Hitchhiking to Substance

Billy Hornsby & me preaching at Lifechurch.tv

Well, I got to live out a dream of sorts.  As many of you know, I’m a big Craig Groeschel fan.  And if you don’t know who he is, well… he’s the pastor of the amazing and innovative lifechurch.tv.  He’s a younger guy (40’s) yet they already have a bazillion campuses.  Seriously, this guy is taking over the world.  And, of course, the staff and I LOVE listening to his messages.  (But don’t start listening to him otherwise you’ll know when I rip him off!  :  )  …j/k…

But, seriously, he’s kind of a hero to me.  So when Billy Hornsby, the President of the ARC church planting organization, asked me to speak at a small church planters conference at Craig’s church, I was freaking out.  After all, I’ve seen so many video messages of Craig, it was rather surreal to actually stand on the same holy stage and teach others.

In fact, when I put on the headset microphone & wireless pack, it said, “Groeschel” on the side.  Immediately, I felt like I was holding a sacred relic! …you know… as if I was wearing Michael Jackson’s silver glove, or wearing Elvis’ belt!   I mean, this was the very same microphone that has blessed me over and over again!  I felt like I was borrowing the Fonzes’ leather jacket!  (Yes…I was a child of the early 80’s).

And right before I was about to take a picture with me cuddling it… (you know, for staff humor that would only make sense to my staff) it started giving feedback… so the sound guy had to switch it out.  But I still had time to wipe off some of the anointed sweat.  (again, I hope you know I’m kidding).

Of course, the conference was really amazing.  The video feeds will be seen by thousands of people.  And, I got HUGE feedback from a good number of church planters. But despite the amazing conference, I still wasn’t able to meet Craig! 

So, a bit deflated, I was at the airport, getting ready to fly home.  I had just ordered the most amazing footlong chilli-cheese dog to console my milieu of emotions; and, take a wild guess who was behind me at the airport?!  It was Craig Groeschel… in the flesh!

Immediately, I was star-struck (which doesn’t happen very often).  A few awkward words flew out of my mouth.  And it turns out:  He knew who I was!  Can you believe that?  He’s heard stuff about Substance!  What a crazy deal!

So listen up:  As fun as that was, there is something far more amazing that I want to make you aware of:   God Himself knows your name!   I mean, THE God who created the universe… the author of all life… the maker of all things, knows who you are and is knocking on your door!   …That’s CRAZY.

I mean… as great as it was to meet a hero of mine, it is a far greater privilege to be able to meet with Christ himself through prayer.  In fact, it’s almost mind-blowing that such an important person would even care enough to initiate friendship with us, let alone meet with us.

After I gobbled down my endless hotdog over good fellowship, I had a great moment with God today.  I’m looking at the clouds outside my window; and, I just know deep down in my heart that he’s smiling at me.  He love to bless his children.

So wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, don’t let God’s invitation to meet with him go unanswered.  With such an invitation as this, we need to spend time with him.  After all, He’s not just good.  He’s Great.  But you can’t take my word for it.  You gotta experience it for yourself!

 I love you guys!

Well we just finished doing all of our new service times this weekend… and it all rocks. Wow.  Our Saturday recording at our Operation Center was stinkin cool!

In case you didn’t know, starting this last Saturday August 1st, at 5pm, we started an event called the Saturday Night Recording at our Operation Center studio auditorium. We have so many people listening to our audio podcasts from around the country that we decided to change to full video podcasts of our messages. Keep in mind, our largest “service” could easily be our online audience. Also keep in mind, our coffee shop will also be open on Saturday nights!!!! : )  (we gave free coffees to everyone who showed up this last Saturday!)…. perhaps we’ll do it again : ) ?  But when all was said and done it was AWESOME!!!!  So, if you have a free Saturday, come on out and hear the message before anyone else does!  (sorry, no child-care : ( we’re recording : (

 But make sure you read the vision document that I linked in an earlier post!  It has a lot of important information about the changes we’re making this Fall.

And remember, at Fridley, our Sunday morning services are changing to 9am and 11 am. (No more 8 am service) So if you attended 8 am, we’re asking you to “sleep in for Jesus.”
Of course, it will still be a month before we launch at Northwestern, but be praying: These are exciting times!  And watch out for changes at Fridley.  Because we’re unveiling our new lighting and video set up at Fridley in the coming weeks. (And it will look stinking cool!)   God is Amazing!
See you there!!!

Sneak-peek of Cafe at the OC!

We have so many wonderful things going on this Fall.  We’re launching a new Substance worship experience at Northwestern’s fine arts theater (in addition to Fridley).  We’re also upgrading Fridley with a dual projection HD video system by this August (It will look like a huge vertical wall of video).  But, despite the flurry of facility updates, we can’t forget to celebrate our new Operation Center in Roseville!  

This Sunday, (July 19th) we are officially opening our new facility for business!  The coffee machine works beautifully!  (I hear that it’s basically the same set up that Starbucks uses).  So join us Sunday afternoon for our official Open House / Dedication event!  At 2:30 pm, doors open for tours (led by the staff and me).  At 3:30 we’re going to dedicate it.  And we’ll continue giving tours and hanging out until 4:30.  So join us!  God is doing amazing things.

And remember:  It’s not so much about “the building.” Rather, God has been at work in our church community.  We’ve had an amazing number of unchurched people give their lives to Christ in the past few months.  We’ve also had an unusual number of people get involved in new ministries that we are currently launching.  So, this building is nothing more than a symbol representing the true cause of our celebration:  the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven!!!!!  So pray that God enables us to continue glorifying him with the increase!  All right!?  I LOVE you guys!!!

I’m blogging from Hillsong Church in Australia right now. And I am totally inspired. For those of you who don’t know, Hillsong is perhaps the most influential contemporary worship church of the last century. (In fact, Hillsong United has been topping the secular itunes downloads for the last few weeks). Their songs are being played in more churches globally than any other songwriters in the last century.  (In fact, 1/2 of Substance’s worship music is simply Hillsong United  (but with a Substance spin : )
But their artistry is just insane. They have so much talent.
Of course, I’ve been meeting amazing pastors from all over the world. I got to know the pastor of Hillsong Paris… (he’s my age)! And hanging out in small rooms with Chris Tomlin strumming on his guitar is somewhat surreal.
In fact, just to give you an idea of how wild it is to be here: I was eating lunch, and suddenly a guy came up and started to massage my shoulders to say “hi”. I turn around and it’s Joel Osteen!?  How random.  Where else could you meet Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, and Joel Osteen in the same room?
Even more random, I’ve been running into Substance people! We are a global church!  I ran into NCU student …Becky Salter ?(Did I get your name right?).  Also, one of Substance’s original worship band members, Brooke Reynolds, was getting married right by my hotel. Her mom recognized one of the people in our group. I mean, we’re 15 time zones away… yet always at home! How small the world is!

But I’ll tell you what: As talented as Hillsong is, I can see this same raw potential at Substance. I know that it will be a few years before we have a national platform; but, the entire time I’ve been here, I sense the Spirit of God telling me: “Get Ready.”  So I’m just passing on the impression to you.  Let’s dream Big!

Opera House Sydney Harbor

Well the staff and I just released some juicy church information in the new document:   The Substance Fall Vision 2009!  As many of you know, we continue to grow.  We have around 450 college students going home for summer this year…yet amazingly, we’ve filled almost every seat since they left!  Naturally, even if we didn’t grow at all throughout the summer, we’d still need to add another church service.  But, thankfully, we’ve been ahead of the curve!

And that’s what this Fall Vision document / podcast is all about:  This fall, Substance is going to be adding another campus!  We’re also going to be doing a new Saturday night teaching event at our Operation Center.  So, if you have time, make sure you read the document or download the mp3 of me teaching it in person.   http://www.SubstanceChurch.com/content/pdf/TheFallVision2009.pdf

http://www.substancechurch.com/podcast/

Lastly, we’re doing a Q & A meeting about our multi-site set-up on Wed. July 1st at 7pm.  So, feel free to come if you want to hear more about all the changes!

But we love you guys.  Keep in prayer about all of these changes.  We believe that God is going to entrust us with over 700 unchurched people this fall.  That’s a HUGE responsibility because, these people aren’t numbers… rather they are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers.  So, thanks for being a part of all this!  As you read it, ask the Lord what part he’d have you join up with.  All right!?  Let’s rock this city!

Why such weird preaching pictures?

We just got more great publicity from the Star Tribune!  How cool is that?!  The article was on churches that market themselves through Twitter and Facebook.  Of course, a photograph of me and Substance was randomly put into the article.  Talk about random!  People started calling me last Sunday saying:  ”Pastor… what a cool little promo!”  But I had no idea what they were talking about.

Ironically, I didn’t “tweet” before this article  : )  (Tweeting is the verb for “to twitter”).   But, heck!  If the article is gonna talk about us… I might as well start!   So check out my new Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/PastorPeterHaas.  And in case you don’t know what Twitter is… it’s like a scaled down facebook!  I give periodic updates on all the crazy things I experience throughout the week.  So, if you like to hear random thoughts from me, then subscribe.  And, I’ll tell you what:  I’m gonna be unveiling some really cool leadership stuff in the coming months.  So, if you sign up, you’ll get the tantalizing scoop before anyone else!

But here is the link to the article if you want to check it out!  http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/47963531.html?elr=KArksUUUU

or alternately, you can search the startribune.com site for the June 14th 2009 article “Chapter, verse, text and tweet”

Thank you Star Tribune!

Teaching Church Planters

Wow, I just got to do one of the coolest things yesterday.  In case you didn’t know, we belong to one of the most amazing church organizations called the Association of Related Churches. (ARC).   Yesterday was a national “C.P.R.” Church Planters Roundtable where people fly in from all across the country to learn about the ARC and other essential church planting mentalities.  But, I actually got to teach some of it.  And I’ll tell you what:  Substance, we’re gonna be doing a lot of this.  There is such a need for new churches.  And there are not enough people putting enough time into mentoring a new wave of planters.  But I’m telling you what:   We’re gonna do it.  So get ready:   God is gonna use us to launch 100’s of churches in the next couple years.

Are you an American Idol Fan?

I told myself:  “Peter, you are not gonna watch that this year.”  And of course, for some reason, I got sucked in again.  Last year, the worship pastor of one of my mentor pastors got into the finals (remember Chris Sligh).  So, of course, I had to vote. After all, I felt like he was family.  Again, this year, another one of my pastor friends’ worship leaders made it into the finals… Can you guess who?  No. Not Danny Gokey.  It’s Chris Allen from Arkansas.

Do you guys remember when Pastor Rick Bezet preached here?  (we’ve added almost 1500 members since then; so, I don’t suppose that 90% of you would.) But, anyway, that’s one of his guys!  Come ON!!!!!!!!  I LOVE it when Christians get a platform into secular realms!  On a similar note, I knew that Lifehouse, the Fray, and Mat Kearney were Christians, but I recently found out that the members of One Republic were Christians too!  (So, now I love them even more!).

But seriously, do you want to know why Christians are suddenly having a huge impact on secular audiences?  It’s because 40 years ago, churches began embracing contemporary worship on Sunday mornings.  I.e., we created an incubation chamber for Christian artists.  And finally, we are reaping the benefits.  The same is gonna happen for Christian film-makers if churches continue integrating film more into their Sunday morning worship experiences.

I know that change comes slowly in most Christian churches.  Most progressive trends in churches are written off as being “compromised” or “worldly.”  In fact, every time the church has introduced a new instrument or technology into the church, there’s been a movement to squelch it under the guise of “eliminating worldliness;” but, I have a different spin on worship formats.  I believe that it’s not so much the “form” of worship which glorifies God.  It’s the heart of the worshipper.  Just because YOU are not accustomed to worshipping to hip-hop doesn’t mean that that music style is intrinsically “pagan.”

In fact, a similar worship debate was going on during the time of Christ.   Once, when a woman started this “worship-form debate” with Christ, Jesus basically responded: “A time is coming when neither of these formats will matter.  Then he said the famous line: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth.  For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks“  Jn. 4:23-24.

So, as we all grow older, let’s keep in mind:  Worship forms are always changing.  Just because it’s strange to us doesn’t mean it’s not worshipful.  Secondly, almost every worship form in church history has been nothing more than a “sanctified version” of a secular worship form.  Even organs were considered a completely pagan instrument at one time!  (Heck:  Easter is the name of the pagan godess of fertility; yet, it’s become one of the largest symbols of Christ’s resurrection!!)  You see:  God can sanctify any instrument or holiday.  So, let’s get beyond the silliness of thinking God is so petty as to prefer a “six stringed lyre” over an electric guitar.  And lastly, if the church doesn’t embrace new worship forms, we’ll never reclaim the secular art scene for Christ.  After every worship revival in the church, there has followed a “Christian Art Renaissance”.  So, let’s keep in mind:  As we embrace new forms of worship, we’re not only blessing our kids, but we’re starting new vehicles of evangelism.

So, Chris Allen:  Go for it this next week on American Idol.  The body of Christ is proud to have sons and daughters like you!

What a crazy 24 hours! I just got back from a cool event in Washington D.C. No. I didn’t go for the national day of prayer. (However, I did throw a few up while I was there). Rather, it was basically a pastor’s round-table discussing the emerging forms of 21^st century Pentecostalism. But the topic itself wasn’t the coolest part. The best part was meeting guys like Mark Batterson at National Community Church.

What I love about that church is that it’s right in the middle of everything (right next to Union Station on Capitol hill.) Obviously, to be in a place like that, building options are astronomically expensive; yet, God’s presence needs to be manifested everywhere.

Of course, the church realized that they need to create seats for lost people; but, they can’t afford to build big suburban style church auditoriums. So, out of necessity, they’ve turned to a video venue model. In fact, listen to how they do it.

They have a gorgeous coffee shop. In the basement, they have a 150 seat tv. studio auditorium (in which they have 2 Saturday night services). They record the sermon on video, then they have 6 other larger Sunday services the next day in movie theaters up and down the subway system (all of which are portable)! And you thought Substance had a complex set-up!

Of course, I know that some people perceive that “video venues” are cold, impersonal, and are probably the creation of an ego-maniac teaching pastor. But, if you ever visit churches like N.C.C., your mind will be changed forever!

Seriously, because of video-venue methods of church, N.C.C. is able to pour millions of more dollars into missions than the typical church. Even more, their staff pastors don’t need to waste endless time writing “duplicate sermons” when instead they could pour their time into discipleship. They also get to plant niche churches into expensive and/or urban areas that would never thrive outside of a “video-venue” model.

Anyway, even if you don’t agree with non-traditional models, we can still thank God for creativity. Because creative pastors like that are the ultimate answer to most of the prayers which went up last Thursday.

And, Oh Yea… Because it’s the national day of prayer… why do you throw up a few prayers of your own!

“God, I thank you for your gracious blessing on Substance. Help us be the church that can be a light unto this nation!” Amen?

17 years ago! Note: Grunge was cool then.

Peter Haas & wife 2009 - & 17 years hotter!

My wife and I started dating over 17 years ago! We’re celebrating her 34^th birthday today. And that means, we’ve been together for more years than we’ve been apart. Isn’t that crazy? In fact, for her 17^th birthday, I bought her a cassette tape of a band called “The Cure.” (And, if you don’t know what a cassette tape is, it’s a square hunk of plastic that people once used to play music).  And if I’m not mistaken, she bought me silk boxer shorts from Structure for my 17th birthday (but, we won’t talk about that.)

But, here’s the story: My wife and I have known each other through about 5 different hair styles (that’s a long time!) So, I just wanted to say publically: I love you sweetie! May you be blessed on your birthday. And I look forward to many exciting years together!

Love, Peter