Wednesday -- Post #1

I probably should have said the Institute is also called the Seven Secrets. As of Wednesday night we have been through four of the seven secrets. They are:


1 Asset Mapping

2 Strategic Vision

3 Compelling Communication

4 Administration or Ad-ministry-tion

Last night I shared with you what I learned about Asset Mapping but did not have time to report about Secret Two. Since it is fresh in my head, I will try to share with you my thoughts on the Third and Fourth “Secrets.”

But before I do that, I would share with you a couple of comments about the Institute in general. First of all, most of the speakers are very successful pastors who have succeeded in numerically growing several churches. That they are successful is good, but for our purposes it may be a drawback, because they are used to working with a large church. While they began with very limited numbers in the pews, their growth allowed them to use techniques that have limited use in pastoral size churches, like ours. The churches we have learned about are almost exclusively very liberal churches that serve a very liberal population — that is people who have not been traditionally welcomed in other churches. These churches have grown because they served a very specific “niche” market. (I think I spelled it correctly.). This may limit, but not eliminate, the value of the Institute for me and St. Matthew’s.

Another limitation of the Institute is that many, but not all, of the lessons taught have been born out of new church starts or almost dead churches, that were essentially “rebuilt” with a new congregation. Few examples or speakers have dealt with medium size churches recovering from a trauma or inaction.

The Wednesday morning worship was led by Rev. Piazza and he called it, “Worship in a Box.” Rev. Piazza, formerly of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, now plants churches across the country, among other things, which means he travels throughout the week and flies in Sunday am or pm to lead worship. Frequently there is no bulletin and he simply plugs his flash drive into a computer and projector and leads the worship that is presented, music and all, on the flash drive. This morning’s worship theme was putting trust in God. Rev. Susan Mitchell, the preacher, compared her experiences on a high ropes confidence course where she had to lean back and catch a rope, to “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” She is an engaging preacher with a well crafted sermon.