Like I was saying....

Tag: innovate (Page 2 of 2)

Follow Innovate08ers on Twitter

Here are a few ways to keep up with everyone who it twittering at Innovate 08. I’ve been keeping up even during the session and it was going nuts.

  • Innovate08 on Twitter
  • Innovate on Twitter
  • Granger on Twitter

There is a little overlap in some of them. But if you’re wanting an almost live feed, it’s about as close as you can get.

Innovate 08 :: Session 1- Mark Beeson

A quick upload of Session 1 notes. I’ll clean them up later.

Mark Beeson: Session 1: Stop Talking

  • Can we just be the Kingdom the next few days
  • God has you here for a purpose.
  • The church has not kept up w/ the population growth of America. But the church has talked and talked and talked. But maybe we should, as churches, stop talking and start doing.
  • Some of us have been in the ‘church bubble’ for so long that we have truly disengaged from a world in desperate need. So many of us have not experienced real poverty. Poverty of the spirit, economics, soul, mind. We forget there is an urgency and desperate need. And the world is waiting on us to stop talking, and start DOING something to help w/ those needs.
  • Sometimes we shift from acknowledging God for who He is and relying on His power to trying to tell God how things should be done.
  • What if we could get clarity on Truth and stop talking about it and do something about it.
  • “we know there are people and marriages zooming down the road towards disaster and we need to step in and do something instead of just talking about it.’
  • WHo wants to be balanced
  • You can’t move if you don’t lean. You have to lean to make progress. Lean into Christ, into the Word.
  • If you lean in you might fall down. YEAH
  • If you want safety, don’t lean into anything. You want success, you gotta lean into it.
  • Staff salaries have been frozen for a year as they lean into getting a grip on their economic issues.
  • There is a real danger out there. The church is on fire. The world is on fire. And the church is flapping its gums more than anything else. And marriages are going to be wounded, children hurt, lives crumble. And there is no one else lined up to do what God has called us to do.
  • The Gospel of Mark has an immediacy to its message. That word, that idea is repeated over and over. Mark was writing to a Roman culture.
  • Could our churches be an outpost of God to where they have impact on the natural order. In an immediate way.
  • We need to bring up there down here. That God is shown to our communities through the presence of our church.
  • The challenge is that we need to maybe boil the truth down  to where there is an immediacy to it. So people can digest and respond to the gospel.
  • BottomLine: We must immediately diagnose reality. The world is headed for a crash. We need to define an alternate path that leads to life. Do it with image and story bring it to bear on the desperate bottom line of our people. We need to wrap it in image and story to impact

Journey Bible Class @ Granger Community Church

Since I was here already, I figured I’d like to check out the GCC experience apart from the Innovate Conference. Since I won’t be here during a weekend service I wanted to check out one of the midweek Bible Classes. The guy who was working the front desk when I checked in [his name was Kyle] told me I should try Dr. Bob‘s class. He said Bob was a prof at Bethel College and a great teacher.

After I got in there, looked at his name again, it dawned on me: I know this guy! I mean, not personally, but I heard him teach at a youth weekend after my sophomore year in high school down in Mississippi. Small world, huh? I liked him then and I liked him now.

He taught on The Radical Jesus. And about how Jesus had radical grace. And He always chose grace over law. Here are a few points that were really good:

  • You love God exactly as much as you love the person you love the least. Meaning, who ever you love the least…that amount of love is how much you truly love God.
  • Jesus always chose people over policies.
  • We all exist in The Impossibility of Performance. Meaning we can never follow the rules well enough to always get it right. That’s why we need grace.
  • “Beware the anger of a patient man”
  • The Pharisees allowed the law to become their God.
  • Why is it easier to live by the law instead of by grace? Because it’s the safer choice. You don’t have to think. And it gives you a type of power (because you can look down on people who don’t follow the law well)
  • Gal 3:10 – “All who RELY on observing the law are under a curse.”

Well, I made it to Mishawaka

I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel. I can’t get in just yet. The guy behind the counter says he sees the rooms blocked out for us, but can’t view the individual reservations. Merissa who made the reservations isn’t here yet, but I called her and she won’t have any different info for him because she doesn’t have the confirmation number. So, I’m sitting in the lobby. Wondering if I should try to walk over to Notre Dame vs paying $12 for a taxi ride there.

Granger Community Church is just about a half mile down the road, so I could walk down there and check it out. There are actually some going on tonight. I might give one of those a go to check out some of the changes that GCC is undergoing. Or I might go to bed early since I probably got 3 hours of sleep and have been on planes or rushing to them all day.

I got up at 4. Showered. Ate a muffin. Left for Tupelo. Flew to Memphis for a 37 minute layover. That means I rushed around to my next gate. Then I flew to Detroit. There I had another 37 minute layover. Interesting. But then I flew to South Bend and got a taxi to this hotel. So I could use some time on a bed infront of ESPN or something like that. And you can’t beat this wifi either.

But I know I won’t do that. I’m travelling, baby! Can’t be still for too long.

OH, and if things look different now and then, it’s because I’m trying out some new themes around the ole blog.

Edit: A 3:45 I got into my room

Innovate Oh Ate! Here I come!

I’m pumped.

Next week I’m heading out to Indiana. I’ll fly into South Bend and then hitch a ride over to Granger, IN. I’ll be attending the Innovate 08 conference at Granger Community Church.

I had a friend that went last year and raved about it. And I read a few blogs of folks who had attended, and they said it was exceptional. My friend actually said, “It’s better than anything I’ve been to at Northpoint…” Those were some big words there.

So what am I looking forward to?

  • I’m looking forward to hearing Mark Beeson teach. He’s a gifted communicator and has pushed his church in so many creative ways. [I still find it interesting that he’s in a very “innovative” church, yet still preaches with a coat and tie each week. But hey, seems to be working for him!]
  • I’m looking forward to hearing Shawn Wood talk of their creative process of finding the sweet spot of who God created his church to be and who they are not. That way they are not trying to be a huge buffet of ministries, but being dang good at what they’re created to do.
  • Getting to hear Tim Stevens speak about recognizing and using culture to communicate the life changing truths of Jesus.
  • Maybe meeting Kem Meyer and Tim Stevens both.
  • Attending the Granger Film Festival where churches bring their best vids from the last year or so for a competition.
  • Hearing Rob Wegner speak his heart about missions and how to impact the local community for The Kingdom.
  • To be able to hear Kathy Guy speak on the small group strategies of GCC and how it makes a difference in their people. Might even get to grab lunch w/ her at some point.
  • Steven Furtick will tell the stories of how his church has had a wild growth as it’s barely 2 years old. And the struggles and processes they’ve gone trough. And I want to see his weird hair in person.
  • Plus, I hope to be able to walk around the campus of Notre Dame while I’m there too.
  • And there will be some good companions from The Orchard in Tupelo to be with.

I will have frequent updates and maybe some pics/video of stuff while I’m there. I’ll “take you along” so to speak.

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