Feasting at the table of faith.

I wanted to take a minute to highlight great news on one of our groups. The Wirth’s are doing the 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. A study most people would think is surface and for new believers.

            Paul tells me this week their group began hitting their stride. They assign homework for each of the topics of the week. Paul was amazed the amount of research their people brought for discussion. Pages and pages of info about there assigned topics. These people are spiritually all over the board. Some have been in church for years, some have just started looking at their faith. It seems like no matter where on the journey this group is they are really digging in.

            God has set before us a buffet of spiritual growth that we can’t even imagine. Often at a party no one wants to be the first in the buffet line for fear of looking like a pig.  Be ready because I can see the gathering of hungry people who cannot hold back any longer and they are beginning to rush the buffet.

            If you heard Paul’s message from last Sunday you can tell the spiritual temperature is rising. God has begun a new day for Relevant, mark it on your calendar. Thanks for being apart of the life change going on right now.

By the way Great Freaking Job.

 

A week ago I took an incredibly long car ride. Greg Vander Wel and I set out to scout for beach baptism pavilions. During the very long time in the car, I made mention to Greg how important his job is on Sunday morning. He and Darren invented the roll of walking first time guests up to the second floor. Along the way they chit chat with the guests about Relevant in attempts to make them feel comfortable. What started out as just an idea has turned into a critical part of our guest experience. We now have five people trained to do the same thing.

While discussing the roll and its success Greg stops me and says “ I’m glad it’s working because I really have to put my self out there and you never really know how people respond.” I must have looked dumbfounded because I thought he knew how important I felt the job was. I just had not reinforced the role’s importance along the way.

All to often we/I can get used to how well things work and forget to celebrate the wins. Sometimes we even forget why the systems are in place and what impact they have.

HERE IS THE SHOCKER……. Since January, over 141 first time guests have come through Relevant’s doors. Over 98% of the guests who took our online survey said they felt welcomed. Imagine if 141 people gave church a try and no one paid attention to them?

I have known Greg for many years. I knew him when I worked for him in real estate and before he returned to a church regularly. I remember over a year ago after lunch in Ybor we were standing at his car in the Italian Club lot, telling him that he needed to man up and take his faith serious. A few weeks later he began coming to Relevant. I have watched his faith grow by leaps and bounds. Although he does not feel like he has arrived, I can see his faith journey growing every week.

I have 4 more stories just like Greg’s of how God is working in your lives and through your lives.

Where Did Jamie Go?

Remember the questions I sent out from last week? Asking areas we are succeeding in and areas I need to improve on. (If you don’t remember I’ll send it again.) I received a great reply from the Begley’s. I wanted to highlight one of their reflections.

 

My question:

Premise Two: Leaders who do too much, prevent others from leading. The end result of poor delegation results in a cap of how effective the ministry can be. 

Question Two: In what areas do I need to step back and let others step up?

Begley response:

 I do appreciate that you’ve let the cantina team act fairly independently recently.  We’ve found a groove that seems to work for our team. 

 

On the surface it might seem like an ego stroke to me rather, I see it as a huge win for their set up team. I realized a few months ago that by me being down in the cantina I was getting in the way of others taking charge. I had to force myself to find something else to do. That was really hard. The great news is that this team flat knocks it out of the park. Last week they were done with set up at 9:03am. The fastest time ever.