If you want the full effect, be sure to watch the clip at the bottom of the page from Penn and Teller describing why the Bible is Bull____! We actually showed an edited 4-6 minute clip before John came up to speak, but it was a very interesting way to start, kind of like we were digging a hole for unbelief that we had to climb out of before presenting an honest and educated view. It was amazing.

(Beware, the video at the bottom contains language)

Eric Bryant is a co-worker of mine. He’s the Campus Pastor of our South Campus and he leads our Central Austin geography. He’s an incredible leader who came to our team 18 months ago after serving at Mosaic Church in LA for more than a decade. In addition to the value Eric brings to Gateway, Eric has great influence in the church around the country and beyond. Be sure to check out his site and tune in at 2:00!

Last Sunday Gateway started a new series called, “How Do You Know?” I think that this series represents some of what makes Gateway so amazing! It’s a creative series asking the questions that most people really struggle with. Questions like:

• How do you know the Bible isn’t just propaganda?
• How do you know God cares?
• How do you know that Jesus is the only way?
• How do you know you’re right with God?

I absolutely loved Craig Groeschel’s talk at Orange this year. He essentially communicated many of the philosophical and strategy positions behind Orange, but from his own personal perspective and experience. His shocking statement was that we should not aim to raise well rounded, highly educated and happy children. That’s what our culture communicates as a need, but this doesn’t line up with the scriptures.

• Well rounded really isn’t best. It’s average in everything. When hiring someone, you’re typically looking for someone who is good in one or a handful of areas.
• Well educated isn’t necessarily the best either. How many parents send their students to great schools only to have them lose their faith in exchange for intellect.
• Seeking happiness isn’t best either. Our culture worships the false god of happiness. Seeking happiness in itself is fleeting.

I’m not advocating that any of the things above are bad. I want some of those things for my kids… but it’s not the central object of desire. The scriptures say, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his own soul.”

Instead, we should aim to raise single-minded, Christ-centered, Bible-anchored world changers. YES! This is what I want!

Craig had so many other great nuggets of wisdom, I’ll end this post by listing them here:

• Parents: You will always be the most important voice… but you must not be the only voice.We must have intergenerational voices. Not just 20 year olds speaking into 16 year olds, but 60 year olds into 16 year olds.
• Raise your expectationsWe have dumbed down and lowered our standards. We must raise the standard of what we can expect the next generation can do. In biblical times, a child would have memorized the first 5 books of the bible by age 12. Of teenagers, we expect then to go to school, don’t get anyone pregnant and make your bed. We’ve lowered the standard and raised an entitled generation. Everyone gets a trophy just for showing up.
• Craig expected all of his kids were expected to have a mentor and be a mentor. How many 11 year olds think they can mentor? Those who have parents who think they can. Craig’s 16 year old wrote a book. How many 16 year olds wrote a book? Those who have parents who think they can.
• Raise your kids to be investors. Raise your kids to be owners. Tell them, you can lead a Bible study. You can lead your teacher to Christ. They can own a business. You can be in leadership at our church.
• Rules without relationship equals rebellion.
• If it’s not real to you, they’ll know. They are fake detectors. If you want to see them forgive freely with grace, forgive freely with grace.

As much as I prefer schedules and order, the real work of ministry doesn’t always happen that way. It happens at inconvenient times and beacons us to get personally involved, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. It’s funny how I’ve been experiencing this a little more lately. For years, I’ve worked with people who really understood the messiness of ministry. They lived and operated fully immersed in it. At times, I criticized this approach because there was no structure to scale and grow. I still stand beside my impressions, but I believe that there needs to be a balance of both in our lives. For me, I need to experience more of the messiness of the Gospel in my personal life and ministry.

Reggie Joiner opened up the Orange Conference with a very compelling talk about the messiness of the Gospel. It was probably one of the more significant talks Reggie has given at an Orange Conference.

Jesus set the example of what messy ministry looked like. His three short years of ministry were filled with frustration, difficult conversations and great tension. He didn’t live a sinless life to set a great example… he lived a sinless life so that he could pay the price for our sins. The disciples continued the ministry that Jesus began and it involved colliding with humanity is a personal and often painful way. They met people’s needs in dire circumstances that was often inconvenient and uncomfortable. I think that the reality that I’m discovering is that I am called to make disciples and it will never fit into my nice and neat schedule. Discipleship is messy and it will involve personal investment and sacrifices outside of my comfort zone. I’ve just got to learn how to be okay with that and walk into this lifestyle more willingly and then I’ll experience the joy that comes from seeing the gospel at work in the lives of others.

The past four years have been very rewarding, but not without challenges. I spent almost a year as a Children’s Pastor managing vacant positions at two campuses while we looked for just the right person. We made great strides during that time, but it was long and hard. The last year I’ve managed a vacant student ministry position which has been really hard. Very few weeks went by when I wasn’t gripped by the fear that this might be the week where all the leaders and students decide that they’re done and no longer want to come. But they never did and we’ve actually gained some momentum in some key areas while we’ve been on the pastor search. At a much slower pace than I would have liked, we’ve began building a ministry philosophy where parents are engaged much more intentionally. We’ve got a long way to go, but what we do offer is really good and the team pulling this stuff off really gets it.

Gateway Church has been a such a wonderful home. It’s not been perfect by any means. I’ve been frustrated at time and felt lost at other times. Sometimes I’ve doubted my place on the overall team, but I think that those are just the challenges that any leader faces. What I’ve truly loved about my church is how the mission of the church is being carried out in every aspect of the church and staff. We’re not just creating an environment where people can experience God through the services and programs we create. 30-40% of the staff came to faith at Gateway. I saw significant spiritual growth in my own life because of my involvement on staff. There may be a lot of churches that do certain things a lot better than Gateway, but the things that Gateway does get right, they’re probably some of the most important things of all!

So, here’s to four years! It’s not been easy, but it has been an adventure. I think we’ve laid the groundwork for some really powerful stuff that we’ll get to experience in the next 4-5 years. I’ve never been more proud to serve at a church than I am to serve here at Gateway.

While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great and timely reminder. He spoke at length about creating a staff culture where mutual submission is present. Yes, God may have called key leadership and senior staff to do something significant and the primarily purpose for additional staff is to serve that vision (I truly do believe that), but this doesn’t mean that senior staff doesn’t and shouldn’t serve the staff that works for them. This type of mutual submission creates a healthy culture where people want to work.

Specific points from Andy’s talk include:

1. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. Don’t buy into the myth that you have to do it for everyone.
2. Systematize top-down service.
3. Create and maintain a sustainable pace.
4. Celebrate and reward mutual submission when you see it. What’s rewarded is repeated. What’s punished is avoided. What’s neither rewarded or punished gets neglected.
5. Confront your ego. If you have a big ego, then let your staff know.
6. Drop the term loyalty from your vocabulary. If you need to demand loyalty, you’ve got personal loyalty problems.

All of these items are leadership gold, but I wanted to speak the the two that stuck out to me the most.

Systematize top-down service

I recognize that I’m a systems guy to the core. I’m always looking for time-savings tools that allow me to automate tasks. I also recognize that systems also keep me accountable. There are things that I want to do, but left to my own devices, I’ll neglect them. I need a reminder or process that triggers my action. Andy talked about how they do 3 month reviews for every employee. In this review, new employees communicate how leadership could better help them get their job done. Whenever possible, they act on this request as an opportunity to serve the staff. So, I’m writing this one down as an area for personal development. I want to serve my staff and I want them to feel like they’re loved an valued, but I’ll be far more successful at this when I create a system to help me.

Create and maintain a sustainable pace

This statement brings all kinds of conviction and guilt at times. I suffer from work-aholic tendencies. I take on more than I can handle and on top of that, I’ve been attempting to maintain two jobs for the past year as opposed to just my normal work. In addition, I’ve taken on some side projects that are both time consuming but also very important to me. At this moment, I don’t really know what a sustainable pace is. I’ll have to dissect this one more… maybe asking for a little help here from others.

I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well.

Stay tuned…

On this day, Jay Martin, Or jaymart as I know him wrote a great post about the book. He included a clip from the famous movie, “Spartacus.” I have to admit, I’ve never seen this movie, but he includes the clip of the famous part of the movie where multiple people stand and say, “I am Spartacus.” Jay described that when he read the book, he immediately identified with Eric Newman and after hearing so many other people declare “I am Eric Newman,” it made him think of this clip. Jay is giving away a couple of copies, so be sure to comment on his blog soon.

Amy O, a new kid on the Kidmin blog requested a copy of the Eric Trap and wrote her review here. I’m biased, but I liked her brief summation. “THE ERIC TRAP IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS ON KIDMIN THAT I HAVE READ!” The All Caps was her idea… so she must have really like it. Honestly, I think you’re going to like it. All these other people have… if weven’t not yet convinced you that this book is a great resource, I’m not sure what else to say.

Matt Norman who actively blogs over at Kidmin1124.com wrote a great post. Matt simply posted a brief summary of each chapter which is helpful as by just reading his summary’s you’ll see how this book is just right for you. I did love his opening line thought:

“the week caught up with Eric as he buried his face in his hands and wept.” With this one sentence I knew that his book was for me.

I think many people can relate to that experience.

Neil Hancock did his blog review over on his blog, Fight 4 the Heart. Neil said that he read the book because there wasn’t an Eric Trap movie in the works. Ha! I’m glad he pushed through anyway. I actually haven’t thought about movie deals, maybe we’ll work on that next year… would have to be pretty low budget though. Neil continues the sentiment you’re hearing most other people, you’ll likely identify with Eric’s plight.

Vanessa Small also wrote her review at her blog, LetThemCome1014. She is currently a volunteer who has high hopes to be in full time ministry in the near future. She found the book insightful as something to keep in mind so that she might not fall into the same traps.

Lastly, Joy Bowen wrote a blog review on her site, ImpulsiveJoy. She broke the book down into four things she was challenged by: Answer the Question, Talk to Your Leaders and Volunteers, Seek Out Your Senior Pastor and Have a Heart to Heart. Joy also made a quick video with her review. Enjoy the video below.