RE:Kings to Roadkill

We have to be focused on our mission, and if aren't then it will all just slide through our fingers like sand. If we are focused on our mission we'll be clear and we will not be as married to what has worked in the past. If the mission drives, then we'll always be looking at new ways to communicate, live and be the mission.

Detroit is in trouble because they were behind the curve. There were fat and happy in the day of the SUV. When the tide changed and no one bought SUVs anymore they were in trouble. So now, they are trying to sell what people want to be.

In the church we are still trying to sell 1950s style church to a society that has moved on.

What does that say about our future unless we rediscover the mission?

1000 Doors

maybe it's just me, but it seems like the information we need to share at the annual conference is extremely complicated. i'm afraid that if we try to do too much, people are going to walk away more confused than they are when they walk in. i have a suggestion and welcome your feedback.

okay. the theme is 10,000 doors, so the first thing we'd do is find like 3 sets of pictures of doors. it would be great if the doors could start off looking ancient and progressed to more contemporary and ended up classified as modern (like stephen suggested with the ancient/future theme). the doors will need to be animated to open so that words are revealed.

behind each door would be a single message, but all of the doors taken together tell a story.

the message behind each door deals with the number of new converts we have in our congregations. as the doors continue to open, the number of converts decreases drastically until one door finally asks what we plan to do about this trend. the next group of doors, ones that look different from the first set and are preferably a different color, begin to show the planting of new churches as well as the merging of other churches and the revitalization of still other churhes that meet our goal of mp3. these pictures would be of the success stories we have throughout the conference, that stephen mentioned, like bellwether and hope and the pointe and that one church that was highlighted at the convocation in rust and the like. here, we would be intentional about using real live people from small churches especially to show that we honor them and that the conference has not abandoned them nor does the conference deem them unworthy. at the end we could have a door open to show our goal of starting three new churches per year. the names of committee members should roll like credits behind the door as well, so people will know who to contact with questions, comments, or concerns.

basically, i'm just trying to roll all of what stephen said into a non-threatening visual that really doesn't even have to use a voice, just music as a way of communicating to the people the need to support the initiative to become more aggressive as it relates to congregational development.

honestly, what do you think?

RE:Kings to Roadkill

I think that Neville and Denise are the ones who are the voice of the annual conference in the sense that they both are very concerned about ous but their approaches seem to be different. After reading all of the emails, including this one my simple brain is asking two questions. The first is:

1. What is our purpose/mission?

2. The second one is one that Lovett Weems uses all the time and it is “You are doing this so that…?’’

If we can answer these two questions in relationship to God’s vision then I believe that we focused and on one accord. We may approach things differently but we will be headed in the same direction and striving for the same goal of “Making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”.

Therefore “Let us march on till victory is won”.

Kings to Roadkill

Howdy everyone,

Read an interesting article today: "How Detroit's Automakers Went from Kings of the Road to Roadkill." Listen to this paragraph:

"During the 1980's and 1990's, GM's leaders refused--and I believe some still refuse--to accept the reality of the presence of so many new automakers in the U.S. market, more than at any time since the 1920's. This hard truth means the company's US market share going forward isn't going to return to the 40 percent levels of the mid-1980's, or even the mid-20 percent levels we have seen more recently. On thing to watch as GM tries to restructure now will be what assumptions the company makes about its share of the U.S. market going forward. If they call for anything higher than 15 percent, I would be suspicious."

Could a similar paragraph be written about our church? Could that article be re-written something along the lines of "How Wesley's descendents snatched defeat from the jaws of victory."

I continue to plug away at posting churches on my map....I'm well into three districts worth and will hopefully have it done in the near future. As I look at the map in it's current state my mind starts whirling....what does it say? what does it show? how does it inform our future? What will it say when all the dots are posted. (Oh, I've also added community centers, colleges/universities/wesley foundations, and camps) I wish I had A2 scores for all the churches...I've only been able to post those for the Senatobia District & while it wasn't earth-shattering it was interesting nonetheless. With such a presence why aren't we growing? What are we missing? When I read an article in the latest Harvard magazine about early childhood education and look at the graph that shows children with the largest vocabulary in kindergarten maintaining that edge all the way through sixth grade I wonder why we don't have 1000 pre-k programs going on across the state. Then I read about playwright Christopher Durang and how his works are informed by "a bedrock hopelessness over the absence of a caring God" and I wonder if we are demonstrating the fallacy of that belief in 1000 different corners of Mississippi on a daily basis? If not, why not? How do we revitalize our way to relevance?

Oh well, as you can tell I'm feeling better...not 100% yet so I'm going to bed.