WIN "What If" DVD by reThink Group

You have already noticed that I DO NOT blog very often. As a matter of fact, it has been almost a year since I have blogged. I have never been one to journal. I am not a writer. Honestly, I do not enjoy writing or journaling even though I have come to understand that there is tremendous value in both.

I do tweet fairly often and check my twitter account constantly through out the day. I actually enjoy tweeting and really enjoy reading the tweets of those I follow. I am on Facebook - primarily because I discovered it was the one medium the college students who volunteer in our Family Ministry use to connect with each other. Actually, I was forced into Facebook. They would not answer the emails I sent to them which meant I was getting frustrated.

So, that's why I got on Facebook and started tweeting. Now, for a little information about me (a if anyone really cares). I mean, you are reading this because you want a chance to win the DVD! Right? Well, my official title is Director of Family Ministries and Strategic Systems at The Journey Church in Murray, KY. I have been on staff at The Journey for about a year and a half. Before that all of my "experience" was as the pastor of churches (about 35 years of experience there). My oldest son started The Journey four and a half years ago. Then he asked me to come on staff to lead this part of the ministry. I love what I do! The FM has come so far because of the GREAT volunteers who serve each week! Now, we will be starting a Middle/High School Ministry an adding a staff person to launch this ministry.

The strategy was already in place - even though we have tweaked it. So, it became my task to familiarize myself with the reThink Group, North Point Community Church, 252Basics & My First Look curriculum, KidStuf, UpStreet, WaumbaLand and on and on it goes. Much of that learning process has been facilitated by attending Orange, Drive, Inside North Point and other conferences. But, almost all of the process in the very beginning was through the use of DVD teaching material. Which leads me to the reason you are. In the course of acquiring information, I have ended up with two copies of the DVD "What If."

"What If" is a DVD that I watched at the very beginning of my new step of faith - leading a Family Ministry. It wasn't so much that the ministry needed changes as I needed to change. I needed to ask the questions:

"What if we need to recast our focus?"
"What if it's time for a strategy readjustment?"

What If : Looking at Children and Student Ministry Through a Different Lens is one of the DVD's that facilitated that process. It is ridiculous to leave an unopened copy on our shelves when someone would be able to use it and start their own process of looking at their ministry through a different lens. I do not have any free tickets to the Orange Conference '10, but I do have a brand new, unopened copy of a DVD entitled "What If" I am going to give away.

Here's what you need to do to enter for a chance to win our extra copy:

1. Tweet about this giveaway. You could tweet something like this - "@johnsonrn is giving away
a copy of the "What If" DVD. Go to http://robertjohnsonlive.blogspot.com/2010/03/win-what-if-dvd-by-rethink-group.html and see what I’m going to win!”
2. Comment below with your best idea about how to "Partner with Parents." Put your twitter ID
in the comments section below so we can see that you really did what you were supposed to
do. (Really, if you don't tweet and say you did, you need more than this DVD.)
3. Tell your friends on Facebook, etc. about this giveaway.

On March 29, 2010, I will announce the winner. I am going to ask my team of Family Ministry volunteers to pick the idea that they think is the best and that individual will win the DVD.

#Drive09 Tuesday Evening

Tonight was so practical. We got to actually see some of the environments at NPCC. I went to NEXT and JUMP START. Both were so engaging. NP does everything with such excellence. Get to catch some rest time and the it is back to NPCC early in the morning. It all wraps up tomorrow around lunch. And, then, it is back to setup for our move to our summer facility. I have lots to share with our volunteers. You guys are the GREATEST!

Drive '09 Tuesday

Andy Stanley said:

Leadership is not about making decisions on your own. It's about owning decisions once they are made.

Your private decisions (organizational) will be judged publicly.

If you want great leaders in your organization, you have to develop a system where great leaders are heard.

Leaders want to know they have an opportunity to influence their own destines.

Never shoot for fair - shoot for right. Fairness ended in the garden of Eden.

Bill Willits said:

Principles are what practices are built on.

Simplicity is the path to excellence.

Leadership is what we do AND who we are!

Drive '09 Monday Evening

Drive got off to a great start tonight. The worship was off the charts! And, Andy was, well, Andy! Here are some quotes.

"The further up in the organization you go, uncertainty grows exponentially." 8:12 p.m.
"Uncertainty is why we need leaders." 8:12 p.m.
"Uncertainty makes leadership necessary." 8:14 p.m.
"God leverages more out of times of uncertainty than any other time." 8:17 p.m.
"Two things to hang on to in times of uncertainty:
1. Clarity
2. Flexibility"
"Plans change - Vision remains the same."
"Don't die on the hill of your plans. You die on the hill of the vision."

Orange '09 Part 2

"I am way more concerned about you than the way I do." Andy Stanley 9:59

"People can identify more with our dumb mistakes than what I've done right." Perry Noble 10:03

"Don't raise the bar on parenting, but lower the bar. God loves broken families."

Orange '09

Reggie Joiner kicked off the conference with a cutting talk! Some quotes from it:

8:46 p.m. "What does family look like for you? We all have a picture."

8:59 p.m. "God is interested in writing a story in or hearts and lives."

9:01 p.m. "God is interested in using broken people to tell His story."

9:03 p.m. "Every family we come in contact with is a platform to tell His story of restoration
and redemption."

9:14 p.m. "There is a bigger story going on and God is the Author and it's about God."

9:15 p.m. "If you want your children to have a personal faith, it has to be in you first."

9:28 p.m. "How about trading your picture for a bigger story?"

Check back tomorrow for more news from Orange '09.

"Good Questions" for Small Groups

Tara Miller and Jenn Peppers wrote a book entitled "Finding the Flow". Sam O'Neal (smallgroups.com) wrote about one of the chapters, "Asking Good Questions". They said "Miller and Peppers identify a key issue: When facilitators don't know the answer to a question, they are generally instructed to own up, admit that they don't know, and offer to find out. Then they research (usually by calling the pastor) and come back next week with the answer. Right? Except that it misses the point of small groups. They are not about answers. They are more about interactive experiences."

He went on to write, "small groups are not so much about the answers as they are about the questions. The facilitator should be asking far more questions than answering them. Questions form the skeleton outline of a group—the basic structure on which everything else hangs."

So, my thought was - How do you ask good questions?! Well, I think good questions are those that:

1) are open-ended questions
2) questions where we expect and believe that the members of the group will have something
valid to say
3) And, they are questions that grow out of Scripture

I thought about what was said about small groups are more about the questions than they are the answers a lot today. My first response was to say, "NO, the answers ARE the important part." But as I have thought about it today, I have decided that these two writers may be right on! The interaction may be as important, if not more important, than the "correct" answers.

I would be interested in hearing from about a couple of things:

1) What is your response to the question/answer debate?
2) What do you think comprises a good question?

Hey, these are just a few of the thoughts I had this morning. I think I am going to buy this book and read the WHOLE thing! That's quite a statement for me.

By the way, if you weren't at The Journey (in Murray, KY) yesterday we had an awesome day! The discussion in our LifeTeams (small groups for those of you that are familiar with that terminology) has been beyond all of my expectations. This series on marriage has generated a lot of interest and a LOT of discussion.