You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

We apologize, there were major issues with the recording quality of today’s audio. Please see written notes for today’s message: pt13 gracious conversations

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Stu’s talk Download audio file (20100822talk.mp3)

Text in Q&A featuring Cori Mensing and Sharon Bollum with Stu Download audio file (20100822panel.mp3)

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Stu’s Talk Download audio file (20100815talk.mp3)

Text in Q&A featuring Doug Tawlks & Jared Norris w/ Stu Download audio file (20100815panel.mp3)

Wal-Mart, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Target

In amounts of $5 or more

There will be a drop box on the connections/swag table on Sunday Mornings or can be drop off at Theodor Judah during the week in the office.

Contact Amanda McCall almccall28@hotmail.com for more details

Kids get free meals while moms and dads eat the cheapest thing they can find on the menu. I do believe Jen and I are professionals. We each order the bowl of soup which comes with free refills, water all around. Before tip we can feed our family of six for under $15. We’re such wannabe indie-rockers.

By all appearances it might seem that this restaurant has hit a home-run among cash-strapped suburban-ites and judging by the 45 minute wait in the lobby it’s hard to argue against. Servers are frantically running meals like they’re in an Army chow-hall at capacity. But I think they’re blowing it and blowing it badly. Incidentally, the ways that they’re blowing it are the same ways I blow it sometimes as a church leader.

1. Their mission has drifted

It’s clear to me, and every other cannibalistic consumer eating there that they are not about good food, excellent atmosphere or pleasant service anymore (the big three of any restaurant). Their unspoken mission has become: JUST KEEP THE DOORS OPEN. It seems loud and clear to me, that all they care about is filling the place to get one more night of business with no regard for the long-term impact of drifting mission. It’s easy, especially in this economy to drift into the same thinking as a church, to begin doing things just to keep the doors open one more month. This is the beginning of the end, and often a clear sign that the mission was foggy from the start.

2. Their staff are running ragged for little profit

There is a saying in poker, “you can shear a sheep many times, but skin him only once.” So as I look at frantic, exhausted people running around serving families of 6 with all the work and a quarter of the return I have to ask myself, “How long will they put up with this?” Well the same is true of us church leaders. We have to look closely at the things we are calling our leaders, staff and servants to do and ask if it is really bringing the return they should expect or we promised. Now certainly there are some who will leave, that is just a given. Leading in a church is one of the hardest jobs on earth. But if you look around and everyone is frantic, exhausted and praying next week is their “week off” there should be alarm bells going off in your head and heart. People will do this for a while, just hoping “profits” will return, but in reality once you get to that mindset, no matter how fast the profits arrive, it’s usually too late.

and finally…

3. Joy is gone

As I sat there eating my bowl of soup I could not help but look around for anyone enjoying themselves. The weightlifter guys at the bar who rode in on fast motorcycles cannot enjoy their beer because it’s so loud with screaming kids. The kids can’t enjoy themselves because their food got messed up and they can’t seem to get another lemonade. The Parents only satisfaction is some sadistic sense that they put one over on corporate. The restaurant staff is exhausted, and management is stressed. Now I am not suggesting we just seek to make people happy and again treat the bride of Christ like consumers, but we are to be known by our love, joy, community and gifts, right? So if one person’s cup is empty, maybe they drank too fast or expect too much. But if everyone’s cup is empty people start looking for water anywhere.

Paul writes in Colossians 3 and encourages us to wear love like a garment. To make such a concerted effort to put it on and do away with the old that it dies permanently. He calls us to focus clearly on the mission and calls us to “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives…and whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus.”

As leaders we cannot take responsibility for the behavior of those we lead, but we certainly set the culture and stage for where and how the explosion will happen. And believe me, leaders may get the first word, but they never get the last. As church leaders we are called by Jesus to create culture where disciples are made, community flourishes and the drowning are rescued. This is the leadership principle and teaching for us: Create a culture where it’s easy to love, natural to forgive and tough to be your old self.

If this is what kind of culture you are creating, then when the tough times come you will naturally bond more deeply with those remaining, love more fervently with hurting and commit intentionally to community. And when it’s good, it will be better than amazing.

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Stu’s Talk Download audio file (20100808talk.mp3)

Text in Panel Discussion featuring Teri & Sean St. Clair & Jen & Stu Streeter Download audio file (20100808panel.mp3)

Context Small Groups are currently on break for a month. Visit in the coming weeks to find out about our new season of small groups starting in September!

Context Promo from Disciples Church on Vimeo.

WHAT ARE THESE AND WHY CONTEXT?

The context of something is the interrelated conditions in which something exists. It’s the environment of an action or event. It’s the setting. It’s the atmosphere. And everything that is done is done in a context. We need only see it.

So what happens when we put things in context? Who is Jesus? What’s going on in scripture? What’s going on in my life? How are they related?

If disciples church is about real God, real people, and real life, then our small groups are about understanding our God, our people, and our lives in the context of each other. Context is our attempt to ask those questions. It’s our attempt to make important comparisons and see the scope of reality with understanding. We meet in homes once a week and have fun with friends. We read scripture and talk about God. Our hope is that together we can discover the way that Jesus wants us to live and live it.

Our hope is to experience God, people, and life…in context.

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Guest Speaker Doug Tawlks Download audio file (20100801talk.mp3)

Text in panel discussion featuring Doug Tawlks & Adam Adams w/ Stu Download audio file (20100801panel.mp3)

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Stu’s Talk Download audio file (20100725talk.mp3)

Text in Q&A featuring Sean St. Clair & Sharon Bollum w/ Stu Download audio file (20100725panel.mp3)

You can always Download messages on our Podcast http://discipleschurch.net/DCfeed.xml or subscribe through iTunes by searching “Disciples Church” in the Podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Guest speaker Doug Tawlks shares with us this Sunday

Download audio file (20100718talk.mp3)

Our panel featuring an interview with Jared Norris and Q&A with Doug and Stu

Download audio file (20100718panel.mp3)