tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2253529165034405240.post-51923254215452583322008-02-21T06:00:00.003-05:002008-02-21T22:53:51.450-05:002008-02-21T22:53:51.450-05:00<span style="font-size:78%;"><em>I'm in Israel and so I'm having a guest blogger - Kevin Colon. He's one of my favorite people but, more importantly, started a church in what may be the most difficult place in the United States - Boulder, Colorado. Kevin is the real deal and we can learn a lot from him. Here's Kevin:</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">So what else is there to learn? How about this one: <strong>Learn to Apologize</strong>.<br /><br />The majority of my conversations with people that are not interested in God go like this:<br /><br />“Hey, how’s it going, I’m Kevin.”<br />- “Hello.”<br />Bla, Bla, bla, bla, bla (I’m not trying to be crass here….just speeding along the conversation.)<br />- “Oh so I hear you’re a pastor here”<br />“Yep…can you believe it?”<br />- “Oh yeah I can believe it.”<br />“So you guys have any kind of faith background”<br />- “Yeah…but that was a long time ago.”<br />“Not a good experience, huh?”<br />- “That’s an understatement.”<br />“That bad?”<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And then they go into the usual hypocrisy, judgmental, anti-everything, rules and regulations talk about the church and Christians that we all know about.<br /><br />And then I have a choice to make about my response.<br />1. I can justify and try to explain the absurd actions of my brothers and sisters (OH…I hate having to love them…pray for me) OR<br />2. I can say… "<strong>I’m sorry</strong>."<br /><br />Now, this is where you’re going to have to be brushed up on your church history. I usually say, “I’m sorry” and I follow that up with the atrocities of the church for the past several hundred years and I’ll throw in a couple of contemporary examples as well. You wouldn’t believe the response I get.<br /><br />“Wait…you agree. You’re sorry? You’re not going to fight back and defend this stuff?”<br />“No way…you’re right…you’re absolutely right. We suck as Christians. But that’s the funny thing….Jesus knew we would screw it all up and that’s why he ends up being such an important part of history.”<br /><br />“What do you mean?”<br /><br />And then, of course, I take out my four spiritual laws, my napkin with the bridge illustration and my Jesus Film on my IPOD and get busy. NOT!<br /><br />Then I finally get to tell them my story….how my life was full of religion and then I found what Jesus actually wanted.” Short, sweet….just another something-something for them to nibble on.<br /><br />More questions….more sharing…..more listening….more nodding ….more trust building….more connections….the magic starts happening…hearts are being opened….God is getting to do the inside stuff….and you are just there for the ride….<br /><br />And you know what that gets you? A second conversation! And that’s a <strong>HUGE WIN!</strong> When you can get to the second conversation with a person that is outside the family of God and they’re cool with you and receptive to what you’ve got to say then pat yourself on the back, take yourself out to Outback and get the 11 oz instead of the 8 oz. Outback special and start dancing on the ceiling with Lionel Richie.<br /><br />Learn to apologize and win the second conversation! (Just don’t screw that one up.)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">- featured on newchurches.com</span>Vince Antonucci:http://www.blogger.com/profile/01577695138497215119noreply@blogger.com