These are indicators that tell us if we are in a position to begin to be more public with 2 Pillars Church.  These are the things we’ll be inspecting as we progress through the Organic Launch phase and really create a way for us to ensure that our talk is getting translated to our walk:

1. 30-40+ committed adults.
   1. Signed a launch team covenant.
   2. Demonstrating commitment.
2. Evidence of intentional engagement with non-Christians.
3. Everyone on the launch team is in a Gospel Community.
4. Gospel Communities are meeting and healthy with a growing sense of unity and clarity around the mission.
5. Sunday gatherings are smooth: worship, kids, facilities, etc.

If you’ve been tracking with us but missed this past Sunday, please download the Launch Team Covenant, read it, pray over it, fill it out, and bring it back with you this Sunday.  If you have any questions about it, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

[Read all posts On Commitment]

2 Pillars Church is privileged to be a part of a church planting network called Acts 29 (www.acts29network.org) which has done an excellent job of applying orthodox, Reformation Christianity to the particular issues and questions of our day.

The Acts 29 doctrinal statement comprises the basic material for 2 Pillars Church’s Statement of Faith which now has a permanent home under the “Pages” section of this site.

Commitment is a word that brings up all sorts of thoughts, baggage, and preconceived notions.  At our final Whiteboard Session (two Sundays ago now) we began to talk about commitment.  I asked everyone to list the things that they are committed to.  Someone said parenting, someone said work, one mentioned marriage, a wise-guy said student loans.  There are lots of things that we are committed to in life.  Ironically, no one said God.  No one said Jesus. And no one said the Church.

Church Isn’t a Building

We live in a culture and a time that sees church as something that we should fit-into our already crazy busy life.  It’s a periphery thing that hangs out there and if we’re able to fit that into the equation of life, then we’re a good person.  AND if we’re able to mix in a small/home/life group, then we’re doubly awesome.  We ask questions like, “Which church do you go to?” or “Where is your church?”  Inherent in these questions is an underlying philosophy that says that church is a building that you go to or a service that you attend.

But church isn’t a building or a service that you “go to.”  It’s a people.  It’s an identity.  It should be central to who we are as Christians.  Rather than a periphery thing that we try to fit into our already packed-out life, church (as an identity) should be at the center – with everything else branching out of that. Note that this does not mean that all of your life should be spent “at the church.” Quite the contrary.

Rather than ask the question, “Which church to you go to?” we should ask, “Which church are you a part of.” Church is a body.  The answer to “Where is your church?” should be “all over this city” (or at least as widely spread as the zip codes of those involved).  People are not “at church” or “not at church” we “are the church.”

Church Isn’t a Grocery Store

If we slip into thinking of church as a building or a service, the danger is that we also slip into treating the church like a grocery store.  When my wife and I buy groceries, we shop for the best products at the best prices in order to get the most bang for our buck and optimize our budget.  We treat the church like a grocery store when sermons and worship music become bacon and eggs and programs and events become milk and cereal.  We treat the church like a grocery store when we shop for the best items – where we can get the most bang for our buck and optimize our budget which is made up of the currency of time, effort, finances, and convenience.

Church Isn’t a Phone App

We live in a consumeristic culture that tells us we need the best phone with the best apps that will save us time, money, and energy simultaneous with making our life easier.  The problem is that we often approach church with this same consumeristic attitude – looking for a church to “go to” on Sundays with a few extras that “fit into our already packed-out life.” One that doesn’t cost us too much money or energy and one that makes us feel good about ourselves.

But the church isn’t an iPhone app.  It won’t save you time, money, energy, or make your life easier.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Being a part of a church – really “being the church” will cost you time, money, and energy.  It won’t make your life feel easier – it should make it more complicated because the church is a body.  Being a part of the body means being a part of other people’s lives.  And other people have problems – just like you.  So take all of your problems and combine them with others’ and you can see that things complicate really quickly.  But that’s the point.

Christ Loved the Church and Gave Himself up for Her

Galatians 6:2 tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens.  Bearing one another’s burdens does not come without a cost.  That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Taking up your cross requires laying down your life.  Denying yourself.  Not because Jesus demands it in order to be in right-standing before him, but rather because that’s exactly what he did for us.  He laid down his life.  Ephesians 5:25 reminds us that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”  Acts 20:28 reminds us that he “bought His church with His own blood.”

If we are Christ’s followers, we too will love the church that he gave himself up for.  Jesus is all in.  He’s fully and radically committed to the church.  Are you?

[Read all posts On Commitment]

(picture via: motivatedphotos.com)

As I have met and had conversations with people, I’m learning that there are six categories into which someone falls.  Evaluating people through this grid is helping me to determine where to focus my time and energy as well as wake-up to the reality that I don’t want to face which is that some people, despite their excitement and interest, simply are not on-board.

Family

The first category is what I call “family.”  These are the folks that are all-in.  They’ve caught the vision and want to help in any way possible.  They are servant-leaders and their commitment is apparent via a verbal conversation in which they express their commitment.  It is important to realize that simply showing up at things does not make someone part of the family (consistency does not necessarily equal commitment).  A better gauge is to combine their consistency with their language.  Folks who are in the family use phrases with first-personal plurals like “our church” or “we can do this…”.

Fence

The second category is what I call the “fence.”  These are people that are interested in what we’re doing, excited about what we’re doing, have come to one or more of the vision meetings, or expressed their interest/excitement over coffee or lunch.  People in this category require patience.  Often times people on the fence are plugged-in to other church communities and asking them to up-root from that to join what we’re doing is a complicated decision and process. I tell these people all the time that we are not in the business of stealing people from other churches, but that my role is to cast the vision and trust that the Holy Spirit will do his job.

In a church plant, people on the fence ultimately have to be called by the church planter to commitment.  A church plant consisting of interested and excited people (but with no commitment) will fail.  This is the category where the most time and prayer is to be spent.  In addition, a prayerful ear to the Spirit’s prompting of when to call them to commit must be discerned.  The goal is to move people from the fence to the family or discern if perhaps they are simply a “friend.”

Fans

On Facebook, having a lot of fans is great.  In a church plant – not so much.  Fans love what you’re doing, express their excitement, follow you on Twitter, meet you for coffee, let you buy them lunch, but never come to anything that you organize.  Fans are typically podcasting Driscoll, reading John Piper, and can give you the latest update on Chandler’s cancer faster than it takes for you to find it on the web.  Fans will suck the energy out of you.  Often times people in this category are another “F” word I like to use – “floaters.” Meaning they don’t have a church home, they float from one church to another, avoid commitment, and really see themselves as getting “fed” from guys they podcast.  Fans love to talk about the terms “gospel-centered” and “missionally-focused” but fail to ever translate their talk to their walk.

Fans need to be quickly moved to the fence or the farm or they will consume your time and distract you from the mission.

Friends

Friends are typically gospel-centered people that are playing in the same league but just on a different team.  They are interested in what you’re doing, realize the importance of it, want to support you in ways they can, but in the end are plugged-into and committed to another church.  Friends are brothers and sisters in Christ.  Friends are great, but they’re not family.  You can call on friends for practical help and outside advice, but when you’re trying to build a family, sometimes you have to limit your time with friends.

Farm

The farm is made up of people that were on the fence that turned out to not be in the family when you called them to commit or else folks that were fans that you simply had to move to farm as they were much more interested in hanging out in the grandstands than ever making it onto the field.  Instead of being “all-in,” they’ve verbally or non-verbally stated that they are “all-out.”  As much as it can sometimes hurt, the sad reality of a church planter is that once people are on the farm, it is typically a distraction from the mission to continue to pursue them.  Call them like you see them and move on.  If they want to rejoin the fence – trust that they will on their own.

Foes

Foes are the critics.  These are the opposite of “family.” We’ve had a few of these in our short history as a church plant including one lady who accused me of trying to attract people to our church with beer and another whom I’ve never met that sent me an email with some poor exegesis of 1 Timothy 3 and tried to tell me that I was not qualified to be an elder.  It would have been nice to meet her.

Up until now, we have been casting the vision widely, allowing people to sniff us out, and giving people room to seek God’s direction for whether or not he wants them to be a part of it. We’ve got a growing family, several on the fence, a host of fans, some good friends, a growing farm, and a few foes. Our goal for the month of May is call people to commit and determine who’s in the family so that we can march forward with our mission to reach the unreached for Christ and transform the city of Lincoln by loving God and loving people.

May it be that God would grow and strengthen the family of 2 Pillars Church.

This blog post conveys some critical information about the path forward for 2 Pillars Church.  If you’re interested in what we’re doing and where we’re going and/or if you’re interested in joining us on this mission, please read it carefully.

First, I wanted to take a minute and let you about the final 2 Pillars Church Whiteboard Session – this Sunday (April 25th), 6pm at The 815. This is a very important meeting for 2 Pillars as I will be laying out the path forward through the end of the year.  If you are interested in being a part of what God is doing through this developing body, I urge you to make it on Sunday evening to have a clear picture of where we’re heading and why.  We will eat at 6pm (please bring a dish to share) and begin the discussion at 7pm.  Child care will be provided and we should be wrapped up around 8pm.  If you are a college student and are unclear of what it looks like to be a part of 2 Pillars Church as a student (and particularly as a student who may not be in Lincoln over the summer as things start taking off), please come to this meeting as we will talk about that as well.  We strongly desire for you to be a part of 2 Pillars and want to cast forward how you can continue to be involved throughout the summer – even from a distance – and then get physically plugged in when you return to Lincoln in the fall.

If any of you are planning/desiring to be a part of 2 Pillars Church and cannot make it this Sunday at 6pm, please contact me and we will try to arrange an alternate time to meet and discuss the path forward as the information conveyed this week will be critical to having a good foundational grasp on our direction as a church plant.

In addition to the regular (and final) Whiteboard Session, we will be holding a Whiteboard Session Recap at 5pm on the same evening (this Sunday, April 25th) at The 815. This will be a recap of the overall mission and vision of 2 Pillars Church.  If you have missed some or all of the Whiteboard Sessions, or joined us late in the series, this is the opportunity to come and catch the overall vision and values of 2 Pillars as well as hear our philosophy of ministry (i.e. the “how” and “why” of 2 Pillars).  This will start pretty promptly at 5pm, will last about 45 minutes, and we’ll leave plenty of time for Q&A.  Child care will also be provided during this time.  If you are brand new to 2 Pillars or if there is someone you’ve been wanting to introduce to 2 Pillars Church but have not yet done so, this is the perfect and prime time for you to do that as I will give the big picture of who we are, what we’re doing, how, and also why.  Even if you’ve been tracking with us for a while, this session will provide a solid foundation for what we’ll be talking about at 7pm so I encourage you all to come as interested and available.

The second reason for this post is to begin the conversation about the transition that is about to occur in the life of 2 Pillars Church.  This will largely be the topic of Sunday evening, but I want to begin to frame it for you now.

Up until this point, I have been meeting and casting the vision of 2 Pillars Church widely to as many people – from as many walks – as possible.  I’ve met with some of you as well as, city leaders, artists, musicians, Christians, non-Christians, church leaders, businessmen/women, mercy ministry leaders, pastors, writers, students, parachurch leaders, coaches, neighbors, bloggers – you name it.  The goal of all of that has been (and will continue to be) to gather a group of people around the central vision of starting a new, gospel-centered, missionally-focused church in the downtown heart of Lincoln specifically geared to reach the unreached for Christ and transform the city by loving God and loving people.  To really make a difference in the city.  To really engage the ever-changing culture around us with the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ.  To start something that will have immediate and continual tangible results.  To start something that will endure and serve the community well.  In short, to put our money where our mouth is and to live out the gospel.

God has been good in this process and it has been easy to see him move in his church plant as he has pulled people, opportunities, finances, facilities, homes, leaders, and committed individuals together.

On Sunday night, we begin to make a shift. The central shift is this: we begin to transition from primarily gathering a group of believers around a mission and vision to taking who God has brought into this fold and living out the mission and vision as we reach the unreached.  This does not mean that the door closes on believers that have not yet connected with 2 Pillars.  It does mean, however, that we are looking to move from a group of loosely interested folks sniffing this thing out to a group of committed folks determined to living it out.  There will always be folks that come and join what God is doing, but in the month of May we are really aiming to solidify a group of committed individuals to form the basis of a committed launch team.  So…

Beginning Sunday, May 2nd, we will gather every Sunday morning at 10am at The 815.  We will worship together, teach through what it looks like to commit to being a part of 2 Pillars, and we will also break bread together.  If you are desiring to be a part of 2 Pillars Church or are interested in simply hearing what it looks like to commit, I want to stress that you come every Sunday in the month of May as we will cover a different aspect of the commitment each week.  At the end of May, we will seek folks to sign a launch team covenant as we covenant together and begin working towards launching 2 Pillars Church.  The goal is that you come throughout May and really pray and discern whether this is something that God is calling you to be a part of.  The commitment thus comes at the end of May, not the beginning.

Beginning June 6, Lord willing, we will begin meeting in homes throughout the week – forming Gospel Communities that then all come together and worship Jesus on Sunday mornings as a semi-closed group of folks committed to the launching of 2 Pillars Church.

Throughout the summer, we will be looking for launch indicators that point towards our readiness to launch more publicly in the fall.  The big idea here is that we don’t just want to start another church. We really want to ensure that the mission and vision are being lived out.  Assuming that we see the launch indicators in the summer we will launch more publicly in September; and to be real honest, if we really start living it out, the Spirit will launch it organically without the need for a “public launch” in September.

I cannot stress enough that being a part of a church plant that is radically committed to being a gospel-centered, missionally-focused community bent on reaching the unreached for Christ is not for everyone.  It will not be easy.  It will not always be fun.  It will not meet all of your expectations.  It will be hard.  A target will be drawn on your back.  You will have to confront sin in your own life and fall victim to the gospel, dying to yourself in order to live a life that will impact others with that same gospel as you daily take up your cross.  It will be a mess, but it will be a beautiful mess.

I am praying for the city of Lincoln, I am praying for those that will read this, and I look forward to seeing many of you this Sunday evening.

This Sunday (April 11th) we will gather at The 815 for our second-to-last Whiteboard Session for 2 Pillars Church. The topic this Sunday is “Leadership and Membership” and it is a critical piece of the unfolding vision of this church plant.  I’d love it if you would come and check out what God is up to in the forming of this new church in downtown Lincoln.

We will talk about the leadership structures that are currently in place within this church plant, as well as where we are going in the future with respect to elders and deacons.  We will also talk about church membership: what it is, why it is important, and what it will look like at 2 Pillars Church.  This is NOT a night in which we’re looking for people to become “members” of 2 Pillars but rather a discussion of what membership will entail when when it is rolled out.  We’ll also talk about the timeline of that roll-out.

I would love it if you would join us this Sunday at 6pm at The 815 (815 O Street – under the overpass).  Please bring a dish to share as we will eat together at 6pm with the discussion starting at 7pm.  This is a real low-key, informal gathering that is open to anyone/everyone and a great way for you to come check out what we’re about without giving any sort of commitment.

I’m working this week to begin to summarize some of the content from the first three sessions in written form.  Stay tuned for that.

WB Supplement: Values

WB Supplement: Gospel Communities