This past Sunday, I was invited to teach for a local church family on the east side of Orlando. I was honored and grateful to do it. One of the folks from that church family sent me the link to the recording of it, so I thought I would post it in case someone wanted to listen to it. Simply CLICK HERE to listen to it.
Please leave your comments and let’s keep the conversation going. Much love.
-jason
A friend of mine named John holds a prominent post in southern baptist life. I love his heart to want to see southern baptists living sent and loving the world as the church should. I also appreciate some of the questions he is asking. Here is a clip from a recent email he sent out:
Consider some very sobering statistics. 56% of the growth in Florida Baptist churches from 1960 to 2008 has been through transfer growth. We all know that transfer growth may increase membership or attendance in a specific church, but the Kingdom of God hasn’t grown when people leave one church for another. The mission Jesus gave His church is very specific. We are called to “seek and save that which was lost”. A church’s attendance and membership can increase through transfer growth while hell’s population increases also. Transfer growth doesn’t de-populate hell. We’ve got to be more missional in our churches and convention of churches.
In 1960 the population of Florida was 4,951,560. There were 1257 churches and missions in the Florida Baptist Convention at that time. They gave $2,584,840 to the Cooperative Program. 50% of the Cooperative Program giving stayed in Florida. There were 62 Florida Baptist Convention staff members. There were 480,407 in total Florida Baptist Convention church membership who witnessed 25,517 people come to Christ and follow through in believer’s baptism. They baptized .52% of the population of Florida.
In 2008 the population of Florida was 18,807,219. There were 2907 churches and missions in the Florida Baptist Convention at that time. They gave $38,654,690 to the Cooperative Program. 60% of the Cooperative Program giving stayed in Florida. There were 154.5 Florida Baptist Convention staff members. There were 1,016,726 in total Florida Baptist Convention church membership who witnessed 34,414 people come to Christ and follow through in believer’s baptism. (Not including approximately 7000 people baptized in our Haiti partnership.) Our churches baptized .18% of the population of Florida.
We praise God for every witness given, every soul won to Christ, and every dollar given to missions through the Cooperative Program!! We praise God for every staff member who has served our local churches and local associations.
Statistics are not always a true indicator of everything that is happening. Praise God He knows all that is going on for His glory!!! At the same time, we can learn some things from information we as baptists have desired to gather and report through the years through our Uniform Church Letters and now the Annual Church Profiles.
We are obviously not keeping pace with the population boom of Florida!! Just last week, I learned from Dr. Tola, Director of Language Missions for the Florida Baptist Convention, that 60% of the population growth in the past five years in Florida is Hispanic. What a wonderful opportunity God is placing before us!!
We must ask ourselves what we see when we consider these kinds of statistics? What do the numbers show? If reaching the lost is truly our mission, how successful have we been? Are there reasons we are falling behind in reaching our state? Are we willing to ask hard questions that may lead us to be more effective and efficient in fulfilling the Great Commission here in Florida and globally? These are just a few questions that come to mind, there are no doubt many others.
When you ponder the stats from the last forty years, several questions typically come to mind. These are the ones I most commonly hear. Why aren’t we baptizing more? Why are so many churches dying? Why aren’t our churches growing at a faster rate, or even growing at all? However, these may not be the proper questions. We’ve been asking these for some time now, and arriving at their answers has not affected change. Could it be that we are not asking the right question? Could it be that we are asking these questions with the assumption that our measurement systems are exactly what they should be? Could it be that the answer to these most commonly asked questions are not helping us focus on the right answer?
A friend of mine was actually on the team of engineers that helped to launch the first space shuttle. He told me the story one time, with a proud smile on his face, of a brainstorming session his fellow engineers and he had before that first launch in order to solve a very small but important issue with the shuttle. It weighed too much to get off the ground. The force of the blast off was not going to be capable to lift the weight of the shuttle and all its accessories. It wasn’t enormously overweight, but like most baptist pastors, it needed to lose just a bit. A change of some sort had to be made.
The engineers looked at the situation from all angles. Most were angles that people who completed only 10th grade geometry would not understand. A simple matter of weighing too much, and these educated engineers could not come up with a possible solution. They finally settled together that they would find something to take out of the cargo bay. However, nothing that could be spared weighed at or above the amount of weight that needed to be shed. They were baffled.
Finally, my friend asked a question. “How much does the paint weigh on the fuel tank of the shuttle?” The amount was calculated. It was just over the amount that needed to be taken away in order to get the shuttle off the ground. A simple problem. So many complicated solutions proposed. The right question. An answer so obvious it is missed. The problem solved. And the shuttle went up with an unpainted fuel tank.
We see the problem. Are we asking the right question? The question that helps us to arrive at the appropriate solution and affect change? What if “why aren’t we baptizing more?” is not the right question? Don’t get me wrong, baptizing is important. That public confession of our personal commitment is a beautiful expression of faith. But asking that for the last forty years has created an emphasis that has not created the desired result. What if the right question is simply this – HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE PART OF A SOUTHERN BAPTIST LOCAL CHURCH FAMILY HAVE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS OUTSIDE OF THAT LOCAL CHURCH FAMILY? I’m talking about with those Jesus called “lost.” Are there lost people who would introduce that local church member as “my friend.” Sadly, we have been the salt of the earth by acting as a preservative of our church stuff rather than being the church daily as “salt” that brings out the flavors of God in the lives of the lost around us. That’s the only way they’ll taste Jesus. This may be why we are not baptizing more. This may be why churches are dying and not growing.
We see the problem. Are we asking our common questions with the assumption that our measurement systems are exactly what they should be? Take a look at the annual report forms. How many baptized? How many in worship? How many in small groups / Sunday School? Again, all important. But measuring these for the last forty years has not created the desired result. Our measurement systems always indicate our definition of success. How many are coming has been our measurement system. This means that the number of people “coming to church” is our definition of success. However, Jesus sent the church. We all agree that the church is not a place or an event, and yet we keep wanting more and more to “come TO church” or “be AT church.” Both “to” and “at” are prepositions that when used with the word “church” indicate that we do not define church as people. She is a who, not a what. And how many people “come to church” may be the wrong measurement system. After all, “in worship” and “in small groups” are both INward focuses. The church was intended to be sent. How many are living sent? Are our strategies pushing people out the doors of our church buildings to be connecting with the lost or trying to get the lost into a “place” that they don’t want to go? This may be why we are not baptizing more. This may be why churches are dying and not growing.
We see the problem. Are our most commonly asked questions helping us focus on the right answer? Almost all suggestions given for church growth strategies are focused on changing aspects of the church. Better music. Better preaching. Better media. Better visitation programs. Better small group curriculum. Better facilities. Can we really make the church better? Can we make her more beautiful? Can we adorn the bride any more beautifully than Jesus already did at the cross? The answer is simply NO. And we weren’t intended to. Jesus did not expect the world to become infatuated with His church. Jesus did not intend the world to be attracted to something better. He wants no one else courting His bride. He wants the world to fall in love with Him and become His bride. Are people staring at Jesus when they look at your local church, or just some place or event you have attempted to make more attractive? Maybe that’s why we are not baptizing more. Maybe that’s why churches are dying and not growing.
Because people can become engaged with church and not meet Jesus. However, if they become engaged with Jesus, they will be His church.
These statistics are alarming. If we do not make a shift from “come and see” approaches to “church,” then I am afraid the statistics will tell a far worse story forty years from now. May we ask the right questions, define success the way Jesus did, and focus on Him.
This is one of the coolest pics of my dad ever. It was while he was in Israel recently. I think Rob Wilton (@vnolarob) took it. So thankful for my dad. He is one of my best friends.
Well. It has been almost a month since LIVE SENT: you are a letter came out. The response so far has blown Jen and me away! Thanks to all of you! If you have not gotten a copy yet, you can by clicking here.
If you have gotten a copy, I would really like your feedback. Please comment here, send me an email, or review it on Amazon.com. That’d rock! And if you found it encouraging and worthwhile, please share it with someone. I am thankful God entrusted that message to us, and we simply want to be faithful to share it and hope it cultivates His Kingdom expression in beautiful ways everywhere.
Keep living sent! Love y’all!
-jason
My eight-year old son, Caleb, imagined, story-boarded, wrote, directed, filmed, helped edit, and produced this really cool short film about a NASCAR race. If you have 25 minutes, check it out. It’s really, really cool!
Thankful for that kid 
Here’s the link from Vimeo. Enjoy.
-jason
Hey guys out there. I wanted to share two things with you. One is a question that I have personally been grappling with for some time. I am very interested in your feedback and insight and story. Please comment. The second is a clip from an article I got recently via email. There was a link in it, as well, to a larger article. Well worth reading. Here you go.
THE QUESTION I’M ASKING MYSELF:
am I giving at least the same if not more energy, creativity, passion, strategy, and intentionality to cultivating my marriage and my children as I am into my work?
THE ARTICLE: How to crush your daughter
A young woman, Sarah, wrote us the following e-mail: “My dad is the most important person in the world to me, even though he doesn’t have much time to spend with me. That affected me negatively in the teen years. If you want me to cry at the drop of the hat, just get me to thinking about him someday dying, and leaving me without him. I can be doing anything and when that thought floats by, I’m reduced to sobbing. I wish my dad knew how much he could heal in my family if he would just make us feel more important than work.”
Why are workaholics more likely to fail at both their job and their family? Find out here.
Huddle up and ask your kids tonight: If I worked one hour less each week, what would you like to do?
Think about it. We must. Much love.
-jason
Last week, September 17th and 18th to be exact, the Reproducing Churches Network hosted “the LIVE SENT conversation” in Lakeland, FL. It was an amazing two days of conversation with some awesome leaders who are serious about cultivating cultures of people who live sent daily. Here are three highlights:
BIG THANKS to ERICK BAUMAN for making the LiveStream happen. He did so all the way from Manhattan! Pretty cool. So thankful for Hal and Robert and Billy and Adam and Sharon and Lindsey and Ashley and Julia and so many others who made the conversation happen. And thanks to Neil Cole and Alan Hirsch and JE Caterson and others who joined us to facilitate conversation. AWESOME TIMES!
If you are in Central FL and want to connect to one of the Reproducing Churches network groups, please let me know. I will try to point you in the right direction.
How are you living sent? Leave your story and feedback from the highlights above here.
Much love.
-jason
I don’t think you would call either Dad or Mom beach people. Mom’s comment about the beach in the summertime usually was something like, “It’s so hot I think I’m just gonna pass on over to glory.” I know her view in heaven is glorious. Our view at the beach just east of Destin was also glorious this past week. And Pop went with Jen and the kids and me. It was a very memorable time.
Mostly great. There were a few down times for me, thinking about Mom. For Pop, too. I know Dad thought about her a ton. Caleb was his bunk mate, which I think they both enjoyed. Almost every morning, Dad reenacted Caleb’s very active sleep habits. From kicking to getting sideways to laughing to mumbling to screaming something, it made for an interrupted and entertaining nights sleep.
This was a trip we had planned actually back before Mom and Dad’s accident. Erik and his wife and kids along with Jen and the kids and me along with Mom and Dad, all crowded into a rental home near Destin. Well, we canceled the reservations back in July when it was apparent that we’d be transferring Mom to Orlando from New Orleans for rehab around this time. As you probably know, we cancelled for that reason, but Mom didn’t make it to Orlando. So, we kind of asked around. We were blessed so greatly with an amazing replacement option.
We are so grateful for a family from New Orleans that has so loved on our family through the years. They own the place where we stayed, and so generously offered it to us the use of their beach home. It is such a great place. The kids enjoyed every inch of it, especially the pool and the oversized golf-cart. Thanks so much to that family (I won’t mention their name, because I don’t think they would want me to). We were really refreshed and blessed by your hospitality.
The most amazing memories that Jen and I will take home with us were of watching the kids with Pop. To see his smile (yes – he actually smiled and the joy in the kids face was something to behold. Hanging in the house in the mornings. Swimming in the pool. Wading in the water on the beach. Grabbing ice cream together. Sipping hot chocolate together. Meals out. Meals in. And so much more. I threw in some really neat pictures below.
Another memorable moment from this week that Jen and Dad celebrated with me – my book appeared on Amazon.com the day we left to come to Destin (click here to see it!). Pretty crazy. My prayer continues to be one of gratefulness that God would give us a message to communicate, one of excitement for this unique opportunity, one of usefulness that people would really be encouraged by the book, and one of praise for the sobering reality that God uses people not because they are great but because they are simply willing to say yes. It’s a bit surreal, to be honest, to see something you wrote on Amazon.com. Be my glory, Lord. And please make yourself known through whatever comes as a result of people reading it. I’m thankful. There is actually a special, creative component to the front cover of the book especially for Mom. Let me know if you notice it.
Well, here are those amazing pics from the week. Hope you really enjoy them. I’ll post at you later. We love you guys.
-jason
(where we were, dotted below by the kids' footprints)
(enjoying the beach)
(the kids digging in the sand)
(Caleb preparing to take on some waves)
(Caleb laying the foundation for his sand castle)
(Caleb was braver than ever in the water this year)
(that's Caleb boogie-boarding)
(Katey loves the beach!!!)
(that's Katey boogie-boarding)
(Katey really likes bugs, and here she was trying to nurse one back to health)
(Abby really digs digging in the sand)
(classic Abby)
(Abby and Mommy checking out the clear-blue water)
(Abby's gotta wear shades)
(Pop and Ella)
(Ella was loving the sunshine and the people time)
(Ella and Pop and I wading in the water. Doesn't Pop look great!!! What a miracle man)
(Ella's first experience with the salt water)
(Ella tuckered out)
(Pop enjoying the clear-blue water and the refreshing ocean breeze – the salt-water was good for his wounds on his foot that are still recovering)
(Pop and I walking out deeper and deeper. We got to neck high)
(Pop and Caleb and Katey in the pool)
(Caleb made Pop laugh a lot)
(Abby made Pop's heart melt a lot)
(Ella did, too)
(taking an outdoor nap with Abby)
(Mommy and Katey enjoying some dominoes one of the afternoons it rained)
(the note Pop left most mornings when he would go to grab coffee for him and us)
(our last night there, we took some special pics of the kids on the beach)
(Abby and Katey running together)
(Katey and Caleb watching the waves together)
(Ella wearing her first clip-in bow. She's so pretty!!!)
(Abby watching the waves)
(the older three looking out at the water)
(beautiful Katey)
(chasing the birds)
(I caught a candid of Katey simply walking, maybe my favorite picture)
(the older three standing on the steps)
(all four wonderful blessings)
(all four looking out at the water)
(WOW!!! Thank you, Lord, for such wonderful gifts! We surrender these kids to You.)
It is both sobering and exciting to be sharing with you that LIVE SENT: you are a letter is online available for pre-order. It is on the publisher’s website right now, and it will be at Amazon.com and many others in the next two weeks. It will also be on Kindle soon. All this to say, I hope that it will be an encouraging and challenging book that pushes us all toward living on our intended purpose, being letters of God’s love into culture, and experiencing abundant life in the process.
You can pre-order LIVE SENT: you are a letter by clicking here.
Thanks to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged me to write it. I hope to hear honest feedback from you. Let me know what you think!
Post at you later.
-jason
I am told I have lots of ideas. People even say I am an idea guy. That’s why I was pretty excited when my friend Erick told me about “the Idea Camp” in DC this Friday and Saturday. It is a gathering of leaders focused on conversing about and conspiring to carry out ideas that enable the church to live out her mission through fighting the injustices of our world. It’s gonna be a very meaningful time.
Another idea I had a little while back is about to launch – an online news site that shares the stories of humanity being beautiful to one another together. I am hoping to capture a ton of stories this Friday and Saturday in DC. The site is HumanityBeautiful.com. Let me know what you think. IT’S STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. It is brand new and in need of news and content. Share about it with others if you will. In our collaboration together, maybe we can capture stories that will highlight love blossoming as intended and inspire others to live beyond self. You can follow HumanityBeautiful.com on Twitter, too.
By the way, another idea God gave me awhile back became the emphasis of our church family and our church network. Some folks have been elbowing me in the back for the last two years to write it down. So, I did. You can check out the latest news about the book by clicking here.
Pray for me this weekend at the Idea Camp. If you have any ideas you want me to share, let me know.
Thanks.
-jason
