Just a few crazy stories from the last couple of days.
Sunday was really good. I thought the morning went well and the thought put into the presentation was solid and Spirit driven. I know people have all sorts of feelings about building church buildings. However, many of them are not here on a day to day basis to see the struggle it is to maintain this worn out facility. Many of them never have to work in the nursery with infants crawling on the ceiling because there isn't enough room. Some of the nay-sayers might gripe about parking for themselves, but might never consider that there are those who drive around the block never finding a place to park and eventually leave--even some who make it in the door but can't find a place to sit turn and leave. I've been at the door when it happened. It's possible some might not have considered that a move south--right off the interstate actually puts us in the community most of our folks live in which will allow us to minister to neighbors as well as being more accessible to seekers (way more than being tucked back in the Hollywood Hills of Nashville).
Anyway--my comment about buildings was really just more about a personal struggle inside me about the Church at large. I just wonder what we'll look like in 20-30 years. Will there still be mega churches and will people really experience discipleship there? Will home churches become more and more popular? What about groups who have dreams of leaving existing churches to start home churches? What about when their home church begins to grow? Where will they go? Will they build? Plant again? We cannot know and cannot see into the future. God is moving in all kinds of places and churches that look nothing like ours. Who wants to stand and say that God will only move in one certain setting and in one certain group of people? Please let me know so I can bring my lightening rod when I stand near you.
Sunday night and Monday morning were spent trying to get our house ready for the construction and our family ready for the "vacation" to the hotel. By the way, there are certain elements of vacation that are present such as continental breakfast and a complimentary light dinner buffet. Trust me--the Thomas family is all about the complimentary buffet. :) There are other things such as sleeping in the same room with coughing, snoring, tossing, turning children that don't add up to vacation. We're just grateful to have somewhere to be this week. It ridiculous to even complain about it. Seriously--laughable.
My friend's audition was interesting yesterday. Cirque du Soleil is an interesting company anyway--out of France. Let's just say many things are lost in translation. The best part was that during the private audition at SIR here in Nashville, Dolly Parton walked in. She was rehearsing in a hall there for a tour of some sort. She saw the 10 singers sitting waiting their turn and said, "Hi Yawwwl! Whatchyawwl doin out har?" Juan said someone told her that they were here auditioning for Cirque du Soleil. Dolly replied, "Wyyeeeow! Whatchyawwl gon do in that circus?" Bless. She's really not that dumb. Sheryl sang BGVs on her latest record and we were really excited about that and for Dolly since it got a lot of critics' applause. But--that comment completely cracked me up.
Meanwhile, back on the farm at the Residence Inn, I was playing with the girls while Sheryl was at the grocery store. We were flipping channels to find something appropriate to watch. Let's just put it this way--there are many, MANY inappropriate things on TV. We don't have any movie channels or anything like that at our house. NOR do we have any adult channels. Apparently, at this hotel, one must contact the front desk to have the adult channels blocked. Have we come to this? I wish you could have seen my face. I think I may have had a small stroke.
Sorry this is long again. I feel harried today. I am really needing a nap and that's not going to happen. I am counting on the strength and patience of the Lord to course through me over the coming week. The ZOE Conference has been sold out for weeks. There's much to be done. I think today is our big release day to stores for the Desperate record. Thanks for your prayers about all those things.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
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8 comments:
Thanks for putting your thoughts on the page about church and growth and direction and Dolly Parton. I've had to struggle with these myself (not Dolly of course). Sure we can have a neat new church plant but when it starts to grow will it just be the same as before? Do we really need more churches? Is that the needed solution? What is God asking of us?
I like the Genesis 12 story of Abrah and how God tells him that "I WILL show you..." I like the fact that God doesn't exactly tell Abram what his life will look like or what the kind of land it is. He doesn't spell it out for him but tells him to go and to bless and the rest is under God's guidance.
The only problem is...I want to know where I'm going, what the land is like, what my life will be like after I embark on the journey. I wish I knew friend but thanks for listening anyway.
Brandon, I actually didn't read this post. I will later. But I didn't want to flood your email inbox with this. Plus I wanted to help advertise on your Blog. The Desperate CD is GREAT. Great sound. Great songs. You guys just continue to grow with each project. LOVE IT!!! I'm just finally glad to have some of these songs ("Blessed Be Your Name," "Forever," "Lord Have Mercy") come into our non-instrumental style.
Thanks, Bro.
Attention fellow bloggers...If you haven't ordered your CD or folio, do it now.
Good Post! I got my CD yesterday! It is great! I was driving down the road this morning will chill bumps running up and down my arms. I can't wait 'till the conference. Hope we get that "blog table" set up.
Thanks for blessing us by sharing your talent.
Brandon,
I'm also trying to figure out how much of what I do in the worship ministry at our congregation is about building up the institution, and how much of it is making a place of spiritual growth. Obviously, Mike's post the other day is asking some of the same questions. (Funny how when he asks questions like this, I feel closer to an answer than when I ask them!) Are the plans we're making going to build the future of this congregation, or are they going to just make us look even more like a thing of the past?
Some of our churches will need to continue being the traditional institudions we know; some folks have a great need to feel like they've "been to church" every Sunday. That's fine, if it also fuel their daily walk. But for the coming generations, what it going to fuel their walk? How do we (or do we at all) lay the groundwork for them -- with facilities, materials, and most importantly, with a way to teach the next generations about Christ? I wonder.
"Desperate" came in the mail today. Kudos to you and all involved in its production, especially to God for the gifts all of you have that went into it, and for being a God worthy of all the work! The sound is awesome, the selection of songs is excellent, the arrangements are fantastic, and the performance is moving! A few more listens, and I'll probably have even more superlatives for it!
Looking forward to the conference. I'm praying for you and everyone who is working to get ready for it.
I am so bummed that I can't come to ZOE this year -- BUT I got my "Desperate" CD yesterday and listened to it all day long (along with all the other Zoe stuff in my "Zoe playlist" on my computer at work). Some of my favorite new songs are on there - thanks so much for putting them in a format that we can use them in church! Love the work that you guys are doing (and the hearts that you are sharing in this *new* thing called blog-land!)
I am not sure that anyone knows the right answer on the "to build or not to build" question. I do think it is interesting, however, that much of the sanctimony we hear in response is not as easily found when people are called to deny things in their personal lives. I need a nice house, but my church can get by on meager facilities and strained resources. The fact is, if we are good stewards, we see it is all God's anyway; this building- that building, this house- that house, this dollar- those dollars. I trust y'all to use whatever facility with which you are blessed to God's glory.
I was on the building cmte when we went through this a few years ago at Highland and one telling statistic referred to how many people came to the building in a given week. The number was way bigger than the 2,000 or so we see on Sunday. It was more like 7,000-8,000 and included a Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scout meetings (sorry for those Scout haters out there), many 12 step programs, Ladies classes, praise concerts, 39er's groups, prayer warriors, youth meetings, funerals, accountability groups, counseling sessions, Life Teams and on and on and on. We made a stand whereby we determined to plan for a space that would be useful for the kingdom though not necessarily designed to impress people beyond that(Does that make sense?). I have been on many committees and I must say, this process went very well and I really do believe that the results were blessed. I believe the process was basically a spiritual model of how such a process can go. It was a long process, however. We had two babies during that time. We were just doing our part to fill the space. By the way, we have already filled up the space we added at Highland.
Your "vacation" reminds me of a time the kids and I decided to go with Rob on a week long business stay in Austin. He had a free room for a week at the Laquinta so I thought, "Why not? It will be like a mini vacation." Well, the second night at 9:00pm Rob and I found ourselves reading the paper in the restroom while our kids slept in the bedroom. It was rediculous! I ended up coming home after the third night. I still laugh thinking of Rob sitting on towels in the tub working his crossword puzzle. When you don't HAVE to be in there, the bathroom isn't the most comfortable room for reading! Happy VACATIONING!
I meant ridiculous!
Proof first publish second...why can't I remember that?
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