Sunday’s “Black & White” Service was a welcomed kind of Sunday for me and my family.  We were just getting back after taking a road trip to Colonial Williamsburg last week.  The trip was nice, but it was a lot of driving…fourteen hours in a minivan over two days.  It probably would take others less time, but with little kids and motion sickness we required some extra stops if you catch my drift.

After this trip you could say that we were glad to get “down to basics.”  And that is exactly what Sunday’s message was all about…getting down to the basics of what Christ demands from Christians. No flair, just a raw and penetrating call to follow Christ’s example to serve people.  First Scott said it, and then he modeled it by taking a group to serve a friend in need.

Let us never forget the mission that Team Church is here to do in the Kershaw Area…it’s simple really… to reach out to people where they are and lead them to full devotion in Jesus Christ.  How do we do that?  We reach them, first, by serving them.

Next week, expect our setup and service to be the “not so basic” norm, but don’t see it as overly complicated either.  The things we provide with children ministries, connection cafe, and fun and awesome worship is merely serving those who need a place to walk straight into from life and meet Jesus without feeling like they’re intruding on a family meeting. I hope that communicates.  I know from my personal experience that walking into a church for the first time in a long time is a lot of pressure.  Some things we do on Sunday is for our own comfort and preference, but a majority of what we do is to serve those whose names we don’t even know yet!

I’ve made up my mind to serve the Kershaw community through Team Church…for Jesus Christ.  And that’s pretty black & white to me.

Church…Fun???  Our humor is one of the things that I love about my church.  For many who had lots of fun in their youth groups of the past, I wonder why do we have to give up having so much fun just because we moved up to “big church?”  My plan for Team Church is to keep having fun.  But, that doesn’t mean that we’re not serious about our mission “to reach out to people where they are, and lead them to full devotion in Jesus Christ.”

Reaching out to those around us means that we need to be approachable. These people that we’re reaching out to need to be inclined to us before we can connect.  That’s where a fun atmosphere can help bring people to a point where they can be lead to Jesus.

Mark Driscoll wrote in Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions, “Humor is incredibly helpful to the gospel.” And for the culture he is reaching in one of the least churched cities in America, he believes, “humor is a missiological tool that is necessary for successful evangelism in our culture.”

If you find that hard to swallow that humor is necessary, just give some thought to how you might measure up to the common Seattle resident described by Driscoll.

The average person listens to talk radio comedic banter on the way to work, downloads funny YouTube videos during break, listens to more drive-time radio banter on the commute home, watches a sitcom after dinner, possibly tunes in to a stand-up comic on Comedy Central, and watches someone like Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or David Letterman before dozing off. To reach people, we need to speak their language, and their language obviously includes comedy.

I remember visiting a few churches when Alison and I got married.  A couple times a “visitation group” of men dressed in suits came calling at our apartment after we had visited their church.  Awkward!  They were nice enough, but they weren’t a lot like us.  I wasn’t inclined to go back to that church because we didn’t share much in common with them.

However, we did end up going to a church where the Sunday School was filled with young married couples that enjoyed going out to eat after church, playing ball, and video games.  In other words, we enjoyed doing some of the same fun things together.

I’m not going to say that lost people are sitting around thinking, “If only church were more fun, then I’d get saved.” They’re not. But those of us who are going are enjoying church more than ever. It’s not the only reason, but it’s one more reason to share my faith experience with others.

“i Heart my Church” began Sunday.  Over the past year, i keep hearing people say great things about Team Church.  There have been times in the past when I would have thought repeating that was selfish, boastful, and prideful.  But now I see it very differently.  The only way it can be prideful is if I am trying to take the credit for the good that’s been done.  I’m not interested in taking the credit, so then, I asked myself,

“Why not share that sentiment with others?”

“Why not celebrate that God is doing something awesome in us and through us?”

“Let’s celebrate God and how He is inspiring others around us.”

So this series of messags is all about promoting the message that others are saying about God and their experience with the family of God.  To give everyone a chance to put it in their own words, we asked people in the service Sunday to make Team Church a valentine.  Each person made a homemade valentine and completed the phrase “i Heart My Church because…” Here is what they said: (and I ever so humbly left in the personal compliments about me…and no I didn’t write them myself!!)

I love my church …

• because I go through a lot and it helps me
• because it is awesome!  I always enjoy the music and the fellowship with other awesome people.  And the messages always speak to my heart & soul
• because of the love of God, the people, & the feeling I walk out of church with
• because the idea I feel behind the church is outreach and adding to the family, not keeping the family the same
• because my church taught me to drink coffee
• because the mission for people is real
• because this church is so funny and great.  The pastor is super funny
• because they make us feel very welcome
• because God lives here!!!
• because Jesus loves me!
• because it’s real like me
• because its the one place I can truly be myself.  I’ve never been to a church where I feel so comfortable
• because the pastors are cool.  And I met my true valentine and future wife
• because it’s fun and everybody always helps out
• because they brought me closer to God.  the family and love is all here
• because I can be real
• because it cares about the lost, the worship services are GREAT, & God moved us here!
• because they love me no matter what!
• because they keep it real.  These people are a team, a family.  They are here for the wins & the losses
• because they have shown me the true meaning of good people
• because I love God, & they love God, and the diversity is great
• because it is the coolest
• because it is very compassionate
• because Steve is awesome.  The people are awesome.  The music is awesome.  god is always felt here, and we have FUN!

The 24 valentines above express a pretty common theme.  I take this as some confirmation that we’re on the right track of our ONE PURPOSE:  to reach out to others where they are, and lead them to full devotion in Jesus Christ.

Just like every other church, I was concerned about how the weather would impact Sunday.  Strangely enough, the weather that kept many church doors closed opened up several opportunities for Team Church.

First of all, we took the chance to do an early setup.  On Saturday, many of our regular setup crew showed up and really showed out!  They even came up with a new way to arrange the worship area.  I doubt that we would have considered making such a drastic change on a Sunday morning.  But on Saturday, we felt more at ease to try something new, and it turned out great.  Nothing slows these guys down…you’re beasts!

Secondly, we still showed up at 8am on Sunday, and had lots more time to fellowship, and enjoy a little Bojangles together.  We can always use more time to hang out like that!  I also personally enjoyed getting chauffeured by the awesome Doug in his all-wheel drive.  You are the man even when you don’t have to be.

Finally, worship was incredible.  At first, you may think that only a handful of people would turn out…but we ended up with 66.  Also, several were visiting from other churches that had canceled services.  Man, that’s what it is all about!  What a reminder about the kingdom. We not only got the privilege of serving the folks who call Team Church home, but we got to give a little to the folks who are always busy serving others.  I’m glad to see that it wasn’t just about a day-off for them, but about getting themselves spiritually re-charged.

If you missed out on the service, trust me, it’s okay.  At Team Church, we simply leave it up to you about whether it’s safe for you to make the service or not.  That answer is different for everyone depending on their where they live, roads, kids, and other important factors.  So, even if you couldn’t be there, I hope that you’re proud to be a part of the special things that can happen when we team up.

If you would like to hear the second message in the InterFEARence series from Sunday morning, it’s available online at our website’s message archive section.  Click here to see the available messages.