Tag Archive - church

Trinity Cares about the Unborn

December 13, 2011 in Ministry, Personal with 0 Comments

I love my church.  One of the reasons I love my church is that they deliberately try to reach abortion-bound women.  The Trinity Heartline Women’s Clinic is a real-life clinic for women.  With a full-time Registered Nurse, and caring leaders meeting with women throughout the week.  We offer free pregnancy tests and free ultrasounds to women that want them; and then we offer counseling to help them make an informed decision.

What I really love about Heartline is they’ve recently captured the heart of adoption, and in the last year alone referred over 15 women to put their children up for adoption into Christian homes.  Heartline also provides incentive for mothers that choose to keep their children to attend parenting classes, and then qualify for gifts for their babies.  We call it “earn while you learn”, and how cool is that?  On top of all that, Heartline also provides post-abortion care to women living with the pain of past decisions.

I know that abortion is a sticky subject to address many times, but I’m glad that my church has taken a stance for life in the city of Lubbock.  I’m glad that they do it in a responsible way that brings hope to my city.

Trinity Helps the Hurting

December 12, 2011 in Ministry, Personal with 0 Comments

I love my church because we have a real ministry to hurting people.  We don’t have to look far in our city to find people in need, and those hurting people don’t have to look far to find us ready to help.  They actually come to Trinity’s Outreach Center by the 100′s every week.  We work hard to feed hungry people, clothe those in need, and offer financial assistance in as responsible a way as possible.  We partner with prisoner release programs, city food pantries, drug rehabilitation programs, health clinics, and other churches everyday to reach as many people as possible.  Did you catch that last one?  We work with other churches.  I love that.

As the NextGen leader at Trinity I am blessed to have ministries like this built into the system of our church.  It’s easy to find a house for teenagers to paint, or a project for children to raise winter coats for.  It’s easy, because our church meets these needs every single day.

I’m not saying my church is better than your church, I’m just saying I love my church.

My Church is Old, and I Love It.

December 8, 2011 in Ministry, Personal with 2 Comments

I love it that my church is old.  Trinity has weathered the storm of different generations and has survived!  Trinity has lasted.  As we approach the 50th year of ministry in Lubbock, I marvel at the impact we’ve had over all these years.  The attendance numbers have fluctuated from “bursting at the seams” to “will anyone show up?”, but over they years has continued to find health and participate as a functioning part of our community for 50 years.

There are unique challenges of an old church, there is no doubt.  But there are great advantages as well.  We have consistent people, both in attendance and in what they give to the vision of our church.  We have a diverse group of people that ranges from newborn children through WW2 veterans.  We have a story that spans 5 decades, and people love to tell it to us young folks!  We have the luxury of experience to draw from with each decision we make.

It’s comforting to me to attach myself and my family to a secure place like Trinity, that values loyalty and excellence all at the same time.  In my travels, I regularly run into people who know about my church.  They don’t know about us from some recent podcast, or popular book our pastor may have wrote (and there isn’t anything wrong with this.)  They know about us, because sometime in the past 50 years our church has impacted their life or someone they know.  That’s rich and I love it.

The Perception of Change

November 8, 2011 in Ministry with 0 Comments

I’m a change advocate.  Change has never really scared me, and I look forward to opportunities to do it the right way.  However, I’ve also learned that the the perception of many towards the change you advocate is oftentimes negative.  Strange, huh?  Yet, that’s the result of change.  There will always be the battle between perception and reality.

What was perceived to be the reality before the change, and what is perceived to be the resulting reality after the change; are different from the actual reality.  The problem is that sometimes perception can be so far from reality that it leads to a new conflict.  As is often the case when you advocate and lead change, you as the leader will bear the burden of criticism due to the perceptions of others.

Over the past few months at our church, I’ve made a pretty significant change to our mid-week programming and the change has been overwhelming positive.  It’s been a long-time in the planning, yet was done with prayerful intentions and a high-degree of reluctance to do so.  However, it’s been the right thing for our church at this time. Even in that atmosphere, there is still the battle between perception and reality.

The perception is that I never liked what was here before.  The reality is different.

The perception is that I ran off people who loved the existing program.  The reality is different.

The perception is that I don’t like programs that require large groups of committed volunteers.  The reality is different.

The perception is that now I’ve created a program of lesser value.  The reality is different.

I could go on and on and on about perception vs. reality; but I’m still left living with the perceptions of others.  And that’s going to be allright.  You can’t control someone perceptions of you and your leadership.  [WARNING: I'd tell you to keep an eye out, if the perception of everyone around you is something different than you; that could very well be the sign that you're wrong and they are right! The perceptions I speak of are from people that aren't on the "inside" of the change that's being made, I speak of those that are solely making their perceptions on what they see from a distance.]

The truth is that you can only control your own personal actions, and the steps you take to help kids and families connect with God through the ministry of your church.  Learning to live in a place of health in spite of unhealthy perceptions is not always easy, but it’s required if you’re going to advocate for change.  Being a change agent in a place that even demands for change will not be easy, but it takes someone willing to sacrifice themselves to current perceptions in order to create a longer-lasting perception based in reality.  And that reality takes time.

Are you committed to making the change in spite of the initial perceptions?  Let’s hear from your own journey…

Our Goal Setting Process

October 24, 2011 in Ministry, Personal with 0 Comments

I wrote the other day about how I set out to keep goals within our ministry team context. Before we can do what I explained previously, I have to explain how we even came to the goals on our list.  Believe it or not, but when setting everyday goals, short-term and long-term goals for a team that represents 4 distinct ministry areas, and 9 different staff members; you have to move slow and tediously to get buy-in on everything.

The team that I lead has been charged with crafting a Next Generations ministry philosophy for our church.  We represent the leadership of everyone birth through college age; so there are a ton of minds working their own things within our team.  I needed goals that were entirely ministry-specific, but instead fit the overall NextGen philosphy that our church wanted.  I used the “Orange Leaders Handbook” for this, and it proved to be a valuable tool.  It breaks down an Orange-Family ministry concept into 5 different areas, and I taught on those 5 areas in our bi-monthly staff meetings all through March and April.  Mostly explanation, with little to no discussion at that point.

Then in the Summer we all took the “Orange-o-meter” included in the book to gauge where we are as a team and as a church at accomplishing these 5 areas successfully.  I gathered up the scores, and then we spent May through October evaluating our average scores and not leaving each individual area until we had nailed down both short term and long term goals for each area.  I kept detailed notes throughout the process, and when it was all said and done a few weeks ago…I put them all to paper and presented them to everyone over breakfast.  Wanna see those goals?  Click here to view them all big and handsome-like.

Anything you see here that you like?  It’s unique to me and our church, and in no way do I endorse everyone do what I’ve done…but what would you do differently or have you done differently? 

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