I’ve been reading a very intriguing book called Wikinomics.  The premise of the book is that the way business and creativity is practiced on the Internet is transforming brick and mortar business as well.

The premier example of the creativity of the Internet is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia produced through the collaborative efforts of its users.  In other words, anyone can write an article for the online publication.  His best example is about the bombings that occurred in London on July 7, 2005.

Four synchronized bombs exploded in the London subway.  Eighteen minutes later the first entry about the bombings appeared in Wikipedia.  Within minutes other Wikipedia users were adding additional information to the original article, correcting spelling, etc.  By the end of the day, over twenty-five hundred users had created a comprehensive fourteen-page account of the event that was much more detailed than any other single news outlet.

There are other great examples of how people have collaborated to create wonderful ideas and products.  As the old expression goes, “Two heads are better than one.”  Mozilla is an open source internet browser created by collaboration.  Joomla and Linux are also products that are open source and the product of multiple users. 

All of which made me think about how many people “do church.”  Hierarchically.  Top down.  Professional.  Hired.  In other words, if you are a lay person, there is not much for you to do.  Show up.  Worship.  Contribute.  Study.  And go home.  But what if you were a full-on contributor to the life of the church?  A significant part of a team.  Making contributions that affected the well-being and momentum of the church.

The apostle Paul may have been talking about an ancient version of Wikipedia when he likened the church to the human body.  He described it as an organism that relies on all its parts, and each individual part, no matter how tiny, makes important contributions to the function of the whole.

Now that’s what I call collaboration.

I was told by church-planter-trainers that it is important to be very intentional about setting the DNA of the new church.  Prior to that time I had never really thought about DNA and whether a church had it.  But I’ve decided they all do.  And once set, there is no changing the DNA.

As I think about it, I agree about the stability of DNA.  It is nearly impossible to change the basic world view of a church once matured.  Incidental changes can be made such as song choices, worship order, even the building structure.  But the building blocks of the congregation are secure and inviolate.

Today I got an interesting look at LifeSpring’s DNA.  We are filming in preparation for a LifeSpring video which will reside on our website.  It will be a way of telling website visitors the LifeSpring story through the testimonies of LifeSpring members.

Today we filmed seven of our members as they each answered ten interview questions.  The questions included such things as: Is there something for kids?  Who attends LifeSpring? Is LifeSpring accepting or judgmental.  Why do your members attend and become involved? And what motivates them?  Who gets to participate at LifeSpring? And describe your worship; why do you have weekly communion?

Even though there was no script other than a list of the ten questions, the answers almost sounded as if they had been scripted.  Why?  DNA!  LifeSpringers have a very clear view of the values and beliefs that inform LifeSpring’s mission.  The fact that DNA exists is proven by their very consistent and thorough testimonies.

The person that did the filming for us commented how clear the testimony was and how he thought he understood what LifeSpring was about.  That was an exciting moment.

Several months ago, maybe even a year, a guy e-mailed me and asked to have coffee.  He just wanted to find out more about LifeSpring.  The visit was pleasant.

We got together for coffee a couple more times, and then he moved back east.  It was a short relationship, although it has continued via e-mail and discussions about books and ideas.  All in all, it has been a brief relationship.

This morning a visitor came to church.  In one of those “small world” experiences it turns out that she was a friend of the guy I had coffee with, and she continues to e-mail him.  She credits him with being a spiritual encourager for her. 

She told him in an e-mail that she was looking for a new church home.  I don’t know what her reasons are, but she was a guest at LifeSpring today.  She was a guest because our common friend recommended that that she attend LifeSpring.

This event reminded me that nothing is unimportant.  A casual conversation over coffee.  A long-distance friendship.  A brief interaction at a party.  None of us can ever predict where such events will take us or what people may intersect our lives because of them.

We had a guest today, and you can connect her presence directly to a cup of joe at Starbucks.  The two events were separated by many months, but they were still connected.  Which gives me hope when I think that nothing is happening.

Today was the date of our Second Sunday Social. LifeSpring has been scheduling these regular monthly get togethers for the past several months, and we only change the date when it interferes with the kind of social we want to schedule.

The October social was not as largely attended as some are due to the fact that we had some people out of town. We expect that will happen from time to time. Still, today’s Lake Yosemite event was very successful because of these factors.

1. The event was planned and executed by one of our members.
2. We had plenty of time to visit and get to know each other.
3. Affection is clearly growing between LifeSpringers.

Our November event is going to be a bowling party at an area bowling alley. These Second Sunday Socials are important to the unity and encouragement of our members as well as being a great opportunity for visitors to get to get to know us better.

At LifeSpring Church we believe that everybody should be able to participate as fully as they would like.  So we give people ample opportunity to volunteer to lead congregational prayers, read scripture, and provide the Lord’s Supper meditation, which we call the “table talk.” 

When we started doing this over a year ago, you could see some awkwardness.  We didn’t know each other that well at that point.  Folks didn’t know what was expected of them.  Most of us had grown up believing that such involvements should be reserved for an elite group of leaders.

But now our church community has grown comfortable with our egalitarian approach to worship and participation.  Everyone feels included and appreciated.  We are often blown away by the profundity of what is shared in communion mediations, or we’re moved by the skillful reading of a text.  It’s a really neat process in which to participate.

Yesterday Sean told us about the changes he has experienced in the last two years of his life.  He said that the Lord’s Supper is like a “pit stop” on the Amazing Race television show.  It has served to slow him down and make him think about what is happening in his life and the Lord’s relationship to that.  I was thankful for Sean’s transparency as well as for the eloquence of what he shared with us.  He made the Lord’s sacrifice real for us.

I am glad that LifeSpring recognizes the strength of everyone sharing.  By getting to hear what was on Sean’s heart, my life was improved.  Now I can’t wait to hear what the next LifeSpringer shares.

I just bought a new book called unChristian.  I found out about it through an electronic newsletter and was intrigued by the premise of the book.  Author David Kinnaman works for The Barna Group, an organization that provides primary research and tools for churches and parachurch organizations.

My interest in the book began because of a resonance I have with the author’s thesis.  “Our research shows that many of those outside of Christianity, especially younger adults, have little trust in the Christian faith, and esteem for the lifestyle of Christ followers is quickly fading among outsiders.”

I just started the book.  More about it in a later blog.  However, below is a CNN interview with Gabe Lyons, one of the writers of the book.  You may also enjoy looking at a site designed to create dialogue about relevance to culture. 

One of the greatest sins a “leader” can commit is to work alone.  Good leadership equips, empowers, trusts, and releases.  The best way to do this is through teams, and this is a good definition of team.  “A team is a group organized to work together to accomplish a set of objectives that cannot be achieved effectively by individuals.” 

Teamwork is the wisest means by which to contribute to an organization.  An organization that does not use teams is limited by the capabilities of its weakest or most fearful leader. 

Weak leaders function like log jams that slow everyone else down or even prevent forward motion.  Fears, vested interests, ego, or prejudices can hamper the health and effectiveness of an organization.

That’s why teams are important.  In teams, everyone has a vital role to play, everyone is empowered to contribute, and every opinion is important in the formation of direction.  Teams also require humility to function correctly.  A “leader” with huge ego issues will not be able to function in a team setting; it will be too threatening.

The same article about teams, quoted above, has a set of guidelines for team membership.  The whole list is not printed here, but note the emphasis on individual contribution in the items listed.

• Contribute ideas and solutions
• Recognize and respect differences in others
• Value the ideas and contributions of others
• Listen and share information
• Be flexible and respect the partnership created by a team — strive for the “win-win”

Autocratic and egotistic leaders are only able to reach to their personal limits.  In team work, individual commitment usually transcends the team. A team outperforms an individual and all reasonable expectations given to its individual members. That is, a team has a synergistic effect…one plus one equals a lot more than two.

Jesus understood the importance of “team” and its ability to transform individuals.  He took 12 men who, individually, could never have accomplished what they did as a team in a few short years.  During his three years with them, he empowered them, allowed them to fail, and when needed, supplied specific teaching.

Teamwork is vital to healthy organizations, business or religious.  An individual that tries to “lead” by himself is a danger to progress and growth, because he will function like a governor on a motor and slow the organization to his own limitations.

Bob Kaylor, senior writer for Homiletics Magazine, has gotten me to thinking about my vocabulary, particularly in regard to people who are not currently part of a church community.  I’ve struggled with what name to use to refer to this rather large group.  Sadly, I’ve resorted to the all-too-common term, “unchurched.”

Kaylor writes that being “churched” is not necessarily a good thing and “being in church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than being in a garage makes you a car.”  I like that.  It reminds me that I need to be more concerned about a person’s proximity to Jesus.

Plus, you wouldn’t necessarily want a new believer to look like some of the “churched” folks.  Kaylor has an 11–person playlist of people that you might want to avoid looking like in church.  They include the following six:

• De-churched people populate the church rolls but don’t attend anymore.
• Roto-churched people drift from church to church based on whose youth/children/music program is “hot.”
• Mega-churched people can only engage in worship with a praise band, video screens, and Starbucks in the foyer.
• Casual-churched people drop by when they have nothing better to do.
• Mal-churched people never miss church services, sit in the same pew, and never, ever smile.
• H2O-churched people – that’s “Holidays, 2 Only.”

LifeSpring wants to attract people who have no current relationship with Jesus and/or with disciples of Jesus.  That can be very different from people who simply “go to church.”  There’s far too many of that kind of person.

One of my favorite sermon resource sites is SermonSpice dot com.  I have been using them for a few years now, and I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful variety that I find at the site.

What’s neat is that SermonSpice is located just down the around about 60 miles in Fresno.  That really makes no difference in the service however.  They are always helpful and effective.

I would not hesitate to recommend them for someone looking for the right video idea to illustrate a sermon or some other spot in the worship.  Check them out.

Marketing is a huge puzzle to me.  Classic church planting models often employ heavy use of direct mail and other forms of mass advertising.  But LifeSpring didn’t have anywhere close to the amount of money that approach would take.  Later we got a one time infusion of $4000 cash that was earmarked specifically for marketing.  We gave direct mail a try, but it was very costly and a poor method.

Since that time we’ve tried other things:  pens with our logo and URL on them, cotton tote bags with our logo and URL, printed invitation materials, small posters, etc.  We’ve given goody bags to teachers at their beginning of the year reception, provided advertising materials to a real estate mortgage person to use in a promotion she had going, and provided items for a golf tournament that the Chamber of Commerce was sponsoring.

The results have been the same in every case; the items are good for branding, but they don’t build relationships.  We have found that nothing substitutes for being personally present in the lives of people.

Today I went to a presentation by a local radio station.  The station was offering a nice advertising package to small businesses.  It is a very tempting offer because it would double the number of spots that we currently have on the radio, and it would spread them across 4 radio stations rather than just 1 as we presently do. 

I hate decisions like this.  We’ll be spending about $250 more a month than we currently do.  However we currently believe that a sustained and long term advertising presence is necessary in order to make people aware you exist.  Since we can’t see the future, it is always a “gamble,” or uncertainty.  But we believe God is at work.  So we’ll buy the advertising and leave the outcome to God.

If you want to help us financially with this marketing, go to our Donation Site and send us some help.  It is well needed and enormously helpful to this work.