Branded With Love

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*

I’ve taken over the Forefront Blog this week so I’ll be posting some of the thoughts, vision casting, etc. from my posts there. Enjoy.

Apple has been the comeback kid. In the realm of technology you can’t help but see their ads, iPods, and laptops all over the place. Every kid wants one and adults are slowly drinking the Kool Aid. The wave of energy has quickly swept across the country. People stood in line for ONE WHOLE WEEK waiting for the iPhone to come out and get one. That’s nuts to me.

So what created the momentum? The company shifted from trying to do multiple things on an average level- to a few things on a stellar level. And it worked. Big time.

For Forefront, we can learn quite a bit from their leadership. God has made Forefront a great place with a mission that cannot be argued- Love God, Love People, Turn the World Upside Down. But, some of the things we do on the underneath (systems, training and educating true disciples, a clear plan for aiding people through a process to get them connected) could really use some help so Forefront can be the church God knows we can be. In 2009, we’ll be tackling these things instead of everything under the sun so we can have the best results possible.

The staff and I are very excited about the future of Forefront and how we can build on the base that the leadership has laid over the last 10 years. We pray that we can make God and them proud with our impact on the community and reaching those who are far from God.

I’ve taken over the Forefront Blog this week so I’ll be posting some of the thoughts, vision casting, etc. from my posts there. Enjoy.

On the corner of my desk you’ll find a picture of my beautiful wife Carrie and our 5 month old daughter Chloe (she’s sporting the Mets hat in the Mets frame if you were wondering what team is the best in MLB). In the day to day work flow they are my reminder. A reminder that God is first, then family, and finally the church. Forefront is a great church and our mission is one of huge importance, but if I miss the boat with drawing near to God and loving on my family, then Forefront will suffer because of it.

Which leads me to the question, “How do you create balance in your life?” With God, family, church, work, little league, dance recitals, and so on… what are you neglecting? Whether you believe so or not, something is hurting. It might be work or maybe even hobbies, but a majority of the time it’s God and family. It’s a sad reality that many who follow Jesus come to understand.

Let’s say: You’ve been serving in children’s ministry since the day you signed up at a serving expo, you cart kids around to various student ministry events, you set-up and tear down every Sunday, and work a 60+ hour work week. You come home, find barely enough time to hang with the kids and spouse before you crash and go to bed only to start the chaos all over again. Then when you get into the quiet thinking moments, you realize that your family is suffering and you aren’t connected to God. Who do you blame for ending up in this stage in life? Unfortunately, we tend to blame the church. When that happens you’ll start to hear things like:

• “I’m not getting fed spiritually.”
• “My family and I are thinking of leaving the church.”
• “I like serving, but I think I am getting pretty burned out with this.”
• “God just doesn’t seem to be meeting my needs right now.”

Now I would contend that when things in our life arise they come from a deeper place than we would like to admit. When you hear these things you might look at the church, when I hear these things- I look in the mirror. I wonder where I stepped out of pace with God.

In the 8+ years of doing ministry before coming to Forefront, I had a season where the church was everything. I preached messages on reading your Bible, when I hadn’t read it in weeks. I had Bible studies on giving to God, and I wasn’t where I needed to be with my giving of time, money and heart. I was serving so much that I began to miss the point of being His in the first place. The problem was I blamed God, the church, the leadership and everyone within shouting distance, but it did nothing. It did nothing because they weren’t the problem- I was. I wasn’t close to God. I had walked away. I didn’t keep up my side of the relationship.

The eye-opening moment was when I got back into the groove. He and I were talking together on a daily basis (praying), I was learning about His plan for my life in a deeper way (reading my Bible), and I noticed my time wasn’t as constrained as I had originally thought and my joy was back (serving in the church).

Many times in life I’ve looked to place blame anywhere but with myself. Now being married, having a little girl, and growing along with God over these years in ministry; when things get out of whack- I look in the mirror. And when God and I are walking in step, my relationship with Him is stronger, family looks brighter and serving just becomes a natural part of my DNA.

So, to the question “How do you create balance in your life?” I would answer, Love God, Love Family, Love People… and you won’t be able to contain yourself as you Turn the World Upside Down.

Until I get to the posts on how Catalyst speakers changed my thinking a bit, here is a website worth checking out for three reasons:

1. They are improving themselves personally and spiritually through this challenge
2. Both of them are supporting great causes
3. It will bring a smile to your face

Enjoy.

Mark And Chris Fight Fat via kwout

So, I’m not bashing conferences or resources (which was asked of me early Sunday), I am just processing the current status of the movement in America. I love what conferences and resources are out there, I just don’t think they are the messiah, end all – be all, solution and second coming the church is looking for.

The church (God’s church, the local church you are sitting at as you read this post) needs something that I am coming to realize quickly. It might not be new news to you or me, but we seem to forget it.

When I look in the mirror I see Jason Bedell. A man who has been broken, a liar, womanizer, cheater, deceiver and all around jerk – BUT… I also see the places on my skin and body where God took the brokenness and repaired me put be back together and now I see the scars. The glue. The molding of a new person.

But that is wrong.

If I see glue, scars, lines, and repair marks… I am not new, just fixed. I am not completely different, I am just refurbished. I need to recognize that God took Jason Bedell, strapped C4 to his chest and obliterated that dude. Now there is a likeness of Jason Bedell in the form of Jesus walking, moving breathing, talking and he is a force to be reckoned with. While sitting listening to Aaron Keyes lead worship and Matt Chandler speak at the unplugged session… It was not about “strategery” (ha), “leadership principles” or “the right steps to make your po’dunk church a mega church for only $199.95″ – It was about chasing God.

Not just chasing, but yearning. I mean it’s so entrenched in your DNA and gut that like breakfast at the Golden Corral, the hot-and-fresh sign at Krispy Kreme, or the rev’n of engines at NASCAR, your drawn to it without even thinking. It’s second nature.

When church leaders will turn to God in such a lustful, passionate and uncomfortable for everyone else around them kind of way… forget conferences, resources, the next “big thing”, etc. I would just get out of the way because God is going to create a firestorm of movement through the communities of the leaders who latch on to it.

I pray God does this for you.

He’s slowly creating it in me. More Catalyst thoughts coming soon.

J-del *over and out*

[photo: Aaron Keyes at Catalyst/ taken by daleyhake.com]

So, I’m sitting on the floor upstairs during the lunch break and my mind is becoming clearer. I might not be the most organized, clear in speech, vision caster, captivating, knowledgeable in leadership principles, or able to quote every passage off the top of my head. But I am seeing something here I never thought about before:

• The American church has more mega churches than ever before in it’s history.
• Conferences are spawning and happening like rabbits during mating season.
• People have more websites full of resources that you could possibly have to donate a lung or organ to be able to afford, but…

The church is shrinking in the U.S.
Shrinking.
Just in case you missed it, over the last 10 years there are less Christians than before.
So why all the resources?
Why all the conferences?
Why all the web 2.393954358347534587 resources?

Well, some of my realizations are:

1. People are leaving the church (which is the decrease overall)
2. The mega churches are getting more Christians than those who are far from God
3. The conferences aren’t cutting it (though they are very well attended and put together)
4. Leaders are soaking in principles and getting lost in all the different “methods”

So, my conclusion is that I (maybe not you, but maybe you, you decide), need to almost hault this idea of chasing the dream, living the dream, becoming the dream by learning all the crap about leadership I can and focus on one thing: Jesus.

Sound simple? Then you are a better person than I am (well you probably are anyway). We need to cling, chase, lust, desire, yearn for and adore Jesus so much and so very deeply that all life pales in comparison. You may think this is old news, but take a little bit of time soon to get into your deep dark alone place and let me know if you have a, “Holy crap, that is me and if anyone finds out I would be so embarrassed” kind of moment.

When God and I talk, I drop my head in shame, but our next post will bring to light the reason that dropping my head is also lame as poopie (yes, I said poopie, so what).

Until then,

J-del **over and out**

And God gets the praise in all of it! So, it was a truly great experience to sit watch everything unfold. The church was so warm and inviting when hearing the news and I am thankful God has placed us, called us, and moved us to be here at this place doing His work.

Check out the video of the announcement.
I was sitting up front, my wife standing in the back.
I was tearing up a bit.
She was tearing up a bit more.
God is so good.
Seriously.

So we’re starting a new series this Sunday: My Movie Life. Check out the micro-site, evite and a couple promos for the series and website below. How are you promoting your series using the web? I’d love to here your ideas.