Sharing Churches

I could blog on this issue all day! Churches sharing resources has been a big passion of mine for a long time. I love these big mega churches that people seem to hate on (my suspicion is that jealousy is one of the main components of this). The reason I love them is because after they are done using their creative sermons, series, kid movies, etc. they give them to other churches. New Spring Church in South Carolina and Life Church in Oklahoma are two that have done so much sharing resources and the best part is their resources are free.

While I am on my soap box, I have heard many Christians get onto Rick Warren and Saddleback church. My first thought is: How do you know the stuff you're saying? aka what blog have you been reading...My second thought is: Why haven't you flown out to California and talked with Mr. Warren about these things? After all, that's Biblical and you're gossiping if you haven't talked with the person. Third thought is: Do you know how much Rick Warren has done for the church of America? the resources that he has given...One last thought: Did you know that Rick Warren said that he would let you take 100 of the best people of your church and set them up against "any" 100 people of Saddleback? Wow, that is a bold statement! Make sure you hear the truth and not some things here and there; and then talk bad about a man of God and God's church! You're hurting God's church when you make negative comments about another church and you have not even been there!

With that said, I really want to focus in on sharing resources. I have done this a lot with my current church in Green Bay. Many times, the church hasn't even known. This summer we partnered with 2 churches to help them with their VBS decorations. Valley Baptist in Appleton partnered with us by helping to make VBS decorations. We then made our own decorations, added Valley's and when we were done Valley used them at their church! I also ran into a youth pastor from another church. He talked about getting ready for their VBS program and talked about the theme. A carnival theme; perfect I thought to myself; we have decorations from 3 years ago! We allowed them to borrow our ferris wheel, turnstiles, and character cutouts. Today, Pastor Rick and I picked them back up. The report of how it added to their program and how happy they were to be able to use them was priceless.

Really that is how all churches should be; no matter the denomination! My goal is to continue to partner with churches, partner with people, partner with ministries; we need to share resources!