What's going on right now?
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: The REVOLUTION project is no small under-taking! Currently, our Directionary Leadership Team is developing the systems & strategies required to bring REVOLUTION to life!
FINDING LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE:
We are meeting with fun-loving, passionate people who are willing
to get involved in bringing the vision of a DIFFERENT kind of church to
life...people who are willing to commit to spending time together,
learning together, and growing together...people who are willing to work
together, pray together, and do life together, so that ULTIMATELY we
will be more effective at reaching others for Jesus!
IDENTIFYING & UTILIZING TALENTS:
In the coming months, in addition to Spiritual & Relational
Development, we will be developing & coordinating the following teams:
· WORSHIP
BAND::
Musicians & Vocalists who love rock music & LOVE to be challenged!
· GUEST
SERVICES/VIP::
Friendly, happy people are required to ensure a RADICALLY WELCOMING
environment!
· TECH
TEAM::
Audio, Video, Lighting, Production, etc.
· ADMINISTRATIVE::
Finances, Policies, Procedures, Budgets, and all that organizational
stuff
· KIDS
and YOUTH::
Fun, crazy, & cool people who want to radically influence our kids &
youth for Jesus are a must...this ain't boring ole Sunday school!
· NURSERY
TEAM::
Loving babies for Jesus.
Period.
But FIRST we must do THIS:
(we apologize that this part is long & wordy, but it is VERY important!)
The church is the only organization that can bring healing to the people
of the Ohio Valley. Because it is the only group empowered by the
Holy Spirit, it is the only group that can bring dead things to life.
The things that used to work, the things that used to excite people
about coming to church, the stuff that used to bring people to the
healing power of Jesus, now seem to be the status quo and are no longer
working like they used to. The people in our community that are
disconnected from God are not attracted to our worship services any
more, no matter how relevant we make them. They don't care what
the music is like, how relevant the message is, if it is welcoming and
inviting, or if it is comfortable and exciting, if we miss something
more along the way:
We have to stop making our front door (where people come to check us
out) a worship service; we need to make it our lives. People
should not be encountering the Holy Spirit for the first time by
watching believers worship. They should be introduced to the Holy
Spirit through the insane, crazy, wild, reckless, sacrificial love of
Jesus that defines everything we do, every conversation we have, and
every breath we take.
We should not be known for our music, our teaching, our environments, or
our kids programs. We should be known for our
humility, our brokenness, our passion for the poor, our acceptance of
the outcast, our forgiving justice, our non-judgmental righteousness,
and our generous giving of ourselves to others.
If we continue to make our worship service, our programs, our small
groups, our activities, our techniques, and our spiritual disciplines
the defining focus of what we do, we will find ourselves losing Jesus
on the journey.
We must stop making our tools and techniques the point.
Let it be said that we carry in us the attitude of
Jesus…that we are people defined by our love for God and our love for
others. Let the world be amazed at how wildly we give of
ourselves, at how recklessly we serve, at how humbly we live, and at how
unsafely we love. Let it be said that when you encounter one of us
you never before felt so valued and cared for. Let membership in
our community not be defined by the where we are from 9:30 to Noon on a
Sunday, but rather by our reputation in the community as people that
live differently.
It’s unnatural, but it’s who we must become before we even put together
a Sunday morning experience.
We haven’t arrived yet, and we won’t always get it right.
After all, we’re just a bunch of misfits trying to be better
people, relying on the help of Jesus.
We DO value being real and authentic.
Being real and authentic is about not having to pretend we are
someone we are not,
not
having
to pretend that we’ve got it all
together,
or that we’ve got it all figured out.
But what we DON’T value is that sometimes people think that being real
and authentic means that we can stay right where we are.
We know that we will always be imperfect people and
we won’t always get it right, but if we don’t work to improve ourselves,
and we don’t look to be more like Christ in how we think, act, and treat
others, what’s the point?
We’ll just be like everyone else, with
a cool place to socialize on Sunday mornings.
We’re intentional about working on this kind of life-change
-
reaching for it, striving for it, both individually and as a group, through Bible
studies, prayer time, book studies, hanging out, sharing our struggles,
embracing opportunities, and just doing life together.
We want you to get in on the journey.
We’re not there yet, but we must keep reaching.
TOGETHER.