Steven Furtick is the pastor and founder of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. It’s the kind of church that many people love to hate.  Smoke, lights, highly produced worship, topical sermons and a preacher dressed in designer clothes.  Even “worse”, it’s a mega church that became mega seemingly overnight.  No one hates success more than Christians.  After all, if they have grown in numbers so quickly and dramatically then they must have done it in a way that violates scripture or at least causes Jesus to shake his head with dissaproval, right?  Certainly they cheated somehow!

I must admit that I’ve discovered some of this sentiment in my own heart this week and I’ve got to kill it before it grows.

My Christian Judgement

I’ve never publicly disparaged Elevation Church to my remembrance.  In fact, I’ve been very christian in the way I have judged him in my heart.  Very christian indeed.  I’ve only allowed myself the occasional eye-roll when I’m alone and happen across one of his sermons online.  I’ve only allowed myself to be quietly dismissive when others around me talk about how great he is.  No gossip.  Just silent superiority.  Moral superiority, really.  Because, after all, he sold out to get such a large church.  I, on the other hand, will not sell out and that is why my church has grown at a snails pace compared to his.

Very christian judgement indeed.

Sincere Respect Amid Disagreement

I didn’t see any of this in my heart until this week.  It began with an Acts29/Advance the Church conference in Raleigh.  At nearly the last minute one of the main speakers could not make it and they asked Steven Furtick to come instead.  Shock!  I didn’t get to make it to the conference, but I grabbed the audio from his session as soon as it was available.  I was dying to hear it, as much out of curiosity as wanting to know if he said anything controversial.  (Don’t act so holy.  You rubber-neck at a train wreck just like everyone else.)

In short, his message was deeply encouraging to me.  He has a profound gift of faith and is gifted to impart that faith to others.  He’s a risk taker and his heart runs deep with a zeal for Jesus and Jesus’ Church.  He also knows his Bible and respects it.

As I was listening I found myself constantly surprised by him.  That’s when I began to feel convicted about what had been subtly happening in my heart towards him, his church, and others like him.  While I still have many questions about the way he does church, I have no questions about him. While I don’t think I would ever build my church to be like Elevation, I’m actually really glad that they are doing what they are doing.  Ironically, his message reminded me that success is defined by accomplishing what God has called you to do, not by accomplishing what God has called someone else to do.

Is it possible to disagree with a man and respect him at the same time?  Yes.  Is it possible to disagree with a type of church and still respect it.  Yes, it sure is.

May God grant me the zeal and faith that he has given Steven Furtick so that I can accomplish my call with the kind of integrity and expediency that Steven Furtick has.  In the meantime, lets try to be a little less “christian” in the way we judge other pastors, other churches, and other movements.  Like Jesus said in Luke 9:49-50, “the one who is not against you, is for you”.

The Audio From the Conference

I strongly suggest listening to this.

Steve Furtick at Acts29 Advance the Church Event

[box]After listening, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Have you ever discovered some kind of proud judgement in your heart towards another person? Why is it so hard sometimes to rejoice in others’ success?[/box]

People matter.   Jesus thought so.   So much so, that He died for them, offers to occupy their hearts, and then places the hope of the world on their shoulders as the Church.   People.   Really. Matter.

It is a serious thing to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people.

You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilization these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to [God Himself], your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden. ~C.S. Lewis

How does this truth change the way we view and treat the people around us? I think it changes everything.

This is the 4th installment of a series of posts I’m doing to help pastors get themselves and their churches online and plugged in.

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“Are you crazy?  I don’t have time for a blog, Facebook, and Twitter!”  ~ You

Yes you do.  I’ll show you how to leverage Twitter and your WordPress blog to get your feet wet in the social networking world with minimal effort.  Read on.

What is Social Networking?

I mentioned in my first post of the series that we are now living in a global culture.  Everyone is asking the question “Where do I fit in this new global world?”.  The internet, to a large degree, has been the arena in which people have sought to answer that question.  We’ve seen a shift in the past 10 years or so.  Around the new millennium, people were just trying to make money with the internet.  Since then, the big innovations have been centered around people connecting with other people.  This is social networking.  People finding new ways to connect to each other on the global stage of the internet (at least, that’s how I define it…)

There are a dizzying array of social networking options out there.  Feel free to explore them, but I’m going to focus on the two big ones:  Facebook and Twitter.  (forget MySpace – it’s been thoroughly trounced by Facebook at this point).  Let’s take them one at a time.

Twitter – Beautiful in It’s Simplicity

So be careful not to underestimate it.  Twitter began as a simple question, “What are you doing?”  Not very impressive.  What’s impressive is how the “hive mind” of the web took the simple idea and used it to redefine social networking.

This video might help with the background:

I was very skeptical of Twitter at first. It all seemed very narcissistic to me.  But I finally got convinced to try it and I’ve never looked back.  I’m meeting people that I never would have met any other way, and it’s one of the few social networking tools that I have tried that actually improved my life.   If you need more convincing, here’s 12 more reasons to start today.  For the rest of you that are ready to dive in, here’s what you need to do:

1. Get your free Twitter account.  Choose a username that makes sense and can be remembered easily.  Resist the temptation to give yourself a goofy nickname.
2. Use their tool for adding anyone in your contact list to your follow list.
3. Search for anyone else you want to follow.  You can search by name, topic, whatever.  Check out people you like and see who they follow.  This really is the key to enjoying twitter.  Following people in whom you are interested.
4. Get a desktop twitter client.  The web interface is ok, but Twitter will really come alive for you when you get a nice desktop app for it.  I very highly recommend Twhirl for beginners.  Try Tweetdeck when you get the hang of things.
5. Start by listening and making note of how other people use twitter.  When someone says something you think is interesting or entertaining, Retweet it.  Reply if someone asks a question.  Take your time, ease into it.
6. Remember that Twitter is about adding to a conversation.  Don’t let it become all about you.  Use it to point out interesting things on the web.  Use it to share thoughts, quotes, etc.  Think of Twitter as microblogging. The more value you add, the better your experience will be.
7. Tweet your blog posts.  Every time you publish something on your blog, announce it on twitter and provide a link to the post.  This way you are leveraging your twitter following to your blog.
8. Use your phone.  You can send tweets by text message and use the mobile version of the Twitter website.  Blackberry and iPhone also both have some nice twitter apps.

If you need more help with Twitter, try this collection of resources.

Facebook

I have to confess.  I don’t really like Facebook and I don’t go to it very often.  But, no one really knows it.  If you go to my Facebook profile it will look like I’m there all the time.  It’s not so.

Where Twitter is like a focussed, short, and somewhat controlled connection tool… Facebook is like trying to drink from a fire hose.  It’s overwhelming to me at times.  I’m certainly a minority there… Facebook is HUGE and most of the people in my church are active there.  Here’s how I maintain visibility on Facebook without letting it rule my time:

1. Install the Twitter Facebook application.  It will tie your Twitter messages to your Facebook status.  Once you’ve done that, every time you send a tweet it will show up on your Facebook profile as a status update.  2 birds with one… tweet.  ;-)
2. I use Flickr to share photos with family.  There’s a facebook app for flickr too.  Every time I add a photo to my flickr account, it shows up on Facebook.  2 birds again…
3. Google Reader has a facebook app.  If you use Google Reader to manage your RSS feeds, you can install the GR app and every time you “share” an article in Google Reader, it appears on Facebook.  Notice, all this Facebook activity and I haven’t gone to the FB site once.
4. Now the only time I have to go to Facebook is when someone emails me from there (rare for me because I don’t send emails out from FB) or does something on my profile that warrants a response.  SHhhhhh…. don’t tell.

As you can see, Twitter really is at the center of my social network.  I suggest you set yourself up the same way.

The next, and last, installment in this series will be a guest post from Trendsetting Design to help you use the power of graphic design to enhance your ministry online and offline.

This is the 2nd installment of a series of posts I’m doing to help pastors get themselves and their churches online and plugged in.

VIEW THE ENTIRE SERIES

DISCLOSURE: I do web development work as a side business.  I work mostly with other churches.  Though I’d love to have you as a client, that’s not why I’m writing this post.  I really have a heart to see churches get plugged in, no matter how they get there.

Get a Good Website

do you have something nauseating like this on your website? REPENT.

I said “good” for a reason.

The first question is if you have a website, is it a good website or a bad one? Now, odds are you are a terrible judge of this.  So are your friends.  I know that seems harsh, but it’s usually true.  I really can’t count how many times another pastor has bragged about their website and I go look at it and it’s abysmal.  Ask a 25 year old to give you an honest opinion both on the functionality of the site as well as the design.  Have them describe the site to you in their own words.  Ask guests if they have seen the website and what they think.  Watch their body language as much as what they say.  You’ll know, if you pay attention.  If you still aren’t sure, email me or leave a comment with a link and I’ll give you my honest (but nice) opinion.

If you don’t have website, or your current site looks like any of these (I’ve seen worse, but these are bad enough) then you need to change that now.  This is a bigger priority than most people realize.  Start dealing with it this week because it’s hurting you more than you think.

Assume that anyone that thinks about visiting you is going to Google your church name first, because they will.  What will they find?  Does it help you or hurt you?  First impressions last, and your website is your first impression.

Where Do I Start?

1. I’m a pastor so I know how this works.  Right out of the gate, you need to face the money issue. Unless you are blessed with a volunteer that is a skilled, experienced and faithful web developer at your church, you are going to need to hire someone.  Yes, there are open source solutions out there that you can use to create your own site for cheap/nothing but that only gets you the tool.  It doesn’t teach you how to use it, create the right content, or organize it the right way.  Most churches start with a volunteer, then hire someone they know to fix it, and eventually pay someone who actually knows what they are doing to fix 3 generations of junk website and wasted cash.  Make payments if you have to, but get it done right the first time.  If you think it’s hard getting financial backing now, wait until you go through 2 or 3 failed (and very public) iterations of a website.
2. If you really can’t afford that (or can’t convince your finance committee to cough it up) then at least hire someone (for less) to do a basic “brochure-ware” site that only has 2 maybe 3 nicely designed static pages with some pics, general info about your church, service times, directions, and contact info.  This is far from ideal, but I’ve seen some sites like this that were very compelling and well done.
3. Provide at least one section of content on your site that will keep people coming back.  This could be a news/announcements section, prayer request board, church calendar, sermon podcast, etc.  Anything that will make people come back to check for more.  If you have to choose, go with sermons.  EVERYONE wants to “try before they buy” and church hunting is no exception.
4. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  You should have sermons on your website every week.  But, if it doesn’t get updated it looks bad.  You will need a volunteer to handle the sermon editing and uploads.  You should have a church calendar.  But if it’s empty, you’ve shot yourself in the foot.  Resist the pressure to add every bell and whistle you can to your site.  Start small, and grow it as it is practical to do so.  Be honest with yourself up front about what your church is equipped to handle and do well.  If it won’t be excellent, don’t do it.
5. Get a CMS (Content Management System).  Whoever you hire to create your site, should provide this to you.  A CMS allows you (and your volunteers) to edit and manage the site’s content without having to be a web geek.  It gives you a graphical, web-based  interface that is intuitive.  Demand that as part of your contract with your web company.  If you have a skilled volunteer creating your site, demand that they use a CMS.  No one person should ever have sole ownership and access to your website.
6. Remember to include the basics.  The following should all be no more than 2 clicks away, one is better.  Staff bios with pics.  Service times visible on every page.  Directions (even better, embed a Google map).  Contact info including an email form.  Statement of Faith (that makes sense).  What to wear (no matter your denomination, you need to tell them this.  You’re a bad host if you assume they know what to wear).  I can’t tell you how many church websites I’ve seen where I have to hunt for this info for 5 minutes or more.
7. Be very very careful when hiring someone from your church to do it.  When it works out well, it’s great.  You usually get more passionate work at a better price.  However, when it goes bad it goes really bad.  You end up having to choose between losing a church member and losing a website. You don’t want to be in that position.  I’m not saying don’t do it.  I’m just saying, do MORE than your due diligence when it comes to hiring a web designer from your church membership.

If you want to check out some excellent church websites for inspiration, GodBit has a nice church website review section.  Worth a look.

There’s more to do than this, but this will get you started which is my goal here.  Assuming you haven’t hired an incompetent web geek or allowed the “computer guy” in your church to handle the website (you haven’t, have you?), most of this will be taken care of.  However, if you don’t ask for it you might not get it.

Shoot the Animated Doves

Once your cool new site is live, promote that thing like crazy.  Mention it all the time in conversation, mention it Sunday morning, mention it to guests.  Put the URL in your bulletins, business cards and signage.  Find ways to force your church to visit it often.  Make it a part of your church culture, because this is a building block on which you are going to be able to build other things.

Next time I’ll get you started with blogging.

This is the 1st installment of a series of posts I’m doing to help pastors get themselves and their churches online and plugged in.

VIEW THE ENTIRE SERIES

Most pastors know that they need to get plugged into web technology, but they have no idea where to begin.  This series is for you.  I want to help you engage your city and the world with the gospel.  I also have another audience in mind.  It’s those that still don’t see the need to get on the web tech bus.  Maybe your seminary prof told you the web is a dark and evil place that should be avoided at all cost.  Or maybe you just see this as a big fad that will go away soon.  Let me address that problem first as a way of providing some context.

Only a crazy hermit could deny that web tech has taken over, particularly in the form of social media and networking.  Still, I meet pastors all the time that simply don’t see how participating in that world can possibly benefit their ministry.  If they do participate, it’s begrudgingly.  They say, “Humph.  I guess these days this is the kind of thing you have to do.  All the young kids are doing it, so I suppose we should too.”  In other words, I don’t see the value in this, but I’ll do it to make people happy.  However, I know in my own mind that I’m not going to really give this a shot.  I don’t understand it, so it must not be important.

What that pastor is missing is the way these technological trends are shaping our culture.  These things ar not just culture add-ons.  They are shaping the cultural ideals and perspectives of people on a global scale.  This is also not an “outside” the church thing.  It’s inside the church too.  Very much so.  The different ways that’s happening are too numerous to unpack here, but here’s a few for starters:

1. The days of senior leaders sitting in ivory towers is over.  People expect to be able to have some connection with you, even if only through your blog or Twitter updates.  I think this is true regardless of church size or staff size.
2. Whereas people used to expect their senior leaders to at least appear to be perfect, they now expect their leaders to at least appear to have some flaws (though only small ones…).
3. People expect to be able to customize their experience, particularly when it comes to interpersonal connection.  One size fits all doesn’t fit anyone anymore.
4. It’s no longer about a global economy and where we fit in it.  It’s about a global culture and where I fit in it.  Pastors have to stop thinking locally, and start thinking globally like the rest of the world.
5. Your first impression used to happen at the front door of the church building.  Now it happens on the web long before that potential church member ever leaves the house.
6. You and your church are now “competing” against other religions on a global stage, whether you like it or not.  It’s no longer just about the Mormons down the street.  It’s the Muslim a world away that is competing for the hearts of the lost in your city.

And that’s just the beginning.  Engaging on the web is not an issue of fad or keeping your parishioners happy.  It really is about the gospel and the Kingdom of God.  If you are a pastor and you can’t get into that, then what are doing?

In the next installment, I’ll be giving you some simple tips to help you get started.

From the video’s description: “this is not a Jihadists from Iran but a professor from Kuwait – a country with every reason to be grateful to the USA for liberating it from the tyranny of Saddam Husseins invasion.”

Link to video

Bring on the comments!

Following a powerful 1.5 hours of inspiration, I wrote the following article.  I delivered this, word for word, this morning for our Easter service.  I’ve never delivered a message in this way before.  It’s always much more free-flowing and less “theatrical”.  I almost never write down the exact words that I will say, only a skeleton of notes and triggers for my memory to keep me on track.  However, when I sat down to construct my sermon this week, I got really inspired to write it word for word.

This is probably the longest post ever done on this blog, but I hope you will take a few moments to read it anyway.  It just sort of poured out of me all at once.

Today I’m going to tell you a story.  It is the greatest story ever told.  Maybe you have heard it before, maybe you haven’t.  Maybe you think you know this story, but you have only heard a poor retelling of it where the wonder and mystery of its storyline has been replaced with pragmatism, stiff religion, hypocrisy.  Or perhaps you have heard this story many, many times and you’ve allowed familiarity to breed contempt.

The story I am going to tell you this morning has been unfolding since before the dawn of time.  It is not only the centerpiece of mankind’s history, it is the driving force behind every event, every triumph, every defeat, every tragedy.  It is the impetus behind the rise and fall of every world leader and every nation on the planet.  It is the common thread that runs through every seemingly coincidental and serendipitous event in history.

Peter says that it is the story that the angels long to look into and understand.  It is a story so wondrous, mysterious, and alive that it has held the attention of the angels for eons.  It confounds the wise and makes fools of otherwise restrained men.  It is the only story that can fix all that is wrong with the world.  It is the only story that can make straight what is crooked in humanity.  It is the pathway to peace.

And what makes this story so irresistibly alluring is that it is completely true.  It is the foundation on which all Truth rests. So much so, that nothing on earth or in heaven can call itself the truth if it stands in conflict with this one story.  What I am about to tell you is not a fairy tale told to scared children to help them sleep.  It is not the duplicitous fabrication of power hungry patriarchs created to control the masses.  This story is the TRUTH, and it is greater than any corruption that has attempted to abuse it.

Our story begins before time.  Before the existence of water, dirt, trees, air, the beauty of a sunset or the twinkling of the stars.  Our story begins with God.  His name is Yahweh, the self-existent, self-directed, self-sufficient One.  He has always been and He will always be.  He cannot be defined by, or constrained  by time.  He has no need, no emptiness, no loneliness in Him.  He created us so that He could lavish His love upon us wastefully and extravagantly.  And in turn, we would respond with joy to worship Him.

We were created to worship our Creator, but instead we rejected Him.  We accused Him of not being good.  We accused Him of not loving us well.  We told Him that He needed us and that we didn’t need Him.  We turned our backs on His love and made ourselves His enemies.  At that moment, sin entered the hearts of mankind and we were separated from God.

And God was patient with us.  He told His people through Moses that He was a Holy God and longed to purify His people.  He longed to set them apart for relationship with Himself.  He made Himself known to them  yet, His people rejected Him.  They complained against Him and called into question His goodness and faithfulness.  They tested His patience to the point of worshipping other gods and exalted their pagan names above the mighty name of Yahweh.

And God was patient with us.  For centuries He sent prophets to herald the coming of a King who would set His people free and bring with Him the Kingdom of God.  His prophets told us to repent for the kingdom of God was coming.  They prophesied to us that we belong to God and we are His people.  And we mocked, rejected, and killed the prophets of God.

And God was patient with us.  So, He did what He said He would do.  But He didn’t send an earthly king, for no man could do or be what was required.  Instead, God Himself came down.  He entered into human history.  God Himself came to us to rescue us.  His name is Jesus Christ.  Fully God, and fully man in one person.

He came and He told us that He was our deliverer, the Shepherd of Our Souls, the Way the Truth and the Life.  He came and showed us how to love, how to believe, how to obey, and how to serve.  He told us who He was and then proved it over and over again through miracles and through mercy.  He shook the prison walls of tired religion, He confounded the wise, and confronted hypocrisy.  He turned the weakest of men into heroes, and He gathered the sick, the poor, and the marginalized to Himself so that they could find rest. He told us that if we would follow Him, He would lead us to safety, peace, and forgiveness.

Yet, we rejected Him.  We mocked Him with the tongues that He created.  We beat Him with fists that He formed in our mother’s womb.  We betrayed Him while breathing the air that He provided.  We told Him that we didn’t need Him and that He needed us.  We called Him a liar and a fool.  We killed our King like a criminal.  We turned our backs on the one who came to save us.  The only One that could.

And God was patient with us.  He was patient because this was the plan all along.  You see, the story had already been written and was simply being unrolled like a scroll, one chapter at a time.  God was not surprised, alarmed or worried.  He has always been in control and always will be.  No one drug Jesus to the cross, rather Jesus gave up His life to satisfy the demands of our deserved punishment.  When He died, He bore the full and terrible weight of the searing wrath of God.  He stood up under the torrential onslaught of centuries of just wrath being stored up in the cellar of God’s justice.  Worst of all, Christ who had known perfect fellowship with God for all eternity past was suddenly and horrifically separated from God.   Forsaken.    This was wrath that you and I deserve.

He paid for every moment when you see the sunset and in your indifference refuse to acknowledge His handiwork.  He paid for every time you take credit for what He has done.  When you take credit for how smart you are, how successful you are, or how religious and good you are.  He paid for every time you have feared created things more than you feared Him.  He paid for every time you worshipped something He has made, instead of worshipping the Creator.  He paid for every time you stubbornly refuse to worship Him because there’s no music and no preacher to excite you.  He paid for your dispassionate resistance to His loving advances toward you.

He paid for every time you hear this story, and reject him with your indifference, your misguided trust in the intellect that He gave you, and your fear of what following Him might cost you.  Yes, He died even for the things you do that are too shameful and wicked to say with words.

He.  Died.  For.  You.

But, the story doesn’t end there.  After 3 days, Jesus Christ took death, Hell, sin and the Devil by the throat and put them under his heel.  He stood over them as our conquering hero and He dominates them now like a master dominates His dog with a leash and the command of His voice.  Jesus Christ stood up from death under His own power and left the burial clothes where they lay.  Death cannot hold our King Jesus.  Therefore, death, sin, hell, and the Devil hold no power over those that belong to Jesus.  You have nothing to fear!  Death is now a puppet on a string, a tool in the hands of God.  Now, for the Christian it is a tool of blessing, a ticket home and for the unbeliever it is a terrifying reminder of the reality that time is short.

So this is the story of an unfathomable God, making Himself understood.  This is the story of an unknowable God, making Himself known.  This is the story of an infinitely Holy God extending mercy to the ones most deserving of His wrath.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says,

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

THE STORY IS NOT OVER!  IT IS STILL UNFOLDING.  Will you enter this story?  Will you be reconciled to God?  Will you allow Christ to come in and exchange your sin for His righteousness.  Will you let Him wipe your slate clean, making you a new creation?

It’s time that you did what you were created to do.  It’s time for you to stop rejecting the one that made you.  Now is the time, because there will come a day when He will no longer be patient with you.  There will come a day when He will release you to your own rebellion to suffer the consequences of your indifference.  Do not fool yourself – your time, and your desires, do not belong to you.  Yahweh, God alone, holds time in His hands and His grace is the only thing that restrains the sin in your heart.

[tags]gospel, jesus, easter, resurrection, the cross, salvation, saved, christian, christ, grace, mercy, yahweh[/tags]