I thought I got rid of the funk on Saturday night...I guess I didn't...

Happy Easter!

I am really in a funk today, and I don't know why.....

Last night I spoke at the community Good Friday service at 1st Baptist Sycamore. It was an interesting evening. There is some movement within the pastors of this community towards bring the church together. They are calling it a "one church" movement. I like to call it the geographical church. They asked me to talk about prayer and the church. I gave a short (10 min or so) talk where I said that we need to get the intercessors together from all the churches, then the pastors need to get out of the way and let the intercessors just pray (radical concept).

I didn't fully understand how difficult some of this is going to be until I overheard some conversations. This was a community event, and there were about 10 pastors form the area there. I overheard a person say that they were worried that their pastor might be there and see them. They did not want to get in trouble for being in someone else's church. WHAT IT WRONG WITH US? Why are we so freaked out about stepping into others churches. I had a women come up to me and tell me that she liked my message. I felt that I was being rude because I did not formally introduce myself or get her name. So I put out my hand, introduced myself and asked for her name, apologizing for not asking sooner. She gave me her name, then got defensive, telling me that she went to such and such a church and that she was happy there. Is there something wrong with us when we can not be polite without people thinking we are trying to recruit them???? I just don't get it.

If we are ever going to get this idea of a geographical church, we are going to need to get over ourselves. Church is not about us and the small little expression of it that we attend. Church is about being the bride of Christ. And the entire church is part of his bride, not just the people we like. When we finally start to look at the church the way Christ looks at the church, perhaps we will begin to see the beauty of the church. The little details that make us all different make the entire body more beautiful.

I have truly come to the conclusion that marriage is a prophetic word on what the church is supposed to look like. Our spouses are complex. They are not robots where every single move they make is predictable. Instead, God has made their personalities incredibly detailed and complex. And those complexities are what many times we find beautiful in our spouses.

The same is true with the church. If the entire church was like the Vineyard, we would be pretty boring. But instead, the church is diverse, detailed, complex, and different. Where our building is, we are neighbored by a Methodist church, a Lutheran church and a Catholic church. Down the block we have a Bible, Baptist, Four Square, Congressional, Hispanic, and Greek Orthodox churchs. All of us have services at about the same time on Sundays. We are all worshiping the same God, we are all following after Jesus. Some of us are evangelical, some of us are denominational, some are orthodox, some are liberal. But at the heart of it, we are all trying to follow Christ. What if, instead of trying to find out who is better, we look at them and saw the bride, in all of her beauty? That's how I think Christ looks at it. Perhaps we need to be looking at it the same way. Because, the church is not about us and what it can do for us, it's about Jesus.

It's Good Friday and it's snowing here in DeKalb. It's going to be 77 and sunny in Georgia. Why did we move here again?


Here is an interesting article on the Terri Schiavo case. I have been giving a lot of thought to this case over the past week or so. I'm not totally sure how I feel. One thing that really has come to my mind has been the power of words. How arguments can completely change once we define things. How easy it is to de-humanize something just by labeling it. I think Kass has an good point in his article...one that I agree with.

I HATE HTML!!!

I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out what was missing from by blog (the title), where it went (it was covered by the blogger banner) and how to get it back (more lines on the top!) UUUGGGHHHH!!!!

Well, it's been a long time since I've written anything. We just put some computers in the church and now have internet....so I guess that means that I have no excuses for not posting anymore. I'm sitting in the soundroom, typing away at one of the computers up here. Church has been interesting lately. We just did a conference on deliverance. It was a powerful thing...although the response of many have been surprising. People have been set free, but they are on an emotional rollercoaster....very surprising to say the least.

Other then that, the church has been growing leaps and bounds....we have finally broken 100, worship is getting interesting, and the prophetic is starting to move. We are really gaining momentum and things are getting exciting.

Oh well, people are now up here, starting to bug me. More later.

It seems like everywhere I go these days, everyone wants to talk politics. I have come the conclusion that I do not like anybody who is running. So what do I do now???

I was surfing this afternoon and found these two links. The made me think. Not sure what happens from here.....

Take back the faith
Pro-Life Democrats?

Thoughts?????? (I wonder if anyone is out there????)

Well, it's Friday night, and I don't have a sermon yet.....I really need to stop doing this....

If you have been following Cindy's blog, you may know that we have gotten a building. The bowling alley from several months ago has come through. We have an agreement in principle, but are still trying to work out the details of the lease. As soon as we get this thing signed (hopefully next week), we can get in and start the build out. I can't wait for that to start. I hoping that it will be a "bonding" experience for the church.

Last Sunday's service was loads of fun. The Democrats showed up again. This time they were doing a rally in the park. About 2,000 of them came at about 8:30 and filled the place up. It looked like the fourth of July (thank you park district for the heads up...not). They were still going strong at 10:00 when our service was to start. Needless to say, we had no parking so our people had to walk several blocks to get to church. Half the church was not there when worship started, and the other half was too tired (that's the excuse that I'm using) to actually do anything. Worship was dead. Really dead.

I'm starting to believe that our time at the park has come to an end (I keep hearing "God has left the building" in the back of my head). We are getting a lot of encouragement from people (both here and in Georgia) that things will get better once we get out. I'm praying it does. I'm not sure how many more days like last Sunday I can take.

Todd Hunter has started to blog again.  He was one of my favorite blogger's, although his consistency was much to be desired (I should talk!).  Check him out.

I spent last week at the MW Regional conference in Champaign, IL. I really wasn't looking forward to it (truth be told, I was looking for any excuse to miss it.) Over the past few years it seems like these have become more and more business and less and less ministry. Well, something has definitely changed. This was one of the best conferences that I have attended in quite some time. It felt like John Wimber was back! It was so refreshing!!! I think we are at a turning point in the Vineyard. There are three roads in front of us and I think we need to make a decision on which road we are going to take in the future. We can either go down the Evangelical road, the Pentecostal road, or the Kingdom road. Nothing against the Pentecostal's or Evangelical's, but I think we need to do what the Lord called us to 20 years ago. Back then, it was all about the Kingdom. That's where I want to be...that's what I signed up for...and that's what I'm hoping the future holds for us as a movement.

Still waiting on news from the building. Supposedly, the owner has our offer...he just needs to make a decision. I praying hard that something breaks. I think this is the place.

Sunday, after the service, two of our people went to the building to pray over it. While they were there, they felt the presence of something demonic one of the sides of the building, so they called us to come and pray with them. When we got there, I felt the urge to anoint the building with oil, so I walked to Walgreen to get some oil. Some strange things happened on the way to and from Walgreen. While I was entering Walgreen, I noticed that there were three people in the park across the street messing around with a djembe. I walked into Walgreen, only to notice that they were having a sale on these shirts. The shirts said "Bowling" on them, had a picture of a guy bowling, and then said "DeKalb" on the bottom. I thought it was funny, a sale on tee-shirts marked bowling...who would buy something like that. BTW..the building we are looking at was an old bowling alley. So I get the oil, and leave Walgreen. I decide to cut through the park to get to the building. The musicians started to beat on their drums stronger as I passed them...almost like a war drum. As soon as this started, something came over me. I started to pray aggressively in tongues, and walking aggressively towards the building. When I got there I started to aggressively pour oil on the side wall, as well as on the doors and fence posts. I ever anointed the building next door. While doing this, I was praying in aggressively praying in tongues. Cindy later told me (as well as the others who were there) that she had never seen me like that before. I'm not sure what came over me, but I think we took something in the Kingdom.

Oh well, back to praying and waiting...I'm looking forward to what happens next.