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WOW....new survey out on how Americans feel about 'religion' and God is very revealing....

Diane Mueller, 43, of Austin, who grew up Methodist, says she's simply "totally disengaged from the church and the Bible, too." Sunday mornings for her family mean playing in a park, not praying in a pew.

That's a quote from an article published today in USA today. Why don't you go here to read it and then chime in here on what you think it means for churches in America.

What, if anything, should Christian churches and people with a strong faith in Jesus Christ do with this information?

Have a great day,

Jeff Fuson

p.s. I'm on Twitter at JeffFuson if you wanna keep up with what's going on that way.

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is being a catalyst to assist people who wanna grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff delivers Keynotes & Customized Interactive Training Experiences for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and other small to medium sized non-profit & for profit High Impact enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

What do people want to know about Jesus--if anything...?

I'm preparing for the talk I'll be doing at Phos this coming Sunday, March 15 and we'll be centering around an intro to the life of Jesus. And, it makes we wonder what do people want to know about Jesus, if anything?

Do real people in the real world (as opposed to Churched people who insist on living in a 'Christian bubble') -- the kind we want to engage at Phos -- want to know anything about Jesus at all? If so, what do they most want to know? If not, why not and is there anything we can do to capture their interest?

What would YOU consider the be the best ways to engage people who have not previously made time to think of Jesus at all? What do they 'feel' that they need to know about Jesus and how can we get em to take time out of busy lives to consider Him with us?

I'd love to hear from YOU NOW as I've only got a few days to pull this together.....what do you think?


Just wondering,
Jeff Fuson

p.s. I'm on Twitter at JeffFuson if you wanna keep up with what's going on that way.

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is being a catalyst to assist people who wanna grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff delivers Keynotes & Customized Interactive Training Experiences for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and other small to medium sized non-profit & for profit High Impact enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Don't Call My Cell Phone Dude!

Okay, so I got another one of those emails warning me that the end of my tranquility was near as all the Telemarketers in the world are sitting in front of their computers with the headsets ready to assault my cell phones with voice spam!

The email included this phone number as an 'opt out' number that would register me for the National Do Not Call Registry. [888-382-1222] I was a bit skeptical so I googled the number and it seems legit as it took me the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the Federal Trade Commission.

What I discovered is that there really isn't a pending threat to Cell Phone Tranquility from Telemarketers, but since the site gave me the ability to register three phone numbers I did it right away and it only took a few minutes to guarantee my peace.

Here's the link to the National Do Not Call Registry if you wanna d0 the same.

If you aren't a friend or family member....don't call my cell phone!!

Have a great day,
Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Psalm 40 -- The Pits & Testing

These are part of the final set of slides for my talk at Phos Hilaron Church this Sunday, March 1, 2009.

The number '40' almost always means 'test' and it has the purpose of making us better people and stronger Christ followers.

[I know that these slides are in reverse order related to the verse numbers, so just read the last slide first and work your way up....you'll be glad you did.]

God won't leave you in 'the pit' forever and it's okay to ask for help!! And, it's okay to cry out to God.

So, don't cave in when the pressure of the pit pounds in on your courage & faith.....James reminds us that the 'test' will make us strong. So, cooperate with God, talk honestly with God, expect power from God, and wait for His rescue.


Two of my favorite groups have covered songs around this theme of 'testing', Psalm 40, and the number 40, check these out....

U2 40
Third Day 40 Days

When you think of 40 think of Noah and the great flood when it rained for 40 days and 40 nites, or contemplate 'Jesus' test in the wilderness that lasted 40 days. 40 is the Hebrew way of saying 'suffering for the fulness of time.

If you or a friend is in the Pit then Psalm 40 will help you a ton as you read it, study it, and take it's truth into your life.


Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Kiyosaki says pay attention when the Government shifts and makes new laws.

In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki suggests that to be financially healthy that we need to pay attention when the law shifts and when government ushers in change. In those shifts lie opportunities and pitfalls. So, if you're wondering why I'm so interested in the Politics of our President and Government that will give you a bit of the back story.

Here's the text from President Barrack Obama's first address to Congress last evening on February 24, 2009. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/920049.html

Where are the opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls in this speech? Where are we heading as a country and what do you need to do to prepare for what's ahead?

Just thinkin'.....
Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Responses to Barrack Obama's Speech to Congress on Feb 26, 2009

Things I agree with big time:

• 'It's time for America to lead again' when referencing leading the way in developing new greener energy technologies.
• $15 Billion a year to develop cleaner, greener technologies.
  
• A reimagined, retooled auto industry.
  
• I won't settle for great jobs related to green tech being shipped overseas.
• The countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow.
• We are not quitters. (from an young student in South Carolina)

Basically, I couldn't agree more with the need to Lead GREEN!

To understand how important it is for us to get out in front of a GREEN TECH REVOLUTION read Paul Zane Pilzer's book, Unlimited Wealth.

Things I'm not sure of:

• Electronic health records are 'more secure'? really? [what if the Government gets directly involved in managing YOUR healtcare when you are facing a serious illness in your twilight years?]

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Hubble Movie -- SPECTACULAR -- What do you see?

This Hubble Movie is AWE Inspiring and when I watch it I 'see' the handprints of God all over it. It reminds me of of John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God....

I know that others will look at this same movie and see no evidence of God. As a matter of fact you may choose to see nothing.

Either view takes faith.

I choose to have faith in something/someone -- God. I think it takes more faith to see nothing.....and I think that your faith in nothing becomes a religion....

What do you see?

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

The Universe and the Mystery of God

I'm preparing for a 'Parable Worship Experience' down at the University of Louisville Planetarium this Sunday and I'm finding some really cool websites I thought I'd post here for those who love to learn....

http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/universcale/index.htm
http://www.edutube.org/en/video/size-universe
http://www.cavendishscience.org/phys/howfar/howfarhm.htm
http://luxton.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/20/2513797.html
http://www.c00lstuff.com/680/The_size_of_the_Universe_explained_scientifically/
http://myjunkmail.blogspot.com/2008/07/size-of-universe-pics.html
http://www.answersingenesis.org/Docs/399.asp
http://www.studylight.org/dic/ats/view.cgi?number=T226
http://books.google.com/books?id=KNNxjzxutLwC&dq=bible+and+astronomy&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=gNUtwmnT4a&sig=UYR7RN8X5zy3wtCInlYV__RXvm4&hl=en&ei=10ifSeO0MojKNPuqrOoL&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA8,M1
http://www.mysteryofgod.net/
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/02/scientist_explores_the_mystery.html
http://spring4life.net/downloads/36Lessons/PDFeng/BasicMessage07(E).pdf

Jeff Fuson


Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

What do you say to someone who recently lost a loved one tragically?

Her Husband was killed in a tragic accident and I have no idea what to say....

6 days ago on February 14, 2009 at 10:39 my phone rang and my life changed in an unforgettable way. My good friend sobbed, heaved and blurted into the phone, “Jeff, I think he’s Dead....he’s been hurt real bad....we’re on the way to U of L Emergency Room....I need you .....”

When I got to the hospital I knew the news wasn’t good when the receptionist screened me and wanted to wait for a word from the hospital chaplain...but, I heard my friend and the children down the hall crying out. Just a few moments later I watched her and the children say ‘Good-Bye’ to a husband, a daddy, and I said good-bye to my friend.

It’s been an incredible week of mourning and remembering and celebrating 43 ‘photoriffic’ years that Tyler Eldred lived and many lives impacted for the better. I’m blessed to have had him as a buddy for a little while.

And, now as friends and family leave Stacy’s side and the community gets back on the treadmill of living we’re left with how to care for Stacy and her family in the days & weeks ahead.

Julie, my wife, got a question at the YMCA this morning that prompted me to write this. The question, ‘Should I call Stacy?’ came from one of Stacy’s best friends. The answer is “yes, you should call Stacy.” But, it may not happen for several reasons, like:

• I’m afraid I’ll make them sad.
• What if they cry?
• I have no idea what to say or do....

And, it struck me that this needs to be addressed because in the face of uncertainty and not wanting to hurt the other person we often do nothing. Our motive may be good -- do no harm and don’t make it worse; but, saying / doing nothing can leave the hurting family feeling alone and uncared for just when they need it most.

I've heard of a case where friends have crossed to the other side of the street when they see a person coming along who has lost a loved one. Why? Because of the uncomfortableness we feel and uncertainty of what to say or do.

Let me address the 3 concerns above....

1. I’m afraid I’ll make them sad. Yep, you might strike a chord that makes them remember in a fresh way that draws from the well of sadness and tears might flow. And, then again, you might tap their funny bone with a great shared moment that brings joy to them. One of the greatest fears when we lose a loved one is that the world will forget them. When you remember with them and risk tapping sorrow or joy you help them get through the loss. They’ll never forget the one they loved and knowing that you haven’t forgotten her/him will help a ton.
2. What if they cry? They might. The closer you were to their loved one the more likely this is to happen, but it’s a risk you have to take. The thing that stops most of us is that we’re afraid of being uncomfortable or of not knowing what to say. You will likely be uncomfortable--tough, do it anyway. And, you don’t have to say much and certainly don’t need to offer any profound words of wisdom. You just need to express your concern and support and ask em something like this....’How are you today?’, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ ‘How is this for you?’ and then shut up and listen a lot.....just be there with your friend and if it’s on the phone then shut out distraction and be as connected as possible and listen for their heart. If you have a cool memory to share this might be a great time to offer the gift of remembering together and let the healing waters of tears flow or the sound of laughter make their heart stronger for this time.
3. I have no idea what to say or do....
   

• What to say? As little as possible ....let them lead you as much as possible into what they want to talk about. One word of caution about what you don’t need to talk about: DON’T PRETEND TO UNDERSTAND GOD and explain your brilliant theory to them of why the one they loved so much was the one ‘plucked for heaven where God needed another rose for His garden.’ [what Bible are you reading? Crack kills dude!] Take a lesson from Job’s friends in the book named for Job in the Bible. They got it right when they just sat with Job and said nothing and just were there. Trouble began when they opened up their ‘pie holes’ and tried to explain Job’s troubles. Go ahead and admit that you are clue free about why this happened and then be a great listener and just chill with your friend. (even the most learned Theologians can’t explain why a 43 year old father of 4 with a brilliant mind who loved to help people grow into LifeChampions was struck by a falling tree branch on Valentine’s day! So, your theory isn’t likely much better and may actually bring devastation to the grieving heart. So, in short ‘shut your ‘cake hole’ the moment you want to try to explain God and why....)

• What to do? Being there quietly and simply is a great gift, so start with just being there. However, most of us want to 'do something,' and, It’s customary where we’re from to say, ‘If there’s anything I can do just let me know...’ Again, right intention but it’s not gonna happen. They are not gonna call you. A better approach if you are truly close enough to them is to be proactive and offer specific help like....

• Hey _________, I’ve got some time on ______________ evening and I’d like to come over and cut the grass, would that be okay?
• Could I bring a meal by on _______________ day? What time would be good for you? Would you prefer ______________ or _______________?
• Buy them a gift card to the movies and a decent place for dinner.
• Give a gift in their honor to the charity of their choice.
• Hey __________, can I take your car for an oil change sometime over the weekend? [and then pay for it you big goob!]
• We’re having a cook-out on ___________ evening and we’d love to have you and the kids come over and join us. (if they decline, it’s okay)
• I’d/we’d like to watch the kids sometime soon, we have some time _________ or ___________ could we come over and watch them?

It’s okay if they don’t take you up on the offer. If they decline, then it’s okay to say something like this, ‘I really do want to help some way, is there something else I could do that would help you more?’ Again, if they decline, it’s okay to leave it alone for now.

Go back to listening mode and they may uncover a true need.

Basically, be proactive and think about what they need more than you worry about you’ll look or how you might be uncomfortable, etc. Do more listening than talking. Don’t try to explain God or why. Don't underestimate the power of just being with them without jabbering or trying to take up for God, etc.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, a card with your sentiments can be way helpful and often becomes a cherished keepsake.

Bottom line....touch base and post reminders to your personal calendar to do this around Holidays and special days like Birthdays and Anniversaries. Make a call, write a card, post to their facebook wall, twitter em, visit, drop off a meal, wash a car....do something!

Missing a good friend today,
Jeff Fuson


Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Kissing -- the New Wonder Drug!

I'm preparing for my message for Phos this Sunday and will be sharing some fascinating information that I just learned about 'KISSING'! Just in time for Valentines day....here you go!

(yes, I know the image says 'sKissing' and not just 'Kissing' -- I'm just tinkering with some presentation dynamics that will make a lot more sense to the live crew at Phos, so just think 'Kissing' and you'll be just fine. As a matter of fact if you administer this wonder drug liberally you'll be as 'fine as frog hair split three ways' which is mighty fine!)

Enjoy the Wonder Drug. Gee Whiz God knew what He was doing didn't He!

You'd definitely benefit from reading 'The Love List' written by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott.

Jeff Fuson

p.s. I bet great leaders are better kissers!

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Seeing Clearly....

Got this on email today and it's true! Enjoy....

The Window Through Which We Look

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood
The next morning while they were eating breakfast,
The young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
'That laundry is not very clean,' she said.
'She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.'

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
Nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this.'

The husband said, 'I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows.'

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others
Depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
---------------
Dang, it's time to clean my windows again....

Headed for the Windex

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Losing our voice....

Just got back from the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville thanks to the generosity of Sky Angel and our good friend, Tom Scott. It was great to network there and to learn. On Monday evening Julie and I had a great dinner with Tom and some of his staff and friends. Phil Cooke, film producer and author was at the table and I'm reading his latest book this morning in an effort to 'digest' all the 'stuff' that I learned and heard from new friends at the NRB. I went there on purpose to 'cross-pollinate' the work we're doing with Phos from another flower bed--the NRB and the dozens of media enterprises there. It was worth the trip and the lost sleep. My brain is on fire today as I process.....

Part of the processing is beginning to read Phil Cooke's latest book, The Last TV Evangelist, and so far he's throwing strikes and reminding me of the need to continue to 'up the ante' at Phos and in my life if we're gonna inflence this increasingly 'digitized' world with the Great News of Jesus Christ. So, I'm recommitting this morning to keep playing to WIN. And, to keep re-creating and re-inventing how we communicate and what we do in worship expereinces with Phos. To quote Len Sweet, we'll work on being more E.P.I.C. than ever.

This is scary quote #1 from Phil's book where he quotes Rob Briner's writing in Roaring Lambs: "We have created a phenomenal subculture with our own media, entertainment, educational system, and political hierarchy so that we have the sense that we're doing a lot. But what we've really done is create a ghetto that is easily dismissed by the rest of society." (written in relation to what we've done as Christians and how we've cut ourselves off from meaningful engagement with the world.)

So, having my own personal 'revival' of conviction and courage today thanks to some other creative courageous folks who are daring to create a more engaged way of being 'Christian' in today's world.

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

The Leader and the Rich Man

Fundraising or 'Donor Development' or whatever you wanna call it has been the biggest surprise in leading a new church.  I way underestimated how much money it takes and I way overestimated how much rich people will give without a PERSONAL direct invite to do so.  

Now, people have been extremely generous to Phos Hilaron Church in these early months and God has found ways of supporting us through great people over and over again.

But, as I sat yesterday with a friend of Phos who has the ability to make and give lots of cash I realized how easy it would be to 'fold' on key issues that make Phos unique and to shift positions in order to insure the potential 'investor' that his donations will fit his portfolio desires.

And, I must pray, will pray, and am praying that I never sell Phos or myself down that road.  I can see why Jesus said that it's easier for a Camel to squeeze through a tiny hole than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom.....or at least for the Rich Man to understand that the 'Kingdom' doesn't revolve around the spindle of his donation.  

So, the leader must always re-center her/his faith on Christ alone for this mission to be accomplished.  It's never an individual or human that our enterprise must please -- it's always the Ultimate Investor-- God Himself whom we must answer to.  And, we must position THE Church right in the middle of HIS portfolio expectations as the ONE who established the Mission in the first place when he bought crucial assets with the blood of His one and only.  

So this morning, I"m re-centering and re-callibrating and praying to stay faithful to HIS mission for me and for PHOS.  And, even more than that to know that HE can deliver us in any olde way He wishes.  Through anyone He chooses.  

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

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Posted via Pixelpipe.

Just because I love Snow Ice Cream .... here ya go...

Snow Ice Cream Recipe.... (just because I love it and think you should, too!)

• 1 Gallon of Snow
  
• 1 Cup of White Sugar
  
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
  
• 2 Cups of Milk
  

Mix together in a bowl and love it!!

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Leading the 'I wanna play, too' generation...

How do you lead people who invest huge chunks of energy, emotion and passion coaching their own Fantasy Football Team and contributing their ideas, notions, and opinions about nearly everything to nearly everyone?

They blog, post status updates, make & post their own goofy 'home' videos and they opine about nearly everything in their universe in some manner for the whole world to view from cell phones, laptops, pdas, voicemail, chatrooms, text messages, forums and they call their tribe to order around a new 'cause' on Facebook on a regular basis.

These are the 'collaboratives' -- a tribe of people who are tech saavy, well-educated and love to share their strong feelings with the world -- they insist on being heard, and seen, and read, and tweeted and twittered....they wanna play, too!

What do you do with collabortives?

Well......you let em play, too.  

You invite into the virtual sand box and give em places to contribute, sound off, and opine.  In worship experiences you let them work with their hands and their hearts by calling them into Service Worship Experiences.  You connect them in learning cohorts and small group gatherings where they participate and collaborate.  They shift from consuming experiences to mashing them up on the fly with a few good friends.

You let them text in their ideas during a worship experience and then you send them a follow up series of text messages related to the message in the days after the gathering.  You let them collaborate with you on creating the worship experience and give you ideas on how the central scripture impacts them and then you allow them to send in ideas for videos that you help them produce featuring you know who....them!  

That's what I'm learning these days as the Point Leader of Phos Hilaron Church -- how to expand the virtual sand box and let a whole lot of people participate in the Grande Theological Discussion! (if none of this makes sense to you then chances are you are either not paying attention, or are part of an organization with an average age way over 50)

The prompt for this post came from reading our local weather man's blog about the snow / ice storm brewing in the Louisville area today.  What I noticed was that over 29,000 people connected with him last evening on a live chat.  That's a trend that's only gonna get stronger. Gone are the days when the Weather Man was the lone authority -- in are the days when everyone has an opinion, maybe has taken Meterology 101 so considers themselves somewhat of an expert, and they wanna play, too! When the weather man is finding ways to connect and 'play' with the collaboratives, I think I should, too!!

And, so I will. Wanna play?

I'd love to hear how you are letting the 'I wanna play, too' generation, the Collaboratives, into the sandbox in your business, club, or church.

Jeff Fuson

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

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Leadership Rises and Falls with Courage

Leaders dream, dare, and do what it takes to usher in a future that others can't yet imagine.  

Because leaders are visionary by nature and because they can see farther faster than those they lead there are moments when the leader must deal with a vast unknown and make 'best guesses' with less than all the data that they'd really like. 

Therefore, there is a level of angst and fear that I leader must stare down and move through and still make the call, take the shot, pull the lever, take the leap.  

John Maxwell says that leadership is influence.  I think that he's mostly right.

So, a little leadership algebra might help you do what you need to do as a leader....

Influence Rises as the Leader risks boldly for Christ.  No courage = no leadership.  A leader who boldy trusts God with all he/she is/has and takes bold leaps of faith under God's rule.  And, when she/he does that she/he takes others with them.  

Courage is the ingredient that High Impact Organizations must have.  And, the more the better!

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Reggie McNeal -- Missional Renaissance

Reggie McNeal -- Missional Renaissance

Missional Leadership Specialist at Leadership Network

Kentucky Baptist Convention Building / January 22, 2009

Good News about Christianity's growth around the world....

• Fastest growing religion in the world is Christianity / 80 million Christians in India alone in the past 10 years. 90% of new churches are house churches.
• Campus Crusade is partnering to launch 1 million new churches (house/pouch) in the next few years.
• Churches grow out of a movement, rather than having a movement grow out of a new church.
• The movement in China outstrips the growth in India – more than 10,000 per day ++
• Indonesia growth is over 18% b/c of the Tsunami and the the acts of love and compassion that followed the disaster.
• In the 20th Century Africa went from 3% to 40%+ Christian
• The Christian truth is on the move in spite of hardships all over the world. It’s Pentecost somewhere in the world right now.
  

News in the U.S., Europe and Australia is not so good....

Everywhere the Western Model / Constantian model of church went down is struggling. Australia is under 5% Christian. Sweden 2%. The bastion/centerpiece of Christianity in Europe is crumbling.

• Pollsters in America are getting it wrong when they say that 40% of Americans are attending church.  Our buildings couldn't hold 40%....
• We are the largest English speaking mission field in the world here in the U.S.
• If we don’t wake up we’re gonna miss what God is up to. The first half of the Book of Acts was the Church trying to catch up to the Holy Spirit. God didn’t follow the protocol that the early church expected and the church had to move fast. The Holy Spirit is running wild in the streets outside the walls of the church.
• God’s not waiting on us to get it to do it!
• Blackaby was right … find out what God is up to and get in on it.
• Let’s learn from what the Holy Spirit is doing where they are experiencing Pentecost.
  

We are seeing something that is bigger than the Church sector.
In the Renaissance we had people coming together from multiple disciplines to do new things. God’s creating a conversation across the domains of our culture that’s it’s gonna be impossible in our lifetime to think of the church the way we used to think of the church.  

We can get in on this by making 3 critical shifts…

This will take scorecard revamps from How Many / How Often / How Much …. This scorecard does not serve to celebrat the dimensional richness of missional living.

• Expand the bandwidth of what we measure to celebrate missional richness.
  
• The missional church is the people of God partnering with Him on His mission for the world. 
  
• The mission is always being played out in the world – beyond the world.
  
• In the old world the church was the point – the church was the mission – God was creating The Church. So, if we measured the ‘church stuff’ then we could see what God was doing. However, now we’ve learned that God is always at work beyond His people and His work is not shrink-wrapped down to the size of the local church.
  

Shift 1 = From Internal to external focus 

• Internal focus is built on the assumption that is we got ‘church’ right then she would take care of the world. We have the best churches that we’ve ever had complete with all the bells and whistles. But, have we had the impact that we hoped that we’d have? This is the ‘churchcentric’ worldview. I’m not talking about adding one weekend a year where we go out and paint the school. A shift in emphasis is tectonic shift of record keeping, programming, etc. 
  
• In Church Centric Churches our job was to turn the world into ‘us’ and then get them to be like us and work on church stuff. Maybe we’ve run out of people who want to buy what we’re selling. Over here we’re trying to lob something into the culture from the church like a bomb.
  
• In the internal focus deal God exists at ‘church’ and we have to take Him out in to go bags.
  
• The reason the house church is so viral is because it’s about who they are and they are just being the body on the move out in the real world/culture.

A better strategy than evangelism – why don’t we have a blessing strategy instead of an evangelism strategy?  

• Let’s go out this week and practice being the people of God. Go out and bless three people this week—and be sure that one of them doesn’t deserve it! I’m not talking about random acts of kindness, I’m talking about starting conversations. The core prhase of a ‘blesser’ of people is: I’ll ask God to help you.

• You can simply ask the wait staff at a restaurant, ‘How can I ask God to bless you?’
  
• God loves to show off!! 
  
• And, then, tell the stories of what happened.
  
• To be the people of God you’ve got to believe God – not just believe ‘in God’ – HUGEMONGOUS difference because then, a person orders their life around who God is and what He’s up to in the world.
  
• Our job is to bless the world and then watch what God does in the lives of people. Get caught up in the wind of the Holy Spirit and just get out there and bless people.
  
• Study Holy Trinity in London England about what’s going on with their Alpha Groups.
  
• ‘Are you one of those blessing people?’
  

Let’s lay down our agenda and just go be the people of God and bless people.

When the church is the destination you are attractional. However, when The Kingdom becomes the destination THEN you’re on the way becoming an Incarnational Kingdom oriented church.
Just as an airport is not the destination…so, the church is not the destination.
The focus of the gathering is to celebrate what God is doing away from the gathering….
A pastor in Titus County Texas stated his vision statement for his church in 2009 was ‘’There will be no hungry kids in Titus County and in three years there’ll be no child leaving 3rd grade without being able to read English.”
BTW, on every Wednesday evening they’re doing the backpack program – churches are filling backpacks on Wednesday that free/reduced priced lunch kids can take home so that they won’t be hungry. A church of 400 is feeding thousands of pounds of food each week. Children pack the backpacks on Wednesday evenings. Kids are learning to serve by packing backpacks. Young people who can drive are delivering the backpacks. Now, not just food is going in the backpacks but prayer request sheets. You gotta believe God can use this actual physical program to bless people.

To do something huge you’ll have to work with other churches and agencies to get this done. 

• One staff meeting was go somewhere and pray….’ God help me see what you see.’ – for an hour or two. They shredded the staff agenda that they had and they focused on the dealio. This so changed them that they sent the whole church out to do this one Sunday and they wanted to see what the people saw. Tell us what God showed you. 
  

Our prayer must be ‘Dear God help us see what you see’ b/c we need a heart transplant.

• Wouldn’t that be a great initiative to turn out church and go listen for what God is up to??
  
• The Millenials get this….the have core values to support the Missional Church. They have a desire to go out and make it a better world. It’s Obama calling everyone to service on MLK Day, it’s Bono. Volunteerism is on the rise.
  
• I’m telling every church I work with to ‘Adopt a School’ or at least a 3rd grade class and work on literacy because studies show that if a kids leaves 3rd grade and can't read english he/she is gonna have a very hard time. 

In the old world we were trying to get them to connect to us….now, we’re trying to connect to the world.  

• Go to kidshopeusa website to learn how to adopt a school, etc. 
  
• You practice saying in the mirror before you go, ‘How can we help?’
  
• In the old world is was about Silos….the missional church has a whole new view of culture and understands that God already has his people in all these places to serve and influence.
  
• Invest in the community.  
  
• Doing good greases the skids for God in the view of the world. The Atheist has a hard time dismissing the ‘recurring good’.
  

If you call the party you’ll find all kinds of people to help. You can go out there and find all kinds of ways to be salt and light.

• Let the church call the party to order and invite the community to help.
  
• The ‘institutional’ church does not reflect well the values and mission of Jesus. 
  
• Our role in the Kingdom right now is to be the church.
  
• What is gonna be our role in the economy going south?? Wallace Kent’s question…
  
• Reggie’s answer, ‘You’ve got to take care of your people’ within the body. And, then you’ve got to make a radical commitment to serve those in the community as well.
  
• A church in Texas made a commitment to those in her body who lost their jobs that noone would loose their homes.
  
• The early church moved forward on sacrifice and service. It will be the same today for churches that will shine a light on who Jesus is.

THM for me (this is what I think I’m hearing…): Play bigger, do BIGGER stuff so that other’s can join us. Throw bigger parties so that the community can help and so that other churches and agencies can take part in what’s going on. Keep moving out in faith so that others can take part in what’s goin on and the resources will be there.

• Look for ways to release people to go out and meet the needs of the community.
  
• There is a rise of the ‘missional community’ – it’s beyond house church. It’s not a bounded set. It’s an alternative technology of reaching people that need the Gospel.
  
• The church system is like Exxon and Mobile and we know what to do with oil from Shale, etc.
  
• What I’m begging the existing church to do is to invest in the alternative technologies that ‘missional communities’ will bring to us. 
  

Check out the leadnet.org go to ecpn white paper on middle sized groups.

Re-score-carding this thing….
Let’s use a resource reallocation model to build our score card

Resource                          Internal                            External

Prayer                               about us                  about the world out there
Example: Crossroads church in Cinci is being sure that every single public school teacher has a prayer partner. ‘What you’re doing is so important that I’m asking God to bless you. If there’s ever anything that I can do please let me know. Here’s my email and here’s my phone if you need me please let me know.
Serving our way into influence…
You could extend this prayer experience to public officials and you could put more emphasis on praying for the community outside of the church.
Re-allocate your staff’s prayer time.
Staff                      office hours                 community hours
Example: every staff person in every community I know of is out in
the community serving them.
Example: an executive pastor that took the position of the head of
soccer and he won’t be at church in the building on Sundays for two
years.

THM: Expect Staff to find ways to connect in the community. 

Money           how much did we take in?       How much went out?

Facilities         How to keep the people out vs. build it for the com first

Ask: How would missionaries approach this?

Think about funding a community initiative to support and without exception that will get funded first. People are ready to invest in the community and in kids. The twenty somethings are not laying back to give money to build a church building.

Technology Supported Ministry Creates Ministry

• The Internet is LIVING SPACE for twentysomethings….
  
• Check out ‘second life’
  
• Add to Scorecard: Why would I need to go to any other website to learn how to serve the community? 
  

Shift 3 = Move from Program Driven to People Development

It’s quite easy in the program driven model for the staff to have a meeting where the people we are called to serve never make it into the discussion. It requires a lot of intentionality to move to a people development culture. 

At Phos Hilaron Church the The bottom line question

 about everything we do is:

 ‘’does this build an Apprentice of Jesus out of ordinary people”

What if ‘better marriages, better relationships with our kids, and loving our neighbors’ made it to the scorecard?

How do you develop the culture of People Development?  (aka, Spiritual Life Development as Primary Purpose - remember, Jesus' command to 'make disciples' -- we call em 'apprentices' around Phos)

• The old days of clergy telling people how to live their lives is over. They will let us help shape them but they won’t let us template their spiritual journeys anymore. We’re in a culture that expects customization and they start where they want to start in the matrix. Starbucks has 87,000 possibilities on how to do their coffee.
  
• Maybe the reason we reach so few people is that we only serve lattes from 11 to 12 on Sundays…..
  
• We are moving into an asynchronous culture. 
  
• Church used to be a lot simpler.
  

Building better people is the key to a viral church. If the people in your church grow strong and well then they’ll be viral agents.  

• In the early days of your church try not to lock yourself into a 52 week cycle of doing church.  
• Trend: People at different life stages want a different kind of church experience anyway….one of the biggest exiters are the empty nesters who are worn out from the program driven church. Postcongregationalist boomers are a group worth thinking about.

Debriefing is part of a people development culture. Give people time and space to make sense out of what’s happening in their lives. 

(this is the OBT in an LXG at Phos / the whole 'culture' of doing life together out in homes with low 'content agenda' centered on simple truth applied to real life is a 'debrief space' )

• Help people ‘exhale’ like an asthmatic even in our corporate gatherings. Give them a brief ‘something’ to talk about in the gathering. Ask em, ‘what was the best thing about your week?’, etc.
  
• Information by itself does not change behavior. It has to be processed and it has to be brought into our real life. (for Phos this is part of the importance of the OBT in LXGs)
  

Make sure that ‘people’ are the central issue of everything in what you do. It’s about making connections with real life and how people grow from what we’re doing. 

Let’s say that you want to get really intentional about ramping up ‘life coaching’ in your church…..and you want to give people a chance to give people a chance to really talk about their life. 

(common response: ‘I’ve been here for 30 years and noone has ever asked me how I’m doing)

Key idea: Building YOU is Building the Church.

5 Questions we used for life coaching processes …

Case Study: two dozen interviewers worked with 300 people….we published the questions ahead of time:
We literally just want to have a conversation with you. We want to know how to help you grow.
1. What do you enjoy doing? (because what you enjoy doing may be just how God wants to bless this world)

2. Where do you see God most at work in your life right now?

3. What would you like to see God do in your life over the next 3 to 6 months? How can we help? When you ask the question you’ve just changed the scorecard in your church.

Story:  the YMCA meeting I had with Jason after I became a YMCA charter member: “Reggie we’re gonna turn you into a fully devoted fitness guy and then we’re gonna make you look like Arnold Swartznegger!"  Key question that Jason asked me was:  Reggie what would like to accomplish at the YMCA? 

4. How would you like to serve other people and how can we help?

5. How can we pray for you?

Follow this up occasionally with an ‘hey, how’s it going, really?’ conversation.

• This all starts with you and with your staff. Are you developing yourself? Your staff? Your lay leadership?
• The reason North American church culture shifted to a program driven model was that it seemed like a faster/easier way to make disciples.
  
• Every place where you can, pay attention to your people.

When you focus on people development you begin to say to your people and ACT OUT via your scheduling/systems and programs:  We’re gonna be more intentional about YOUR growth than anything else around here. AND, we’re gonna empower you to change the world.

In A.D. 30 noone has a ‘church job’ – they were Apostles. I’m a missionary to a culture not on a church staff. I’m a missionary with a support base from the xyz church.

• In a people development culture you’re gonna be far more engaged with people than with programs and program development.
  
• An Apostolic leader says, ‘Follow Me’ -- that requires transparency, heart on heart, etc. It doesn’t come from curriculum. 
  
• Your life becomes transparent and available to the people you want to lead. You become a servant of them.
  
• Apostolic leadership is transparent and genuine spirituality. An apostolic leader has the ‘stink of Jesus’ on em. You can’t explain their lives any other way. 
  
• Can people sense in us a connectedness to Jesus and a cause to die for? 
  
• OUR Personal Spiritual Development is PARAMOUNT to leading effectively.
  

How do clergy get supported in what I’m talking about? 

• Apostolic leaders know how to raise their own support…you’ll have to have multiple income streams. Venture Capitalists may be able to write the check and pay the way. There’s all different kinds of ways to support your way through this.
  
• How are you developing your ability to be employed and employable outside of your ministry? This is a question that I ask all of my coaching clients.
  

In the today’s world we must build relational bridges (friendships) that can hold the weight of important spiritual conversations.

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.