SIGNS of DISCIPLESHIP

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT 
Christian DISCIPLESHIP 
is on-going in this CHURCH Group?
LifeGROUP?
OUTREACH group ... or even in your BIBLE GROUP?
MINISTRY GROUP?
MISSIONS GROUP?
---------------------------------------------

DISCIPLESHIP IS RELATIONSHIP
(man to man      lady to lady)
(COUPLES with COUPLES)
(YOUTH among YOUTH)
(MARKETPLACE people among MARKETPLACE people)

- coz there is INTENTIONAL Follow-Up.
- coz there is REGULAR Appointments to check how people are doing.
- coz people land in Small Groups to grow and be challenged.
- coz this cycle is repeated again and again to NEW guests and worshippers.

How to INTENTIONALLY Follow-Up?
*over a cup of coffee or meal
- meet
- sit
- talk
- teach
- pray
(curious about the word "the 33"?
-- it means:  just doing this regularly for 30minutes to 33minutes or more!) 
THAT "33" will be good enough to impart something with someone :-)
DO NOT BORE PEOPLE with 3 HOURS of meetings :-)
just "the 33" is enough with care, love, direction and impartation.
are you doing "THE 33?" YET?

Christian Discipleship Continues when …
THE NEXT GENERATION AND THE NEXT AND THE NEXT would:

- meet with NEW ONES.
- sit with NEW ONES.
- talk with NEW ONES.
- teach with NEW ONES.
- pray with NEW ONES.


Biblical DISCIPLESHIP involves:  (taken from Psalm 1)

- walking in step
- standing with
- sitting in the company
- delight in the LORD

BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP (taken from Deuteronomy 6)
IMPRESS THEM ON ... (on your children)

- TALK about them
- when you SIT at home and
- when you WALK along the road,
- when you LIE DOWN and
- when you GET UP.

THE JEWISH STYLE OF DISCIPLESHIP ... it is more than a "MEETING" .. it is an "IMPRESSING" ... a "FLOW"
... a "LIFESTYLE" from waking up to lying down. From Sabbath to Sabbath :-)

NOTE:
The spirit of control should never be in Christian Discipleship.
Rather an atmosphere of RELEASE  or Empowerment must be in effect.
There must be TURN-OVERS not TAKE-OVERS.

WARNING SIGN:
When a disciple is more attached to a disciple rather than to hear the Voice of God as revealed in the Bible and Personal Communion with the LORD.

TOOLS TO USE:
(IN LINE WITH THE WORD OF GOD, THE BIBLE)
- our CROSSCARD
- our CROSSROADS BOOKLET
- our CROSSOVER WEEKEND (HisLife Encounter Night)
- our CROSSLIFE STUDIES

FOCUS: Glorify God & Make Disciples

Romans 8:6
"To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, 
but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace." 

Romans 12:17
"Do not pay anyone back evil for evil, 
but focus your thoughts on what is right in the sight of all people."

from the International Standard Version

------------

fo·cus  (fks)
1.  A center of interest or activity. 
2.  Close or narrow attention.
3.  Concentration.
4.  A condition in which something can be clearly apprehended or perceived.

“it is wise to focus your energies on answers -- not excuses"
[borrowed quote]

"When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. 
Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. 
Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.”   
-  Michael Leboeuf

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; 
we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, 
never deciding to master anything in particular.”
[unknown]

= = = = = = = = = = = =

as of this writing ... it will be FOUR MONTHS TO GO TILL WE CLOSE the year 2013.  

If there are 4 THINGS that I need to 
FOCUS ON 
in the area of 
CHURCH MOVEMENT MINISTRY ... 
it would be the following:

> > > > the 4 x 4 < < < <

> > > > the 4 x 4 < < < <

1) CHURCH LAUNCHING SCHOOL 

-- Year 3 at His Life Ministries [Creating Launch Teams].

2) MEGA CROSSCOURSE Congress in the Vision of 12 

-- The ROL Track [crossRoads; crossOver; crossLife] making disciple makers to the maximum!

3) WEDNESDAYS HOUSE of PRAYER 

-- Mid-Week 5am DAWN WATCH [calling all to depend on the LORD'S Spirit].

4) COLLABORATIVE PREACHING Mentoring Program 

-- for the purpose of Raising Up Biblical Preachers in the spirit of Holiness  [since we are in a MULTI-SITE set up -- having a 1 UNITED Idea taught to our church family].

>> what about you? <<
"WHAT YOU FOCUS ON ... you will CALENDAR"


COLOSSIANS 3:1
"Therefore, if you have been raised with the Messiah, keep focusing on the things that are above, where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God. 

HEBREWS 3:1
Therefore, holy brothers, partners in a heavenly calling, keep your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. 

======================
ABOVE is CHURCH FAMILY FOCUS  ... 
you might be wondering WHAT ABOUT MY FAMILY? 
(well ... i am having a goal of 

1. having a SUPER Family Vacation in a BIG CITY -- in or outside the PHILIPPINES by December; 
2. PAY OFF our VEHICLE Mortgage (and upgrade); 
3. SAVE and INVEST wisely via MUTUAL FUNDS for the COLLEGE of our KIDS; 
4. HAVE a HOUSE for our FAMILY in due season // NO MORE RENTALS. >> all things are made beautiful in HIS TIME << 

TO BE RICH: Tithe, Thank, Train

Yesterday during the Benediction time [His Life Main, Robinsons], Doc Jimmy Pacete, one of my LifeGroup members mentioned ... "Lord may we be a RICH WISE MAN [contrast to the RICH FOOL of Luke 12] ..."

Hallelujah because I believe this is POSSIBLE, if not the perfect plan of God for all "RICH" people!

You know:  
GOD HAS NO PROBLEM WITH US BEING RICH, HIS CONCERN is for us BECOMING FOOLS.

Many miss the PURPOSE of MONEY which is 
Love People and To Thank God


TO BE RICH (the Jesus way), forget NOT these 3 "T's":
1)  Tithe
2)  Thank
3)  Train

To be a Tither is to develop a Discipline of RETURNING what belongs to God.
The "tenth" belongs to God always.  LEVITICUS 27:30**
In all your Increase and Income, HONOR the LORD with what is due HIM.
BE A TITHER -- you will never be like the RICH FOOL of Luke Chapter 12.

To be a  Thankful person is to develop Dependence on the SOURCE of it all.
God gives us ALL things -- To ENJOY and be THANKFUL with.
Never ever have the idea, that it was YOU who is the source of something.  It has always been GOD!
BE A THANKFUL person -- you will never be like the RICH FOOL of Luke Chapter 12.

To be Trained in the area of money-wise / financial soundness and proper handling of income will be a PLUS! Always it will be.
There is a danger in SUDDEN WEALTH or BIG BONUSES or INHERITANCES or BIG BREAKS without the knowledge of how to handle and go about it.
UNLESS you are Trained [BUSINESS; INVESTMENTS; SAVINGS; ACCOUNTING; ETC] you may lose it all.
BE TRAINED -- you will  be more richer AND will make others RICH too!

- - - - - - -

YOU ARE INVITED to a STEWARDSHIP EXPERIENCE

We want to see you blessed, and maturing in your FINANCES.

As you start tithing, you will see how God will bless you as you commit to this healthy financial stewardship practice called TITHING.

THE RESULTS when YOU TITHE: Maturity, Growth and Stewardship

How?  
We're asking you to commit to take 10% of your total income for the next 60 days and give it to God through the church  (His Life Ministries OR wherever you are committed to as a LOCAL HOME CHURCH).

Who?  
Tithing is God's plan for every follower of the Word of God.
This 60 Day TITHE commitment is for individuals or families that have not been tithing in at least the last six months.  Tithing is 10% of your income, not just regular or spontaneous giving in the church offering.

When?  
The 60 Day TITHE commitment will begin this SEPTEMBER 1 2013 and will end OCTOBER 31 2013.
You will then faithfully tithe 10% of your income and trust the LORD for its RESULTS in your life.

Why?  
The only thing in the Bible that God says to test Him on is tithing. We at His Life Church believe in it so strongly that we want to give you the opportunity to take God at His Word. God promises to take care of your financial needs when you trust Him by bringing Him the first ten percent.

We understand …
that giving away 10% of your income can be a big - and often frightening - commitment!
Yet, we also understand the promises God made in Malachi 3:10-11.

God will hold true to His promises of blessings.


Questions

What is tithing?
The word "tithe" is derived from the Hebrew word ma'aser and it literally means a tenth.
Ten percent of everything belongs to the Lord. In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.  "The 'storehouse' is the Old Testament picture of the New Testament church. So as New Testament believers, we worship the Lord with the tithe; or the ten percent.

What is the difference between a TITHE and an OFFERING?
The tithe is 10% of your income. God says that He has given us all that we own, and that the first 10% is dedicated to Him, and we are to be faithful in "bringing the tithe."

Offerings are any generous giving that you do over and above your tithe. And while your tithe is designated for the local church, an offering is for you to be generous wherever you see a need.

Many followers of Christ confuse giving regularly with tithing, and while giving regularly is highly commendable, and it is a big step in and of itself, tithing is taking a full 10% of your paycheck or any increase the Lord will grant you, and giving it to the local church in order to be an important part of building God’s Kingdom.

---
**LEVITICUS 27:30  Parallel Verses

New International Version
"'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

New Living Translation
"One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy.

International Standard Version
"Any tithes of the land—from grain grown on the land or from fruit grown on the trees—belong to the LORD. They are sacred to the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"One-tenth of what comes from the land, whether grain or fruit, is holy and belongs to the LORD.

---
clck below
DOWNLOAD the 60 DAY Stewardship Brochure HERE

PREACHING

These gentlemen wants to be MENTORED to PREACH!

THEY brought me to STARBUCKS!
     [i don't usually find my self in a starbucks coffee house ... street coffee "YES", but starbucks "NO!"
     he he he -- probably this is my 6th or 7th time to be in a STARBUCKS Coffee house in my entire life, 
     that's including 1 in Cebu and 1 in Manila or somewhere.] 
Treated me ... with a Drink and Dessert.
THEN I tutored them what I knew in my heart ...

Then I shared to them these thoughts:
BEFORE EVER PREACHING ... you must ...

PART 1

SMS idea

1)  Something to Say or To Say Something?

• a preacher has SOMETHING to say!
• he / she has heard from GOD!
• he / she has a word for the World!
• he / she knows that he / she carries an ORACLE for all to hear.
• HE / SHE DOES NOT JUST TALK TO FINISH A 30 MINUTE GIVEN TIME!
• HE or SHE has really SOMETHING TO SAY!  If not --- KEEP QUIET!

2)  Moves People!

• a preacher is not satisfied with NOTHING!  NO challenge and change felt.
• he / she desires to MOVE people from ONE PLACE to ANOTHER!
• he / she is never satisfied with the STATUS QUO.
• HE or SHE WANTS a Decision!  HE or SHE WANTS to be HATED or LOVED or FOLLOWED!

WE MOVE PEOPLE WHEN WE FIRST ESTABLISH an "AUTHORITY" in the following spheres:

1. Sphere of HEAVEN -- a preacher is a son or daughter of God!  This is foremost!
2. Sphere of HELL -- a preacher must be known to be an ENEMY in Hell!  Never friends with the devil.
3. Sphere of EARTH -- honor; respect; character; anointing FELT by people around him / her.

I TOLD THEM THAT THIS IS A SECRET -- to authentic PREACHING!  WE NOT ONLY PREACH THE WORD ... we also "PREACH" the LIFE we are LIVING!

3)  Seed of the Word of God planted intentionally.

• he / she is not concerned about GOOD COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS apart from THE INTENTION TO PLANT THE POWERFUL WORD of God in the hearts and thoughts of his / her hearers.
• We are not like that "POPULAR TV TALK SHOW HOST!"
• We are to believe that we are GOD'S MOUTH PIECE!  THEREFORE EXCLUSIVELY BRINGING THE WORD of God to the PEOPLE!
• Don't be too enamored by STYLE!  Be first baptized with the idea THAT I AM TO BRING GOD'S HOLY WORD TO THE PEOPLE CAREFULLY, EXCELLENTLY and CREATIVELY!

----
PART 2

I ALSO BROUGHT with me a PHOTOCOPY of 
"ONE GREAT TRUTH: A Sermon" article 
borrowed from an old AMERICAN PREACHER.

THESE ARE THE THOUGHTS we read together:
a)  Picture the Invitation and the One Thing you want to happen.
b)  Decide what Truth will make it happen.
c)  Write it Down and Look at it.
d)  Decide the Destination of your Sermon.
e)  Decide the Truth to be Delivered.
f)  Use the time between this decision and the time of the preaching of the sermon to convince yourself of the the the importance of the Truth that you have chosen.
g)  Write the Truth and place it at several well-travelled places.
h)  Set times to do nothing but think of the importance of the Truth to be delivered on the Lord's Day.
i)  Place the Truth at the Top of your prayer list.
j)  As you pray, picture in your own mind the invitation on Sunday.
k)  Choose a song that conveys the chosen Truth.
l)  Read all you can about this Truth.
m)  Think of its Greatness.
n)  Repeat the Truth over and over again.
o)  Remember that you have only one chance.
p)  Avoid complicated outlines.
q)  Have the Truth that is being emphasized written boldly somewhere in the outline.
r)  If, for any reason, there is no central Truth given in the sermon, have something very memorable to present.
s)  If you have a sermon with points, Repeat all when the new one is given.  [its good to be repetitious with the right purpose]
t)  It is often advisable to have the people Repeat the points aloud.
u)  Do not change your direction while preaching a sermon if you are feeling like it is a failure.  [unless you Know God is wanting you to]

----
Hallelujah!
more and more preachers of God's Word soon!
more and more REVEALERS of JESUS CHRIST too!
we PREACH Him ... crucified, resurrected and coming again.
- - - - -

“We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” 
(I Corinthians 1:23).

A Desire to JOURNEY in this PRACTICE years ago: "ONE IDEA TEAM PREACHING"

THE BOOK

THE IDEA of Group PREPARATION to PREACH in a Multi-Site Set-Up

His Life Ministries rejoices because of the many volunteer Pastors and Preachers sharing the Word of God in our different SITES (congregations / churches) today.
We practice preaching in "SERIES" FORMAT through TEAM PREACHING for the reason of concentration, preparation, eliminate false teaching and celebrate unity.  
We want the "ONE IDEA" of God's Word shared clearly for people to practically do the Word of God. -- "But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only ..." (BOOK of JAMES)

We were influenced by DAVE FERGUSON'S Idea on "PREACHING THE BIG IDEA".
This becomes so HELPFUL during our UNITED CAMPAIGNS, such as Thanksgivings and the like.
BUT, we have never "perfected" it yet nor practiced it faithfully.
UNTIL today, the time has come, that we feel we have to REALLY DO WHAT IT SUGGESTS in the spirit of unity.

Below is an Interview of Dave Ferguson regarding this SUBJECT.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Preaching the Big Idea: 
An Interview with Dave Ferguson
by Michael Duduit 

In his book The Big Idea (Zondervan), pastor Dave Ferguson talks about how his church has taken the homiletical concept of a single driving idea for the sermon and extended that across the entire teaching platform of the church. Dave Ferguson and four friends from college launched Community Christian Church – where he serves as Leads Pastor -- a church that has grown to 600+ leaders with more than 5,000 in attendance at eight sites every weekend throughout Chicago area. Preaching editor Michael Duduit recently visited with Dave.

Preaching: 
What’s the Big Idea? When you use the phrase “Big Idea,” what do you mean by that?

Ferguson: 
What we really mean to say is we would like to see you do is communicate one big idea every week. Haddon Robinson is the one who introduced the idea in the preaching context, but for us we are trying to figure out, not only within the message giving people one big idea, but in the celebration service or worship, how do we communicate one big idea, have one big experience? And it is actually taking it beyond that experience -- how do you give one big idea within the large group and the small groups events and throughout the life of the church and throughout the whole family: adults, students and kids?

Our heartbeat about that is we are convicted we were hitting people with so many little ideas. 
I think I could make a case that a family, throughout the course of the week, if they are well churched you could bombard them with a thousand different little ideas. I think implicitly we are telling people that you don’t have to live this out, you just have to hear it; you just absorb it cognitively. What we want is for people to live it out. I think that is Jesus’ intent. Our premise is: if we want to better accomplish the mission that Jesus has for us, it is to give people one big idea; you go live it out this week and come back next week and do the same all over again.

Preaching: 
Give me an example of how that looks in a sermon you have done recently.

Ferguson: 
This last week, Wednesday, it was called ATM. The series ATM has to do with Attitude, Treasure and Mission. We are actually on the Treasure one. I wasn’t speaking, but we collaborate on everything with the preaching and teaching pastors that particular weekend. 
The big idea was: tithing is a clear demonstration of what you treasure.

At this particular celebration service, there was a video that we did playing off the Super Bowl; we had sports reporters, all that. We had a guy, kind of in slow-motion, and he was putting in his tithe and they were announcing it, and someone was tryng to take money out of the bag, and they were announcing that there was a flag on the play. That introduced the topic. We actually ended up using an old country song, a Johnny Cash tune, and they changed the words to have to do with tithing. So by the time we got to that people were already introduced to the big idea.

When the teaching pastor got up he took it and we used the scripture from Malachi and other places. Basically people came away with the one big idea that tithing really does tell you a lot about what you treasure. So we hit them with it in as many multiple ways, multi-sensory ways, as we possibly could -- this is what we want you to live out. I’m happy to report that this weekend we had the highest giving that we have had this year! That is what we are trying to see -- not just to communicate one big idea, but how do you communicate it for action, for living it out.

Preaching:
You mentioned your collaborative arrangement in terms of the teaching process. 
How does that work, and how did you get into it?

Ferguson: 
I am the lead pastor at Community Christian Church (CCC), but I am not the point person on the teaching team; that’s a guy named Tim Sutherland. We teach about the same amount, then we have a couple of other guys on the teaching team. It started out of a friendship I had with Tim. Tim is probably one of the brightest people I know. When we first started the church I would call him every week and we would talk over the sermon back and forth. I would tell him, “Here is the topic we are going with,” and he would download – “Here are all my thoughts” -- and we would hash it back and forth. He was so taken with the vision of our church, what we were trying to do, he ended up moving his whole family to Chicago. He ended his practice; he was a marriage and family therapist at the time. We would do it on the phone and then we would do it over lunch and over tennis. Eventually he came on staff; now it is a much more formalized process.

There are a couple of kinds of teaching teams out there. A lot of churches have teaching teams like baseball; ours is more like basketball. The teaching teams that are more like a baseball team have a teaching rotation; this guy is up this week, this guy’s up the next week, lefty is up on the third week, and you have your four-man rotation and you start all over again. 
Each of them goes up and they do their own thing and they are on their own.

On a basketball team, everybody plays every game; maybe only one guy takes the shot, but everybody gets to touch the ball. Our teaching team is a collaborative that works much more like a basketball team. Every week we work together -- actually we work about nine weeks in advance starting, then three weeks in advance on the actual manuscript. We all work together to actually create that manuscript.

We call it the 105 fastest minutes of your week. Basically the format is we all come together; there are about five of us usually in the room. We also have a whole network that we helped start called the New Thing Network with churches across the country. We bring them in through video conference and teleconference and they also collaborate with us.

If I was going to break down the 105 minutes, the first five minutes is what we call Focus. The person leading that meeting will bring into focus here is the big idea that we are working on, that we are going to have to do a sermon on in three weeks. Then we have what we call the Desired Outcomes. We go around, and everyone is responsible for bringing something that will relay what are the desired outcomes that we want to have. We think very simply in terms of head, hearts and hands. How are we going to get people to think differently, how do we want them to feel, what do we want them to actually do differently?

Then we start Brainstorming. What are the possibilities? Anything goes. We use big white sheets and spill everything up on the board. This usually lasts about 45 minutes. We have enough stuff, in any one message, probably for a whole series. One of the things you discover in a collaborative process, there is never a time when you don’t have enough content. Sometimes when you are out on your own, you might say, “Oh man I am struggling to find some good stuff.” We always have more than enough good stuff; it is a matter of what we are not going to say. Then the next thirty minutes is Structure. OK, what are we not going to say, what are we going to say, how do we put it into some kind of structure? We use a variety of different structures, depending on what the topic is and how we can most effectively communicate that.

About ten minutes we spend in Consensus: “Is everyone really sold on this? Will we all really buy into this?” This is a thing we all created together. Once everyone is on board with that, then the last five minutes we Divvy it up, we divide up the message. Let’s say the message has an introduction, four mods, and a conclusion. That means at least six different people. So around the room each of us may takes a section, and another guy across the country by teleconference he would also take a part of the message, and they all agree to write that part of the message. They’ll have a week to write their part of the message, then they email it in. Tim, who is the point person on the team, he edits the whole thing into a manuscript -- we actually do everything by manuscript. That is what we call our 1.0. So we actually have our 1.0 done at least two weeks in advance before we have to deliver it. That gives everybody a chance to go out and let it marinate, to live with it for awhile. Then we can make it more our own throughout that creative process.

= = = = = = = = = =

Preaching: 
So once you’ve got the 1.0 to work with, you have guys in multiple churches that have that manuscript. How closely does everyone feel the need to stick to the common manuscript or does each person have the flexibility to adapt and modify it?

Ferguson: 
Each person has the flexibility to do exactly as they want. I think because of how the whole process works -- the teaching teams actually pick the Big Ideas a year in advance, then we get to design the message three weeks in advance -- there is a high level of ownership. It is not like you get to one point and say, “What’s that? I have never seen that before.” You basically you own that – “Oh yeah, I remember when we agreed to do that; this is exactly the best stuff. That is the feeling you have when it comes in – “Oh good, here it is.”

But even at that, you still have those two weeks where you have complete latitude. Something can happen to you and you say, “Oh, this will be a great story,” and of course you put it in. What is a little bit different though, in our situation, is that every time you do an edit to the message, there is an understanding that you email that edit to everyone else on the team. So everyone has the advantage. You usually put in your notes for the 2.0 things like: “I have a brand new story, can you please check this out. I am not really feeling great about that first point -- you guys got any ideas?” So there’s that kind of ongoing collaboration that even happens going into the last couple of weeks. It is usually up to 4.0, 5.0 before it ever gets delivered. Everybody feels very comfortable and it’s nuanced to take on their own personality of what they want to say.

Preaching: 
How many churches are in a networked relationship with your church?

Ferguson: 
We have eight sites of Community Christian Church locally, and there are about ten churches as part of our New Thing Network.

Preaching: 
Are the pastors of those different settings all a part of the 105 minute process, or do they simply join if they choose to?

Ferguson: 
Within our CCC are eight sites, and we have about 25 celebration services -- about half of our services have in-person teaching and the other half are video-cast. So all of the people in the CCC are very involved in this process as well. Those people who are pastoring and teaching in the churches in our New Thing Network, they are as well. Like this week, I was gone so I wasn’t there on Tuesday for our Big Idea teaching team meeting. I missed it, but the process goes on. I guess there is enough relationship that even though they designed that -- I had input in the beginning when we first talked about it -- so that when the 1.0 shows up I still feel ownership about that and feel engaged. It does work that way, but that is not the ideal.

We have found there are a number of benefits. There was a time when I would get alone by myself and have to crank this baby out all on my own. I feel like we get a dramatically better content. I think that makes sense. There is a synergy, there is a collaboration -- if you have four people thinking on the same thing why wouldn’t you have better ideas then if you were by yourself. That is almost just common sense. We never have the problem that we don’t have enough content.

Something else happens. There are clearly times when the message is better than others, but with this process you never have a bad message. 52 weeks a year you may have some that are good or just ok but you are never going to have a bad one, because when you have that many people involved in it, it just doesn’t happen. There is never a time where everybody has a crisis going on and they just didn’t have time and they just pull something together at the last minute; it just doesn’t work that way. That is a huge benefit.

I think we end up with better illustrations because we pull from what everybody is reading. We pull from everybody’s life story. It is kind of fascinating that within our own teaching team, we have been together long enough, we can actually use other people’s stories. I can use the reference, “Tim told me the other day…” and everybody knows Tim because he is on the teaching rotation and they get a big chuckle out of the story. Those kinds of things work.

I think you get better theology. I think sometimes it can be dangerous, us just by ourselves. But when we’re holding our theology off each other, when we are doing the right kind of exegesis and the right kind of thinking, we get better theology.

I think you also get a better use of time. I discovered that when I wrote a sermon by myself it would take me about 20 to 25 hours a week. I think that is probably not atypical. What we are discovering in this type of process is it will probably take me more like 12 to 15 hours. That is a benefit for me, and for our New Thing Network we bring in church planters -- for them to be able to plug into that and say, “I can get a better message in less amount of time.” That actually empowers them to be able to do leadership development and other things that they have to do that are so challenging in those early stages of planting a church.

One more thing, for me -- maybe it’s just the way I’m wired -- I’m having a lot more fun.

Preaching: 
I wonder if some of the objections to this process are generational. Perhaps there are older pastors that grew up with the concept with the pastor studying privately in the office, developing the message, as opposed to a younger generation that is more open to the whole team concept.

Ferguson: 
It may be generational. I feel there is definitely the paradigm that people have going into preaching that it is something you do by yourself in your study with your commentaries, doing your own exegesis, that kind of stuff. It is also the paradigm you get when you come out of Bible college or seminary. I don’t know too many places that are really big proponents, who are saying: “Hey, you ought to be thinking about doing this.”

It does seem like there are a lot of places you can point them to now. Perhaps not that it is so much happening within a particular church, where there is collaboration like what we are doing. What you do see is a collaboration between many pastors of various churches that are getting together for study group, get together to work on a particular series, sharing, that kind of thing.

Preaching: 
You have built a team within your church doing this. How do you advise the solo pastor who is not part of a larger group or network? How can he or she find a way to create a team to be able to find help in this kind of process?

Ferguson: 
When it comes to the Big Idea, two things come to mind. One: whoever is the staff person or volunteer person who is responsible for what I call the other thirty minutes of the service -- you create a finish line that says: here is where I take where I am going with my sermon, and then you involve the worship leader or arts director in that process. Then I think you can create the experience of the one big idea. You can plan in advance, make that happen with that person. That is a beginning point.

Another thing is if you already have a pastor or two, I would try to organize my life around a second meeting. Who are some other people -- whether they are other pastors or some other spiritual mature people that I respect, that have some wisdom, that I can say, “How can I have breakfast with those people once a week, have lunch with them this week?” I can talk over this and get them to begin to give input in this. Eventually, even to switch with those pastors and begin to give different sections each and share in this. I think you will receive a lot of the benefits we have been talking about.

Preaching: 
As you try to frame the Big Idea, or phrase the sentence that is going to be the Big Idea for your message, what makes a good Big Idea?

Ferguson: 
Good question, I think we need to work harder on that. If you have one Big Idea that really calls people to a certain kind of change. It maybe goes back to is it something in your head, your heart, your hand. You have got to make them think differently, feel differently or do differently. So it is not just an idea but an idea that calls people to live something out, in our terms missionally.

Preaching: 
What do you enjoy most about preaching? What do you find to be the biggest challenge?

Ferguson: 
What I enjoy most about preaching? I probably teach from a leadership gift. For me, maybe that is why I became this big proponent of the Big Idea -- because I feel like it mobilizes people to actually live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So the part that I love about teaching is actually seeing people live life differently, the way Jesus wants us to. I don’t particularly get a buzz out of just the teaching part.

I know this guy, I got to baptize two weeks ago, I know his story -- he just came out of rehab, and he had overcome a cocaine addiction. He had a wife, a family, a great job, but he was on the verge of just screwing up the whole thing, just trashing the whole thing. What happened in the life of CCC and the Big Idea through the Holy Spirit helped made that possible for him to be like, “OK, now he has a chance again.” He has become a Christ follower. Those stories are what make it fun for me.

Challenges – I don’t like being by myself. I am more of an extrovert; I don’t like having to go off all by myself to study for long periods of time. When I am with other people I find it much more engaging. So, it will be interesting for other people to account for this process – is it more about the personality of our church or is there something to this kind of worship for everybody?

I would challenge preachers to trust and risk. Number one, in regards to your celebration service, you need to risk more with your arts people. I think that will so complement what you are trying to accomplish. In order to really have artists engaged and involve artists in what you are trying to do, real artists have to be allowed to take risks. Art by its nature is risk. I think as the preaching pastor, senior pastor, you need to empower your artists to let them take more risks.

The other challenge is trust. Trust a team of people to come up with what you are trying to do by yourself. If you will trust them, my experience has been you will actually get a better message for people and accomplish things more missionally.

Preaching: 
How involved are your arts people in the planning of the message itself, or are they purely involved in the other parts of the service?

Ferguson: 
We plan our Big Ideas a year in advance. That meeting is primarily driven by the teaching team, but we have our arts people in there and also adults, student and kids leaders in that meeting, so they have input from the very beginning. After we finish the Big Ideas, before we actually go to work on the manuscript, we develop what we call graphs -- about a half-page paragraph of where the Big Idea is going -- and those are given to the arts team. The arts team takes those and actually form everything else that is going to happen in the service before we ever write our message. So they know where we are headed based on that half page graph, but they have tremendous input that way.

They will also make suggestions like: have you thought about this clip, this as a prop, do you think about these kinds of things that will also complement what we are doing? There is a give and take about that. They are involved a great deal.

Preaching: 
Do the members of your church know that this process goes on?

Ferguson: 
I think so. I think for some it is a selling point for they will tell their friends, “You should see what we do. Not only do we get the same things, but our kids get the same thing in their classroom,” and they really enjoy this. I am not sure that is so much an added benefit, because we are really trying to reach the unchurched, non-Christian people. I don’t know if that is an added benefit for reaching that population. For invitations -- when people are inviting friends, for people who are looking for a new church home or relocating -- that becomes an added benefit for them.

I do think as far as spiritual formation it is a great benefit for people that don’t have any church background. If it an intact family, mom and dad show up and hear the teaching and go home and junior has already heard about this. They feel empowered that they have a heard a half hour and had a whole experience in this, and now they can engage in conversation with their child about it. --- END OF INTERVIEW

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RELATED ARTICLE
BOOK REVIEW BORROWED ...
Another one of the books I read during my study-break was Dave Ferguson's The Big Idea. Dave is the lead pastor at Community Christian Church in the Chicago, Illinois area. He also writes a great blog that I follow regularly. This book is primarily about how the church can make a bigger impact in people's lives by slimming everything down to one main message per weekend. The team at their church then works to get children's ministry, student ministry, small-groups, worship ministry, and preaching all making the same point each week. Ferguson makes the claim that this multiplies impact throughout the families in the church.

Of course, it has take their church years to get to the place where every part of the organization can work together. But one of the great challenges I took away from Ferguson's book was to do sermon writing and planning earlier - work ahead! This sounds easy, but it is not common among teaching pastors. Ferguson's group does some things I think are strange in sermon-planning (group-preparation) and some things I don't agree with philosophically (topically-driven 4-6 week sermon series), but they do great work in getting their work done far in advance. This in turn helps the creative people on their team to have time to supplement the message with additional communication elements. I really enjoyed this work and appreciate their impact for the kingdom - also a great church-planting church (started the New Thing Network). Here's a summary of The Big Idea:

• Ferguson’s main theme is that people are overloaded with too much information throughout their daily life, and that this process continues at church, where many small ideas are communicated through unaligned ministries. He advocates aligning ministries and messages into one Big Idea every weekend that focused on application of biblical principles, not just communication of biblical truth.
• One big question is whether the different ministry areas of the church that are overseen by different ministry leaders/staff are all heading the same direction and aligned in their purpose – are we helping or hurting families by our efforts?
• Ferguson advocates that small-groups use discussion guides built on the sermon each week and gives the following five reasons for this alignment:

1. Increases likelihood of application of biblical principles
2. Diminishes people’s fears of leading a small group
3. Eliminates the question, “what do we study next?”
4. Makes the group another venue to communicate vision
5. Increases the quality of the small group experience

• The benefits of the Big Idea process each week:

1. Less energy and better product
2. New ideas and good ideas (brainstorming weeks ahead, critiquing weekly)
3. Cross-generational in appeal
4. Targeted and reproducible curriculum
5. Planned and spontaneous creativity
6. More believers and more maturity (obedience)

• Ferguson argues for starting Basic (with just the weekend service, planning far ahead), then adding additional components as possible (different ministry areas), then collaborate with church-plants on planning series**.
• CCC’s team does a 12-month ministry plan for Big Ideas, starting with a huge brainstorming session to generate 3-6 week series ideas. Then, a small group of decision makers meet to set the Big-Idea calendar for the next 12-months. This group spends time praying together, talking through the flow of the calendar, talking through the various topical series, then putting the Big Ideas on the calendar. After the 12-month calendar is complete, the teaching pastor puts together a weekly Big Idea summary sheet to lead the creative team in their planning.
• CCC’s timeline to pull off creativity around their Big Ideas:

1. 10-13 weeks out: Big Idea graph sent to each department
2. 9 weeks out: Big Idea creative planning meeting
3.  5 weeks out: Big Idea reality check (can we pull this off?)
4.  3 weeks out: Big Idea teaching team meeting & study-guide production
5.  2 weeks out: Sermon Manuscript 1.0 and media completed
6.  1 week out: Final run-through with all resources in place

• The impact of the creative-planning process will work best with three elements: advanced planning that gives the creative people time to work, proximity to each other as staff (they work in offices with no walls), parameters for the creative elements (do they help or distract from the Big Idea?
• For a good creative-team meeting, creative songs, video ideas, and sketch ideas need to be brainstormed before the meeting, everyone needs to lay down their egos so that the best ideas can be selected, the team needs to work through the graph overview from the teaching pastor, then use active brainstorming to generate ideas. Select good ideas, then put together the service order – don’t get stuck in a rut of dong the same things over and over again!
• CCC uses a teaching-team approach where they generate most of the teaching material in a teaching-team meeting (105 minutes), then the teaching pastor for that week takes the next two to revise the manuscript to its final form.

OPENING a Sunday Worship Celebration

a quick brainstorming 

with one of our Worship Teams 

at 

His Life generated these 

THOUGHTS, 

answering the Question:  

HOW TO OPEN A SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE?

1)  Intentional Silence AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

2)  Read the Scripture Text of the Day AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

3)  Call People to Stand and Shout and Clap with Thanksgiving AFTER THE COUNTDOWN!

4)  A Dance Praise from the Worship Team AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

5)  A Solo Violin / Saxophone / Piano Number AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

6)  A Full Live Instrumental Accompaniment by the Band AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

7)  Stand and Greet Everybody a Good Morning AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

8)  A Drama Skit or Pantomime AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

9)  A Voice Over with Multi-Media Greetings AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

10)  A Movie Click immediately AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

11)  Lights Out with Special Effects Music AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

12)  A Choir Singing or a Solo or a Duet or a Group Song AFTER THE COUNTDOWN.

add your suggestions ...

THE GOAL IS:  never be predictable!  be fresh! be alive in God!
TIP:  learn from other anointed churches and groups ON HOW THEY OPEN THEIR CELEBRATIONS!


-------------------------------------
RELATED IDEA:

HOW TO END A CELEBRATION:
1)  Sing "In Christ Alone" or "Lord's Prayer", THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
2)  Lead all to Clap to the LORD in Standing Ovation, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
3)  Have the Choir sing a BLESSING SONG, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
4)  Close in Prayer, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
5)  Play the EXTRO PRAISE song on your Multi-Media, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
6)  SILENCE for a MINUTE, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
7)  ALL OUT PRAISE AND DANCE, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.
8)  ANNOUNCE a very IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, THEN PRONOUNCE THE BENEDICTION.

forget not to serve a Drink or a Snack. The Goal is to BLESS PEOPLE as they LEAVE!
TIP:  learn from other anointed churches and groups on how they end their meetings.


- - - - - - - - - another related idea
IF YOU ARE AN INVITED SPEAKER:
1)  Honor the Pastor of that congregation and his or her family by thanking them by NAME.
2)  Honor and Greet the Leaders of that Congregation by Name and thank them that they invited you.
3)  Introduce yourself and your spouse and children by having a recent picture flashed before you preach or teach.
4)  HONOR People (their staff, team, pastors, leaders)
5)  HONOR the Lord's Word by Preaching Biblically.  

The Goal is to HONOR the people who invited you to speak.
TIP:  learn how effective communicators handle these above.

HHHHH: Having Hiving as a Harvest Hallmark at His LIFE [a STRATEGY]

multiplication happens naturally FOR BEES because of HIVING!

HIS LIFE MINISTRIES is a HIVING CHURCH!
WHY?
for the ultimate reason of wanting more and more people to WORSHIP God as they are MADE into Jesus' Disciples!
=======================

Since we started GROWING in NUMBERS, we made sure NOT to KEEP people IN ONE PLACE!
We delight to "SPEND" people and UNLEASH people into MULTI-PLACES.

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE DISCIPLES?
"don't keep, let them leap!";  "don't keep (people), let them leap!" 
-- pastor jr's quote [mamisok ka lang quotes]

HIVING is a natural way to MULTIPLY!
ask Mr BEE below ...

=======================
DICTIONARY:

"HIVE"

• to split off part of a large company to form a smaller subsidiary, giving shares in the subsidiary to its existing shareholders.
• (intransitive) To separate from a larger group.
• (transitive) To segregate; to remove from a parent entity.
• A structure for housing bees, especially honeybees.
• A colony of bees living in such a structure.
• A place swarming with activity.
• YET still live with many others in close association (family).

=======================

Do you want MORE HONEY?

GET READY TO SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY! hahaha

The ultimate GOAL is to see more and more people THANKING God, PRAISING God and FOLLOWING Jesus.  [GLORIFY GOD . MAKE DISCIPLES]

HIS LIFE HAS BEEN A HIVING CHURCH!

WHAT TO DO?
IF YOU WANT TO START A HIVING HARVEST HALLMARK as a STRATEGY for your GROUP?

1. Decide to GET the BEST of your BEST people to BE SENT OFF SOON!  Maybe next year? Next Quarter? or this December?  START PLANNING and ENVISIONING a City Harvest!
2. Make sure to GET the BIG PICTURE!  BAD and UGLY CHURCH SPLITS never gets the BIG PICTURE!  The characters involved in "bad church splits" have tini wini picture of WORLD EVANGELISM and CITY TAKING!  (this is for both the people WHO STAYS and PEOPLE WHO LEAVES) :-) no offence ... this is just the fact :-)  lets redeem that through "HIVING" (splitting in and for God's Cause)
3. The PEOPLE SENT must be fully trained to think; to thank; to teach; to GO like their SENDER :-)  they are on-mission!
4. HONOR your SENDING GROUP by Tithing, Praying and Giving Back all you can!  REMEMBER we are just IN ONE FAMILY.  Never forget your ROOTS!
5. INVEST your BEST People for a TEN TIMES MORE experience in NEW CHURCH LAUNCH!
6. SPEND MONEY.  LET GO of THEIR SPIRITUAL GIFTS -- let them use it.  GIVE AS MUCH as you can ... MAKE SURPLUS GIVING!  -- a reminder for the SENDING GROUP!

DO YOU WANT MORE HONEY?

DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE DISCIPLED in Jesus Christ?

TRY HIVING!

HAVE HIVING AS A HALLMARK of HARVESTING the World!

WELCOME to His Life Ministries, where imperfect people are perfectly welcome.

Our Vision is to Glorify God and Make Disciples through MANY SITES yet ONE Church Family.

LETS LAUNCH inside and outside Campuses (schools; colleges; universities).
LETS LAUNCH in nice Hotels around your City (Circle Inn; Marco Polo Davao; Amigo Terrace Iloilo, Palawan, Pasay, Antipolo, etc)
LETS LAUNCH in Communities (squatters, slums, smokey hills and mountains, shorelines)
LETS LAUNCH in Countries! and why not CONTINENTS!

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 - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

RELATED ARTICLE I posted lately:

Now we are in the YEAR 2013, and I believe more and more of our MATURE Sites are 

READY to Go MULTI-SITING!  (not sit but site)

AT this juncture, I am coaching some of our SITE TEAMS into HIVING.

"At HIS LIFE, we believe that God can use EVERYBODY for SOMEBODY to be won and discipled for Jesus.  We are believing God to raise up more and more LIFE GROUP LEADERS, DISCIPLE MAKERS, PRAYER LEADERS, HOLINESS AND RELEVANT PREACHERS, WORSHIP LEADERS and CAMPUS-COMMUNITY Pastors" -- pastor jr, 2012

Lets believe God for different School Campuses [high school, institutes, colleges, and universities] around the Philippine Islands. BELIEVING God also for the nations of the world ... EVERY PEOPLE !!!

LUKE 14:21FF (excerpts) 

... ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full ...

WATCH YOUR MOTIVE:

our MOTIVE for HLM MULTI SITES is to EVANGELIZE and DISCIPLE all the corners of our CITY, COMMUNITY and COUNTRY!  

Why not?  

If there is still a ROOM available out there somewhere in a RESTAURANT, HOTEL, SCHOOL CAMPUS, or BUILDING -- then there exists a possibility to make an ASSEMBLY for the LORD to gather there!

>> as the waters cover the sea, lets cover our city with the presence, praises and the people of God <<

THIS CAN ONLY HAPPEN IF WE THINK MULTI! 

Enough with MONO thinking!

MANY SITES yet ONE CHURCH in the CITY!

===========

START READING THE POSSIBILITY OF MULTI SITES around the WORLD.

BELOW is a great source to BEGIN!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE on MULTI-SITES:  

http://multisitechurch.typepad.com/

CLICK HERE FOR MORE on MULTI-SITES:                                    

http://leadnet.org/blog/post/committed_to_launch_a_multisite_campus_but_not_sure_where_to_start

CLICK HERE FOR MORE:                                                    

http://multisitesolutions.com/blog/the-5-ps-of-launching-a-multisite-campus

CLICK HERE FOR MORE:                                      

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/blog/2010/06/18/what-it-takes-to-launch-a-multi-site-campus/

===============================

RELATED ARITICLE:

5 Reasons Why I Love 

Multi-Site 

by Mark Batterson

We launched our sixth location at Potomac Yard. 

Can't wait to make the drive from our Capitol Hill location, across the 14th Street bridge, down Jeff Davis Highway and make a left turn into Potomac Yard. 

We're dreamed of this for quite some time!

I love multi-site for so many reasons. Here are five of them:

1) I think it helps us reach new people and new communities--especially in an urban context like DC.

2) I think it's healthy for our church--six locations means six times as many ministry opportunities.

3) I think it helps us with economies of scale and best practices.

4) I think it reduces dependence on and significance of one leader--it's a team effort. And last but not least...

5) Lord willing, I want to pastor one church for life. But I have an entrepreneurial itch that needs to be scratched. Multi-site does that. You never stand still. It never gets boring. And I think it keeps you focused on what's next.

HOW TO STICK WITH THE VISION at HLM, READ and take to HEART below:  

The Vision of 12 at His Life Ministries

CLICK BELOW:

THE VISION of 12 at HIS LIFE MINISTRIES