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Last week I had the opportunity to attend two fantastic conferences: Exponential and LeadNow.

Erwin McManus, one of my favorite authors and speakers, lead a session at LeadNow that really helped to cement some ideas I’ve had floating around in my head over the last couple of years.

He spoke about moving to a place of influence in the culture using the story of Paul in Athens from Acts 17. There are really 3 places we can exist in as Christians in our world today.

The first is our safe, protected Christian sub-culture with things like Christian schools, Christian music and Christian movies. We have absolutely no influence on culture in any of these areas because we’re reaching the already reached.

The second place is our workplaces and neighborhoods where many Christians venture out to during the week when they have to but quickly retreat back to the safety of their Christian sub-culture.

The third place is a place of trust and influence. You can’t force or witness your way into this place. You have to be invited in. And you’re only invited into this place of influence when you take the time to develop genuine relationships.

“Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers. ‘Come and tell us more about this new religion,’ they said. ‘You are saying some rather startling things, and we want to know what it’s all about.’ ” (Acts 17:19-20)

Existing in the first place does nothing for the world around us. It is self-serving, spiritual narcissism that only cares about us while ignoring a world around us living without Christ. There are many who live and work in the second place thinking that simply wearing “christian tshirts” or praying over their lunch will somehow be enough to make a difference. Then there are those who realize the need to not just exist in culture but to transform it. This only happens when we develop meaningful relationships and are given permission to share what what we believe.

Obviously there is so much more from this talk that I could share. Erwin McManus is one of my spiritual heroes and I respect what he has done to influence church culture. I had a chance to meet him afterwards and let him know how much his books and messages have influenced my thought process. Definitely one of the highlights of the conference!

I had planned on blogging every day from here at Exponential 08 but that doesn’t seem to be working out. I’ve been hearing so much and making so many great connections that it feels like my head is going to explode!

I’m going to take some time after the conference to consolidate all that I’m learning and thinking about into a couple of posts so watch for that this weekend. There are so many exciting things I can’t wait to share with you!

In the meantime you can catch bite-size snippets of what I’m learning/doing and who I’m meeting on my Twitter feed. Follow me there at www.twitter.com/BradRuggles.

I’ve got an exciting week ahead of me. Tomorrow Lisa and I head to Orlando for the Exponential 2008 National New Churches Conference. We’ll be with 2,000 other church planters and leaders listening to speakers like Andy Stanley, Ed Stetzer, Tim Keller & Rick Warren. If you’re going to be there or live in the area let me know so we can hook up.

On Saturday we grabbed some Greek food for a picnic lunch and headed to the beach to enjoy the beautiful bay breeze and Florida sun.

As it turns out, about a thousand other people had the same idea which is fine because I’m a people person and I love being around people. (side note: entirely way too many people wear way too little swim suits for their body type…enough said)

While the girls were playing in the sand I laid on our beach blanket reading unChristian. The guy sitting with his wife ten feet over asked me how I liked the book and we struck up a conversation.

His name was Jorn and as it turns out he was a church planter who had just planted a church in a college town in Pennsylvania a little over a year ago. We had a great conversation about the challenges and rewards of church planting after which he and his wife prayed for Lisa and I.

Out of the thousands of people who hit the beach that day God put us next to another church planter. It’s reassuring when God does the little things to show you that He knows you’re there and He’s watching out for you. I’m excited to see what other God-ordained meetings are in store for me at both of the conferences this week.

“The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalms 37:23

Care to guess? I promise it will be worth it!

It’s only 120 miles from Fort Wayne, IN to Carmel where we’re moving. So why are we taking the 2,300 mile route? Good question.

Towards the end of last year we began to feel God calling us to step out of our comfort zone into something new. Little did we know that it would result in leaving a job/church, going back to freelance design work, selling our home in Fort Wayne and moving to a new city where we don’t know a single person!

The past few months has been an amazing journey of faith for my wife and I as we’ve been stretched further than we’ve ever before. We’ve watched time and again as God’s provision and timing was perfect for each need.

So we’re less than a week away from beginning a new adventure! I’m so excited (and a little nervous). We’re going to take the next few weeks and visit some churches and attend a couple of conferences before settling into our new home in Westfield, IN (just outside of Carmel where we’re looking at planting the church).

Here’s a few places we’ll be stopping and things we’ll be doing along the way:

• Coffee with Pat Rowland (former youth pastor buddy from FW)
• Lunch with @pwilson (withoutwax.tv)
• Crosspoint Church weekend service (this Sunday)
• Relaxing at a condo in Tarpon Springs, FL
• Exponential Church Planting Conference - April 22-24 (anybody else going to this?)
• LeadNow 08 Conference - April 24-26 (how’s this for a speaker lineup: Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Dan Kimball, Amena Brown and Margaret Feinberg!)
• DisneyWorld (don’t tell Chloe & Emily - it’s a surprise!)
  
• Elevation Church (May 4)
• Pigeon Forge, TN

Are you anywhere along our route? Will you be at any of the conferences/churches we’re attending? If so, hit me up on Twitter or let me know so we can hook up!

I’ll be posting throughout the trip so be sure to subscribe to my blog (RSS or by email) and follow me on Twitter so you can hear all about it! Wish us well!

I love this verse!

“Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times.” (2 Corinthians 4:1 - The Message)

As a church planter I know for sure that there are hard times ahead but this isn’t just for those of us who are launching a new church.

Ever day…

• Fathers walk off the job and leave their families
• Friends walk off the job and abandon relationships
• Writers walk off the job when the thought of finishing the book overwhelms them
• Business Leaders walk off the job when the deadlines loom
• Pastors walk off the job when they can’t take the pressure

Sometimes I need to be reminded that the “occasional hard times” I run into are just that: occasional. They’re not worth giving up for. God’s plan for my life, my family and the church He’s going to plant through me is so much bigger than the occasional hardships I’m going to face along the way.

Have you been tempted to walk off the job? What helps you keep your focus?

I was thinking yesterday about all the things I need to do. I have months of work ahead of me getting ready to plant a church. There’s pages of paperwork I need to fill out for our incorporation and non-profit status. I have tens of thousands of dollars I need to raise and a team of dedicated volunteers to build.

But do you know what the most important thing I should be doing right now? I’ll give you a hint. It has to do with this picture right here.

The most important thing in the world for me isn’t the church, my job (or lack thereof), or whomever I try to impress on this blog. When I stand before God his first question isn’t going to be how good of a job did I do Pastoring a church. My first responsibility before God is how good of a job did I do being a loving husband and father. To borrow a quote from Craig Groeschel,

“Love your wife more than you love the church. The church is Jesus’ bride, not yours.” (from 40 Lessons from a 40-year-old Pastor)

Another one of my mentors has told this,

Spend time with your wife and kids. If you lose a church you can always start another one but you can never replace your family.

Do I have a lot to do? Absolutely. But I’d like to think that the most important thing I did yesterday was chasing my girls around the house and giving my wife a hug.

We’ve been visiting a lot of churches over the last couple of months trying to learn from others and see what does and doesn’t work. While I think this is one of the most important parts of preparation for any church launch there is an inherent danger.

It’s easy to try to build a cut-and-paste church.

We try to copy this style of worship, mimic that style of preaching and duplicate everything in that children’s ministry.

Copy and paste.

Click and drag.

We can learn so much from watching other ministries but the most challenging thing for me is to not get so wowed by what everyone else is doing that I lose sight of what God has called me to do.

Easy to say. Tough to do.

(thanks to Steven Furtick for the inspiration for this post)

Lisa and I went to Carmel over the weekend to continue our on-the-ground research of the area. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with each other (with no kids!!), having lunch and driving around. I even had Ginger Peach Tea from Republic of Tea (one of the best teas you’ll ever have in a bottle)!

We spent some time praying about where God wanted us to plant since the location plays such an important factor. We love the feel of Carmel but there is a lot of growth happening north of Carmel and Fishers in the two communities above them - Westfield and Noblesville. We’ll see where God directs.

We took a little excursion over to Zionsville which is about 10 minutes from Carmel. What a neat little town! They have cobblestone streets and art galleries all over the place. The picture I snapped below is in front of Grapevine Cottage that we stopped at. Lisa talked to a lady there for quite a while about the area and all the art shows and festivals they have during the summer.

A couple of times as we were driving through some neighborhoods we just prayed for the community and the churches that are already in place. I believe that when the time comes for us launch our church it’s not going to be us vs. the other churches in the area. We are all part of God’s family and are working together to build God’s kingdom. I sincerely want to see the other churches in the are succeed even if they aren’t going to have the same feel as we do or reach the same people. What matters is that through the diversity of the churches and people in the area the good news about Jesus is going forth. I suppose that’s part of the “mystery” of the gospel.

(click here if you can’t see the video)

We had a lot of fun just grabbing lunch in the Clay Terrace Shopping area. We ate at a place called the Kona Grill where we had the BIGGEST onion rings we’ve ever had!

Several times during the course of the weekend Lisa and I talked about how strange it was that we are actually going to be moving to a brand new city where we don’t know anyone to start a Church. As we went in and and out of the stores and restaurants we visited I wondered what kind of significance this trip would have down the road. Were we going to a place that was going to become our new favorite hangout down the road? Were we meeting people that were going to grow their relationship with Jesus through our Church?

It’s kind of fun living your life one chapter at a time and realizing that God is the author and He is the one writing the story.

As human beings we are wired for interaction with other human beings. We gauge our social value by the number of friends we have and how often we go to parties or hang out with them. Social networking was the buzzword of 2007 with sites like Flickr, YouTube and Facebook making headlines almost daily.

The Church is a unique organization because it allows us to find common ground with which to form friendship with other like-minded individuals. Part of the reason it is so easy to form Christian sub-cultures is because we naturally gravitate towards people who are like us. Motorcyclists are drawn to other bikers because they share the same affinity for riding motorcycles. Computer guys like talking tech stuff with other geeks (guilty). And one huge benefit of the church is the social impact it plays in the lives of those who attend.

Lisa and I attended a church yesterday and the pastor asked everyone to take a moment to turn to the person next to them and ask them how long they had been coming to church there and what was it that drew them to the church. In the few people we talked to we got the same response every time: community. People are drawn to close-knit, welcoming, friendly communities where they can feel like part of a family.

I wrote about this topic back in July. Here are some questions I’ve been thinking about:

• How do we create these types of communities that people are drawn to without it turning into a cliched, exlusive, sub-culture?
• Where is the balance between meeting people’s social needs for family and friendship and turning into a country club?
• What are the factors that most affect community in a church? Is it a good welcome team? Helpful ushers? Friendly people that come up and talk to you?
• How well does the Church do at creating community compared to other social organizations?
• Do people merely attend our church or are they a part of it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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