Posts tagged Church

I like to post my dreams and grandiose thoughts on Mondays. Maybe it’s because, like I posted two weeks ago, Mondays are just good days for thinking about life and big things, or, maybe it’s because after weekends with the family and some downtime I come back ready and hungry for ministry. Whatever the reason, I like dreaming. One of the biggest dreams that I have ever had has to do with worship, and I first had it when I used to prayer walk around Sun Devil stadium at Arizona State University (ASU) when I lived in on-campus apartments for my two junior years. 

I know that there are at least 300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand!!) college students who live, work and study in the Phoenix Metro Area.* I knew for a fact when I was a student at ASU there were nearly 50,000 students at the ASU Tempe campus alone. I also knew that Sun Devil stadium could seat roughly 45,000 people. One evening as I prayer-walked around that stadium I had a vision of 45,000 students all gathered together in that stadium collectively worshipping God. I asked God to make that dream come true, and ever since then, that dream has been on my heart.

It may seem absurd, or ridiculous, or un-necessary, or whatever some people may think or object to, but the idea of 45,000 college students all gathering together to worship God not a pipe-dream vision of a utopian future, but for me, it’s a glimmer of what could actually be possible. I have a rock-solid conviction that my God is the same God who parted the Red Sea, the same God who hardened and broke Pharaoh’s heart, the same God who raised Himself from the dead, the same God who brought thousands and thousands of people to faith in days after Pentecost. I don’t just believe, I know that the Holy Spirit who lives in me and you is the same Holy Spirit who brought this very world into being. The God whose words made the day and night, the dark and the light is the same God who is working here and now to see HIS vision accomplished.

Now, I don’t know if it is actually God’s desire to fill a college football stadium with people singing to Him. But to me, the idea that there could be enough college students awake and alive with the passion and conviction of the Holy Spirit to fill a football stadium gives me shivers. Imagine what 50,000 transformed college students could do to change the world? Imagine those students not just excited about gathering to sing to God, but excited about going out and being Jesus with skin on? Imagine the life change and fresh wind of spiritual revival and renewal God could bring to this city, this state, this world! Now, if I can imagine that (which I can) and if I can dream that, then for God to be able to truly do things that are bigger than my imagination or larger than my dreams, God would have to do something huge! I don’t care if my little skimpy vision of 50,000+ college students all worshipping God in one place ever comes true or not, but I know that I want to be a part of whatever God has planned, and I want to see God move in huge ways, and I believe He is willing and able, and all I need to do is be faithful and obedient. Will you join me?

*That number only really includes the full ASU and Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) enrollment numbers. Considering there are a variety of smaller private colleges and universities and trade schools here I would assume that number is probably quite a bit larger. But since ASU and MCCCD openly publish their enrollment numbers, we use 300,000 as a ball park figure.

What is your favorite thing about the gathering of people you worship God with on Sunday?

Seriously. I want to know why. What is it about church that makes you not go. For those of you who do go, maybe you can chime in?

It seems to me like there has been a lot of conversation lately about what is wrong with church and why we don’t go and how the system is broken, and people are Christian enough, etc., etc. However, I really am trying to get to the heart, the core of the issue. Is the Christian church as an institution really broken? Has it really made so many mistakes? Can we even answer that questions honestly and truthfully? I mean, how can we even evaluate the institution american Christianity? There is no 1 authority, or body that makes up. In fact even in my own Southern Baptist denomination there are no two churches perfectly alike. I know there are some that do things wrong and have made mistakes, and might be really toxic environments for people, but those are the outliers.

When I hear Millennials talk about church, either they love it or they hate it. But sometimes I wonder if their issue with church isn’t more a personal issue with God, or with expectations. I just don’t know. I do know that it is hard to be a part of a family, and that is what church is: a family. And it takes work to make it work, and it takes love to gloss over the bumps, but that in the end it must be worth it. Christ’s bride will be presented spotless and without blemish in God’s eyes, and that is a goal worth fighting for.

Today is Sunday. What are you doing today? If you are like most college students, then probably recovering from your hang-over, doing laundry and finally sitting down to homework. However, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, I would strongly encourage you to consider going to church today. If you don’t have a church you go to, then I would strongly implore you to connect yourself to a local body. 

Scripture tells us that the Church is the body of Jesus Christ, and that it’s members are the all the saints and believers through-out the world, through-out the generations. The Universal Church is one body spanning the centuries and the globe. However, this universal body is made up of local manifestations, or churches. It is in this local group of believers that we get to live out the commandments of Jesus. In fact, if you carefully read the New Testament, you will see that almost all of the letters and the directives in those letters were not to individuals, but to churches. So when Paul is writing that “your body is the temple of the living God,” that is directed to an entire church body. While there may be some truth in the personal application of that, it is the body as a whole which is the true temple of the living God. God’s present in each of us as individuals, but He truly manifests Himself in the corporate gathering of the saints.

So I tell you that if you are not connected to a local body of Christ, serving and growing together with other believers, you are not only missing out on the promises and joys of the gathering, your are stunting your own spiritual growth and connection to God.

(Source: plus.google.com)

Depending upon how much this costs, this could be a really neat tool.

This past weekend has been a great time of relaxation and reflection. Looking back on 2010 offered me the opportunity to appreciate all the blessings God bestowed upon us.

1. I am thankful for the new opportunity to work with Christian Challenge and all the great people on staff in the metro area who are quickly becoming really good friends.
2. I am thankful for the chance to meet students and share my faith.
3. I am thankful for the chance to meet some amazing people and share the ministry with them.
4. I am thankful for the time with my wife which grew us closer this year than even before.
5. I am thankful for the young adult ministry (Chain Reaction) at Tempe Christian Church which has continued now for a full year.
6. I am thankful for relationships which a year ago I thought were over and are instead blossoming anew.
7. I am thankful for growth in my personal spiritual life and closeness to God.
8. I am thankful for the blessings of immediate and extended family.

Overall, 2010 has been a very rapid-paced year with much changing. My hope is that 2011 will be a year of stability and deep growth which will bear long-lasting spiritual fruit.

Jeff.

Seriously, can I pray for you? Our small group made a commitment to pray for others this week. If there is anything that I could pray for you about, please feel free to private message me, or just leave a comment.