I’m always a little nervous when I see a Bible verse added to the name of a ministry or organization. It’s probably TOTALLY my hang-up, but it always seems a little over confident…a little braggy. It always comes off to me like: “Hey, check out our awesome youth group, it was mentioned in the book of I Kings 4500 years ago”  Or, “Hey, join our men’s ministry, it’s the only one officially sanctioned by Paul the Apostle.”  Or,  “Hey, check out our amazing small group, King Solomon mentioned it in the Song of Solomon”.  Maybe it’s just me, but I would definitely steer clear of that one.

We’ll probably never be a church that put’s scripture references on our t-shirts…but if we did…I read one this morning in the book of James that would be amazing.

¹³ If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.  James 3:13

Exactly.

Remember when you were a kid, and you asked your parents what they wanted for Christmas?  Remember how they would never really answer you?  Remember how they would just say things like “I want you to be happy, Dear”, “Whatever you get me will be perfect…because it’s from you”?

Quite often, and especially this time of year, people ask me “what’s the biggest need actionchurch has as a church”.  I know some folks are just curious as to what I will reply…but others really want to know what they can give to(or do for) actionchurch this Christmas season.  I’m not like your mom.  I actually tell people EXACTLY what actionchurch wants for Christmas, in the New Year, and every year…   The answer always surprises people, but it’s absolutely 100% true.

It’s NOT more people attending actionchurch.

It’s NOT more financial giving.

It’s NOT more volunteers.

It’s NOT more impact and giving for our community.

It’s NOT more equipment.

It’s NOT a permanent venue.

It’s NOT for Paul Jr. Designs to build the preacher a custom actionchurch-themed chopper. Although…that would be pretty sweet.

What I want more than anything for actionchurch…and every church in our county…is simply for more people to chose to follow Jesus…to chose to do what Jesus taught…what the Bible says.  People are always surprised by that, and I know some of them think I’m just trying to sound “nice” like your Mom did when you asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  Some think that’s just a “nice” religious way of not actually sharing what our real needs are as a church.

Here’s the thing though,  I really mean it.   The reason I say that the “thing I want for actionchurch more than anything else” is people actually following Jesus in EVERY area of their lives…is that I know that EVERYTHING else comes from that!  This year more people invited their friends-because they were following the example of Jesus. This year more people gave more money-because they were following what the Bible teaches about “Honoring God with the first…and the best of your income”  This year we had more volunteers…more crew members…because people bought into the idea that Jesus taught about becoming a leader by being a servant.  This year was our greatest year of serving our community outside of actionchurch…because more people chose to follow Jesus’ example of selfless care for those that others overlooked.

We’ve seen amazing things this year as a church.  It’s been a great year and I’m more excited about what “can be” than when we first launched.  But, everything that we have…everything we’ve done…everything we’ve learned and taught, everything that matters,  comes down to seeing more people actually chosing to follow Christ and be his earthly “hands, feet, and mouth” as part of actionchurch…

What do we want for Christmas?  For Real?  Simply more people Loving God, Loving people…and taking action!

(and the whole PJD chopper thing would be OK also…   )

Someone tweeted this week that “oatmeal cookies are considerably better than oatmeal”.   I had to smile when I read it, and admit to myself that I would indeed rather eat oatmeal cookies every morning, instead of the bowl of oatmeal that is my breakfast at least five days a week.

Unfortunately, eating oatmeal cookies every morning wouldn’t exactly be the same as eating the healthy, nutritious, and filling porridge that has been a breakfast staple for centuries.  Oatmeal cookies for breakfast wouldn’t exactly prepare me for a long day of work, and the extra calories would eventually lead to full-time-sweat-pants-wearing…and possibly a scooter. (I really love oatmeal cookies!)

I don’t want to sound like an “oatmeal purist”.  I don’t harvest, roast, and grind my own oats.  I don’t even boil water and cook prepackaged rolled oats on the stove top as my mother often did.   I get my oatmeal from a paper package that has been pre-cooked and sweetened.  Thanks to the Quaker company, who’ve been oatmeal innovators for the last 130 years,(and the instant-hot water tap in our kitchen sink) I prepare a hot mug of nutritious, great tasting oatmeal each morning in less than thirty seconds.  It’s not “home-made” oatmeal…but it isn’t oatmeal cookies either!

As a preacher I want to preach sermons that are like that packet of oatmeal I eat every morning.  I want actionchurch to be a “Quaker Oats” kind of church.  I never want us to compromise the truth of scripture…to add so much other stuff that it becomes Oatmeal-cookies-for-breakfast and loses it’s ”nutritional” value.  I do, however, want to constantly be searching, learning, and innovating when it comes to finding ways to share the truth of the Bible in 2011 America- just as Quaker oats has obsessed about oatmeal since 1850!  I want to remember that although it might be nice if folks grew and “rolled their own” oats…or read the original Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of the Bible, in today’s society it’s probably NOT going to happen.   I want to “pre-cook and package” good old-fashioned scripture for everyone who will listen…to season it with humor and storytelling…so that as many people as possible will want to make it part of their life.

…and take it from a guy who doesn’t like oatmeal, Oatmeal for breakfast can be be good-and good for you!

I love this picture of Mike (Bass, Vocals- The Burning State) from Garrett’s most recent download of actionchurch photo’s on Flickr.

I love the intensity that Mike (and loads of other great musicians that play actionchurch each week) puts into his music.

I love the fact that at actionchurch, a big guy with lots of tats and a mohawk like Mike is “just another guy.”

I love the fact that this week we used two clips from Disney’s “Tangled” complete with Broadway worthy musical numbers…and it was just another Sunday at actionchurch.

I know it’s not a word you hear often, but the actionchurch crowd is unflappable…”un-shockable”.  I love that about our church.  Sometime it makes things difficult. We hired a clown to make balloon animals in the crowd at Club 19 to promote a sermon series called “My life is a Circus”- and NO ONE noticed! 

I love being part of an unflappable, unshockable, church. A church that is VERY hard to surprise.  A church that accepts you as you are.  A church where pretty much anything is possible on any given Sunday morning.

So bring your friends to actionchurch.  The ones that think that there is no place in a church for them…  They WILL be surprised.  They just might be “Flapped”.

I was fortunate enough yesterday to spend time on a catwalk overlooking the Susquehanna river fishing for catfish with my son.  I didn’t catch anything.  I tangled my line so badly I had to restring my reel.  It was hot.  My feet got sunburned.  I broke my line and lost a bait and weight rig, and I TOTALLY enjoyed myself!

Seriously, it was a great morning.  I can’t wait to go back. I’m sure that next time I’ll “hook the big one”.

Jesus started his ministry here on earth by recruiting fisherman to join him and urging them to leave their nets to “fish for people”.   There are MANY great analogies that work when it comes to comparing the work of the church with fishing, but here’s what yesterday makes me think  though:   It matters who you fish with.

I had a great time fishing on the river yesterday, not because conditions were great or I had great results… I enjoyed the time spent with my son. Fishing with friends and family can make a “bad day of fishing” a pretty great time!

I am grateful the group of family and friends that I “fish” with at actionchurch.  We’ve had some great “catches” of the last three years.   We’ve had other weeks where everything went wrong…when it seemed that no one was “biting”.  That’s when doing life and church with people you enjoy being around becomes most important…it matters who you fish with.

If you are looking for a group of people to serve God with…a group of people to fish with…a group to spend life Loving God, Loving People, and Taking Action with:  I don’t think you will find better that the crew of actionchurch.

¹⁸ One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. ¹⁹ Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” ²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him.  Matthew 4:18-20

Another paradox of the gospel is what I like to think of as the “action paradox”.   As followers of Jesus we are commanded to do the works of Jesus.  Feed people.   Care for the sick.  Provide for the poor and widows.  Good works.  Popular works.  The kind of actions you get awards for (as actionchurch did at this years Relay for Life).   On the other hand, we are also commanded to preach the words of Jesus.  Offensive words.  Disturbing words.  Not-so-inclusive  words.  (Ever stop and think what “No one comes to the Father except through me” actually means?)

It’s a difficult thing to live out either of these paradox’s. It’s easy as a Christian or Church to choose the praise and affirmation of people in our COMMUNITY over the Gospel…to do the Good works of Jesus, while ignoring the hard words of Jesus…to accept sins without pointing out the death that they lead to.   It’s also easy to choose the praise and affirmation of other RELIGIOUS people over the true power of the Gospel…to preach the words of Jesus without doing his works in the community…to preach against sin without loving and accepting fellow sinners into the Church community…to become self-righteous and forget that we are all sinners.

I’ve been wrestling with these paradoxes for years…and I do not claim to have all…or even almost all of the answers.  I do know, however, that truly living out Jesus’ kingdom plan for earth must involve both the WORDS and WORKS of Jesus.   To truly love people you have to offer them BOTH immediate HELP and eternal HOPE.  One or the other is simply NOT good enough.

So how can you “balance” the two extremes of the Gospel?  I don’t think you can…or should.  The only way is to follow the example of Jesus…To “do the will of the Father”.  When people applaud your good works, point them to Jesus.   When people want to crucify you  :-)  because you also share the words of Jesus, point them to Jesus.  I can’t think of a better…more rewarding…and more difficult way to live.

If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”- Jesus  (Mark 8:28)

If you are ever lost in a forest without a compass, it’s easy to travel in circles for days and never get out from beneath the trees.  The secret is to climb a tree, hill, or rock and get above the trees.  Look for one major object on the horizon (a mountain, city, tower, etc) and walk toward that reference point.  As often as possible, find another high point or tree you can climb and check to see if you are still walking in the right direction.   (If for some reason you get lost in a forest today, and this survival tip saves your life- you are welcome.)

If you’ve ever wondered why at actionchurch we always talk about the Bible, why Jesus is the answer to every question…every week…It’s because of this “survival tip”.  The Bible is our REFERENCE POINT, the one thing that stays the same, that stays true, in the forest that we call life. If we never climb above the trees to look for our reference point, we are lost.   Without our reference point it’s possible to wander around in circles in the trees and never know where we are going.  Without the Bible, it’s impossible to know if we are walking in the right direction!

Take the time to check in with your reference point today.  It’s worth the time…and the climb!

Maybe it’s because I spend WAY too much time at Lowes…but if you ask me what I want a Sunday service at actionchurch to be, I hope it’s like a trip to Lowes. (Minus the long check out lines of course.)

Every week I want ordinary people to get the tools, materials, and inspiration they need to go home and build something amazing. I want actionchurch to be the place where you can get really helpful encouragement and advice from other shoppers in your isle. Most of all I hope that every week we are inspired to change something…to fix something…to finally attempt an improvement..to know that if others can do it, we can too.

Let’s build something together.

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12

In June 2007, I participated in my very first Relay, along with my wife and daughter and the Brinks family.  To put it kindly, I wasn’t that excited about “camping out on a football field and walking around a track all night”.  Even though our family had recently lost someone to cancer, I was there to promote actionchurch.  We planned on launching the following spring, so I thought that Relay for Life would be a nice “service project” to do good in the community…and hopefully let people know that there was an “awesome new church” (at that time we had no people, no equipment, and no meeting place )  coming to York county.   The thing that I looked forward to most was something called the “team lap”, where teams walk around the track in front of the spectators with banners promoting their team.  I couldn’t wait to tell York about actionchurch.  Besides, we were the only church at Relay at that time…it seemed like a marketing home run.  Do some good…get good publicity.

Approximately two hours into my first Relay, I knew I was there for the wrong reasons.  I knew the “point” of the event was not promoting actionchurch…but serving the wonderful cancer survivors, participants, and staff that make relay great.   By the time the “Team lap” came around, we decided not to even participate.  We left our banner in our tent. Team actionchurch didn’t “take a lap”.

Since then, Relay for Life has been an important part of the actionchurch calender.  I can think of NO better way to live out “Loving God, Loving People, and Taking action, than to serve the folks at Relay as a church.  It’s important.  We put lots of resources, effort, and hours into it each year.  It’s worth it.   Most of all though, I know that serving others at an event like Relay changes you…even a self-centered jerk like me.  I hope you not miss this opportunity to be part of it.

You will not regret it.  You will not be the same afterward.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the money after you swipe your card on the iPad on Sunday morning, or after you dropped your tithe or offering into a donation box on Sunday, I thought it would be useful to write about.   Maybe you’ve wondered why actionchurch doesn’t do more “special offerings”, or “mission offerings” or pass an offering plate (or supply those cute little golf pencils at every seat)

First of all, from time to time, as a church we will put special emphasis on giving to a specific cause or organization.   When 500 coats are needed for York Public elementary schools…we asked folks to bring coats.  When the York Rescue Mission needs food for their thanksgiving dinner…we ask folks to bring money.   When kids in Africa need to be sponsored…we ask folks to support Hungerstrike.org. and our friends from WILLET.  When a homeless mother needs furniture and furnishings for her newly aquired apartment…we ask folks to fill a moving truck-and they DID!

Everything else is Mission Giving.

Yep.  Mission Giving.

Now you might be thinking, wow Don, I’m pretty sure the theater isn’t free every week.   I’m pretty sure sound systems, signage, projectors and bounce houses aren’t free.  I’m betting even the “free Maple donuts” each week aren’t really FREE.  How can all money that comes in on Sunday morning be “mission giving”?  How do you pay the bills?

Here’s the thing.   actionchurch is on a mission.  It’s not a secret.  We print it on everything we own.  Our mission is to Love God, Love people, and take action.  We won’t be finished until everyone in the world has experienced that Love.  Even though we are completely staffed at this point by volunteers, most of our mission costs money.

Renting Frank Theaters each week so a growing number of folks can hear about Jesus is a mission expense.

Renting out even more theaters so even more kidz can hear about Jesus-mission expense.

Providing breakfast for everyone at Relay for Life  (June 17-18) -mission expense.

Providing coffee for adult walkers and bounce houses for kids at Relay- mission expense.

Tools for our great volunteers…from microphones to walkie-talkies- mission expense.

Handing someone who isn’t sure how they will make it through the week a gas card and hope-mission expense.

I won’t take up your morning with listing every item in the actionchurch budget…but I hope you catch the pattern…it’s ALL about mission.  If it’s not…we simply DO NOT spend it.  And please, don’t think our budget is what it is because we are a scrappy new church  (I said Scrappy-not crappy   )  with no paid staff and no permanent facility.  Even when it becomes necessary to hire for positions that cannot be covered by volunteers… Even if we are someday blessed enough to own a facility…every item will remain “on mission” if we ONLY spend money to take action BECAUSE we love God, and Love People.

Nothing else will do.  Nothing else is “Mission Giving”

I hope you’ll join us on our mission.  Together we can change York county…and the world.