Chris Elrod

Less We Get Too Smug

In the last 24 hours...

• Over 40,000 children worldwide died of hunger
• 845 million people worldwide went to bed hungry
• Over 3 billion people on Earth lived on less than $2
• Almost 6,000 people worldwide died from AIDS
• Over 32,000 children in Africa became orphans
• Almost 1 billion people worldwide couldn't read a book or write their name

It's fairly easy to point the finger at Hollywood...it's a little more difficult to point the finger at us...followers of Christ. Consider the statistics above...now...how many of us Christian leaders, pastors, bloggers and laypeople....

• Spent $5 this week on a cup of coffee?
• Helped our church raise millions to build another "much needed" building?
• Blew over $100 this week on Christmas gifts?
• Filled up the tank of our gas guzzling SUV?
• Spent a butt-load of cash on multi-media products for worship?
• Are taking the youth group skiing?
• Bought a video game console for our children?
• Broke the bank to market our church?
• Left uneaten food on our plate at a buffet?
• Spent hundreds to thousands of dollars on a staff retreat?
• Downloaded a cool ringtone to our cell phone?
• Paid a bunch of money to go to conference?
• Didn't spend a dime of missions or relief ministry?
• Patted ourselves on the back for being doctrinally sound, while totally ignoring Matthew 25:34-40?

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Accountability: The Bible

Over the last several months God has really been laying into me about accountability.  Not only accountability to make sure we are following God’s Word as a church….but also personal accountability in my own life.

For years I had friends…three in particular from my Prison Fellowship days…that I could share anything with and thus I felt totally accountable to them.  I guess that in itself is the main difficulty in true accountability…finding people I can be totally honest with that can also be truly honest with me.

With me no longer working with Prison Fellowship on a regular basis, there became a need for new accountability.  I still talk with those three dear “prison” friends very often, but our lives don’t intersect enough for them to know me on a day-by-day basis.  They also have never really had any ties with Compass Point…so it would be impossible for them to also provide accountability for the church.

The accountability process I now have in my life…and the life of Compass Point…has been…and will continue to be…a growing process. Accountability is based…not only on Scripture and God’s leading…but also on unwavering trust in another human being.  With that in mind, over the next several set of posts I will lay out a brief sketch of my accountability structure.  I’ll start with…

THE BIBLE – It begins and ends here.  If it’s not Scriptural…not just one verse taken out of context but according to the whole counsel of God’s Word…I do my best to flee from it.  This is also the case with Compass Point.

In order to do this I must be...my accountability partners must be...the Elders of Compass Point Church must...scholars of God's Word.  That means that I am daily reading from Scripture, but also several times a week pouring into it for hours at a times.  I will admit...there are times that as a pastor of a growing church..."life stuff" and "ministry stuff" gets in the way.  I really have to block out time when the phone is turned off, the world is shut out and I just spend uninterrupted time in God's Word.

As I've said before my greatest regret is not finishing seminary (something I will rectify one year from now...more on that in a later post).  However, I do not let that stop me from being a scholar of the Word of God.  I read MacArthur commentaries like most pastors read business or leadership books.  I almost always have one with me and I really use them as a text book.  While I study hard for what I'm going to be preaching on...at least once a week I spend several hours studying something I have no current plans to present to my flock.  This is done for my own growth and knowledge...something just for me...that I look forward to.

Finally, I have QuickVerse loaded up in my Mac (my main way of studying...but I wish they'd get MacArthur's stuff on Mac) and I use Sprugeon's "Morning And Evening" as a daily devotional...well...morning and evening.

Other accountability measures to follow...

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

No Friend Of Emergent

This post is…by far…the most difficult I have ever written.  By publishing it I know that I will receive much flack…quite a few flaming emails…and lose some dear friends…including some within my own congregation.  However, I learned a long time ago that:

• Silence is support.
  
• If you don’t stand for something…you’ll fall for anything.
  
• There are hills in which to die on.
  

Before I begin, please know that this piece has taken almost six weeks to write.  Before that I spent many months in prayer…and God’s Word trying to discern things.  I also have been blessed by receiving counsel from Godly pastors, missiologists and theologians from around the United States.  They know who they are…and I thank them for taking my calls and responding to my emails.

For the last several years the church I pastor (Compass Point) and I have been mistakenly lumped in with the Emergent movement.  It may be because Compass Point puts so much emphasis in missional, servant outreach…or it could be because I’m an occasional contributor to Next Wave.  I have never been comfortable with us having the Emergent tag, though I did little to discourage it.  I had always maintained a “live and let live” mentality when it came to my concerns about Emergent’s theological stance.  I can no longer do that.

Recently two fairly emerging church plants have ceased functioning in an official capacity.  These were made up of mostly young to mid 20-somethings that had theological leanings toward a more liberal and Emergent doctrine.  As a result of these two communities of faith dissolving, some of the participants began coming to Compass Point.  With them came a universalistic doctrine that they attempted to convey in every situation that was presented to them.  For the first time the leaders of Compass Point and I had to deal directly with the illness that is the doctrinal beliefs of those that align with the Emergent movement.

I’m all for a healthy theological debate…however I will not even begin to entertain a discussion into the integrity and validity of God’s Word.  The truth is that not everyone will see the gates of Heaven…and Hell is real.  Our repentance of sin and acceptance of Christ our Savior…by the grace of God…is the only way out of eternal damnation.  Any teachings to the contrary is…heresy.

For a while now the leadership of Compass Point and I have been able to sit on the sidelines of the Emergent debate.  While there was much that we disagreed with theologically…there were also many Emergent things that we did when it came to outreach and missions.  I think there was certain “frog in the kettle” scenario for us…while we were bothered by statements and books by some of Emergent’s leadership…it was not to a crescendo that really rocked our world.

That all changed last year when many of the main “voices” of Emergent began to get a little louder with their universalism stance.  It began to show up in books they were writing, magazines they contributing to, in interviews they were conducting, in videos they were producing and in keynote speeches they were giving.  They would be very subtle in the way they would drop it in…while talking about social justice, inequality and missional outreach.  It was almost “smoke and mirror”-like…an old magician’s trick to divert your attention away from what was really happening.  It would be something as simple and unassuming as, “God isn’t mad…God is love…He doesn’t want you to feel guilty about the sin in your life…and oh, by the way…everyone is saved no matter what they believe…they just don’t know it”.  Universalism.  Heresy.

It is not my place to name names or expose those “voices” of Emergent.  They do not fall under my accountability…nor do I have access to them.  However, their heretical views and false teachings have now been brought into the field of the Compass Point flock…and it IS my job to protect the sheep.  The Elders of Compass Point and I can no longer sit silently by.  We have decided to take stand.  The following things have been implemented at Compass Point:

1. For the first time in our history we now have a Constitution & Bylaws with a comprehensive Statement Of Faith.


2. Our small groups are being revamped in order to protect the doctrinally integrity of God’s Word.  Resources by authors, pastors or speakers aligning with Emergent will no longer be used.


3. We have a much better mentoring strategy and program in place for our up-and-coming leaders.


4. There is greater accountability and training in place for those that preach or teach the Word of God at Compass Point.


5. Only literal translations of the Bible will be used in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word at Compass Point.  Our sword of choice…English Standard Version (ESV).


6. Our Sunday messages will occasionally be topical-based series…but will mainly be expository in nature.  We have already been doing this for some time…but we have now made a more “official” stance of it.


7. We are in the process of having our church listing removed from websites or publications that have ties to Emergent.  We are also in the process of disassociating ourselves from networks or alliances that are affiliated with Emergent


8. This post was added to my blog to be a public statement that Compass Point Church and Chris Elrod is not affiliated in any way, shape or form with Emergent.

There will be those that will criticize the steps we have taken.  So be it.  There will be those that will choose not to fellowship with us.  We can accept that.  There will also be those that will say that this blog post was not needed because Emergent has no official theological stance.  That’s a crock!  Those that speak for you…define you…and what you believe.  Others will say that we’re being legalistic.  It’s not legalistic to believe that “theology” contradictory to the Word of God is wrong.  Finally, there will be those that say that we’re judging.  No…it’s called discernment…and it’s Biblical.  It’s what we’re suppose to do as the shepherds of the flock that God has entrusted us with.

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Love Doesn't Win

This is one of many blog posts this week (and the coming week) that is hard for me to write.  I am a missional guy.  I just got back from Colorado picking up an long-term ex-inmate for aftercare, I spent Thanksgiving with the homeless of Lakeland and every Monday night you can find me at a local pub hanging with the disconnected 20-somethings of our community. 

Compass Point is a missional church.  We help single mothers afford childcare, we embrace former skinheads and we pass out free water to thirsty people all over town.  We have always operated under that overused slogan..."Love Wins".

Here is my problem...I no longer believe that anymore.  Love doesn't win...truth does!!!

Christ said..."I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  Love wasn't mentioned.  God can love us a bunch...but that love won't get us into Heaven.  We can love God a bunch...but that love won't get us into Heaven.  We can love people a bunch...but that love won't get them into Heaven.  Only true repentance of our sinful nature and total acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Savior will get us into Heaven.  There is no other way.  It is not love that wins...it is solely the knowledge and total acceptance of truth that wins.

Love can't be truth..and therefore can't win...because it is based off of feeble human emotions and feelings.  There are days that I don't love people.  There are even days when I don't really love God all that much.  There are times when the love fades and a struggle emerges.  It is then that the knowledge of absolute truth takes root...and it's application in my life takes over.  True love beyond ourselves can only come through knowing the Truth.  It is only through knowing and applying Biblical truth that lets me love on people...and God...when I emotionally, spiritually, mentally or physically don't feel like.  That doesn't come from a cheap fickle thing like love...it comes from a life-encompassing thing like truth.

I guess my basic problem with "love wins" is that...it is not working.  It may work elsewhere, but it isn't working in America.  For all of the loving on people that the church is doing today...not many are coming to Christ.  The United States has become the second largest mission field in the world.  Third World countries are sending missionaries TO US these days.  That just sucks!  The church...shouting "love wins" to the rafters...has become more concerned with loving on the prostitute with conversation at the local watering hole...and less concerned with telling her about "living water".  We've become more concerned with building community with people that sharing the truths of the Bible.  Love...and community...has become the tail that wags the dog.  Community without God as the center...is a inferior imitation to true relationship.  Love without truth...is useless in the Kingdom of God!!!  Authentic love...and community...doesn't happen unless truth is first there.

I have also become completely disenchanted with the Emergent definition of love. Love is patient and kind...at times.  Love can also be a trip to the spiritual woodshed for a Biblical butt-whooping.  Love isn't just handing out food and blankets to the homeless.  It is also saying "I've given you fourteen cans of food and two blankets this week...and none of it going to do you any good when your heart finally stops ticking...let me tell you about something called Truth that I've found."  The love in "love wins" is always defined these days as some kind of hand-holding, hippie-looking, Democrat voting, everyone-smiling-like-a-Coke-commercial ritual.  There is definitely evidence of loving kindness in the Word...but there are also MANY examples of loving toughness in Scripture.  In contrast...truth is the one constant throughout the entire inspired writings found in God's Word.  I also find it funny that some Emergent leaders argue over the reality of absolute truth.  Without absolute truth...there is no absolute love.  A "chicken or the egg" conversation is pointless...read Genesis 1:1...the Truth came first.

Does this mean that Chris Elrod will stop being missional?  No.  Does this mean that Compass Point will stop being missional. No.  It just means that spreading the Truth will be a little more important in the coming days...than trying to make everyone like us through love.  The Bible says the world will hate us if we truly follow Him...what the heck...we might as play off of that.  We're going to continue to embrace skinheads, take in ex-inmates, give out warm clothes to the homeless and help single moms pay for childcare.  However, it will no longer be done without any verbal presentation of truth.  Faith without works is dead.  Works without truth...is pointless.  I've read the back of the Book...Truth wins!!!

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Someone Donated A Classic Car

Today was a weird day at Compass Point.  Attendance was way down because the public schools were out for Spring Break.  Last week's attendance was down because the colleges were out for Spring Break.  I'm ready for all of these days off for school and time changes to be over with.  I can't wait for Easter to get here and us get back into the normal swing of things.

Even with low attendance we still had a bunch of guests...and a bunch of elementary school children.  Not many of our regulars...just a bunch of new kids.  It was pretty cool and it really pumped up our children's volunteers.  They are getting a new children's program in place for Sundays which we will launch on Easter Sunday.  Today was a really good boost for them as we heard nothing but rave reviews from the parents and children.

The most bizarre...and coolest thing that happened today was that one of our Elders donated a freakin' classic car.  No joke.  It is a 1960 Studebaker Lark.  The outiside needs a little work, but the inside is immaculate and the engine runs like a dream.  Above is a photo of a bunch of us taking it around the YMCA parking lot for a spin.  I have no real clue what we are going to do with.  We may put one of those wraps around it to do some advertising...at the very least we'll take it around town to some of the classic car shows. All in all, it could be a pretty cool discussion starter at public places in order to build relationships. I'm pretty excited about it.  I mean how many church plants out there has ever had a Studebaker donated??? Compass Point is just...well...unique!

By the way, we also have a guy at our church that owns 3...yes, 3...Dodge Vipers.  Two that are street legal and one for racing.  Now if I could just get him to make a donation...  :-)

Another Question That Plagues Me

If you could start a movement...a revolution...would you settle for just starting a church???

Vision & Vox

Today we started something new through the Compass Point podcast.  It is a weekly audio posting we are calling Vision & Vox.  It's just simply a chance for me to share the vision that God is laying on my heart, as well as to reflect on some of the things discussed in the previous Sunday's message.  It's pretty laid back, raw and completely unpolished. 

If you normally subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, then it will automatically download.  For all others, you can here Vision & Vox by going here.

Coloring Outside The Lines

It's Monday and I am wiped out from the weekend.  It could be old age...it could be poor health...it could just be the emotional highs and lows of Sunday...but I am just like a vegetable on Monday mornings.  Monday evenings are a pretty busy night (staff meeting, "pub club" Bible study at Molly's, hanging with the homeless and getting hot wings at Bedrocks), so I'm usually pumped back up by 5:00 PM, but the morning and early afternoon...forget about it.

I always feel I need to blog something about Compass Point on Mondays (since I've stopped blogging on the weekend).  However, today I think I need to link over to the blog of Dave Covey.  He's a been coming to Compass Point for over a year now and will become an "official" member this week.  He and his wife volunteered in the nursery on Sunday and he wrote an incredible piece on coloring outside the lines.  Run...don't walk...over to his site to check it out!!!

A Repost About Total Attendance

Over the last several months I have received a few emails from church pastors/planters asking me to point them to a post I wrote last year about not getting jazzed about attendance totals.  I basically wrote that percentages give a much clearer picture of the spiritual health of a church...not the totals.  After receiving another email request this morning I just decided to just repost the whole thing.  Here goes...

We Stopped Looking At Totals
Unlike many church planters, I didn’t spend college taking Bible courses or attending seminary (I’ll share more about this in a later post). I was a business major. I fell in love with economics, accounting and statistics.  However, it was macro-management that really got me emotionally charged . . . the ability to see the big picture of a company then determine success, failure or needed change. In those classes I learned that totals don’t really prove anything in business – it’s percentages that show success or failure.

Several years ago I arrived at the idea that totals prove very little in church work when I was doing some administrative consulting at a Central Florida church. They were having some financial problems and I was brought in to make suggestions on where they could cut. After looking things over I felt – among many things – that the $60,000 salary package they were paying the youth pastor was way too much.  They were not getting their bang for their buck.

A healthy youth ministry in any church should count for no less than 10% of the total attendance in the church. The youth pastor had been there for almost eight years. He took the youth group from 55 teens to a little over 100 in that time. For many churches this youth group total would be cause for celebration! The problem . . . the church ran over 2,500 in weekly attendance. In over seven years the youth pastor and youth ministry was bringing in less than 5% of the people. To make matters worse, they had never had one youth baptism. Almost all the kids had church homes before coming to this church. The totals looked good, yet the percentages showed the church was getting the bum deal.  They kept the pastor on staff, but set some new goals for him.

In my life as a pastor – first on staff at other churches – and now as Lead Shepherd of Compass Point, I am amazed at how many pastors don’t understand that totals don’t really mean much. When I have a guy at a pastor’s conference tell me they are running 500 in worship I wonder, “500 what?” Does he mean 500 people that didn’t have a church home or 500 people that hopped over from other local churches? Does he mean 500 folks that are getting a meaningful weekly dose of community and Bible study in small groups or 500 people that just show up for the Sunday morning “show” to enjoy the cool videos, kicking lights and rocking band?

I’m honestly not trying to sound holier-than-thou, I just think it’s time we started asking some tough questions about what total attendance numbers really show. It’s easy to spout off a cool “pastoral” number at a planter’s conference to pump up our fragile preacher egos or “one-up” someone else – which I have been known to do. The question though, comes down to . . . are we really affecting people for change with our church plants? To answer that question, Compass Point stopped looking at totals and started looking at what we feel are the important numbers . . . percentages.

When we planted we took the time to really look at what our goals were as a church plant and to design a ruler for measuring whether we were actually meeting the vision. We felt a calling to reach unchurched people. For us unchurched is defined as anyone not actively involved in a church for over sixteen months. To break it down into modern church-planting concepts our initial target market was not based on age, race, social-economic status, music style, location, etc. It was simply the unchurched of Lakeland, Florida.

We also wanted to make sure that folks were not getting saved, baptized and then out the back door. We knew that small groups were of paramount importance to Compass Point - much more so than even Sunday mornings. For us success was not how many unchurched people came through the front door, but how many never exited out the back door.

The measuring stick we set for determining success, failure or the need to make changes was based on percentages. Since the spiritual goal for our flock is life change and ongoing spiritual growth we only count Sunday attendance in order to compute the percentages. Please also note, we have never had a numeric goal for Compass Point - only spiritual ones.

We concluded that success in meeting the purpose and calling of Compass Point meant that we needed to see 70% of our attenders be unchurched – having had no church home in at least sixteen months. As I stated in yesterday’s post over 80% of our folks meet this goal. Within that percentage almost half have had no church home in their entire life before coming to Compass Point.

We also determined that Compass Point would not be considered a healthy church until over 65% of our attenders were actively involved in a weekly small group. At present our percentage is around 58% so we have more work to do there. I really won't be happy until we reach 100%. Lofty goals I know, but necessary!

Compass Point was planted to reach people that other churches were not. In essence, we would be horrified to know that we pulled one person from another church. We were never called to illicit “Kingdom trading”, we were planted to see “Kingdom growth”.  Tracking percentages and not totals is the only way to make sure we are not engaging in pulling people from other churches!

As a church plant seeking to reach unchurched people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, we have dismissed totals as way of determining success. Totals – for us – are like a Polaroid. Pretty to look at and able to be quickly produced, but strictly show a shot of the surface. To measure our ability to meet our calling we need an MRI or X-ray to see what the make-up is like on the inside. For us, using percentages meets that need.

Several years ago I arrived at the idea that totals prove very little in church work when I was doing some administrative consulting at a Central Florida church. They were having some financial problems and I was brought in to make suggestions on where they could cut. After looking things over I felt – among many things – that the $60,000 salary package they were paying the youth pastor was way too much.  They were not getting their bang for their buck.

A healthy youth ministry in any church should count for no less than 10% of the total attendance in the church. The youth pastor had been there for almost eight years. He took the youth group from 55 teens to a little over 100 in that time. For many churches this youth group total would be cause for celebration! The problem . . . the church ran over 2,500 in weekly attendance. In over seven years the youth pastor and youth ministry was bringing in less than 5% of the people. To make matters worse, they had never had one youth baptism. Almost all the kids had church homes before coming to this church. The totals looked good, yet the percentages showed the church was getting the bum deal.  They kept the pastor on staff, but set some new goals for him.

In my life as a pastor – first on staff at other churches – and now as Lead Shepherd of Compass Point, I am amazed at how many pastors don’t understand that totals don’t really mean much. When I have a guy at a pastor’s conference tell me they are running 500 in worship I wonder, “500 what?” Does he mean 500 people that didn’t have a church home or 500 people that hopped over from other local churches? Does he mean 500 folks that are getting a meaningful weekly dose of community and Bible study in small groups or 500 people that just show up for the Sunday morning “show” to enjoy the cool videos, kicking lights and rocking band?

I’m honestly not trying to sound holier-than-thou, I just think it’s time we started asking some tough questions about what total attendance numbers really show. It’s easy to spout off a cool “pastoral” number at a planter’s conference to pump up our fragile preacher egos or “one-up” someone else – which I have been known to do. The question though, comes down to . . . are we really affecting people for change with our church plants? To answer that question, Compass Point stopped looking at totals and started looking at what we feel are the important numbers . . . percentages.

When we planted we took the time to really look at what our goals were as a church plant and to design a ruler for measuring whether we were actually meeting the vision. We felt a calling to reach unchurched people. For us unchurched is defined as anyone not actively involved in a church for over sixteen months. To break it down into modern church-planting concepts our initial target market was not based on age, race, social-economic status, music style, location, etc. It was simply the unchurched of Lakeland, Florida.

We also wanted to make sure that folks were not getting saved, baptized and then out the back door. We knew that small groups were of paramount importance to Compass Point - much more so than even Sunday mornings. For us success was not how many unchurched people came through the front door, but how many never exited out the back door.

The measuring stick we set for determining success, failure or the need to make changes was based on percentages. Since the spiritual goal for our flock is life change and ongoing spiritual growth we only count Sunday attendance in order to compute the percentages. Please also note, we have never had a numeric goal for Compass Point - only spiritual ones.

We concluded that success in meeting the purpose and calling of Compass Point meant that we needed to see 70% of our attenders be unchurched – having had no church home in at least sixteen months. As I stated in yesterday’s post over 80% of our folks meet this goal. Within that percentage almost half have had no church home in their entire life before coming to Compass Point.

We also determined that Compass Point would not be considered a healthy church until over 65% of our attenders were actively involved in a weekly small group. At present our percentage is around 58% so we have more work to do there. I really won't be happy until we reach 100%. Lofty goals I know, but necessary!

Compass Point was planted to reach people that other churches were not. In essence, we would be horrified to know that we pulled one person from another church. We were never called to illicit “Kingdom trading”, we were planted to see “Kingdom growth”.  Tracking percentages and not totals is the only way to make sure we are not engaging in pulling people from other churches!

As a church plant seeking to reach unchurched people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, we have dismissed totals as way of determining success. Totals – for us – are like a Polaroid. Pretty to look at and able to be quickly produced, but strictly show a shot of the surface. To measure our ability to meet our calling we need an MRI or X-ray to see what the make-up is like on the inside. For us, using percentages meets that need.

The Promised Long Blog Posting

The past week has been one of the busiest I've experienced since planting Compass Point.  So much so that I have had precious little free time to blog.  If it wasn't for my Blackberry and some folks being late for meetings, I would not have been able to get the blog posts up last Tuesday or Wednesday.  Between preaching last Sunday, my turnaround trip to Atlanta for the ChurchPlanters.com Conference, my Dad going into the hospital, a podcast interview, a newspaper interview, several meetings with other church planters, normal Compass Point meetings, one really creative meeting with our children's team, time with Denise, time with my family, trying to work in a few hours of sleep, my 41st birthday and preaching yesterday...I'm completely wasted!!!

However, last week was a growing week for me.  God has showed me so many things that it has been really hard to process them all.  Between the truly awesome main speakers at the conference, the informative track times, hanging out with some great friends, meeting some new friends, late-night conversations, watching some new leadership at Compass Point step up and my normal quiet time/Bible study...God has been extremely vocal in my life this week.  There is just way too much to convey in this blog, but I will break down a few things that really moved me this past week:

1. I need to be a man of unction.  I love the word "unction".  I first heard my grandmother say it years ago, but had no clue what it meant.  Later I read about...and came to understand...what the word "unction" meant in Leonard Ravenhill's book "Why Revival Tarries". It had been a long time since I heard...or used...the word "unction".  That is until Matt Carter took the stage at the ChurchPlanters.com Conference last week.  He conveyed the need for followers of Christ...specifically shepherds of flocks...to men...and women...of unction.  When he said, "If you only have 24 hours to live are you going to download porn or spend time with God or your family?" it rocked my world...brought me to tears.  I realized then that I had not lost my passion for the things of God...I just let that passion simmer on low for a while instead of burning hot.  The word "untion" is definitely back in my everyday vocabulary!

2. There is a responsibility with blogging.  I was completely blown away at the conference when people would walk up to me and say, "I read your blog".  Some would be kind with their words, others would take the time to tell me how much I suck as a human being.  Either way, it was amazing to find out that people actually stop by here on a daily or weekly basis.  Typepad tracks the number of actual hits you get to the blog, but has no way of tracking the folks that read stuff through RSS feed services.  Over the last week or so I've been averaging 300+ hits to the sight, not to mention the countless others that are reading my mindless dribble through services like FeedBburner, Bloglines, NewsGator, etc.  I'm just blown away...and humbled by that. 

I've also realized that there is a responsibility that comes with blogging.  Shawn Lovejoy made mention at the Blogger's Round Table Discussion that some bloggers just wanted to get a laugh, get famous or take cheap shots at people.  I suppose I could be blamed for at least two of the three.  I don't totally agree with him about the "getting a laugh" thing, but I do see his point with the taking cheap shots at people.

Over the past few months I've shed some light on a disturbing trend of churches preaching about sex just to get publicity.  Some churches...truly led by God to do the sex message series...have reached their communities.  Others have done much damage in their community for the cause of Christ because they were chasing a PR fad.  The problem is...some really great men of God thought I was blogging about them.  That disturbs me.

I've also discovered...through a rather embarrassing...yet warranted...stage moment by Ed Stetzer (Ed was kind of enough to ask me permission before he did it - the guy is a class act) that I have taken cheap shots at people on this blog.  I really don't feel too good about that. Ed, Tony Morgan, Rick Warren and Mark Batterson are Godly men and great pastors - just because I don't agree with some of their choices...or methods...does not give me the right to take shots at them through this medium.  It was just utter arrogance and ego.  Gentlemen...and your family and churches...I am truly sorry!

In the days to come I feel a stronger need to ask the question, "Does my blog postings add to the Body of Christ...or take away?"  I'm becoming increasingly aware of the responsibility that comes with having such a public voice.

3. I have no passion for reaching church people.  I knew this tidbit of info before I traveled to Atlanta.  However, Gary Lamb's track session really brought it home that my heart...and drive comes from the unquenchable calling to reach out to disconnected people.  It's not that I do not have the patience for church folks...I'm just wired to shepherd people that have given up on church...and God.

Gary and I have churches that are polar opposites from each other in style, outreach and demographics.  However, we both reach an incredible amount of disconnected folks.  His description of the things they see (cash  instead of checks in the offering basket, lesbians talking in the lobby, people saying vulgar things in church conversations, no one getting into praise and worship, etc.) at Ridgestone are identical to the things we see each week at Compass Point.  I guess that is why he and I have a friendship that transcends church planting.

I know his track time ran some folks off from church planting...and that is fine.  The world...and the  Kingdom of God...has zero need for transfer growth churches.  Yet for me...Gary had me even more pumped up to reach the Lakeland community for Christ.  He helped to redefine the leadership priorities I have, the way I preach and the meetings I take.  If it's not concerning reaching the disconnected it doesn't make it into my Top 5 on my priorities of the week list.  :-)

I used to think it was bad not to have a heart for churches people.  I discovered that Lakeland has over 250 churches with the calling to reach churched people...Compass Point...and Chris Elrod...is wired to reach the disconnected.  Thanks Gary for the reminder!!!

4. I'm sticking with the Southern Baptist Convention.  Well, at least for the time being.  Compass Point was all set to bolt from the denomination.  We've downplayed our association with the SBC for months now, but recent stupidity had convinced us to leave.

Ed Stetzer changed all of that.  I'm not going to go into detail right now, but I think some fine changes are coming to the SBC that is way overdue!!!

5. Travis Johnson is one the nicest guys in the world.  We had only emailed back and forth until the conference.  On the way to Atlanta I met up with Travis in Gainesville for dinner and then sat with him most of the conference. There was not a moment that he wasn't offering to do something really great for someone.  He truly has a "Kingdom heart" and mentality.  It is so refreshing to be around a pastor that truly lives each day with a missional mindset.  Travis...brother...you really inspired me!!!

6. We don't have to be the same to get along.  In the world of conservative versus charismatic...Calvinist versus Armenian...and Emergent versus...well...pretty much everyone else...I discovered that style, technique and preferences really don't divide us.  It's our own closed mindset and stupidity...our failure to understand that we are all here for the same purpose...to reach the people of our local culture with the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Mountain Lake Church is nothing like Compass Point.  In fact, my flock would see most of what they do as...well...cheesy.  That's okay, because the Mountain Lake folks would see Compass Point as weird and boring.  That...in and of itself...is the beauty of the Kingdom of God...we all have a place!  While the style and outreach methods of Mountain Lake never really interested me, their techniques were really great.  If I had "thrown out the baby with the bath water" and said "They're just a modern church with nothing to offer a pastor from a post-modern church" I'd have never gone to the track times.  The wealth of information I learned at the the track times by the Mountain Lake staff is beyond measure.  They have a different calling than us, but they are a large version of a "simple church" with big vision.  Just the way they do information cards and assimilate people was worth the trip to Atlanta.  I'm glad I went...and listened!!!

7. I miss hard wood trees.  Florida has nothing but live oaks, some scrub pines and a butt-load of palm trees.  While in Georgia I realized that I miss hard wood trees lining the road.  I miss the smell of fireplaces burning throughout neighborhoods of brick homes.  I miss 35 degree weather.  I miss living in someplace besides Florida with its 365 days of summer.

8. I'm too ADD to really get into corporate worship.  The Mountain Lake band rocked!  I mean they were really good (not as good as the Compass Point band, but a close second).  However, I had trouble getting into the worship because of my ADD.  I'm looking at the lighting system, making notes about sound levels, checking out the worship software techniques, drawing out slide ideas and was generally distracted by the live-action motion video behind the words.  It works for most other people...I'm just way too ADD to worship in large groups.  I'm better off with my iPod in the woods.

9. I could never live in Atlanta.  I'm a HUGE Braves fan, but I could never live in Atlanta.  The place is nice, the people are wonderful...but the traffic is from the pits of Hell!!!

10. God is faithful!!! It was an amazing, emotional and unreal week.  Yet...through it all...God was there in mighty ways!  It is so embarrassing to be in ministry...and still...at times...doubt that God will come through.  It is the shame of my life...and one that I'm working harder at correcting!!!