Would it shock you to hear that this June, beginning this Sunday, there will be 1,263 churches, with a combined total attendance of roughly 750,000 people, who will be joining together to do the same preaching series?  One Prayer, the brainchild of LifeChurch of Oklahoma’s pastor Craig Groeschel, is an attempt to unite the worldwide church for one month in prayer, fasting, mission, and vision for what God could do if we would all seek Him together.  I remember when I first heard him pitch the vision – it couldn’t have been more than three or so months ago – and it has been staggering to see the number of churches who have signed up to be a part of this experience (six Connecticut churches, including East Hampton Bible Church, Fellowship Church of Middletown, and St. Paul’s Collegiate Church of Storrs, are among those taking part). 
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As I was finishing up the recent Why Believe? sermon series and the Why Go to Church? series on the blog, someone encouraged me to follow them up with a Why NewLife? post, in order to highlight some of the reasons why I feel NewLife is a church worth being a part of.  As I mentioned in an earlier Pulse, I am not fond of religious consumerism, where “church shopping” becomes like looking for a good mechanic (“I like the music, and the seats were comfortable, but the sermon was too long”).  However, I do think it’s worth testifying to what God is doing in our church, in the hopes that more might become a part of what He is doing in and through our community.  So let me offer five reasons (among many others) why I love our church:
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Over the past three Sundays, I have been preaching on some of the major objections people have to faith in the God of the Bible – issues like Hell, the exclusivity of Christ, and the resurrection – in a series I’ve called Why Believe?.  One of the most meaningful aspects of these Sunday worship gatherings, however, has been giving individuals in our church the opportunity to share some of their story of why they believe.  Sharman Anderson, Danny Cordero, and Maggie Proulx have all shared about how they came to faith in Jesus and the difference He has made in their lives, and in the process have helped me (and hopefully others) to see God in new ways.  I have found that there is something about hearing a testimony of how God has worked in someone else’s life that can be incredibly strengthening for our own faith. 

I think that this is church at its best Read more »

As I’ve been considering the question Why Go to Church?, one of the biggest struggles I (and many other pastors) have is how to encourage someone to go to church without reinforcing a consumer mentality.  Read more »

This past Sunday, I began a new preaching series I’m calling Why Believe? in order to address some of the biggest objections people have to faith in God and belief in the God of the Bible.  I began with the central question of Christianity – did God raise Jesus Christ from the dead? – which also required a brief treatment of the question of the reliability of the New Testament gospels and the question of whether miracles can happen.  If you weren’t there on Sunday, I would encourage you to listen to the sermon on the website, which includes a powerful personal testimony by Maggie Proulx.  Over the next four weeks, I’ll be dealing with the following objections:

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As I prepare for the upcoming “Why Believe?” sermon series, one book I’ve been reading is UnChristian:  What a New Generation really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons.  It is a book done with extensive research by the Barna Group, a Christian organization that does research on many different spiritual and moral issues in America.  The book begins with the provocative line “Christianity has an image problem” and goes on to discuss some of their findings regarding how people between the age of 18-29 view Christians, Christianity, and Jesus.  For an idea of some of their findings, take a look at the graph below, which answered the question: “Here are some words or phrases that people could use to describe a religious faith.  Please indicate if you think each of these phrases describes present-day Christianity.”  The bars represent the number of respondents who said that these words described present-day Christianity “a lot” or “some”:
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In the beginning of the book of Acts in the Bible, there is a fascinating story that takes place on the day of Pentecost, also known as Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks.  The disciples of Jesus, having recently witnessed the resurrected Jesus ascending to heaven, are waiting in Jerusalem as instructed by Jesus.  As they are together in a certain house, the Holy Spirit descends, each of them is filled with the Spirit of God, and they begin to speak in other languages to the crowd of people who have gathered from all of the surrounding nations to celebrate the holy day.  And after Peter shares with the crowd the message of salvation that is found in Jesus, the writer of Acts records that about 3000 became followers of Jesus that day.  Pretty genius move by God, of course (not that He needs the compliments), to convert 3000 pilgrims who are now able to go back to the countries they came from to spread the gospel. 

What I find amazing is that this story Read more »

Vulnerability is, well, a vulnerable thing, isn’t it?  My job as a pastor is highly relational, dealing with people from all different backgrounds on all manner of issues.  On one day I’ll be counseling a newly married couple on how to fight fair, another day helping a woman sort out the troubles she has faced in her life and understand where God fits among them, and the next day listening as a young man shares his strongly held vision for where he feels God wants him to use his time and talents.  All of these situations call for incredible vulnerability and trust on the part of those with whom I meet, as they trust me with the intimate details of their marriage, their history, and their heart. 
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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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