Clif McKinley Dot Com

I was reading through some of my favorite Blogs, one of which is Evotional by Mark Batterson pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. In a post entitled “Turning Attenders into Inviters” Mark shared this:

• “I went into church planting with a driving desire: help create a church that people felt comfortable and confident inviting their unchurched friends to! And I think we’re getting there. Last year, 80% of NCCers invited 5+ friends. I honestly feel like people who aren’t inviting friends aren’t using NCC the way it was designed to be used.”

Yes it does say 80% invited 5 or more friends to church. To me that is encouraging and challenging at the same time. So my question is when was the last time we invited anyone to church? The statistics say that most people would go to church if someone simply invited them.

Another question, if we are not inviting friends to church, why not? Please share you thoughts.

There is a pretty cool conference that takes place each spring down in DC called the Buzz Conference. I was not able to attend but they posted all the the media for the conference and the web at http://buzzconference.com/media/ and I encourage you all to take some time and listen/watch.

There was one line from one messaged that has haunted me since I heard it. Craig Groeschel made the statement, “Don’t insult God by trying to be someone else.” WOW!!!!!!!!! Think about that, now stop and really think about that.

Authenticity, why is that so hard?

God help us to be who YOU created us to be, not who others expect us to be.

I am a music lover, and I am very band loyal. If I’m into a band I buy up everything they have done, I’m just that way. One band that I have been a fan of for a long time is Switchfoot. I love their sound, I love their style, I love their message, and I love their authenticity. I have had the chance to see them in concert half a dozen different times, when they were an unknown opening act, when they were breaking out in the Christian music world, and just as they were breaking out on secular radio. I have had the privilege to meet them a few times along the way and the one thing that struck me was their honesty and authenticity.

The have a song titled “Learning To Breathe” and as you can see that is also the title of the is blog. It is a great song, if you have never heard it get it of I-Tunes or pick it up where ever you buy music. The Chorus of the song goes:

“I’m learning to breathe
I’m learning to crawl
I’m finding that You and
You alone can break my fall
I’m living again, awake and alive
I’m dying to breathe in these abundant skies”

Breathing is something that is supposed to come naturally, but Spiritually speaking we fight God, we resist His grace and mercy, we resist His hands that try to lift our burdens, we resist the air that He provides. We so often try do it all in our own strength and we find ourselves face down. So I confess to you that I am still learning to breathe, learning to crawl, still finding that Christ alone can break my fall, finding that only in Him am I awake and alive, I am desperate to breathe in the air of His abundant grace, mercy, comfort, wisdom, and strength.

What should come so nature still takes work. Fighting the battle to overcome own selfishness and stupidity, fighting to overcome the sinful nature, but I’m not giving up and I hope that you won’t give up either. I hope you’ll visit the blog again and again and learn to breathe with me as I share my struggles, my thoughts, my growing pains, etc. My hope is that we will learn to depend on Christ and in turn breathe naturally, but until then we’re LEARNING TO BREATHE.

My favorite blog is Swerve the blog from Pastor Craig at Lifechurch.tv. Most days the topics are about leadership and the future of the church, great stuff. But today, after a week of intense blogs about the future of the church Craig lightened things up with a blog about his kids. This got me thinking about my kids. And the truth is I am forever changed. If I am being completely honest my three make me crazy a lot of the time, three kids under four is a hand full and poor Ange has to keep up with them all day, God give her grace and strength.

Maddox is all boy and almost never slows down. Chloe is mostly mellow, but very sensitive and even though she is the best behaved can be the most stubborn and difficult (she is just like me) and Arielle is the life of the party and in the middle of every conflict. Yes, most days they make me crazy, I think it has more to do with the ages then anything and I know it will be easier (in some ways) as they get older, but they challenge me every day and force me to chose what kind of man I am going to be.

Am I going to be selfish and short tempered, are I going to be gentle and understanding, am I going to be merciful and gracious, or will I be judgmental and hash. I’d like to say that I always reflect the character of Christ in my dealings, sadly that is not always the case. But I am learning.

I have never been someone who cried, tears have never come easy for me, it goes back to something in childhood, but that is another blog altogether, but suffice it to say I don’t really cry very often, or at least I never used to. Ange soften me a bit, but my kids have really melted my heart. I now have a little understanding of what God feels, a glimpse into the Father Heart of God, I now feel closer to the Lord because of my kids. I am forever changed and will continue to be changed and it is a very good thing.

Thanks guys, Daddy loves you!