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The Vision of a Leader

Today at Restore, we continued with our series through the book of Nehemiah called, The Leader Within.  From Nehemiah 2 we discovered that the vision within a leader comes to life when the heartbreak of a leader shifts its focus to the way things should be.  We shared the story of Zach Hunter, a 15 year old young man who created Loose Change to Loosen Chains focused on eradicating modern day slavery.  His heart broke for children in slavery and he had to so something about it.

The highlight was sharing a video of my dear friend Lane Hunter, who is dying of a rare intestinal disease, who through his passion to share Jesus with everyone he can, touched the life of Jan Boothe who now attends Restore.  Thanks COMMUNITY and TJ Friesen for putting the video together.  Enjoy....

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Managing Difficult Personalities

Sometime ago, my wife Janet  (Director of Community at Restore) wrote a mini article on how to lead a small group when you have individiuals with difficult personalities.  Just recently, this article was picked up by Christianity Today.  You can read the entire article here.

Way to go Janet.  Great article, and I am really proud of you.

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People Who Leave You Changed

Sometimes in life you meet someone who you just sense will become a significant difference maker.  Scott Knollenberg was one of those people.  I met Scott 10 years ago on a sand volleyball court in Romeoville, IL.  He was living in the apartments there and got the great idea to have the residents build the volleyball court.  Over the last decade Scott has gotten married to a wonderful woman, had a beautiful daughter, and radically given his life to Jesus.  In the process of his spiritual transformation, Scott made a career shift from the corporate world to vocational ministry at COMMUNITY.  Scott is now becoming the Romeoville Campus Pastor at the site where we first met. I can't wait to see what God continues to do through his leadership. 

Dave Ferguson has a great post here about Scott's personal Journey.

Romeoville 10th Anniversary Celebration

Ten years ago, Community Christian Church became a multisite church.  I had the privilege to be the Campus Pastor when the Romeoville Campus launched and 552 people showed up on that very first Sunday in 1998.  That was one of those days completely marked in my memory.  Today at the Romeoville Campus, they celebrated the last 10 years.  I didn't get a chance to be there, but I was able to send this video message.  I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring to COMMUNITY and the Romeoville Campus.

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Hanging with Friends

It is so fun to have friends from near and far come visit us in KC.  This weekend, Steve and Ro Cantrell and they boyz, Jackson and Clay, stopped by for a quick visit.  They have been great friends from Community Christian Church for the past couple years and actually hosted our small group in Naperville.

They are on a cross country trip from Chicago to Seattle where Steve has a new job with the Gates Foundation.  He will be a Program Manager providing leadership within their education initiatives.  I love listening to him and hearing his passion for changing the world.

I hope our paths cross again and sense that this is a real possibility.

Kansas City - Chicago Connection

Jeff, Pam and Guy Haines came from Naperville to KC this weekend.  We are having a great time catching up and exploring the city.  Last night we took in some great Jack Stack BBQ. 

Jeff has a deep connection with Kansas City.  His dad grew up here and his grandfather had a mechanic's garage at 16th and Cherry St in downtown KC.  Jeff and Pam lived in Overland Park, KS for a couple of years when they were first married.

And to top it all off, Jeff's great grandfather, Thomas Speers, was the very first police chief of KCMO and friends with the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok.  Now I know why I have always felt safe around Jeff.

Jeff and Pam were to there encourage and support us 13 years ago when I had the chance to change careers and go into vocational ministry at Community Christian Church.  And they were there again to encourage and support us when God gave us the opportunity to launch Restore Community Church in KC.

It is good to have deep frienships that transcend time and space.

2 Days till LAUNCH

Its Friday night and in 36 hours Restore Community Church will launch its first weekly celebration service.    I couldn't be more excited.  I have met with each of our staff team this week and they are unbelievably prepared.  God has blessed Restore with a passionate staff team and a gifted launch team.  In addition there are 25 "missionaries" coming on Sunday morning from our partner churches to serve.

We are launching with a relationship series called "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".  I am praying that God will show up in an amazing way.  I know that people all the way from CA to VA and everywhere in between are praying for us.

If you read this...say a prayer or two.

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Launch Team Mtg #6 - Home Church for an 8 Year Old

Tonight Restore Community Church had its 6th launch team meeting.  We are three weeks from our Grand Opening so the energy level is high.  We have quite a bit to do to get ready for the people we are praying that God will bring us on March 2nd.  Specifically, we are looking for missionaries who will join this mission for 3-6 weeks to serve in Kids' City with Jessica Bowman.

I got a chance to share her story and boy was that fun. 

Here it is...It was 1988 and a young pastor just moved to town.  The first thing he did was to go door to door to ask people questions about why they did or didn’t go to church.  At one home where he stopped he met a nice family, who had some church background, but were definitely seeking.  This family had three kids.  One boy and two girls.  One of the girls was an eight year old who came to the very first service of a church meeting in a school on the first Sunday in March 1989 when 465 people showed up.  As the attendance leveled off at 200, her family was still there and this new church became her “home church”.  There were many dedicated servants who served in the children’s ministry of this church and it was here that she learned about Jesus, grew in her faith and made a private and public decision to follow Jesus and was baptized in the swimming pool of the high school where this church met.  She went off to college and then returned to teach high school nearby.  She met a young man, fell in love and was married.  And she came back to her “home church” to attend with her new husband….And God grabbed her.  Put a desire in her heart to make an impact for the Kingdom….And when she was asked to leave her teaching job, move to Kansas City and become the director of Kids’ City for Restore Community Church, she said yes…

So let me ask you…Would you like to serve along side Jessica Bowman..to be someone who, for an 8 year old girl, will be creating for them their “home church”.

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Innovative Churches

Outreach Magazine has published their 2008 list of most innovative churches.  Check out the top 15 at churchrelevance.com.  My mentors and friends at Community Christian Church (#13) are on the list again as well as my very good friend Scott Hodge and Orchard Valley Community Church (#24). 

Also there is a great article on how innovative churches are reaching a changing world.  Read about it here.

Reunion Church - Boston

I am in Boston for a gathering of NewThing pastors.  Around 15 or so of us will hang out for the next couple of days to connect with each other and dream together.  Over the past few years I have got the chance to visit a number of the NewThing churches to see God at work across the country.

I came in a day early so I could hang out with my friend Hank Wilson and attend a service at Reunion Christian Church.  Reunion launched last February in the heart of Boston at the Back Bay Hilton.  The place was packed today with around 250 people there.  I got the chance to hear some incredible stories of people who have found their way back to God at Reunion.  I am so proud of Hank and his team of Mike, Tim, Phil, John and Karen.  They are doing an awesome job.  They will be going to two services in Feb 2008 and I am sure that God will fill this room twice. 

Being here today felt like a CCC reunion getting to see some wonderful friends who moved from Chicago to Boston to be a part of this church plant.  I love church planting and am so excited about the Restore launch in March 2008.