daveferguson.org

I'm On Vacation...

This is the view from where I was sitting this evening.  I'm on vacation.  I may blog.  I may not blog.  Why?  I'm on vacation!

Thanks Bill!

I think the best decisions that we have made in the life of Community Christian Church have been people decisions.  Whenever we ask people to join our team they are people we really like, people who are really talented, people who really get it and people who are sold out to the mission!  And then we do our best to hang on to these good people!  One of those good people we have been fortunate to hang on to is Bill Carroll.  10 years ago today we made one of those wise choices and asked Bill to join our team.  Bill is our Arts Champion (among many other things!) and is the most amazing recruiter of artists that I have ever seen.  There is no one better...anywhere! 

On Bill's blog he was reminiscing about my interview with him and the answer that got him the job.  He writes:   

• Question from Dave Ferguson: "What have you done to recruit new musicians?"
• Answer:  "I have been playing out in a bar band on Friday and Saturday nights. That has been a great open door to have conversations with the guys in my band. Most of them don't go to church, but they have started playing once in a while for me as favors and some of them have ended up becoming part of the church."

And he is right, that sold me! And Bill has continued to reach out to believers and non-believers and offer them a meaningful way and place to do their art.  Thanks Bill!

I Think We Need More Influence

Last week we learned that Community Christian Church was listed again in the Top 50 Most Influential Churches in the country.  See the graphic next to this post.  This is the one from the Church Growth Report article that listed the Top 50 churches.  Is this to illustrate influence or how we use these lists as a megaphone to talk about ourselves?  Just asking.

This year we are listed at #19.  Which is nice.  But I'm starting to think that we need a lot more influence.  Why?   Couple reasons:

• After being interviewed by the Daily Herald (if you are reading this, thank you very much for putting us on the front page!) they wrote an article titled Church Ranks High On List. All that is great - except they kept referring to us as Christ Community Church!?!  How much influence can a church really have if a Chicago paper can't get your name right?  I think we need more influence!
• When my wife told my 9 year old son Caleb that we were #19, he says to me, "I bet Bill Hybels was #1 again wasn't he?"  (How could he know that?!?)  And then he says, "hey, weren't you higher last year...I bet everyone else just got a lot better and you stayed the same...err..err..I bet you got better too, they just got even more better...err...err...(smile)."

Good job Community Christian Church!

Is Everybody Getting A Facebook Account?

About 3-4 months ago I got a Facebook account.  At first it was pretty dead and my daughter Amy was my only friend.  But it seems like in the last month everyone who I have ever heard of from blogging is now on Facebook.  It's like I can feel the momentum of this social utility growing.  True?  If you have a Facebook account and are reading this...let's connect via Facebook.

Time magazine had an interesting interview with Mark Zuckerberg (see pic), the 23 year old CEO of Facebook in an article:  The Future of Facebook.  He says they have been doubling their membership every 6 months for quite a while.  The article also says there are now 30 million active members.  So, it's not just my imagination...Facebook is really booming!

Great Time & Great Game!!

Last night we got some great tickets to the White Sox game that included a Patio Party and seats just behind the warning track fence in right field at U.S. Cellular Park.  As White Sox fans we still are buzzing about the '05 World Series Championship (insert Cub joke here!); but we haven't had much to cheer about this year.  However, last night was totally different! The White Sox were down 7-1 in the sixth inning and then came back to beat the best team in baseball, Detroit Tigers by a score of 8-7.  It was great!!  This is a pic of me and my two boys, Caleb and Josh.  We had a great time and it was a great game!!

How Rich Are You?

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world.  We wonder what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists?  Here's your chance to find out.  Find out how wealthy you are by going to Global Rich List.  Find out where you rank among the world's richest.  You might be richer than you think!

205 baptisms in 204 days!

Over the last several years one of the dreams we have had at Community Christian Church is to see Acts 2:47 become a reality through us.  Acts 2:47 describes the early church as "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."   This past weekend we had 43 more people go public with their commitment to Christ in baptism.  For us to be an Acts 2:47 church we would like to see more than 365 people baptized in a year.  At least one person per day being added to the number of Christ Followers.  As of today, we are 204 days into 2007 and so far we have had 205 baptisms!  Good job, CCC!  We are "helping people find their way back to God."

Phenomenal Weekend at CCC!

This weekend was another one of those phenomenal weekends at Community Christian Church!  These weekends were what we dreamed about when we started this church!  This was a weekend of "helping people find thier way back to God."  We had more than 40 people go public with their commitment to become Christ Followers by being baptized.  Some of those were planning on being baptized, but many of those after being challenged made the decision spontaneously to go ahead and get dunked!

One of the people I had the honor of baptizing this weekend was JJ (in the pic).  JJ has been wearing a self-created sticker everyday for the last week that said, "Ask me about __ days from now" as she was counting down the days till her baptism.  Her enthusiasm is contagious and her passion for Jesus is real.  I am really proud of her and the steps that she is taking.  The following is her testimony that she had read to the people of Community Christian Church:

I'm getting baptized today because I'm giving up.  I give up trying to do life my way.  I give up trying to be perfect and trying to please every body.  I give up trying to only please myself.  I give up all the quick fixes and instant gratifications.  I give up my addictions and bad habits.  I give up lying, cheating, stealing and everything in between.  I give up my shame and my guilt due to a broken past.  I give up the relationships that I've wanted, that I've tried to make happen, and that I've never been able to left go of.  I give up not only being the victim in some cases, but playing the victim in most.  I give up living in fear...of failure, rejection, and the unknown.  I give up my lack of trust in myself and in others.  I give up my insecurities, low self-esteem and hopelessness.  I give up my easting disorder and my need to control everything.  I give up my broken heart and the void within.  I give up trying to fill that void with any and everything but the love of Christ.  Today I'm starting over.  Today I get a clean slate.  Today I get my sins washed away!  And I want everyone to know that this time around, with Jesus, I'm not giving up.

Wow!!  Imagine that multiplied by 40!

Happy Birthday Amy!

I am absolutely crazy about this girl!  She won't be 17 until Tuesday but since Grandma and Grandpa Linville were in town and she is going to camp as a counselor next week we celebrated early.  This is Amy displaying her birthday treat!  Happy Birthday a couple days early Amy!

Behind The Music? Collaboration!

A big part of the success of our creative arts and music ministry is found in the value of collaboration.  We not only collaborate on creative content across all age groups (kids, students and adults) we also collaborate across all eight Community Christian sites in Chicago and we also collaborate with NewThing Network churches all over the country. 

In the most recent issue of The Christian Standard is an article titled, Behind The Music.  In this article Jen Taylor describes the collaborative process we use to create the BIG IDEA.  She gets the perspective from one of our Denver affiliate churches, Jacobs Well and also the perspective from a former California affiliate who chose to go on it's own.  It's worth the read.

Developing Young Artists

We have over 400 students that are now a part of Community Christian Church's School for the Arts.  (If you would like to see a sample of our summer program, click HERE.)  The dream behind the SFTA is to develop more and better artists.  Why?  Because we believe that if we are ever to accomplish the vision of 200 CCC locations in the Chicago area there are two things we have to do well:  1. Develop more and better leaders.  2. Develop more and better artists.

Tonight I went to see one of those young artists - my 9 year old son Caleb.  He was part of a musical camp that met for the last couple weeks and tonight put on a stomp musical, Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace.  The pic to the left is of Caleb and his friend Jared in costume.  Caleb had the lead role as Joseph and did a great job.  He not only had his lines memorized, but seem to have everyone else's memorized and was ready to cue them if they forgot. They did a good job and the kids seem to have lots of fun.  The last thing Caleb said to me after the performance was, "Dad, I think I want to do this again next year."  I love how we are developing young artists for the future.

Innovate 2007 Podcast

I just finished a quick podcast (which will be posted soon) with Tim Stevens and Kem Meyer of Granger Church for the Innovate 2007 Conference.  I can tell if I get to spend any time with these guys we will become friends!  They asked me to come and talk about The Big Idea and I just had to say "yes" for a several reasons: 

1. I try to always lead with a "yes". 
2. I love talking about The Big Idea. 
3. Guy Kawaski is going to be there and I totally dig his blog and much of his writing. 
4. Scott Hodge, my blogging mentor will be speaking there.  So instead of us hanging out at our local Starbucks together we will hangout at Granger together. 
5. Troy Gramling - we've had dinner and gotten to know each other - great leader! 
6. I have never been to Granger!  That is really unforgivable.  Granger is a great church only a couple hours from my house; my brother-in-law goes to church there and I have never experienced the place.

So at the end of September I will get to check it out and challenge leaders to communicate with one BIG IDEA at a time!

Old Friends...

Scott and I were roommates in college.  Scott was in my wedding.  Scott was one of the original friends from college that launched Community Christian Church.  And tonight we had Scott and his family over for dinner.  It had been at least five years since I had spent any time with Scott.  Not sure why it took so long.  Kinda crazy, but it did.  It was fun to catch up; hear how he was doing and get to hang out with his wife and kids.  Great bunch.  Old friends remember when _____________ (you fill in the blank and they remember it!).   There is something about old friends that is kinda cool.

Philippines Trip: Jeff Pessina

After a quick stop in Japan and then Detroit we landed in Chicago yesterday - back from the Philippines. The first thing  I did was go out with the family to get something to eat.  It's kind of becoming a family tradition that  after we have been apart (camp, CIY, mission trips, etc) that we go out to eat and get a chance to hear all the stories and catch-up.  So I told the Ferguson gang all about our quick trip to the Philippines.  One of the things I told my family about was this guy - Jeff Pessina.

Jeff is the Director (I just made that title up - it may or may not be his actual title - they aren't really into titles - but he is the guy that everyone looks to for direction) of Frontline Ministries.  At the age of 20 he became a follower of Jesus and decided to follow where ever the Spirit of Jesus led him.  Within 6 weeks Jesus needed him in the Philippines, so he quit his job and sold everything he had to live with the poorest of the poor in this third world country.  For the first five or six years he lived in a tent.  When I asked Jeff about his budget he said, "we live on whatever God sends us".  Stuff does not seem to be a big temptation to Jeff.  He lives as simply as anyone I know.

There are a lots of things I admire about Jeff and what they are doing through Frontline.  I admire...

• ...that since coming to the Philippines he has led a team of evangelists that have literally seen hundreds of thousands of people make first time commitments to Christ. 
• ...his commitment to the poor of his community includes weekly outreaches to street children, sick in the hospital and those in prison (almost sounds like he got these ideas from the Bible).
• ...his courage take Frontline in a brand new direction of planting reproducing churches.
• ...his vision to see their first church reproduce 17 sites within San Pablo and to train future leaders to "take the nation".

However, the thing I admire most about Jeff is the genuine Biblical community that he has created.  There are about fifty people (counting kids and all) that are a part of Frontline.  They all live on the same 3-4 acres and do life together.  They eat together.  They share bathroom facilities together.  They  work together.  They play (lots of) basketball together.  They worship together.  Together they love the lost.  Together they love the lonely.  And they really do love each other.  It is perhaps the best example of Acts 2 community that I have seen.  Amazing!  I wanted my family to know about my new friend and a guy I really admire.  I want you to know about him too.

Philippines Trip: Frontline Crusades

Frontline Ministry has a long history of doing outreach through crusades all over the Philippines. This photo is Josh giving his testimony at one of the crusades with a translator.  Over the last couple decades more than a million people have made first time commitments to Christ.  Amazing! 

Over the last several years Frontline has seen the need to transition their ministry to planting reproducing churches.  Their first church plant, Frontline Worship Center is already one of the largest churches (maybe the largest non-Catholic) in San Pablo.  The vision is for this church to reproduce sites and have 17 sites in each "barangay" (sub-division) in the next ten years. 

In the future rather than doing crusades all over the country and not being sure about the follow-up they will be repositioning these crusades as outreaches in each of these "barangay" as a strategy to help people find their way back to God and get them connected into a new site of Frontline Worship Center.  These crusades are more like CCC's annual "Fallapalooza" than they are like a Billy Graham Crusade.  There is great music and entertainment of all kinds and then a twenty minute felt-need gospel presentation.  I think this is a brilliant strategy for creating a reproducing church.  I love having them in the NewThing Network.

Philippines Trip: Big Idea Seminar

The hospitality of the Frontline Team has been remarkable.  The affinity we feel for each other in such a short period of time is amazing.  And it's pretty easy to like people who put out a big welcome banner with your name on it!

We spent yesterday doing an all day seminar for about 250 church leaders from all over the Philippines.  We presented material on being a reproducing church; but spent most of our time teaching them how we do the Big Idea.  A very generous person at Community Christian Church paid for the first 100 to get a free copy of The Big Idea.

Philippines Trip: Meet Angie

Yesterday I got to meet Angie.  Angie is a ten year old girl who lives on the streets of San Pablo, Philippines.  I met her when I was with the Frontline team who were feeding street kids hanging out on the square of downtown San Pablo.  When we first walked up Angie she was curled up in a corner and hiding from us.  We tried to talk to her but she refused to show her face to any of us.  Eventually we got her to talk.  What we found out was that she was abused by men on the street this past weekend.  The Frontline team was able to take her back to their camp, give her a shower and something to eat.  Today, one of the team members had a meeting with her mother and she signed a paper giving Frontline responsibility for her.

The whole experience was surreal.  It is so two-dimensional when it happens.  You feel like all the traffic should stop and every passerby ought to offer to do something, but none of that happens.  The traffic continues and pedestrians walk on by without ever noticing.  It kind of got to me.  They asked me to pray for her and the other kids.  I did.  I know it was the right thing to do, but in the moment it felt like I needed to do a whole lot more.  Maybe I do.  Maybe we all do.

Update:  The next day I was at a Frontline crusade and guess who sat in the same row as me?  Angie.  She was quiet, but smiling.  Here it was 24 hours later and she was off the streets and in a safe place. She was surrounded by a community of people of all ages that loved her and wanted the very best for her.  This is exactly what God had in mind when He founded the church:  a community of people that relentlessly love all people and include them in their ever expanding eternal community.

Philippines Trip: Josh and the kids

We finally arrived in San Pablo Philippines, the home of Frontline Ministries.  I stayed awake working on the flight to Toyko and then slept on the four hour flight from Toyko to Manila. So, we arrived last night around 2 am and I got another 4 hours before I woke up.  So, I'm feeling pretty good and wondering where the jet lag is going to kick in.  Maybe not!

I like this pic of Josh, my son and a couple of the kids who are part of the ministry here at Frontline.  The smiles are not just for the camera - they are genuine and continuous.

I'm really impressed with the vision of Jeff Pessina and the Frontline Minstry team.  For years they had been involved primarily in evangelistic crusades throughout the country.  The last several year have been a real time of transition as they focus on planting a reproducing church and now have a vision for 17 sites in the next ten years.  There is tremendous alignment between NewThing and Frontline.  They have adopted much of our philosophy about being a reproducing church and our language which includes our slogan "helping people find their way back to God".

Visting NewThing Affiliate in the Philippines

I'm sitting in O'Hare Airport and our plane is delayed by an hour.  18 hours from now Cliff Parrish, Tim Bakker, Tom Greever, my son Josh and I will land in Manila, Philippines.  Our destination is San Pablo, where we will spend 8 days with our newest NewThing affiliate church while working with Frontline Ministries.  I'm really excited to get to see first hand what Jeff Pessina and his team are doing there.  They are so committed and such impressive people.  A little over 20 years ago Jeff became a Christ Follower and then 6 weeks later sold everything he had and moved to the Philippines to help accomplish the mission of Jesus.  Talk about speedy obedience!?!  I'm hoping that I will have time to post some photos and give you my first hand impressions of the good stuff that God is doing there.  If you think about us, ask God to use our time to better accomplish His mission.

Good Stuff in Kansas City!

The highlight of the North American Christian Convention had to be seeing Troy and Janet McMahon (the pic is the whole family) in front of thousands of people telling their story of how they came to the decision to plant this new church in Kansas City.  I could not be more proud of those guys! Troy has the video of them being interviewed by Alan Ahlgrim the President of the NACC. If you want to check it out, click HERE.

The other highlights were getting to hear from some good friends like Vince Antonucci, Jim Putman and Todd Clark challenge these 3000 church leaders to partner in church planting.  The response was tremendous!  We are still processing so we can follow-up with everyone; but it looks like more than 1000 people made commitments to partner in church planting!!  Awesome.

If you want to get some others take on the 2007 NACC, here you go:

• Jon Ferguson gives us his top 5 highlights.  Since Jon and I live parallel lives there is no reason for me to type all this out - just read his highlights and you will have a good hunch about mine.
• Troy McMahon who was the star of the NACC show gives us three posts on his experience at the 2007 NACC.
• Janet McMahon looks back at the '07 NACC and says, "That was fun!"
• Jen Taylor gives her behind the scenes perspective on the NACC.
• Matt Mahaffey who is planting an awesome reproducing church in Miami gives us his take on the NACC.