The Night Before Christmas and Red Holiday Cups

The Night Before Christmas and Red Holiday Cups

A Visit From St. Nicholas

We all know the poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” by Clemente Clarke Moore; it’s a classic!  

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house.  Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there......…"

It’s the story of Santa Claus, his reindeer, children’s anticipation, the stockings he fills and even the pipe that he smokes (go back and read it for this long forgotten detail or just glance at this pic).  I love it!  I can still recite much of this today from memory.  I have no issues with the poem; it really is a classic.  But for me, it’s not what the night before Christmas is really about and I’m ok with that.   

Holiday Coffee War

It made me think about the big Starbucks controversy over their holiday cups.  Starbucks used to have cups that featured trees and holiday ornaments, but this year they chose to go with a plain red cup in an effort to be more inclusive.  I guess some Christians were upset with this and have encouraged Christians to boycott Starbucks.  I would ask, what do the original cups with the trees and ornaments have to do with the real Christmas story found in Scripture?   I just wish that Christians would be shown in the news for protesting a real injustice in the world, not complaining about the color of a cup.

But my favorite thing about this story was Dunkin’ Donuts response to Starbucks, which was to launch a new holiday cup emblazoned with the word “JOY” on it; surrounded by holly in Christmasy red and green.  It's game on between the coffee giants!!

I suppose that those who have a problem with Starbucks can just find the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts to get their cup of holiday cheer.   Who's got the better holiday cup?  I'll let you be the judge.  

Frankly, if I hadn’t heard about this on the news, I might not have noticed the cup change at all.  I haven’t heard any outrage against the classic poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” this year and he smokes a pipe (not exactly a role model for children).   The poem and the red holiday cup are what they are; they are just cultural symbols, but they aren’t the real thing.  

The Night Before Christmas

The real story of Christmas, found in the Bible is the best story ever.  It’s about the incarnation; God taking on flesh and coming to live among us in order to save us.  The night before Christmas is really exciting for us at Lightshine.  This will be our third Christmas together, but our first Christmas Eve Worship Gathering (@ 5:00 pm. 2500 Townsgate Rd. Suite D in Westlake Village).  It will be a time to contemplate and celebrate what God has done in the arrival of Jesus.  I know that it will be beautiful.  From all of us at Lightshine Church, we sincerely hope that you, your family and friends will join us for worship. 

If you want, you can show up on Christmas Eve with your red Starbucks cup or your Dunkin’ Donuts "joy" cup as neither will get in the way of the true reason for the season (just don’t spill on Joe’s floor or I am going to have to stay and clean it up)! 

Robert Douglas - Organizing Pastor - Lightshine Church

Lesson Learned From Zach Efron

High School Musical

Nobody is more surprised by this than me, but Zach Efron taught me an important lesson.  I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.  When I first thought about this post, the song, “We’re All In Together” from High School Musical popped into my head.  Crazy right?  But not really if you consider that my two teenage daughters played that teeny bopper movie in our house with their friends singing these lyrics at the top of their lungs more times than I care to admit.  There was a time when I might have had that thing practically memorized!

“Together is what makes us strong”.  “Together it shows when we stand hand in hand, make our dreams come true”.  Of course it’s ridiculous (it’s teen superstars singing and dancing; how could it not be?).  But these lyrics made somebody a lot of money!  And let’s face it, maybe Zack is on to something.  Maybe together we can make our shared vision a reality.

Church planting can be a lonely world as can any entrepreneurial endeavor.  The entrepreneur risks it all to chase after a dream but the fact is that a dream shared by others has a much better chance of success. 

When we planted Lightshine Church, I knew a total of two church planters; my coach and Northland Village Pastor, Nick Warnes and my fellow Moorpark planter and friend Em Blattner (Grow Community).  I soon discovered that planters can often feel isolated and alone.  I learned this through personal experience and from widening my network of planters and listening to their stories.  

Fish Bowl

This past October, I was selected for some unknown reason to join a group of 10 church planters from around the country to go to D.C. to receive training in how to coach other planters and help them start new churches.  This was quite an honor as these were some smart and savvy Pastor’s.  During this training we had to practice what we were learning on each other in some “fish bowl” coaching scenarios that our teachers observed and critiqued (very nerve wracking).  In my final coaching session, I was asked to coach a very creative Pastor from Chicago through a real issue that she was having in her ministry.  My job was to uncover what was at the core of the problem and to help her come up with some possible solutions that would enable her to get “unstuck”.  

It didn’t take long to uncover the root of the problem.  She shared about the struggle of trying to find a new facility that would meet her church’s needs (a problem for most church plants).  But when I asked her how this struggle made her feel, the flood gates of tears started and didn’t stop for 20 minutes.  The bottom line was that she felt alone in the struggle and no one else knew how she really felt.  Heartbreaking.

Feeling Alone When Surrounded By A Crowd

The feeling of being alone even when you are surrounded by a crowd can be hard to take.  I could feel her pain and it really struck a chord with me.  She came to the realization that she needed to share how she was feeling with people that would surround her with love and care; people that would remind her that she wasn’t alone in this work.

Even in community we can feel isolated and alone.  I am incredibly thankful that even when I feel isolated, I know that I am never alone in this mission, in this dream.  I trust that God’s got my back and that we really are in this together!  I am thankful for Lightshine Church; for it’s members, friends, and mission partners.  Together we can accomplish far more than we can apart.  No one in our church community should feel alone.  We all need to pay attention to the people around us, letting them know that we care, reminding them that they are not alone.  This is the lesson that I learned from Zach Efron; well, sort of, but you get the idea. 

Robert Douglas - Organizing Pastor - Lightshine Church

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Obstacles to Opportunities: Wisdom From a Banana Seat Schwinn

Clam At A Clam Bake

Let’s face it, small start up churches like Lightshine face more obstacles than a clam at a clam bake.  The list of challenges is daunting, but as my favorite strength and conditioning coach Zach Even-Esh is fond of saying, “every obstacle is really an opportunity”; an opportunity for growth.    

Nothing great was ever achieved in this world without overcoming adversity, without turning obstacles into opportunities.  Lightshine Church is laden with opportunities because we face so many challenges.   

Banana Seat Schwinn

Year three in a start up church is critical.  The number 3 may seem a bit arbitrary, but the simple facts speak for themselves.  The funding that we have received from our denomination and our parent church is dwindling as we learn how to become self-sustaining.   I liken it to a child learning how to ride a bike; at some point the training wheels come off and they learn to ride on their own.  

I remember this exact moment for me when I was a kid.  I had the coolest bike ever! It was a new, red, sparkly, banana seat Schwinn.  On one momentous day the training wheels were taken off the bike and I was admittedly terrified of what was about to happen.  I got the encouraging pep talk from my Dad who then gave me the big push.  I started pedaling as fast as I could as my Dad ran alongside me holding on to the back of the banana seat.  Then the moment of truth, he let go!  I did it!  I was riding my new bike like a champ, all on my own.  Well..... at least for a moment before I crashed off the side of the road, gravel rocks penetrating the skin on my hands and reducing my knees to a bloody pulp.  Yes, it hurt!  And yes, I cried.  But I wanted to ride that stinking bike more than anything in the world, so wiping away the tears, I got back on the bike.  Together, my Dad and I did it again.  The second time was a success as I proudly rode around our street over and over again, bloody knees and all.

Stewards of A Dream

An obstacle (fear and failure) had become an opportunity for me to push through in order to achieve my dream of learning to ride a bike.  I could have quit, but I wanted it too bad.   Now having gone through this experience with my own daughters learning to ride a bike at the end of our street, I know that my Dad wanted me to succeed even more than I did (it was a shared dream).  He must have taken great satisfaction in seeing me achieve my dream to ride that awesome red bike he bought for me all by myself.  

God has given me a dream today that is so much bigger than riding a bike.  I call this dream Lightshine Church.  I see myself more like a steward or caretaker of God’s dream.  Ligtshine is a small but important part of God’s dream for the world that He created especially for the friends around us that do not have a church to call home.  Maybe we are all stewards of God’s dream right here in the Conejo Valley (but that’s a different blog post). 

I know that I am not alone in this dream as many of you share it as well.  Year three presents us with many obstacles, and with these obstacles come even more opportunities because God is behind this dream; pushing us, running along side us, holding onto to the seat and encouraging us to pedal hard so that together, we can achieve the dream.  

Adversity To Advantage

I sincerely believe that what we are doing is important.  Starting new churches is a vital work for us today.  Nothing in the world is more important than the mission of God.  I also believe that like an encouraging Dad, God wants to see us succeed.  It is true that in year 3 we do face many obstacles at Lightshine as we work toward sustainability.  But obstacles are opportunities to turn adversity into advantage.  As Lewis Howes writes in The School of Greatness, great people and great organizations, 

“learn the importance of persevering toward their vision despite that adversity.  They learn the language so they can tell the world what they want to do and who they want to become”.  

We hold a shared dream.  So let’s tell the world what we want to do and who we want to become as we follow Jesus on mission together!  We will fall down.  We may skin our knees.  But pushing through the adversity is the only way achieve the dream and we need EVERYBODY all in!!  

Robert Douglas
Organizing Pastor
Lightshine Church

    

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Risky Dreams

I rarely ever remember my dreams.

I wake up often times with a vivid picture of the dream but by morning it’s gone.  I suppose if I were to really remember them I would need to keep a note pad next to my bed and write them down in the middle of the night.  But if I woke up Katie every night I would be in the dog house (literally), so I’ll settle for forgetting most of my dreams.  Most.....

What I do know for sure is that for the past three years I have carried with me a new dream.  I rarely ever remember my dreams.  But this new dream is memorable.  At first, I didn’t know what to call it or do about it.  But in sharing this dream with about 15 other people 3 years ago, together, we began to figure it out.  We now call this dream Lightshine Church and I am just beginning to understand what to do about it.  

Carrying this dream

I am not an church planting expert (I just know enough to be dangerous).  I am not a super star Pastor with all the answers.  I am just a guy who loves Jesus and believes in His Church despite the challenges that the Church faces in the 21st century.  I am a guy who is willing to carry this dream that I was given and give it my all to see it come true.  To me, the mission that God has entrusted to the likes of us is worth what my church planting coach and good friend, Nick Warnes, calls “shrewd risk taking”.  

No risk, no reward

Shrewd risk taking is one of the core values of a church planting group that I am a part of called “Cyclical LA”.  This core value really has got me thinking.  What great things can be accomplished in life without some risk taking?  No risk, no reward.  Isn’t that what they say?

  

Leaving a wonderful 20 year youth ministry career was a risk.  

Planting Lightshine Church was a risk, not only for me, but for my family.  

Starting a blog is a risk as I don’t really even know what a blog is and only God knows the outcome of any of these endeavors.  

But the mission of God, this dream that God has placed on my heart is worth the risk.  

So as a natural born risk avoider, I am learning that risking for something big, maybe even great, is worth it.  Without the risk, we will never accomplish the dream.  And when we risk together to achieve the dream, Lightshine Church has a shot of becoming a transformative place, a transformative people on mission.  Maybe we can be used by God to offer the Kingdom that Jesus ushered in to those around us who know nothing about it and to provide a real home and authentic community centered around Jesus for all those who join with us in working for this dream. 

Lightshine is constantly in forefront of my mind.  Lightshine’s mission and it’s people have become so important me; indispensable really.  It’s a dream that has become so powerful and so transformative that maybe I simply want to share it with others who might also share the same dream so that we can pull together in order to achieve it.  Maybe writing about it is simply a therapeutic way to deal with all the ideas I have about small, missional, start up churches, which I strongly believe are a bright spot in a darkening church landscape.  Whatever the reason, I am going to commit to giving this new thing an honest try.  

Pulling Together.  Risking together

I recently made the decision to start a blog.  As a guy who has always had a love hate relationship with technology and social media I really have no idea why I made this decision.

My goal is to a short post every other week on some aspect of the importance of start up missional churches like Lightshine.  They will each try to deal with one simple aspect of life together in a missional church.  They won’t read like a technical manual; they will just be my personal musings on church that I hope will be found beneficial and encouraging to others who share the dream.  They will be posts from the heart.  I’m sure they will be far from perfect and they certainly won’t solve all the issues that we face as a small start up missional church.  

This blog will be a space where all of Lightshine Church’s long form content will live.  You will be able to find everything from updates on missional endeavors to introductions of new sermon series.  Every post will be archived at lightshinechurch.org/blog and posted to facebook.com/lightshinechurch, twitter.com/lightshine2013, and twitter.com/robdouglaslc.  

My hope is that these posts will serve to get us all in the same boat together, pulling together, risking together, to take the dream that God has graciously given us and share it, inviting others to join with us.  I believe that the dream is worth the risk and I hope that you do too!

Robert Douglas
Organizing Pastor
Lightshine Church

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What Is A Missional Church?

WHAT IS A MISSIONAL CHURCH? 

  

It is not so much that the Church has a mission of God, but rather the mission of God has a Church.

  

God’s chosen method of redemption was the INCARNATION of Jesus. "The Word became flesh and blood and MOVED into the NEIGHBORHOOD."(John 1:14 The Message) 

We become agents of God’s mission when we live INCARNATIONALLY. Every follower of Jesus Christ is CALLED, GIFTED and SENTfor the work of the kingdom.

Expressions of the Church 

Gathered - what happens when a church comes together.

Scattered - what happens when the church disperses.

We do really well in our gathered life.  Our desire is to scatter better!

God is a SENDING God so the Church is a SENT people. “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21 The Church only exists for the purposes of its mission. Missional Church is a community of God’s people that DEFINES and ORGANIZES itself around God’s mission for the purpose of being God’s agents of salvation in the world.

  

We must ask the question: Where are people converging?  Where are they hanging out? We must go and be the church in those places.

ABOUT LIGHTSHINE 

God has called us to start a new missional community. Abraham taught us that going in response to God’s command is called “faithfulness”. Why start a new church?  To be faithful to God’s command to reach people both in word (evangelism) and deed (service) with the good news of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:16-20).  

We want to do NEW things!  To be the church in NEW ways!  What might this new missional community look like?

NO building

SMALL staff

FEW programs 

Highly RELATIONAL

High COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Shared LEADERSHIP

Very REPRODUCIBLE

Worship and small groups help us to grow in Christ together (Romans 12:1).

Reconciliation is at the center of our shared mission. (2 Corinthians 5:19) 

Want to support this new missional community?  Here’s how you can be a part of what God is doing: 

prayer team: willing to offer prayer

funding team: willing to contribute financially

member: contact us to find out how you can join us. 

social media partner: like our page on facebook and share our posts!

Interested in joining a team?  Have more questions?  

Contact Organizing Pastor, Rob Douglas 

Rob@lightshinechurch.org

Walnut Elementary Partnership Update

On June 6, 2015 lightshine held a service day with about 25 adults and 15 student volunteers who cleaned up the school’s garden boxes, replanted some plants in front of the school, repainted rusty and weathered basketball backboards, created problemsolving equipment for the playground and painted a mural. Click here to read our featured story in the Thousand Oaks Acorn newspaper!

Background Info:

On November 8th, 2014 a team from lightshine church met up to continue our partnership with Walnut Elementary. This occasion of service was in conjunction with the "I Heart Ventura County" initiative, a community event sponsored by "Life Without Limbs" in partnership with local churches, community service organizations, schools and government officials. The goal of IHVC is to facilitate positive change through days of volunteer service and dynamic community events. It was a great day. The team says it wasn't toooo hot but just right! They got everything accomplished with enthusiasm. Howard (in the red shirt) was on borrowed time just returning from Switzerland. He was the stripe-painting guru and painted walls. Sid (in the blue shirt) taped. The 'paws’ in the background were meticulously renewed by the detail crew - Katie and Julie. Super job! Rob, Steve and Ricky took on the walls. This was tedious work and a job well done. Ricky reports that his back was hurting.. from carrying Rob the whole time! Either way, it was another example of shining God's light in our community. Click here to see more photos.

Mission is a major part of what LightShine is all about.  We chose Walnut Elementary as our central mission because Walnut is a Title One school and has the highest number of students on free and reduced lunch in the Newbury Park cluster of the CVUSD (there are already tutoring programs offered to the communities of Thousand Oaks and Westlake cluster schools).

Our Missional Project with Walnut Elementary in Newbury Park went very well last year and both the school and our church are looking forward to another great year of partnership.  Our major presence will continue through our after school tutoring program led by Kathy Benioff.  We will be awaiting Principal Amy Hastings’ decision on how the program will be structured this year.  Certain grades need more help than others, so she and the teachers will be tailoring it to the needs of the current student population.  

We served lunch to the staff last year and the staff was highly appreciative and we anticipate we will be doing something similar this year.  We had a very successful Action Serve Day on June 7, 2014 where we put in flower garden, repainted a faded map of the USA on the playground, and refinished the surface of the loft in the childcare center. We will be inquiring about other projects the staff would like to have us do next year.

How can you be a part of this mission? There are several ways:

1. Volunteer as an after school tutor (it is a lot of fun and not as hard as you think – you don’t need to be Einstein to tutor at this level).
2. Volunteer for a work project as they present themselves.
3. Donate BoxTops or Labels for Education. There is a box at the Needs Table in which to place these.  You can search the web to see which products carry these fundraising labels (just type in Box Tops or Labels for Education in your search browser).  There are handouts at the Needs table that explains it as well. Companies donate money to schools based on the number of these labels that are turned in – it can add up to a lot when many people are involved.
4. Donate supplies for teachers. Greatest needs are facial tissue and 8 ½ x 11 copy paper.  Other school supplies are always welcome: white board markers, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, etc.
5. Pray for our continued growth in the Walnut community – we know there is more we can do.  We are counting on God to lead us in the directions where needs and can be met and enhancements can be made.
6. Contact Eric Lindroth or Rob if you are interested in helping in anyway. 

Written by Eric Lindroth, Leadership Team Member