BAPTISMS AT A BEACH PARTY

The student ministry at our church (Church of God of Landisville) is called BURN. The name comes from the mission to help kids burn with passion to serve Jesus Christ and the impact their generation to follow Him. The front door of BURN is not a typical youth group on Sunday night. It is a midweek worship gathering that includes music (our own student band) and insightful teaching, testimonies from the kids, and fellowship. Generally the kids start gathering around 6:00 with things kicking off around 6:30. Worship begins and the rest follows. Generally they wrap up around 7:45-8:00 (it is a school night) but many times kids stay afterward for prayer and some godly counsel. Seven months ago our youth group had 12 kids on its best night (usually a party). Now more than 100 kids are part of BURN, not just from the church, but from the community youth center we operate (the Agape Center) and their friends from the local high school across the street.

Several weeks ago after an extended period of teaching called "Real Vs Fake" when the kids were confronted with the call to be serious committed disciples, 16 students gave their hearts to Christ at a worship gathering. Soon after several more were added. Jeremy Moyer, our Youth Director, asked about baptizing these new believers, with which I enthusiastically agreed.

But here's the twist. We have 12 kids desiring baptism, but at that baptism they were going to share testimonies about their journey to faith. Many of their friends would not come to the church for a regular service in our sanctuary with its magnificent marble baptistery. Many of them had not even made it to the gym where our student worship is held.

So we opted instead for Baptism at a Beach Party. On a Saturday night before Easter, BURN through an outreach event - a Beach Party at the pool at Hempfield Recreation Center. There, as the party wrapped up, we held a baptismal service. 75 teens (and some parents and adults) heard these 12 kids share their stories and then witness the powerful experience of the Spirit's presence as we baptized them in the pool (sometimes with other kids in the water a few feet away).

Changed lives are a powerful force for the church. Baptisms in neutral territory multiply the impact.

FREE BOOKS

I never met a pastor or a church leader who didn't like something free. I have a free copy of Craig Groeschel's new book IT for the best post someone sends me for submission to this blog. I have a half dozen other great titles for outward focused Christians for the runners up. All posts will acknowledge you as the author and any contact info you might want included. Send your posts to me at sdunnpastor@coglandisville.org. Deadline for submission is April 10th.

AN EASTER DECLARATION FOR THE LIVING CHURCH

Easter Declaration

And now Christ is risen from the dead!
The firstfruits of eternal life.
No more are we under the power and penalty of sin.
Now we are free to be a New Creation.

Jesus Christ lives
and because He lives, we also live
abundantly and eternally.

We are the church, redeemed by the Cross
renewed through the Resurrection.
We are the continuing, living Body of Christ

We are the Easter People
and hallelujah! Is our song.

NO VALUE IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA? THINK AGAIN

Kem Meyer is on the staff of 80 year old Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana. This church has a powerful reputation for innovation in its outward focus. In response to people who believe the church does need to bother with the social media, Kem wrote this in his blog:
"In an effort to tangibly demonstrate to my church the magnitude of the people around us who don’t have any connection to church, I developed a billboard campaign that shows a head shot image of an expressionless middle aged man along with the

"THE QUESTION: Nobody is ever going to search for our church Twitter account so they can follow it. Why would they? And since only a few of our people even know what Twitter is, our church membership certainly isn’t going to follow it. So why then should I spend any time at all working on it?

In an effort to tangibly demonstrate to my church the magnitude of the people around us who don’t have any connection to church, I developed a billboard campaign that shows a head shot image of an expressionless middle aged man along with the simple question:
simple question:

Where can I find hope?

Below the question, this appears: Text GOD to 25827.

This single billboard, located at the second busiest intersection in the city, went up on Jan. 27, 2010. As of noon today there have been 1,214 specific cell numbers gathered from this effort that are not registered within our own database already. This tells me that nearly 25 new people a day, who are nameless to us, are taking the time to stop and send a text message to find out the answer to that question. This billboard is less than a mile from our church.

No effort in the history of this 80 year old church has garnered that number of potential candidates for salvation.

MY ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: There is a lost and suffering society all around us without hope. A high percentage of them actually use Twitter and Facebook. Since I know they don’t have an interest following our church, I’m going to follow them instead. Using the search tools, I’m going to purposely follow anyone and everyone who posts anything on Twitter within 10 miles of our zip code. I’m going to do this with the prayer that some of them will in turn follow us. And even further that some of the people who follow the people we follow will want to follow us (confusing I know…draw a picture if you need to).

In all honesty, much of what is posted on the twitter accounts I’m now following is very objectionable. I want to lead old school believers to an understanding that not only is it okay for the church to do this, we’re supposed to. What I know to be true is the best way to fill your own cup is to fill someone else’s. Since I know these people are not going to come to me, I’m going to go to them."

For more of this post go to:http://kemmeyer.typepad.com/less_clutter_noise/2010/03/there-is-no-ministry-value-in-twitter-one-church-responds.html

WHY PEOPLE DON'T GO TO CHURCH

Gilbert Thurston is a church planter for the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God. In October he is bringing a new church to Harrisburg called ExponentialChurch.tv. This video is on their website and suggests some things that traditional churches really need to wrestle with in their are to have a true outward focus that impacts the unchurched and the dechurched. I'd be interest in your feedback.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM DANCING GUY

Leadership Lessons learned from Dancing Guy. Read transcript at http://sivers.org/ff Original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk

This is a little off the wall, but my good friend Rich Thornton from Friendship Community Church (CGGC) in Dover PA recommends it as a great discussion starter for people who need to start thinking outside the box.

RETOOLING AND REFRAMING OUR MINISTRY

I have been in the ministry formally since 1971 when I started as a youth pastor. It's a little humbling but that means I have been serving in leadership as pastor or church staff member 39 years. During that time I have served a denominational staff position, and served as pastor or ministry staff in seven different churches. Two of the last three have been longer term - one for 14 years in a large midwestern city and most recently for nine years here at Landisville.

Besides leading different churches, a lot has changed in my professional life. The picture on the right was how I looked as I occupied that pulpit in the Midwest (when I was in my 30s and early 40s). The picture on the right is how I am dressed most Sundays now (as I start my 60th year of life.)

In last decades of the 20th century, pastors with multiple staffs were called Senior Pastors (modeled from corporate cultures and top-down authority structures.) Increasingly we are finding that younger adults are not impressed by those power titles and a bit turned off the emphasis on hierarchy. Now, in order to connect with emerging generations, I am called the Lead Pastor

When I started in ministry the pastor functioned more as a priest or chaplain to the people. In many ways he was the hireling who did the work of the church on behalf of the church. Then pastoring evolved into an emphasis on administration and management, with many pastors being seen as CEOs. Their focus was on building a structure to do ministry that coordinated mission statements, organizational structures and programs to make sure the church was carrying out its ministry. Increasingly pastors are encouraged to step away from such day to day supervision and control, to focus on casting the vision of the church and working with the Spirit to create a culture that embodies the DNA of Christ. Equipping people for ministry by teaching them core values, keeping their focus on what God is doing, and helping them discover and use their gifts in a way that serves God.

One of the deep and enduring challenges of pastoral leadership is for the pastor to be open to be a new kind of pastor as the needs of the ministry change, and helping churches understand that fruitfulness requires such change.