Got an invitation to hang out for the day with a bunch of renegade and courageous church planters from all over the Southeast. We met up this past Thursday at CrossPoint Community Church here in west Nashville. It was an AWESOME day and I'm so glad that I made the time to go. Man, I love church planters! We're a crazy bunch to be sure and when we get together, it's even crazier. I had the privilege to hear the hearts, the struggles, the "wins" and the ministry challenges of 11 pastors God has called to change their communities. It was inspiring and humbling all at the same time. Thanks to Joe Case for putting this together!
My good buddy Pete Wilson, Lead Pastor at CrossPoint, had some great insights and comments about the day. Check 'em out here.
Here's a couple of my takeaways from the day:
Gary Lamb ... what a mess. ;>) CRAZY dude. Gary will either become one of the leading voices and leaders in the church planting world within the next two years or... he will end up in jail! ;>) I'm prayin' for the first but bettin' on the second. Love ya bro! Great seeing you again. Miss hangin' with you in Canton.
Randy Cook from CrossRoads Community Church in Lebanon, TN has one of the coolest and most bizarre church planting stories I've ever heard. He raised money and built out a building BEFORE he launched his church. Wow. Watch out for this guy!! 14 months and growing strong. Great story....and GREAT building Randy. Randy's comments were the highlight of the day for me.
Pete Wilson...what can I say. The guy is a born leader and the pastor I aspire to be. Thanks Pete for continuing to model "kingdom-mindedness" for us all. You're the man.
Dave Anderson for me is the new poster boy for church planting. He lost an appendix and 5 inches of his large intestine as proof that he's the real deal. Wow! Great meeting you finally Dave. Your story inspired us yesterday bro! Thanks for sharing.
I miss Joe Case on Fox News doing the weather every night but man, you gotta admire this guy's tenacity as a church planter. He's the only guy I know who's moved his church around more than mine. ;>) It was awesome to hear Joe's story yesterday and how he left a GREAT career behind to follow God's leading to start a church in Bellevue. Heard a lot about Joe living here in Nashville...great to finally meet him. Great story and even a better guy.
All in all...what a great day. It was awesome to see so many different guys, from so many different church backgrounds coming together for encouragement and to share ideas on how we can further the Kingdom with the churches we lead. Looking forward to doing this again soon. Thanks guys!
As long as you continue to place expectations on your spouse you have a debt / debtor relationship that will crowd out love and intimacy. In order to experience marriage as God designed it you must transform your expectations. Join us this Sunday, March 2, as Andy closes out the iMarriage series with part 3, and appropriately named, It Takes Three.
Leading worship for us this weekend is Ryan Stuart and the Cumberland Church band. Ryan's become a favorite with our folks for his complete and obvious devotion to the worship experience and we're thrilled to have him this weekend. And while I've got you here, let me tell you that Cumberland is blessed to have some of Nashville's most talented players. That's no secret, though. You know that by worshiping with them week in and week out. And as complimentary as that may sound, that's only scratching the surface of these individuals. To a person, the Cumberland Church line up is comprised of the most humble and gracious men and women I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Take a moment sometime and introduce yourself to "the band" would ya? They're awesome folks! Word of caution, though. Don't feed them. They're likely to follow you out to the car looking for more.
So, back to the music...Our set this week includes, but is not limited to:
Not to Us / Here is Our King Marvelous Light I Stand Amazed
Up next: If Andy Stanley could spend an hour with you on any subject of his choosing...what do you think it would be? Of all the things Andy Stanley could wish for you, his number 1 desire for you is....coming to Cumberland Church next week - don't miss it!
And while you're here...take a look at the posts below. Some good stuff coming out of the Cumberland
staff these days.
Hello! This is my first blog here on the site. So that you feel like you know me: my name is Bruce Brady and I am the Administrator at Cumberland Church. My quick background is…..Grew up in Atlanta, graduated from Samford University (not Stanford like many think when I say it verbally, which I understand the assumption if you know me), 12 years as a real estate investor in Atlanta, 7 years as an attendee and hard core volunteer at NPCC, gave it all up and moved to Dothan, Alabama to help my friend Troy Fountain at Wiregrass Church (the first North Point Partnership), moved to Nashville to start Cumberland Church with my friends Billy McCarthy and Eddie Johnson. Loving life with my wife, 4 kids and an excellent job!
So what is on my mind enough to get me to blog about it? First, read the blog entry below where Eddie lays out our plan to become a church dedicated to passing along 10% to further God’s Kingdom through other ministries. It has been an interesting couple of days as we have received some straightforward questions asking why we believe a church/ministry should give money away. They’re basically asking, “Is the CHURCH not the mission?” “Why would we give away what God has given to us to accomplish the mission He’s called us to accomplish?” Meaning, why would the church pass along money to other organizations? Is the CHURCH not the end of the road?
I do not want to at all belittle how hard it is for a church, especially a new startup church, to raise enough money to be able to…exist and grow. Being the “penny counter/pincher” now of 2 different startup churches, I totally understand that. (I have had my share of sleepless nights trying to figure out how we could be better stewards of what we have been given in hopes of making it a couple more months.) So I understand the rationalization that our church is the mission and end of the road as money goes. I also truly believe that even though the North Point Model is not a cheap model, it is good stewardship to spend some “serious flow” to create a truly relevant and engaging environment. But as an individual, business or even a church, if you live so that you are not in a position to give 10% away on a consistent basis, you may be living a little too close to the edge.
I think the Biblical principles God illustrates throughout the Bible are the best way to manage your personal life, run your business or lead in your church. I think these principles are totally transferable in every organization and across the board. This universal applicability is, after all, what makes them principles. I believe that one of these principles is to give 10% away to further God’s Kingdom – or put simply - in a way that’s “not about you.”
Our hope is that in modeling this principle we are able to “grow up” a church full of people who care about something that is not just about us as a church body. I believe that if all of your funds as a church are directed toward your own church, it will become an insider-focused church. Manifesting in the following questions at the next leadership meeting: What are we building next? What can we upgrade? What can we offer our people now? And trust me, I have no problems with buildings and upgrades. And discouraging them is not our goal. Our goal is to get our attendees excited about opportunities in our city, our country and on other side of the world where God is working in miraculous ways. We do not want and nor do we claim that our church offers everything for everyone. No church can do that; no matter how hard they try.
Lets go Biblical!! Two examples that we’ve looked at as a staff are: 1) the giving of the Macedonian churches to the church in Jerusalem and 2) the blessings God gave to the nation of Israel.
In Acts 20, and again in II Corinthians 8, the story is told of when Paul returned to the church in Jerusalem with 7 men from the churches in Macedonia. The Macedonian churches sent gifts for the church in Jerusalem and they each sent men to personally give it so that they could come back and report what good was done with their gifts. The amazing thing was that these churches gave sacrificial gifts. They gave out of “extreme poverty” and “beyond their ability” to give. In my feeble mind, this story seems to take every excuse from any church new, old, rich or barely making it that we can not afford to follow this example.
Then there is the story of the nation of Israel. From the very beginning with Abraham to the end of time, God blesses the nation of Israel. He does not do this so they can become internally focused and keep all that God has blessed them with. To the contrary, EVERY time God blesses them, the Bible has this little statement that can be summarized: “so that they can bless others.” Any blessing from God is not to be used and consumed but to be passed on as an instrument and example of the continual blessings of God. This might not be a direct correlation to the church today, depending on your view of replacement theology, but I do believe that, at the minimum, we as a church are given these examples of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament to follow. Do I think that the church is the replacement of Israel and we can go and claim our land in the Middle East? No, but I do believe that this Biblical principle is an example for us individually and corporately as a church.
Why 10%? Why not less or more? We just settled on 10%. Could we afford more? I believe we could after reading about the stories of the churches in Macedonia. But we liked 10%, (I believe I’ve heard that number mentioned before.) I love the principle that Andy Stanley shares about giving. Giving should be priority (given first), a percentage, and progressive. I believe that as our church sees what giving does corporately, it will serve as an example for all who attend and pass through Cumberland Church. Through these amazing stories and testimonies resulting from the gifts given, our desire is that we as individuals and we, as a church, would continue to realize - “it’s not about us."
And to tell you the truth, I am not patting us on the back with 10%. As we researched what other churches are doing we found some that gave away as much as 40%. So 10% for us is just where we are starting.
Since we are a video church I would ask you to watch a couple of small video clips and at the end ask yourself what you believe your church should be doing.
The first is from Samaritan's Purse. - just pick one or two of their international mission videos to watch. My favorites are “Standing with Liberia” and “Rebuilding Sudan Churches.”
The second one is here below. You probably will recognize the clip. Do not miss this!! I think it will put it in perspective for you where we as a church come out on this. This clip says it all.
Thanks for letting me share. I would love to hear you thoughts and comments.
Church planting is a tough endeavor. It takes a lot of courage, fortitude, vision, prayer and resources for a new church to even get off the ground...let alone survive, and maybe even thrive. Statistics would say that most don't. Starting a new church is hard! As my friend and fellow church planter Gary Lamb says, "Church planting is an extreme sport!". I agree, there's nothing like it.
Whether you plant a church with a church planting group, plant with a "mother church" or do it completely on your own raising your own support (as many have)...I have never known a church planter to say, "hey, please don't give here anymore. We have enough. Thank you!". It never happens. Resources and sacrificial giving are a key element in the success of a new church. Every great church has stories of how God used the sacrificial giving of a few people, at a crucial moment, to help take that church to a new level of influence in their community.
Here at Cumberland Church, we are no different. We're doing great as a new church but the finances are always a big challenge for us, just like everyone else. It's taken the sacrificial giving of some key individuals in Atlanta to make our arrival and launch here in Nashville a reality. It's also taken some sacrificial giving of some families here in Nashville for us to survive as well. I can't tell you how grateful and appreciative I am for these families! We were truly blessed to have that kind of kingdom-mindset to allow us to move here and start Cumberland Church. God has used these people greatly. Their giving has played a key role in where we are at today, exactly one year into this thing. Since our launch, it's been hard at times but it's been amazing to watch God continue to show up for us just when we needed Him the most. Fortunately, our staff has never missed a paycheck and we've never been late on a bill. God is good!
So with that conversation as a backdrop, our team has been talking a lot lately about "giving" and what we as a church want to do to "model" what has been done for us here at Cumberland Church. We want to learn how be more generous with what has been given to us. As a new church struggling hard to reach our goal of being break-even with our regular giving and our expenses, the conversation has been a very thought provoking and challenging one. But God has used some providential relationships and circumstances over the past few months to help us understand and embrace what we feel like He is calling us to do. I want to share with you what we've learned and what we feel like God is asking us to do here at Cumberland Church.
We have decided that from here forward, Cumberland Church will send back out 10% of whatever comes through our doors. I have to be honest to say that, even though I'm a pastor and I understand the principles of giving, this wasn't an easy decision for me or our staff team here. Three years from now, I think it will be an easy decision but today, it's not easy, I promise you. ;>) But, I'm convinced in my heart that it's the right thing to do. I'm passionate about being a team player for the kingdom and I don't want our church to be an "island" with our ministry. That's not biblical and it's not right. It's obvious to me that Cumberland Church is not the only game in town that God is using to advance His Kingdom. We want to be a strategic part of that team and investing in other ministries that are passionately committed seeing life-change as well. Bottom-line: The generous church we want to be in the future, we have to embrace to be now! There's no short cuts.
So, for 2008 we have decided to strategically partner with 4 different mission organizations. Two of them are based right here in Nashville/Franklin, one is in Atlanta and the other is yet unknown. They are Mercy Ministries, African Leadership and North Point Ministries in their strategic partner church-planting efforts. The fourth partner we hope to announce soon. We're looking for an inner-city/multi-ethnic church plant that is wanting to follow the North Point model that we can help and partner with as well. If you know of a church that may a good potential partner for us, please feel free to email or call and let me know. Would love to hear about them. We would value and appreciate your help!
So how can a 1-year old church afford to make such a bold decision? Well, truth is... I don't know. It scares me to death when I think about it too much without praying about it. But, here's what I do know. Our church is here because of the generosity of others. I want that to be said of our church and I want that to be our story as well. It's a whole lot easier to make this 10% commitment once "you've arrived" as a church but it's right now that we are forming the DNA of what kind of church we will be. I believe generosity begets generosity. I believe God will honor this decision and that He will move in the hearts of our people to be generous with their giving as well.
A special thanks to some dear friends who have modeled this for us and challenged us as a church to see the importance and potential impact of this principle for Cumberland. Thank you Kevin, Tracy, Glenn, Nancy, Bruce, Philly and the rest of you who cared enough to challenge us to THINK BIG and ASK BIG from God. You guys are awesome! We're looking forward to watching God do an amazing work with this decision.
(1 Timothy 6: 17-19) As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."
You know, as I sit here drinking a cup of coffee putting the finishing touches on this week's service, I'm struck by what I'm NOT doing. I'm not worried about insurance claims from tornado damage, whether my kid's okay and even interested in school any longer, or how I'm going to get my life back to normal. Truly fortunate to be enjoying just a regular ol' Friday...there's beauty to be found in the uneventful, no? So where was I...
iMarriage: Putting Your "I" Out. Expectations in marriage create a debt/debtor relationship that resembles more of a contract between two parties than a covenant between two people. The result of this is that your spouse feels like they never measure up. Join us Sunday for Part 2 of the iMarriage series...and bring your spouse!
Music: Danny Dukes and the Cumberland Church band will be leading worship for us this weekend. It's always a great Sunday with Danny! This week's set will include, but won't be limited to the following:
Salvation is Here Everlasting God Mighty to Save
And one last note: Something really special happened within and outside the walls of the church building this last week. Ross Barnes, from Union University (and our new Student Guy (official title)) will be here this Sunday to share in a special event. I won't let the cat out of the bag (mostly because of my disdain for cats) but just know
there are lots of reasons to celebrate with Ross and Cumberland Church this weekend!
I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for your thoughts and prayers throughout the recent events here at Union. The past week has been extremely difficult for our community, but we are so thankful! God has been so gracious! As a witness to the tragedy that has taken place, I can honestly say it is a miracle that we are all alive. Zero casualties! Even radio and news stations are often crediting God. There are numerous dorms that completely crumpled, but all those trapped beneath lived to tell their story. I have multiple friends that were trapped for extended periods, one as long as long as 5 hours. One friend was trapped underneath a concrete wall, and walked away without a scratch. Praise God! He truly has intent for the lives of these students, and we are so grateful for the testimony to God's sovereignty we now have!
On that historic Tuesday in Jackson, the evening began for me with a nice workout at the Union Wellness Center. For those of you who have yet to meet me, my guns are pretty comparable to Kevin Mawae's of the Titans (smile). I proceeded to grab a meal at our fabulous cafeteria. We had heard rumors of bad weather all day, but that is very much a norm for the Jackson area. The tornado warning siren sounds approximately four times a semester. Therefore, we are almost numb to the severity of the warnings. During my meal, the siren began to sound. My friends and I immediately ran out of the cafeteria to the dorms for fear of being locked in there for an extended period of time. So, we braved the wind and ran to my friend Adam's dorm. As we ran through the complex, we were excited to see the warnings had lead to a fairly ritualistic behavior amongst the guys in the dorms. Everyone was outside running around outside hoping to catch sight of a tornado! You should know, as you probably already do, that college-age guys are generally oblivious to potential danger. Therefore, no one wants to be inside! Rather, we pretend to be storm chasers with our video cameras out and ready!
About 5 minutes passed, someone runs into the complex frantically screaming, "It's coming right for us! Get inside! Get inside!". Therefore I, who was in a dorm watching the weather channel, ran into the bathroom followed by 10 of my fraternity brothers. One smart fellow grabbed a mattress on his way into the bathroom and threw it over the top of us. I was huddled in the bathtub, still somewhat oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. Within seconds, glass is flying in the room. I can still remember linking elbows with my brothers. The ceiling tiles came crashing down, and you could hear the walls ripping apart. The tornado had passed within maybe 15 seconds. As we lifted the mattress off of us, we realized there was a hole in the wall right above my head. After waiting a couple more minutes, we went outside for fear that the building would collapse. Everyone was running around frantically checking on their friends. Tears were flowing. Our dormitories had been completely destroyed. Immediately we began pulling people from rubble. The guys dorms were not hit as badly as the girls, so many of us raced to the scene to help dig the girls out. Many were trapped by the concrete floor of the dorm above them. By God's intervention, no one was dead. My friends, we are so grateful! Words cannot express the feelings of gratitude that fills our campus. As for how you can help, I have friends who are in great need. Clothes, shoes, books, laptops, guitars, and cars were all destroyed. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. Especially anything that can spare basic expenses for the students here would be extremely helpful.
In the midst of all this, I have become even more excited about my new assignment with you all as your Student Ministry Director at Cumberland. I can't wait to join you! I have grown to love you even more through the encouragement I have received. It is clear that God has been working to prepare me for such a time as this. I am thrilled to be a part of your team, and am especially excited to kick off student ministry here soon! Again, thank you so much for your prayers and concerns! You are greatly appreciated. I look forward to being with you soon.
We were excited to announce last week the hiring of our new Student Ministry Director here at Cumberland, Ross Barnes. For those of you who may not know, Ross is a senior student at Union University in Jackson, TN. And while his ministry at Cumberland doesn't officially begin until he graduates this spring, it's in full swing at Union! Through Ross' leadership, we're hoping to offer relief and encouragement to many of his friends and fellow students recently traumatized by the violent storms that hit two weeks ago. We're asking for your help and assistance. So, here's the deal. As a church body, we are wanting to help equip and resource our newest member in his current ministry assignment. Better said, "Let's Resource Ross!".
We're asking the Cumberland Church family to purchase as many gift cards as you can, of $50.00 or less, from area franchise retailers to help these students get back to being students. A few examples of locations you might purchase gift cards from include: Starbucks, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and even the Apple store! We also would like for many of you to help out by writing encouragement/prayer cards that we will use when we put together the gift packs we will be making for each student. Ross will here visiting Cumberland Church for our Sunday services on February 24th, so we would like to have everything ready to present to him then so that he can go back to Jackson "bearing gifts"!
If you have any questions about any of this or want to learn about how you can help out more, please feel free to email me back at eddie@cumberlandonline.org or call the church office at 791-9966. Sure hope you can help us out and be a part of this great ministry opportunity for Ross and Cumberland Church. This is all part of "being the church"! So let's do it well!
I want to thank you ahead of time for making this possible! We're excited and proud to serve with you as we equip one of our own to help our neighbors in need in Jackson.
If we've learned anything here at Cumberland over the last few days it's that some folks take issue when the terms "franchise" and "church" are mentioned in the same breath. And while I agree with Eddie that we should allow our conversations to turn elsewhere, I thought I'd first offer somewhat of an olive branch to the blogosphere.
There are at least 5 reasons why my friend Eddie couldn't run a Chick-fil-a franchise. But for the sake of employment, I'll only go to 5. And just how is it, you may ask, that I'm qualified to offer such an indictment? Well, I received my degree from Berry College (Go Vikings!), and am quite familiar with the "chicken people" (Chick-fil-a scholarship students who have their own campus within a campus) as we called them in the 90s. Pretty sweet deal, actually. Their section of Berry's campus was 3 miles removed from the main campus and was affectionately known as the mountain campus. If memory serves me correctly, the Winshape Center sat at the base of Lavender Mountain. And as an aside, there was a lake called Victory Lake that was situated between the main and mountain campuses. And that lake held water on the day of my orientation and then sat empty and overgrown for the next four years. But I digress. Oh, and for a certain Dr. Bob Frank from my voice and diction class, I earned a "B." Okay, back to post...
The Top 5 reasons Eddie couldn't run a Chick-fil-a Franchise:
Reason # 5:
Chick-fil-a requires all of its employees to wash their hands upon leaving the restroom. Eddie has posted no such sign in the church bathrooms. (I, for one, am in favor of such a sign.)
Reason # 4:
I've met Truett Cathy, and Eddie, you're no Truett Cathy. (But if he were, our staff lunches would so rock!)
Reason # 3:
Chick-fil-a Operators , at least the ones I've known, put in very long hours and don't work on Sunday. (It may serve my interests not to elaborate.)
Reason # 2:
Chick-fil-a was started in the United States by an American. (Eddie, on the other hand, was born in Indiana. And as we all know, that's another country all together. Please hold your emails for future blogs that may cause unintentional offense. However, should you need to send one, Bruce is standing by.)
And now, at long last, the # 1 reason why Eddie couldn't run a Chick-fil-a Franchise...
Chick-fil-a employees dress in nicely coordinated fashion. (And well..better not)
Hey! Look at the time! And did I mention that Eddie's got a great message coming up on the 9th of March about cow tipping? I won't let the cat out of the bag just yet, but be on the look out for the cow that's running all over Nashville!
Disclaimer: No cows are planned to be seriously injured in the research necessary for this message.
Okay, that's it. No more franchise talk...that is, unless I can come up with a funny angle on it. Otherwise let's talk some college football here on National Signing Day! Go Buffs! The Buffs locked up the #1 RB in the nation in Darrell Scott. Who'd your team get? Let's talk about it!
