Just returned from a Leadership Network gathering in Dallas, Texas. We’ve traveled 4 times to the Big D in the past two years for a peer network/learning community with other churches from across the country. It has been very intense–very life transforming.

Monday morning’s first session was spent reviewing what God has been doing in our churches since we’ve been involved in the Community.

Five questions were asked . . .

Question 1: What is your BHAG (Big, hairy, audacious goal)?

To ignite a movement of people with the DNA of Jesus that will inhabit every nook and cranny of society and culture!

Question 2: What’s working?

Philippians 2:13 “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Jesus-followers have gone out/are going out from RiverTree to reveal God’s Kingdom now and forever.

Question 3: What’s stuck?

Christology should determine our missiology which should determine our ecclesiology.

Unfortunately, over the years we’ve had a slow drift that flipped this around. Ecclesiology has determined our missiology which has determined our Christology.

We’re in the process of getting this right! Flipping it back around. Asking very hard, very candid, very inspiring questions of how Jesus would live and impact today’s society and culture. From our discoveries about Jesus we will determine our mission which will determine how we do church.

Question 4: Our biggest surprise?

That we as a church leadership are actually just catching up to what God is already doing in the hearts of His people. God is going before us . . .

Question 5: Our greatest success?

We’ve moved from serving others in Jesus’ name (while handing out cards that say “Just wanted to love you with no strings attached”–while on the back of the card it lists RiverTree’s weekend service times) to canceling a weekend of services so that people could intentionally impact their communities . . . to doing “Great Days of Service” (spending 7 days serving in our communities) to a lifestyle of really loving people and serving them as Jesus would.

In a nutshell, God has moved us from a “program” where people serve to a lifestyle of influencial serving.

Yeah God!!!