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What if people DESIRED church like chicken McNuggets?

Police: US woman punched McDonald's drive-through window because restaurant had no McNuggets. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100104/koddities/us_odd_mcnugget_arrest

 

Can you believe the thoughts of passion, desire, expectation, anticipation and stimulation that were occurring in this woman's mind over the idea that her McNuggets were coming soon?

Her emotions were so high that when she was met with the lack thereof and was forced to face the inevitable ("no McNugget for you") her only response was one of outrage and retaliation. 

Think about it for a moment. As church leaders, this MUST be our goal! When people come to our churches, we must serve up such an appetite-pleasing, palate-soothing, spiritual experience that they hunger to come back again!

I remember some years ago telling our staff, "We must create such incredible worship experiences and encounters with God that our worship events would become crave-able." If people aren't craving what we are feeding, they won't drive through again. Instead, they will seek fulfillment elsewhere. So, the question is:

Are your worship experiences creating such passion and spiritual appetites that they are crave-able? If not...  WHY NOT?

5 Musts for Multi-Ethnic Churches

Being ethnically diverse is at the heart of who Cornerstone is and why we do church the way we do. On more than one occasion we’ve been asked how we maintain such a multi-ethnic congregation. We have found there are 5 "musts" for any church that wants to be multi-ethnic:

1.   You must have conviction.

2.   You must have intention.

3.   You must have education.

4.   You must have adaptation.

5.   You must have exclusion.

The first must is conviction. Breaking ethnic barriers must be a conviction your church carries. Miriam-Webster defines conviction as a “strong belief.” You must strongly believe that:

-   God’s desire is that His church be multi-ethnic

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations (people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

-   Not being multi-ethnic in approach is a sin

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism…if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin...You are guilty of breaking the law.  James 2:1 & 9 (NIV/NLT)

-   Multi-ethnic unity reflects God’s love

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  John 17:23 (NIV)

Remember, conviction drives choices. In choosing to be a multi-ethnic church you must first have a conviction to be one.

100/80 Rule for Churches

We all have heard of the 80/20 rule. It finds itself into almost every facet of business and commerce. But what about the church?

As the pastor of a large multi-ethnic church, we are faced with many challenges. There is always a pull, a current to draw us to one extreme or the other. We intentionally stay in the middle of the cultural "fray" which means this, "Ain't nobody always happy." What I mean is this: I remind our church all the time of these 4 simple guidelines we abide by to "hold our peace."

1. We want 100% of the people to be 80% happy (Nobody gets their way all the time)
2. If you are not 80% happy, this is not the church for you (Go where everyone is like you)
3. You are only allowed to talk about the 80% you are happy with (NO COMPLAINING)
4. If you can't stop talking about the 20% you dislike, this is not the church for you. (Go where everyone complains like you)

Philippians 2:14 (GW)
Do everything without complaining or arguing.

Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

5 Great things to see on Sunday!

5 things I love to see on Sundays

1. Someone you have poured your life into... SOAR!
2. Children telling their parents they LOVE THEIR church
3. People reaching for the tissue under their seats
4. Conversations about the miracles God is doing
5. People from different nations, tribes & tongues, loving one another

I love to see these things because they are outward signs that a great God is moving on the inside!

Sunday UP!

• Great day, Great move of God (in spite of the rain)
• Worship Team was "on tight"
• Had (2) families come up and say they have been praying for years for a multi-ethnic church in town... I said "welcome home"
• Everyone very excited and still in shock about the vision of PRAY2K... http://www.pray2k.com/
• Can you say...momentum

We are in!

I can't believe we actually had our first service at our new campus! The public was not suppose to know yet, yea right! The staff and volunteers were insane in the way they prepared and worked to make it happen on time-it was unreal! Thank you guys. Your labor for the kingdom is motivating and incredible, you guys are the best!

The first service was awesome! It was off the chain. Things went better than we could ever imagine! People got saved, people were crying and God showed up big time!

I had an interview on the local radio show (that has 3 stations) and they are going to play a 30 second spot I recorded over the next 2 weeks for FREE. Can't wait till our big kick off on the 14th, it's going to be incredible!

IF... Everyday could feel like vacation

Today is the start of a wonderful time of the year... For me anyway, it's vacation time! Not vacation like I don't have to work, but vacation like... I'm not pressured. I take off the month of July from preaching and I have the opportunity to reboot, relax, and re-tune. I can actually sit back and ask a lot of "what if..." questions.

What if... We add a new service

What if... We add new staff

What if... We stop doing some things the way we do

What if everyday felt like vacation… I would be a lot more creative...