I like to think of myself as a funny guy (don’t deny it).

And occasionally when I preach I have two kinds of funny:  Rehearsed and Spontaneous.  The following is the latter:

Talking about the Parable of the Great Wedding Feast, I said, “And then the King says to his messengers, ‘Go out, and allow all to come to me.  Go out, and let people know that they may come in to the wedding feast of my son.’  And they did.  People came.  And they partied like it was…9″

If it isn’t as funny in print, you can see it here.

I hope you laugh at least once today!

Sunday Morning @ Fellowship this week was worth the look.

Check it out!

She would probably love Fellowship!

Nearly 4 years after the point where our church leadership decided that we would use Sunday mornings @ Fellowship as a catalyst to reach people who are far from God rather than cater to people who think they are close to Him, We are seeing the fruits.

When the church leadership decided at the same time that instead of pretending that knowledge was the most important thing in a church, we would begin communities of people that would be authentic, be transformed from the inside out, and reach outside of their comfort zones to people who need help, we are seeing the fruits.

I love that we let other churches play Christian ping pong in church attendance,and that we’ve committed to reaching out.  As I write this, the song “History Makers” plays on my itunes playlist.  Once again, I think of you.  It hasn’t been easy, but it’s all been worth it!

I love you people.

This last Sunday the unthinkable happened, and it scared me.

We had just gone through an amazing service focusing on the story of God, and the music had been great, I felt comfortable with the message God had given to me, and the energy in the room was awesome.  Al and the band were finishing up their last song, “All we”, which was rocking my face off (Thanks Darren).  The music silenced and people cheered when up onto the stage walked a young lady who had been sitting towards the front and who had come in by herself.

I can tell you this now because she eventually told me, but at the time I had no clue who she was – she had very little church experience and only then had attended Catholic churches.  She had told a few people that she was looking for something more.

I noticed as I preached that day that she rarely made eye contact, so I had no idea what she thought about the service, the music, or my message.  So it would be an underestimation to say that I was nervous as I watched her walk up the front stairs and take the microphone stand from Al.  Here’s what she said:

“Most of you guys don’t know me. Tina and Steve do, that’s why I’m here.  I just had tears s come over me, and now tears again. (wipes her face)  Let’s just put it this way, I have 3 upcoming rock concerts I’m going to that, you know, you pay for, big names like the Dropkick Murphys, and I didn’t even know these guys were here (pointing to Al and motioning to the band), (Scream/cheer from the audience, so next phrase is unheard), …but all I need to do is come here on Sundays and come to a concert!”  (she turns around and shakes Al’s hand, and he gives her a hug)

I talked to her after the service, and she clearly loved what she had just experienced.  She filled out a card and signed up for just about everything we have,including wanting to know more about life groups, getting involved in service, and most importantly, she writes that she started a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I wonder if trying to focus and reach a younger generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ is worth it because (my mindset):  “If we just slowed down a bit or put some more piano in the mix, older Christians would come too.”  And then I realize…

I’m not a manipulating salesman who does this for the money. I do this because I’m called to reach people like Kirsten, who one day found herself on stage in front of a large group of people she didn’t know, thanking them for their input into her life that day.  And I do this for Phil, a 20 something first time guest this last Sunday.  Phil came as a guest of a member of our church, and who called her up Sunday afternoon thanking her for bringing him to Fellowship Church.  Phil hadn’t stepped foot into a church for about 10 years, since he last left the catholic school he attended then.  And I do this because of the group of 50 and over friends who made their way to my office on Sunday morning to pray for our service and to ask God to work in the lives of people that morning.

And we’re called to reach people like Kirsten or Phil so that one day they will grow to be Christ followers like Garret or Keith and Dawn or Steve or Ian and Katie or Al, Billy,Jeff or Pam, all of who are maturing in the Lord and who understand that we are not a part of the Kingdom of God so that we can start programs to make church people happy, but to reach and teach other people to grow in Christ.  This ensures that the real church of Christ will last far beyond my time here on this earth.  Nothing makes me more excited than this!

And it’s why I exist.

It’s Fellowship Week and I want to introduce you to Billy McGuiness, our First Impressions Director and the guy who is making the web campus at FC a force to be reckoned with on the info superhighway.

Billy and his wife Colleen came to the FC in the summer of 2001, and they have helped us lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ for the last 7.5 years.  Billy has a servants heart and the talent to make things happen in whatever he’s doing.  Currently in the last 2 months he’s made some impressive headway in turning our web campus into a viable option for attending church and building authentic community @ FC, which has really been a help for people here in Central Massachusetts as each week it seems we’re getting another snow storm.

Billy says that the craziest thing that has happened to him since he’s been here is watching our friend, Alvin the Chipmunk, find his way onto the stage a few times on Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship, and the greatest thing about FC to Billy:  The commitment to build a community of people who want to love Jesus more, and not an earthly kingdom of Sunday morning isolation.

You can find Billy’s blog here, and if you ever want to actually find him, you can see him running the web campus on Sundays, in his FC office on Mon., Wed., and Fri., or hanging out with his Colleen and his two wonderful daughters, Emilie and Erynne.

Give a shout out to Billy, an all around great guy from Fellowship Church!

This Sunday was great at Fellowship Church in Holden, Massachusetts!  There was an electric spirit  as our FC family was able to come together without snow or ice obstacles for the first time in several weeks.

Now, of course, being a Steeler Fan, next Sunday I’m looking forward to one of the greatest finales of all time.  That is the last segment of our series entitled “30 days to live”!  What else could it have been?

As we prepare for next Sunday morning @ Fellowship, I’m going write a series of blog posts highlighting some of FC lead team, life group leaders, and Fellowshippers who are making an impact for the kingdom of God in the Central Massachusetts area!

I hope you’ll check out the blog on a regular basis this week, and see what God is doing here at Fellowship.

And GO SUNDAY!!!

I got this idea from viewing the NFL Network this morning.  It’s Super Bowl week, and all week they’ll be interviewing and highlighting people who are a part of the Super Bowl (like the Steelers) and people who are not a part of the Super Bowl (insert your team here).

I’ll be sending out an email about this tomorrow morning, but I figured I’d spread the word here first.

Billy, our  Sunday Morning Impressions director, and Steve, our Family Ministries director have teamed up to provide a great experience each week as we stream our services live here.

Now we’ve taken it a step further and are able to keep the prior weeks service available for viewing throughout the week.  For instance, the service held on January 4, 2009 can be viewed right now or anytime you care to watch.

As time goes on we’ll improve our production quality, but I’m excited that we can reach out to more people, specifically people who are volunteering in our Family Ministy, senior citizens who might not be able to get to church, or those who are travelling or home sick.

Thanks to those of you who are a part of the Fellowship Church family!  2009 is going to be an amazing year for the church!

Your thoughts on church online?

Jumpstart from Marty Holman@ Fellowship Church.

What do you think about sharing your faith?  Do you need a jumpstart?

We Shine from Fellowship Church

Do you shine?

Yesterday I talked about time and how saying “no” is not the enemy of “yes”, but it can be the very close companion.  I also mentioned that I would be sharing a new policy I’ve given to the fine folks on our lead team at Fellowship Church.

I should start off by saying that we’re not a very big church, so this policy change is not easy because we have tons of people “licking their chops” to volunteer at Fellowship.  In fact, it’s not a very easy change to make at all, but I’ve decided to follow through with it because I believe God gives people certain gifts to help His church thrive, and because so many time we don’t use our gifts to their fullest potential because we’re too busy trying to say “yes” to everyone and be good at everything.

The change that we’ll be making is that everyone in our church will be in one Sunday morning ministry and one Sunday morning ministry only.  So if Sally is doing Family ministry (for kids) on one Sunday and greeting our guests another Sunday, our leaders will have to work together to decide, based on her desires and her talents and growth which ministry she will be volunteering in during 2009.

My hope is that this will do three things:

The change will help us coordinate and communicate more effectively between ministries within Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship.
The change will give our volunteers motivation to excel at the ministry God has placed them in for this season in their life.
The change will help streamline volunteerism in our church and allow individuals to make wise decisions concerning their time.

I don’t think this change will be easy for us.  Effective change never is.  But the alternative is several people with the gifts of mercy, helps, or who just like to say “yes” too much will hinder the spiritual growth of other partners at Fellowship by taking over the need for those individuals to say “yes” to a ministry in which they are gifted to participate.  And at the same time, because of an immediate need, I will let that hindrance occur.

So we need our Fellowshippers, new and old, to either:
Pray about getting out of the way of one of the gazillion ministries in which they might be involved.  or
Pray about jumping into their first ministry volunteer position.

So your thoughts on this change being effective, por favor?