Easter Sunday Egg Hunt @ The Pattern House

Easter Sunday, April 24, was Encounter's very first Easter Sunday Worship Gathering. Despite snow and rain throughout the week, Easter was a beautiful, sunny day — and it was the picture perfect day for a Super Fun Egg Hunt outside!

We had over 24 first-timers on Easter with lots of kids. We explored what it means to "Come Awake!" and how we are called to "rise up from the grave" of the broken things in life through Jesus. Listen to the podcast here.

After the great music and discussion during the worship gathering, we held a drawing for the "Biggest Easter Basket Ever!" It was certainly the biggest Easter basket in Helena with items donated from individuals and businesses throughout Helena.

Special thanks to Van's Thriftway, Lasso The Moon Toys, Montana Book & Toy Company, Panhandler Plus, GamePods Jr. Downtown, Capital Fret, and Great Harvest Bread Company.

When we're all done, we went outside for a Super Fun Egg Hunt boasting over 600 eggs filled with chocolate goodies. It truly was an Awesome Easter, by all accounts, and an awesome way to connect with the community — to be a church that's not just IN Helena, but FOR Helena!




You can find all the great photos on Facebook here.
Check out a Picasa slideshow here.

Awesome Encounter Grand Opening!

What an amazingly successful launch of the Encounter Church worship gatherings at our Grand Opening this last Sunday on 10-10-10!

We saw twice as many people as the three Sneak Peek Worship Gatherings we've been having since July. It was our largest attendance ever and I am super excited to follow up with those who indicated they want to know more about trusting in Jesus.

The musicians were some of the best in Helena and really did a great job bringing an edgy and slightly loud feel to the worship. The message was called "Ignite: A Burning Bush" and we talked about being a "Burning Bush" to those friends and neighbors around us helping them to encounter God.

We're very excited about what's God is doing through Encounter, and are looking forward to being a church that "ignites" Helena for years to come! The Grand Opening was really awesome thanks to the many people behind the scenes who helped make it a reality. If you missed it, we invite you to check out our next worship gathering.




View the Picasa slideshow here
View the photos on Facebook here

Good Friday FWD at Encounter

Wow, what an amazing night! Our very first Good Friday gathering called Good Friday FWD was both an "impactful" and "meaningful" evening according to those who attended.

The live acoustic-style set featured violin, guitar, and piano with songs like Nothing But The Blood, Love Is Here, and Mighty To Save.

The focus of the evening was the power of forgiveness and cleansing in the blood of Christ. More specifically, we described how the blood of Jesus Christ flowed from seven places.

Jesus bled from His head.

There are thoughts thoughts that we might not want to face up to, because of what we've seen or heard. We asked people to touch the crown of thorns and imagine how His head was beaten. His blood cleanses you of those thoughts.

The blood poured from His back.

There are times when we’ve turned our back and walked away from Jesus. At this station, we asked people to turn their back to the cross on the wall and imagine how Jesus was whipped with shards of bone and metal until His back was raw. His blood covers the times when you've turn your back on Him.

Spikes were driven through the bloody hands of Jesus.

There is stuff that you ought not to have handled and things you ought not to have done. We asked people to place your hands in the red paint and leave their mark on the wall. Imagine the spikes driven through Jesus’ hands and know that His blood cleanses you.

Blood and water poured from Jesus' side.

There are times when you harbor sins such as bitterness and anger in your gut. At this station, We asked that people write a sin, challenge, or struggle on a slip of paper and slide it into the bowl of thick red liquid. Imagine how the spear was thrust into Jesus’ side and give thanks that even our deepest sins are cleansed and forgiven through the blood of Christ.

Jesus bled as the spikes were driven through His feet.

There are paths you ought not have walked and places you ought not have been. At this station, people followed the lighted path outlined on the floor. Knowing that the spikes were driven through Jesus’ feet and into the cross, we can give thanks that He continues to draw us back to His path through forgiveness and grace.

His Body, His Blood, & The Resurrection

The evening included communion – an examination of how Jesus' body was broken and His blood was poured out. And because Encounter will be focusing on "being the church" on Easter instead of gathering for a service, the evening concluded with a look at the resurrection – that Jesus is the Light of the world. We each lit candles and from the Christ candle to represent how Jesus’ light spreads from Him, then to us, and then to all the world.

View the Picasa slideshow here
View all the photos on Facebook here

Getting Out Of The Boat

We are in a boat. We're in the boat of our lives.

For some of us, our boat is going to church, reading our bibles, listening to the message, listening to the music, and trying to be a good person. All these things are our little boat.

They keep us safe.
They keep us afloat.
They keep us from drowning.

It's a good little boat to be in — but isn't there something more?

Our little boat does make us comfortable. It's a nice little boat to be in. We don't make anyone angry. If people ask us about Jesus, we'll tell them. We think "yeah I'm going to heaven. I'm saved. I know how to do the Christian thing." So what's wrong?

Why do we feel like there is more?
Why are we dis-satisfied with the status quo?
Why are we NOT dis-satisfied with the status quo?

A BOAT STORY

In Matthew 14, Jesus was on the shore, praying. The disciples were out in a boat when the winds began to pick up and waves began to crash on the side of the boat. The sky got dark and the storm began to pour down on the disciples. Of course, the disciples began to be afraid for their lives because they thought the boat was going to flip over and they were all going to drown.

One of the disciples looks out onto the water and he sees what he thinks is a ghost walking on the water. And then they hear a familiar voice that says "Take courage, it's me. Do not be afraid"

It was Jesus!

Jesus was walking on water out in the middle of the storm. And then Peter says "Lord if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water."

And Jesus says "Come."

So Peter steps out and he is miraculously able to walk on water and walks toward Jesus. While he soon begins to doubt and begins sinking, Peter calls out for help. Jesus grabs his hand and pulls him up.

Peter never had to leave the comfort of the boat. He could have easily hid with his life jacket on, hid from the storm, and stayed in the boat. But there was one problem.

Jesus wasn't in the boat.
Jesus was out in the middle of the storm.
Peter knew he needed to be with Jesus.

A CHOICE

We too, have a choice to make. We can continue on staying in our boat — with our family, with our friends, with our schools. We can pray to God everyday. We can read our Bibles. We can try to be nice people. But if we do, we never leave our boat. We never say Jesus is worth risking our life for. Jesus is worth drowning for.

Jesus told Peter to come.
And He's telling you to come.
Get out of your comfort zone.
Get out of your boat.

And come walk on water with Him.

Christmas Worship 2008

We finished up two Christmas Eve services this evening. It was beautiful – a reflective, candlelight atmosphere singing Christmas carols accompanied by violin, cello, and piano.

As we usually do, we ended the evening singing Silent Night in the dark as we slowly lit candle after candle to slowly fill the room - representing the light Jesus brings to our lives. Both the 4:30pm and 5:30pm services were packed.

I also wanted to share a little from our morning services last Sunday. We aimed to refresh the way we look at Christmas and the carols we sing. A fun part of the service was when we had a congregation led sing-a-long of The 12 Days of Christmas.

Many people don't know that there is much Christian symbolism hidden in the song. It is a good deal more than just a repetitive melody with a list of strange gifts. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England to help young Catholic Christians learn the tenets of their faith when it was illegal to be found with any literature of their faith.

The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, but to God Himself. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The rest of the gifts are outlined at the end of this post.

This last Sunday, we divided up the people in twelve groups - then each group was responsible for singing the part of the song that mentioned their group number. Second service was out-of-control! It was crazy and very fun. The group really took their sections to heart with dancing, bird motions, and an impromptu solo! See the photos...


9 Ladies Dancing


2 Turtle Doves

5 Golden Rings

Other symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas:

• 2 Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments (Heb. 8:6-13)
• 3 French Hens - Faith, Hope and Love (1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thess. 5:8)
• 4 Calling Birds - The Four Gospels
• 5 Golden Rings - The Torah (first five books of the Old Testament)
• 6 Geese A-laying - The six days of creation (Gen. 1)
• 7 Swans A-swimming - The seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8-10)
• 8 Maids A-milking - The eight beatitudes (Matt. 5:3:-11)
• 9 Ladies Dancing - The nine fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23)
• 10 Lords A-leaping - The ten commandments (Ex. 20; Deut. 5:6-21)
• 11 Pipers Piping - The eleven faithful apostles
• 12 Drummers Drumming - The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Well, that's it for this late Christmas Eve. On another note, we leave early tomorrow morning for California. That's right - vacation. That means no blogging for a couple weeks. Our wish to you? Have a blessed Christmas and New Year!

Cultivating A Heart Of Thankfulness

From our Thanksgiving Evening Worship Service

Why is it important to cultivate a heart of thankfulness toward God? It's simple really. Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving..." In other words, gratitude is the gateway to worship. Worship begins by saying two simple words, "Thank You."

Giving thanks is a way for us to declare the glory of God, but it is not always easy. It reminds is that our lives are in someone else's hands - it keeps us in a heart posture of surrender and humility.

Cultivating a heart of thankfulness is really cultivating a heart of worship. It's about looking past the external and recognizing the ways in which God has revealed Himself to you in your life. How has He changed you? How has He given you strength? How has He given you hope? How many times has He forgiven you even though He looks deep into our hearts.

Pride and resentment cannot co-exist with gratitude. A resentful heart cannot say thank you for what it has been given, because it can only look at what it does not have. And therefore, a resentful heart cannot be a place of worship. So in order to be a worshiper of God, I MUST learn to say "thank you" and cultivate a heart that is fully alive with thankfulness. A heart that is focused on worship.

I encourage you to "insert your thanks here." Feel free to share your praises and thanks in the comments.

Consecration Writings Videos

As part of our Worship Dedication Service, we showed three videos. First, we showed our "Let The Walls Fall Down" video again. In the early stages of our Worship Center building expansion, we at Hannaford wrote our prayers, hopes, and scripture on the floors and walls - consecrating the building to God's purpose. We put together a collection of those writings and presented it in two videos; one before the service and one after. Here they are...

VIDEO 1 OF 2

VIDEO 2 OF 2

Our Dedication Service

It's been a few weeks since we had our dedication service for our newly expanded Worship Center at Hannaford, but I thought I'd share some of our service...

THE SACRIFICES
In 2 Chronicles starting in Chapter 5, we are told that King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel had gathered, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

And after placing the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, the priests withdrew from the Holy Place. Then, all the Levites who were musicians stood to the side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. And they were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever."

Songs: I Will Boast & Not To Us
All that we accomplish, all that we build, all that we do is to His glory. The glory is not to us, but boast only in our Lord God.

THE GLORY OF THE LORD
When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple like a cloud. The priests were overwhelmed and could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it.

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD (taken from 2 Chronicles 7).

Song: Your Glory
Your glory is in this place

DEDICATION PRAYER
Inspired by King Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 6.

O LORD, our Father, There is no God like You in heaven or on earth – You who keep your covenant of love with us. You have kept your promise; with your mouth You have promised and with Your hand you have fulfilled it – as it is today.

And how can God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You. How much less this building we have built! Because You sent Your Son Jesus, You hear from heaven; and when You hear, You forgive.

Now our God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayers offered today. Arise, O LORD God, and come make Your presence known in our lives, and in this place. May we be clothed with salvation, and may we rejoice in your goodness. Let us not only dedicate this building today, but let us dedicate ourselves to Your purpose alone.

We pray this through the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

LEARNING FROM THE TEMPLE DEDICATION
Insights into King Solomon’s dedication of the temple from 2 Chronicles 4-7

1) We learn something about God's timing and faithfulness.
David had it in his heart to build the temple, but God said that he would not do it. But God did promise that David’s son Solomon would build the temple. We, too, wait on the timing of the Lord. It has taken a long time for all the phases of this building project to come to a close. But God is faithful. Likewise, we have written on the walls, the prayers and hopes that the Lord has laid on our hearts. Prayers for this church, our friends, and our families. God WILL be faithful in His time.

2) We learn something about a sacrifice of worship
Solomon and Israel sacrificed so many offerings at the dedication that it could not be counted. We, too, must make a sacrifice of worship. We sacrifice our time, efforts, and money in our worship - because worship is about giving, not receiving. We also sacrifice our personal preferences when we gather with other believers to worship - whether it be the songs we sing, the way we stand or sit, or whether we like the decorations or not. David said, I will not make a sacrifice to the Lord, that costs me nothing.

3) We learn something about God's presence
The priests withdrew from the Holy Place and could not perform their service, because the cloud - the glory of the LORD - the presence of the Lord - filled His temple. We, too, are blessed with the Lord's presence - His glory in this place. But too often we are like little children, fixated and delighted as we envision a place filled with presents (or gifts) from God. Too often, we are more excited about presents FROM God than we are about being in the presence OF God. Let us see this morning, how being in the presence of God - and touching His heart - is better than any gift we can receive from God.

Lord, let Your glory fall, as on that ancient day
Songs of enduring love, and then Your glory came
And as a sign to You, that we would love the same
Our hearts will sing that song, God let Your glory come

Voices in unison, giving You thanks and praise
Joined by the instruments, and then Your glory came
Your presence like a cloud, upon that ancient day
The priests were overwhelmed, because Your glory came

A sacrifice was made, and then Your fire came
They knelt upon the ground, and with one voice they praised
A sacrifice was made, and then Your fire came
They knelt upon the ground, and with one voice they praised

SONG: Lord Let Your Glory Fall
Bless this place and our lives as we live in Your presence. May we bow our hearts and praise You with ONE VOICE.

Sunday Reflections - I Will Boast In The Lord

As I sit here with my computer on my lap, I am nearly nodding off. Whew! I am tired.

OUR FIRST SUNDAY
Today, we held our first worship service in the newly expanded Worship Center at Hannaford Street Bible Church. Today was also the first day of our 2007 Hannaford Fall Conference and Matt Heard from Woodmen Valley Chapel was our guest speaker. His message was titled "Defeating Discouragement ... as a Soldier." I feel like today was one of those amazing times when God brought everything together. Matt has been praying for our church since he last spoke here a couple of years ago. And his message reflected a lot of thought - not only about our theme, "Defeating Discouragement," but also in recognition of our first Sunday in the new room.

Matt basically shared how a new building such as ours can be a source of encouragement - but can also become a source of discouragement. As followers of Christ, we need to look at the differences between a resort and a soldiers barracks. Our building is not a resort - something that is to serve a simply a comfort for ourselves. It is a strategic tool in God's plan.

WORSHIP MUSIC
Our worship this Sunday opened of Paul Baloche's "I Will Boast" as a reminder that we do not boast of our own strengths and accomplishments, but in Christ and His power. We also sang Mike Hohnholz's "Your Glory" which has emerged as somewhat of a theme for our expansion - that His "glory will fill this place."

During our building, I have also been communicating the importance of community. Basically, we are more than a building, but a group of people, a family, the Body of Christ called to His mission and purpose. We continued the theme of community as well with a video "It Continues to Grow" and the song "The Lion & The Lamb" expressing the desire that every nation, tribe, and tongue come to know Christ.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
I will simply say this. It was an awesome day! The band and singers were energetic. The sound system worked well - including the new subwoofers (although the room is too "live" acoustically - too much reverberation. The vocals seem to get lost in the low-mids - something we'll have to work out.). The lighting was great. The video went on without a hitch (using the new MediaShout software and electronic switching). In addition, we had our largest Sunday attendance around 550 compared to an average of this month of 430. I'm hoping someone got some pictures today so I can post them!

Sunday Reflections - Pie in the Face!

While Pastor Crosby spoke on prayer this week, I promised last week that God fulfills His promises.

Last week, I encouraged people to pray for everything to work out to allow us to be in the new Hannaford Worship Center this Sunday.

Knowing that we are to pray expecting that God has already fulfilled His promises, I said that I would take a pie to the face if we did NOT make it into the worship center.

Well, we did not make it. I know that God's timing is different than our timing, so He must have had a different timing in mind OR He just wanted to see me with pie on my face!

Sunday Reflections - Face to Face with God

"This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." - Titus 3:8

This last Sunday at Hannaford, Senior Pastor Dick Crosby spoke on Titus 3:8. He asked the question, "When I come face to face with God will He be likely to say 'Well done, good and faithful servant?'" (Matthew 25). Much of the message revolved around doing good to obtain personal holiness.

MY TAKE: I agree with Buddy Owens when he says that God doesn't want holiness from us, He wants His holiness in us. God is holy because He is unique - He is unlike any other and He is worthy of worship.

Personal holiness is significant in two different ways. First, as believers we are already holy simply because we belong to God - we are set apart for His purposes - and we need to start living that reality. Second, we are to develop a purity of heart that is undefiled and separate from sin as we grow in Christ.

It is the second way that we focused on this Sunday, so here are my thoughts. We cannot become holy without the Spirit of God having control of our lives. While believers are all indwelt with the Holy Spirit, we live in varying states of surrender to God. The more we devote ourselves to the purposes of God by surrendering our wants, desires, hopes, and dreams, the more we begin to allow the Spirit to control us. It's what I believe the Gospels refer to as being "filled with the Spirit."

Galatians 5:22 tells us that the characteristics of holiness are nine-fold: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." But notice these are referred to as fruit. Fruit are not grown by mere determination of the tree. The tree is tended to, fed, watered, trimmed, and cared for by the gardener. In addition, the kind of fruit that are produced are determined by the kind of tree. An orange tree does not produce apples or vice-versa. The fruit are a by-product of the type - or character - of the tree.

Like any tree, we only produce one type of fruit. It is only when our character is changed, that we can produce a different kind of fruit - and our goal is to be changed by God's Holy Spirit. Only when we surrender, or allow His Spirit to transform us, will we begin to produce the Spirit's fruit (see Galatians 5:22 again).

While I agree with Titus 3:8 when it says we must "devote ourselves to doing what is good," I believe the way we devote ourselves is by allowing God to infuse and control us, changing our character - and then our natural inclination will be to do what God desires.

We must devote ourselves to "being" rather than simply "doing." As He changes who we are, the "doing" will follow as an outpouring of our character.

Courage To Be Nobody On MP3

I talked a little about my message on July 29 (check out my earlier post here). I now have an mp3 recording of the message available. You can listen to it here or press the "down arrow" on the player to download it (10mb - 45min - mp3).

Sunday Reflections - Courage To Be Nobody

Paul says in Galatians 6:3, "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

This Sunday, I was privileged to give the message in both services, entitled "Courage To Be Nobody." I've been gearing up for this for about four weeks. That's good for prep time and planning, but it also gives the Holy Spirit a lot of time to work on you in the process. I ended up changing the message four times in the process. The last time was this Thursday night - I would say it was then that the Spirit pulled through, giving me what I knew God really wanted me to share. Whew!

THEME: I am nobody and God is The Ultimate Somebody. When we compare ourselves to the infinite majesty and glory of God, we really don’t amount to much. Basically, today was an invitation to put OUR story aside and join God in His story.

We reviewed the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3, focusing on God laying out HIS plans for Moses and also focusing on God’s revelation of himself as I AM. It only follows that we are “i am not!”

I also spoke of the true challenge — It’s not understanding that we're nobody, but having the courage to live it out. And for that, we used the example of King Jehosaphat and the nation of Judah in 2 Chronicles 20:1-25. What we find is not so surprising. The way courage happens is simple: It's worship – surrendering all that we are to all of who God is.

Finally, our greatest example is Jesus. Jesus became small — Jesus became nobody — so that we could leave our stories behind and join as active participants in God’s story (see Philippians 2:5-11).

INSPIRATION: 1) Holy Spirit. 2) Louie Giglio’s i am not, but i know I AM. I just finished it — it’s amazing. Just makes you want to fall on your knees and give all you can to our great God. 3) I also referenced some notes I took from a message from Rick Warren, "How to Worship Instead Of Worry." 4) And the basic idea of “Courage to be Nobody” came from Josh Scott at The Church At Polaris in Columbus, Ohio. (Thanks Josh! Shoot me an email, I didn't know how to get a hold of you.)

MEXICO MISSIONS REPORT: The team on the Mexico Mission Project returned this week. In the main services, we had a video/slide show of photos from the experience promoting our Sunday School time which was a full-on report of what happened last week in Mexico.

MORE THAN A BUILDING: "Let The Walls Fall Down!" We announced today that tomorrow we're tearing down the wall separating the current auditorium and the new expansion. Our new worship center expansion will add about 150 more seats and have an official stage area (including updated technical improvements). For now, though, we still have a lot of work to do including tearing down the wall, dismantling the old stage and sound booth, re-carpeting, painting, electrical, audio/video/lighting wiring, and much, much more. We're hoping to have it done within the next four weeks. For now, we'll be meeting in our Fellowship Area. It was exciting knowing that this is the LAST TIME we'll be meeting in the auditorium as it is now.

WORSHIP: Since I spoke this Sunday, RJ Chambers led worship with his sister Kaci and Cody Kauffman on drums. They did a great job. Good song choice and a heartfelt approach to the throne of God. It was a challenge, too, because we had a lot of elements to fit into the service. (Sorry, no music samples this week - but here is the mp3 recording of the message.)

Forever - Chris Tomlin
How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
Who Am I? - Casting Crowns (Mark Hall)
We Fall Down - Passion
Praise Adonai - Paul Baloche

Sunday Reflections - Forgiveness

THE THEME: This last Sunday at Hannaford, Pastor Scott Yebba spoke on forgiveness. He addressed both sides: being forgiven by Christ and, in turn, forgiving others.

We began the service with some general worship focusing on lifting up the name of Jesus (All Hail The Power) and placing the focus on Him and not us (Not To Us, Blessed Be Your Name).

We then planted the topic of forgiveness with this man-on-the-street video, then responding with the thankfulness of being forgiven so that we can forgive others (You Are My King).

He shared about Spiritual Forgiveness. How in the Old Testament the people offered animal sacrifices in the form of burnt, sin, and guilt offerings (Leviticus 1-4). These were to TEMPORARILY receive forgiveness from God - to cover sin, not remove it. They always involved the shedding of blood. In the new Testament, however, Jesus offered COMPLETE forgiveness and reconciliation with God once and for all! (Hebrews 10:11-12) Jesus also shed his blood as a sacrifice for our sins.

It follows that because we were forgiven, we too can forgive others. This is where Scott covered Human Forgiveness. The easy part is that you have to able to ask for forgiveness when you have wronged someone else. The hard part: You have to forgive people that have wronged us before an unforgiving heart make you bitter and angry.

We closed the message with this video of an interview with the brother of the woman murdered by Karla Faye Tucker.

PRAYER: (Adapted from Church Smith, Jr.) Lord Father, we ask you this morning to speak to us, to reveal to us, or to renew in us the purpose of our worship. If we’ve come today with our hearts crippled by resentment, You will teach us the dance of forgiveness. If we’ve come, blinded by sin, You will show us the colors of mercy. If we’ve come, deaf to the praise of creation, You will give us ears to hear, a heart to believe, and a voice to sing, Amen.
FEATURED MUSIC: Andrea and I sang Delirious' Majesty (using a drum loop on the church's new Korg Triton Extreme). The lyrics include, "Here I am humbled by the love that you give/Forgiven so that I can forgive."

PERSONAL NOTE: I spoke with a man in our foyer who explained to me that His daughter had been murdered and that forgiveness was a message he could not hear this last Sunday. It was, in fact, the two year anniversary of losing his daughter. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to lose a child this way and all I could do is pray with him because really – it’s all in the Lord’s hands. But I have to tell you something he said. Amidst all the pain and turmoil of this tragic event, he told me that his daughter had left several blessings – her children. What a wonderful gift to find blessings in the midst of our pain and trials.

Welcome To The BattleZONE!

You may have heard of some Christian men's movements like Promise Keepers or GodMen. I've been involved in the local Promise Keepers conferences and the GodMen conferences have been the subject of discussion and debate recently.

This last Friday and Saturday at Hannaford, we hosted the BattleZONE 2Day Men's Summit. Founded by Montana State University Football All-Star Michael Pouliot, BattleZone Ministries exists to coach every willing man to live victorious in Christ.

We formed a worship team for music. Michael and Dr. Dave Wardell (co-founder of Promise Keepers) were featured speakers, while athletes Jason Crebo (3-time All-American and Big Sky Conference Defensive MVP) and Byron Molyneaux both told how they came to trust Christ.

As we were meeting with Michael to go over last-minute details, he shared his vision for the conference. He said, "I don't do conferences. Conferences are a "flash in the pan." They last for a day or two, the guys go home, and there is no lasting effect." BattleZone is a tool to help men develop lasting discipleship and accountability networks.

I am convinced that BattleZone brings together the best elements of both Promise Keepers AND GodMen and allows men to bring a network of discipleship INTO the local church.

With all that said, I wanted to share a little of what I've taken away from the summit:

• I do believe that men are hurting, and a majority of men don't connect with church.
• Michael says that men (even Christian men) are not confronting their pain, but soothing it with repetitive sin (porn, alchohol, work, gambling, etc.). The reasons? Confusion over masculinity from a fuzzy and incorrect view of Jesus. From whom did you learn to be a man? What does it mean to be a man?
• Every man struggles with these Battle Zones (see the website). What we need to do is identify and address them head-on.
• Consequently, men are isolated. Isolation…leads to secrecy. Secrecy… leads to a sick character. Sick character…leads to sick conduct and SIN. Sick conduct and SIN…leads to broken relationships with God and people. (from Kenny Luck, Every Man’s Ministries)
• Most guys see Christianity as Wimpianity, Perfectianity, Borianity, or Crutchianity.
• Here's the truth about masculinity: Real men admit weakness (then do something about them). Being “macho” (pretending to be strong) has nothing to do with masculinity. Being macho is a symptom of being out of touch with our true self (feelings and motives), is one of our biggest weaknesses, and is a cover-up and denial of our insecurity. Genuine masculinity and true strength starts with being ruthlessly honest with our inner feelings and motives. One thing is certain, Jesus was always real. A true masculine is intimately on-line with God’s will. The key for the Masculinity of Jesus was His desire to endure the Cross in the place of each of us.

Needless to say, I wholly recommend BattleZone and encourage you to look into it.

Sunday Reflections - Michael Pouliot

MICHAEL POULIOT: This last Sunday at Hannaford, Michael Pouliot of BattleZone Ministries spoke. He basically shared how he came to trust Jesus. He grew up as a Catholic who "believed" in Christ, but later learned to move past "religion" and develop a "relationship" with Jesus.

HOLY IS THE LORD: At Hannaford, one song we often sing is “Holy Is The Lord” written by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio. I shared the origin of this song Sunday. It was inspired by the picture of worship around the throne of God in Isaiah 6 … the heavenly creatures sounding this anthem back and forth to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

The song is completed with another picture from Nehemiah, where the people joined in a mass assembly … a great example of corporate worship. The Bible says they raised their hands to God at the hearing of his Word, they bowed with their faces to the ground and together would proclaim "the joy of the Lord is our strength."

While researching I came across an audio file of Chris Tomlin describing how the song came about. I didn't get to share it all on Sunday but the story left a lump in my throat. Listen to or download the mp3 here from theheartofworship.org. Or use the player below (as long as the link remains valid).



THE LION AND THE LAMB: During offering, we recited the introduction to "The Lion And The Lamb." from the Every One CD. Every One is a CD collaboration from Worship Foundations International. It's an awesome CD and I'm not sure you can pick it up anywhere but here at the WFI website...

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands; And they cried out in a loud voice ... “Salvation belongs to our God Who sits on the throne ... and to the Lamb.'"

BATTLEZONE SUMMIT: Also, this coming Friday and Saturday were having the BattleZone Men's Summit here at Hannaford. Michael Pouliot will be speaking as well as Dr. Dave Wardell, co-founder of Promise Keepers. We're preparing some worship for the event as I write this. You can find out more about it here.

What's Missing? More On The Kingdom Of God

I found this over at Josh Scott's TheWayIThink.com.

I would say that most of the Christians I know think of the story of salvation like this: Fall, Redemption and Heaven. In this story, the purpose of redemption is life after this world and the only people who have any value are “saved” people. All efforts, resources, talent, time and money are spent solely for the purpose of evangelism. I think that’s why we’re called evangelicals.

But what if the story goes like this: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Heaven. It actually becomes a different story. The purpose of redemption becomes much more than just escaping this world. It actually becomes about renewing it.

The gospel then isn’t just about individual happiness and fulfillment and God’s wonderful plan for my life. It’s about His wonderful plan for the whole world. It’s a story of God’s kingdom renewing ALL things.

The kingdom of God has come near to you... What do you think?

Sunday Reflections - The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand!

This Sunday at Hannaford, Ray Fuller spoke on the return of Jesus and our personal holiness. He mentioned one of those "Five Words of Worship:" MARANATHA. It is an Aramaic phrase meaning "Our Lord come!" that only occurs once in the New Testament, but was commonly used by the early church.

Truly, we do long for the Lord to come - and He is coming any moment. We need to live our lives in Christ with a sense of urgency. This is not only for ourselves and our personal holiness (which comes from God, not ourselves), but also for the sake of those who do not yet know Christ. Let us live our lives not only proclaiming the kingdom of God, but also doing our part in ushering in the kingdom..."The kingdom of God has come near to you!"

Making Jesus Famous

Each one of us was created by God with a for a purpose. God said to Moses in Exodus 9:16, "I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

God demonstrates His power in our lived every day, but we are often to busy to see it. We miss it. Sometimes we live week after week failing to recognize God working in our lives. We were created to recognize His power and to tell others about it. We were created to make Jesus famous; to make Him known in all the earth.

What if we truly grasped how famous Jesus is? The entire last book of the scriptures tells about it; "One day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord." Our job now is to tell others how He has shown His power in our lives and to help make Jesus even more famous.

Lord Father, give us the boldness to tell the world that "Jesus is King" and to proclaim with our worship that "He alone is worthy!" Because of who You are, because of your great love and power demonstrated to us not only through salvation, but through your day-to-day speaking into our lives. We want to make Jesus famous and we will not stop until the whole world knows.

I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Listen to Famous One sung by Chris Tomlin

Father’s Day: Fatherly Impressions

With Father’s Day this week, my thoughts keep returning to how fathers can affect our relationship with God. Our experiences with our earthly father are a lens for how we see our Heavenly Father.

• If your father was stoic, you see God as stoic.
• If your father never showed affection, you think God has no affection.
• If your Dad was absent or busy, that’s how we see God.

My dad was very controlling – I spent much of my childhood battling for control of things. Consequently, it is a struggle for me now to surrender and let God be in control.

But, let me tell you that God is not like your earthly father. And even if your dad was great, God is better. Scripture tells us that He loves us, He has compassion, and that He delights in us.

Zephaniah 3:17 tells us "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
He rejoices over us with singing!

Whatever your view of your earthly father, don’t let it limit your relationship with your heavenly Father. Ask God to reveal to you who He really is.