MIKE HARDIE

Conference with Erwin McManus

I have had quite an amazing week. I came down to Adelaide, South Australia to the National CRC Conference. I was asked to give a workshop on preaching along with some other people. Imagine having to teach people about speaking and preaching after they are seeing Erwin McManus speak! Tough gig.

I am going to post a bunch of thoughts and reflections and experiences over the coming days. Erwin really messed with my head and heart. I got the chance to tell him on Tuesday that he played a key role in me forming a picture of a church. It was cool to chat to him for a few minutes. He was very approachable and friendly.

It got better.

On Wednesday night I got invited with the hosts of the conference out to coffee with Erwin and got to hear up close and personal a lot more about MOSAIC the church he leads. Fascinating stories of life change. I found it hard to sleep that night.

It got better.

On Thursday night I got to have dinner with Erwin at the place where he was staying as one of my best friends Tim was his driver and he invited him and his wife to dinner. Unfortunately his wife couldn't go so he asked me to go! Pretty funny.
We had a blast. Great food. Great discussion and I got to ask lots of questions. I appreciated how interested Erwin was in me and my friend Tim. This was a blesing to ask and experienced leader and thinker and man of God questions.

I must say that his messages really impacted the conference and there is a lot to process. I will post more soon.
This was a week of a lot of encouragement, great insight and meeting great people.
I have been preparing all day for the messages I will give at Christian Family Centre (Host conference church) on Sunday morning and night. I hope that God can do something that builds the church.

When?

Was thinking...

When was the last time you shared your dreams with your spouse or friend?

When was the last time you really took some time to enjoy the peace and presence of God?

When did you read something really inspiring and pass it onto someone else?

When did you do something that got you so nervous you prayed like crazy for help?

When was the last time you told your parents you love them?

When was the last time you said sorry and instigated reconciliation?

When was the last time you really celebrated transformation in your life for the better?

When was the last time you had some recreation that refuels you emotionally?

It's amazing how fast life goes. Days become weeks become months become years and what you intended to do becomes a distant memory.

Carpe Diem.

Idols and Shout to the Lord

No matter what you think of this the song testifies to Christ to millions. Quite amazing.

Erwin Part 2

I wanted to say this myself but Erwin McManu said it before me and way better than I was going to say it so here is his blurb. Mike

The Cause-Driven Church - By Erwin McManus.

The early church existed with a dynamic tension: it was both expanding and consolidating - growing and unifying. The Bible tells us that first century believers “shared everything in common” and that “the church was being added to day by day.” We want our church to live in this same tension.

This tension is illustrated by two biblical images - the body of Christ and the army of God. The body of Christ is centred on community; the army of God is centred on cause.

Healthy community flows out of a unified cause - not the other way around. Jesus called his disciples and said, “Follow me. I’ll make you fishers of men.” This was not an offer of community. “Follow me and I will give you something worthy of giving your life to” is a statement of cause. But the neat thing is, when they came to the cause, they found community like they never knew could exist. That’s the power of the church.

One danger of the American church is that we often try to offer people community without cause. Without cause, you’re just another civic organisation. You don’t have life transformation.

Jesus said, “I have come to the world to seek and to save that which is lost.” The cause of Christ is accomplished by expanding the kingdom of God.

Communicating the gospel in a post-modern context can make us feel forced to compete with the entertainment industry. You might be able to compete if you have millions of dollars and that level of expertise. Most of us don’t. We have only one advantage that neither Hollywood nor MTV has. We have the presence and power of the living God!

Why in the world would we eliminate God’s power from our core strategy and actually move to a deficit rather than to an advantage?

By Erwin McManus (Mosaic Alliance) Aug 16th 2007.

"One of the most curious things I have experienced about the church in the United States is the reaction that becoming a truly missional community has on most churches and perhaps especially vanguard theologians. One of the surest ways of becoming suspect to mainline evangelicalism is to actually reorient the church around the mission of Christ.

The first core value of the Mosaic Alliance is “Mission is why the Church exists.” When you throw into the mix that we are focusing on reaching those who are farthest from the gospel (and therefore from Christian culture) then things start getting really interesting.

CHECK THIS OUT!

My brother Dan has a great website ministry that has great booklets for new Christians, Scripture teaching resources and lot's more.

www.hsmresources.com.au

Serve your way to the top?

I was chatting with a friend about how some leaders present the idea of serving the other way around to the way Jesus taught. Sometimes in a genuine effort to teach the value of serving we can teach people a corporate or worldly view.

The worldly view goes like this...

You learn to serve me like I learned to serve my overseer and one day others will serve you. Practically it looks like this;

"I am the point leader and you are the apprentice. You come to work or church and plan ahead on how you can serve me. Perhaps you can wash my car or carry my bags or pay for my meal."

Sounds good right? After all, the apprentice will learn a valuable lesson in realising it's not all about them. If you can't serve another's vision how will anyone ever serve your vision one day? This is a 'serving-hope' model. We serve in the hope that one day we will not have to serve like this any more and someone will do it for us. And this does happen at times. The questions is...should we teach and model this?

Now anyone with half a brain will know that there is nothing wrong if I desire to serve and bless my boss or overseer. Paul and the other apostles were servants of Christ. We desire to serve Him. If I serve my overseer by helping them that is a wonderful thing. The problem is when I am the overseeing leader teaching my apprentice that serving equals serving me.

The Jesus way...

I love Jesus. He is the master, the teacher and Lord. He takes off his garment, wraps a towel around himself and washes his disciples dirt smeared feet. They probably smell from sweat. They probably don't have nice soft feet. It's a job for the servant of the house. Read about it in John 13. Jesus decided that his disciples need to learn that Kingdom of Heaven leadership is where we serve those who normally would serve us. Jesus teaches them by serving the learner, the follower. Powerful isn't it.

I am challenged that the best way to promote servant leadership is not to tell stories about how others have served us as a strategy to them one day being served. I am inspired to consider how I can better serve those that follow me and maybe are never served because there is nothing in it for the server.

Perhaps we need to change our thinking from seeing serving as a stepping stone to leadership and see it Jesus way. Serving is the path of the leader. We are exalted to the highest place when we are serving. Serving is the highest place. God by nature serves. God is love. Love gives.

I must read Philippians 2:3-11 again.

I should serve my leaders. I should serve my followers. I should serve the un-served. I must serve always because this is the place of peace, joy and the place where Christ is. I must not expect others to serve me but humbly thank God if they ever do (like David and his mighty men 1 Chronicles 11:15-19). Let's get things the right way up. Let's "Descend into greatness". The path up is the path down. It's counter-cultural. It's simply Christian.

"Lord help me to develop a servant leadership culture that reflects your heart and not my own desires or personal agenda. Help me to serve those who have no one to serve them and serve my team you've given me so that we become a blessing to the world."

Stage presence!

Someone sign this kid. 

Downsize is the new cool

After coming across an interesting website Junky Car Club, endorsed by National Community Church's Mark Batterson (AOG / Willow Creek / Mosaic alliance church in Washington DC) It got me thinking about downsizing issues.

The idea is that because consumerism and materialism is the great modern day enemy of faith and generosity in the west we should practice downsizing so we can live on less and give more.

Now some economists may debate the pro's and con's of buying new products or used products or the consequences of not buying products at all but we should seriously consider this. The fact is I spend more than I should. I am not against spending. I am not against nice stuff. I like and even think God doesn't mind nice stuff. I do think however, that God has problems with us living beyond our means and having no margin for generosity and Kingdom purposes. Perhaps if we did make buying cheaper cooler and we cheered one another on when we did rather than thinking people are cheap we could maybe be more freed up to help build an orphanage or plant a church.

Downsizing shouldn't be a law. Don't make someone out to be evil if they buy new. But just tell people they are "cool" if they go cheaper when they didn't have too!

Anyway...I gotta go buy a used coffee. See you soon...
Mike

Friends

I was reflecting on what things have helped shape me in my life and ministry the most. I would say that without a doubt my close friends have had the biggest impact.

I am a people person. I love spending time with people. I am most likely to stay a bit too long at your house or at the cafe if I'm not carefully considering your time schedule. Why? Because I love talking and listening and engaging in real life discussions.

The other night a friend of mine was over from Paris, France with his new wife. We had dinner at my best friends home. It was a great night of sharing stories from crazy 4WD beach holidays and much more. We had a great time reflecting on the great times. My friend Brendan brought up the fact that it was going around to my other friend Matt's house after midnight when we were in our late teens & early twenties to pray in the park that was powerfully instrumental in how ministry and leadership has unfolded in his life. I started remembering this too and how we met together as a group of about five guys each week to pray and keep ourselves accountable for godly living (except for wild 4WD speeding on Frazer Island sand dunes).

Having godly and committed friendships over the years have helped me more than I can convey here. My Dad said to me once out of the blue when I was about 19, "I wish I had friends like you do when I was your age. Don't take these for granted." That profoundly impacted me. I took my Dad's words seriously.

Friendship reflections:

1. Invest in friendship.
2. Chase relationship, don't expect it to come racing to you.
3. Be the friend that you want others to be to you.
4. Expect challenging times but be committed to reconciliation and long term.
5. Always seek understanding if in doubt about a friends view or opinion.
6. We are too quick to drop friendships when we feel uncomfortable.
7. Authenticity is critical. If you can't be real you don't have a friendship but an acquaintance.
8. Vulnerability builds trust.
9. Confidentiality MUST be respected. This is friendship integrity.
10. Prioritise time for friendship.

Most weeks of the past 15 years of my life I have prioritised time for coffees with friends. 7am breakfasts or Saturday morning coffees have been the best times of my life. Don't make excuses. God gave us friendships. God created us for community. When life gets tough you want people standing with you. I am so grateful that I have had this.

I remember hearing about Billy Graham telling Bill Hybels about how in his street lives many of the people he has served with in ministry for over fifty years. His street had friends of a lifetime along it. That was so inspiring for me in a world that is busy but desperately lonely.

ONE year part two

Ongoing reflections on my first year as a pastor of a new and growing church community...
These are random but genuine.

* Don't let fear of what people will say stop you doing what you know God has called you to do.
* Don't confuse fear of what people think with wisdom of godly counsel.
* Don't let fear of failure stop you trying new things.
* Don't let fear of success and what unknowns that will bring stop you.
* Don't let false humility stop you thinking big.
* Don't let thinking big get in the way of God's values.
* Sometimes thinking smaller is important.
* Under promise and over deliver. (Thanks Rudy G.)
* Smash your way out of the "Christian bubble" without smashing fellow believers.
* Love your way out of the bad perception people have of Jesus followers.
* Jesus loves me this I know but not because of what I do for him. He loved me when I did nothing!
* Most of the time I have no idea what I am doing.
* Do less reading. Do more praying and thinking. But read as much as you can! : )
* Guard your heart from disappointment turning into bitterness. Gratitude is a big help.

* Love your wife. (If you have one). This is my most important ministry to God.

* Ask how you can love her better.

Hmmmm.

ONE

Well here we are.
ONE.
We will celebrate 12 months of being a new community of faith this Sunday 2nd March.
Here is a few reflections and lessons learned on the first year.

* Don't copy the structure of a church that you admire if it's not the structure that you require to fulfil the vision God has given at the stage you are at now.
* Celebrate life transformation not numbers and numbers will not be an issue.
* People want to follow healthy leaders who are called to serve not driven to succeed.
* Healthy leaders produce healthy leaders.
* Busyness is the enemy of intimacy.
* Busyness is sometimes what I do to make me feel better at what I can't always produce.
* I am learning to be less busy and more present with people.
* I am struggling to work out what is appropriate busyness to get the work done that God wants done and discern the difference.
* Authenticity is desired more by people than great vision. Great vision inspires people after they see authenticity.
* Pay attention to your gut feeling but don't trust it. Test it.
* I would never want to do this adventure without friends and in community.
* It is very easy to prepare messages and not your heart. Do the heart first.
* It's all about Christ, but oh! how we make it in practice too much about us and not enough about Him. Forgive me Lord.

I will post more reflections over the coming days.

Have lunch with us this Sunday after the 10am service. www.thrivecommunity.com

Attitudes

There are some core attitudes that are crucial for making ministry teams and leadership teams work. When they are not present there is always pain and disunity. We can't waste time ignoring these. I am aware building some new teams that these are critical components.

Commitment: Is my yes my yes and my no my no and do I give up easy or push through quitting points?

Humility: Am I thinking of myself more highly than I ought too?

Servanthood: How can I best serve this team and /or leader / people?

Faithfulness: Will I be there in good seasons and tough seasons or am I easily distracted from the goal?

Patience: Will I be patient with my leader and team as they grow and learn and fail?

Courage: Will I do what is dificult in order to gain what is rare? (Tell the truth, confront, listen to understand, finish a task that is difficult).

Encouragement: Will I let the people around me be discouraged or will I be a major encourager?

Graciousness: Will I be gracious and understanding or will I be judgmental and arrogant?

Holiness: Will I seek to live with integrity or will I compromise when it suits me?

The list could be endless. The key is asking yourself what attitudes do you need to develop or change to be the servant leader he is calling you to be. If in doubt ask an honest friend.

LOVE of another kind

Ok, so it's Valentines day. Yes I did something even though I hate the commercial side of it...but I also hate the commercial side of Christmas, Easter etc and still buy stuff so maybe I don't hate it as much as I say. I love my wife. I think she is amazing and I am blessed. Love is the greatest. I read that somewhere!
Well, Love goes well beyond romance. God is Love. That's pretty profound when you actually think about that.
So...I have had some profoundly challenging and confronting conversations with people recently. One person told me of marriage challenges. One person told me of faith questions and doubts. One person told me about their struggle in the church in silence with homosexuality. What a week so far. In every case I was amazed at the raw honesty, courage and pain that each person is facing and has had to deal with. So many questions raised of WHY? I didn't even know how to answer some questions. I didn't want to give some off the cuff quick fix (get this monkey off my back) answer. That doesn't help people generally struggling and wanting serious answers.

This week I have again become convinced that people need to know LOVE. Pure love. God love. The God is Love kind of love. How could I show this? Avoid difficult questions and answers? Just listen? Just agree? Just change the subject? Just ignore this stuff and get on doing my life in my comfortable bubble?

No.

I have had to truly wrestle again with what it means to show love, compassion, understanding, truth, and hope. People don't get this just from our words alone but from our body language; listening ear; non-judgmental attitude and absolute commitment to them regardless of their situation. When someone feels safe with us trust is built. That is something we all desire.

I have been humbled when I consider people's challenges and genuine struggles. I know that I need "God is Love" to change me and fill me and help me be His Love to all I meet. It's messy. It's sometimes confusing and sometimes we get it wrong but we must pursue loving people. After all, that's what we want ourselves. "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you", Jesus.

Oh...and by the way. God changes people. God makes people grow. God does miracles. God sometimes heals and sometimes doesn't. And when he doesn't take away the "thorn in my side" or your side or your your friends side, and says, "my grace is sufficient for you" I then need encouragement, support and genuine community to sow seeds of hope and water lots of mercy, patience and prayer so that God can keep doing his work of growing me. LOVE is a verb. Live it. Be it. Give it.

Shalom.

NEW environment

THIS Sunday Night 10th Feb 08
6pm
Venue: Yowie Bay Primary, Wonga Rd, Yowie Bay.
Young Adults gathering begins...

All ages welcome even though it's aimed primarily at 18-30's.
This is not your typical church service.
This is a GATHERING! Simply...we are gathering young adults together around the mission of our church 'to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.'
This will be an interactive environment. We will use all various means to communicate and experience community, give THANKS to God and be inspired by God's Word as part of our WORSHIP.
I believe this will be a great environment for new people to come and authentically get a taste of what it means to follow Christ.

It's new. It's experimental. It's a risk. It could fail! BUT...you'll never never know you never never give it a go. FAITH.

Hopefully we'll see you there.
Alternatively come along to our Sunday morning family gathering, 10am. I love this Church!
What an honour it is to lead and serve.