The Easter Dive

I have been reflecting this morning on post Easter expectations. Easter Sunday is unquestionably the BIGGEST Sunday worship service that most churches will have year in and year out....as it should be. Easter is the reason for our season....the season of our life. As the song goes, "You lived, you died, you said in three days you would rise. You did...You're alive...." HE'S ALIVE. For that reason alone Easter is a BIG DEAL.

But what about 1 week removed? I have seen churches double in size only to find that attendance goes right back to where it was in the first place. I suppose it is human nature to only come to church on the big days (Easter/Christmas) out of obligation or to make them feel as though they have done their good deed...but I think there is something more to it and this falls on our shoulders as a church.

As I prepare to say this, I will echo what Rick Warren posted on twitter recently, "Don't be discouraged pastors...The huge crowd you had at Easter won't be back this week. It's not that 1 week high!" That is true whether we like it or not. Wouldn't that be awesome if that same crowd and even more would be back? The truth is it won't, but the Easter Dive doesn't have to be as drastic as it has in the past.

I would be naive to think that because I post this that miraculously every person's church who reads this would benefit tomorrow morning, but I believe easing the Easter Dive is a process that takes time. It is done through creating a culture within your congregation of continual evangelism/outreach. We have sort of programmed our people to "bring 'em in" on the big days whether it be a holiday or friend weekend or some cool series...I believe that is a portion of the problem.

While listening to a Perry Noble podcast a few weeks ago, he said something that I continually need to be reminded of. I am not quoting it, but in a nutshell this is what he said. We don't have one or two big weekends a year at New Spring, we have 52.

As a pastor, am I creating a culture of excellence in my church so that people are pumped to bring their unchurched friends and family each and every weekend? As a leader, am I giving every ounce of passion I can to do ministry the best that I can so that people are impacted for Christ every weekend? As a volunteer, am I committed to being there and being great for the cause of Christ every weekend? If my pastors, my leaders, and those who serve the church are doing everything they can to create a compelling environment through which the Gospel message of Christ is shared in a relevant way, am I bringing people in to hear the Good News every week?

The Easter Dive is what it is and on some level, it will always be what it's always been. Again, it's human nature, but if we really are being all that we can be for Christ, it doesn't have to be everything that it is. Easter is a BIG deal because it represents the beginning of our faith....Easter 1 week removed...just as important because it represents the living out of that faith. Are we living it?

Exposing Children

Every night of the week my boys and I spend time reading before bed. We take time to read books from their school library and we take time to read from the Bible. I want to instill in my children the understanding that reading holds a lot of potential for their future, not only through God's Word, but also in expanding your mind from other resources too.

While some of the books we read together are silly like "Happy Birthday Bad Kitty" or "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", the book we spend the most time in is the Bible. I want to encourage every parent to do this very thing...spend time with them reading the Bible. If you struggle with reading the Bible on your own time...do it on your kid's time with them, investing in them, investing in your time with God. This can allow you to kill two or three or four birds with one stone. Reading the Bible, not just to, but with your kids helps you to spend time in their life, lets you give them spiritual direction, show them spiritual priorities, help them to learn to read better, help them to learn more about God's Word, helps you to teach them life principles, help you to learn more about God's Word.....should I go on?

I am always amazed at how much they retain. I begin by quizzing them about what we read the previous night and I will even quiz them as we are reading together and they soak it up.

Yesterday, I did something else...something I had wanted to do for a long time, but was afraid it might be too graphic for them. This week during our reading together, we spent time going through the final few days of Christ's life. We spent a lot of time from the garden to the tomb. During our reading, they had lots of questions about the flogging that Jesus took and the experience of the cross...so I finally broke down and showed them the final minutes of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". I was still a little worried about the gruesome nature of the images they would see, but in reality...that is exactly what it was for Jesus.

Our time watching the movie was a memorable one. Our youngest two (the twins) had some of the most funny little questions and comments as any 5-yr old would...things like, "I bet Jesus needed like a hundred band-aids"...but there were other questions from the mouths of babes that held deeper significance....questions that I believe will pave the way for them to cross the line of faith at the right time. For my oldest son (who is already a Christian), he gained a different perspective on what Jesus really did for us and it showed in the seriousness of our conversation afterward.

These moments don't happen if we don't expose our children to the Bible. These moments we miss out if we, as parents, aren't trying not only to live by our faith for our kids but lead by our faith for our kids.

My challenge (not just for you, but for me too) is to continue to show faith by our actions, teach faith by our words, and expose faith through our life. "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Dt. 6:6-9

LIVE IT! SAY IT! BREATHE IT! SHARE IT! EXPOSE IT!

Skyline Is Gettin Gangsta Up In Heeyah

I must confess that I went gangsta in O'Fallon this morning. I spent over an hour performing "drive-by's" all over the city. I simply drove by and prayed....I prayed for our Skyline family to invite their friends and neighbors to church this weekend. I prayed that our volunteers be filled with excellence as they serve. I even made an effort to perform a "drive-by" on O'Fallon Township High School. Community after community, street after street I drove by and prayed. I prayed for the people represented in every home. I prayed for their families. I prayed for their struggles. I prayed for their hearts to soften so that they might come and hear the Good News of Christ this weekend. I prayed specifically for them to be at Skyline with the exception that they might just go somewhere else to hear about the risen Christ.

The Bible does say to enter into your own closet. It says to not let your left hand know what the right is doing. Typically that is my practice, but as I prayed for our people and our community I felt God give me a peace in sharing this with you. Why? Because I feel that God may lead some of you to read this and be encouraged to do the same.

This week, I want to challenge our Skyline family to get a little gangsta. I want to challenge you to do so in three ways.

1.) Do drive-by's! Even if it just your community. Take 2 extra minutes out of your day and drive through your neighborhood and pray. Take a slight detour and do a drive-by at OTHS. I meet regularly with my friend Tim Clark. Tim is always good to remind me (even though I always know this, I/we still need reminding) that EVERYTHING we do has to be bathed in prayer. Everything from the ministries we serve in to the people we are called to reach, we must bathe all things in prayer. If not for prayer, we lack any power to do God's will in our community. Pray for the people of the community, pray for the service each and every weekend, and pray for your pastor as I (or whoever that may be) attempt through foolishness to bring the Word of God in a way that is understandable and life transformational.

2. Recruit! Spread the word! Do this through simple invitations. Drop an email. Send out a Facebook post. Share the Easter invitation video linked on my youtube channel. Go to the Skyline Group page and share the invitation that is on their in the events section....Some people are just waiting for you to say the word and they are in.

Also, we still have a few door hangers that need to be distributed. I would love to see everyone of them given out. Who knows, one of those door hangers could make the difference in someone's eternity. If you would like to grab a few, contact Denyse Anderson at mark_denyse@charter.net .

3. Last but certainly not least...Initiate them with love! Even if there were no marketing whatsoever, there would be more new people at church that a typical Sunday because it's Easter and you're supposed to be at church on Easter. I want to encourage the people of Skyline to make certain to focus on new people (not just this weekend, but every weekend). Spend most of your time welcoming them, not even with just a hand shake...engage them in conversation. Make certain that there is no question that you are glad they came. In my opinion, if any person enters the door of the church and leaves feeling unwelcomed or unloved....we have FAILED!!! Love is the one thing that God gives us that holds the power to crack even the stoniest heart. So let's initiate them with LOVE!

I can't tell you how PUMPED I am to see what God does at Skyline this weekend and it will happen in what God does through YOU! Never forget that YOU are the tool that He chooses to use in order that people may experience the true heart of His Son. Let's bring home a win for the BIG GUY this weekend.

Networking Outreach

I love seeing people use the world wide web to not only share the Good News of what God has done in their life, but to also use it as an avenue to extend an invitation to experience God live and in living color. Social networking has been a great tool on so many levels for people. I don't know how many people from my past I have reconnected with, but as my social network expands so does my network of influence locally.

For every church/pastor, I encourage the use of networks like Twitter and Facebook to spread the news of what is going on inside of your family of believers. This can be done through simple messages or by posting videos. Tethering video services like Vimeo and Youtube to your social networks can be a great tool to share what is happening in the Kingdom.

Simple videos to elaborate videos, graphic pictorials to online testimonies...all are extremely valuable in today's age of technology. We are sometimes intimidated by the level of excellence brought forth by many, but I want to remind you that excellence doesn't have to mean complicated. Granted, there are many video editing programs out there that require a certain level of expertise and expense. There are however some programs that are very cost effective and even come standard on PC's and Macs alike.

If you are just starting out in the video editing world, might I suggest keeping it basic at first. Don't go all crazy with flashy transitions. For the most part clean is the key. Simple transitions like cuts and fades are called for more times than flying zig-zags or swirls. Even when using a 3D transition, I personally like to stay on the clean route. Choose music that fits the feel of your project and keep the font modern, yet legible.

It takes some practice and it takes gleaning from the example of others, but over time you can get the hang of it and begin to soar. There are tons of online tutorials you can access. Some of the most accessible can be found on the very same video websites like Youtube. Utilizing the expertise of others will help you increase your level of excellence....Be sure to check out why excellence is so important in Austin Powell's post - The Video Difference.

Once your video is complete and uploaded to your site of choice, there are many options to use when sharing. Most sites offer both URL's to link to your video from your social networking site and also embedding codes to place them in your blog or on your website like this:



As you utilize this awesome tool, create a culture in your congregation of passing the word along. Encourage the people of your church to share the videos with friends in their own networks and let the word Spread.

Hangin With Your Bestie

"Bestie", common slang form meaning a best friend. Men! Who is your "bestie"? Women! Who is your "bestie"? If you are married, I would like to make a suggestion...If you are married, your spouse should be your "bestie".

I in now way am suggesting that you should not have any other close friends in your life. Quite the contrary. We need close relationships with friends, but one of the closest relationships a married person should have is there spouse.

With marriages crumbling all around us, we are led to beg the question, "Why?" I can think of a number of answers, but in all honesty I don't know that there is one particular reason why, but many reasons. One reason is that the level of "intimacy" between husband and wife is nowhere near where it should be.

So, part of the answer is an off-the-chain sex life? Yes that is part of the answer, but when I am talking about intimacy, I'm not talking about how often you jump in the sack with your spouse. I'm talking about a closeness. I'm talking about the depth of the relationship. I'm talking about enjoyment of time together, whether that may mean a nice long love-making session, a simple conversation, or a trip to the bowling alley. How close are you to your spouse?

As you look at your life together and you realize that your level of intimacy might not be where it should be, you may begin looking at ways to make it better...and you should. I can think of a number of ways from more frequent date nights to quiet time alone on the couch talking....As you begin to strategize an Intimacy Improvement Initiative.... something begins to happen in your mind. EXCUSES!!!

For every solution to the problem, there is an excuse. These excuses lie in two primary areas...two areas we think we are lacking in for every area of our life.... Time & Money.

1.) I don't have time! My answer to that.... make time! Make time! If you have to cancel a golf game or a shopping session, make time! If you have a game to watch on TV....set the DVR and make time! Make Time! Make Time! Make Time! It's that important. The truth is in life, we make time for what is important in our life. If your marriage is important, make time. If you want it to fall apart, don't worry about it.

2.) I don't have the money! Don't go to the expensive restaurants...go to McDonald's. Don't go to McDonald's...pack a picnic. Don't pack a picnic... eat a triscuit. Don't go to the movies... rent one. Don't go to a concert... sing for her....(ok, that might not be a wise idea for some of you).... Just sit and talk. You don't have to have money to deepen intimacy. It's not about money, it is about time.

I want to throw something else in that I heard someone once say to me as an excuse for not spending time with their spouse and truly enjoying the moment with them. They were telling me of an occasion where they and their spouse were sitting at a restaurant and the entire time they were thinking, "All the money we are spending here, we could be buying more for our kids. We are just taking stuff away from them!"

My response was immediate, and probably could have been perceived as slightly harsh. My reply was something like this, "Are you kidding me?" If you're not spending time with your spouse are you not depriving them of seeing their parents not just love each other, but even liking each other?"

When we fail to invest time in our relationship, when we refuse to invest money in our relationship, we deprive our children of something that is vitally important for them as they grow...a beautiful example of what marriage "can" be... Are you being that example?

Our challenge: Learn to enjoy those people that God has gifted us with...our spouses. Cherish them, cherish time with them, make time with them, invest in time with them...That investment pays huge dividends for your life and the lives of your family.