So, these are OUR best practices, in no particular order. The next couple have to do with money. Ed Young says that people get funny when the church talks about money. We have some very detailed systems and procedures for how we handle money. It takes big money to launch a church. We talk about money a lot. People don’t just get funny, they get crazy when you talk about money. So, we go overboard. Again, these work for us, and may or may not work in other contexts.
Our next best practice….I AM CLUELESS!
OK, so that isn’t a surprise to most. I’m clueless with a lot of things. I’m am definitely clueless when it comes to who gives, who doesn’t give, and how much or how little each person gives. I wouldn’t consider doing this any other way. Giving is a highly spiritual act of trust and worship. I want people to give generously, but even more importantly I want them to give to God with right motives.
Don’t get me wrong. We are not sloppy when it comes to giving/managing our finances/being good stewards of the resources God has given us as a church. We have very specific systems and procedures in place. We have these systems in place to protect our givers, our leaders/overseers of the giving, and most importantly to protect the integrity of Cinema Church. I would bet we have the most talented and brightest minds of any church managing our finances. And we have systems of accountability in place. We are tighter than Fort Knox I assure you.
Here is what I do know. I know exactly what comes in every week. I also get a print out with the word “NAME” and the amounts given each week for that person. So while I don’t know who that “NAME” is tied to, I can see where our church is. I can gauge our spiritual temperature in some ways by having this information. The Bible says that where a persons treasure is there his heart is also. We need to be a church family that chases after the heart of God. I need to know if we have people giving consistently, this tells me a lot about our heart as a church. I need to know where we are collectively as a church body.
Here is what this cluelessness allows:
- you’ll find out tomorrow (best practice 5)
- no one has to wonder if I’m looking funny at them because they didn’t give last week
- better allows people to worship God out of a sincere heart and not guilt
- never have to worry about giving someone leadership or a better chair because of how much money they give
Another of our best practices is…PRAYER
These are in no particular order, but prayer would be at the top of this list if there was an order.
We don’t just talk about the importance of prayer. We pray regularly. In fact, several Cinema Churchers meet Saturday from 8-8:45 a.m. every week to pray for our community, our people and our church. Yes, you read that right….8 a.m. on Saturday morning!
We have also taken our entire Sunday morning just to pray. Individuals pray for our church as well. And we have even walked around our community praying! That must have looked interesting to some…
We know that this crazy vision is so enormous that if God doesn’t show up and show off we will accomplish nothing. We also know, and act on the fact, that nothing significant happens apart from prayer.
We are constantly changing. Our experiences are changing. Our times are changing. One thing that has not, and will not change, is that we meet at least once a week, as a group, and pray. I would encourage any church launches and churches to start praying every single week. I love that our people give up time to pray for our church and for others inside and outside our church. It is one of the reasons that Cinema Church is Cinema Church. Thanks for the many prayers. God is up to something big and I can’t wait to see how this continues to unfold!
Another of our best practices is… TEAM.
I love that this church has a vision so big that one person, two people, ten people, twenty people can’t possibly do this! It is going to take the biggest, brightest, craziest, most courageous group of people ever assembled to pull this one off!
It has been said that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. With some areas this is still true of Cinema Church. However, we are working on this. And, in most areas this just ain’t true of Cinema Church at all.
I love our team. I love that we do things as a team. I love that all of our leadership is structured around not getting things done, but rather building a team to make things happen.
There are some things that I don’t know a thing about. Some things at Cinema Church!!! And I love it! I’m a control freak by nature. I want things done yesterday, and better than they have ever been done before. However, I am realizing that if I do most things… then quite frankly most things (if not everything) will suck! Our CinemaKids Church is out of this world, our nursery ministry is perfect, our financial stuff is crazy amazing, our girls small groups is rocking, our golf tournament is mind bogglingly good, our music is going to be out of this world….I could go on and on. All of these things happen with teams….teams that I really have absolutely nothing to do with.
To everyone on our TEAM and WITH Cinema Church… Thank YOU! What you are doing is already helping us to change CT.
OK, so it may sound very odd that a church that still hasn’t launched is listing their best practices. I know, it is a little odd. With that said, here are a few reasons that I decided to post our best practices. First, we are learning. If what we are learning can somehow help anyone, that would be awesome. Second, we are just starting, BUT we have still managed to find a way to be the church and be the vision (not just talk about vision and what will be). Third, this blog helps me. So, if no one else benefits from this it is good for me to write things down, and to be able to look back at all this craziness once our church does launch.
A huge disclaimer…these are OUR best practices. Some of these things definitely will not work in other church plants and other contexts. They just happen to have worked really well for us.
So, our first best practice (but really not in any particular order)….
Devour blogs, attend conferences, enroll in coaching networks!
We devour everything worth watching. If a church or a leader is getting it done…I watch them religiously! One of the best resources is…blogs! They are free, frequent, and immediate. Books are good, but blogs are real, and usually give a great look at the day by day journey. It is awesome to watch what others are doing. Blogs have helped our church learn strategies, have stretched me in so many areas, have increased vision and increased faith. In fact, one of the things that started me down this path was a blog. While at Thomas Road Baptist Church there was a guy I shared an office with. He worked with the high schoolers and I worked with the middle schoolers. He recently started a church in North Carolina. Since then that church has exploded! He has been on NBC Nightly News. More importantly this church plant, that just recently celebrated its one year anniversary, is reaching a community. I have learned a ton from his blog. In fact, I think what Tadd is doing was one of the first things that God used to begin to move in my heart about launching a church in Connecticut. I love to follow blogs written by church planters who are getting it done! Some of my favorite blogs are written by: Gary Lamb, Michael L., Tadd Grandstaff, Nelson Searcy and Buddy Cremeans. All have recently launched churches, all changing their community!
We go to every conference that we possibly can! We have partnered with ARC. We have already been to some coaching and teaching events, and will continue to go through ARC for coaching and teaching. There are other coaching networks that we are planning to be a part of. Some of our team took a huge trip to Georgia for the Evolve Conference. In a few weeks 10 of us will be going to Catalyst. Some of our team was able to go to the Fusion Seminar when it was right here in our backyard. After we get back from Georgia we are going to C3 Conference in New York. There are other conferences that we will definitely go to. I feel conferences are crucial. I love that so many of our people are going with us to these conferences! I can’t wait to see the vision of our team increased. I am anxiously waiting to be able to apply some of the practices we learn as a team to our unique environment. I can’t wait to continue to learn together.
Filed under: The fam
So, it looks as if our search for a place to live is over! Not because we are content with being homeless, but because God is working. We had hoped for our housing situation to be settled long ago. Two of our huge requests have been: 1) relatively inexpensive so that we could continue to give above our tithes to Cinema Church, and 2) to be in a neighborhood/area where we could somehow make an impact.
If it was up to me and my timing we would be living somewhere that we could call our own long before now. BUT, it wouldn’t have been inexpensive, and it wouldn’t have had the opportunity for impact that we are expecting. So, I guess God’s timing is better than mine!!!
There is so much more I want to say about this. Trust me I’m having a hard time keeping my mouth shut. More details may come soon….especially maybe possibly if you are at Cinema Church Sunday.
Until then, God has opened so many doors, but there is still one that needs to be opened. We continue to pray and wait, sometimes patiently, sometimes not so much. And we continue to trust that God will lead us to the perfect place. Maybe this is it? Would you join us in praying for this one remaining minor obstacle to be taken care of today in His timing.
Filed under: Church Launch Team
Seems the video may be back???
Oh well, seems the video that some were able to see this morning has been taken down. You can’t see the video, but I guess it was embarrassing enough to have it taken down. Too bad they didn’t pull the plug before going live at their church.
Either way, the following point can still be made…
I understand that people need to be involved, BUT COME ON! Are you serious? When eternity hangs in the balance sometimes the church just has to say, “I don’t think so. Aint happening.” I know we have done some cheesy things, and I know we have to try some things and fail, but I’m praying that God would help our creative team, staff, and directional team to do things with excellence! This video The video that was up here earlier makes me want to pray a little more, would you join me?
Filed under: Cinema Church
As some of you may already know, we recently decided to purchase some media equipment. Why would we do this when we are still a long way from our launch? It was a killer deal financially, it is already set up for us, and the church we bought it from is willing to show us how to use it. This was something we just could not pass up. We definitely did not (and still do not) have the money for this. However, Oak Leaf graciously gave us until November to pay for the media equipment (Please don’t stop reading-I am NOT asking for money from anyone, just trying to give some context).
There is one small problem that we have been praying about (on Saturday mornings at Faith’s place in case you weren’t aware 
). There is some faith involved and some stretching involved if we are going to pay for this by November. We have been trusting and believing in God to provide all of the necessary resources. I digress….The media equipment is located in Georgia (quite a long trip). In October (one month before the equipment needs to be paid for) we are taking 10 people to Catalyst (in Georgia). So, as you can imagine, we have been praying really hard (on Saturday mornings at Faith’s place in case you weren’t aware ) that God would provide the resources needed to have the media equipment paid for in full by our trip to Catalyst. I love Georgia, but I’m not excited about going there twice in two months! Probably needles to say, we would love for you to join us in prayer!
NOW FOR THE REAL POINT OF THIS ENTRY…
Our people are awesome! They are flat out knocking it out of the park when it comes to faithfully giving every Sunday! I am really in awe! AND others, not even going to Cinema Church, have been graciously giving to the 300 Project.
So, thank you all. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for the courage to act on the belief that a life surrendered to God can change the world!
We have not completely paid for the media equipment YET, and I will DEFINITELY let you know when we do… Until then, here is what the media equipment will enable us to look like and do…
I am really blown away at the people who continue to come to and join Cinema Church. We are slowly getting closer and closer to our launch date! We have been preparing, praying, and giving.
Now, finally, we are getting closer to the day when everyone can get plugged in and contribute to Cinema Church by serving.
So, we would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining our launch team and filling out this form!
Filed under: Random Goodness
Our church is just beginning, and therefore is relatively small in size (huge in passion and ability, but still small in numbers). In spite of our smaller size…I am proud to say we have:
- 6 Macbook Pros
- 6 Macbooks
- 1 Powerbook
- 3 iMacs
- 4 Mac Minis
Thanks to everyone WITH Cinema Church. Thanks for seeing things differently! Thanks for being crazy enought to believe we can change the world! With all these Macs and all these phenomenal people, I have one thing to say to our community….LOOK OUT! For those not yet on the Cinema train (or the Mac train) there is still time….jump on board!
Filed under: Voices in my head
“In the postmodern epoch that we must live in, the gospel needs to be incarnated in costly discipleship. The world looks at the church and wants to see in our lives the marks of the cross – not the search for comfort, prestige, power, or fame.”
-Eldin Villafane
