LIFE IS FRAGILE

During our weekend service, I shared some thoughts about the Virginia Tech massacre. Here they are in brief:

• I don't have all the answers
• Tragedy and horror clearly reveal the reality of evil.
• Evil can only be defined in contrast. Just like darkness only makes sense when someone understands light, evil is understood by the contrast with good.
  
• There is good in this world. Primarily, God is the source of all good.
• Life is fragile, valuable, and sacred.

I just came from a funeral celebrating the life and mourning the death of a young man named Andrew. I went to the viewing last night, and offered my condolences to my friend and his family, who just lost their son, brother, and friend. I looked at pictures of him growing up, and thought, "Life is a breath..." and "That looks just like me and my kids playing..." Laura and I returned home this afternoon saying, "Let's appreciate every moment we have. Life is short. Let's hug our girls more. Laugh more. Hug each other more. Let's enjoy the time we have. We're not promised another breath."

The pastor who spoke during the funeral offered some incredibly profound points. Among them, he said this (and I'll paraphrase):
"We don't really want there to be no death. Imagine life without death. If there was no death, the lame would never walk. If there was no death, the blind would never see. If we never faced death, the terminally ill would always be ill, but never terminate. Without death, injustice would never be made right, and we would have no hope of a better life."

Wow! We do not mourn as those without hope. We realize that death is simply a doorway into eternal life. May everyone walk through that door as Andrew did, with his feet firmly planted on Rock of Jesus Christ and holding fast to the promise and faith of eternal life.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

I thought I'd post an email I just sent out to our leadership team at The LifeHouse. Okay, it's a little like giving you the inner workings, but I'm confident anyone reading this will understand why I'd post this email. This is honestly how I communicate with and feel about our team.

Hey Team!

“Have I told you lately that I…”

…think you ROCK! What did you expect, some sappy love song?

When I look around at what God is doing IN and THROUGH our lives, I’m frankly shocked! I’ll put it on my blog, but last night was a highlight for me. It might be a little selfish, but hearing all 16 people who were baptized sharing about what God has done and is doing in their lives is awesome, and to think that we had a part to play in their life-transformation. WOW! Literally, that’s why I get out of bed in the morning. Reminds me of these comments by the Apostle Paul (click hyperlink to go to Bible verses). Here’s two blog posts that I read this morning that may have grabbed some of the sentiment we might feel at times (although I neither condone nor use some of the words written): “A lot of the time we’re scared” (and check out “Every church was a seed”).

Something I’ve thought often, and it came up again last night, we must celebrate as often as possible. There’s enough stuff in this world to keep us down, so any chance we get, let’s celebrate the wins of our life, the church, and others that we love. Find reasons to celebrate!

Another thing, I thought yesterday and think just about every Sunday, as I watch people coming through the doors of Eastern Elementary: in the words of Mark Batterson, “the reward of successful hard work is more work.” As we are faithful with little, God entrusts more to us. Every one that comes to The LifeHouse is our responsibility, our “brothers and sisters”, and we must lead with integrity, wisdom, pure motives, and clear vision. This is our accountability! “To whom much is given, much is required” (1 Cor 4:1-2 and Luke 12:48). It keeps me in regular prayer (see Psalm 127:1-3), forces me to be constantly learning and growing (remember Maxwell’s teaching on the “Law of the Lid”), and daily humbles me to allow God to stretch me beyond my comfort zone. I realize that the moment I get comfortable, I cease to grow. When we stop growing we die. The church will not die, and we must be continually motivated to expand the Kingdom of God “to the ends of the earth” and to reach every soul in our “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.”

WEEKEND IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

What an Easter Weekend! It's great to have fun at church, and have a deeply meaningful experience with God. This is what happened this weekend at The LifeHouse:

• we had coffee smelling candles all over the place, so you not only get to drink coffee but the whole place smells like coffee, too.
• the flowers all over the place were great too, thanks to Susan for making the school look beautiful for spring.
• I started a new sermon series called RELIGION BYTES. And I think I scared some people on the front end, until I defined what I meant by religion (man's attempt to earn access to heaven, God, etc). What an incredible reality, that all religions make an attempt to earn access to God through some form of works, sacrifice, self-abasement, etc. That's what makes the gospel of Jesus so different! Jesus said that nothing we do can bridge that gap or divide between God and man because of sin. We can't earn it, don't deserve, and will never be good enough. The only way to cross the chasm is through an active faith in Jesus Christ, who bridge the divide through His death and resurrection. Then, we can live free and fulfill the purposes that God created us to fulfill, because we are not preoccupied trying to work our way into heaven.
  
• Great fun on the 2000+ egg hunt. There was a crowd in the fields, and kids everywhere getting their "candy fix." You might consider The LifeHouse "pushers" for terrible things like jelly beans and chocolate candy. I'm sure all the kids went home and were absolutely wired!
• Just as a note, this was our 2 year anniversary of officially launching on Sundays as a church and if you count everyone, we broke the 200 people barrier. Wow! That's great!
  

TEARING DOWN THE WALL

Why do we do what we do on Sunday mornings at The LifeHouse? Thought this would be the best place to spell it out, then I'll just send everyone who asks here first.

Our goal at The LifeHouse on Sunday mornings: Tear Down the Walls and Preconceptions People Have toward Church so that God can Do Whatever He Wants! I believe that many times, people are not turned off to Jesus or the message of the Bible, as much as they are to the Church. They may have had negative experiences, been hurt by people in the church, or even by leadership/ pastors. So, when guests arrive at our doors, they have walls of fear, inadequacy, doubt, guilt, condemnation, rejection, et cetera.

And our goal is to remove those walls so that everyone opens their heart of to what God wants to accomplish.

• That's why we have smiling, warm greeters at the entrance- so people feel welcomed and accepted.
  
• That's why we serve a full breakfast with large portions- so people feel like we're here to serve and give rather than take and demand (we're not here looking to get something from you, but to offer you an opportunity to experience God).
  
• That's why we have a video introduction- so that our guests know exactly what to expect and they know we've been expecting them- so that they feel warmly received and know what will be happening through the service.
  
• That's why we have great children's programs- so that we can care for their kids, so that they're not preoccupied or distracted- so that they can experience God. Besides, then their kids are having a great time learning and experiencing God as well.
• That's why we have high-energy, celebration-style worship- so that we create a place where God can come and be "throned on the praise of His people." I'm confident that the musical/ singing environment where God is lifted up as an "awesome God" is also a transforming environment. Why? Because, when we get a proper perspective of God, then we can have faith and allow Him to miraculously intervene in our lives. Our music gets our blood pumping and allows God to accomplish His work in our lives.
• That's why I use lots of illustrations and video clips in my sermon messages. So that the biblical truths become alive, relevant, and practical in our lives TODAY! These aren't just truths or principles for people that lived 2000 years ago, but are very useful for each of us today. But it's my job to communicate these truths in a way that our culture and generation can understand. My goal is to communicate the Truth of the Bible in a way that everyone can understand, so that the Truth will transform our lives.
• We do a lot more things to tear down walls and allow God to accomplish whatever He wants to accomplish, but these are probably the big ones that I hear the most about- so there you go!

Enjoy! And let's continue to make our mission on Sunday morning to DISARM and DE-WALL all of our guests so that God can do what He wants to in their lives.

IF YOU ARE A GUEST READING THIS, I want you to know that we are looking forward to seeing you on Sunday, and believe firmly that God has something special for you. So, open your heart to His love and purposes for your life!

THE LIFEHOUSE RUINS PEOPLE

It's become my new mission statement! I want us to ruin people. That's right! I want our guests and anyone who becomes part of The LifeHouse to so enjoy and connect with us, that they can never go back to church as usual. I know, that sounds terrible. But for Laura and I personally, we often say that we can't go back to just "doing" church, sitting in pews, singing songs, you know, doing church. I want LIFE, passion, relevance, the Bible becoming alive and an authentic community of Jesus-followers who aren't afraid to be themselves. So, I'm ruined.

Recently, I've gotten feedback from LifeHousers that were out-of-town, and they say that they walk into another church, and start thinking, "I can't drink coffee here" or "I feel like I have to act religious" or "Where's the laughter?" or "my kids are going to get bored quick." We shouldn't compare ourselves with others, after all, we are ONE CHURCH. And The LifeHouse is just the last name of the particular family that we identify with. But as a family, we're ruined, and we like it that way. Look forward to your personal remarks.