Well I have had several people now requesting that I transcript the weekend sermons. So here is the first installment of what looks to be a weekly new thing now.
Paul this is for you!
"I have a dream"
Playing it Safe is Risky
In this I have a dream series we are looking at what the Vision for JCFC is for this year and the upcoming years. I love to talk about vision and dream, because I am a dreamer from way back. I used to sit as a little boy and dream about the things I would do as an adult. Over time those dreams shifted from Josh’s dreams to what I now call God Dreams. I think it is vitally important that we focus on the God dreams we have.
I think one God idea is better than a 1000 good ideas. I have been dreaming of this dream idea to plant a church that tries to take away some of the cultural traditions that are just western culture. I have dreamt of a place that skeptics and seekers can come and ask questions and engage during worship just to experience God.
I see a place that builds community within the church body. We are cultivating that right now, by putting emphasis on our Life Groups. We are doing life together by entering into small group discipleship times of community. These groups pray for each other, encourage one another, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is an awesome example of the New Testament church.
I see us growing in our Sunday morning worship experience. We are working hard at making Sundays a success. In that the whole experience is awesome. From the first impression of what you see in the hallway to, to what is felt and communicated in the worship, and the teaching. We try hard to make worship a time of engagement. Not just for the believer who has grown up in church, but for those who are new on the journey with Jesus, and for those who have never experienced a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our kid’s ministry is about to go crazy. Beginning the 1st week in Feb we are starting the buzz. A family production interactive teaching time that is great for both parents and kids. It is going to revolutionize kids ministry in this city.
We are investing a lot of time and energy and money to win people to the kingdom.Bill Hybels pastor of Willow Creek church was asked once about how much ministry could take place for $100 bucks. He replied ever so spiritual, “about a hundred dollars worth.”
The same is true here, we can hold on to money, or we can use it for the kingdom. Which is why we don’t have a building of our own. We rent this facility because to have something thing like this right now, would bankrupt us. And not allow us any kind of ministry tools. We rent this for the weekend, and it is working well. We also have an office space that we are utilizing through out the week, and our ministry partners are taking advantage of as well.
It isn’t huge, but it is available for small groups, or other things to utilize.
As far as how long will be here? Who really knows? Let me share with you some other church plants that were mobile you might recognize.
Valley E-free here in town meet in Jr high and high schools for at least 10 years before it moved into a “regular” building. Point of Grace church moved in and out of rented facilities for 8.5 years before moving to their current facility in Waukee.Saddleback Church, Rick Warren purpose driven life guy, was portable for 17 years, and had 70 locations. There theme was if you can find us you have can service with us. So when people get antsy about us being in the theater for over a year now, I simply reply, well it takes time and money. The average church plant is portable for 7.5 years. We are just over a year old, and are growing and letting God show us more and more of His vision.
Here is how I see it this point. I love meeting here in the theater. I love the interaction that it creates in conversation. I love seeing people’s expression change when I tell them we meet in the century theaters at Jordan Creek Mall.
They are like, “How does that work. “Actually if they have church background they act funny, but if they don’t have any or much church experience they are like cool, how does that work. Very interesting. But even though the theaters are great, they pose a problem in long-term growth. Once we reach 300 or so in Sunday attendance we will have to move to the next theater over. No problem, some retooling, and more help setting up and tearing down, but we can handle it.
But once we begin to reach that 500+ number, then we have to seriously consider some drastic changes. That being the case, I think at this point moving to a more permanent location of like a strip mall, we can purchase, and rent the other units out until we grow to need them. Then ultimately building a facility on some acreage that we can grow and expand with a multiphase building project that allows us to reach more people and grow mature believers.
But doing all of this, is a risk. A big risk, a risk of finances, a risk of trust, a risk of putting your heart n the line, a risk of your “respectability” in the eyes of your peers. A risk of maybe not just leading a few people to Jesus, but actually changing the culture of our community.
It is our vision to lead people into life changing encounters with God that turns them into fully devoted followers of Christ.
Let me tell you though that playing it safe is risky. Just sitting idly by and not trying anything or reaching out, or putting your self at risk of potential embarrassment is too safe. And too safe is ultimately the riskiest thing a church can do, because it becomes stale, dry, boring.
Go with me now to one of the craziest things we read about in the text.
I Samuel 14 1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not tell his father. 4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba. 6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." 7 "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul." 8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands." 11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel." 13 Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.Let me tell you, that is a crazy story. Nothing about the story seemed like the thing to do. They left without telling anyone of their plan. They didn’t really have a plan other than lets go see if we can get something done. The entered into a fight having to climb up a mountainside, which is tactically wrong, but here is the deal. They knew that God was working on their side
Now Jonathan’s father Saul, probably would not have ok’ed what Jon was proposing to do. He probably would have said, lets just think about this a moment. Well this isn’t the way we have done battles in the past. And I am not so sure you approach to climbing the cliffs is going to work. I mean really if we study the battle history of the Philistines, we see that 9 of 10 times they have won battles when they had the upper hand on being on top of the mountain.
A
s a church we have to be willing to put ourselves at risk. So often the church in the west has just done the same thing over and over and over again, year after year. Then we wonder why the church isn’t growing in US. It is rapidly growing in most of the rest of the world, yet here it is only growing in pockets.
Listen to this form the barna group.
R
ecent American church statistics show:· In America, 3500 – 4000 churches close their doors each year· Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth· Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism· Approximately 98 million people are under the age of 25 in the United States, and those between the ages of 18 and 25 are the least likely to attend a church(George Barna, Twentysomethings Struggle to Find Their Place in Christian Churches,That should be very disturbing to us. That is why I am committed to not doing church as usual. I am not satisfied with just coming, punching the clock for 1 hour and 15 and going home. I think our spiritual journey is so much more than just Sunday. It is living as Jesus lived; it is seeing what Jesus saw. Not just being holy, and carrying a bible. It is responding to people like Jesus did.
He saw the woman caught in adultery differently than the others did. The Pharisees that caught her, were ready to judge her and kill her one the spot. How many of us see people in other conditions than us, and we condemn them to die right now.
What are your thoughts when you meet a drug addict? How about a prostitute? How about a rebellious hippie? What about when you meet a homosexual?
Is your first thought disgust, or is it how can I show them the love of Christ? Jesus responded to the woman in a very interesting way. Many of us, would have said, Oh get away from me, shielded our family from the disturbing site, and said I am too good to be a part of this. I can’t associate with this kind of a woman.
But Jesus saw her with compassion. After he wrote in the said, he asked her where her accusers where? She no doubt has half dressed or worse, probably bloodied already by the rough Pharisees. But Jesus saw her with love and compassion and forgiveness.
See so often after we have been in this journey for a while, we forget that, that was just the same way we came to Jesus. Broken, hurt, confused, and lost. We didn’t deserve the love God gave us, but he gave it to us anyway.
Don’t ever feel like you are better than the drug addict, or the hooker, or thief. Paul tells us that except for the grace of God it could be us. Jonathan took a huge risk, when he stepped out of what was normal and comfortable. He took a huge risk when he asked God to simply go before him and help him. It was a risk that could have cost him his life.
Today there are risks to take at JCFC. We could just sit back and watch everything happen. We could be like Saul just watching the whole thing unfold. Or like Jonathan ready to make a change.
Ready to be a risk taker. Many of you are comfortable being a part of the Sunday morning worship experience. I am glad you are. But some of you have been here for while, and need to get plugged into really being a part of the church.
I ask you what would God have you to do that may be a bit risky for you. There are plenty of things that need your input, your direction, your leadership and help.
If you like physical work, and want to be a part of the
production team. You may love knowing that you are setting things up for service that is going to change someone’s life because of the work you did. Running cords, carrying stages, hanging lights. Driving the truck, pulling some routine maintenance on the truck.
Maybe you love children, and want to volunteer with the
nursery, or baby steps, or now the Buzz. If you want to help corral kids and teach on a basic level then Baby steps is for you. If you want to be more involved in teaching and discipleship the you need to see Lori Eilers in
Creek Kids today. If teaching through song, and drama, is your deal then join us for the BUZZ.
Maybe your heart is in a different area. Maybe it is in
music and arts. We have limited spots available right now in the band, but it is always growing and changing. I long for the time that we can have some “art”-taking taking place during the worship or during the trenching time. I would love to do a series that includes some live drama, or video teaching for a point of a sermon, or painting during the teaching time…
Maybe you feel God leading you in our
new prayer ministry. I am starting to get some feedback from the sign up that was out in the past weeks. We need people praying regularly for our church, this community, and the state. Prayer makes all the difference in the world.
Maybe you would like to get involved with some
connections and follow up with people who have arrived a the church. You would like to make some phone calls or do some bread or cookie drops on Monday or Tuesday evenings. Just saying thank you for attending service with us.
Maybe you love to bake, and would like to bake some breakfast foods for Sunday morning coffee bar. Of for the bread drops.
And the list goes on and on. If you have a heart for something, and you feel god is leading you in that area, then come on. Lets move forward together.
All of this is risk, taking steps to grow our church, to grow the kingdom. No matter where you are at in your journey we have a place for you. And god is calling you to be a part of this thing.
I want to read you this prayer from…
Sir Francis Drake is credited with this prayer from 1577.
“
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.”
Playing it safe is too risky for us as a church. Lets take some risks that really will make a difference.
