Tim @ REVEAL - Afternoon One

One full day of REVEAL under my belt. I'm starting to get a headache. Maybe it's from the 1am bedtime lastnight. Or the junk-food I ate to stay awake on my trip. Nothing a good nap can't solve! But I think that maybe the headache is coming because my brain's been on overdrive today - so much good stuff to absorb and process and review.

Both sessions this afternoon were based on some selected pastors of churches that according to REVEAL are doing alot of things right. In the spirit of sharing best practices, these pastors agreed to come and reveal what they are doing right. It's important to note that these are humble men - no inkling of pride or ego. Refreshing.

Takeaways from this afternoon (you'll note that there is nothing revealed that is new or novel...):
* getting people into God's Word so that God can get into people is central, primary, crucial to people moving forward as disciples. Get creative, help remove obstacles/excuses, model, raise the value - do what it takes so that more people are living out the Scriptures, so that they are getting a fresh understanding of God's Word, and then taking responsibility for fusing their faith and works.

* raise the level of intentionality about making disciples in through the local church. Making disciples ought to be THE thing a church does - and how it does it ought to be OBVIOUS to the whole congregation, and not only obvious but understandable. The Senior Pastor has to be a huge factor in this, whether it is personally leading the charge, or always waving the flag for it. The church needs to discern how it will make disciples - the HOW will take time, not because it is hard to figure out, but because it is hard not to make it complicated and misleading. And this is where REVEAL comes in: through empirical data you can discern best practices from other churches for how your church, regardless of size/location/resources can start making more and better disciples.

* did I mention the high value of getting Scripture inside people to catalyze the work of God in helping people become disciples of Jesus? Apparently it's a pretty big deal...