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Well, for the summer anyway. This past Sunday we talked about moving with God and being willing to give up what we thought our life would look like for what Jesus wants it to be.

It occurred to me that some of the people in our church are about to spend their whole summer taking a break from following Jesus. If you find yourself in that situation and you’re willing to step out and do something about it, please let us know. If you want to stay in Lynchburg for the summer and be a part of conVerge, we can help make that happen.

It’s your choice.

 

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | 1 Comment »

“Every Person Matters” means that the person you don’t know matters just as much as your friends. It means the person you don’t know matters just as much as your parents. It means that the person you don’t know matters just as much as YOU. It means that if you would rather be by yourself and those you are comfortable with than with the people God has put in your life to bring into His kingdom, you are an idolater and you do not believe that every person matters. It means that we value redemption over comfort, and in doing so find both.

Is this a ridiculous standard? Of course it is. And no we’re not all living like this yet. But if you wanted the status quo, there are a lot of other places you could get it. Jesus, once again, was not lying when he said that following Him would be hard.

 

Posted on April 14th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | 2 Comments »

We‘ve got to pray more. I don’t have a whole lot for this post or any new revelations that have made me post it. This is simply a call to more prayer for everyone at conVerge, starting with myself. As we take strategic steps to get more and more serious about the mission of Jesus, we can‘t forget to both rely on and anticipate God to work and move. I don’t think we’re really doing that right now.

Pray that God would continue to bring new people into our sphere of influence that He wants us to reconcile to Himself through Jesus. Pray that we would begin to take action on all that God has taught us these past few months, and not be afraid to make changes in our lives. Pray specifically that God will raise up leaders to further the movement of conVerge Church.

 

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | 2 Comments »

It’s been quite awhile since I last blogged. I really don’t have much of an excuse, not that things haven’t been busy. But I do want to make blogging more of a priority going forward. There are a ton of things going on at conVerge and tons of thoughts to go along with them.

So what compelling issue has brought me back from my blogging slumber? Uh, well it’s the Chipotle vs. Moe’s debate.

A lot of people I know have a lot of explaining to do. Ever since Moe’s has opened in Lynchburg and been amazing, I’ve heard it mentioned numerous times that Chipotle does the same basic thing but much better. This is hard to believe as good as Moe’s is, and today I have confirmed that a lot of people I know are full of it. Today I ate both Chipotle and Moe’s and was able to compare the two. Given the rave reviews people seem to give Chipotle, I was expecting it to be at least as good, if not better. So the odd thing is that I don’t think the competition is even close in favor of Moe’s. Based on my experience today, Moe’s is significantly better for 4 reasons:

1) Ingredients – Moe’s gives you all kinds of options to put on your burrito. Chipotle does not. At Chipotle my only options were salsa and cheese, whereas Moe’s offers those along with all kinds of vegetables, including jalapenos. I can’t believe Chipotle doesn’t offer jalapenos, and that’s a huge minus for me.

2) Chips – This is an easy one, Moe’s gives you free chips and Chipotle does not. After eating both meals today, I can say that this is a big deal. My meal was much more complete at Moe’s. I was still hungry after Chipotle.

3) Size of Burrito – Sorry, the Moe’s burritos were much larger than the Chipotle burritos. It’s true.

4) Chipotle Ranch Sauce – This is by far the biggest thing. It’s kind of amazing to me that the restaurant called “”Chipotle”” doesn’t have chipotle ranch sauce or anything like it, but it doesn’t. Moe’s does. This is the #1 key to what makes Moe’s burritos so much better than Chipotle burritos. I would imagine that people who like Chipotle better don’t know about chipotle ranch sauce at Moe’s.

The overall taste of the burritos was basically the same, except for all the great extras that Moe’s offers. So basically, Moe’s is much better and if you think otherwise, you’re just wrong in a very sad, pathetic way. The end.

 

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Humor | 2 Comments »

Church as an organization has really messed up a lot of things. Because most of us have only been involved in local churches that are organizations, we read scripture from this point of few. Take 1 Corinthians 12.

Read it Online

Most of us consider Paul’s whole analogy of the body and everyone using his or her gift to do their part in the context of operating a church organization. We need some people to be greeters, some guy to preach, some people to run child care, some people to be small group leaders, some people to clean up afterwords, and on and on and on. You need to understand how twisted this is. Not that ANY of those activities are unnecessary or unspiritual, but it’s just that Paul is talking about SO much more. Read this passage in the context of the church as a missional movement of Jesus, and every part of our lives being spiritual. Paul is not telling us how to get everyone to pitch in to operate a church service!

What Paul is describing is the church as a movement of people who are living on mission for Jesus. He isn’t saying that from the pastor we need 60 hrs a week because he is so important, but from the greeter we need 6 hrs a week because she hasn’t been gifted as much! No, we need every person, on mission, all the time, all day, EVERYDAY! We have different gifts and so we will do different things, but the whole of each of our lives is essential to the missional church. Wherever you go, in whatever you do, it is essential that you are on mission with Jesus, or the whole church misses out on your unique contribution.

At conVerge Church, we want to teach you how to form a plan so that every part of your life can be lived on mission with Jesus. Everything is spiritual. How you live today is as important as what you do to help operate the church service on Sunday. Jesus isn’t asking for your time. He’s not asking for your service. He’s asking for everything. All I can tell you is, I’ve met Him, and it’s worth it.

 

Posted on February 5th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | No Comments »

As the ministry of conVerge Church becomes more and more public, I find myself obsessed with defining what we are about as a church. In one sense I fear that as we get off the ground running with the “business” of church, we will all tend to revert back to systems and institutional structures that we have grown up with and that are familiar to us. But at the same time, I’m delighted that we have this new sense of urgency about the mission of Jesus that compels us to act now, regardless of whether we have everything figured out. We never will have everything figured out, so I am determined that we never lose that urgency nor stop pressing forward.

So, as we ever press forward, the work of reconstructing church must go with us. I am more convinced now than ever that what conVerge must be is a missional church, and moreover that none of us really comprehend what this will mean, or the amazing redemptive and transformational power that accompanies this methodology. The concept of a missional church is becoming more and more popular within the evangelical subculture, and I hope this is a good thing. But I’m sure that for many the tendency will be to tack on missional living as a band-aid to a church organization that is dying, and it will lose its value.

I don’t think everything must change. I’m not convinced that the house church movement is the most appropriate church model for the culture we find ourselves in. I am convinced that it is in many places (China, India). But I think we can leverage our prosperity and freedom to explode the mission of Jesus faster than ever here in America and other western countries. But that’s not going to happen if we keep doing church the same way. Some things must change.

One of the concepts I’ve been thinking about the most is that conVerge church must not be an organization, but instead it must be an organized movement. I don’t think this means that our weekly corporate gatherings will look very much different than those we are accustomed to, but their attitude, purpose, and culture will change dramatically. Right now most churches are organizations. People join up because of various benefits they receive based on membership. These would include fire insurance, social networking, status, help connecting with God, teaching and instruction, and because joining up is what followers of Jesus do. Not all of these things are bad, and in the Everything is Spiritual sense, I would say that none of them are bad. But organizations allow for compartmentalization, and compartmentalization kills missional living.

What we need is an organized movement. People do not need to be members of an organization, they need to join a movement that is about a way of life and living on mission with Jesus. As a part of this movement it makes sense that we will meet once a week in a building to worship God, to meet and encourage one another, for instruction and teaching, and in general to be organized about the movement. Our prosperity and freedom allow us to do this, but we have to remain a movement. Everything always has to be about the mission of Jesus and how we’re living our lives in such a way to spread that mission. If we ever lose this sense of adventure, this sense of calling on the lives of every follower of Jesus, we will become an organization and just another dying church.

I’m more convinced than ever:

Remember the Mission, Every Person Matters, Live Differently, Move with God.

 

Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | 2 Comments »

Well, I guess I can do one of these posts now. I honestly don’t know where to start. I feel relieved, elated, excited, frustrated, hopeful, fearful, encouraged, humbled, awestruck, and tired all at once.

Relieved – We all made it through, everyone did fantastic, and we launched our church. So many unsung people played their parts perfect and I just hope I can remember to thank each one of you tomorrow, and sorry if I missed any of you earlier tonight.

Elated – There were 112 people there tonight. Honestly, it’s great. It’s amazing. There were more people there than any of us could have dreamed of 3 months ago, and I hope they keep coming back or read the website to really get a full view of the vision of conVerge Church and why it really is something God is doing.

Excited – No stopping now. We’ve got tons of work to do during these next 2 weeks before our next service and I’m excited about it. I hope we meet lots of people over these next two weeks because of the service and that we can connect them to Jesus’ mission.

Frustrated – I blew it big in one area for this service but it’s not gonna happen again. Not beating myself up over it, and clinging to the truth that God is in control and His Word will go out – and it will. But I will also learn and grow and do better next time.

Hopeful – I’m hopeful about the fact that as great as tonight was, I can see so many areas where it is going to get much MUCH better – and that is cool.

Fearful – I’m probably gonna have to talk to these people on stage at some point – well next week for the announcements at least. Petrified would be a better word.

Encouraged – I see so many ways that I know we’re gonna get better and more on target with our message of exploring a mission and forming a plan – yet many people are right now telling us they love what we are doing and will be back. I’m also so encouraged about how well people responded to the music, but I kind of thought they would. I think JT and the rest of the guys are really onto something there and I can’t wait to see how they progress as well in the coming weeks. The music was absolutley amazing.

Humbled – God has been so good. More than anything, He has been good in sending us people who want to live missionally. It’s really all been about the people he has sent. There are literally too many to list their names here. That’s crazy, and it shows how good God has been. And for all you guys who know who you are, realize it is God that has brought us all together. It is God who has done this, and we have to continue to rely on Him going forward.

Awestruck – Is God really going to let us start a church and partner with Him and the mission of Jesus? Really? Us?

Tired – I’m going to bed; and I’m going to sleep like a (c)alvinist

 

Posted on January 27th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church | 1 Comment »

While I don’t think it’s a bad thing to talk about why we are planting a church in Lynchburg, I think what is much more important is why we are starting conVerge Church specifically. As long as people need Jesus, I’m ok with more churches. However, that we’ve decided to start a new church implies that we feel there is something unique conVerge offers. Some people who are already attending a church find this offensive, as if we are insinuating that what they are doing is not good enough. We’re not trying to attack what people are doing. What we are doing is publicly offering our journey of exploring the mission of Jesus in the hope that it is as beneficial to others as it has been to us.  There are two primary reasons that I think you should consider being a part of what God is doing at conVerge Church.

1)    An intense focus on living missionally

Missional living is a recognition that the Christian life is ultimately about one thing – how you are living each day so that people who are far from God come to know Jesus. But this is not simply about “evangelism.” Missional living recognizes that everything we do is spiritual, and that it is possible to integrate Jesus’ mission into literally every part of our life.

Many churches would agree with this assessment of missional living. conVerge Church is intensely focused on it. We support a church culture where missional living is always the focus. It is always the end goal. We do not elevate service in the church on Sunday morning over how we are living our lives the other six days of the week. At the same time, we also do not simply leave people on their own to figure how to live missionaly the other six days of the week. Because we are intensely focused on missional living, we help people form a plan to do it. We offer real, practical support; it’s just what we are always talking about as a church. The people of God are equipped at conVerge Church to go out and live the kind of lives that they feel like they should be living, the kind of lives that point people to Jesus.

2)    A church structure organized to be missional

This part is a little harder to explain, but I think most people will understand. I don’t think very many churches talk about missional living the way we do at conVerge church, but there are many churches that would agree with the idea and say that they support it. But one additional thing that makes conVerge Church different is not only are we intense about living missionally, but we also have a church structure that is organized to do the same. Most churches in American are not structured missionally. Most churches are structured to grow as big as they can in the city where they are. This is not bad at first, but being on mission for Jesus means being strategic about using our lives to reach the most people with the Gospel. It is not very strategic to focus on just one city when the United States is the world’s third largest mission field.

So what is the answer? Church planting is a part of the DNA of conVerge Church. Even now as the church is just getting started in Lynchburg, we are already organizing a group of people who will take the mission of Jesus to Richmond, VA through conVerge church. This is vital to who we are because the church itself is an example of living a missional life. Living missionally means prioritizing the mission of Jesus over and above our own plans and goals. When we’re doing this, we’re living on mission with God, and that is the best life anyone can live. At conVerge Church we will always be strategically planting new churches, providing you the opportunity to be a part of accomplishing Jesus’ mission to the world.

 

Posted on January 27th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church Planting | 2 Comments »

Recently the leadership of conVerge church have been trying to formulate a good answer to the question, “Why another church in Lynchburg?” I think what people usually mean when they ask this is, “Why another church in Lynchburg as opposed to other places that need one more?” Thanks to John Burke for helping me to think beyond to the real questions people are asking; can’t wait to hear that guy talk at Whiteboard.

What people mean to ask is a much more valid question than what they actually do ask. That more churches are needed is a given – more people need Jesus. I don’t even want or need to get into that here. But the issue of why here as opposed to someplace else is valid, and one I actually love. The answer is, if Lynchburg was the goal, then our motives might honestly be suspect. Now if you love Lynchburg and plan to live here the rest of your life, please don’t shut me off yet – I love Lynchburg too. But here is the point. One city is never the goal. The goal is everywhere, everyone, worshiping Jesus.  Once we realize that this is the goal, we can start asking how best to make this happen (exploring a mission, forming a plan – I may have mentioned it before). For us, the best thing we could do to reach everyone, everywhere is to start where we are. Indeed, that’s the best place for anyone to start.

For years, Steve and I and a lot of other people we know have been waiting until ______ happens to get involved. But what God finally showed us, when we finally started to listen, is that being on mission for Jesus must start now or it never will. We don’t have a church in Lynchburg that is fanatically focused on showing Christians how to live missionally. So, we needed to start one; for us, for here, for now. It’s really that simple.

A big piece of this puzzle is that we do have bigger dreams than Lynchburg, and what’s more, we’re not just saying that. You see, I’m tired of people just saying that. Another thing I’m tired of is people telling us to go out and “make an impact for Christ” and never really teaching us how to do that. conVerge church is different on both counts. First of all, we as a church body are already planning on a daughter church plant in Richmond, VA – before the first church has even launched. We are so excited to see how the people of Lynchburg, when challenged to live differently and be about the mission of Jesus, can have an impact far greater than just Lynchburg. And that’s one of the reasons why we’re planting a church n Lynchburg. If you want to know more, just come out to conVerge church on Sunday nights.

 

Posted on January 26th, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Church Planting | No Comments »

Just say it really fast – I prayed it, He did it, I’m an idiot. Iprayedit*Hedidit*I’manidiot.  If today was a chapter, that would have to be the title.

This morning I was pretty psyched from being at the church building yesterday. I’ve been praying a lot more recently, especially since we focused on it at last week’s conVerge group. This morning I wrote out a prayer guide while I was talking with God about a lot of the things we are focusing on at conVerge. I think it’s really going to help me pray more consistently every morning.

Well, since I was praying through the steps of forming a plan and our core values, I was praying specifically that God would help me make time for people. I was praying that God would bring people into my life that I could have an impact with, either getting them on mission or showing them Jesus. So what happened? Well, He did it and I’m an idiot.

So my day is going along very busy but productive. At the very end of the day I’m down at the public color printer getting a demo of some posters we’re going to put out around campus. Just when I’m done printing out a few of them, a distressed student walks up to me out of nowhere and asks me if I work in the Registrar’s Office. They’re closed and she really needs to drop a class, and it’s the last day to do it. Lucky for her she really asked the right person, as I can do a thing or two about this. She already had a drop/add form filled out and it was basic stuff, so I told her I’d take care of it for her. Of course she is elated and ever so thankful.

So here is young excited future pastor standing in a public place with very cool signs for his new church in his hands, having a very random interaction with a member of his target demographic who now thinks very highly of him. Did said future pastor think to say, “Hey, you know what you can do for me now,  you can come to conVerge this Sunday” or, “Hey, why don’t you put one of these posters up in your dorm and come check out our church this Sunday?” No, said future pastor said something to the effect of, “No problem, see you later.” Sigh. And what was I too busy thinking about to make time for this person? How great these signs were going to be for letting LU students know about conVerge. I mean, seriously, ssiiiggghhhhh. The poor girl is probably going nowhere in life now. She was probably as aimless as anything and looking for something. God put her right there and I blew it. I prayed it, He did it, I’m an idiot.

I’m really not beating myself up over this. What I am doing is being amazed at God. I mean, He came through. That’s amazing. Part of it may very well be that because I prayed this morning I was just more aware of what is always right around me. I was just about 10 min. late in recognizing it. But maybe I won’t be tomorrow. Whether God put someone in my path or whether my prayer made it more visible to me, either way in my book God came through. Tomorrow I’m just going to pray for two people, so I have less of a chance of being an idiot again.

 

Posted on January 21st, 2008 by nateschlomann
Filed under: Confessions | No Comments »