What would happen if we change? What would happen if we lost the formula of Big Building? Worship time? Announcement time? Offering time? Message time? What would happen if we were to simply live our lives as believers? Getting together sure but getting together for the express purpose of learning how to do this thing called life, worshipping our God and being there for each other AND the community?

I believe that many of the churches today exist without a shepherd. Without a pastor. We have so many people out there who love to teach (which is a GREAT thing) but that’s all they do. They want to be heard. While they may have been called to teach and to preach… were they ever called to shepherd (pastor)? and if so, why aren’t they?

That’s more a topic for another day but this is what I believe: Too many leaders in the church today care more about people listening to them than they care about caring for the people who listen to them.

That’s a hard saying but I believe it to be true and I believe that it’s one of the greatest problems in the church today. Where’s the love? Where’s the compassion? You want people to come through that door but why on earth would they? Sure you’ll get the people who like to come and worship together but if that’s not your thing, what’s the other incentive for coming to church? 50-60% of the people in the USA have said thanks but no thanks. What about THEM?

We’ve lost the passion of caring about others and as I wrote the last time, I believe the early church is the place to look for it. Jesus Christ is the place to look for it. He went out to the people, never asking them to come to him.

Here’s the deal. Here’s what we’re doing. Accelerate Church is going to be about the basics. The reality though is that we can’t expect a handful of people to continue to support us. Just as the Apostle Paul did, I believe that it’s important to support oneself while you do ministry. It’s not the only way but hey, if Paul did it….

For the last year, I’ve been looking for work in SW Florida (unemployment hovering around 20%). Recently an opportunity came up to for me to return to the company where I worked before entering “full-time” ministry. That was a great big “thank you, God!” On the downside, that means that we have to move.

So for the last month, I’ve been in Columbus, Ohio resurrecting my professional career. It’s been fun. It’s been challenging. But more importantly, God has already opened doors for Accelerate Church to make a difference.

I’ve lots more to talk about referring the future of the church, Accelerate in particular. Our initial dream for how the church would be structured is dead but 1) our prayer all along was for this to be God’s church not ours & 2) never ever forget, God loves a resurrection.For now, let me say again, thank you for the many, many people who have supported us in this venture. Without you, well, I don’t even want to think about it. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

God bless you!

If the statistics are true, nearly 50% of the people in the United States are open to walking through the doors of church today. That’s the good news. The bad news though is that over 150,000,000 people will not go through the doors of a big box church. So what about THEM? How do we reach THEM?

We have to come to grips with the fact that the modern church in America will not reach everyone. The reality is that when you build a big box, your focus is going to be on that box. Your emphasis will be on getting people into that box. But what if they don’t come? Does our obligation to reach people and tell them about Christ stop? Too often we act as if that answer is yes.

Let me put it another way. Many, many churches today have the “it’s all about the weekend” mentality; i.e. they put nearly all of their energies into the production of the weekend. By design then, their efforts are entirely geared towards getting people to come through their doors. That’s great for millions of people and there are 1,000s of churches out there striving today to reach them. WooHoo! Go for it. But what about THEM? What about the people who just aren’t interested in coming through those doors?

I’m not saying that the modern church in America is broken. I’m saying that there is a piece missing. As much as we would like to think that the modern approach is revolutionary, it’s truly evolutionary. Truly all we’ve done is thrown out Great-grandma’s organ for a 5 piece band. We’ve exchanged stained glass for big screens. What we’ve done is a mass renovation and it’s good…. but it’s still a box. And 150,000,000 people aren’t interested in coming. So What about THEM?

The more I looked at reinventing the wheel, the more I realized that it didn’t need to be. There’s a church model that I want to explore. I’m talking about the 1st generation church (or the 2nd generation to be more precise). The church that grew out of tragedy. The church that grew out of necessity. The church that grew when a plague was devastating the human population. How did they do that? What was different about them? What was revolutionary? What have we lost?

more to come

Some people say that statistics are for losers. In fact, I recently came across a stat that would agree with that statement. Here it is: During the third game of the World Series, the Texas Rangers starting pitcher was the fifth pitcher ever to go seven innings for his team after his team opened the series by losing their first two games. Huh? (please don’t reread that stat) Now I like baseball and all but talk about useless. Talk about a statistic for losers. I don’t want to meet the guy who tracks that kind of information.

But not all stats are for losers. In fact some stats are out there specifically to help make people winners.

What’s this got to do with Accelerate Church? Well, see there’s this other statistic that I came across almost immediately after I was called to start a church. It goes something like this: In the United States, approximately 95% of the people believe in and want to know more about God. That’s the good news. And get this: 40% of them are interested (or at least not opposed) to visiting a church whose style is like the one that I was part of. WooHoo! Great news! Add to that, 10% of those people wanting to know more about God are interested in going to a traditional church. Woohoo! That means nearly half the people in the USA could very well step into the doors of either one of these types of churches. Great news right? Let’s get started right?

Well there’s this one problem. What about them? What about the other half of the people in this country who would never darken the doorways of the Presbyterian/Baptist/Episcopalian/Orthodox/Methodist/etc church? What about the people who aren’t interested in the non-traditional, non-denominational, energetic, free-wheeling, “relevant” church?

The more that I searched and researched, the more that I talked to other pastors in SW Florida and elsewhere, the more I realized that we were missing something. As popular as the model that I was looking to follow was, as many as were the number of the people out there who potentially would come through those doors: What about Them?

More to come.

Over a year ago, when I first got the idea of starting a church, I “knew” what I wanted to do. I wanted to start a church much like the one that I was leaving. I felt led to go to SW Florida and in that call, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to one of the most unchurched areas of the country and I was going to start something that hadn’t been done there before.

Notice the amount of I’s in that paragraph. I wanted this. I knew that. I. I. I. I. Now let me be very clear. I (dang, there it is again); let’s try it this way… There is no doubt that God wanted me to go to SW Florida. None… but that’s about the only part of the plan that I got right. Well, there was this one other part. See from the very beginning, as much as I knew what I wanted, my prayer was that this new thing would be what God wanted.

Much, much more to come.

When we first started AccelerateChurch, it was my wish that God would use us to reach people that weren’t being reached by the 21st century church. That’s led me to a lot of soul-searching, a lot of thinking about what is right and what is wrong with the church of today. What’s working and what needs to change. What pre-conceived notions need to be challenged? What wheels don’t need to be reinvented?

That process has led me to alter the way that we will go forward, of how we will Be Different. How we will Make a Difference. How we will make an Impact!

I’ve been very quiet over the last couple of weeks. That’s about to change.

Stay tuned!

Last week I mentioned that this is the toughest question that I’ve ever been asked: ”If there’s a God & he cares about me, why would he let (fill in the blank) happen?” [e.g. "Why God would let my baby die?" "Why did my ____ have to suffer from cancer for so long and then die?" "Why does God let my family get all the tough breaks in life and others have it easy?"] That’s the toughest question to answer. Why? Because the people asking, are either hurting or bitter about the event.

I get that. I remember years ago when I was the head of a men’s ministry at a church in Maine. A man in the group asked this question. This particular man had himself suffered a terrible injury years earlier and physically was a shell of what he had been. But his question wasn’t about himself (at least not openly), it was about his wife who was suffering from an extremely painful disease. He was angry at God that his wife was suffering. He was mad that his child was having to witness his mom’s affliction. He was just flat out angry that there could be a God so cruel.

• Personal note: Last week, I mentioned that even if you have the right answer, if you don’t wrap it in enough empathy, you can still cause the person asking the question unnecessary hurt. I said that because I was guilty of that very thing with this man. My answer was the stereotypical Christian answer, “let’s look at the book of Job.” This guy exploded with “If one more person tells me to read Job, I’m going to scream!”
• Now don’t get me wrong. The book of Job is perfect for helping us through times of trial. It is after all the inspired word of God… BUT the way I answered his question wasn’t right at all. This guy wasn’t looking for the answer, he was looking for someone to empathize and sympathize with him. Call it part B of the question. All too often we forget that extremely important aspect when we help people. People want to know that you care far more than they want anything else from you.

Back to the story: I learned a lot from that situation and in fact, I learned the answer that I’ve used with people repeatedly since. I actually learned the lesson from this hurting man’s wife. “If there’s a God & he cares about me, why would he let (fill in the blank) happen?” Here it is:

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I DON’T KNOW!

That’s right. I don’t know. Now we can rationalize and theorize about sin entering the world and all the stuff that philosophers and theologians talk about but the truth is, I don’t know. What I do know is this: The woman that I referred to earlier was thankful for everything. The pain. The disfigurement. The suffering.

Why? Because it meant she was alive! Life itself was so precious to her that she didn’t care about the other things. Health. Wealth. Status. All of those things paled in comparison to that incredible cosmic gift of life that she had been given. What an incredible point of view to have and it’s so true. Life itself is the true gift (and eternal life even better). The other stuff is at best window dressing. God loved us enough to make us. He gave us the gift of life. The gift of existence.  And on that playing field, we’re all equal. We’ve all been blessed.

It’s up to us not to waste that incredible gift. Have a great beginning of the week and remember: Be different. Make a difference. Make an impact.

God bless you!

I don’t know about you but the toughest question that I’ve ever been asked goes something like this: “If there’s a God & he cares about me, why would he let (fill in the blank) happen?” Now I’m not talking about the philosophical what-if questions from the intellectual agnostic who wants to argue the finer points of religion. Truth be told, I love those questions.

No, I’m talking about the question that comes from someone with “skin in the game”. I’m talking about a mom asking why God would let her baby boy die. I’m talking about a husband bitter that his wife had to suffer from a life-long debilitating disease that eventually took her life. I’m talking about the one family who seems to live the charmed life while the next family suffers loss after loss. Those are tough questions. They’re tough because they’re coming from people who are hurting. They’re tough because the wound is raw or festering.

That’s the toughest question that I’ve ever faced. In fact, I struggle with it each time it’s asked. Not because I don’t know the answer, although often, if not always, I don’t. No, I struggle with it because of the pain. I struggle with it because even if you have the right answer, if you don’t wrap it in enough empathy, you can still cause the person asking the question unnecessary hurt.

How do I answer the toughest question ever asked? Hmm, I’m still trying to figure that out but in the next day or so, I’ll share with you a way that I do and perhaps you’ll even let me know what you’ve done before in the past.

Have a great beginning of the week and remember: Be different. Make a difference. Make an impact.

God bless you!

There are many simple truths in my life. One of them is this: I do not brag about my wife enough. I usually take the time near her birthday, our anniversary, Mother’s Day and Christmas to do something nice but that’s not nearly enough.

Robin is remarkable. She is patient, kind & truly a beautiful woman. Her “straightforward/direct” approach to life balances & refines my “let’s think about it/ put it off” technique. I could go on and on about her virtues and perhaps I should but this time, I’m going to focus more on the SHOW than the TELL.

Simply put, can your spouse make something as beautiful as this? Mine can. Amazing! and she did it in like a day. Okay, maybe not in a day but it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. & best of all? I get to use it! Woo-hoo!!! It’s beautiful, babe and you’re incredible!

Thoughts for a Monday

This weekend I was reminded of something: Enthusiasm almost always wins. Enthusiasm trumps experience. Enthusiasm can trounce excellence. I’m not saying that it always works but it almost always buys you at least a second chance.

Enthusiasm is infectious. Enthusiasm is contagious. And the best thing about enthusiasm is this: IT’S AN ADDED INGREDIENT! Nothing is lost when you add enthusiasm. It doesn’t take away from experience. It doesn’t take away from excellence. The only things lost when you add enthusiasm is boredom, complacency, dullness.

Whatever you do this week, add a healthy dose of enthusiasm to it and watch what happens.