This Sunday at Centerpoint we will reflect on our Top 5 moments of 2009. There is no doubt we have come a long way as a church in the past year. We have grown numerically, financially, & relationally. People have experienced true life change as a result of what God is choosing to do through this church & yet as I spent time looking back, I couldn’t help but think that sometimes, reflecting on the past, even when it’s good, can hold us back from moving forward in the future.

Before I lose you just think about this…

If our past year was riddled with mistakes and failures then of course we want to blast the past and forget it ever happened. We hear people give this advice all the time but what about a past year that was riddled with success? Rarely will someone tell you to blast that! When we make mistakes, we look for alternative solutions and seek better ways of doing things. However when we succeed, we can often find ourselves slipping into complacency. We stop pushing & striving for excellence and as a result minimize how far we can go becoming content with the status quo. In fact I would say it possible that sometimes, success can be our greatest failure.

Am I suggesting that we stop reflecting on our past whether good or bad? No. I’m simply saying that we must see the past as something we can build on instead of something we can live in. As 2010 approaches, whether you’ve had a good year or a bad one, blast the past so it doesn’t become a permanent space you find yourself living in.

CV

P.S. Happy New Year!

This Christmas, more than ever, I believe I truly experienced the joy of giving! Kristyn & I made a commitment this year to spend less on ourselves so we could give more to others. With the gifts we did buy, we committed to making socially conscience purchases whenever we could thus giving back & doing more good through our purchases. Do I say this to boast? Absolutely not. we aren’t perfect & we still got way too much stuff. I am writing this post because I want you to know  that I now realize the true joy of giving & want you to experience it as well.

I focused less on myself and more on others this year. I cared more for the least of these & my perspective has been forever changed! As we enter the new year I am challenging myself to continue these practices year round & I would ask you to consider doing the same. We can pray for the world all we want but it’s often what we do for the world that brings change. As a follower of Jesus I want a life where I’m living to give. To give of my love, my time, my presence and yes, even of my money & stuff. If we are living for giving I believe the world can change!

CV

It was our last service of 2009 as we closed out Advent Conspiracy and I feel like we went out with a bang! Here are some highlights:

A genuine smile can help change a perception. Week after week I see new people come in guarded and reserved. They’re giving church a chance again but they’ve heard the rumors and have stories of their own to tell. It’s amazing how much a smile helps them uncross their arms & connect to Jesus.

People won’t miss the little things but they’ll notice when you have them. Yesterday we offered homemade cookies at our cafe table. It was a little thing that got a lot of big compliments and helped people enter the auditorium with a smile on their face. Thanks to my lovely wife for making them.

Corporate worship takes many forms and that’s okay. Everyone is different and therefore everyone should not worship in the same way. We strive for diversity in all that we do at CP and I think we’re getting there with worship.

Loving the least of these doesn’t just apply to people we will never know/see. The least of these is anyone who is marginalized in society. The alcoholic, the foreigner, the porn addict, our gay brothers and sisters; they  were all made in the image of God and deserve our love and acceptance. God sent his son to LOVE ALL & that’s the true meaning of Christmas.

Crazy Love has moved from a series we did in Sept. to a lifestyle we live in Dec. The last few weeks I have seen our team show crazy love to one another and to the people in our community and I am inspired & challenged to do the same! If we become known as the crazy love church I’m totally cool with that.

CV

Christmas is near, the snow is falling and I am thinking of Santa Claus…

There are numerous things that are taboo in the church world and Santa is one of them. Many Christians simply believe that Santa should not be part of Christmas. By incorporating Santa, many fear Christmas will become all about the jolly man who gives us what we want and less about the boy who came to liberate the world. To take this angle is to miss the story of Santa entirely. Allow me to explain.

There are many historical accounts, coupled with a few elaborate legends, of a real man known as Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was born in third century Turkey & lived in a wealthy family where his parents died while he was still young. Raised as a Christian, & left with a large inheritance, Nicholas found himself drawn to the words of Jesus to “sell what you own and give it to the poor” (Matthew 19:21). As a result he decided to use his entire inheritance to help the sick and needy. Because of his generosity and love, Nicholas was well respected in his village and soon became known beyond as he became the Bishop of Myra.

Saint Nicholas continued his generosity and care for the needy until he passed away on Dec. 6th in AD 343. In Europe, Saint  Nicholas Feast Day is still celebrated today as people exchange gifts and participate in charitable acts of kindness to celebrate the memore of this cherised saint who left a lasting impact on many.

While many seem concerned about reclaiming the manger story, which I believe we should do, I can’t help but think we need to also reclaim the story of Saint Nicholas whose life embodied the teachings of Jesus that we “care for the least of these”. (Matthew 25:35-40) Christmas is a season of giving and if we truly want our children to understand this, I believe the true story of Saint Nicholas will only enhance that ideal and possibly even help us reclaim the manger story.

As for what I think about the guy in the red suit who squeezes down the chimney, and eats our cookies in exchange for gifts; I believe that’s a decision for you, your family and convictions to decide & despite popular opinion, I don’t think we should be afraid to let a child use their imagination as long as we keep the true story in focus.

When Saint Nicholas is used to enhance the spirit of Christmas, rather than becoming the spirit of Christmas, I think we’re on the right path. Consider embracing the true story of Santa this season!

CV

P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Can’t wait!

Here’s a few quick thoughts from our service yesterday. It was week #3 of our Advent Conspiracy series.

• People want to be a part of something significant so give them the option. Watching people help us raise money for the farm(s) we’re buying from WV has been incredible! People have gone crazy with their giving and even inspired people who don’t attend CP to do the same! It’s been awesome to watch God do His thing! We now need just under $1,000 to buy a second farm.
• 1 committed team member is worth 5 semi-committed ones. We are blessed with a lot of committed team members but Kidspoint might have the edge. The people serving there do so without question and if something needs done they do it without complaining. They never expect recognition but they deserve it!
• Advent Conspiracy hasn’t been as hard for people to get as I thought. It’s become increasingly obvious to me during this series that people know there’s more to celebrating Christmas than the way most of us always have. AC has given people a fresh perspective & many are choosing to truly adopt it’s core principles.
• Our band is always top-notch no matter what happens! Technical problems, missing members, bad lighting the list could go on. No matter what happens, these guys bring it week after week and do an incredible job. Best of all, they always keep their cool so no one in the crowd has a clue of the craziness behind the scenes.
• People aren’t used to laughing in church. Whether it be in the form of a video or something I say/do on stage we like to make people laugh. It’s always fun to watch visitors because it takes them a while to loosen up enough to laugh. Many have laughed a lot AT the church but they have rarely laughed IN a church. We’ll keep working hard at CP to reverse that trend

CV

I have read 3 of Rob’s 4 books. I have seen him speak in-person twice & I have listened to his sermons at Mars Hill for nearly three years. Every time I am exposed to Rob’s work I am left questioning why so many “Christians” seem to enjoy attacking him? He has been called a heretic, a false prophet and possibly, worst of all, a liberal pacifist. I have come to the conclusion that people attack because they are afraid of the questions Rob asks. Maybe even more than the questions he raises, many find themselves  disturbed by the fact Bell truly questions things at all.

I fear many of us have been taught to question our beliefs but always with the hope that we return to the exact beliefs we were taught. Many of you, like me, and I suspect like Bell, have found ourselves questioning only to end up with a different set of beliefs than what we were told to believe. These changes might result in liberal pacifism, but rarely do they translate to anything truly definable as heresy or false prophecy. For those of you who are confused, there is nothing in Scripture that equates liberal pacifism to sin.

Attacking is easier than questioning & the reason we attack is because we fear the uncertainties of life. We yell about others views claiming the error of their ways but in truth, we yell because we are afraid they could be right meaning we could be wrong. What if we began to realize that there are only a handful of areas in Christianity that are truly non-negotiable and began allowing for freedom in the other areas? What if we questioned everything and found peace in some of the doubt? What if we admitted our fears instead of attacking others because of them? If we did this, Bell wouldn’t have many critics and the church would be seen as ONE just as Jesus hoped we would be (John 17:20-24).

CV

This past Sunday at Centerpoint was pretty incredible and I needed a few paragraphs, instead of bullet points, to summarize it. Leading up to our Advent Conspiracy series, our Leadership Team had the idea to raise $2,000 in 4-weeks which would be used to buy a third world community a farm through World Vision. For a new church of 50 people that’s a lot of extra cash to come up with but we knew we were supposed to aim high.

We put this challenge out to our people on Nov. 29th & by that Tuesday I received a phone call from someone in our church telling me they were writing a check for $2,000 and buying the farm with one condition attached. That condition: that we keep raising money in hopes of purchasing a second farm. WOW! I stood-up Sunday, made the announcement, people were excited, inspired and motivated to do more. The following day I found out that we are already a third of the way towards buying a second farm.

This is what Advent Conspiracy is all about. This is truly meaningful gift giving. This is the authentic story of Christmas in action! I hope this inspires you to help make a difference in some way, by showing the love of Christ to those in need!

CV

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!

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.