Jul
03

The Power of Community

Posted under Connection Blog

Next Sunday, Pastor Nathan is going to be preaching on community.  I just wanted to show you a video that demonstrates what effect it has.  This is from our friends at Community Christian Church.

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
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Jul
02

Countdown to the Summer Connection ‘08

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 sc08b.jpg  July is upon us and that means we are less than two weeks away from the “Summer Connection ‘08″.  What class have you signed up for?  Are you taking a class with your entire small group? So many choices, so little time…..We do have 1 change to a class.  We are dropping the “Joshua” class and replacing it with “Chase the Lion”. 

in-a-pit.jpg  This is based on Mark Batterson’s book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day“.  The book is based on the scripture found in 2 Samuel 23: 20-21.  It is about a courageous person named Benaiah, who chased and killed a lion in a pit.  What would you do in that situation?  What if the life you really want, and the future God wants for you, is hiding right now in your problem, your worst failure….Your greatest fear?  Explore these ideas and more in this thought provoking class.  If I wasn’t teaching, this would be the class I would attend.  Mark Batterson will also be speaking at our upcoming “Group Life Conference“ on October 17th-18th.  He is a great communicator and Pastor up in Washington D.C.  He is also on our blogroll on our frontpage. 

 sundae1.jpg   So what are your kids excited about?  Is it the movie night on July 13th?  Is it the Water day on July 20th?  Messy Sunday has always been the favorite in the past.  It is on August 3rd.  This is a must attend event!  Do not wear your “Sunday Best” that night!!!  I personally am looking forward to the Ice Cream Social that will be on August 10th.  Getting the whole family together is what Cornerstone is all about!!!!  (Of Course, the free all you can eat Ice Cream is pretty good motivation…)

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
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Jun
26

Special Ops!

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group-pic-2.jpg         group-pic.jpg        group-pic-3.jpg        group-pic-4.jpg

What are your groups doing this summer?  I am proud that some of my group members were able to help out a missionary in need.  (Summer missions is a great way for groups to stay connected!)

 debbie-f.jpg  Debbie Farah and the Bajalia Trading Company Team needed our help with re-packaging of a shipment of Silver Cross bookmarks that were made by villages in China. Debbie works with missionaries in China who are trying to get women and children out of human trafficking. One of the ways they do this is by providing employment with a Christian organization that provides income for the people they are trying to reach (transformational development through sustainability).

We had over 30 people show up to help finish this project.  It was awesome to see the response of Cornerstone to this special need.  This was a great way to help meet a need and also introduce us to one of the missionaries that is coming to “The Amazing Race“.  A special thanks to Jim Green, Our Amazing Race Coordinator for putting this special event together.  Thanks to all who came out and helped with this “Special Ops” project! 

Need other ideas for staying connected this summer.  Click on the link at the top of the page that has the header Summer ‘08.  I hope you all are enjoying your summer.  I would love to know what you are doing as a group to stay connected….

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
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Jun
24

The Amazing Race

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ar_logo.jpg We are a little over three months away from  “The Amazing Race“.  Do you know what this is?  Do you know what your role is?  We  are currently organizing the Global Impact Celebration missions focus which will be launching in October. It is called the Amazing Race. Do you have a passion for missions or would you like to know more and feel God leading you to help with this ministry?

This celebration will be an opportunity for our church and our church body to establish relationships with our missionaries.  With this thought in mind, I thought I would share an article that helps define “Missions” and the small group role.  It is an interview with Alan Hirsch, who in my opinion is a modern day prophet for the missional church.  Here is the article:

 

Small Groups and the Mission of God
Alan Hirsch talks about the untapped potential of individuals and small-group communities.
Interview with Alan Hirsch

Alan Hirsch is an experienced church planter and the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network. His most recent book, The Forgotten Ways, represents an contemporary interpretation of the missional explosion of the early church and the recent house-church movement in China.

What does the term missional mean to you?

Well, that’s one of those very difficult terms because it’s so widely used. But for me, it primarily refers to a church that organizes itself around the mission of God, or the misseo dei, which refers to God’s involvement in the world—his redeeming it to himself. In The Forgotten Ways, I say that it’s not so much that the church has a mission, but that the mission has a church. So when I think of the term “missional church,” it’s in that order—that a church has somehow bonded itself or identified itself as a primary agent of the mission of God in the world.

What about the term organic?

Of course that one has been made famous by Neil Cole, but organic for me is the idea that human organizations—just like living systems—are made up of very complex structures, and they have a life of their own. It’s a term that’s in contrast to a more mechanistic view of organization. So when I refer to organic systems, I’m thinking of a type of leadership and organization that is closer to the rhythms and structures of life itself.

An organic church goes with the natural flow of things. It doesn’t try to perpetuate its life beyond what it’s meant to be, which is different than most organizations. Most organizations tend to assume that once they’ve been started, they need to be perpetuated continually.

In a general sense, how have you seen small groups fit into missional churches, or into communities with a more organic structure?

It’s interesting, in a number of the situations I know of where you’ve got very large churches beginning to adopt the movement ethos laid out in The Forgotten Ways, almost inevitably they see their small groups as a leverage point for a number of things. Discipleship, for example, can be best facilitated in a small group—if it’s well done—as can the idea of mission. Also, missional capacity and missional reach are very much higher in a small group than in a large building that requires people to come to you.

But I think the big switch for us will be to stop thinking of small groups as prop-ups to the “real deal,” weekend-based church. In reality, small groups are major elements of the church. In fact, they are themselves churches. And that’s the big switch. When people are able to see small groups as churches in and of themselves, therefore fully capable of doing all the functions of an ecclesia, then the revolution is on.

But if we keep them as just back-ups to keep people associated with a large church, then I think all we will do there is facilitate community and Bible study and prayer, but there can never be a multiplication movement at that point, because mission isn’t featured. Discipleship doesn’t really cut in very deeply there.

Speaking of The Forgotten Ways, you mention six elements of missional movements that have been present in your research. They are: 1) the profession that Jesus is Lord, 2) disciple making, 3) a missional/incarnational impulse, 4) an apostolic environment, 5) organic systems, and 6) communitas instead of community. Which of these elements connect the most with small groups?

First of all, “Jesus is Lord” is the central element around which all of the others gravitate. It’s the idea that our experience of God is qualified through Jesus, and that comes to us through the form of monotheism as a claim over our lives. So that becomes a central, pivotal piece.

Disciple making is a pivotal element of all movements. In fact, it’s my suggestion that this is the most critical piece other than the profession that Jesus is Lord. That’s because disciple making is where the belief that Jesus is Lord plays itself out through the individual and the community. Quality control, and the embodiment and transmission of the gospel are all played out there, as well.

The element of “organic systems” may also be interesting to small-group leaders. One part of this element that I mention in the book is the difference between reproducing and reproduce-able. One of the problems with the larger church as we know it is that it’s not very reproduce-able. It takes an incredible amount of money, a type of leadership that is very rare—the whole thing is a relatively rare phenomenon, really. But that’s not true of small groups.

Then there is the idea of communitas. This should be interesting to small groups because communitas represents a kind of community that develops in the context of a shared ordeal or challenge that calls people out of a normal understanding of themselves. They are centered around the kind of experiences that turns friends into comrades. Often our sense of connection and reliance on each other is minimal, and what a communitas will do is restructure the relationships between people and help them experience and interact with each other in a fundamentally new way. In essence it means putting the adventure back into the venture.

I’d like to look specifically at the disciple-making element for a moment. You mentioned in the book that disciple making is a crucial, pivotal element in the process. What makes it so important?

It seems to me that if we fail to make disciples—that is, people who can become like Jesus Christ, which is a very simple definition of discipleship—if we can’t get that right, then in doesn’t matter what else we do because there will be a fundamental weakness in our ministry. The lack of disciples will always undermine any effort beyond that. But if we succeed in developing and creating an environment where people really can become more Christlike, it seems to me that the movement is on, and everything else will have a substantial basis along with it.

The problem is that we are being discipled every day by our culture, and it’s done very profoundly and very well—and I say this with a background in marketing and advertising. There are billions of dollars going into advertising, which is not just selling us products. There’s much more of a religious dynamic going on. So if we as a church or a small group don’t disciple in the way of Jesus, then the culture gets to have the primary say. And I have to say that, despite our best efforts, the culture is winning at this stage.

In your book, you echoed a statement by Neil Cole that basically said the bar has been set too low in most modern churches when it comes to disciple making. Can you explain that a bit further?

Yes, what Neil says in effect is that we need to raise the bar on our expectations for disciple making and lower the bar on our expectations for church. And I think he’s right. I mean, that’s exactly what the early church did, and it’s certainly what the Chinese church is doing. In a martyrdom movement, you’re raising the bar extremely high. People are going to die, and the churches teach them how to die well.

But in our culture, we tend to reverse that. We deliver all the goodies up front, and then we wonder why people don’t become disciples. My question is: Why would they? What’s with all that stuff about “death to self”? Why should I change, and why should I volunteer for all that heavy lifting when I’ve got my snout in the trough right now?

So how can we raise the bar for a typical American small group? How have you managed that in your own experience?

What we’ve done to make sure that discipleship is taken seriously is embed within the covenant of each group a certain set of practices. The problem with most communities of faith is that they are confessional. They believe in the Great Commission, they believe in discipleship—they’re saying the right things. But they don’t address behavior.

So what we did is develop a set of practices designed to produce embodied values in the lives of our group members. And we called those practices TEMPT—Together we follow, Engagement with Scripture, Mission, Passion for Jesus, and Transformation. How each unit or group engaged in these practices was entirely up to them, but it had to be observable that they were practicing them.

The nice thing is that it was all non-professional ministry, of course, because small groups don’t require preachers and sound systems and all that kind of stuff. We wanted to diminish the reliance on the professional class of ministry. I’m a deep and profound believer in the ministry of all believers, and so we wanted to empower our people and wean them away from a dependence on the church.

It’s ironic. When you “do church” well, you create dependency, because then people can’t reproduce it themselves. We had to break that. We had to communicate that all disciples carry within themselves the potential for world transformation. We wanted to communicate that you have the power to do this, so don’t outsource it to other people. That’s the Faustian bargain at the heart of many churches—that people outsource their primary gifting, calling, and function to the institution, to the professionals in ministry.

How can small groups avoid contributing to this dependency?

Small groups can play a tremendous role in moving out of the dependency, but they have to move from being Bible studies and prayer groups to being mission agencies. And they need to take seriously the idea of a common set of disciplines that begin to form them and shape their culture—not just a common set of beliefs that everyone agrees on for life. You have to get at their behaviors.

In The Forgotten Ways, it seemed to me that your idea of communitas is defined almost as a lack of safety, or a lack of comfort.

That’s part of it, yeah.

So how can that be achieved in a middle-class, American small group? How do we make people feel unsafe and uncomfortable here?

Well, it doesn’t have to be all danger, although I do believe that risk and adventure are important for us. We go and watch it in the movies all the time, partly because we’ve outsourced it to the movies. But deep down in the human heart is a desire to do something of note—to test oneself, literally. But we’ve lost the art of it.

And so I think our churches and small groups need to take on tasks and functions with a very real possibility of failure. We need to do something where, unless we find each other and all work together, we’re going to fail. We need to put ourselves in situations like that and see what happens. There’s going to be failures, of course, but we need to try. Because when people find themselves in those situations, their very relationships with one another are restructured.

Can you think of an example?

Yes. Think about a small group of 20 or 25 people that adopts a rubbish dump in Mexico City—a place where a community of people are literally living off the rubbish dump. And that group says: Over the next 10 years (take it over a long time, not a short-term project) we are going to spend a significant part of our holidays and unpaid leave, and every one of us is going to go down there and help the people build a little village. We’re going to get those people off that rubbish dump. We’re going to bring whatever expertise we have to go and do this thing. We’re not just going to send money; we’re going to go there and do this thing ourselves.

I promise you, if a small group does that, they will be different people in 10 years time. Now, that might sound like a lot, but a group from where I am in Southern California could easily do that. And it doesn’t have to be that ambitious. I know of a group that adopted their local park in a similar way. They cleaned it up, they set up barbeques and played volleyball—they were creative.

But the main thing is for people to just get out—and I say this with all love and respect—just get out of the house. It’s too safe in our houses. We need to start inhabiting the places where other people inhabit. If you can pull off “church” in a third place, in a place where people go to spend their spare time, you will be forced to contextualize your message and get away from the bad three-chord choruses and stuff like that.

Because often our small groups in our houses are run like mini-churches, aren’t they? We do the same thing we experience on Sunday, but it’s just bad. We have a mother and son combo on the guitar, and the Bible study is never quite as good as the pastor’s sermon. It’s a back up. It’s just mini-church done badly. I mean, are there other ways to worship God than singing songs in public? Surely there must be, for goodness sake. God can be worshiped in all ways, so go find them.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention to small-group leaders and point persons in terms of what we need to learn or unlearn as we go about our ministry?

Let me just say that all of this is very hard for anyone in the West to hear, because we’ve become so blinded to our own potential. We take part in the institution of church, and we’re knocked out by it. But my study of movements has shown me that every Christian carries the potential for world transformation. Even the youngest person or the youngest Christian has within themselves a power beyond belief. It seems that God continually takes the most unlikely people in China, for instance, and uses them to literally transform villages and towns.

So my encouragement to people is to trust what God can do through them. It’s more than what we’ve been told to believe.

forgotten-ways.jpg           alan-hirsch.jpg

Alan Hirsch; copyright © 2008 by the author and Christianity Today International. Join the conversation at www.theforgottenways.org

 

 I would love to know your thoughts and comments on this article.  What are your thoughts and ideas for missions?  What role do you see yourself playing in ”The Great Commission“?……..
 

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
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Jun
20

Thought of the day!

Posted under Connection Pages

iwo-jima.jpg  Shortly after World War II came to a close, Europe began picking up the pieces.  Much of the Old Country had been ravaged by war and was in ruins.  Perhaps the saddest sight of all, was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets of the war torn cities.  Early one chilly morning, an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London.  As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little boy with his nose pressed against the window of a pastry shop.  Inside, a cook was preparing a fresh batch of donuts.  The hungry boy stared in silence drooling and watching the cook intently.  The soldier pulled his jeep up to the shop and politely asked the boy if he wanted a donut.  The boy replied excitedly,” Oh yeah, I sure would.”  The soldier went into the shop and bought the dozen the cook was making and brought them out to the boy, “Here you go,”  he replied.  As the soldier walked away the boy asked him”Mister, are you God?”   

 When people love others with no strings attached, they are really loving like Jesus loves us.  Love has its source only in God, and it’s God’s love that enables us as believers to love others. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)  How are you doing in this department?  Do you go the extra mile to help out others with no strings attached?   Participate in a local mission with your small group this summer. Better yet, lets get a few small groups together and spread Jesus’ love.  Lets go out and share with others the love Jesus has shared with us. 

 Tell us about a time when you helped someone else out for no apparent reason.  I look forward to reading your responses….

Until next time, I will be praying for you…………..

Posted by Colin Bryant
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Jun
09

More Summer Help!

Posted under Connection Blog

ironmenlogo.jpg  In an effort to help disciple our men over the summer, We have decided to roll out an intensive training session for all of our “Ironmen”.  Here is the brochure of what will be offered:

Please mark your calendars.  As mentioned, space is limited and filling up fast!

Summer Classes for Men at Cornerstone Church REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED 
by Friday, July 11th 2008 
NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL 
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM 
Class 1 
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays–Step by Step, with Slide Presentation. 
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 2 
The Toilet Paper Roll–Does It Change Itself? 
Round Table Discussion. 
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3 
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub?–Group Practice. 
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4 
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor–Pictures and Explanatory Graphics. 
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5 
Dinner Dishes–Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink? 
Examples on Video. 
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning 
at 7:00 PM
Class 6 
Loss Of Identity–Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other. 
Help Line Support and Support Groups. 
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7 
Learning How To Find Things–Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming. 
Open Forum 
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.
Class 8 
Health Watch–Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health. 
Graphics and Audio Tapes. 
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9 
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost–Real Life Testimonials. 
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined
Class 10 
Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks? 
Driving Simulations. 
4 weeks, Saturday’s noon, 2 hours.
Class 11 
Learning to Live–Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife. 
Online Classes and role-playing 
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12 
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion 
Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 13 
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy–Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You’re Going To Be Late. 
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered. 
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 14 
The Stove/Oven–What It Is and How It Is Used. 
Live Demonstration. 
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined. 
Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors. 

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
1 comment
Jun
07

Thought of the day!

Posted under Connection Pages

raising-hands-2.jpg             O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you, I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  On my bed I remember you;  I think of you[or meditate on you] through the watches of the night(Psalm 63:1,3-6).

This was the technique that David uses to bring peace to his heart when times are tough.  With the way the world is today, how are you you handling the pressure?  Are you praising God through all of it?  When times were tough, David recounted all the times God either blessed him, protected him, or cared for for him. Remembering those times helped David to direct the times that are tough to worship.  There were times that David raised his hands and even laid on the ground before God.  What do you do when the times get tough?  There are  different ways to handle this. Either get upset, pout, get angry with God, or act like David does. 

When the pressure of life has got you down, think of Jesus.  When you are feeling saddened or depressed, try what David does. Lift your hands up to God, or even better yet, sing to him.  God does not care if you can carry a tune or not. He just wants to hear from you.  One thing you have to remember is that he is listening. Don’t be surprised that when you do this, you will suddenly get a noticeable feeling of comfort and peace. 

One last thing.  If you are struggling today with a particular issue in your life, do not be afraid to call on others to help pray with you and also point you in the right direction for scripture that will help you out.  This is another good reason why I love being part of a small group and why they are so important.  I could not do this on my own. Neither can you!!!

We must all remember that we are all one body of Christ and need to pull together as a family.  Remember the family that prays together, stays together.  Pray with others and see how Christ will set you free. 

Until next time, I’ll be praying for you… 

Posted by Colin Bryant
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Jun
06

Me? Attend Your Small Group? I Don’t Even Know You!

Posted under Connection Blog

first-impressions.gif   I couldn’t resist sharing a post I just read from Mark Waltz.  I was introduced to him during a conference he led on “First Impressions”.  It is a revolutionary book on creating “Wow” experiences for first time guests.  The information has been invaluable for our Frontline (Greeter) Ministry.  But on to the subject at hand…  Mark has a blog that had a great article on the right way to ask someone into your small group.  It’s all about how you shape the question that will get the best results….Here is the article:

People don’t so much want to belong to a group, as they want to build and be part of relationships. However, before that can happen, people need time and space to get acquainted. Rapport is important before relationship can be experienced.

Which of these questions would you rather ask or be asked:

  1. I’m getting together with a couple people over at “The Village Inn”.  I think you might enjoy getting to know them.  You wanna come meet them?
  2. I’m starting a small group with a couple people.  We’re  meeting at “The Village Inn.” I think you might enjoy getting to know them.  You wanna come be a part of our small group?

Rather than looking for people to join your group, look for people who want to meet the people you know.  Start socially. The conversation can still be very intentional to get to know one another.  After a few times where it is apparent they seem to enjoy one another, talk about interest to do this more regularly; they can then talk as a group about how they’d like to spend time together.

The foundation for a group is relationship.  People will more likely commit to meeting regularly with people they enjoy, but they have to spend time getting to know one another. It happens over time.  You can’t rush it, but you can remain intentional about it.

So ask yourself, “How can I break the barrier like the sound of the words “Small groups” creates for people?” I would love to know what approach you have used in the past and what has worked best for you….

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
1 comment
Jun
04

Summer Connection ‘08

Posted under Connection Blog

  sc08b.jpg

We have finalized our plans for the “Summer Connection ‘08″.  We will be offering 5 different classes this year.  There is something for everybody.  The brochures will be passed out this week in church.  I am giving you a sneak peek in this post.  (A special thanks to Michael Carbajal for his great design work!  He has outdone himself!!)  I highly recommend that your small group decide on a class and take it together.  This is a great way to STAY CONNECTED over the summer.  Remember, this is number ten on my “Top Ten Ideas for a Great Summer.”  Have you nailed down your plans to stay connected with your group this summer?  My group has already had a cookout and pool party.  I would love to hear some of your plans and ideas…..Let me know what you think are the best classes for the Summer Connection this year……

sc08a.jpg

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
2 comments
May
27

Mark your Calendars!

Posted under Connection Blog

  glregistertoday.jpg We are hosting the Group Life Conference via satellite this October. It is going to be a two day event on the 17th and 18th of October.  That is a Friday night and a Saturday morning.  Pleeeease clear your calendar and plan to attend. The quality of speakers is phenominal this year.  On our blogroll, you can click on the Willow Creek Group Life page to get ALL the details!  Remember our earlier training this year when I showed the Will Miller video from last year’s conference? 

 will5.jpg He is returning this year with a brand new message!  I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.  I will be sharing more details about each speaker later on.  Right now, I need you to do two things….

  1. Mark your calendar for the two days of the conference and plan to attend.
  2. Invite a potential apprentice leader or two to the event.  (Be thinking about this over the summer!)

A lot of you have been wanting a conference like this to attend.  It has been awhile since we had a conference like this.  I expect to see ALL the small group leaders and their potential apprentices there!!!!

Posted by Todd McGlinchey
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