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I thought this post from Kem Meyer was really good. You can read her blog HERE.It is definitely something I think about a lot. False advertising is the best way to get people to walk right out the back door. If you say you are friendly church or a grace filled church or a giving church or an evangelistic church you BETTER be able to back that up with your actions. Not only will people be turned off by your false advertising but they will tell all of their friends about it and pretty soon you’ve made the exact opposite impact on the community that you were hoping for and will be spending a long time trying to dig yourself out of the hole that could have been prevented if you would have only given as Kem says and Jack Webb (Dragnet) said before her, “just the facts.”

These simple, practical examples from real church promotions seem harmless enough…

1. “Come to this year’s women’s retreat where you’ll develop friendships that last a lifetime.”It’s what we hope happens, but it’s out of our control. Yet we still promise something we can’t guarantee. I had a woman complain to me that she joined a volunteered to make friends. After two years of serving, she felt duped because she had not made one friend. She held the church responsible for false advertising. Yes, her opinion is a little extreme. And, yes, it’s a little outrageous and unrealistic. However, it’s a recurring perspective we experience with people on their journey. What can we do to help them along?
2. “Come experience a community of grace.”Again, nice goal, but you can’t control the outcome. I had promised a “community of grace” for a friend of mine and she finally joined me for a weekend service. During the message, her cell phone went off. A man sitting behind us scolded her for being rude and selfish. He even asked her not to come back if she couldn’t have the decency to turn her phone off during church. True story. Yes, it’s a distraction for others when a cell phone goes off. Obviously. However, what isn’t obvious is that my friend was taking a gigantic step by attending church for the first time in years. My friend didn’t look at the man as an individual, she looked at him as the church. And, I had not delivered on my promise.

Hey, are you being honest with yourself (and others)?

• What are you “putting out there” that you should really cut?
• What expectations are you setting that are unrealistic and out of your control?
• If people think churches are liars anyway, what are we doing to diffuse this perception and build trust?
• Are we making statements as if they were facts, when in reality they are subjective and left to personal interpretation?
• Are we promising something we can’t deliver on?
• Are we baiting people with exaggerated benefits?

A lot of times, the solution is as simple as providing “just the facts” and nothing else. Remove the fluff. Eliminate our “hope” in the content. That’s the first step towards turning a potentially negative experience into a great one.

It was another great Sunday at Sand Lake. Here are the afterthoughts…

Discovering what’s next is tough. The last 4 months of getting used to our new ministry and life have been great and we are really starting to build some great friendships here but if you know me then you know my mind never stops. I find myself continuing to ask, “what’s next?”I’ve been praying, talking with leadership and people in the community trying to figure out how Sand Lake can make a real impact in this area. I want us to be a church that is making such an impact that if we disappeared tomorrow the community would miss us tremendously.

My heart is for us to not just see people saved on Sundays but saved in the workplace, at Walmart, in a restaurant. I think we put Christianity in a box and limit it to big church outreach events and food drives. Those have their place and are effective but I think we can do more and so that is where my prayers are right now. What needs to be done make that kind eternal impact?

I am thankful to have such incredible people around us. The talent is there we just need the vision and direction. All will come in time I am sure but until then it has been tremendous just getting to know the team that God has brought together.

Speaking of incredibly talented people the band in second service never ceases to amaze me. I am always impressed when the electric guitar player switches to bass or acoustic, the bass player switches to piano or electric, the lead singer switches to drummer and the drummer switches to lead singer. Switching from one type of guitar to another may not be that big of a deal but to be able to switch and not miss a beat on the overall sound is impressive to someone who’s only musical background is 6 years as a trombone player.

I also have to give big thanks to our traditional service which doesn’t include a full band but does include some very talented singers and piano players. They also do an awesome job and I always enjoy listening to them worship. Hymns are powerful and I like starting my Sunday worshipping God through hymns. I hope churches don’t try to become so cool that we one day forget hymns all together. I think that would be a tragedy.  Thank you singers and musicians. You guys do an INCREDIBLE job in both services.

I finished up my current series called Grace. Part 8 was on growth and grace. I thought overall the series went really well and helped multiple people. I know as pastors we want to “see” the fruit of our labor but I have learned that that’s not really important. Being faithful and preaching the word is what matters. I pushed salvation in Christ every week. I don’t know if anyone was saved or not during the series because I don’t do a lot of public professions but it was evident that the Spirit has been moving in peoples lives which always excites me.

We finished the series by celebrating communion together which I thought was just really powerful for us as a church. What better way to finish a series on grace than to practice a sacrament that reminds us of the most gracious act of love ever shown? People came forward and took their elements before the cross and I was able to just sit and watch people look to God for hope, faith, forgiveness and growth. It was just cool to watch. Hard to really express in words.

The worst part was preaching with a cold. Trying to preach with passion and conviction while fighting back coughing and snot is not fun.

Second service we prayed for Pastor Ron and Beth Knapp. Pastor Ron has been a part of Sand Lake for quite a while now and has on occasion filled the pulpit. He has been without a church for many years but felt God call him back to full-time ministry. Last weekend he candidated at a church in Cape Girardeau MO. The vote was today during our services so about 20 people gathered around him and laid hands on him which is always powerful. This afternoon at lunch he got the call and was voted in as the next pastor. We are all really excited for him and Beth. The stressful part is they have to be down there before Thanksgiving. Going to be a stressful but exciting next few months for them. We are going to miss them but I told them today if people are going to leave this is how you want them to leave. Going into ministry.

Speaking of lunch we went to a local place today called Jacquelyn’s. They only serve breakfast on Sunday’s and I will just say it they have the BEST biscuits and gravy I have ever had. If you come visit we will take you there. It was a fun time hanging out with Pastor Ron and Beth, Dawn Wright and her kids and Matt and Melissa Schultz and their kids.

Finally, I just have to say I was hoping that because I moved up here to Big 10 country I would escape the trash talking Big 12 fans but unfortunately I forgot about Nebraska fans. A couple of families called each other last night to coordinate their dress in order to give me a hard time about OU losing to Nebraska. It was pretty funny seeing them walk in wearing their red and white. I guess when you cheer for a team that doesn’t have much to cheer about you take every victory you can get. OOOOO! HAHA. All in good fun. I told them I would remember their trash talking when they have to come to Norman.

Every month I write an article for our church’s newsletter. I thought I would post my most recent one as I believe it applies to all churches. After you are reading I hope you can evaluate your own church and see what might need to be improved in order to help make a greater impact on people.

For those of us who have been a part of the same church for an extended period of time, it can become very easy for us to forget how important first impressions can be for those who are brand new to the church. There are definitely moments when those who step into the seemingly simple role of usher, greeter, welcome center, kitchen helper or even nursery worker will think to themselves, “What impact am I really making here? What is the point?” On the surface it can feel like these positions are low on the totem pole of importance, but I happen to believe they are actually vital to the overall health and growth of our congregation.

Without volunteers in these positions, there would be no one to help take care of the children, no one to greet you with a hand shake and a smile….no one to help answer your questions about the church, where Sunday School classes meet or anything else that people might have questions about. And maybe most important, without these volunteers, there would be no real security for us as we worship. Our ushers and greeters make sure we remain safe, and in our culture where we are seeing more and more churches persecuted, that security becomes more important than ever. The fact of the matter is excellence matters. Our desire to make first impressions a top priority makes a big difference in helping someone decide to either be a part of our church family or to walk right out the back door. In a recent study done of the formerly unchurched, it was found that five areas of first impressions made a major difference in helping them decide to attend that church or to walk out never to be seen again. Those five areas were friendliness, clean facilities, nursery, organization vs. chaos, and greeters/welcome center. Eighty eight percent of the formerly unchurched interviewed said friendliness was a major factor for them. Something that was discovered during this study was that most churches believe they are friendly but in reality they are typically only friendly to others whom they already know. One formerly unchurched lady said, “After visiting nearly a dozen churches, I am amazed how cold some of them are. I was looking for someone who cared enough about me to offer me a smile or a kind word. Thank God I finally found one church where the people acted like they were happy to be Christians.” Ouch. That quote should make us think.

Clean restrooms were another major issue, as was attention to detail in the order of service, quality of service elements and clear signage throughout the church that helped first-time guests easily find their way from one area of the church to the next. And, of course, the nursery was a HUGE area of concern for the formerly unchurched. If the nursery wasn’t secure, clean, well organized and adequately staffed, then they would not consider attending that church again. In fact 66 percent said that the quality of the offered childcare and how children’s ministry was treated (by the leaders) played a major role in helping them decide to stay or leave. And finally, the greeters and welcome center played a big role. If the welcome center wasn’t up to date with current church information and if greeters weren’t warm and welcoming, most of the formerly unchurched never attended a second time.

So now you might be asking, “What is your point?” My point is that what we do out in the foyer and in our children’s ministry may not always seem like a big deal, and those who volunteer may not feel they are doing much or making much of an impact. The reality is that those ministries DO play a role in impacting the unchurched person’s eternity. How would you feel if you walked through the doors of a church you had never attended and nobody greeted you, nobody told you where to go, there was no information available about the church, the facilities were dirty with junk laying in piles and unclean bathrooms? What if their nursery had no security, not enough staff, and didn’t care about
your child’s health concerns? Would you even bother staying for the service?

Excellence matters. Having volunteers that care matters. If we don’t take care of the details then we are missing out on an opportunity to share the Gospel with that person. If their initial experience starts bad, then their whole experience with us will probably be bad. They will not be open to the Gospel – instead they may be shut down by what they had already experienced before the service even started. We have a tremendous opportunity every Sunday to help make a person more open to hearing the Gospel just by giving them a warm smile, handshake, clean facilities and quality nursery. If we truly believed that first impressions had a real impact on the eternity of others, don’t you think we would be making that a top priority at all times? “Pastor does that mean you don’t think we do a good job at Sand Lake?” No. I think Sand Lake is doing a wonderful job. I think we have amazing volunteers and there is no way I could adequately express how thankful I am for the dedicated people that attend and love this church. I have written this article simply as a reminder to make sure we don’t let things slip up and become complacent. Let’s continue to do everything with excellence and quality. Let’s always be checking ourselves to make sure we are doing everything we could be doing to make the ministries in which we serve the absolute best they could be. And let’s not be afraid to make whatever changes are necessary in order to ensure our ministries stay at the top of their game at all times. “The church that seeks to be a church of excellence in all things will see God’s blessings. And the difference in the lives of many will be eternal.” (Thomas Rainer) Thank you so much, Sand Lake volunteers,for all of your work. You guys make what we are trying to do possible.

The more I sing them the more I remember how much I enjoy them. I am talking about hymns. Powerful songs with tremendous theology. I believe there is absolutely a place for modern contemporary worship I just wish there wasn’t this whole argument around choosing a “side”. Why can’t it be both/and?

The reason I bring that up is because I went to a birthday party after services for an elderly lady in our church. She turned 80 today and the assisted living center was PACKED with people. We had our Sand Lake Quartet there and they sang some of the old hymns that were just awesome. The guys sounded really good and it was neat to see people tearing up as they heard them. As I watched people sing along and be touched and as I felt the Spirit in that room I thought, “Why do people think these songs are old school and out of touch?” Anyways enough about that…for now. I’ll save it for another post.

Great services today.

I LOVE coming to church. You know you have a good church when you LOVE coming.

We have amazing volunteers. Love their heart and passion.

Preached part 7 of 8 of the Grace series. Spoke on God’s restoring Grace. The big idea is that no matter how far we have fallen away even if we have completely rejected God and denied our faith He still desires to restore us.

Spoke about prevenient grace and answered the question, “Can a Christian lose their salvation?” And, “If a Christian sins do they lose their salvation?” I think there is some really incorrect ideas about what people think Wesleyan’s believe on this matter and I wanted to try and help clear it up the best I could in 30 minutes or less. Could have spoken for hours but tried to hit the big points.

BUT it all went back to my main point. God by His grace desires to restore us to Him regardless of how far away we have moved from Him.

Used Peter’s denial of Christ as an example of how we can deny Christ but just as Peter was restored so can we be.

Encouraged the Christian that God will not kick us out of his church family even if we sin as long as we recognize our sin and are truly repentant and with the help of the Spirit seek to overcome our sin.

Anyways today was awesome. I have more to say but need to cut it short and head out to a church families home to watch the Packers/Vikings play. Should be fun.

God bless…

There is a lot of hype going around about the new movie Paranormal Activity. Made two year’s ago for $15,000 it struggled to get a movie studios attention to pick it up for a wide release audience. Then Spielberg saw it and that all changed. He wanted to reshoot it but after a test audience screened it and Spielberg saw how scared people were(some literally got up and left) he decided to keep it just as it was except for changing the ending and released it to a few theaters in major cities. With the help of word of mouth advertising the movie quickly became a new phenomenon that reached Blair Witch Project proportions. People wanted wide release of the film but the movie studio wanted to see some proof that a wide release audience would support it. A website was setup that said if 1 million people signed the petition the studio would release it. The petition worked, the movie was released nation wide and so far has cleared $65 plus million. Not bad for only costing $15,000 to make.

The hype continues for this film as I have had multiple conversations about it from people who have seen it and were scared to death to those who refuse to see it but can’t help but talk about it. All of this discussion only continues to drive the curiosity of people and they can’t help themselves but to go and see what all this hype and excitement is about.

Every forest fire starts with a spark. Every great movement starts with one who believes. Every box office movie starts at a no name movie festival. But once people believe in the product, in the person, in the idea watch out. It will catch a fire that explodes across a people group, community, nation, or even the whole world. Christianity started this way. Jesus our Savior and 12 no name guys. The church exploded into a movement that has impacted billions upon billions of lives. That movement must not stop. What would happen if the people in our churches were as fired up about the Gospel as we are about a movie? What if people were so impacted by Jesus that they couldn’t help but talk about it everywhere? Paranormal activity is talked about everywhere. Water coolers, youth group, cubicles, Walmart isles you name it. People are fired up about it. When was the last time you were that fired up about Jesus? When was the last time we got that excited about what Christ did on the cross? When was the last time you couldn’t wait to tell so and so about Jesus?  Show me a church that is just as fired up about Jesus as people are about a movie and I’ll show you a Supernatural movement of God where thousands are being impacted for eternity.

We don’t see this movement because we are complacent. We don’t give any time to God. Sure we go to church but do we do anything outside of that? Do we talk about our faith? Do we pray? Do we study the Word and let it transform our lives? Do we have genuine concern for the hurting and the lost? No. Instead it’s about more methods, bigger buildings, less scripture and taking cautious steps to not offend. Compromise and conformity kill a movement. I hope in your church just as I hope in mine that we will begin to catch that spark that becomes a fire that turns into a nuclear explosion that impacts thousands for eternity. All you need is a few who truly believe. Who have the passion and zeal to make that movement happen. Who are so fired up about Jesus they can’t help but talk about him and get others fired up about him. A few whose hearts and love for Jesus are so infectious that people can’t help but come to their church to see what all the talk is about. Maybe you’re the one to start that fire. Maybe you’re the one to take that risk. You’ll never know what kind of movement you can start or what supernatural things God will do through you until you actually try.

Every month the vice chair of our board writes a little devotional for the church newsletter. She always does a great job and I thought November’s article was just awesome and so incredibly true. Hope you enjoy it.

Lessons from the Subway

“Mommy, what’s wrong with him?” my daughter asked as she drew closer and tightened her grip on my arm. The source of her concern was a disheveled man, who alternately sang loudly or yelled out random thoughts, pacing along the platform of the subway station. “I think he may have a drug problem or be mentally ill,” I whispered as I hurried her on the train that had just pulled into the station. As the train pulled away, I realized that my 10-year-old was experiencing more than just the historical significance of Boston. She was seeing many different types of people—people we don’t usually see in La Crosse. Having lived in a large city prior to having children, I had experienced all this before and over the years had learned that you just avoid the “unusual” people on the subway or the street corners. But something was different this time:  Did I really want to teach Laura to ignore and avoid people who made her uncomfortable? I tried to justify my thinking, “This is an issue of safety, and I’m just teaching her to be careful like I do when I tell her to run from a stranger who offers her a ride.” But that argument didn’t assuage my conscience. This seemed different somehow. Then I heard that quiet voice within my heart say, “I don’t see him the way you do. I see someone who needs to know My love.” Even when I’m on vacation, the Holy Spirit is not. He still finds me and pricks my heart and soul. As a Christian mother, I want my kids to model the love of Christ to others. Most often, they will learn how to do that from me and the example I provide. But how can I do that while still teaching them to be safe? “God,” I prayed, “show me how to balance these two competing desires in a better way the next time.” Perhaps what is most troubling to me about this episode is that I wasn’t bothered by my prior callous responses until I had one of my children with me. Isn’t it funny that the condition of my spiritual heart never bothered me until a child was monitoring it? Again I prayed, “God, forgive me for all the times I avoided people just because it was the easy thing to do. Help my heart to be less callous next time—regardless of whether someone is watching me or not.” “…The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  I Sam. 16:7b

Last week I wrote a blog post about the 5 P’s to prayer. We looked at King Jehoshaphat and what he did when the threat of war was upon his people. Those 5 p’s were problem, petition, proclamation, praise and peace. If you want to read the post then click HERE. Immediately following this awesome story of how God moves in powerful ways when His people call on His name we see a final summary of King Jehoshaphat’s life. Although he was a good king there was something he failed to do.

II Chronicles 20:32-33, “Jehoshaphat was a good king, following the ways of his father, Asa. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. During his reign, however, he failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people never fully committed themselves to follow the God of their ancestors.”

Jehoshaphat did what was pleasing to the Lord except he failed to remove all the pagan shrines and because of this the people never fully committed themselves to follow God. Like these people we too can be fickle in our obedience to God. We say we want to serve God yet we still have shrines in our lives that are keeping us from doing so. What is it in your life right now that is keeping you from fully following God? Is it sports, TV, work, family, money? What is it? Whatever it is you may need to cut it out or at the very least severely reduce its importance and hold on your life. We do that by giving it over to God. Asking Him to forgive us for making that “thing” more important than Him. Following Jesus is all that matters in this life. Everything else is just an idol that keeps us from becoming the sanctified mature followers He wants us to be.

In Luke 18 we see the story of the rich young ruler who wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. He wanted to earn it by his works. But Christ told him it was not by his works he could be saved. If he wanted to be saved he needed to be willing to give up everything and follow him. To die to self and serve God. The rich ruler left sad because money was his idol, his shrine. He wasn’t willing to give it up and we’ll never know if he was saved or not. But Jesus makes it clear. To be his follower means giving up everything and recognizing that all that matters is Jesus. Everything else is just a shrine that means nothing and only keeps us from being fully mature believers or believers at all.

So I ask you again; what shrines need to be removed from your life? What is keeping you from fully trusting and following God? Get rid of it and allow God to have all of you.

Big E Party tonight for all the Elev8 kids. There will be inflatables, weird games with pumpkins involved and CANDY! Wear your costume and come prepared for an awesome time.

Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat is happening this weekend. Pray for us as we go out to collect the food bags that will be passsed out on Thursday. We want to be able to collect TONS of food to help needy families in the area.

THIS Sunday will be the 7th message of the current Grace series. We will be talking about how God offers restoring grace to those who have fallen away from their faith.

We are looking for some HIGHLY organized and detailed people to help us in the areas of outreach and missions. These areas don’t necessarily have to be your “gift” or “calling”. Rather we are looking for people who LOVE to organize events and make sure all the little details get done. If that’s you let me know ASAP.

At this time we can no longer offer toddler nursery during second service. It’s unfortunate but we just don’t have enough volunteers to make it happen and we don’t have many kids of that age right now either. If you want to see it continue then please volunteer to be a part of it. We want to have enough volunteers so you only have to work it once every two months.

There are some crazy churches out there but this one might be in the top 10. I know there are some churches that believe the KJV is the only right translation of the Bible but I have yet to hear of a church that has taken extreme measures like this church by burning other bibles and books of certain Christian authors to make a point. I do agree there are some questionable translations out there that we should be careful of and there are definitely false teachers, preachers and so called “christian” authors who I encourage people to stay away from but not sure I would hold a book burning of them. In all reality the only “true” bible is that which is read in the original Greek and Hebrew. So I guess the joke’s on them.

In all seriousness these people are crazy and are taking Christianity to the most legalistic extremes possible and who teach and lead people in such a way that is not Christian but is in fact leading them in the opposite direction of Christ except they do it all in his name. I am not angry at them nor do I judge them but I absolutely feel sorry for them and hope that God would show them the Truth, capital T,  instead of the “truth”, little t, they have fabricated for themselves.

Great services today. Here are the afterthoughts…

We have great volunteers. From the greeters and ushers to the nursery workers and praise team. Love seeing everyone who gets involved each week to make this thing happen. It’s a great group of people who love their church and are willing to do anything to make it an incredible place to worship.

Continue to see more and more new families. I would guess we are seeing easily 3-5 new families each week. Some are unchurched, some are new to the area, some are curious and some are coming from another denomination. It can be overwhelming trying to meet everyone but we will continue to welcome them and help them get connected the best we can. I’m glad I have Pastor Linda who is trying really hard to connect with everyone and help our ushers and greeters make sure people are being helped. Definitely going to take continued training and strategy but we’ll get there eventually.

1st service we had a time of testimony. I love doing that once in a while and it was good to hear praises and request then pray together as a church family.

Spoke on forgiveness today. It was part 6 of my Grace series. Some thoughts I brought out today were…

• Forgiving is not forgetting…
• You will never have to forgive someone more than Christ forgave you
• It is impossible for us to receive from God what we aren’t willing to give. How can we expect God to forgive us if we won’t forgive others?
• Lack of forgiveness only leads to a life of bitterness and resentment. Bitterness only hurts the one who feels it and only stagnates our spiritual maturity.
• Christians can always trust Christ to work good out of even the most difficult and painful of circumstances. Think about what you wouldn’t have today, know today be able to help others with today if you hadn’t experienced what you had.

Continue to appreciate the testimonies of people who are being challenged by the series.

Guys are getting geared up for hunting season. Already had a few apologize for not being in church in a few weeks. Trust me I am used to it when hunting season starts.

Weather is slowly but surely getting colder and colder. I am actually ready for the snow to drop. I keep hearing about Wisconsin winters now I am ready for it to get here so I can see what all the hype is about. Of course I will probably regret typing that but oh well.

If you come up here to visit we are taking you to Lindy’s Sub’s. Absolutely fantastic. Have had them for two days in a row. They are Taylor’s new favorite as well.

I need to give a BIG THANKS to everyone who has given us cards and gift cards for pastors appreciation. It has been awesome!

That’s about it for today. Yes, I watched the Packers win. Yes, I am looking forward to the Packers/Vikings game next weekend. I am rooting for the Packers but I am also rooting for my boy Adrian Peterson. Never stop rooting for my sooners no matter who they play for.

Finally, I LOVE MY CHURCH! I get to serve with some of the best people in the world and don’t want to be anywhere else.

Have a great week!