It's Protege Season

It's application time for the 2010-2011 NCC Protege Program.

The Protégé Program is a year-long intensive spiritual growth, leadership development, and ministry immersion experience at National Community Church. As an NCC Protégé, you will be given the opportunity to learn from some of the most innovative thinkers and creators in ministry, participate in the day to day activities of church staff culture, stretch yourself as a leader, and lay a firm foundation for a life-long pursuit of the passion and vision that God has placed on your life.

NCC Proteges will choose one ministry area— discipleship, media, missions/outreach, children/youth, worship, coffeehouse ministry, college ministry, or church planter in residence—in which they will specifically focus their ministry efforts during the year and for which they will receive special training.

NCC Proteges will gain experience in the following areas:

• Attend Learning Labs- make new discoveries in leadership development, spiritual growth, and ministry methods from members of the NCC teaching team.
• Develop a Spiritual Growth Plan
• Develop a Leadership Development Plan
• Serve on the Alpha Team
• Lead small groups and ministries
• Participate in an NCC missions experience
• Serve at weekend worship gatherings, outreach projects and leadership development events
• Build community with fellow members of your Protégé class through weekly study, prayer, and reflection groups
• Be mentored by your ministry-focus department leader
• Attend leadership development conferences with the NCC team

The Protégé Program is a training and proving ground for emerging church leaders. During your Protégé year, you will accumulate valuable experience, mentors, and knowledge that will prepare you for stepping into the next phase of your God-given calling.

If you would like more information on becoming an NCC Protégé, download the application, check out our FAQ or send an email to me.

I love all of our Proteges, but I'm especially partial to those seeking to serve in the Discipleship department. Let me know if you are interested!

Learn as Much as You Can

Whenever a brand new small group pastor asks me where to begin in establishing a small group program at their church, I encourage them to first learn as much as they can from the people they will serve. And then I tell them to read as much as they can from others who have been leading groups for a long time.

Here are the books I'm currently recommending for those starting out or re-thinking what they are doing:

Making Small Groups Work (Cloud and Townsend)
Building a Church of Small Groups (Donahue and Robinson)
Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry (Donahue and Robinson)
Simple Small Groups (Bill Search)
Growing True Disciples (George Barna)

It's also helpful to look at specific models:

Creating Community (Stanley- closed group model)
Activate (Searcy- semester-based model)
The Connecting Church (Frazee- neighborhood model)
Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century (Haggard- free market model)
Sticky Church (Larry Osborne- sermon-based model)

My Favorite Little Girls

Okay, I recognize this is only of interest to about two of my readers (hi Mom and sister) but I'm just so excited about these little girls. Since I was heading to Knoxville to hang out with the students at The Walk, I decided to take a side trip to Nashville to visit my nieces.

This is my new little niece, Sarah Kate McClure. 2 months.


And this is Sarah Kate and big sister Ruthie. This spunky 2-year old enjoys playing with play-doh, can count to ten (and past with a little help), and can do the "Hot Dog" dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is very talented.

The Walk

Last week, I had the honor of speaking at The Walk- the collegiate ministry at Sevier Heights Baptist Church and near the University of Tennessee. I avoided the fact that I actually went to Louisiana State University as I feared it would damage my credibility.

I love The Walk's head dude Tim Miller-- his heart, his authenticity, his sense of humor. He's been a tremendous encouragement to me personally, and it was a joy to watch him up close and personal on his turf doing his ministry.

Tim asked me to speak in their "Hitched" series. He spoke to the girls about men and how to be godly wives. And he asked me to speak to the men about girls and how to be godly husbands. You can check it out here or here.

Job 34-36

As you probably know, we are reading through the Bible together at NCC. Each day, a member of our team provides blog commentary on the passage for the day. Today, I tackled Job 34-36. Sometimes, I just don't know what to do with certain parts of Scripture.

Does anyone know what to do with this Elihu kid? For five uninterrupted chapters, he spouts his opinion...some of which seems good while the rest seems no better than contributions of the three “friends.” We learned a couple days ago that Elihu had not yet spoken in deference to the older men. But once he realized they had no solution or satisfactory conclusion for the problem of Job, he entered his voice into the debate.

On one hand, Elihu displays the idealistic and passionate, though sometimes ignorant and arrogant, voice of youth-- throwing rebukes left and right (while many of his statements seem to echo what the three friends have already said), chastising Job (even though he knows nothing more about the situation than the other friends), and claiming to speak on behalf of God himself (even though-- SPOILER ALERT-- God seems to ignore Elihu in the next chapter when He finally begins to talk).

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Growing People

My friend and distance mentor Mac Lake once said "Growing People Grow People." It's a concept I have known and taught, but this summed it up more succinctly and powerfully than anything that has ever escaped from my mouth. Thank you, Mac.

That's become the foundation for our new coaching paradigm at National Community Church. For the first time, we are offering one-on-one coaching (as opposed to huddles), opt-in coaching (you are not required to have a coach if you don't want/need one), and coaching aimed at the leader as opposed to the group (if the leader is growing, the group will follow suit).

Right now, I'm sitting in our new coach's training. What I love about it is that Ryan is creating an environment where the coaches themselves are stretching and growing. It's not just about information, it's about experiences and questions that lead them to new insights and growth. We want to focus on leaders, make sure they are growing, and watch their groups grow as a result.

Highest Calling vs. Ministry

Don't neglect your highest calling in the name of ministry. We all do it. We don't read the Bible to grow closer to God; we read the Bible to get a message for Sunday. We don't preach for the glory of God; we preach to grow our churches. We cheat our families and our friends to tackle a to-do list of ministry activity that will never end.

Ezekiel gives us a sobering message in the 44th chapter for his book. In Ezekiel 44:10-14, we learn that the priests in the temple have served the people well, but have not worshiped God. So God allows them to continue to work in the temple and serve the people, but they can no longer enter the most Holy place to worship him and experience his presence.

How tragic to live a life of service to the people of God without experiencing the presence of God. And yet if we are honest, many of us must confess that we have found ourselves in that place before...if not living in it now.

Do not neglect your highest calling in the name of ministry.

The Naming of Eve

Have you ever noticed when Eve receives her name? In the original "naming" of species, Adam simply refers to her as "woman"-- a rather sterile and generic moniker that merely describes her creation from the man. It is not until one chapter later, in Genesis 3:20, that Adam first calls her "Eve," "because she would become the mother of all the living."

This always strikes me as incredibly fascinating because Adam gives her this name after the Fall in the Garden. Of all the names he could have called her, he gave her one that signified redemption. Eve means "living," "life," or "to give life." Instead of naming her weakness, he named the God-created potential and purpose that remained within her despite her sin.

I'm so thankful for the men in my life who have "named" my potential and purpose. From a Granddaddy who believed in my gifts to a Dad who supported every crazy career path I have explored to an amazing husband who is my best friend, greatest advocate, and mischievous partner in crime. To godly mentors and pastors who have called out my gifts and given me ridiculous opportunities to experiment with them. To good peer friends who have served alongside me and grown toward God in small groups with me. Thank you.

Ladies-- we need to thank the men in our lives who have named our potential and purpose.