I am sitting at the Orlando airport waiting for my plane to fly back to rockford. It has been a great week! Not only has the weather been amazing, the conference was outstanding. Sometimes I am reluctant to go to conferences because I have been to so many bad ones, but this was not one of them. I had the opportunity to hear some great men of God, Guys like Ed Stetzer, Erwin McManus, Francis Chan, Darrin Patrick, John Burke, and Efrem Smith, along with many others. I know most of you reading this have no idea who these guys are. They are all men who have planted very successful churches. They are the Rock Stars of church planting!
It was great to here there stories, but it was even greater to hear there hearts. They all have a passion to grow the Kingdom. They all want to make an impact on their communities. But, these men take a different view on the community than most christians. For years I have heard people talk about our culture and how bad our culture is. I have heard Christians talk about culture like it is enemy territory, that we have to sneak into and rescue people from. These men view culture as the places we live that needs to be impacted by Jesus Christ. They don’t view culture as the enemy, only Satan is the enemy. They are not afraid to do things different so that people will come to know Jesus Christ and the culture and community will be impacted. They are doing things that would seem very foreign to many people who have been in churches very long, but the thing is they are reaching people and changing the way people live.
(OK, now I’m sitting at home, had to get on the plane) As I look back over the conference there are a few things that really stuck with me
- We should not be trying to change our culture, we must impact the culture and create a way to serve Jesus Christ in that culture. John Burke put it this way ““If the culture around us is not becoming the church, the church is dying”
- We must not see the culture as our enemy. We must guard that we never have the “Rock music is from the Devil” mentality. We must embrace the culture around us, and make an impact on them.
- If we are going to impact our culture and community we have to understand the community and culture. Ed Stetzer put it this way “We must exegete our community”. We must know what make up our culture and community. We have to study the history and trends of the culture. We need to know more than just what people do, but why they do what they do. We can’t assume anything, we must research, dig, and ask lots of questions about the people God calls us to reach.
- Starting a church that truly engages the culture, reaches the lost, and makes an eternal difference is HARD! I am convinced this will be the hardest and most challenging thing I will ever do. I am certain that I am going to face persecution, but I am so excited about what God is going to do.
