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.