Operation Christmas Child and VeggieTales

Posted by Samuel Robles Jr.

Arise Christian Church is gettin' ready for a FREE community event featuring VeggieTales and Operation Christmas Child.
This video helps explain what we are doing on December 5th.

Saturday, November 14, 2009 | 0 Comments

New Church Planting Training '08

Posted by Samuel Robles Jr. Labels: ,

So I was looking through my Blog archive from 2008, and I came across some blogging I did during my new church ministry training in Indianapolis back in 2008. I blogged everyday during the week while we were there in preparation to plant in Orlando. Wow! It's amazing what I was thinking and writing about back then, and now to see Arise Christian Church a reality is just amazing! Here are the posts from over 1 year ago:








It has been a blessed journey!

Saturday, October 24, 2009 | 0 Comments

Setting goals & challenging yourself and your leadership

Posted by Samuel Robles Jr. Labels: , ,

In leadership, it's important to set goals for not only yourself, but also your leadership. From a new church perspective, it's important to take steps forward. Put "one foot in front of the other." Here is a simple method that I use to help me set goals for our group:

1) Assess my leadership group. Every group I have ever been in has its own identity, strengths, and gifts. While there are certain traits that are consistently found in various groups, there are also certain traits that make each group unique. Take time to identify them, and use them as a strength.

2) I need to also assess how my leaders can also continue to develop themselves. So while I am also assessing their strengths and gifts, I am also identifying weaknesses and areas of improvement. This is where the leader can become their coach. Be strategic about this, and challenge your leaders with love.

3) I promote teamwork. This is important because no one should be taking on heavy tasks alone. Delegate tasks appropriately, but also create ways that people can work together and collaborate. This not only enriches the project at hand, but it also builds the group cohesion and it's an opportunity for people to learn from each other. This can be a very rewarding moment.

I also want to add to this the importance of celebration! Yes, take time to celebrate, especially if you're a new church plant. A new church has no history and no archive. Just about everything that is done is usually the first time in that church's history, and every accomplishment feels great. Celebrate! Take time to pat yourself on the back, and take time to pat your leadership on the back and tell them "job well done." Be sure to reward your leadership and let them know that you appreciate them for their hard work and time. And above all, thank God, and celebrate His goodness, because without Him, none of this is possible!

Friday, October 16, 2009 | 0 Comments

Spiritual Growth vs. Congregational Growth

Posted by Samuel Robles Jr. Labels: , ,

This is a topic that requires much time for thought, reflection, and attention. I have read and heard various perspectives on this, and many of them (which speak from opposite ends of the spectrum) present valid points. I will offer a quick thought to the discussion.

I recently had a wonderful discussion on this with my coach, and I was asked how I measure our church's success. Well, my response was that I do not measure the success of our new church on numbers. My goal is not to create the largest congregation. My goal is for lives to come to Christ and be transformed from the inside out. With this ideological mindset, I find that a church can grow. 

Ultimately, I measure success by the testimonies of the people. For example, someone from our congregation recently shared with me how they have seen their life change. This person is what we call at Arise an "unreachable." They grew up in a church where Spanish was only spoken, and this person eventually left the church at a young age because they did not understand what was being said. This person has now found a church where they are feeling whole in their identity and being discipled. Understanding this brief background, this person was on vacation one weekend, and instead of taking a vacation from God on the Sunday morning of their vacation, they took time in the morning to read the Bible, listen to what we call "Arise music" on their mp3 player, and took time to meditate and pray before heading out to the theme park. Wow! For someone who is now starting to build a relationship with the Lord, this is amazing. This is what ministry is about.

Now, this does not discount the importance of a church planter and/or pastor needing to be attentive to church growth as well. Why? Because if the church is not growing, there is a possible "red flag." The church SHOULD and NEEDS to be working to fulfill the Great Commission. If a/the church is not spreading the Gospel message, then a self-evaluation needs to take place.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

Friday, October 16, 2009 | 0 Comments

Everyone is a person of color!

Posted by Samuel Robles Jr. Labels: , , , , ,

The first time I heard the phrase "person of color" was in 2005. I remember the exact year because it was my first year of seminary, and the first time I had lived far away from family & friends in a city someone confessed to me and warned me was a racist city. Talk about me feeling like a stranger in my own land: America!

The more I heard the phrase "person of color," and the more I was placed under that category by other people, the more I realized that it made me feel uncomfortable, uneasy, and at times, angry. Let me make this clear: I understand the phrase, and I understand what it is attempting to define, and I am very proud of who I am and who God created me to be. However, does a human being, a child of God, need to solely be defined by his/her skin color? As I continued to be looked upon and felt like I was an "other," I stopped hearing the words "person of color" and my brain began translating it to "anything but 'white'." (this is a bit amusing because I am a light skinned Puerto Rican)

Having grown up in diverse communities, e.g. New York, and for the most part, Orlando, I was never truly exposed to racism and race until 2005. I realized that I lived in a bubble all my life where diversity was the norm, but things changed when I left that bubble. For 4 years now I have wrestled with this phrase and the emotions it evokes in me, and I have come to my own conclusion: Everyone is a person of color! Not only are "black" and "brown" colors, but so is "white"! (please do not misinterpret me. I am not demonizing a particular people, but rather attempting to deconstruct what I find to be a discriminating ideology). In his book ¡Alabadle!, Justo González presents an idea that challenges the way "we" have been programmed to think about "race":

"Contrary to what we are told, racism is not the outcome of race, but vice versa. In other words, it is not race that gives rise to racism, but racism that gives rise to the very notion of 'race."" (16-17)

Talk about a paradigm shift! What exactly is separating "us" and creating divisions amongst ourselves? Could it be sin and hatred that in fact cause us to create a social hierarchy solely based on, in this context, our external appearance? What will it take for "us" to look past external appearances and look into what really makes us a person, the inside?

So what defines "race?" Unfortunately, from a more Westernized perspective, it is usually defined based on one's appearance. Ken Ham presents some intriguing scientific evidence involving genetics as he tackles the question, "Are there really different races?" He shares the following:

Dr. Harold Page Freeman, chief executive, president, and director of surgery at North General Hospital in Manhattan, reiterates, “If you ask what percentage of your genes is reflected in your external appearance, the basis by which we talk about race, the answer seems to be in the range of 0.01 percent.”

I find this to be eye-opening! This means that "we" are defining and labeling people based off of their external appearance, which is actually less than 1% of who they really are as a person. A plausible conclusion (in my opinion): The true differences that exist amongst people is not race, but culture. Even science has figured that out!

I've been wanting to see what this idea of "Everyone is a person of color" might look like. So, I asked someone to artistically express it, and here is what she came up with:

(Used by permission. Photographer: Sonia L. Acevedo)

The world has the potential to look different if we change our ideology and vocabulary from "you are a person of color" to "we are all people of color." Each person has worth and value, and who they are as an individual is celebrated. We are able to enjoy diversity, and realize that the Creator created it. We are all made in God's image, and no one is a mistake. Everyone is a person of color.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | 1 Comments

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