jayhardwick.com

One Sentence

A friend/entrepreneur/advisor gave me a valuable reminder that I needed big time. He asked me a simple question:

Can you summarize your life mission in one sentence?

It's funny how much time we spend playing around with words and phrasing to get the perfect, one sentence mission statement for our churches, organizations, etc. Then, if we're serious about actually doing it, we go to work aligning strategy and systems to focus on advancing that one sentence mission.

Meanwhile, our personal lives are all over the place.

I am so guilty of this...especially when I don't have a "real job" and a "real office" to go to everyday. That conversation came at the perfect time and I have taken that challenge to heart. My friend is convinced that one of the biggest keys to his success is that he learned who he is and who he's not early on and ordered his life accordingly. While God has given me loads of lessons on leadership, mission, church, the gospel, etc. over the last 4 months, the most challenging lessons learned have been about me.

So, can I boil it all down to one clear and simple sentence that will be my controlling mission everyday God gives me? I'm still working on it...:-)

...With Unbelievers

One of our core values is relaional evangelism. We want believers to invest their lives in building friendships with non-Christians and people who have walked away from the faith. The purpose is to eventually earn the trust to talk about spiritual things, invite them to church, etc.

I recently listened to a podcast with Rick Warren and Ed Young talking about evangelism and church growth. I can't think of two better leaders to learn from than those two - although, I'd much rather dress like Ed than Rick. :-)

Warren said something that I know I have heard before, but it stuck this time. I get asked all the time, "Practically, how do I invest in unchurched people?" Warren's statement answered this question and another one.

Here's the statement...

"Do what you love to do...with unbelievers."

Gosh Rick, why do you have to be so complicated?! :-)

If you love to play golf...GREAT! Invite unbelievers to round out your foursome. If you love to ride motorcycles....GREAT! Invite unbelievers to ride with you. So on and so on...

I think sometimes we get so caught up with being "right" that we miss the easiest ways to accomplish our mission - leading people to Jesus.

Also, if you start doing this, then you take the pressure off the church to provide a motorcycle ministry, a yearly men's golf outing, a scrapbooking club, etc. By you doing what you love to do and doing it with unbelievers, you are freeing up the staff to do what we love to do - figure out the most creative ways to present the timeless message of Jesus to your unbelieving friends! Your investing makes our environments stronger, more focused, and more effective.

So, do what you love to do....play golf, ride your motorcycle, go running, go to a movie...and invite your unbelieving friends to do it with you. By doing so, you're personally owning our mission and making the church stronger.

I'm a Lifer

Everything we do as an organization is geared towards leading people into small groups. We are convinced that life change happens best within the context of intentional, predictable relationships. Since our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and we can't make anyone do that, we have to create environments where it has the best chance to happen. For us, that is a small group.

When small groups are your organizational win, it creates a big question that pastors answer differently. I don't know that there is a "right" way to answer it. But I do know my answer.

First, the question:
"Should the lead pastor and his wife be in a small group just like everyone else?"

Without going into the other possible answers, I will tell you my answer:
"Absolutely!"

If I am going to stand on our stage and preach on why we need authentic community to reach our full potential in Christ, then I better be experiencing it myself. If I am going to stand on our stage and tell stories about how God works in small groups, I better be the subject of some, if not all, of those stories. If I am going to stand on our stage and ask people to do something, then I better be willing to do it myself.

Encouraging people to join a small group, but me not being in one is the equivalent to me encouraging people to tithe while I don't. I don't know how to ask people to do something that I am not willing to do myself.

But now, I have an even better reason. Our group has been meeting together now for about 8 months. I love the couples in our group dearly. When we show up at group, we get to be Jay and Lara Beth, not "the pastor." Some would not like that...I love it! Last night, we had a big breakthrough.

We got real. We talked through some tough stuff. We shared openly what God is doing in our lives and our marriage. Our group listened intently, offered advice, offered encouragement, and prayed for us. And you know what...our vulnerability resulted in greater respect, honor, and support from the other couples in our group. I felt it as we walked out the door last night. And, we received some emails that said that very thing.

Where am I going with this? When it comes to small groups, Lara Beth and I are "lifers." We're in forever and for always. We'll keep getting in groups and multiplying and starting new ones. Our marriage is better for it. My leadership is better for it. Our church is better for it.

Pastors, don't think that being vulnerable means you may lose some of your authority or that people may view you in a lesser light. Any step towards humility and vulnerability is usually a wise choice. I'm not saying it has to be in a small group...some of the most vulnerable pastors I know show it from the stage and on their blogs. And their people love them for it.

CCers and everyone else...oh how I wish you could experience the love and encouragement Lara Beth and I felt last night. I want that for you...for everyone. And I am absolutely convinced that the best place to get it is in a small group of people whom you trust and who love you.

If you experienced community and life change the way our group is, I bet you'd join me in the "lifer" category.

Relevant Environments

We cranked up an experiment on our website this week. We created a new landing page and on that landing page is a button called "Free Gift." People in the Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson area can fill out a brief survey and in return, we'll ship them a free copy of Andy's book How Good is Good Enough.

We're excited about this for a number of reasons. One, people are going to get their hands on a great explanation of God's grace and forgiveness. Two, it's another avenue for CC'ers to use to invite their friends. Three, the people who receive the books may just tell a few of their friends and may show up at Catalyst. Fourth, we get to peer into the minds of people we don't know and ask them questions we want answers to.

One of the questions on the survey is "Why do you think most people don't go to church?" The answers to that question have been eye-opening. Not one person has said, "Because Jesus is a loser." Or, "Because there is no God." EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has said something about church being boring, disconnected, out of touch with reality, or confusing.

The answers are even more interesting when we put them up against the answers to the previous question on the survey: "What do you feel most people are looking for in a church?" Every answer so far has said something about a comfortable place to learn more about Jesus, to have my questions answered, to figure out what a relationship with God means, etc.

Bottom line: People don't have a problem with the God of the Bible. People don't have a problem with Jesus. In fact, most people are interested in both. But, people have a BIG problem with the local church. For whatever reason...a bad experience in the past, a weird preacher they saw on TV, a overly religious family member, the boring church they grew up in...people have decided church is out of touch.

In fact, I met a guy yesterday who desperately wants his daughter to connect in a church. Here's the problem...she says she is spiritual, but doesn't want to go to church. She doesn't think it's necessary.

If we needed any more argument for why one of our core values is "Relevant Environments," we have it. Another phrase we use is "create irresistible environments." Some people get rubbed the wrong way when they hear either of those phrases...it seems too man/entertainment-centered. Not so...not even close.

Our goal when we say "create irresistible environments" is to do everything we can to use what is cultural to say what is timeless. Saying what is timeless without any cultural compass comes off as dry religion. Changing what is timeless to be more cultural is diluting the power of the gospel. Using cultural avenues to communicate a never-changing, timeless message of grace and forgiveness...that's creating irresistible, relevant environments.

Jesus was irresistible and relevant. The Pharisees...not so much. People flocked to hear and see Jesus. People rolled their eyes and ran in fear when the Pharisees came around. People who should have hated Jesus absolutely loved Him. People who should have loved Jesus...the Pharisees...hated Him and had Him killed.

Some of the stuff we do on Sundays can be a little odd to church people...sometimes it's odd to me. When people ask me why we played a certain song, showed a certain video, gave away an iPod, etc., I tell them, "Hey, that wasn't for you. It was for the guy or girl who is here for the first time and this is the one chance they're going to give our church or any church." Of course, there are elements of our service that are for everybody - our worship songs, the sermon, corporate prayer, etc. But there are some things that are purposefully there for outsiders...to connect with them, to show them that we are connected to their world, to help them feel like this is a place where they can figure out what a relationship with God really means.

So, every week, we try to do the absolute best we can at presenting timeless truth in a relevant and irresistible environment. We believe the gospel deserves nothing less. And...it's working! Over 30 people have publicly prayed to begin a relationship with Jesus in our worship services. Many more are very close. Every week, we hear from people who haven't been to church in a long time if ever at all and they ALWAYS comment on a song, or a video, or some other element in the service that surprised them...or connected with them. And then, they tell us how God spoke to them.

A girl, who has grown up Muslim, attended Catalyst this past Sunday. She's not really ever been to a Christian church. She's most definitely not a Christian. But after attending Catalyst this past Sunday, she said, "I don't know what it was, but something was happening inside me. I felt like God may have been talking to me." And that was after she went crazy when the band opened the service with "Dirty Little Secret."

I'm going to stop now. I'm sure I'll get some emails about this...but folks, I believe in it. I believe in it because I see and hear how God is using it. It fires me up. And...YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!