Friday, August 17, 2007

Internet Crash News Broadcast

I thought this was hilarious and wanted to share it with you. Happy Friday.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Missional Fatigue

I read this from Ed Crepes today and thought it applied to us at Cornerstone. What are your thoughts?


When I visit casual contemporary and traditional churches these days I’m meeting what could be called “a new kind of Christian:” believers who used to attend aggressively missional congregations elsewhere in town. Often a thirty-something couple with two or three elementary age children, these transfers sometimes seem motivated to explain to me their presence in more inwardly-focused settings. In the telling of their stories some patterns have emerged...

Stage 1: intense involvement in the start-up or ongoing ministry of a missional congregation (however defined), often as key leaders

Stage 2: weathering the financial emergencies, ministry shortfalls, and discipleship pressures that inevitably accompany this kind of enterprise

Stage 3: realizing that the stress of serving in a climate that one friend of mine called, “a miracle on the verge of a disaster every day” is never going to end

Stage 4: identifying a gracious exit strategy, often explained as the need for better children’s or teen ministry

Stage 5: transitioning to another high-quality church that is more family-focused.

Stage 6: feeling somewhat guilty over abandoning the missional scene to do more conventional church

Music to my ears!

I am so excited about our opportunity to shift the style of the early service to reach out to those who love the classics. In just two Sundays we will be offering the classic service with hymns and will design the whole service around what I feel is a neglected generation in our area. I know that there will be some surprises, and we will have young families who come to the classic service and some "seniors" will attend the contemporary, but this is about us seeing a need for worship without regard for style. Some people love to worship using the hymns from their youth, they know them by heart and the meaning is as deep as their roots. By the third verse of Victory in Jesus they are singing like nobody is listening. Others, love to sing a new song unto the Lord, and when they hear a new song, that expresses an emotion they could not put into words, they sing it loud. We will know that we have hit our mark when both services are full of people singing praises to God at the top of their lungs. Totally different styles, one unchanging message of praise to the God of the universe. It is music to my ears!