so all i've been try'n to do is recover from yesterday. the weekends take so much from me. i've said many times over being the pastor of an engaging new church requires hard work but it’s one of the most rewarding things i've ever done in my life. i almost typed "engaging church plant." i'm not going to use "plant." after meeting with so many people yesterday and discussing things with new faith, right now as i'm typing, i realize, we're not a plant! we are coming out! i think it all had to do with changing our mindset to engage the culture instead of allowing yet another generation pass by. pass by without the desire or the need to believe God.
follow my thought for a moment….
what if Jesus walked into the starbucks on virginia beach blvd, would we know him? what if he ordered a strawberries and creme? wow, now that's hard to imagine. Jesus and starbucks? strawberries and creme? hold it. i don't remember reading or hearing that Jesus sipped coffee. of course not all that caffeine must have been sinful. huh? right. Jesus didn't hang out in the coffee shops of nazareth! no way, that wouldn't be holy, right. no, listen to this one. instead, i hear that Jesus hung out with people that were called alcoholics and gluttons. his best friend was a former prostitute. he asked for help from a lady that was married 5 times. today our culture thinks the christian community has a serious issue associating with any of the people that i just previously mentioned. not me I want to become a follower of this Jesus. i'm willing to embrace the flip side of the coin to be like jesus. i want to show a culture that being a follower of Jesus isn't about the do's and don’ts of the bible. being a follower is showing people that it is ok to change. change the way you think. change the way you live. change what you speak. change how you listen. it's not just any change but a change that will redraw an entire generation, culture and planet. i’m going to say it now. jesus is in the culture too! he’s not only in the church building. believe it or not. we need to grasp reality and know that we need to be in the culture (world) too.
ok. thanks for going there.
i call my monday's the day after. sunday's are important to me and who i am. there's a thought. what do you do when you realize who you really are? to be real means you can't become anything else. when i was talking to my two sons earlier and i told justin that he doesn't have to tell me what he thinks i want to hear or will make me happy. i want him to be real and be honest. i want him to be justin. how liberating can it be when you realize who you are and you can be yourself. that’s what God wants. when i'm real, honest and just chuck then there is no condemnation! that's what God wants. he wants us to be the person he created us to be. to be real and to be honest! www.newfaith.cc
1 comment:
I know what you mean about Monday's. I try to hide out in my office and make sure no one sees me.
I agree with your assessment of how we should engage the world. I think to many people take that "in the world, but not of it" thing out of context. Of course, we should be different than the world, but that doesn't have as much to do with where we go and what we do as it does with how we love each other. As Len Sweet said, if your in water then you'll get wet, and if you're in the world you will get some of it on your hands...hopefully it's from loving on those that others find unlovable.
Keep up the good work. Amy and I love you guys.
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