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"Black Saturday" is over and my beloved Gator's was another Top Ten team that suffered a loss. The game just ended...Auburn kicked the winning field goal...not once but twice...and now Denise is hiding the sharp objects around the house. Tomorrow we are suppose to have FamJam at Compass Point...a kid-friendly worship service. It will be kid-oriented...but after the Gator's performance tonight...I'm not sure how friendly I'll be. :-)
Never let it be born!!!
As a pastor, staff member or church leader...every decision you make has the potential to be a system for growth (both spiritually and numerically) for your church...or a sacred cow. At Compass Point, we are learning that every decision has to scrutinized for the impact it may have tomorrow...not just today. In other words, look beyond the moment to create systems...manage for where you want to be...not where you are. It'll prevent you from giving birth to cows!!!
The following are typical statements in the life curve of a sacred cow:
Calf Conception - "Pastor, we really want to start a small group Bible study and we'll all bring a food dish so we can eat as a family. It will be just like what they did in Acts."
Calf Birth - "Okay, next week you bring the meat, you two bring the drinks, you guys bring two vegatables and we'll provide the cups, plates and bread."
Sacred Cow - "Okay, it's been a great discussion, but we only have time for one more question about tonight's Bible passage because we have to talk about what everyone needs to bring for dinner next week."
The Herd - "You know that other group has dinner at their Bible study...maybe we ought to do the same thing. It will be just like what they did in Acts."
The Stench - "We were just slammed trying to get the house and meal ready for the group tonight and we're pretty tired. Why don't we skip the Bible study part this evening, just eat dinner togther and have a night of fellowship?"
The Mess - "The fellowship-only night was kind of fun...maybe we ought to have one of those every month!"
The Disease - "You know, that other group blows off the Bible study one time a month and just has a fellowship night so they can really enjoy their meal. Maybe our group should start doing that?"
The Contamination - "Let's stop calling them Growth Groups and start calling them Dinner Groups...with more emphasis on fellowship and community!"
The Stampede - "Pastor, ever since we came to know the Lord and you baptized us last spring we've been really wantng to grow in our faith. We went to one of those small group Bible studies you guys have...but only they wanted to do was eat and hang out. Also, my wife and I don't have the finances to bring a dish ever week. I'm afraid we are going to have to start going to another church so can learn more about the Bible."
The Slaughter - "Pastor, everything was going great here until you tried to stop us from having meals at our small group Bible studies. You're tearing apart our close friendships and our reason for coming to this church. We've all been talking about it and feel it would be best for our church if you stepped down....and went some place else."
In my previous post I mentioned that we were blowing most everything up at Compass Point...at least when it comes to systems and structure. The reason why? It all comes down to bovine.
Calves are cute when they are born...small, doe eyes, loving...etc. However, they most always grow into large, stinky, messy cows. Cows then become great BIG troublesome herds. Eventually, you are no longer enjoying a small cute calf...now you are spending all of your time trying to move the herd from one place to another. It bogs you down...drains your energy and...slows any forward progress you could ever hope for.
Avoid giving birth to calves. That was a little gem that most church planting books forgot to add. I'm learning that every decision you make as a church planter or church leader has the potential to be a system...or a calf. Systems are great...calves become sacred cows that will need to be slaughtered at some point. Unfortunately it has taken me three years into Compass Point to learn that...as some of our calves have grown into cows. Fortunately none of our cows have become a herd yet...so it's not too late...to break out the butcher knife!!!
Thanks for all of the great emails...I'm not dead...just REAL busy at the moment. Also for the last two weeks God has been really speaking to me through different avenues and people. I've been like a sponge trying to soak it all in...thus I felt the need to be silent until I could process everything. I'm not done processing the whole picture...so I'm not sure I have that much to say on this blog for the time being. Also Compass Point is going through some growth pains...and we're working hard on new systems and structure to accommodate. Basically we are blwoing up most everything we've "always done" and re-evaluating all of our systems. I'm excited about the changes...however...I've learned in church work...people with no Kingdom mind react pretty bad to change. We'll just have to see what God has in store.
What a day in the NCAA...HUGE upsets in football today!!! Michigan and Georgia are completely out of the hunt for the National Championship...and it's only the second game of the season. Gary's beloved Dawgs are barely going to stay in the Top 20 and Michigan's Coach Carr will be lucky to still have a job this time next week! I can't remember when I saw a worst defensive performance from a major college team than the Wolverines today. The Dawgs just got out-coached tonight. Ah, it's good to be a Gator...but our "day of reckoning" comes next week...
Things are starting to wind down in the Elrod house tonight as I look back over my sermon notes and get ready for tomorrow. I've got my earbuds in jamming to some old-school Christian rock (Barnabas, Servant and Rick Cua) and occasionally checking out the Gator score (priorities ya know). There's a really cool indie concert tonight at the Polk Museum of art that our Catalyst pastor Chad Chastain is heading up. It was suppose to be an "Outside The Box" kind of thing that Compass Point would co-sponsor...but there was a mix up in communication with the museum's folks. A bunch of our young 20-somethings will be there...it kind of bites that I won't make it. However, I trying hard to stick to my plan of keeping things quiet on Saturday nights when I'm preaching the next day.
At Compass Point right now it's the calm before the storm. The momentum is starting to build and things are beginning to move. Each week there are more folks showing up than the week before...people are getting involved with Connexxion groups...we've baptizied people the last two weeks....and new people are stepping up to help. For the first time since we began we have a team of staff, we're working on a budget and we're putting together some policies. We are also in the process of revamping our entire structure, launching a student ministries and purchasing some big ticket items we've never been able to afford before. All of this is leading up to February...we are doing our first big, concerted marketing push...50,000 postcards and some other stuff. We'll be doing some smaller marketing things in the meantime...but basically trying to get the structure in place. With that in mind I'm heading to a Nelson Searcy thing in Tampa next week and then going to Mountain Lake's practicum in October (with our Connexxions Pastor Kyle Bridges). Anyway...we are sitting on top of the bubble right now at Compass Point. The next few months are going to be exciting...and hard work. This is the stuff I live for!!!
This past month has been pretty rough for church planters around here. A couple of churches that started around the same time we did closed their doors this month. A few that started after we did also called it quits. It's pretty depressing....a bunch of fall out and sheep mess to clean up. Some of them closed because of flawed leadership...some because of flawed strategies...some closed because of God knows what. It has really made me take a long, hard look at Compass Point. After all this time...with the odds against us...we are still here. The realization is...it is simply because God has His hand in all of this. That in and of itself is scary. I spend everyday...all day...scared to death I'm going to do something stupid that would cause God to take His hand off of us!
I'm heading to a bar-b-que today with a group of folks from a church plant that just had their pastor quit on them. After a couple of years of struggling as a church plant...he just up and quit...no transition...no leadership tranfer...no...nothing. I had lunch with some of their young people yesterday. You can see it in their eyes...that hunger to do great things for the Kingdom of God. They are like a bunch of trained warriors with no war to fight...because there is no one to lead them into battle. So much talent...so much potential...they just a need a vision to follow. At the same time...they are not ready to let go of the vision that just walked out of the door. It is going to be a difficult day...
I'm playing in three separate fantasy football leagues this year...one for a few pastors around Lakeland, one for blogging pastors and one for Compass Point. Drafted the local pastors league a few nights ago...just got through with the blogging pastors draft...Compass Point's will be Tuesday (I have first pick...bye, bye LaDanian). Anyway...this is how tonight's draft came out for me:
Quarterbacks
Drew Brees
Ben Roethlisberger
Running Backs
Steven Jackson
Jamal Lewis
Jerious Norwood
Chris Brown
Wide Receivers
Marques Colston
Bernard Berrian
Torry Holt
Derrick Mason
Tight Ends
Chris Cooley
Dallas Clark
Kickers
Nate Kaeding
Shayne Graham
Defense
New England Patriots
Philidelphia Eagles
All in all I'm pretty happy with this team. My receivers and tight ends could have been better...but I'm pleased with my running backs and defenses. We'll just have to wait to see how the season shakes out.
I'll post my other two teams later in the week...
