Jason Bedell Online

I'm a pastor- not a personal trainer. I've heard several people say to me, "Well, what I need to do is to just come to you if I ever have questions. Why would I try and research things on my own? You're here to do what I can't, right?"

Wrong. Well, sort of. I always tell people I have an open door and I am willing to talk about anything and everything (which is completely true). But, if people begin to rely solely on me for whether or not they are spiritually growing and I am the only one feeding into them with no work on their own... that is a bad scene.

Just in case you haven't gotten the memo yet- "I sin too." Yes, I am a professional Christian and I sin. I might be pastor, but I'm no personal trainer. I've got a couple of guys I pour a ton into because I believe they are the next leaders in the church, but if everyone looked to me for making sure they were doing everything with no work, searching, & reading on their own- man, we'd be in big trouble.

So it's a new journey for me here at Forefront and I'm reflecting back on the last 10+ years of ministry. There are so many different paths I could have gone down, but here I am...

a Professional Christian.

It's totally bizarre for me to think about. Seriously, have you ever thought about it? As a paid pastor at a church, I collect a pay check for doing what Christians should be doing if their heart is following after God. Again, bizarre.

But, there are quite a few misconceptions about what the role of a pastor is at the local church level. I figured I would take the time to share a series about what I've learned from being a paid pastor and some of the things that people don't see when they simply come from week to week and participate in the service.

I'm looking forward to this series and would love some inspiration with questions, ideas, topics and more to cover over this series. Talk to you people soon.

Much love,

Jason *over and out*

We are looking to kick off our Assimilation Team here at Forefront. "Jason, what the heck is an Assimilation Team?!" Great question. An "A.T." is a group of people who will help every single person who ever walks through the doors of Forefront, have the opportunity to move in their growth and relationship with Jesus. No one "has" to move to another step, but we want to make sure that if people want to take the next step, that we're there to help them and guide them along.

It's going to be a daunting task and we are looking for 14 people who are willing to really put in some time, phone calls, relationship building, and energy into making this system we've adopted work.

If you are good at, excited about, or willing to do any of the following, please shoot me an email at jason@forefront.org and put in the subject line, "Project: A-Team"

• Make phone calls to current and future Forefronters
• Be a part of guiding people through Starting Point, Gel Groups, Serving, Etc.
• Input information into our office database to track every single person's journey towards Jesus (i.e. have they been immersed? are they serving? are they in a gel group? are they committed to forefront? etc.)
• Friendly and enjoys building relationships with other people

I just had a talk with a pastor friend who started a new position last week at his church. He was almost in tears. He just had a bad run in with some people and it made him feel absolutely awful. He just didn't feel very accepted. He's pretty new to ministry in general and I gave him some kind words and helpful advice, but it made me think about another aspect of acceptance at churches...

How do the new people at your church feel?

I know other pastors who keep up with the blog and I wondered... When they walk through the door, what is their experience like? Do they feel welcome? Are they overwhelmed by 85 people telling them hello? Do they carry around a "new person" welcome bag that's more like a bright red signal flare saying, "Hey, I'm new here in case the look on my face wasn't enough." How do you communicate to people from the stage? Do you explain things so someone new feels comfortable?

I know we are constantly asking ourselves this question at Forefront, but there are always better ways to make someone feel accepted. Nobody needs to attack the newbs.

Tomorrow our Chesapeake Campus is going to be living the good life! They will be meeting for the first week inside of Greenbrier Mall's Cinema Cafe. I can't tell you how excited I am about this move. I think being in the heart of a mall is a great location. We will be in the hub of everything happening in the Chesapeake area.

Please pray for a great service, tons of new people, and that God will challenge you to invite a friend and check it out. The official BIG launch is on Sunday, February 15, 2009... but if you want to get a couple weeks of the "sneak peak," just head on over tomorrow morning at 10 am!

(Note to self: they ain't servin' pizza, subs, popcorn, beer or soft drinks- so... BYOSSS "Bring Your Own Service Snacks Sucka")

Jason *over and out*

Last Sunday at the Beach Campus I mentioned a project I would like for Forefront to do. The project is called, "Each One - Clothe One." As a body of guerrilla loving God followers we want everyone to aid in clothing one entire people group. For every shirt sold, you will be able to clothe 4 children in Vietnam. Currently, we are aiding the Mien people in Vietnam to get water projects completed, teach their teachers, and work with their schools.

This is a great opportunity to get involved with global missions, but we need your help. We are asking you to take ownership by helping us design a shirt to make this project happen. We will be accepting designs for 3 weeks, and posting the design that's chosen at the end of the submissions.

The winner will receive a free t-shirt of their design, a gift card to go get some grub, and the personal satisfaction that you made it possible for hundreds of Mien people to have clothing that they wouldn't have had before.

The deadline is February 4, 2009 and all submissions can be sent to: jason@forefront.org

Looking forward to seeing what you create.

Jason *over and out*

Ballin' (baaaaaaallll'~en)

1. /noun/ to play basketball (nope, not for this series)
2. /adjective/ one who is in a state of being extremely rich (chiggity-check)
3. /adjective/ to be well respected, in high status, wealthy beyond the norm (cha-cha-check)

In this next series, Ballin'- we are going to take a look at what it means to live a life in God when it comes to wealth, finances, and how does that line up with what American culture tells us. Let's face it, right now everyone is having a rough go at things financially and we all could use a pep talk and direction on how to better manage what God provides for us.

Check it out the next 4 weeks at Beach Campus and it starts the following week at Chesapeake. You won't want to miss it. (Rumor has it there is some rap action going on in the opening?!? I'm just saying, it should be interesting).

See you this Sunday.

Another way we look to change the face of discipleship is to beef up the Gel Group materials. Say you are totally vibing on the series and what God is speaking into your life. Currently if you wanted to dive deeper you have to figure it out on your own.

Well, we are going to provide a list of 3-5 books every series, that will allow you to further explore the topic if you feel God is moving you to. Also, we are compiling a list of online resources to help everyone study the Bible easier and grow on their own.

I know it’s difficult for some to hear, “on your own,” but it’s the truth. The church can be here to help and we should be. We can provide a means for you to grow with God- but it boils down to whether or not you choose to move deeper.

My prayer is that everyone at Forefront will choose to go deeper in ‘09 and God’s church here in Hampton Roads is going to blow up with a fire that can’t be put out.

Until next time,

Jason *over and out*

We were talking about discipleship in the last post. How will that change? Well, the first thing was providing resources via the hub table year ’round for people to grow and dive deeper. Before we talk about another way we aim to help with this, let me take a minute to comment on something you might be thinking-

“I want to dive deeper, but spiritually I’m a wreck. How do study materials help with the brokenness?”

I do not believe that providing resources will break your cycle of brokenness, but- I do believe that searching for God, admitting you are hurting, using study tools, praying to God about your pain, being a part of a Gel Group where you truly share your life (not just parts of it), and beginning to talk with God and people to work through the mess will bring you to a place of healing.

I hear a bunch of people saying, “I want to go deeper” at Gel Groups. I get it. But as I listen, many times what I hear are not the words you’re speaking- I hear in the background a pain, a hurt, a struggle and what your really saying is, “I want a way to be healed from this.” “I am trying to figure out how God can heal my life in this area, help me.” We want to help. Forefront aims to be place for people to come to Him and seek spiritual healing and meet God.

That’s why we think the face of discipleship needs to change. Another way it will change is to gut the program of “days 1-5 study” and in it’s place have the entire church read through the New Testament this year. If we have the entire church read through the N.T. in one year, I think amazing things will happen. I’ve talked to quite a few people who have told me, “I’ve never really read through a book of the Bible, much less the whole N.T.!”

We’re going to lay it out so everyone is reading it in a way where God speaks to you. You walk through it and ask questions that are relevant to you in your journey with God. If everyone commits to this, it will revolutionize Forefront. A church that knows the Bible is a force to be reckoned with. Seriously.

More on discipleship soon.

Jason

So with visiting Gel Groups we’ve been discussing how Forefront will change. It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue and we all have our own “ideal way” the church could be better in our eyes. I love that many of you have ideas on how Forefront can be better and the leadership/ staff see areas where we can grow- but if we run with everyone’s idea of the “perfect church” we’ll be an awful church. Because one person’s ideas conflict with someone else’s ideas and then no one’s happy.

As the lead pastor, God has tasked me with the challenge of balancing what the body (the church) needs and what we as a leadership, staff, and volunteers can take on and accomplish. We’ve talked about 2 things to tackle in 2009 so we can really do them and tackle them well:

• Assimilation (a process for people from the moment they come to Forefront to bring them to a point where they are plugged in and really serving)
• Discipleship (taking people deeper with God through aiding them in dealing with their brokenness and providing resources & opportunities for them to grow if they choose to)

With discipleship, we can’t “make” anyone become a disciple of Jesus. It’s impossible. It cannot be forced upon anyone, they have to choose to go deeper and grow. But, the church can provide a means to get there and show people where to go next.

One of the ways we’ll look to accomplish this is providing resources at the Hub Table for free. Study materials to work through on Topics like: Prayer and Fasting, Discovering God’s Word, Confession & Repentance, Resting in Jesus (basically getting away from the chaos of life), and more. We’re also looking to provide study materials that give an overview on books of the Bible. These would start sometime in January with different studies added as we get them printed and would be provided year round.

I’ll share more on some of our plans on discipleship later. Until then,

Jason *over and out*

To promote Gel Groups during this series, we introduced a new character: Cletus Jenkins. He is an instant staple who will return many times in the years to come. Enjoy these videos as much as our people have. How are you promoting things in your church in a creative way? Let us know.

I'm a big fan of Twitter, and love to blog. But, the next wave of quick interactive web ideas is moving and companies like, 12seconds.tv is leading the way.

So today we had our first 757Arts gathering and I am so pumped. I will be giving more of a summary soon, but figured I would let you guys know it was definitely successful for it's first meeting.

J-del **over and out**

Design is everything. It's what draws the eye, sparks the imagination, creates buzz, stirs conversation, and ultimately tells a story. Been thinking a lot about how design impacts our church culture.

What type of design are you pumping out?

We are looking at our website and how the design just doesn't flow the way we dreamed it. It's time to reThink EVERYTHING. While thinking about this, I found a great article. Dropped a couple of the 21 ideas below. To read the full article, click here.

1. Load Time – Most of us are very impatient and slow loading pages will not make us want to return. On the other hand, pages that load quickly will encourage visitors to navigate through your site knowing that they won’t have to wait very long for each page to load.

2. Error Messages – If new visitors to your site are getting error messages and are unable to access your site, they’re not going to be impressed and they won’t be back. There are a number of different errors that can occur. BlogStorm recently published an article Why Businesses Need a Website that Works, which takes a look at one unsuccessful website with an obvious problem.

3. Colors – The look of your site will obviously be a factor in your visitors’ first impressions. The colors of your website can have a huge impact on the overall attractiveness of the site. Choosing the right color combinations can be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of online tools that can help. For a list of resources and links to some articles on the psychology of colors, see Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

4. Logo/Branding – Another factor in the overall look of your website is the logo and branding. Most importantly, the logo should help to brand your business in the way that you want visitors and customers to think of you. For more information, see What Makes a Great Logo? from David Airey.

I am always looking for designers who inspire. Check out Jurryt Visser. Killer looking design.

So tomorrow is the first gathering of 757Arts and I think it's going to be pretty cool. Like anything I do, my expectations are higher than what many hope for, but we'll see. Let your peeps know and come on out.

Tomorrow at Moe's Southwest Grill
11:30-1pm
5222 Fairfield Shopping Center
Va Beach, VA 23464

Spread the word and see ya there!

We do some very different series here at Forefront, but I L-O-V-E where we take them. This series we're in right now, "Crappy Love Songs" is one of them. The logo design was altered from the free vine resources and we did a really easy intro video for each week.

It's a simple photoshop file of a TV and the logo inserted into a video editor. Then we placed the youtube video of each message/song behind it. The crowd loved it and it changes it up for the crowd to sing along to the crappy songs right before the message. This is an easy way to brand the message and get the effect your looking for without a lot of hurdles to jump through. Check it out:

God calls you.

You respond.

You and God walk hand in hand in ministry.

Ministry doesn't meet your expectations of the "win"?

What is your response?

What should it be? Why?



Thoughts...