JUMPSTART YOUR CONGREGATION IN 2018

JUMPSTART 2018

A WORKABLE PREACHING SCHEDULE

JANUARY

7        1/2     The Great Commission

14      2/2     The Power of Multiplication

21      #1.     The Separation

28      #2.     The Solution

FEBRUARY

4        #3.     The Bath    

11      #4.     The Power (Holy Spirit) in the O.T.

18      #4.     The Power (Holy Spirit) in the N.T.

25      #5.     The Sword 

MARCH

4        #6.     The Connection

11      #7.     The Invitation

18      #8.     The Equipping

25      PALM SUNDAY

29      MAUNDY THURSDAY

30      GOOD FRIDAY

APRIL

1        EASTER SUNDAY

8        #9.  The Steward

15      #10.  The Mission

22      #11.   The Method

29      #12.   The Do’s

MAY

6        #13.   The Don’ts

13      #14.   The Character

20      #15.   The Body

27      #16.   The Model

WORKING ON WORSHIP:

 

This last week we let the drums out of the aquarium.  Some people loved it while others cringed.  I am excited by the discussion.  It is like making salsa.  If it is too mild, you add some peppers.  At some point people begin to sweat and yell, "It's too dang hot."  Then you know it is time to back it off.  But if you never get it to hot you will never figure out what is just right!

During the week there has been a flurry of emails.  The singers, band, and tech team has been discussing volume, bounce, dynamics, placement, and shielding.  It has been awesome to follow the high level of participation and engagement by some really sharp people.

This next Sunday evening (8/27/17) I am looking forward to hosting a worship discussion in the Chapel at 5:30 p.m.  I am curious to see what thoughts and issues drive the conversation.  Over the years I have discussed drums, volume, repetition, lights, hymns, cymbals, ear damage, paid musicians verses volunteers, and the redesign of sacred space.  It will be interesting to see where the conversation goes this Sunday.

In the weeks and months ahead I covet your prayers as together we explore worship at FBCD.  We have only begun the process of experimenting with the possibilities of worship.  There are many boundaries to stretch and discern.  I was at a church recently where several thousand young people were taking communion.  I got a cracker, and a grape.  It was the first time in forty years of taking communion that somebody handed me a grape.  It was good!  Much better than some of the sour wine and old Welchs I have tasted.

So in the season ahead I covet your prayers, and your patience, as together we explore what God has in store for FBCD.  It will be an exciting journey with God sized forks in the road.

Enjoy,

Paul

SYNERGY AT FBCD:

 

You might have missed the amazing worship service we had this morning at FBCD!  During the message things went from silent to applause.  Then back to silence.  We talked about some hard things.  We talked about CHANGE!  OH NO!  We talked about drums, parking, sound systems, and upgrading our facility.  We talked about focusing OUTWARD and FORWARD not INWARD and BACKWARD.  I did not even mention "THE STATUE" which is hidden in a hallway on it's way to a dark corner where only a couple of Sunday School classes will see it.  Taking a long hard look in the mirror is not always easy but it is usually good for us!  Especially if it's time to comb our hair.

My heart was blessed by the senior saints who hugged me and said, "We have been waiting decades for that sermon."  I want you to know you blessed my heart and fueled my spiritual tank.  If the senior saints will accept the challenge to reach the next generation, no matter what the cost, it opens the doors for a spiritual blessing the likes of which you have not seen in many decades.

After worship 18 of us went to the Kirkwood Lodge for pizza, wings, salad, and planning.  It was a blessing to hear our singers, band, tech, Facility Team, and Senior Board representatives speak words of freedom, vision, and encouragement.  A spirit of "LET'S GO" pervaded the meeting.  I kept feeling like we had taken the stopper out of a bottle of shaken up Coke.  In the words of Bob Dylan, "There was revolution in the air."

The conversation ranged from song selection, to speakers, amps, tablets, in ear monitors, motorized black out curtains, instrument placement, and raising up worship leaders and instrumentalists from the congregation.  The focus was simple.  How do we bring our facility, technology, and worship into 2017 so we can win the lost and hurting of Downey.

We discussed bringing in a professional stage design team and letting them imagine how to bring our platform, or chancel area, from 1965 to 2017.  I shared this morning that it took a $4,000,000 arson fire at NorthPoint to get the job done.  I am looking for a faster and less expensive method at FBCD.

I pray the words "Leave the 99 and seek the 1" become our paradigm for transition.  If the Apostle rings in our head, "I have become all things to all people that I might by some means win some" then we will have the right mindset.

I invite anyone from FBCD to call me, text me, email me, or come sit and talk with me.  I am in the office Wednesday and Monday.  And I am around on Sunday after church.  Let's talk.  Let's dream.  Let's brainstorm.  Let's see what God can do in Downey if we take the man made chains off His church!  I understand change rocks the status quo.  I understand if you like it the way it is your probably not excited about where we are going.  But if we do not change we will die.  Slowly, painfully, and persistently.  We will die.  And I do not accept that as God's will for His church!

So if you are freaking out because of the friction caused by forward motion come and see me.  We will figure out a win/win solution to the questions before us.  I believe God is big enough to do more than one thing at a time!

I love you all,
stay in touch,
Paul

WHAT TO DO WITH WORSHIP!

Blessing FBCD Family:

I want to give you a peak into our direction of travel.  If you have prayerfully reflected upon our Vision Reflection then you know one of our goals is to position FBCD to reach the NEXT GENERATION!  This means I am calling the Senior Saints to embrace the Great Commission and the Words of King David in Psalm 71 and 150.

 O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood,

and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. 

Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. 

Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,

 your mighty miracles to all who come after me.

Praise the LORD! 

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! 

Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! 

Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! 

Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! 

Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. 

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!  

In the weeks ahead it is my plan to make the worship service louder and more contemporary.  I am doing this with much thoughtful reflection.  It is not random, nor is it an accident.  From what I have been told the last time you did two services on a Sunday they were almost identical.  My plan in pushing the boundaries of the service is to bring up a question:


A.  Are the pillars of FBCD willing to embrace music, dress, decor, volume, and a style of worship you probably will not like in order to be with the next generation in worship.


Or,


B.  Will you say, "Get us out of here and give us a service of our own."


Now, hear me say clearly that I love Senior Saints.  I respect you and all of the years of service you have given to the church.  But the great commission compels us to go after the lost.  Jesus was very clear when He said to leave the 99 and go find the 1.  Study after study tells us that the lost are most reachable when they are young.  So,our call is to follow Christ and your call is to figure out how you want me to do that.  One service, or two.  It is up to you!


Keep me, and FBCD in prayer,
as together we seek God's will for our future!
Paul

Thank you for your prayers.  Last night the Senior Board of FBCD affirmed my desire to lead the church through JumpStart.  I will be preaching on Discipleship the first two Sundays of January, then we will launch into Session One.  This will take us right up to Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, then we will pick up with Volume Two.

We will preach the Sessions on Sunday and discuss them in the Sunday Schools.  We will invite some of the free wheeling small groups to join the journey, and then we will launch a new generation of Life Groups

Volume One will be the New Member/Seeker curriculum.  Volumes One and Two will become the leader training track for future Board members.

I am so excited by the prospect of what God can do with JumpStart.  I know the scriptures it contains and the application questions that go with them.

Downey is a very Biblical church, but JumpStart will invite them into a time of transparency and vulnerability.  JumpStart puts the Relational into Inductive Bible Study.

 

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 (ESV)
But if all prophesy,

and an unbeliever or outsider enters,

he is convicted by all,

he is called to account by all,

the secrets of his heart are disclosed,

and so, falling on his face,

he will worship God and declare

that God is really among you. 

Please continue to join with me in prayer that God the Holy Spirit comes and baptizes FBCD with His glory.  Pray God pours out spiritual release upon the church.  Pray that demons flee, hindering spirits are bound, and the grace of the Living God prevails! 

In Jesus name,

Paul