Posts Tagged ‘Western Hills Baptist Church’
The Nines Leadership Conference
How cool would it be to get an uninterrupted 6 minutes with Seth Godin? What about Rick Warren? Perry Noble? Miles McPherson?
What if I told you I could get them to Western Hills Baptist Church for one day only? Would you show up?
You are going to get a chance.
Seriously, truth is — I can’t get them to physically be there but Leadership Network has made it possible for them to be there via the Web. On September 9th starting at 10.30 in the morning, Leadership Network will be webcasting a unique leader conference called The Nines. It’s a 100 Christian leaders who each get 6 minutes to share with us the biggest GAMECHANGER they have ever experienced.
We’ll be showing it all day long on the BIG SCREEN here at the church and you’re invited. Bring your whole ministry team or use it as a leadership development day for your job or team. Plan on being with us the whole day or just stop in for lunch or a session or two.
In fact – if you are coming for lunch, let me know and I’ll make sure we have some sub sandwiches for you. Drop me an email at genglish AT whillschurch DOT org.
Here is a list of all the speakers.
Here’s a list of FAQs.
Now go put this on your calendar and I’ll see you then.
whyChurch Series Starts Sunday
I have a love-hate relationship about my time in the Army. Hated the 18-20 hour days. Hated being in the woods 20 to 30 days at a time. Hated the cold, wet marches with 45lbs of gear on my back. Hated the food for the most part. We had a lot of different meanings for the letters MRE.
But I loved the toys and getting to blow things up. I loved having a mission that focused all of our decisions. Loved the leadership development, having a team focused on an important task where much was at stake. Putting our lives into the effort. It really wasn’t just a job. Loved the process of developing leaders — where the goal was to develop people to be better. And I loved serving my country. It was hard but it was rewarding.
What’s this got to do with whyChurch? Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at Jesus’ mission for the church, what WH is doing to fulfill that mission. We’ll take a trip down memory lane as well as look at the future of what implications His mission has on us.
Here’s a nugget from my notes so far:
The mission of God can be first seen in Genesis 12 with Abram and gets sharper in focus leading up to the arrival of Jesus. Jesus brought a laser focus to His mission by using simple, powerful stories that captured the heart. These simple – not easy – stories were given to us so that the focus would be on DOING the mission, not defining it, dissecting it, or discussing it.
Harvest Report
The journey of the Harvest thus far:
The Past 30, The Next 30
A Little Sacrifice Now…
Why The Debt And Why Now
Exodus 36:5
A Gentle Rebuke
So what happened Sunday? We had over 17k dollars come in towards the debt…which means there is 19k left…which means in the span of 9 months we’ve gone from 100+k in debt to 19k…which means we are on track to be debt free for 2010. Praise God.
The point of it all was not to just get out of debt to get out of debt – which would have been reason enough. The point is for us – the Church – to start putting our money where our vision statement says we put our money – helping people. Being out of debt allows the church to spend money on ministry, in people, helping others.
Next series – whyChurch?
why church? next series..
Here’s a sneak peak at our next series….which starts on November 1.
A Little Sacrifice Now…
…will lead to a big payoff later.
I know this principle applies in multiple areas – sports, education, leadership – but for us we’re applying to the Harvest and the reduction of debt at Western Hill. We’ve called for the church to spend the month of September in prayer – to seek God’s wisdom as to how each of us at WH needs to participate above our normal giving. October we’ll bring it all in.
As we sat around the Creative Team table this week, I was asked to share the decision we’ve made as a family concerning the Harvest with the rest of the church. Giving is one of those areas that I’m always nervous talking to people about. It’s like talking about politics…eventually you’re going to offend somebody.
However, I’m more convinced that the Church is capable of impacting and helping the culture like no other organization in history. We exist to help others in the name of Jesus. Because of the Church’s volunteers, we’re able to do so much more with so much less. I realize this isn’t true of every church and that some (some would argue most) churches exist only to perpetuate themselves. But that’s not true of WH and I think more and more churches are getting the big picture.
That’s why I’m not as bashful asking for money now days. I know how we are going to use it and it will go to helping people. We bought appliances for a single mom last week, we regularly give away grocery cards. We’re helping a local school, a Hispanic church, a Native American mission, and not to mention our Upward sports.
The point is, as long as we understand that getting rid of the debt in and of itself is not the point but ministry is – we’ll be okay. Anyway I can help people see that clearer – I’m all for. Even if it means a few minutes of uncomfortableness telling everyone how we’re giving.
So what are we doing? We’re giving up our weekly night out as a family. We normally grab a night at Qdoba – that money for the next months will go to the debt. Also Amy’s paycheck from working from the school – a sizeable portion of that will go towards the debt as well. Gary talked about how he and Nancy we’re reallocating some of their budget that had either been paid off or no longer needed to the debt.
And so we start. I’m looking forward to hear what God is saying to the rest of us.
The Past 30, The Next 30
30 days is a deceiving amount of time. Not enough or too long?
The Past 30
We celebrated 6 new believers. Had 4 new families join. Went Down Under with VBS. We revamped our student ministry. We invaded McCarter Elementary with over 1,000 school supplies. We made close to 100 nap mats for McCarter Kindergarten. We were invited to the first day of school over there to help pass them out. We hired a worship leader. Baptized 3 more new believers. Started training the next set of Life Group leaders in our Turbo Group. Almost done with the Bylaw revision. Said good-bye to Brandon (youth intern) as he goes off to finish his degree.
The Next 30
We’ll be done with the Bylaw revision. Done with the Turbo Group. Have at least 2 new Life Groups for people to connect to WH through. Have our new members class up and running. We’ll start our “I Want A New Marriage” series. And as impressive as each of those things are…it’s not really what I’m most amped about.
Yesterday, I challenged our congregation to spend the entire month of September in prayer about participating in eliminating the remaining debt at Western Hills. We want to start spending that money on ministry instead of sending it to the bank. After praying with our leaders for the past few weeks, I’m convinced now is the time to get rid of the remaining 73k in debt. It’s time because of the economy, because we are at a tipping point in our church, and because we’ll never a lasting impact on our community as long as we are in debt.
Here’s the truth of matter though – I’m just as excited about this month of prayer as I am the actually harvest. It’s 73,000 dollars. In God’s economy, that’s not a lot. I’m convinced He has the resources to deal with it. I’m more excited about what happens when God’s people humble themselves before the Lord to listen to HIS voice. I KNOW God is going to speak to us about more than just our finances.
That’s what is going to be amazing about the next 30 days. Listening to God…
Room Full of Leaders
Last night our house was invaded by twice as many people as we expected for our Turbo Group. Basically, it’s a room full of people who are passionate about God and people and want to be better at leading our Life Groups. We talked about the need for community, the obstacles of having it, the 5 key disciplines that have to happen in a Life Group for community to happen.
It was a humbling start to the process of creating a culture that reproduces fully-devoted followers of Jesus. At church that morning, we took the sign up list which only had 12 names on it and started adding up who told us they were coming. It topped out at 31. Amy asked me – how in the world are we going to get 31 people in our house? In the same room?
“I have no idea. I’ve never had 31 people want to show up for something like this. Are these people normal?”
No, they’re not normal and that’s exactly the way we like it.
An Ebenezer By Any Other Name
Ebenezer: name of Hebrew origin meaning “Stone of the help” (derived from the phrase “Eben ha-Ezer”).
Stone of the help. “Here I raise my stone of the help.” A marker to help us remember the provision or presence of God.
Our students are having their own “Ebenezer Moment” this coming Sunday night. (6 pm, at Western Hills, whole church is invited). They’ve had an incredible summer. We had a few of our students lead a small group, help lead and staff our VBS, as well two weeks of Super Summer where over 6 students made Jesus the Lord of their life. Two other students feel like they are called to full-time missions. Then there are the life change stories of students making major decisions about their life because of Jesus.
I’ve been fortunate to be a part of all this. Now the rest of the church is going to be invited to get in on it as well. Student Ministry Team came up with this idea of having a worship service where the stories could be told…from the students themselves. And that’s what is coming on August 2nd. I’m amped to hear the God-stories from our students.
Perhaps this night will be an ebenezer of another kind for the rest of us, huh? Maybe we ought to have an all-church ebenezer night? I’m liking that idea…but for now – I’ll see you Sunday night.
20 Years and Merle Mees
Yesterday we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Western Hills. In the grand scheme of things, 20 years isn’t a long period of time. Merle Mees came back to preach the sermon. He was practically the founding pastor, stayed at WH for 14 years.
It was important to me for Merle to be here, just like it was important to me to have Danny Payne come back and preach a couple of weeks ago. Why? Given the recent history of WH, I thought it’d be a nice reminder to the church that even though the last couple of years were rough, we have a heritage of joy, laughter, lifechange stories, and existing for the purpose of others. Seeing Merle and Danny lifts our eyes up a bit to see that, I hope.
Secondly, both of these men deeply love Western Hills but they love Jesus more. Because of that, both guys said things that we needed to hear. Disciple people, invest in PEOPLE. Make a big deal out of JESUS, not your programs or buildings. Don’t be hostage to your past – either good times or bad. Have a vision to exist for those who aren’t in the building.
Both men are dear friends/mentors to me. Both have challenged me to love Jesus more when I hang out with them. Both are complete nut cases and goof offs. I’ve yet to leave a conversation with either of them both challenged and laughing. We got a taste of that this morning with Merle.
When the word got out that I was going to Western Hills, Merle Mees was one of the first guys to call me. Actually, he emailed me and said “Congratulations. Call me.”
Of course, Merle didn’t have his number anywhere in that email. I hit reply “Thanks, what’s your number?”
His reply back was “I’m number 1.”
When I finally got him on the phone, we rehashed the story…he told me some of his funniest moments…and right before we hung up, he gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever been given.
He basically said “Keep Jesus front and center. In your preaching and leading – sure. But personally – in your life, in your marriage. Really, really, really keep your love relationship with Jesus on the front burners. Nothing else really matters.”
As we were hanging up he asked me — “Can you believe we get to do this? I mean, it’s work and it’s long and it can be brutal but I’m convinced that there isn’t a better job on the planet.”
I think he’s right. And I’m glad God surrounds us with guys like Merle and Danny to keep reminding us of that.
McCarter Beautiful Day
It’s taken me awhile to get this on here..but here is how we helped with the school fair at McCarter.
Encouraged
6 weeks in and there’s been a voice in the back of my head that kept going – “Yeah, but…”
This is a great place to serve…”Yeah, but it’s early and is this really going to be a place that you fit?”
These are some incredibly creative people that are going to make me better…”Yeah, but what’s going to happen the first time you disagree with them?”
The worship times have felt deep…meaningful…intense…reflective…”Yeah, but is that just your perspective?”
The family is good, their happy, their excited….”yeah, but how much longer can it last?”
Then came Sunday. I don’t know why Sunday ended up being so significant. I mean…6 weeks in, it IS still early. Most pastors are telling me they didn’t feel right or at home until after the first year, sometimes longer. I’m a long way from that mark.
But Sunday was good. Part of it was Danny and Suzanne were here. They got to feel the vibe of Western Hills, meet the people, experience the service. When I introduced Danny in the second service, I barely got Pinecrest Community Church out of my service when the congregation burst out in applause. Completely spontaneous, very warm and heartfelt. It was another confirmation that what we did and how we (Western Hills, Pinecrest, all involved) did it was right, was God-honoring.
Part of it is our relentless pursuit of authenticity. Authenticity is not just being real for the sake of being real. If we only did that – would lead us to some bad places. In my less mature years (I’m not saying I am mature now…just more mature than I was…), I used ‘authenticity’ as an excuse for my immaturity. As in – “This is who I am, deal with it.” I’ve seen authenticity used as a weapon to hurt others. Not good. Not real authenticity either.
Real authenticity is being who you are, being real about who you are for the purpose of life change, spiritual transformation. No pretense, no guile – not to stay where I am but to move closer to Jesus. This understanding of authenticity is probably closer to James’ understanding of humility. We humble ourselves so that Jesus can ‘lift us up.’
I used to think this meant recognition. I don’t think it means that anymore. I think it means lifts us up to where Jesus is…in His character, His compassion, His mind. He makes us more like Him when we are humble (authentic) because He doesn’t have to break us.
At any rate…I’m seeing life change in our folks. Slowly…but surely. Walls are coming down and I could feel it on Sunday.
Last As Student Pastor
It’s been 10 days since I last blogged. It was good to have a break. Now time to break the fast.
Last night we had our Christmas Party/Junk Food/Gift Exchange Extravaganza. It was a blast. Couple of highlights for me.
First, commissioning Toby. I got Toby a real shepherd’s crook as well as a copy of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I know I surprised him. Told him that every shepherd needed a crook. (There’s a joke in there somewhere…) They use it for three main things, first is to guide the sheep. A nudge there, a nudge there and they’ll go there – as long as they know your voice. Second is to rescue sheep. Their necks fit in the crook perfectly. The third thing – support. A leaning staff, if you will.
Which led me to the devotional by Oswald Chambers. My mom gave me my first copy of this book. I wore it out. I still have it. I still read it. It’s been the second single most important resource of my life (next to the Bible).
This is pretty much what I wrote to Toby inside the cover:
Pastoring is hard. No one tells you how hard it is when you start. You figure that out along the way. One of those sleepless, tossing, turning nights when you realize no other job did this to you.
Student Pastoring is double hard. Yes, it’s also twice the fun but it comes at high cost. No one tells you how alone you will feel at times. We know in our head we are not, but it doesn’t seem to translate at times in our stomachs.
And after doing this for all these years, I keep coming back to this simple principle: You are what you eat. Your best ministry will come out of the overflow of what you feed your soul.
This book has been a staple of my diet. Oswald has become a mentor, a Yoda for me within these pages.
That’s my prayer for you. Be a Yoda, dripping with Jesus.
And you’re not alone.
The coolest part of the evening – our gift from the students. It’s a huge book with notes and letters from them, scattered in there are pictures. What a great gift.
In a moment of irony, our first youth group (12th Avenue) did the same thing – gave us a huge book of notes and pictures – that I still have and display in my office.
I was asked after the party – “How does it feel to be done with your last official duty as a student pastor?”
I didn’t really have an answer at the time. I was just enjoying the moment and the party.
This morning…it feels awesome.
Here’s why…it’s what we’re supposed to do. Toby is exactly the right guy for Pinecrest. We’re exactly the right family for Western Hills. It’s all good and right. So I’ll miss the relationships – sure.
But I can’t help but think God is pleased with this whole process – the decisions, how the decisions were made, and how it’s all playing out.
And that’s awesome.
Questions for Churches
I’ve had a couple of you email me asking me what questions did I ask Western Hills.
Here they are…
If you were forced to describe Western Hills (as she is today) in a single word, what word would each of you use? What words would you use to describe what you would like her to be?
What has been the biggest lesson learned in the last year?
As you dream about the future, what do you think is the greatest opportunity ahead? What do you think will be the greatest obstacle in getting there?
If money were no object, what would be the one thing you would want to do this next year?
What does ‘success’ look like for your church?
How are decisions made at Western Hills?
Tell me of a ministry decision where there was sharp disagreement and how that was worked out.
What kind of voice does your current staff have in the hiring of the next pastor?
If for some reason Western Hills burned to the ground, how would the community around you be affected?
Every church and culture has a set of unspoken values and ‘rules.’ What unspoken insights does the next pastor need to know?
How is Western Hills currently involved in both local and foreign missions?
What would you say are the biggest needs of your city? How is Western Hills addressing those needs?
Going To Topeka, Kansas
After a long process of hide and seek with God, we’re heading to Topeka, Kansas for me to be the Lead Pastor at Western Hills Baptist Church.
We told the students and our ministry team leaders this past week. The slow leak is happening on Facebook. We’re telling the rest of the congregation this morning.
It wasn’t part of “The Plan” to leave Pinecrest, Parker, or this beautiful state. But someone famous once said “We make plans and God laughs.” Or maybe someone famous didn’t say it and it’s one of those quotes that really isn’t a quote, everyone just thinks it’s a quote.
The long journey of how we got to Western Hills is told here. We’ve experience polar opposite sets of emotions through this process but we’re confident this is God’s call.
There will be a lot of dinners, lunches, coffees, thank yous, tears and laughter in the next few weeks ahead.
Our last Sunday at Pinecrest will be December 28th (our 17 year wedding anniversary).
The Long Journey To Western Hills
It was about 8 months ago that a friend of mine (Danny Payne) said to me ‘You ought to think about submitting your name for the Lead Pastor of Western Hills.’ He’d been on staff there, loves the church deeply and honestly thought there could be a fit there.
I honestly thought he was on drugs. My exact response was: “Thanks. I’ll pray about it. No.”
He mentioned how awesome it was to see a man of prayer in action. I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic.
Then Croatia happened and changed everything. He gets to write the story, I don’t.
Danny P and I ended up having the same conversation after Croatia. I was in the middle of the same response when the Spirit just popped in and said…”Are we going to have to go back to Croatia?”
So I sent in my resume. I didn’t even update it. In fact, I almost forgot to tell Amy. We’re laying in bed talking about the day and I think I said something like – “Yeah, had lunch with my guys Downtown, blogged on the Broncos, and sent my resume to Danny Payne.”
“That’s great. Hope you enjoy seeing the kids on the weekends.”
Typically, not updating your resume is not a good idea. You generally want your resume to include things like a current address, phone number, and/or email address. Mine had none of those things. It did have this website. I wouldn’t recommend this course of action but I think it was my subconscious kicking in. Somehow the Search Team tracks me down, sends me a questionnaire.
I fill out the questionnaire. The whole time I’m thinking – “See God? Are you watching? I’m obeying. I’m passing this test of if I’d be WILLING to leave Pinecrest. Now leave me alone.”
I figured that would be the end of it. They’d read my answers, see the blog, see the earring, hear the messages online and that would pretty much kill any chance I had to be a lead pastor in a Baptist Church.
Then the phone rang. It was a Monday night during a football game. It was the Search Team wondering if they could fly us out for an interview.
I started repeating every thing the Search Team said to me so that Amy could keep up with the conversation. Neither one of us were ready for this. I’m officially wigged out at this point. They’ve been listening to the messages online, reading the blog. Want to meet face to face. I felt like I was in a three-way wrestling match between me, God, and Western Hills.
“I just can’t come to Topeka.”
It wasn’t a “No” but more like a “Not yet.” Instead we sent them a questionnaire to fill out for us.
What happened next was one of the many confirmations that God would give us over the next few months. They put that questionnaire in the hands of over 40 key leaders of the church. They returned to us every single original form. Not a doctored compilation document. Not a summary sheet. But every single sheet of paper from every single leader. Unvarnished. Raw. Authentic.
The next step was them meeting me at Oasis, a youthworkers conference in Emporia. They came and hung out with me that day, invited me up to lunch the next day. After two days of conversations, one of the Search Team guys drilled into me pretty good.
He said something along the lines of “You keep saying – ‘if this process continues.’ When are you going to realize we want you and you’re going to have to figure out what God is telling you?”
It was a statement that I hadn’t heard in over two years. What is God telling you to do? What is God telling you to do? I had a group of friends in LR that joked around what we needed was a bunch of parrots to put on people’s shoulders and that would be the only thing this parrot would say. “Brawkkkk, What is God telling you?” In times of hard decisions, we’d do the normal questions and prodding of each other then one of us would always say – Where’s the parrot? Are you listening to the Parrot?
Instead of flying us to Topeka, I wanted them to come to Parker. I wanted them to hang out with us at our church, experience a service, hang out with my staff team, my elders, and my youth volunteers. I wanted them to eat dinner at our house and enjoy a night just sitting around talking.
And they did all of that. It blew their minds to the access and openness we had here. It was painful for us. Two churches sat in my living room being the Church. Lots of questions and thoughts, lots of tears. Talked about everything and anything. They got to ask hard questions of the team about what I’m “really” like. WHBC got to taste what living in community is really about, how wonderful and painful it can be. We all got to hear God say ‘This is what I want’ with clarity, no doubts. It made things simpler…not necessarily easy.
We went out to Topeka last weekend to preach and meet the entire church. I was nervous and anxious going into Sunday morning. Not about my sermon. Not about the process. Would the larger congregation give a young guy with a passion for Jesus that just so happens to have a soul patch and an earring a chance? Search Team had months to get to know us. This congregation had less than one day.
Fear unfounded. It could not have gone any better. It felt like a homecoming of sorts. Kids loved it. We loved it. They loved us.
So we end one journey on December 28th, start another on the next Sunday.
Now you know the rest of the story…