Pass Me Not

Watch this video and tell me if you notice anything different between the choir and congregation of your church and this one.

Good stuff!

Are You Embarrassed?

** Give it a second to load, video in 3 parts, worth the wait! **

Take a few minutes and listen to Francis Chan as he discusses the theme of community with the members of Cornerstone Church.

The Purpose Of The Church – Part 1

*** y’all, or you all, is usually used in the southern U.S. to refer to more than one person. Although, as Francis points out, sometimes it’s also used in place of the second person singular pronoun ‘you’. ***

He references 1 Peter 2:9:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” ESV

He claims that no one runs around and says, “Look, I’m a Nation!”

The Purpose Of The Church – Part 2

Some interesting quotes from Part 2:

“I wanted you on my team“
“You can’t display God by yourself”
“We have a goal, we have a purpose”

The Purpose Of The Church – Part 3

He references Deuteronomy 4: 6,7 in Part 3:

“Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” ESV

As well as 1 Corinthians 12: 27:

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” ESV

Read this quote slowly:

“He wants us to declare HIM, not just by talking; but the world is going to start seeing us by the way we interact as families, as families together in communities and then we get together here as a church on Sundays and we together declare HIS excellencies as a body. This is God’s desire.”

If you didn’t pay attention you might have missed the transition from Family first, then to Community and finally the larger Church. Is this significant? Do you agree? Let me hear your thoughts?

Au Coeur De La Rue

Keep Up…If You Can :)

Is BIGGER Really Better? – (Mega Stores)

There is a question I have been asking myself for a long time. Is bigger really better? I know there are pluses and minuses to each situation, but let’s think about the big picture when answering this question. Let’s take shopping, for example. I am the king when it comes to looking for the best deal. For a while there, I loved the super stores. Being able to find everything I needed in one place was great, and getting it at a discount price was just icing on the cake; not to mention time saved. But what price did I really pay?

I didn’t realize at the time that the mega stores were putting all the little Mom and Pop neighborhood stores out of business. What had we robbed ourselves of? I had no idea until I lived overseas and experienced all the corner stores and markets. We robbed ourselves of those community connections. We rob ourselves of the convenience of just running next door to get some fresh bread AND the relationship with that person who made it. And for what? Yes, we saved a few dollars every week on groceries; but how much did we spend on the gas to get there. Not to mention the total time spent during that shopping adventure because these stores are rarely within walking distance.

Typically, Americans walk into their garage and get into their cars without stepping foot outside. The button is hit and from our bubble, with our tunes blaring, we commute undisturbed from our home to the mega store. Here, we grab a cart with our ear phones on and wander the store without interacting with anybody (unless we have a question, in which case you can never find someone who works there to answer). We check out with minimal communication because there is a long line behind you. We can even ‘self check out’ now and only deal with a machine if we want to. Say you need gas, in today’s world that still does not require any human contact. Then we just reverse the trip in our bubble. Arriving safely home with no need to leave again for another week.

This is both sad and dangerous when you think about the commission given to each one of us who believe. Never-mind what this does to our waist line. The funny thing is that a lot of those people made that trip with a cell phone connected to their ears talking to somebody who is at home and desperate for someone to communicate with. Then, when we get home, we run to the computer to Twitter and Facebook our friends

What has the world come to? Is bigger really better? I think it is time to bring back the community concept wherever you find yourself. Challenge yourself concerning where you commute to. Maybe you need to move there, or find a replacement for what you are commuting to near by. Make some neighborhood friends (because we all know that you probably don’t know many of them). Take a walk around your community, you might be surprised at what you find! Somebody may be making the best bread in town just around the corner. By stopping in regularly, you might make a great friend. A friend who might hear the good news for the first time… from you!

Just a thought, what are yours? I would love to hear your opinion.

This Is Too Cool!