I read recently that studies show that church visitors make up their minds within the first seven minutes whether or not they would consider returning.  This means, of course, that there is a real possibility that the following conversation could have happened between visitors to our church recently:

9:58 – (driving down Main St, Glastonbury) Congregational Church…Episcopal Church… now where is this NewLife church again???  Wait, I think that little blue sign said “NewLife something-or-other…”  Turn around.

10:00 – (driving back up Main St) Okay, yeah – there’s the church.  Wait – they meet in a Mason’s Lodge???  What kind of church is this???
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When I was a junior at UConn, I co-led a small group Bible study with my friend Jen.  It was a great group, full of spiritually growing underclassmen that seemed poised to have thriving, lifelong relationships with Jesus.  At the end of the year, the group disbanded, and new groups were formed the following fall.  I distinctly remember watching that winter as a few of my ex-group members ceased participating in their new small groups.  When I asked one of the girls why she had stopped going, she said “It’s just not like Eric and Jen’s group.”  After I stopped patting myself on the back for apparently being the best small group leader ever, I realized that something was seriously wrong.  If all I was doing was leaving people dependent on me for their spiritual growth, what long-term good had I done?  If these students were going to cease pursuing God because nothing else compared to our small group, where had I gone wrong?
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*** Warning – the following essay contains some graphic & disturbing photos, as well as some words that will hopefully disturb you ***

 (The setting is a dusty road in Africa.  An American preacher, dressed in suit and tie, opens his Bible and begins to address the crowd)

 “I’m here this morning to tell you that God is calling you up higher in your life.  God has great things planned for you.  All He’s asking of you this morning is to believe it – to believe that He has great things in store for His children.  He’s asking you to claim His promises, to stand on the truth that He is a good God who wants to bless you.  Praise be to God… give the Lord a hand clap this morning”

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The bookcase peering over my right shoulder as I type is populated by half-finished books – books on leadership, books on spiritual discipline, books on how to be a manly man, and many books on how to read The Book.  I am the type of person who loves to visit book tables at conferences or browse through Christian book catalogs, only to turn away, hyperventilating at the staggering amount of information that I do not know.  I constantly feel that if I could only read every book ever written on how to follow God or how to pastor a church, then I would reach some invincible expert status where everything would come naturally.

 And then I hear something like this, and I wonder if I’ve got it all wrong:
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 Happy anniversary!

It has been one year since we began the NewLife blog, which means that it’s a great time for reflection on how God has used the blog as well as an evaluation of the benefits of blogging for a church. 
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You’ve got to hear this: in case you missed it, here’s a copy of Sunday’s acoustic performance of Switchfoot’s Meant to Live by Jason Proulx (J Pru) and Rich Lacoss. Sound quality is fair at best, but the vocals & guitar work more than make up for it. Jason is a talented singer/songwriter (check out his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/jasonpru) and Rich is one of our worship leaders and an accomplished guitarist (check out www.richlacoss.com). Some day when they hit it big, they can include this bootleg on their “Rarities” EP.

The Switchfoot song is an incredible call to wake up to the fact that there is a quality of life available through Jesus Christ that surpasses anything you could ever experience apart from Him. He called it “eternal life”, and contrary to popular opinion, it’s not just “life after death” but something you can begin to experience right now. Over the next four Sundays, we’ll be awakening to that call and unleashing the limitless power of God in our lives so that He might bring us to that place where we truly, as Switchfoot puts it, “live for so much more.” Come and check it out - you won’t be disappointed.