Willow Creek Handouts

This evening in class we watched another clip from Willow Creek. In this clip, Bill Hybels, lead pastor of Willow Creek church, was interviewed about a somewhat recent shift in the way things are done at their church. What Hybels and the staff at Willow Creek found was that new believers and new members in their church rated the church very high, while more mature members of the church had lower ratings.

As an example of the church’s new direction, Tom shared with us a handout from Willow Creek titled “The REVEAL Spiritual Growth Framework”. This handout details three stages of spiritual growth. I was unsure how the handout was utilized in their ministry, whether it was a tool for the staff to gauge the spiritual maturity of congregants or if it was for the congregants to analyze themselves. Either way, I have a hard time when it come to structured outlines that describe the path a new believer needs to take to get closer to Jesus. While I believe there are definitely certain milestones in every believer’s life, everyone follows a different path and can meet those milestones in different orders.

Tom also shared with us another handout titled “How REVEAL Churches Deliver Spiritual Growth” and an accompanying video from Willow Creek. This handout/video featured five components of spiritually healthy churches. Component one was “Get people moving”, number two was “Embed the Bible”, three was “Create ownership”, four was “Pastor the community” and five was “Heart of core team leaders.” I liked the way this diagram was put together. Its purpose is to show the ingredients in a healthy, vibrant church.

Summit 07 Clip

This evening in class we watched a video clip that featured the British director named Richard Curtis who’s work includes the film Notting Hill and others. Bill Hybell, the lead pastor of Willow Creek, interviewed Richard about his philosophies of life and film.

Bill asked Richard about the memorable sketch featuring Mr. Bean where he visited church. Richard noted that he had always equated church with the things that could go wrong during service.

Mr. Curtis also mentioned the phrase, “Will they get it in Egypt”? I thought this was a very interesting question to ask and one that brought many thoughts to mind. For one, I think it’s awesome how incredibly universal the message of the Bible is.

It was hard to take notes on the presentation and track with it at the same time so I apologize for not having specifics listed here, but I loved the similarities that can be found between the movie business and the church business, or rather the lack of business. Getting back to basics is a big part of Richard’s directorial process.

After watching this film I was struck with a feeling of responsibility. Mr. Curtis said something during his interview that was along the lines of “reading your Bible, listening to a sermon and praying doesn’t get you off the hook. To the contrary, you’re on the hook even more. You can’t pray for someone one night and not go out and do something for that person the next day.” I think he’s so right. I’ve caught myself having that type of attitude before and it’s only been recently that I’ve been coming to an understanding like the one Richard Curtis has. What an inspirational and challenging message.

Ken Cooper

Ken Cooper grew up in Ohio and was never a church-goer. His first experience with God was during the Iranian hostage crisis. At that time, he heard one of the hostages on television praise God for putting him in the situation he was in. That moment opened his eyes to see that the man on the television was different and God was the reason why.

One night, Ken was following his friend home on his motorcycle when he watched his friend get hit by a truck and die. He heard God speak to him then about how salvation doesn’t always come at the last minute. Even after this, he continued to do drugs and live a Godless lifestyle. It wasn’t until after his drug problem finally came to light and he was at rock bottom that he accepted Christ.

Shortly after that, and after rehab, Ken moved to Reading, PA to pursue a job opportunity. He was then led to Glad Tidings where his love for ministry was first sparked. His mission statement for ministry is “from entertainment to ordainment”– getting people from just being entertained in church, to getting involved in ministry.

Today, Ken’s job is getting in contact with people who attend Glad Tidings for the first time. His career was centered on cold calling people and making sales calls. This expertise certainly comes in handy as he “cold calls” people in the community who have attended GT and may need help and prayer.

I’ve heard Ken’s story before at GT but I was struck again by the amount of generosity, faith and humility displayed in his story. About a year ago, Ken donated his kidney to a total stranger. This donation started a chain reaction where other people donated a kidney to others who were matches. After watching a clip of news coverage about his story, Ken began to cry because the coverage didn’t tell “God’s story”. What an amazing example of Christ-like love and compassion!

Jess Bousa

Life story: From New Jersey. Goal was to become a BMX rider. Wasn’t fulfilled by it. There are some things that are not designed to fulfill us. Let drugs and alcohol into his life. Started to use and sell drugs right out of high school. Got arrested 15 times in 3 years. Went to Teen Challenge instead of prison. Hated being in T.C. “Had more issues than TIME magazine”. God started to work in his life while at T.C. Found himself in an intense discipleship program. Helped shape his views on discipleship. God called him to be a pastor in T.C. Came to VFCC right out of T.C.

Started Good Cause Foundation first. www.Serveagoodcause.org Baby showers, birthday parties, groceries, etc.

In what way did your experience in T.C. prepare you for church planting? Helped to gain a biblical foundation, but not much more than that. Prep for church planting came from real-life experience.

Bob Hulett

From New York, grew up Catholic. Parents were not saved. Dad spent 10 years in jail. Got saved and came to VFCC. Graduated in ’84. Father was saved and called to pioneer a church at 50 yrs. old. He met wife at VFCC. Pastored in Pittsfield. Was in upstate New York for 12 years. Worked at a church in Florida for 8 years. Transitioned the church from “revival mode” to “discipleship mode”. He resigned and ended up planting a church in Downingtown.

What kinds of techniques do you plan on carrying to your new church from the church in Florida?

Discipleship will be the same. Found that when you get in to making things, get too detailed. Going to tailor phase 1 but keep most of it. Community service will be paramount. Started Teacher’s Helper where they brought lunch to the teachers in the school district. Going to do that at the school in Downingtown. Will identify a need in the community and fill it. Big influence in the school district.

Daniel McNaughton

Background: Dad was a pastor. Had a major faith crisis at 14 where he went through some things that made him question if there was a God. Then met God in his backyard and God changed him. Went to his pastor and asked “if there is a God, then why is my mom so ill?” (She was bipolar) and “How do you know that the Bible is God’s word?” His response was that he thought he needed to repent, pray and turn back to God. He left there an agnostic because he couldn’t “just believe”. Felt that that part of his life was a very dark time. Played basketball to have something to live for because he thought there was no God. When he met the Lord, he didn’t want to be in a place where basketball was “the god”. He wanted to go somewhere where he could meet Christian people and know God. He got a scholarship. He met his wife there and found a good foundation.

Coming to Christ: Went through a massive depression because nothing would satisfy. He decided that life was no longer worth living. He had some powerful experiences growing up in the church. He wanted to take two months to find a God and if he didn’t find Him, he would commit suicide. After two months of searching, he still hadn’t found anything. At the end of the two months he went to a revival where a faith healer was present. Had a torn hamstring. Went up to see if he could be healed. When he was about 4 feet away from the minister he smelled alcohol on his breath. When he got a little closer he knew that the minister was a bisexual. He felt that there was no God. On the way home he decided that he was going to tell his brother about his plan. His brother was very upset and didn’t help him. He was outside trying to determine where he was going to kill himself. Then he had a thought “if there is a God and I’m going to see him soon, I want to be able to say ‘I looked for you and I didn’t find you’”. He looked up into the sky and said, “If there’s a God, let me know”. The presence of God descended. It started to rain even though there were no clouds. The Lord spoke to him and said “those are my tears, I’m hurting because you’re hurting.” He immediately wanted Christian friends and wanted to be around people. He said, “I’m going to pray for these people and they need to be saved before I leave high-school”. He prayed for them and looked for opportunities and they began to come to the Lord. By the end of the year there were 35 students in the high school who came to the Lord.

What is a disciple? “A disciple is one who learns to do what Jesus does.”

George Krebs

George Krebs didn’t grow up in church. At 12 or 13 he went to a church and felt very uncomfortable and didn’t come back to church for a while. Later, a friend in high school got saved and offered a comforting and non-confrontational approach to the gospel. Although this piqued his interest, George didn’t come to the Lord until 19 when he saw a Billy Graham film on TV. Over the next few months, he got more involved with some Christian people who encouraged him to come to church. He became familiar with the pastor of his church who discipled him and helped him grow in the Lord

His philosophy on discipleship is that you must learn how to live out the gospel in order to be discipled. Discipleship through friendship vs. programming is the best way according to George. Also, you must be very proactive about discipleship. Just inviting someone over to talk doesn’t always work; you must seek the people out and make sure you spend time with them. Another phrase he used was “spiritual projects”. What he means by this is that you can’t disciple someone with a completion goal in mind, you have to love them as people.

He also shared with us a story about a man that he was able to disciple through friendship. It was really neat to hear a first-hand account of how that man came to Jesus through the George’s friendship and acquaintance with other Christian men.

I really appreciated George’s matter-of-fact approach to discipleship. No books, no formulas, no special recipes to make disciples, just the example of the gospels. It was very refreshing and probably the least intimidating example of discipleship I’ve seen this semester.

Some Thoughts About Church Marketing

Perhaps it’s unfair for me to vent my frustrations here as a part of my entry about Amanda, but I have to admit that I’ve been having a struggle with the way churches have begun marketing. I suppose I’ve been thinking about this all semester but during the last class it came to the forefront of my mind and tonight I became aware of my uncertainty about the subject even more.

My concern is that the time, energy and money applied to today’s modern church marketing just isn’t worth it. I can’t help but wonder, if the same amount of resources were applied to meeting people’s needs outside of the church walls would people come to know Jesus in a more rapid, more meaningful way?

I feel like this approach to drawing new attendees to the church is taking people who are curious about the gospel and turning them into “consumers”. Our approach becomes “how can I get this person in the door?” instead of “how can I show this person who Jesus is?” Now, I understand that the argument might be “well, you have to get them in the door before you can teach them about Jesus” But why can’t we just cut out all the fluff and reach people with the gospel the way Jesus did, without connection cards, café coupons, video announcements and suavely published bulletins, monthly newsletters, small group catalogues and e-mails?

Maybe the truth is that the way Jesus reached people just doesn’t work in this day and age. Personally, I don’t believe that. The way Jesus reached people was organic, gentile, personal and powerful. I don’t see any of those attributes expressed by today’s push to market churches. Even more upsetting is the fact that there is no reason why these attributes can’t be expressed or appreciated in today’s culture. So why do we choose to bombard people who are curious about the gospel? Do we even give them a chance to be curious about and in awe of Jesus or do we just make them curious about and in awe of our church?

Amanda Anderson

After an embarrassing encounter where I first mistook Amanda for her sister upon entering class, it was a pleasure to have her with us this evening.

Amanda grew up in the AG and eventually had a career at VFCC that was full of experiences and opportunities. Upon graduating with a Pastoral Ministries degree, Amanda meant to become an RD but God had other plans. She ended up becoming an Administrative Assistant at the District Office for four years. After her time there, she transitioned to Christian Life Assembly of God.

Amanda says her biggest adjustment after graduation was realizing that she was entirely responsible for herself without accountability. She also found it challenging to be in an administrative position after spending four years in college studying something she didn’t feel matched up.

When she interviewed for her position at Christian Life Assembly, she recognized that the position being described wasn’t for her. When she explained what she was passionate about, it turned out they had exactly that position. She was eventually hired to the position and was able to shape it and make it what it is today.

Her official title at CLA is Connections Pastor. This means that she is in charge of the experience of new attendees, follow up on attendees who have been out of the church for a while and getting people connected to ministries in the church.

Amanda also shared with us about the process new people encounter when they first come to CLA. Guests are ushered to the Welcome Center where they are given a welcome bag, which includes vital information about the church’s layout as well as a coupon good for a free beverage and snack at the Café.

It seems like Amanda’s ministry as the Connections Pastor at CLA has been very effective. I admire her drive and passion for organization at the church. However, I have to admit that her visit with us this evening brought some thoughts to mind which I’ve written out in my next blog post.

Deb Bube

Deb came to Christ during high school. From there she went to Kutztown for a degree in elementary education. Later she volunteered at Glad Tidings in the preschool/kindergarten age group. When Tom Reese left Glad Tidings they asked Debbie to do children’s ministry on a part-time basis.

Debbie shared with us some of the lessons she learned early on in her ministry. Number one, working with volunteers has to be fun. Trying to have outside activities with the volunteers helps build relationships. After church, taking the volunteers to lunch also helps build relationships and develop the ministry.

Right now, her official title is Director of Leadership Development. Deb says one of the best ways to get volunteers into the pipeline is through the weekend services. Another way is to encourage current volunteers to bring friends with them to serve.

The motto at Glad Tidings for volunteering is SERVE. SERVE stands for “Share one vision, Embrace excellence, Recruit others, Value people and Experience growth”. They developed the idea by taking a look at businesses that have had success in the customer service area and modeling their motto after their example.

To the question “how many volunteers do you have at GT?” Deb answers “not enough”. They estimate that every week it would take about 900 people to get the job done at Glad Tidings. Right now, the children’s ministry alone has about 150 volunteers on any given weekend.

I was very impressed by the amount of organization present in the volunteering program at Glad Tidings. I can tell that a lot of hard work and creativity has gone into it. I think many churches could benefit from learning from the example of Glad Tidings. Their no pressure attitude and structured approach makes it very easy for people to feel comfortable volunteering at the church. I very much appreciated Deb’s time and what she shared with us in class.

I Am Mary Magdalene

Once I met Jesus, I couldn’t stop following Him. Like a moth, which sees the light of a flame and can’t fly away, I was caught up in His radiance. Many have speculated that I started following Jesus after being caught in adultery, when Jesus bent down and wrote in the sand to defend me. Others believe it was me who poured the fragrant oil from an alabaster jar over His body. I’ll leave these stories for you to make a decision about. History has determined not to reveal the identity of these women and so I too, will do the same. I would rather focus on the moments that the scriptures do have me present at.

Like I’ve said, following Jesus was like second nature to me. There was nothing He said that I didn’t long to understand further, to gain a deeper understanding of. I watched as He healed others like me; outcasts, people who were dying and already dead, sinners, scoundrels. They listened to Him too and followed Him.

I learned that leadership for Jesus wasn’t about being king (although He is), it was about being kind, gentile, meek and genuine-hearted. It was about telling the truth even when it was hard for some to understand and impossible to others. Jesus knew that some of His teachings would fall on deaf ears. He understood and volunteered for the risks involved in spreading such a controversial and counter-culture message – that He was the Messiah.

That message is what led to His suffering. The same deaf ears that refused to believe and understand His message crucified Him. There, Jesus died in my place, in your place. And it is here that the scriptures first make mention of me. I was one of the women who followed Jesus and ministered to Him on his way. The other women and I sat and watched from a distance as Jesus was tortured and put to death.

In His suffering, I saw the same qualities expressed from Jesus as I did in His teaching. He went to his death without complaint. The same meekness I had heard him speak about was now boldly displayed in the silence and obedience of his suffering. This lesson made a strong impression with me but it wasn’t the greatest lesson Jesus ever taught me. That lesson came three days later.

Jesus’ mother and I, along with some of the other women, prepared Jesus’ body for burial. After we had laid him to rest, I walked away with questions in my heart. It wasn’t that I questioned Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. Instead I wondered exactly how His ministry would continue now that He was gone. How would His prophecies be fulfilled? I remembered His words to Martha on the day her brother was raised from the grave, “I am the resurrection.” Those words haunted me now, crept into my thoughts in the midst of my grief like bright sparks in a dark room.

One morning I was making my way to the tomb when I noticed something was different. To my astonishment the tomb was empty. Peter, who was with me, bent down to peer inside. We were told by two men in dazzling white clothes that Jesus had risen, that He was alive! I am ashamed to say that I did not believe the men. I hardly believed Peter when he confirmed what they said by reporting the emptiness of the tomb. It took a long time before the reality set in.

Jesus was alive.

His promises were true.

He is the resurrection.

This was the greatest lesson of all – that Jesus was who He said He was. All the claims he made were made in truth and his teachings, promises and prophecies were real. It was easy to follow Jesus because He didn’t just tell the truth, Jesus is the Truth.

Tom Rees

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our first guest speaker was going to be our very own professor, Tom Rees. It isn’t very often that students get the opportunity to gain so much insight about the lives and testimonies of the people who will be instructing them for the next three months and lucky for us, Tom has an amazing testimony of God’s leadership and provision for his family. He also has a fresh perspective and knowledge of church leadership and disciple making.

Tom felt the effects of an unstable home life at an early age when his parents divorced and his father disappeared from his life. Throughout the years, two other “dads” came into and left his life, both leaving behind a wake of tragedy. The first father, a Vietnam helicopter pilot, was killed overseas and later the second father was discovered to be a man with another family as well as a mistress. Happily, shortly after the fallout between the family and the most recent “dad”, Tom’s mother found Jesus and committed her life to the Lord.

Tom’s mother was diligent in seeking salvation for her son, often encouraging him to sit in front of the television and watch Billy Graham crusades. It wasn’t until some time later that Tom found some tracts in a record store and shoved them into his pockets to give to his mother later. A few weeks went by and one day on the train, Tom rediscovered those tracts. After reading through them he realized the truth about God’s grace. Shortly thereafter he and his mom began attending a charismatic Catholic church and later found a home at a local Assemblies of God congregation.

Through the years Tom has gained training and experience in church leadership through various partnerships with AG churches and organizations. Because of his current position at Glad Tidings in Reading, I was interested in his point of view on church size. I have recently gone through a church-search of my own which raised questions about different models of churches. So my question for Tom was, “What is your church size philosophy?” His answer to that was,

“My feeling is that you need to provide multiple connection points for people. There are people who tell me they love coming Saturday night because it’s smaller. I have to be careful with that because people say it is a non-growth philosophy. I’m not anti-numbers. I want to grow because I’m reaching lost people, not because I’m taking other believers from other churches.”

What Tom said about connection points really stood out to me. He makes a good point that the size of the church doesn’t matter as long as you are truly reaching people where their needs are, including their need for a place to minister.

Listening to Tom’s story and having the opportunity to interact with him was certainly a treat. I know that we will learn many things from him as the semester progresses.