I’m in message prep mode today. I am prepping for the teaching this Sunday and I had a thought that is rattling around in my head. It’s more of a question actually…
What if Jesus didn’t come to town to do what you thought he did? What if he came to do something so much more immensely important then you could have imagined? What if that thing didn’t fit in with your picture of what He came to do?
Just a thought, I hope you will be at Restore on Sunday, to see how it turns out. We have been looking at the misconceptions that we sometimes have of Jesus. What do you think Jesus came to do?
In the first year of Restore Community Church I have rediscovered the power of stories. There are so many stories of life change that have emerged from this very special church community. What has been challenging, is to figure out how to continue to tell these stories and keep the audience engaged. We have shared stories live and we have used video. Video seems to be more agreeable with most people who would rather die than stand on stage in front of others and talk. What I am constantly reminded of, is that these stories communicate so much in a short amount of time and they resonate with so many. Here are a couple of my favorites with some commentary.
Kim and Terrance’s Story was one of those that we wanted everyone to hear. They had never been to anything like small group before. Then their neighbor, one Tommy Bowman, invited them several times and the came. We decided to shoot it on their front porch mostly because we didn’t have a light kit. But it worked great because their neighborhood has been the setting for their group. Tommy helped me shoot this and I was really happy with the angles that we got. I wasnt happy with the white noise from Barry road. But, I had some fun with the color correction and the text. In the end we hope that it inspired people to get connected and inspired other to invite their neighbors.
A lot of times in our big idea planning meeting the one thing that sparks the most creative ideas is an intense conversation about the big idea that we are planning for. That was the case when we were talking about the Holy Spirit in the story of everything series. But we ended up going back and shooting that conversation, because by doing this we were able to briefly give a snap shot of the very different experiences that we all had with the third person of the trinity. In retrospect, I would say that we tried to emulate the espn 360 news show a bit too much. However, the end result was a 4 minute video that shared a lot of different stories.
Tough Times: Look Ahead from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.
Ed’s story of tough times that he went through was the center piece of our Tough Times series. Ed’s willingness to share some very dark moments and how God has used him has reminded me why I do what I do. His story has been a catalyst for starting a Divorce recovery group at Restore which he leads. Honest stories of God showing up in flawed lives speaks volumes more then any message that anyone could deliver.
Small Group 2.0 from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.
This last one is where I think stories that havent been told yet are headed. It recounts how the reproducing culture has taken hold even in relationships in small groups. It follow the relationships of 3 ladies and the life change that ensues. To me this is the next generation of stories where we tell more than one because they are intertwined in community. Its also the future because my Video Producer apprentice, Jonathan Cox edited this entirely. He does great work and he is the future of video here at Restore.
It blows my mind, but Sunday was the one year birthday of Restore Community Church! It’s been an incredible year and there are lots of stories to recount, but for my family and I this has even more significance. It was a year ago this past sunday we left a secure life behind for adventure of church planting! It has been a difficult year. We have had to make plenty of change to be in KC, not all of them have been easy. But as I recount the stories of life change and the twists and turns to the story of restore, I can’t help but think it’s been worth it. Over the last year I have learned so much. I thought it might be fun over the next few weeks to look at what has changed in me and my family. But that might require me to blog more than once a week. We will see…
I thought it was time to update the header of this blog with a pic that was taken this year. The one that has been on the header was showing it’s age. The kids look a lot older these days. We just celebrated Abbey’s 3rd birthday! Jill just talked about it on her blog. Anyways, here is the updated pic of our family.
For me one of the most inspiring things about Restore Community Church is one of our mission statements:
“Mobilizing Christ Followers to Change the World”
This might seem over optimistic or even naive. I mean seriously… change the world? But I think at our core we all want to make a difference. Some of us convince ourselves that the difference is by making a name for ourselves and others of us give up on the idea that we can make a difference all together. But the overly optimistic rhetoric of changing the world resonates with me and it seems to resonate with a lot of people who now call Restore their home. On our communication card that is attached to the program that is handed out every week, we even have a “change the world” box to check.
All of this must have something to do with us actually becoming a community that is a catalyst for change. Granted it starts small with over 40 service projects last year. But those projects awakened this inner desire to make a difference in me and others. The next step was giving to build a facility in Haiti that would house and educate orphans… and it’s a church too. But is hasnt stopped or plateaued. It seems to be snowballing in so many different ways.
What has been very exciting, is to have people join us who are already changing the world. People like Mike and Beth Fox of C3 Missions. They were changing the world one orphan at a time long before we came along. But their hearts resonated with the people and mission of restore so much that it seems that C3 and Restore will forever be linked. They make changing the world accesible, literally. For $40 a month you can meet the needs of an orphan. Watch their story… just try to not be inspired to make a difference.
Chasing the Almighty Bumper from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.
Today at Restore we kicked off a new series called chasing the almighty. This is a timely and timeless series all at once. We tackle finances and how we deal with them in our lives. Today was all about what we are consumed with. I have to say there was a lot of things that really stuck out for me. The biggest realization for me was this: The economy may falter, it fluctuates and chaos ensues… but God never changes. His character remains intact. His love for you and I never changes. Im not sure why, but this really stood out to me. I guess it was what I needed to hear.
Why am I rolling around in the leaves with a McGriddle? Well you have to come to Restore tomorrow to find out. We are talking about what Celebrate 2.0 looks like, not this has anything to do with that.
Today we started our first series of the year called You 2.0. I love this series. The goal is to move you and I from focusing on doing to focusing on being. We do that through re-examining what the church really is all about. Over the next few weeks we will be covering the the values of Restore: Celebrate, Connect, & Contribute. But today we look at the church and the idea of that we don’t do church… we are church.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of being the church and it’s ramifications. What Jesus said has always stood out to me. He is in this conversation with his disciples about who people say that he is. His disciples are sharing what others say and then this happens:
There is so much that this text stirs up in me. Jesus declares that he will build his church not at a certain location, but in a person… and a very flawed person at that. This church was not some sort of social club or institution, but a fierce force that Hell itself could never stop. All of this built on people… you and I. As I try to reorient my life constantly towards being the church, I have seen the church in all shapes and sizes. I have experienced church in so many forms… and I’m convinced that there is no one right way to do church. If there was, then how boring would that be? But churches are as different as the people that we have met through our lives. If the church isn’t something that you do, but rather something that you are; then it is more organism then organization. Its fitting that it is flawed. Yet at moments I have had experiences where it is unstopable. It’s fostered unstopable love and unstoppable transformation. That is the church that I want to be. So as we strive to move from doing to being the church, what kind of unstopable force do you want to be?
Today, we finished the year at Restore looking back and looking ahead. In preparation for today I prepared a montage of some of the videos that we used on Sundays over the last 9 months. It was a lot of fun looking back, reliving all of the shoots and the countless hours in post production. These videos seem to have found a place in the culture of Restore. It’s my hope that they helped communicate the big idea of God’s truth each week. It’s more fun to look ahead and dream what might be in 2009! Greater things are yet to come…
If you’re like me, its about time to begin Christmas shopping. This is last week that you can shop online and get your great deals by Christmas. There is a great website to find deals on all things techinical. It’s called techbargains.com. I have been using this site for years. I have a lot of friends in the church world ask me where to get a good deal on ram or on a hard drive. This is where I go to find the best deals. But this isnt just public service message with a helpful suggestion. You see If I blog about them, I could win a PS3. Merry Christmas to me!
I am a lot of things... a stay at home dad... an off site video producer for the Chapel.. a media arts director for Restore Community Church and a wanna be church planter. Read here to see what happens when all of this collides.
