Monday, November 23, 2009

The ONE Report

"Excellent! Very informative! Incredible! I love it! a2 Rocks! I feel God in this place! Love the energy... Wonderful... Different... Fun... Awesome! Very spiritual and inspirational... Challenged me..."

This is just some of the feedback we got from yesterday's One Year Anniversary Celebration at a2.

Here's the scoop on what happened... Feel free to add your comments and feedback.

First of all, a big SHOUT OUT to Mike Weeks and everyone who jumped in as part of the Interior Design Team to bring the vision of what our worship space could look like to reality. You guys were amazing! You worked so hard. The placed looked incredible. Thank you!

Second, research indicates that the first 12 minutes a guest walks onto a church campus are crucial in determining their overall experience. That means every Guest Services Team is on the FRONT LINES in helping people connect with God. And our Guest Service team rocked yesterday!

Neal and Shelly Holden did an amazing job leading the team. It was great to see our Traffic Control crew out assisting with parking, our Greeters "manning" every entrance, and our personnel providing helpful info at the new Information Desk. It was really cool to have Nathan and Holly Holladay back in town and serving on the Guest Services team. And as always, pre-service refreshments were terrific. Jess and Denise Dixon rock it in this area every Sunday.

Third, our Children's Ministry Team was ON IT! Carol Lange and Shellie Behrens - you and and the entire nursery team is amazing. Thanks for all you do.

Becky Abernathy - the new paint job and artwork in the Preschool Room looks awesome! Thanks for making that happen.

Brice and Anna Jackson - a2 Kid's Club was "off the chain" yesterday. My nine-year old came out pumped up about being at church!

Fourth, our Tech Team was on it... These guys serve with such humility... When it comes to Tech stuff, you usually don't really notice these guys unless something goes wrong. Well, yesterday NOTHING went wrong. I really appreciate our Sound Team, Pro-Presenter Team, Video Team, Camera Team. You are amazing.

Fifth, the Thanksgiving Feast immediately following the morning worship experience was a big hit. We've got to give a lot of "shout outs" here:

- Deborah Wiggins knocked it out of the park on the overall decor for the Feast.

- Teddie Butcher and Laquita Thomas made certain that we had enough food for an army, and we did! Wow!

- Sunni Glidewell and Ron Wiggins did an amazing job on the turkey and ham! Gobble. Gobble.

- Billy Walters is "the man." This dude models what it means to be a servant. His team transformed the Worship Room into a gigantic Banquet Room in like 10 minutes flat. Furthermore, the guy was all over it throughout the week taking care of odds and ends to make certain we had a great day.

And there are MORE PEOPLE we could mention. A ton MORE... So many people who make a2 tick! Too many to mention by name. But know this, YOU are important. I thank God for YOU.

Sixth, then there's THE SERVICE. My view? Oh, yeah. It rocked!

It opened with a big full bass pad on the keyboard and video directed by Chris Mileski about how God has used a2 in the lives of people Great stories. Great stuff. Awesome year. Amazing production on the video.

As the bass pad continued and swelled, Caley brought it with Amazing Grace, as we reflected on God's grace over the past year.

Then, Susannah Stuckey, Nick Johnson and Madison Miller (three of a2's students) read God's Word like they really believe what it says... I loved having the students involved!

The bass pad continued to swell, until Nathan (the Spice Man) Spicer filled the speakers up with his best "Edge" like imitation and the intro to "Where The Streets Have No Name." The entire band and Amanda Blount absolutely rocked this song! It was supposed to be an opening "item" number. It didn't take but about 4 bars before people were up and on their feet!

The band continued with an upbeat and energetic worship set that included Tomlin's Rise and Sing, Hillsong's For All You've Done and Newlife's Glorified. Great job team! You are amazing.

Darrell Garrett then came with a prayer that rocked my world. When he started praying about how over the past year we've had "lots of leaks" - referring to the severe roof leak problems we've experienced in our worship space over the past year, but "one thing that hasn't leaked has been God's grace..." Holy cow! I was done in.

As always Bill Robbins made announcements interesting and fun. The dude is awesome.

Second video: more stories about God's grace in the lives of people at a2.

Then there was the message. It's very hard to do a review of your own message, so let me just give you the MAIN POINTS and the payoff of the message.

Four Facts About People:

1. People want to make a difference.

2. God longs to use you to make a difference (Ephesians 2:10).

3. Most people don’t really believe God could possibly use them to make a difference.

We all feel inadequate and inferior. The good news? You can’t find anywhere in the Bible where God looked at somebody and said, “Man, I really wanted to use you, but your life went way too far off the rails, I’m sorry you just don’t make the cut… I don’t have enough GRACE for you…”

Just take a quick inventory of the people God used…

Abraham was a liar and on Medicare…
• Jacob was a con man…
• Joseph was an ex-con…
• Moses was a fugitive who also struggled with a speech impediment…
• Joshua had problems with jealousy…
• Rahab had a pretty notorious sexual past…
• Gideon was a wimp…
• Samson was the poster child for impulse control disorder…
• Eli was a finalist for the worst father of the year award…
• David had an eye for beautiful women… He was an adulterer and involved in a conspiracy to commit murder…
• Elijah was probably bi-polar… One minute he could outrun a chariot, and the next moment he was suicidal…
• The disciples didn’t have a lot of faith…
• James and John had anger control issues and were status seekers…
• Thomas doubted…
• Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times in the same night, and even cut a guy’s ear off…
• Martha obsessed over housekeeping and food preparation… (We’re talking Martha in the Bible, not Martha Stewart…)


4. Making a difference isn’t about signing a petition, forwarding a FB message, or jumping on the bandwagon of “bumper sticker” Christianity, it’s about actually DOING what Jesus said to DO.

Matthew 5:13 (MSG), Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14 Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. 16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.



What It Takes To Make A Difference:

1. A Broken Heart (Mark 1:40-41; Matthew 14:14; 9:36; 25:40).

2. Sacrificial Generosity (Acts 20:35b; 2 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 9:7).

3. Holy discontent.

4. Continual and Active Dependence on God (John 15:5).

5. The Willingness to take a Risk (Luke 9:24).

There is a "theological film" that was put out several years ago… It’s sort of cult classic… The name of the movie is, “The Blues Brothers.”

It contains the story of two brothers named Jake and Elwood Blues. These men are felons and “wanna be” blues musicians. After Jake is released from prison, he and Elwood go to visit the orphanage they were raised in as boys… It’s during that visit that they start to discover their PURPOSE, the reason for being placed on this planet…

The orphanage is going to close unless it comes up with $5,000 in taxes on the property within 11 days… And the plot of the movie is about these guys trying to escape the police, put back together their band and raise money for that orphanage…

Periodically throughout the movie, somebody will ask them what they’re doing, and they give the same stock answer every time. They respond by saying, “We are on a MISSION FROM GOD.”

That’s the joke of the movie – that two felons, two “wanna be” blues musicians – could be on a MISSION FROM GOD.

They eventually raise the $5000 as an advance on a record contract… But there’s a GAP… With the police in close pursuit, they’ve still got to get from where they are, all the way to Chicago to pay the $5,000 at City Hall…

This is one of the classic lines from that movie:

Elwood: "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

Jake: "Hit it."

An epic car chase begins... The Blues Brothers make it to Chicago, pay the taxes and the moment their handed the tax receipt, handcuffs are slapped on their wrists...


I don't know how far we have to go... "It's 106 miles to Chicago..." It may be a day, week, month, year or decade before Jesus comes and ultimately SETS THINGS RIGHT…

The good news is, "We got a full tank of gas..." Because of the Holy Spirit we've got all the fuel we need. We're not depending on our abilities, efforts or talents. We're depending on God...

Here's reality: "We got...a half pack of cigarettes..." Some of you are thinking, "I don't like that line..." I do... Because here's what it says: We're all imperfect... We've all got our hang-ups, habits, sin and junk that ought to have disqualified us a long time ago... But we're not banking on our perfecting, we're betting the farm on God's grace...

My favorite line? "It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses..."

The sunglasses are basically the trademark of the Blues Brothers. When they put them on, they basically say, "We mean business... We're not going to stop until we make it to Chicago..."

Oh, yeah, we did the Blues Brothers at a2... Because at a2, we MEAN BUSINESS! We're on a mission from God!

The band closed out with a new song Matt Maher titled, "Hold Us Together." Everyone in the band was wearing Blues Brothers sunglasses.

We closed the service by passing out sunglasses to everyone in the congregation! Why? Because WE MEAN BUSINESS. We're on a mission from God!

And that's the scoop on ONE.

By the way, we had at least 276 people show up and worship with us! That's our best attendance other than Easter.

I believe God is doing something amazing at a2. I'm thrilled to be part of the journey. I'm humbled to get to do life with the beautiful people God is bringing together to make a difference.

You are amazing. I love YOU, and I love being YOUR pastor.

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