Tag Archives: Gateway
Baptism Video
Posted on20. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
We like to celebrate baptisms big here at Gateway. We usually hold them three times a year (summer months) so that many can participate. We held a baptism a few weeks ago and nearly half of those baptized were kids. Several parents baptized their kids that night. Actually, two sets of parents were baptized and then baptized their kids. It was becasue of their kids that the parents finally decided to take this step. Powerful!
Enjoy the video!
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Summer baptisms
Posted on03. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
Last week we baptized close to 30 kids after one of our services. It was a beautiful time.
One of my favorite parts about this baptism were the number of parents being baptized because their kids were taking this step. Several parents decided to be baptized as a family because their child had been “bugging” them about it.
I always encourage parents to baptize their children. After saying that at the last baptism class, one of the parents asked if it was okay if they baptized their child even if they haven’t been baptized. I asked them why, they hadn’t been baptized. No good reason. So, on baptism day, I had the honor of baptizing both mom and dad before they turned around and baptized their daughter. Simply beautiful!
Enjoy the video montage of the baptism day.
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Volunteer Appreciation Event
Posted on02. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.
A little over a month ago, we held our annual volunteer appreciation event. Last year it was a Christmas party, which I’m not entirely a huge fan of. It just seemed as if there’s already too much happening at Christmas time. So, we picked the end of February since there’s literally nothing exciting happening at the end of February.
This year’s event was so much fun. Over and over again the volunteers have told us how much they enjoyed this event. What did we do? A city-wide scavenger hunt. My elementary director did this at her previous church with much success, so we decided to give it a try this year. Essentially, we assigned volunteers into groups of 4-7 based on the region they lived, not by which ministry area they served. We hoped it would mix things up a little and give some of our people an opportunity to get t know others. After they were grouped together and everyone had arrived, all the groups took off for a two hour scavenger hunt across the city. Every group had at least one person with an iPhone or equivalent and so while the teams were out, we received a steady stream of pictures from everyone.
Once everyone came back, we had a catered dinner from Carrabba’s that was absolutely delicious and surprisingly financially reasonable. I shared a little about the successes we’ve seen in the last year and how we’re moving forward for 2010. In addition, we had our pastors’ wife come and share (she started the children’s ministry 11 years ago when Gateway was planted). It was perfect having her share about how it all started.We dismissed everyone after this giving them brand new volunteer t-shirts for the next year.
It was a great party and next year we’d love to see an even higher portion of our volunteers come out. We’ll come up with something new and different, but I think we’ve learned that the secret to a good volunteer party is something active and requires people to engage beyond the surface level.
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A new word for discipleship
Posted on29. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Words are so interesting. Over time, they change meaning, lose effectiveness or develop a stigma. When it comes to faith, we see this all the time. Pick up C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity and the opening chapter will tell you how the word Christian has lost it’s meaning, and this book was written decades ago. Really, it’s only been the last 2-3 years that I’ve replaced the term Christian for the words Christ follower. Sure, it may just be semantics, but the term seems to be much more intentional about meaning in a culture where the word Christian conjures up some many different definitions and emotions. Who knows, maybe in a few more years, there will be another term Christ followers are using.
Don’t get hung up on the words though, it’s really not about me, it’s about those I hope to influence. Without compromising convictions or beliefs, it’s my job to connect with people in their reality. If finding a unique way to describe what I am about in life that actually engages a non-believer, I’m 100% behind it. I think we need to constantly analyze the words and terms we use while trying to be relevant with the people around us. \
One word we don’t use at my church at all is discipleship. Is it me or is it just so churchy? In addition, there are too many definitions for discipleship. To some churches, it’s a class. For others it’s a group book study. For others it’s a multi-year one on one relationship and to others it’s a program. Many Christ followers have awkward or negative thoughts associated with this term while even some of those outside the church see discipleship as cult-like and mindless devotion to a freaky cause. The term discipleship may need to go the way of the Dodo.
So what’s another word? We use the word transform or transformation. Isn’t that really the point of discipleship, to transform or change? Lots of people are in “discipleship,” but they never change. Isn’t that an oxymoron? It’s a fairly specific word that describes something that could be measured, right? The reason I like this word too is that it isn’t specific to any particular method. People are discipled/transformed by various methods, but just becasue someone is being discipled doesn’t mean they’ve changed.
What do you think of this word? Is it one you’ll add to your vocabulary? Can you think of any other church “inside” words that need to be transformed?
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Seth Godin is totally into crazy sock day
Posted on20. Nov, 2009 by Kenny.
I shared the other day that we’re doing Crazy Sock Day for the next five weeks at Kids Quest. It’s a fun way to add a little fun as well as bring awareness around helping families in need. Then Cathy Harwick, my Elementary Director sent me this video. Apparently Seth Godin is really into crazy socks as well. He even has a system of degrees of craziness.
He talks about his socks, right away, but the whole video is great. Any opportunity to listen to Godin is time well spent.
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Gateway’s Advance Leadership Weekend
Posted on11. Sep, 2009 by Kenny.
Tonight is session one of my church’s leadership weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve used scribble, so I think I’ll use it to tweet to my blog.
Essentially, 500 leaders at Gateway are gathered today and tomorrow for vision for the upcoming year and equipping to lead our church spiritually, life on life! It’s going to be AWESOME!
If you want to follow, many Gatewayers are tweeting at #adv09
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Baptism idea
Posted on23. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
Our new Children’s Pastor for our South Campus sent me this video. Since then I’ve seen it a few other places. The first time I saw this I had a stupid grin on my face. The guy who sent this to me messaged the email as “future baptisms at Gateway.” We’re pretty “out there,” but I think this might be a little extreme.
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Gateway story
Posted on02. Jul, 2009 by Kenny.
Yesterday I included two clips of our One Prayer message from last Sunday, “God is working.” Near the end of this message John shared a testimony from the early days of Gateway. I remember reading about this in John’s book, “No Perfect People Allowed.” It was stories like this that made me want to be a part of this church so much. It’s a church reaching messy people and God is working in the lives of so many of them. I can’t ever see me working in a church that doesn’t embrace the culture like Gateway. Listen to this story:
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One Prayer: God is working
Posted on01. Jul, 2009 by Kenny.
This Sunday my pastor preached his One Prayer message, “God is working.” I’m actually not sure if he recorded it for the One Prayer community or not. But it was a powerful message on how God is working, how we can tune into what he is doing and be used by him to complete (or be a part) of his work. This message was great and I wanted to share just a tiny bit of this message with those of you who visit this blog.
Here is the 4 minute introduction to the message:
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Jesus was in tune with how God was working. This next part, (5 or 6 minutes) is one of the best parts. Know the story of Paul at Mars Hill where he’s at the alter of the “unknown god.” I’ve always loved this story of how Paul contextualized the gospel into a relevant way. John shared some history that I’d never heard. Paul knew where this alter of the “unknown god” came from and used it to his advantage. He was in tune to how God had been working and allowed himself to be used by him. Listen really quick!
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Amazing huh? This was a great reminder for me. As those who minister to kids, we need to be ever mindful of how God is working in the lives of our kids and families. We really could be used to be a part of his work… if we’re listening and looking for evidence of his work. Really, would we want to be in any other place than right in the midst of what he’s doing?
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Is your orginization on twitter?
Posted on28. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
Today I ate lunch at a new restaurant and this on their menu made me really happy. Two months ago I was in the elevator at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco and they had a sign saying they were on twitter. I just love it when I see little businesses like these showing up on twitter. If it’s a company or organization I like, I want to get updates from them.
I’m just curious. Is your church on twitter? How about your ministry?
I love it when I see ministries jumping on twitter. Is it making a significant difference? Probably not. Is it niche marketing hitting a specific market? Yup. It’s too easy not to do.
I did snatch a twitter account for our children’s ministry several months ago although we don’t really use it… yet. Last month we brought in a new staff member who will launch our web campus. He quickly snatched up a twitter account for Gateway.
You may not be an early adopter, but it isn’t too late to get on twitter!
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