Yesterday Andrew (9) and I were talking about easter and Jesus and death and I asked, “Andrew, have you ever been to a funeral?” And he replied, “Do weddings count?”

The popular television drama ER usually led off with a predictable incident that would grab your attention. There’s a flurry of activity… racing bodies clad in turquoise wheel a gurney into the ER… and you know what happens… on the count of three they transfer the bruised and bloodied person onto a table where they simultaneously take is respiration, his heartbeat and his reactions are measured. You’ll hear them say things like… “blood pressure 75/40 and dropping” “respiration shallow” “pulse weak.” And they’re all talking at the same time but in concert. And in seconds the patient is hooked to an IV. And a heartrate monitor begins beeping… and the beeping adds to the already thick tension in the air. » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Palm Sunday
SERMON TITLE The God You’ve Been Searching For
SERMON DATE 03/16/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT Daniel 9; Luke 19:41-44; Rom 8
Finding God is a lot like playing hide and go seek with a two year old. I remember it most playing with Jordan when she was little. When she was old enough to understand the concept… hide and go seek was her absolute favorite game. And there’s something unbelievably special about playing it with young children. YOU WANT THEM TO FIND YOU… you go out of your way to HIDE BAD… Jordan would cover her face with her little hands and begin counting to ten. Mom would help her with the even numbers. And when she popped off number ten she would go out looking for me… she KNEW I couldn’t be far… she KNEW I wasn’t a good hider… and I think in the back of her mind… she knew… I WANTED TO BE FOUND… » Read The Rest

SERMON SERIES Contagious Christianity
SERMON TITLE When You Open Your Mouth
SERMON DATE 03/02/2008
SPEAKER Jeff Paschall
TEXT I Peter 3; Mark 2:15-17
When I was 19 I used bus tables at T.G.I. Friday’s. One of the men who frequently visited was Dave. He was a middle age man… he drove a black Corvette ZR-1… he ALWAYS came in after the dinner rush… he ALWAYS wore charcoal grey three piece suit… and he ALWAYS came in alone. Dave was the kind of guy that was hard to have a conversation with because he had a knack for sponging up 20 minutes of your time without blinking an eye.
On one occasion, hunkered down into a discussion with him – that led to my revealing that at the center of who I was as a person… was a relationship I had with Jesus. Then I asked him… what he believed….… spiritually… » Read The Rest

Some churches grow by shuffling the decks. You know, Christians just moving around from one church to another. Some churches grow by childbirth (fertility drugs in the communion juice). Some churches grow by just filling a room with whoever, however. But filling a room is not the point! The point isn’t to get people to sit in the seats! That’s not the point! It’s troubling to me that so many of us pastors want our churches to grow for all the wrong reasons. and they go to great lengths to make sure the thing is growing, and have more people there than last year! So they flock the mega-churches, study scientifically proven methods, marketing research, sociological studies, and demographic charts and all that stuff. And really… you have to wonder how the early church did it? They didn’t have any of those things? So how did the early church grow? Well it’s amazing. Let me show you. » Read The Rest

John 14:12 Jesus tells his disciples in some of His last words to them, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” As this reference implies… an adventurous life that dabbles in the miraculous will accompany those who follow Jesus with radical faith… And people mistakenly think that the “greater things” Jesus are referring to MUST be miraculous signs… healing people… walking on water… spiritual languages… or miraculous insight… but Jesus tips His hand as to what he’s thinking about when he says “greater things…” If you read the surrounding verses… “greater things”… the BIGGEST miracle… you could get involved in… is INTRODUCING people… TO GOD… watching… for the very first time… the spiritual lights turn on… Showing them the God… that first loved them… and show them… that through Jesus… how we can begin… to love God back.
You want your life to dabble into the miraculous? You want to see God work in your life and do things in you… around you… and through you… like you never have seen before… Dare to die to yourself… pray for the lost… and be willing to reveal God to other people. Creating the universe… parting the Red Sea… raising the dead… parlor tricks to God… Becoming a Contagious Christian… Being available to God to be used to bring someone to the Savior… well those are… “greater things”… It’s the life Christ had in mind…