For all of you who took in the I-Heart Revolution movie, I love hearing how God stirs hearts. Please write down your thoughts.
This should get you started:
As you took it all in, how would describe what God was stirring in your heart to DO?
Archive for the 'News and Events' Category
Thrill
One of the greatest thrills of my life is standing in our services and being overwhelmed by the music coming from both stage and the congregation. The intensity levels have always been high but it looks like they keep going up. Sometimes I stand and just give thanks because I know I am standing in the middle of answered prayers. There was a day several years back when we only longed for and prayed for what we now experience every Sunday — a sense of free, passionate, give-it-all-you’ve-got worship. I love having a place where I can sing at the top of my lungs, shout until I’m hoarse, and clap until my hands hurt. What a rush.
And, when those times strike me, I often sense the inevitable nudge from the Holy Spirit that says: “Build on this. Take it deeper. Fan the flame”.
Continue reading ‘Gearing Up for the Worship Series’
http://www.vimeo.com/5789336
In thinking about what we want to accomplish in the next year and our vision for the church, we’re reminded of the importance of prayer.
While many know my story about deliverance from the drug lifestyle, I don’t think I have ever slowed down and taught (in depth) about what I learned and the process of how to be free. I am reminded regularly of how epidemic the problem of substance abuse is. I have met SO MANY who struggle in that area. So, over the next few weeks we’re going to set the subject on the table.
The preparation has been a fascinating journey for me. I walked through a lot of memories and asked myself a lot of questions. But, most importantly, I am dedicated to trying my best to make sure we focus on God’s Word and let the answers rise out of studying it. It was interesting to try to walk the balance between being autobiographical and purely biblical. So, I looked back to find some of the most meaningful things from the Bible I learned through the time of walking away from drugs. I also have tried to develop a pattern of “owning” books on Sunday’s – so people can achieve some kind of understanding of individual books. Putting those ideas together, I decided to link it all to a look at the book of Ecclesiastes. Read it. It’s a trip (to use drug phraseology). That book actually helped me tremendously in the early days of my walk and was fundamental to giving me a sense of truly never wanting to go back to the old way of doing things again. For a time the old life looked appealing – now it doesn’t at all. I would love to see God instill in all of us that His ways are not just right – but BEST, on every level. I think Ecclesiastes, in all its weirdness, will do that. So, even if drugs haven’t been your struggle, I’ll bet you’ll have a good time looking into one of the Bible’s most unusual books.
See you this Sunday.
Keep in mind, there is much more to say but I’m trying to boil it down as much as possible.
Our Senior Leadership Team took a couple of days this week to attempt a final wrestling with the Edge / Summit debate. We knew we needed to make a decision and move forward. And we have.
Here is a “Top 10″ list of things to keep in mind about our proposed solution:
PROBLEM. We have an undeniable problem. We have never attempted to ignore, hide or NOT be proactive about solving it. The problem is that the Edge is growing and needs more space to continue to grow, while the Summit is declining.
Continue reading ‘The Summit-Edge solution’
We told everyone to watch my blog for updates on what is happening in the Edge-Summit discussion. In this post, I want to give you a peek into why the question doesn’t have an easy answer and has not finally and fully been answered. We are committed to resolving the issues and coming down on a plan within the next week. In the meantime, here’s a glance at a principle that keeps the discussion lively to say the least.
I’ll begin with a story from Jesus life:
Continue reading ‘More Summit-Edge discussion.’
