Several years ago, while we were still meeting at Club 19, I built the “FoodDOMINATOR2000” as a sermon illustration. I can’t remember exactly what I was trying to illustrate (which means it wasn’t nearly as memorable as I hoped …since even  I don’t even remember ), but I do remember the process of building it. I remember thrashing it together in 20 minutes before people showed up at the club that morning.   I still remember the look on the face of the  cashier at the salvation army thrift store, as I purchased an entire cartload of busted up small appliances…and then donated them all back to the store the following Monday.  The entire “FoodDominator” system was nothing but a bunch of different appliances held together with duct tape and actionchurch stickers.

In many ways, that’s the story of actionchurch.   We’ve got a bunch of different systems mostly held together with duct tape and actionchurch stickers. :-)  Over the years we have upgraded many of our main systems as the church’s needs grew and changed.  Some have been updated and changed multiple times.   We are so blessed to have just celebrated four incredible, improbable, unpredictable  years together as a church.  We are also blessed to be growing in numbers each week. Our actionkidz area has nearly doubled this year.   New opportunities are also opening up for us to serve our community every week.  We have more resources…and more needs.  All of those factors are leading us once again upgrade many of our systems.  Stuff that worked in the past just isn’t adequate for our needs now.  We’re not going to let ANY of our many systems slow us down from Loving God, Loving People, and Taking Action together.  2012 is shaping up to be the year of the systems upgrade.

I’m sure many of you are wondering, how will that change actionchurch?  What can I do to help?  How can I purchase a FoodDOMINATOR2000?  I’m glad you asked.  Some changes will be really obvious.  (We’re working on a new way to check in your kids into actionkidz that should be really sweet).   Some changes won’t be so noticeable…but will make HUGE difference in how we operate as a church.  Some of you can help by being patient with as we change and upgrade each week.  I will be asking some of you to be part of a new system…or in upgrading one of our older ones. In almost every area we are in need of new crew members as we expand and upgrade.   EVERYONE can pray for wisdom and strength for all of our actionchurch crew each week.  They are doing amazing work.

And, sorry to say, the FoodDOMINATOR2000 is not available for civilian use.   Something about national security that I’d really rather not talk about…