David Miller

We wanted to put together a video of what a high school student can expect when he or she becomes apart of thElement Student Ministry.  Here is what we came up with…

Thanks Anthony for putting this together.  You’re a champ!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the direction of  The Church and I was reminded of a story I read in Love, by Leo Buscaglia.

There’s a wonderful story in education that always amuses me. It’s called The Animal School. I always love to tell it because it’s so wild, yet it’s true. Educators have been laughing at it for years, but nobody does anything about it.

The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel, and they formed a Board of Education. The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curriculum, and the squirrelinsisted that perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum. They put all of these things together and wrote a Curriculum Guide.

Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects. Although the rabbit was getting an A in running, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards. Pretty soon he got to be sort of brain damaged, and he couldn’t run any more. He found that instead of making an A in running, he was making a C and, of course, he always made an F in perpendicular climbing. The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he couldn’t do so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon he was making a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing, and he had a hellava time with perpendicular tree climbing.

The moral of the story is that the person who was valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything in a half-way fashion. But the educators were all happy because everybody was taking all of the subjects, and it was called a broad-based education. We laugh at this, but that’s what it is. It’s what you did. We really are trying to make everybody the same as everybody else, and one soon learns that the ability to conform governs success in the educational scene.

I have to ask, as The Church, are we losing sight of the individual?  By mass producing our churches, we’re saying that everyone experiences God in the same way.   This is simply not the case.  Some of us are birds, some rabbits and others squirrels.   By simply copying and pasting a church culture we are cultivating individuals who simply attend a service rather than become a contributing member of a church community.

Please understand that there is a difference between learning best practices from successful churches and copying what they do simply because it worked for them.

There is no such thing a mass producible church model.  Know the people you’re trying to reach, seek wisdom from others, and petition The Holy Spirit.

Are you signed up?

I’ve always hated it when people shamelessly promote their product or blog. Honestly I roll my eyes and completely judge people who do this.

Last night, I was called out for doing just that. I was so embarrassed.

Not angry.

Embarrassed.

Embarrassed because it is true.  I’ve become obsessed with my blog analytics and it made me something I’m not proud to be.  I’ve become “that guy”.

Normally I’d freak out, quit cold turkey and drop the blog entirely, but I find it incredibly therapeutic and helpful to our ministry. So here’s the deal, I’ll continue to post about ministry and life and when a new post goes up, I’ll let you know on Twitter and Facebook one time. No more of my many reminders to “check it out” or other not so subtle ties to past posts.

If you enjoy the blog, I’d suggest subscribing to the RSS .  Also, if you particularly like a post than help get it out there.  You can hit the “tweet” button at the top right of the post and let your circle know what you think.

Sorry for the momentary laps in judgment, it won’t happen again.  Thank God for good friends who put you in your place.  Let’s start again.

Yours truly,
“That Guy”

Bellarive played their first show at The Plaza Theater on March 18th and it was incredible! Here’s some footage of their final song (shot by Justin Mezzell).

Don’t miss Bellarive when they play in your city.  Check out their music HERE!

Our ministry has a great relationship with Invisible Children so when we recieved the call saying that this year they were bringing two guests with them from Uganda who were affected by the war, I knew our students needed the chance to ask questions and further realize that the world is more than what happens in Orlando.

We were blessed to have both Norman and Comfort come along with the IC Roadies to share with their lives with us. During the screening we asked all in attendance to text in their questions for Norman and Comfort.

Here’s what happened…

Such a powerful night! We helped raise over $2,000 and had 9 Legacy Scholarship Pledges that will all go to educate children in Uganda.

Quote of the night: “Forgive!” – Norman

I’ve got my ticket! See you tonight.

For Valentine’s Day I asked Jessica Bennett, a good friend of mine, if she would take some pictures of my beautiful wife Ashley and I.  These are a few shots from the day!

You’ll see more from this shoot on Facebook, Twitter, and this blog in the coming days.  Huge thanks to Jess and Zack for a great day!

I connect with God through music.
I’ll be featuring bands and worship leaders, both well known and those flying under the radar, who are drawing The Church to the feet of Jesus.

This week: Phil Wickham