Chapters 1 & 2:

The Purpose-Driven Phenomenon and

Intentionality and Leading

Just as a matter of reference, Tania Haber, who wrote the Foreword, is senior pastor at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.  Tania and I served Bethlehem Lutheran Church together in the 1980's, which she mentions in the Foreword.  She was fully immersed in the Purpose Driven model at Bethlehem, brought it to St. Luke's in Bloomington for several years, and is beginning to implement it at Westwood.  Tania is the senior pastor of the largest ELCA congregation served by a female pastor.

In the Introduction I mention Cambridge Lutheran where Dennis Tollefson and Andy Romstad serve, which is an alive and growing ELCA congregation in a small town north of the Twin Cities.  Dennis and Andy are two of the most amazing pastors I know; both are enthusiastic, faithful, Biblically sound, and totally sold on getting the Jesus thing done (to paraphrase another friend...).

September, 2004, brought some exciting changes at Cambridge Lutheran.  In a recent email, Andy wrote, "We started two brand new worship experiences this fall;  1) CrossRock 11:11 targets Sr. High students. After six weeks, attendance has ranged between 96 and 64.  2) Vespers is a monthly worship service of reflection and meditation using contemplative liturgies (i.e., Holden, Taize or some Episcopalian things) targeting people who seek a highly liturgical, high church experience of this nature. The age range for this service has been 50-65.

Neither of these two services is being led by Dennis, myself or the visitation pastor.  None of these services are using us as preachers. The preaching is being done entirely by lay leaders or visiting speakers (some ordained).  None of these services are being funded by the church in anyway (yet). They are entirely using existing resources or non-budgeted sources.  None of these ideas were pastor-driven.

 All of these ideas came from people within the congregation that were inspired and empowered to start them on their own. All of these ministries were grass-roots efforts that have steering teams from within the congregation.

That's an amazing "God thing" that God is doing at Cambridge Lutheran!

In the first chapter I mention Dave Waseman (page 8) who serves Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Manassas, Virginia.  Check out any of these websites and feel free to contact any of these pastors and ask them how this structure for ministry works in their congregations.  Their emails can be found on their websites, and they're all very receptive to hearing from you.  Dave's gifts lie in a profound sense of spiritual oneness with God, and with a deep commitment to prayer and discernment.  Dave has also mentored several pastors around the East Coast.

At St. Matthew, we took Saddleback's 101 (New Member Class), and rewrote it with more of a Lutheran theology and flavor.  I taught it for several years, and then we preached it in a four part series to teach our members that our goal of membership is not indoctrination but incorporation, as I mention on page 11.  After all those times I put it in written form, which I called "The Purpose of St. Matthew."  We now include it in all our new member packets, and it tells of the process of discipleship and spiritual growth that we expect of all our members.  You can see it here (it's long!), though we use something different now, entitled "Fresh Start", which uses each of the first letters of Fresh Start (Forgiveness, Renewal, etc.) to bring people into new levels of discipleship.  This offers a lot of information about the discipleship paths that we use at St. Matthew.

Additionally, you can see what we give our new members by clicking on:

• Our Ministry Opportunities

• St. Matthew Cliff Notes

• Our Staff

Many Purpose Driven Churches include a Covenant of Membership, which tells people what they can expect from the church, and what the church expects from them.  This is a part of the high commitment process that's important in becoming a Purpose Driven Lutheran church.  Bethlehem uses a new member covenant that you can see here.

On page 12 I tell you more about a commitment to ministry, and more information about that will be posted soon; I'm still collecting information that I'll share with you.  Again, if you're interested in sharing anything, email me and I'll post it on the site for others to see.

This is my Honda 750 motorcycle, which has a "got purpose?" sticker on the side, along with a Lutes emblem since my son is a sophomore at PLU.

It just makes life much more interesting to have purpose be a part of your life!