restored to grace

Was anyone curious about what goes on at work that pulls me in so early on Sunday mornings? Well, even if you weren’t, here’s a video to give you a sneak peek on my job.

Special guest appearances from fellow bloggers Kenny Jahng, Mike Leahy, and Rich Birch.

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Do you remember Sunday School? What kinds of images does that phrase conjure up in your mind? I don’t know about you, but my memories of Sunday School aren’t particularly great. For starters, it was far from cool. It just didn’t have that “I’ve gotta tell my friends about this” quality.

Kids love a good video presentation. It’s not always the most effective way of teaching them timeless truths, but it has its benefits.

What I’ve tried to do (both successfully and unsuccessfully) is incorporate a relatively rudimentary media presentation in the lessons. No amount of technology can replace interactivity, but technology can be a platform for creating high levels of interactivity.

Prior to Liquid, my exposure to children’s ministry had always been extremely low-tech. The most advanced form of technology was flannelgraph, which was only as effective as the person using it.

No matter how low- or high-tech the environment, one thing remains the same. The platform (video, flannelgraph, picture books) is only as good as the user.

I’ve been mulling over this for a while. The Liquid Kids program is, at its core, a Sunday School program (the dreaded phrase!). But when you take a look at what we’re aiming for, you’ll find there’s something much deeper than that.

Ultimately we strive to leverage the short time we spend with the children against the many hours that their parents spend with them. In methodology, we want to have as much interaction with the children as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean we can’t employ “cutting edge” technology in doing so.

While it may be tempting to put the kids in front of a video screen and let them sit there, bear in mind that it’s more important that children need personal attention and guidance. No amount of environment or media can replace interacting with children.

At Liquid Kids, we trade in the classroom environment that comes from a Sunday School mentality for a more interactive and exciting atmosphere. We’ve discovered that giving children the opportunity to play, interact, and have fun goes a long way to helping them understand the lesson.

You may want to follow this basic flow of activity for a children’s program:

1. As the children enter the environment, engage them in a “preview” activity. This could be anything from a crossword puzzle to a game of “Telephone.” Gain some familiarity with the lesson (if you’re facilitating the preview activity but not teaching the lesson) so that your activity pairs with the lesson well. After this initial activity, lead the kids into the lesson environment.

2. Teach the large group lesson or play the lesson video. If you’re teaching a lesson, allow children to be involved.

3. Break into smaller groups for activities and games that review the lesson and help the kids remember what they’ve learned.

Just remember that the effectiveness of your program is not based on the technology you use, but on how you use the technology you have.

Serving on the Liquid Kids Team!!! from Liquid Church on Vimeo.

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I’d like to welcome Kem Meyer, Communications Director at Granger Community Church and author of the new book Less Clutter. Less Noise. Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bake Sales

Kem has decided to stop by restored to grace on her blog book tour.

In celebration of her new book, I will be giving away a copy to one lucky reader next Thursday, June 4. Here’s the catch: in order to get a chance to win the free book, you have to comment on this entry (how can I send you a book if I don’t know who you are?) before Thursday.

Okay, without further ado, here’s the next question on Kem’s blog tour.

r2g: What effect does church marketing and communication have on a church’s children’s program, and do you think a communications team should collaborate with a children’s ministry team on developing the program?

Kem: All-church marketing and communication affects children’s ministry like the others. No team should be left to fend for themselves, operating in a vacuum. That being said, we don’t collaborate with many ministry teams about developing their individual programs. While we’re happy to help when asked, we generally leave that part to them. They develop, define and run the programs. And, they do a world class job. There’s little value we could bring to that part of the equation. They know their audience the best. But, outside the “programming” there are several areas where we consistently collaborate and work together. Specific to children’s ministry, we work together on:

• What information is helpful to the parents (e.g., dates, times, safety, benefits, etc.).

• The best place to put that information to make it easy for parents to find on a regular basis.

• What vehicles we can use to make it easy for children and parents to invite their friends.

• How to communicate sensitive information in a way that opens doors and builds trust.

• Special events outside the weekend that require childcare and how to communicate if childcare isn’t available.

• Data integrity, reports and mailing lists.

• Unique ways to showcase the age-appropriate experience happening in children’s church while the grown-ups are in adult church (e.g., video, pictures, art, etc.)

• Systems that protect safety and security.

• Special series that might warrant a shared curriculum and the logistics required to make it happen.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Want to elaborate? I’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you share them, you might get a free book!

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So much has changed in the Church at large.

She’s become more focused. She’s begun to shed some fat. She’s been down so many roads, and she’s beginning to rediscover her purpose.

But she still has a long way to go.

My brother and I were chatting with a friend about the Church subculture. This “insider-club” mentality that runs rampant throughout Churchianity.

Why can’t we get our coffee from a local coffee shop? Because our church has a coffee shop!

Why can’t we buy books from Barnes & Noble or Borders? Because our church has a bookstore!

Why can’t we go to a lounge to hear some underground band? Because our church’s coffee shop/bookstore doubles as a small venue for underground bands!

What impact can we have on the community if we aren’t willing to enter it? How effective can we be if we would rather create our own micro-culture than engage the culture around us?

And why are we still holding potluck dinners when there’s a world at our doorstep crying out for guidance?

Do you want to know why churches aren’t growing? Because they’re too busy trying to get people on the outside to come inside to them.

What if the Church went to the people instead? What if the people on the inside reached out to them?

How different would the Church be?

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Wow. . . it’s been a long time since I last posted. Sorry for the unexpected hiatus.

Today was an interesting day. I got to work/church around 6:15am and got started on getting the roadcases out of our loading trucks. (For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I work for a portable church. We meet every week at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ and the Hyatt Hotel in Morristown, NJ.)

As I was getting our roadcases up to the second floor, I walked past a Hyatt employee who stopped me only to say a quick few sentences: “Hey man, I love that Liquid Church! Every Sunday there’s such a nice vibe in here!”

I couldn’t have been more proud of my church than I was in that moment.

Sure, it’s awesome to hear people talk about how powerful Tim’s message was or how touching Jens’ worship leading was.

But this Hyatt employee may have never even been to a Liquid service. He may have never experienced a Tim Lucas sermon or a Jens Madsen song. He may have never even had the opportunity to share a word with Mike Leahy after a passionate service.

Yet his life has been directly impacted by Liquid.

Which then begs the question. . .

Are we living life so that others may see Christ in us? Or are we relying on music and messages to tell them about him?

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I took a little vacation from Liquid Kids yesterday. It was a huge blessing for many reasons. First, I got out of bed a full four hours later than I usually do on a Sunday morning. Second, I didn’t have to drive 35 minutes to get to church. And third, I didn’t have to work.

A completely stress-free Sunday (to an extent).

As I walked into our Morristown campus, a little nostalgia hit me as I navigated the crowded Liquid Kids area and made my way up the stairs to the main service.

I joined the service as a congregant, and for the first time in several months, I had no cares as I bowed before my Creator in worship.

That encounter with God, as powerful and intense as it was, paled in comparison to what I experienced after the service ended.

* * *

Before Liquid launched our New Brunswick campus, I was teaching elementary school lessons for Liquid Kids in Morristown. It wasn’t easy leaving the kids in Morristown when we launched our second campus, and saying goodbye to many of the kids with whom I’d developed relationships was one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do.

As Liquid New Brunswick got off the ground, I slowly began to forget the closeness I had with some of the people I said goodbye to in Morristown.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just the nature of change.

* * *

As I passed the church welcome center on my way out, I ran into a girl named Tania.

I was struck by the amount of excitement on her face when she saw me walking by. It was like she couldn’t wait to wrap her tiny, grade-school arms around me.

I’ve blogged about this before, but it was especially evident in that moment.

Tania asked me where I’ve been, why I left, and when I was going to come back to teach her. I explained everything to her as simply as I could so that she could wrap her young mind around it.

When her mom came to take her home, Tania shouted a final “See you next week!” I wanted to melt. How could I say, “I won’t be here” to her?

I think God was showing me something about himself in that small interaction.

In many ways, God is like a child. We may abandon him, walk away for weeks, months, or even years. We may forget about him, and go about our own business. But when we draw close to him, he can’t wait to run to us and wrap his arms around us.

And like a child, he truly believes he’ll see us again soon.

I saw God in Tania on Sunday. It was quite an encounter.

Pay attention to the children in your life. You just might learn something about your Creator if you do.

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Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

On any given Sunday in Morristown and New Brunswick, there are dozens of tired, weary people pouring out their lives and hearts in service to the Kingdom of God. And as difficult as it is seeing my brothers and sisters weakened under the pressures of a busy Sunday, I know that the almighty Eternal One is immersing them in his strength.

Sometimes it appears that promises like the one in Isaiah are unfulfilled in our lives. We’re tired, worn out, burned out, weakened. And yet that miraculous strength has yet to show up to rejuvenate us, to refresh us.

But that strength doesn’t exist to help us out of a jam or to lift us out of weariness.

It exists to bring glory to our God. To remind us that, even in the moments where God feels distant, uncaring, or nonexistent, he is still in control.

To remind us that resurrection takes place all the time. To remind us that God is still in the business of giving life to the dead.

That strength is promised to those who trust that kind of resurrection power. So as I sit at a desk in my church’s offices, thinking about all the weary faces I encounter every Sunday, I am reminded of the power that calls the dead out of the grave.

To my brothers and sisters on staff at Liquid, when the strength-sapping Sundays come around, remember the power that can send you into the skies on eagles’ wings. Remember the power that conquers death.

And remember it belongs to you.

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I’ve often wondered if Christianity is in need of a facelift. According to the 2008 American Religion Survey, the results of which were just released last week, mainline Christianity has suffered a significant decline.

According to David Gushee of the Associated Baptist Press (see this op-ed piece), this decline signals a winnowing process that is taking place in Christianity.

Am I discouraged by this? Not at all.

First, I believe that nominal Christians will fade away. Christianity will no longer be defined by the people who self-identify as Christians but don’t truly believe in Christ. A movement that sheds its fat will be far more effective.

Second, Christians will begin to cross denominational lines and reconsider their more controversial identifying doctrines in favor of working together to spread the Gospel and share Christ’s love.

Third, Christians will slowly move away from the culture war they’ve been waging these past few decades. They’ll soon begin to realize that a political battle is not the battle we’re meant to fight.

Sure, the [C]hurch will be smaller because of it, but a stronger and more effective group of Christ-followers will emerge.

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In anticipation of the upcoming Prison Break series at church starting this weekend, I’ve decided to go through Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi.

I’ve often marveled at the joy Paul expresses through one of the most difficult times of his life. He’s in prison, chained up, and waiting to be executed, yet still he writes, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! . . . . Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!”

How is it that Paul can write such powerfully uplifting words in those circumstances? What was driving him to live life this way?

Lately I’ve been feeling God calling me toward ministry. A number of times over the past several months I’d begun pursuing that call in different forms: taking steps toward a full-time ministry position at my home church, putting together my application to seminary, applying at various full-time ministry positions around the country.

But every time I find an open door, it closes before I reach it.

And I find myself asking God, “Is it even worth it?”

No, it’s not. Not if my pursuit is after the things of God rather than God himself.

I’ll admit it’s not easy when he puts a desire in your heart but tells you to wait before you can obtain that dream. It’s even more difficult when you know your dream is something that he would be proud of.

But the reality is no matter how noble or God-pleasing my dream may be, attaining it will never bring me joy.

And while my disappointments and difficulties pale in comparison to Paul’s sufferings, I get discouraged, I complain, and I grow frustrated with my circumstances.

And I have to ask myself, “Why can’t I celebrate like Paul did if my life is circumstantially much better than his?”

Paul discovered why it’s all worth it. He discovered how to rejoice in every circumstance. He discovered where true joy can transcend his situations. Because his celebration was based on something other than his circumstances.

The answer sounds cliché (especially if you grew up in Sunday School hearing this kind of cheese being sung), but it truly makes all the difference.

Jesus.

Because he is the sustenance for the entire universe. Because his life is the center of all of history. Because his death is love defined. Because his resurrection is the beginning of new life for humanity.

Because this kind of love is what we were designed for.

There is no reason to live. There is nothing to live for.

Because it’s not worth it to live for anything.

Except Jesus.

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

~Philippians 3.8-14

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This chart was too good to leave alone. I want to thank Prodigal John and Stuff Christians Like for the awesome concept.

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