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I recently wrote a blog post from a thought from AquaChurch 2.0 on being a risk-taker and realizing that we must get out of the boat.

Yesterday I received an email from cmconnect with the following thought:

Hole Diggers and Risk Takers
by Roger Fields

“Some play it safe and dig holes; some take risks and try to make a difference. The salient point from Jesus’ parable of the talents is that those who play it safe do so because they believe God is a “hard man.”

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I KNEW YOU TO BE A HARD MAN, (Matt 25:24 NKJV)

Risk takers know that God is a good Father who looks for ways to bless His people. Hole diggers expect God to berate them.  I believe most children’s pastors are risk takers who know God is on their side. This web site gives us a way to hang out with other risk takers.”

I look further at Matthew 25:24 and read that verse, it says: “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” (NKJV)

This verse challenges us to be risk-takers and go where we have not been and do things that we have not done. Life is hard. Things are hard. But how will we know we can be successful in risky tasks or even succeed at all if we don’t get out of the boat and go for it? Don’t dig a hole and bury your risky adventures. Throw them out in the water in front like an anchor and pull yourself forward.

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Here’s an excellent thought from AquaChurch 2.0: (page 306)…

The first four years are absolutely as critical to spiritual and moral devleopment as they are to social and intellectual development. A child’s spirituality begins before it is born. Churches that help parents understand and address a child’s “learning windows” from the womb onward will lead the way. If working parents can expect nursery-care centers to stimulate their child’s intellectual development from day one through a variety of stimuli, why are our churches lagging behind in offering children sounds, images, and touches to stimulate their spiritual imaginations as well?

I currently teach preschoolers ages 3-5 in an early childhood center that recently opened only 3 months ago. Parents and their children are visiting and touring everyday to investigate the school. They’re interested in our programs, our routines, our activities, and our curriculum. They’re looking for those activities that stimulate children’s intellectual development and encourage them to explore activities and learning centers.

The preschool and children’s ministries in our churches need to offer activities and curricula to stimulate children’s spiritual development as well as the spiritual development of parents. After all, education (including Christian education) begins in the home.

Our family center buildings with rock-climbing walls, water parks, and bowling alleys are great ways to open the doors for children and their families, but our churches need to provide them with spiritual nourishment as well. We need to provide stimulating sounds, images, and touches with lessons straight from the Bible.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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In AquaChurch 2.0, Len Sweet gives us lessons called “All I Ever Needed to Know I learned from Noah” (page 242).

1. Be prepared. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.

2. Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something REALLY BIG.

3. Don’t listen to critics. Do what has to be done.

4. Build on high ground.

5. For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.

6. Two heads are better than one.

7. Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails.

8. If you can’t fight or flee, float.

9. Take care of your animals as if they are the last ones on earth.

10. Don’t forget that we’re all in the same boat.

11. When the doo-doo gets deep, don’t complain. SHOVEL.

12. Stay below deck during the storm.

13. Remember: The ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by professionals.

14. If you have to start over, have a friend by your side.

15. Woodpeckers on the INSIDE are often a bigger threat than the storm outside.

16. Don’t miss the boat.

17. No matter how bleak it looks, there’s always a rainbow on the other side.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I’m continuing my reading of Len Sweet’s AquaChurch 2.0.

We need to live life on the edge; live on the edge as Jesus did. “The action is on the edge, not the center” (page 170). When we move away from the edge, we are moving away from Jesus. He is on the edges, in the margins, and beyond the boxes.

We should live on the edge, take adventures, have experiences, get out of the comfort zones, challenge our minds, do things that may be uncomfortable for us because things are different, unusual, and out-of-the-ordinary. Living on the edge shows great faith in Jesus as well … like the scene in “Indiana Jones” where he walks to the edge, there seems to be no way across, he takes one step that looks like it is in mid-air but a bridge pops up and stretches all the way for him to walk across.

Faith is walking to the edge and taking one more step. Are you living and walking on the edge where the action is?

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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In AquaChurch 2.0, Len Sweet tells of a sign over the door of a church (page 131). Excellent advice for anyone, in any situation, in any stage of life, in any career …

Enter at your own risk.

God is doing a new thing.

Take risks.

Retrieve life by risking it, Jesus said.

Besides, that very plank that you used to get on board can also become the very thing that saves you from drowning after a shipwreck.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Big things can come in small packages. Big ministries can come from small churches. Len Sweet reminds us, in AquaChurch 2.0, that small companies are changing and re-creating the global economy and many of those companies have less than 24 employees (page 121). This fact should make the small-membership church reconsider its futures.

These small churches matter and can make a difference in God’s Kingdom, though they sometimes need encouragement and support from larger churches. When the majority of a denomination consists of churches with 100 members or less, shouldn’t we hear from those church leaders instead of the mega-church leaders who pastor 15,000 people?

Those small church leaders aren’t going to stand out in the crowd because of their low numbers. Our denominational leaders need to get out there and find them, talk to them, support them, encourage them, help them. There are so many small churches; our leaders don’t have to go far to find one, probably just around the corner from their mega-church building. They can send a small group of committed Christ-followers to that small church to help with ministry projects. Yes, we help churches with ministry projects on mission trips but those trips are usually to another state. Why can’t we help fellow churches and Christ-followers in our own communities where we live?

Let’s stop competing with one another and start reaching out to those who need Jesus.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I love the metaphor Len Sweet uses on page 88 of AquaChurch 2.0. We must be anchored in the Bible, yet continuously moving forward. We must cast our anchor ahead of the boat and pull ourselves forward with the rope. What an image!

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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If you’re doing church the same way you were a year ago, or even last week, you’re falling behind and failing.

Len Sweet, page 20.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Here’s another wonderful point from What the Best College Teachers Do. A Harvard Law professor, Derrick Bell, was the first African American to be granted tenure at the school. He was noted for being one of the most effective teachers in ways in which he treated his students. He treated his students with courtesy and dignity. Class time was for the students, but he would take a few minutes at the beginning of class to talk with them about their lives and share personal moments of his own with them (page 148). One of his students reported that he and his wife were walking in the Village near NYU one morning and pointed out that Derrick Bell teaches there. The man’s wife suggested that he apply to the program so he did, was accepted, and studied with Bell. He treated his students with decency, respect, and concern (page 149).

How many people in the towns where we live, in our workplaces, or in our schools want to attend our churches because of how we treat others? Are we treating people with decency, respect, and concern? Do we treat them in ways showing we care and want to talk with them?

Or are we busy with our own lives? Do we have separate lives … a work life, a neighborhood life, a school life … and we do our own thing on church days?

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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In continuing my read through What the Best College Teachers Do, I have come to one of the important principles of effective teachers: focus on the student rather than the discipline (page 110). Teaching should be student-centered, not discipline-centered or teacher-centered. Teachers must focus on the interests of the students, what they care about, what they know, what they think they know instead of simply giving them an outline of information. In a sense, the students are the teachers. When involved in the lessons and encouraged to participate in the discussions, then they will listen, think, and respond and reach conclusions on their own understanding and reason.

This technique is often easier to accomplish in a small group Bible study rather than in a large worship service. In this Bible study group, students (or participants) should be comfortably allowed to think and talk about the topic, even if their ideas aren’t the most correct answers. Teachers can use warm language, which is actually story telling, to effectively explain ideas and concepts (page 122).

The most effective teachers guide students into discussing ideas that may help them in solving their problems. Overall, the teacher and the students are learning together from each other.

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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