Sunday night thoughts…

• Really an odd day today… like there was a wall just in front of the stage.
• Attendance was WAY down today.  Time change (STUPID, although I love the longer days) and the NASCAR race (STUPIDER) really hit us hard today.
• I am amazed at how God is providing in the finances of this church… I think HE is getting us ready for something big.
• We had to change things up in our Children’s ministries today to accommodate the growth… that is a GOOD thing!
• Did I mention that time change and NASCAR are stupid??? 🙂
• Heading up Thursday to the UNLEASH conference with several of our volunteers.  I am really looking forward to the conference and the chance to hang out with some of the people that make Lifesong church happen.
• I love the fact that I get the chance to do ministry with people that I love AND like… people that I want to hang out with.  That makes a difference.
• Only one week left in our Desperate Houselives series.  Today we talked about parenting, in preparing for this message I was convicted that I am not the Dad that I should be.  
•  I have said a “bad word” several times in this post… listen to the podcast to find out why.
• That’s it… I am going outside to play with my girls… maybe a rematch in dodge-ball.

Friday five (what going through my mind right now)…

Here are five reasons why we do what we do here at Lifesong.   

1. Not everyone is going to heaven.  That might be stating the obvious for some of you, but it is something to consider.  Lifesong church is here to depopulate Hell and we will not settle for anything less.  Who do you know that won’t be there? 
2. More people are going to HELL than heaven.  If you think the judgment lines will be balanced, you’re wrong.  Jesus was asked if there were only a few people who were going to be saved?  HERE is His response.
3. Many who think they are forgiven aren’t.  There are many people who think they’re saved and aren’t.  Don’t believe me, look what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23.  There will be people who claimed to follow Christ, who have a knowledge ABOUT Christ but do not have a RELATIONSHIP with Him.
4. You will not get another opportunity after you die.  Once you die, that’s it.  No changing your mind, no free pass, no begging for a way out.  It’s over!  It’s about what happens in this life, not the next.
5. Because of the first four reasons, God has called Lifesong to make an IMPACT in this community.  We do it for the 70,000 people that live within 10 miles of the theater, the MAJORITY of whom are disconnected from God or disenfranchised from the church.  We do it all to make Him famous and to reach this generation with His Message… we will not back down, give up or cave in from the reason this church was birthed!  The REVOLUTION has begun and this community will never be the same!  Who’s with me?

Time warp…

“If the 1950’s come back…most churches are ready to go… “- Ed Stetzer

Too harsh?  I don’t think so and the truth usually hurts.  The Church has the greatest Message in the world but we have (in most cases) lost connection with the world that we are called to reach.  Does the Church have to compromise the message to make an impact? No! But we had better change the way we go about sharing that message.  We have a few options…

1. We can ISOLATEourselves from the “world” (think monasteries) and complain about how bad the “world”is from the safety of our pews, but not do ANYTHING to reach the world.  Unfortunately, most churches fall into this category.
2. We can IMITATE the world and dilute the Message to the point that it looses its power and becomes another version of the Oprah show.  I am seeing way too many new churches selling the Gospel short for the sake of relevance.
3. We can IMPACT the world with the message by being sensitive to our culture while unashamedly proclaiming the Message of Christ. 

If we are going to make an IMPACT we give up our “right” to have things our way in exchange for reaching people far from God.  I think that is why most churches are stuck in a time warp… the selfish desire to have things “my way.”  I think God expects more from us than that… what do you think?

Divine appointments…

Tonight, I met a guy named Larry.  Larry was kind enough to give my family a jump start in the grocery store parking lot after our car wouldn’t start.  Crazy thing happened… even though the jumper cables were connected correctly, the car just wouldn’t start.  I asked Larry how his day was.  Larry’s day had not been good,  he told me that his wife (of a year) just left him and their nine month old baby for her former boyfriend.  For the next 15 minutes we left the cars connected and Larry and I connected.  Seems Larry needed someone to talk to.  My cousin came by to help with the car and I thanked Larry and gave him my card and told him I would pray for him and his family.  I hooked up the new car to the same old car and it started immediately. 

Tonight, God reminded me why we are doing this Desperate Houselives series…  behind the statistics, behind the stories, behind the jokes, behind the messages, are people just like Larry who are dealing with desperate marriages.  Pray for Larry and his family and look for divine appointments in your day… you never know who God has put in your path that you can IMPACT for the Kingdom. 

Sunday night thoughts…

• Really a cool vibe today.  We had a great crowd… I guess when you talk about sex people show up 😉
• I am really enjoying the Desperate Houselives series.  My prayer from the start has been that it would strengthen marriages and I believe that it is doing that.
• After todays message, I predict that Lifesong will see a substantial increase in attendance in about 9 months 🙂
• We had a children’s team meeting at our house this afternoon… some cool changes are coming.
• Lifesong’s date night went GREAT!  We had an awesome crowd, lots of fun, good food and a REALLY bad movie… very cool!
• Just finished up with a creative team meeting to plan for our next series, Supernatural.  This is going to be awesome!
• I know every church planter says this… but WE have the greatest volunteers on the planet AND our volunteers can beat up your volunteers!  I am not kidding.
• I really feel momentum growing… we had better get our jars ready!