For the past two weeks, my online group has reached out, and prayed for, twitter followers and facebook friends during our regular meeting time…inspired by our leader, Tony Steward, and this missional challenge from LifeChurch’s ChurchOnline.  We individually posted on both forums that we would pray for anyone who gave us a prayer request over the next 30 minutes. We responded to all requests by praying right then online.  We typically found that twitter followers responded to our tweets with their prayer request in a Direct Message. On facebook, we found we had more success initiating individual chats with online friends and offering prayer. From time to time we came back to our TokBox room (where our group meets) to share how things were going. We pretty much typed our fingers off lifting folks in prayer, and went closer to an hour than our intended 1/2 hour because it was so inspiring!

As much as I enjoyed, and was inspired by, this mission, it caused me to think about my circle of influence on these two sites. Please don’t get me wrong, I love praying for those who are in ministry and those who are following Christ. But wouldn’t it be powerful if I was offering prayer to an unbeliever? Or to someone wondering how people live out their love for Christ? Most people, unbelievers included, are open to being prayed for.

Church leaders, as we look to using Social Media as a means of communicating, connecting, and reaching out, lets remember to embrace (follow/friend) those who may not hold our same beliefs. Search out and accept people from all walks and beliefs. In fact, maybe it’s time to reconsider your circle of influence both on and offline.

A wonderful start to our Exponential 2009 Conference – dinner with Alan Hirsch and Ed Stetzer (he’s in the picture just behind Kevin Richardson). Great to share this with Doug Gamble, Kevin Richardson, Tim Barbee and Andy Kaser – who REALLY likes his apple cobbler.  It was also fun to meet Aaron & Tracey Monts from Community Christian Church and NewThing Network who are planting a church in San Francisco.

Special thanks to Sherry Surratt and Leadership Network who supplied my ticket to the conference!

There were plenty of laughs and wonderful dialogue on what it means to be missional.  Overall, it seems  lots of churches are throwing around descriptional tags (including missional) trying to be unique in their approach or promotion. Has the word missional lost it’s meaning?

Here are a few nuggets from this evening for you to decide:

1. “Get your church plant out of the safety zone where you feel comfortable” Hirsch
2. “Ask yourself, Where does Jesus hang out? Most Christians don’t have meaningful friendships outside the church” Hirsch
3. “Put missional (sending) and incarnational (model) together” Hirsch
4. “Missional – root the mission of God, in God himself. God is a sender by nature, and He sends us” Stetzer
5. Missional definition has become an ‘ecclesiological junkdrawer” Stetzer
6. “The most underexplored resources are people themselves.” Hirsch
7. “It’s easy to make another site, it’s hard to make another Andy Stanley. Need to reproduce good leaders” Stetzer
8. “Put aside all the scripting you know about church, and go back to Jesus and think missionally. Learn the culture.” Hirsch
9. “People fall in love with the model of a church before the mission” Ed Stetzer
10. Do mission, and the church comes out of the back of it. Don’t frontload church. Alan Hirsch
    
11. “Be mission-minded AND missional” Stetzer

I am excited about tomorrow’s sessions – kicking it off with Erwin McManus! Check it out here.