BARE NAKED VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN

#CONNECT UPDATE - latest blogpost at www.patrickgrach.com.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN IN OUR CULTURE?

Don't miss this illustration from Shantung Compound.

BE a TUTOR, GET a TUTOR - a service opportunity

If you're excited about Hagerstown Convoy of Hope, then this is for YOU!

Lifehouse West has launched a new educational ministry called Community Life Institute.

This is an exciting opportunity to both be served and serve!

Check it out here and found out what's available and how YOU can get involved.

This ministry is offering tutoring to get a GED, school tutoring, Continuing Education Courses, or Community Awareness Programs. If you NEED this tutoring, then check out the website and register.

If you are WILLING to be a TUTOR! Also, go to the website or comment on this blog.

Hagerstown Convoy of Hope TONIGHT & TOMORROW!

Calling all churches and volunteers!

It is now just 1 DAY until Hagerstown Convoy of Hope 2011. Two last minute reminders:

1. Tonight, Friday, September 23, 7:00 p.m. – Volunteer rally – LifeHouse Bethel, 515 E. Wilson Blvd., Hagerstown. There will be a LOVE OFFERING taken to help with Convoy expenses. We are trusting God to help us meet the remaining budget needs with your help!

All volunteers are invited to join us tonight!


2. Tomorrow, Saturday, September 24, 7:00 a.m. – Volunteers should arrive at Hagerstown Fairgrounds Park ready to serve in the power and strength of the Lord!

Invite anyone in need of HELP and/or HOPE!

THIS weekend, there are NO individual churches, just an army of Christians serving one Christ and one Church in a revolution of love!

Being Jesus in OUR Community- notes from Exponential Conference

Incarnational Ministry, by Michael Frost (author of several books including ReJesus and well-known missiologist)

Just as Jesus was God incarnate (in the flesh) to the world, we must incarnate Jesus into our communities.

How do we live incarnationally in our neighborhoods to reach people with the Good News of Jesus?

1. Listen to your neighbor- take to to both talk and listen. Listen deeply. 
2. Say YES to every invitation to engage your community and neighbors. If they invite you in, go in. Invite you out, go out. Don't avoid interaction with community.
3. Say “we will serve you” and mean it and do it!
4. Be a doggedly-loyal and intimately committed presence of God to your neighborhood and community. This commitment is the leading influence of Christian impact. We need selfless, caring, grace-filled believers to add salt and light in our communities.

My personal take-away is the re-affirmation of a passionate appeal that I often articulate regarding church- BE THE CHURCH! We don't go to church, attend church, or do church. We are the church. We live, gather, scatter as the church. I love the concept that church is a verb not a noun. 

What is THE Church?

Notes from speakers at Exponential Conference (just returned this past weekend):
---
Speaker Reggie McNeal on "what is the church?"
In current America/ European model, a Church just becomes another category or module of the existing culture, like politics, economics, education, and now- religion.

To truly be the church, the church must spread cross-culturally into each category of culture.

Church is deployed not just gathered.

“Church” is a verb not a noun. The Church has one constant mission- to serve, reach people for Jesus.

The Church must impact her culture by engaging and serving the community. She must penetrate and transform those around her. The evidence of her impact can be measured in lowered crime rate, lowered  gang participation, higher graduation rate, lowered teen pregnancy rate, etc.

These are life/ Kingdom-metrics. Are people being transformed in their living because of the church?

“The church” not A church. It's “being the church” not “going to church”. (I think Reggie got these from me!)

church is not the destination, the Kingdom of God is the destination.

Growing stronger as a Jesus-follower

At Lifehouse, we're kicking off our next Life Commitments Course THIS Sunday!

Sign up now by emailing info@lifehousechurcheast.org.

This is an exciting 8-week discipleship course that teaches commitment to God and commitment to the body of Christ (the church).

We believe the church is a family; and it takes commitment to build a strong family.

The course is an interactive teaching with video illustrations, gifts assessment tests, and plenty of group discussions. The process concludes with an overnight retreat (called Encounter Weekend), where students are given the opportunity to deepen relationships with others in the class, review the material, and allow each person to individually experience God’s presence in a life transforming way.

If you want to go deeper with Christ, get more involved at Lifehouse, and build strong relationships with others who want to do the same, then join Life Commitments.

If you're wondering what your next step is at Lifehouse, and you have not YET gone through Life Commitments, this is the course for you!

Sign up TODAY!

Check out our discipleship map

Critical Announcements

TWO Big Announcements for ALL Lifehousers:


Three (3) Services start THIS Sunday!

When they said, "Good things come in threes," they must have been talking about Lifehouse Church East!

Beginning March 27, Lifehouse Church East will offer 3 Sunday morning services at 8:45, 10:00 and 11:15 AM.

"Why the change?" you might ask. It's simple-- each service was beginning to reach max capacity, and we want to share God's love with as many people possible!

You can expect each service to be jam-packed with all the things you love about Lifehouse: free breakfast, great kids programs, live music, and a message that speaks to your everyday life.

So pass the news on to your friends and family, and we look forward to seeing you March 27th!

NEXT Weekend is Spring Fever Sunday!


Hang up heavy coats, burn the boots, and scrap the scarves!  Spring is on it's way, and at Lifehouse Church East-- that calls for a CELEBRATION!

On April 3, we're inviting you and your kids to be our guests of honor at "Spring Fever Sunday!"  While the adults enjoy free breakfast, live music, and an inspiring message, the kids will be treated to a full morning of carnival-style fun at our 8:45, 10:00 and 11:15 AM services!

Egg hunts, moonbounces, carnival games, live performers, candy, concessions and prizes are all part of the fun.  Sound a little crazy?  What can we say...we have SPRING FEVER!! Do YOU??

BIG Announcement Coming THIS Sunday

Don't miss it! During our services I'll be making an exciting BIG announcement about Lifehouse and our continued adjustments to reaching more people with the message of Jesus Christ.

Our Cause is to share and show God's love through Christ with as many people as possible. This means that we must continually adjust and expand and be flexible while also being incredibly innovative.

So, I beg you- INVITE your friends and be FLEXIBLE!

You can save a baby's life!

The Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Center is an incredible organization that serves those in a crisis pregnancy, as well as their unborn child.

Several churches in our area have rallied support behind the Center to raise funds to help them become a full-care center open 5 days a week.

If you're collecting coins for the Hag.Pregnacy Center, fill your baby bottle and bring it into Lifehouse by the end of February! (Please return unfilled bottles as well.)

Thanks so much for turning your change into a BIG change!

Lesson #9 from 2010 WARNING: CONTROVERSIAL

Most people HATE conflict, in fact, they have conflict with conflict.

Lesson learned: conflict isn't bad. How we handle conflict is either good or bad, but conflict itself is an opportunity for growth or reveals an area where we need to grow.

I've taught this since we launched Lifehouse, and often challenge our leaders to NOT avoid conflict but to handle it biblically. 2010 was a year when my conviction to hold to this biblical stance was seriously tested.

Here are my personal reasons why I didn't want to deal with conflict, (then I'll share how I overcame them):

• dealing with conflict felt scary and uncomfortable,
• was afraid a person wouldn't like me if I address a reason for tension,
• didn't want to lose a friend, and thought, "if I address this issue, they won't want to be my friend anymore". I know, it sounds like I'm a kindergartner, does it? But it's how you think, too.
• it takes too much time and energy. Time better spent elsewhere,
• it'll go away on it's own, and if I bring it up, it will get worse,
• what if I'm not "right"?
• what if dealing with conflict reveals a weakness in me?

How I've grown and overcome some of these challenges:

• deal with conflict quickly, before it becomes "cancerous" and destructive, both to relationship and the church,
• give people the benefit of the doubt,
• don't believe second-hand info, but let people share their thoughts first-hand,
• avoid my personal insecurities and fears from debilitating me by trusting God and getting over myself,
• recognize that I still have a lot to learn and that God will use conflict to grow me (this one is hard to learn and hurts the most),
• unresolved tension grows destructive, so deal with it headed on and often until it's resolved,
• allow people time to think and grow. Don't demand immediate resolution.
• conflict might take a lot of time, but it takes less time on the front end than if left unresolved. Eventually, it will become all-consuming and a massive drain on your time.
• Even when we disagree, people are still precious to God and should be loved and treated with value.
• I LOVE those with whom I've had conflict. Even when things don't turn out like I wanted, they may not even know it but I regularly PRAY for them and think of them often. I wouldn't address issues of conflict if I didn't care. 
• God heals and brings the ultimate reconciliation in relationships. If things can't be resolved, we must turn it over to God.
• When we receive forgiveness from God, we MUST give forgiveness to and ASK forgiveness of others.

This was a very raw and personal approach to conflict. Listen to a sermon I preached on this topic in BIG part 4.

Big take away, "Conflict inevitable, combat optional". Watch this video for a laugh:

The WHY behind "Don't Go to Church" Sunday

In case you're curious...

Here's NOT why we said, "don't go to church" on Sunday, October 31st:

• to save money- we didn't do this to be cheap or try to save on expenses. We believe reaching people for Christ and leading people in life transforming experiences on Sunday mornings are worth the investment,
• to get out of the theater- we like meeting in rented facilities that gives us the flexibility of keeping our focus on reaching the unchurched and serving our city by showing and sharing God's love. Meeting in the theater allows us to do that.

Here's the BIG whys behind why we lead Lifehouse to "don't go to church":

1. To say "YES" to God. First and foremost, this was a God-led idea. We didn't come up with this in a planning meeting. I had been sharing some ideas with our team that I felt God had placed on my heart, but I kept wrestling with them, and finally shared that it wasn't the right timing. However, i also expressed that there was something BIG that God wanted us to do to conclude the Bare-Naked Faith series, but I didn't know what it was. The next morning, in our staff prayer meeting, Lois Quesenberry shared an idea and my spirit leapt. I said, "That's it! That's the thing God wants to do." That's the genesis of the life group Sunday. It happened on a Tuesday, we announced on Sunday. When God calls us to respond, I've made a commitment to always just say "YES!"
2. To teach Lifehouse and our community that we DON'T GO to church, we ARE the Church. Church isn't a location, a building, or a Sunday morning experience. The Church is people gathered through their common faith in Jesus Christ for the purpose of worship, spiritual growth, building community, and sharing the Gospel with unbelievers,
3. To model our commitment to taking bold faith-risk steps. We, at Lifehouse, will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to teach and lead people to being devoted Jesus-followers,
4. To break us out of our routine of Sunday morning "church". Sometimes we need to be shaken out of routine. Even good routines can lose their effectiveness if we forget why we're doing them. So, Lifehouse's leadership takes bold, God-led steps to mix things up, surprise you with creativity, and catch you off guard with how powerful the Christian life is everyday,
5. To empower our life groups and leaders that they can effectively lead a life- transforming worship experience in their home,
6. To tease our community and Lifehouse with fresh ideas. I don't know if we'll lead a "Don't Go to Church" Sunday again, but I do know that we'll continue encouraging people to meet in homes for life groups. Who knows? We may even develop an idea of launching video church campuses in homes all around this region... Who knows?

Thanks for understanding the "why" behind the "what".

"Be the Church" Sunday

We don't want anyone at Lifehouse to show up at the theater on Sunday, October 31st and be caught off guard, so we're spreading the word now- DON'T GO to Church!! That's right, we're inviting you to BE the Church!

On October 31st, instead of collectively meeting at the theater, we're meeting in 25 groups across the entire region. We're asking YOU and everyone connecting with Lifehouse to find a group and Be the Church by going to a life group that Sunday morning.

It's FRIEND DAY too, so invite your neighbors, friends, family out to the life group you'll be joining, and let's pack out 25 homes across this region! We'll have invite cards available on this Sunday, October 24th.

Most groups will meet at 10:30 in homes and various locations, a few will meet at 9 and 9:30am. Some will have childcare, most will have a live worship leaders, all will take communion, and YES! I will be preaching a message that morning!

We'll be kicking off a new sermon series that morning called "BIG: if you feed it, it will grow".