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COMMUNITY's Epic Jr. Presents "Jack & The Beanstalk"

COMMUNITY'S Epic Jr. Theater Company is proud to present “Jack and the Beanstalk”, a short play for young audiences that aligns with our current BIG IDEA series Tough Times.  Jack and his mother are going through tough times and have nothing to eat. Jack leaves home to sell the cow and comes upon some magic beans. The beans, the beanstalk and the giant all teach Jack valuable lessons as the highly interactive story unfolds. Here is an interview with Co-Director Kristi Bramlett.  Performance times will be Saturday, February 28th at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM and also on Saturday, March 7th at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM at the Naperville Yellow Box. Tickets are $5 each and can be reserved in advanced or purchased at the door. For more information please email epicjunior@yahoo.com or call our reservation line at (630) 328-8970.

Find the Monkey & Win!

Alert! A small monkey has once again escaped from a local zoo and is believed to be hiding on the COMMUNITY web site. A reward is being offered for his capture in the amount of a $10 Starbucks Card or a $15 Ground Level Cafe gift certificate.  So join the fun and scour the COMMUNITY web site for the monkey. If you're the first person to find him, you win! Once he's been found, we'll hide him again... so you'll have plenty of chances to find the monkey.

Finding Your Way Back To God

Today was one of those amazing days in the life of COMMUNITY.  I had a hunch that it was going to be a good service when I got an e-mail from Tony, our Arts Director at CCC-Romeoville telling me that we needed to cut a few minutes out of my message so that we could fit in the five baptisms that we had scheduled.  And it was not just a good service...it was an experience to be remembered for a life time.  After we got done baptizing the five planned we asked if anyone else wanted to make a public commitment to following Jesus.  And for the next twenty minutes we saw seven more people get in line to be baptized.  The pic you are looking at above is one of the guys who in the moment decided to get baptized and just jumped in with his clothes on.  It was amazing day!
The catalyst for this amazing day was our Student Community.  The five scheduled baptisms were all students and most of those that decided in the moment to get baptized were also high school students.  It is remarkable what God is doing in the life of our students

If you were one of the dozen people who was baptized at CCC-Romeoville today this is what the crowd looked like from your vantage point.  I love how everyone is on their feet, leaning forward, taking it in and cheering these people on.  I love this church!

3-Steps to Implementing the Big Idea at Your Church

By applying the BIG IDEA to your churches teaching ministry you will bring tremendous clarity to what it means to follow Jesus and in so doing you will increase the missional velocity of your church.  Who doesn't want that?  Well, you can begin to apply the BIG IDEA in your church starting today. There are at least three stages you can go through in becoming a BIG IDEA church, and these are best explained in the acrostic B.I.G. 

Eric Bramlett recently wrote an article on Pastors.com for their Ministry Tool Box that explains these three stages to implementing the BIG IDEA.

How To Bring Change When You Are NOT The Boss

I get e-mails from lots of young staff pastors across the country asking how they can bring about change in an existing church. The real question they have for me is this, "How can I bring about change when I'm not the boss?"  The following is a recent response to such a question:

First, you need to make sure you hear from God everyday.  I know that sounds familiar.  Maybe that is happening.  Maybe not.  But the first job of every Christ Follower and even more importantly every leader is to hear from God everyday.  Hear from Him and then risk it all on what He says.

Second, you can begin to initiate change within your silo of the church organization.  Change does not always come from the top.  Often, the most significant change comes from places other than the top.  And innovative change seldom comes from the top. I was with Alan Hirsch yesterday and he said something very profound; "the best critique of the bad is to do something better.  I would encourage you to avoid critique and to do what God tells you to do within your ministry area.  When you begin to do something better others will notice and when they ask you explain the change that has happened.

Look What Is In Our Backyard!

On Saturday Sue, Sherry Gossman and Caleb looked in the backyard of our very suburban home and saw this!  This is one of four deer that they saw in the backyard looking like they totally belonged.  Pretty bizzare!

Blast! Live Webstream All Weekend!

StuCo's Blast! Winter Retreat at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells will be broadcast live right here at communitychristian.org/blast.  Tune in all weekend and join 700+ from our StuCo Ministry at each of the main sessions. Whether you're a student that can't come or a parent hoping to get in on the fun, it's sure to be a great broadcast. Service times are Friday night @ 9:15, Saturday @ 7pm, and Sunday @ 9am and 7pm.

Generosity Conference Available FREE Online

Last weekend, for the second year in a row we had our Generosity Conference.  We brought in some of the best speakers and foremost experts to equip our us in the "how-to's" of being generous and to motivate us to become the generous people that God wants us to become.  If you missed any of this great event; it is now generously provided to you for free on-line:

• MAIN SESSION: Becoming A Generous Church - Rob Wegner (handout)  (video) 
• WORKSHOP:  Raising Generous Kids - David Briggs (handout)  (video)
• WORKSHOP:  Money, Purpose, Joy - Matt Bell (handout)  (video)
• WORKSHOP:  Generosity Begins With The Heart - Casey Graham (handout)
• MAIN SESSION: The Urgency of Generosity - Dave Ferguson (handout)  (video)

Christian Post: "Pastors Urge Christians To Exemplify Generosity"

The Christian Post did a story yesterday titled "Pastors Urge Christians To Exemplify Generosity."  I'm not sure what it says when that is news - but it is.  The article is about COMMUNITY, our Generosity Conference and how in these tough economic as a church we are saying now is the time for Christians to be generous.  Take a quick glance.  I love that God is making us into a more and more generous church.

NewThing To Plant Reproducing Church in France

NewThing is going to France!  Bill and Rachel Carroll and their 2 children, Natalie & Will, will be moving in July 2009 to plant the first of many reproducing churches in France.  Bill came on staff with COMMUNITY in 1997 to help prepare for the launch of our second campus in Romeoville. Since then, Bill and Rachel have dreamed of launching this kind of reproducing church in France.  France is truly a post-Christian country where less than 1% of the population would consider themselves Christ-followers.  After hundreds of years of wars fought in the name of religion and corruption within the church, the French people lost their trust in the church and have since lost a belief in God. Bill and Rachel are both very talented leaders and artists and will be missed immensely.  But it is the Carrolls’ passion to share the hope & love of Jesus with the French people and we support them fully. If you want to follow along on Bill and Rachel's adventure they have a blog, The Carroll Family in France.

1,000+ Show Up To Learn About Generosity!

If 1,000+ people all crammed into the two venues of the Yellow Box for a conference on dating, marriage or sex I would not be surprised.  But on Saturday we had 1,000+ people from COMMUNITY all crammed into the two venues at the Yellow Box for a conference on how to be more generous!  It was our second annual Generosity Conference.

Rob Wegner (pictured) from Granger Community Church kicked off our first main session and gave one of the best talks I've ever heard on the topic of generosity.  You need to take the time to click HERE and experience this talk.  A very clear and compelling BIG IDEA from God's word.   

The hunger to be generous is just another reason I love this church and I love what God is doing at COMMUNITY.  We are a group of people who are being prompted by God to step forward during tough economic times and say, "We will still be generous!"  I can't wait to see what God does next through COMMUNITY!

Don't Miss Exponential 09 - Early Bird Only $159!

If I could go to only one conference this year, Exponential is the conference!  Four years ago we had about 300 attenders, three years ago it jumped to 900, two years ago we had 1800 people show up and last year we had almost 3000 people come together to learn how to be a reproducing church.  The Exponential Conference is now the largest church planting conference on the planet earth and registrations are coming in this year at a record pace!  But we still have space for you.  In fact, if you register before February 15th you can get the early bird rate of $159.

There are more than 90 of the top leaders that are passionate about the reproducing church that will be leading sessions to help you and your church take the next steps in becoming a reproducing church. In addition there will be main sessions featuring Erwin McManus, Craig Groeschel, Francis Chan, Bob Roberts, Derek Duncan and partnered with leaders from church planting movements from the globe. You don't want to miss Exponential!

Millard Fuller & Theology of the Hammer

A few years ago Nick Ryan, Bruno Bottarelli and myself traveled from Chicago to Americus, Georgia at the invitation of Millard Fuller.  We were there to learn and represent the Institute for Community.  We got to spend a good part of the day with Fuller and see the work of Habitat for Humanity.  It was simply amazing to hear the story of a guy who was a self-made millionaire by the age of 30; gave it all up to start this not-for-profit.  Habitat has gone on to be the largest home builder in the world.  It was remarkable to hear him explain his "theology of the hammer" and then look us in the eye and say, "don't you believe that every person deserves a simple decent place to live?"  The answer was obvious.  As a follower of Jesus he gave his life for the Kingdom of God.  Millard Fuller died on February 3rd.

An Apologetic for the Multi-Site Church

I had a great time at the Innovation3 Conference last week.  The best part was all the great people I got to hangout with while I was there.  I got to lead a couple sessions.  One was on multi-site and another was on churches that are reproducing both sites and church plants.  In each session I was paired with two other terrific leaders.  The first session I was leading with Larry Osborne and the second session with Greg Surratt; but led with Mark Driscoll in both.  In this pic Larry is up front teaching while Mark and I are waiting our turn in the front row.

And during those sessions I thought Driscoll's stuff about multi-site was worth repeating.  Here is Marks apologetic for a multi-site church:

1. Theological:  It is a great means for accomplishing the Great Commission.  If we study the New Testament we see networks of churches within cities.
2. Missological:  We need to "do all things possible to reach some."  The multi-site church can be a great missional expression of the church.
3. Ecclesiological:  We have historical examples of one church meeting in multiple places.  One example are the circuit riders who would deliver the same message at a variety of locations and travel from one to the next by horseback.
4. Technological:  With each technological innovation (ex.:  chairs, printing press, electricity, etc.) it creates new opportunities for spreading the gospel.  The innovation of Internet and video creates unprecedented opportunities for sharing the good news.

Grand Dessert!

Sue and I got away for a 24 hour anniversary get-away to the city (and of course by "city" I am referring to the greatest city, Chicago).  Got to do lot of fun stuff in a little bit of time and here is one of my recommendations:  the strawberry short cake at the Grand Lux Cafe.  Phenomenal!!

Finding Your Way Back To God