Just a quick second to say sorry for the non-posting lately. I have been out of town a lot and packing like crazy. Today was my first day in the office in about a week and my last day working for LifeChurch.tv. We move in three days and I will begin posting again once we arrive in Colorado.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a great new year!!
Adam
Last week I posted about my spiritually energy right now. I talked about what I have been seeing all around me, as people step outside their idea of the “church” being a building and see The Church as it was meant to be.
Another event that has me really spiritually energized right now and something I was waiting to officially announce on the web, is that my wife and I have just recently accepted a position with a “church” in Colorado. So on January 2nd we will be packing up and moving to Littleton, CO as the new youth pastors of KCBC.It is going to be sad and hard to leave our friends and family here in Stillwater and all around Oklahoma, but we know without a doubt that this is God’s leading. It doesn’t hurt either that instead of walking out of our church here in Stillwater and smelling cow manure when the wind blows from the south, my new office literally looks out over the foothills of the Rockies. I waited to say anything because we just announced it to our students last night at our Youth Experience.
Snowboarding, elk hunting, and non-Bible-belt ministry… here we come!
Sorry but there will be a pause today on Part 3. LifeChurch.tv is hosting the annual December Event where all LifeChurch.tv staff members from around the country come together for a three day get together. We will celebrate all that God has done and is doing, brainstorm new adventures and direction, encourage one another and have the biggest Christmas Party on the planet. This is day two and very busy. I will continue the posting series on The Church later.
But for now I hope everyone is enjoying their preparation for the Holidays and enjoy this little holiday video to get you in the mood. Get excited!!
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=9jyCfRHumHU[/youtube]
Best Christmas movie on the planet!
So yesterday, I sit down with a college freshman who wants to talk to me about the local missions project we are doing here in Stillwater. He says that he has seen all that we are doing on the mobile home and feels that God is calling him to help out by giving up all of his upcoming birthday and Christmas. He talked to his parents and they are going to give him money for his birthday and Christmas instead of buying him gifts and he is going to turn around and buy some of the big items that this family really needs.
On top of that he has some extra money that he has saved over the semester from working and is going to use all of that money to help some struggling families within our church provide Christmas for their children!
Listen, it’s not about the money or any dollar amounts. That’s why I didn’t include any of those in this post. It’s all about sacrifice. I am not saying that everyone who wants to be “HOLY” must giving away every nice thing and is not able to receive gifts. But this young man told his parents, “listen, I don’t need anything. I have everything I want/need and I want to know that this Christmas I made a huge difference in people’s lives.”
God has called him to something and he is following it. His sacrifice is going to impact a lot of people and the reward he will one day receive will be much more valuable than some new clothes.
Thought: What if I were to call you this afternoon and ask for a personal story to post tomorrow for (Part 3), would you have anything? How are you becoming The Church and not just attending a “church?”
One of the things that has me really spiritually energized right now is the way I have seen some people in our “church” become The Church. As we all know and preach but rarely live, The Church is not made up of buildings, staff, and programs. The Church is the people and the people are The Church.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been coordinating a local project here in Stillwater. A single mom with three children lost her job and her apartment in a matter of 72 hours (crazy situation and completely not her fault, I did my research). She is living rent free in a property owned by someone in the church right now, someone donated a mobile home, we paid to have it moved and now I am coordinating volunteers from our “church” to help rebuild and fix up the home. It has been awesome to see everyone step up and make a difference. We have had close to 100 volunteers!
What really fires me up is not those that step up when asked, but those that see a need and then meet that need. We have had LifeGroups (our small/cell groups) that instead of just saying “we’ll help paint,” they decided they would take care of other needs they knew the family had. One group has decided to fill the pantry and refrigerator for the family before they move in. Another group said, we want to take care of the entire family for Christmas.
It’s not about the amount of money spent or the time given that means so much. These groups have come to the place, whether they know it or not, that The Church is believers doing the work of Jesus. They ARE The Church. This woman and her family don’t go to church anywhere and I am not sure if they are believers yet… but you better believe they will before long!
More stories to come…
Right now I am more spiritually energized than I have been in a long time. We all go through different seasons in our lives and I am definately coming out of winter and into spring! Over the next couple of weeks I will let you in on all that is happening! God is doing so much and I am so excited. It’s been a while since I have felt like this!
Those of you in minstry understand all to well this feeling. We have devoted our lives to serving, leading and pouring into others that we often find ourselves complete depleated. Sometimes it literally takes all my energy to make a tough phone call or to talk to someone at church because I know what it is coming and I don’t think I have it in me.
Even if you are not in ministry, you know what it is like to go through seasons.
What season are you in now?
