Steve Jobs Video from Today's Sermon

While Steve Jobs did not seem to be a man of faith, he was certainly a man that had learned not to let past success or failure prevent future potential. Here is the video of his address to Stanford University that I referenced in today's sermon:

Relational Space

LCC is about relationships. The greatest need in our area is relationships. These facts probably have something to do with LCC's growth over the last few years. In order to keep serving our community, LCC needs to expand our capacity for relationships.
Right now I am wrestling with what relational expansion looks like.It is one thing to grow an organization, but it is very different to grow in relational capacity. The real question is how does a church become the woodstove in a country store. Country stores used to have a gathering place for rural America, but they have disappeared. If we are serious about reaching rural areas, we must be serious about being the woodstove environment in our communities.
I have been reading Ray Oldenburg's classic The Great Good Place. Oldenburg's book defined Starbuck's attempts to be a relational third place in urban America. My dream is to see LCC form the next relational place in the rural areas of America. Oldenburg observes the purpose in such spaces:

• Unites the neighborhood
• Assimilates newcomers in the area
• Provides a neutral ground for relational formation and healing
• Provides a sorting area where relational connections can be accepted or rejected
• Provides a staging area where community dynamics are rehearsed
• Provides "public characters." (Persons that define and represent the community)
• Brings generations together
• Provides interaction where needs are addressed and communities can care for one another
• Provides a fun environment
• Promotes political thought and action
• Promotes intellectual thought and interaction
• Provides unofficial offices for community leaders  

LCC's next step is to expand our capacity for relationships to meet the deepest needs in our region.

(Formation meeting Tuesday Oct. 4 at 6pm at the Morgansburg Rd. Campus for those interested in shaping this vision)

Back in the Saddle

I have been neglecting mt blogging for a while. Finally finished my master's degree and feel like I am getting my head back on straight. Hopefully this post is the beginning of some new thoughts worth sharing on RevShortridge.com

My current projects:

• Creating a high quality prayer ministry at LCC
• Opening a relational gathering place in Bealeton that will serve our community and create a sustainable and reproducible model for expansion into other rural areas with campuses or traditional church plants.
• Expanding LCC into a third campus.
• Reorganizing staff and leadership at LCC for maximum impact across a rapidly expanding and reproducing network.
• Painting my house and catching up on three years of neglect.
• Reading some stuff for fun instead of college credit.
• Spending more time with my family.

Hopefully RevShortridge will resume its place as a sounding board and notepad for my thinking in these areas.

Prayer for the Nation

I was invited to pray for our nation at the American Event again this year. Several people have asked me for a copy of the prayer, so I will post it here.

My prayer for the nation in 2011:

Dear Lord, we come before you tonight as a grateful people. You have blessed our great nation throughout its history with your grace and favor. We know that the nations are less than dust on the scales to You, but You have chosen in your mercy to favor this land of America.

We have enjoyed your protection in our homeland, Your power in our world, and You have given us a favored place among nations. We have been blessed with prosperity, peace in our land, power to change our world, and provision in each step of our journey as a great nation. We have enjoyed your grace throughout our history.

You favored us with wisdom in our nation’s birth as our founding documents reveal a God-given government unlike anything else in history. You favored us with great leaders, resources, and hard working people that forged this land You gave to us into a mighty nation built on the strength of your grace in the lives of the people of America.

You favored us with a shared mission of reconciliation as we became a great lighthouse in the tossed seas of humanity on this broken Earth. We welcomed the diversity of the peoples of all nations, and we worked to change lives in our world and promote the principles You gave to us around the globe. You favored us and allowed Your grace to flow through this nation as we became a conduit of Your blessing to all peoples.

We expanded from sea to shining sea and beyond and become a promised land of Your favor and a sign of your blessings that you desire to rain down upon all peoples.

We come before You today, however, with a confession. We have watched Your grace and favor turned to selfishness and entitlement. We have seen your Word turned in its meaning to promote individuals and give license to behavior unpleasing to You. We have taken your blessing and freedom and used it to make ourselves a bond-servant to debt and individualistic consumerism. We have turned from your Word to humanism. We have exalted ourselves and believe at best that we have somehow deserved your favor and at worst that we have been masters of our own destiny and producers of our own prosperity.

We have shifted our focus from the Republic with which You blessed us and have instead chosen to promote the individual. We have ceased being a nation of peers and equals working together to better our world and have become a nation of consumers seeking entitlement. You have blessed us with resources and we have tuned them to our own uses and promotion. We have sold out our future for what we have consumed today, and we have acquired a debt that enslaves us as servants to the lender rather than Your servants.

We have allowed our leaders to lead without being accountable to You. We have taken the wisdom with which You graced us and turned it to selfish purposes. We have allowed leaders that are unable to lead to be exalted and we have refused to allow those who can lead in your wisdom to lead. We have become a nation seeking self-promotion. We have become a nation no longer willing to hear your voice. We have looked in the mirror and seen our collective soul, but we have turned and forgotten what we look like. We have become no different from our first parents as we have driven your voice from our government, schools, workplaces, and homes. We have chosen to follow a path that exalts self instead of You, and we deserve the same fate as our first parents.

You, however, have not entirely turned Your back on this American nation. We know You still pour out your grace like rain on the people of America. Your grace gives us what we don’t deserve. We still see the rains fall on our heartland, We still see the shining seas on both sides of our continent. We still have resources, liberty, and the potential to change the direction of this nation. We still have the powerful prospect of turning from our current direction and taken a new path. The freedom to form our future is still in our hands tonight.

We ask you tonight, as we celebrate 235 years of this great nation, for more of Your grace. There are still those among us that love You. There are still those among us who are grateful for your favor. There are still those among us that seek to improve our society rather than promote self. There is a remnant of your people, and we the remnant ask for your grace for our nation. We admit that we as a nation do not deserve favor, and we admit that we have no reason to ask. We know you are a loving God and that your desire is to favor us with Your grace. Help us to turn and position ourselves once again to live in your favor, to declare the acceptable year of our God in this land, to bind up the brokenhearted, set at liberty the captivity and provide for those who grieve across our land.

We stand here tonight as people that love this land. We love the purple mountains and the shining seas. We love the fields of grain, and the spacious skies of this great land. We know You still have a future for this land if we would turn and seek You. Help us tonight to turn. Help us to place persons of Your wisdom again in leadership of this nation. Help us again to be a lighthouse to the world.

We need You now like never before in our history. We stand at a crossroads, and we desire to lead this nation down the road towards your favor. Whether we come from an atheist background, Buddhist background, Christian background, or have no background at all, You have a future for each of us in a relationship with You.

May we as individuals lay aside our consumeristic selfishness long enough to discover the joy of a relationship with You. May a revival of your grace begin in this place tonight as we become the light we ask for in this nation. We don’t look to politicians or government programs for our salvation as a people or as a nation; we look to You.

Be among us tonight as we celebrate and reflect on the words of the wise speakers present tonight. Be among us as we form a community of people that love our shared nation. Empower us tonight to go from this place and live in your favor as we allow Your power to work within us. As You work within us, may we become the change we ask for. May a revival of your presence begin here tonight that changes our land and restores us to Your favor. We ask this before it is too late for our beloved nation. Begin change now and begin it in each of our hearts tonight.

May you bless this nation and each person here tonight in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Imagine Conference part 5

Johannes Amritzer shared some views on apostolic ministry at Ignite Conference. He began by stating there are no steps to church growth. The apostolic anointing is a spirit. When present, there will be growth. Some views of apostolic ministry:

1. The apostolic leader is a pioneer. (Romans 15:17-21)
2. The apostolic leader is a building contractor. The job is creation of new things not managing the old things. (1 Cor. 3:10-15)
3. The apostolic leader is dad of the house. You cannot be the apostle to those you did not give spiritual birth to. The apostle does not desert the family. (1 Cor. 4:15)
4. The apostle is a free agent. He will not function if he has to ask for permission. (1 Cor. 9:1)
5. The apostle is an example to others. (1 Cor. 11:1-2)
6. The apostle is the obvious authority. (2 Cor. 10:8)
7. The apostle has impact and influence. (1 Cor. 12:28)
8. The apostle has a combination of ministry gifts. (2 Tim. 1:11)
9. The apostle creates a church planting explosion. (Acts 10:11)
10. The apostle will have a mission among unreached people groups (Acts 28:2)

Imagine Conference Part 4

Jeff Leake shared 10 things he has learned in ministry at the Imagine Conference. When Jeff shares what he has learned I am ready to listen. Here are his 10 things:

1. God chooses to use us based on our capacity to reflect His glory and not on our ability. (1 Cor. 1:27-29)
2. God is a God who works on both ends. (He is already working where He wants us to be) (Ex. 4:14)
3. God is not either/or but both/and. (Matt. 6:33)
4. Growth is about discovering restraints and overcoming them. (Pr. 24:10)
5. Ministry is not as much about doing as it is about discerning and obeying. (Jn. 5:19)
6. God releases to me based on my responses to Him. (Js. 4:6)
7. Conflict resolution skills can make or break momentum in ministry. (Pr. 16:9)
8. God accepts me whether I succeed or not. (Lk. 3:22)
9. Self leadership is the most important form of leadership. (1 Cor. 11:1)
10. Joy is in the journey not the destination (Neh. 8:10)

Jeff will host the Ignite Conference in June. Don't miss it! Register here.

Imagine Conference Part 3

Here are some more notes from Matt Keller at the Imagine Conference.

Five Big ideas for church growth:

1. Vision is like a sunset. Everyone has an idea of what a sunset looks like, but we all have different ideas. The primary role of the leader is to define the sunset for our group.
2. The health of the church is directly related to the people in the church. Growth comes form a culture of health in every level of the church. 
3. The leader adds the most value to the organization when using his strengths. (Strengths are not what you are good at-- they are what makes you feel strong.)
4. Every department or church is most likely two hard conversations away form the next level. The strength of the organization is directly proportional to the amount of pain you are willing to endure. As the organization grows what was acceptable before is no longer acceptable. The bar must be raised and people must be held accountable to clearing the bar. 
5. Don't fear conflict. Embrace it and it will make you better.