Browsing all posts in Connexus.

One Key to Innovation

In 2011, more than half of all of Apple’s revenue will come from products that did not exist four years ago.
That’s impressive.
What amazes me about Apple is how it produces products that dazzle many of us over and over again.  When I picked up my iPhone 3Gs last summer I thought – I don’t know [...]

Seven Questions to Help Engage the Culture

It’s so easy to become culturally irrelevant.  I don’t even need to try.  One day you’re doing some awesome worship music, playing Modest Mouse and serving bold coffee, and the next minute it sounds like polka music to the next generation of kids.  It happens so fast.
At Connexus Church, we do a weekly service programming [...]

Marathon (4): A Spiritual Walk that Has Little to Do With Work

Ministry might just be the perfect storm.
If you have a marketplace job, your life has some definable components: your work, your family and your personal life.   You might get up, spend some time with God, head off to work, come home and hang out with your family. 
In ministry, these worlds get fused.  You wake [...]

Shift Responsibility, Fuel Your Growth

So…who is responsible for your spiritual growth?
If you’ve hung around church for any length of time, you might be tempted to say “my church is”.
At Connexus where I serve, we’ve been talking about that recently.   I did a message last month about blame and responsibility that seemed to resonate as deeply as any message [...]

What Scandalous Thing Have You Done?

So yesterday we suggested that simply reaching people who don’t go to church by nature is scandalous.  The very thought of reaching non churched people can offend Christians. It’s not we intend to offend, but the Bible suggests we just will.  Religious people get upset when non-religious people become the goal of a mission.
Today I’d [...]

Helping in Haiti

A note for my Canadian friends…for some ways to help with the situation in Haiti click over to the Connexus Blog.
I’m grateful to be part of a generous community at a time like this.  I love people who pray and act.  Thank you!
- Carey

When The World Wakes Up, the Church Goes to Sleep…

We had a great day at Connexus yesterday.  A record or near record crowd (I don’t see all the numbers Sunday)…great feedback.  Lots of new families.  As any lead pastor, staff member or volunteer might be, I was pumped as I drove home.
But then this irony struck me – hard.  We start setting up church [...]

My Wish For You in 2010…Get Some Bible Going

Happy New Year!  If I had one thing I could wish for you this year in terms of your personal growth, it would be to get into the Bible in a fresh way.
If you do that:

Your prayer life will grow
The status quo will get shaken up
You’ll develop a fresh heart for people who don’t know [...]

What Happened Christmas Eve

So we rolled with our Christmas Eve services and I think our Service Programming team (the sweet team that creates our services) did a great job straddling the tension between giving people what they want and delivering what people need.  As last week’s post pointed out, Christmas is an especially tough service to plan.
So what [...]

The Christmas Dilemma

Christmas is an unusual holiday for Christians and church leaders.  It’s actually the only time of year in our communities where what happens in culture and what happens in church line up (even sort of). December is the only month you can hear songs about Jesus playing in malls.  Sure, there are more ‘happy holidays’ [...]