Hot Chocolate @ A Coffee Shop?!?!?

Since we are on the subject of coffee this week, let me share a story from my college days:

Roseann and I were getting to know each other, not doing the typical dating thing, not doing the full courting thing yet. But we decided to go to Columbia, MO and hit up a hip, trendy, and super cool coffee shop there. I was excited. I thought to myself, "YES! I found me a girl would likes coffee!" So we got there and there is this natural color/bamboo motif to the place. (sweet) We walked up to the counter, and I ordered some kind of mixed drink. (mixed COFFEE drink, people!) And then my wife ordered a hot chocolate! WHAT?!?!? We are in a COFFEE house, not a HOT CHOCOLATE HOUSE!?!?! And then the bombshell was dropped. I found out she was one of THEM! You know them. Those crazy people who like the SMELL of coffee, but hate the taste! I was crushed. I knew I had to call it off that very night! (We got married 18 months later.) She still loves when I make coffee at home.

This story though got me thinking about the purpose and mission of churches. Too many churches are serving hot chocolate at a coffee house. It might be good, but it is not what the coffee house is there for!! Some churches are serving up a political agenda. Some churches are serving up a social agenda exclusively. Those things might be 'good', but they don't belong in Jesus' church. His church is ALL about making disciples. End of story.

On Purpose! DCC's Mission Pt. 5

Not only do the disciples we are making LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE, but they also SERVE EVERYWHERE! Our love translates into service! Jesus' love did! John 13 describes a scene where Jesus showed “the full extent of His love” by washing His disciples' feet like the lowest of servants! And then he says to serve one another just like that! So @ DCC we want to be people who are serving! Some of our service is among ourselves, like helping in nursery or playing with the praise team. But a lot of service we are gearing up for is all about our community. We desire to be disciples who are not only internally, but externally-focused. We are working on organizing our service into Service Teams which will help us keep organized and on purpose.

Well, I hope that this week's posts have reminded or told you for the first time what we are all about here @ DCC. We are all about pleasing Jesus by making disciples who Love God, Love People, and Serve Everywhere! (Love2serve)

On Purpose! DCC's Mission Pt. 4

Not only do the disciples we are making LOVE GOD, but they also LOVE PEOPLE. If you read on in that Mark 12 passage, Jesus says that the second command to love your neighbor. People are relational critters. We need each other! @ DCC we offer opportunities to love on other people through small groups. Our small groups meet in homes throughout the week, and provide the context to share life and achieve growth! We are not just a church that does small groups, small groups are a part of who we are, because we want to be disciples who LOVE PEOPLE!

On Purpose! DCC's Mission Pt. 3

What do the disciples that we are supposed to be making look like? That is an unending question if you list all the details. (Hence the reason we all still have room to grow!) So, let's stick to the general principles, or the overviews. 1st a disciple of Jesus is one who Loves God! Jesus said this in Mark 12:29-30. This means someone who is worshiping, committed and trusting in God. We try to make disciples who Love God @ DCC by offering our Sunday Worship and Celebration Services. Here you have opportunities to worship and commit to God. I am not going to beg you to be 'in church' on Sundays! If you are not there, you are the one missing a great and powerful opportunity to worship and love on God!

On Purpose! DCC's Mission Pt. 2

As we strive to please Jesus, we must ask the question: What pleases Jesus? What mission did He call us to? Matthew 28 states our great mission statement: MAKE DISCIPLES! Yes, there are other commands in those verses, but the main verb to make disciples! So, our central aim to please Jesus, and our mission for accomplishing it is to Make Disciples. But what do disciples look like? Tomorrow, tomorrow!

On Purpose! DCC's Mission Pt. 1

What is central to who Denton Christian Church is is Who Denton Christian Church serves. We believe that Jesus is King of everything, and is Lord, Boss, and CEO of DCC. Therefore, the central aim of everything we do is to Please Jesus. (See 2 Cor 5:9) All of our mission and subsequent programming and processes stem from that one Goal: to please Jesus!

Goals and Strategies for Year 1!

So, I just had a sweet meeting with the ECEF guidance team! We talked business, of course. (YUCK!) But then I got to present some of the strategies and goals we are going to be using at Denton throughout the next year. (SWEET!!) I told them what we are going to try and accomplish, and goal dates to accomplish them. So here they are: (drum roll please):

Strategy:

• Develop, Communicate and Implement (DCI) Statement of Purpose

• DCI Mission Statement

• DCI Vision Statement

• DCI Core Values, Core Beliefs

• DCI Purposeful Name

• DCI Strategic, Purposeful Programming

• DCI Assimilation Process (from 1^st time visitor to regular attender)

• DCI Discipleship Process (from regular attender to fully devoted Christ follower)

• DCI Ministry Involvement Process (getting followers into service)

• DCI Compassion and Outreach Strategy

• DCI Marketing Strategy

• DCI Launch Day Strategy

Goals:

• Launch Day- October 4, 2009

• Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, Beliefs and Name In Place by November 30

• Programming Reformatted to Match Above by December 31

• Assimilation, Discipleship and Ministry Involvement Processes In Place by January 31

• Compassion, Outreach, Marketing, and Launch Day Strategy In Place by March 31

• 10 % Growth per month prior to Launch Day (Starting with 35)

I will try to explain all our terms, and get you familiar with what I mean by all of it on the evening of Sept 28. SO BE THERE!!!!

We are in for a wild adventure serving Jesus and this community! Hang on to your seats!

The Denton Project

Hey Friends!

What are we going to do? I have got that question a few times over the last few days, and I hope I didn't seem like a mindless idiot when I really didn't give you an answer. I am developing plans and intentions for this project, but didn't want to commit to anything before I knew it was going to happen. Let me explain some of my thought processes so that you can understand how I am thinking.

ECEF's Denton Project is a restart project. We are going to totally revamp and restart the ministry of the church in Denton. This will mean building a vision and mission for the church, and building our programming and events to facilitate our mission and accomplish our vision. This means that some things may change over the next couple of months:

- Our name may change. We may want to reflect our vision/mission in the most visible aspect of us.
- Some old programs may stop and new ones begin. We are going to build our programs from our mission/vision, not our mission/vision from our programs.
- Some things we currently do may be put on hold to focus on more important aspects of our ministry so that they can be done to the best of our ability.

But I am not going to make these decisions on my own. I want all of you to be a part of this process. So please be ready to contribute to the discussion and open-minded about how to proceed forward in faith!

When all is said and done, we will be a church who is serving Jesus, loving others, and growing in numbers and discipleship! Join me on this journey!

Yours for the Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends,
Billy Johnson

Billy's Thoughts 8-19-08

[So, after I met some of the people in my new church, I began to send out emails to let them get to know me and my family better! I am going to post a few of them!]

Let me share with you the Big Four. These are the big four questions of vision and mission that we MUST answer and live out in order to be effective in our community. As I come to Denton, know that I will be asking these questions over and over and over again. You will get tired of hearing, but hopefully we will all get to a place where we know and are sold out to the answers. Here they are:

1. Who are we as a church? (Identity)
2. Why are we here? (Mission)
3. Where are we going? (Vision)
4. How are we going to get there? (Boundaries)

We are going to take a lot of time answering these questions. Chew on them for a while. Post 'em above your computer. Tape them to your dashboard. Write them in lipstick on your bathroom mirror. (Ok, maybe not!) Gotta run. Blessings!

(disclaimer: I think I read about these questions in "Church Planting From the Ground Up")