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over the last 2 days - i have been reading (blogs) and listening (podcasts) to people who have been talking a lot about the sabbath. it seems to be a popular topic this week or my wife has been setting me up for something. not sure which.
anyway, the point being made by all the conversations is that we should take the sabbath seriously. i am not talking about sunday, going to church and not doing any work. i am talking about a day of rest. a day to hang out. a day to fly a kite. a day to throw football with your kids. a day to take your girlfriend to the beach to watch the waves. a day to cut the roof off your car, turn it into a convertible, grab your family, and head out to skyline drive to breathe in the cool air. a day to enjoy life! maybe even keep your pj's on and veg. what does your sabbath look like?
if you are like most of us, it is full of stuff to do. pick a day during the week (probably not a good idea to do it during work hours) and enjoy life! no to-do lists! no job that has to be done! no emails! no phone calls! no wasting the day with something productive! but just a time to relax to get your mind together for your 6 days of creation.
hey, even God understood this. too bad we don't. seemed to have worked well for him. now, what day do i want to lay on my couch all day...
i have to admit this to you - i hope you are seated because this may come as a shock to everyone - i hate doing budgets! please save me from this pain! please cut my arm and throw texas pete into the wound! it would feel so much better! the pain is unbearable! once i finally come to, i realize something. the budget we are working on is pretty important. it's not just money but people's lives. the new people who are far from God and will walk through our doors this weekend will be impacted by our budget. the people who are trying to find their place here at new life will be impacted by this budget. the people who have been at new life since it began will be impacted by this budget. budgets are a powerful thing!
it's not money but people's lives. thinking about budgets in that way make them more bearable to put together. now, if i can just figure out how to get the texas pete out of the cut on my arm...
this past saturday, i met with some of our leaders at the haymarket campus. we talked through our vision as a church (new life christian church) and as a campus. where have we been, where are we now, and where are we going - all questions for us to talk through in any organization. one of the phrases that kept coming back to me was 'breaking down barriers'. we use those words a lot around here. we will say it's all about breaking down barriers for people to meet God. it is the reason we exist as a church.as i think through that phrase and as i think about the church as a whole, it is all about breaking down barriers. not only are we here to break down barriers for people who are far from God, we are here to break down barriers for people to build relationships, to get into life groups and to serve. it's a never ending breaking down of barriers.Jesus was all about breaking down barriers. he worked to break down the barriers between friends, between enemies, between families, and between humans and God. breaking down barriers was the reason he came to earth.i ask myself everyday, what is the next barrier i need to break through in my life...
before i left for work on monday - my oldest daughter, savana, told me - as she shut the door behind me - "tickle everyone today and tell them you are funny!"
of course, this made me laugh, and of course i did this to a few people, and of course they asked me why i was tickling them and telling them i am funny.
but savana makes me think. do we take our lives too seriously? do we laugh enough? do we touch people enough? do we interact with people in ways that are beyond what we can get out of them for our needs but for how we can bless them that day? a little fun and laughter can go a long ways to change people's lives - just like my 4-year old did this past monday...
where do you go to serve your guest? - the kitchen. it is the place we prepare to entertain guest. it is the place we go to get ready to serve our guest. it is the place we go to work so we can offer a cup of coffee, some food, whatever your guest would like. at new life, this is the place we want everyone to end up. it is not a destination. a final place to be. an end. it really is the beginning. this is the place where we serve others. the place where we understand what it means to love God, to love people and where we share our stuff. we serve in... - the front yard - hosting events, using our toys, participating to serve - so conversations can begin
- the foyer - in kidzone to impact kids, at frontline so our guest feel welcomed, in the auditorium to give guest an incredible experience - so people can learn to love God
- the living room - hosting a life group, leading a life group, taking care of people - so others can learn to love people
there is no better place to be than in the kitchen. and who are you taking with you?
the living room - the place we spend time getting to know people in. when we invite someone to our home, we usually don't just say, "let's hang out in the foyer the whole time you are here!" no, we like to have people move into the living room. in the living room, we talk, we listen, we learn, we connect, we build relationships.at new life, we use the living room metaphor for the same reasons. this represents our life groups. the place we talk, we listen, we learn, we connect, we build relationships and we begin to love people. we want to see people move from the front yard to the foyer and into the living room - where life change really happens.there is one room left. it may be the best room yet! and where other's lives are changed through us...
once you have had the conversation in the front yard - where do you connect with people next? in the foyer! you invite people into your home and they land in the foyer. guest get their first impressions from you here. they see your style, your personality, your decorating prowess. they get a taste of who you are.at new life, the foyer environment is our sunday morning worship. it is the place people get their first taste of new life. guest get a glimpse into who we are as a church and what is important to us. after our initial conversation with someone, we get to invite them to see who we are what is important to us - God.after someone connects in our foyer, we hope they move deeper into the house - the living room...
what do you do in the front yard? - besides pick up trash from the neighbors or mow it or spend tons of time trying to make your yard look better than the guy across the street? you have conversations in the front yard! this is the place we first meet the neighbors whose trash always ends up in our yard. this is the place we first get flower planting advice from mrs. green thumb with the never-dying roses. this is the place we throw our first barb at the guy across the street because we pruned our trees so much better. this is the place conversations happen! at new life, the front yard is where conversations first take place. - "Why does your church have an ice cream truck?"
- "Why do you give out FREE ice cream?"
- "Why did you buy a mammoth inflatable movie screen and then show free movies on it?"
- "Why do you send out postcards with crazy pictures and strange, but funny one-liners on them?"
these are where the conversations begin! once we are asked a question, we get the ok to start to talk about new life and why we do what we do. why do we do things for free? to give people something free to be enjoy and to give us a chance to talk about new life.
conversations are where the process begins. hopefully, when the talk is over with, people will come and check out our next environment...
what does this word mean for church? - well, it is a visual picture of movement for our people at new life. vision is so important at any church. without vision, all we end up doing is flounder around like a fish out of water trying to find our way back to the water so we can breathe. our environments are our visual vision. they allow us to 'see' where we are, where we are going, and how we move forward.i am going to take the next few posts to talk about each one of our environments. read them. learn them. draw them. graffiti them on overpasses. make them known. and take someone else through our environments...
momentum is a fickle thing - if you watch sports at all, you see momentum changing by the moment (unless you are a redskins fan. momentum only moves in one direction - unless the game is against the cowboys). momentum is always moving - either forward or backwards. and when it is moving forward, it is a really fun wave to ride!
we are almost 8 months into our existence as a campus. time has flown by. and i feel our momentum has continued to move forward. sure, there have been a few moves back, but that is normal. all in all we are moving forward and good things are happening here. here are a couple of highlights...
- over the last 8 months, we have averaged 216 people a week. it is said that if a new church is less than 200 after two years, its chances of growing are very slim.
- financially, for a new church, we are doing well. we are averaging $3347 per week. again, this is really good for a new church.
- kidzone is averaging 85 people each week over the last 2 months. that is HUGE!
- 54% of the people who have checked us out since we started are still here. that is incredible!
those are the numbers. the best part is the stories we are hearing and the lives that are being changed here at new life haymarket. our momentum is moving forward! great things are ahead of us! God is on the move! are you riding the wave?
