One of Those Days

This morning, it was just one of those days when God creates a phenomenal gumbo of our worship with his presence, creativity, joy, challenge, affirmation and conviction. Yet again, Mark Groutas and our worship team took us to the throne with an inspired combination of fresh worship blended with a centuries-strong hymn that took on a new life of its own.

The message hammered me long before it saw the light of day this morning. “The Power of Compassion” holds so much potential and promise for anyone and any church willing to set aside our own comfort and just serve. I can’t wait to see what God brings to reality in the weeks and months ahead (If you were in the 11:30 service, I failed to tell you that God is moving us to begin making moves into Africa and establishing a foothold in Cuba. My bad).

And, then, our last worship song was led by…high schoolers??!! Yep. And they were amazing! Not only for the skill of their musicianship, but for the hearts and joy behind their leadership.

SPECIAL NOTE: If you missed ANY of the PowerHouse series, please make the time to check it out online. It is absolutely mission-critical to who we are and where God is leading us in the months and years ahead.

DON'T FORGET: This coming Sunday, we get to launch a brand new message and ministry series: Why I’m not a Christian. We’re going to address honestly and directly some of the most common objections to the Christian faith. It’s going to be good for those of us in the House. But it’s going to be great for those people that we choose to invite and introduce to the extravagant, unconditional love of God.

You in?

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Go to Church Somewhere Else (2 of 2)

This weekend, Julie and I got to worship at Journey Church in Norman, OK with Pastor Clark Mitchell and his wife Robin. What a phenomenal church!

The people are joyful and so welcoming. Their building is beautiful. The grounds are well kept. But, the thing that I walked away with was the depth and sincerity of their worship. Beautiful grounds, coffee and donuts, smiling people would never be able to hide hollow, going-through-the-motions worship.

And, their's isn't. Kyle, their worship pastor leads an incredibly gifted and loyal praise team, and their service radiates out from the entire church. Julie and I were so blessed to be there with them Sunday morning (and Saturday night for dinner and Sunday for lunch--both of which were through the roof).

Clark is one of those rare individuals who is a gifted, intuitive leader. Without even trying, he just gets it. But, then, he does try. And work. And pray. And study. He pays close attention to the details, but never takes his eyes off the big picture vision that God has given to him to lead Journey Church to fulfill. He's rare, because he voraciously adds to his intuitive gifts by reading and learning and seeking out other leaders to learn from. He's one of those people who just fill my tanks being around him.

Having said that, as blessed and honored as we were to be their guests, we loved flying home tonight and that home means the good ol' ATX. As wonderful as Journey Church is, we were reminded how deeply and profoundly we love Lake Hills Church--the people, the worship, the vision that God lets us be a part of every day.

Go to Church Somewhere Else (1 of 2)

That's right! I said it, and I meant it. But, it's not what you're thinking. This isn't some fly-off-the-handle rant. Not that I'm above that, but in this particular instance, I'm not doing it. No, instead, I mean something completely different:

This summer, if you're out of town on vacation somewhere, make it a point to go to church and worship somewhere that you've never been before.

There are some interesting and very healthy things that happen whenever Julie & I get to do this:

1. We're forced to remember what it's like for our guests to walk through our doors each week. You NEVER take that for granted whenever you put yourself in that position. (Sub-point 1-A: Whenever you think about other people and worship, you've burned up some of the bandwidth that is sometimes dedicated to thinking What's-in-it-for-me? thoughts.)
2. Our capacity for worship is stretched. When you follow the worship leader of another congregation--and therefore that church's style of worship--you choose to do something that you're not as familiar with, so you have the opportunity to remember that worship isn't about OUR comfort. It's about OUR adoration of God. Lifting him up in a style or through songs we're not used to can actually help us re-center our worship on the One it's supposed to be all about anyway.
3. It's really healthy to ask the Holy Spirit to speak a fresh word into your life through a teacher/preacher that you're not used to. Maybe even in a denominational tradition that you're not used to. Again, same principles apply here as in the worship thing in #2.
4. New experiences always hold new lessons about God and about life. Through these new worship experiences, God will build and deepen your worship repertoire--and that's great.
5. Every time we do this as a family, no matter how powerful the presence of God, or inspiring the worship, how good the band, how popping the projectors, mind-blowing the technology (or lack thereof), or how anointed the preaching--we're excited to come home to LHC and the people and vision that God has called us to be a part of.

So, this summer, on vacation...Go to church somewhere else! And, know that we look forward to seeing you back home.