GraceBlog

Multiplying Leaders...That's What We Do...

 

    Last September I conveyed our oldest son Roger to Montrose, Colorado to begin a year of ministry as their 12-month youth ministry intern.  (We--I really--sang John Denver songs all the way out there.)  It's a fabulous ministry training and leadership development strategy.  So far Roj has been doing a lot of "hands on" ministry himself: Bible studies, events, activities, fund raisers, retreats, "building times" with kids, even sits through Session meetings on occasion.  It's all good stuff. 

    But now the better stuff is about to happen--developing a next generation of leaders--multiplying leaders.  It's what Jesus did.  He worked three years, poured himself into twelve men, and turned the world upside down!  Multiplying leaders is what the church is supposed to be doing.  So, this youth ministry leadership equipping strategy will, within the year, soon be in its second generation of youth leader development.  First Montrose will have spent about nine months equipping Roger.  Now Roj and his team are going after 2 to 3 summer interns to involve them in the same (albeit abbreviated) equipping process.  Multiplying leaders...it's what we do. 

   He just sent me the application packet for their summer (10-week) youth ministry intern experience.  It starts June 2, so you better get it in soon.  We'll have some packets in the church office at Grace.  But you can e-mail Roger, talk with him, and get the scoop yourself  roger.baskin22@gmail.com 

                                  --Larry

 

THRILLED & STIRRED

  

    I'm forwarding you a link to one of my cherished blog-sites--that of Tom Bandy and Bill Easum. 

 

   You might recognize these names if you read Tom Bandy's Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for the Addicted Church, or if you've heard me reference Bill Easum's Unfreezing Moves: Following Jesus Into the Mission Field.  These guys have "thrilled and stirred" me in a very good way over the past six years.  And they were hugely helpful in the way I decided to go about my ministry in what turned out to be the last years at a previous congregation (though I didn't think I was headed for my last years there, and I totally underestimated the resistance and aggressiveness of a hand full of controlling institution-keepers. I forgive them.  Thank God for the day of exodus.) 

 

   Now, because I think of some of you at Grace as fellow leaders/pastors/colleagues with me, I wish your eyes would "light up" with excitement with what we’re doing and that you might be just as "thrilled and stirred" by the challenges these two see—the hope they have for the church in north America—for a truly Christ-centered, Spirit-led, credible-though-imperfect, stubbornly missional, outwardly focused, and credibly evangelizing church.  Really, you know, this vision is embedded in the Grace Church "DNA"--statement of mission, vision, core beliefs and values.  All leaders at Grace Church will joyfully and willfully want to know, live, and breathe our vision.  Otherwise we will find ourselves rebuilding what we left behind.  I will not rebuild the kind of church we came from. 

 

    So, please go to this blog and read it with me from time to time:  http://ebablog.easumbandy.com/

 

   Finally, leaders in American churches (Grace Church) can also do more praying, thinking, reading Scripture (e.g. Luke-Acts), and reading of the most discerning contemporary reflections on the missional situation we're in and the opportunity we have.  There's a lot of junk marketed by the popular Christian press and bookstore outlets.  You have to wade through a lot of shallow murky water before you get into the clearer, lively, and thrilling deep.  In a forthcoming installment I’ll share with you my recommendations of the “most discerning contemporary” readings of our missional situation.  Grace to you Grace!

--Larry

T.A.G. Someone...

     Wednesday evening (Aug. 8) BJ and I shared dinner with the P.a.L.S. Group that Doug Evans led this summer.  This group did the study on WORSHIP in the Experiencing Christ Together series. The dinner was their end of summer gathering.  We had a fabulous meal at Faye's; everyone turned out. Once filled up with food, the conversation turned to Grace Church and what God is doing with us.  We talked about what to do next with our small groups (P.a.L.S. Groups--sometime I'll explain the acronym).  We grinned with joy about those who were coming to Christ and growing in their faith.  It was all good and not gossipy at all.  Then...we talked about the "mechanics" of Grace Church (I guess you would call it that)--the mechanics of who sets up the chairs, how are the Wednesday dinners planned, who teaches/leads and where, the need for coordinator people, how it all get done at Grace, etc.  "Mechanics."  Then, for a few sentences at least, we got onto the leadership theme of learning to T.A.G. one another at Grace.

     It's simple, really.  It's part of the culture of multiplication, of empowerment, of every-member participation, of leadership development, of mentoring and modeling, of the spiritual gift development we want to encourage at Grace and have everyone participate in. 

     At Grace we T.A.G. one another--Train, Advise, Get out of the way...  (You could use other words for it, but they wouldn't make for a fun acronym like T.A.G.)  So...say my "thing" at Grace is to set up chairs, or lead a Sunday group, or make the coffee, or do one of the Scripture readings, or fold bulletins, or hang up the banner, or set up an information kiosk,  or put up display stands, or prepare the Communion, or lead children's worship, or make sure the bathrooms are looking and smelling good, or...  Imagine God is moving me take on a different form of service or I just have to be away for a few Sundays (hey stuff comes up...). If so, I T.A.G. someone to take my place.  I T.A.G. someone to take my task, to minister (serve) while I'm away or as I prepare to move on to God's new ministry for me.  Maybe my ministry is something outside the inner "mechanics" of Grace Church.  Maybe my ministry is at the Help Center, or with Habitat of the Shoals, or with the CASA program or...  I T.A.G. someone when I have to be away or when it's time for me to move on, then the mission will keep on. 

                            --Larry