Community

I'm preaching a series of sermons on our core values for the next few weeks. Last Sunday was community. I think as a culture,city, neighborhood, family, and individuals we desire community. We desire to connect with other people. Here is a great example of community.

One indicator for the sense of community in a church is conversations. I'm amazed how many conversations revolve around sports, the weather, and "my" kids.

It seems as we passionately follow Jesus and share life together we would move beyond these safe topics. Maybe some topics that indicate community would be:

My struggles
My fears
My dreams
My insecurities
My failures
My family
My spiritual life

What if church was a place where you didn't have to be the best you but you could just be you.

Alarms

I often find myself in some humorous situations. Most of the time it is not planned and I couldn't have seen it coming. My latest string of humorous delimmas has involved security alarms. In the last month I have managed to accidentatly set off security alarms on three different occaisions.

...last month
Around 10:00 p.m. one Saturday night I went up to South Lakewood Baptist Church to make some copies of our worship guide for Sunday. I hadn't used the security system before and I couldn't get the keypad to take the code...big problem. I was able to give the password to the security company but I couldn't get the alarm to go off. So, I called the pastor...did I mention this was my sending church? Just as I got my pastor on the phone the alarm went off.

...last week
I met with a couple of pastors (Isaac Slape, and Steve Spyres) last week to watch a video curriculum for pastors. We met in a business facility owned by Isaac's family. When it was time to go, Isaac and I walked out to the shop to get a Mountain Dew. When we walked back into the lobby, Steve said he needed the security password and explained that the alarm was set and it went off when we opened the door to the shop. It was resolved in just a few minutes but that was twice in one month...very strange.

...last Sunday
After our Sunday morning service, I grabbed some lunch and left for Unity Missionary Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma. It was a 3 hour trip from Owasso. I got there about an hour early so I could get the display board set up before the service. As I drove around the building I saw a car, so I thought someone was inside. I tried the glass doors. They were locked. I saw another door about 10 feet away. I opened that door and the alarm went off...not again.

Governor Veto Overturned

On Wednesday Governor Brad Henry vetoed Senate Bill 1878. This bill would require a woman to receive an ultrasound and description of images before having an abortion. Less than 16 hours later Oklahoma legislators overturned the veto. You can read about it here.

New Mover Postcards

This month Outreach sent out postcards from Lifepoint to families who moved into Owasso. These postcards went out to 100 families who moved within 5 miles of the 6th Grade Center. These postcards will go out monthly from now on. This will be one more avenue we are using to invite people to Lifepoint.

Cul-de-sac Baseball

Last week there was a knock on our door and two brothers invited Collin to play baseball. The neighborhood kids play in the cul-de-sac at the end of our street. To my surprise, Collin said he wanted to go play. He has played two different times now. I have to say there is something special when you are playing baseball in the street and mailboxes are your bases.

Sunday

I know I haven't written a post since last Sunday but here is a run down of our service this weekend.

• We finished up our teaching series - Bullseye.
  
• Everything got setup quick. Everyone is getting really fast at setting up the three ministry areas (connection, kids, worship).
• Marnie and Collin were both sick Sunday. We didn't ask anyone to fill in at the last minute so those kids were in the preaching service.
• We showed the video That's My King.
• There were 2 first-time guests and 9 second-time guests in the service.

Sunday

We had another great day. It was the 3rd week of our teaching series Bullseye. Here are some of the highlights.

• 7 first time guests. One family of 4 came off a flyer they received 6 weeks ago. 3 students came as a result of blitzing their neighborhood Saturday.
  
• During the welcome we finally got all the information about our connection card communicated in a clear and concise manner. Go Jimmy.
• We handed out 500 flyers on Saturday. If the past is an indicator of the future it will be several weeks before we see people attend a Sunday service as a result of those flyers.
• I took a big rock out of our flower bed this morning and put it on a table on stage as an object lesson during the sermon.
• Our worship team is amazing. The personnel changes week to week but they do a fantastic job.
  
• We have had first time guests in every service.