Author Archives: Lane Corley
#Outreach Idea: Gift Baskets for Teacher’s Lounges
We often hear laments about churches not being able to “get into the schools.” Most of the time, we’re trying to get in on our terms instead of thinking of ways to be a blessing (see Matthew 5:16, Philippians 2:3-4). We found one way that is enthusiastically accepted 100% of the time at our local schools: stuffing gift baskets full of goodies for teacher’s lounges at the beginning of the school year, holidays, & end of school. Snacks, healthy & not so healthy. Homemade baked goods. Office supplies & teacher gear. And always with a note of encouragement.
What are other ways that you or your church have been a blessing to your local schools?
WHAT IF every teachers lounge was filled with encouragement from local churches all year long?
Texas Hill Country On Mission Family Retreat
Spent a great few days at Uno Mas Ranch in Bandera, TX, last week retreating with our family, a few families from our church, & connecting with a great church plant in the City of San Antonio called The Well Community Church. Since we want EVERYONE to have the opportunity to be on mission & about 40% of our congregation is under 10, we’re trying to provide opportunities for families with small kids to participate in mission trips & retreat type events together. Uno Mas Ranch was the perfect place. Hope to make this an annual trip!
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- Texas Hill Country scenery provides a great backdrop for connecting with God.
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- Uno Mas Ranch raises beautiful whitetail deer.
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- Also have some exotics like these Oryx roaming the ranch.
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- Boone & Crocket Math Nightmare.
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- Check out The Well Community Church in San Antonio with Church Planter Jonathan Griffin.
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- Jonathan connected us with a great project for our families to get on mission together.
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- Unforgettable sunsets every evening at Uno Mas Ranch.
Point Forward with Acts of Service
Through our lives, Jesus is showing the world the kind of king he is and the nature of the kingdom he rules. As his servants, we point forward with our acts of service to a far better world where Jesus’s rule will be experienced everywhere. Every one we serve experiences a taste of life in the kingdom.
Jeff Vanderstelt in Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life
>> Check out my Previous post about Saturate.
Resources for Helping Sons Discover Manhood
My boys turn 13 & 9 this Summer. They’re moving on up the ladder of adolescence & I feel the clock ticking toward their release into the world like never before. I’m an imperfect parent at best & crave resources to help me be intentional in guiding them toward spiritual maturity. A couple of good books that I’ve found helpful in guiding conversations, especially with Jack as he enters the teen world:
The Manual to Manhood: How to Cook the Perfect Steak, Change a Tire, Impress a Girl, & 97 Other Skills You Need to Survive by Jonathan Catherman. Born out of experience raising sons, Catherman’s Manual gives boys a good place to find answers to questions that they don’t know they need to ask, as well as providing some good conversation starters for father-son or even mother-son talks.
I’ve already bought several copies of this for young men I know without Dad’s at home as well. Look around. They’re out there. And you can make a difference in their lives with a little attentiveness & encouragement.
The Two-Minute Drill to Manhood: A Proven Game Plan for Raising Sons by John Croyle. Now, for us LSU fans, you have to ignore some Alabama bravado, as Croyle & his sons are Crimson Tide alum, but the content is great. The outline for this book – M.A.N.H.O.O.D – has given me a great guide to talk to my son Jack about what it means to be a man.
- M = MASTER
- A = ASK & LISTEN
- N = NEVER COMPROMISE
- H = HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS
- O = ONE PURPOSE
- O = ONE BODY
- D = DON’T EVER, EVER, EVER GIVE UP
Talking through one of these on weekly evening runs with Jack this Summer.
Of course, the best resource you can give as a parent is TIME. Nothing replaces attentiveness, devotion, discipline, & genuine interest. Tools can help us as well. So if one of these fits you. I’d highly recommend.
Any other suggested resources on moving sons from boyhood to manhood?
Engage Acadiana
Spent some time this week with Lafayette area Church Planters. Great need for new churches in Southwest Louisiana, affectionately known as Acadiana:
>> Population of ACADIANA (Acadia, Evangeline, Gulf Coast, Bayou Associations): 675,207 
>> Only 1.8% attend a SBC church
>> Evangelical population only 9%
>> 229,049 unaffiliated with any church
>> Population of EVANGELINE ASSOCIATION (Lafayette area) – 404,977
>> Only .9% of the population or 3,806 attend Bible Study in a SBC church.
>> Only 1.6% or 6,649 attend Worship in a SBC church.
>> 46 SBC churches – 1 church to every 8,803 persons. Our goal is 1 to 2800. NAMB suggests 1 to 2,000.
Planters, Partners needed.
Quotable: “When it comes to religion, the crowds are always wrong” #Tozer #devo
Timely:
History shows clearly enough that true spirituality has never at any time been the possession of the masses. Wherever Christianity becomes popular, it is not on its way to die–it has already died. Popular Judaism slew the prophets and crucified Christ. Popular Christianity killed the Reformers, jailed the Quakers and drove John Wesley into the streets. When it comes to religion, the crowds are always wrong. At any time there are a few who see, and the rest are blinded. To stand by the truth of God against the current religious vogue is always unpopular and may be downright dangerous. The historic church, while she was a hated minority group, had a moral power that made her terrible to evil and invincible before her foes. When the Roman masses, without change of heart, were made Christian by baptism, Christianity gained popularity and lost her spiritual glow. From there she went on to adopt the ways of Rome and to follow her pagan religions. The fish caught the fisherman, and what started out to be the conversion of Rome became finally the conversion of the church.
What’s So Great About the Great Commission?
Hudson Taylor, missionary to China in the 1800’s, may have been the one to popularize the term Great Commission for Jesus’ last command to his followers on earth.
Matthew 28:18-20 HCSB – “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always,to the end of the age.”
What’s so great about it? For starters:
- Jesus said it. This is a directive straight from the master himself. And it’s the last words he left with his followers. It’s clearly what he wanted the cause of our lives to be as his people.
- It’s repeated in all four gospels. The four gospels vary on a lot of details about the life of Jesus. And few things are mentioned in all four. The Great Commission is one of them, telling us that this statement left an indelible mark on his followers & served as a highlight of Jesus’ teaching
- If we do it, people are changed for eternity. Obedience to the great commission means communicating the gospel which will result in people being included in eternal life in Heaven forever. Neglect means the opposite.
- Jesus did it & so did his first followers. If we want to follow the example of Christ & the early church, we’ll busy ourselves with going, making disciples, baptizing, & teaching.
- If you’re a Christian today, it’s because someone else took it seriously.
But the real question is: Do I live like this commission is GREAT? Do I take it seriously? Does my church take it seriously? Unfortunately, many of us as Christians LIVE like the Great Commission is NO BIG DEAL.
How can we make Jesus’ commission GREAT?
- Get serious about how to be & make disciples. Check out Robby Gallaty’s book Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples.
- Give to & pray for those who are making disciples.
- Take responsibility for your home, neighborhood, & work place.
- Use your gifts to serve through a local church that is purposing to make disciples.
- Pray for those around you & look for opportunities to start conversations about the gospel.
Reach Out to Families at Local Festivals with this #Outreach Idea
Wherever you’re planting, you MUST connect with local festivals in some way. Festival outreach allows you to:
- Connect with local community leaders who are organizing the festival. These people need to know you care.
- Puts you out where people are already gathering, so part of your work is done. (Three keys to church planting: GATHER, GATHER, GATHER).
- Demonstrates that you are FOR the community & want to be a part of local culture making.
- Have a little fun with your team.
- & more.
Our community has a rich festival culture, so we’ve found a number of ways to serve over the last 10 years. Best advice:
- Go on their terms. Ask what’s needed first. First year, just be a volunteer & get to know the festival.
- Second or third year, you’ll know better if you can add something unique to what the festival offers.
This was the fourth year that our church helped out with the 4th of July Celebration in our area & we were able to offer a new idea based on the needs of our community & dynamics of the festival.
Need: There are a ton of families with small children in our community & no changing tables in the festival area. This is true of most festival areas by the way.
Solution: Baby Changing & Cooling Station. Gear from our Church Nursery, Wipes, Diapers, Juice boxes, snacks, connection cards, newsletter sign up page. Less than $100 to meet a great need & make some great connections.
#WorthReading – Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life
I first learned of the Soma movement like most everyone else, through this video that was widely shared 4 years ago. Jeff Vanderstelt & his church embodied the refreshing approach & rhythm that many of us were looking for in this new age of ministry engagement. Missional Communities. Later that year I got to hear him speak at Exponential in Orlando, FL & then at the Verge Conference in Austin, TX. Our church plant has utilized the Soma resources on Storying called the Story Formed Way, the Story of God for Kids curriculum, & followed the movement as we’ve sought new ways to engage the unreached in our communities. And now, Jeff Vanderstelt has finally given us the full story in this book. The content is great of course, but the thing I’ve come to appreciate most about Vanderstelt & the Soma story is that you come away believing that EVERYBODY can do this. This is ministry that’s real, raw, & DOABLE. More than techniques, Saturate helps you see the open doors in your current everyday life to begin making disciples & bringing glory to Jesus. Simple. Reproducible. Inspiring. Read it & jump in to life on mission. This book is going to stay close by my desk for awhile. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
God’s intent was never to have us define church merely as an event on Sunday. We don’t go to church. We are the church sent out into the world.- Jesus didn’t live, serve, suffer, and die so we could just attend a Christian event. He lived and died so we could become his people who are sent into every part of the world on his behalf.
- out on mission, the need for grace and power from God will never be more clearly manifested. We have to get out on mission to fulfill the mission of being disciples who make disciples.
- Through our lives, Jesus is showing the world the kind of king he is and the nature of the kingdom he rules. As his servants, we point forward with our acts of service to a far better world where Jesus’s rule will be experienced everywhere. Every one we serve experiences a taste of life in the kingdom.
- If you are a child of God and a servant of King Jesus, you have been sent into the world as his missionary with the same spirit that sent and empowered Jesus.
- life is the program, because people need to see what it means to follow Jesus in the everyday stuff of life.
- if it isn’t messy here and there, you are likely not yet on mission.
- everyday stuff, done with gospel intentionality in the name of Jesus, changes lives.
More Thursday….
I-20 Church Planting Connections:
Eight Church Planting Network Luncheons this Summer across Louisiana. Got to connect with some great I-20 Church Planting partners last week:
>> Open Road Fellowship in Haughton with Raymond Wilkinson. Reaching motorcycle enthusiasts in NW Louisiana.
>> The Warrior Network with Trey McGuire. Reaching airmen in the Shreveport Bossier area. Incredible new ministry that hopefully will multiply into other areas.
>> The Covenant Church with planter Luke Allen. Great plant started in 2010 meeting in Downtown Shreveport & doing an incredible job reaching millenials. .
>> The Crossing Church in Monroe with Jarrod Hawthorne & Kendrick Banks.
>> The Circle Church cranking up this year in Alexandria, LA with Vincent Smith & Casie Dunn Smith. Great team coming together! This is going to be good!
>> First West Fairbanks with Chad Merrell continues to go strong in their 5th year. Great revitalization & multiplication story at Fairbanks –http://ow.ly/P8L8c.
>> North Hills Church in Calhoun with Planter/Pastor Jon McCartney. Great plant sponsored by Cedar Crest Baptist Church.
>> Tommy Smith is the new pastor of North Monroe Baptist Church’s Bastrop campus. Great multiplication story going on at North Monroe. Grateful for Bill Dye & his leadership. Next Generate Conference is in the works for 2016 – http://ow.ly/P8KGv.
>> Also, grateful for our I-20 DOM’s Jerry Price & Lane Moore for their support of church planting in their regions. Great things to come for the I-20 communities.
Four more Church Planting Network Luncheons still to go this month. Get connected!
Lane Corley 
