Busy, busy, busy…

Pastor and author, Bill Hybels likened the hyper-busyness of our modern day lives to being a contestant in one of those shopping sprees where you get to make a mad dash up and down the aisles of a store filling your cart with as much free stuff as you can in fifteen minutes.

It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, but instead of being thrilled about it your stomach’s upset by the thousands of items lining the shelves from floor to ceiling, aisle after aisle. You haven’t thought it through. You’re unprepared. Where do you begin? It’s too much! Now the manager is about to give the signal to begin… in your heart you feel sick.  You’re winging it, and you know it.  You’re about to waste a once-in-a-life-time opportunity!

Hybels said this is a picture of many of us. We’re like that frustrated shopper facing the shelves lined from floor to ceiling with countless things to do begging for our time. We’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of worthwhile activities available to us, all wrapped in brightly colored packages just waiting to be claimed… Read more ›

People on the move

We’ve just finished-up a sermon series on our Core Values. I hope finding out that we’re more than a bunch of nice people that go to church on the weekends helpful. I hope finding out that we’re actually people on the move, becoming a new kind of human beings, participating in a mission initiated by Jesus to remake the world into a better place to live, encourages and inspires you. It certainly does it for me.

“Fellowship-ing”

This reminds me of something that not many people know about the name, “Vineyard Christian Fellowship”. For the longest time the Vineyard referred to itself as a “movement.” We were an association of churches drawn together by a life-giving culture that was both distinct and intangible. At times we felt and experienced who we were as a movement more than we could define it by some formal statement. We eventually distilled this culture into our five core values. Read more ›

After a postponement due to a tornado we met on the roof for prayer again last night. Seventeen of us gathered to worship God and continue to seek his direction for our church. Our first rooftop prayer meeting a month ago seemed to have marked the beginning of something God’s doing with us that I guess you could say has energized us. At least over the past couple of months that’s the feeling you get when we’re together.

A change in plans

I had an agenda all set for the evening… sing to God, report in with each other on how things are going, continue to ask God for what we need, and then giving him thanks and going home. But we’re dealing with a living God here and it soon became apparent that he had his own plan for the evening. Read more ›

Making room

Last night’s rooftop worship and prayer was an announcement of sorts. We were making it official with God and with our congregation that “we’re making room…”

We’re making room for the Spirit to lead us out of the box of “business as usual” and off the map of “we’ve always done it this way”.  We’re making room for God to speak and act among us so we don’t just go to church we become the church- a group of people putting flesh and blood on the saving actions of God in the world… Read more ›

Here’s a bit of church history I came across that lit my fuse…

There was an early church society that called themselves “The Parabalani”.  In order to understand their interesting name you have to go back to Paul’s letter to the Philippians where he writes:

Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need. I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. Read more ›

If you’ve been part of our church community you’re aware by now that our continued financial strain has made it necessary for us to take the bold action of moving out of our rather pricey office space in order to bring needed relief and stability to our situation. We’ll use the basement apartment of our house as a temporary office until we can again afford space back in Williamsburg.

Course adjustment

However I sense in my spirit that this is part of a bigger, deeper, much needed “course adjustment” God is working out for our church which will include a revamping of our leadership and recalibration of how we go about our mission.  I have a feeling that what may appear to be a big step backward for us is actually God’s grace working among us. Read more ›

You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it. (2 Corinthians 3:3-4, The Message)

Subversion

We’ve just begun a new sermon series on the Parables. Jesus was a master at subversion. He appeared harmless enough – A carpenter from the backwoods of Galilee turned itinerate rabbi. At first glance he seemed ordinary but a closer look revealed more, much more. Below the surface, hidden from plain view he was starting a revolution whereby one kingdom would be thrown out and another put in its place; a kingdom that was much more livable than the present one. And he would do this without the means of military force or democratic elections. He would act subversively. Working from the inside out. Capturing and changing human hearts which eventually, like a growing seed or a bit of yeast in dough, would influence and change the whole culture.

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Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercies to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship.  Romans 12:1

Over the last few Sundays we’ve been going through a series of sermons we’ve called, “Faith In The Face Of Suffering”. Someone said that a faith that only works when things are going good and doesn’t help us when times are bad is not worth holding on to. So we’ve been exploring a faith in God that helps us “suffer well” and found that it looks like Jesus. We’ve seen that when our trust in God allows us to respond to adversity like Jesus would or when we allow it to make us more like him, it can be said that we’re suffering well.

Suffering can be an isolating and lonely experience. And it’s easy to make the mistake of facing it alone. But this coming Sunday our final talk is going to be on how suffering well means suffering together as a believing community. You won’t want to miss this one. I think it’s going to be really helpful.

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We had our Core meeting last Wednesday evening. This meeting is open to everyone that buys into the mission of our church and demonstrates that commitment with an investment of his or her time, energy and money.

We call them the “Core” because they are the foundation of our church community. Twice a year they’re invited to share a meal and to hear reports on church business as well as help brainstorm issues that our leadership is grappling with. The following is the vision talk pastor Mike gave to the group that evening…

Something precious

I want to remind us all of the preciousness of what God has given us as a community that we’ve found worth committing to and sacrificing for. We have something wonderful that shouldn’t be taken for granted because unfortunately it’s in short supply in many Christian circles today. When I think of it I’m reminded of a story found in the gospels…

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Interesting survey

Americans have always had a thing about happiness. We all have certain unalienable rights declares our Declaration of Independence. Among them, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

So then, a couple of centuries into the chase, how are we doing? Alas, only so-so. A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that just a third (34%) of adults in this country say their very happy. Another half say they are pretty happy and 15% consider themselves not too happy.

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