Caleb is now 12 weeks old. In less than two weeks, another baby will be born. We’ve named this one “Elk Creek Church”! We’re at the stage in our pregnancy where you just want the big day to get here. The baby’s room is all decorated. All of the items are purchased. We’ve even started to feel some slight labor pains. The launch team has been talking a lot about what the baby will look like when she’s born. We’re hoping to see lots of visitors on the day of birth. It’s going to be a huge celebration cuz’ this baby’s been in the oven for about 2 years now, so she’s ready to come out! I hope to see many of you on delivery day scheduled for September 23rd at 10:30am.

We went to the Mushroom Festival today in Kennett Square. I must admit, I’m far from a mushroom fan. My wife loves them. We even passed a stand that was selling mushroom ice cream! Ahh…no thanks I think I’ll pass. The Mushroom Farming industry is huge in Southern Chester County. You can’t help but smell the odor of Mushroom compost as you drive through the area. It’s the most repugnant smell. It is also necessary in order to grow mushrooms. No compost…no mushrooms. For me, my life would not skip a beat if mushrooms were non-existent. But, for many, the odor is worth the final result!

I was reminded of a passage of scripture found in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17. It says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”
To many people that are far from God, when they hear the message of Jesus, they are repulsed by it! Sometimes however, they aren’t repulsed by the message, they are repulsed by the messenger! Sometimes Christians come off so judgemental and disrespectful that the person they are sharing their faith with can’t even hear the message of Jesus, because they are too busy holding their nose at the repulsive odor of the messenger! Now clearly, the scripture says that some will be repulsed by the message. We can’t help that. The message of Jesus is clear and cannot be watered down…Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me!” To some, that claim of exclusivity that Jesus made is the most repulsive odor that you have ever smelled. If thats the case for you…I’m sorry, I can’t help that! However, I can help the way in which I share that message. I can share it in love and with respect and certainly in a way that is non-judgemental, and always with sincerity! To others, Jesus’ claim is the most beautiful fragrance that you have ever encountered!

After much thought, I have decided to change our opening series title to “Living life in stereo”. Although I will be incorporating all of the “DNA” elements into the series, I wanted to accomplish several things. I wanted to shorten the series up a bit from the seven weeks orginally planned and scale it down to five weeks. I also want to focus on our five purposes as a church and weave our DNA into it. What are our five purposes? To Love, To Laugh, To Learn, To Live, and To Lift.

Why am I calling it “Living life in stereo”? I think it’s a good phrase to describe what it’s like when we are living our lives in balance with the five purposes. Have you ever listened to music through headphones when one side wasn’t working? Something’s missing, it’s not balanced, it’s awkward. It’s the same when we aren’t living life in balance with these five purposes.

The five purposes further defined:

To Love – To give of ourselves and serve others by discovering our God-given gifts, abilities and passion.
To Laugh – To get connected with other Christ followers and to share our life with them.
To Learn – To grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ through God’s Word, prayer, and spiritual disciplines.
To Live – To live our lives in such a way that others see Jesus in us and want to follow Him.
To Lift – To lift up the name of Jesus and magnify Him through a lifestyle of worship.

It’s gonna be a great series to “kick off” the launch of Elk Creek Church.

The technology that we have available to us today is incredible. Just think about it…most of the people reading this blog can think back to the time before the internet and before cell phones. I remember getting the internet on my 386 IBM. It took 3 days to log on and half the time it would boot you off before you were able to get anything done.

And then cell phones. My first bag phone was the size of an overnight bag…but I don’t remember losing calls like I do now…hmmm. Remember pagers? wow…and to think that we actually used pay phones at one time! My kids look at me funny when I tell them these things! It’s hard to believe the advance in technology in just a few short years.

I think about the technology that I use everyday in church planting and how much more productive we are able to be because of it. Most of the items that we purchased for our church were purchased on the internet. Other amazing technology that we have available to us are…Our website, YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, Google, this blog, eNewsletters, email, eBay, Vonage, and of course…this cool gadget!

And then there are times that I wish it could all slow down for just a little bit. What would it be like if we were able to discipline ourselves to take one day each week where we say no cell phone, no email, no computer? Too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing.

10. To see if Pastor Mike looks the same in person as he does in the picture.

9. To see what the inside of the Avon Grove High School looks like in case you’ve always wondered.

8. To kill some time before the Eagles vs. Lions game at 1pm on 9/23.

7. Where else can you go to get a free cup of Starbucks coffee on a Sunday morning.

6. To see how much stuff we can actually fit in our 24 foot trailer.

5. To see if the people in the Elk Creek Church TV commercials actually go to Elk Creek Church.

4. To receive a free gift that you can sell on eBay or give as a gift to Aunt Martha at Christmas time.

3. To see how many of your neighbors showed up for the launch also.

2. To be a part of something new, exciting, and happening!

1. Because you will have the opportunity to do something that you’ve never seen done in church before.

Seriously…you don’t want to miss it!