24-hour followers

24 hours.

one day, 1440 minutes. one full rotation of the earth.

in the course of a year, it's one day out of 365.

heck, if you average only 6 hours sleep a night, not 8, you will sleep 2190 hours in a year.

24 hours.

a fraction of the 8760 hours God gives you annually. just one day in 365 each year.

24 hours is nothing. almost nothing. and yet...

when each of us came to THRESHOLD on our first sunday, there was a chair for us to sit in, coffee or tea for us to enjoy, someone to smile at us and say hello, and a caring person to love on our kids (if we have 'em). those things were gifts. gifts from another person - a 24-hour-follower - who loves God and loves THRESHOLD, and who wanted us to be welcomed and relaxed so that God could speak into our lives. if we are still enjoying and growing in the love of God at THRESHOLD, those people - those 24-hour followers - had a lot to do with it.

are you a 24-hour follower yet?

scripture says: don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had... (philippians 2.4-5)

24-hour followers understand that as followers of Christ, we must constantly be on the alert to think of others first. and sunday mornings in our own church is the perfect place to practice.

more specifically, 24-hour followers identify one of three areas at THRESHOLD and give 24 hours to it. just 24 hours. just one full day a year in loving and caring service to one another, and to those whom God will be bringing to us. those three areas are:

1. SET -UP/TEAR-DOWN: put up the chairs, the stage, the screens. move some stuff into the kids spaces. drop a few carpet mats over some cords. then take it all down again after worship. sweat a little for Jesus and meet some other people you don't know. just 12 sundays a year. volunteer 2 hours on a sunday morning, once a month (2 hrs X 12 = 24 hrs).  (personal note - this is where i serve beyond my leading and teaching. though i do it about 48 sundays a year. every sunday i am in town, i help set up, beginning at 7:30AM. it is definitely one of my very favorite times of the week). 

2. CHILDCARE: teach children basic christian virtues and bible stories. it is so easy. and fun! the stuff is all pre-written for you. or just hold babies. c'mon some of you - you know you love babies! some teachers give one sunday a month ( hrs x 12 = 24 hrs), and others give one month per quarter (2 hrs x 4 x 3 = 24 hrs). either way, it's 24 hours. and you will have stored up tons of treasure in heaven as you put little children on the fast-track to the full life in Christ!

3. HOSPITALITY: set up the info table. make coffee (you know how i love you people!). stand at the entryways and smile! say hello. (could there be anything simpler or more enjoyable for the extroverts among us?!)  again, you might give one sunday a month, or maybe one month a quarter - either way, do the math. it's only 24 hours.

24 hours - your gift of 24 hours - could mean everything.

so i'm wondering... if THRESHOLD is your church home, if it's the place you count on for spiritual life, for people who will be there for you when you are in need, the church where your kids are learning to know Jesus as savior, the movement of God you believe in...

if you have laughed with, cried with, prayed with, eaten with, been hugged by, prayed for, or loved on - by anyone at THRESHOLD...

would you give 24 hours?

this is not something you need to pray about, trust me. it's something you need to do. right now. send an email to info@thresholdchurch.com. in the email simply put your name and the one area you will give 24 hours to. one of our leaders will contact you.

just think. you might change a life this very sunday.

mission costa rica

instead of reading my blog today, i would really like you to read the blog about our mission partnership with el jardin sagrado (church) and la gaviota blanca (youth center) in the orosi valley of costa rica. this partnership is the answer to about five years of prayer. in the past year, THRESHOLD has sent two teams there - one to provide a bible school for dozens of children, and one to renovate a youth center.

please spend some time this week getting to know about this partnership, and asking God where you ought to be involved. there is another trip scheduled for early december - commitments are being taken right now.

there is also a fundraising golf tournament on november 11 at firethorne country club. every dollar raised will go toward this mission.

thanks to jeff lewis for serving as our mission costa rica team leader.

thanks to van pennington for organizing the bible school last year and again this december.

thanks to cory wagner for creating the blog that gives so much great info.

and thanks to howard nifong for securing firethorne country club for us for the tourney.

guys, this is ministry at the next level - THD people listening to God and acting when he speaks!

check out these links:

Mission Costa Rica - mission info blog

Rick and Judith Grossman - our missionary friends there

November 11 Fund-raising Golf Tournament - please play and/or provide a sponsorship

i don't know what to say

i talk to myself. a lot. and not just when i'm alone. if you sneak up on me in most any public place, you will probably hear me talking. grocery store. starbucks. in the car. doesn't matter. being short on words is not something i'm usually accused of. i almost always have something to say. whether it's worth listening to is another issue...

you may or may not be like me, but there are times when probably all of us are caught at a loss for words, when we don't know what to say - and yet these are the very times when we ought to be most prepared to say something.

when are they?

well, hear it from peter, original follower of Jesus:

"if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it." (1 peter 3.15)

i've been thinking a lot lately about our DARE YOU TO MOVE focus - about how to most effectively and yet naturally invite others into a more vibrant relationship with Christ within the context of the church that we have all come to know and love. how do we get people to discover what we have discovered? how do we encourage and excite people to spend a few sundays with us so that they can see that not all churches are stuffy, legalistic or boring? how do we invite people to church on sunday? what do we say?

there are all kinds of ways to do this. marketing. ads. cool series. your kid is playing in the band...

and i'm cool with all of them. when the ultimate goal is seeing people eternally saved from their sins, as well as seeing them know meaning in this life, i believe in getting them connected to God in nearly any way imaginable. but i also firmly believe that one way far exceeds the others...

YOU.

your STORY.

your EXPERIENCE of the real presence and power of God in your own life.

what is your story? what is your experience? if you had to write a one-page paper describing the reality of God in your life, could you do it? what would it say? and how animated would you be if you read it to someone out loud?

here's the deal. i want to encourage and challenge you to invite people to THRESHOLD. but what is ultimately more important is that you act as a conduit between God and the person you are connecting with; that you understand that you are being used by God to bring about a real, positive, and eternal change in the life of another person. it's not about putting more butts in our seats. it's about saving more souls for eternity, and about helping more people in this world experience the reality of God in their lives.

so it starts with the reality of God in yours.

before you talk to another person about THRESHOLD, see if you can answer these questions about your own life:

1. am i saved? that is, have i turned over my life - both in this world and the next - to Jesus Christ? how and when did i do that? what was my experience like? (if the answer to this question is 'no,' i would strongly suggest that you deal with it before worrying about seeing anyone else come to THRESHOLD).

2. what real difference does God make in my life? what might i be like if i didn't know God? what can i truly thank him for? what stories do i have to tell?

3. do i believe that salvation from sin is necessary, and that one only finds it in Jesus Christ? can this belief drive me to be more concerned about others, to the point that i am willing to risk ridicule in telling my story if it will see someone else come to Christ?

4. can i write that one-page paper describing the reality and necessity of having God in my life and of believing that Jesus died for my sins? would it be exciting and compelling enough to move someone to change?

these are questions that matter. they are questions that every one of us should focus on. our answers to these questions are what can and will bring about the salvation of souls and the betterment of the lives of real people and of our communities.

DARE YOU TO MOVE - the challenge before us is to see 600 people worshiping at THRESHOLD each sunday by Easter 2009. in six months, our God-sized dream is to double. but i can't say this strongly enough: this is not about competing with other churches. it's not about making a name for ourselves. it's not about money!

it's about getting serious about being the church that Jesus has in mind. it's about seeing unsaved people become saved people. it's about seeing spiritually dead people come to life. it's about seeing aimless people find a purpose for living. it's about helping hopeless people find hope. it's about caring for people, because people matter to God.

the goal of doubling simply reminds us that we are all in this together. each of us is called in our salvation to be about reaching others. no one is exempt. we are all sent.

so you meet someone new. you learn that they don't go to church or they are not experiencing life in Christ. you want to see that happen. you are having a conversation. the time seems right.

what are you gonna say?

when the going get's tough...

when the going gets tough...

the tough get going!

who's with me?? let's go!

- brother bluto, animal house

their charter had been revoked. 

they had been kicked off campus. 

evil dean wormer had sentenced the delta tau chi fraternity to non-existence. 

but then, a young, energetic, believing leader - the charismatic brother bluto - stood among his depressed fraternity brothers...

and dared them to move.

for some reason, this scene in the movie animal house reminds me of another scene from nearly 500 years ago (AD 1521), a more historic scene in which martin luther, the great german monk/protestant reformer, stood before an ecclesiastical (churchy) court, and was told to retract the statements he had made against the roman catholic church of his day. threatened with having his charter revoked as a monk and being kicked off the campus of the church - and maybe even the globe (read: killed), he uttered some equally famous words to those of brother bluto: here i stand. i can do no other. so help me God. in other words, i dare you to move me.

both bluto and luther understood something vital in their day: that they were part of something much greater than themselves. they were part of a movement, not just some mere institution. you might take away their fraternity charter, or their standing as a monk. you might strip away the bar from their frat house or the monk's robes from their backs. you might even threaten them with their very lives. but they believed in their cause. and they were willing to go to any length, to challenge any foe, to see the cause and the work of their movement continue. they were willing at any cost to continue to move... and to continue their movement.

you and i are also a part of something much greater than ourselves. as followers of Jesus Christ, we are part of a movement. and currently our movement is being threatened. our movement is a movement of sacrifice and selflessness. a movement of thinking of others before ourselves. a movement of caring and of changing lives. a movement of doing whatever it takes to see people lovingly brought into a saving relationship with Jesus AND of seeing non-healthy people, families, and relationships made more healthy and whole.

the current financial crisis that is impacting our country is impacting us. it threatens us as a movement. it threatens us because it tempts us to forget about others and look out only for ourselves. it threatens us because it can cause us to worry about things instead of lifting them up to God in prayer. this crisis is very real. it does impact many of us financially - there's no sugar-coating it. but it also gives us an enormous opportunity to remind ourselves how Christ-followers over two millenia have confronted crises and survived. thrived. continued to make an impact.

the black plague.

ethnic cleansing.

financial and empirical collapses.

bondage and slavery.

threats of death.

Jesus never promised that following him would be easy. but he did show us that following him would impact people and change lives. and for 2000 years, people have done so - in the face of crises far more dire than the one you and i face right now. in the face of an oppressive roman occupation and a legalistic and warped religious system, Jesus came to ordinary, everyday people and dared them to move. if you have received Christ as savior and if you follow him today, you can thank those followers who took up that dare... and every one who has done so since. 

now it's our turn. it's a pivotal time in our country's history. people are uncertain and scared. i believe our community needs our movement - THRESHOLD  - now more than ever. your neighbors, co-workers and fellow students need you. they need to experience the caring and love of Jesus in and through you. they need some reassurance that God does love them and that he will be there for them in the midst of whatever is coming.

this is no time to get selfish. it's not a time to sit around with our head in our hands and say woe is me. it's a time for action.

INVEST and INVITE: be smart with your money. curb your excess spending. and continue to give what is right in order that together, our movement can move forward as a force for good in our community and around the world. invite those you know who do not have a living relationship with Christ in the context of a local church. show them and tell them how this relationship is real in your life. how you have grown. how you now have faith that is pulling you through these uncertain days. and please understand this: you are not inviting them to fill a seat in church. you are inviting them to experience the life-altering power of God in their lives! there is a big difference.

this crisis is a very real threat. a threat to each family. and a threat both to THRESHOLD and to the wider church.

but i am not worried. this is not the first time God's church has been faced with a crisis. it won't be the last. and God himself will be in the very midst of it, calling us forward, daring us to move.

when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

who's with me?

what a week!

150 volunteers, give or take...

375 bags of food collected...

over TWO TONS OF FOOD!

that's what we did together over the past two weeks with our Dare You to Move food collection outreach. way to go! you rock!

with that success still warming our hearts - and the tummies of the hungry - we now turn our attention to october. our new series is called: Unlocking the House of Blues. and it couldn't come at a better time. gas is still scarce, and congress is still trying how to figure out to maintain our financial stability. it's enough to make anybody blue.

when stuff hits the fan and life gets hard, how are we supposed to understand what God is up to? how are we supposed to deal with the anger or the disappointment or the confusion? on sundays this month, we'll be looking for the answers to those questions, while enjoying some great blues music at the same time.

invite somebody. this may well be one of the easiest times you will ever have to invite someone to consider their understanding of God and/or their relationship with him. while many people we know are not currently connected to a church home, chances are most of them still have some level of faith. let's take advantage of it during these uncertain times and invite people to find comfort and security in the only place it is ever certain - in the hands of God.

hey, thanks for all you do to bring the real presence of Jesus Christ into the lives of people in our community - the poor as well as the privileged. the hungry as well as the haughty. the down and out and the up and out. you won't lay eyes on a single person today who doesn't need to experience the full life that Jesus promised. as you invite them to do so, know that i'm praying for you. i look forward to meeting those you bring.

dare you to move.