The McBlog

Disclaimer:
This survey is by no means scientific, authoritative or comprehensive. Also, because the purpose of my blog is simply to spark creative conversations (see my first post), I’m going to keep free of commentary. I simply want to introduce to you the results of a survey I conducted this weekend, and the reasons why I conducted it.

What:
An independent survey of 50 young ministers – who are associated with 4 organizations, and some who are associated with no organizations – on the future of casual and formal church attire in the Apostolic movement.

When:
Sunday, June 28 & Monday, June 29, 2009.

Why:
This is a subject that makes frequent appearances in conversations with my peers, so I felt it was important to engage it with a larger audience. I find myself increasingly interested in the motives, methods and mindsets of young Apostolic leaders in my generation. We are certainly a group that appreciates sharing our opinions and ideals, so I hope to capitalize on that openness through a series of surveys, and perhaps provide somewhat of a glimpse into the future of the Apostolic movement. I also felt this survey could benefit two types of people in particular:
1.) Young leaders (church planters, pastors, ministers, etc) that are invested in our movement and may be curious as to what the prevailing perception is regarding church attire among your peers, and,
2.) Older leaders who fall into the 40+ crowd who are interested in understanding this younger generation’s views on some of the more traditional aspects of Apostolic church culture.

How:
I simply picked up my cell phone & text messaged 50 young ministers that I am connected to, and asked them this question: “If/when you start a church, would the attire be more casual, less casual, or the same as your current church attire?” On the same cell phone, I opened the calculator application & crunched the percentages. I am absolutely sure there are better ways to conduct a survey, and certainly better ways to maintain anonymity, such as a blind poll hosted on my blog, but I had to start somewhere.

Admittedly, the question is probably slightly loaded. The direction you take concerning attire may vary depending on whether you plant a new church or inherit an established one, but I feel it’s a question that when answered, does a decent job of addressing the issue at hand.

Who:
50 young Apostolic leaders. I tried to survey a multiplicity of young leaders in an attempt to include the West Coast, South West, Mid West, South, & East Coast. Organizationally, I surveyed young leaders associated with the following organizations: UPCI, WPF, ALJC & AAFLCJ (Spanish Apostolic), as well as young leaders who have no organizational affiliation. Somebody asked me on Twitter why I only surveyed young ministers. My response to that is simple. The survey of older ministers (40+) is already being published. Simply look at the current culture of our movement. Overwhelmingly, our pastors are over 40, and overwhelmingly, our churches promote a culture where formal attire is the expectation.

One of the concerns among respondents was anonymity. I respect that, so if you’d like to join the conversation, please leave a comment, you can do so anonymously if you wish. God bless you all, thanks for participating.

Excerpts
“The attire would fit the culture and environment in which the church resided… I would say casual.” -Houston area

“Depends on how & where… 1.) how church is being planted, i.e. home bible study, storefront, rented facilities, etc., 2.) where church is being planted (urban, suburban, rural, domestic or foreign), and 3.) what is the cultural norm or acceptance for church dress in the demographic area where the church is being planted.” – Sacramento area

“Casual. Outsiders don’t want to dress up. Jesus lived to make outsiders comfortable.” -Louisiana

“Casual in dress, formal in attitude and approach.” -San Diego area

Results

AAFLCJ – 3%
ALJC – 3%
Independent – 11%
UPC – 76%
WPF – 7%

Give, and He will give back to you.

For the next couple days I’m blessed with the gift of spending time with incredible friends. Friends who have helped tremendously in shaping & encouraging my ministry over the past several years. Friends like Rich Brown, Amado Huizar, Brett Bockmann and Donnie Young. Friends. Good friends. Real friends.

What is a real friend anyway? According to Averie Sargent, the worlds most rambunctious-four-year-old-frog-hunting-redhead, a real friend is “To Share, Care and Be Fair!”.

Share. Care. Be Fair. I like that. Kids possess such an inherently profound simplicity.

I always love spending time with my real friend Donnie Young. Inevitably, we spend our time talking church, life, ministry, sports, family, more ministry, more sports. I always walk away feeling refreshed and with a sharpened focus. Today Donnie shared a book with me called “Never Eat Alone” by Kieth Ferrazzi. I can’t get enough of this book.

So in the spirit of sharing, here are a few excerpts from a profoundly simple book about real friends. Friends who share, care and be fair.

“The currency of real networking is not greed, but generosity.”

“It’s the excersicing of equity that builds equity.” (What do you have that’s of value? Start excersizing it. You’ll build more equity. In other words, give and He will give back to you. Pressed down, shaken together, running over.)

And my favorite quote from the book so far: “Don’t keep score.”

Share.

This is the current cover of Time Magazine. I’ve got a tank full of thoughts on how revolutionary Twitter can be. I’m even doing a sermon series this fall that’s inspired by the frequent communication that Twitter has spurred. I’ll be posting more about that soon. But how cool is this mag cover??

Current issue of Time Magazine

This is without a doubt the most impacting video I’ve seen in a long time. It just resonates so deeply with me – maybe it’s my Los Angeles upbringing, but I just love it when the timeless truths of Jesus Christ are emitted through expressions of urban culture, i.e. spoken word, hip hop, graffiti, etc.

All I can say is WOW. And yes, you will see something like this at SoCal HYC 2009. Woooorrd.

Last week I embarked on a safari in search of an endangered species: blogs written by my friends. It was an expedition of sorts to prove to myself that nobody in my generation is truly blogging, and in the process feel better about myself for never attempting one.

The results were very encouraging at first, as I stumbled upon an expansive, uncovered bone yard of blogs that died years ago. In this makeshift cemetery, I spotted the dry bones of my favorite dead blogs. It’s probably no coincidence they come from good friends, Wayne Francis (what’s Wayne’s fixation with camps & tents all about anyways?), and Robby Emery (congrats to Robby on successfully creating the world’s longest blog URL with http://pastorrobbysrandomblog.blogspot.com… even Jeremy Foster would have a hard time getting through that one without pausing for a breath).

As I saw these & many other carcasses of dead blogs, I felt proven and restfully assured that if Wayne & Robby aren’t blogging anymore, then without a doubt, blogging must certainly be dead. After all, this is Wayne & Robby we’re talking about! Wayne & Robby could wear ferrets on their heads at Youth Congress & 16,000 teenagers would pull out their iPhones (phone of choice of Wayne & Robby) and Google “where do I buy a ferret?” These are trendsetting former bloggers.

This is also the era of the MicroBlog, and I am a Twitter-aholic. I don’t like blogs. I never have. I don’t like the concept of a blogger telling everyone their story in 16 paragraphs. It’s too much like a lecture. It’s too one-sided. It’s not a conversation. It’s not organic… OK, I’ll be honest, it’s too long and I probably have ADD, and after all, if you can’t say it in 140 characters or less, does it really need to be said?

And then I came across a special blog. This blog that wasn’t really a blog at all – at least not in the traditional sense. There were no rants, no raves, no narcissistic ramblings… nothing like that. I was floored. I’d found the Unblog.

And this unblog is written by someone in my generation. A youth pastor from Madisonville, Kentucky. A friend of mine named Brandon Shanks. On Brandon’s blog – RevolutionBlog – you won’t find traditional blog entries. Instead, you’ll find someone who’s discovered what blogging was created for in the first place. You’ll find a conversation filled with creative resources. I told Brandon that his blog convicted me. He’s posted his best resources (drumroll please) FREE OF CHARGE on his unblog. Yes, that’s right, FREE. No $99 subscription fee, no checks, money orders, credit cards or payment plans. Top-notch youth ministry resources. Free.

(And just in case you’re thinking about charging for your stuff, I encourage you to check out www.LifeChurch.tv or www.YouVersion.com – both FREE. Unless your stuff is better than that, you may wanna rethink the PayPal button on your sermon page?)

I love this generation. I’m so glad I’m a part of it. I’m so thankful I’ve been called for such a time as this. For all of our faults & failures, I’m encouraged by the fact that for the most part we value COLLABORATION over COMPETITION, and HELPING over HOARDING.

So here I am tonight, doing something I never thought I’d do – starting a blog. I know most blogs start furious & die fast, and usually begin with some variation of this statement “I promise to update frequently”…. So in the spirit of my friend Brandon Shanks, who inspires and convicts me, I’m committed to apply these 5 principles to my blog.

1.    It will be short (I promise, this first entry will be the longest BY FAR – no entries over 1 or 2 paragraphs)
2.    It will be frequent (I’m a Twitter-Holic, so that’s a guarantee)
3.    It will be worth your time (But if you don’t follow it, I won’t be offended)
4.    I will post resources (Not because my stuff is that good, just because I want to join the conversation & be a help to my fellow youth ministers / church leaders)
5.    I won’t rant (I want to build not destroy)

Thanks for letting me join the conversation. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a youth service to speak at and I need to jump over to Brandon’s blog to download a sermon.

Peace. Love. More Love.

David