Andy Stanley

Tonight Tom talked to us about a minister convention in which one of the speakers was Andy Stanley, Charles Stanley’s son.  Tom had us watch a DVD of the meeting. Andy topic was of casting vision. Andy pastors the Northpoint Comm. Church in Alanta, Georgia, but the meeting was being held at the Willow creek leadership summit. He opened up talking about his wife and praising the place he was speaking at saying, it had a good reputation even with non-believers. Andy’s main topic was making vision stick. It was clear that his passion was to share this info with others, but warned not to turn on followers but persevere with them or it is the leaders who become the failures. Communicate the vision with clarity, he said, because without clarity there will be chaos. Whether business or church success or failure and every thing in between causes vision to fail. Success brings complexity. Planning and strategy must always change to keep up with the vision. Andy used the first fundraising campaign as an example and how it failed. He said do not let failure change your vision. Repetition he said is the key to maintaining and keeping vision. When his body said is’nt this the same thing you talked about last year he said, yes that is the point. Casting, celebrating and living your vision and making it blend in is needed. He said, casting has to have substance and be clear. Celebrate provides inspiration, it puts skin on the vision. Living out the vision is a place of influence. Vision has to be repeated repeatedly. Casting vision for an upcoming season where the church will be doing ministry involes staffing for that vision. He also spoke on not changing the vision, but in new ways of casting the vision. The components are the following 1 define the problem, ask the tough questions.2 Offer a solution to the outstanding problem. 3 Present people with a resean or state the urgency of the problem so the church can address it. Andy went on to say that, anew church is not a new vision it is just a new church. Next, he went on to say that celebration should be part of your culture if not it becomes all work and no play. Praise reports ar a great reason for celebration like the one he said before it puts skin on the vision. Finishing he spoke of not losing the passion, listen to prayer request, and keep an ear out for complaints that will help the vision. Over all this dvd was informative and enjoyable.

book report

Tonight in class was the first of three nights where we presented our book reports before the class. Our presentations were to be a summary of the book that we had chosen at the beginning of the semester. Our goal was to present the book in a way that gave the class an overview of the book with the highlights noted. Tonight was my turn to give my presentation. The book I had chosen was simple strategic stuff, written by two men from Granger church in granger, Indiana. Granger church, which I found out, is about five thousand strong with a broad spectrum of ministies within it. As I started my presentation Tom had us go to the computers to see what we could find on the internet about Granger church. Granger churches web site came up and Tom started to point out how multimedia is being put into use by this church and what that media brings to the table in drawing people into churches. The church used graphics in a short presentation with the Pastors face being superimposed onto different people with the intent of reinforcing his message almost using technology as an illustration before preaching his message. A man followed this on a live horse walking into the sactuary and conversing with the pastor. Tom stressed the different strengths of there web site and we talked about the how they got there message about the church out there so it was understood, such as classes and upcoming events. Tom also gave us a crash course on power point and using it to improve our presentations for the benefit of the persons viewing. Even though it was my night to share, I was the one who learned the most I think. Tom did a great job of helping me see what areas were good and other areas that I needed improvement on for the next time I have to do a presentation. The thing I take home with me is that you should never be too old to learn something new and that advice on how to improve yourself from others should never be ignored. Thank you Tom for sharing your widom with us in this class.  

Visitation#1

Visitation#1 Lebanon rescue mission

 Two others and I went to the Lebanon rescue mission tonight. We shared with the homeless at a victorious anonymous meeting {a Christian version of AA}. Our visit was an opportunity for us from tri-county worship center to share the gospel and our own personal faith in how God helped us overcome the sin in our lives. The men were very welcoming and they sang two gospel songs with us before we had an informal service with them. Each one of us shared a testimony and the gospel with the men. What I learned is that God loves people and my heart needs to be in tune with the Holy Spirits with compassion and love towards all people. I also realized it was my pleasure to love them guys, I hope we are invited back soon.

PastorVince

     Tonight in class we were locked out of our classroom, but we were not locked out of the life of a pastor whose vision for the city of Reading is full of hope and fervor for Jesus. Not only has he gained the attention of the local news channel but my attention too. Vince Donnachie was born the youngest of five children. He said he grew up fighting with his brothers and being an eagles fan. Though his father brought them up catholic he mentioned that his father was into astrology so much so that his dad created web sites devoted to astrology. Vince joked his family was very eccentric and spiritual beliefs varied in his family, but one by one his brothers came to know the Lord. It wasn’t until an AG pastor moved into town that had two beautiful daughters who invited Vince to church and Vince got saved. Shortly after during another service Vince said he was filled with the Holy Spirit.Commenting on the expierience he said it scared him a little, but siad he felt the power of the Holy Spirit come over him. That was the time in his life that things started to change, he met his girlfriend who later became his wife and felt called into full time ministry. Vince’s brother started a church in Woodbury, NJ and Vince said that he started working in different areas of ministry in his brother’s church. After being asked to fill a full time ministry position Vince said he was reluctant at first, but after a buisness opputunity fell thru he took a position in Pennington, NJ at an AG church. At that time he started meeting with pastors from the Lancaster area of PA. From there him and his wife felt led to Hopewell church which services the people of Lancaster .Vince commented that he knew early on that he would start a church. While spending time in Pa he came to know our teacher Tom Reese about a year and a half ago and then he started the Reading city church in the IMAX theater.Vince had throughout all of this kept his connections to other ministries. Now he had his own church. A church that was launched on 10/10/10 which started from a seed at the Google works in Reading. He said that his heart for the city of Reading has grew since he has been there.Vice said’ the biggest thing is staying fixed and focused on the glory of God.He went on to say that even thought there is a lot of ego in ministry we must keep our mind we exist for the work of God. As Vince runs the race in Reading he says his goal is to reach unchurched people for Christ.