How STORYCHURCH changed the world

I love my church. Seriously.

We've been working our way through the Advent season, speaking of hope, of peace, of joy, and of love. All throughout we've looked inward and forward. Inward to acknowledge the ways we've grown cold throughout the year, and forward with hope and anticipation that Christmas can still change the world.

And throughout this season the anticipation has built. The light has grown stronger.

Sunday was one of the most incredible mornings we have ever had as a church. I don't know that I have ever been more proud to be a pastor. All month long we have been talking about the Advent Conspiracy and challenging our people to give more, and spend less. Give more of themselves, spend less money on meaningless stuff. And instead to take that extra money and turn it into something that would change the world. So this Sunday we took up a "Change the World" offering.

We had two goals: Be able to fund a well in a third world country that would literally change that community for generations to come - $5,000. And secondly, to replace a trailer we've outgrown and to then be able to give our trailer away to another church plant - $3,000.

And STORYCHURCH responded big time. All together we have so far raised just under $10,000!! This means we will definitely be able to reach both of our goals.

But we aren't done yet! There's still more we can do. There are more places that need water, more church plants that need funding, more single moms that need help. Though we've already met our goals, let's do even more than we could have ever imagined! If you'd still like to participate you can give here and under "gift options" simply write "Change the World", or place your gift in our offering box on Christmas Eve and mark it "Change the World."

Thank you STORYCHURCH for being an amazing, life giving, generous community of Jesus followers!

Don't forget our Christmas Eve service this Friday at 6pm. Invite your friends and family - the celebration just got a little bit bigger!!

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Living Water International

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At Christmas last year, Story Church participated in the Advent Conspiracy. Many of us decided to spend less at Christmas on stuff we didn't need, and instead to give toward clean water wells for people that really needed it most. This week I was notified by Living Water International that the well we helped to build has been built. The well is in Bozoubolo in the Central African Republic (see the map above of the exact location of the well). It serves more than 600 people. I can't tell you how excited that makes me! The fact that as a church, before we even officially launched, we had helped to build a well that provides clean water for 600 people is amazing to me. And I think this news came at a great time. For me, its a reminder that what happened at Christmas matters most because of what happened at Easter. The baby who was proclaimed by angels at Christmas was good news to the world because he would one die and free us from sin and death and usher in a new kingdom. It's a kingdom of life and love and grace and hope. It's why Jesus not only proclaimed truth, but he demonstrated the fruit of the present kingdom through miracles of healing. For us as a church, we celebrate the baby Jesus as well as the risen Lord, and we embrace the role we play in the resurrection story. My desire for us is that while we proclaim good news to the world, we are also demonstrating it through acts of justice and mercy. And today, 600 people are experiencing life giving water as a result.

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Christmas

Yesterday was one of the greatest Christmas celebrations I've ever had. Our church participated this year in the Advent Conspiracy - a movement to try and reclaim Christmas from the busyness and commercialization that it has become. So my wife and I set $50 limits on what we would spend on each other. With a little bit of money and a lot of creativity, we decided to make gifts for each other. She ended up making me an "inspiration board" with several of my favorite quotations from some of my favorite books. It is awesome. I purchased a nice frame, and then drew some pictures and gave it to her. It made her cry, so I guess I win. Haha.

Our church raised over $1600 for the Advent Conspiracy - more than three times bigger than any offering we have ever taken. According to the AC website, it costs $10 to provide clean drinking water for one child - for life. So Story Church gave 160 kids life this year. That's what I'm talking about!!! And the coolest thing for me as a dad - my six year old daughter has been saving change all year. She was able to give more than $30 toward our offering. My six year old gave three kids water for life. HOW COOL IS THAT??

Anyway, Christmas yesterday was really a great time. We opened presents in the morning (even with cutting way back, there was still plenty to go around), then I got to work cooking a big breakfast. My wife's family came over around 11am and we ate like crazy. We played a fun gift exchange game, laughed more than I've laughed probably all year, and played some games. Then everyone left for a couple of hours and we rested and got ready for round two. Dinner was at Kimi's sister's house where we had lasagna and fondue, followed up by more games.

I think the AC movement really enabled me to just enjoy my family and friends this year and to really rest in the idea of Emmanuel - "God with us."

I've already got my idea ready for next year's Christmas. It's gonna make her cry again. Yes!

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Spend Less. Give More.

As a church we are celebrating advent by participating in the Advent Conspiracy. It's a movement of Christians that have decided that the consumerism that comes with Christmas isn't the best way to celebrate the birth of Christ. But it's more of a movement for something, rather than a movement against something. It's not a movement that is worried about whether you say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". It's not a movement about Jesus vs. Santa. It's a movement that is encouraging people to give more of themselves at Christmas. The idea is to give more relational gifts, that maybe cost less in dollars, but more in time. It's about spending time together, creating memories and traditions. Many of us are making homemade gifts this year. Some are simply choosing to spend less on things we don't really need and instead to do something together as a family. In the end, we will be giving the money that we would normally spend on needless gifts to people who truly have needs. Locally, we'll be coming alongside a school and providing for families that really have needs. We are volunteering our time to help in classrooms. And globally, we'll be helping to build clean water wells that will literally save lives and rescue people from disease.

To learn more about the movement check out www.adventconspiracy.org.

For creative gift ideas this Christmas check out www.rethinkingchristmas.com.

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Story Church - Our third preview

Yesterday, November 15 was the third preview service for Story Church. It was the first time we attempted this in the morning, going with a 10am service as opposed to the previous two which were at 6pm. We felt it was important to do at least one of the previews in the morning so that we could figure out timing, lighting, and everything else. Overall it was a good morning. We added some signage this time with some banners out front. We further streamlined our setup and adding some light trees to the auditorium.

I taught on the parable of the Good Samaritan and tried to teach it in such a way that we heard the story in the same way the original audience heard it. I think we were able to accomplish that for the most part. We also tied it in to a movement we are embracing as a church called the Advent Conspiracy. It's a movement that focuses on fighting consumerism at Christmas by giving of ourselves more to each other and by giving to the poor. One of our goals is to deliver a life-giving message every week. I think that this particular message could have used more life. I could have done a better job of connecting the freedom and life that come from loving people as neighbor instead of focusing as much as I did on the ways in which our hearts are closed off to certain people. Both are valid, but one without the other isn't complete. I was trying to get there with our emphasis on Advent Conspiracy, but I'm not sure it got there.

For me, I am still getting back into the swing of preaching. My preparation is getting better, but I am definitely still rusty at times. As a church planter, and the only staff person, it's sometimes tough to find the balance between everything that needs to get done, and the things that only I can do. In other words, I'm trying to learn how to use our team more and more and to focus my own energies on the things that only I can do.

Anyway, as for this preview here are a few things we learned this week:

- Moving our kids registration into the hallway instead of the main room was a good idea.
- Get people involved as soon as possible. We had people serving as greeters who had never been to one of our services. How cool is that?
- We continue to be amazed that people show up. Haha. It's the thing I hear from lots of church planters, but the fact that people actually show up is pretty awesome. They see signs, they find us online, all of it is really cool.
- We're beginning to make the school feel like it's ours. The banners out front and at the entrance really helped.
- We still need more signage inside. We need our kids registration area better marked - though it feels like that is kind of a moving table right now.
- We still need musicians. We had our fearless leader Alastair and we added Jon on electric guitar. But we had no drummer or bass player. I think we missed the energy a full band provides.
- We need a sound guy.
- We need someone who can design our slides each week. I spent a few hours on that this week and it was hard.
- Our clean up seemed to take a long time. Not sure why. I know that more of us were enjoying talking to new people, but we need to figure out how to get cleaned up before noon on Sundays.
- The new sound equipment was awesome. I am excited that we are getting that part of our setup nailed down.
- We need more kids workers.
- I'm still not thrilled with the lighting in the room - I wish we had more control over that.
- It still feels like an elementary school at times. I think we need to invest in some pipe and drape or something like it to cover up some of the realities of where we meet.
- The stage could still use a backdrop as well.
- Offerings still aren't covering the cost of meeting there. At some point that will need to change.

I haven't yet got feedback from our team about their thoughts on the preview. I'll try and post their thoughts this week. We're definitely still figuring things out.

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