Author Archives: Lane Corley
Words Matter
“You’ll probably end up in jail one day!”
I’ve taught classes in our local jail for 3 years now. I ask every class, approximately 70 men at a time, how many heard the above statement as a child. Every time 33%+ raise their hands. Unscientific. But if we could have added positive words of affirmation and/or Gospel centeredness to these lives, would things have gone differently before now. Can’t help but ask that.
- “I’m proud of you!”
- “God’s going to use you!”
- “I love you!”
- “You’re doing great!”
- “Jesus, loves you!”
- “I’m praying for you.”
These are words that shaped my mind and heart as a boy and I still love to hear them today. Trying to say them as many times as I can to my boys at home, to my new friends at our local jail, and to young boys that we’re hoping to get started in a mentoring program at local multi-housing complexes and to anyone else that will listen.
I also remember other words as well. In the 4th grade I tried out for basketball and didn’t make the team. I still remember the smell in the room, the sounds around me, and everything about that moment when the coach said, “YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH THIS YEAR!” She was right. And it inspired me to start practicing and better my game before try outs the next year. But HARSH and CARING words can both stick with us and shape our futures.
Proverbs 21:18 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”
What words have shaped you? Are you passing them on to others? Are you passing on death or life to those around you with your words?
Discipleship = Relationship + Mission
One way we see New Testament Christianity framed in the ministry of Christ is in the connection between relationship and mission.
Mark 3:14 says,
“he (Jesus) appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him (RELATIONSHIP) and he might send them out to preach (MISSION).”
Then speaking to his post-resurrection followers, Jesus says in John 20:21-22,
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (MISSION). And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit'” (RELATIONSHIP).
Then before ascending to heaven, he gave his followers their marching orders for the rest of time in Matthew 28:19-20,
“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 all that I have commanded you (MISSION). And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age (RELATIONSHIP).”
To be in RELATIONSHIP w/Jesus, means to be listening to His voice through regular time with Him and to be empowered by and dependent upon His presence and not our own strength. To be ON MISSION w/Jesus means to continue His work of teaching, proclaiming, healing, having compassion, and sending (see Matthew 9:35-38) and walking in obedience to Him.
We must have both to have a robust, growing, multiplying faith and church. At times in my life, I’ve lived with one without the other. Emphasizing only relationship meant for me becoming a Sunday morning Christian. Making Christianity only about knowing the Bible and being at Christian events. Eventually RELATIONSHIP will dry up and Christianity will become RITUAL and RELIGION. Our relationship with Christ, will lead us to be ON MISSION with Him. Charles Spurgeon may have said it best when he said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”
I’ve also emphasized MISSION at the expense of RELATIONSHIP in my Christian life, leading to frustration and near burnout as I try to do God’s work in man’s strength, or legalism as I try to DO MORE for God, SO THAT I can be an acceptable Christian. His Mission can only be accomplished in His power. It was that power that turned the frightened, locked away disciples into a missionary force that turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). And only Christ makes us ACCEPTABLE to God. There is nothing more that we can do to deal with our sin or the worlds. Christ finished the work. Our only task now is intentional obedience, surrender, and dependence upon Him for this mission.
So, are you in RELATIONSHIP w/Christ? If so, are you ON MISSION w/Christ in this world? Healthy disciples grow as these two collide. Church leader, does your church provide opportunities for developing a healthy relationship with Christ as well as opportunities to be on His mission in the world?
This weekend, our church will hold our second Faith in Action Sunday of 2012. Every time there is a 5th Sunday in a month (four times per year) we take the weekend and provide opportunities for people to be on mission in our community. It’s been a great way to emphasize sending and mission among our community of disciples. Check out more info and our Faith in Action itinerary at bridgenorthshore.com/faith-in-action.
The New, Old Way of Movement Making
Recently traveled back through the book of Acts in conjunction with reading Thirty Years that Changed the World by Michael Green. A lot of work, volumes of books, rants and raves, doctoral dissertations, op eds, and more are being produced about the decline in American Christianity. I’m always struck by the simplicity of early Christianity. Here’s 4 things that jumped out at me that I want to personally lean in on in the coming months:
1. Disicpling: Relationships being built around an open Bible. It all started/starts with people gathered around the Word of God.
2. Faith in Action: Relationships being built around a ministry/mission or the needs of others. Growing Christians in Acts and today are others focused and mission driven. Follow the lives of early Christians in Acts and the first decades beyond and you’ll be struck by the incredible capacity for meeting needs. From pastoral care within to church planting in other regions, evangelistic campaigns, responding to disaster.
3. Apostolic Networking: New Relational tracks being established for the Gospel to run on. The big “A” Apostles established networks for the Gospel to take root. Today, with the declining influence of “the Church” and “the Bible says it” not being a good enough answer, we need new apostolic leaders to establish relational tracks with community leaders, neighborhood “elders,” Christianity’s critics, government agencies. Deeper than invitations to invocate at events, but to establish beach heads for the gospel to spread. More on this must be developed. Alan Hirsch’s newest book The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century is a long look at this. Also, check out his Christianity Today article from a few years back, “Where have all the APE’s gone?”
4. Multiplication: More people in more places doing 1, 2, & 3.
And they did it without manuals, conferences, podcasts, computers. May the Holy Spirit stir such simplicity in us.
“Prove it!” 9 Truths About the Resurrection
“he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Peter 1:3
About the Resurrection:
- 300+ verses in the New Testament testify to & assume the resurrection happened.
- It was not resuscitation. Jesus had a new body & new life that was indestructible.
- It was a physical body. Jesus was able to be hugged (Matthew 28:9), He ate & drank (Luke 24:30), & He invited Thomas to touch his hand & side (John 20:27).
- Prove it: There were at least 500 witnesses, there was never a body produced, there was no clear argument presented against the fact, & the lives of people were transformed.
- We can now have NEW LIFE & LASTING CHANGE. The Bible calls this REGENERATION. 1 Peter 1:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17
- We can now have RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD. Ephesians 2:1,6; Romans 4:25
- We can now have REAL TIME ACCESS to God. Romans 8:11; Hebrews 7:23-25
- We can now have LIFE FOREVER. 2 Corinthians 4:14
- Without the Resurrection preaching is useless, faith is useless, our sins still remain, & we have no hope of life (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 19)
Being a Christian is about living out resurrection power. What does you life prove about Christ?
A Disciple is: Self-Feeder, Easy-Bleeder, Passionate-Breeder
Loved this statement of values and definition of discipleship by a new church out west:
…a community bent on extending God’s Kingdom by building relationships that point to Jesus.
— Impacting our culture outside the church walls.
— Going into the world and Serving those in need.
— Invading secular space by gathering at beaches, coffee houses, parks, homes etc.
We Value… growing, worshipping and serving in community and making disciples who are…
- Developing habits that bring us to maturity in Christ
- Practicing accountability in the area of personal growth
2. Easy-Bleeders (Sacrificing self for others)
- Involving ourselves in social justice endeavors
- Participating in missional opportunities…serving the poor and needy
3. Passionate-Breeders (Multiplying God’s kingdom)
- Going into the world, engaging our culture to build relationships that point to Christ
- Making disciples who make disciples
Agreed! Praying for more Self-Feeders, Easy-Bleeders, Passionate-Breeders.
via Dave Devries.
On Multi-Site Church
Our Church Multiplication Network Round-tabled this week about multi-site church. We learned from local practitioners 
Woodland Park Baptist, Hammond and Celebration Church. Most of the q’s were practical, not theological, which may demonstrate that this trend is becoming more mainstream as research is showing. As a church planter and strategists, I love multi-site, because it’s the heart of New Testament church growth: MULTIPLICATION, OFF-CAMPUS MULTIPLICATION. Here’s a few big takeaways and some of the resources that we shared:
- “We took this journey on our knees” ~ Pete Charpentier, Pastor of Woodland Park Baptist in Hammond
- “We just didn’t believe the best use of our resources was to build a bigger building”~ Peter Charpentier
- “We’re doing this because God said ‘Go and make disciples'” ~ Pete Charpentier
- Multi-Site has a 90% success rate.
- Only 20% of Multi-Site expressions are video based.
- “We never use the word ‘merger.’ Adoption is a better term” ~ Craig Ratliff, Celebration Church, St. Bernard
- Multi-site churches now outnumber Mega-churches in North America.
Resources on Multi-Site:
- Multi-Site Church Road Trip – Leadership Networks Multi-Site Church Website.
- Gospel Coalition Video: Multi-Site, Yea or Nay? Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald debate multi-site church.
- 9 Marks Journal Devoted to the Issue of Multi-Site. Helpful articles for and against, theologically and practically.
- Ed Stetzer’s Summary of the 9 Marks Journal Multi-Site issue. From 160 pages down to 4.
- The Multi-Site Church Planting Strategy by Tom Cheyney, Director of Mission for the Greater Orlando Baptist Association.
- Multi-Site Church Survey by Leadership Network. Ton of great info here.
- Should Your Church Go Multi-Site? Great worksheet by Leadership Network to assess readiness to go Multi-Site.
- Pete Charpentier has blogged about his personal journey through multi-site. Find his posts here.
- The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, Warren Bird
- Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers by Ed Stetzer, Warren Bird
- Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less by Dave Browning
- Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement by Dave & Jon Ferguson
- One Church Many Congregations: The Key Church Strategy by Tim Ahlen & Lyle Schaller
And I appreciate what one of the initial innovators and author of The Multi-Site Church Revolution Geoff Surratt recently wrote as a caution. Find his post here.
Multisite is a great tool for some churches to fulfill their God-given mission. It is not, however, the right direction for many or even most churches. Multisite can be a drain on leadership and budgets, it can feed an already overfed pastor ego and it can be very difficult to undo. (Once a site is launched it is really hard to un-launch.)
For a church that is experiencing rapid growth, or has a God-inspired passion for a unique outreach into an underserved community, multisite is brilliant way to expand the Kingdom. But for a church that is just looking for a new growth curve or the next big thing multisite is a terrible idea. It is never a good idea to attempt to give birth when you aren’t pregnant.
“If the church was worth His blood, is it not worth our labor?” ~John Stott
“…God Himself thought they were worth dying for.” Acts 20:28 (The Message Paraphrase)
“Feed and shepherd God’s flock—HIS CHURCH, PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders” Acts 20:28 (New Living Translation)
Many people don’t have much for churches anymore. Thank God that He did.
The Crux: Christ vs. Human Emotions
Defined as the essential point requiring a resolution or resolving an outcome. Crux is latin for Cross. Every time we use or hear hear this phrase we’re referencing the essential point of God’s plan for the world that demands a resolution from each of us.
What do you emphasize as the essential point of your spiritual life? When it comes to spirituality there’s a few things I think I’ve made the CRUX instead of the cross:
Last post we dealt with Christ’s Cross vs. our Human performance.
Here’s another: Human Emotions. We often let our feelings tell us what’s true or false about God, the Gospel, ourselves, and others. God made us emotional beings and emotions can be a very positive force in our spiritual growth and fruitfulness as we experience God and the needs of others. But if allowed to be THE CRUX they can send us on roller coasters and hard crashes and ups and downs in relationships with God and others. Emotions drive our decision making in today’s world. Our modern ethic is based on three emotional pillars: 1) It seems right at the moment. 2) Everyone else is doing it. 3) It feels good. The common refrain today is “Follow your heart.” But the Bible says that the heart is easily deceived, wicked, and unkno//,wable (Jeremiah 17:9).
Here’s what happens if we allow our feelings to be the point:
- We feel unvalued and cared by God and others. “Where was God when…?” “Everybody is so unfriendly at the church.” “Everybody talks about me.” The way we feel becomes a lens by which we see everyone and everything.
- We live inconsistent spiritual lives, because discipline and consistency of action seldom feels good to the flesh. There has to be more to motivate you than warm and fuzzy feelings if you’ll grow and continue a certain way of life. Imitation is what Jesus desires, not just inspiration. “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” Luke 9:23.
- We’ll be often defeated by temptation because we’ll choose the easy way instead of the right way.
Here’s the Crux: The Gospel and it’s events (the death and resurrection of Christ) remain unaffected by whatever you’re feeling at the moment. And Jesus died to give us more than the warm fuzzy’s. He died that we may know REAL LIFE, POWER OVER SIN, AND LOVE THAT KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES. The cross of Christ stands as a constant reminder of HIS value and love and desire for us, no matter what. If Christianity is about what others think, what I feel, or what someone else may say, we miss the point.
Bridge Church is in the midst of a series of sermons on the Cross called The Crux. Gather with us Sunday’s, 10:30am at the West St. Tammany YMCA.
A Little Faith in Action This Week
This week we’ll be partnering with Covington’s Boy & Girls Club to paint their new building on Columbia Street in Covington. The
Boys & Girls club has never had it’s own facility in Covington and now they will be taking over the former Habitat Restore. A great location near the West 30’s, but much work is needed. Come by this week if you can give some time to painting and demolition. The Covington Boys & Girls Club provides a vital service to a neighborhood with many latch key and fatherless kids. Opportunities to tutor, mentor, volunteer in other ways abound.
We’ll also be partnering with the new mixed income apartment complex called
The Groves at Mile Branch in the West 30’s for an Outdoor Movie Night. Hoping to provide a fun night for residents to connect and cultivate relationships. And the Groves management hopes to use its state of the art space to help kids in the entire neighborhood.
We’ll also continue our Bus Stop Buffet’s, serving through giving away breakfast bars etc. at several multi-housing communities.
On Fruitful Ministry to the Poor
[New Audio] is up at Northshorebaptists.net from our most recent Compassion Network Meeting. Randy Poole from Mississippi River Ministries explores the subject of poverty and understanding different economic worldview’s in the context of ministry. Get the audio on Itunes or at our website.
Here’s a few big takeaways from part 1:
- Fruitful ministry to the poor happens when we see them as God sees them and understand how they see themselves.
- Every economic worldview has good and destructive things within them.
- The church typically doesn’t reach out to the rich b/c we think we have nothing to offer them. And we don’t reach out to the poor b/c they have nothing to offer us.
- Evangelicalism is a middle-class phenomenon and we’ve made ministry about moving people from poverty to the middle class.
Check out the audio. It will make you think about your churches ministry to people at the different income levels.
Lane Corley 