//mytwocents

//sex

Yesterday at Westbridge Church, we talked about wisdom and SEX!  I really felt like we needed to cover that topic, because this is a series about wisdom and regret, and the area of sexual choices is an area in which people often carry a load of regret!  So here are a few thoughts from yesterday:

• Sexual choices is the one area of our lives where culture BAITS us to the edge, and then MOCKS us when we cross the line!  It's why we entertain ourselves with affairs in movies, but we are disgusted when someone actually does it in real life!

• Sex is always MORE than PHYSICAL - it is spiritual, emotional, and relational.  It is a myth to think that you can do whatever you want to with your body, and it won't affect your relationships!

• Sexual regret runs deeper than ANY other type of regret - not because God views it differently or has a difficult time forgiving sexual sin, but because it is the one area where we seem to have the most difficult time forgiving ourselves!

• Because the gift of sex is so powerful, it has the potential to bond 2 people in intimacy for life!  But it is also powerful enough to scar people for life!  Because of that dynamic, God created boundaries for us to enjoy this gift in a way that meaningful and life-giving - not destructive!

• The boundary that God created for us is to enjoy sex within the context of a marriage relationship.  God's boundaries have a lot less to do with WHAT we do sexually, and a lot more to do with WHO and WHEN!  Inside of the marriage covenant, you are free to enjoy sexual pleasure!

• The key to avoiding regret when it comes to the arena of sexual choices is to set boundaries in your life so that you are tempted to cross the line!  At the end of the day, that is what you would want your spouse, fiance, or kids to do in their lives, so you should do the same in yours!

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.  Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.  Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.  (2 Timothy 2:22)

Enjoy this video that we opened with on Sunday!

 

//marriage

This last weekend, we talked about wisdom as it relates to MARRIAGE... here are a few thoughts from Sunday for you to reflect on this week:

• Marriage doesn't change people, it reveals what is already inside of us!

• Almost every conflict in marriage can be traced back to unmet expectations.

• When dreams and desires become expectations, it is impossible to express love!

• Your fulfillment in life is a GOD-task, not a SPOUSE-task!

• How you treat each other when you are NOT in conflict is the biggest factor in determining the length, intensity, and outcome of your conflict!  Be AFFECTIONATE to each other when you are NOT in conflict!

• If you have a conflict that you need to work out with your spouse, do it quickly!  Don't carry bitterness or anger with you from day to day and season to season!  Anger and hurt that is undealt with grows in the heart and causes far more damage!

• Deal with conflict GENTLY!  Choose your words CAREFULLY!  And work on solving the issue, not WINNING the argument!  REMEMBER: when it comes to marital conflict, when you WIN, you LOSE!  You cannot win against someone who is on your team!

• ACT before you FEEL... you will not ALWAYS have the same feelings.  That is why you took VOWS on your wedding day so that when your feelings don't carry you through, your decision to remain committed to your spouse will eventually bring those feelings back around!

Regardless of where you are at in your marriage relationship, God can bring healing as evidenced by Mike & Dawn's story this week:

 

//haters

With the rise of social media through things like facebook, twitter, and blogging, it has given every person who wants to a voice and a platform to express their opinions, desires, dreams, messages, or downright silliness - which I think is pretty cool!  It has allowed us to connect within the Body of Christ called the church in ways that were not even imagineable 10 or 15 years ago! 

However, I have seen a trend lately that is really bothering me... Christians using their facebook page, blog, twitter, or whatever social media tool happens to be at their immediate disposal to RIP ON and TEAR DOWN other churches!  Folks... what are we doing?  Just because you don't agree with a particular style or even a particular interpretation of a certain church - it does not justify speaking poorly about them to your world of "followers".  WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM!!!  Our competition is NOT with one another, but with the things in this temporary life that would steer us away from authentic community with God and each other!  That mission is difficult enough without turning on each other!  And frankly, the world is NOT impressed with a universal church that can't get along with itself!  The church should be known for what it is FOR and not what it is AGAINST!  We are not called to make a POINT, but to make a DIFFERENCE!

So the next time you "disagree" with a statement from a church leader or a particular outreach event that isn't what you would do, instead of spouting on your computer or smart phone to your friends, why not pray that God would use them to reach people with their style of ministry that you may not reach with yours because when they win, WE ALL WIN!  And if you have a problem with a pastor or church leader, go and speak TO them and not ABOUT them... because after all, isn't that more Biblical anyways?

(This little rant comes to you courtesy NOT of any one particular event, but because of a number of comments and tweets that I have seen in the last several weeks.)

//thanks

I wanted to take a minute and say a HUGE THANKS to all of our volunteers who helped us create such a smooth transition to our new location yesterday!  It went extremely well, and the new place is - in a single word - AWESOME!!! 

I was so happy to see so many people returning after a CRAZY busy summer, and we want you to know that if you were gone during the summer due to cabin, vacation, work, travel, or just plain "summer laziness", we are really glad to have you return and continue to worship with our community!  God has some HUGE things in store, and I am excited to see what we can accomplish together during this next season of ministry!

I also have to give props to my man Jason, the custodian at Middle School West!  He did such an amazing job of being available, answering our questions, and helping us figure out all of our systems so that we could handle the crowds of people! 

SO... with one week under our belts, we have a few things that we need to work on, but we are excited about the potential to grow in this new location!  In order for us to do that, here are 2 simple things you can do:

 

1.) GET ON A VOLUNTEER TEAM! 

I know that we push that all the time, but the only reason that we are so passionate about it is because we see lives being changed, and we KNOW that it wouldn't be possible without our faithful volunteers!

 

2.) PRAY FOR SOMEONE AND INVITE THEM WITH YOU!

Begin praying about who you could invite to the new location for our upcoming series, "Coulda... Woulda... Shoulda..." that begins on Sunday, September 25th!  It will be a very practical series about moving past regret and gaining wisdom for everyday life!  And then once you have prayed... INVITE THEM!!!

 

That's it!  2 simple steps!  If each and every one of us would commit to do these 2 things over the course of the next several weeks, I believe God will honor our effort and blow us away with HIS response!  I truly believe that the BEST is yet to come!

//moving

Hey everybody... just a reminder that this weekend we will be holding our first services in Middle School West!  We are really excited about what God is doing and the potential that this new location gives us to reach MORE people with the message of God's Grace!

Watch this video for directions to the new location!

 

And here is our mailer that we are sending out to 55,000 households!

//location

Okay, the time is coming very close!  This coming Sunday will be our LAST Sunday at Middle School East!  On Sunday, September 11th, we will be holding services at Middle School West!  Maps will be provided this weekend as well as on our website!  Here are a few of the reasons that we are moving:

1.) More Kids' Areas!  This new location will allow us to further separate our kids' ages so that we can continue to focus on GREAT ministry that is AGE SPECIFIC for each group!

2.) More Consistency!  In the past, we have had to move to a new location for certain weeks whenever there was a swim meet or baseball tryouts.  This hurt us particularly when we sent out advertising and then had to move.  This location will provide 52 weeks each year, so NO MORE MOVING!

3.) More Parking!  This might sound odd, but parking can be a major barrier for churches that are trying to grow.  This location will allow us to continue to grow without running into any MAJOR parking issues in the future!  We're making room for the guests that God will send us!

4.) Better Location!  We will now be right off of the intersection of County Road 19 and 50th Street!  Only a mile away from our current location, but a LOT more "drive by" opportunities!

5.) Better Auditorium!  This new location has an auditorium with 500 seats, theatre curtains in the background, a stage and lighting, and will be the perfect opportunity for us to GROW - seriously GROW!  This is one of the nicest venues in town to invite your friends to, and we are going to continue to make it an amazing place to invite your friends!

So get ready for September 11th, and enjoy these pictures of our new auditorium in the meantime!  More pics coming soon!

//risk

Okay everybody... keep praying!  We mentioned last week that we had the potential to move to a new location, and we weren't sure how they would respond when we went to talk to them.  As it turned out, THEY CALLED US!  They invited us to move buildings because they thought that MIddle School West would work better for our church!  AMAZING how God works behind the scenes on our behalf!

Please be praying for us this week as we consider what it will take to make this move!  There will definitely be a lot of RISK involved - which is where I believe God WANTS us to be!  Yep, you read that right! 

WE MUST CONTINUALLY TAKE RISKS TO REACH MORE PEOPLE!

And I have to tell you that I am seriously STOKED and at the same time seriously SCARED to make this move!  But I KNOW this... God will continue to work out the details and carry us forward - because He always has in the past!

• In 2006, we launched our first service in 12 days... and God opened up the Community Center.

• In 2007, the movie theatre opened 2 weeks before our weekly services began!

• In 2008, we moved to Big Woods Elementary right when we needed it!  They had NEVER rented that school to anyone before, but for some reason they made an exception for us!

• In 2009, we approached the pastor of a church that was meeting in Middle School East, and before we could ask him, he told us that they were moving out, and we could take over their rent!

• And now only 2 years later, in 2011, the School District has INVITED us to move to the largest Middle School in town! 

Even though there is considerable risk... IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!  It will allow us to continue to invite people from our community and have the space both for them AND for their kids!

If you missed the talk from Sunday on sacrifice... LISTEN HERE!

And keep praying!  And while you do, check out this video...

 

//prayer

Over the next several weeks, we will be gearing up for what God wants to do through Westbridge Church during the next season of ministry, and let me tell you - WE NEED TO PRAY!!!  I sincerely believe that God wants to do MORE in the next season of ministry than the previous 4 years COMBINED!

YEP... YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

I want to RISK more and DO more for the kingdom of God than we have EVER even considered in the existence of this church!  I sincerely believe that growth IS God's will, so we are working hard to remove any barriers to the growth that God wants to bring.  THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING YOU TO PRAY!  Here are a few things that you can pray for:

• Please pray and ask God what he wants YOU TO DO to serve his purpose in the world through Westbridge.  Ask God to show you how HE wants you to step up and serve during the next season of ministry at Westbridge... AND THEN DO IT!

• Please pray for wisdom for our leadership as we begin to implement systems that we believe will make our teams stronger and more unified, and allow for LONG TERM GROWTH in the lives of people at Westbridge Church!

• Please pray that God brings the right person into place to lead our Musical Worship Team on Sundays and throughout the week!

• Please begin to pray for the names of 3-5 people that you would be willing to invite to our series, "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda" this fall!  Pray that God would give you an opportunity to invite them, and pray that their hearts would be open to accept the invitation!

• Finally, we believe that as we grow during this next season, God could be opening the doors to a newer, larger, better location for us!  Please pray that God would open the doors and give us clear direction in where HE wants us to be!

We couldn't do this without you, and I am losing sleep at nights thinking about the possibility of things to come!  Join us in the journey as we create an amazing community for your friends and family and neighbors to FIND and FOLLOW Jesus Christ!

//future

During the summer, we always spend time thinking about and preparing where we are headed in the fall, and I have been giving this a LOT of thought this summer.  Over the last 4 1/2 years, we have grown from a few families in a living room to over 500 people attending on a regular basis, and with those kinds of changes comes some major changes in our systems, and in how we DO church on a regular basis.  So here are a few things that we will be working on for the fall:

• Every Growth Group will kick off with multiple leaders!  In order to ensure the success of not only the current season - but future seasons - we will have the main leader in each Growth Group, as well as someone who has never led a Group, but is learning how to for the next season!  Our biggest barrier to growth right now is LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT and this is one of the areas that we need it the most!

• We will offer even more opportunities for Study Groups!  The goal of Growth Groups is to make friendships, but it can also be a great opportunity to further study the Bible, or topics of life from a Biblical Worldview!  We want to continue to increase availability in those areas!

• We will also offer more opportunities for service projects through our Growth Groups, our Charity:Water Campaign, and different initiatives on Sunday morning like our baby food for Haiti!

• We are working with each Team Lead to create an environment with our serving teams that is less "task-driven" and more "team-driven"!  Every volunteer should feel like they are not only helping to accomplish the mission of the church, but that they are valuable to their team as well!

• We are working hard to mobilize more volunteers than ever before and training volunteers who train volunteers who train volunteers... I think you get the idea!

• We are working hard to continue to create an environment that makes it EASY for you to invite your friends and neighbors!  We will continue to grow as you continue to invite, and more and more lives in our community will be changed!

The Bible says that God will continue to perfect the work that he began in us, and I believe that doesn't only apply to people, but to churches as well.  We are only getting started and the best is yet to come!  Please consider what your part will be as we strive to create an environment in the next year that continues to HELP PEOPLE FIND AND FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST!

//baby.food

Last Friday, we put out the need for baby food for orphans in Haiti, and you responded in an amazing way!  We were able to drop off over 100 lbs of baby food and many of our Growth Groups have jumped on the bandwagon as well... thanks for your amazing generosity in response to the needs that were presented to us!  Your response shows your incredible kindness!