Posted by: Kevin M. Stone in Missions on
May 09, 2008
This Sunday (5/11/08) at a little past 3 PM I board a plane, along with a bunch of other folks from CCV, on my way to Juarez, Mexico. Back on Christmas Eve our church gave enough money to fund sending 2 teams to Juarez, each building a single family home for a family in need.
The first team will build a home for Maria Albarado, a single mom with a 14 year old son named Jonathan. Together they live in a wooden shack in the slums of Juarez. She’s 39 years old and makes $70 a week.
The second team will build a home for Javier and Maria Velazquez and their three children - Consuelo (20), Areli (10), and Itzel (5) who live in a thrown together shanty no larger than the shed in the backyard of many Americans. Javier makes $75 a week for a family of five!
We did this a number of years ago. Here’s a video of that trip …
In total, our church is sending more than 30 people to make this happen for these two families. Their lives will be changed forever, and I don’t just mean the families getting the homes. I am told that participating in a mission like this one will change your life. I’m looking forward to experiencing this myself.
If you know me, you know that going on this trip is a bit of a stretch for me. I have never gone on a mission trip before. In fact I’m probably the same as many others who want to “be part of a church that helps the poor” but doesn’t actually, “want to personally help the poor.” That’s right. Churches are filled with people who like the “idea” of helping the poor but not the actual work and sacrifice it takes to do it.
I was recently in Orlando attending the National New Church Conference talking to a good friend. I was describing my frustration, not with actually showing up on the construction site and building a house, but with the accommodations afforded the missions team members. The teams will be staying in a church on the El Paso side of the border on Sunday night before crossing the border into Mexico on Monday morning. From there the teams stay in a community center (sleeping on the floor) in Juarez for the duration of the trip. Why not put everyone in a hotel on the El Paso side and have them cross the border each day? Wouldn’t this make everyone more “comfortable?” My friend said, “Talk to me when you get back.” I think I got the point.
Anyway, we have a couple of video people coming with us. I’ll do my best (depending on Internet connectivity of course) to post each day to share what’s happening with all of you.
I'm looking forward to the experience. Pray for me. I’m going to need it!
Posted by: Kevin M. Stone in Leadership on
May 08, 2008
The older I get, the more I realize the number of
pet peeves I have. For the most part they are pretty useless; they don’t really do anyone any good. They just bother me and nobody really knows anything about them.
Here’s one, though, that I think has some merit …
I really hate it when a member of management refers to “management” as “they.” I remember when I first went to work for
Comcast. I was leading a staff meeting that had pretty much turned into a “wining” session. There were a few comments about how “they” had decided something and nobody could understand why “they” would decide such a thing. They were of course referring to “management.”
Now, keep in mind that I had a staff of leaders! There were managers and senior managers reporting to me as a director. After I allowed the discussion to go on for a while, I spoke up and said, “Isn’t everyone around the table a manager?” Of course they responded with a “yes.” I then said, “So ‘management’ is we … right? What’s up with the ‘they’ language. Aren’t we management?”
The bottom line is this: as a leader any decision made by the leadership of my organization reflects on me. I need to first be part of the decision making process (if I can) and second, regardless of my personal feelings or opinions, be on board with the decision. “They” is “we.”
This is a critical leadership fundamental. When we as leaders are presenting a decision or otherwise doing our “leadership thing” day-to-day, we have to communicate decisions, actions, etc. as if they are our own … as if we own them. If a leader cannot do this, then they should move to an organization in which they can include themselves. Make sense?
To be effective, a leader must constantly guard against the “us versus them” mentality. It’s extremely important that the people we lead see a “united front” when it comes to the leadership of the church.
Your comments are welcome and encouraged.
The more I reflect on my relationship with
Brian Jones our Senior Pastor (as his Executive Pastor) the more I realize its uniqueness. I’ve been serving with Brian since the meetings of the core launch team in his living room. And, now more than 7 years later I am his Executive Pastor.
The first time I ever heard about
Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) was when we first moved to Pennsylvania. My wife got on the Internet and found that CCV was meeting in a local movie theater. So, we got in the car and showed up the following Sunday. There was nothing happening. We called the church from the car that morning and left a message. Brian called us back the next day and said that the website was a little off. CCV would (future) be meeting in that movie theater but wasn’t yet. We said, “OK, but you’ve got to be meeting somewhere.” Brian told us that they had been meeting on Tuesday nights in his living room, and we said that we would be there.
We quickly connected with Brian and the rest of the group working on planting this new church. I connected with the Arts guy on the first night and quickly became one of the first 2 sound guys. After lots of preparation we launched our first service on Sunday, October 1, 2000.
The point is that from the very beginning Brian and I connected. We had breakfast regularly and he asked me to “lead stuff” from time to time. As the church grew Brian eventually asked me to become his Executive Pastor. I said yes. Now I am serving alongside him and having the time of my life! He trusts me and I him. And, I’m not planning to go anywhere.
But, what if I did. Is this position one that could be advertised for and recruited like any other? Could Brian hire a recruiting firm, interview a bunch of candidates, extend an offer, and hire a new Executive Pastor? The longer I do this job … answer this calling, the more I believe that this is not how it would go down. I’m not saying that I can’t be replaced. I’m just saying that it would be very difficult. In fact, if Brian ever went anywhere it would be difficult for me to stay and serve the next Senior Pastor.
How many examples do you know of where a Senior Pastor has successfully replaced their Executive Pastor?
Posted by: Kevin M. Stone in Message Series on
May 05, 2008
Join
us this Sunday, May 11th as we kick off the new series
CMT Morality Awards. When you read through the pages of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians), you begin to wonder if you’re reading the lyrics to a country song – there’s always someone fighting, drinking, and cheating on somebody else.
After Paul founded this tiny church in the cosmopolitan Greek city of Corinth in 52 a.d., he left to start more churches in other cities. In his absence, the people in this new church began making immoral lifestyle choices. These choices jeopardized the life of the church.
Paul's response was to shoot off 1 Corinthians, challenging church members point by point to change their ways. Their immoral choices were beyond anything we read about anywhere else in New Testament!
Paul essentially awarded them with what could be called the
CMT Awards – The Corinthian Moral Troubles Awards. Their crazy lifestyle choices took the prize!
For the next four weeks we’re going to look at these awards and the issues that prompted them. We’re going to do so because, quite honestly, Paul could have just as easily written that letter to any church today, even our own.
Check it out ...
- 5/11/08 - Most Promiscuous Church Member of the Year
- 5/18/08 - Most Litigious Church Member of the Year
- 5/25/08 - Most Inconsiderate Church Member of the Year
- 6/1/08 - Most Divisive Church member of the Year
It's going to be a blast! For the first time ever CCV will feature almost all country music as well as a few other surprises.
Join us!
Kevin's Blog 