stupid people

The following is an excerpt from a Bell Motorcycle Helmet Owners Manual. (First, do we really need 22 page Owners Manuals for motorcycle helmets?) Ok here is the quote:

“In order to work right, your helmet must fit right. If your helmet does not fit right, it may come off in an accident, in which case it will not provide any protection. Because many motorcylists are killed each year when their helmets do not stay on in an accident, do not wear a motorcycle helmet that does not fit right. If the helmet does not fit right, do not wear it. Bell manufactures helmets of different sizes, and should have a helmet to fit your head.”

This has provided the most laughter I’ve had in a long time. If you don’t understand why…I can’t explain it.

Now guess how people who need this answer the question: “What are you thinking?”

worship 9/13/09

The first sunday on the front stage! It was great to rock with Woodland and love God in it. And next Sunday will be 5 times better on the sound (although Gary did a great job getting the sound for Sunday to be that good).

Judging by the singing volume I would guess you all were really ready to worship loud again.

Bill’s WalkAcrossTheRoom story was awesome!! Heaven’s Skates is one more powerful Mission site. We have to get more involved! so take some time and just go hang out and watch what goes on there. Talk to those kids and see what you see.

sorry the carpet and floors were so dirty, unfortunately no one came to clean on Saturday, so while the building is beautiful, it is quite dirty. We have a wedding this saturday at 2pm so if you can come Friday to clean, please come. There will be about fifty guests who have never been in our building. We sure need it to be clean.

We still have quite a bit of work to accomplish – trim to run, painting, electrical, and more, more. So let’s finish. Call or email for projects to do.

Don’t forget Luke 13:6f  (by the way an “f” after a verse means “that verse and those that follow”). I hope I never lose that question: “Why should it use up the ground?”

Hey, don’t forget the visitor. Find people you have never seen at Church and welcome them. And go beyond “Hello”.

I love you Church and I can’t wait until Sunday.

brad

once upon a time…

General Character of Ante-Nicene Christianity. the following was written by a
“Epistola ad Diognetum” in the early part of the second century. “The Christians,” he says, “are not distinguished from other men by country, by language, nor by civil institutions. For they neither dwell in cities by themselves, nor use a peculiar tongue, nor lead a singular mode of life. They dwell in the Grecian or barbarian cities, as the case may be; they follow the usage of the country in dress, food, and the other affairs of life. Yet they present a wonderful and confessedly paradoxical conduct. They dwell in their own native lands, but as strangers. They take part in all things as citizens; and they suffer all things, as foreigners. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every native land is a foreign. They marry, like all others; they have children; but they do not cast away their offspring. They have the table in common, but not wives. They are in the flesh, but do not live after the flesh. They live upon the earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the existing laws, and excel the laws by their lives. They love all, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown, and yet they are condemned. They are killed and are made alive. They are poor and make many rich. They lack all things, and in all things abound. They are reproached, and glory in their reproaches. They are calumniated, and are justified. They are cursed, and they bless. They receive scorn, and they give honor. They do good, and are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice, as being made alive. By the Jews they are attacked as aliens, and by the Greeks persecuted; and the cause of the enmity their enemies cannot tell. In short, what the soul is in the body, the Christians are in the world. The soul is diffused through all the members of the body, and the Christians are spread through the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but it is not of the body; so the Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world. The soul, invisible, keeps watch in the visible body; so also the Christians are seen to live in the world, but their piety is invisible. The flesh hates and wars against the soul, suffering no wrong from it, but because it resists fleshly pleasures; and the world hates the Christians with no reason, but that they resist its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh and members, by which it is hated; so the Christians love their haters. The soul is inclosed in the body, but holds the body together; so the Christians are detained in the world as in a prison; but they contain the world. Immortal, the soul dwells in the mortal body; so the Christians dwell in the corruptible, but look for incorruption in heaven. The soul is the better for restriction in food and drink; and the Christians increase, though daily punished. This lot God has assigned to the Christians in the world; and it cannot be taken from them.”
(from Schaff’s History of the Church, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Worship 9/06/09

It was a beautiful Sunday. Of course I mean the building, but its true beauty comes from the people and God who fill it.

I hope the Lord’s “House” and “Meal” have taken on a deeper meaning for each of us.

Don’t forget the question we left with: “How long will it be from the time that you get out of bed until you ‘Remember Jesus’”?

Don’t forget Joe’s idea of an obstacle to remind you. Someone came up after worship to tell me that the pillow on the floor wasn’t an obstacle; it was the day’s first altar. I like that better.

Worship in the round has been great and we will not lose that, but I know so many of you are ready to fire up the new stage and amplify our worship. It is coming and you will be surprised when it happens.

Now help us finish all the loose ends – paint, trim, etc. And we need some people to come and do some serious deep cleaning – the floors, vacuum the dust off the walls, etc.

Now share your insights or impressions from Sunday here.

I love you all. Go tell.

Sunday Aug 29th 2009

All you need to sum up this Sunday is one word – TONY!

If you weren’t able to come, we had the privelege of meeting and hearing from the guy who sits off Hwy 41 near Target and prays for people. Mike Willingham brought him to our gathering and I asked him to speak to us before the service started. He was one of the most powerful and motivating speakers I have ever heard, while totally “untrained” and “uneducated”. It was great for us to experience someone so alive in the gospel and its proclammation.

It was also good to rock a little with some sound, while still getting to enjoy the “round”.

As you can see we are moving on with the building, and ready to get beyond it so that mission is more focal. So this week we need every person to come. People who can just come for one or two hours will be great, so don’t let the Devil tell you that you aren’t worth anything unless you come all day. He’ a liar. If we have everyone’s help we hope to have the carpet in. That may be a stretch, but I’m just tired enough to stretch that hard to be there. We need people to paint, scrape (anybody can do that), cut grass and weedeat (friday or saturday), clean up outside, lay carpet (hopefully Thurs and Fri), clean (saturday) and more.

And then we heard the story of how Neece came to faith this past week. New Birth stories are always amazing aren’t they.

There are so many new faces these days, so make sure you are meeting people you don’t know and don’t stop with “hello”. Take that five or ten minutes and get to know them a little better.

We are holding off on Home Groups until the first weekend in October, given all the focus on building and mission we have been involved in. The same goes for KidJourney.

The work as Leona Bowles home is going well. We still need skilled workers to go out and help. Call Randy for more info.

There is some huge mission news on the way in the next two weeks so don’t miss worship.

Don’t forget to get your DontComeToOurChurch signs (free) and shirts ($10). We are hearing great stories of how God is using this to help people share their faith. Some people are putting the signs in their car window – cool.

I love you. Did you hear that?

brad

Worship in the Round

Ok Woodlanders…

We have been worshipping in the round for the past two weeks and I want to know what you think about it. So tell us about your experience. Even if you don’t like it, feel free to share it.

Personally, I have loved it. I have never felt worship feel so relational. Its like we are in a big family living room. And its like God is moving in US, not just the stage personalities.

now what about you?

when do you become a christian?

I was in a small gathering Tuesday with Richard Blackaby. He made the following comment: “You don’t become a Chrisitian when you pray to recieve Christ”. He then went on to give us his answer…”when you are born again”.

The moment he issued the challenge my mind immediately answered something I’d never thought before – “We don’t become Christians until the World decides that we are”. I mean if you use the term biblically, it was a title given to the followers of Christ by the world in Acts 11:26. We later adopted it.

So I would say that you become a Christian when your life begins to so resemble the character of Jesus that the world has no trouble distinguishing you as someone who follows Jesus…is like Jesus.

If we could return to that definition, we could win the world to Christ.

we need you

Now is the time for all good Woodlandites to come to the aid of their Gathering Place.

We need painters, cleaners, movers, carpenters, lawn mowers, weedeaters, etc.

Please plan to work Friday and Saturday as much as you can. We are nearing the shore and hope to install the carpet next week and begin to bring all of this to a close. So give us all you can.

We still need 2×4’s and money to finish.

And be faithful to give this Sunday. We really need all the help we can get to make up for July’s shortfall. We need to recover at least $3000 in the general fund in order to be back on our feet.

I love you guys.

brad

When it all makes sense

As I am growing in this faith I have drawn the conclusion that one of the problems with most churches ministry and growth, including Woodland’s to this point, is…                                                                                                                                                    It all makes sense.

I mean really…we define our target audience and market well. We have all areas of church life and ministry down to a science and execute it with precision and committement. And it works. We become a church success. Everything about our success can be explained – hard work, committment, and good growth principles. We are no different than any other business.

The problem I find when I read the Bible, is that much if not most of the time there is some story being told with a critical element that makes you say, “Now that doesn’t make sense”. Things that science can’t test and reason can’t explain.

So what if we didn’t market at all? What if there were no sign outside? What if our only means of marketing was live people sharing their faith? Would the Church still grow?

I can hear it now? “If you don’t market, how will people know about your church?”

I know the answer…but you can’t see it.

Choice Love

Don’t forget these love-changing principles from Sunday:

• one of my great fears is that my wife and children and you will think I love you because of what you do.
• The beauty of John 3:16 is that it speaks no reason for God loving us – He just does.
• We learn elsewhere, like Ezekiel 16, that God loves us because He chooses to, not because we did anything.
• He even said, “You love me because…” Can you complete the sentence? From 1 John 4:19
• Love based on choice means I can love even my enemies. Luke 6:27f
• When it comes to God’s love. You can’t get what you have.
• Who are the people that if we asked them would say, “I think (your name) loves me because of what I do for them. Or they love me more or less based on what I do”? Now one of your missions is to love them just because they are not because they do.
• And if God were to love us based on our performance…                                                                                                                            He would hate us all.