Meaningful Gift Giving

At Centerpoint we are currently engaged in a series called Advent Conspiracy. The series, taken from a book and movement of the same name, has four central components: Worship Fully. Spend Less. Give More. Love All. There are many things we are encouraging those in our community  to do in order to participate more fully in the true meaning of Christmas and one of those things is the purchasing of more socially responsible gifts. By doing this, we can channel our American consumerism to help those in need by purchasing products that help do good in the world around us. Here are some of the organizations we are supporting:

World Vision Gift Catalogue: You can make a lasting impact on a community buy purchasing everything from farm animals, to school books to garden seeds. An incredible opportunity to give a truly meaningful gift!

TOMS Shoes: For every pair you buy, TOMS makes and gives a brand new pair to someone in need. They also have shirts, hoodies, hats and gift cards.

Pura Vida: High quality, Fair Trade, Organic coffee. Pura Vida takes the profits from coffee they sell to drill wells, build schools, & plant churches around the world.

Light Gives Heat: Through the sale of fashionable apparel items, LGH is able to provide education, infrastructure and funding to the people of Africa who want to escape the prison of poverty and make a better way for themselves, their families and villages.

SUBBI(hope): SUBBI creates weekly incomes for women in Uganda through the creation and sale of handmade necklaces and jewelry. The necklaces are incredibly trendy and made from recycled paper making them environmentally and socially responsible.

EPOH: Also under the heading of Light Gives Heat, EPOH provides a respectable living for families in Uganda through the selling of handmade purses and bags. All bags are created by people living in the villages and then payed paying fairly for their work.

To Write Love on Her Arms: TWLOHA exists to help individuals around the world struggling with depression, addiction and self-abuse and thoughts of suicide. They feature a variety of apparel products for men and women and the profits are used to fund the company and show people who seem hopeless that they can find peace and acceptance.

ONE: The profits from ONE apparel items go to help aide the fight against global poverty. The simple purchase of a wrist band can help change the world!

RECAP

We kicked off a new series called Advent Conspiracy this past Sunday and I’m loving it already! Our community will be challenged like never before during this series and if people step up like I think they will, we will impact the lives of those who are truly in need this Christmas season!

1) Never start a new series on Thanksgiving weekend It’s one of the busiest travel days of the year and the people at CP were no exception to this rule. Live and learn.

2) The band rocked a great chorus of “Come Let us Adore Him”. They used this to transition between two songs and you needed to be there to fully appreciate it. So simple but so moving.

3) We have a group full of life changers! I have never been part of a community where people are so willing and ready to help others in need. Our people, love people and it showed in a big way this past weekend.

4) If you set realistic goals, faith isn’t required &  you limit God’s ability to do the extraordinary. We set a crazy goal of raising $2,000 in 4-weeks to buy a farm for a community through the World Vision Gift Catalogue. For a church of around 50 people thats a big goal but God has already done something crazy!

5) People who have experienced true life change want others to experience the same. All the marketing campaigns in the world can’t replace true life change. Nearly everyone who attends CP are constantly inviting their friends and family to attend and that says a lot about what God is doing!

6) The gospel is often uncomfortable & we need to remember that. We want to feel good at church but we often don’t want to be challenged. The way of the radical, Jewish Rabbi we claim to follow was rarely comfortable & yet more of us seek the American way than we seek the cross. Jesus came to save us from the American dream. Uncomfortable but true.

RECAP

We normally do everything in a series format but this week was  a little different as we took 1-week to discuss the theme of corporate worship. Great service! Here are some of my thoughts:

More people are coming and staying because of Kidspoint. We say kids matter at CP and we back it up with our budget, actions and effort. I don’t think there’s been a week since being in the new building that someone hasn’t visited or come back because of Kidspoint. Our Kidspoint crew is amazing!

Best worship yet! Probably had a lot to do with the teaching but worship was engaging, real and relatable! You could just feel people connecting with Jesus asking what they could do instead of what they could get.

It’s great to see people get excited about what God’s doing at CP! I had someone send me a message Sunday night and tell me that CP is the first church they have ever wanted to invite their un-believing friends to & that means a ton to me because, after all, that’s who we’re here for!

Serving without question is what our people do. I know I say this all the time but the people that serve on our Dream Team are out of this world! They are committed to the vision and always seem to see the big picture. I am so blessed to have each one of them on the team!

It’s good to keep people guessing but routine isn’t bad either. We used to do things different just for the sake of it even when it didn’t make sense. We now realize that un-programming and reprogramming things without a good reason just keep people on edge. This week there was a good reason behind some reprogramming and it worked pretty well. Context is everything!

Advent Conspiracy

If you have yet to hear about Advent Conspiracy then allow this video to introduce you. If you have heard, but have yet to join, let this video motivate you. If you have already joined, may this video inspire you to stay focused on the task that is it hand! If you go to Centerpoint you will be hearing plenty about AC in the near future.

RECAP

One of my favorite series in the brief history of Centerpoint came to an end yesterday & it was an incredible morning! I had a lot of thoughts that weren’t directly connected to the service but were more big picture focused. Hope you still enjoy.

• I was feeling the crowd! Sometimes you just know people are feeling it before you even hit the stage & yesterday was one of those mornings.
• Returning faces. Nearly half of the 14 first time guests from last week were back this week & that’s way above average for most churches! I never get tired of meeting new people and hearing their stories.
• Good leaders know how to hit a curveball. This was especially clear to me yesterday as I watched several people on our team overcome some unexpected and potentially distracting obstacles.
• Being content is okay. Church planting is full of highs and lows but I’ve learned to find comfort with what God is having us do right now. We haven’t arrived yet but to be honest, I hope we never do.
• I love my wife! She is such an incredible servant and I don’t think she realizes how many people she impacts simply by her commitment to this vision. We ask people to serve without question and that’s exactly what she does!
• They say everyone needs a right hand man in ministry. I have come to learn the truth in the statement and I am so blessed to already have that person in my life.
• Our church loves people. I have been in many churches were people cringe at the thought of opening their doors to outsiders but that’s not the case at CP. During this series I realized that we are a church full of accepting people who are ready to serve.
• Worship is better with the lights off. This isn’t always true for everyone but it is for us. For whatever reason, it creates a sense of freedom that can’t be found with the lights on.
• Truly connecting people to God can only happen through relationships. If I had to summarize the series we just finished about church this would be it. Being God’s church means loving people, keeping our focus on the vision and removing the manmade burdens that keep people away.
• We have momentum! As we draw towards the end of 2009 I believe we have and will continue to build momentum as we move into 2010. We’ve got some exciting stuff on the way!

CV

Hello Hurricane

Let me keep this simple and cut straight to the chase: BUY THIS ALBUM! I have every album Switchfoot has ever recorded and Hello Hurricane is one of their best works to date! It’s original, creative and yet again, Foreman’s poetic & honest lyrics hit the mark! In a crowded mess of overhyped, overplayed top-40 music, Switchfoot has never been afraid to distinguish themselves from the crowd and it should pay off big time with Hello Hurricane! If you like good music, and are tired of all the noise on the radio, do yourself a favor and buy this album!

RECAP

Big Sunday in the CP world! Read & see.

• Lot’s of new faces! We had 14 first time guests with us yesterday and that’s a CP record!
• We have one of the most faithful teams around! Our sound guy was pretty sick yesterday but he was still there to get things set-up and sound checked before heading home to get some rest. A church is only as good as its team and we have one great team!
• The smile on a kids face tells a story. Many of our adult visitors seemed to really enjoy the service but the best thing in the world was seeing the smile on their kids faces as well. When the kids have fun mom & dad leave happy
• Every teaching is an opportunity to point people to Jesus and cast vision for your church. Even when dealing with an unusual topic (ie. church buildings), people should still see a) who Jesus is and b) who you are as a church. If we don’t do that as pastors, we’re missing two huge opportunities.
• Feedback will almost always tell you how much people connected. Yesterday we had great feedback, therefore, I am led to believe many in attendance truly connected.
• I love shattering peoples perceptions of church! Several of our visitors seemed to come in with their guards up and why wouldn’t they! The differences was, when they left, that guard seemed to be lowered & that’s our goal every single week. We strive to help people uncross their arms and connect to Jesus.
• It’s the people, not the steeple that make the church. Being a portable church truly allows us to live out this principle and while many people are searching for a permanent space, I’m thankful with what God has given to us.

 

RECAP

New month. New series. New thoughts.

• I love the book of Acts! That’s why we’re taking about it the next 3-weeks.
• Rock n’ Roll worship describes us well. It may have been the bands best set yet & you could feel the energy in the room. Wow!
• New faces never get old. The coolest thing about the venue/time change has been all the new faces. One of those faces Sunday was someone who’s been prayed for a long time by one of our peeps. Great to see them there!
• I think we have the happiest teams anywhere! Smiles are always abundant and kinds word plentiful. It’s not a show either. Our people really love other love people.
• We almost had a rave. Little technical glitch during the blurbs with some rave like music made everyone smile. I’ve learned that when stuff like that happens all you can really do is smile & laugh, then try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
• Love the response to our first set of small groups! We have nearly 20 people signed-up in two different groups for Donald Millers Open Table! I believe God is going to do some cool stuff in these groups!
• Yet another happy parent. Every week, someone tells me how much their kid love coming to church and that’s a HUGE credit to an awesome set of workers who see the big picture and create such a great environment!
• Words and Deeds. I’m a big talker when it comes to church unity but yesterday I turned my word into deed by praying for another local church before we started our service. This is something we will continue on a weekly basis.
• We’re on the verge of something huge! I believe we are closer than ever to seeing filled seats and massive life-change! God have your way with this vision!
• We always need to re-focus sometimes. That’s what this series is about. Looking at the original church in the book of Acts and examining what we can do to re-shift our priorities and be God’s church instead of our church.

CV

We’re Not That Different.

I know I’m opening up a can of worms with this post but it’s been a while, so I suppose I am due I have grown up in an area that thinks is very divided on the issue of Halloween. Some Christians celebrate it, while others don’t. This post is not to change your mind, but rather to offer a brief history on the holiday in an attempt to show that what we do, or don’t do, should actually be uniting us rather than dividing us. I don’t have this whole thing figured out but hopefully my thoughts can help add to your conversation and thinking on this issue.

Now for some history…

The celebration of Halloween originated in Europe as a festival to celebrate the transition between the harvest and winter.  Many of the traditions that became associated with this holiday predate Christianity and go back to the Celts. A pagan religious portion of the Celts, known as Druids, used this day to ward off evil spirits by starting large bonfires and performing rituals that sometimes included animal and human sacrifices. Bizarro to say the least

While many Christians seem to focus on this part of the holiday they fail to see two things. First, Christianity wasn’t even around yet therefore plenty of people were slightly odd with their expression of spirituality & secondly, not everyone celebrated the holiday this way. It was during the medieval period that much of the bizarre rituals, like sacrifices, began to wain (thank God!) It became a time of fun & fellowship which involved bonfires, food and sweet treats for those who dressed in costume; something that was thought to scare any lurking evil spirits away. It could be said that the more fun people were having, the farther away the evil spirits would stay. Not a bad concept if you think about it.

Now let’s look at the present…

Today, Halloween is still a time for fun & fellowship that still involves bonfires, food and sweet treats for all the trick-or-treaters who go door to door in costume . There is certainly still a focus on evil spirits for some but in a more comical nature than that of the Celts. As with anything, this holiday has evolved and the reasons most people used to fear this holiday are largely gone. Today, many churches offer Halloween alternatives that feature the same bonfires, food and treats you will find in most American neighborhoods so my question is, what are we arguing about? I don’t know anyone, Christian or otherwise, that will participate in an animal or human sacrifice tonight (thank God again!) but I know many who will enjoy the fire, food, costume & candy. If we’re all doing the same thing, what on earth are we so up tight about?

Whether you have a Kumbaya bonfire, or a scary story bonfire, many of us will still sit around a bonfire partaking of hotdogs and marshmallows. Whether you dress-up as Michael the Archangel, or Michael from The Office, many of us will still be in costume. Whether you pass out Testamints at your church (yeah, they’re real), or peppermints at your house, many of us will still enjoy candy, although some better than others You see, in reality, many of us are observing Halloween in one way or another whether we admit it or not. Instead of thinking our way is so different than everybody else’s way, reflect on the past, look at the present and you’ll probably find you’re not as different as you think.

P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this so feel free to comment. Also, Happy Halloween

CV

RECAP

I’ve been at two conferences over the last 3-weeks so it feels good to be back in the swing of things! We closed out our Dirty Little Secrets series this past Sunday and WOW! Get the scoop by reading the bullets below.

1) Healing comes with honesty. I believe the people who have truly healed during this series are the ones who have been honest; with themselves, with God and with others. It’s been incredible to see!

2) The Dream Team rolls on! Anytime an unplanned situation or conflict arises everyone on our Dream Team rolls on like a bunch of pros and I love it! Sunday, a band member didn’t show but a replacement was found and the show went on without a hitch!

3) I love meeting new people! We hosted our first Newcomers lunch on Sunday and got to share the CP story with a group of people who are new to Centerpoint. We had great interaction and everyone of them has a passion to get their un-churched friends in the seats!

4) The Danbarry Cinema staff rocks! They have gone above & beyond in so many ways & a lot of other church planters can’t say that about their venues. We’re at the right place.

5) You won’t truly be forgiven until you forgive. I had to let my own words sink in during this teaching.

6) Kristyn was in the service! She’s been faithfully filling a needed role in Kidspoint but Sunday, for the first time in the new building, she was able to worship with everyone else! What an incredible wife & an awesome servant God has blessed me with!

7) Our leaders rock! As I alluded to in the intro paragraph, its been a crazy few weeks & while I have missed the beat a little our leaders haven’t. I thank God every single day for the team He has given to us!

I’m already looking forward to the next series! The Church, its Steeple & all of its People. We’ll be studying the book of Acts & connecting the early church there with todays church here in an attempt to better understand what role the church does & should play in society.