the church picnic

Normally, I am against most age-old church traditions. They are generally filled with the same pomp and circumstance that have driven people away from God for decades.

However, there is one tradition that I am so happy is alive and well today: the church picnic!

Okay, I’ll admit…some of it is out of selfishness. The food is generally very good, and abundant. Burgers and dogs. Potato, macaroni and other salads of a delicious nature. Cookies, pies and cakes. Oh, yeah!

But one other reason I love the picnic: everything else disappears for a few hours. Troubles, job woes, personal issues…they go away to make room for laughter, games and fellowship. I look around at the faces, and see a simpler time. Not quite Little House on the Prairie, but not today’s fast paced world, either. Somewhere in between. Somewhere that’s fun, and genuine, and good. Somewhere you can take a deep breath and relax.

Somewhere I like to be.

Now, excuse me while I look for my eating pants…we have a church picnic this Sunday!

when media isn’t needed…

What? There’s a time when you don’t need media to enhance a message? Say it isn’t so!

Well, we found out at LifePointe Church this weekend that yes, sometimes keepin’ it simple is best.

As we finished up our last message in a relationship series, our Pastor brought his wife on stage. They talked about the story…the map, if you will…of their relationship. There were some powerful moments, some funny moments, and some solemn moments. To put it simply, there were some human moments.

While it was one of the longest messages Jamey had ever delivered, it was also one of the most driving, most engaging sermons I have heard. The kind that sends you down Reflective Boulevard.

And there wasn’t a drop of splashy media to be found. No video support, no cool graphics/photos. Just Jamey and his wife. Telling their story.

That was all we needed.

help

I have always been self-reliant.

I would never ask for help…with anything. Homework assignments in college, projects at home or work…anything. I used to think this was an admirable trait. But recently, I found out that it was the trait that has been holding me back.

God put us on the planet with other humans for a reason: to interact and be part of a community. It’s that community that brings us closer to Christ, and brings us closer to each other. We are hear to support each other, and help our fellow man to achieve greatness; to become the people that our Creator meat for us to be.

If we can’t rely on each other, then we are but an island. And, as the old saying goes, no man is an island.

After 43 years on this planet, I finally get it. It’s easier to lean on a thousand shoulders than stand on your own.

why?

Why does it take 4 hours to see a doctor at an emergency room on a Thursday night when there’s only 12 people in the waiting room?

Why does the nurse, the doctor, the sign in person, and three or four other hospital workers have to ask you the same 37 questions about latex allergies and how the pain feels on a scale of one to ten?

Why does every size hospital gown leave a smidge of butt showing in the back?

Well, these questions are funny and aggrevating, but guess what? None of them matter when someone you love is in the hospital.

One moment you’re joking about the wildest circumstances, and the next you’re being told by the doctor that it’s more serious than they first thought.

Nothing else really matters at that point. Nothing at all.

Christ told us not to worry about things that aren’t important.

Boy, was he all over that one, or what?

 

why do christian movies stink?

O.K., the title to this post may not be fair. But, if you love the movie industry, you must agree that a vast majority (95%-99%) of Christian films stink.

Now, I’m not talking about the big budget Hollywood extravaganzas, such as The Ten Commandments or Passion of the Christ. I’m talking about the movies made in the past two decades produced specifically for the “church going” market. Duds like “Time Changers” and “Facing the Giants.”

Those are all well-intended flicks, but they’re awful because they are not relevant and in order to appeal to what they feel is their target market, they use dialogue that only Ned Flanders could appreciate!

peaceful easy feeling…

It’s 8am Sunday morning, and I’m sitting at my computer at church as I write this. We’ve already been here longer than an hour, and I’m listening to the worship band rehearse, and the volunteer setup crew putting the finishing on the stage. It’s a huge feat, because we meet in a movie theater, so we literally “build” a church and tear it down every single Sunday.

And right now is always the most peaceful time of my week.

It’s those few moment between disorganization and chaos.

It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it. It takes that feeling of accomplishment to a new level, and it gives me the opportunity to watch a bunch of guys give a valuable block of time to their church…and mostly without complaint.

It’s the best time of my week…

what is connection?

We have got some great volunteers at LifePointe church. And, we’ve got a bunch of them! Half of our church are active volunteers, and that’s nothing to sneeze at when it comes to church statistics.

But, I often worry about connection. And by connection, I mean a deep-rooted attachment to one’s surroundings and a committment level to service that exceeds the average.

That’s what I mean by connection.

I always wonder if the people that volunteer under me are experiencing a level of connection that they deserve. You know…the one that God has in store for them.

How can i know? What are the signs? If there is no connection, will interest level stay at a high?

It’s kind of like being married, i guess. There has to be some communication. Asking, listening, lunches…whatever it takes. We only have one shot at helping someone connect with the community, with God, and we can’t screw it up. Eyes wide open should be the motto.

Do me a favor…if you think you’re not connected, or are connected and want to take it to a higher level, tell me! Just like my wife tells me when I’m not taking our relationship to the next level.

Only…I promise I won’t tell you to wait until the commercial comes on.

Is there a God?

Ahhhh…that is the question. The one question that secular humanists have been asking themselves for centuries.

You know, I think to help answer this question, i’m going to put on my “atheist hat.”

If God doesn’t exist, and man is truly all by himself on this big, blue marble, and everything we’ve accomplished up til now can only be attributed to man’s greatness, then what do we have?

Well, according to the latest count, there are 2.1 billion Christians in this world. If there were no God, then there are 2.1 billion (yes…I know that not all Christians act in a Christian way) people that are trying to be the nicest, the best humans they can be. 

2.1 billion people giving portions of their paychecks to help others, buying groceries for the needy, smiling at someone having a bad day, hugging someone that just experienced a tragedy.  

2.1 billion people building houses for the poor, risking their lives to get medicine to the sick in third world dictatorships, trying to spread hope in the most hopeless parts of the world.

2.1 billion people just trying to help.

Now, if there were no God, and these Christians were following a false hope…well, is there a better false hope to follow?

And, by the way, I think that 2.1 billion people promoting that same hope proves that there is a God.

 

Plant this!

LifePointe Church has been in existense for 16 months. That’s 69 weeks (68 if you count the week of the Great White Death of ’08). We’ve had Sundays that were successfull beyond all imagination, and some not so much. We’ve had dozens come to Christ, and many baptized. We’ve had parties and picnics that show the best of the people we have involved in our congregation. And, we’ve reached into a community looking for something “different.”

But after all of that, we still, interestingly enough, need to think of LifePointe as a church plant. A church still in it’s infancy.

And that’s a very cool thing!

We get to make mistakes. And then correct them.

We get to tweak here and there, and change things up to keep it fresh.

We get to try new and exciting ways to reach people that haven’t thought about church in years, or have never even stepped through the doors of one.

We get to wake up every day, and treat it like a clean slate. And that is very cool.

Now, for the $64,000 question: Why doesn’t every church start each day like a plant? Why does the status quo have to be the order of the day? Why can’t changes be made on the fly in order to maximize their reach into the community?

Why can’t church be a fresh, new thing every day?

Boy…if every church maintained that level of liquidity, that level of excitement…evryone would be going to church.

Did I mention how lucky I am to be at LifePointe?

Mother’s Day, Speed Racer, and the such…

As we prepare for our annual Mother’s Day service at LifePointe Church, I am becoming very nostalgic. Not prohibition-do-the-lindy-buy-bonds nostalgic…just recalling-the-great-things-about-my-mom nostalgic.

I have to ask myself “would I do the things for her she did for me?”

The answer: It’s hard to say.

Would I give up the last slice of pie? Probably not…but in hindsight, I should have!

Would I work for the government for 35 years so that I could have a spoiled kid squander the paychecks I brought home? Probably not.

Would I go to stupid plays, baseball, football, soccer and basketball games, boring PTA conferences, and the likes, without complaining…once?  Absolutely not.

You know, this list could go on forever, but I just want it on the record that I’m not half the person my Mom is.

Oh, yeah…and I saw Speed Racer this weekend and it kicked butt!

Thanks, Mom, and I hope you have a great Mother’s Day!