Attractional and Missional

Hugh Halter and I spoke on the topic of being missional and attractional at our last Breakthrough Leaders Network gathering. I have a few reflections about our conversation I want to share with you. • I thank God the missional people and the attractional people are now thinking both/and rather than either or. • The challenge I see for the missional folks is the need to have a crowd dynamic in some form. Jesus drew crowds. This was part of his strategy. He led people from the crowd to the core to the great commission. I am channeling Rick Warren here. • The challenge for the attractional types is developing the skills in themselves and their people to live more missionally and incarnationally. We will need to develop the apostolic genius in our people. Now I am channeling Alan Hirsch. • As Breatkthrough Leaders Network matures we will need to equip our church planters to be effective at living missionally and creating great attractional environments. If 30% of the culture is inclined to go to church when they seek God and 70% will only be reached by missionaries then we need training to be training people in both skill sets.

Denver Church: The Importance of &

We are starting a 3rd morning service in two weeks at RCC. In January we hope to start an evening service as well. Why? Churches like to get into either/or thinking. Either we go deep or we reach out. Either we are connected or we are growing. Jesus did not think this way. He thought with an ampersand (&) in his mind all the time. Jesus was a both/and thinker. Jesus chose 12 to go deep. He wanted to turn them into disciples who experienced the restoration of God's image in their lives and others. The first thing he had them do was reach out and throw a party for Matthew's lost friends (Matthew 4). Did they go deep or reach out? Both. If you go deep with God he will send you out (see Isaiah 6). If you go out into the world with the gospel in your heart and a vision for the Kingdom to become more manifest in your world you will be forced to become deeper. It is always an &! Restoration is going deeper and we are reaching out to the people Jesus died for - you can't have one without the other. Jesus did not make us to live that way.

For restoration Community Church Worship Times & Location follow these links:

Denver Church Worship Times Denver Christmas Eve Service Times

Transformational Communtiies

We will launch 14 new Transformational Communities at Restoration in the next two weeks. Most churches call them small groups. We have decided to use a different nomenclature for three reasons.

1. People attend groups to get something. Communities are more relational. The gathering is less about getting something for yourself and more about the relationships.
2. Our goal is transformation not information. Groups are often about knowledge or skill acquisition. We want to see spiritual transformation. We want to become more like Jesus from the inside out.
3. Groups tend to be closed. Our communities create growth in people and they have an external focus. Each of our communities will be asked to do one service project and one faith sharing event or party over the course of the 10 weeks they meet. We don't just want to talk about being missional, we want to be missional.

Looking forward to seeing you at Restoration Community Church in Denver

The Adjustment Bureau and This Sunday

I watched the Adjustment Bureau on a plane recently to India. It stars Matt Damon and Emily Bluntman. The premise of the show is that our lives are completely determined by "The Chairman." Damon seeks to fight his fate so that he can romantically pursue Bluntman's character.

The film raises some interesting questions. 1. Does God determine everything? 2. Is there more than one plan? 3. If we mess up Plan A for our lives does God have a plan B? 4. What role does our will and desires play in the fate of our lives?

I would love to hear what others think as I prepare to speak on this topic Sunday at Restoration.

Holy Irreverence

We start a new series at Restoration on Sunday called, "I AM." It is about the nature of God. A.W. Tozer once said that, "What comes to mind when we think of God is the most important thing about us."

We will have a series of video's that are funny and irreverent about the ways we re-create Jesus in our minds to get from him what we want. We want to be irreverent towards these "Jesus idols" so that we will be more motivated to look for the real Jesus.

The first video is about "Santa Jesus." It is a satire of how we often think God is good only if he gives us what we want.

Can you think of other versions of Jesus that are not consistent with the Jesus of the Bible and history?

Visit our Denver Church this Sunday at 9am or 11am

India Update

Greetings from Kolkata. I want to share a few highlights of our trip so far with you.

* The first three days we led medical clinics in slums where our partners at Kolkata City Mission are trying to start churches. Albina, Erica and Nanci did and amazing job as healthcare workers.

* I preached on Thursday night at the largest Church in Kolkata.

* Yesterday we did a family camp for people from three different slums. We led classes on public health, marriage and spirituality. I shared the gospel at the end of the day and 120 Dalits received Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

* Today I preached at a small church service made up of our partners and other missionaries. Tonight Nanci is preaching at a small church in the slums.

* Tomorrow we are building a false ceiling for a community center in a slum. The vision is that this community center would be a place where holistic ministry is done and a church planted.

Our team from our church in Denver, Restoration Community Church, is healthy and strong and unified. We are having a great time with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Kolkata.

Hope for Children - Kolkata, India

Brought to you by Restoration Community Church in Denver