Archive for Generosity
Obstacles to Generosity…
Back in December, we did a series called Audible and we talked about a new vision we were hearing from God… a vision that requires generosity of our whole lives and selves – generosity of our time, our relationships, and our finances. (If you missed it, listen to the message here.) Within the context of the […]
If Someone Gave $1 Million to NewThing…
This week I had the pleasure of spending time with our 17 NewThing Affiliates, our lead pastors from all 17 NewThing Affiliate churches across the country. What an impressive group this is. These guys are entrepreneurial, innovative, committed, and relentlessly devoted to catalyzing a movement of reproducing churches that help people find their way back […]
Effects of the Shopping Fast…
Tomorrow, May 9, marks the halfway point of my 6-month shopping fast. It has been an extremely humbling experience, and I continue to learn a lot from it. Why do I do a shopping fast? Here’s why: * Discipline: It’s a good practice to be able to do without things for a period of time. […]
Share It. All Boats Rise.
I had the pleasure of connecting again with a good friend of mine and esteemed colleague at Exponential last week. I’ve gotta brag on him a little bit…. Brad Leeper is one of the senior fundraising strategists at Generis, one of the leading Christian fundraising consulting firms in the country. I was introduced to Brad […]
Chinese Food, Collaboration, and Church Planting
What do you get when you put those three things together? You get the picture to the left! This is our crowd at the Exponential Conference last week in Orlando. This year’s theme was, ‘The DNA of Reproducing Churches,’ so naturally our team had a lot to say – and a lot to learn from the […]
A Generous Church: A Historic Day in the Life of Community!
This past weekend was truly a remarkable, milestone weekend in the life of Community Christian Church! As you’ve likely been reading on this blog (or hearing about in service), this weekend we did something we have never done before at Community. We devoted the entire service to four teams of the Jesus Mission and then we […]
Risks and Opportunities…
Ok, I have to brag a bit on my new friend and esteemed colleague Ed Bahler. Ed came out to Community this past Monday to lead us in a day-long vision/strategy session regarding an opportunity we are exploring in the nearby under-resourced community of East Aurora. We gathered together a group of a few staff leaders from Community, a few […]
Celebration Generosity – RSVP for a Vision Dinner!
I could not be more excited about what is coming up at Community in three weeks! On April 19/20, we are devoting the entire service to Celebration Generosity! Celebration Generosity is our initiative to: Help the 20% who live on less than a dollar a day Reach the 67% who have not yet found their […]
Join us for Easter!
Okay, so I’ve gotta brag on Community a little bit… I just received this graph from our finance director David Girdwood, and I am so amazed at what God has done through the years through the people of this church!! The graph at the right shows the Easter attendance each year at Community throughout our […]
NewThing and Wheaton College? Yes, it’s true!
This just in! NewThing and Wheaton College have formed a partnership agreement! Our NewThing team had a meeting yesterday with Rick Richardson and Carol Fowler from the Wheaton Graduate School, and we made some good progress on the marketing of this brand new partnership! Our NewThing leadership residents will now be eligible to receive up to a […]