Thursday, February 26, 2009

THE BIG PICTURE

If you are interested in knowing more about The Net and gaining insight into the hundreds of other churches like us that are springing up around the globe, here's a link to Billy Hornsby's latest blog entry.

Billy heads up the ARC (Association of Related Churches) - an organization all about starting new life-giving churches to reach the un-churched... or as we call them in the bible-belt, the de-churched!

Enjoy the read: Click here to read the entry.

Monday, February 16, 2009

THAT'S A WRAP!

The If You Hate Church series is officially behind us. For those who called, emailed, or took the survey telling us "you can't hate the church" this day could not have come soon enough! For the rest of us who enjoyed engaging the segment of our population who were hurting, skeptical, or otherwise disinterested in the church this closes one of the most exciting chapters in the brief history of The Net... Of course, be assured - more good stuff is to come... In fact, at this very moment we are cooking up an after Easter series to end all series (there's a hint in there somewhere)!

As for IYHC - I must say I was pleased. The responses, both in number and content, went beyond my expectation. And I've enjoyed the conversations and friendships it allowed us to begin. Thanks to everyone who took the survey. Thanks to our team - who rallied around it, not knowing where it would lead.

And now the work begins... I'm looking forward to a long and faithful journey at The Net and in the city of Chattanooga - the city I love.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Week 4 - Cruising Altitude

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We seemed to have reached a comfortable cruising altitude of 226 attenders this past weekend. In fact, since take off, we have yet to drop below an altitude of 200. We are quite pleased with our take off and ascent to this point - however, we would also like to inform you that our final destination is far above the clouds, which will require us to continue ascending further and further in order to reach our goal of seeing as many people join our journey as possible.

We are asking each passenger to make the seat next to you available to passersby. Please let them know we have plenty of room for seating as well as overhead compartments for small children between the ages of birth to 5th grade... and that we are one of the few remaining airlines that still offer free in-flight beverages and snacks!

Next week we will be concluding our first in-flight series: If You Hate Church. We look forward to seeing you - and hope this week's turbulence will be kept to a minimum for you!

Signing off for now...

Monday, February 2, 2009

IF YOU HATE CHURCH: THE SERIES CONTINUES

We're 2 weeks into the If You Hate Church series and I'm loving every minute of it. I think I could stay with this for years. I love addressing the issues that plague Christianity and I revel in unpacking the reasons people do not attend church.

This weekend we will be talking about judgmentalism - the top complaint against the church according to our survey. Over 2/3 of the people who took the survey agreed or strongly agreed that people who go to church are quick to judge others. What does this mean for the church? How do we hold to the standards of the Bible and still heed Christ's call to "judge not, lest you be judged"?

Hope to see you Sunday as we wrestle with this issue together.