Geelong Church Camp

This weekend I presented "Evangelism that Works" at Howqua to the Geelong church members. I also presented a new bit that I have been working on called "Nurture for Growth" that targets Christians commiting to grow other Christians.
The basic principle is that we grow Christians by nurturing them.
Jesus demonstrated this by targeting his ministry in levels of involvement. Time that he spent with the 120 also included the inner circles (70, 12, 3).
As he ministered to the 70 and the 12 the 3 were there. The three were the most trained, most loved, most nurturered. It was common for Jesus to limit his audience and when he focused on the 12, the 70 and 120 may not have been there and at times were specifically not invited. And, at times Jesus chose to seperate the 3 (Peter, James and John) from the the 12 for a special time of training and nurture. These 3 were Jesus' "Nurture Group" as I call them.
Jesus did not appologise for this focused nurture. He saw it as neccesary and chose to specifically involve these three in high points of his spiritual journey - they were at the Mount of transfiguration (Matt 171-3), at the raising for Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:22-42) and in the Garden of Gethsmene (Mark 14:32-36). At each of these times Jesus specifically called these three out of the twelve and instructed the other 9 to stay behind. He made it clear that he was pouring special time and training into these three.
We should do likewise. Here is my basic framework for healthy Nurture.

I suggested to the group that: We must NURTURE THE FUTURE
New Christians don’t grow on trees
Jesus plants them, Disciples nurture them
You only have so much to give
Choose to nurture maturely
Select 1, 2 or 3 people to nurture
Nurture them generously (time, energy, love)

I suggested that we build nurture groups one person at a time using the following strategy:
Get to know them
Find their passion
Get involved in their passion
Give them training
Create a safe place for them to thrive
Form them into a team

I concluded with 2 questions to get you started nurturing:
Who: Who can I ask to nurture me?
Who can I nurture?
How: How can I disciple them?
How can I invlove them?
How can I visit them?
How can I empower them?

This framework and explaination is still in the formation stages in my mind, but I have decided to start presenting and refining it through getting the thoughts and reflections of the listeners. This process of presentation and reflection has helped me hone the "Evangelism that Works" presentation to, by far, the most practical and helpful sermon I have in my arsenal!

God is good!

Evangelism that works

Here is the worksheet for my sermon "Evangelism that works."

Click on the pic for the full size worksheet.

Listen to the sermon on myspace

My notes from reading WOMBAT Selling

WOMBAT Selling
Michael Hewitt-Gleeson

Word
Of
Mouth
Buy
And
Tell

It’s better to be first in mind than the first in the Media.
It’s better for your idea to be a word-of-mouth than an advertisement.
The world is a place with battling ideas, not battling products.
Your reputation as an attractive and innovative idea-fountain is everything.
Ideas that show generosity are attractive to people and will keep them near you.

Don’t expect customers who can shop globally online for a new computer to take seriously the childish antics of the door-to-door Bible salesman.

A brand is a corporate cognitive pattern in the brain of the customer.
It takes 10 repetitions for a brand (or idea) to lock into a persons brain.

CHECK-TO-UNCKECK
CHECK position: When you are actually in contact with the client.
The salesperson controls CHECK.
Checkmate position: When the customer says YES.
The customer contols Checkmate. (only they can say yes!)
UNCHECK position: When there is no contact with a customer where the customer
cannot say yes or no.
Uncheck is your enemy, not the customer. Love your customer and escape
from UNCHECK.

A “meme” is a self-replicating element of culture, passed on by imitation.

Good scorekeeping results in a better results, if your are lucky.
Good service results in happier customer, every time!
Mere scorekeeping is not the same as serving.

It’s not the “close” that gives us the opportunity to win the customer. It’s the start. The more starts, the more customers. The more starts, the more sales.

Start the sale = get the customer’s attention

The GET-GO: the start

Strategy is all about control. If you are in control you are in a strategic position, if you are out of control you are in a strategic position. If you are out of control, you aren’t. Starting is a strategic act because we can control it but we cannot control finishing.

We can control process, but we cannot control results. Perfect the process.
No drill, no skill.
Training exercises should be ¼ training and ¾ exercise.
Workshops should be ¼ lecture and ¾ practice!

Moving from UNCHECK-TO-CHECK
- send an email
- mail an invitation
- telephone with info
- fax a press release
- hold a conference, meeting or seminar
- perform an act of service
- put an ad on the website
- ask a question
- visit with a gift
- have someone else do any of these on your behalf

TT record keeping
Tomorrow: Set the number of times you will UNCHECK-TO-CHECK in the next 24 hours.
Today: Record the number of UNCHECK-TO-CHECK you make yesterday. Meet yesterday’s goal.

TEN-TIMES: Whatever you are planning, setting or doing multiply the expectation by ten and your results will grow.

Double-Click Mindmap

I've been preaching the "Double-Click" sermon from a hand drawn mindmap for the last few months and thought I should type it in so I can upload it.

Here it is.

I will have to preach it at least once more so that I can record it and put the audio on myspace

Click on the map for a bigger image.
Start at one-o'clock and work your way around the mindmap.

Big Idea Study with Nunawading Adventist Youth

Last night I did a Big Idea Bible Study with a youth group from the Nunawading Adventist Church.

We explored Genesis 1:26-27 together, then I had to leave for another meeting and they continued looking at three other passages in three small groups. I'm looking forward to finding out how the rest of the study went. Knowing the :!?... bible study format, it should have worked great!

Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

! Rule
? How far does the ruling go?
. Everything we can see
. Earth
. As far as we can go without stepping on God’s toes

! God created Male and Female in His image
? Who is more like God?
. Man (said by a boy)
. Women (said by a girl) because they are forgiving and soft hearted
. Humans (as compared to the rest of creation)

! We were created “In His Image”
? What sort of image?
. Loving
. We make choices
. We are creative
. We are sentient (we can reason)

! We are superior to the animals
? What does it mean to rule animals?
. Be fair
. Don’t hurt them
. We are more important
. Take care of them

! Let “US” make man
? Who made man? (Who is God - this “US”?)
. Trinity

Romantic Holiday! (Day 1)

Yesterday we had a very full and fulfilling day. We stayed Friday night in a motel in Hamilton where I was to preach on Sabbath morning. After attending Sabbath School with the little flock in Hamilton and preaching we headed out to the southern Grampians for a hike.
Jenny has always loved the Grampians and wanted to climb a mountain. So we did!
As we were nearing the town of Dunkeld Jenny kept saying we need to stop somewhere to get some boiled water (most petrol stations have coffee machines with free hot water!) so that she could cook up our instant soup to give us some energy for the trip up the mountain. Finally when we got to Dunkeld she asked again and I said, “’I have food you know nothing about’—to quote a friend of mine.” She looked at me with a incredulous expression. When we stopped at a picnic area I produced an entire picnic hamper and she couldn’t fathom where it had come from! What a great surprise! ☺
I had asked the head elder of Hamilton to arrange a picnic lunch and gave him a budget. I reimbursed him and collected the lunch from his wife when Jenny wasn’t looking. And what a great lunch it was! Delicious.

After our lunch we climbed Mount Sturgeon—a 7km round trip hike that ascends 343 meters from the carpark to an amazing abutment of rocks that overlooks the valley in a panoramic 360 degree vista. It was truly amazing.







The first 1.5km was relatively flat and wandered through a surreal plain that had recently been burnt.





It felt like we were on a different planet walking through blackened terrain.










The sun came out from behind the clouds for the full time we were at the top and we enjoyed it’s warmth while resting on the cliff top!





We managed to accomplish the entire climb, with a 10 minute pause at the top, in just over two hours.





After returning to the carpark we drove to Warnambool, then down the Great Ocean Road. The sun had been hiding for most of the day, only peeking out when it was absolutely needed. It emerged about 30 minutes before sunset and we were able to watch it descend over the Bay of Islands and finally watch it set from the Loch Ard Gorge.
We finished our drive to Apolo bay and arrived at Whitecrest at about 9pm. A day well spent!

Romantic Holiday!

Jenny and I have been planning a romantic getaway for a few months. We finally made it!









This photo is taken from the deck of our unit at Whitecrest Lodge in Apolo Bay. Looking across the Great Ocean Road and out over the great ocean!





Due to the fine mist that was falling, an amazing rainbow formed over one of the bends in the road. For a moment there was a very faint double rainbow. Can you see it?

Memorable stories from church

One of the activities that Nathan (the editor) had us do during his segment at the writers seminar was to write a short reflection on something memorable that happened to you at church. Here is what I wrote. Had to chuckle at these memories...

I have had a number of memorable experiences at church, usually with friends. I remember one friend who was prone to doing the unusual as a usual habit. He once swapped his Bible with that of a friend (they were identical bar the gold lettering on the cover) and waited for her to ask why she had his Bible. She never did. A year later he re-enacted the event and swapped the Bibles back. She was never the wiser to it!

I once sat in College church at Pacific Union College with the same group of friends and had a pressing, quite painful, bubble of gas welling up inside of me. I considered going outside to release the pressure, but was in the middle of the row. So, I opted for the silent option. I rolled onto one leg and gently released my clenched stomach. The resulting vibration and volume caused ridiculous giggling from my friends that was matched (and exceeded) only by the redness in my face.

Writers Seminar

This weekend we ran a writers seminar at the Signs. It will be run again, in various formats, in two other locations in the next couple weeks. Firstly at Avondale. Then at Brisbane big camp.

I ran a workshop on creativity yesterday afternoon and had a lot of fun doing it!

Below you will see some of the information that I shared.

Finding creativity in others

Find the real person: (Four questions to get to know peoeple - John Maxwell)
What do you dream about?
What do you cry about?
What do you laugh about?
What do you sing about?

Find their Spiritual gift:
SG’s are God’s Spirit living in us – Our creative nature as Christians is God’s image shining thru. What Creative activity comes naturally to you?
1. What do you love doing for church, family or community?
2. What do people who know you say that you do well for church, family or community?

Building them up:
Get to know them
Find their passion
Get involved in their passion
Give them training
Create a safe place for them to thrive
Build them into teams

Finding creativity in yourself

Become an idea farm
Prepare soil: Read widely, study people, talk to strangers, get lost, consume media, daydream
Get seed: Buy it (proven ideas), borrow it (other people’s ideas) , let it blow in, use last years (your old ideas revisited and revitalised)
Plant seed: Write down every idea (jotter pad, blog, notebook), float half formed ideas to people (friends, family, experts and target audience)
Just add water: Plan it out, write it out, sell it or start it, build a team, write an article/sermon, form it
Harvest: Submit the article, preach the sermon, fly the kyte, run the event. do it
Enjoy/share: You have earned it, enjoy the bounty, share and teach your successes and failures
Lay fallow: Rest (it’s the way God made us!)