Here is another shift that is very exciting for us!

We are adjusting how we disciple our male leaders, apprentices and those who want to lead one day in NLCF.  We are just doing this for the dudes this year, and this may be the only year we do it this way.

Why you may ask?  You also might be wondering, why just the guys?  Both are really good questions.

The first reason is that the church, across the board, is seeing a drop in guys – both numerically and in the level of their commitment to the church.  Up until the past couple of years this hasn’t been our experience at NLCF but over the last few it has been.  We love the guys that are with us and committed to following Christ with us, but we believe that we can reach more.  By reach we mean see more guys come into God’s family and be adopted by him and see more guys demonstrate a deeper level of passion and commitment to the calling Christ has given all of us.

It felt like the Spirit was calling us to do things a bit differently, so that is what we are going to do.

It is so new we don’t even have a name for it yet! : )  So, if you want to shout one out to us, please feel free. I can tell you that Robbie Poff and I have come up with some awful ones.  We haven’t spent much time on what it will be called, but we have spent A LOT of time on what it will do…  So, here goes.

It will meet every third Sunday evening as a whole group.  Robbie Poff and I will co-lead those times where we will worship, pray, and be guided together into a deeper understanding and life of passionate pursuit of the Lord.  This isn’t going to be like some men’s groups that tend to revolve around bro-speak and getting away from porn, dating and sports.

I imagine all those things will come up, but this will get into how we develop an understanding of what God’s vision is for our lives, how we hear from him more clearly, and how our life of faith can look more like the way that Jesus lived.

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, “What is the greatest commandment?”  They intended this to be a trap question that would get Jesus in trouble.  In his answer, not only does Jesus side-step that trap, but he gives us one of the strongest creedal statements for our lives.  Jesus answer was simple, and also so profound we cannot ever fully dive to the bottom of what it means.  I will give The Messages transliteration of Matthew’s account from Matthew 22.

34 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. 35 One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: 36 “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” 37 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ 38 This is the most important, the first on any list. 39 But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ 40 These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

Again, super simple but very profound.  Love God in as focused a way as you can and love those around you like you love yourself.

This group is open to anyone who has been in a huddle last year or who was asked to be in one this year.  If you are new or don’t understand what a huddle is, it is the way that we disciple people in our church.  Each huddle has a leader and three to eight members.

There are a couple of distinctives about this men’s group.  It would be considered a high invitation and high challenge type of group.  Essentially that means that if you are in the group, the leaders will be highly dedicated to you and walking through life with you.  There is a strong invitation to share life with us.  The challenge is that we would want you to feel the same commitment.  That means you are willing to speak into our lives if you notice things that don’t glorify God.  In our church, we don’t believe that just because someone might be a pastor or on staff that they have everything together.  I, as one of the pastors/elders need you to care about my life as I care for yours.  Another way the challenge plays out is that the group times we meet are critically important.  We want you to prioritize all of them.  Over the course of the year, something might come up, those things happen.  But those that are in this group would commit to working so that almost never does.  Additionally the participants would be in a huddle made up of guys in the group.

Together we will talk about the deeper issues in being men who walk closely with God, closely with others, and are dedicated to playing our part in God’s kingdom.  Then we will have weekly “challenges,” think of them like Crossfit WOD’s or as weekly focuses.  They will start pretty simply.  Having a 10 – 15 minute time with God at least four days a week.  If you haven’t been doing that consistently, you start there.  From there the weekly challenges will become, well more challenging.  Each week we will all publicly commit to the challenge that is next for us and the next time publicly talk about how it went.  We will celebrate the successes and we will celebrate those that weren’t.  What we find in the gym, with an instrument, with learning a language, in almost anything is that first you find your edge, then you push against that edge.

And then the edge moves.

I am extremely excited to walk together through this new, as-yet-unnamed adventure!

Cannot wait to see everyone who is coming back and meeting everyone that is new.

Jim
#loveGodloveHokies

One of the things that I do each summer, with many of our staff and leaders, is to reflect on what God has done and ask him what he wants to do.  This almost always results in some adjustments or shifts as we just try to be like Israel during the Exodus, following the trail the Lord leads us in.  There is a lot of time spent in prayer, seeking the Lord, talking to people, getting input, more prayer, seeking, talking, “inputting” …  You get the idea.

And over that process, things start to take shape.  As they do we look at them from every angle, pray, seek, talk…  This is a difficult but exciting process, at least for me.  Once something is solidified and dedicated to God, we look at how to share it.  I am very excited to get to share some key things with you now.

The first, and probably biggest shift for this next year (and possibly only this year) is that we are merging the 11am and the 7.07pm gatherings together.  They will both now meet at 11am in Colonial Hall.  It may seem odd to many that have been going to the 7.07 that we would do this.  This past year was one of the strongest the 7.07 has had.  Great and growing community (both in depth of relationships and numerically), powerful worship, life-changing/profound/powerful/let’s just say life-changing again teaching : ).  It wasn’t shrinking, it wasn’t dying.

So why not have it this year?

At NLCF, we have been committed to trying to never burn out leaders.  To not ask so much of them in ministry that their walk with God apart from their leadership dries up.  So that plays a big role in all of this.

Over the past several years, our worship teams have graduated and sent more people out than new people have come in.  It seems like over the past few years fewer people feel willing or able to play a part in this vital role in NLCF.  Now I get part of that.  It is tough to get in front of hundreds of people, and it is especially tough to truly worship God and not just perform when you are up there.  I have always said it is a weird balance of focusing on the worship of God, but also being aware that you aren’t worshipping God solo, that you are helping others to worship him as well.

Fewer people seem to either believe they can do it, or want to over the past couple of years.

This has meant that our worship teams have been a bit more stretched than we would like them to be.  And with graduating a big group this past Spring, it would have meant more stretching.  Now we could do that, we have enough to do that.  But two things would have likely happened.

• It would have likely led to burn-out in the worship team members we have.
• It would make it so that Robbie and Kristal Poff (who oversee our worship teams overall) really wouldn’t have any time to recruit, encourage and develop/disciple present team members and new ones as well. To put it more simply… They wouldn’t have time to solve the problem.

So, possibly for only a year, we are bringing the two gatherings together, we will celebrate the Lord together, we will worship together, and we will continue to grow together.  After this year we will do what we do: reflect, seek, pray, talk, get input about whether we bring the 7.07 back the following year.  Personally I hope that is the way the Lord leads.

In the meantime, let us know if this shift raises any other questions for you (most people who would be most directly impacted have been spoken to already), come ready to celebrate and seek the Lord together on Sundays at 11, and let’s see what God has in store for us all!

Jim

#loveGodloveHokies

This year, I once again had the pleasure of working with our seniors through the Life After College program.  For the second year now, we hosted 3 different workshops throughout the Spring semester, culminating in Senior Night on May 11, 2016.  The first workshop in February focused on financial topics, ranging from budgeting to insurance.  In March, the second workshop revolved around how to find a church community after graduating.  In the last workshop, we talked about how to live missionally in the workplace.

Going into the planning of Senior Night, we had several goals in mind:  First of all, we wanted to have fun.  This group of seniors was special; the impact they have had is sure to last for years to come.  After serving so faithfully for many years, we wanted to make sure they felt loved and celebrated for their hard work and for God’s provision, bringing them through college and/or graduate school.  Also, we’ve noticed that the end of the school year can be very hectic, with all the last minute projects, exams, final “hang outs” with friends, etc.  This often leaves little room for quiet reflection and time with God.  Because of that, another big goal of Senior Night was to provide space and time for the seniors to get away and spend time with God.

Once the night finally came, it was a great success!  We had 17 seniors and 8 staff come out that night to join in the fun, food, memories, teaching, worship, reflection, and group discussion.  We even had a special visit from the Hokie Bird himself!  The theme for the night was “Be Strong and Courageous”, taken from the words in Joshua 1.  We talked about how to trust God, remain obedient, and “gather our provisions” for the next season of life.  When the night came to a close, we knew it wouldn’t be a trip to Camp Tuk-a-way without a campfire and s’mores.

As the flames faded away from the campfire that night, one season was ending.  The Class of 2016 had finished.  They had run the race set before them, remaining faithful to the task of growing God’s Kingdom at Virginia Tech.  But as that season has ended, a new one has begun for them.  They are now taking the things they learned with us at NLCF and Virginia Tech, and moving on.  They are starting new chapters in their lives and working to make disciples of Jesus…this time, all over the world.

To the seniors, we thank you.  Our church and this community will deeply miss you, but we wish you the best of luck in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

You’ve always got a family here in Blacksburg.  Don’t hesitate to stop by and say hello!

~David