Scott Miller Blog :: Good Stuff

Your Core

I've been thinking for several weeks now about this thought - what is at the core of the life of a genuine Christ folower?  I put together this little sketchcast thing (sorry the volume level stinks)...

What do you have?

This is a shot of the altar area during one of our services this past Sunday. The thrust of the message was how God's not looking for the next Christian superstar. There is no American Idol for Christianity!

• God asked Moses – What's in your hand?
• God asked the widow through the Prophet Elisha – What's in your house?
• God asked the disciples when they were needing to feed the 5000 plus – What do you have?

In each situation, what they had was enough. God will use what we have, but the key is we've got to offer all we have to Him!

I closed the message with a story Tim Sanders had shared at the Catalyst Conference last fall. It was about Timberland (shoe company), who held their yearly conference in New Orleans, 1 year after Katrina. One of the Timberland employee's ended up giving one of the relief volunteers his shoes…which led to 3 bus loads of Timberland employee's to follow suit. They offered what they had.

We symbolically took our shoes off, placed them on the altar, and spent time in prayer at the end of both services Sunday. It really was an amazing moment…God moved…glad I was there…

You can listen to the message here…

Vision Thoughts – Bill Hybels Axiom

I've been slowly reading through a great book by Bill Hybels called Axiom – Powerful Leadership Proverbs. Hybels defines vision this way:

Picture of the future that produces passion in people. (p. 30)

I know many of you reading this right now are involved in helping lead people. Have you given them a vision to press toward? Have you developed a picture in their mind for what their area of ministry ought to look like? Has it produced passion for it to happen? Vision is so closely tied to dreaming, and I love it.

Another vision quote:

Wise leaders understand that the single greatest determinant of whether followers will ever own a vision deeply is the extent to which those followers believe the LEADER will own it. (p. 35)

Good stuff…

Sign Nazi

Have you seen this from the other night?  The Security dude rips the John 3:16 sign out of the guy's hand...

(thanks to Paul Grabill)

Opportunity – from a man’s rib?

Every once and a while I'll come across a quote that just downright tells it like it is. In preparing for last week, and this week's messages, I ran across this quote from Thomas Edison on Opportunity…

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison
US inventor (1847 - 1931)

God is into the everyday, normal things. God is looking for everyday people, like you and me, to do anything but "everyday" ministry for Him! God can take what you think is the mundane parts of your life, and use them to further his kingdom!

We've got to get past the "who am I for God to do something significant through me" thought process, and just bring who we are and what we are to God. Bring your success, your failure, your good, your bad, and let Him do something marvelous with it! He is a master at creativity! Face it, God made one of the greatest creations ever out of a stinking man's rib! If God can use a rib, he can use whatever it is you bring to the table!

Good stuff…

Town Hall For Hope - Dave Ramsey

Fyi...Pathway will be a host site on Thursday, April 23rd, for Dave Ramsey's Town Hall For Hope live video simulcast. 

More info to come...2 minute video below will explain more...

Seize the Opportunity

I love hearing how one of our Sunday messages impacted you...or how the Holy Spirit used a message to speak to you.  Monday, I received an email from Pathway person Michelle Oliver.  I asked her if I could share a bit of her story with you guys. Michelle was born to missionary parents, while they were serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Her family tries to keep abreast of what's happening there as they still have friends who are in the country. 

This country has been embroiled in fighting between warring factions and tribes for several years now.  The amount killed over the past 5 years is the equivalent to eight Rwandan genocides and five Darfur conflicts.  The province where Michelle was born has been deemed by the UN the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

She describes what happened in her heart on Sunday morning as she was challenged to 'seize the opportunity' -  My heart goes out to these people and I believe God is calling me to do something; I'm not sure what yet.  

What is it God is saying to you? 

Are there any opportunities you are steering clear of mainly b/c you aren't sure you have the goods to deliver?  Like when Moses reminded God that he stuttered...(as if God didn't already know that)... 

Or b/c you felt you aren't "spiritual" enough?  You doubt God could ever do anything significant in you b/c you continue to struggle in areas of self control, or wherever...

Listen, it's time you and I stop looking at what we don't have, and start looking at what we do have!  It's time to step up and seize the opportunity God has given us to reach this region with the Gospel and shake things up a bit! 

It's time that we both seize the opportunity we have to connect with the co-worker or neighbor, and serve them like Jesus would.  It's time! 

It's time we step out in faith and do that thing we know God has placed on our heart to do, and trust Him to come through!  This is the season my friend! 

Part two of the message, Seize the Opportunity, this Sunday...I pray you can make it!

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire

How horrible to see the northern Indiana favorite restaurant, the Essenhaus, on fire last night! Figure the odds!

Can you imagine a world without whoopee pies? Amish peanut butter? Roll's with delicious sweet white cream inside, frosted with a maple cover? A world without cherry pie, donning a delicately sweetened top crust, perhaps sprinkled with sugar?

I think I'm gaining calories even thinking about such things…forgive me Lord…

No thanks Jesus…

Do you ever wonder if Jesus had asked other people to be his original disciples (around the same time as the ask went out to the original 12) and they said no? Maybe the 12 could have been 15? (I'm just asking, not saying I think it's true or anything)

What if one of the disciples would have said no? Matthew, James, John, Philip, Ringo, (just making sure you are paying attention), Bartholomew, Thaddaeus, Simon Peter, Simon the Zealot and the others…what if they would have said no? What if God gave them an OPPORTUNITY to be in on the ground floor of the most world revolutionizing moment in all of history…and they said, "nope, rather go back to fishing."

Is there any opportunity right now that maybe you are passing on, but God's best is that you run with it?

Seize the Opportunity…this Sunday, March 22…hope you're there…

Boy in the Striped Pajamas

B/c of the wide gap of personal convictions on movies, I rarely recommend a movie to anyone. Breaking with my rule, I will recommend that all of you take in the "Boy in the Striped Pajamas." A powerful movie about the Jewish Holocaust, it will make you think…and probably give you a lump in your throat with its ending (which for whatever reason took me by complete surprise).

The Last Multi-Site

Wow…just finished up our last Multi-Site night…a few of the highlights:

• The laughter, fun and fellowship of each night.
• The 'dance' chant that started on Monday night as Jason took the mic to start his talk. (don't remember the particular's, but there was a suggestion for Jason to do a dance at some point earlier in the night)
• When I somehow ended up talking about Uncle Jesse and Daisy Duke Wednesday night.
• Jason's phone ringing in the middle of his talk on Thursday night, causing yet another diversion from his talk.
• The chocolate peanut butter pie I had on Monday night.
• The chance to answer questions about the whole multi-site subject each night.
• The raspberry cream pie I had on Wednesday night.
• The raspberry cream pie I had on Thursday night.
• Watching as God seemingly raised Jason's level of spiritual authority and spiritual passion right before our eyes. The guy was on fire every night. His passion for the Elkhart campus is electric.

Thanks to the load of you who came out to hang with us!

Pathway ventures into - Responsive Reading?

Yah. We have. Someone told me the other day that we need to slip a small sign reading "Mennonite" on our sign out by the road…hah (they were kidding of course)! As part of our switching things up with our Sunday morning service, we've done something that I'm not sure we have ever done at Pathway – responsive readings of Scripture (for 2 weeks in a row).

We do the whole bit…I've been the "leader" and read the leader's part, and then the congregation reads their part. The response? WOW! Seriously, why haven't we used this method in our worship before? (meant to be rhetorical, but the honest truth is, it's b/c we've just never done it that way before)

I know from time to time, there are pastors who read this blog. You want to add some depth and power to your worship time this Sunday? Right in the middle of your singing, do a responsive reading.

FOR THOSE IN THE A/G: Here's the deal…dust off one of those old blue or red hymn books (be prepared - Sister Beulah might just have a heart attack when she sees one in your hands). Go to the back, before the contents, and pull out one of those responsive readings. Then, don't read it like your grandma just died, and someone fed you castor oil for communion. Read it the way it was written…with passion…with pauses…well thought out…and watch as it builds more spiritual momentum in your service than singing Enemy's Camp did at the Brownsville Revival.

NMS Talk

Had a blast talking to some of Northridge Middle School's best and brightest today. Somewhere around 30-40 students were chosen for their character and leadership qualities for this little event (which included free lunch from Dairy Queen and an opportunity to hear me blab).

I think I've learned something about myself over the past few years…I like the challenge of speaking to a different audience every once and a while. Don't get me wrong, my favorite place to speak is at 13805 US Hwy 20, Middlebury, IN…(Pathway that is)…but it's fun working up a message or a talk to a group of people who I've never met, but can discern (with the Holy Spirit) what needs to be said.

Kind of a zero gravity thing. As much as I want to speak something useful, I really want to accomplish the plan God has for me there. So, if they like it or not isn't necessarily an issue. I'm an outsider…I have zero gravity pulling me in any direction. I'm going to say what I'm going to say, and get out of there. If they like it, great! If they don't, I don't really care! I know that I said what needed to be said.

Well, anyhow…that was part of my day…what a beautiful day by the way…did we reach 70 degrees today?

Multi-Site Night - Monday

In one word, I can describe tonight's first Multi-Site Night mtng…fun…delicious…laugh-filled…faith-filled…etc…(was that more than one word?)…

A few questions that came up:

• Where will the Elkhart campus be?
• What about the youth?
• How do we join the Elkhart campus?
• Will all of it be on video?
• How will one message apply to different audiences (Middlebury compared to Elkhart)?

Want to know the answers to these questions, and the rest of them? I guess you'll have to be there Thursday night…there's still room for more of you Pathway-ites…

Monday Morning Check In

A couple of Monday morning thoughts…

• What a great weekend of ministry (gearing us up for a great week of ministry!). I shared a message on bringing your praise to God…interrupted our worship singing time, shared the message, then went back to worship. Was a pleasant change.
• Can you sense what the Holy Spirit is doing in our worship times the past 2 weeks? Worship is less about the band, and more about your heart! We can worship with a full band, or 2 acoustic guitars alone! Very cool…
• Extremely pumped to spend the week with all of the Pathway crew, talking and dreaming about Multi-Site. Kind of exciting to know that we don't know everything we wished we would know, but we do know that God is in the know. You can still sign up for Thursday night's thing here…
• Tomorrow, I get a chance to chat at Northridge Middle School to a group of VIP students…I love any chance I get to go back on the turf of my old stomping ground…
• Good day…

Hillsong Church London Band in Granger

Just saw this on Mark Beeson's blog. Hillsong's London campus band will be in concert on April 21^st, at Granger Community Church. Tickets are $10 pre-sale (not on sale yet, but soon), $12 at the door. If I were a concert going person, which I'm really not, I'd probably take this one in.

3 Places 3 People

About a month ago, I challenged you with the idea of praying regularly for 3 places and 3 people. I've found that if I'm not regularly praying for people who have yet to come to know Christ, or even for God to use me to touch them, it doesn't happen!

So, how are you doing? We prayed all month long in February for God to give us His eyes for others…has it changed anything?

(this is meant to be rhetorical, as well as…well…whatever the opposite of rhetorical is…in other words, feel free to leave a comment)

Multi-Site Article

After I read this article about Seacoast Church, and the way they do Multi-Site, I about went through the roof. This is it. I absolutely love their thoughts on this. Take a few minutes to read it before you come to our Multi-Site nights next week!

Check the article out here!

Madagascar Update

Just received an email from Jay Rostorfer, our missionary to Madagascar. You might remember we prayed for the growing unrest in their country last month. They have now been advised to leave the country ASAP for their safety. Here's an excerpt from their email:

Since our last communication with you last week, things have gotten much worse here in Madagascar.  There has been a mutiny within the army, there is talk of a possible military takeover of the government, violence in the streets has escalated, attacks on governments officials has begun, etc...  Needless to say, the situation has become very serious.

As a result, it is the decision of Assemblies of God World Missions for the missionaries to evacuate the country immediately.  What that means for our family is that we will be flying to Nairobi, Kenya on the first available flight out of the country, which is Saturday.  We will spend the time until the flight making all necessary arrangements for our ministries, personal possessions & packing bags to leave.

How can you pray?

• For our safety over the next few days. 
• For the flights to continue from all airlines.
• For the national church and believers.  This political situation has them very shaken up. 
• For our daughters.  Our girls are tough and are able to handle a lot, but this kind of sudden upheaval can affect anyone. 
• For our finances.  This kind of change for our family will be quite costly.

Feed the Children Middlebury Food Drop

We had a blast unloading and giving away food today in Middlebury to pushing 400 families!  I threw the following video footage together when I got home tonight...

Emerge Conference – Women in leadership

FYI – Next Level International is sponsoring a leadership conference for women, coming up the first weekend in May, in South Bend. If you are an emerging, or advanced leader in any capacity (church or marketplace), this conference is for you!

More info here at their website…

Multi-Site Nights March 16, 18, & 19

If you are a part of Pathway, you've got to be a part of our Multi-Site Nights next week!  This is going to be a fun night of questions/answers about our transition to being a Multi-Site church...one church, with many campuses.  Connect with your Life Group leader to find out what night you are to come out, or, if you aren't plugged in to a Life Group yet, sign up for the Thursday night event here!  Did I mention Essenhaus pie and coffee???

What I’ve been reading…Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro

I've been reading Wayne Cordeiro's book, Leading on Empty. If I were a pastor, and only read 5 books this year (which would be sad if there really were a pastor who read only 5 books a year, but that's another story), I would include this in my books to read. In this book, Wayne talks about how he hit the wall b/c of his lack of Sabbath and rest.

Here's one thought he had…

One of the greatest lessons I'm learning (and yes, I am still learning it) is that rest is not sin. Taking a break doesn't mean you're lazy or that you're not as valuable. Catching your breath now and then doesn't mean you're not carrying your load, or that you are somehow less than committed to your church, your company, or your calling. (p. 124)

Good stuff…might be a great book for anyone in leadership…

R3

In this week's Sunday message, I reference a foundational series of messages I did back in May of 2007, dealing with what it looks like to be relevant. You can listen to the first message here, or you should be able to get to most of them here.

Real Life

Real God

Real World

Plane landing in the Hudson

This is a great digital re-enactment of the plane landing in the Hudson.  What an amazing story!

Thanks to Jeff Leake for the video...

Structural Change – Worship Team

I've blogged a couple of thoughts lately on change. Let me dive deeper into another area that is changing, morphing, moving forward, here at Pathway…

Worship Team:

The Multi-Site thing has sparked this change. We have structured our worship team the same way for 8 years now. It's time that we create a new structure for our worship team. The end result will still look much the same (a team of gifted, passionate for Jesus, men and women leading us in worship from week to week), but will be structured in such a way that it is more reproducible from campus to campus. Another goal is to create a structure that will allow more room for creativity, as well as a clearer defined on ramp for new members to join. In this new structure, I see us moving away from one huge worship team, and creating multiple teams.

These are just a few of the idea's concerning the new structure that I started thinking about last summer. This past January, I started mulling it over with our worship team leader, Derek Kidder. After discussion, it became real clear to us that if we were really going to overhaul this ministry, we may need to bring it to an end! What? Cancel worship team? What in the world are you thinking?

Remember guys, I was the one who set the direction for the worship team 8 years ago. I understand the pain of looking at a structure you setup, that needs to be broken down, and rebuilt. But that's where we are at. It's not that what we had was broken in any way, it's just that the Holy Spirit is wanting to do something new! Something fresh!

I've asked all of our worship team members to step back for the next 2-3 months. Sit in the congregation and just worship with us, without the focus of leading others. Take a much deserved break!

In the mean time, while we are trying to discern what this new structure looks like, we'll create a hodge-podge of different musicians and singers (from our current team) to lead us over the next 2-3 months. Some weeks, we may have one guitarist and a singer. Other weeks, we may bring back a full team. Any way you slice it, HEAR ME ON THIS ONE – WE ARE NOT CANCELING OUR SUNDAY MORNING MUSIC WORSHIP TIME!!! We will continue to have worship as long as there is a God worthy to be worshiped! Our corporate music worship time is a vital part of what we do on Sunday's, and it will continue to be! We're just going to try some different elements, and definitely a different structure.

If you have any questions on this, or ideas, shoot me an email at scottm@pathwayag.com! I know change is not always the most comfortable time, but if a season of 'different', can lead to a season of 'more effective', I know you agree – it's worth every bit of it!

Thanks for rolling with us on this one…

Structural Change – Multi-Site

I've blogged a couple of thoughts lately on change. Let me dive deeper into an area that is changing, morphing, moving forward, here at Pathway…

Multi-Site:

Going to a Multi-Site model of "doing church" (one church, many campuses) does not JUST effect the new campus, it effects all the campuses! I wouldn't say you will see major change in the way we do things on the Middlebury campus as we start the Elkhart campus, but there will be change.

Part of that change is simply all of us stepping up and taking on the opportunity to serve! As we send some of us out to Elkhart, this will open up new windows of opportunity for you to take on the ministry positions they've held here in Middlebury. We can choose to focus on the sacrifice of stepping up to fill the empty spaces, or we can look at it as an opportunity for God to stretch us and take us to the next level too!

There's a load of other things I can and will share on this, but one thing I can't do is to over emphasize how much I want you to be a part of our Multi-Site nights coming up in a week. Get more info here and plan on being there…

Cha-Cha-Change

I'm not one who lives for change. Like most humans, I am very comfortable in my regular routines. I would be perfectly willing to eat the same meals (taco's, spaghetti, home-made chicken strips with mashed potatoes, meatloaf with baked potatoes, this funny looking noodle stuff that Megan mixes with olive oil, broccoli and chicken, etc.) every week of my life (much to the chagrin of my eager to try new stuff wife).

But I've learned, there are times and seasons when things need to change. There are times when the Holy Spirit places His finger on something and says, "right there…that needs to change." Sure, it's not like you hear an audible voice or anything, but in your spirit, you know something needs to change.

The challenge with change in my life, is very few times do I know why things need to change, I just know they need to change. This drives some people crazy, but I tend to enjoy it. I'm not smart enough to know the 'why' for everything, but I think I have learned to be sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit to recognize His nudge in an area. Not infallible, not without ever missing it a bit, but a strong sense of the Holy Spirit's leading.

Do you like change?

Missionaries to India Meals

2 Sundays ago, we prayed at Pathway for one of our missionaries to India who had an opportunity to eat with two different families that weekend, both of whom were definitely not following Christ. Here's a blog post of their weekend! Check it out…

Egg and Sausage Pizza

First thing this morning, I took Daisy the dog to the vet to get her female-hood taken care of. Our Vet is out in the middle of no-where (or at least close to no-where) in Topeka, IN. I took a minute to drive through the town…it really is a neat little town.

But here's the deal…when I got back on State Road 5, I decided to stop at a BP station to grab a cup of coffee. They had a food item in there that I had never seen before…Egg and Sausage breakfast Pizza! It so amazed me, that I took a picture.

Nope…I didn't try it…but I was tempted…

No sacred cows

For 8 years now, we've tried to build a culture of change into Pathway. Meaning, there are no sacred cows. Everything is open to change (other than our doctrine, core values, etc.). Maybe I should clarify, all METHODS we use today can, and probably ought to, change from time to time.

Our buildings have changed. Our service times have changed. Our Sunday morning coffee choices have changed. Our Missions methodology has changed. Our Kids Ministry has changed (curriculum, rooms, and age breakdown). Our Student Ministry has changed. Our staff has changed. My underwear has changed, many times (sorry, just had to throw that in to make sure you're still with me). My role has changed. Our Small Groups have changed into Life Groups, therefore, changing their focus.

Any church who settles in, and decides never to change, will soon find themselves in a place of plateau and inward focus. This is not healthy or effective in helping that church to move forward into reaching new people for Christ, and helping the already convinced grow.

Why the talk of change and sacred cows? B/c there's changes on the horizon for Pathway…not earth shattering change, just different, new, fresh, change…

What is it? I'll share more later…