Members of One Body | March 22, 2026

Alright.

All right.

Thanks Worship team.

That was great.

Jed and I had the privilege of

going to Bryce Crawford live

podcast tour event on Friday night.

And uh, the song we just sang,

what was the one right before this?

Holy, holy Forever.

Holy Forever man.

They sang it in the, uh,

Marat Theater, downtown Indie.

And it was thunder is, I'm gonna be

honest, I dunno what you thought yet.

I thought this was a little

louder, a little better.

I'm just saying nice work.

And then you guys sing

really great about Christmas.

I just want you to know that

that's pretty fantastic.

First day.

We haven't had snow in forever.

Is anybody else's, uh, OCD, just

kicking in on this cross, like we

have got to get this squared away.

How about.

Is that better?

We all go with that.

I like it.

Okay.

Okay.

I like our psychedelic cross day.

I love it.

It's kinda more white rock than

this simple, normal, ornate thing.

Hey, today is kind of a crazy, fun day.

We have a church membership Sunday

thing going on, and if you're not

familiar with the church membership,

you will be by the end of this morning.

And if you think it's weird, you

probably think it's even weirder

by the, no, I'm just kidding.

It's gonna be great.

Um, and after church we've got this

thing called an annual meeting, which

is a yearly business meeting we do

for all the members of our church.

Everybody's invited who

wants to come hang out.

It's just pretty short.

We talk through all the finance

stuff, board nominations, mission

report, and then get you to lunch.

So everybody's invited

to be a part of that.

Um, you wanna see what

goes on behind the curtain.

It's not much of a curtain.

We don't even have a curtain.

So it's kind of what it is.

But you're welcome to be a part of

that, invite you to be a part of that.

But today we're gonna spend a

little time talking about church

membership and I gotta, um.

I have to kinda let you like, you know how

sometimes you wanna sneak up on something,

you know, and you're like, okay, now you

figured I'm just gonna go right out from

the gate and just let you know though

the word church membership is up there.

Everything I'm gonna talk about

today is really about what it looks

like to be a part of the church.

The family of God.

The body of Christ.

And if you're an official member or

you're a dude who thought you were

part of the church, 'cause you're here.

Yes, this all applies to you.

If you've ever heard me talk about

church membership, you're probably one

of the people who's in the minority.

'cause I don't talk about it very much.

In fact, I'm not a huge fan

of having to do stuff with

membership because quite honestly.

I think Jesus, uh, kind of loves

us all equally, calls us to a place

of walking faithfully with him.

And yet, in the midst of the state of

Indiana, in the United States of America

and the IRS code for a five one C3

organization, we're required by law to

have members as part of this organization.

So we do have to do some things,

and maybe there's something

to this membership thing.

I like to talk about it from the

sense of like the difference between

choosing to just live with somebody

and going ahead and making the

commitment to be married, right?

Like, I want to be a part of this family

and I'm committed to it, and I'm all in,

versus I'm gonna just enjoy the ride and

get what I can get, but know, kind of keep

my commitment at a, at a arm's length.

Now, as you're gonna see this morning,

that commitment is, uh, probably

what a lot of you're doing anyhow.

But just to let you know, this

isn't just a membership sermon.

So if you're not interested in

membership or you're already a

member, you don't have to listen.

You do, because this is

about following Jesus.

So check it out.

Our church membership

policy is pretty intense.

We have one major requirement, and

it's simply this, that you've confessed

your sin, repented, and accepted

Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

'cause here's this crazy

idea we have around here.

It probably shouldn't be harder to

get into heaven or to white rock

than to get into heaven, right?

Like, if it's more complicated for you

to figure out how to get into White

Rock as a member of this church than

to be a, a dooo or, or lady who's gonna

be in heaven with Jesus because of

your relationship with him, that just

seems a little outta whack, right?

Jesus invites us into

relationship with him.

But let me just unpack this requirement

a second, because there's a little bit

of doctrine and salvation here that's

probably worth paying attention to.

See.

Here's what this looks like.

We have to be people who

have confessed our sin.

What does that mean?

It means in an acknowledgement that

there's a sin issue between me and God.

I'm not some perfect person.

I'm not some perfect guy.

I'm not somebody who's good enough by

the works that I do and who I am, that

somehow I'm worthy to be a follower

of Jesus and get eternal life, right?

That's not what heaven's about.

Everybody.

All of sin fallen short

of the glory of God.

The wages of sin is death, right?

And while we were yet

sinners, Christ died for us.

So Jesus comes to offer forgiveness

to all of us who are sinners.

And if you think you are not and

haven't ever been, I'm so sorry for you.

But here's the really simple reality.

You were born into sin, mankind

sinned against God, rebelled, boom.

We called generational

sin and is totally unfair.

'cause none of us were there.

We wouldn't have eaten the fruit, right?

We would've kicked the snake and we

would've given a noie to Adam and stop.

What are you guys doing?

Right?

That's what we would've done, right?

We wouldn't have done that stuff.

So it's not fair God, that we're

born into the human race full of sin.

Totally get it.

Feel that way myself.

But it is what it is.

You and I have a bigger

problem than original sin.

We have personal sin with God, right?

You and I have broken God's holy law.

You ever hear about the 10 Commandments?

They're not that complicated.

Honor your father and mother.

Uh, don't lie.

Mm. Don't cover what your neighbor has.

Ah, listen, I'm a

professional law breaker.

Trust me, man, I've broken the 10

Commandments so many times in my life.

Nobody has to point out guilt for me.

I know it.

I can see it.

And if you've broken one of God's

laws one time, that makes you a

sinner who's in need of a savior.

And Jesus says, if we confess our sins,

he's faithful and just forgive us our sins

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We come before him and say, Jesus,

please forgive me for my sin.

That's confession.

Right?

And then there's this word, repent,

which is a fancy Bible word, repentance.

But biblically it means 180 degree turn.

It means I was walking this way and I

stopped, confessed my sin, and I repent.

Turned 180 degrees.

Now I'm going the other direction.

That's what it means.

It means we don't continue in

our sin, so we repent of our sin.

We ask Jesus to forgive us in

confession, and we change our

behaviors to line up with this Savior.

Why?

Because we've accepted Jesus Christ,

not as buddy, as friend, as meal

ticket, as get outta jail free card.

We've accepted him as Lord, meaning he's

in charge and we submit to his authority

in our life, recognizing he's the Savior

and the only way, the truth, the life.

I sang about it recently, that

he is the only way to salvation.

So here's the deal.

If you've confessed your

sin to Jesus Christ.

If you've repented and you've asked

him to be your Lord and Savior and

you're trying to walk in obedience to

him putting to death the deeds of the

sinful nature in the flesh, and that's

what you're in this process of doing.

You're on this journey of faith.

That's awesome.

That's beautiful.

You meet Dun, the one requirement to

be a member of White Rock Fellowship

because if you can get into heaven, you

ought be able to be a member around here.

But there's more to membership

than salvation and being

a member doesn't save you.

Just so you know.

In fact, maybe if I unpack this

a little bit, this'll help us.

I'm gonna pull some Ss outta here.

I don't know why I have so

many s words all the time.

Like not the bad S words, Jamie,

just in case that came wrong.

Um, let's talk with some s words

that help us unpack this idea a

little bit because here's what

happens a lot in church membership.

We get caught up in

this concept of status.

Somehow when you're in a member of White

Rock Fellowship or a member of something,

you're a little more elite in your status.

You know?

Kind of a big deal.

Kind of a big deal.

One of the things I love about White Rock

is I could put like a hundred people up

here and say, pick out eight members of

the church and be like, I don't know.

Can be really honest with you.

I'm not sure either.

I have to go back and check 'cause

I do this so frequently, right?

We don't talk about membership a lot.

We don't make a big, big,

crazy deal out of it.

I probably should do more with

that, but for me, I love you.

We walk in this relationship

together as the body of Christ,

the family of God, and if you wanna

be part of the family, let's go.

But there is a little bit about

membership that's kind of important

and we do have to do some stuff.

That's why we've developed the White

Rock Fellowship membership quiz.

And if you've ever been in a meeting.

Today, at the end of the service, people

who have gone through this, uh, small

meeting we have and have met with me,

are gonna come up and become members

of our church as they would like to.

And maybe by the end they'll

be like, nah, I'm out.

Nevermind.

That's totally cool.

That's fair.

I can appreciate that.

So like this membership quiz we put

together, it's really important, you

know, it's got questions like this and

they're just simple, true and false

questions that you probably can get

members of the congregation understand.

It's their responsibility to laugh

during the pastor jokes to help

create an environment of reverence and

respect for those in leadership, right?

Those of you would say true.

False.

False.

See, this is like the

most false ever, right?

Like, uh, it'd be really great, you

know, if you'd laugh a little more,

maybe roll your eyes less, Jamie, right?

But ultimately, uh, it's

not about some status thing.

In fact, sometimes we

get lost on this, right?

Members are expected to demonstrate a

deeper spiritual walk than non-members.

But not necessarily as deep

as the pastoral leadership.

'cause we believe there's kind of tears

right in this spirituality, right?

And you go from being a baby Christian

to being just a normal Christian, to

being a church member, Christian, to

being a staff Christian, to being a

dead Christian who stands before Jesus

and gives the count of your life.

I dunno how that works.

Um, take a look at this.

Galatians chapter three, verse 28

says this, there is neither Jew nor

Greek Gentile, neither slave nor

free, neither male nor female, for

you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I love the phrase that the ground

at the foot of the cross is level.

Such a cool picture, right?

I dunno if you're, you know, a king

or you're epic or you're awesome or

you have hair or you don't have hair,

you get to come before Jesus, kneel

before him and accept him as Lord.

'cause we're all in this thing together

and it's a level playing field, right?

There is no inequality before Jesus.

It doesn't matter what the

world might give you status for.

As a follower of Jesus, you're

invited into being part of

his family full deal, right?

James 2 1 9 warns the church.

'cause they got into it, right?

They were like believers in our gls.

Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus Christ must not

show favoritism, but if you

show favoritism, you sin.

Right?

Jesus tells stories about workers in

the field who just got in in the last

second, and they're treated equally.

Why?

Because Jesus is about unity

in his church, and he's

about equality in his church.

You don't matter more and

you don't matter less.

Now, parents, if you have one

child, you can answer this question.

Who's your favorite kid?

Right?

But if you have two, if you have

three, you don't have any favorites.

But if you have two, right?

Who's your favorite kid?

It's the dumbest question

in the history of the world,

because we love equally, right?

Here's the cool thing about God.

He says, come be a part of my family,

Renee.

Come on.

You only got one.

Stop making fun of Thomas.

He's got two.

And it's a hard thing.

So just I love, oh, I love this church.

Okay, unity, equality, right?

Here's the important element

I wanna throw at you.

I love this phrase, check this out.

Unity does not mean uniformity.

It doesn't mean we're all uniform

and we're all the same, right?

There's different roles and

responsibilities God gives us.

Scripture uses a lot of cool metaphors,

this Corinthians passage and over in

Romans we have like family imagery

and we have body imagery, right?

That we're, we're all part of the

body, but you can't have everybody

be the index finger, right?

And you just got a billion index

fingers pointing at everybody.

You gotta have other parts of the

body to do the stuff the body does.

And we all have important roles and

responsibilities, talents, gifts,

uniqueness that God brings and puts

in us so that when we live out our

giftedness in the body of Christ.

The body is fulfilled and it's able to do

all the stuff that God wants to do in us.

That's not status.

The problem is, is we

assign status, right?

You're a more spiritual person.

'cause you can stand on the

platform and sing a song.

Now, do we have standards of expectation

for people who are gonna be in leadership?

Yes, but I'm gonna tell

you a little secret.

Jesus has standards of

expectation for his kids, whether

they're in leadership or not.

And if we're gonna try to make it

out that all the leaders gotta follow

Jesus and behave, and everybody else

kind of gets to do whatever, 'cause

they're the bad kids who just have

to play in the pen in the backyard.

That's not biblical.

That's not even close.

Right?

Status.

Not a thing.

Not a thing in the church.

This word though, is serving.

Serving.

I like to tell people, if you wanna be

a member of our church, congratulations.

You just signed up to roll up

your sleeves and work hard.

That's your status, right?

You get to be asked to help.

More than the person who's like,

I ain't, I ain't ready to commit.

No worries.

We'll get you there.

Ha ha.

No, not really.

Not yet, right?

Serving Jesus.

Kind of modeled some cool stuff, but

let's take another question first.

True or false?

All members must serve in some

capacity in the local church.

True

Renee's gonna be doing signups for

children's ministry, so make sure

you catch Renee right after this.

Okay?

Here's the truth.

You do not have to serve to be a

member of Wyrick Fellowship, but you

are missing out on what God wants to

do in and through you, and a calling

that he lays on all of his people.

And something, ladies and gentlemen,

that he modeled and said, do it.

Check it out, Matthew, Jesus talking.

Whoever would be great among

you must be your servant.

Whoever would be first, you

must or you must be the slave.

Even I can't read that.

Whoever would be first among

you must be your slave.

Even as the son of man came not to be

served, but to serve, Jesus came to serve.

We have this cool image where he's

over in John with his disciples, and

now after he has washed his disciples

feet, he says, now that I, your Lord

and teacher have washed your feet.

Now that I served you, you also

should wash one another's feet.

I've set an example that you

should do as I have done.

Jesus didn't come to be

glamorized or to be served.

He came to serve and he asks, not

the church members, he asks his

sons and daughters who are part of

his family to join him in serving.

If you're somebody who just sits

and gets, that's not what it's

about as a follower of Jesus, right.

We're called to roll up our sleeves and

serve and impact the world around us and

give cups of cold water in Jesus' name

to little tiny kids next door, right?

And to try to keep the teens from

breaking things or whatever that looks

like right as we serve, and to go to our

neighbors and to help those in, we're

supposed to serve and we're not serving.

I think you could almost make

a case if you read this again

really slowly, that you're being

disobedient to what Jesus said.

Well, I don't really wanna serve.

I don't really have time to serve.

Well, shame on you.

Let's get those priorities squared away.

'cause Jesus said, we gotta do it.

We ought to do it.

It's not sit and get it is

get up and get to work, right?

Uh, I love this phrase.

I picked it up a long time ago, and

I don't know who it's from, but I

just love this phrase, serving others

does not lead to greatness, right?

It just doesn't.

Serving others does not lead to greatness.

Jesus said, you wanna

be great in the kingdom?

Be a servant of all.

But I'm telling you, serving

others does not lead to greatness.

Serving others is greatness is how

Jesus defines status in his kingdom.

You want to be great.

You want to be important, you

wanna be significant, roll up your

sleeves and get to work and serve.

'cause that's greatness.

You wanna sit around and talk about being

a servant, not so impressive, right?

But you wanna be great.

That's where the action is.

Serve.

Don't miss too.

And the devil's great at trying

to tell you, there's a lot of

other stuff you should put your

time, energy, and resources into.

There's so much more fulfilling.

And they're not, and you know it,

and I know it and we all know it,

but God's called us to do the stuff

that matters for all eternity.

And when you do it, you're like,

dude, this is, this is cool.

Kinda making heaven crowded

is a pretty cool thing.

Status serving.

Let's snag the first

part of this word serve.

And let's just throw in services real

quick and check another question.

True or false?

If you wanna be a member, you

must physically attend a minimum

of three Sunday worship services.

One small group every

midweek activity monthly.

And, uh, that will make

you an active member.

Disappointing for me, I'm not gonna lie,

but yes, this is not, this is not true.

You don't have to.

Show up to church.

You don't have to be a

part of a small group.

You don't have to be

part of a Bible study.

You don't have to do, I mean, we're not,

we're not church police, but I'm gonna

call you to purpose and significance.

In fact, if you wanna look over at

Hebrews scripture says, let us not

neglect meeting together as somewhere

in the habit of doing, but let us

encourage one another and all the

more as you see the day approaching.

'cause see, here's the

perspective of this verse.

There's a day coming when all of this

stuff that we're busy prioritizing over

the gathering of the body of Christ

is gonna burn and just melt away.

Right?

And eternity is with

Jesus and with his people.

But we're kind of busy, you know?

And this word actually neglect,

ties to the word forsake, right?

That I've forsaken my first

love that I've forsaken.

And I love this word habit because

I think it's like, man, what

are the habits that make it.

Into your life that are more important

than gathering as the body of Christ

on a regular basis to come together

for worship, for encouragement to pray.

I mean, to hear God's word, like

what is it that's so important?

What other habit do you have in

your life that ought to be the

priority over this experience?

I mean, if you can give it to

me, I'd love to listen to it.

I mean, listen, if you're Sunday

mornings, you're tied up because

you're going into nursing homes and

you're washing feet of older people

who can't come out, and you're

preaching the word to them, then you're

actually secretly still doing church.

Sorry about that.

Right?

That doesn't work.

But man, there's a whole bunch of us

who worship at the altar of sports

and dance, but we're not dancing

before the King of Kings, right?

We're busy doing a lot of stuff that's

so important and such a priority that we

can't make time for what's most important.

If you're a member of White

Rock Fellowship, I'm gonna

encourage you to show up.

Be apart.

If you're not a member of White

Rock Fellowship, I'm gonna encourage

you to show up and be apart.

If you're a dude walking down the

street who doesn't know Jesus, I'm gonna

encourage you to show up and be apart,

rearrange the priorities and habits

of your life to make Jesus central.

That's significant

services status serving.

How about this word Scripture?

Listen, can debate this.

You can argue this.

You can go all over the place

with a whole lot of things.

There's a billion people who are gonna

ask you different things about the Bible.

But listen, the Bible's the authoritative

word of God and we build everything

on it is the, it is the answer and the

final authority on truth and conduct, on

faith, on action as a follower of Jesus.

Church tradition.

Something you read on a TV

show or, uh, read on tv?

Can you read TV shows?

No.

You probably read a book.

Uh, you watch a TV show,

you see something online.

There's probably some great

YouTubers out there trying to

tell you It doesn't really matter.

Lemme tell you.

Check this out.

Oh wait, sorry, I forgot the question.

You guys ready?

Feel this one?

This one's probably gonna be a trick.

One member, uh, members must turn

in a monthly Bible reading report.

If members fail to complete the

assigned Bible reading, their membership

will be held in a probationary

state until set time of completion.

True.

Jamie has been pushing for

this since we got married.

Right.

Listen.

You get a gold star when you can

bring your Bible reading report in.

No, of course not.

Of course not.

It's just that if the Bible is

God's eternal living word and it's

a source of truth and hope and

direction and clarity, what else

are we reading that's so important?

What else are we doing that's so

important that God's word doesn't have a

daily priority in the way that we live?

And it's not just church members, right?

It's all of us who, who

claim to follow Christ.

The Old Testament he, the

Isaiah, the prophet says this,

the grass, it withers, right?

Unfortunately, mine's growing and I

got the mow, and that frustrates me.

But the grass withers, the flowers

are gonna drop off and die.

They're gonna fade.

But the word of our God stands forever.

And in case you missed it, Jesus

in the New Testament went ahead

and just said, Hey guys, heaven

and earth will pass away, right?

But my words will never pass away.

Here's something that's

kind of cool to think about.

One day you're gonna be standing

in eternity with the people who

said The Bible is just nonsense.

It's an old book.

It's stupid.

And do you know the only book that's

gonna be present that's gonna be read

nice and loud and everybody's gonna

be talking about is the living act

of breathing word of God, the sharper

than any two edges sword that divides

bone and marrow and pierces the heart.

And that powerful word of God is gonna

be eternal and everybody's gonna see

it and everybody's gonna know it.

And every scoffer and everyone who

challenges its authority is gonna

stand condemned and ashamed at the

power and authority of the Word of God.

And it's gonna be the case Jesus told us.

I'm telling you, don't be shocked by that.

There's gonna be a lot of

people shocked by that.

But you can claim, I read a really

good self-help book and Jesus gonna

be, they took some, took some ideas

from me, man, but they got off course

because they didn't acknowledge

me as Savior and Lord, right?

So the scripture is the foundation

of what we do and what we believe

and how we live, and it needs to

be the foundation of how you do.

If you're taking the Bible in God's

word and you're taking man's word

and you're just trying to find nice

balances between them, I mean, I'm

sorry, you're gonna have to make choices

'cause Jesus is gonna challenge you

to follow him or follow the world, but

there's no middle ground in that space.

Scripture status serving services.

How about this one?

This is a fun, big word.

Stewardship.

Stewardship.

This is my favorite question

and let's check it out.

Members are required to have a bank

account routing number on file in the

event that they miss a weekly tithe check.

Could we get a vote on this?

Maybe we could make this one true.

Anybody?

Ah, man.

Man, I wish.

No, I really don't know that.

I wish.

'cause there's weeks when Jamie's

like, wait, did you put the check in?

No.

Did you put the check in?

Then we'd be in trouble.

Right?

Pastor can't preach today.

He's on probation.

'cause he forgot to bring his

checkbook this morning and had

to get it later this afternoon.

Here's the deal.

God doesn't need your money guys.

He doesn't need your money at all.

It's gonna burn anyhow.

Right?

But he needs your heart.

And you need your faithfulness and

tithing and how we give and our resources.

See, stewardship is about not just money,

but it's about time, energy, and money.

Everything that we have.

Everything that we are.

And Jesus says, I see your heart, right?

And when you're reluctant to give with

your financial resources, your energy,

where that precious commodity of time,

you tell me exactly where you stand.

You are a living testimony to your

faith in Jesus Christ based on your

Google calendar and based on your

whatever rocket mortgage account you

got linked to your checkbook, right?

Take a look at what you value.

Take a look at what's important.

Take a look at your faith

and how you're living it out.

This is what matters in my life.

This is what I'm about.

Jesus doesn't say drain your

bank account and bring it into

the little basket in the back.

He says, be faithful with

the resources you have.

10% of everything you have needs

to come in and be returned to

me and watch what I'll do as you

trust me, walking in 90% now.

Is that a requirement here?

Of course not.

We can't force you to do that.

We've tried.

It's illegal.

We can't do it.

I'm just kidding.

Um, but listen, we only

operate on tis and offerings.

That's how we roll, right?

We don't, we don't, uh, we've been

trying to sell coffee, but we take a hit

on the coffee thing every week, right?

Like, not really.

It's, it's just about God's

people being faithful, right?

And as God's people are faithful, the

kingdom is just built and expanded

and 'cause the resources he brings in.

So if you don't do it, it's cool.

Hey, by the way too, I, nobody

really talks about this much, but

I have no idea what you guys give.

Just so you know, like I don't

have access to the accounts,

names attached to the accounts.

I get balances of how we're doing on

stuff, so I can kind of pay attention

to kinda how we're doing in general.

But like, I don't know what you give.

So you might be somebody who's been

given like 90% of your income, right?

And I'm like, dude, Jonathan,

you gotta give more man.

You gotta dig deep.

Dig deep.

And you're like, dude, I already

gave everything I have, right?

I wouldn't even know, but I

might be talking to Shannon

and be like, Shannon, man.

These jerks aren't even tithing.

And Shannon's like, we haven't

tithed since we started

working as children's pastors.

Right?

Like, who knows, right?

I don't know.

I don't know.

And I love it that way.

You know why?

'cause you can't come up to me and

leverage me and say, Hey pastor,

you should preach more on this.

Or Pastor, we should do this.

Well, that's our funder.

We gotta make the funder happy.

Try to make God happy, right?

And be accountable to him.

And we're accountable to the church

board and treasuring and how we spend

money, all those kind of things.

There's plenty of accountability,

but money, it's his.

And we give it to him and we

see what he wants to do with it.

And maybe you'll learn more

about that at our super exciting

annual business meeting.

There's a little plug coming up, right?

Hey, uh, listen, Jesus says this

in a parable that I think all of us

are secretly hoping when we think

about time, energy, and money.

At the end of the parable here in Matthew

25 21, after the servant was faithful

with what he'd been entrusted, Jesus said,

well done, good and faithful servant,

enter into your master's happiness.

His rest.

God's entrusted us with a bit

of time on this earth, a bit

of resource, a bit of energy.

What are we doing with it?

How are we living?

Are we trying to build this kingdom?

Are we trying to build our kingdom?

And what's that look like?

What's the balance of that?

Sometimes we get that outta whack.

But as followers of Jesus, forget about

church membership as followers of Jesus

Christ, being faithful with the resources

he's given us is critical stewardship,

status serving services, scripture.

And I think we'll throw one big S in here

that I think is really a key one that kind

of grabs the heart of the whole thing.

And it's this, we submit to one another in

love, out of reverence to Christ we love.

It's the defining characteristic

of a follow Jesus Christ, right?

That we love and we love and

submit to one another in love outta

reverence to Jesus because he's Lord.

And scripture says we give

preference to one another in love.

It's gonna bring up these two

little words that I thought were

kind of interesting and Rusty kinda

brought it up in his little sharing.

It's cool seats and stalls.

Uh, it's kind of funny because,

uh, I love, like, look beside you.

Um, some of you're sitting next

to people who haven't showered.

I'm just kidding.

Not really, but like,

you guys are like packed.

You guys are like packed

in here pretty tight.

And I love this because we're all

squeezed in to celebrate Jesus

and be a part of this morning.

It's fantastic, right?

Um, but I want you to know,

like as a church, we're like,

dude, how do we keep growing?

How do we keep reaching?

What does that look like?

And we don't want to go

to too service dynamic.

We don't want to have to rip the place

off of, well, we don't mind that probably,

but I don't know how that even works.

We're in a really interesting position

because we're like, we're just

shoving people in and we're piling,

but now people driving by like, what

the heck is going on in White Rock?

And they come check it out too.

So it's kind of fun.

And I like chaos, so

this is kind of my jam.

But as a member, you might be asked about

your seat or about your parking stall,

like, uh, hey, would you scoot over?

Would you make a little more room?

Would your carpool with some

friends to come to church so that

we don't turn people away And people

pull into the parking lot, drive

around and they leave 'cause they

can't even find a place to park.

'cause we already got

15 cars in the ditch.

Like there's some dynamics we're

facing and when we give preference

to one another in love, all that

stuff becomes eh, kind of irrelevant.

It's not a big deal.

Maybe an inconvenience, but we're

trying to work together for a

bigger cause and a greater cause.

And that's a picture of some practical

things we're working on together.

And so listen, this might be the

deal breaker for all you people who

are thinking about membership today.

We might ask you to try to carpool.

We might ask you to scoot over and

give up your favorite cushiony seat for

another friend to squeeze in next to you.

And you might be like,

Andy, that's too far.

That's where love stops, right?

I can appreciate that.

Not really.

I'm just so proud of you guys.

It's so fun to watch

you guys be like, Hey.

So we're trying to figure

it out, just so you know.

But some of that is because we're about

trying to figure out what it looks like.

To submit to one another and love

and give preference to one another.

And if we live that out constantly in

every area that makes what it looks

like to be a church member or just

part of our family hanging out with us

who's not official, we still love you.

Right?

And it's a big deal.

These are some important pieces of how

the church sometimes gets sidetracked

or lost on what it really looks like to

try to be a faithful follower of Jesus.

And if you are somebody who wants to be

a member of our church, we're gonna call

you to walk in that, all of those things.

And we'll probably also, if you don't

wanna be a member, call you to walk

in those things, because I think

Jesus calls us to that kind of action.

And it's fun to be a part of celebrating

that together and being part of a

church family that that rolls in

that kind of way to love each other.

Well, love that.

So this morning we have some

people who are gonna come join us.

Now what we do in.

Conclusion of a membership Sunday.

There are people who, uh, took the

official membership class and then

there's people who talk to me individually

and I gave them the driveway awkward

version of the official membership class.

Uh, and so if you're one of those families

or family groups, if you want to come

forward, Tom went next door and helped

get some of our, some of your kids here.

'cause we bring families up

together with their kids as a

whole group celebrating membership.

So this is gonna make it awkward

parents if your kids come up

front and you don't join them.

So if you're one of those

families, please come up here.

We're gonna have you stand across

the front as we take in official

membership here this morning.

And Thomas, please bring your

pictures and I'll explain those to me.

Just keep 'em together for a second.

Did you bring your.

There's a blood pleasure.

Oh, it'll be on the screen.

You can do it.

Yeah.

What's that?

The parking lot conversations.

You bet.

You bet.

Hey, uh, so I gotta tell you,

we did something really kind

of cool this time around.

We haven't done this before, but,

um, Hey, Thomas, where are you at?

You over this side?

I gotta, I gotta, where have you do this?

You wanna just hold yours?

Alright, I'll let you hold that one.

Okay.

So Megan couldn't be here today.

So we worked, we worked this through the

church board and her picture is here.

And also, here we go.

You guys are gonna be holding babies soon.

Can you hold the picture

for me real quick?

And that is the shelling

family who's out of town today.

But they were like, we waited

two years for you to get around

to one of these meetings.

Again.

Please let us in the group.

So we're going to, as a church

board, we're like, you know what,

pictures can be valid, right?

They're worth a thousand words.

And then maybe next Sunday or two,

we'll grab the whole Mackey family

and the whole shelling family and

pray over them here in the conclusion

of our time together as, as members.

But you guys, um.

Here's what's funny.

I love this, right?

Some of you guys have been around a long

time with us and feel like you're family.

Some of you're newer to our family.

And unfortunately for you guys,

you feel like you're family too.

Uh, you fit right in, which I don't

know if that's a compliment, but,

uh, it's really, really fun to have

you guys be a part of this time

together, of celebrating, making

a commitment to being part of this

church family, uh, for each of these

families that are represented up here.

Um, you guys have talked through your

confession of Jesus as Lord and savior of

your life and acknowledge that publicly.

And, uh, some of you were dripping

wet just a few minutes ago on

this stage, I feel like, and

baptism and that was super cool.

But, uh, we're excited to welcome

you guys in as people who wanna make

a commitment to help serve and love

and be a part of what we're doing.

So thank you guys for

being willing to do that.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

I actually wanted to say

something really quick.

I don't know why we've never used it as

the church family verse, but, um, in, uh,

one Peter two nine and it talks about a

peculiar people and, um, but I do love

our White Rock family and the things that

I heard in the worship songs today, um,

we're talking about God being holy and set

apart and or set apart is what holy is.

And that's what, when we're his

kids, we look different to the

world and we are a peculiar people.

And I do feel like White Rock resembles

that sometimes more than others, but,

um, but also the theme prepare the way.

And we're living in some crazy days

right now, guys with a lot of brokenness.

And we are to be the people

that show the way and show.

Um, how, how God wants us

to handle what comes at us.

So, um, that was in my head and yeah.

Fantastic.

Before we start the next part.

Fantastic, fantastic.

She married a peculiar guy, so

that's probably our vice versa.

Home too.

I did.

Well, something special that we like to

do as we close together this morning.

Uh, we're gonna go through the

10 pillars of this love pledge

that we have at White Rock.

If you've been a part of membership

before, we have this posted out by our

coffee board, our coffee wall, coffee

on the wall board, something like that.

And these 10 things are just

kind of some principles.

We try to live out love

in the way that we engage.

And so Jamie's gonna read through those.

And, uh, at the close of that, we're

gonna invite you to come join these

people up here and pray over 'em

and, uh, get you onto the exciting

annual meeting that's coming soon.

Okay?

All right.

Number one, I accept you as you are.

There's nothing that you have done or

will do that will make me stop loving you.

Number two, I will not sit in judgment

of you, whatever I hear about you.

Number three, I will not judge your

motives, whatever appearances may seem

believing the best about you always.

Number four, I will not say

anything unkind about you anytime,

anywhere, nor will I listen to

others speaking unkindly about you.

You can count on my full support.

Number five, I will endeavor to become a

more open person, disclosing my feelings

and thoughts as well as I am able.

The degree to which I do so implies that

I cannot make it without you, that I trust

you with my needs and that I need you.

Number six, I may not always agree with

your action or thinking, but I will

love you as a person and will not be

offended when we may differ over ideas.

Number seven, even as I desire to be

known and understood by you, I covenant

to be sensitive to you and your needs.

I will try to hear you, see you and

feel where you are to draw you outta

your pit of discouragement and withdraw.

Number eight, whenever a problem

develops, I will endeavor to initiate

constructive dialogue with you that

we may understand each other and not

let our relationship become clouded.

Number nine, I covenant to pray for

you, our church and our church board

in some regular manner, believing that

our Lord desires his people to pray for

one another, bury each other's burdens,

and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

Number 10, desiring to build a fellowship

of love at White Rock Fellowship.

I pledge to do my best with God's

help to be the loving person

to you that God wants me to be.

I will do all that I can to

hold you up in affirming love.

I will tell you often that

I love you beginning now.

Yep.

We love you guys and we love all of you.

And you guys do an incredible

job of trying to live out love.

These 10 principles aren't easy in

practice all the time, and we don't

always get 'em perfect, but we strive

to be people who genuinely love in

the way that Jesus called us to love.

And that's always been the DNA and the

heartbeat of how we roll as a church.

And I think it overcomes and it

fights through a lot of stuff that

the enemy does and wants to do.

'cause here's the secret

truth behind it all.

Love is more powerful than evil and

it's more powerful than the enemy.

And when we walk in that and don't

get sidetracked and there is nothing

greater, greater is he that is in

me than he that is in the world.

So we are super excited for you

families who are joining us here today.

We love all of you guys.

Uh, now all of a sudden we're

gonna look at you different

'cause of your new status.

Just kidding.

Not really.

And please forgive me if I forget

you joined next year when I'm like,

Hey, did you guys do membership yet?

Because it's very meaningful to me.

No, I love, I love that you guys have

been willing to sit through a really

exciting class as well as just be

willing to stand before your friends

here at White Rock and, and make a

commitment to being part of this family.

So thank you.

That's a really special thing.

I wanna invite the whole church to come up

as you want to, and we're gonna surround

these guys and we're gonna lay hands on

each other and pray for each other, Jamie.

And I'll, we'll all just close

this in prayer as we do that.

And, uh,

All right.

So no, uh, no, no pressure

and no weird stuff.

Just, uh, the Bible says we're to lay

hands on one another and pray for one

another, and we want to do that together.

And if you didn't make it all the

way up here, that's totally great.

No worries.

Uh, just wherever you're at, join

me, if you would, and praying, uh, a

blessing over these families and thanking

the Lord for all of his goodness.

Here we go.

Father, thank you so much, just

for your incredible love for us and

this really awesome church family.

Uh, just Jamie and I are so blessed

to just get to be a part of it

and, uh, God, just so thankful for

how well, uh, everybody here just

strives to try to walk in love.

And Lord, thank you that even when

our flesh gets in the way and we

run into struggles with sin or just

personality things and we just, Lord,

we're just people, thank you Lord,

that, uh, the depth of relationship

that we have with you and how that

translates with our relationship.

Between each other here, Lord, that we're

able to walk through all those things

and find hope and life and joy and stay

on mission for what you've called us to.

God thank you for these families who've

stood up here before this congregation

today, making clear their intent to commit

to being part of this church family.

Not at all for some status or some extra

tear of spiritual, uh, just alignment with

you, but rather Lord, a faithfulness to

say, I wanna serve and I want to help,

and I wanna be a good steward, and I wanna

lock into the truth of your word, Lord.

And I want to be a part of what's

going on and bring who I am to

this family and to this body.

And so God, I pray for each of

these families that, uh, you would

help them find amazing fulfillment

and purpose and joy in serving.

In ways that they get to connect

and experience using their gifts

in ministry to the body of Christ.

And Lord, I pray that they would

feel incredible love and belonging,

Lord, that they would find just a

cool sense of family here for them.

Um, that's eternal.

Thank you so much, Jesus, that you invite

us into relationship, that we can confess

or sin to you, and that we can repent and

that you make our hearts clean before you.

And God, please help us to continue

to chase after you as Lord and Savior.

And Lord, thank you that we're able

to love because you first loved us.

And help us just demonstrate that in

all the actions and attitudes of our

heart in this day and in the week ahead.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.