The Church of Me!

This week i had the chance to go to an event called "Doing Church in the 'Burbs". One of the main speakers was Randy Frazee. Randy is currently a teaching pastor at Willowcreek but will soon make a transition to Senior Pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonia, TX. Randy is also the author of several books but one i enjoyed immensely is The Connecting Church. Randy spoke of the rampant individualism in our nation and the damage that it is wreaking. Good stuff, excellent food for thought!

Another speaker Ed Bahler, president of the Aspen Group, spoke about the challenges of living in and being the church in theDigital age. He showed a video which i have to admit while pretty funny was pretty sobering... i'd love to get your thoughts as well... Enjoy!

Something to talk about?!?

Now understand i mean no disrespect but i suspect this is an issue that needs to really be discussed a whole lot more!

i got an email from a friend a few days ago wondering about an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of many folks here in the States. Those who have been and continue to go to the polls to vote in Primaries and will eventually be voting in the upcoming general elections are probably going to need to settle this issue once and for all... here is the gist of what my friend asked...
" The whole idea that the American health care is run by insurance companies seems so bizarre. They are there to make a profit... how could that possible be beneficial to the people? And what if you can't afford it, are you just out of luck? To hear that people have to mortgage their house to pay for health issues seems crazy to me...."

Here is my response....
You wrote that you can't imagine having to "... pay for surgery"

[Dude], you have got to be kidding me?

Do we pay for groceries (btw gotta' have them...)?
Do we pay for clothes (again, gotta' have them...)?
Do we pay for a place to live (hmmm, gotta have them too)?

Why or from where do we get the idea that health care should be underwritten or "free" (and trust me, there is never anything free especially within a capitalist economic system or even in a socialist system... look at the condition of the countries behind the Iron Curtain at the end of the Cold War... somebody is ALWAYS paying for whatever commodities or goods are up on the auction block)?

Now, should it cost exorbitant amounts of money to have surgery? I don't think it should, but we usually don't concern ourselves too much for paying top dollar for great food, clothes or a house... right?!? But for some still unexplained reason we believe that health care should be underwritten in a way these other things aren't.... I just want to know WHY?

And one other thing to consider is this...isn't one of the main points of capitalism to turn a profit? I am not sure that govt should be in the business of deciding which businesses are going to be turning a profit and which ones won't be or shouldn't be!

No matter what that businesses goods are... perhaps the reasons for cost prohibitive health care are a bit more complex than the bad ole' insurance companies being heartless and only concerned about keeping cost down by denying Aunt Millie her heart transplant and more about the intense govt. regulation and badly needed torte reform here in our nation etc, etc.

Anyway, I am probably way out of my league on this subject...

What do you think? i'd love to hear about it...

Going To The Next Level....

Ever been to Savannah?
That's where i was last week and didn't get a chance to post to my blog...

Savannah is a nice town and this is a great time of year to visit... the weather was great and so was the event that i got to be a part of... The Next Level Leadership Conference was hosted by Savannah Christian Church. The main speakers were Sr. Pastor Cam Huxford and Gene Appel from Willow Creek Community Church.

Savannah Christian is a fantastic story... the staff and volunteers were absolutely incredible! The church has been around for quite a few years but in the last several years the church has experienced significant growth. They are located in a growing area of Savannah with tremendous potential for even further growth.

Having attended several events like this in the past it's quite easy to have fairly low expectations but the team of speakers, workshop leaders and host did a incredible job with this event. From the moment you arrived on the church campus, their gracious hospitality made all the difference!

There were three events that really impacted me in a significant manner...

First, Gene Appel took time to unpack the issue of leading a church through significant change without doing what so often happens in those instances... killing it! For me among the most significant topic Gene addressed in this regard was the topic of The 4 C's of the Channel of Change, 1) Conflict 2) Confusion 3) Comparison and finally 4) Crisis.

Secondly, i had an opportunity to sit and talk a bit with Savannah's Executive Pastor Harvey Bream, his responsibilities include but are not limited to oversight of all the staff, finances and strategic planning for the church.
1) His advice to me was to be aware that in transitioning to a position similar to his, it might be easy for people to view me differently... to become known as the "No" man.
2) He also said it is important to know that the person you as Executive Pastor answer to (the Senior Pastor) is "emotionally strong".
3) Finally Harvey recommended that the it is critical to create an atmosphere where it is truly safe to hold everyone accountable.

The last session i sat in on was on Determining Your Church's Future. In this session Harvey Bream walked everyone through the 5 year strategic plan that the leadership, staff and congregation had put together that they believe will guide them through 2012. He spoke of and explained it's simplicity. The church has chosen to focus on three strategic areas:
1) Our People (the congregation)
2) Our Community(which as i mentioned earlier is thriving)
3) Our World (the church has a heart for world wide missions)

It was truly encouraging and if i make everyone around here crazy enough perhaps next year it will be an event that several of us can travel to as a team....

Ahhh i can see it now.... we're all at the Crab Shack see and...