None for a month and a half... two in one day

(My thoughts are in italics)

Laurie forwarded me a great devotional that I thought that I would pass along:

March 31, 2006
Jesus, in the company of friends
By John Fischer

"If I could, I'd return to early Christianity, before it became a state religion under Constantine ... when it was a company of friends whose inspired leader once said that the one without sin should pick up the first stone."

I love this quote by Nora Gallagher. It was in the Los Angeles Times today (March 24) as the last sentence of an article, “Cutting at Christianity,” in which the writer states her opinion that the reason the secular world dislikes Christianity so much is that, by and large, they've got the wrong one in mind. To correct this, she offers Jesus, in the company of friends. I think she's right about what will change perceptions and change the world.

Pretty good definition of the Church come to think of it: Jesus, in the company of friends. At least if you go to church, that's what you should find. And not just people who are friends with each other, but people who are eager to be your friend, too, no matter who you are or what you've done. Robert Farrar Capon once defined the Church as “a community of astonished hearts, proclaiming the end of religion in Jesus.” There you have it: Jesus, in the company of friends.

Many people are confused about Christianity these days. You could almost say there is too much Christianity – enough that you have to at least wonder sometimes if you have the real thing. But I think I know where to find the real thing. Look for Jesus, in the company of friends. If you come to Saddleback Church – to any church for that matter – and don't find Jesus, in the company of friends, you have my permission to go somewhere else. (As if my permission meant anything, but it sounded really good!)

And if you are fortunate enough to be in a small group of believers and/or seekers, what you really have is Jesus, in the company of friends. Jesus claimed that when as few as two or three gather in his name, he is there. So the biggest church and the smallest group hopefully come down to the same thing – you guessed it: Jesus, in the company of friends.

Kind of cuts through all that red tape and worship wars and petty infighting and separatist isolationism doesn't it? And it even captures what is beautiful and lasting about this online network that has sprung up around the banner of Purpose Driven Life and all of you who have signed up for these daily messages – regardless of how big our numbers get or how long this thing lasts. Bottom line is, we're just friends, in the company of Jesus.

All I can say is, it's nice to be with Jesus, and it's nice to be with you. Glad you're with us!

I love this tagline, "Jesus, in the company of friends." That sounds a lot like what we want SRC to be, doesn't it?

Long time comin'

Okay, okay, so maybe I haven't been too consistent with my blog updates. I guess that's the beauty of only having told a few people about it. But I think it's time to go public, which also means, it's time to keep up with it on a regular basis. I suppose the great thing about starting off a blog by only updating every month and a half is that anything will look like a great improvement!

So, here it is... my first entry, err, my fourth entry, but my first "for-real" entry. So... um... uh, yeah. Umm.. how bout those O's? Weather sure has been nice the last few days. Aha! I just thought of something to write. Please keep reading. Don't give up on me yet.

Easter Sunday has got to be the best Sunday of the entire year! Here at Daybreak (the church that Laurie and I currently attend), we go all out for Easter. Each year, we rent a huge tent and set it up in the parking lot to hold the services in. Meanwhile, the worship center gets converted into a huge dining room with an awesome buffet and tons of seating. In our services this year, Pastor Joel delivered a great message about heaven and what it is going to be like. We also did baptisms during the service this year and that is absolutely mine and Laurie's favorite part. Let me tell you about it.

A few weeks before the service, we recorded interviews with each of the 22 people that were getting baptized. We asked them two simple questions: 1) Tell us about when you let Jesus be the leader of your life. 2) Tell us why you want to be baptized. From those two questions, we edited together a 7-minute video that gave everyone in the church a chance to hear the heart of every person being baptized (even those who would NEVER want to talk in public!) While the video was played in the service, the pastors (youth pastor - John and pastor of maturity - Shawn) got into the baptismal tank along with the first person to be baptized. At the same time, the worship team made it's way back onto the stage. As soon as the video completed, the worship team began to play and when the first person was ready to be baptized, we went to a live video feed of a roving camera that we had right next to the tank. So, everyone got to see the expression on the face of each individual as they came out of the water. As soon as that person exits the tank, they cut the video feed and go to powerpoint for the current song that the worship team was singing. I love baptisms at Daybreak! They are presented as an act of worship and it allows everyone (not just the people in the tank) to participate. It is so exciting to see and hear what God has done in the lives of real people through the ministry of this church!

I guess my point is... church needs to be exciting, and not just because of great music, funny pastors, high-tech stuff, etc. I love all of that but what really brings me excitement is seeing lives that are changed. I truly believe that SRC will be a place where we celebrate what God is doing! The cool thing about taking this step of faith together is that every single victory we experience, every prayer that is answered, every life that is changed will result in this kind of excitement! There is no way that Pastor Ben or I or any of you that have partnered with us can do any of this ourselves. This is definitely a God-thing and I am excited to see what our "changed lives" video is going to look like by this time next year!

God bless.

Matt and Laurie