Branded With Love

We are looking to kick off our Assimilation Team here at Forefront. “Jason, what the heck is an Assimilation Team?!” Great question. An “A.T.” is a group of people who will help every single person who ever walks through the doors of Forefront, have the opportunity to move in their growth and relationship with Jesus. No one “has” to move to another step, but we want to make sure that if people want to take the next step, that we’re there to help them and guide them along.

It’s going to be a daunting task and we are looking for 14 people who are willing to really put in some time, phone calls, relationship building, and energy into making this system we’ve adopted work.

If you are good at, excited about, or willing to do any of the following, please shoot me an email at jason@forefront.org and put in the subject line, “Project: A-Team”

• Make phone calls to current and future Forefronters
• Be a part of guiding people through Starting Point, Gel Groups, Serving, Etc.
• Input information into our office database to track every single person’s journey towards Jesus (i.e. have they been immersed? are they serving? are they in a gel group? are they committed to forefront? etc.)
• Friendly and enjoys building relationships with other people

If you fit the mold of one or more of those, give me a shout. I would like to see this team moving and functioning by the end of March. As I visited Gel Groups at the end of last year, I informed everyone that this was one of my big goals. I saw quite a few excited faces that I know would do great on this team.

As a church we don’t want a single person to be left behind. So let’s get this thing rolling!
You digg?!

I just had a talk with a pastor friend who started a new position last week at his church. He was almost in tears. He just had a bad run in with some people and it made him feel absolutely awful. He just didn’t feel very accepted. He’s pretty new to ministry in general and I gave him some kind words and helpful advice, but it made me think about another aspect of acceptance at churches…

How do the new people at your church feel?

I know other pastors who keep up with the blog and I wondered… When they walk through the door, what is their experience like? Do they feel welcome? Are they overwhelmed by 85 people telling them hello? Do they carry around a “new person” welcome bag that’s more like a bright red signal flare saying, “Hey, I’m new here in case the look on my face wasn’t enough.” How do you communicate to people from the stage? Do you explain things so someone new feels comfortable?

I know we are constantly asking ourselves this question at Forefront, but there are always better ways to make someone feel accepted. Nobody needs to attack the newbs.

Tomorrow our Chesapeake Campus is going to be living the good life! They will be meeting for the first week inside of Greenbrier Mall’s Cinema Cafe. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this move. I think being in the heart of a mall is a great location. We will be in the hub of everything happening in the Chesapeake area.

Please pray for a great service, tons of new people, and that God will challenge you to invite a friend and check it out. The official BIG launch is on Sunday, February 15, 2009… but if you want to get a couple weeks of the “sneak peak,” just head on over tomorrow morning at 10 am!

(Note to self: they ain’t servin’ pizza, subs, popcorn, beer or soft drinks- so… BYOSSS “Bring Your Own Service Snacks Sucka”)

Jason *over and out*

Last Sunday at the Beach Campus I mentioned a project I would like for Forefront to do. The project is called, “Each One – Clothe One.” As a body of guerrilla loving God followers we want everyone to aid in clothing one entire people group. For every shirt sold, you will be able to clothe 4 children in Vietnam. Currently, we are aiding the Mien people in Vietnam to get water projects completed, teach their teachers, and work with their schools.

This is a great opportunity to get involved with global missions, but we need your help. We are asking you to take ownership by helping us design a shirt to make this project happen. We will be accepting designs for 3 weeks, and posting the design that’s chosen at the end of the submissions.

The winner will receive a free t-shirt of their design, a gift card to go get some grub, and the personal satisfaction that you made it possible for hundreds of Mien people to have clothing that they wouldn’t have had before.

The deadline is February 4, 2009 and all submissions can be sent to: jason@forefront.org

Looking forward to seeing what you create.

Jason *over and out*

Ballin’ (baaaaaaallll’~en)

1. /noun/ to play basketball (nope, not for this series)
2. /adjective/ one who is in a state of being extremely rich (chiggity-check)
3. /adjective/ to be well respected, in high status, wealthy beyond the norm (cha-cha-check)

In this next series, Ballin’- we are going to take a look at what it means to live a life in God when it comes to wealth, finances, and how does that line up with what American culture tells us. Let’s face it, right now everyone is having a rough go at things financially and we all could use a pep talk and direction on how to better manage what God provides for us.

Check it out the next 4 weeks at Beach Campus and it starts the following week at Chesapeake. You won’t want to miss it. (Rumor has it there is some rap action going on in the opening?!? I’m just saying, it should be interesting).

See you this Sunday.

Another way we look to change the face of discipleship is to beef up the Gel Group materials. Say you are totally vibing on the series and what God is speaking into your life. Currently if you wanted to dive deeper you have to figure it out on your own.

Well, we are going to provide a list of 3-5 books every series, that will allow you to further explore the topic if you feel God is moving you to. Also, we are compiling a list of online resources to help everyone study the Bible easier and grow on their own.

I know it’s difficult for some to hear, “on your own,” but it’s the truth. The church can be here to help and we should be. We can provide a means for you to grow with God- but it boils down to whether or not you choose to move deeper.

My prayer is that everyone at Forefront will choose to go deeper in ‘09 and God’s church here in Hampton Roads is going to blow up with a fire that can’t be put out.

Until next time,

Jason *over and out*

We were talking about discipleship in the last post. How will that change? Well, the first thing was providing resources via the hub table year ’round for people to grow and dive deeper. Before we talk about another way we aim to help with this, let me take a minute to comment on something you might be thinking-

“I want to dive deeper, but spiritually I’m a wreck. How do study materials help with the brokenness?”

I do not believe that providing resources will break your cycle of brokenness, but- I do believe that searching for God, admitting you are hurting, using study tools, praying to God about your pain, being a part of a Gel Group where you truly share your life (not just parts of it), and beginning to talk with God and people to work through the mess will bring you to a place of healing.

I hear a bunch of people saying, “I want to go deeper” at Gel Groups. I get it. But as I listen, many times what I hear are not the words you’re speaking- I hear in the background a pain, a hurt, a struggle and what your really saying is, “I want a way to be healed from this.” “I am trying to figure out how God can heal my life in this area, help me.” We want to help. Forefront aims to be place for people to come to Him and seek spiritual healing and meet God.

That’s why we think the face of discipleship needs to change. Another way it will change is to gut the program of “days 1-5 study” and in it’s place have the entire church read through the New Testament this year. If we have the entire church read through the N.T. in one year, I think amazing things will happen. I’ve talked to quite a few people who have told me, “I’ve never really read through a book of the Bible, much less the whole N.T.!”

We’re going to lay it out so everyone is reading it in a way where God speaks to you. You walk through it and ask questions that are relevant to you in your journey with God. If everyone commits to this, it will revolutionize Forefront. A church that knows the Bible is a force to be reckoned with. Seriously.

More on discipleship soon.

Jason

So with visiting Gel Groups we’ve been discussing how Forefront will change. It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue and we all have our own “ideal way” the church could be better in our eyes. I love that many of you have ideas on how Forefront can be better and the leadership/ staff see areas where we can grow- but if we run with everyone’s idea of the “perfect church” we’ll be an awful church. Because one person’s ideas conflict with someone else’s ideas and then no one’s happy.

As the lead pastor, God has tasked me with the challenge of balancing what the body (the church) needs and what we as a leadership, staff, and volunteers can take on and accomplish. We’ve talked about 2 things to tackle in 2009 so we can really do them and tackle them well:

• Assimilation (a process for people from the moment they come to Forefront to bring them to a point where they are plugged in and really serving)
• Discipleship (taking people deeper with God through aiding them in dealing with their brokenness and providing resources & opportunities for them to grow if they choose to)

With discipleship, we can’t “make” anyone become a disciple of Jesus. It’s impossible. It cannot be forced upon anyone, they have to choose to go deeper and grow. But, the church can provide a means to get there and show people where to go next.

One of the ways we’ll look to accomplish this is providing resources at the Hub Table for free. Study materials to work through on Topics like: Prayer and Fasting, Discovering God’s Word, Confession & Repentance, Resting in Jesus (basically getting away from the chaos of life), and more. We’re also looking to provide study materials that give an overview on books of the Bible. These would start sometime in January with different studies added as we get them printed and would be provided year round.

I’ll share more on some of our plans on discipleship later. Until then,

Jason *over and out*

To promote Gel Groups during this series, we introduced a new character: Cletus Jenkins. He is an instant staple who will return many times in the years to come. Enjoy these videos as much as our people have. How are you promoting things in your church in a creative way? Let us know.

I’m a big fan of Twitter, and love to blog. But, the next wave of quick interactive web ideas is moving and companies like, 12seconds.tv is leading the way.