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?

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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...

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My New Store

After being encouraged by the Compass Point Monday night "Pub Club" and several dozen readers of this blog, I have put together a special ChrisElrod.com Amazon store.  It features books, compact discs and dvds that I highly recommend.  The first page of the store displays resources I'm currently checking out or have recently been featured on this blog.  You can also use the links to right to check out other resources that have inspired me or educated me in the areas of church planting and Christian leadership.

We're In This Together

I seem to confuse people.  At times I blog about my friends that lead modern churches and at other times I ask questions online that are almost...well...Emergent.  I seem to be all over the map...and pull ideas from everywhere.  I keep getting emails asking me to clarify which one I am...modern...or post-modern.  The answer is...I am neither...yet...I am both.  :-)

At the ripe old age of 41, I've learned never to negate things just because it's not your idea...movement...church style...community...calling...denomination...etc.  As the leader and shepherd of a church I cannot afford to ignore any thing which God is using for His glory in other churches.  It doesn't mean that I go out and copy them...or try to apply something to Compass Point which does not fit our situation.  However, it does mean that I check it out, be amazed by it, apply it when I can and be happy...and celebrate...that God is allowing another church to use it to reach people.

Gary Lamb's church is a polar opposite of what God is doing at Compass Point.  Yet, I have spent almost as much time on my knees praising God for what He is doing through Ridgestone as I do for Compass Point.  Travis Johnson's church attracts a multi-ethnic audience, where as Compass Point attracts young, white, artsy 20-somethings.  Yet, he and I throughly enjoy trading ideas back and forth.  Tadd Grandstaff has not even launched his church yet and Compass Point has been going about three years.  However I am constantly inspired by his blog.

The point is...we are all in this together...no matter what style of church we are called to be.  The guys I mentioned above pastor churches that are not even remotely like Compass Point...yet, the folks of Compass Point have enjoyed some of the ideas we have used from those other churches (the ideas have been tweaked..of course...to fit into the "Compass Point way").

This leadership thing is an ongoing process.  Something...that I pray...I never stop growing in...learning in...and furthering my knowledge in.  Creativity and innovation is hard enough to accomplish without limiting ourselves by only accepting ideas from within our comfort zone...or small circle of like-minded "friends".  Shepherding people in their walk with the Father is hard enough without ignoring the suggestions...and successes...of other pastors just because they don't identify with my little identity group.

To try an answer the original question again...I am both modern...and post-modern.  I am both conservative...and charismatic.  I am both simple...and complex.  The only thing I am willing to leave unchanged is the fact that God's Word is without error and that it is the ultimate authority in my life...and the life of Compass Point.  Other than that...I am open to trying anything!!!  I am willing to hear...and apply...any idea...from any source...that can help me reach more disconnected people in Lakeland, Florida for Jesus Christ.

Another Question That Plagues Me

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

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.

We Need A More Manly Church

I don't like most worship music and/or worship leaders today.  There...I said it.  I know this may come as a shock to folks that normally read this blog because I write about music a lot!  However, I really don't get into modern praise music or most of the people that lead it...and write it.

The biggest problem for me is that I'm a man...and most of the worship culture in America today seems to be for...women.  I prefer manly men singing manly songs about a manly God.  However, many of the worship leaders I've seen lately are wearing t-shirts imprinted with girly graphics (not to mention skinny women's jeans), drinking stupid-named sissy coffee, strumming an acoustic guitar and singing songs in some kind of high-pitched feminine voice that sounds like Air Supply on pot.   It all sounds like Coldplay or...freakin' Gordon Lighfoot...two pretty wussy music artists.

For instance, I was watching a live worship DVD the other day...and all the "guys" were just...well...pretty...and prissy...sort of in a Freddie Mercury/Richard Simmons kind of way.  I liked some of their music until I saw the DVD and then my stomach couldn't handle it.  I mean, the lead singer was wearing more make-up than my wife.  I know they have to use some make-up in videos for the cameras...but this guy would make Boy George feel uncomfortable.

I think this has a lot to do with the reason that men have stopped coming to church...the music and the message...is not for them.  Church is being done to attract women.  I's not just the worship leaders that are doing it, pastors are just as guilty these days because many have started preaching "felt needs" (awwww, isn't that sweet) instead of the Word of God.  Then you put sappy, say-the-same-words-20-times music with it...and you've got a Mary Kay party.   We've got to "man up" in the church today!

The songs of yesterday were hymns about blood, victory and battle put to the beer drinking tunes of the day.  Manly stuff that makes me want to go pee in the woods just writing about.  Today we sing about love, peace and joy put to music that sounds like The Wiggles.   Excuse me while I go watch Oprah and hug myself.  To top it off, most preachers seem to get their topical message ideas from watching one episode of The View.  May God have mercy on our soul.

This is not an "I've-lost-touch-with-today-because-I'm-an-old-fart" or pro "Wild-At-Heart" cultural thing.  I've heard these same views expressed by many unchurched, artistic 20-something men.  Musically they want AC/DC and we give them Celine Dion.  Lyrically they want Tom Clancy and we give them Danielle Steel.  Spiritually they want Braveheart and we give them Sleepless In Seattle.  Everywhere I turn there's this...estrogen...feel to church.  It's all so safe, sappy and sad.

If the church is going to be relevant in the coming generations we've got to get back to reaching men...and helping them become Godly husbands and fathers.  In order for the church to reach men we've got to have music on Sundays that has the lyrical depth of John Newton, the musical kick of Guns N' Roses and led by a man that looks like Ted Nugent.  In order for the church to reach men we've got to have sermons that hit like a NFL linebacker, spoken in a voice as bold as a WCW wrestler and led by a man that acts like...John The Baptist.  If there's one thing that today's society of broken marriages and children with no father figure has taught us...it's that we need more manly churches!!!

Cool Quote About Church Marketing

“As pastors, we are tempted to build the church, so we send out postcards to targeted zip codes and we promote church programs.  Our job isn’t to build the church. We’re supposed to BE the church, and build the kingdom.  The best expression of the church is NOT what happens on Sunday morning. It’s what happens in the world during the week. And that’s not something you can market." - Rick McKinley of Imago Dei Church  [source]

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!!!