Retro and Pine Ridge Church in Burlington

Since I was supposed to include this picture in the newhope newsletter earlier today but didn't, here it is! Check out Ioana Sherman and Christine Eason. These woman looked fabulous in the third service and won the i-pods!

It's on again this Sunday so bring your best retro clothes, on your body that is! :>) Prizes are coming again!

Also, many of you know we support Pine Ridge Church in Burlington. This is a new church led by my good friend Tadd Grandstaff. He is being interviewed tonight by Tom Brokaw on NBC at 6:30 pm.

Check it out - I am thrilled for these guys!

Have a good weekend. Sunday is going to be awesome. We have great music planned and a powerful video. CU at newhope.

Retro (Part II)

Sup? Check out the Retro crowd from the third service on Sunday. Can you say, “Hilarious?”

Second service people – where are you? First service came out strong. Third service got into it? But the second service level of participation was lame if I might say so myself. :>) What is up with that? Our biggest service crowd is not into Retro? That causes some reflection.

That "take it or leave it" reminds me of our vision. We all know the vision of newhope is to Reach, Teach, and Release! We exist to reach people with the love of Jesus, Teach believers the Word of the Lord, and Release volunteers as fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

People who have truly experienced the life saving grace of Jesus, the truth of His Word, and experienced life with a capital P purpose, are all about reach, teach, and release. As I shared on Sunday, it comes naturally from the overflow of thanksgiving.

Others, though, are content to play religious games with God. Maybe you have been there – kind of playing church and religion but never really getting serious enough to open your life fully to the transforming power of God pulsating in and through you. I have never been able to understand that approach with God. Either He is God and deserves every living breathing part of us or he is not and we should all forget this faith thing and leave our so called “Savior” behind.

I have always loved the story in I Kings 18 about Elijah on Mount Carmel: (Check out the full story here)

“So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing.”

“Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—He is God." (I Kings 18:20 – 24)

Notice that little word, “IF” in verse 21! IF He is God, than serve Him with all that you have. IF he is not, than let’s forget it and close shop.

What does it mean to serve God? It means to give Him every part of your life. To surrender this day to His purposes in the world. To surrender my agenda for His agenda. His agenda has always been to reach people, teach them the commandments and Word of the Lord and release them to go back into the word reaching more and more people for His Kingdom.

II Peter put it like this – “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9) God doesn’t want anyone to perish. God never sends anyone to hell. People chose hell when they refuse God.

I am so thankful today that God wants to use my life in such an eternal, revolutionary, and life-shattering way. I spent far too much of my life fishing for perch when God was calling me to fish for men and women. (Matthew 4:19)

Wherever you are today, right now, why don’t you pray and give your life fully to God. Quite playing games. Quite serving a part time God – there is no such thing. Either He is your first love or He is nothing. God will have all of you or He will have none of you. Why not give Him all of your life afresh and anew this day? While you are at it, ask God to show you who He wants to reach through you and then ask God to lead you as you reach out to them in the name of Christ. As I have said before, if you get them to church, we will creatively offer them Christ and His Word and invite them into the journey!

I am praying for you and I look forward to seeing you and your friend(s) at newhope.

Retro (Part I)

I can't remember a Sunday at newhope more enjoyable than this past week. We are in the middle of a sermon series titled, "Retro - Always in Style." newhopers came out in force with their best Retro costumes. We gave away 5 I-pods to the best dressed. In the picture above, you see Grant DeBerry (AKA Moses) and the Jeff and Brenda Bourn family. :>) These guys rocked and won the prizes for the first service. We will do it all again this coming Sunday as we bring closure to Retro and get ready for our Christmas series. (More pics forthcoming)

More often than not, the church is wise when she looks back before she moves ahead. That is what retro is all about. You see this in the apostle Paul all the time. As he reached out to people, he often took them down memory lane so that together they could take note of the way in which God had been faithful in the past. We glean strength from God's faithfulness. We learn of God's ways by noting how He has moved in the past. That strength and knowledge helps us move ahead into the future.

The timeless vision of God is Reach people, Teach them the Word and Release servants for ministry in the world. That is also the vision of newhope. That passion to reach, teach, and release will never go out of style in the life of the church. God has set that course. Christ, before He died on the cross, set that trajectory with His final words in Matthew 28.

A congregation of disciples committed to making disciples, which has become apostolic in its style and passion and sees itself as a missionary community in the world, will inevitably also see itself and become a community of aliens who are in, but not of, the world.

In September of 1997 there was a groundbreaking service for a Roman Catholic cathedral to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles had commissioned the famous Spanish architect, Jose Rafael Moneo, to design the building. Their hope was that the cathedral, to be completed by the beginning of the millennium, would be a peculiar witness to the glory of God.

There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service, and on the basis of the models, a Los Angeles reporter wrote a review of the cathedral. This is a part of what the reporter said:

“Moneo is creating an alternate world to the everyday world that surrounds the cathedral, a testimony to the grandeur of the human spirit, an antidote to a world that is increasingly spiritually empty.”

Then he wrote this sentence:

“The cathedral, set in the midst of the secular city, will be an enclave of resistance.”

What an image…the Church, an enclave of resistance. "Resident aliens” is the term Will Willimon and Richard Hauerwas used to describe this aspect of the nature of the Church. Jesus, Himself, provides the model. He was fully in and with the world, but He lived by a contrasting set of realities and was always in tension with the world—and to a marked degree, always in resistance to it.

In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t.

“What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus.

“These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”

“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. :>)

Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”

The universal Church, unfortunately, has never been able to get organized in her resistance to the world. In fact, the Church has never been consistently able to understand what it means to be “in the world but not of the world.” We’ve known in every period of our history that the very nature of the Church provokes some form of resistance. There’s always a sense in which Kingdom ideals are in conflict with the world in which the Kingdom is set. This expresses itself in different ways. We have to be careful about the nature and focus of our resistance—of how we live as “aliens.” We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that if we can get the right king on the throne—that is, if we can elect the right president, the right congress, the right governor—if we can put “our people” in places of political power, then we can win the battle. There can be no kingdom without a king, and the Kingdom to which we are committed has only one King—King Jesus!

The Church, newhope, must think more in terms of transformation than of confrontation. That means we must overcome what we have mastered altogether too well — the art of talking to ourselves.

We need to think more about “a long obedience in the same direction” than about a quick fix that might bring superficial change. Our task, as an enclave of resistance, is to subvert the callused, materialistic, secular, godless culture of which we are a part — to subvert that culture at its root by living as though we believe that “persons do not live by bread alone,” that there is a kingdom reality of love in which all those things that are expressed in Romans 12 are operative. Our love is without hypocrisy. We abhor what is evil and we cling to what is good. In honor we give preference to one another. We are able to rejoice in hope, but we are also able to be patient in tribulation. We attend to the needs of the saints and we give ourselves to hospitality. We bless those who persecute us; we rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep with those who weep. We associate with the humble and we do not see ourselves as wise in our own opinion. We don’t repay evil for evil; we seek to live peaceably with all persons. We feed our enemies, we give them drink—we don’t confront evil with evil but we seek to overcome evil with good.

As resident aliens our mission becomes incarnational. It takes seriously the words of Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Our efforts at making disciples, being apostolic in our style and passion, seeing ourselves as a missionary community, incarnates the love of Jesus Christ Himself, serving others in their need, and at the same time, ready to tell the story of what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Like Retro, that will never go out of style.

Free I-pod anyone?

If you have not experienced the purity of the I-pod sound, than you are truly missing the sounds of life! If you have not enjoyed any song, or any sermon, at anytime you desire, with the press of a button, than you need to get a life in the 21st Century! :>) OK, maybe I am exaggerating a little.

But, you must understand, like many of you, I grew up in the walk-man era. So when I received my first I-pod, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Notice I said my "first one.” That is right; I am now own my second I-pod. It is a long and sad story.

My first one came off my waist clip while riding down hwy I-40 at 65 MPH on my Harley. That can't be good! I turned around and went back to the spot and literally saw my sweet white I-pod shattered into hundreds of little pieces while being blown down the highway by other vehicles/drivers completely oblivious of my sad plight. It was nothing short of a memorial on the side of the highway that day! Needless to say, I was at the Apple store within a few weeks getting another one. Friends, the I-pod is just that sweet!

It feels like a great weekend to give away some of these little music boxes from heaven! In all 3 worship celebrations tomorrow; I plan to give out a free I-pod to the best dressed newhoper, Retro style that is! So, come dressed to the nines and let's see what you got! I have the pods – now I want you to pull out some of those old clothes from the 70's or 80's. The one who looks the best in all 3 services walks away with a new I-pod.

I literally can't wait to see you in the morning! :>)

Thanksgiving

Most of you know that Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. I say probably because as a pastor, it is hard to beat Christmas and Easter. :>) But, there is something lovely about Thanksgiving. No crass commercialism. No one trying to hijack the holiday for profit. It is just plain and simple - pure thanksgiving with God and loved ones - I like that!

I meditated on some powerful verses regarding Thanksgiving this morning and want to share those with you. After you reflect on these passages, post a comment and let me know what you are most thankful for this year? I would love to hear from you.


Psalm 42:4 - These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

Psalm 69:30 - I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 100:4 - Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Isaiah 51:3 - The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Jonah 2:9 - But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."

1 Corinthians 1:4 - I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:11 - You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Ephesians 5:4 - Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

What are you most thankful for this week?

May God bless you this Thanksgiving season.

Retro - Always in Style!

I just have to tell you - the next three Sundays are going to be out of this world fun and critically important in the life of our church. We are calling it "Retro - Always in Style."

You see it in almost any store that you walk through. Throwback sneakers, tee-shirts, cars, lava-lamps...and the list goes on. Retro seems to always be in style.

Starting this Sunday, we begin a fun new series that will take a look at a few things that will never go out of style at newhope. We hope you will join us. It’s gonna be groovy. :>)

PS - Why not pull out something Retro and wear it to church?! There will be others doing the same! BTW - This is a GREAT series in which to invite a friend!

Just Walk Across the Room (Part 2)

A few weeks ago, I took my daughter Anna Grace to the Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots National Football game. Once again, I was blown away at how crazy people can act at a sporting event. I mean, this place was out of control.

People dressed up in a crazy kind of way! Who would act in such a way!?!? (Do you recognize those people in the picture :>) It was a blast! Anna Grace and I had the time of our lives!

There were a few times throughout the evening, though, when I admit that I looked around and said a prayer underneath my breath. It went something like this:

God, if people can get so fired up about football, why can't they get fired up about You? God, why can grown men and women get so excited about a sport that they spend tons of money, act crazy, laugh, cry, hug etc...and yet they have a hard time simply uttering the name of Jesus? God help us get pumped up about the right things!

Did you know the Bible gives us permission to get a little crazy? I love that. Check it out:

"If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do." (2 Corinthians 5:11)

So, get a little crazy for God! Throw out the tameness. Toss out sanity. Do away with boredom! Instead, get crazy for Christ.

This Sunday, we kick off a new series that will be exactly that - CRAZY! It is called, "Retro - Always in Style!" And I can promise you, we will get a little crazy.

PS - mystory@newhopenc.org is still open for you to send in your written testimony. More and more are coming in as people are getting ready to get crazy for God and walk across some room and tell some person about Jesus or the movement of newhope.

Just Walk Across the Room! (Part 1)

Last night we wrapped up our fall Encounter series titled, "Just Walk Across the Room." This series comes from Bill Hybels’ book called the same. There are very few things harder for most folks than to actually talk to people about Jesus. I think there are several reasons for this:

1: We are afraid of rejection - To get past this one, we have to remember that IF someone rejects our sharing, they are not rejecting us - they are rejecting God! (That gives great freedom and makes all the difference in the world.

2: We think we have to know it all - NOT! It is a cliché but so true, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Hear me - YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW IT ALL! In fact, most people are turned all by "know it alls." All you have to know is I once was lost and now I am saved - this is what I was like before and this is what I am experiencing now as I journey through life with Jesus. People can’t argue with your experience. They might disagree but experience speaks volumes.

3: We assume people don't want to hear about Jesus and His church - Let me tell you what I know - people need the Lord and down deep, they know it. Moreover, if it is done right, and our life matches our words, than even the hardest person is intrigued and will at least listen to someone share about Lord and/or receive an invitation to church. They might not always come, but you will have scattered seed that we can trust will one day come to life!

I could go on and on but I will stop for now. To get ready to share with people, we have to think about our story. We have to fine tune our “elevator talk,” if you will. What I mean by that is if you were in the elevator and someone asked you about Jesus, what would you say? Remember, you don't have much time.

Try writing out your story in 100 - 300 words. Remember KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Don’t be offended, I say that to myself all the time. :>) In 100 - 300 words, share what your life was like before Jesus, how you came to know He is real and gave your life to Him, and what is life like now that you are a born again child of God living in a relationship with Jesus! Three part story - before, conversion, and now!

Send your story to mystory@newhopenc.org and we will read it and offer suggestions if you need assistance.

YOU WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING GREATER IN LIFE THAN BE A PART OF LEADING SOMEONE TO FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

So let’s work on it...together! We can do this. You can do this.

Prayer – Father, bless every person that reads this post this morning. Fill them with the Spirit of God and give them a holy boldness and courage to draft their own story. Father, I know this is so hard for people but I truly believe that once we craft testimony, you have a miraculous way of opening doors for us to share. God, use our church to be a life saving station. A beacon of faith, hope and love in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. Lord God, give us hearts that beat with yours. Give us hearts that break at the thought of lost people dying and going to hell. Use us, the people of newhope, to offer precisely that – new hope for those you send our way. God, I praise you, even in advance, for those who will come to faith as a result of your people preparing and sharing their personal testimony. I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen.

I look forward to reading your story!

Mixing Work with Play...Mixing Old with New

As most of you know, I have spent the last two days in Indianapolis. I was invited to join 20 other emerging leaders from around the country to talk about leading the church into the 21st century with relevance and faithfulness.

The last two days have been inspiring, challenging and complex. It is one thing to talk about leading newhope. It is another when we talk about leading the church universal. There is so much diversity when it comes to denominations, worship styles, ethnicity, and age.

I have been thinking a lot about ways in which we might encourage a greater diversity with regards to age in the church. I love the fact that we have lots of racial and socio-economic diversity at newhope. But wouldn’t it be great to have more age diversity, as well. I have been thinking about that in light of what I am doing this weekend with my daughter, Anna Grace. Let me explain.

I brought Anna Grace with me so we could stay the weekend and watch the New England Patriots vs. the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at 4 pm. Anna Grace is the biggest Colts fan I know and this is her 10th birthday gift from daddy.

Now for those of you who don’t watch professional football, let me just inform you that this IS the game of the season. Most people are calling it the Super Bowl of the regular season. Both teams are unbelievable, undefeated, have amazing quarterbacks, and coached by the best of the best! At 4 pm, we will be sitting on the 45 yard line, 18 rows from the field. Eat your heart out! With regards to age diversity in the church, allow me to make a point from the enemy team this weekend, namely the New England Patriots.

This season, the New England Patriots have the most effective offense in NFL history. Their coach, Bill Bellichick, is a seasoned veteran who has trained a young phenom named Tom Brady as his quarterback. Bellichick never smiles and has the personality of a wet rag, but he is a mastermind of a coach. Simply put, he is brilliant. The one area in which he always excels is in the area of bringing together the Old and New players in the NFL.

Not only has the coach invested the entire Patriot dynasty in Tom Brady, he drafted 2 of the most respected seasoned veterans in the NFL during the off-season. Junior Seau “retired” as a linebacker for San Diego and was done in football until he joined the Patriots. He is having his best season ever. And Randy Moss, who is almost old enough to draw a pension :>) and was a joke at Oakland last year, is catching passes and making plays like a fresh Heisman Trophy winner. Why are these veterans showing out like this? Because they have been well coached and are connected with a young winner like Brady!

Here is my point and how all of this relates to the church. It would be ridiculous for Tom Brady and Randy Moss to argue over offensive styles, pass routes, or who gets the most press time after a victory! The bottom line is the team. You have often heard me say that TEAM stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More.”

When it comes to bringing the Old and the New together in the church, we have to remember that we are all on the same TEAM! To be on a good team, is to forget about one’s self and strive to help the team succeed. If we are on the same team, namely the church, and our goal is to advance God’s Kingdom, and not protect our own reputation or build our own fame, than we are more useful to God!

Imagine with me a church full of children, teenagers, young single adults, married couples with and without children, empty nesters and retired people – all working together as a team to the glory and honor of Jesus Christ! Now friends, that is a biblical vision that jacks me up even more than attending this game on Sunday. (Trust me, that is saying a lot as I have NEVER been more excited about any sporting event in my life)

Please pray for Anna Grace and me – we are having one special Daddy/Daughter weekend together! If you can’t tell, I am crazy about my daughter! I am also crazy enough to believe that God can grow an incredibly relevant and faithful church full of both the Old and the New!