You’re Invited: Haiti Conference Call

This Wednesday, church leaders are invited to join a conference call to discuss how we can best work together to help the people of Haiti. I’ll be joining Andy Stanley and Wess Stafford in leading the call as we cover the following topics:

• The latest information about the current situation in Haiti
• Why the church in Haiti is the hope of Haiti
• Learning how to help the church in Haiti
• What your church can do to help
• Leading your congregation through this crisis

If you’re a church leader, and you’re interested in joining our 35-minute discussion, you can call 800-698-9012 at 2:00pm Mountain Time, this Wednesday, January 20.

I look forward to seeing what God will accomplish through His Church for the people of Haiti.

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Responding to Haiti

It’s heartbreaking to see the images that are coming to us from Haiti, and difficult to fully comprehend such devastation. But along with this tragedy comes an opportunity—our opportunity to be the Church. As fellow believers, we can stand together and actively display the love of Jesus to the people of Haiti.

At LifeChurch.tv, we’re joining forces with other churches to offer prayer and financial support for disaster relief efforts. We’re partnering with Convoy of Hope and Samaritan’s Purse in their response, and providing an opportunity for our people to give on top of what we’ve already committed as a church.

Also, Compassion International is raising funds to re-equip their local support structure and to provide for the needs of the more than 64,000 children that they assist in Haiti.  Included in those 64,000 children is Staci, one of the several children that Craig and Amy support through Compassion.

We’re also taking part in a special night of prayer with churches around the world. You’re welcome to join us, either individually or as a church, and if you’re on Twitter, please use the hashtag #pray4Haiti to help spread the word. We’ll be meeting online at 7:00pm CST this Monday, January 18.

How is your church responding to aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti?

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User Puts Passion in Action

Check out what one of our friends sent us this week:

Dave Sears, who pastors ConnectingPoints.tv in Saginaw, Michigan, contacted us and let us know he’d like to promote YouVersion.com on some upcoming billboard space he had reserved. Working with our team, they created this ad which will be seen by thousands of people as they drive the busiest road in Saginaw. Dave said, “We are praying that God will use this board to draw more people to Him in our community!”

A huge thanks goes out to Dave for his passion in spreading the word about YouVersion!

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The Strategically Generous Church

I pray your church or ministry gives spontaneously to meet needs. But if we only give spontaneously, this style of giving will limit what we’re able to give. Another way to think about giving is to be strategic.

• Abraham thought ahead of time to send gifts with his servant for Isaac’s future wife.
• The Magi planned ahead of time to bring extravagant gifts for God’s son.
• God strategically showed His love for us by sending Christ while we were still sinning against Him.

Isaiah 32:8 says, “But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.” (NLT)

We could say generous churches plan to do what is generous. Instead of just planning our next building project or fundraiser, we should also “plan to do what is generous.”

Unquestionably we should plan to help the poor and needy. (Most churches do this well or at least are trying to do so.) We can also plan to help and support other churches or ministries.

In our meetings, we have learned to strategically ask, “What can we give to other churches to help them?”

• Do you have a building you could offer another ministry one day a week or more?
• When you upgrade choir robes, a van, or a sound system, can you give what you had to bless another ministry?
• Can you make your sermons, outlines, or videos available to serve other churches?

When you plan to be generous, you might be surprised how many ways you can be a blessing.

How is God using your ministry to serve others?

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Social Media Leveraged to Build Kindergarten

This week, a pretty cool thing happened over at the Stuff Christians Like blog. On Monday, Jon Acuff shared an idea with his readers: let’s raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. He hoped to reach that goal by December 31. Instead, it happened in 18 hours. From 5:00am to 11:00pm, readers donated the full $30,000 so that 240 kids in Vietnam could go to school. Building on the momentum from the overwhelming response, they’ve set their sights on building a second kindergarten by his initial goal of December 31.

It’s great to see social media being used effectively to engage people in causes, particularly financially. There’s a lot we can learn from this.

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Letting Go of Control

To move forward, you often have to let go of something significant.

Too often, what we hold tightly keeps us from following God’s promptings toward something new.

This week I’ll write about a few things leaders need to let go. We’ll start with control.

Too many leaders try to control too much. Our perceived need to control is one of the greatest limiting factors to what God wants to do.

When we control everything:

• We train people to do what they are told rather than think.
• We build followers instead of leaders.
• We put a lid on our ministries.
• We put our faith in our abilities to manage rather than in God and other people.

What are you controlling that you need to let go of?

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The Church’s Vision is Too Small

For years, I wondered why some people seemed more excited about parachurch ministries than church ministries. Perhaps it is because our vision for the church has been too small.

Almost daily, I hear great church members excited about their “outside the church” ministry. Instead of whining about why they don’t give, serve, or care about the ministry of the local church, I’ve made two commitments:

1. I’m going to cast such a compelling vision for the power of the local church that the vision would draw their hearts back to the local church.
2. I’m going to celebrate and embrace whatever they are doing to make a difference.

Not surprisingly, God is turning many hearts back to loving his church!

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Ministries From the Church

I’m so thankful many Christians are becoming more missionally minded. This week alone, I’ve had people ask me (or our church) to support:

• A group that hands out hotdogs to the homeless.
• A group building homes in Honduras.
• A local ministry that helps drug addicts get jobs.
• A few guys building long lasting pumps to help get drinking water to people without it.
• A girl ministering in an orphanage in Mexico.
• A Christian radio station.

Each ministry is led by passionate believers hoping to make a difference. I’m sincerely thankful for each one.

But sadly, none of these ministries were an extension of any church. In fact, when I asked each one what church they were involved with, several didn’t have a church home.

Instead of branching off to do a new and separate ministry, I love when ministries are supported by a church.

A ministry sent from a church has some built in advantages that include:

• Potentially better financial support.
• Accountability.
• Engagement of people from the church.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’d love to see the church more involved in creating, blessing, and sending great ministries than seeing them birthed outside of the church.

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