(Nothing particularly focused tonight, folks, just a random hodge podge of thoughts spurred on by tonight’s church service.)
A few hours ago, I just got back from a night church service. My wife and I have been running ourselves ragged lately trying to get things in order before the school year starts (Tuesday! Aaaaah!), and after a long 8+ hr work day Saturday, we both just crashed. The consequence: we did not wake up in time to go to the morning service.
But thank goodness that our church has not one but two night services (7 and 9p.m…yes, you read that right: 9p.m). These two services are when you see the bulk of the younguns (18-26 yr olds) come out.
You know, I’m glad I went tonight, as opposed to this morning. My friend Darren spoke. Darren’s a young guy himself: 25, married at 22, and now he’s planting a church in Long Beach. Guess where the church is being planted? In a cigar bar night club, right smack dab in the middle of downtown Long Beach.
Crazy! Wild! Not tame! But good…very good.
This was the last week before he is going to be officially released to launch the church. He not only gave his story, but gave a stirring sermon on the church in Acts.
I was encouraged on a number of different levels tonight. For one, Darren made the point that the pros didn’t start the church back then. There were no “church demographic” gurus busting out Barna survey results. The first martyr, Stephen, was not an apostle: he was nothing more than a “potluck assistant” (Darren’s term…clever!).
God scattered these folks from Jerusalem, and they went “heralding” and proclaiming the Christ wherever they went.
This is an often missed thing. Many think that proclaiming the faith is a paid church staff’s job…really, it is our job…us, the ones in the pews…the “ordinary” folk. We, not the building or just the paid staff, are the church.
Darren made much ado about this point, and I’m glad he did, because my generation has been quick to down play the proclaiming part because it is offensive. We like popularity, so we focus on the parts that make us comfortable and will gain us benign smiles. How many of us, myself included, forego opportunities to share Christ at work, at the grocery store, or out on the town, because we fear not being liked? Our attitude is often times the same attitude a friend of mine recently expressed: “I wasn’t hired (at work) to preach the gospel.”
Darren’s words fanned my heart tonight. It is uplifting to see a young, ordinary fella like that doing crazy and hard things in the midst of suffering (he also told of a particular intense and scary physical trial his wife was facing, how he struggled with that through unanswered prayer, and how God has recently chosen to heal her from that), and to see God’s hand in it all. It helps me to not let my crazy ideas get overshadowed by the “white picket fence” vision of comfort and ease.
What’s more, lets not forget that this message was embraced by over 2,500 youth age 18-26 at the two night services. Seats spilled over into the overflow box, which spilled over into three different areas of the lobby. This “spilling over” was not unique to tonight–it is the norm for the night service (it is also the norm for a few of the earlier services too). The building isn’t small, mind you: the main sanctuary seats about 1,000.
Most in attendance tonight take their faith seriously. This is just one church! I’m so blessed to be a part of RockHarbor church, where the opportunities to give oneself away are endless. From Katrina relief missions, to ministry in Watts, to foster child mentors, to advocacy for the release of child sex slaves, to a gazillion other ventures in our own backyard to the ends of the earth (India!), chances to make a difference abound.
Back to Darren: It gives me intense joy that such a young guy is doing a big thing in the heart of a very difficult city. I have no doubt that church will flourish.
I have lamented the stats on youth that age before on this blog…well, perhaps the Spirit of God is alive and well in our youth after all.
