“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.

The word “foreclosure” can be heard often in normal conversation these days.  So can things like “economic downturn”, “plummeting stocks”, “rampant unemployment”, and “government bailout”.  Now call me crazy but these terms don’t invoke warm fuzzies like “hot fudge sundae”, “baby fat”, or “24″  (Sorry.  That last one is just my personal preference).  What they invoke in most people is insecurity, confusion, and quite possibly panic.  Sitting where I am with a job and an up-to-date mortgage it seems very easy for me to say, “Don’t panic.  God is in control.”  You would think that would be easy for me, but it’s not.

There are two reasons for this.  One is a sin and the other is not.  First of all: the sin.  I am sometimes a worrier.  Even though God promised (paraphrasing here) that since the flowers don’t have to bust hump to get their food and water and they are still beautiful, I have to worry even less.  God created me in HIS image and so I am the most important thing to him along with 7 billion other “little Hims”.  But I cannot get that to penetrate my heart all of the time.  And by all ways of reckoning I have it pretty good.  I cannot imagine if one of those scary terms above applies to your life.  It tells me that if you are faced with foreclosure or unemployment then God looks at you as a pretty strong person.  He thinks that you can pull through this!  And that leads me to reason two.

I love people.  I mean I am an introvert and love alone time and hate talking on the telephone, but I really, really love people.  And it flat destroys pieces of my soul to see people hurting.  And I really don’t care if the circumstances are self-inflicted or outside of a person’s control.  It tears me up to see people going through tough times especially when it results in a crisis of faith.

Life is so hard.  So hard!  And when extra hurts are piled on top of normal day woes, it flat stinks.  We have to deal with work stress, raising children, communicating with spouses, keeping up homes and cars, saving money, paying bills, eating right, and exercising.  How horrible is it when cancer, unemployment, foreclosure, divorce, terrorism, crime, and politics are piled onto an already tough scenario.  But then there’s God.

God who stays the same.  God who gave up Jesus.  God who loves me no matter what.  I can live on the street or in Beverly Hills.  I can eat in the soup kitchen or lobster tail.  I can wear no shoes or suede ones.  I can drive a car or push a shopping cart.  But regardless of my circumstances I KNOW He is in control and my faith is all that matters.  Wherever you are, whatever your lot, no matter how horrible things may seem to be…He has a plan to give you “a future and a hope”.  My hope is that you will never let your faith fail, because He will never fail your faith.

On the Journey with You,

Scott

Sundays keep getting better at Team Church!

Sam Kennington preached the last message of the InterFEARence series, and did a great job.  The Old Testament story of Elisha opening the eyes of his servant was a tremendous way to complete the series.  Not only has this series taught us to view our fears differently, but also this last message shows us how to turn the interference around…instead of things interfering with you…God interferes with the things that scare you!

Think about it.  If God were to pull back the spiritual veil that shrouds angels and demons, I imagine that we would faint from what we would see.  But the point is not that there are scarier things that we don’t even know to be scared of…the point is that God will win in the end!  Elisha’s prayer teaches us how to preemptively “run interference on FEAR.”

Another great moment about Sunday was the Souper Bowl of Caring...read what Scott reports:

Sunday, February 7^th our local help agency K.A.R.E., Kershaw Area Resource Exchange, called for area churches to raise money and canned goods for the Souper Bowl of Caring, an annual event which raises resources to feed folks who are in need.  Team Church set a goal of $350 and 75 food goods (that’s about 10% of what they received last year).  We are so excited to report that we exceeded both goals!  Thanks to you we delivered to K.A.R.E. $383 and 130 food goods.  Way to go Team Church!

I also want you to know what an awesome time the band had yesterday evening.  Hyde Park Baptist Church’s youth pastor invited the Team Church band to play at their pre-game gathering.  Man! We had a blast.

Thanks to everyone at Team Church…you guys give us life to share!

I am no meteorologist, but I have learned a few things about the weather over the course of my life.  We don’t get much snow in these parts.  We reside geographically behind a mountain range that “protects” us from most of the snow that seems to hit all around us.  So most of those cold fronts slap on the west side of the mountains and get mixed with the warmer sub-tropical air that moves up from the coast making it just warm enough so that usually the only precipitation we see is rain.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  It is raining as I type this now and the temperature is a balmy 39 degrees.  Just warm enough to make sure it is rain and not snow.  Just enough to tick me off.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Rain is of vital importance.  It provides us with much needed water.  It makes things grow.  It washes away decay and keeps the pollen at bay in the spring.  All of these are good things.  But rain is hard.  It makes me feel blue especially when it seems to rain on and on like it has these past couple of weeks.

So the trials of life are kind of like rain.  They are hard to cope with even when we know they are good for us.  Unfortunately rain is good.  And just as unfortunately, trials can be good.  Rain provides our need for water.  Trials provide our need for faith.  Rain provides growth.  Trials are the breeding ground for growth.  Rain cleanses the earth.  Trials can cleanse away the awful baggage some of us have been carrying for years because we are forced to face things we have been avoiding.

God sends rain and I believe God sends trials.  He wants the earth and everything in it (which includes you and me) to be fruitful and multiply.  Yes, rain and trials can both be hard to stomach especially when either of them seem to last forever.  But the rewards we see at the end of the “storm” make it all worthwhile.

On the Journey with You,

Scott