Culture Shift

Well the partners of First Assembly voted to move ahead with the Student Center project! We had a fantastic discussion as we sorted through questions, musings, concerns, dreams, fears... There is a clear need before us to more effectively and intentionally reach the youth culture of our community. And the vision seems to be clear to our church as well - people's hearts appear to be aligned with what God showed me out in the backyard last fall. There are still a lot of unknowns to be discovered. There will certainly be more discussions needed with the right people around the table to ensure we move forward with wisdom and supernatural guidance. But I AM READY! Let's get out of this boat!

One of the things that God has been slowly teaching me is that we need a culture shift to take place in the youth of this area. Before that can happen, the shift must first take place in our youth ministry. My good friend and mentor, Terry Parkman explained an observation he had about the way God effects long term change. He laid it out like this...

Vision --- Systems --- Behavior --- Culture --- Movement

It's a progression that is bookended by God - meaning both vision and movement only happen by God's hand. We can't manipulate or manufacture those things. God gives vision - and then we need to act. That's where the systems begin. It may sound like a corporate term and how could that fit into a spiritual environment? But every environment operates via systems. The human body is a miraculous combination of systems that function together to keep us alive. God loves systems! The systems lead to certain behavior, and after time that behavior becomes the culture of that group or organization. Makes a lot of sense right?

I believe God used Terry to teach me this principle because He was preparing me to make some changes in our culture. The vision came! And it's big and will require supernatural provision. So please pray for us. We have changed systems and developed some new ones because we know that a culture shift needs to happen. We will start by focusing on the internal culture of our student ministry. I don't know exactly what it looks like but we are on our way!