Jonathan and I visited Lynchburg, VA the home of Falwell’s Liberty University.

Background Fact: Church attendance is mandatory for the 10,000 undergraduates not once but three times per week.

Jon and I were wandering around the campus and seeing very few students about were told to check out the vines center - there on a wednesday night was assembled about 5,000 kids in a worship service, not because it was required, or that the kids don’t have other church opportunities (see background fact above) but drawn by the spirit.

Jon is a freshman at Liberty this year.

Thanks Dr. Falwell

I don’t know if you know Greg’s story. He was the pastor of the largest church in Shelton, and was caught in a “moral shortcoming”, if you will, and through his acquaintance with Dennis Teague, has fallen into the arms of our little congregation. In fact, Greg spoke at our services yesterday, in Olympia in the morning and in Shelton at our evening service. Greg has a wonderful message of God’s love, and it is well worth spending some time in his blog.

I don’t know if you remember, but Dennis and Diane Teague were college friends with Phil and Gwen Mansfield.

I find much of the scholarly discussions of the “emerging church” somewhat amusing. I guess Rivers of Grace falls into the category. But it is far from an homogenous “movement”. Many of us have never heard of the recognized “leaders”. It is clear that the scholars within the religious establishment are having difficulty grasping the nature of what is happening.

We are aware that there are many little congregations, like ours, that are not affliated with any denomination, and are very non-traditional. But we are far more focused on our local communities than we are being part of a “movement”. If there is one thing in common among the congregations we know about, it is that they have placed faith ahead of religion, and have focused on church-the-body-of-Christ and have less concern for church-the-organization.

In terms of post-modernism, it has been studied in our congregation. In fact, Dennis made an extensive study of it. We have mostly determined that post-modernism is incompatible with a faith in Christ, as the one is intensely self-centered, while the other, obviously, is intensely Christ-centered. The question is, how to reach one with the other.

Our conclusion is the obvious one … by preaching and teaching Christ crucified. When in doubt, don’t get all “gimmicky”. Return to the fundamentals.

Reg

What a wonderful series. There are so many Christians in our society that equate “fruit” with works. Somehow they have gotten the idea that their successful works is the fruit of their walk with Christ.

It is apparent from your post that you will be pointing out that Paul gives an excellent illustration of fruit, and that it has nothing to do with our efforts. It is not aboutus, it is all about Jesus!

I would love to be there and here what you have to say on this topic. Though the Lord is doing wonderful things here in Shelton, we sure miss you guys.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/us/21evangelical.html?ei=5087
&em=&en=544685d6112b5004&ex=1179892800&pagewanted=all

It’s so easy to institutionalize religion so that we end up with a religion of works, and miss out on the relationship with Jesus Christ. We end up being performance based and eventually burn out. Jesus over and over calls us to abide in Him. Let our works be a response to our relationship with Him.

It’s late and I hope this is making sense..God Bless you all Bayside! We love you!!

I paid a visit a number of years ago to Mars Hill (Seattle) just to fulfill my curiousity about the church model and the “Emergent Church”. Up to that point, I had only heard rumors and conjecture, mostly from folks who had never visited the congregation and had only read various articles regarding Willow Creek, Bill Hybels, etc…

I had known various people who were in full-time attendance at Mars Hill, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t encounter any Jim Jones grape Kool-aid events or have to bite the head off a snake (smile).

My general impression of the service was that they had a multitude of Gen-X folks attempting to find relevance in Christianity. These folks were mixed in with the Christians trying to find relevance with the modern church who, for the most part, felt that the “modern model” just wasn’t gonna to cut it for them.

I don’t want state subjective opinions on your blog as it’s probably not the intent of your forum; however, let me just state how I felt in my heart after I left the service: I hope our church body never confuses high attendance in a congregation with the Spiritual growth and maturity of that congregation. Call me “Captain Obvious”, but the two do not always go hand in hand.

Thanks for the blog and for your willingness to be transparent with us!

www.connections-saya.blogspot.com

Barry

I was intrigued by your observation “that stewardship covers so much more than passing the plate [money].” I concur, and if I would change anything in this would be “Christian Stewardship covers so much more,” which is what I am sure you mean. But with all the misunderstanding over stewardship, your example finances being an excellent one, I decided to run a Christian Stewardship Series at TheNewsBeats.com to assist in reframing Christina Stewardship for the edification of Christians. One of the challenges the first presented in such a series is to examine popular error on the subject; why it exists, why it is perpetuated; the missed blessings poor stewardship teaching results in, and the harm that it can cause. There are four installments to the series to date, and I welcome your comments. I would also like to read your sermon series too, are you posting them in the future?

David
TheNewsBeats.com