All I can say is WOW!  We had a great weekend at the Greenhouse Conference, with Neil Cole and Ed Waken!  It was packed out like never before – over 100 people went through the intensive training weekend, preparing each of them to implement simple strategies for relational outreach, reproducible discipleship, and organic church planting.

Of course, the absolute best part of the weekend was spending some quality time with friends in the Underground, and reconnecting with other leaders across the Chicagoland area. Shared meals, coffee breaks, sharing dreams… nothing from the front of the room can compare with connections made there.

Check out these photos of our time together!

The “fire hose” of content that we received this weekend might best be unpacked in a series of blog posts.  I find that’s the best way I learn, so if you missed the conference, here’s your place to tune in!

*** Keep in mind – there were actually TWO conferences going on at the same time this weekend.  Greenhouse Story 1, and Story 2.  I went to Story 2, so these posts will be looking primarily at what was said at that conference.

Organically Multiplying at Every Level

CMA Resources, the organization that presents the Greenhouse Conference, sees their purpose as

facilitating church multiplication movements by focusing resources on reproducing healthy disciples, leaders, churches and movements.

Story 1 focuses mostly on resources for making disciples that make disciples… Life Transformation Groups are one of their strategies – what we call the Micro Layer of the Onion.

Story 2 then is left to talk about Leadership, Churches, and Movements.

Organic Leadership

Organic Leadership starts as a seed planted within yourself.  Unless you are personally seeing Christ’s life transforming power within you, whatever else you do will be disaster.  Your “organic church planting” will be more like “sowing the wind, and reaping the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)  The choice to participate with God in cultivating organic churches across your city and region is to commit to being a certain kind of person; filled with the Spirit, a humble, authentic walk with Christ, always growing and changing, and empowering and serving others.

There are two kinds of people in the world – people who have the adventures – and people who only read about them.  Dive right into this life – let it immerse you.  At the end of your life – know that you have run the race well, and that adventure was not a book on a shelf, but a lifestyle well-lived!

Not sure if you’re out in the bush or only reading about the victories of others?  Do a quick check of your own life — Do any of these characteristics describe your plateau?

Avoids relationships of accountability // Infrequent application of God’s Word // Looking for greener pastures // Joy and love replaced with resentment and fear // Faults are in others, not so much in yourself // Compromising previous personal ethical standards // Sticking to areas of expertise, rather than risking new areas of learning // Talk more than you listen // Christian life for you is mere a routine.

The Right Kind of Authority

There’s a lot of resistance against the word “authority” in our culture today.  Even “power” in any form is suspect.  But is there a godly form of power?  What does it look like?

There’s a clip from Braveheart where William Wallace is speaking with the Princess of Wales says, “I understand that you have recently been given the rank of Knight.”

William repsonds, “I’ve been given nothing.  God makes men what they are… a lordship, title, gold…that I should become Judas?”

The Princess replies, “Peace is made in such ways,”

William: “Slaves are made in such ways!”

William is making known the temptation in all leaders – to take on the title and the gold and the power and make it their very identity.  Positional Power is never as power as Relational Power — anything William wanted, the Scots would have given him, died for him, because they saw his courage and personal contributions to the cause they all believed in.

Too often, we take our leaders from a shrinking pool of fish.  What Organic Leadership challenges us to is to reorient our recruitment for leaders from the very harvest field we are trying to reach!  Jockeying for the few of us that have been seminary-trained and groomed for maintaining a single congregation will never make a major dent in transforming our world for Christ.  It must become a living movement, made up of local leaders straight out of the harvest field.

So what do Organic Leaders do?

They are a lot like Organic Farmers!

Tending:  the work of leaders to create a Christ-centered environment in which healthy famly life and ministry can occur freely and fully.

Harvesting: is a result of intentionally developing disciples, leaders, churches, and missional teams. Here leaders are multiplied with personal mentoring that has a long range view of one’s whole life.

Propagating: is the extension of the whole gospel via ordinary disciples and apostolic teams into the sectors of city life, across a region, and globally among unreached peoples.

I’ve been learning a lot about wiki’s and their potential to help communities work and create together.  More and more I’m convinced that there is opportunity for God to help his Church find each other and to discern the spirits in mass-editing projects.   Wikis, at their heart, are living documents that are kept fully online and a repository for shared knowledge on something that matters to that online community.

Already I’ve got a beta site up for Pray4Chicago that includes the wiki technology.  This wiki is a space where Pray4Chicago event participants can upload their prayer-walk findings onto a “spiritual map” of sorts, helping the Body of Christ discover what God’s doing in the city, and where the most desperate needs are.  But I see wikis needed in other areas of our mission.  I’ve got some other ideas on the brain…

Private Mission Team Workspace: Wikis like Wikipedia are public, and anyone can read, search through and even create content.  But most wikis are private, inviting only a select few to view and/or edit the pages.  (maybe shared interest groups, peers, or co-workers)

What if a mission team of 10-12 people, spread out across a huge metropolis, could log in to a secure site, and work together in ways previously impossible or extremely cumbersome.  They could share contacts made in the field through a content management system.  They could work on documents and files together without laboriously having to email back and forth the latest copy, trying to keep track of changes.  Shared calendars, prayers, dreams, training curriculum, even team finances could all be kept in this space.

Group Facilitation “Playbook”: Organic churches are constantly morphing and changing to fit the needs of the community.  They are without the luxury of a set “order of worship,” but this means that group facilitators (and really, each member) are asked to bring fresh ideas for how to raise the level of worship, fellowship, and mission in their community.

One of my favorite pastimes (strangely) is going to my family reunion and singing hymns with all my relatives.  We would sit in a circle, each holding hymnbooks, and call out the numbers of songs we wanted to sing.  Also at these reunions, families collected recipes and compiled them into a book for all to use.  What if there was a wiki that was built around the great ideas I’ve heard from house churches in the area – from “ice-breaker” games to prayer litanies for the environment.  This could be a natural hub of information for group leaders who are looking to inject some fresh ideas into a stale format, or specifically address a topic in their church that needs attention.  Groups could find curriculum, worship songs, prayer activities, and more all posted by the ever-expanding network of friends in an organic network.

It is little known that Wikipedia is written and edited almost exclusively by around 3,000 people (with 2.7 million articles!).  The rest of us just go there to learn a bit of history, or grab a technical definition.  The same would certainly be true of this “Group Playbook” or “Spritual Cookbook,” (nicknames ad infinitum).  Those with a passion and gifted as teachers could “equip the body” (Eph 4:11-16) with resources that humbly serve and develop the Church to its fullest capacity.

Wikis are slowly becoming a powerful tool for the Kingdom of God.  What other ideas could be implimented?

Our dreams for communities spreading like wildfire all across Chicago are big.  A centering question we ask ourselves is, “What would it take to see a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach, culturally and geographically, of every person in Chicago?”  That’s a pretty big dream.  But what is the answer to the question?  Well – if nothing else, it will take ONE family (or mission team) willing to ask that question with a vision for the whole city.

Tonight it is hitting me hard just how difficult it is for one person to catalyze a church planting network.  Since June that’s what I’ve been about – 24/7 it seems.  Making calls, designing websites, brainstorming, and of course, sharing my faith with the lost God is pursuing.  I’ve made a lot of headway, but I realize now, more than ever, how essential another teammate would be.  At LEAST one other person who is putting their time and energy into this dream just as I am.  Yes, there are other organic church planters in Chicago, and yes, it is encouraging having a wife who is SO there for me, helping me think through projects and obstacles, not to mention praying for me, and actively participating in our first organic church.  But nose-to-the-grind stuff is understandably left up to the guy who is receiving support to do it.

This is what I have dreamt of doing for years.  This is what I have gotten my training in.  But in Abilene everything I had done in my residency was in the context of a team working together.  I long for those days where I could sit around the room and ask questions or stare into a computer screen together trying to work out a problem, or hitting the streets to pray together.  If I were to ask for any one thing for Christmas, it would be a few others who are ready to be about the business of planting churches and training others to do the same.

I suppose my other problem is timing.  We arrived here in June, but others who are considering moving to Chicago to work with us won’t be arriving till January and/or next summer.  That gave us lots of time to get a feel for the city, and to get comfortable.  I also realize that nothing good comes immediately.  I am planting seeds, I realize that – but it is still tough to have all these ideas you want to move forward on, but with several part time jobs and no one to bounce ideas off of, it quickly feels overwhelming. I’m ready to put these spinning wheels to the pavement.

I am a verbal processor – I suppose that’s partly why I have this blog.  For those missionaries like me who best work through issues and projects by brainstorming and talking things out, then I recommend not leaving for the mission field until there is another person or team of people ready to leave with you…like the same day you’re moving.  My wife and I love each other, and we work really well together – but we both agree there is something more still needed in a team – even if it was just one other couple.  Don’t be hasty – wait.