Vision Sunday // Ps. Jamie Corcoran

It is, of course, Vision Sunday, which

is where we take a moment twice a year

to celebrate some things God is doing,

to contemplate some things God's about

to do, and to share a little bit of the

passion and the motivation for why we do

what we do as a church. If you're here

or one of our locations and you're not

at Christ, this is a great Sunday for

you to be here. Why? Because you might

have questions like, who are these

people and what ARE THEY DOING AND WHERE

ARE THEY GOING? WELL, THIS IS the Sunday

where we try to answer some of those

questions. Now, we kicked off today with

an opener playing a song called Dream On

by none other than Aerosmith. Uh, story

goes that Steven Tyler was inspired to

write that song when as a young

13-year-old boy under his father's

piano. His father was actually a

classical penis, everybody. Fun fact,

uh, he was inspired to dream on for

himself. And in the bridge, the lyrics

go, "Sing with me." Come on. number is

it? Sing for the year. Sing for the

laughter. Sing for the tear. Sing it

with me. If it's just for today, maybe

tomorrow the good Lord will take you

away. It sounds very Irish, isn't it?

It's very like pessimistic and

optimistic and oh, God's going to take

us away. It's kind of mad, but I love it

because what it captures in the tent

this idea that we should not take our

lives for granted. We should not take

this moment for granted because nothing

is guaranteed. And in essence, as human

beings, if we don't have the ability to

dream on, then are we even living? This

isn't just true of our lives

individually, but it's especially true

of our church. Why? Because there's a

difference between daydreamers and

visionaries. Daydreamers are people who

can see the future, they just don't do

anything about it. Whereas visionaries

see the future and are committed and

serious enough to make that future a

reality. Here's the truth. Every church

has a past. But not every church has a

future. Every church that ever existed

has a story of who founded it, who

prayed into existence, who served, who

sacrificed, who went, who came, who

paid, who donated, who gave. BUT THAT

DOESN'T MEAN THAT CHURCH NECESSARILY has

a future. What guarantees whether a

church has a future is if a church has

vision. I want to tell you something

church. We are a church that has vision.

We're a church of vision. What I mean by

vision? What I mean what the word says

that we can see. In fact, one author

said vision can be defined as a picture

of a preferred future that creates

passion in people. Like we see something

that is not and that it can and should

be. And when we contemplate and dream

and CONSIDER WHAT'S POSSIBLE, THAT MAKES

US FEEL PASSION. Passion is fuel that

moves us to act. When we think about our

church, man, we have so much passion and

so much vision for our future. We see a

church that is lifegiving.

>> You go, what does lifegiving mean? Well,

lifegiving is the opposite OF LIFE

SUCKING. YOU EVER BEEN TO A LIFE SUCKING

CHURCH? Like you're kind of like in a

midmood kind of day and you're not

exactly happy or sad, but you go to

church AND RATHER THAN BEING UPLIFTED OR

ENCOURAGED OR INSPIRED, YOU'RE BEATEN

DOWN AND YOU'RE GROUNDED OUT AND YOU'RE

DEPRESSED AND YOU COME OUT OF THE CHURCH

FEELING WORSE THAN WHEN YOU WENT IN.

That's a life-sucking church. Some of US

HAVE LIFE SUCKING FRIENDS. It's like we

have good news, we have a win, we have a

victory, we have a STORY TO TELL, AND WE

GET ON THAT ONE FRIEND, negative Nancy.

AND NEGATIVE NANCY JUST HAS THE TALENT

OF SUCKING all the life and energy out

of us. In fact, if you don't know a

negative Nancy, maybe you are the

negative Nancy in your world. Beware,

like these churches that, and I guess

the meme, I'm not church bashing. I'm

just saying that the kind of church we

want to be is a church where when people

come into this place, the faith in the

room caused them to rise. There's

something about the supernatural

presence of King Jesus that makes us

believe makes us believe that the

impossible can be possible. We want to

be a church that inspires, that

encourages, that brings hope, that

brings life and brings healing. We also

want to be a church that isn't just

about a Sunday service, but a church

that is living out our faith together in

community. That we're friends. Not that

we're friends everybody because the

church is too big for that, but that

we're connected to one another in

friendship. That we're living out our

faith midweek in community. That we have

meaningful lasting relationships that

will shape our lives and maybe even the

lives of our children and grandchildren.

Speaking of children, we are a church

that is dedicated to the next

generation. We're not a church for adult

people or, you know, uh, people who are

of a certain age or place in life. We're

a church for all generations. Whether

you're old, which is up to you to

decide. I'm not going to call you old.

You call yourself old. Um, I don't think

you're old, by the way. I think you look

great. But maybe you think you're old.

Anyway, if you're old according to your

standard, if you're old, our church is

for you. You might just need need some

earplugs. Um, but also our young adults,

our youth, our kids. We want to be a

church that will have all generations

present who love God, serve God, and are

growing up in their extraordinary

purpose. We want to be a church that is

serious about making an impact in our

local communities in Dublin, DAC, Navan,

and all the places we're going to go in

the future. We want our community to

know that we love the place where God

has put us. We want to be a positive

agent of change. We care about the

people in the place we live. AND IF, GOD

FORBID, WE WERE EVER TO SHUT our doors,

my hope is that we would be such an

integral part of every community where

we exist, that our communities would

mourn our loss, that our communities

would fight for us because we play such

an important part community. I see a

church where one day not only make a

difference locally and nationally, but

even internationally beyond the wild

shores of our we little island that God

would use our little church to inspire

the extraordinary beyond these shores to

the nations of the world. I see a church

that is known not for our brand or our

aesthetic or our excellence, but it's

known for our generosity that people get

around us, man, these people, these

lighthouse people, they're kind of

crazy. They're so generous. They're

always sacrificing, always leaning,

always wanting to be last in line and

first to give. I see a church that

honors the name Jesus and advances the

kingdom in Ireland and beyond. A group

of ordinary people called to an

extraordinary purpose of Christ. That's

the kind of church we are. We are a

people of purpose and we are a people

for purpose. Meaning, we're not

satisfied to sit and just accept the

fact, oh, God loves me. GOD'S CALLED ME.

WE'RE AN ACTION CHURCH. WE'RE A verb

church. We're a doing church. We're not

a sitting observing church. We're a get

up and take action, take responsibility

participatory church. We're a people who

are serious of the things of God and are

committed to his plans and purposes on

the earth. We uh summarize our vision

like I said as being a church that's

devoted to the extraordinary purpose

that we are all just ordinary people.

There's nothing special about you or me,

especially me. Uh, but when we

collectively come together and pull our

energy and pull our passion and pull our

our whatever we have to offer and say,

you know what, I want to make an impact.

When we all begin to live in and live

out our extraordinary purpose, that's

when this thing begins to take off. Now,

the truth is this church was not always

that way. myself, my wife, and my

nine-month-old son at the time, uh, were

invited to quit our jobs, to uproot our

lives, to leave Carlo, my beloved town

of Carlo, always in my heart, but far

from me physically, and to move to a

place never been, Naven County, me, with

a view to starting what is now

Lighthouse Church. Here's a photo of

what life looked like in June 2008. Yes,

I know. My wife is clearly born of some

fairies or something cuz she never looks

old. It's crazy. Um, I on the other hand

look like I've been in ministry of 19

years. The years have not been kind. Um,

now I look at this photograph, I see a

young, naive, foolish, willing woman and

her amazing husband. Um, who of course

being the great leader that he is, it's

like we shall go. [snorts] But like we

didn't have the clarity we have now.

Now, I mean, not that we have all the

clarity, but we certainly have more

clarity now than we had then. I couldn't

articulate then what I can articulate

now. I just knew that God had called us

and the price of admission for this

calling was surrender and sacrifice that

we had a choice to commit to our own

plans, our own security, our own future,

our own self agrandisement or to forfeit

all that, put it all in the honor, say

Lord, not our will but your will be

done. And we kind of fell through the

years trying to figure out, man, what

kind of church do we want to be? You

fast the clock all these years later.

Here's a photo of the boys now. Went

from one to four. Our four sons and most

of you AWARE THAT TOMORROW MORNING WE

ARE HAVING OUR FIFTH CHILD NUMBER FIVE.

THAT'S RIGHT.

So pray for me. You all I do all the

heavy lifting as you know. So I need I

need the support and prayer. Uh my wife

is actually here in this service. Um so

yeah. So tomorrow we go in. We're going

to be inducted, whatever that means. And

uh by mid-after afternoon tomorrow, we

should HAVE A BABY GIRL. CORKRAN

[screaming] NUMBER SEVEN.

We're not here to take part. We're here

to take over literally. Um and so, you

know, we have not just come to this

church, we have lived our lives in this

church. We have raised our families in

this church. We have given our lives to

this church. And we have watched. We had

a we had a first a front row seat at the

miraculous powerful faithful hand of

God. Not only in our own lives, but in

the lives of so many other people who

too decide to hear the call, align

themselves to the vision and get serious

and be committed to the purpose of God

in this world. I can't think of a better

way to live your life and to be in the

center of God's purpose for your life

and to serve his church. Now, when I

think about when I contemplate, man, I

mean, what was it that kind of helped

make this thing positive? How are we

where we are now? It's like, well, we

didn't get more talented. We didn't

we're not brilliant people. We're not,

you know, uh, the most charismatic or

the most influential or the most

intellectual or the most what we've just

done for 19 years is just been

consistent in our devotion to God,

consistent in our commitment to God. You

see, if we're going to take seriously

this vision of being a church that that

dreams about and acts on has a vision to

to impact local communities and the

nations, then we understand the

necessity of commitment. Good

oldfashioned commitment. Now, I know

that in Ireland commitment is a curse

word. We are the most uncommitted people

in the world. Uh, in fact, right now,

people would have five kids, six dogs,

AND A MORTGAGE BEFORE THEY GET MARRIED.

I would have said, well, the first dog

was enough because it's, you know, not

just for Christmas, for life, right? Um,

but people are just so slow, so afraid,

so uncertain, so uh unwilling to commit

because it's always like if I commit to

this thing and something better passes

by or someone better PASSES BY, THEN I'M

STUCK IN MY EQUIPMENT, which is a very

sad way to live your life. always

looking over your shoulder to what's

next instead of appreciating the value

and beauty of what's now. God calls us

as his people to be committed to him,

committed to his church, and committed

to the to the mission. If we're going to

make an impact in our world, then we

can't allow the prevailing culture of

our day to be the primary shaper of our

values, of our behaviors, of our life.

We have to allow the kingdom to shape

us. The word commitment is defined in

the English dictionary as this. It is

the state or quality of being dedicated

to a cause, an activity, a person or a

goal. At its core, I love this. It is a

deliberate choice to bind oneself to a

specific course of action even when

circumstances change or difficulties

arise. I love that. like this idea I am

so devoted, so bought in, I'm so

committed, like I'm tied to it. I'm

tethered to it. LIKE I VOLUNTARILY

WILLINGLY, NO ONE'S LIKE KIDNAPPED me

and I brought, you know, I I I I HAVE

TIED MYSELF to this thing. That's how

much I believe in it. One of Ireland's

greatest mythological heroes was a guy

called Satanta, who's also called

Kucullen. And when Kucullen, legend

goes, when he was mortally wounded in

battle, I mean, he that was it, he's

going to die. rather than fleeing,

retreating home, he said TO HIS MEN,

"STRAP ME TO A TREE AND GIVE ME TWO

SWORDS." IT'S LIKE, "THAT'S MY KIND OF

GUY. IF I'M GOING TO GO OUT, I'M GOING

TO GO ON ON MY TIME, MY WAY WITH TWO

SWORDS IN MY HANDS, FIGHTING

COURAGEOUSLY TO the death." I love my

people. We're a bit mad sometimes. The

point is, the world has never seen THAT

KIND OF STRAP ME TO A TREE CHRISTIANITY.

The words that see a kind of church, a

kind of people who are so devoted, so

passionate and so COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE

OF CHRIST THAT DEATH FOR Jesus is better

than life without him

>> that when it COMES TO MY DYING HOUR,

MAN, I AM BOUND TO THIS THING. I AM TE

MY HEART IS TETHERED TO IT. IN FACT, an

article I was reading about, you know,

the the role of commitment in business

in entrepreneur.com said this commitment

is the foundational

driver of achieving great things. This

is this article is all about like the

role equipment IN BUSINESS. OKAY?

BECAUSE WATCH THIS. IT ACTS EQUIPMENT

ACTS AS A BRIDGE between raw intention

and actual execution. While inspiration

can spark an idea and goals can point

the way, unwavering commitment is what

ensures you show up to do the necessary

hard work consistently,

even when the initial excitement fades.

19 years in, there were times when I was

excited. There were times when I was not

excited. There were times when things

were going great. There were more times

things were not growing great. There

were moments of winds and high places

and victories and there are many days,

weeks, months and years of suffering and

trial and tribulation and devastation

and things not going accord to plan and

things being hard and things not working

out and things just being always so

difficult. But I realized 90 years later

is that what we did as a family and what

we've invited others to do and what so

many are doing now in our church is we

said we can't change those things. All

we can do is make a choice that we are

tethered to this thing and we're

committed to it. You see, if we're going

to make a lasting impact, whether it be

in a family, a marriage, a relationship,

whether it be as a business, or in the

kingdom, impact, lasting impact requires

commitment. This isn't just true of

culture. It's also true of scripture.

One of my favorite characters in the Old

Testament is a character called Joshua.

I was so inspired by this man called

Joshua. and his legacy that I named my

first son, Joshua. I loved him because

he isn't necessarily always celebrated

as one of the greats in the Old

Testament, Moses and King David and all

these guys, but Joshua in his own right,

I believe, was a was a really

inspirational follower of God because he

was serious about his commitment. In

chapter one, we're told that Moses has

died. He was the lead the big the big

guy, the famous guy, and Joshua stepped

into his place. And Joshua now is on the

precipice. He's about to cross over into

the promised land and take possession of

the vision that God had gave them. The

problem was they were outnumbered. They

were underresourced. They were uh

undertrained. They were tired of 40

years wandering in a w in the

wilderness. And all they really had was

a word from the Lord. And so Josh

thinking, God, I need something. I need

a pep talk. I need a life hack. I need a

17-point plan. I need A STRATEGY. LIKE

GIVE ME SOMETHING AS WE OFTEN PRAY. GOD,

I I need confirmation. Oh, oh, thank

you. I need another confirmation for the

confirmation. Like, if you would just

show me how this all going to work out,

then maybe I'd feel more comfortable

stepping out. Like, God, if you could

just, you know, just somehow like pro if

you could send the angel Gabriel to tell

me personally, then maybe I would be

more comfortable. And God's like, here's

what I'm going to give you, my word. And

here's the word to Joshua. Be strong and

very courageous. It's very encouraging.

You're standing in front of a nation of

people who are bigger than you and

larger than you and more equipped than

you and better resource than you and to

go into battle. You possibly will die.

And God says, just be strong and

gracious. Cheers, God. Love that. Be

careful to obey all the law my servant

Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to

the right to the left that you may be

successful wherever you go. Keep this

book of the law always in your lips.

Meditate on it day and night so that you

may be careful to do everything written

in it. Then you'll be prosperous and

successful. That's twice. In verse nine,

HAVE I NOT COMMANDED YOU? This is like

when a parent says to a child, HOW MANY

TIMES DO I TELL YOU TO GO WATCH IT? LIKE

HAVE I NOT COMMANDED YOU? LIKE WHY ARE

YOU STILL HERE? Be strong and

courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be

discouraged because even though the

vision seems impossible and even though

the odds seem insurmountable and even

though you think you don't have what IT

TAKES AND ACTUALLY YOU DON'T have what

it takes, if you stay close to me, if

you trust me, if you stay committed and

serious to me and my plan, I will be

with you wherever you go. Now, I can

remember many years ago when we decided

that this was God calling us to start

this church. Uh, I gathered my wife's

family, which is my parents-in-law who

are here today, and my brother-in-law

Crick, Christopher, and my

sister-in-law, and we had this moment

where we opened God's word, and I kind

of said, "Listen, I think God's calling

all of us to uh uproot our lives, leave

our jobs, leave the comfort of what we

know, and all of us move to Navan to

hopefully start this thing that I don't

really know what it is, but we sense God

is in it." And uh, we had this crazy

moment. We're in the living room, and

we're sharing scripture, and you know,

the the the ethos of this verse is

flowing through our conversation. and we

all went away separately and prayed and

came back and decided that actually God

was indeed speaking to all of us. So

three of us, three families up our lives

and moved here in the summer of 2008. I

moved in May. I was first to come. Of

course, May was a great month to move uh

to start a church. It was May 2008, the

month and the year of the global

recession. My timing is amazing. Hence

why I have a 19-year-old, 13-year-old,

12-year-old, 5-year-old, and zero-y old.

Um, nonetheless, I was like, well, you

know what? There's never a good time to

do a thing, but if God's in it, God's in

it. And the point is, we actually acted.

We acted. We took steps. He said, you

know what? This is more than a verse.

This is direction for our lives. As I

think about the last 19 years, I realize

that when we're consistent,

you have to be the best, the brightest,

the most brilliant, the most perfect,

the most faithful. I I'm none of those

things. I I'm chief amongst sinners.

Screw up all the time. Get it wrong more

than I get it right. What what qualifies

our impact isn't our brilliance.

It's our obedience that's consistent.

When our when we have consistent

commitment over time, there's always a

kingdomhonoring and godly consequence.

Consistent commitment over time always

brings about a godly consequence. Let me

just take a moment, shift gears, turn a

corner, and give you some of the things

that have happened this year. some of

the the really great consequences of our

consistency in 2026. Now, every Monday

when we do like our staff meetings, one

of the first things when we do many

things, we we'll talk about how Sunday

went. We'll review it. We'll talk about

the week, connect groups, we'll talk

about individuals who need prayer, we

pray for you, we'll talk about pastoral

issues in the church and who needs

support or who needs meals or who needs

visitations and all those things. But

the very first thing we start with every

Monday is we talk about wins. Now, the

reason why we do this because I don't

know if you noticed that we live in

Ireland. And Ireland most of the time is

miserable. The weather's miserable. The

people are miserable. The economy is

miserable. Electricity bill makes you

feel miserable. Go for dinner, IT'S

MISERABLE. MCDONALD'S USED TO BE LIKE

THE PLACE YOU WENT FOR cheap food. Now

you need a loan. You like a miniature

loan from Bank of Ireland to feed your

kids some Big Macs. Like it's just a we

live in a very difficult place at a very

difficult time. And so what can make

that worse? being a CHRISTIAN IN SUCH a

place. I MEAN LIKE NOT ONLY IS IT

DIFFICULT BUT ACTUALLY I LOVE JESUS AND

I COME INTO the church like oh you are

insane. And so when we would have these

meetings like it would it end up

becoming a pity party. So I was like man

we need to like drive some lifegiving

like come on like some momentous thing.

So I just start open MEETINGS BY GOING

LET'S JUST START OFF BY TALKING ABOUT

WHAT'S WORKING.

WHAT'S POSITIVE? ANYBODY HERE BREATHING?

[applause]

WE'RE BREATHING. WOO.

ANYONE HERE HUNGRY?

YEAH. [screaming] AND WE JUST WOULD MAKE

UP THESE WEIRD THINGS. WE'D ALWAYS CLAP

AND I WAS TRYING TO change the culture

of our team. And years later, what I've

realized is what began as a cultural

behavioral uh change has actually become

a huge part of how we operate as a

church. BECAUSE WHEN YOU ACTUALLY STOP,

it turns out, and take stock as to all

the things God has done and is doing in

our lives, it radically transforms your

perspective because God is doing so many

things. In March this year, for example,

we felt like God was leading us as a

church to open our fourth location. And

so, in March 2026, we launched our North

Dublin location. Come on, Pastor Gift,

Caroline, Pastor Josh, and Leah, all the

team. Now, again, I don't know if you

noticed, BUT IT'S NOT LIKE THE normal

thing in Ireland is people are opening

churches. It doesn't happen. But we felt

like God is saying that he wants us to

inspire the extraord beyond our three

locations and to go to a fourth. And so,

we we plan and we prayed and we'd fund

raise and all the things. Uh the only

problem was we couldn't find a venue.

How many remember we were supposed to

launch in Swords? Remember that? Yeah.

Well, that didn't happen. Um, so our

plan was going swords, but swords

wouldn't open the door to us. We spent

months and months and months trying

knocking doors, renting anything. I

mean, we would have taken a caravan, but

no one would open up to us. And so,

seven days before launch, we're now

wondering what do we do? Do we cancel?

Do we postpone? Do we What do we do? We

can't market, we can't tell the world,

we can't invite people. LIKE, COME TO

OUR CHURCH LAUNCHING next Sunday

somewhere. I mean, it's just not going

to work. And so, we prayed. felt like

God said, "We're going to launch this

church by faith." And so, four or five

days before launch, we found a venue

last minute, the uh IMC and Santry and

the team spent like the like the day

before unbox equipment for the very

first time prepping and soundchecking.

And then Sunday morning came and I was

like, I wonder who's going to come to

this church that we told no one about

because we couldn't market or invite

people. And I was blown away at God's

favors when around 200 people showed up

for the very first Sunday of North. It

was amazing. [applause]

And more than that, in the weeks and

months since then, to hear the stories

and meet the people and already see the

life change for most of July, h I was

off uh on holidays, but we were here

doing what's called a station. I

definitely do not recommend it. Never do

a station. It's the worst. That's for

free. AND WHILE I WAS on my vacation, we

decided to go to our North Dublin

location on Sundays. And my oldest son

serves there. He's part of the team. And

so we're just there. And it was just

amazing to see the people, the love, the

culture, the the faith, the the

generosity, sacrifice. And in fact,

during that time, we also got told that

there was a journalist going to come

from the journal. one of Ireland's

leading conservative Christian centric

newspapers, not opposite of and do an

article on us. So we're like, "Oh my

gosh, here's how this whole thing ends."

And would you believe this wonderful

reporter came and did a great job

reported for a change and uh and

actually gave our church such a great

glowing uh report on who we are.

Basically, he was like, "Man, this

thing's like the church is alive and in

cinemas. Who knew?" and you can find

online. And it was so amazing to see how

the world sees us and how this, you

know, person been to a Christian church

before can come in and be so moved or

impacted by the genuine love, faith, and

commitment that we have to our church.

So, we're so grateful to God for North

Dublin. We're so grateful for the last

six months. We cannot wait to see how

this church grows, develops over the

years. And just be aware, we're already

talking about and praying into location

number five. So coming to you in

division Sunday not so far from now we

will be LAUNCHING LOCATION NUMBER FIVE

EVERYBODY

[applause]

talking about next generation a huge

part of our perhaps the the most

important event that we do outreach that

we do in the year is our kids fun week

across our four locations the first week

of July we open up the doors of various

community centers say hey if you got

kids come we charge a very reduced rate

I think it's like 15 euro something like

that for kids to come for five days.

There's fun, there's games, activities,

all this stuff. And really, what we're

trying to say is these young kid

generation

of kids if they just get in their heart

that Jesus loves them. When you find

yourself in your darkest day, when you

find yourself at the at the maybe the

door of self-destruction, when you find

yourself lost addiction, never forget

this truth. Jesus loves you. And we had

over 400 kids across all four locations.

Come on, show up to fun week. [applause]

And I want to tell you something. I am

so proud of our kids team. Our kids team

across all locations are the most

incredible people. Their devotion, their

sacrifice, their joy, how they hustled,

how they grafted, how they responded,

how they were flexible. I mean just and

then and then when all that's happening

in the background whenever it comes to

the kids they're so present and so

engaged and and just love these kids so

much. When you GIVE A MASSIVE BULL BUS

COME ON TO ALL OF OUR kids workers you

guys are the best. We love you and your

inspiration.

Not just kids but also youth. We are a

church like I said that's committed and

values next generation. So one of the

things that we do every year is we're

part of a national youth camp called

Pulse Camp. Pulse is the largest

Christian youth camp in the Republic of

Ireland and the national youth director

actually is part of our team. Jake Sil

location is the national director for

Pulse in Ireland and this year there was

over 400 teenagers TEENAGERS FROM ALL

OVER THE COUNTRY SAID I WANT TO SPEND

FIVE DAYS WITH OTHER CHRISTIAN kids get

to know Jesus my fa his grow my faith

figure my purpose and just and just give

a week to all that. In fact, of the 400

kids who went to post from all over the

country, 111 of those came from this

church alone.

Crazy. Like a quarter of the total camp

came from our church alone. When I was

there to see our leaders and our and our

youth and just what God was doing. And

of course, two of my own kids were

there. I was like so so blown away and

so grateful for all the amazing work our

youth leaders do, for the work that

people like Jake does just to keep our

youth inspired in their extraordinary

purpose. And of course, very

importantly, uh, Lighthouse won the

Pulse Cup. So, we are the champions of

Pulse cuz we're IN IT TO WIN IT.

EVERYBODY, come on. Shifting gears, we

also talk about global missions that we

are a church that has a heart beyond our

context. And so I know for me um this is

each part of my story. I became a Christ

father because someone came from another

country and shared faith with me. That

of course is my wife and her family. Uh

also my ministry life was shaped by the

fact that I uh became friends with a

great missionary from the states pastor

Gary Davidson who became like a mentor

to me and believed in me and and and

called my extraordinary purpose out of

me. Uh my dad, my family, there's so

many interactions where you know we're

just connected to churches that value

mission. It's always been our dream and

our desire to be a church that

prioritizes making an impact and

inspired extraordinary not just in our

four locations but beyond the shores of

our island all over the world. So this

year in April we were able to send a

team to Ria Latvia. Come on somebody.

Pastor Patrick Lachland and the team did

a great job. And this is a great story

because this this beautiful couple who

had this crazy dream to plant a church

with Ark and most of you know we we we

support an organization called ARC that

helps plant new churches. And so they

had this dream to launch a lifegiving

church uh in RIA. And so they're like we

don't know what we're doing. We we've

never seen a church like this. We're so

unsure. And so I said, listen, come to

Dublin. Come to our West location. Come

be with us. See what we do. Ask

questions. Meet our leaders. We want to

bless you. We want to bless your kids. I

mean, we we blessed them with, you know,

vouchers, brought the kids to Smiths.

Like, they left with suitcases full of

love. And then we said, "We believe in

you. You can do this with God's help and

we are with you." And so, inspired by

what they saw here, they went back to

their country and launched a church like

this there, which is amazing. And then

our team got to go and see this church

in reality. All of which in part had

been birthed by them being inspired to

their extraordinary purpose by sitting

in a seat like you are today. It's

amazing. And as a church, we were able

to help them with our support through

Ark. We also sent a team this summer to

Itabuna, Brazil.

>> Yeah. So, most you know that we have a

huge heart for Brazil. I'm married into

Brazil. I am I am my my my blood is

green, but my heartbeat samba, I like to

say. Um I mean I love my potatoes but

don't fish and hoist you know race and

beans like it's it's white shoes but not

both. You know what I'm saying? Anyway,

so um we support a great church there

and uh over the years since we've

partnered with them this little church

has grown from 80 people to over 700

people which is amazing. Yeah. And every

year we set a team. They've worked with

uh kids. They've done work with

orphanages. They've reached on

community. We bring a hurl and tell

these kids you better listen or you're

dead. it works very well. Um, and uh,

and yeah, and so the team had a great

had a great time there. And I love

hearing the stories of how their people

were impacted by our people. Like again,

there's something about the faith and

the commitment and the seriousness that

our people bring to the cause of Christ

that inspires their people. This

October, we're also going to be sending

a team to East Teeour, Pastor Tama and

Mel, who we love are great missions

ground there. we support them and uh in

fact one of our own Mara was has been

there for the last six weeks helping

them and this October sending a team out

to work with them support them come

alongside them and help them in their

mission but what's super exciting

regarding east teamwork is that today is

also a very significant day because this

is the day before not just I have a baby

but we also as a church will send out

our our first ever full-time

missionaries now again if you're new let

me explain

Um, sometimes people's extraordinary

purpose is not serving in a church in

this local context. Sometimes a person's

extraordinary purpose calls them halfway

across the world to go and serve a

people that don't know a language they

don't speak and to be a visible

manifestation of the love of Christ in

their context. Like I said, my life has

been indelibly marked by so many

churches and leaders and missionaries

who came to Ireland and made me see that

God loves Ireland. And so, it's always

been a dream of ours to be a church that

could reciprocate that and be a to send

someone out on our behalf as our

missionaries as the visible extension of

the love of Christ demonstrated

somewhere in the far reaches of the

earth. And two years ago, I was uh asked

to have a coffee with a family who said,

"We feel like God is speaking to us

about our extraordinary purpose." I

went, "Wonderful." And they were like,

"It may seem crazy, but we feel like God

is calling us to East Teour." I said,

"Be careful now because you know who

you're talking to. This is action

church. This is verb church. You tell me

God's called you, there's two choices.

Die or go." That's the kind of person I

am. So, you sure? And they're like,

"What do we think?" So we went through

this process of like let's be sure that

the calling is accurate, a process of

testing, discerning, then a process of

training and preparing and they went

back there as their family and talking

to the you know pastor Tom on the ground

and and long story short after two years

of process and training and preparing

tomorrow night we are sending our first

full-time missionaries one-way ticket

all the way across the WORLD TO THE ENDS

OF THE EARTH to East Hemur. Come on. Can

we stand to our feet church AND WELCOME

THE LOST FAMILY.

[applause]

SO, if you never met our friends, you

can be seated. Thank you so much. Uh

this brave group of people, naive,

foolish, but brave, courageous,

committed. Um tomorrow night, what time

is your flight?

>> 8:30.

>> And where do you go? What how do you get

there? Tell us how with the flight.

What's it like?

>> Well, three flights.

>> Wow.

>> Over seven hours, 9 hours, and an hour

and a half. Wow.

>> So around 22 hours of travel.

>> Oh my gosh. And when you get there, like

because obviously we're in we're not

leaving. We're sending you. We are

sending you as our missionaries. You are

our an extension of us there. So my

question is when you get there, what are

you going to be doing? Like what is the

work you're doing with Pastor Tom and

Mel? What does that look like dayto-day?

>> Yeah. So God has been opening for the

last three years since uh Pastor Tom and

Mel are there. So many doors uh towards

serving the community. Um there's

[clears throat] projects with kids uh

like preschools, feeding the kids.

There's projects with youth. Uh there's

a church open in the village. There's

water projects. Um a lot of practical

stuff like helping with the preschools,

helping helping to equip the teachers

over there. Um helping them wash their

clothes [laughter]

and things like that. Um, another part

is a lot of house visitations, trying to

preach the gospel as to as many people

as we can. Um,

through the through the villages,

through the cities. Uh, we're going to

the hospitals praying for sick for the

sick people like at least two times a

week. Um, yeah, that's a few of the

projects that are going on now.

>> And it really is like third world. Like

you're saying that's one of the biggest

problems a lot of these centers have is

water. Like some of the villages like

the nearest water supply is seven

kilometers away. Can you imagine having

to walk seven kilometers to wash your

hands? Can you imagine how fit the Irish

would be if every time you had a cup of

tea [laughter]

had to walk seven kilometers? I mean

it's just it's mind-blowing to me. And

you guys are going there by choice.

>> You're choosing this

>> which is crazy. Why?

>> Because we feel God is calling us. And

when you feel God is calling you, you

can't really I mean you can, but you

don't want to live a life outside God's

calling.

At least we don't want to do that.

>> So good. [applause]

>> And um so what can we pray for you guys

for?

>> Well, of course, going there the first

few months is going to be a lot of

settling in um finding a house. Um since

last year that we've been there,

everything went up. Same as in Ireland.

So, our budgets are going over. Uh,

rent, school for kids. That's the main

two things that we need to focus on as

as soon as we get there. Find a home.

Um, find a good school and yeah,

vehicle, things like that, practical

stuff that you need when you're on the

ground. You need to be able to move

around because otherwise you're not very

helpful.

>> No. Exactly. Well, you guys are an

inspiration to us. your commitment to

God's extraordinary purpose, meaning

you've quit your jobs, give up your

house, sold your vehicles, cashed in,

everything is in the pot, go to East

Hima with you uh to go and serve there.

It just blows my mind and you are to me

what this is all about that when people

stand up and take seriously their

calling, let's just watch what the Lord

does. So, we want to say to you,

Florent, Elena, and kids, we are sending

you. You are our family. You're an

extension of us there. We will keep you

in our hearts. We'll remember you in our

prayers. And whenever you feel like

through geography that you're

disconnected, know that we're always

just a phone call away. And if you ever

get in a fight, you can phone me. I'll

be there. Swords in hand, drop a tree.

Amen. Let's let's uh if you feel

comfort, extend your hands. We're going

to pray for this family to scoot forward

again, guys. We're going to pray for you

and we're going to commission and send

you out as our missionary. So, heavenly

father, we just thank you

for this family, Lord, who stand here

before you not as anyone or anything

special in their own right. There's

nothing particularly brilliant or

noteworthy or noble um or uh

distinguishing about them that would

make them worthy of this calling. It's

all about the fact that you love them

and you have called them extra them to

an extraordinary purpose just like all

of us. Why we celebrate them is because

they have decided to take seriously

their commitment and act upon that

calling and deciding to sell everything

they have and move halfway across the

world to be a visible demonstration

expression the love of Christ. We bless

them in the name of Jesus. We pray your

protection. We pray your provision. We

pray unity in their marriage and family.

We pray you would go before them as they

are strong and courageous that you would

be with them and that they will be

prosperous and successful. That God

you'd open every door needs to be open

and shut, every door needs to be shut,

that you would bless them with uh

vehicles and rent and schools, all the

things that Elena mentioned. You will

provide generously. And we ask God that

on their most difficult and darkest day,

they would know they are loved. They

have a family here in Ireland who are

with them, who support them, who think

about them, who stand with them in

prayer, and who are so proud of them in

the great work that they do. We pray the

ancient prayer of St. Patrick that

Christ will go before them, Christ

behind them, Christ to their left and

Christ to the right, Christ beneath

them, Christ above them, Christ in the

eye of everyone who sees them, Christ in

the ear of everyone who hears him,

Christ in the heart of everyone who

thinks of them. Christ be their shield

now and forever more. It's in the strong

and mighty name of Jesus we pray and say

amen. One more time for the losses

everybody. Thank you guys. God bless

you.

Now if you want to track their journey,

you can take a photo right now. Here is

their Instagram handle. So they're going

to be updating us with photographs and

videos. So as they're doing their thing

and we're doing our thing, we can at

least keep tabs and stay in touch with

the work there. And if you decide you

want to support them financially, you

can also take a photo of this phone

number and get in contact with them.

They'd love to talk to you and answer

any questions you have. I have a daring

request of you and that is this. Their

monthly budget is €2500 a month. That's

what it takes to keep them all up there

going and growing and being a a

blessing. They're currently €400 short a

month on being fully funded. Here's my

question. house church. Is it possible

that by the time they get on their first

flight tomorrow night, they leave this

island fully funded by this church? Now,

there'd be a number of people right now

who are feeling that the Holy Spirit

knows saying, "I can give a hundred a

month. I can give 50 a month. I can give

10 a month. Heck, I can give the full

400 a month." Like, I'm just trusting

that if God puts that on your heart, why

not reach out to them? Let's make sure

tomorrow night when they leave they're

fully funded as our missionaries

representing our church, the extension

of our heart to that place and that

people in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Brilliant. Okay. Last but not least, our

local church. Let's talk about the uh

the home front. Uh one of the things

that is important to us, we don't always

talk about because we're not obsessed by

it, but is important is church growth.

If we're going to be a church that truly

makes an impact in this country, then we

must be a church that is growing. Now,

in church world, most churches sadly are

in rapid decline worldwide. Um, if a

church is growing be by up to 10%, that

is considered to be massive growth in

the church world. If you have a business

and you're turning over 10% profit every

year, that's a good year. 10% is a great

healthy rate of growth. But would you

believe in the last 12 months,

Lighthouse Church has not grown by 10%.

Or 20%.

Or 30%.

We've not grown at all. Only joking.

We've grown by 43.4%.

Which is unbelievable

IN THIS PLACE AT THIS TIME WITH THINGS

BEING THE WAY THEY ARE WITH PEOPLE

TRYING TO SAY THINGS LIKE THE CHURCH IS

DEAD. IT HAS NO RELEVANCE. IT HAS NO

VOICE. Jesus is an old story that needs

TO BE FORGOTTEN. IN OUR CHURCH, WE SELL

a different story. Jesus lives. Jesus

loves. Jesus liberates. And Jesus

WORKING IN ORDINARY PEOPLE'S LIVES to

accomplish extraordinary purpose. AND SO

IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE NEW 43.4%

FRAG, YOU'RE SO VERY WELCOME TO THIS

CLAN, THIS FAMILY. WE'RE DELIGHTED.

You're part of it. If you feel it, MAN,

I DON'T FIT. I'M NOT GREAT. THIS IS A

CHURCH FOR the misfits. Nobody's perfect

and anything is possible. We give glory

to GOD FOR THE GROWTH. ALSO, part of

this is that we are passionate about and

prioritize as a church new people. Our

church isn't just for us. Our church is

also for those who are yet to hear the

good news about Jesus. So everything

about what we do, there's a massive

intentionality in trying to remove all

obstacles and make the message of Jesus

as accessible as we possibly can. And so

we prioritize, we pray, we invite, we

encourage, you bring friends, we try to

earn your trust that when you invite

someone, we're not going to go off the

deep end and do some mad things like we

take very seriously the fact that new

people want to come to church. And if

you're new, you're especially welcome.

We're glad you're here. Would you

believe in the last year 2,37

new people have come to the doors of our

four locations. That's amazing. Come on.

Even more impressive is of the 2,1,732

people spoke to our next steps team,

filled out connect card, took their next

step in their faith journey. And of that

number, over 200 people made a

commitment or a recent to follow Jesus.

[applause and cheering]

Now, that's wonderful. But the thing

that I love is I love baptisms because

it's one thing to say to yourself or to

a leader to a friend or to a connect

group leader I follow Jesus. BUT WHEN

YOU HAVE TO tell the world through

baptism that I am made for more. I am

committed to the cause of Christ. I am

serious about the vision that God has

for my life. And you invite your friends

and family. I just love the power of

someone's testimony in baptism. I

remember when I got baptized. I was

baptized some you know my story. It was

a very busy week. I got my leaving start

results on a Tuesday. I got baptized on

a Wednesday and I got married on a

Thursday. I was 18 years old just on my

leaving LIKE TWO MONTHS AFTER leaving I

was married. Why? I'm a serious man. I

saw a woman and said she's mine for the

rest of her life. I don't care what she

thinks. I'm making a choice for both of

us. You know what I'm saying? And so so

I remember going out to this and again

our church back then was not like this.

And so we didn't baptize the service. We

we went we went down to the Barrow River

in Bagnestown, County Carl and this

particularly frigid uh August morning uh

the guy who before me he went under the

water and the current took him. I

thought, "Wow, this is pretty intense."

You know, now the pastor rescued him.

So, he was saved twice if you think

about it. Um and I was next and I was

like, man, my family were there, you

know, watching. They're thinking, "You

are absolutely crazy." I'm like, "No, if

you knew Jesus, you'd realize you're the

ones that are crazy." Now, I accept him.

And so, I know the power of when people

say publicly, I follow Jesus. Would you

believe in the last 11 months, we've

baptized 81 people. COME ON, 81 PEOPLE

ACROSS OUR LOCATION. AND IN FACT, WE ARE

DOING ANOTHER BAPTISM SUNDAY three weeks

from now. And when we do that, we will

baptize over A HUNDRED PEOPLE IN

IRELAND.

INSANE. And so THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL

ABOUT. Life change. Ordinary people made

for more EXTRAORDINARY PURPOSE. NOW,

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN these people come and

get connected and get baptized and all

these things, but we want them to be in

connect groups, right? We want to be a

church people belong. They don't just go

to a service, but they actually have

friends and community. Well, in the next

few weeks, we're actually launching

another connect group season, and

there's something like 80 plus connect

groups for you TO CHOOSE FROM. THERE ARE

STUDY GROUPS, men's groups, women's

groups, young groups, OLD GROUPS,

FOOTBALL GROUPS, I mean, BARBECUE

GROUPS, CURRY GROUPS, somebody needs to

start like a jiu-jitsu GROUP OR

SOMETHING LIKE THERE'S ALL SORTS OF

GROUPS. AND THE point is, we can't all

know and be friends with each other, all

of us. But we can be connected to

someone. And it's a priority in our

church that we aren't just going to a

service, but that we're connected in

community. So, if you have not found

your place, let me encourage you over

the next few weeks, make a decision to

bind yourself some other people and to

be in a connect group. Now, that's my

kind of updates done. As we close, let

me go back briefly to the book of Joshua

because like I said at the beginning of

the book, Joshua is like looking at this

vision of the promised land and all the

difficulties and all the obstacles and

all the challenges and God gives him a

word and nothing else and says, "If you

trust me and follow me and are seriously

committed to the vision and go after it,

I'll be with you and you'll be

successful." Well, at the end of

Joshua's life in Josh 24:14 and 15,

Joshua 24:14

Joshua's now successfully conquered the

promised land for the most part. And

it's like his his his final speech is

send off. And they've kind of seen God

move miraculous ways. They've taken the

land, taken the ground. And then God

then Joshua says, "Look, like don't

don't take for granted what God has

done. But if you you know in your heart,

like he gives them an out. If you know

that this is too much for you, too much

sacrifice, too much to ask, then don't

do it." His words are this. Fear the

Lord and serve him with all

faithfulness. throw away the gods your

ancestors worship be beyond the

Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve

the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems

undesirable to you, if being serious and

committed to his call, to his plan, to

his purpose is not for you, so be it.

Choose for yourselves

this day whom you will serve because

we're all worshiping someone. whether

the gods your ancestors served beyond

the Euphrates are the gods of the

Amorites in whose land you're living.

And Joshua concludes and says this of

himself. But as for me and my household,

we will serve the Lord. As for me and my

household, strap me to a tree and bring

me two swords. As me and my household,

our lives exist for the glory of Jesus.

Josh saying, "After all these years, all

God has done, I'm still as passionate

and I'm still as committed to the vision

of God and his kingdom coming to the

earth as I was at the beginning."

Commitment is a deliberate choice to

bind oneself

to a specific course of action. Next

[snorts] slide, please.

Even when circumstances change or

difficulties arise, if you're someone

who's saying, "I want to be serious.

I want to step up. I want to level up in

God's call and be part of this great

story, God's redemptive story of

transforming the world. Well, we ask for

three things. We call them the three

C's. If you ever been to one of our

dream team things, you'll have heard

this three. Number one, we want you to

be devoted in community. Like I've

already mentioned, we're not a church

that is a service. We're a family. We're

a clan. We're a people with a purpose.

We're like a tribe. We're God's people

on the earth. and going to a church

service is enough. We to be committed to

each other in community. Number two, we

ask for commitment to church. You know,

there's a stat out there. It says the

average Christian now in the United

States attends church once a month.

I look at that stat and I go, how is

that possible? How can you say that the

Lord Jesus Christ has your heart, has

your soul, has your life, BUT ONLY GETS

ONE Sunday a month? What do you know,

Pastor Jamie? Work, overtime,

kids sports,

blah blah blah blah blah. Excuse,

EXCUSE, EXCUSE. GOD IS NOT INTERESTING

THE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT BE COMMITTED TO

CHURCH BECAUSE THEY'RE BUSY on Sunday.

God's looking for a serious people WHO

ARE PASSIONATE AND DEVOTED AND

SACRIFICIAL AND SAY no as FOR ME AND MY

HOUSEHOLD EVERY Sunday morning we will

be in the house OF GOD IT ISN'T LIKE THE

DAY before the beginning of the week

Sunday for a Christ is DAY ONE WE START

our week now giving glory to God

prioritizing his presence prioritizing

serving his people and building

ourselves around the preaching of his

word. Why not become serious in being

committed to his church and lead? And

especially fathers and men, I'm

challenging you right now as men. Step

up, lead your family, be here on Sunday.

And if you start doing that, why not

consider living up again and being

someone who serves? I'm always amazed at

our dream team. I look in the eyes of

our dream team and I see petrol and I

see beige and I see Mars creation. Let

me explain. Beige is boring normal.

Nothing special beige. Our people are

normal people. But I see this like pick

a mix of like popping candy and

marshmallow and dairy milk chocolate. I

go these people are amazing. I love

Marvel's creation by the way. And then I

see THIS THIS THIS FIRE IN THEIR SOUL,

this passion for God and for the lost.

And I see in them what I feel in me. I

realize, man, these are my people. This

is the kind of church I want to be part

of. Why not consider becoming one of

those people? Your life can be

characterized by petrol, beige, and

creation. Lastly, and finally, third C

is contribution.

We're not going to be able to do much if

we don't have a generation of people who

take seriously the fact that someone has

to take responsibility financially for

all this. You know, we believe as Christ

follows that Jesus teaches the word the

word teaches us that we are to return

the we don't give a tithe, we return it.

It belongs to the Lord. And beyond that,

we give offerings.

We want to be a people that honor the

Lord by returning the tithe and bring

the blessing on our families and our

households, but also go above beyond

that and be generous in offerings. When

you are thinking about budgeting, when

you're thinking about buying a house,

the first thing on your budget should

be, I honor the Lord with MY INCOME.

YOUR BANK SHOULD SAY THINGS LIKE, "WELL,

we can give you a mortgage, but you got

to stop this giving to church thing

because that's not going to work." You

go, "No, no, no. As for me and my

household, you think you think you're

giving me the money? You think Mr. Mr.

Bank of Ireland, you're my provider. You

think that my hope lies in you, Mr.

employer. You think that my wage, MY

PAYCHECK IS MY SECURITY. I AM A CHRIST

FOLLOWER.

>> He is my Lord. He is my savior. And I

honor him by returning the tithe. And

beyond that, whether it be compassion,

whether it be helping missionaries like

the Luton or wherever it is, we want to

be a generous people. Now, I understand

that we right now are living in

precarious times. The cost of living

here is through the roof. electricity is

going to go up again next week. Woohoo.

Um just to encourage you, you know, and

it's really hard and and usually for

people the first thing that goes is

they're giving to church. I want to tell

you I want to ask you to flip that

script and go know the last thing to go

is church. I remember when we went I

mean many times in my life we've been

through crisises financially and

personally. I remember a couple years

ago we were homeless and I determined

that I would rather not eat than cut

short the tithe that belongs to the

Lord. Like cut short a tithe is cutting

short my financial future because he is

my provider. What could it look like if

we as a people became seriously

committed to God's house by returning

the tithe and being generous in

offerings? If we take a step today and

level up community, commitment, and

contribution, I know for a fact where

our obedience meets God's faithfulness,

that's where the impossible happens.

Every church has a past, but not every

church has a future. We want to be a

church with a future. Today, we

determine by our action, not our

intention, our action, what kind of

future we're going to have. Sing with

me. Sing it for the year. Sing it for

the laughter. Sing it for the cheer.

Sing it now only for today. Because

maybe the good Lord tomorrow takes us

away. Let's together inspire the

extraordinary by offering up our lives

bound to Christ, better to his church,

and see this world that we live in

changed for the gospel of Jesus. Amen.