ChurchMarketingSucks.com has a great post: When Church Signs Suck.

Their top 10 no-no’s are pretty extensive and leave no stone unturned.

But I like their “what then should we put on our sign” list. One of them includes:

As a special bonus, not taking the time to think up these slogans actually leaves time for a church to work in and with the community.

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

Check out this article about the TSA now requiring liquids and gels to be in zip-lock bags: New TSA rules relax carry-on restrictions.

The clear bags became a hot commodity at U.S. airports Tuesday as new security rules kicked in allowing air passengers to carry small amounts of liquids and gels for the first time in more than six weeks. Such items must be sealed in a quart-sized or smaller bag, leaving many passengers scrambling to find something they might have used to freeze their leftovers the night before.

Ginni Dewbray and her husband, stuck in a security line at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, had to come up with a bag or lose a small bottle of Oil of Olay lotion. Edward Dewbray had to ask several travelers before he found one.

“It’s an inconvenience,” Ginni Dewbray said. “If they’re going to stand there and ask you to have plastic bags, they should give them out. They’re not that expensive.”

I can just see folks with the cool “The Church Has Left The Building” t-shirts handing out zip lock bags at security lines. Awesome isn’t it? Talk about meeting people and relieving a large amount of hassle and frustration.

Just make sure they’re quart sized or smaller!

Have you heard about the church that gave 100 people $100?

Kingdom things started happening, like a shelter for women!

Read the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article here.

What would happen if your church did it?

Even just $25?

Here is a version of the handout I’m working with at VCW

David Schmelzer, of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cambridge gave a terrific session at the 2006 Vineyard Eastern Regional Conference. One of the things that struck me, and continues to resonate, was about M. Scott Peck’s 4 stages of development. Here is the description found on Wikipedia.
 

The four stages Scott Peck postulates that there are four stages of human spiritual development:

Stage I is chaotic, disordered, and reckless. Very young children are in Stage I. They tend to defy and disobey, and are unwilling to accept a will greater than their own. Many criminals are people who have never grown out of Stage I.

Stage II is the stage at which a person has blind faith. Once children learn to obey their parents, they reach Stage II. Many so called religious people are essentially Stage II people, in the sense that they have blind faith in God, and do not question His existence. With blind faith comes humility and a willingness to obey and serve. The majority of good law abiding citizens never move out of Stage II.

Stage III is the stage of scientific skepticism and inquisitivity. A Stage III person does not accept things on faith but only accepts them if convinced logically. Many people working in scientific and technological research are in Stage III.

Stage IV is the stage where an individual starts enjoying the mystery and beauty of nature. While retaining skepticism, he starts perceiving grand patterns in nature. His religiousness and spirituality differ significantly from that of a Stage II person, in the sense that he does not accept things through blind faith but does so because of genuine belief. Stage IV people are labelled as mystics.

Scott Peck argues that while transitions from Stage I to Stage II are sharp, transitions from Stage III to Stage IV are gradual. Nonetheless, these changes are very noticeable and mark a significant difference in the personality of the individual.

Peck writes about these in his Further Along the Road Less Traveled (chapter 7 I believe). He says he stumbled on these because of his counseling practice. People with really defined spirituality would leave counseling with no faith at all. But people with no faith at all would come out of weeks of counseling with a vibrant, cohesive spirituality. Same counseling, very different results. As he developed the four stages, he realized Stage II folks progressed to Stage III even though it looked like a regression. And Stage III’ers were progressing to Stage IV.

One way he describes Stage IV is that as you analyze and question, eventually you may start realizing that you’ve taken the shards of the Stage II myths and beliefs you smashed in Stage III and made a collage. Interestingly, that collage looks quite a bit like Stage II but it’s deeper, more beautiful.

I’m interested in becoming a Stage IV church in Waterville.

I like the language of being “centered set.” Here’s a brief description I found on Kingdomrain.net 

Eating breakfast today, our four year old was thoroughly enjoying her Cinnamon Life cereal.

“I think I’ve had this before,” she said. “It tastes just like the George monkey one.”

“Which one?” Emily and I asked.

“The George Muller one. You know, the George Muller monkey box.”

We finally figured out she meant Curious George! I wondered how many 4-year olds would confuse Curious George with George Muller…

Do you see a resemblance?

12 years ago today, I met the woman that would change my life. We were at a retreat for Gordon College student ministry leaders.

Being the incredibly romantic guy that I am, I threw a ball of yarn at her.

Ok, so that won’t make the “how to win yourself a wife” books. But it helped catch her attention.

Before we knew it we were splashing in puddles as though we’d both grown up doing that.

12 years later, 11 of them married, at least 11 moves, 3 kids, one dog attempt, lots of laughter and lots of tears. And she’s still my best friend.

Hi hon, let’s go for gross! (12×12=144 years)

Being a centered-set group is an important concept for VCW. The explanation below was created from information from the Association of Vineyard Churches of East Africa.