Speaking of Conferences...

It looks like I'm going to be making my way down to God's country and rubbing elbows with the Mad Babbler himself, Mr. Gary Lamb. I'm nearly certain that you can find me at the Churchplanters.com Conference on February 26 & 27, 2007 in Cumming Georgia at Mountain Lake Church.

I don't even know if Gary remembers this but I believe we first spoke in May of '05 when I posted on my blog that I was going to Atlanta for a couple of days. Gary just wrote out of the blue and said "Have fun dude. Next time let us know earlier. I'm about 30 minutes from NAMB, I'll show you Hotlanta in all its glory." I remember sitting in the hotel the next morning thinking "People around the country actually read this thing." It was cool.

So Gary... I'm letting you know now... I'm headed to Atlanta again! Are any of you out there in blogdom headed down to the Churchplanters.com Conference?

Get Tally in your Inbox!

A few weeks ago while visiting a friends church a member and employee came up to me and said "Hey, I read your blog all of the time!" I thought "Crap... quick... what have I been writing?" but she assured me that it's been all good. (Whew.. in the clear)

After church we all grabbed dinner at a local pizza joint and this wonderful (she must be, she reads the blog) woman proceeded to tell me that she did have one beef with my blog. She said "You know how Mark Batterson sends his blog to people via their email address?" I said "yeah". She continued "Well... I would like to see yours that way too. I don't know how to set up one of those feed things and its just so much easier if I can open my email and get the post from the day."

Your wish is my command.

In reading Tony's post from today I was reminded of this amazing and brilliant (she must be, she reads my blog) woman's request. With a quick request in to Tony and his very kind reply I have now added two features three functions below my picture to the right.

1. Email- I had an email link before but must have neglected it when I changed the layout a few weeks back.

2. Feedburner feed- Many of you follow me through a feed on the backend of the site but up until now I have been neglecting my duty to provide you wonderful souls with an opportunity to subcribe at moments notice. Problem solved.

3. Email Subscription- Your wish is my command. Tony pointed me to FeedBlitz.com where I was able to install a fancy gaget and customize in no time.

So there you have it fine readers (you attractive, charming, wonderful, loving, caring, responsible, encouraging, faithful, bold, pure, strong, joyful readers)... Tally is here to serve.

Now if you're not subscribed... do it now. Make your life easier.. you can find me at a conference and buy me a coffee (Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha at 150 degrees) to thank me later!

Fantastic Post

Just read the best post I've seen in months.
I don't want to screw it up by typing more words so go check it out here.

The Blogging Church

Video Above: The text below is mainly for those using feed readers.

I've really enjoyed reading the new book by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch. "The Blogging Church" is not only a great primer for those who are interested in making their church a 'Blogging Church' but it is also a terrific read for the experienced blogger.

Brian and Terry run the gammot on tools and tricks as well as providing great insight in how not to use a blog. One of the benefits to this book is that it takes into consideration the end users and their varied levels of experience. I can't say enough about how effective they combine basic information with stories of application, inspiration and any other 'tion' you can think of.
The novice will be given enough information to drown them if they try to absorb it at one sitting. The experienced blogger will gain a new perspective on just how influential their slice of the internet experience could be when used properly.

Brian and Terry hit the ball out of the park with this first-of-its-kind book for the Christian world. I highly recommend this book for anyone even remotely interested in understanding blogs and their potential impact for the Kingdom. If you're a current blogger who wants to gain a positive reputation for your blog this book is a must! If you've been around for a few years like myself, I believe you'll walk away with a deeper appreciation for just what you do on a daily basis after reading what Brian and Terry share in this timely work.

I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of the "The Blogging Church" today.

I am now sending this copy up to Reston, VA to my good friend and a man quoted many times in this book... Mr. Ben Arment.

Books, Books, Books

Tomorrow I will be posting a review of Brian Bailey and Terry Storch's new book "The Blogging Church". It was passed to me by Tadd and I'm sending it on in the morning. By the way... the book hasn't been too many places but there was a streak of brown on the edge of the pages... I'm not trying to start anything but Gary had the book a few weeks ago in a unique place.

In addition to reading "The Blogging Church" this week I've been going through Craig Groeschel's "Confessions of a Pastor" like it's going out of style. I'll do a full review in a few days but I can go ahead and tell you to go pick it up. Craig has done a great job of making me say "Ohh yeah... go get'em" along with a little "Crap.. did you have to read my mail like that?" It's easy to read in a good way and it's refreshing to hear from a man with his level of influence in the Pastoral sub-culture of Christindom.

Once I'm done with Craig's book I think I may take some time to read something political. Before reading these two Christianish books I read a Real-Estate book and "Out of the Shadows" by our new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. It was a good look at the last 5 Presidential administrations as they relate to the various security agencies. Pretty cool stuff. I learned a lot more about why we have such a beef with Castro.

That's where I am right now regarding books so if you have something that's not "Christianish" that I should pick up just drop me a comment or email and let me know.

When Tony Morgan speaks...

I don't dare to say I 'know' Tony Morgan. I do admire him for sure and I read nearly all of what he writes (even soap reviews). At the "Buzz Conference" last year Tony was gracious enough to answer some questions I had and like any good leader he took great interest in my little part of the world. He's even sent me a signed copy of one of his books. He's a good man.

Recently Tony started to talk about big news coming on Friday (today). Now I've learned that if Tony says something is going to be big... he means HUGE.

Check out Tony's thoughts on his transition to Perry Noble's home of Anderson, S.C. and Newspring Church.

As you do, take a look at Mark Beeson's comments here.
You can also see Perry's comments here.

I remember a year or so ago when Fellowship Church made a splash by rearranging almost their entire executive leadership team. Youth guy moves to Worship, Tech to Campus Pastor, etc. From all accounts everyone was doing a great job before the move but there was wisdom in change. In a regional event I attended around that time Ed Young said that he wanted people to have a fresh perspective... to tackle problems in new ways and propell the church to move in ways it hadn't yet dreamed. Apparently from all acounts it has worked.

This looks to be a similar move. An incredibly talented leader who's been with his church for over 8 years and who loves what he's doing and the people he's doing it with obeys God. God leads him in basically a horizontal move to share his experience and wisdom with another great team.

Each of the churches involved and the leaders who guide them are amazing at what they do. God is obviously at work in both bodies and I'm excited to see the future of these ministries.

I respect and appreciate Mark, Tony and Perry for making such a public transition as graceful as it could ever be. These are men that many Pastors look to for leadership and through this experience they are each leading the way in showing us how to transition well. Thanks guys.

Loyalty

Sometimes you learn lessons of loyalty when someone goes out of their way to stab you in the back. Other times it's when someone prevents them from doing so. I saw both today.

Transitioning Pastors...

If I was a Pastor of a transitional church (a church making the move from traditional to modern), I know where I'd be Feburary 8-10th.


Church Dare

Tenacity

A college friend named Mitch Corn recently commented on a post where he used an adjective that about sums me up... "tenacious". He's right.

Asking myself why I may be that way I came to this conclusion:
I've seen far too many quitters.

Let me be transparent for a moment. We've had many many reasons to quit. I've had several job offers each year since we started... but God hasn't freed me to move on. So I won't.

Church planting is difficult. And? It's also difficult to Pastor an established church (If you are actually trying to do anything) or transitioning an established church. It's difficult to lead, it's difficult to follow.

The only thing that isn't difficult is laying around on your blessed assurance while taking orders from people who have no clue and no calling. I'm sorry... I may have less stress in my life and a bigger paycheck but that would be a boring existence for me. I'm not called to be a babysitter.

Church planters... at every level of ministry there will be problems for you if you are busting your tail to rescue the lost. We have to quit crying about our situation and get to work. I LOVED being around Robb yesterday because his story parallels mine in so many ways. Faced with the option to keep people and give up the vision or to keep the vision and lose people, Robb chose what countless other planters choose. As a result it's tough... but do you know what his message was on? Getting it done! Moving forward. Changing the world. Rescuing those far from God. Church planters can't be quitters.

Why people quit because things get difficult makes me scratch my head. It's confusing to me. Somehow many of us have bought into this idea that God is only in something when it's easy. Well meaning people have come to a place to believe that when the Holy Spirit is present there is no difficulty. "Smooth sailing when the wind of the spirit is in your sails." That's crap.

I've learned that anything worth achieving is difficult. If you get into church planting because you thought it was easy you are stupid and you should get out now and quit dragging your family though an ego-driven lie. Unless you're called by God to do it and you have counted the cost you will be in for a surprise. Most plants fail for a reason.... it's a hard task. If you're not a planter and you think I'm out to lunch... go plant a church. Heck, even some successful church planters I know are Pastors who left other church plants or who shut down a failed plant before starting work on their current (and gloriously successful) one. This successful one isn't their first rodeo. My point is that they didn't quit planting... they learned from their mistakes, got mentorship and got back to work.

I think it's sad when people look with ignorance to successful church stories without having the background knowledge of these men. Every one of them have unique stories of providence, failure, difficulty and a life of relative obscurity to back up their current success. Church planters would do well to recall the lives of obscurity led in scripture before God poured out his bounty on their faithfulness. God doesn't normally give snot nosed and inexperienced men what they long for... it would drown them. But he does bless the faithful, the strong... the tenacious AS LONG AS they are dependant on Him.

I read something by Oswald Chambers the other day where he said "God wants your reach to be further than your arms so that he can make up the difference." That to me describes what a man of God should strive toward. We can't stop reaching just because our arms are tired... we can't let doubt overwhelm us to the point of failure. We must be faithful and tenacious.

I've heard of too many church planters who quit far too soon. They believe that they aren't doing anything of value. They start to believe that the Holy Spirit is leading less than he once was. These planters are not helped at all by denominational agencies who use them in photo-opts for magazine stories and then pull the plug without much notice. They certainly aren't helped by larger churches who assume because a church hasn't grown to a certain level that the Pastor must not be worth much... They aren't helped by the larger church who comes in and offers the Pastor a job without ever first working to see how they as the larger ministry can help the church plant succeed in areas in desperate need of a healthy and growing church community.

So... yeah I guess I'm tenacious.... but I like to think of it as faithful. If you're considering church planting... be tenacious. Why? Because the Holy Spirit doesn't produce anything less...

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." -2 Timothy 1:7

Mitch, thanks for the encouragement and the healthy reminder.

U2 on Church Planting

Shaula has a great post I wanted to pass along. Shaula is Robb's wife (of Epic City Church in Norfolk, VA) If you're church planting/thinking of planting/curious about planting or just want to hear what it's like in the church planting trenches... go read her blog.

Church Planting Lesson from U2

Interesting tidbit from U2 by U2. The band was finishing the October tour and was in the middle of recording their third album, War, but they did not have enough money to finish their tour. Paul McGuinness, their manager, decided to put the expenses on his personal American Express card. When they returned home, there wasn't enough money to pay the bill and he got his card taken away. It's encouraging to me to see the biggest band in the world had such difficult struggles several years after being signed to a record label. They persevered, and the rest is history.