Aspen Group Blog

Rex Miller, author of Millenium Matrix and friend of Aspen and CKN has a great article on the Your Church website entitled "What Would Luther Do?".  Click on the link or Luther's picture to read it.

Rex references three great "must read" books on the Digital Age subject, The World is Flat, The Long Tail and his Millenium Matrix.  I can vouch that all three are worth the time.

Those attending the WFX conference this week will get to hear Rex keynote on Thursday.  And please feel free to stop by the Aspen/CKN booth -- we'll be serving free gourmet coffee served by our CKN partner, Michael Trent of Third Place Consulting!

Hope to see you there... 

I just got back from the Exponential Conference in Orlando.  In addition to some very thought-provoking sessions, it was great to connect with several friends.  The team from Community Christian Church did a fantastic job with the conference -- Dave Ferguson was conference president and the CCC team was there hustling on stage and behind the scenes to make it a great week.

One of the best parts of the conference was seeing some friends and clients from “back home” such as Tim Harlow, Bill Brown and several others from Parkview Christian; Jerry McQuay of Christian Life Center, Jeff Robinson of Lincolnway Christian Church, Jul Medenblik of New Life Church, Lance Hurley of CDEA, Brad Leeper from Generis and others.  And as always, it’s great to hang out with our good friend, Bill Couchenour of Cogun, our partner in Cornerstone Knowledge Network.

Having just read “The Shaping of Things to Come” (see post below), I was primed to hear what Alan Hirsch had to say.  Among my many notes:

• The root word of mission is “sent”
• The Contemporary Church Growth Model appeals to at most 40% of the U.S. population (in Australia, where Alan’s from, it’s more like 15%) – you must become missional if you want to reach the other 60% i.e. act like a missionary would when taking the gospel to a foreign culture. America is becoming a foreign culture' we can't rely on the Judeo-Christian ethic as universally understood or embraced e.g. Europe is almost entirely post-Christian
  
• “Hell is the only place you can be safe from the disturbances of love” – C.S. Lewis.  Risking enough to truly love is a biblical imperative
• China went from 2 million to over 120 million Christians in 60 years without church buildings!
  
• The primary confession of the church should be “Jesus is my Lord and I cling to Him”.  Everything the church does must be calibrated back to Jesus.
  
• Consumerism is the alternate religion of our society.  It’s too easy for churches to play into this.

Andy Stanley had some great stuff on vision.  It had been awhile since I read his “Visioneering” so it was a good refresher:

• State it Simply (memorable is portable)
• Cast it Convincingly (Define the Problem, Offer a Solution, Explain Why and Why Now)
• Repeat it Regularly
• Celebrate it Systematically
• Embrace it Personally and Publicly

One more comment about the CCC team – the “co-emcee” was Eric Bramlett, their arts director.  Eric is one funny and creative dude. Speaking of that, you might enjoy the “Dude” series they played at the conference below:

In my reading of The Shaping of Things to Come by Frost and Hirsch, I came across this quote at the beginning of the last chapter:

"Strategy is all about commitment. If what you're doing isn't irrevocable, then you don't have a strategy--because anyone can do it...I've always wanted to treat life like I was an invading army and there was no turning back." -- Troy Tyler

Compelling... 

Awhile back we started the practice of celebrating the completion of a church project by taking the whole office to visit the new facility.  We typically enjoy a tour of the building, watch a video presentation of the project, and share lunch together.  These are great times as the entire team gets a chance to see the fruits of their labors.

Today our Frankfort Office celebrated the completion of the Moraine Valley Church project in Palos Heights, IL. Check out the pictures of the team enjoying the new café and other exciting spaces at MVC (in the Photo Gallery).  Other pictures of the completed facility were highlighted in a previous post and are still in the Gallery.

I know I speak for the whole Aspen team in expressing our feelings of thankfulness to be part of such projects like Moraine.  Special thanks to the MVC folks who opened the facility for us today – and especially our baristas Barb and Gail who served us some fabulous coffee drinks!

Great Job Team! 

And everywhere else in the Midwest too!  According to the Chicago Tribune, we endured 178 days since the last time the temperature hit the 70s.  That on top of the fact that we had the most snowfall since 1982 has tested our mettle, especially in the field.  But yesterday, it truly felt like spring! By pure coincidence (unbelievable, but true), I had the opportunity to visit the construction jobsite at Faith Lutheran Church in Aurora yesterday.  You can checkout the pictures in the Photo Gallery of this blog and also on Aspen’s construction website.

I’m always encouraged when I get to visit construction sites.  The physical manifestation of all the months of planning and design is so evident – and exciting!  And I’m likewise heartened whenever I get to connect with our fine cadre of field construction managers.  This particular job is being run by Kent Barber. 

Faith Lutheran was formed when two churches merged.  They have sold their respective buildings and are relocating to a fantastic site at the corner of Eola and Liberty in Aurora, IL.  Aspen was privileged to partner with them in 2007 to help with a re-design that got their building project on budget and “in the ground” last fall.  It’s been a tough, long winter – according to Kent, the worst he’s seen in his tenure as a field manager – but as the pictures testify, the building is flying out of the ground now!