, all of these things are vital for effective communication. In short, the whole body must be involved to effectively communicate.

We need the whole body of Christ to be involved in sharing the message of Christ if we ever hope to "do enough" to reach the world for Christ. We need everyone to be involved at home and around the world in loving people, touching people, and sharing God's message with other people. I wonder if God sometimes feels frustrated that he has the most incredible message in the world for the world, but his voice is weak because his people are not carrying that message to all the world.

In Christ, we have been given "unspeakable joy" (1 Pet. 3:8), but that doesn't mean we don't speak about it.