Now What - Justin McTeer

A lot of you guys got emails and heard the uh info about please be here if at all possible.

And I know there's some people out of town that couldn't be, so thanks for tuning in from home.

I I haven't really done this very often.

I've asked as many of us as possible to be here today because we're gonna talk about what it really means for us to be his hands church over the course of this next season that we're stepping into.

Many of you know this.

We are celebrating 20 years together as a church.

20 years, which is really exciting, right?

That's awesome.

If you guys wouldn't mind some participation, how many of you are 20 years old right now?

Are there any actual just you're 20, 21, a few of you, a couple hands raised, right?

Yep, okay, see you.

Well, there you go.

We are you.

We are the same as you.

Those of us who how many of you are older than 20 years old?

How about that?

Any hands in the air?

All right, thank you.

You know, in some ways, 20 years is a massive accomplishment, it really is.

And I will tell you, um, spending time with Steve, who started this church along with his wife Susan, I know how much it blesses them to see who we are today and and how their vision and what God has done here has continued and grown.

So I want to thank all of you for just everything that you've done to be part of this place.

Even if you're fairly new, fairly recent, that's fine.

20 years is a big accomplishment.

At the same time, those of us who are older, I want you to remember your 20-year-old self and how much you knew about life.

And if you would go back and ask your 20-year-old self, hey, tell me what you think life's gonna look like for you.

How different it would actually be, right?

My point is that 20 years is a huge accomplishment worth celebrating.

At the same time, 20 years is also kind of a starting point.

Because when I look back at the 20-year-old version of myself, I mean, I was a I was an adult, technically.

I was almost married.

My wife and I were engaged at the time.

We got married when I was 21, she was 20.

But I could not have fathomed all the things that God would do in my life and around my life at that point in time, and the journey that we would be on, and the children that we have, that we weren't even on our minds at the time.

And this place, we lived in Kansas City, Missouri.

I had no clue that we would be here.

I mean, there's so many things that have happened in my life that I would never have known about.

And so even though at 20, I was, you know, I was an adult.

Those of you who are 20, I'm not knocking that at all.

Like, well done.

But also, I was just starting out, right?

Most of us would look back at our 20-year-old self and see that as more of a starting point than anything, and I believe that about our church.

I think that even though we're 20 years old, you would think we have it all figured out.

We don't.

But we're trying, and we're constantly asking God, hey, what are we meant to be?

Who are we meant to be as a church?

And I think that today's a really important day because there's some shifts that we're gonna make going into this next year that I think are really important.

And I'm gonna share one of the biggest shifts right now, and it's really not some big announcement, it's more of a mentality, and it's something that I want to commit to as a pastor, and and that's that I want us to sort of pull the curtain back a little bit more and make sure that all of us understand all the things that are going on here a little bit more than we currently do.

Let me give you an example.

Um, I think because our church started as like a special reveal, Steve and Susan had this incredible vision and God gave it to them, and they had unique financial resources to make it happen.

Our church sort of started as a surprise.

It was like it this it opened.

None of us who are here were really part of making that happen.

I'm not, some of you were here in the days when this was being built, and I'm not saying like that your service wasn't big and important and your prayers, obviously, but all of us who were here in those days would know that it was kind of like two people built the church for us.

His hands was this sort of surprise gift, like here you go.

And I think in a lot of ways, we've kind of treated the church like that, not intentionally, but those of us who are on staff and in leadership are always thinking of fun, exciting things, and then we sort of like reveal them, like surprise, and then we hope you like them, and sometimes you don't, um, because that's how gifts work.

But you know the reality is you're 20 years old now.

So it's time for, I think it's time for us just to open up a little bit more and talk a little bit more freely about all the things that are happening, and for me that's a commitment to make sure that almost on a weekly basis, I want to make sure I'm sharing with you guys what the church is up to, what the church is doing, because sometimes I don't do a good job of that.

Like, for example, in the last three years, just in the last three years, did you know that his hands has given away$981,000 to people in need and organizations in need that you did that?

Did you guys know that?

That you did that.

Yeah.

And when I say his hands church did that, I mean you.

Like you.

We don't sell stuff.

We're not a business, we don't have products that we launch.

We thought about a His Hands Plus membership model.

Um, it's something that we've considered.

I think that there's some parking incentives that might be involved or something like that, you know.

But we don't sell anything.

We're not a we don't do that.

So when I say that we gave that away, you gave that away.

Those of you who give, those of you who are generous financially, and you honor God with your wealth, you honor God with your income, that's incredible.

We've given away almost, I mean, at the end of this year, it'll be over a million dollars that we have given away.

That's incredible.

And sometimes those are things that I don't, that might surprise you.

I don't talk about that a whole lot.

Uh part of that is because we're really convicted as a church that we don't want to do things for highlight videos.

It's easy sometimes in ministry to do stuff so that you can then be like, look at what we did.

And that's not we want to do.

But I think it's important for you guys to know that we do that.

Like, how many of you, and some of you do know this, a lot of you probably, how many of you know that we give 10% of everything given to us away every single month?

How many of you know that?

You're aware of that?

Okay, I know I'm asking for a show of hand.

How many of you were not aware of that?

You didn't know we do that, correct.

So one of our convictions is that in church history, 10% has been kind of a number that people often strive for, that I want to honor God with my wealth.

I'm gonna give 10%.

It's called tithing.

Tithe means tenth.

You don't have to give it a tenth, but there's a biblical principle there, and so you know, it's just been a very established sort of tradition that you try to give 10% of what God has given you back.

And it's almost like if God gave you$100, then he's like, hey, can I have 10 back?

You'd be like, ah, no, I really need that.

Right?

That'd be weird.

I mean, that's the way it works, though, right?

If I gave you$10 and I say, could I have one back?

You'd be like, no problem.

If I gave you$100 and I asked for$10 back, you'd be like, sure, if I gave you a thousand dollars that I actually can have a hundred back, you'd be like, well, you know, the more it goes up, the bigger that 10% gets.

But the idea has always been to recognize that everything that God gives us is from Him.

And we just honor Him with that.

So as a church, we don't pressure you to give 10%.

You've never heard me stand on the stage and say you gotta give 10% ever.

But we want to do that as a church.

So we give 10% of everything that God gives to us as an entity away.

Because it's like us saying, well, God, if that's something that we would encourage people to do, shouldn't we do it as well?

What would it be like if we said, well, we you should think about giving 10% away.

You should pray about that.

I mean, but we need everything for ourselves.

Like it doesn't make sense.

And it's amazing how, as over the years, we have committed to that and just done that like clockwork, how God has blessed us in really incredible ways.

So that may be something you weren't aware of.

I want to talk for a second about some kids' stuff, like kids' ministry.

I don't I don't do a great job of sharing with you guys sometimes all the things that are happening in our kids' areas.

So you may not know this, but studies say that a healthy church should have about 25% of its attendance be 18 and under.

And the idea is that if you have less than 25% of your church as young people, you're kind of a dying church.

It's a little bit of a morbid thought, but the reality is you're just you're gonna get older and you don't have anyone to replace there.

So 25% is viewed as a healthy metric for reaching the next generation.

On a typical Sunday, we have almost 40% of our attendance as 18 and under on a typical Sunday.

We have a lot of kids here.

Yeah, that's exciting.

That's worth celebrating.

It's a big deal.

And so, you know, it's kind of funny, it almost breaks down to about half of whatever the attendance is here in the big room and all the other places, and so it'd almost be like if if like that was the children right there.

We have a lot of kids, and they're awesome and they're amazing.

Um, so really exciting, and there's really amazing stuff happening in the kids' areas.

For example, a few years ago, our kind of upper elementary through high school decided that, well, actually, it was, I think, like elementary all the way through high school was like the curriculum that we were using, we were finding curriculum out there in the world that we just felt like it was, you know, well done.

We were ordering it, we were following that because we want to teach the kids really well, but all the curriculum we could find, it just didn't, it wasn't hitting what we felt was necessary for our kids.

You know, because the reality is a lot of church kids' curriculum is kind of like God loves you and he's your friend, and that's true, and that's awesome, but that's kind of the deepest that it goes.

And we have a conviction that children can have just as real of a relationship with God as any of us can have.

You know, it's not cute, oh cute little Christians.

Like they can know the Lord and be have a deep relationship with the Lord, and they can know the word and know scripture.

And so our kids' team said, hey, we're gonna build our own curriculum, and it takes a tremendous amount of work to do it, but we're gonna build our own curriculum and all the supporting materials that go with that.

And so, how many of you just out of curiosity have kids that are in our kids' ministry right now?

Like, you dropped kids off, okay, there you go.

So you you may have been seeing, I'll show you these.

You guys, your kids have been getting these stickers this year.

Um, these were, by the way, Madison drew all of the stickers.

There's one of these for every single book of the Bible.

And what the kids are going through right now is they've they've already gone through, I think they're in Deuteronomy right now, which is everyone's favorite book.

It actually is the one Jesus quoted the most, so it was his, I guess.

But um, they get a sticker that kind of sums up the whole book, and then they get all this information.

They know uh when it shows up and sort of the timeline, and that's where you are, and here's when Jesus was, and this is what's going on.

And so they get this for every single book of the Bible.

They've gone through Genesis this year, Genesis, Exodus, uh, Leviticus.

Uh they're going through all the fun stuff, right?

They're going through all of that.

And so as the year goes on, all of your kids who are anywhere from uh elementary school all the way up through high school, they are learning God's word.

They're learning the Bible.

And, you know, when it's when it's the really young kids, the lessons are a little bit more basic.

You know, in Genesis, it's gonna be like, you know, there's evil in the world and God has a solution for that.

But the high schoolers are learning it like, yeah, life is really messy, and you've got all this stuff that you deal with and your families deal with and your parents, but God has a plan.

I mean, it's they go a lot deeper as they get older, but they're all learning the Bible.

And our hope is that our children not only know that God loves them and he's real, but they know God's word.

And they can open up their own Bibles and turn to things.

But that's even going to increase in this next year because our youngest ministries, like our preschool and our little children, we're not super satisfied with what's out there for them.

And so we want to go deeper, and we were like, well, I think we're just gonna have to do it ourselves.

But we're doing something really fun.

I want to show you guys this.

Um, these are some cool pictures.

If I were to pull the curtain back behind me right now and it were to go away, you would see some giant sets being built because we are actually building sets right now and developing our own video-based kids' curriculum that we're building for our children and any other churches.

By the way, if there's any other churches that ever want it, it'll be completely free.

And it's really, really cool.

Um, the sets are huge.

We designed an actual puppet.

Uh, his codename right now is Applejack.

We don't know if that's gonna be the uh official name.

He will be voiced by our very own Matt Simmons, our worship leader, on that.

So shout out to Matt for being the voice of uh of codename Applejack.

And there's all these sets being built, and these will be filmed, and we've got this amazing kids team because they have such a desire.

Think about this.

They have such a deep desire for the youngest kids, four-year-olds, five-year-olds, to have a relationship with the Lord that they're just not satisfied with what's out there, and they're like, we want to build something unique that's us, and we want to teach children who Jesus is and who God is, but we want them to know the word.

I mean, it's really, really exciting.

And puppets, I mean, come on, guys, puppets.

Like, at a certain point, you can't go wrong with puppets.

At a certain point, you can, um, but not at this point.

Not at this point.

And I just I share all this with you because I want you to understand that whether it comes to adults, whether it comes to teens, children, we are doing everything we can to make everything that we do as excellent and amazing as possible.

And the heart behind it is that our our kids, that all of us, would know the Lord.

So there's just so many exciting things that are happening.

And today, I want to sort of answer a question that I think we've never really been able to answer as succinctly and easily as possible.

And this is for all of us.

It's kind of part of us pulling the curtain back, and it's the question of now what?

Now what?

You know, you you come to church, and let's say you like it.

It's kind of an interesting world right now, being a pastor, I will tell you, because here's the the life that I live is people first watch you online, you know, to give you a test run.

I'll have people come up to me like, yeah, we've been watching you online a little bit, kind of figuring it out, and we decided to come.

You pass the test, and you're like, oh, I'm glad I okay, alright.

Yay.

Now we're gonna check you out in person to see if it's really as good.

You know what I mean?

It's kind of an interesting world.

You feel like I'm feel like I'm being judged all the time.

Um, I'm teasing, it's fine.

It's it's just an interesting time.

We we come to a church, we like it, we like the way it feels, we enjoy the atmosphere, we feel like we're growing, we're learning, and you know, the worship, all those other things, the Sunday morning experience, and then the question becomes, well, now what?

Now what?

And in some ways I get really mad at Steve and Susan here because they, from the very beginning of our church, made a decision that makes this question harder because when I grew up in church, now what was you became a member of the church.

You became an official member.

I remember when my parents became members of the Baptist church that I grew up in, and we all had to stand in front of the church, and then everyone came and shook our hands as they left.

And I thought that was, you know, weird.

But it uh a lot of handshakes, and we don't have that.

When this church started, Stephen Susan said there's not going to be any official membership, and the reason was they looked at Jesus and they just didn't see Jesus as an official membership kind of guy.

It was much more just a heart thing with Jesus, like, hey, I I love you.

If you're with me, you're with me.

And there wasn't a ceremony, there wasn't a ritual, I mean, baptism would be something eventually.

But they just looked at Jesus and they felt like so much of the church that they had grown up in was very formal and maybe hyper-organized and in some ways exclusive.

And they're like, this just doesn't feel like Jesus.

They didn't they didn't see Jesus as being the formal membership kind of person, and so they wanted it to be a little more organic, and I think that's wonderful and great, and also frustrating for me.

Because without membership, with the now what question, now what?

And the hey, the good news is you're not an official member, it means we can't really excommunicate you.

So that's good.

We have far less excommunications than than a lot of denominations, so that's the good thing about it.

But but there is that practical now what?

Now what?

Like what what is church?

Like, truly, what is church?

I mean, for many people, church is an event.

It's an event that you attend.

And it's interesting, I've grown up, I think, in a funny time.

I'm 43 years old, and we didn't start going to church until I was almost in fourth grade.

And I remember the church that I walked into, and I'm gonna guess many of us can relate to this, depending on how old you are, but the church I walked into, I think, was singing the same songs that they were singing a hundred years earlier.

I'm pretty sure that the carpet was the same carpet, okay?

Maroon shag carpet.

I walked in those doors in 1993, and I don't think that that was the trend in 1993.

I think the carpet was the same as it had been for 20, 30 years.

You know, it was it was the whole experience of church was pretty unchanged.

And then in my lifetime, it's like the total opposite.

Church, it's like, let's revolutionize church.

And in some ways that's been amazing to watch, right?

And it's music, and you know, and you have you have bands.

I didn't grow up with a band in a church at all.

I think actually people would have thrown like there would have been a revolt if there was a band.

I grew up with hymns, by the way.

I love hymns, and we do hymns very often here.

I think hymns are beautiful, but in our church there was a choir and there was a guy on the stage, and he was doing this, okay?

And then there was a lady behind me that sang very high and very loud, and um, it didn't sound good, but no one really said anything to her ever.

No one ever said, hey, no one likes this, you know, please.

Um but that was the it was just different, right?

And then all of a sudden you have churches now that have like actual musicians.

Like some of us that grew up, think about something like worship.

You didn't expect it to be good.

That was never the filter.

It wasn't like, oh, worship was pretty good today.

No one said that.

It was never good.

That was the whole point.

It was just people singing.

There was no evaluation of how good it was.

That wasn't even a filter.

So church really changed.

And in some ways, I think it's it's great.

We want to be uh always, God is always doing new things, and so we want to be new and all that.

And then in other ways, at least in my in my era of life, uh it's gotten kind of silly.

Like some of the stuff that churches would try to do just became kind of gimmicky, you know.

I don't know if you can relate to this at all.

Where it's like, guys, guys.

Like I was joking with a buddy of mine, we have a text thread going back about silly church stuff, and we were trying to come up with like the silliest, what is the goofiest church idea that's ridiculous, but you could actually in a weird way see someone try it.

And and this was mine, I was pretty proud of this.

This is Ignite Church in Hibachi.

Um, it's like a and listen, before you discount it, hold on.

Um, so first of all, we got Pope hat, right?

I think that's a nice touch, the Pope hat.

And then, you know, the I'm just saying, no, that's ridiculous.

Um but there was this sort of, I don't know, there was this sort of era 20 years ago, even the last 20 years, where churches are just trying all kinds of crazy stuff.

To be like, hey, church, check it out.

And, you know, and some of it, it's all well-intended, some of it's a little silly, but here's the challenge, and the problem, I think, is that church ultimately doesn't need to be revolutionized.

Because it already is a revolution.

And this now what question, like now what?

Okay, so the Jesus thing.

I believe in Jesus, I go to this church, whatever.

Now what?

That question has actually already been answered for us in scripture.

So if you read the book of Acts, and we have a podcast going through the book of Acts right now, if you ever want to jump in that and you can read at your own pace, and I think we're on chapter 13 or 14, and so you can always read it yourself and then watch the podcast or listen to it and help it kind of guide you through that if you want to do that.

But if you read the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 2, you see the first big moment in church history in the movement of Jesus.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It was called Pentecost, and it's this day where the Holy Spirit shows up, and 3,000 people in one day start following Jesus.

3,000 people in one day, and then there's this massive, awesome now what.

And Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47 answers that question for us.

Acts 2:42–47

This is the now what 2,000 years ago.

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer.

A deep sense of awe came over all of them.

And the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.

They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

They worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity, all while praising God and enjoying the good will of all the people.

And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

That's what the church actually is.

It's not a building, and it's not a weekly event.

And look, if we treat it like that, I just want to say this if we treat church like that, we will ultimately be disappointed.

We will.

You know, like if you're here for the third time, eventually I'm gonna share a message you don't like.

I promise.

Or you're gonna be like, he's told that story before.

You're gonna eye roll.

I've only got so many, I can make them up and lie to you, right?

Or I gotta reuse some.

If we treat church like an event, eventually it's gonna be like, oh man, you know, I like it when that person sings, or that's not my favorite worship.

If we think about it like that, and we're sort of raised to do this as Americans, we're good at being customers, but if we treat church like that, we will ultimately be disappointed.

Because at the end of the day, an event an event is something that's here and gone.

You know, events can be important.

I think the event of Pentecost was important, but it's funny, in today's church world, if that had happened today, they would have been trying to sell uh tickets to you know Pentecost too.

Be like, hey guys, make sure this was great, but next year it's gonna be even bigger.

You know, it's just like this man-made sort of thing.

And that's not what happened.

There was an event that started something, but the thing that was revolutionary wasn't the event, it was the people and what they began to do and how they began to live.

They began to live in deep relationship and fellowship with one another.

Their lives became somewhat intertwined, and they were persecuted, and there were lots of challenges which kind of bonded them even closer together, but they were generous and they shared their resources, they shared meals together.

It says they devoted themselves to the apostles.

Apostles' teaching, we would actually call that the New Testament.

The Apostles' teaching became the New Testament.

They didn't do away with the Old.

In fact, in Timothy, Paul tells Timothy, this pastor, to make sure that he's always teaching the scriptures.

So it was the Old Testament and what we would call the New Testament.

They devoted themselves to that teaching.

They got together, they worshiped, they had fellowship, they spent time together, and it changed their lives.

And I'll tell you guys, I've experienced this.

This is revolutionary.

And my heart, 20 years in to this, and I've been here almost all of those years, is my heart is I want you to experience what church actually is.

And many of you do.

But I want all of us to.

Because church is not a thing you go to.

Like even the concept of like a Yelp score with a church is a weird thing.

You know what I mean?

Like there's Google reviews of churches.

And I love it.

So you know, if if everyone's happy, you're not doing it right.

You know what I mean?

But but church was never this thing that you rated and looked at and watched and then left.

It's it's it's us, it's it's our lives.

And being the pastor here for the last 13, 14 years, it has forced me to live that life, even sometimes against my will.

And I'm serious about that.

I think part of the reason that God had me become a pastor was because I need this more than maybe you do.

I'm serious about that.

Like there's an idea in church ministry, I know I'm a little bit stream of consciousness right now, but just stick with me.

I promise I'll get to practical things.

But there's this idea in ministry where it's like, out of the overflow, you bless the people who are in your church.

This is like worship or pastors, like, I'm so I'm guys, I'm so close to God.

I'm so filled with Him that just my leftovers coming out is enough for you, which is crap.

Um like if I see someone on Instagram like talking about their overflow, I'm like, shut up.

Because when you read the Bible, do you read all these people who just their overflow just bless people?

Or do you read a bunch of desperate, broken people relying on God just to get through everyday life, clinging to Him for hope, messing up royally on an almost daily basis, but by the grace of God, He is useful to them in some way, shape, or form.

That's like the story of the Bible, right?

So I I don't uh I'd like to get to the overflow.

I'm working on that.

But I'm serious, I think part of the reason God had me be a pastor is because being a pastor forces me to be here.

Like I didn't get to choose this morning should I go or not?

I have to be here.

It's my job.

I have I've had to I've had to be in church practically every Sunday for 20 straight years now, and it's changed my life.

And that was one of those one person clapped and then a bunch of us clap, and we don't all know why we're clapping, but someone started it, so we gotta honor that person.

Thank you for the clap.

But I've I've had to, like, think about it this way, though.

Here's what I'm trying to say it's far more impressive.

You should clap for yourselves.

This is my job.

You're here because you want to be, and I want to be, yeah, clap for yours, there we go.

Now we know.

I'm here because I have to be.

Not really.

I don't have to be.

Um, and I and it's changed my life because it's made me live this out.

This is Acts chapter 2, 42 through 40.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I've lived this out, and here's what it's done for me.

I don't want to share this with you, and maybe this is the worst sales pitch ever for why you should be deeply involved in a church.

Okay?

Um I'll talk about the abundant life.

John chapter 10, Jesus says that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I come to give you life and abundant life.

John 10 · chapter mention

Now, a lot of times that abundant life scripture gets twisted into something that's just about money or health or those things.

But let me tell you what my life has been full of.

Other translations say a full life.

Let me tell you what my life has been full of because of the church.

It has been full of joy, deep joy.

I'll talk about weddings, for example.

Do you know how many weddings I have been to?

If you sense some cynicism in my voice, it's I've been to a lot of weddings.

A lot.

I've been to a lot of your weddings, by the way.

I've learned a lot about you at your weddings, too.

Like my buddy Cam Rosendahl, I was at his wedding earlier this year, and Cam and his mom can dance.

Like I learned that.

I was not expecting that.

There was this like fake out moment that happened.

It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen at a wedding.

Um, I like being with people in their moments of joy is really fun.

And my joy in life has been multiplied abundantly because I'm part of the church.

And so I was thinking about how many weddings would I have been to if I wasn't, you know, the pastor and I wasn't involved here in the last 20 years.

I've probably been to like eight or nine.

I would have tried to get out of four of those.

Um that's just human nature.

But I would have been to eight or nine.

I've been to hundreds.

And don't worry, like what I'm suggesting is not that you go to hundreds of weddings.

Obviously, for me, and because of my role, it's gonna be a little bit more multiplied, but I've been to hundreds of weddings.

That means I have gotten to watch hundreds upon hundreds of people celebrate their most precious moments surrounded by their loved ones.

I've gotten to be this close to people as they kiss so many times that I've had to, I've had to master the I now pronounce you husband and wife sidestep.

Like I have to get really good at that, because one time I didn't do it, and it was a long, uncomfortable kiss, and it was two people who go here, and I was just way too close to that moment.

So, you know.

There's been so much joy.

There's been so much joy.

Children, oh my gosh, you know how many children's birthday parties I have been to because I'm part of this church?

So many.

So many times that we've had to run by target on the way to a birthday party and go, I don't know what the kid likes, just get that thing, you know?

And it's fine because we want to honor this kid and we we love it.

It's I've been part of so many children's birthday parties because of this.

I would have gone to very, I would have been to very few eight-year-old birthday parties, if not for this church.

My life has been filled abundantly with joy and joyful moments and moments of celebration.

And honestly, days that I would have not gone, like I said, I would have tried to weasel out of it because I was tired, but instead, I'm like, no, I need to be there because it's my church family, and I'm so glad that I was because my joy was multiplied that day.

Because if your own joy in life is only pertaining to like what you do and what's happening in your life, that's a small amount of joy.

But if your joy comes in those around you and how you live connected to them and you share life with them deeply, your joy gets multiplied.

My my joy has been multiplied abundantly because I've I've had to live, I've had to live this as a pastor, deeply connected with my my church.

But it's not just been joy, it's been pain.

And this is where I say this might be the worst sales pitch ever.

I've experienced a lot more grief and hurt because of this, because I am I'm living life connected to so many of you.

Do you have any funerals I've been to?

I never would have thought of this.

Two weeks ago, we had Sunday, went out to lunch, having lunch with my family and some friends, and got a text from my good buddy Arthur that his son Harvey had passed away.

And we had his funeral shortly after, and that I think I've had five funerals in the last five weeks.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

If not for my role, I probably would have been to two or three funerals in the last 20 years.

Because I haven't had that many people that just, you know, my grandmother, a few other people like that.

I would have been in two or three.

I've been to 150.

I've done almost 120 funerals as a pastor.

And they're really hard.

And they're really beautiful.

So I guess what I'm saying is I want you guys to all go to more funerals.

Um that sounds fun, right?

But here's why I say they're really beautiful.

I actually kind of do.

I know that sounds weird.

I really kind of do.

Because there's something about grieving with people.

People you've shared life with, you share their joys, but you also share their sorrows.

And we bear one another's burdens.

And you pray with one another when you're in your hardest moments, and you watch God work in ways that you cannot see him work if you skip the hard stuff.

And you see God meet people in their deepest moments of brokenness and pain.

And you cry with people and you don't have words because there are no words, and there's something that God does in you through moments like that that you will never have accomplished if you skip them.

You know, I have I've wept with friends, and I've had to process things like death.

I will tell you this: when I die, I won't be shocked.

I've just I've experienced too much of it.

And again, I'm the pastor, so I don't think you're gonna go to as many as me.

But I will tell you that one of if someone asks me, hey, tell me some of the most meaningful growth that God has done in your life, tell me things that you can point to that God has used to grow your faith and strengthen you, I would say being with people in their moments of brokenness.

It's being in the hospital with people as they deal with the diagnosis, it's being at the funeral, it's being with people at the end.

And what I'm saying is, is this life, this deep interconnected life, forces you to live outside of yourself, and it forces you to experience more than just you, and it changes everything.

It is not superficial, it is not just like woo-woo yay.

It is living life deeply connected to your brothers and sisters in the Lord, and you live an abundant life.

You share in the joys, you share in the sorrows, and all of it works together to fill you.

You experience real life in its fullest sense, and it changes you.

The Holy Spirit changes you through it in a way that you cannot experience if church is only ever an event.

Does that make sense?

And again, it sounds really weird if someone said, So you're saying you want your people to go to more funerals?

Like, yeah, I do.

And more weddings, too.

But this life it's not easy.

Generosity is not easy.

Fellowship is not, guys, fellowship is not easy.

I love all of you and I like most of you.

You know?

Like, I like you guys a lot.

But you know what I'm saying, like fellow, there are people who are here that if not for this church, I would not be friends with.

And I don't mean because they're not good people, because we have nothing in common but the most important thing, which is our faith in Jesus.

You know, we we got a guy on our staff recently named Heath.

Heath's in all the videos, and he does the welcome team, and Heath's amazing, and Heath likes sports, and I'm like, finally.

You know, because uh for the most part, I've I'm a sports guy who's worked with artists, and they're just very different, you know?

No offense, Marlon.

It's just they're different.

They're I don't know, it's just a different thing, you know.

But but I'm deep friends with people who I have nothing in common with, but like I said, we have the most important thing in common with our faith in the Lord, and it's enriched my life because honestly, if all I did was hang out with my sports friends, you know, it's just we eat a lot of wings, but that would be such a sliver of life compared to the life that I I get to experience.

And I want us all to have that because you're meant to, because this is the now what.

The now what is you live your life deeply connected.

Not not the pressure to be deeply connected, but the opportunity.

And so I want to share a few things with you and kind of make this practical, okay?

You guys have been great.

If you could sort of take all of Acts chapter two and you could boil it down into some words, um, and you know it's spiritual if they all start with the same letter, uh, you've got social study, support, and service.

So, like, okay, prayer.

Prayer is kind of like service and support.

Like you serve others in prayer when you pray for them.

You support them.

It's also a service to the Lord.

Like it's all, but but you've got social study, support, and service.

And as a church, like I said, all of this is spiritual.

Every bit of this is spiritual.

But how do we actually go about doing that?

Because let's be honest, we can't do all of this on a Sunday.

I know that because you're sitting next to people that you've sat next to many times and you don't know their name.

And it's too awkward now to ask, you know?

So we just go the hey, hey.

You know, and you look at your wife and you're like, what's his name?

I don't know.

Right?

Being the pastor has forced me to learn so many names.

It's great.

We can't do all of this on a Sunday morning.

Not at least in the way that we're doing it right now.

And so next year we're gonna make some changes.

And I want to share with you some of those changes, and they're really exciting, and they're really exciting, not in this like giant new thing kind of way, but in some ways, I think this is the most exciting thing we've ever done as a church, and I really, really mean that, at least since it got built in the first place.

So, starting in January, we're gonna be launching something brand new called community.

A shout out to Matt Simmons, who's our worship pastor, and also the voice of uh codename puppet Applejack, and he's a great graphic designer, and he designed this, and look at the little dots, there's people.

They're holding hands.

So are they.

They're getting married, they're at prom.

Like it's just like slightly younger.

I thought that was a good touch.

I was like, Matt, you're so creative.

It's so cool.

He's one of my artist friends, you know.

Community.

So much of what Acts chapter 2 describes is community, living in community.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And so, starting next year, we're going to launch a new core ministry for our church called community.

And here's the way it's gonna work it's gonna take place on Sunday mornings at 9 o'clock.

You'll be able to come here.

We'll have all of our kids' areas open because they're gonna have community too, and we're gonna have six groups that you have the chance to participate in.

There's college and 20s, okay?

There is 20s and 30s, that's group two, thirties and forties is group three, forties and fifties is group four, and then we have fifties and sixties is group five, and then you're just old.

Um so I'm just joking.

60s plus, 60s plus, okay?

As a certain point, it just doesn't make sense anymore, alright?

So 60s plus.

What's so funny is how not far away I am from that.

I'm 43, like it's coming.

Okay, so obviously there's overlap in those, except on the extremes, right?

So there's college and 20s, there's also 20s and 30s, because if you're in your 20s, depending on your life and your stage of life and what you're doing, you might fit better with 20-year-olds and college age, or you might fit better with 20s and 30s.

You know, if you've been married, you have a family, or something like that, you might be like, oh, I don't ever go out at night anymore.

So um the college and 20s are gonna be doing stuff at crazy times like 8 p.m.

And we're like, who does no?

If 8 p.m.

is late, you're not the college and 20s anymore.

You are 20s and 30s, okay?

By the time you're 30s and 40s, it needs to be on a calendar a month in advance for you to do it.

That's how you know that.

There's no more spur of the moment fun.

That doesn't happen anymore.

We put fun on calendars, okay?

So there's there's overlap in all of those areas because you might be 40 and you're like, well, do I go to 30s and 40s or 40s and 50s?

Whatever you want.

Some of you lucked out because you married someone a decade older than you, and so you're like, well, what do we do?

And you just, I don't even know.

You just pick, we'll figure it out with you, okay?

We'll figure it out with you.

You can change it up.

Do you have 20 plus years of spectrum there?

You can do it, whatever.

But every Sunday when you come, there will be areas of the church that you'll be able to go to, and those will be groups of people that are in the same stage of life as you.

And you're gonna you're gonna have social time together.

You're gonna talk, you're gonna get to know each other.

Those groups are gonna operate like families, and they might get large, and we'll figure it out as they get larger and all that, but there's gonna be social events that happen through those groups.

Things that you'll just, your life will have opportunities, and it's not gonna be this.

Um, when I say social events, we're not going to try to fill up your calendar.

What we are gonna say is that Sunday morning's at nine.

And if you can be here at 10 on Sundays, there's probably most of us could also be here at nine.

I know it's sacrificing an hour of sleep.

Um, but come on.

And we've tried a lot of things in different times of the week.

We've tried things, and if you have babies, they're already up.

You might as well be here.

I mean, some of you get to drop your kids off even earlier and have more time.

I mean, hey, come on.

But we've tried things in certain times of the of the week, and it doesn't always work.

But I think Sunday mornings, there's just something about Sunday mornings.

And as a church, we're here on Sunday mornings.

So Sundays at nine, there's community.

You'll come, you'll drop your kids off if you have kids, and then you pick your group.

And you're gonna meet people.

We have great people leading those groups, and teachers will come in and they'll they'll be teaching and learning.

And here's what's really cool: every fourth Sunday, every last Sunday of the month, instead of going to your group, all of us who want to come early are just gonna gather together and fill up the lobby in the fireplace room, and we're gonna have pastries and coffee.

And if you want to bring breakfast with you, you can, and we're just gonna sit and eat together and get to know one another and know each other's names and live life together, and it's gonna get awesome and kind of messy and fun.

Okay, that's gonna start.

Yes.

So, starting in January, we have worship at 10, 15, I'll explain, and community at 9.

We have to push the start time of this back by 15 minutes, but I'm gonna promise you this I'm gonna get really good at ending on time.

Um, not today, but after today.

I'm gonna get really good at it.

Okay?

I'm gonna get really good.

Just so you know, our typical time is 10 a.m.

to 11:20.

So it's an hour and 20 minutes, and that's what we found our kids really need to get the most out of that.

And we don't want to be rushed.

We don't want to be rushed.

And uh we're gonna probably go 11 15 to uh sorry, 1015 to 11:30.

So it's gonna start 15 minutes later, but you're only gonna finish 10 minutes later, and if that bothers you, pray.

Um I'm only joking.

I'm only joking, but come on, like we gotta, it's fun.

So it's gonna start at 1015 because we need that hour of time in community for everyone to have the experience they need and to be ready for this, because um, all of the rooms that we're gonna be using for the most part will be rooms like this and our kids' areas, and we've got to get out and give them time, and it's gonna be a blast.

I can't wait for it.

I want to talk about some fun practical stuff.

Okay, let's talk about everyone's favorite thing to talk about in our church parking.

Because it's important that you know this.

At community, here's what we're gonna ask everyone to do, and like this is sort of a you know, please, please, please ask.

But we're gonna have some specific spots for parking.

You can park on this side of the building, on this side of the building, especially if you just, you know, need to get in the building quick, and and some of us handicapped spaces, especially, that's there.

And then chicken salad chick and 585 Molly Lane.

We're gonna ask that that's where we park.

And in some ways, that's kind of an inconvenience for some, but it really is an act of service, okay, like I talked about earlier.

And that allows us to keep this whole front of the parking lot open for everyone who's gonna come after so that you know, if someone's here for the first time and they don't know about community or whatever, um, or like you're not gonna have to come every week.

I just wanna make this not this isn't pressure.

It's not like if you don't come to community, you're not really one of us.

No, that's never been our church, that will never be our church, okay?

This is an option that we think is meaningful, but it's not required.

And so, you know, there's gonna be a lot of Sundays where you're coming at 1015, and you already come at 1015 anyway, so it's fine.

And uh and so you're gonna be here, and we're gonna make sure that those of us who are doing community are also serving those who are coming after us by not making the parking lot a giant mess.

So we're gonna park there.

Um, there's also some cool stuff we're gonna do.

I'm gonna show you some pictures, some renderings that we're gonna make happen.

So we've got to change some stuff up just logistically.

One of the areas we're gonna be using is the fireplace room, and that's where blue light coffee is, where it was.

Um so you guys see this is like this is the coffee area.

Um we'll put this up on the screen so you can see the whole thing.

But um this is gonna become kind of it's an extension of the fireplace room, and we have a nursing mother's room.

And if you're a mom and you didn't know that, we do.

So we have a room, the nursing mother's room, where you can go and take care of your child, and there's a screen with the feet of everything in here on it.

But what about like the dads or the not uh not nursing moms that have kids that for whatever reason that day it's just not working?

Let's be honest, that happens.

Well, we're gonna create a space that's gonna be where blue light coffee is, it's gonna allow you to sit with your kids, and there'll be a screen in there with the service, just kind of like we have out there right now.

There's many people out there right now as we speak, and it's gonna be a nice place for you to sit and let your child.

Sometimes we have toddlers that just it's not gonna work today.

And you try it, and you're like, nope, and that's fine, and you have a space to be.

And some of you are like, what about the coffee?

Okay, it's gone.

Sorry, didn't make no, I'm just joking.

Um, no, no, we're we're moving blue light, and so right where free coffee is in the main lobby, we're gonna build a new blue light coffee that's gonna operate right there.

So when you first walk in the main doors, that's where blue light will be.

In fact, the blue light team is currently designing this right now, and it's happening.

And you know what the coolest part is?

You know, these are fairly major changes.

Anytime you do something architectural, it's kind of expensive, and we're not doing some type of giving campaign for that or anything like that at all because you guys have been faithful.

And those of you who give, I want you to know we are very careful with that.

We're not frivolous with that at all, and so we already have what we need to accomplish this.

We already have what we need to make these renovations and to make them really, really.

Great and excellent, and so thank you.

I just want to say thank you.

And can we actually give a thank you to everyone who does that?

Because that's really awesome.

Okay?

So that starts in January.

Okay, we have community, but I want to talk about Wednesday nights.

Um, we're changing Wednesday nights.

This will start in March.

We need a few months to kind of get community going and then launch this.

On Wednesday nights, we're starting something new called help.

Help, right?

You see it there in a little speech bubble?

Because sometimes you need help.

Sometimes it's hard.

Sometimes marriage isn't going great.

Sometimes you don't know what to do with your kids.

Sometimes you have a crisis, you have an addiction.

And if that's the case, what do you do?

Well, you should come, you should be able to come to church and say, I need help.

And obviously that help can happen anytime.

It happens on Sunday mornings.

Go to the prayer room, be here, let the Holy Spirit do it, talk to people.

Community is a place where you'll receive help, but the primary role of community on Sundays is not kind of triage crisis management.

But that's what Wednesdays are going to be.

So starting in March, and this is what we're committing to, and it might grow, but we're going to have uh for the months of March and April, and then we'll go from there.

We're going to do more than just March and April, but we're starting with that.

Finances, marriage, parenting, post-divorce, and grief.

We're going to start with those.

We're actually also looking at some addiction-related things as well.

Um, but we want to make sure that when we commit to something, we can do it right.

So Wednesday nights are going to be here for help.

When life is hard and it's not going the way you want it to go and you need help, we are here for you.

You will not be judged.

I promise you that.

If you're going through marriage problems, join the club.

Right?

My point is, Meg and I are good.

That may have sounded a little bit like we're doing well.

Hold on.

We're doing well.

But there have been many years where we weren't.

Many years.

We've been married 20 years, and I would, if someone said, Oh, 20 years of just magic and wonder, no.

I mean, I can't understand why from her perspective it hasn't been like that.

I mean, I'm pretty awesome.

But apparently being married to me is hard.

I don't know.

No, it's hard.

Marriage is hard.

Satan attacks it.

Satan hates marriage.

God invented it.

He loves it.

Satan hates it.

He attacks it.

Our world attacks it.

And so I'm just using marriage as an example.

But parenting, raising children is so hard.

It's so hard.

It's so good and awesome, but it's hard.

And so you might need help.

And that's okay.

If you need help, it's okay.

And we're here for you.

And Wednesday nights are going to be set aside to help you in your life.

In any of these areas that you might be struggling, you can come on Wednesday and it's not a shameful thing.

It's like, no, I want to get better.

I want to grow.

I want to move forward in my life.

So we're going to give you help.

And that's going to be on Wednesday nights.

Alright?

So we've got kind of two major ministries.

We have community that'll start at 9 o'clock.

We've got help that'll be on Wednesday evenings.

And this is all sort of our solution to the now what.

And I know in some ways, like someone actually said the other day, you're telling me it took you guys 20 years to invent Sunday school?

And I'm like, yeah, I guess so.

Kind of.

But like our version of it.

Like the his hands way.

Which our way is a little different.

It's a little more loose, it's a little bit more organic.

There'll never be pressure.

You'll never feel pressured or coerced into it, or you'll never feel like you're somehow lesser if you're not ready for it.

That's fine.

This can always be a place where you can just be.

But if you're at this now what phase of your faith, and I think many of us are, what you need is community.

You might need help.

And this should be a place where you can find that really easily.

And so we're going to really restructure everything we do as a church next year, especially on Sunday mornings, even by bumping the time of our start, to make this work.

And the hope is that hundreds upon hundreds of us start living in community with one another and we share life together.

And we go to way more weddings and maybe more funerals.

But our life is full of the most rich and important parts of life.

Those things that really grow you, those things that God really uses to change and shape you.

Like I said, I've been radically transformed because I've been forced into this.

I don't have a choice.

And I think God knew I needed that.

I really do.

And I'm really glad that I've gotten to live as the church these last 20 years.

I want all of us to have the ability to do it.

Okay?

Now, a couple of little quick things as we go.

One of the things that was on there was service.

And we have all kinds of fun opportunities for service.

In fact, our team from Guatemala just got back, and so thank you for praying for them.

Like we have those types of things.

Uh, we have an amazing ministry that we've been part of for a while now that's about helping homeless people when it's really cold.

And some of you participated in that last year, and we're doing it again this year.

Uh, it's really about the weather.

The homeless coalition is who makes the call, but our first potential opportunity for that is actually in the month of November.

So if the temperatures are low enough in November, we'll be opening up as an overnight homeless shelter like we did last year, or I guess it was earlier this year, and that could go anywhere from November.

We'll have opportunities for that all the way uh up until uh February.

And so we have certain weeks.

There's actually four churches, we're one of the four that all partner together to sort of take shifts.

And that's it.

If you want to be involved in that, by the way, there's gonna be an informational meeting at the end of October for that, and I'll give you more information on that.

But that's a way you can serve.

But at your seats today, there were cards.

And there's not pressure on this, but I just want to put this out there.

There's really no way for us to do all these new things that we're talking about if we can only rely on our current group of volunteers.

There's just no way we can have uh community and we can start an hour and 15 minutes earlier and have all the kids' areas going and do all these new things.

If we do that and we just have to ask all of our amazing, awesome volunteers, and you guys are awesome.

If we just have to ask you guys to do more, number one, I know you would, and that's great, but I don't think that's the right approach because I think there's a lot of us here actually who this is your church, and you have an opportunity to serve, and maybe you never have before, or maybe you used to, and then life got in the way and you had a season, that's fine, by the way.

There's no pressure on this.

But here's what we're gonna ask is those cards that are in your seat, that you would fill those out if you let me set the expectation.

Um this is not you saying, you well, you filled out the card, now this is your life now.

Like, you know what I mean?

But this is like I would put this as I am seriously interested in serving.

Like, sometimes people will fill these out and then we'll try to reach you and they like ghost us.

I'm like, you filled out the card.

Like, we didn't make you do that.

Just text back, you know.

But um, no, this would be like, hey, I'm seriously interested.

I see the vision, I understand what the church is trying to do, that we're trying to go from just being like a great Sunday morning event to being a community.

And that's gonna require some extra help, and we could use your help in lots of different areas.

And so those cards are really simple, it's just your basic information, and then you get to put a rank, number one, number two, of where you think you would best fit.

And then we will do our absolute best to accommodate that.

Um, but you'll definitely get your top two, okay?

Unless you're a liar and the things you say you're in the top two on.

I'm just joking.

Um, no, we'll definitely help accommodate that.

It's gonna be great.

Sorry, I've I've reached my threshold of serious, so now everything's half a joke.

I'm gonna stop.

I'm gonna look at the clock.

I am gonna stop.

So here's what I'm gonna ask.

We're gonna pray.

We're gonna take Lord's Supper, and we've got someone getting baptized.

Okay?

I know today went a little longer.

So did last week.

I'm on a roll.

I'm sorry.

Um, I will lock that in next week, I promise.

Someone actually asked me, why do you worry about when it ends?

I think it's polite to end at a predictable time because we all have other things that we have planned.

So I'm sorry.

Sort, I'm I'm yeah, I am sorry.

Okay.

I'm gonna pray.

Please fill out those cards if you're willing to serve.

And we could really use you.

I want you to know that.

Especially when it comes to community and having our kids' areas open, we could really use your help.

Truly.

But as we go into next year, I just want you guys to know one really, really simple thing.

I love this church.

I love you guys.

I love being part of this church.

I've loved the last 20 years of this.

I cannot wait for the next 20.

You, so many of you in this room are the most meaningful people I have ever known.

And you've changed my life.

And I think that there's such opportunity for more.

There, some of you are here today, and you don't know many people here, and I'm telling you, some of the most amazing people you could ever meet are sitting five feet away from you.

And they will enrich your life in ways that you can't even understand.

And I'm excited for us to have this, but we do need some help.

Okay, so next year, community, help, Sunday mornings, all of it, puppets, come on, let's go.

It's gonna be a great year.

And I know that there was nothing earth-shattering today, but the things that we're talking about require a lot of prep work and a lot to get done in the next few months, and I'm pumped about it.

All right.

Are we good?

Are we tracking?

All right, let's finish with this Lord's Supper.

It says in Acts 2.42 that they shared meals, including the Lord's Supper.

What we're doing on Sundays when we take this meal is something that's been going on for 2,000 plus years.

That's pretty cool.

And if you're new, uh we had these as you walked in.

If you missed one, you can go grab one now or just grab one next week and take part in this.

But there's bread and there's juice.

And it represents two things.

The bread is the body of Christ, and the juices is his blood.

This represents the sacrifice that he made for us, and that sacrifice that he made for us did many things.

It did many things.

It forgave our sins, restored our relationship with God the Father, made us holy in God's eyes, but it also made us brothers and sisters.

Right?

There's a phrase like we're blood.

This makes us brothers and sisters.

That's why it's so important for us to live in community because we are family.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And that was accomplished not by us, but by Him through this.

And so with that frame, let's take this as a little family meal together today.

So pray with me if you don't mind, we'll take the bread first.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this bread.

We thank you, Lord, for what this represents.

This is your body.

You sacrificed your body for us on the cross.

And you paid the debt of our sin.

You washed away our iniquity, you cleansed us and made us holy, but you also made us a family.

You made us a community of people.

We are your church.

And you described your church as your bride.

Lord, we are yours.

We are your church.

So help us take this, be grateful for what you've done, and help us live as the church.

Let's take the bread.

Lord, we thank you for this cup.

This is your blood.

It was spilled for us.

It's precious and holy.

This is your life poured out for us.

And I pray, Lord, that as we drink this, we would have a passion stir within our hearts to pour our lives out for others.

That we would be able to get out of this egocentric world that we live in that's taught us and forces us to think about ourselves and what we want, what we need, and us, us, us.

And we would actually go, no, it's not about me, it's about we, it's about all of us.

It's about this family that we have, that we would live that way.

Because when you died on the cross, you weren't thinking of yourself.

You were thinking of us.

So help us live the same.

Help us live the same, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Let's take the juice.