My mind is blank.
I’m tired because I woke up so early.
Had a great Sunday at Fellowship Church as we wrapped up the series,”The worst story ever told.”
Played flag football yesterday, and I’m so sore I can hardly walk and…
It hurts to think, so…
Yesterday I posted about Sunday Morning @ Fellowship, and shared about the chipmunk that decided to join us. Today I wanted to share a few thoughts I wanted to write down concerning my message that day:
1. Any group (family, church, organization, country, etc…) is based on an ideal. (i.e.freedom, love, justice, peace, etc…)
2. That ideal is propagated by a core group of people who sacrifice for that ideal.
3. Those who sacrifice are followed by a larger group of people who give valuable service.
4. Eventually that group reaps the fruit of their efforts.
5. The fruit and the ideal should be the same thing. Far too often in our culture, the fruit is comfort, which is typically not the ideal.
6. Fruit over time, goes bad; and so we need new fruit, which means new sacrifice.
Later this week, I’ll give examples for each of these 6 progressive thoughts.
Would you add to or disagree with this list?
Yesterday was a great service at Fellowship Church. The band was amazing. The production team was ready to go. The guest services team was on the ball. The Family Ministry was first class.
And then I strolled to the stage to wax eloquent. You can listen to what I said about service here. And with about 12:30 to go in my message, a chipmunk evidently walked into the open double doors of the church, and then into the cracked open double doors of the auditorium, prancing in and out of the seats all the way to the front of the sanctuary. Then it left the room, only to return a few minutes later on the stage, dancing as if to say, “I’m the one in control here now.”
It just happened to be during the climax of the sermon, but I didn’t mind. It was a nice reminder that God works in hearts and not me.
So to honor the chipmunk that decided to join us for church on Sunday morning, I thought I’d share this, a Ray Stevens classic video, “The day the squirrel went berserk in the first self-righeous church.”
Afterwards someone joked that we should put a sign up in the church that says:
“No one under this height (3 inches) allowed in the sanctuary”
1. Steve Bramlett is cool. You should meet him. I play basketball with him on Monday afternoons.
2. Tuesdays have become “Pasta Madness” at the Holman house (see Hancock). Last week – Shrimp scampi
3. brainstormed a new idea I had for the future of Fellowship Church. It has to do with my vision of seeing 1,000 people in small groups across Central Massachusetts.
4. A person in our church family lost his mother this week. I was able to officiate the funeral ceremony, and be there for this amazing family.
5. Had a community dinner at our house on Wednesday. Just sent out a quick email to see if a few people wanted to join us for a potluck and walaa! Dinner for 6 at the Holman house on Wednesday.
6. Ummm, 2 words: “Dark Knight”
7. Took off with our lead team to Clifton Park, New York on Saturday to visit this guy and this guy and their awesome church. I love what God is doing there and how much they’ve taught me.
8. Sunday Morning @ Fellowship was great! I love the spirit of our church and the atmosphere it provides. Here is the message I preached if you’re interested.
9. I have some friends from high school on their way to visit Carie and I this week at the house. So looking forward to spending some quality time with them.
Next edition of “News from last week”: What I’m doing this week
This weekend will be one of the most fascinating services we’ve had at Fellowship Church in a long time. 4 baptisms, including the baptism videos, from ages 10-70, the Lord’s Supper for the first time in several years in our church (Generally we take this ordinance of the church in our “life groups”), A focus on this ministerial use of technology in our church, and a testimony that is one of the most powerful testimonies of coming to Christ I’ve ever heard.
It’s also the last message in this 2 part series called “Something old, something new.”
Next week, we’ll begin the series, “One Prayer” with 1200 other churches and 750,000 other church attenders. This is a four week series where we will ask this question: “If we had one prayer to pray for the church at large, what would it be?”
Over the next four weeks will hear from 4 pastors (3 on a video venue) where they will be answering that question. The first two weeks are:
June 8th, 10:30 am – Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church: “Make us Audacious”
June 15, 10:30 am (Father’s Day) – Pastor Marty Holman, Fellowship Church: “Make us Lead”
So my encouragement to you over the next few months is not to get in a summer rut, but be ready to see God work in amazing ways here at Fellowship Church. Invite your friends. Play a part in something bigger than rest and relaxation. (by the way, I’m not talking about vacation, I think people need that)
This week as I mentioned here, Fellowship Church is beginning a new series called “Family Matters.” I’m really excited to have someone with me this week to help me give the message @ FC. (Shhh, it’s a surprise)
This week, a crew of people are already preparing for their part in our family ministry, so that kids can be led into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and have a blast in the process.
This week, people have arrived at FC on a particular evening and practiced playing music or improving our production for those who attend Sunday Morning @ Fellowship.
This week, a crew of people will arrive an hour early to prepare for that same service in different ways, like preparing the cafe or the bulletins, so that guests and attenders alike will feel comfortable as they attend this week.
This week, someone wants to make a phone call to a friend or a family member who has mentioned that they’d like to “start going to a church sometime” and they will feel the need to invite that friend or family member to Fellowship Church.
This week, and specifically this Sunday, is not just about a group of people coming here and listening to some guy talk on a stage. It’s about a group (or body) of people coming together to lead people, ourselves and others, into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
This week is not about me. It’s not about you.
This week is about being Kingdom-minded.
