You Down with GCR?

Ok... so I had 30 minutes to kill and I really needed an outlet. Then I saw Bruce Reyes-Chow's tweet about "look who's with BRC," and the tune OPP from Naughty by Nature popped into my head. I went from BRC to GCR (for the God Complex Radio Show) and well... here's what came out the other side of my work break:

GCR (to the tune of OPP)

GCR, how did they dream it

I'll take you stream by stream it

To have y'all downloading and a playin’ it

G is for God, C is for Complex scratchin’ temple

The last R...well...that's not that simple

It's sorta like another way to hear it and to listen

It's a podcast sucka don’t go dissin' here

You get on occassion at the iTunes store yo

With a strong Spirit seems I gotta start to explainin'

Bust it

You ever heard three Prezbies greeting guests with a nice hello

You get a Bruce, a Carol, and then a Landon real mellow
You get home, wait a day, they’re what you wanna download now
Then you sync up and it's church leaders, theologians oh

It's not a front, F to the R to the O to the N to the T

It's just progressives on your pod (Boy, that's what is scary)

It's GCR, tell other people where you get it

There's no room for your heresy there's just room to hit it

How many Christians out there know just what I'm gettin' at

Who thinks it's wrong 'cos I'm loadin' and group-listnin' at

Well if you do, that's GCR and you're not down with it

But if you don't, here's your membership

Chorus:

You down with GCR (Yeah you know me) 3X

Who's down with GCR (Every last homie)

You down with GCR (Yeah you know me) 3X

Who's down with GCR (All the homies)

Story of Blessing from Workcamp

Mrs. B, as I will call her, was blessed this summer with a new porch and some painting work through our Group Workcamp. The week was a very special experience for her and her family members. In particular, her sweet little granddaughter became special friends with the older team of teenagers who worked on her grandma's house. We'll call her Jenny. Jenny has epilepsy. And when she has seizures, she falls.
Recently, Jenny was out on the newly built porch that the workcampers had constructed for Mrs. B. The old porch did not have railing and stood nearly two feet over an area with plenty of concrete and other hard objects. While Jenny was on the porch, she had another seizure and grandma was not within reach. When Jenny started to go down, the newly installed railing caught her fall. God's blessings sometimes come in small doses... like a railing on a porch constructed by a group of teens that had no idea what they were doing. But those small doses have powerful effects. Thanks be to God.

LifeServe: Big Opportunities for Small Churches

Just got back from LifeServe 2010, the greatest opportunity for equipping and externally-focused leaders to come together for training and networking. I attended LifeServe 2009 and received an excellent introduction to the basic principles of equipping ministry. From that, I read Sue Mallory's "The Equipping Church" and formed a study group to read through "The Equipping Church Guidebook." I took time to read other great books on equipping and missional churches. Our team came to the conference ready to receive a booster shot before digging deeper.
So, you can imagine my surprise when we started our first LifeServe session in a question-answer with Sue Mallory only to hear these words, "Put down the book." When I asked Sue Mallory how we could translate equipping ministry principles to the small church setting, she said, "Put down the book." She went on to explain that small churches have it easier when it comes to equipping ministry because we have the advantage of already being relational. I can see the different parts of equipping ministry flourishing within our church's external-focus on our community. However, we, like many churches, lack a bit of organization to maximize the impact and support of our incredible volunteers.
At LifeServe, our team made great connections and acquired many great resources. I think small churches are often shy about attending conferences like this. We are often shy about standing up and asking "What about us?" when church movements are on the move. With the majority of churches in America being small churches, it would seem as though we should command the conversations in church renewal. However, we don't. Is it shyness? Is it shame? Do we feel inadequate when we don't have a food court in our atriums? We practically invented the idea of small groups because many of our churches ARE small groups, and yet, we have not harnessed our power. Our God does great work with small groups. The Bible shows us that. Where are all the bold, small churches?
I will be seeking to build a network of small churches looking to work out of their strengths. So far, I have found Small Church Net (www.smallchurchnet.com). I know there are more voices out there. If you are one of those voices, comment here or come find me on Twitter (@PastorRobD).