Scott's Thoughts: Sun, Dec 4, 2022
While I usually try to keep ST to about 5 mins, I’m quite a few weeks behind and we’ve got a lot to cover, so today is less than brief. Total Reading Time: For a "normal" reader, according to wordcounter.net, 15 mins. For Nathan Dickerson, at least 45 mins.
*Click below to advance to an individual section. To return here, click section heading.
South Greene Launches Strong! (And a Few Related Observations re “The State of Multisite”)
The Big 3: The Key to Connection at FCC
Some “Wins” to Share
2023 Budget, New Annual Report for 2022(ish) and Future Vision Banquet Plans
New (& Newish) On The App
New Resources on Human Sexuality
Christmas Plans
Small Teachy Rant re our Preaching Method and the Missing Passion for the Truths of God’s Word Among “Christians”
South Greene Launches Strong! (And a Few Related Observations re “The State of Multisite”)
The Big 3: The Key to Connection at FCC
Some “Wins” to Share
2023 Budget, New Annual Report for 2022(ish) and Future Vision Banquet Plans
New (& Newish) On The App
New Resources on Human Sexuality
Christmas Plans
Small Teachy Rant re our Preaching Method and the Missing Passion for the Truths of God’s Word Among “Christians”
South Greene is off to a great start! Bob and the SG Launch Team have been doing a fantastic job of learning and executing the many ins-and-outs of “portable church,” (which is no small task!) On “Launch Day,” Sun, Oct 16, we had 150 in attendance and have averaged 115 since! While this is wonderful, what I think is especially cool is that, not only have we had about 65 different first-time guests in just a matter of 6 weeks, but we’ve had a consistent flow of first-timers each week, of whom about 25 brand new folks have already begun making us their church home! I think that’s super cool, and some confirmation that God is blessing our efforts. (Not only that, but the weekly average of times that Bob cries tears of joy has only gone from ~3 or so to around 1.5-2/wk. I dunno exactly how to assess this, and this may sound like I’m anti-emotions, (which anyone whose been around for 5 mins knows isn’t true), but I’m gonna call this slight reduction in Bob Tears (which are slated to be added to our upcoming Annual Report) both the progress of emotional equilibrium befitting getting the job done unhindered and the ongoing personal joy at God’s faithfulness to use him and his family in Kingdom work! Good stuff. We love the Radanks and are grateful God brought them to carry on His work in South Greene! Also, incidentally, you can’t make this stuff up—I vetted the above stats with Bob and he literally teared-up reading it. True story.)
Anyhoo… A few related observations about “the state of multisite” that I wanna share with you, in no specific order:
We’re still seeing new guests at every campus, every Sunday, but at least 2x more at Greeneville. — While we are seeing first-time guests at all 3 campuses—for many months it’s been at least 10-12 every Sunday—we routinely have at least twice as many at Greeneville. Perhaps people would rather visit a more churchy building first? Perhaps people think Greeneville is the mothership and offers more because it’s not portable, (which isn’t true. Everything at one is at the others. I suspect some of this is assuming the live in-person preaching only happens at Greeneville as a “broadcast” location, which is typical for (much larger than us) multisite churches.) So, while we’ve been careful all along to not call attention to differences between campuses, what we’ve found is that many people checking us out inevitably go to Greeneville first. We’ve seen this dynamic ever since going multisite in February 2019. In fact, one year after, during which time Greeneville quickly added almost 50 more people per Sunday, we asked for a minimum of 50 people to move to Afton to make room for Greeneville and about 35 agreed. That said, so far there doesn’t seem to be a great solution to the “Greeneville grows faster” issue other than, well, being multisite. So, this dynamic isn’t a problem to solve but a tension to manage. What it shows us is a couple things that apply to all campuses, but especially at Greeneville: (1) We need to become really good at meaningfully connecting new people, formally, through the Next Steps process, and informally, by personally inviting them to join you for lunch, re:gen, your Life Group, Team Bash, etc. (2) We need to continue to learn to adapt well to the dynamic of the current churn associated with Covid uprooting peoples’ sense of safety and routine, many new people moving into Greene County, people constantly moving in and out of and being multisite. This is a current struggle for churches everywhere. What this means is that, in order to meaningfully connect new people well, (i.e., (1) above), each campus must have a deeply-rooted and well-trained core of all-in FCCers who know our systems, have our DNA, and who are tied to other all-in FCCers while facilitating that same experience for new folks. They must be the disciplemakers who are the health and stability of each campus.
Campus Pastors are more important than most think (and in many ways, far more important than me!) — The changes we have recently made (see Aug 2022 Elders Letter) that empower our CPs to function more as local shepherds and as Life Groups “Coach” at their respective campuses (see our “Leadership Pipeline” here) reflect needing to care for people well. It also means they are way more important than most think, especially compared to me. Ok, yeah, the Lead Pastor is “important,” but at 3 campuses, which are smaller and more personal (see next point), people come along with our vision and grow insofar as they see it embodied in and led by our CPs. So, yeah, they’re kind of a big deal (and I am not.) I think it’s super cool to see them take ownership of their flocks in ways that help our people grow. Thanks, guys, for being strong and faithful leaders. (And thank you to their spouses and families for being strong support. It takes an entire family to be a Pastor.)
(So far,) keeping campuses small and personal seems wise. – As our website says, “small campuses that feel like family” is our attempt to provide closer attention to personal care and growth, help people serve in ways that fit their gifts and that make a difference, and create an environment where long-term relationships can flourish. (See website for more re “small campuses that feel like family.”) While this is a new tweak to our existing multisite vision and this is a smidge provisional, the initial response seems helpful. People are benefitting from deeper relationships with each other and are being better served by their Campus Pastors, Serve Team Leaders, and Life Group Leaders. Our first campus-specific “Good Ol’ Fashioned Potluck & Prayer” was quite well attended and we’re looking forward to the next one.
Multisite makes it harder to see growth and demands paying attention. – This isn’t particular to multisite, as it happens in any church that needs to add services, more meeting space, etc., but it seems more pronounced because the critical mass we have recently enjoyed, (especially at Greeneville), is less like a crowd and sometimes like more of a small group (at least in 1st services at all 3 campuses). It’s just math… and optics. And it means you’ve gotta keep up with our comms outputs like the Pulse tab on the app, the Pulse Email and Video, Scott’s Thoughts, etc., to hear about what God’s doing. Don’t be snowed into thinking that fewer people in your service means less effectiveness. Starting in January 2023, we’re moving to double our “H7 Stories” output to one per week, to cover all 3 campuses and to tell the story of what God’s doing in and through our people.
Multisite produces “everyday boring faithful” servants. – As we’ve seen before, launching a campus has prompted many to serve, either for the first time or with greater commitment, not just at South Greene, but also at Afton and Greeneville. More than a few at all 3 campuses have been stepping up in new ways because of the vacuums created. This continues to be an emerging strength for us. It’s part of making disciples and producing producers. We love seeing new people serve!
Multisite demands one’s involvement and creates discomfort that stretches us. — Having said the previous point, straight up, this doesn’t work without many volunteers pitching in. And we’re currently thin(ner than we have been.) This is what happens when your vision is explicitly about developing leaders and producing producers who reach people with the gospel. And it produces discomfort and demands involvement. We always need people to help. So talk to your CP or someone with a lanyard, go to Next Steps, let us know on the Connect Card, and we’ll hand you a broom or a bulletin or a Life Group to help lead!
Our multisite vision is hard but good. Thank you for being awesome. — Being a church with a Kingdom-sized vision to make disciples and produce producers who are in-it-to-win-it for the sake of peoples’ souls and the long-term flourishing of Greene County is hard enough. But adding multisite and creating a culture of service is “a whole ‘nother level” of crazy! Frankly, we haven’t exactly chosen an easy way to do church. It is work to commit to “Worship & Serve” and to “meaningfully participate” in “The Big 3“ (see next blurb for more info.) It takes lots of people to make 3 campuses happen with God-glorifying excellence. It is audacious to ask people to sacrifice for the sake of gospel mission in a world that views the church as a hapless band of mystical idiots. And yes, there are countless easier things to do with your time other than grabbing a broom to sweep what few may notice, teaching squirrelly kids who seem to ignore you, or putting away equipment when others are already at lunch. But nothing grows without hard work, including people! The easier alternatives of personal leisure, family memories, or traveling sports teams, if they eclipse the everyday boring faithfulness of serving in the body, will not effectively build moral strength and produce producers with a vision to serve anyone but themselves. As I was reminded in a conversation this week, Jesus Himself “came not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:45). Because the God of the Universe served us in Christ, we have been “blessed… with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3) and are now God’s “workmanship, created… for good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Lemme say this plainly… If God’s People aren’t going to be the light of Christ, the moral backbone, and the model of fruitful maturity in a community, who is?! If you are a Christian, you are called to service that costs such that you gain intimate knowledge of Christlike sacrifice (Philippians 3:10-11). So yes… multisite is hard. But serving God together is really, really good! When we serve together for a cause beyond ourselves, not only do we become a community of people who love each other and reflect more of Christ, but the gospel moves forward and peoples’ hearts are changed forever! Friends, serving with you is the joy of my life and a privilege to be part of! We have an absolutely wonderful core of volunteers, leaders, elders, staff, and 3 fantastic dudes serving as CPs who come together to make things work, even when it’s hard! How many people get to be part of something so special and significant?! None of this works without people like that who are all-in! Thank you for your dedication to being well-prepared, showing up early, pitching in, picking up slack, staying late, doing behind the scenes work, and saying yes to Habit #2, Serve on the team.
Random — Please keep your FCC yard signs up through Christmas. I mean, we can’t tell you what to do with your yard, so feel free to never take it down. But we’re going to be asking folks to take them down after Christmas. If you’re new to us, feel free to grab one on your way out and put it up today!
Anyhoo… A few related observations about “the state of multisite” that I wanna share with you, in no specific order:
We’re still seeing new guests at every campus, every Sunday, but at least 2x more at Greeneville. — While we are seeing first-time guests at all 3 campuses—for many months it’s been at least 10-12 every Sunday—we routinely have at least twice as many at Greeneville. Perhaps people would rather visit a more churchy building first? Perhaps people think Greeneville is the mothership and offers more because it’s not portable, (which isn’t true. Everything at one is at the others. I suspect some of this is assuming the live in-person preaching only happens at Greeneville as a “broadcast” location, which is typical for (much larger than us) multisite churches.) So, while we’ve been careful all along to not call attention to differences between campuses, what we’ve found is that many people checking us out inevitably go to Greeneville first. We’ve seen this dynamic ever since going multisite in February 2019. In fact, one year after, during which time Greeneville quickly added almost 50 more people per Sunday, we asked for a minimum of 50 people to move to Afton to make room for Greeneville and about 35 agreed. That said, so far there doesn’t seem to be a great solution to the “Greeneville grows faster” issue other than, well, being multisite. So, this dynamic isn’t a problem to solve but a tension to manage. What it shows us is a couple things that apply to all campuses, but especially at Greeneville: (1) We need to become really good at meaningfully connecting new people, formally, through the Next Steps process, and informally, by personally inviting them to join you for lunch, re:gen, your Life Group, Team Bash, etc. (2) We need to continue to learn to adapt well to the dynamic of the current churn associated with Covid uprooting peoples’ sense of safety and routine, many new people moving into Greene County, people constantly moving in and out of and being multisite. This is a current struggle for churches everywhere. What this means is that, in order to meaningfully connect new people well, (i.e., (1) above), each campus must have a deeply-rooted and well-trained core of all-in FCCers who know our systems, have our DNA, and who are tied to other all-in FCCers while facilitating that same experience for new folks. They must be the disciplemakers who are the health and stability of each campus.
Campus Pastors are more important than most think (and in many ways, far more important than me!) — The changes we have recently made (see Aug 2022 Elders Letter) that empower our CPs to function more as local shepherds and as Life Groups “Coach” at their respective campuses (see our “Leadership Pipeline” here) reflect needing to care for people well. It also means they are way more important than most think, especially compared to me. Ok, yeah, the Lead Pastor is “important,” but at 3 campuses, which are smaller and more personal (see next point), people come along with our vision and grow insofar as they see it embodied in and led by our CPs. So, yeah, they’re kind of a big deal (and I am not.) I think it’s super cool to see them take ownership of their flocks in ways that help our people grow. Thanks, guys, for being strong and faithful leaders. (And thank you to their spouses and families for being strong support. It takes an entire family to be a Pastor.)
(So far,) keeping campuses small and personal seems wise. – As our website says, “small campuses that feel like family” is our attempt to provide closer attention to personal care and growth, help people serve in ways that fit their gifts and that make a difference, and create an environment where long-term relationships can flourish. (See website for more re “small campuses that feel like family.”) While this is a new tweak to our existing multisite vision and this is a smidge provisional, the initial response seems helpful. People are benefitting from deeper relationships with each other and are being better served by their Campus Pastors, Serve Team Leaders, and Life Group Leaders. Our first campus-specific “Good Ol’ Fashioned Potluck & Prayer” was quite well attended and we’re looking forward to the next one.
Multisite makes it harder to see growth and demands paying attention. – This isn’t particular to multisite, as it happens in any church that needs to add services, more meeting space, etc., but it seems more pronounced because the critical mass we have recently enjoyed, (especially at Greeneville), is less like a crowd and sometimes like more of a small group (at least in 1st services at all 3 campuses). It’s just math… and optics. And it means you’ve gotta keep up with our comms outputs like the Pulse tab on the app, the Pulse Email and Video, Scott’s Thoughts, etc., to hear about what God’s doing. Don’t be snowed into thinking that fewer people in your service means less effectiveness. Starting in January 2023, we’re moving to double our “H7 Stories” output to one per week, to cover all 3 campuses and to tell the story of what God’s doing in and through our people.
Multisite produces “everyday boring faithful” servants. – As we’ve seen before, launching a campus has prompted many to serve, either for the first time or with greater commitment, not just at South Greene, but also at Afton and Greeneville. More than a few at all 3 campuses have been stepping up in new ways because of the vacuums created. This continues to be an emerging strength for us. It’s part of making disciples and producing producers. We love seeing new people serve!
Multisite demands one’s involvement and creates discomfort that stretches us. — Having said the previous point, straight up, this doesn’t work without many volunteers pitching in. And we’re currently thin(ner than we have been.) This is what happens when your vision is explicitly about developing leaders and producing producers who reach people with the gospel. And it produces discomfort and demands involvement. We always need people to help. So talk to your CP or someone with a lanyard, go to Next Steps, let us know on the Connect Card, and we’ll hand you a broom or a bulletin or a Life Group to help lead!
Our multisite vision is hard but good. Thank you for being awesome. — Being a church with a Kingdom-sized vision to make disciples and produce producers who are in-it-to-win-it for the sake of peoples’ souls and the long-term flourishing of Greene County is hard enough. But adding multisite and creating a culture of service is “a whole ‘nother level” of crazy! Frankly, we haven’t exactly chosen an easy way to do church. It is work to commit to “Worship & Serve” and to “meaningfully participate” in “The Big 3“ (see next blurb for more info.) It takes lots of people to make 3 campuses happen with God-glorifying excellence. It is audacious to ask people to sacrifice for the sake of gospel mission in a world that views the church as a hapless band of mystical idiots. And yes, there are countless easier things to do with your time other than grabbing a broom to sweep what few may notice, teaching squirrelly kids who seem to ignore you, or putting away equipment when others are already at lunch. But nothing grows without hard work, including people! The easier alternatives of personal leisure, family memories, or traveling sports teams, if they eclipse the everyday boring faithfulness of serving in the body, will not effectively build moral strength and produce producers with a vision to serve anyone but themselves. As I was reminded in a conversation this week, Jesus Himself “came not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:45). Because the God of the Universe served us in Christ, we have been “blessed… with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3) and are now God’s “workmanship, created… for good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Lemme say this plainly… If God’s People aren’t going to be the light of Christ, the moral backbone, and the model of fruitful maturity in a community, who is?! If you are a Christian, you are called to service that costs such that you gain intimate knowledge of Christlike sacrifice (Philippians 3:10-11). So yes… multisite is hard. But serving God together is really, really good! When we serve together for a cause beyond ourselves, not only do we become a community of people who love each other and reflect more of Christ, but the gospel moves forward and peoples’ hearts are changed forever! Friends, serving with you is the joy of my life and a privilege to be part of! We have an absolutely wonderful core of volunteers, leaders, elders, staff, and 3 fantastic dudes serving as CPs who come together to make things work, even when it’s hard! How many people get to be part of something so special and significant?! None of this works without people like that who are all-in! Thank you for your dedication to being well-prepared, showing up early, pitching in, picking up slack, staying late, doing behind the scenes work, and saying yes to Habit #2, Serve on the team.
Random — Please keep your FCC yard signs up through Christmas. I mean, we can’t tell you what to do with your yard, so feel free to never take it down. But we’re going to be asking folks to take them down after Christmas. If you’re new to us, feel free to grab one on your way out and put it up today!
I know some of us “know this,” but many of the aforementioned “us” and new folks haven’t yet heard it, (or haven’t heard it enough, maybe?!) Here’s how it works here at FCC: As a multisite church working hard to produce Kingdom producers and better shepherd smaller flocks, we’ve intentionally designed our strategy around the assumption that your front lines of personal and pastoral care happen as you buy into “The Big 3” Habits of Engage in worship, Serve on the team, and Connect in a small group. This means that, in addition to Pastors and Next Steps Helper, your Serve Team and Life Group leaders are the front lines of your personal growth, care, and connection. These environments are the key to actually meaningful personal connection.
A closing caveat: Frankly, it doesn’t work differently than this. This means that, if you want to make FCC your church home, you should basically give into this vision for your connection or assume that you will be frustrated and/or fairly superficially connected until giving in. Seriously. Just trying to be clear and honest up front. It will basically be over my dead and/or incapacitated body that we don’t continue to become the weird and exceptional church that actually makes disciplemakers who produce for God’s glory instead of weak, selfish, and immature spiritual consumers, and we are strategically designed toward that end. Many a person has “loved FCC” until they eventually became frustrated that we don’t do church “their way” and they ended up leaving. (And yes, we realize that, for a season, some don’t have margin to be more meaningfully connected than superficially. That’s fine. Just realize that going in.) So, please know that, in order to be “meaningfully connected,” The Big 3 is what we direct our attention to, for your personal growth and care: Engage in worship, Serve on the team, and Connect in a small group.
A closing caveat: Frankly, it doesn’t work differently than this. This means that, if you want to make FCC your church home, you should basically give into this vision for your connection or assume that you will be frustrated and/or fairly superficially connected until giving in. Seriously. Just trying to be clear and honest up front. It will basically be over my dead and/or incapacitated body that we don’t continue to become the weird and exceptional church that actually makes disciplemakers who produce for God’s glory instead of weak, selfish, and immature spiritual consumers, and we are strategically designed toward that end. Many a person has “loved FCC” until they eventually became frustrated that we don’t do church “their way” and they ended up leaving. (And yes, we realize that, for a season, some don’t have margin to be more meaningfully connected than superficially. That’s fine. Just realize that going in.) So, please know that, in order to be “meaningfully connected,” The Big 3 is what we direct our attention to, for your personal growth and care: Engage in worship, Serve on the team, and Connect in a small group.
Next Steps – While we’re still learning how to do this well at 3 campuses, and in a way that leverages and adapts to both a classroom setting and the more personal Next Steps Helper method, but… after 4-5 months of piloting our “new” strategy (as of this Fall), it’s clearly a good model. We just need to keep tweaking from here and teaching the average FCCer to be a NS Helper. “This means you!”
Baptisms & Memberships – Speaking of the emerging effectiveness of NS, for a good 2-3 months now we’ve been seeing a slew of new folks being baptized and becoming members. Super cool! Welcome to the family!
Good Ol’ Fashioned Potluck And Prayer – This is something new we’re doing a few times a year to help develop more informal relationship building and sense of identity at each campus. Nothing fancy… just bring some food and pray with those at your table. At our first GOFPAP, we had a great turnout at all 3 campuses. More detail about it here. Be looking on the Pulse tab on the app for the next one coming early 2023.
180 Students & DNOW – We’ve often had more than 100 middle and high school students at 180 on Wednesday nights! And they recently had 70 come to a daylong discipleship-focused “retreat” at church called “DNOW,” where our new friend Dale Cunningham from Boones Creek Bible Church preached from Ephesians 6 about the armor of God! And we’ve got a good strong core of almost 20 adult leaders! Travis is doing a great job. Our kids are getting solid teaching every week, y’all. Just wanna make sure you knew. Now you know.
Catalyst is Strong – Nathan Dickerson and the Catalyst Crew has been a great job creating an environment of warmth and making great food and drinks. Seriously, they’re doing a great job. There are certainly challenges like increased rent and food costs and newly emerging possibilities (that stress out Nathan bigtime), but I’m really encouraged by its continued growth. Stop by, buy a latté and scone (and bag of Catalyst-roasted beans), and hang out with us in the mornings!
3 Campuses World Isn’t Imploding — (Maybe this is for me more than anyone, but) a couple weeks ago, as an answer to a question I asked during our weekly Staff Meetings about how 3 Campus World was going, one of them said something like, “Even though it feels a little chaotic and a lot stressful to us, nobody attending on Sunday could tell we were brand new to 3 campuses and things didn’t implode.” While we’ve certainly got some things to iron out and keep fixing, and I’m pretty generously paraphrasing here, it’s essentially true: 3 Campuses World isn’t imploding! (Yeah, I think this point is probably mostly for my own sanity.)
$10k/mo of Free Online Advertising! — In case you start seeing our name show up online, please know that we’ve just been approved, as a formal 501c3, for a $10,000/month advertising grant. Woot! Woot! (And yes, it’s with Google. They offered it, so we’re accepting it while trying to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”) For the record, we have zero control over where our ads go. So, if you’re on a website you shouldn’t be on and you see our ad, consider it the conviction of the Holy Spirit… because it is… because we didn’t put it there… because Google’s algorithms are ultimately under God’s control and He can put one of our ads in front of you at any time He needs.
Baptisms & Memberships – Speaking of the emerging effectiveness of NS, for a good 2-3 months now we’ve been seeing a slew of new folks being baptized and becoming members. Super cool! Welcome to the family!
Good Ol’ Fashioned Potluck And Prayer – This is something new we’re doing a few times a year to help develop more informal relationship building and sense of identity at each campus. Nothing fancy… just bring some food and pray with those at your table. At our first GOFPAP, we had a great turnout at all 3 campuses. More detail about it here. Be looking on the Pulse tab on the app for the next one coming early 2023.
180 Students & DNOW – We’ve often had more than 100 middle and high school students at 180 on Wednesday nights! And they recently had 70 come to a daylong discipleship-focused “retreat” at church called “DNOW,” where our new friend Dale Cunningham from Boones Creek Bible Church preached from Ephesians 6 about the armor of God! And we’ve got a good strong core of almost 20 adult leaders! Travis is doing a great job. Our kids are getting solid teaching every week, y’all. Just wanna make sure you knew. Now you know.
Catalyst is Strong – Nathan Dickerson and the Catalyst Crew has been a great job creating an environment of warmth and making great food and drinks. Seriously, they’re doing a great job. There are certainly challenges like increased rent and food costs and newly emerging possibilities (that stress out Nathan bigtime), but I’m really encouraged by its continued growth. Stop by, buy a latté and scone (and bag of Catalyst-roasted beans), and hang out with us in the mornings!
3 Campuses World Isn’t Imploding — (Maybe this is for me more than anyone, but) a couple weeks ago, as an answer to a question I asked during our weekly Staff Meetings about how 3 Campus World was going, one of them said something like, “Even though it feels a little chaotic and a lot stressful to us, nobody attending on Sunday could tell we were brand new to 3 campuses and things didn’t implode.” While we’ve certainly got some things to iron out and keep fixing, and I’m pretty generously paraphrasing here, it’s essentially true: 3 Campuses World isn’t imploding! (Yeah, I think this point is probably mostly for my own sanity.)
$10k/mo of Free Online Advertising! — In case you start seeing our name show up online, please know that we’ve just been approved, as a formal 501c3, for a $10,000/month advertising grant. Woot! Woot! (And yes, it’s with Google. They offered it, so we’re accepting it while trying to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”) For the record, we have zero control over where our ads go. So, if you’re on a website you shouldn’t be on and you see our ad, consider it the conviction of the Holy Spirit… because it is… because we didn’t put it there… because Google’s algorithms are ultimately under God’s control and He can put one of our ads in front of you at any time He needs.
Just a heads up that the 2022 Annual Report and 2023 Budget will be available, in print and digital formats, the first Sun of 2023. (Sorry, we couldn't quite get it all done before then.) Also, while we didn’t do so this year, starting in late Fall 2023 we will begin—hopefully, theoretically, maybe—implementing an all-church Vision Banquet (or maybe, to keep it cheap, a Huge Potluck?!) where we present the Annual Report, to celebrate what God has done among us, and the next Budget, to pray and look forward to how God might keep working. Just letting ya know that, as we continue to be multisite, we wanna make sure we stay united in purpose and vision, and we think a Vision Banquet like that will help us do that.
Just a quick word… If you aren’t regularly looking on the Pulse tab on the app, you are missing lots of things. Here’s a rundown of some new (& newish) stuff on the app:
Weekly Pulse Video – It can now be viewed and listened to in the app instead of a link out to YouTube.
Weekly Sunday Recap Video – Did you know we were doing weekly highlight videos?! We post them on our socials. They’re super encouraging. And you can now see it in the app. You’re welcome.
Events Calendar – This well-updated calendar basically tells you everything you could ever want to know and more about FCC goings-on, all the way down to specifics like campus-specific outreach, all-church and decentralized ministry events, Serve Team meetings and trainings, mission trip meetings, yada, yada, … .
Directory – See who else goes to your campus or to another campus. You control what contact info is or isn’t seen by others. (Almost) all Staff are already in it, for reference.
Weekly H7 Story Soon – Starting Jan 2023, what has been a biweekly “Tell the story” blogpost is now becoming weekly! There’s so much great stuff to tell about how God is working in and through our people. If you’re not reading these, you’re missing out, y’all.
Weekly Pulse Video – It can now be viewed and listened to in the app instead of a link out to YouTube.
Weekly Sunday Recap Video – Did you know we were doing weekly highlight videos?! We post them on our socials. They’re super encouraging. And you can now see it in the app. You’re welcome.
Events Calendar – This well-updated calendar basically tells you everything you could ever want to know and more about FCC goings-on, all the way down to specifics like campus-specific outreach, all-church and decentralized ministry events, Serve Team meetings and trainings, mission trip meetings, yada, yada, … .
Directory – See who else goes to your campus or to another campus. You control what contact info is or isn’t seen by others. (Almost) all Staff are already in it, for reference.
Weekly H7 Story Soon – Starting Jan 2023, what has been a biweekly “Tell the story” blogpost is now becoming weekly! There’s so much great stuff to tell about how God is working in and through our people. If you’re not reading these, you’re missing out, y’all.
Mark Liebert and I are almost finished with a new BB&B series on Human Sexuality that covers the biblical view and Elders’ Position Paper (available at fccgreene.org/beliefs#epp.) Watch/Listen on the “Watch” tab on the app, on our socials (YT & FV), or at fccgreene.org/bbb.
Next series on BB&B is going to be reading and discussing R. C. Sproul’s classic called Holiness of God. It’s an easy and short read, (especially compared to Carl Trueman’s The Rise & Triumph of the Modern Self.) So pick up a copy and get to reading because we’ll start in Jan 2023.
Finally, if you haven’t yet read the latest GQA re the supposed error of using the word “homosexuality” in the Bible, read it on the Pulse tab on the app or at fccgreene.org/gqa.
Next series on BB&B is going to be reading and discussing R. C. Sproul’s classic called Holiness of God. It’s an easy and short read, (especially compared to Carl Trueman’s The Rise & Triumph of the Modern Self.) So pick up a copy and get to reading because we’ll start in Jan 2023.
Finally, if you haven’t yet read the latest GQA re the supposed error of using the word “homosexuality” in the Bible, read it on the Pulse tab on the app or at fccgreene.org/gqa.
We’ve got a lot going on during December. Make sure to go to fccchristmas.org for more info.
Yes, “Christians” is in quotes. Going on a decade now, I keep being grieved by self-proclaimed “Christians” who “love Jesus” but are more than a little disinterested in learning about God and how to please Him. It’s a little like this re:generation “Fireside Chat” I’ve given a few times that speaks of how so many want the benefits and blessings of relationship with Christ but without actual relationship with Christ and obedience to His commands. Read Matthew 28:18-20, esp v 20, and John 14:15 about how obedience to Christ’s commands is not optional for the Christian.
(As a small aside, re John 14:15, where Jesus says to His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commands,” I made this note in my Bible: “Stop reading this as a human-achieved if-then conditional, Scott! Jesus is matter-of-factly saying "you will" as a result/response of the definitive realized blessing of the New Covenant accomplished by God writing His law on the hearts of God's People by His Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27), and He even uses "you will" to emphasize it as a result of God's many covenantal "I will" promises (see God’s unilateral “I will” promises beginning in Genesis 3:15 (the “first gospel”) and 12:1-3.”)
In other words, keeping Christ’s commands is proof of relationship with Him. It’s antithetical to want Jesus but not His Word. So you are nothing but a hypocrite if you say you love Him but you are not interested in obeying and learning about Him in the written record He ordained for us to do so (John 14:26; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 2 Peter 1:21; 3:14-18). When self-proclaimed “Christians” are enslaved to ungodly forms of communication and more than a little apathetic about God’s Word, what does that say about what they truly care about, what they invest in, and how they are being fed by the deceit of the world?! To say you believe in the authority of God’s Word and yet you are actually content to constantly feed on worldly pablum and drivel is to show you don’t actually believe the Scriptures are sufficient for you. Many claim to follow Jesus but ignore His voice in the Scriptures He ordained to lead them. The Holy Spirit isn’t an emotionally-summoned genie but an Inscripturated Word ready to lead God’s People by that same word.
So, in this vein, I want to briefly address why we preach and teach the way we do at First Christian Church:
Taken together, these help ensure that it is the Word of God that is doing the work in our lives! That’s why we encourage you to follow along in your Bibles and/or the Sermon Guide, which, incidentally, includes Daily Bible Readings that fit with the themes of the previous Sunday’s message and help prepare you for the Inductive Bible Study Method used in Life Groups. It’s why we preach and teach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible. It’s why you’ll often hear me say something about “studying together” (H4). And it's why the first 3 words I say each week are “Open your Bibles….”
We unapologetically preach and teach in a way that forces the listener to be actually and personally engaged with God’s Word because—as the theological and moral downgrade taking place all around us makes clear—a steady diet of soft and weak man-centered pseudo-spirituality produces soft and weak men and women who are not just ill-equipped for spiritual battle against sin—they aren’t even in the battle. If you are here because you just want to hear nice stories about how to get along in the world, I dare say you will be bored. (For more, see "Essential Mark" of a church #2 ("Expository Preaching") at the ever-slowly-increasing-into-a-booklet GQA re “What Should I Look for in a Church and When Should I Leave One?”)
But if you’re interested in actual spiritual growth and not namby-pamby self-help, we’ve got your back. Get some Holy-Spirit mettle in your heart by accessing the truth by which He works in the written Word He ordained for your obedience. You don’t glorify God apart from the truths in His Word.
Now, one last cool thought… Insofar as this rant applies to you, simmer and pray on it. Take it to heart and let the Spirit’s conviction teach you. I know that it far too often applies to me and I have to daily reset my heart and mind around the truths contained in the Bible. But… Thanks be to God that He has graciously continued to move us as a church body into greater love for Him through study of Him. We are full of people who come “praypared” on Sunday mornings to learn about the majesty, beauty, and greatness of Christ as we practice the corporate habit (H4) of “Pray and study the Bible.” We are crawling with people who are excited to continue learning God’s vision for their lives!
(As a small aside, re John 14:15, where Jesus says to His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commands,” I made this note in my Bible: “Stop reading this as a human-achieved if-then conditional, Scott! Jesus is matter-of-factly saying "you will" as a result/response of the definitive realized blessing of the New Covenant accomplished by God writing His law on the hearts of God's People by His Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27), and He even uses "you will" to emphasize it as a result of God's many covenantal "I will" promises (see God’s unilateral “I will” promises beginning in Genesis 3:15 (the “first gospel”) and 12:1-3.”)
In other words, keeping Christ’s commands is proof of relationship with Him. It’s antithetical to want Jesus but not His Word. So you are nothing but a hypocrite if you say you love Him but you are not interested in obeying and learning about Him in the written record He ordained for us to do so (John 14:26; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 2 Peter 1:21; 3:14-18). When self-proclaimed “Christians” are enslaved to ungodly forms of communication and more than a little apathetic about God’s Word, what does that say about what they truly care about, what they invest in, and how they are being fed by the deceit of the world?! To say you believe in the authority of God’s Word and yet you are actually content to constantly feed on worldly pablum and drivel is to show you don’t actually believe the Scriptures are sufficient for you. Many claim to follow Jesus but ignore His voice in the Scriptures He ordained to lead them. The Holy Spirit isn’t an emotionally-summoned genie but an Inscripturated Word ready to lead God’s People by that same word.
So, in this vein, I want to briefly address why we preach and teach the way we do at First Christian Church:
- to engage you in the process,
- to help you learn how to rightly handle God’s Word for yourself,
- to foster ongoing personal study of the Scriptures,
- to help you develop an ear for proper interpretation,
- to equip you to identify false teaching,
- to lead you to greater personal holiness,
- and to ensure that our church’s ministry and worship gatherings are not fueled by empty therapeutic emotionalism and pseudo-spiritual moralism.
Taken together, these help ensure that it is the Word of God that is doing the work in our lives! That’s why we encourage you to follow along in your Bibles and/or the Sermon Guide, which, incidentally, includes Daily Bible Readings that fit with the themes of the previous Sunday’s message and help prepare you for the Inductive Bible Study Method used in Life Groups. It’s why we preach and teach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible. It’s why you’ll often hear me say something about “studying together” (H4). And it's why the first 3 words I say each week are “Open your Bibles….”
We unapologetically preach and teach in a way that forces the listener to be actually and personally engaged with God’s Word because—as the theological and moral downgrade taking place all around us makes clear—a steady diet of soft and weak man-centered pseudo-spirituality produces soft and weak men and women who are not just ill-equipped for spiritual battle against sin—they aren’t even in the battle. If you are here because you just want to hear nice stories about how to get along in the world, I dare say you will be bored. (For more, see "Essential Mark" of a church #2 ("Expository Preaching") at the ever-slowly-increasing-into-a-booklet GQA re “What Should I Look for in a Church and When Should I Leave One?”)
But if you’re interested in actual spiritual growth and not namby-pamby self-help, we’ve got your back. Get some Holy-Spirit mettle in your heart by accessing the truth by which He works in the written Word He ordained for your obedience. You don’t glorify God apart from the truths in His Word.
Now, one last cool thought… Insofar as this rant applies to you, simmer and pray on it. Take it to heart and let the Spirit’s conviction teach you. I know that it far too often applies to me and I have to daily reset my heart and mind around the truths contained in the Bible. But… Thanks be to God that He has graciously continued to move us as a church body into greater love for Him through study of Him. We are full of people who come “praypared” on Sunday mornings to learn about the majesty, beauty, and greatness of Christ as we practice the corporate habit (H4) of “Pray and study the Bible.” We are crawling with people who are excited to continue learning God’s vision for their lives!
Posted in Scotts Thoughts