Jonathan Herron

Pausing from blogging this week to focus on Easter @ Colwood. 

My world is jam-packed this Thursday through Monday.
And I can't wait!

You can catch micro-blogs on Twitter.com/FollowJon.

Monday Reflex | Palm Sunday Edition

- I'm losing my voice... which means today was GREAT!

- Today marked exactly 6 months that we've been at Colwood!

- A few weeks back, I shared an audacious prayer request for eleven more people to pray to receive Christ by today.  I believe our God is able to do abundantly more than we ask for or imagine...

- Since we started praying that prayer, FIFTEEN more have become Christ-followers... including a Muslim woman!! 

- In 6 months time, we've seen 104 people pray to receive Christ at Colwood.  Unbelievable.  Only God.

- Today was also Palm Sunday.  Was it just a year ago that I snapped this pic?

- Next to Josiah and I in the pic are our good buddies Melanie Williams and Josh Allen.  Josh shared some amazing insights into how God used our Ohio church plant on his blog over the weekend - must read!

- Unpacked Matthew 21: The same crowds that yelled "Deify!" on Palm Sunday yelled "Crucify!" on Good Friday. And yet Jesus always walked TOWARD people...

- Jesus walked toward those who hurt Him.  When we judge/gossip/slander those who hurt us, we follow something other than Jesus.

- Jesus never built walls; he always extended bridges of grace.

- Easter is a rare opportunity to Invest and Invite.  Remember, the church exists for God's mission, not our comfort!

- Must have been a sacrifice when the disciples laid down their comfortable cloaks for Jesus.  Church folk love the idea of progress, but aren't always keen on the sacrifice required.  Love that our people are sacrificing comforts to reach the lost at any cost!

- Anybody following my Twitter this morning saw we almost took Josiah to the hospital during 2nd service.  He's fine now and recovering - so thankful for our Colwood Kids workers.  We have the best volunteers, hands down!

- Our Cafe Team was test-driving mochas and lattes today.  Amazingly rich smells.  Can't wait for the Grand Opening on Easter!

- Wrapped up the day pow-wowing with the 100 Colwood volunteers serving at our Easter Egg Helicopter Drop.  Looking like 72 degrees on Saturday!  Can't wait to love on area families and create a memory...

Phriday is for Photos 03.26.10

iPhone rendered shots from last week's Ohio visit:

More at Flickr.com/FollowJon.

Random fun at Twitter.com/FollowJon.

Comments are open and welcome today!

Fear of Critics

In John 9, Jesus gives sight to a blind man.

The response of blind guy's parents?  Fear:
"...they feared the (critics)..."

Critical opinions can paralyze. 
Fear of criticism can extinguish white-hot faith.

"We are NOT the passive victim of other's opinions.
Their opinions are POWERLESS until WE validate them."
- John Ortberg

The blind man's response?
"'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped Jesus."

Forget fearing men who criticize and paralyze;
fear and revere the God who heals!

Tozer Tuesday

The most profound mystery... is how the Creator could join Himself to the creature.  How the "Word," meaning Christ, could be made "flesh," meaning the creature, is one of the most amazing mysteries to contemplate.

Those who have meditated on this will be amazed at the unbridgeable gulf between God and not God.

A gulf is fixed, a vast gulf of infinitude, and how God managed to bridge that gulf and join Himself to His creatures and limit the limitless is beyond our comprehension.

How can the infinite ever become finite, and how can that which has no limit deliberately impose upon Himself limitations?

Even Paul, who is declared one of the six greatest intellects of all time, threw up his hands and said, "Great is the mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16). 
- A.W. Tozer

Just led a Muslim woman to Christ. In my office. Amazed at God.

Jon, Mary (center), and Judy about 30 minutes ago.

I met Mary Katherine five months ago at a "getting-to-know-you" community group dinner.  The group wanted to meet Amber, Josiah, and I, so we were invited to a huge room full of chairs. 

Mary sat in one of the chairs, invited by a Colwood friend.

She had just moved back to Caro after seven years in Lansing.  As an observant Muslim, Mary had strictly followed the Koran and shared stories of what its like to walk through an airport wearing a Burqa.

But something inside was restless. 
A friend invited her to The Cross message series currently at Colwood. 

Mary shared yesterday after worship that she's looking for something more. 
Something real. 
Something true.

Two friends joined Mary an hour ago as she transparently shared her journey into Islam and genuinely questioned the deity of Jesus. 

Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15 unlocked the Gospel for Mary.

Connecting the dots between the opening lines of Genesis and John helped Mary understand Jesus being God in human flesh.

Mary said she was ready to leave Islam. 
She wanted God.  She wanted Jesus.

Her prayer was simple.  Christ is sufficient. 
Mary has now experienced God's grace.

And I am amazed anew at the power of the Cross.
Mary excitedly wants her story shared...

Monday Reflex | 03.22.10

• The Cross series continued with Leviticus 16.
• Talked about goats, stubborn beavers, and forgiveness.
• The term "scapegoat" originated in the Old Testament - tied to the second goat of Yom Kippur (Kippur is the Hebrew word for "atonement").
• The second goat is a foreshadowing of the coming Messiah; Jesus is our Scapegoat.
• Because the Father forgives me through the Son, I am free to forgive everyone who hurts me.
• The human heart is not created to hold grudges.
• When I refuse to forgive another person, I place myself above God.
• The Trinity was torn asunder on Good Friday.  The Cross is where mercy and justice kissed.
• Overall, a great Sunday at Colwood!
• We announced our 6 month experiment of moving to two services at 9:30 & 11am beginning Easter Sunday. 
• I love experiments - if an experiment works, we celebrate together.  If it doesn't work, we can easily chuck since, hey, it was just an experiment!
• Speaking of experiments, loved seeing our new Colwood Kids check-in.  I'm always thrilled when our staff tries new experiments - way to go, Kelly!
• Met a Muslim woman who has attended Colwood twice now and is genuinely seeking God.  She said today's message helped her better understand the Trinity.  We're meeting this week to delicately talk through her understanding of who Jesus is.  Prayers appreciated!
• The Cafe officially opens on Easter Sunday - - I've heard the specialty drinks created by our new all-volunteer Cafe Team baristas are excellent...
• We saw EIGHT people pray to receive Christ today... during a sermon on Leviticus!  God's Word is living and active!
• This coming Sunday marks exactly six months for our family at Colwood.  We have seen 97 people become new Christ followers in that time.  So thankful.
• Baptisms are going to rock on April 25th!  I can't wait to hear all the stories of life-change.
• Our people are excited about Easter at Colwood.  The new invite cards for our next message series are now in use.
• Yesterday we cast some vision... walked in this morning and saw people running with it already.  A wall was literally torn down!
  
  

Confessions of a Pastor

Understanding that Easter is one of the rare times of year when someone far from God might be looking to darken a church door, we're launching a message series aimed at building bridges of grace.

As far as the branding goes, I had fun on this photo shoot; one of Colwood's digital artists came up with the final design.  Love the raw transparency flavor.

10,000 of these postcards are hitting area mailboxes in the coming days.

An additional 2,000 invite cards will be personally handed out in coming days, including to guests as they leave our Easter Egg Helicopter Drop.

Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.

One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you.

Bring it immediately into the light and confess,
"Oh, Lord, I have been guilty here."

If you don't, your heart will become hardened through and through.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light..." (1 John 1.7).

For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person.

The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.    - Oswald Chambers

Improv*ing Leadership: BEWARE INFORMATION COCOONS

When I was taking improv-comedy classes at The Second City in Chicago 14 years ago, I can remember exactly who was on the mainstage: 
actors like Scott Adsit (30 Rock),
Kevin Dorff (writer for Tonight Show),
and Tina Fey (30 Rock). 

I looked up to them - night after night they were consistently working "from the top of their intelligence" as they say in the improv community, not going for the dumb sex jokes.

At the time I was reading Gilda Radner's autobiography, "It's Always Something," hoping to glean some wisdom from her life story.  I was reading in the lobby during a mainstage rehearsal for Paradigm Lost.  Suddenly it was break time and out poured all the comedians - as a college student, I was in awe.

Tina looked over and saw what I was reading and volunteered, "Wow, that's a great book.  It's such a sad story what happened to Gilda."  Honestly, I didn't really hear everything she said; I just thought it was cool that one of the actors was talking to me!

Then Kevin piped up from behind his cigarette: "If you want to succeed in improv, buddy, you need to give up reading autobiographies of comedians.  Instead read a breadth of history and current events.  Be ready for any suggestion the audience throws at ya, 'cause you won't have time to ask someone on stage in the heat of the moment, "What was the War of the Roses?

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It was said in the late 1990's to aspiring comedians across the country, "If you want to see the best improv actor who performs from the top of his intelligence, go to Chicago and watch Scott Adsit." 

I had the rare opportunity over the course of 18 months to observe Adsit in action nightly.  What made him so funny and quick-witted wasn't a storage of jokes, but instead that he read widely. 

Adsit was always devouring a newspaper, magazine, or novel.  He worked hard at possessing a breadth of knowledge.

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Going back to the break time in the lobby, Kevin Dorff went on to explain to me from behind his cigarette:  "Read history.  Always be learning about areas you're not interested in so that you're ready for anything on stage.  Grab the book 'An Incomplete Education' and memorize it."

And that's exactly the book I asked for that Christmas.

Too often in Christian leadership we become short-sighted and don't stretch ourselves.  We just read stuff that validates our opinions.

Beware Information Cocoons.

I am always learning outside my scope of ministry.  Understand where people are coming from so that you may minister to them.

When we Read Widely, we work from a vast pool of resources - we work from the top of our intelligence.

When we Read Widely, we can make faster decisions on the spot.

And when we Read Widely, we know what the War of the Roses was all about.

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SHAMELESS PLUG:  Little Josiah is praying for his future siblings.  We truly appreciate your help.
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