To Save A Life

Cindy & I watched a great movie last weekend . . .

To Save A Life is a movie with a spiritual purpose that confronts about a dozen issues that teens and families are facing in real life.

It starts a little slow and there's a couple of awkward places that made me feel like I was watching a cheesy Christian flick, but that was like 4% of the movie.

The other 96% forces you to think about real life. And what I really like, is that it makes you think about how the rest of the world sees the church. How awkward we look when we try to hard to be 'spiritual' and aren't real. Worth the watch just for that.

You probably need to watch it first and decide for yourself about your pre-teens watching it as it tackles real issues without flinching.

But I encourage you to go get it at Red Box and watch and listen . . .

Boys vs. Texans PRE-GAME

Yep, we're not having any sort of Sunday Funday anymore, it's Pre-Game.

Time to get nourished and focused for the afternoon.

Boys and the Texan at Noon.  No worries.  Immediately following worship on Sunday we'll have food & pregame discussion.

You can be done by 11:45.  Be in your chair by kickoff.

Pre-Game is only $5 a person - $20 max a family (& guests are always free).  

If you don't give a rip about the game then hangout with us longer at the building.

See you Sunday!

Empowered Disciples

Are you asking yourself and God these questions this week:

1) What makes me come alive? (Or, What am I doing when I feel God's pleasure?)

2) What do I do that blesses and encourages other people?

If you're not sure what I'm talking about then click here and listen to Sunday's message about the Oso Creek value of Empowered Disciples.

The bigger question I talked about Sunday and the bigger question for you is . . . 'Is my purpose for living big enough to prepare me for dying?'

Radical

I told you a few weeks ago that I was going to tell you about a couple of my favorite books of the Summer . . . I told you about Untamed . . . and then I disappeared!

Ok, here's the second: Radical by David Platt.

Fair Warning! He says stuff like this:

* "We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist Him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. . . . A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, He loves us just the way we are . . ."

* "Based on what we have heard from Jesus in the Gospels, we would have to agree that the cost of discipleship is great. But I wonder if the cost of nondiscipleship is even greater."

* "In direct contradiction to the American dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts His people in situations where they come face to face with their need for Him."

* "The goal of the gospel is to make much of God."

* "The key word here again is sacrifice. The challenge is not just ot give away excess stuff that you really don't need anyway. That's not sacrifice. Sacrifice is giving away what it hurts to give. Sacrifice is not giving according to your ability; it's giving beyond your ability."


That's probably enough fair sampling. Platt's book is definitely not for you if you desire to stay entrenched in American consumeristic, easy-believism Christianity.
But I'll warn you that I think that is a dying tribe.

If you want to be stretched to follow Jesus in new ways - and I hope you do - then I would encourage you to get it and get it for a friend.
Both of you read and discuss it (it won't be a quiet conversation :)

Then let God do something with it.

Progress!

Thanks to everyone who gave a few hours tonight to help transform the inside of our building!


Check out the progress that was made . . . .



Click below to sign up to come & be a part of painting later this week . . . or working on the floor next week . . . .


Sign Up Here

Who Believes?

It amazes me how much of life comes down to this one question: Do we really believe it?

Men & women will die by the thousands in battle if they believe in the cause and their country. (Just think about that for a minute.)

People will give their lives - 50, 60, 70 hours a week for 40 years - to their jobs if they believe that their careers or more money will better their existence.

People will sacrifice $80 a ticket and 10 hours a week to follow their favorite team because they believe it adds meaning to their lives.

Some people will go to prison because they really believe that aborting babies or trafficking human beings is wrong.

Many parents will spend unlimited dollars and time on their children's teams and training and private lessons because they believe that they will be the next Chopin, or Mariah Carey or Albert Pujols.

It always begs the question for me: What do we really believe about Jesus?

I mean, really.

God has been convicting me that if I really believe that no one can live a life of fullness without Him, then why would I ever hesitate in telling someone how they need Him. (Or, maybe worse, apologetically tell them.)

If I really believe that He is our only hope to spend eternity with God, it's unthinkable not to show people around me His love & verbally give them the opportunity to follow Him. Right? Am I missing something?


I'm not writing this to get a reaction or heap guilt. But just to make us think . . . and live.

Bottom line, we can say we believe whatever we want. The truth is that ultimately we live what we really believe.

Makeover

"A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great." (Prov 18:16)

We are giving a gift of our creativity and excellence to our friends and neighbors who don't know our God - and we want you to join in!

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be making some aesthetic changes to our building and on our property - paint, flooring, signage, decorations. Changes designed to give a fresh, exciting look that will energize us, and speak of our God's excitement and passion to those who come!

At my house we have a saying that: Sometimes you help just because help is needed!
This is one of those times and there has been an awesome web page set up where you can volunteer to help the next couple of weeks!

Just click here: Sign Up Page and jump on for a night or two!

Let's give gifts with returns for eternity!

Missing Teenager

This is Lizzie Nogle. She is a Freshman at King High School. Her family just recently moved here from California and they visited Oso Creek a couple of weeks ago.

They have not seen her or heard from her since yesterday (Friday) morning. King HS did verify that she was at school all day Friday.

Please pray for Lizzie and her parents - Curt & Patty.

Pray for God to return Lizzie safely. Pray for God to bless and be near this family.

From Assistant to Champion

On Sunday I introduced Kacey May who is taking over for Jenny McDermott in leading the Oso Creek Admin charge!

Jenny has been our Administrative Assistant for about 3 years and done an incredible job! She has moved the ball far down the field. . .

Kacey is going to continue to run with the ball in an excellent way! She will continue to be the primary Oso Creek contact. But one change is instead of her title being Administrative Assistant, we are calling her Administrative Champion.

That's because what we want to communicate that Kacey's job isn't just to 'do' all the admin duties, but to also engage others and lead them in serving! To empower others to use their gifts & skills for the Kingdom.

This will be Kasey's email: creekadmin@gmail.com
Give her a high-5 as we welcome her to the team!

10.10.10

Coming on 10.10.10 a fresh opportunity to invite your friends to 'Taste & see that the Lord is good.'

Be praying and watching for who around you needs to experience that God is good.

The Pursuit in Colorado

Would you pray with me for my friend Alan Reed and the launching of The Pursuit Church in Fort Collins, Colorado this weekend.

Creekers should remember Alan as he filled in for me one Sunday about a year ago.

Check out the Grand Opening announcement here

Pray for God's blessing on their launch . . . that they will come alive in Jesus . . . and that they will be building relationships with many people in Fort Collins who need to be connected to God!

Are You Paying Attention?

"Think on things above and not things below."

On Sunday I talked about a second 'Value' of Oso Creek . . . Transformation!

We believe that every person has a God-Agenda on this planet and want to see their lives changed so that they come more and more ALIVE . . . . and change the world!

God is the Potter and we are the clay in the Transformation process. He molds & shapes. We Surrender.

And the part of Surrender that I talked about Sunday is what we Pay Attention To. Do we set our minds on things that will allow us to hear God? Or, are we continually distracted by the noise all around us? It's your choice. It's my choice.

We all need to discover what helps us to more fully Pay Attention to God. I would love to be a part of helping everyone I can pay attention. One of the things that I do on a 'spontaneous' basis is send texts to our leaders encouraging them with Scripture or reminding them of something God has been telling us, etc.

I want to invite you to get those texts just as an occasional 'pay attention' reminder.

If you want to be on the list just text me at 877.6461 and say 'I'm in.'

Now: What's going on above?

Show Time

A few pics from Laura's first college soccer game on Tuesday in Dallas . . .


She plays for John Brown Univ & they tied Northwood College 4-4 . . .


She's #12 in blue . . .


I'm the one in the glasses :)