Book Number 4...

Finished my 4th book of the year on Thursday, March 1. Yes, I was 8 hours behind my goal of reading two books a month, but I got it done.

The book I finished was The Big Idea by Dave Ferguson. The book describes in detail the thought process Community Christian Church goes through when they choose their teaching topics for the year - in August every year they know what they will be teaching on every Sunday for the upcoming year - pretty cool. Also, they talk about the planning that goes into each Sunday service. 9 weeks before the service they are starting to plan the service, which includes creative elements like video, song selection, special musical numbers, and whatever else they want to throw in the service to communicate their Big Idea. I like what they do, and planning ahead gives people on their team the time they need to be creative. Two weeks before the service, the whole thing is planned and ready to go.

When it comes to the service, their goal is to communicate one Big Idea in every ministry of their church. If they are talking about money in the adult worship service, the teens will also be talking about money, and the kids will also be talking about money. Then, throughout the week in various small groups, the conversation will be about money. Their hope is that by focusing on one central theme, families can have great conversations about the theme that was discussed on any given Sunday.

This book challenged me. To hear of a church that begins planning nine weeks out was impressive. Usually, if I plan one week out I’m happy. After reading this book my goal is this -- by the beginning of the youth ministry year have all the topics we want to cover on a calendar, and then work to start planning, with a creative team, Wednesday Night Gatherings about four weeks in advance. No more of this last minute planning. Last minute planning leads to non-creative, uninspired, low energy gatherings, and I’m tired of it.

So, there’s my goal, and all of you can hold me to it. Just to let you know – I’m meeting with someone on Tuesday to begin planning the summer gatherings. This summer look for “LVC Home Tour 2007.”