Am I doing my job?

What a question! So simple yet so profound - "Am I doing my job"? I think its a question EVERY minister should ask themselves. I know MANY churches have developed short term matrices to determine if ministers are doing their jobs. We may measure things like attendance, giving, # of people answering alter calls, number of small groups, etc. But what about our REAL jobs? Are we measuring the effectiveness of our REAL job?

Some may say "If the church [or youth group] is growing and people are getting saved, what else am I suppose to measure? Isn't that what my job is?" My answer to that question is NO. The Bible gives us our job description in Ephesians 4. Check this out:

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

I know there are MANY other gifts God gives for the betterment of the Church (notice the capital "C"), some of which are covered in 1 Corinthians and in Romans. But, if you are an evangelist, prophet, apostle, pastor or teacher our ultimate responsibility "is to equip God's people to do His work AND to build up the church."

Now, I'm sure the "build up the church" part could be HOTLY contested in terms of its meaning. Does it mean to "edify and encourage" or does it mean to "add to numerically"? I'm not sure, but I think whatever definition you choose would be a good answer for what many church leaders focus on. It gives us short term goals.

But wouldn't it be better to ask ourselves "are people under my care being equipped to do the work of God?" I think that's the tougher and more realistic question we need to be asking ourselves. Its a question we can't answer during our weekly or monthly meetings. Its a question we can't answer on our quarterly review sessions. Its a question we really won't know the answer to for a year or even a decade. Although its a question that won't stroke our egos with the quick gratification of an instant answer, but I think its the real answer we should be asking ourselves.

So are you doing your job? Thoughts?

New Chapter In Our Church's History Today!

Today will mark a new chapter in the history of our church. Today we sign the papers to take ownership of a new property in Newport, RI! Some of you might be thinking, "Big deal, Steve." Allow me to enlighten you a bit.

New Beginnings Praise & Worship Center started as a brand new church in September 1999. The first service was held in a local community center and the only people in attendance LITERALLY was the pastor, his wife, his 4 year old son and a blind man. (I didn't come until June '02) During that time we endured tattered chairs, the phone to community center ringing DURING the service, fake ghosts the local kids made hanging from the ceiling, toys stacked in the back of the room, power outages and MUCH more. Children's church was held in a food pantry and youth minsitry was at the pastor's house in the family room. Oh yeah, the equipment for the church (some we used and some was a purchase for our future facitlity. A facility we didn't have or even know when we were going to have) was ALSO in the pastor's family room.

After being there for FOUR YEARS we moved into and renovated an old synagogue that was being used as a coat making shop. Literal blood, sweat and tears went into renovating that building. And some how, with only 5 parking spots in a building tucked away on a street that was only one block long behind a junior high school and a large Catholic church bordered by 2 one way streets - we grew to a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church of about 150 people. That's right FIVE parking spots on a hidden street that's only one block long bordered by 2 one way streets!

Having outgrown the current building and no realistic way to go to multiple services without creating a SERIOUS traffic problem, we searched for a new building. And after much prayer and a one year long process, today we sign the papers on a building that has been a fixture in our community for over 120 years. It's an old Episcopal church that gives us the opportunity to marry the traditional and modern elements of a church in one building. It's on the main road, its about 4 times bigger than our current space and has PLENTY of parking! And FINALLY, the youth get a dedicated space. Oh yeah, NO MORE RENTING! We are purchasing the building. From the proverbial "mudhuts" to the "promised land."

So that's the "big deal" just in case you didn't know. We sign today. Rejoice with us! For New Beginnings - history is being made!

Just speaking my mind

- If the Celtics win the NBA title (which is what I want since the Pistons can't have it), Doc Rivers would become only the 3rd African American head coach to win the title. The others Bill Russell and KC Jones...of the Boston Celtics! So the Celtics will be the ONLY franchise to win with African American head coaches.

- Still sick of the poligion - that's my new word for what's happening in many churches today: politics + religion = poligion. Did Jesus die for a democratic government or people? Just a thought...

- How come all the mega churches write all the materials about doing church well? What about the 150-400 size churches? Are they not healthy? I mean, how can a church with a $6million a year budget tell me I should be hiring this person, buying this thing or doing that thing when most churches lack the human and financial resources to do what they did? Can the average church REALLY afford to buy 10 Xbox 360's for the "relevant" youth room?

- Myspace has become real life. Everyone is no longer human, we are all now niches and demographics - just like on Myspace. How many ways can CNN break down the American public into subcategories for voting, movies and whatever else they want me consume? Listening to them break down America sounds like they are ordering from Starbucks.

- ITS FRIGGIN HOT OUTSIDE!!!

- I love the fact that our church is moving! Buying this old Episcopal church and merging the old with the new is going to be AWESOME! Plus, the youth ministry FINALLY gets its own space. Minus the Xbox 360's....

- Do we REALLY need ANOTHER iPhone? Didn't the first one have terrible coverage? So more things to do, same crappy coverage. Gotta love consumerism.

- Its friggin HOT outside!!

- If art imitates life, Obama's presidency COULD mean the end of the world. Why? Because in EVERY movie that has a black president, its the end of world. I think Republicans should use that as part of the campain...they'll probably use this as well as other fear-based tactics to try to win.

"Gospel" Hip-Hop Music topping Secular Radio Chart?

Sounds odd huh? Well, its true and its happening! My dude Fedelity is taking his brand of hip-hop infused with the Good News and taking over local radio stations. In his resident city of Tulsa, OK the community has embraced his song called "Tell A Friend" and voted it #1 for TWO CONSECUTIVE WEEKS on the local secular urban station.

The truly amazing part about this feat is he did all of this with ZERO push from him. He encourage NO ONE to call in and vote for the song. In fact, he didn't even tell people he sent it to the local station!

I'm EXTREMELY happy for my dude. I've known him for YEARS and I'm proud that he's getting this type of exposure. I just wish he would give me a spot on his album :-)

A job has never made me this mad!!!

Okay, as most of you know I am bivocational. For those who don't know -I am bivocational, meaning I work a full time job and I do ministry. I've been at my current job for 1 year now, making me one of the most tenured people here since I was in the initial training class that started our rapid growth here.

I've been in talks with my team leader and the regional sales director about me being a team leader - a sales manager. They know I'm qualified, I can do the job, etc. So recently a position becomes available in the most PLUSH department in our sales organization. Probably the best opportunity to make the most money in that position. Not to mention I get to develop, train and grow more sales people - my strong suit.

They didn't offer me the position.

It was such an odd snub that people who I barely talk to asked other people "Why didn't Steve get that spot?" And did I lose out to someone more qualified, with more experience and a proven leader? NOPE!!!! I lost out to someone with ZERO experience, fresh out of school.

And before you think "I'm sure there is a good reason you didn't get the position Steve," allow me to tell you that I had a meeting with my manager later yesterday afternoon and I asked him flat out "Why didn't I get the job?" He didn't have a reason. All he could say was basically she asked first. Not "we felt she was more qualified" or "she was better suited for that team" or even "It was a close call and we feel you two are evenly talented" but simply "we knew that she wanted to be in management longer than we knew you wanted to be in management."

WHAT?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Oh, and then after the meeting with my boss, he basically said "we made a mistake with that decision."

So I'm pissed. So now I have to wait until some kind of outrageous situation happens that opens up a new spot for me to get a management position.

Be ye angry and sin not...

36Parables.com - You saw it here first!

Okay, first off this weekend was spectacular. 2 good friends of Nichole and I got married this weekend and we were both in the wedding. Nichole and I met through the bride so it was cool to see her get married to a great guy. Jamie and Erica - congratulations! (I'll post pics as soon as I get them)

One of the groomsmen was Stewart Redwine. He runs a company called 36 Parables. The gist of the company is this: 36 videos that illustrate the 36 Parables that Jesus taught. Sounds good, huh? It looks even better than they sound!

Currently, its available directly through the website but will soon be coming via a major distributor. I won't say who or when simply because I don't think I'm allowed to. BUT, you can go check them out RIGHT NOW and purchase them. The first 15 are already completed with the other 21 soon to follow. If you use video during your messages or just during your service times, buy this product NOW!

This will definately be talked about all of the big boy blogs by the end of this year. Catalyst will cover it, Collide's definately going to get their hands on it and I wouldn't even be surprised if Swerve covers this stuff. And keeping in the tradition of breaking the big talks first (remember you heard about Expelled here and the new Gnarls Barkley here first) - remember you heard about 36Parables.com here...FIRST!

Be the first to own the videos, too. They have every format available for download or on DVD.

Speak on it - "I Kissed A Girl"

Hey blogosphere! Okay, since I seem to find out these interesting things in culture to speak about (like 11yr olds and the Pussycat Dolls), I figured I'd start a new segment here on Collision Course called "Speak On It." Since this is the 3rd official segment here (along with "Scriptures That Rocked My World" and "Christians Say The Darnedest Things") I figured I'd kick this one off with a bang.

I may be behind, but I just heard this song for the first time this weekend while driving up to Boston. Its called "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry. Wow...

So what do you think? Is this part of the alleged "gay agenda?" Has sexual experimentation become "cool?" Or is this the natural positive progression of human sexuality?

Speak on it!




*Edit: Okay...don't know why you are only getting a 30 second snippet. Anywho...for the entire song, go here

Again, Speak On It