there are many, but today i will focus on one, briefly. and let me preface by saying that many people hate church, have been hurt by the church, don’t get it, and are disconnected. and here, i am talking about people who believe in God but don’t get the rules or schedules of church – not that i’m a rules kinda guy, but in many cases, like at Centerpoint for example that we have to be on a schedule due to the fact we use another person’s building… it limits certain aspects of church but it is what it is for now.

anyway, why i go there and full-heartedly believe in a corporate setting. Jesus himself, never condemned the pharisees for meeting at church and gathering together – in fact, he participated and worshipped with them. In Luke 4 Jesus brings to life his mission, and he does this at a scheduled time in the synagogue with those in the audience whom he would combat through his short years.. but he never ridiculed their decisions to join together to worship the Father.

this time of corporate gathering is a time to worship, a time to have the word of God brought to life, to hear the stories of God that provides hope..

that is only one aspect why i attend church, to come together to worship and to listen to the story of God that brings hope and life-transformation to everyone it encounters.

in small groups. This week we rolled out 2 groups discussing Donald Miller’s the Open Table, where people can and will discuss their journey of life and how that interacts with the convictions and questions of the Christian faith.

this will be a time where we can connect with one another, getting to know each more deeply, allowing us to demonstrate yet another expression of God’s love as we come together.

it’s in these moments of bonding that something special happens….when that happens, life happens… and when that happens, there is hope for transformation and life-change.

be a part of life… connect in a small group.

i had a challenging conversation with myself recently. It wasn’t one of those moments when someone thought i was talking to myself but either way, it challenged me. i started thinking about how i used to, and to some degree, get really aggravated by people who say they are certain sport team’s fans. for example, i have friends who bleed scarlet & grey but couldn’t even name one player on the team. or other friends who rarely watch the game..

so i think LIAR you are not a fan, you’re a fake, an imposter. in fact, if you don’t watch and study the team like i do, then you’re not even a fan, let alone, a fan to the degree of what i am.

i know, petty huh? it got me thinking, do i do this in other areas of my life? do i condemn people’s spirituality or faith when they don’t do the same things i do or don’t do? or if they believe a different way on something? i used to think when it comes to this area, that i was fairly open for people being or believing differently on issues and i am okay with that…..BUT i ask, if i treat ppl harshly over non-essential issues then how could i treat them differently on more serious issues?

words like liberal & socialism tend to make conservatives & capitalists cringe. But it seems the older I get the more I realize the importance of socialist views. Already many of you cringed, starting to scream internally, but seriously we can look at the 1st generation of Christians to see where socialism really took hold.

After the ascension of Christ, the new believers were witnesses to his work on earth and when he left, they took the energy of this God movement to unprecedented levels. They started usurping the government & culture of their day by giving their possessions to one another and getting rid of things they didn’t need. Why did they do this? They did it bc this Holy Spirit prompted them to take care of another, to be thy brother’s keeper so to speak. And check it out, bc of this, Christ became known to unknown people.

we like to throw labels around and frankly socialism is a label few people want in western worlds, but for me, if this means I can refocus my possessions and needs to help those around me, then count me in.

fyi – I’m not there yet. I’m not this radical. I like my things. I hope I can overcome this western mind-set.

thoughts?

One of the things I get truly excited about is when Centerpoint has booming attendance numbers on a weekly basis, not bc of pride or anything like that, but bc it means people are coming to know God and to experience this grace & hope we talk about every week. But often, for me, it’s been about getting to that goal, that number… And what happens before getting to that number can be (in my head) a failure or not quite there yet.

So what I am now excited about is being content, more than content, super-excited about the ppl we have now who are connecting and creating amazing relationships with those around us.

My apology is for waiting for the future and not being excited and content about the right here & now. And for now, for this moment, I am so honored that Centerpoint is growing, is connecting, and allowing people to know the grace found in Jesus. I’m excited to be apart of this movement and can’t wait to see the ppl again this weekend and to continue allowing these relationships to grow as we add more connection points for them.

Centerpoint is awesome! I love that place.

nearly 24 hours ago my beloved Buckeyes took a mighty fall. Those within Buckeye Nation had fears that this team truly wasn’t up to speed in recent week. While few of us really anticipated a BCS championship game, we never expect to lose to Purdue. Here are my thoughts now on the Bucks.

the offense tries too many things and as a result we don’t do things well.

we have talent but until a better game plan is in the works, it won’t be consistent.

Pryor is a playmaker but he’s not consistent enough to make plays.

defense wins championships…. turnovers kill dreams…

do we have a running game? can our offensive line play better?

I still love my Buckeyes and we still have a lot to play for, ie the Rose Bowl…but they must pick up the pieces this week or else it’s over.

In doing some prep for an upcoming teaching, we’ve been looking at the issues in our lives, current, past and present that cause us to live our lives differently. For whatever reason, those issues, those things in our lives that prevent us from living our lives wholly can really impact who we are, how we see the world, and how we live & interact with those around us. Frankly, many things can be damaging to who we are.

More about this next week, but there’s a local building in Chillicothe that in its hey-day was a prominent, architectural masterpiece in our town, boasting the wealthy people, politicians, and artists. Now though, it’s a damaged building that’s a sore eye to the community. It’s become controversially debated each election year as the residents decide whether to add taxes to renovate or help renovat the project.

The sadness of this building is there is still value in it, there are valuable items within the building itself, and if restored properly, could once again be a masterful gem in our area.

Like many of us who find ourselved damaged and containing little to no value, our lives have become sore to our eyes so we think. But like this building, restoration can come. There is value in your life.

I saw this quote from NCIS this week, “Sometimes damaged goods can be more valuable because of their unique qualities.” Not only is their value, but due to your past, you have qualities about you that can offer healing to many around you and that makes you special & unique.

Trust God, trust his restoration…. allow it to happen.

For the last several weeks at Centerpoint, we have been doing a series titled Dirty Little Secrets where the conversation deals with openness, redemption, and healing. In a nutshell our community is talking about the ever-amazing, abundant grace offered by the divine.

Our band is singing a new song called Oh how he loves, performed more famously by David Crowder. There’s an absolutely amazing line in the song, “if grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.”

Thinking about the line the last several days and how God offers this grace for everyone, for all humanity. But it’s much more than that, it’s much more passionate than that, it’s much more relentless than that. Grace isn’t just an open arm, this grace runs, this grace pursues, this grace never stops, never, this grace can’t stop, this grace died on a cross, this grace will not take no as an answer.

You can deny grace, you can ignore it, you can reject it and turn away from it, but it won’t stop coming after you.

May you open yourself up to this grace, let it comfort you, let it heal you.

I’m not quite sure what to think here. Is it cute? Is it way over-board. nonetheless it gives me a few laughs.

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written but a LOT has gone on personally and for Centerpoint. Our church moved to its new location September 13th and the results have been amazing as we’ve already met more new people in three weeks than in a good portion in the previous year! And these people get the vision of Centerpoint and are jumping right in.

My family got back from Disney last weekend as we were there to celebrate our niece’s 3rd birthday – quite a birthday celebration. We had a great time visiting the parks and Isaiah had a total blast.

Some of our closest friends and family are dealing with the loss of loved ones which serves yet again of the frailty and the quickness of life which reminds us to embrace life, to live the life God has given us to the fullest. Embrace your friends & family often.

Check back often, now that I’m back in some routine, there should be some more blogs and thoughts…