Friends:
Thought you might like to see the flier for the presentation I'm doing in December at the Old Redmond Community Schoolhouse.
Yours,
Ethan
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
My Presentation in December
Friends:
Thought you might like to see the flier for the presentation I'm doing in December at the Old Redmond Community Schoolhouse.
Yours,
Ethan
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
From My Heart
Friends:
In the course of my work on the ground here in Seattle, my denomination (www.newchurch.org) is facing some of its own "growing pains". Below is a copy of a letter written to a friend addressing some of what I'm most passionate about as a church planter in that system. I wanted to share it with you.
God Bless,
Ethan
This is a book called "it" by Craig Groschel (pastor of lifechurch.tv). I've heard him speak, and this portion of his book really resonates with me -
Titled: looking for IT in all the wrong places
"In the early years of our church, even though we had very few resources - we had God's presence and blessing. That's all we really needed. We had it in our hearts. And that passion for Him mixed with His Spirit won people to Him. As our church grew, so did our resources. Remember, its not a result of resources (buildings, signs, mailings, lights, videos) but IT does attract resources. Suddenly we could buy things that earlier were barely a dream. We could buy children's curriculum and start a mother's day out. We could print four-color bulletins. We could buy each staff member a computer. We could afford a video projector. We could buy stage lights that didn't explode. If we didn't have something, we could just purchase it. Don't miss the subtlety of what happened. When we had limited resources, God was our source. He was all we needed. Then when we had access to those things that were once far off, they slowly and wrongly became the answers to our problems. Without realizing it our team started to think: if we don't have it we can work for it, buy it, or create it. In the meantime, we started to forget about the One that it was all about. At the start, God was IT. He was everything we needed. Now, we thought we needed certain things to grow. To us it wasn't as much about God - it was about everything else. And we started to lose it. Why? Because when you start to trust outward and physical resources instead of inward spiritual truth, you'll always lose it. What happened? Its as if our tank sprung a slow leak. Over time it wasn't as special as before. ...Why did we lose it? Looking back, it seems so obvious. Before, when we had it - we had vision alignment and Divine focus. Now with all the resources, we had the option to do new things. Just because we could didn't mean we should, but that didn't stop us. We tackled new projects left and right while slowly walking away from what made it special in the first place.
...It's amazing how ugly an it-less ministry can become. Whereas we were once generous and kingdom-minded, we started to have an unhealthy preoccupation with any church doing well. What's their secret? Why are they doing well? How can we compete? Why is God blessing them more than He's blessing us? Slowly but surely we were killing it. One of the bigger blows to it was hiring new staff and recruiting volunteers without communicating what it was all about. ...Many simply didn't get it. What made the ministry special before were the unseen qualities in the hearts and minds of the people. The new staff members ...thought what made it special was what they could see with their eyes: the lights, the videos, the fancy kids rooms. To have it, they assumed we needed more bells and whistles. But what we really needed was what we had started to leave behind: raw passion for God and for people."
I could keep going...but I won't. :) One thing that was missing from our discussion for me was a more specific description of what I'm passionate about and what I hope we don't lose sight of in order to develop a more effective platform for our message. I've said before we need to develop a believer culture. A culture of belief isn't motivated by a worry its going to run out of money, doesn't see itself as dying, and doesn't rely on large contributions from individual donors to fund its vision and mission in the world. Instead, it develops a ground swell of conviction within a body of believers who are (to quote the above book) "off the charts excited for for Jesus." We're still not spending enough time on that kind of visioning.
As a pastor, I was ordained to "teach the truth and to lead thereby to the good of life." The simplest aspect of my job description in the Word is care for the salvation of souls. I feel I am one of several people trying to stand up for it while supporting healthy behavior change that champions our growth, because the other side of my job is as watchman for the truth of the Word to be what guides us most in our decision making. It is all about the Lord. He plants the church and He grows the church. We are stewards of HIS resources. We are just instruments in His hands of (as prudently and passionately as possible) proclaiming the gospel.
Love,
Ethan
P.S. I DO believe the corporate model is gaining an unhealthy amount of ground in a church where the HUMAN model is what should be championed most. Any business practices that are really effective flow out of that model, and are subservient to it. This is a different perspective from the one I championed graduating Seminary.
Ethan McCardell
Pastor
Light for Life New Church
www.lightforlifenewchurch.org
pastor@lightforlifenewchurch.org
(206).245.4516
In the course of my work on the ground here in Seattle, my denomination (www.newchurch.org) is facing some of its own "growing pains". Below is a copy of a letter written to a friend addressing some of what I'm most passionate about as a church planter in that system. I wanted to share it with you.
God Bless,
Ethan
This is a book called "it" by Craig Groschel (pastor of lifechurch.tv). I've heard him speak, and this portion of his book really resonates with me -
Titled: looking for IT in all the wrong places
"In the early years of our church, even though we had very few resources - we had God's presence and blessing. That's all we really needed. We had it in our hearts. And that passion for Him mixed with His Spirit won people to Him. As our church grew, so did our resources. Remember, its not a result of resources (buildings, signs, mailings, lights, videos) but IT does attract resources. Suddenly we could buy things that earlier were barely a dream. We could buy children's curriculum and start a mother's day out. We could print four-color bulletins. We could buy each staff member a computer. We could afford a video projector. We could buy stage lights that didn't explode. If we didn't have something, we could just purchase it. Don't miss the subtlety of what happened. When we had limited resources, God was our source. He was all we needed. Then when we had access to those things that were once far off, they slowly and wrongly became the answers to our problems. Without realizing it our team started to think: if we don't have it we can work for it, buy it, or create it. In the meantime, we started to forget about the One that it was all about. At the start, God was IT. He was everything we needed. Now, we thought we needed certain things to grow. To us it wasn't as much about God - it was about everything else. And we started to lose it. Why? Because when you start to trust outward and physical resources instead of inward spiritual truth, you'll always lose it. What happened? Its as if our tank sprung a slow leak. Over time it wasn't as special as before. ...Why did we lose it? Looking back, it seems so obvious. Before, when we had it - we had vision alignment and Divine focus. Now with all the resources, we had the option to do new things. Just because we could didn't mean we should, but that didn't stop us. We tackled new projects left and right while slowly walking away from what made it special in the first place.
...It's amazing how ugly an it-less ministry can become. Whereas we were once generous and kingdom-minded, we started to have an unhealthy preoccupation with any church doing well. What's their secret? Why are they doing well? How can we compete? Why is God blessing them more than He's blessing us? Slowly but surely we were killing it. One of the bigger blows to it was hiring new staff and recruiting volunteers without communicating what it was all about. ...Many simply didn't get it. What made the ministry special before were the unseen qualities in the hearts and minds of the people. The new staff members ...thought what made it special was what they could see with their eyes: the lights, the videos, the fancy kids rooms. To have it, they assumed we needed more bells and whistles. But what we really needed was what we had started to leave behind: raw passion for God and for people."
I could keep going...but I won't. :) One thing that was missing from our discussion for me was a more specific description of what I'm passionate about and what I hope we don't lose sight of in order to develop a more effective platform for our message. I've said before we need to develop a believer culture. A culture of belief isn't motivated by a worry its going to run out of money, doesn't see itself as dying, and doesn't rely on large contributions from individual donors to fund its vision and mission in the world. Instead, it develops a ground swell of conviction within a body of believers who are (to quote the above book) "off the charts excited for for Jesus." We're still not spending enough time on that kind of visioning.
As a pastor, I was ordained to "teach the truth and to lead thereby to the good of life." The simplest aspect of my job description in the Word is care for the salvation of souls. I feel I am one of several people trying to stand up for it while supporting healthy behavior change that champions our growth, because the other side of my job is as watchman for the truth of the Word to be what guides us most in our decision making. It is all about the Lord. He plants the church and He grows the church. We are stewards of HIS resources. We are just instruments in His hands of (as prudently and passionately as possible) proclaiming the gospel.
Love,
Ethan
P.S. I DO believe the corporate model is gaining an unhealthy amount of ground in a church where the HUMAN model is what should be championed most. Any business practices that are really effective flow out of that model, and are subservient to it. This is a different perspective from the one I championed graduating Seminary.
Ethan McCardell
Pastor
Light for Life New Church
www.lightforlifenewchurch.org
pastor@lightforlifenewchurch.org
(206).245.4516
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Details on A New Edition....
Friends:
For awhile now you've been hearing news of our new church plant (www.lightforlifenewchurch.org). I'm writing now to tell you of a new development on the book/class development side of things. I will be purchasing the rights to materials used for the books / lectures from Restyn, LLC (including a new ISBN #). This will allow me to release a revised edition of the book, as well as other materials that can be used in new volumes or classes over time.
My church is taking the month off of Sunday worship. During that time, we will also be researching Rev. Mark Pendleton's approach (on the steps of repentance) to prepare for him to come and give a series in the new year.
A small group will be starting on my book before "Living Courageously" (in the fall), and we'll marry this with service projects developed by our service coordinator. All in all, its shaping up to be an exciting year for me as an author and us as a church! Keep in touch with this blog and the church's site (www.lightforlifenewchurch.org).
Blessings for a happy and healthy summer!
In His Love,
Ethan
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