Church Planting Day 6: Small Groups

“We were created for community.” –It’s a phrase I say all the time at Awaken, and that’s evident throughout Scripture. After all, according to Genesis 1:26, God created us in His image, and God Himself is a community. So, it would only make sense that the most accurate way that we can reflect His image would be from within community. Today we discussed the why, when, and how of launching, structuring, and growing small groups within a church.

If you know me, I’m passionate about this subject, so it was fun to talk about. We began class by discussing the reason behind small groups, which admittedly, was something I didn’t fully grasp until just a couple years ago. I didn’t grow up going to churches that had small groups or emphasized them, so I didn’t really feel the need to implement them. I knew the church needed them, but I didn’t personally feel the need…until I got involved! Now I love them!

We began our discussion on the why and how with a video from my good friend, Josh Bowers, the Small Groups Pastor at Fresh Life Church in Montana. I learned a lot from their structure and vision for groups as we were launching ours, and theirs have been very successful, so it was great to hear from Josh.

After the video, we discussed the sermon-based small group structure of Awaken Groups, how we train leaders and co-leaders, what a semester of groups looks like, and how we utilize the website and other technology to enhance groups. We also covered some key lessons I’ve learned and challenges we’ve faced along the way…

Start with your vision. Vision defines structure.

This is one principle that applies not only to small groups, but to many other things as well. The what determines the how. Beginning with the vision helps you to define how you’re going to get to the goal. One of the questions that was asked was about any of the negative sides of sermon-based small groups. I’m not aware of any negative aspects of it because they help us to fulfill the vision of the groups: the social aspect and the application aspect.

Cut the competition.

If you looked at an Awaken events calendar, you’d notice a clump of events over winter break and a clump over summer break, but not much during semesters of Awaken Groups. There’s a reason for that. Americans are naturally busy people, and don’t have time to commit to their families, jobs, church, and small group, while also attending other programs and events. Although the extracurricular programs and events can be good, often times the good things can compete against the best things. At Awaken, this realization led to a complete overhaul of our calendar of events, and even led to the end of our Wednesday night service (Shocking, I know. Get over it, and get in a group!).

Satan hates small groups.

Although Awaken Groups is the place where we see the deepest growth, it’s also a place where some of the greatest attack and division can stem from. We cover each semester of Awaken Groups in prayer, and recognize that especially in areas where God is moving deeply in people’s lives, Satan will kick back. My philosophy is this: if Satan hates it and is trying to stop it, I must be doing the right thing! In fact, if he hates it, it must glorify God, and I want to do it even more! I wanted to remind the students that small groups, along with many other aspects of ministry, is a spiritual battle that must be fought with spiritual means.

Family Tree

At Awaken, we’ve been in the book of Revelation for 33 weeks now! So far we’ve covered everything from the 7 churches to the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and last weekend, the Millennial reign of Christ and final judgment of sin and Satan. It’s not over, but it is over for the year. In December, we’re taking a break from Revelation to make room for a special Christmas series called “Family Tree.”

Family Tree is a look at the curious cast of characters that make up the family of Christ. It’s a look at the people whose entrance into the world led to Jesus’ entrance into the world. And the good news is, they’re not all really holy, hyper-spiritual people, like you might think. God chooses the common, every day people to use for His glory, and the names in Matthew 1 are proof!

If you’re in the Clarksville area and are looking for a church to attend, make sure to come to Awaken beginning this Sunday for this Christmas series. It might just change your life!

Plus, we have a few surprises up our sleeves…

A Common Theme

Last Sunday was week #21 of our study through the book of Revelation called The Reckoning. Almost every Sunday since February 19, we’ve been in the book of Revelation, and we’re loving it! There are many great things about expositional, verse-by-verse teaching, but one of my favorites is the variety of topics I end up teaching on. Expositional teaching forces me to teach things that I might naturally want to skip over.

Case in point: a message I called “Under the Knife” from Joshua 5, where Joshua circumcised a bunch of guys on a hill that became known as “the hill of the foreskins.” Yeah. You read that right. Imagine showing up to a church for the first time and repeatedly hearing about foreskins and circumcision!

Last Sunday, I taught on the Antichrist and his Satanic worldwide domination at the end of the world. Not exactly an easy text, or one that’s filled with tons of uplifting, encouraging verses.

Before we started Revelation, I spent 2 weeks doing an overview of the entire Bible – a series I called “The Book.” It was so fun and a great review for everyone before we dove into the final book of the Bible. Week 1 was on the Old Testament, and week 2 was on the New Testament.

One thing that all 3 of those messages had in common (among a few things) was that God used all of them to bring people to repentance and make public professions of faith!

Only God could use a review of 39 Old Testament books, a message about foreskins and circumcision, and a message about Satanic world domination through the Antichrist to bring new life in Jesus! Of course those are just 3 of many messages that God has used that way at Awaken, but those are a few of the most memorable ones.

Here’s the point: I make a concerted effort, every time we gather, to always take it back to the common theme of Scripture (and Awaken Church): the cross of Jesus Christ. Like Paul said…

1 Corinthians 2:2 - For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

When Paul left a city, church, or group of people, he wasn’t content with knowing that they thought he was a good speaker or that he had persuaded them into a new line of thinking. He had a special gift and made a conscious effort to take every conversation, topic, and witnessing opportunity back to the common theme of the cross. He lived for that. He would do anything necessary and make any sacrifice he needed to when it came to the Gospel. He wasn’t about winning arguments or debates; he was all about winning souls.

That’s what I want my ministry and life to be focused on as well. Whether I’m teaching about circumcision, Satanic domination, the Old Testament, or any other topic, when people come to Awaken, I want them to know this: they WILL hear about their need to be saved and Jesus’ ability and desire to save them. In other words, they WILL hear the Gospel. I refuse to waste an opportunity.

As Christians, we carry the name “Christ” within the title of our beliefs. Our lives should also be lived with a common theme in mind: pointing people to the cross!

Don’t check “NONE.”

There’s an alarming trend on the rise in the United States, according to a recent USA Today article about religious affiliation: nones are on the rise. Yeah, I spelled that right. I’m not talking about nuns in a convent, I’m talking about a rapidly growing group known as nones – people, who when asked about their religious affiliation in a survey, check the box that says, “None.”

Nones include atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and people who have convinced themselves that they believe in “nothing in particular.”

Side note: everyone believes in something, even if they say they don’t.

The subtitle of the article says, “A growing number of Americans couldn’t care less about God.” Although that’s sad to hear, it’s not surprising. The part that concerns me most is the other side of the coin. Not only do they not care about or believe in God, but their thoughts are similar when it comes to the Bible and Satan…and that’s dangerous.

The Bible doesn’t mess around when it speaks of Satan.

Peter called him “a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

John, in the book of Revelation, reveals 5 names for him: “the great dragon,” “that serpent of old,” “the Devil,” “Satan,” and “the accuser of our brethren.”

The differences between he and God are many, but one of the main ways is how they operate.

Psalm 19 says that “the heavens declare the glory of God” and Romans 1 says that due to the proof of nature all around us, we are “without excuse” when it comes to believing God. Nature isn’t the only way He reveals Himself, though – that’s just general revelation. He’s also revealed Himself through what we’d call special revelation: the Bible, the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and even at times, coming down to speak with people. The Bible says that God desires all to come to repentance – He wants everyone to know about Him. In fact, in Revelation, He goes out of His way to get people’s attention: a group of 144,000 witnesses in Revelation 7, 2 surpernaturally-empowered witnesses in Chapter 11, and even angels that fly through the sky warning everyone in every language of God’s wrath and mercy.

While God works hard at telling the whole world, Satan does the opposite – he flies under the radar. We live in a culture where people are clamoring for attention and trying to make a name for themselves. However, Satan would much rather be filed under the same category as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. If people think he’s a fairy tale, they’re not threatened by him.

That’s why an unprecedented amount of Nones in the U.S. is alarming to me. Satan loves for people to check that box because he knows those people are easy targets.

The Bible is very clear about the existence of Satan, his plans, his hatred, as well as his defeat and eternal punishment. Last Sunday at Awaken, I taught through Revelation 12, which is one of those passages that pulls back the curtain on the often-overlooked battle that’s been waging for our souls for thousands years. It was an eternity-changing message for at least 3 people on Sunday, and I hope challenging to many more. You can watch or listen to it in our Awaken Church teaching archive.

Here’s the point: don’t check “None.” Not believing in something doesn’t cause it to cease to exist. You’re playing right into Satan’s hand when you rule him out as a fairy tale.

Rescue Stories

During the Uprising, everyone had a different point of view. Some saw people filing in the doors, others saw the stage get set up and torn back down, and others were backstage as the bands played and message was taught. I also had a unique point of view, as I stood on the stage and presented the Gospel. However, some of my favorite stories came from people I didn’t see…

PENTAGRAM

A few people told me about a guy wearing a 666/Pentagram shirt that came forward and gave his life to Jesus. That’s the spiritual equivalent of a sports player walking to the other team and switching jerseys. Satan must be bumming about that guy!

LEAVING FRIENDS BEHIND

Two of the girls who joined us from Albuquerque told me of a group of friends they saw walk in during my message. There were 4 of them and they looked pretty skeptical of the “preacher guy” on the stage. These two girls felt led by the Lord to pray for them, and so they did, for the rest of the time I taught. At the end, when I gave the opportunity for people to raise their hands to accept Christ, the first hand in the air was from one of the guys in that group of friends. The other three were shocked, but not only was his hand the first in the air, he was one of the first to leave his seat and come forward to pray! He couldn’t wait to surrender his life to Christ, regardless of what his friends might say!

THE RELIGIOUS

After the message, during the concert, I walked outside and saw a young guy with a new believer’s pack in his hand. I asked him about the decision he had made that night. He told me he had always believed he was good enough, and had grown up in the Catholic church, but that night, he knew something had to change. He had the religion part down, but the relationship was lacking. In his packet, he had received a Bible, and he couldn’t wait to read a version of the Bible without the “thee” and “thou” verses!

Those are just a few of the stories of changed lives from The Uprising, but I know there are many, many more. I’ve already heard of people who were directly and indirectly effected by that night, lives that were changed, and faith that was sparked. I believe when the message goes up online, even more will be impacted as well!

Praise God for using a 150+ nobodies to tell a bunch of people about JESUS!

If you gave your life to Jesus at The Uprising, we’d love to hear your story! Email us at info@wearetheuprising.com if you’d like to share!

Don’t shoot it down!

When God lays a ministry idea on my heart, often times the rational, cautious, budgeting side of me is the first enemy to shoot the idea down. I immediately say things like, “I don’t think anyone would even come to that” or “There’s no way we can afford an event like that.” I don’t even wait for Satan to come in with discouragement or frustrations – I save him the hassle by shooting it down before he even has a chance. I’ve done it quite a few times throughout my years of ministry, but thankfully I’ve learned my own tendency to do this and have been able to work against it.

What I’ve learned to to do is this: when an idea for ministry comes to mind or the opportunity to take a step of faith presents itself, before I do anything with it, I take a few days to just pray about it. When I say “a few days,” I do not mean 365 days – I mean 3 or 4. I feel that a lot of Christians miss opportunities to see God use them because they’re just sitting there praying for God to use them…but that’s a different blog altogether.

When these opportunities arise, prayer is vital, because it realigns me with the God I serve and the One who will be funding the event if we go through with it.

Sometimes through prayer, I realize that it was probably more my idea than anything else, and I end up not doing it. More often, however, I’m reminded that God spoke things into existence and mandated sharing the Gospel with the world. With Him on my side and that command being lived out, what do I have to worry about?

Has God given you an idea for ministry or sharing your faith with someone? Do you feel led in a certain direction? Is there a step of faith that you should be taking that you’ve been praying about for way too long now?

Don’t shoot it down!

If people will hear about Jesus through it, your motives are right, and you’re going through the proper channels to make it happen, what are you waiting for? Take a leap of faith and don’t look back!

The Terrible Twos

As of today, Awaken Church is officially 2 years old!

A lot has happened in the last 2 years since we opened our doors on September 19, 2009.

On Sunday, we celebrated the great things that God has done by taking a look back, but also by casting the vision for what’s next (If you want to watch or listen to the message, click HERE). Here’s a quick summary of our vision for what’s next…

Awaken Church will aggressively and unapologetically reach out to a lost and dying generation with the hope of Jesus Christ.

Everything we do stems from that statement. We’ll do things differently; we’ll do them with excellence; and we’ll do them to glorify the name of Jesus Christ.

As we celebrate the 2-year mark, I’m praying that Satan sees it as Awaken’s “terrible twos.” We want to make destructive & devastating blows to his kingdom as we aggressively pursue this generation with the Gospel! This year holds big things for Awaken, and I’m praying it’s the worst one yet for the enemy!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked the Awaken Staff to collect numbers and statistics that represent some of the things God has done in their part of the church. It’s a tangible way to get a small glimpse on the huge impact God is using us for. However, I didn’t want to just read off a list of stats – I wanted people to be able to visualize it. So, thanks to my friend and fellow graphic designer, Khanh Dang, from New Mexico, we handed out these infographics with each bulletin on Sunday. They represent some of what God has done, but pay attention to the bottom line…

Since we gathered these stats at the beginning of the month, some of them have already changed.

>>> 32 professions of faith should actually be 33!

>>> 13 baptisms is actually now 25!

We also didn’t have room for everything, so here are a few noteworthy stats that didn’t make the cut…

>>> 450 cups of coffee in the last 2 months (hence the need to sell some sweet coffee mugs)

>>> 70+ volunteers serving regularly (that’s about 45% of our current church attendance!)

>>> giving has increased about 300% since our first month as a church (let’s keep that number going: give online here)

>>> 90 people involved in Awaken Groups (including leaders, hosts, adults & students) – that’s 60% of our church involved in weekly Christ-centered community throughout the city! 

More faithful than the most faithful

Last Wednesday, as we continued our Vital Signs series through the book of James, we looked at the topic of temptation. Although at times, we may be tempted to blame God for our failures and the temptations that we indulged, the reality is that He can’t be tempted and He doesn’t tempt others. After all, why would God tempt us to do the very thing that cost His only Son His life?

One verse that stood out to me was James 1:17…

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. – James 1:17

James is great at using poetic language to get his point across, and verse 17 is no exception. He describes God as the “father of lights” (the creator and sustainer of the stars), then describes how faithful He is in comparison to the stars…

Compromise elsewhere?

You may have seen this commercial for Boar’s Head turkey lunch meat…

Did you catch the last line of the commercial? “Boar’s Head Oven Gold Turkey: Compromise Elsewhere.“

It is a funny commercial, and they certainly have a point – nobody wants to eat turkey meat with fat and seaweed extract in it. The irony, however,  is that we live in a culture where a commercial promoting uncompromising purity in lunch meat may air right before a commercial for Desperate Housewives or on the same channel as a company promoting pornography.

Although Boar’s Head didn’t set out to encourage infidelity in marriage, the commercial highlights our misaligned priorities.

Where along the way did we begin to think that it’s ok to compromise in marriage and sexual morality, but not when it comes to lunch meat? I’d say if we needed to pick an area of compromise, it would obviously be the lunch meat (although I’m not recommending seaweed turkey).

In the last week at Awaken Church, the topic of spiritual battles and Satan’s clever schemes has come up a lot. Whether it’s through his lies and trickery (Joshua 9) or his constant bombardment of temptation through any means possible (James 1:12-18), Satan is on the prowl, and we need to be prepared.

If a faithful walk with Christ had a slogan, it could be summed up well by saying, “Compromise NOWHERE.”

Remember this: The best possible life you can live is a life of complete surrender to Jesus Christ.

Compromise and complacency always lead to regret and guilt. As Warren Wiersbe put it, “Satan never gives any gifts, because you end up paying for them dearly.”

If there’s an issue that is causing compromise in your life, TODAY is the day to deal with it. Don’t let it go on a day longer. God has provided a way of escape from every temptation and right now is the time to say, “NO!”

Compromise NOWHERE.

Bible In 90 Days 34: NAHUM

Today is Day 70 in our journey through the Bible in 90 days.

If you’ve read through Jonah, you know the people that Nahum was speaking about: the people of Nineveh. You know right from the start that it’s not going to be pretty, though. The first sentence of the book is: “The burden against Nineveh.” Uh oh.

If you’re familiar with Jonah, however, that sentence might leave you wondering what’s going on. You’ll recall that when Jonah finally made it to Nineveh, they all repented and turned to the Lord and God relented from judging them. So why the judgment now and what happened to the “relenting”?

Nahum came about 160 years after Jonah. The problem seems to lie in the fact that although one generation of Ninevites had repented and been forgiven and saved, they hadn’t passed on their new lifestyle to the subsequent generations. That’s a major problem, and Nahum is proof.

The book of Nahum reminds us of a side of God that we don’t like to talk much about: justice. We love to talk about God’s mercy, love, and compassion, but when it comes to God judging sin, it’s not one of our favorite things to think about. In fact, many churches today won’t mention it from the pulpit, won’t say the word “hell,” and never give a moment to Satan, treating him like he doesn’t exist (which is exactly how he likes it).

For instance, I’ll bet these verses aren’t underlined in your Bible…

Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale! – Nahum 2:10

Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. – Nahum 2:13

The reality is that God’s holiness demands God’s justice. If God doesn’t deal appropriately with sin, than we cannot call Him “holy.” Sin earns death. Ezekiel said it. Paul said it. The cross proved it.

So here’s the question: how do we avoid becoming a modern-day Nineveh? 2 ways…

Live in the light of God’s holiness. Remember that He doesn’t tolerate sin and although He’s merciful, He doesn’t wink at disobedience. His holiness demands that sin be dealt with.

Pass it on. It is our role as Christians to pass on the truth of God’s holiness to the next generation. The church is always one generation away from extinction. If it fails after we die, we didn’t do our job. Yes, Jesus is holding it together, but He has assigned us the task of passing it on. Do your part. Speak up!