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A very challenging post over at Ragamuffin Soul about the decline of the American Church:

This is taken from Skye Jethani’s “The Divine Commodity” which is required reading for any Ragamuffin.

“In 1990 approximately 20% the population (of America) attended church on any given weekend. By 2004 the figure had dropped to 17%. If the trend continues, by 2050 only 11% of Americans will attend church. Although megachurches have multiplied across the fruited plains, the numbers show that Christianity in America has been consolidating and not exploding”.

Now hear me.
I work for a “megachurch”.
I love my “megachurch”.
But in 2050, when I’m old and wrinkly, I want my grand kids to see the hope of glory and the beauty of His bride.
The Church.
Perry Noble said something at Unleash in reference to denominations shrinking. Something akin to if it were their money that was shrinking, there would be a strategy in place to fix it yesterday.
That is some truth spittin’ double slap right there.
So.
The “Church” is shrinking.
Some of our “churches” are not.
So instead of feeling comfortable about our local church growth, I think we need to step back and take a look from the roof of your local town hall.
Holy crap.  The church in America is dying.

At what point does one sacrifice the success of one’s local church in order to spur the existence of His global Church?
Los

Now, I realize that Los is speaking from an American perspective, but I’d suggest that the Canadian Church isn’t much better. Things need to change. We have to stop doing things the way we’ve always done them and begin to allow God to work through us in a new, fresh way.

The message is the same, how we present it much constantly change.

Kem Meyer, over at Less Clutter, Less Noise, has an excellent post about the value of Twitter. I thought I’d repost it here:

Even after all this time (I’ve been on Twitter since 2007), I still get asked on a weekly basis:

• Isn’t it a waste of time?
• What IS it anyway?

I’ve weighed in before and recently, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, Inc. answered both questions quite well in his post: 12 Reasons You Should Start Twittering.

1. It will enable you to experience social networking first-hand. One of my pet peeves is people who pontificate on new technologies but have never actually used them. This is particularly annoying—but common—among CEOs.
2. It will make you a better writer. Twitter only allows you to post 140 characters at a time. As a result, you are forced to be concise. In my opinion, this is one of the hallmarks of good writing. Short messages. Short paragraphs. Short sentences.
3. It will help you stay connected to people you care about. This is one of the few technologies I’ve found that actually contributes to community-building. In today’s busy world, it’s difficult to keep up with others.
4. It will help you see a new side of your friends. In an odd sort of way, Twitter “humanizes” people and provides a context for better understanding them. If youfollow me on Twitter, for example, you’ll quickly see that I get excited, bored, frustrated, and confused—sometimes all in the same day. You’ll also learn what is important to me and what drives me crazy.
5. It will introduce you to new friends. I have now met several new people via Twitter. These have contributed to my life in small but significant ways.
6. It is faster than text-messaging. In a sense Twitter is a universal text messaging system. You can broadcast to people who subscribe to your Twitter feed or send a direct message to just one.
7. It will make you think about your life. You start to see your life through the lens of the people following you. Interestingly, it has made me more intentional and thoughtful about my life.
8. It will help you keep up with what people are talking about. Via Twitter, I have learned about hot books, cool software, breaking news, and even great restaurants. Because the information is coming from real people who care enough to Twitter about it, I have found it more valuable and authentic.
9. It can create traffic for your blog or Website. I have noticed a 30% uptick in my blog traffic in the last 30 days. It may be related to the fact that I have been in the news more or have been writing on more controversial posts. However, I also think it is related to the fact that I am Twittering every time I post a new blog entry. This seems to have a viral effect.
10. It requires a very small investment. Twitter itself is a free service. In terms of my time, I probably invest less than 10 minutes a day. Since “tweets” (i.e., posts) are limited to 140 charters or less, you can scan them in a second or two. Writing them usually takes less than 30 seconds.
11. It can help build your personal “brand.” When people hear your name, what comes to mind? What is your reputation? What is the “brand promise”? Brands are built incrementally, one interaction at a time. Twitter gives you one more way to build your brand, one tweet at a time.
12. Twitter is just plain entertaining. Following your family and friends is kind of like watching reality TV. The difference is that you know the people and actually care about them. In this sense, it is even more fun, because you know more about the people from other contexts.

You see, Twitter is one practical illustration of how we’ve moved past the industrial age through the information age to the interconnected age. But, naysayers are still calling itsilly and dumb. Hello. Anything can be silly and dumb–depending on how it’s used.

• “Like most areas of life, the greatest dangers often come out of the strongest positives. And we don’t stop using good accounting principles because of the bookkeeping abuses of Enron.” Phil Cooke
• “Technology is a neutral medium.  Technology only amplifies what is already inside of me, for good or for bad. Sometimes,I forgot the obvious. It’s easier to blame something outside of me versus face up to the internal realities.” Rob Wegner

Still wary? Consider this…it might just be a relational responsibility.

Anyway, you can follow me on Twitter here.

What do you do when you suddenly discover a glaring weakness in your life? I mean one of those things that hits you between the eyes, and suddenly a lot of your struggles and frustrations make sense?

I’ve been going through that over the past few days. Out of the blue, it hit me: this is why I battle with that area of being an effective leader. It’s kept me awake. I keep looking over different times when I failed as a leader, and in almost every case, I see this weakness rear it’s ugly head.

And no, I’m not going to share with you what that weakness is. At least, not yet. Not until I’ve processed how to work through it. How to overcome it.

But what do you do when you discover a weakness? Does it discourage you? Cause you to want to give up? Make you angry? Some use their weaknesses as an excuse. “Well, I’d love to be better in that area, but, I have this weakness … and it prevents me from being stronger.”

In my case, I get excited. While I am still processing things and trying to figure out the best path to overcoming this particular weakness, I am pumped that I have finally identified it. I think of how much more effective I will be once I have worked through it.

You see, none of us are perfect. We all have areas of weakness. Sometimes it takes those close to us to point out these weaknesses. Sometimes God reveals them to us.

The question isn’t, “Do I have weaknesses?”
The question is, “What will I do when I see my weaknesses?“

I’m reading Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley right now. If you’re a preacher, you’ll love the book. If you’re not, you wont find it very interesting at all. I’m really enjoying it. For two reasons: First, I’m finding that a lot of what he talks about in the book, I’m already doing. Second, I’m being challenged to improve a few things in my preaching style. Let me explain both of those:

I am constatly told that I’m a decent communicator. I do believe it’s one of my gifts, but still, like most preachers, I can be rather insecure about it. I listen to great communicators, and all I see in myself are the areas in which I don’t measure up. Preachers can be incredibly hard on themselves, and I’m no different. Stanley points out in the book that the toughest time for most preachers is the few hours following his sermon, and I know that to be very true for me. Still, it’s incredibly encouraging to discover just how much I am doing right (according to Andy Stanley, who I think is one of the best – if not the best communicator of our time). It’s been very encouraging to feel like I’m on the right path when it comes to my communication style.

Still, as we just talked about in the Wisdom series, I can grow more. A lot more. And this book encourages that for me. With each chapter, I think of ways I could personalize the suggestions. Rather than take Stanley’s style and make it my own (Let’s face it, God doesn’t need a bunch of Andy Stanley clones), I can take his style and suggestions, and find key elements that I can learn from. And that is something I love to do: learn from good/great preachers. I’ve been doing it since before I was called into ministry. Every Pastor I have served with has in some way, shaped my style. And hopefully I grow even more through reading about Stanley’s style.

So, here’s a question for the rest of you: what are you doing to grow in your area of expertise? What book are you reading? What leaders are you learning from? How are you growing?

Okay … so, I didn’t post here today … but I DID post here. So, check out the brand new Bikers’ Church blog, where a whole bunch of Bikers’ Church bloggers will be contributing their thoughts.

Gonna be great!

My sister lives about 4 kms from me. And yet, I see her and her family about five times a year. Typically, the only time we talk on the phone is when one of us needs a favour from the other. My brother lives in another city, and we will “facebook” each other a few times a year and will talk to each other on our birthdays and at Christmas. And yet, if you asked me if I was close to my sister and brother, I would tell you, “Absolutely!” In fact, we are very close. I love them deeply.

So, if I’m that pathetic in finding the time to communicate with my own family, you can imagine why I’m becoming more and more useless with blogging! In a sense, this is my place for sharing thoughts with all of you … and as you can see, my posts are becoming less and less frequent.

There have been some things keeping me busy. Once again, I’ve done a complete redesign of the Bikers’ Church Website. I like the new look, and it will save me hours of time in keeping it up to date. We are also going to be introducing a new blog over at the BC website, so keep your eyes peeled on it. You can easily subscribe to the BC website and get updates in your RSS reader, same as with this site.

I think blogging has changed. The blogs that have a specific purpose will survive, the others will slowly fade into irrelevance. Why? Because Twitter has taken over blogging (and Facebook). And while some day (probably sooner than we think), something will take the place of Twitter, for now, it seems to be the social network gaining the most attention.

I plan to keep blogging, but over the next few weeks, I need to really figure out what direction to go with robdale.ca. In the meantime, keep an eye out at the Bikers’ Church site, and consider following me on twitter.

Here’s an interesting article I read at tonymorganlive.com about twitter and blogging:

Last Thursday was a milestone day. For the first time since I’ve started using Twitter, the number of Twitter followers exceeded the number of people who are subscribed to my blog.

What’s amazing about that is how quickly Twitter useage has caught up with and then surpassed blogging. I’ve been blogging for 4 years now. I’ve only been on Twitter for about 18 months. Most of the growth on Twitter has happened within just the last 3 months.

The big question is why? Why is Twitter growing so rapidly? Here are a few theories I have:

• Twitter is easier to scan. Less is more. People gravitate to shorter messages.
• Twitter is more social. It’s easier to engage the crowd around a brief shot of wisdom or a story or a question.
• Twitter is more viral. It’s easy to grab an insight and share it with friends.
• Twitter is more intuitive. To follow someone, I just click “follow.” Blogs still require a bit of an understanding of RSS feeds.

I love to blog because I enjoy writing. Honestly, though, I’d rather Twitter. Part of the reason is that it’s more of a natural flow of what I’m experiencing, learning and processing. Part of the reason I prefer it is because the haters haven’t figured it out yet. People are friendlier and less divisive on Twitter than they are with my blog. I’m not sure why, but that’s currently the case.

What are your thoughts? Why do you think Twitter is growing so much faster than blogging?

Today, my youngest daughter turns 11. Wow. It’s hard to believe how old my kids are getting (and yet, I remain as young as ever. They must take after their mother!). I write a lot in this blog about my oldest daughter, Brit, who is enjoying her year in Costa Rica, and sometimes Christina is forgotten in the discussion. And yet, she most definitely is a vital part of our family.

Christina Joy has always lived up to her name. Christina, means anointed one, and Joy means … well, Joy. She is anointed with joy. When she was a newborn, she would wake up in the middle of the night, not crying, but laughing. All through her childhood she has had the ability to go with the flow, to laugh easily at just about anything, to love life. Her eyes are often wide with amazement as she takes in all that is around her. Her older sister is her hero, and there is no one she enjoys playing with more. She is blond – in every sense of the word – and yet is able to laugh along with all of us when she shows it. Yes, she certainly lives up to her name. Anointed with joy.

As I sit here today, remembering the day she was born. Thinking over the past 11 years. Thinking ahead to her teen years and beyond, I find myself excited at the woman she is becoming. There is so much potential that I see in her, so much that I believe God can use to see her fulfill all that he has called her to be.

I am a blessed man. When I consider my daughters, and the amazing women that they are becoming, I am humbled at the thought that I have had a role to play in their lives. They have shaped my heart far more than words will ever be able to express.

And so, Christina, as you read this on your new iPod Touch, know that I love you with all my heart. You are a beautiful girl and I am so proud to be your daddy.

Oh, and tonight – she and I go to her first ever Sens game! That’s right, my youngest will sit in awe of the “show” that happens at Scotiabank Place … she is so pumped at going, and yet really has no clue what she is about to experience. It is going to be a blast … oh yeah, and there’s a game on too.

We’re starting a new series this Thursday at CCBC called Wisdom. I’m really looking forward to this one (okay, I look forward to most of the series at CCBC … you know, since I’m doing them!

But this one I’m really going to enjoy. You see, I love acquiring knowledge. I love learning. As many of you know, I’m a huge reader. In fact, I almost always have two or three books on the go at the same time. As well, I spend time every day devouring a few favourite blogs. My blog time is not spent on only one subject either. Rather, I love taking in information from leadership blogs, technology blogs, new blogs, sports blogs, and even a few “everything but the kitchen sink” blogs.

But I’ve learned something over the years. Knowledge is only the starting point. For many, it’s the ultimate goal. The acquiring of knowledge. However, most of us know of people who have a lot of knowledge but very little wisdom. If all I ever did was take in information, what good would that do me – or those I lead?

Knowledge must be filtered through experience. Then, when you put those together, knowledge + experience, you discover wisdom.

Yeah, I’m going to enjoy this series. I hope that many are inspired to pursue knowledge, apply it to experience, and discover wisdom from God to live life to the fullest. I hope you join us for the ride.

Evan Williams is the founder of Twitter. He started it as a “side project” the same way he started Blogger. He never expected either to be a focus for him, but he’s learned that sometimes you just can’t predict where the “next thing” will come from.

Here’s his talk from TED. If you’ve ever wanted to understand the power of Twitter, take 8 minutes to watch it.