Personal, Experiential Covenanting

Last night, in The Core business meeting, we shot down the idea of a written covenant. Let us know what you think about the following:

A reference booklet for anyone to refer back to our ideas and definitions of team membership.

A conversation with a leader to come to consensus about whether to proceed.

An opportunity to "write your own vows" to share with the rest of the team about God's calling on your life.

A commissioning service to celebrate a milestone in each new team-member's life, and the growth of The Core Team.

Jesus Who?

Many modern Christians would find that very question heretical. But if the disciples had to answer it, theologians over the centuries had to answer it, and people all around the world ask it in some way, shape, or form, we need to answer it as well. Not just for all the people who ask it with their negative views about church, Christians, and religion, but for us as well. If genuine Christianity is based on a relationship with Christ and flows outward into attitudes towards people, we NEED to know--for out own benefit, as well as others--Jesus Who?

Do we talk about a historical figure mentioned in various first-century texts, including the New Testament of the Bible? Do we talk about a seemingly mythical being who came from God, allegedly died and rose again? Do we mean a man who started a new religion? Or is Jesus just a very wise, ahead-of-His-day teacher of moral and ethical principles?

And if we mean more than any of those, how do we include any of them? Where do we start? Do we start with traditions like established confessions? Do we start with a historical figure? Do we start with personal (intimate) beliefs and experiences based on faith? Where do we go? Do we look at Jesus philosophically, mystically, historically, or only through the "eyes of faith?"

Does it matter? If we want to know Him, it does. If we want to share Him, it does. If we want to obey Him, it does. And if we want to have hope--if we want to share hope with the world (or just individuals) around us--it definitely matters.

All New Home Church Songbook!

I am proud to announce the second edition of The Core Home Church Songbook!

Please note that there is nothing authoritative about this book... it is simply a resource that I will choose the make use of while leading worship for our particular home church. I also want to make it available to anyone else (inside or outside The Core) who may find it helpful.

The following PDF is representative of a half-size booklet, which I will make about 15 of this week and bind them with little plastic combs.

If you'd like to take a look at it, click on the following link:

Home Church Songbook - I agree to view this PDF only for personal educational purposes.

Covenant & Accountability Structure

I am linking you to three documents here:

(By the way, if you have not read Josh's entry, "Learning Jesus" yet, read that first.)

1 - Team Member Covenant - much less detailed and demanding than previously, but still quite challenging.

2 - Overseer Covenant - what was previously called the Team Member Covenant. Recent criticisms have not caused me to pitch this document, but rather to apply it to a higher level of leadership. Although scoring yourself would be optional, setting goals and establishing accountability would be required.

3 - Accountability Structure - This is the latest version of what I was previously calling the "Advancement & Reporting Structure." This explains my most recent thinking about how to set up The Core as an organization. Please bear with me if this looks like Church Politics to you. I hear ya loud and clear. But I have no doubt that we need to be well organized if we are going to be efficient communicators, and if each person is going to be clear as to their role and how they fit into the grand scheme. Without this kind of advanced planning, chaos, disillusionment and failure is always lurking around the corner. A well thought-out structure is rarely to blame for bad church politics... it's usually the result of valuing control and power over servanthood. Be sure to read page 2 for the descriptions.

Learning Jesus

I just finished Learning Jesus by Luke Timothy Johnson. (If you have the time to read a 200 pg book that will challenge you, read it--I might even lend you my copy.)

The thesis of the book is that Jesus is alive, that we as Christians need to "learn Him" as a living person and not just an historical figure, and that we can learn Him in many ways including reading the New Testament. He argues that we can't "know" Christ in a fulfilled sense of the word, and that our understanding of Jesus--who He is, what He says, and what He wants us to do with and for Him--should be constantly growing, similar to a good mature marriage. I don't totally buy all of his points in the book, but the premise is undeniable to the thoughtful, committed, sincere Christian. While Johnson spends most of his book highlighting Jesus as revealed in the New Testament, he makes an observation about a way we can "learn" Jesus. He speaks about learning Jesus in the "little ones."

How can we learn Jesus, or "know Jesus better," by little ones? Who are they, and what can we learn from them? It set me thinking about the little ones: who are they, what do they say, and how can it affect us in a positive way? My views are in no way exhaustive, but at least it's a start.

One group of "little ones" is children--ours and others. My kids teach me Jesus by asking me questions I have to answer honestly, carefully, and convincingly. Questions like "Who is Jesus?" "Why do we pray?" "Why did that person do that?" and "Why do I have to take a bath?" Obviously, some of these questions are not directly related to Jesus. But so many questions come back to Him, and how I view Him. How do I interpret Jesus for my kids? How do I see Jesus right now?
They also remind me of attitudes we need to approach God: humility, awe, wonder, sincerity, trust. Jesus told us that to enter the Kingdom of God we had to become like little children. These attitudes allow us to see God more as He is and less as we want Him to be. We can learn from that.

Another group of "little ones" is the poor. Whether from decisions, circumstances, or harm from others, many people have less than they truly need. What can we possible gain from them? At the very least, they can remind us of our true dependence on God. But that's a kindof "Sunday School answer." Did you ever think about how ministering to them--treating them with respect they do (or don't) deserve, meeting their needs, being kind to them--fulfills Jesus' commandments to love our brother, our neighbor, and our enemy? Jesus also said that when we help these people, we are ministering to Him as well--"For whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me." But it's not just through ministry, but through listening to them, that we can learn. They, too, ask hard questions: "If God loves me so much, . . . why am I always hungry?" ". . . why am I homeless?" ". . . why do Christians ignore me or walk away from me?"
These are questions we need to answer. And they teach us about the character of Jesus.

The last group of "little ones" I want to mention are seekers who are new to faith or haven't made that jump yet. Their lives, too, we can learn from. Their enthusiasm, their cynicism. Their exuberance, their hesitation. Their faith, their doubt. Their questions, their arguments. We have to answer them, and to do so appropriately, effectively, and truthfully, we have to ask ourselves and Jesus the same questions.

The great thing about it is, He answers. If we'll just listen to Him. If we'll learn Him.

A New Direction for the Covenant...

After receiving some sage advice, I am now leaning towards using the Covenant developed so far for a Team Leader Covenant, rather than a Team Member Covenant, since it is so detailed and in-depth.

I do still believe that a written covenant is necessary. I can relate to the comments I've heard about it being impersonal, but the word Covenant makes me think of a marriage.

When a husband and wife stand before their family and friends to make promises to each other from a list read by a clergyman, few people see that as impersonal. To the contrary… it’s romantic. And when a person makes sacrifices to remain faithful to his or her spouse, it is rarely because they signed a piece of paper. Rather, it is because of the love that compelled them to sign the paper to begin with.

Although I agree that a Team Member Covenant should be simple and more understated, I think it’s important to emphasize the seriousness of the commitment, and provide a milestone point for people to look back and say, “on that day I had my mind made up, and I plan to live by that.”

I also believe that this is a good way to help us all realize that we will go through hard times, but we choose to be devoted to one another, no matter what. So here is my current idea:

Team Member Covenant

I. I am saved by the grace of God and the blood of Christ to serve Him with my whole being.

II a. I have been baptized subsequent to this decision, -or-
b. I would like to be baptized right away

III. I agree with The Core’s Beliefs, I share The Core’s Values, and I want to join in The Core’s Vision.

IV. I will strive to…

A. Live a lifestyle of undivided worship of God
B. Express my worship regularly with The Core
C. Grow consistently in Christ-likeness
D. Participate with The Core in discipleship, accountability and mentorship
E. Encourage genuine love, unity and community within the Body of Christ
F. Gather regularly with my Home Church, and do all I can to contribute to the success and vision of The Core
G. Share the love and truth of Christ with everyone
H. Support the efforts of The Core to reach the world in general, and Center-City Springfield in particular.

Proposed Advancement & Reporting Structure

Hey all,

Check this out: The Core Advancement & Reporting Structure

This is my proposal for how to structure The Core. Family Members are, well... everybody. Team Members at large are those team members without leadership responsibilities, just pitching in to get things done. Ministry Leaders are those with responsibilities over a specific ministry or activity, Coordinators are those who coordinate the Ministry Leaders, and Directors are those who direct all the activities that occur under one of the four main purposes. Overseers consist of Directors, and some Coordinators (probably depending on seniority), and will work with the Pastor to cast the vision for The Core, and make broad organizational decisions. Except for those positions located in the far right column, everything other position mentioned is just a sampling of the total number of leaders I expect to be working within The Core.

All this is true in my head, at least... so far...

Thoughts?

Team Member Covenant, Take 4

I believe we may be approaching a final draft. I have scripture references to back up each point now, and I've added an explanation, and a signature page. Here's a link:

www.thecoredowntown.com/team-member-covenant.pdf

Speak up y'all... it's time to be heard!

Take 3

Here's a link to Team Member Covenant 3. Enjoy!

Another Crack at a Covenant/Self-Evaluation

OK, here's another idea. This time I'm just going to link you to a Word file:

Team Member Covenant 2

Now it's got three sections:

I. Love the Lord Your God
II. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
III. The Core

In order to be a member, you'd have to agree to every point. Then, once you've agreed, you can go back through the points in sections I and II, and give yourself a score, 1-10, for the purposes of self-evaluation. There would be no self-scoring for section III initially, because it represents only a future commitment.

Once you've been a member for a year, you can go through all three sections and score yourself. Then you can compare your scores to last year's scores for sections I and II.

And so on.

Matt... I agree with what you said about intertwining Love for God and Love for Neighbor. However, I don't think that concept is necessarily diminished by separating them into I and II.

Team Member Self-Evaluation

OK, everybody... I'm thinking about doing something special this Sunday...

Our first Team Member Commissioning!

As of this moment, there are no official Team Members of The Core. Not even me. So I think this Sunday would be a good time for us all to commission each other as Team Members.

The Wilmoths and the Wiksells talked a few weeks ago about the idea of a Team Member Covenant, but we didn't come to any solid conclusions. This is my current thinking:

I. Team Member Covenant (Team Members agree to fulfill these expectations)

A. Soul
-I will prayerfully consider all pastoral discipline and personal accountability.
-I will commit to the mentorship, self-evaluation and growth process.
-I will gather faithfully with my home church, and with larger groups of The Core.
B. Mind
-I will read and study the Bible, and reading materials assigned by The Core.
-I will teach others when I have the opportunity or responsibility to do so.
-I will participate in at least one discussion group.
C. Body
-I will give generously of my money and possessions to help The Core fulfill its mission.
-I will pioneer new ministries based on my calling, and volunteer to meet existing needs.
-I will rest regularly, and not expect myself or others to overextend.

You'll notice this is not highly spiritual, but it does refer under letter A to the self-evaluation process. Below is my proposal for the Team Member Self-Evaluation, that would be taken upon induction, and then at each person's membership anniversary. One would answer each point on this questionnaire with a number, 0-10 (except for the first point, which would only have two choices: yes or no.) The Self-Evaluation is simply a tool to help us each understand how we can grow, and how much we are growing over the years. Therefore, one's membership status would not depend on his or her score. However, some answers may raise red flags that may cause a leader to doubt an individual's eligibility. But all decisions about beginning or ending membership will be made on a case-by-case basis, in the context of relationship, and not because of a numerical score.

I. SOUL

A. Holiness
-I am saved by the grace of God, the blood of Jesus.
-I live a lifestyle of worship, obedience and love.
-I model the fruit of the Spirit to everyone around me.
B. Daily Walk
-I am consistent in prayer and Bible-reading.
-I exhibit a 24/7 authenticity of faith.
-I seek God’s face, not His hand.
C. Purpose
-I am developing my talents and passions for God’s glory.
-I am working to fully discover God’s call for my life.
-I am following His call wholeheartedly.

II. MIND

A. Doctrine
-I know who God is, who Jesus is, and what He’s done. (see The Core Beliefs)
-I know that the Bible is God’s Word, and what that means. (see The Core Beliefs)
-I know what the Church is, and who I am, in Christ. (see The Core Beliefs)
B. Study
-I allow God’s Word to shape me, not the other way around.
-I learn all I can from wise mentors, teachers and authors.
-I submit my worldly knowledge to godly wisdom.
C. Dialogue
-I share the truth with love & respect for those who disagree.
-I strive to learn from everyone.
-I enjoy, and celebrate, diversity within orthodoxy.

III. BODY

A. Stewardship
-I take good care of my body, and reject unwise activities and indulgences.
-I manage my resources wisely and give sacrificially.
-I put the needs of my family first.
B. Service
-I recognize that I am not here to be served, but to serve.
-I seek out ways to meet organizational and personal needs.
-I contribute positively to society and strive to obey all laws
C. Community
-I worship regularly with a specific group of believers.
-I share my resources, energy, joys, and struggles with my group.
-I work closely and consistently with my group to spread the love of Christ.

OK, everybody... what do you think?

Front Porch General Contractor?

Hey everyone,

Mik has been working on how to make sure that the Front Porch actually becomes a reality. In his assessment, there are just too many specialized tasks to expect an all-volunteer force to accomplish everything. But God is moving...

Daniel Keeslar is a member of Second Baptist who has done a lot of volunteer work for us already, trying to get us off to a good start on this project. He has two decades of experience in contracting, and over one decade in commercial construction, but right now he's between projects. After several hours of conversation with Mik, with Michael Ngo, and with me, we are all feeling pretty positive about the following proposal:

The Core could hire Daniel to be the general contractor for the Front Porch construction. He would be there on a full-time basis, finding the best materials for the best price, communicating constantly with Michael, managing the budget, overseeing the volunteers and hiring sub-contractors for specialty work. The proposal is that we would pay Daniel a $6000 flat fee, and that Michael would pay for the work done by any subcontractors.

Over the next few days, Daniel will be working up a budget to present to Michael, and by Thursday the 19th Michael will decide if he approves of this arrangement. Honestly, I think he will. All this planning is putting us behind our projected construction schedule, but I am convinced it will help us finish the project in a much timelier, more quality manner.

There will still be plenty of room for volunteers to fill in the gaps, so we are still very thankful for all the people willing to help. But that still leaves the issue of finding the $6000 to pay Daniel. First of all, I would like this to be a 3-month project, and I am hearing that this is probably a reasonable expectation with the addition of a full-time professional contractor. So here's an idea: We have the funds right now to pay him $1500 up front. At the end of each month (and the completion of the goals set for that month) we could pay him another $1500. I trust Daniel with an arrangement like this, because he has shown a very clear commitment to seeing this project happen, whether or not he can have a professional role in it, and he has the personal endorsement of Second Baptist pastor John Marshall.

Now we have to ask ourselves how to produce $1500 a month. This is a question we would have to face anyway, since we will have to start paying a larger utility bill as soon as the building is finished, and we'll want to be getting used to finding that kind of money in order to be ready to start paying rent in the late summer.

A little less than a year ago I asked several families if we could each commit $100 a month to the Front Porch project. At this current time, I think we can easily get 5 or 6 monthy commitments of that size from within The Core, some of which can be as much as $200. I would like to set a goal by the end of November for The Core Team to be giving $1,000 every month toward the Front Porch. I think this is pretty reasonable. When you consider that we have several individual donors from outside The Core, plus a $100 per month commitment from South Haven, $1500 doesn't seem like such a huge number anymore.

All this to say... please pray about the agreements we should make to see the Front Porch through to completion, and pray about how you can help personally, whether it's by finding money, giving money, giving your time, or anything else. And add your comments, as well.

Thanks!

Lead & Learn

Howdy ya'll!

I wanted to see how many folks would be interested in attending Community Partnership's "Lead & Learn" for this month. The topic is on parliamentary procedure, which could be extremely helpful to us (even as a refresher for those of us who are familiar). Here's the flyer info:

I MOVE...
we have successful, productive and meaningful
meetings.

Do I have a second?

All in favor, please attend our next...

Lead & Learn
with Junior League Parliamentarian, Crista Hogan

Monday, October 23rd 6-8pm
Pathways United Methodist Church (Formerly Dale St.
UMC) 1232 E. Dale

Dinner & Childcare are available to those who pre-register to Mindy by
noon on Friday, Oct. 20th.
Call 888-2020, ext. 200 to RSVP

Let me know if this is something we would like to attend as a group.

Citizenship

Hey folks,

I have been discussing the duty of the Christian citizen on The Ooze and have had some stimulating conversation. Last night, an individual posted a link to this article from Intervarsity Press on our earthly citizenships as they are distinguished from and connected to our citizenship in heaven. Very good article, but I'd like to hear your feedback from it, particularly in lieu of our conversation two Sundays ago.

I'm being stretched.

An Operational Schematic

Hey all... I worked up a visual diagram to propose an operational schematic for The Core. View it here on PDF: The Core Schematic

This is probably not something you can glance at. I recommend printing it out and sitting down with it when you have 15 minutes to make sense of it. Be sure to read the legend on page 2 in order to understand it, and please comment here with any questions or thoughts.

Have fun!

Leadership Roles

I don't believe that anybody should be strapped down to a job description. But I do believe that anybody who's going to be a leader should have a pretty solid idea what he or she will be responsible for. I've discussed this arrangement with almost every person mentioned, and the responses varied from thrilled to interested.

So heres' my thinking: (I'll just type it all out, then come back and explain it.)

Ryan Wiksell: Pastor, Worship Leader
Christina Wiksell: Administrative Director

Matt Stephens: Fellowship Leader
Melissa Stephens: Financial Director, Fellowship Co-leader

Josh Wilmoth: Discipleship Leader
Krissy Wilmoth: Home Church Director

Phillip Scoggins: Outreach Leader
Amy Scoggins: Outreach Co-leader, Arts Director

Mik Mikulan: Project Manager

Now the explanations:

Ryan: Of course I am the Pastor of The Core, and that will involve overseeing the responsibilities of the other leaders, and shepherding the rest. I can be the official Worship Leader, but naturally that doesn't exclude anyone else from leading worship.

Christina: She has gotten excited recently about coordinating the scheduling for Front Porch construction, and due to her organizational talents, Administrative Director seems like a pretty good fit.

Matt: Matt and Melissa have really inspired me the way they have made such strong connections with Josh & Krissy, and I know they have a real passion for community-building. "Fellowship Leader" may come across sounding like potlucks and barbeques, but we know there is a much deeper meaning than that. Once again, this would not exclude Matt or Melissa from leading worship or teaching (especially if they're going to teach about Fellowship or Community.)

Melissa: In some ways, Matt & Melissa could share the title of Fellowship Leader, but also, Melissa could continue doing the finances, if she likes. The reason I use the term Financial Director instead of Treasurer, is because I would like her to be recognized as someone who is available to minister to people by helping them with their finances.

Josh: He is such an excellent teacher, that I think he would really enjoy this role--not just teaching, but working out a discipleship strategy for us all as a group, and also overseeing accountability and mentorship.

Krissy: She is always checking the website to see what to bring, and enjoys cooking, and has two kids. She and Josh have shared with me a desire to give the kids a little more meaningful interaction with the group. So I was thinking Krissy could be responsible for keeping the food calendar, and making sure that the children are taken care of, and also that they are ministered to in a substantial way. These are two of the major organizational issues of Home Church, so I thought Home Church Director might be a good title. It could also then branch out into managing the Network of Home Churches, once there is one.

Phil & Amy: They love going to the square, and have a real passion for making new connections with strange people. They are sort of fearless in that way. They could share the title of Outreach Leader, and when the Front Porch gets up and running, Amy could be dubbed the official Arts Director (since she is an artist and an art teacher,) responsible for our connections to the art community and overseeing our participation in the First Friday Art Walk.

Mik: He has already been named Project Manager for the Front Porch. His role once this project is finished is a bridge we'll cross when we come to it.

There it is... thoughts?

Worship, The Arts, Outflow, and Outreach

Last night, Ryan, Christina, Melissa and I had a very productive discussion about worship and music during the planning of the gatherings. We started really probing and discussing the different elements of worship that had and hadn't been so effective. We asked ourselves why the "music" portion of our gatherings had more often than not seemed stale, particularly in recent months. Answers ranged from furnishings to instrumentation to bodily position to style, and these were the thoughts that were thrown out, though certainly not conclusive:

• The atmosphere in the Fireside room isn't very conducive to worship in general.
• That the couches cause you to slouch so much has a physiological effect of excessive relaxation (or in Christina's case, discomfort!).
• Facing one another in close proximity while standing, clapping, and expressing emotion is awkward.
• The position of one's body has some effect on the degree of engagement, with a possible "hierarchy" of physical involvement, beginning with standing, then proceeding to clapping, dancing, or something else.
• The size of the room, available instrumentation, and seating arrangement all are barriers to genuine, spiritual, celebratory participation (at least for some of us), as compared with more solemn or contemplative participation, which comes more easily in this context.
• The most effective style of music changes from context to context. Christina made an astute observation about this, mentioning that she seemed to connect with God best through more folk-styled music, particularly in more intimate settings. I agreed, and Ryan and Melissa seemed to indicate that this made sense. Ryan had some technical explanations of why folk music was better suited for smaller groups, and rock music for larger groups, which strengthened our consensus.

The consensus seemed to be that we try to incorporate more folk songs and fewer rock ballads. The best resources I know of for these are Enter the Worship Circle, Waterdeep, 100 Portraits, Robbie Seay, and Shane & Shane. This means that we probably need to rethink the content of the "hymnal" to remove (for now) the more upbeat rock-oriented songs (i.e. Blessed Be Your Name, Holy Is the Lord, Famous One) and add more folk songs. A good start would be adding a majority of the Enter the Worship Circle and Second Circle songs to the list. We can obviously incorporate the "bigger", livelier songs in the larger group gatherings on Saturday nights and in the future if we do this more regularly at the Front Porch or elsewhere.

As I mentioned in my original email on this topic, we must learn to balance "authenticity" with cultural sensitivity to those to whom we are reaching out. Too often, authenticity is an excuse for not expanding our tastes and abilities, but rather to continually fall back on that which is comfortable. May each of us do our part in "building our capacity" to embrace and embody new expressions of worship in our own personal lives, so that we will be able to authentically express our worship to God in fresh, inspiring ways corporately--even to those who are "missing" from the Body of Christ.

Also, I just finished a blog story related to this topic on my blog, if you all are interested in hearing my story as it relates to music and worship.

Much love.

Matt