Draw from the Well

Who You Gonna Call?

This morning I've heard several stories of people being "referred" to Church of Living Water.  This statement was followed by phrases like "they can help you", "they have this ministry that will change your situation", "this will set you free"...

Yesterday we fielded a call from someone who told us that someone in a grocery store told them to call us.  The person was so specific they gave the name of the person who they should ask for.  We can't figure out who it was who referred them.  We think it might have been an angel.  Seriously.  I've heard twice now of secular counselors telling people they need to augment their treatment by attending some of our classes.

This is the type of church I want to be part of.  I love this type of word of mouth.  I love it when the desperate find hope and I love it more when the healed help the desperate to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Last night 55 people began the journey towards financial freedom from debt in our Financial Peace University class.  I'm so excited for what God can do with families whose financial priorities are placed in a godly order!  Word is that several of the attendees are from the community.  Way to Go Bill, Ede, Steve and Janice!  Thanks for making that ministry work!

I'm so excited to work with people like Steve and Cheri and Brett and Denise who have stepped forward to work with our DivorceCare class or Tony and Suzie who lead our Starting Point class, helping people take their next steps towards God. 

This is a place of hope and healing.  Just as it should be.

Where are you helping people to find the light at the end of the tunnel?  I'd love to hear the stories.

When God Takes Us To the Desert

Pastor Jon spoke a powerful message on change in the life of Moses this weekend. And it connected with people.  Here's a short email as an example:

"Pastor Jon’s message this last Sunday was so very timely.  We had a VERY unwelcome change about July of last year, when our son David was unexpectedly sent to Iraq instead of college.  God’s ways are so very perfect.  David has always had a very tender heart toward God and accepted Christ at a young age, however as some children do, he seemed to wander a bit and lose his center.  Sometimes God needs to take us to the desert away from family and friends to accomplish the work that he desires to do in our lives.  This has happened in a very real way in David’s life.  We started noticing in particular after he went back from his two week leave in January a difference.  He called last week to tell Sam and I that God had really been working in his heart and mind, and as a result, the guitar that we sent him had only had worship music played on it.  In fact he was going to step out in faith and start playing for his church services there at the base."

"Sometimes God needs to take us to the desert..." wise words indeed.  So proud of David, BTW.

How is God leading you into the desert and what does He want to teach you?  Embrace the change!

Salty

This great video by BADD really made me stop and think.

Guess What I Did this Weekend?

It involved water.  Check out the story here.

Reach Out and Touch Someone!

I just saw the coolest thing last night.  I was hanging out with the Discipleship Training School folks (DTS) and they were discussing healing. 

One small group had a member who had taken a trip to the ER earlier this week and so she was at home.  That small group gathered around a cell phone, placed a call to the sick group member, and prayed for her right there on the phone.

I thought it was a great way to put their faith in action and to care about their fellow group member!  Way to go!

Discipleship In Action

After each service we have a team of people who care for those who have just made a commitment to Christ.  We offer to pray with them and answer any questions they might have.  People are all over the map when they respond to what's happening in their heart: Some people just need space, yet others need a chance to process. 

This weekend I saw a beautiful thing.  One of our team members brought to the Connection Center a young man who had just given his life to Christ for the first time.  He had prayed with him and was answering the questions he had, explaining different places he could plug in.  This was wonderful.  But the truly beautiful thing was that he had another man (young at heart) in tow who was watching things unfold.  This guy has been a believer for less than a year himself, yet here he was answering the questions he could and sharing his own testimony with a person younger in the faith than he was. 

I stood there watching the baton being passed down the line from man to man and said to myself: this is the way it's supposed to happen.

Lessons to be learned:

1. One is never too old to learn new things.
2. Always take someone with you (props to Pastor Tim on this one.)
3. We are one person closer to not needing a team of "professional" people to care for those who make commitments during the services, but rather becoming a community who cares naturally. 

Makes Me Proud

When I consider all the things that are happening at Living Water.  If you haven't checked out the Living Water Blog lately you should - it will make you proud:

Flood Relief Teams - see here, here and here.

Gifts of Food - see here and here.

This week we've been crunching the numbers - when we put things all on one page it's amazing some of the things the family has accomplished in 2007.  Stay tuned for a super cool video reviewing the year (no pressure Jeremy!)

Way to go Living Water!

Different Dude

Peter.

What comes to your mind when you hear that name?   I think he's a fascinating character study.  First he's up; then he's down.  Up. Down. Peter.

Pastor Burt made an interesting, if cursory, note about Peter in his sermon this week - mentioning how much Peter changed between the Gospels and the book of Acts.  To quote pastor, he became a "different dude."

It is startling.  The crucifixion rocks Peter's world.  We can only speculate on the precise deathblow to Peter's pride: the rebuke after telling Jesus He didn't have to die, the sleeping prayerlessness on the Mount of Olives, followed by the reality of the thrice fold denial.  All these combine to hammer Peter's enthusiasm and arrogance into a pulp, so much so that in the confusion of the empty tomb, Peter passively returns to his profession of fishing.  I wonder what he's thinking.  If it's his own inadequateness or the lost fervor for the cause...regardless, Peter's a different dude than we've seen before.  Humbled, broken; confronted with the reality of his own capacity for failure and fallenness. [Ouch!  Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, wish I hadn't!]

Then there's the poignant reinstatement beside the beach, where Jesus gently but firmly brings home the depth of betrayal and love wound up in Peter's continued discipleship.   Words that sear Peter's soul so deeply they illuminate the wisdom he passes down to his own disciples, charging them to be "shepherd's of God's flock..." It's a life changing, charis moment rendering Peter into a different dude, softer some how, tender even.  [I can't read Peter's letters without weeping at the father-heart that's expressed.]

Yet nothing prepares us for the change the Spirit brings into Peter's life.  If "rock" referenced his headstrong inflexibility before, now we see an unshakable depth. Imagine your first sermon producing an altar call of 3000!?!

Different dude.  Different dude, indeed.

So how about you and me?  How are we different than we used to be?

Different dudes.  Or Dudettes.  Indeed.

Are You In the Game?

Last night our small group had a GREAT discussion about this weekends message Get Your Head in the Game.  We spent the evening discussing what it means to deny yourself and take up your cross, and the fact that Jesus first modeled the very thing He asked us to do, by taking up His cross.

The more we dug into Luke 9:18-25, the more somber the mood of the study became.  It's true that this passage of scripture really clarifies that life in the Kingdom of God is upside down.  Saving your life means you will lose it.  I suspect my fellow group members were pondering the impact of these verses and realizing that, well, we all miss it occasionally when Jesus brings us to one of those "cross" roads where we have the opportunity to follow after Him.  Or not.  Modern American Christianity often sugar coats this fundamental principle emphasizing the health, wealth, "it's all about you" version of the Gospel.

My favorite line from Pastor Jon's sermon was the one reminding us that we are not responsible for filling other people's cups up, rather we are responsible for emptying our own cup on behalf of others.  Wow.  That's profound.  (Jon said that the credit for the line actually goes to Pastor Andy Stanley!) Pastor Jon had more thoughts on the weekend - read about it here.

So why do it?  Why would anyone be foolish enough to move from the comfortable "fill me up" crowd to the risky "empty my cup" core?  Why should we get into the game when it means sweat, dirt, risk, suffering, etc? 

Luke 9 gives us the clue when Jesus asks His disciples who they think He is.  I believe He is helping them to understand the key question that reveals whether we stay in the crowd or get into the game.  We should get into the game because Jesus IS the Messiah.  He's in the game and that's the very best place to be.  The truth of this statement means that being a player is the right step, the true safe step.  We can empty our cups because Jesus is the very best cup filler...we don't have to protect and hoard.

So get into the game!

One Day

"I used to fit God into my schedule, now I'm learning that I need to build my schedule around God."  This was a statement made in my small group last night as we finished up our final study on the Power of Ten sermon series. 

It was an animated discussion as we wrestled with the gift of Sabbath and what it means in today's culture (the hottest debate was how to define "work".) 

It seems to me that we agree that Sabbath is good in theory, but living it out is more difficult than it seems (only one person in our study regularly took 24 hours off to rest and sabbath.) 

What stops us from taking a rest?  My group shared that they feel guilty taking a rest because working is how they define importance or success, or they don't want to miss out on the fun things happening around them, or they simply don't know what to do with time.  "I don't want to be alone and lonely," was a phrase heard more than once last night.

On the flip-side we discussed how God intended Sabbath to be a gift; a celebration of Him and His goodness.  We analyzed the heart of the "laws" surrounding Sabbath and talked about grace, personality and what rest means for us individually.

In the end, most people felt that of the four commandments (no other gods, no idols, don't misuse the name of the Lord, and take a Sabbath), the Sabbath challenge was the most difficult for them to apply.

Yet there was hope and freedom, with new perspectives on what it could mean to dedicate ONE DAY to rest and relationship.  Good stuff!