BENJI.ZIMMER.MN


Did you know I moved? Well I did. VISIT BENJI.ZIMMER.MN to stay in touch with Read more

Happy 1st Birthday Alexis Grace


Milestones define most of our lives: The moment I met Ashley. The day we got married. The day she walked into my work to surprise Read more

Lent Recap


By a show of hands, how many of you knew that Lent was 47 days? Okay you can put your hand down now & Read more

When It's Your Turn


A few weeks ago I posted about: what is the hardest thing you have endured? A few days later we watched and prayed Read more

Be encouraged.


In Paul's first letter to the church in Thessaloniki , he offers some closing words in chapter 5. "For God chose to save us Read more

Creating Doubt


Lately I have been thinking a lot about . . . DOUBT. Do you think it is healthy for churches, pastors or Christians in Read more

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Part 4 – Central Rough Cuts

Posted on 05/12/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | Leave a comment

I have the privilege of being on staff at an amazing church that is committed to helping people experience uncensored grace here in Sin City. One of the tag lines that we use around here is: What happens in Vegas changes the world. As a result Sin City is quickly becoming Grace City. One of the ways that Central is helping to change the world is through the amazing video team we have on staff. The guys over at Central Rough Cuts are phenomenal!

The team is made of up Chris Sattel, Matt Szczepanski, David Tate and Justin Jackson. With the help of plenty of volunteer actors these guys produce top-notch videos that are being seen all over the world. After taking a break for a month they are back posting on their website on a regular basis. The thing I like about the website is that they often release the videos online before we show them during our weekend services. So if you haven’t subscribed to the RSS Feed I highly recommend that you do. If you don’t subscribe to blogs/podcasts check out just two of the recent videos released by these guys:

The guys in our video department are working hard week in and week out to make these videos I want to share the new about there efforts. So if you haven’t clicked over to check out some of their work go now! If you are interested in purchasing some of these videos and others to use in your church they can be purchased from Pursuit or Worship House Media.

Part 3 – Church Media Design TV

Posted on 05/11/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 2 Comments

On the shores of Lake Michigan in there is a reasonable sized community of 12,000 people nestled in the sand dunes a couple hours north of Chicago. Grand Haven Michigan is called Coast Guard City USA because it is home to the United States Coast Guard Festival. It is a great place to live and if you want to buy some real estate, feel free to contact my mom. Grand Haven is also home to something that might be flying under your radar: Church Media Design TV.

Church Media Design or CMDTV was started just over a year ago by innovator and church tech junkie Brad Zimmerman. Yes that is my brother and yes he is a genius. No I am not biased. Truth be told – over the years my brother and I have not always seen eye to eye. He was the punk little brother and I was the jerk older brother. We fought often. But during his years at Full Sail we spent time reconnecting and growing as brothers. Something amazing happened during those years, we went from hating each other to be being best friends. Something else amazing happened, my brother blossomed into an amazing designer and creative genius.

After a few years of only sharing his talents with his church he came up with the idea to start a web-based television show that basically gives viewers “tips, tricks & how-tos.” Brad is basically taking his education and gifting it to everyone for free! Brad’s heart is huge for churches. He is passionate about helping to equip churches to produce great media that appeals to attendees and guests. Brad’s passion about what he does and it shows in every episode.

Brad with the help of Adam Foster produce weekly episodes that can help take your ministry, organization or church to the next level in media content. If anything I would recommend watching some of the episodes for the all the FREE stuff that my brother gives away. With partners like Collide Magazine, Worship House Media, and The Ooze Tv Brad is going to get you discounts and freebies you can not get anywhere else.

If you have not watched an episode I would highly recommend you do. NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE! The thing about Brad’s show that caught me off guard is that it was designed to be of use to church “techies” but in fact it is a great resource for anyone. Brad has episodes on simple things like episode 36: “Saving YouTube” and Episode 46: “Photoshop Brush Viewer” among other ones that are extremely helpful to anyone who is just starting out on the media/graphic design/website design journey. There are plenty of helpful episodes on ProPresenter, After Effects and other programs. Brad has something for everyone, so make sure to stop by and check out the site. A new episode posts every Monday.

If you are interested in seeing Brad speak in person he will be doing a breakout at the Echo Conference in Dallas July 29-31.

Part 2 – My Mom

Posted on 05/10/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Today is Mother’s Day. A holiday dedicated to celebrating the lives of mothers. This is my second post in a series of blogs that will be about other people and organizations. Since it is mothers day what better thing is there to write about than my mom? I know that your mom is probably pretty awesome, most moms are, but the reality is that my mom truly is the best.

My mom is an amazing woman who loves God and other people.  Her heart is huge for hurting women.  She has been through a whole bunch of garbage during her life and yet she is still a brilliant pearl amongst all the oysters life has thrown her way. I love my mom and for most of my life she has been my best friend. She has done so much for my brother and me over the years it would be near impossible to communicate how much I value her. But here are just a few things that my mom did for me that I will never forget . . .

. . . staying up late  with her playing card games in the camper

. . .  the day she taught me how to drive a manual transmission

. . . all the mornings she got up early to pray for my brother and me

. . . her willingness to allow me to try things

. . . the way she held me when I left for Africa and embraced me when I returned

. . . all the countless hours spent cheering for me on the sidelines

. . . that no matter what time it was I could always talk to her and still can

. . . the day she rescued Joel, Paul and me in Minnesota

. . . I will never forget how much she loves me and how much she cares

Moms are amazing, they give so much and love so deeply. My mom is no exception to that. I am so blessed to have a mom who has invested in me to the best I could be, encouraged me to be who God made me to be and entrusted me to live my life to the fullest. My mom has sacrificed so much for my brother and me. I will never forget her willingness to set her dreams aside to provide for my brother and me. I love you mom. Happy Mothers Day!

Part 1 – My Bride

Posted on 05/09/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Honesty | 2 Comments

Yesterday I said I was going to start a 7 part series about other people and organizations. There is no better place than to start than with my bride Ashley. A lot of you who read this blog have met me along the road of life, maybe somewhere on tour, at a conference, in school or through a friend. But I know that a large majority of you have never met my wife, Ashley.

Ashley’s depth makes it near impossible to summarize the portion of her parts, but there are so many words that come to mind when I think of her:

Lover. Confident in herself. Passionate. Concerned for others. Optimistic about life. Multifaceted. Beautiful inside. Gorgeous outside. Driven by her dreams. Positive. Balanced. Fun encompasses her. Willing to try it all. Brilliant. Witty. Lovable. Always outgoing. Bold. Inclusive. Joyful. Extremely loyal. Engaging. Tremendous wordsmith. Creative. Direct. Radiant. Graceful. Dynamic communicator. Caring. Friendly. Compassionate. Relaxed. Kindhearted. Smarter than me. Elegant. Romantic. Gifted writer. Upbeat. Stunning. Devoted to family. Tender to the hurting. Gentle. Affectionate. Happy. Amazing. Lover of children, animals, desserts and The Beatles.

My bride

Ashley truly is one of God’s original masterpieces. I love her with all my heart.

Not About Me Anymore

Posted on 05/08/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

nar⋅cis⋅sism

Definition: inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity

Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism

A while back Mike Foster posted a blog over at Deadly Viper about how many new blogs are started everyday and that the majority of them are about the exact same thing: the author of the blog. Mike’s post has been lingering in the back of my mind for the last few months. Down Write Honest is about me and to be honest with you I am growing tired of that idea. So I am going to flip the narcisism switch for the next week (at least) and post about other people/organizations for a few days.  I hope to bring you stories about people you have never met and organizations you should know about. Life does not revolve around me . . . lately it has just felt that way.

Enjoy.

Fishers of Men

Posted on 05/06/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 10 Comments

I will make you fishers of men
fishers of men,
fishers of men,
If you follow me.
If you follow me.
If you follow me.
I will make you fishers of men
If you follow me.


This traditional children’s song was taken from Matthew 4:19 where Jesus says to two fishermen, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” This past weekend at Central Christian almost felt like fishing because of the sheer number of people that got baptized. But as news has spread about the amazing thing that has happened in Vegas, one subtle question has arisen from various people I have interacted with: what is next?

Becoming a believing and baptized Christian is not the end of the Christian journey, but rather the beginning. Recently I had the chance to sit in on a luncheon where author Tony Morgan gave a quick 20 minute presentation. During the talk he hit on the subject of discipleship. He quoted Matthew 28 where Jesus called us to make disciples. During Tony’s Talk he said, “It is not the churches job to disciple it is the disciples job to disciple.”

How would you disciple such a large number of people? What are your thoughts on Tony’s quote?

Baptism Celebration Weekend

Posted on 05/03/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 8 Comments

“For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”- Galatians 3:26-28 NLT

A few months ago something started brewing behind the scenes at Central Christian Church in the Las Vegas Valley. I can not say for certain whom originated the idea, but I am sure it was directly related to the executive leadership of Central as well as Jayne Post and her team leading the way for an all-out, no holds bar baptism celebration.

In the past 18 months at Central Christian Church over 2,500 people have come to know Christ as their personal savior and have NOT been baptized (keep in mind there are hundreds more whom have come to know Christ and have been baptized). It was clear that we needed to provide a better understanding of what baptism was and provide people with the opportunity to take a next step in their lifelong journey to full devotion in Christ.

The date was set on the calender and our team started praying that God would lead 500 to step out and get baptized. Jayne and her team planned and detailed as best they could. Swimming pools were brought in, stanchions put in place and registration cards printed. The team thought of everything: garbage bags for wet car seats, towels, swim trunks, dark colored shirts for anyone wearing white, etc. It was planned as well as it could have been.

Jud got on stage and laid out a tremendous mini-sermon on the meaning of baptism and challenged everyone to take that next step, “What is holding you back?” The message was poignant and perfect for the day. Every time Jud challenged people to come forward, they did . . . by the HUNDREDS!! All four of our campuses (Henderson, Summerlin, Southwest & online) hosted the opportunity to get baptized. When the dust had settled and the pools were emptied, 1,458 people had been united with Christ through baptism. It was a truly remarkable and historical weekend for our church, Las Vegas and the Kingdom of God. There will be hundreds of stories that come from this weekend. Literally a thousand plus “God moments.”

None will stand more clear in my mind than my own.

Some of you may have been giving my life a “looky-loo” from the outside in. Maybe you follow me on Facebook or Twitter or maybe you have been reading this blog for a few months. If you do, you may know that my relationship with my wife has been a roller coaster that often seemed as though it was going to crash. But through the months of ups and downs God has been extremely faithful to continually tug on our hearts. God was fighting for our marriage even when we may not have felt like making it work. I am so excited to share that this weekend Ashley and I were baptized together to show our re-commitment to our marriage and our unity with Christ. It was an amazing moment in our lives together and a huge step in our marriage. I will never forget it.

No pictures of our actual baptism are available yet, but there will be some video footage coming soon. But for now, here is a picture from just after we were baptized.

There will be so many more amazing photos than what I snapped but here are just a handful of shots from Sunday after our 11:45 service ->

Baptism for any of us is possible because we are . . .

I think my favorite picture I snapped was this one. . . pure & unfiltered JOY

Stephen Baldwin even stopped by while he was in town to see what was happening at Central!

It was an incredible weekend and I am so excited to hear all the amazing stories that will come from what God did here!

FYI – The message will be available on the website soon.

Catalyst West – Francis Chan

Posted on 05/03/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 1 Comment

After reading an advance copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan I was challenged and intrigued. Chan quickly became one of my favorite voices in ministry. His podcast from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California is one of my favorites. You could say I am a Chan Fan. So when I had the chance to attended Catalyst West Coast and found out Chan was speaking I was ecstatic. His session was my most anticipated.

The Holy Spirit did not disappoint.

Notice I did not say Francis Chan did not disappoint. While Chan was a gifted communicator and passionate pastor, his talk was highlighted by the fact that it was all about the Holy Spirit. The more Chan spoke, the more you could sense the presence of God descending on the room. After Chan finished speaking the worship that ensued was absolutely incredible. Hearing Francis speak was of tremendous value to me because it reminded me that none of this (this = life) is about us. This simple idea is so refreshing in an era of history where we are becoming more and more narcissistic as a society.

Here are some notes I scribbled from Chan’s talk . . .

  • While listening to Chan, I jotted down –> this is all about God, this is not about Francis.
  • Chan made a statement along the lines of, “When I hear the people at my church talk more about Francis Chan than they do about the Holy Spirit it is a clear sign I am not doing my job.”
  • “Front row next to the dugout . . . you know, that is how I roll.” – Chan talking about his trip to opening day of the Dodgers. He continued on with the example talking about how he only goes to games when it is ideal, just like most churchgoers who only go to church when it is perfect. He finished the story with this quote, “There are no ‘ifs’ only ‘even if’”.
  • “The Book of Acts is quite possibly my least favorite book in the Bible, because you never read it and say, ‘Wow that is just like us.’”
  • “The Holy Spirit is unstoppable, what bothers me is that our churches are so stoppable now.”
  • “We have churches full of knowledgeable and scared believers.”
  • “We have people who have been Christians for 10 years and they can not disciple someone!”
  • “We need to pray for boldness. Paul is one of the boldest people in human history and he still prayed for boldness!”
  • “We have to learn to love the gospel, not just the way it is delivered.”
  • “Part of the reason why we have a scared churches is because they have scared pastors.”
  • “John Piper bugs me.”
  • “Marriage books often idolize marriage.”
  • “When was the last time you were astonished by the boldness of someone?”
  • “I remember being taught the difference between exegesis and isogesis in seminary.”
  • Exegesis = let the scriptures lead out
  • Isogesis = start with an idea and pull out verses
  • “I was taught to teach exegetically but I was never taught to live exegetically.”
  • “I am begging you to get alone with the scripture!”
  • “If you had started with scripture would you do church the same way you do?”
  • “If you read this book [holding his Bible up] cover to cover – what would you come up with?”
  • “Do we have the boldness to make the changes.”
  • Francis finished with a powerful story about his own daughter and her relationship with God, it was the one story from the conference that hit home the most. I was humbly reminded that we can not change the spiritual course of those around us, we can only set an example. It is the power of God moving through his spirit that changes people. “Unless your spirit comes I am helpless.” Chan confessed to God his desire to see change in his daughter.
  • “Something happens only when the Holy Spirit is involved.”

Tsylatac – I had it all backwards

Posted on 05/01/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

I didn’t know what to expect from Catalyst West Coast. I had heard legends about a team of amazing people located just outside of Atlanta who have been putting on stellar leadership conferences every October for young leaders for nearly a decade. But I wondered if this conference would meet my expectations, because I do expect a lot. I really don’t know what all my expectations were but I knew some of them: I expected there to be 3,000 trendy hipster pastors with their fohawks and iphones. I expected Rick Warren to be arrogant. I expected it to be hoopla.

I HAD IT ALL BACKWARDS.

Catalyst West Coast was a plate full of humility served hot with a side of selfishness. It was not what I had expected.

Andy Stanley started the speaking portion of the conference with a simple introductory idea, “My cup is half full. My job is to pour my cup into as many cups as possible.” With that simple idea the conference turned in a direction I had not really expected. I think I had a preconceived idea that the pastors, speakers and leaders were going to get up in front of the crowd and wow us with there teaching and insights. I expected them to highlight the great things going on at their churches or organizations. I expected them to be all about them.

IT NEVER HAPPENED.

Of course Rick talked about Saddleback, but how could Rick not talk about Saddleback? That is what he knows. Yes there were plenty of hipsters and fohawks. And yes there was plenty of  fun and fanfare. But behind it all, there was one very clear message: you matter. I have never been to a conference that made me feel more valued than the Catalyst conference. I think I owe them an apology.

Dear Platform Speakers & Catalyst Staff -

Thank you for handing me a plate full of humility. Please forgive me for my assumptions, expectations and preconceived ideas. I was wrong. While drifting around the back of the room taking photos and scribbling notes during the two days I realized how much you care about young leaders and the future of the church. You were not about putting on a show but hosting an event where young leaders could be invested in.

We could all see how worn out Erwin McManus was but yet he was there sharing his heart. We could hear the passion in Brian Houston for the church. In between the jokes Rick and Andy made it abundantly clear that they care deeply about young leaders. The pastoral nature of Francis Chan and Jud Wilhite was welcomed with open arms. Seeing Perry encourage and empathize with audience sealed the deal.

I realized over the past week as I have reflected on the conference that I am the one who needed to be knocked down a peg or two. I came in with my guns drawn and my heart hardened. I love my church and the job that I have but somewhere in the past few years my heart has become bitter towards other ministries and organizations. I only cared about what I cared about. Catalyst West Coast was a fresh reminder of my selfishness and that we are all on the same team. If one of us does something great, we all do something great. If one of us fails, we all fail.

Thank you for reminding me how important it is to celebrate the wins of others. Thank you for hosting a conference that truly does care about young leaders and gives them tools to become better ones.

Humbled -

Benji Zimmerman

3 Things I Never Expected from Catalyst West Coast

Posted on 05/01/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

#1. I pulled in the parking lot at Mariners Church in Irvine California for day 1 of the conference and I was completely shocked to see this:

I lived on this exact tour bus for over 2 years. It smelled, broke down often and was freezing cold, but it was my home. Seeing it brought back a flood of old memories. It was a nostalgic moment. After talking with Ben I discovered that Aaron Keyes now owns my old house on wheels. I had a chance to talk with Aaron for a few minutes, but I failed to mention this old story about when the bus caught fire in South Dakota.

#2. Walking through the audience and out of no where some kid calls out my name and hugged me. Well Mike isn’t so much of a kid anymore (congrats to him and his wife Joni on having their first baby soon).  My only brother Brad is the guru behind the world famous (okay, soon to be world famous) Church Media Design TV. My brother’s best friend is  Mike Morgan the worship pastor at Timberlake Christian Fellowship in Washington state. I have been supporting Mike for years on his mission trips and adventures. I have been cheer-leading him as he released new albums. I have seen Mike grow up. However over the last few years we have lost touch as he has moved around the West Coast, but that all changed at Catalyst when I was hugged by old friend.

#3. Do you know why you do what you do? For example, if you are a teacher why do you teach? I am in ministry because I care about people and I want them to know that I love them and God loves them. I might totally suck at it, but I am trying. The number 1 reason I am still in ministry is because I have been around great mentors and leaders who have modeled what it means to care about people. No one person has done this more effectively than my first youth pastor John Wood. John stood beside me during some of the hardest years of my life whether he knew it or not. He cared about me and invested in me. I will never forget John Wood. 14 years ago he moved from my hometown in Michigan to Hamburg New York.

Once in 14 years our paths have crossed again. That was until I was sitting outside at Catalyst enjoying my free lunch from Chic-Fila when I saw John Wood walk by . . .

Seeing John made the whole conference worth while. Thanks Brad, Ben and the rest of the team for hosting a conference that brings old friends together.

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