I am fully convinced that multi site is part of God's plan to build His Church in the 21st century.
I believe we can leverage the technology of our day to touch more lives than anytime in our history.
Living Hope started multi siting simply because we really ran out of room in seven weekend services. As a church of over 5000 people, we have an auditorium that seats only 500. Pretty small, but of course 4 years ago, we were only 400 people.
Because I think people are mostly cared for better in smaller environments, the campus idea is brilliant. We started on Easter 2006 with a series entitled "Unthinkable You". It was a movie theme and we launched 5 campuses in 5 movie theaters that Easter. Since then we have moved out of all but one theater. They are good, but now we are pursuing permanent locations to better accomodate each church campus.
We now have over 15 locations (including campuses in New Zealand, India,Philippines and Kona). We have started alot, closed some and are (as of this blog) reorganizing our approach to being a church in multiple locations. We have merged with a couple different churches (different blog), but I believe this will happen more and more as plateaued churches or churches without leadership pursue merging.
I have a few thoughts and want to encourage pastors to risk and allow ONLY GOD to do through you what He alone can (and wants) to do.
Multi site campuses are very much part of the DNA of Living Hope Church. Have been and I can safely say, will be. Ask Brent in Kona, or Peter in New Zealand. For some reason beyond what we can "know", they simply work.
I want to share some random thoughts about multi site here. Although this is mostly for church leaders and church planters, I hope it speaks to everyone.
These are a few thoughts of a sequence of posts on multi siting. I hope to share as much as I can with church leaders. Be encouraged. Learn from our mistakes (there are plenty) and believe BIG for God.
In a multi site environment.....
1. AUTONOMY MORE THAN AUTHORITY
I have learned the hard way (a statement you will hear from our teams alot). When a church begins, the denonminational tendency is to exercise inappropriate authority that simply isn't biblical. Multi siting. One church in multiple locations. The campus has to have necessary authority to change what needs to be changed in order to change the world around its location. Oftentimes, what I "think" works at our main campus doesn't work in a rural area, or worse, what I think will work for a campus doesn't at all. It has been a learning process as we have tried to be discerning, to listen to God, to give our best, we have in effect taken autonomy away from our campuses by trying to hyper "organize" them to smell like us. Very bad. The church is organic. It is a living, breathing organism, not a planned out organization. Being organized matters and helps, but it doesn't make the church the church. There are plenty of churches who look the right way that are closing their doors every day. One example still comes to my mind. One of our campuses wanted to do a pajama party for women to reach out. I thought it would never work and by the way we don't do pajama parties so I said no. Bottom line, I should have allowed them to risk and in risking to possibly fail. Probably, it would have been awesome. We won't know.
Also, what works in the Pacific Northwest may not work in Georgia. What a thought. Churches have to be led by leaders and driven by vision. If I copy another church's "programs", that is saying to God that all churches should be the same. Heck no.
We are not Northpoint. Duh. We don't have millions of dollars to reach a city. We are who God has made us to be. We are in the area God has allowed us to be and we have what God has allowed us to have. I have to learn to work within what is there to reach who isn't there.
Autonomy is about independence and the church is about dependence. A campus ought to be independently dependent. They have to have vision and the freedom to reach people in the communities they are in. I really think more churches ought to start campuses.
Side note: If you are not growing, campuses are the worst form of church growth imaginable. Fix what is wrong, fill the space you are in and do it for the right reason. It isn't a fad or a church growth model. The pastors I know and the churches that have multiple campuses that I follow are doing stuff right to have to think muli site to start with. Go back to what is right, what is wrong and change how you approach ministry. If what you are doing isn't filling the building, more buildings won't grow a church.
More on that in a later post.
The next thing dovetails from the first thing.
2. DNA more than DEVELOPMENT
To see Living Hope grow from a few hundred to thousands in a few years was something I didn't think about (to be real) when we went down the multi site road. I wanted to expand and reach more people. I think that is a good and God-honoring goal. The problem was.... I underestimated the value of DNA in our church.
I faulted on trying to develop pastors, making sure they fit biblical requirements, and we focused on space and geographical issues. We bought plastic bins and filled them up. We spent countless hours trying to develop stuff and erred on the side of development, to the expense of DNA transfer.
Churches that grow are growing for a reason. You can say it is buildings and locations, but I would argue that point. There are churches closing in spite of buildings all around America.
IF a church is growing, the senior leadership team has an obligation to move beyond organizational and developmental issues to DNA transference. Seriously.
For us, I didn't do this as well as I should or could have.
DNA is both caught and taught. I thought it would be caught and life would be good. Not so much.
You have to be intentional here. DNA is critical. DNA amounts to things like reaching people who are lost (more than programming services). It is about helping the next generation leaders understand why you do what you do. Again, if you aren't growing, bail on the multi site idea and fix the problems.
DNA transference for us was about involving the next generation. Meaningfully. Not stacking chairs all the time, but really involving them. I could have (and now am) doing better at unpacking what is at the core of our DNA and how can I communicate it in a way that doesn't box a leader in, but takes the lid off and allows him or her to be free to serve and risk and love the people entrusted to their campus.
In fact most of our pastors have been part of LH's culture, so the DNA for them is caught. I am learning the value of DNA being taught as well.
IF DNA is transferred, development will happen better.
Churches will either be natural or supernatural.
These two things are a few random thoughts that I was having after hearing about and praying about so many churches that are beginning to go down the muli site road.
Exciting times we are finding ourselves in.
Hope this helps.
It is time to radically turn our cities upside down for the cause of Christ.
“...Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too." Acts 17:6
Churches ought to be making more waves, waves to reach our cities, waves to love our cities, waves that result in putting a towel around our arms and serving our cities. Let's be the generation known for this. The generation that makes Jesus famous. The generation where churches are unified, where God's voice is loud and people are loved.
The question that makes me think is, "IF WE CEASED TO EXIST, WOULD ANYONE NOTICE?"
I'm excited for our next sermon series entitled "Beyond Belief." IT KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK.
The tag line is "What's next?"
There have been so many people who are investigating Christianity and many who are new in their faith. It is a series that will greatly help so many people.
Talking to one of our pastors today, and people are hungry to know and have SO MANY questions.
Questions like why does the Bible matter? What happens after we are saved? What does it mean to "grow" in our faith? Why is prayer necessary if God knows everything anyway? We will deal with Christian theology and learn about practical things to help us grow in our faith.
I am excited. Pumped up. This will be a series that will not just bring answers to people.
Yes, and bring people and bring questions.
In Christianity, what are your most pressing questions? About God, about Jesus, about spiritual growth?
This will be one of those series.
JOHN
PS
Robert Perez. You rock. Amazing logo. I have heard about the set and am excited. NEXT WEEK.
I have been intrigued watching the acceptance speeches, the DNC, the candidates and the VP selections.
I am curious, without getting into too much debating, how do you vote?
What issues really matter to you?
Do you study the views or issues of the candidates?
Do foreign affairs really concern you?
If you don't vote, why?
ONE LAST QUESTION:
Does the God factor matter to you?
IF so, how much?
I am contemplating doing a talk entitled "IF JESUS RAN FOR PRESIDENT". Hypothetical question I know, but can we learn from how he led? Of course Jesus didn't come as a political leader, and didn't get involved in politics in his day too much, but I wonder what issues would matter to him? I wonder how he would lead a country? I think if we can determine some things that mattered to him, maybe it would help us on Election Tuesday? Who knows, it is just a thought right now with all the hype and news coverage.
I want to close out our Hungry Initiative by doing a couple of things:
First, I want to thank EVERYONE for doing something that really will practically change lives and hopefully, lift up Jesus. When the day is over, God did alot through your lives. You risked, you knocked on doors, you contacted the media, you involved businesses. It is a community problem and has had a bunch of community involvement.
Also, I want us to continue to remember how a miracle happens. To see God do so much is pretty much a miracle in my mind. It is our faith coupled with His power that changes things.
God wants to be known. You are loved beyond anything you could imagine. He is the God who will step in. The God who will be there. The God who is waiting to do a miracle in your life, your marriage, your financial situation. Miracles happen and it is beyond us and people really then see and glorify ONLY GOD. God wants to do big stuff in your life, your ministry and your relationships. You have to listen to ONLY GOD and believe ONLY GOD. When you do what you can do, He will do what only He can do.
Sidenote: What about your marriage? Why not believe God can heal things? Really, He can. Why not take the next one step you know to be right? A card, an e-mail, a prayer, a dinner, a vacation. Don't give up on the person you gave your heart to. I only say that because I am spending a few days with just Michelle.
BACK TO THE MAIN POINT OF THIS BLOG.
Before we move on to the future, I wanted to pause and thank Missy, who brought the idea to my attention. To Teresa, Eric, and Marlette, who led through most of the details. To everyone everywhere who helped. We can't do everything, but through this little semi-filling project we learned we can do something. Hundreds of people who could have been turned away won't be.
I want to thank the Stop Hunger warehouse. They graciously received the majority of the food that will be distributed to literally hundreds of families.
Maybe someone could send a card to the news agencies who have been SO gracious and SO helpful in getting the word out in different things we have tried to do. We should appreciate them and tell them thanks. It is time for Jesus' name to be famous in our generation and I think part of that will be thanking the people who help to lift up His Name.
Also, can we as a community continue to pray for the various food banks? Don't let this slip off our radar. Who knows, maybe we can do it again sometime. We will see how God leads us.
Jesus met physical needs often before He addressed spiritual needs. I am glad to be part of a local church that is really trying to be about the community. Not for any reason except it is the right thing to do. Loving people, meeting their needs, being Jesus to them the best we can.
We can't do everything. We have to do something. We did. You did good and I am proud to be part of your lives.
JOHN
HERE IS A SHORT RECAP FROM WHEN WE STARTED TO JUST 7 DAYS LATER. You have to see it.
I have come up with the top 5 reasons you should too...
5. Everybody's doing it. (peer pressure)
4. It's easy. (even I can do it)
3. It's great for giving short updates. (which I love)
2. Love it for networking. (friends are good)
1. I'm on it. (woo hoo!)
Just kidding about #1 being the top reason, but I do enjoy Twitter mainly because I can give a one sentence description of, well, whatever.
It's short, sweet and to the point. You can add it as a widget to iGoogle so you don't even have to visit the site to make a new entry.
Wondering how to Twitter? Just go to Twitter and sign up for an account. They explain all the details. If you're already on Twitter just click here to add me as your friend.
Awesome weekend with Margaret Feinberg. I love and appreciate her and her husband.
Looking forward to so much God has for us.
Sign up for Twitter. Be twitter-fied. Be a tweet. Twitter up.
Not sure why it is called twitter, but I am sure some of you well informed geek types will let me know.
Pumped about the new series that starts in two weeks. IT WILL BE OFF THE HOOK.
l am excited about our next Leaders Gathering. We value these events so much. Investing in the life of other leaders.
Margaret Feinberg is a nationally respected author and authority on the subject of the Next Generation.
If you are able, join us for breakfast, worship and practical teaching.
A few questions I ask pastors and church leaders:
How many young leaders do you have in your church (under age 30)?
How much influence do they have in your life and in the life of the church?
How much encouragement do you give the next generation?
Is the culture one where leaders feel free to assume appropriate risk?
Margaret is going to share with us and I have arranged to have Next Generation Leaders on our stage to candidly answer questions about being engaged, frustrations and other pertinent questions to our lives as church leaders.
HOPE TO SEE YOU IN THE MORNING. Church leaders, pastors and emerging generation leaders, I hope you can join us.
That is the title of the last talk in "The Shack" series.
A series about being stuck in our faith because of pain, anger, hurt and failure. We heard from Paul Young (the story behind the story), and then spent several weeks looking at the "process" of getting unstuck. The shack is the place of stuckness. It represents our soul.
We ended the series with the shack being completely restored.
New. Restored. Hope. I read about a study where rats were put in water and with no light would only swim for 3 hours until they drowned. When there was a little ray of light, the rats would swim for more than 36 hours.
Hope makes all the difference in our lives. Failure is something that you and I will do. Failure doesn't define us, but rather it's our response to failure that defines us. So often we will interpret failure through what others say, we think about ourselves or the Devil who is a liar, accuser and thief.
Failure is alot like sifting. Sifting is something Satan does to unravel your faith in God. To make you quit. To make you doubt. To make you deny that God even exists.
Jesus says to Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift your life wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers." Luke 23:31-32
Satan wants to destroy you. EVERY part of you. He hates you. God will only allow what will make you stronger and what will be taken out of your life so that you can better serve and glorify God.
In Peter's case, he was a bit arrogant. He was impetuous and a first century A.D.D. guy. I love his heart and passion. I love his devotion. Imagine leaving everything you know to follow this new Rabbi named Jesus.
In order for the best to come out of Peter, God allowed the sifting to happen.
SIFT HAPPENS. To all of us. The issue is not if, the question is rather when.
Faith will result in failure. Failure will drive us back to what we knew before Christ, where we will get stuck in guilt, or God's grace will drive us to His arms and to our knees.
When your faith is tested or sifted, you have to always remember Jesus is praying for you. Praying, pleading and hoping FOR you. He is not against you. He believes in you, really. The key is not sifting avoidance, but rather staying the course.
The point for Peter, whom by the way Jesus built the entire church on was for him to be able to think about others. Jesus says to Peter, "when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers."
Peter had a little entitlement issue (in my opinion). He was a little big on himself, UNTIL HE WAS SIFTED, and you can read Acts chapter 2. God used his life in a powerful way to establish the local church.
You know the story. Verse 33, "Peter said, 'Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you and even to die with you.' But Jesus said, 'Peter, let me tell you something. The rooster will not crow tommorrow morning until you have denied three times that you even know me." Luke 23:33-34
The ultimate thing I can not imagine: Denying the God who put breath into my body, the One who took the punishment I deserved. Denying Jesus?
Of course, it happens exactly like Jesus tells Peter it would. In fact all of the disciples betrayed him, ran from him, denied him and left their friend. When things got tough, their faith failed.
There is not a person who is reading this blog who is not in danger of drifting. You might even want to read those words again. It is pride that goes before the fall. The very thing Peter said he would never do is exactly what he did in fact do.
We become distant followers. Half-hearted leaders. Lukewarm students.
Side note: Peter was the first disciple that called Jesus "Lord", and Judas never did. Interestingly Peter came back, Judas never did.
I wrote something in my Bible to help me remember this principle.
Judas was in the circle. One of the disciples. He was in charge of the money. Church leaders, etc. HE WAS ABOUT THE CAUSE OF CHRIST. The Mission.
Peter was sold out to the PERSON OF CHRIST. Big, big difference. If I am about a vision, or a person, I will be in danger of drifting and not returning. We have to stay in love with Jesus first and above every other thing in our lives.
Just like Jesus said it. Peter denied that he even knew who Jesus was. In fact three times. Luke 23:62 says, "And Peter left the courtyard, crying bitterly."
There is the moment where you will make a decision to live in Guilt or Grace.
Peter went back to fishing. That's what he knew before Jesus. That was his identity. He failed so bad and so big that all he could do was give up the dream. Jesus dies, rises from the dead and in John 21 you see the account of Peter being restored.
Restoration is always what God wants to do in our lives.
Jesus sees Peter. Peter sees Jesus. Peter jumps out of the boat, swims to shore. Jesus makes him breakfast. He doesn't reprimand Peter. He doesn't ask why, or what happened. He asks a question that we have to ask ourselves.
DO YOU LOVE ME? 4 words that cut through everything in our lives. Peter responds and says yes.
I asked our church this weekend, "DO WE LOVE JESUS MORE THAN OUR PAST?"
The test of loving Jesus is not with our words, but rather with our willingness to serve Him for His purposes.
We get sifted, because SIFT HAPPENS to all of us. When we get stuck, there are a couple things.
1. REPENT. Own it. Don't deny the failure or blame others, simply repent. Agree with God and turn in a different direction. Repenting is not excusing. 1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us..."
2. RETURN. Return to Jesus only. Spend time sititng, reflecting, remembering and thanking Him. Returning is about coming back to His arms. It is about grace. Peter did that. All that was between him and Jesus was a little bit of water. He didn't deserve grace. He got it and it changed his heart.
3. RE-ENGAGE. Failing makes us "feel" like we have nothing to offer God. Really it is quite the opposite. Failing became for Peter the defining moment where his heart was broken. When his heart was broken, his faith than became break-through. Jesus said to him (and to us) when you have repented and turned to me again, go and strengthen your brothers. You and I were created to love and serve God. For so many people reading this, it is time to get in the game. Time to get unstuck by re-engaging. Wired to serve God. Made with a mission. Go and do what God made you to do.
I hope this blog encourages and helps you.
With one baptism to go we are close to 300 people so far. Hundreds of people surrendered their hearts to Jesus Christ and almost 300 baptized.
"For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to New Life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead." Colossians 2:12
Seven days ago we began an initiative to bring awareness to our community about the critical hunger problem in our area. Friday this week, I was surprised to see God see to it that "the problem" was brought front and center on the front page of the Columbian. Pretty amazing really.
The food is pouring in and we have extended the date for delivery until next weekend (August 22nd/23rd). People are driving to the church with trunk loads of food from around local neighborhoods.
I love what you do, Living Hope. Awareness! Action! You are making a difference. Most of the food is coming from our community.
Thank you Living Hope Church. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Thanks to the media.
Thanks to ONLY GOD.
JOHN
PS
Just on Saturday, in spite of 104 degree heat we had amazing attendance and ironically 104 people (mostly spontaneously) baptized.
Seeing whole families baptized, students coming home from camp, people who are coming home into the arms of a God that loves them more than they can ever know.
We are dropping off a fully loaded semi to the STOP HUNGER warehouse in Clark County. Hoping to see a second truck filled.
MORE than that, I hope our AWARENESS will continue to catalyze ACTION to do something about problems like these.
Thanks KOIN 6 news.
SPONTANEOUS BAPTISM weekend. My message is "All things NEW".
I love that when we come to Christ, the BIble says "What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him." 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Once we come to Christ, ALL things are new. Our hearts, our priorities, our relationships and even....OUR SHACK. Our soul is restored for God's glory alone. It is ALL NEW and ALL from God.
Funny thing, the next thing Paul says to this church at Corinth: "And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him."
He (and He alone) makes ALL THINGS NEW FOR THE SINGLE PURPOSE OF RECONCILING PEOPLE TO HIMSELF.
We exist to be bridge builders, reconcilers, ambassadors, salt and light. In pain, I forget that God uses all things and makes all things new to bring more people to Himself. He doesn't make all things new to do 15 things, or even 2 things. ONE PURPOSE my friends. I love being able to serve our community.
Make a commitment and invite someone with you this weekend. Take the risk and watch watch what ONLY GOD will do.
See you this weekend. Don't let the heat stop you, thank God for a great weekend to be baptized.
Tomorrow I will talk about our spontaneous baptisms, what, why and who. Today. Simply thank God for the gift of life and the beauty of His creation.
I LOVE GETTING E-MAILS FROM PASTORS LIKE THIS. It so pumps me up!
Even though it is written to me and Living Hope, it is to EVERYONE WHO MAKES UP THE COMMUNITY CALLED LIVING HOPE.
Here it is:
Hi John and the Living Hope team,
I wanted to send a note of thanks. We celebrated our three year anniversary this July. God has done so much in three years and he has used you and Living Hope in powerful ways to help us. So let me say thanks for the things you have done.
1. Before we even started you were the first to offer help and encouragement. You will never know what power that was to the small group of people who had gathered together to start Real Life, to have another church cheer us on. Thanks
2. John even with your crazy schedule you have made time to give me guidance and help when I did not know what the next step was. You have been a mentor and a blessing to me as a leader. Thanks
3. The team at Living Hope has been so helpful. EVERY time we have asked for advice or insight we have been received with open arms. Thanks
4. Bruce Avery has invested untold hours into me as a friend and mentor. Having someone for me to turn to is very important to the team I lead. It gives them a sense of support. Thanks
5. The Leaders Gatherings have been absolute Gold for us. I would never be able to invest in my team the way I have without you doing it for me. Every gathering has been so good and has produced lasting results. THANKS
As I reflect back at the past three years I am amazed at what God has done. We have a great team who are sold out to the cause of Christ. We are averaging 250 in attendance in 2 services. The majority of people attending are new to a faith experience. We have baptized 120 people, seen relationships restored, marriages saved and hope renewed.
God’s word tells us to celebrate- Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Philippians 4:4
You have shared in the labor so share in the Joy.
We are so excited at what God is doing at Living hope. We rejoice with you and we gain great encouragement by how God is blessing your fearless leadership.
Blessings on you,
Your co laborers in Christ at Real Life.
Jeff
When Living Hope first started, we had 5 families, no resources, no denominational backing and NO encouragement from local church leaders. Just the way things were. I remember thinking, praying and telling God, if we could ever have a platform to encourage and support other local churches I would be all in. I feel so committed to pastors and church leaders. Because of what didn't happen to us, I can tell you it created in my heart a sense of discontentment. A holy discontent.
Churches are the answer to all of the problems in the world! We have to be about serving each other. Encouraging pastors is one of the deepest passions of my heart.
Reading this letter brought tears to my eyes. Because, to know we aren't separate "churches" but we are one church brings a level of fulfillment to my heart. Please pray for Jeff, and his team and the Real Life church.
Encourage pastors. Serve leaders. Pray for churches. When you as a church pray for the church, you pray for you!
Excited to spend a few minutes with KOIN 6 around noon today and then Christianity Today later in the afternoon.
I can't believe all of the GOOD news about what God is doing in the Season of Service this summer. I think it is so incredibly easy to allow the bad news to trump what is good.
Jesus is the best news the world has ever had, and the church is His divine agent to reconcile people who are far from God to Himself.
I love Luis Palau and his organization. The season of service is really a church unifying thing.
During the interview with Tim Stafford (Christianity Today), I was able to hear the story from a church in Portland (Southlakechurch.com) that rallied 1000 volunteers to work at Roosevelt High School bring encouragement and life to the school, painting, landscaping, etc. NIKE got involved and the church catalyzed the movement that involved people to do something that benefited THEIR community.
That is what I am talking about. I love that so much. I love stories of local churches being the church. Acting on behalf of a problem and bringing awareness to the community to fix it. Props to Pastor Kip and the church in West Linn.
The local church. When it works the way it is should, there is NOTHING like it. See a problem, catalyze a movement, change the world. So simple and yet seemingly so difficult.
The semi is full,the "Good" news will be aired on Channel 6 on Thursday.
Thanks to the community, to neighbors, to leaders in Clark County and Portland. Really. Thanks for sacrificing for the sake of a problem that is so global and yet so undetected. Thanks for thinking about your neighbors. Thanks for partnering together.
Thanks to Frontier Missions. Your help providing boxes (over 1000), and the intial 12,000 pounds of food was both an inspiration and an encouragement. The truck is full. Thanks for your work in our world.
Thanks to the volunteers who have served loading, separating, greeting and thanking people. TOO many people to thank, but I want to thank Eric and David to name a couple. You live the motto, it is your church.
At first we made a goal of filling one truck. It seemed like a pretty huge goal, and/but God had other plans. We are on our way to filling truck number two. Not sure of details, except people need food, people are bringing food and ONLY GOD will be glorified.
There are so many stories of people working together. Posting on Craigslist, dropping off bags or pallets of food, getting employees involved in local businesses.
We will collect food through next weekend (23/24 of August). You can drop off food anytime in the lobby of the church during normal business hours.
THIS IS OUR TIME.
Pray for the churches in our area. They are the ones who do so much good for the community.
I am excited about the Luis Palau Festival coming up on August 22/23 (2 weeks). It will be a historic event that in the wake of the season of serving could change the spiritual landscape of our communities. Pray for Luis. He is the real deal. I love and appreciate his heart so much. Partner with him by bringing your friends to the waterfront park in Portland.
If you want to be a counselor for people who come to Christ, we are having a brief training at all of our services at the Brush Prairie campus this weekend.
ALSO, baptism weekend. I know I talk about it alot, but you have to go for it. It is a public demonstration of a heart transformation. It will be one of those weekends.
This is a video of a snake that I don't own. Shot last week at Danny and Erin's house, which is the home of more snakes than anyone I have ever heard of. It is 10 feet long, and Erin captured a couple precious moments of our interaction on her MacBook Pro built in video lens.
Wicked interaction and I am pretty cool to never see the snake again in my life.
That is the title of the message this last weekend.
I quickly wanted to update everyone about the weekend.
One more weekend of the SHACK series. Baptism weekend, "All things new". There are over 200 people signed up for the spontaneous baptism this weekend. Yeah God.
Thanks to everyone who risked to make the community "aware" of a problem. Actually going out and knocking on doors in our communities is a risk that has been met with ONLY GOD results.
We are just a few pallets short of seeing an entire semi (40,000 pounds) filled with food to help the food banks around our areas.
There are people working all week, boxing, shrink wrapping and loading the truck.
Really God's voice becoming louder is us imitating Him.
Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be imitators of God..."
The word for be is better translated become, and the word for imitators (or followers in the NLT) is the greek word Mimetes, from which we get our english word MIMIC.
Do what God does and did. Love people, sacrifice for them, serve them. A mimic simply copies actions. Without words that is.
Interestingly, as we discovered, the process of imitating comes after we get rid of bitterness and forgive others.
God voice becoming louder is less about our words and more about our actions.
Awareness does that. It sparks or catalyzes action or it causes apathy in our hearts.
I am glad to be part of a community of Christ followers or imitators who want to make a difference in the world.
Alot of people will have food in their homes in the days, weeks, and months ahead BECAUSE of YOU imitating God, because of you doing something about a problem, because of you trusting ONLY GOD.
Maybe someday you will really fully understand the impact you are having.
Excited about the Kona and New Zealand campuses that are joining us in this really global initiative.
Because people matter to God, they have to matter to us.
John
PS
Have you seen the walls in Kidsworld? So amazing. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped paint. Every room (I am told) will be themed and there are more cool things planned for Kidsworld. Christy Davidson. THANK YOU for your leadership. Through so much God is doing so much. (I think that makes sense...)
LSM camp is in full swing. 275 people. Pray for the students. The camp is VITAL. This weekend, we will see a little recap of all that God has done. Pray for the leaders as well. I am so proud of Chris Potter, our student pastor. He is becoming such a good leader. I love his heart. I love his character. I love his devotion to God and commitment to students. Chris is my "lately hero".
Thank you, all of the volunteers who serve faithfully each and every weekend. Our 11 AM service was so packed as was the overflow and the lobby. Really pretty cool. In spite of summer and "fair weekend", God continues to faithfully bring people, who can be challenged and encouraged and experience the reality of God's love. Anyway, we would not be the church we are without the people who faithfully serve each and every weekend. THANK YOU.
Most every family vacation I have been on I buy "stuff" to bring home with me. Haven't we all visited alot of souvenir shops? Sometimes I will buy something from a place I visited that had significant memories. Do you love to buy souvenirs? It seems in a family there are those of us who buy "stuff" and those of us who don't. When we think of souvenirs we think of keychains, snow globes, magnets, back scratchers, patches, necklaces, shot glasses, stuffed animals, t-shirts, fuzzy dice-you name it. We all sucumb to buying these sometimes silly trinkets, but why? Why do we buy so many souvenirs?
Did you know that "Souvenir" is a French word that means "to remember".
I think God has put inside of us this ability to remember. In fact, I really think it is one of the best gifts God has given us. Our memory.
We buy souvenirs, probably less because we need another key chain and more because we want to remember the special time we had with friends or families.
We hate to forget. Just ask grandparents who have their fireplace mantles stacked full of things that may not make sense, but it does to them. Parents love to "remember" the good things. I just got out of a funeral, and to see a dad stand over the casket of his son must be one of the most difficult pictures I can remember. There were so many pictures and a sharing time of memories.
Today is a day to remember. We have this innate ability to forget. When you fail to remember, you begin to forget. When you forget God I think you quickly begin to lose heart.
God remembers. He wants us to remember. He gave us a souvenir called a rainbow to help us remember He will never flood the earth again. He gave us this gift called the Sabbath, where one day a week we can pause from work to remember we are eternal beings made in His image.
Jesus gave His disciples the best Souvenir of all. He gave Himself. FOR US.
He lifted up a piece of bread and a glass of wine and said, "Do this in remembrance of Me."
I think it is the world's best souvenir. What we call communion. What Jesus called it was "...a token of God's new covenant to save you, an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you." Luke 22:20
We have this propensity to forget God. To forget His provision. To forget His love. At least I do. In fact the word for "remember" in Luke 22:19 is a greek word ANAMNESIS.
The negative form is where we get our english word Amnesia.
I guess you could say we get spiritual forgetfulness.
Your ability to remember determines so much about your life. When you forget God, you begin to forget your purpose, your identity, your calling, your value.
Here are some things that I am "remembering".
You are created by God Himself, and made in His image. YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT, in spite of things people have said to you.
If you are in Christ, you are His son or daughter. Nothing can ever take that away. Ever. You are adopted into his family and have all heirs of a son or daughter.
Your life has purpose. The pain you have experienced will have purpose someday.
TODAY IS THE ONLY DAY YOU HAVE. I just got reminded of that today. Life is short. James 4:14 says, "What is your life? A mist that appears for a short while and then vanishes." Live my friend today. Seize this moment. Make the phone call, tell someone you love them.
FOLLOW ONLY GOD. Let crap go. Life is too short and people matter too much. Seriously don't let the stuff come between you and others. Be quick to forgive, slow to anger and listen more. God came to save people. THEY ARE ALL THAT MATTERS.
OK, those are some thoughts.
One more. Laugh more. We take ourselves too serious. Have fun. Don't worry about stuff. Mostly it will work out and whatever doesn't, give it to God.
Trying to be better at remembering.
See you this weekend. It will be an off the hook weekend. The food is coming in, and I am pumped about all the churches doing various projects around our city.
I am pretty pumped about our newly launched HUNGRY Initiative. It is a church-wide, city-wide and campus-wide plan to bring both awareness and action to a serious problem.
Awareness because most people don't realize that all food banks in Clark County are at critically low levels. My guess is it's the same in other areas. What we don't know about we can't do anything about.
Action because when we know, we have to act. People aren't eating! THE MOMENT OF CONVICTION (awareness) is the MOMENT TO ACT. We have to do something about it. Paul said in Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation..."
The word content simply means "contained in Christ".
When we "learn", we expand our heart and our mind and our soul connection to the Heart of God.
To be contained in Christ, to have God's heart, is to focus on others more than yourself. I think we have to be both content in Christ to become discontent FOR CHRIST.
To be discontent means to have a longing for something better than the present situation.
Awareness to Action. Action that changes the world. When we act we are caring about what matters to God. I think in our lives as Christ Followers we will either be marked by action or apathy.
The Biblical definition of Apathy is "to simply be indifferent." Take Action or BE apathetic. A choice Christ followers have made for 2000 years. Let's seize the moments we have in our generation. In our lifetime. In our homes. In our neighborhoods.
Not sure how this will all work out, but what I know is that when we make big, huge, ONLY GOD goals, He steps in to do what we could never imagine.
Check this out.
The most amazing thing was when we asked to borrow a semi from Frontier Missions, they graciously said yes, and sent the truck to our Brush Prairie campus with 16 pallets of boxes, shrink wrapped food. That equates to 1/3 of the truck ALREADY filled within 48 hours of launching the initiative. That amounts to close to 15,000 pounds of food.
When you step out for God, He steps in, in big ways. It is His church. He wants to do miraculous things through our lives, our faith and in our generation.
Seeing the empty semi truck Sunday seemed so daunting. Overwhelming. Insurmountable. BIG.
Seeing the Red Sea must have looked that way. Goliath must have looked "big" to a teenager. The giants in the Promised Land looked big.
Nothing is impossible with God. He is the God who can do anything. He is looking for people who BY FAITH will pray and believe.
Paul talks about learning to be content. The secret. He then says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:13
We all know the passage, but do we believe it?
Are we trusting God for big things?
IT IS ONLY WHEN YOU STEP INTO THE WATERS OF WHAT GOD COULD DO THAT YOU WILL SEE WHAT GOD WOULD DO. Anything less wouldn't be faith, now would it?
Thousands of pounds of food in 48 hours?
ONLY GOD, can I get an amen?
God is big. AND He wants to do big things through YOUR LIFE.
Still thinking about the weekend, and thanking God for all that He alone does but allows us to be part of it all. It is so easy to forget and lose necessary perspective about what matters and why we do what we do.
This is just a quick video that ended the weekend. I shot it after our 1:00 PM Sunday service. Seeing the response was simply overwhelming.
The iFORGIVE process is so critical and life-altering. Forgiving isn't an option, and for Christ followers we lost our excuse at the cross. If you missed the weekend, check out the service on line.
Weekends like this are so good, but can be a little more tiring than others.
I was reading this morning in my Bible (I have to say that because I am a pastor.....)
I came across a verse that I think is so good: "Be sure to carry out the work the Lord gave you." Colossians 4:17
I wrote a few notes in my Bible from a conference I attended in Atlanta about church leadership. The talk was given by Dr Charles Stanley (Michelle's favorite Bible teacher).
Conflict in a team, in a church, in a friendship or in a family always does a few things:
1. Conflict always divides our minds.
2. Conflict (unbridled or undealt with) can and mostly will destroy relationships, because it is in conflict that trust is questioned and things get said and decisions get made that can change the course of a family or a business.
3. Conflict always drains energy. Both personally and relationally. In a business what is personal becomes organizational as well.
Conflict can be an ally. It can help us move closer to God's perfect plan for our lives, but the stakes are pretty high, because energy is down, trust is strained and emotions are high.
What can we do in conflict?
1. RUN. You will anyway. When conflict happens we will run toward it or away from it. I see this so often in a marriage. People naturally fight or flight. Always run TOWARD the conflict, even if it hurts. Conflict never leaves you neutral. To get to health, you have to face it, get help in it, change the course of things, do whatever you can, BUT it begins with running.
SIDE NOTE FOR CHURCH LEADERS: Charles Stanley said that the primary reason pastors quit is conflict. I have see that time and time again with church leaders. They begin to feel not believed in, so then they over time stop believing in themselves.
I hope you can find strength in God and not give up on the call that God has placed on your life. Pastors quit and churches close every day. Find encouragement in God.
Joshua 1:9 says, "...be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD (Yahweh) your God is with you wherever you go."
The nation of Israel had seen so many miracles. God protects them, parts the red sea, sends the plagues in Egypt, provides manna and then quail. He is their God and is with them. Then they get fearful, afraid and begin to cower. It was in those moments that they stopped seeing ONLY GOD and began to see the problems. They saw giants and they should have seen God. Because of their internal conflict and fear they missed the Promised Land. I wonder what we miss because we either shrink back in our lives or we run away from stuff. If everything were easy, can I ask, why would faith even matter? Conflict exposes so much. Run toward it. Proactively and intentionally.
Run toward the conflict. Face it with God. See God in everything.
2. You have to fight the battle on your knees. Paul says to the church in Ephesus that the battle isn't against flesh and blood... (Eph 6:12). We know that in our minds, but somehow forget that when conflict comes our way. In your conflict are you praying? Are you trusting? Are you seeing God? I have this tendency to fight battles on my feet, in my strength, but am learning that the battle is won through prayer. Isaiah says, "those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength..."
At times Michelle and I have had fights, the hardest and most profitable thing we have ever done was pray together. Prayer not only changes circumstances, mostly it changes YOU. When you are changed, the conflict that oftentimes was self-focused (James 4) becomes so much different. Your perspective will change through prayer more than discussion.
3. OBEY ONLY GOD. When we obey ONLY GOD, we will see that everything (everything) comes from Him. Trust His goodness in your life. When I obey Him, I genuinely and authentically leave the consequences to Him alone. Check this out. When you obey God, He then assumes full responsibility for your life. It is when I allow the battle to affect my mind that I begin to function from a human perspective.
Case in point, I had scheduled a guest speaker for this last weekend. It has been a little bit of a long summer, and I was honestly just tired. When God prompted my heart to speak, and when I trusted his leading, he put a message on my heart about forgiveness. I could have made a choice, and potentially may have missed SO much that I was able to see God do this weekend. I would rather be tired and obey God, then be comfortable and miss what He has for my life.
IF you choose not to obey, you will eventually compromise.
Churches will either be superficial or supernatural. If you look at Acts, you see a church that loved each other, prayed TOGETHER, served TOGETHER, loved their cities TOGETHER. They were unified in purpose, they risked and catalyzed a movement that has affected us to this day 2000 years later. When you see the church, you see one church. Oftentimes I wonder what unchurched people see when they see the church today?
4. Do the one next right thing. Colossians 4:5-6 says, "Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone."
Once you have made a decision to run toward the conflict, then you fight the battle on your knees, then God shows you what to do, you then trust Him to do the next thing that is right.
Again, in conflict we allow fear to replace faith and then foolish decisions replace wisdom. AND, we aren't gracious sometimes in what we say to each other. I encourage you to think and to pray before you speak. In conflict you will most certainly say words that you will regret. AND, your words will not be easily forgotten. Forgiven, yes. Forgotten, no. Those conversations will become the platform of so much in the future.
OK, that's it. Some random thoughts that have been in my head for awhile.
The greatest thing about conflict really is that you learn some things about yourself, your family and your God that you maybe didn't know before. AND, you can hang on to Romans 8:28. The God that loves you, promises to work things out for good.
Hunger.
It is not just a feeling, it's an epidemic.
In 2001, Washington and Oregon were the two states that had the highest levels of hunger problems. As I read some of these statistics I am even more convinced of helping the families in our area get the food they need.
Clark County residents and business throw away 31,370 tons of food a year.
An estimated 251,000 Washington households live with hunger or the threat of hunger.
Many low-income parents skip meals so that their children can eat. At one Spokane food bank, 60% of parents said they skipped meals to give their children food.
Last year, 1.2 million people went to food banks for help, 40% of them children.
Click here for the 2007 statistics for the Oregon Food Bank Network which serves Oregon and Clark County, Washington.
Re-read those statistics. Alarming to say the least.
During this month, we can make a difference. We can't do everything, but really we have to and CAN do something. In fact we will do something. Check out this verse....
John 3:17 says, "But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help -- how can God's love be in that person?"
The Apostle John hung with Jesus and completely nails it. Really a convicting question. It is one of those Biblical questions that cuts through the stuff in our lives and makes us truly think about our life and our faith. I think we can get sometimes complacent. Maybe even sometimes apathetic. To be apathetic is to be indifferent.
I think in order to make a difference you cannot be indifferent. I know pretty profound, but hey?
Let's together have a sense of awareness that initiates a level of action to do what we can.
"Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other, let us really show it by our actions." 1 John 3:18
Be part of the solution and join Living Hope in our newly launched HUNGRY initiative. It doesn't matter what church you may go to. We are all The church. We can all collectively make a difference. We have to.
OK. More details at church this weekend and next. In a nutshell, there are eight food banks in Clark County. In addition there are another 12 food banks at local churches in and around Clark County. Every food bank is at low or critically low levels.
Our goal will be to fill every food bank during this month. WE WILL HAVE A SEMI AT OUR MAIN CAMPUS THIS WEEKEND AND NEXT.
Longview, Woodland, Portland and other campuses will be serving the food banks in their local areas.
BRING IT. People are hungry. Jesus wants to us to feed them. If we bring what we have, God will do what ONLY GOD can do.
Together we can make a difference.
How can we ignore it?
OK. Excited about the message. One more step in the healing process.
