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?'

Summer Reading

I had a few friends who I spent time with this Summer talking about life & leading . . . but much of my learning was through friends I've never met.

I read about 10 books this Summer and in a couple of different blogs I want to share two of them that had the great impact on me and my thinking.

The first is Untamed by Alan & Debra Hirsch. I'm asking all of our Creeker leaders to read it and would encourage everyone to.

What I love about Untamed is that Hirsch unclutters what it means to really follow Jesus.

He gets at the core of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

And he refuses to let us relax in an ordinary, irrelevant, religious meaning of 'Christian.' It just ain't what Jesus died for.

Here are a few (of the many) great quotes from Untamed:

"If God is not the defining center of our faith, life and identity, then who or what is? This is a question that should disturb each and everyone of us."

"The fact is that you can't be a disciple without being a missionary: no mission, no discipleship. It's as simple as that."

"Worship is no less than offering our whole world back to God."

"Instead of looking at holiness as a list of 'don'ts,' see it as a list of 'do's'."

"The very language of 'getting fed' at church betrays the fact that many attendees are not disciples at all, but rather passive (and somewhat dependent) consumers."

"As followers of Jesus, we must embrace our God-given identity, for it is as we embrace the imago Dei and live out this image that we come alive to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us."

Get it and read it!

THAT was Church!

Still recovering from a long Monday . . . but I forgot to tell you what an awesome Discovery Dessert we had at our house on Sunday evening!

Over 20 adults were here and about a dozen kids!

And all night as I answered questions and then we hung out, I heard story after story of how folks have been impacted at Oso Creek by YOU!

Many of them talked about how they instantly felt accepted.
One man talked about how he had never been at a church where you could 'come as you are' and there were no perfect people, only sinners!
A couple of other folks were open about how they are still 'seekers' on this faith journey and how through the incredible love of folks they were experiencing something supernatural!

It was an awesome Spirit-filled night, just sitting around hearing people's stories - their pain AND victories - and sharing about God's grace with those just beginning the journey.

When everyone was finally gone I told Cindy (in the spirit of Bill Hybels who I've heard say this) . . . now THAT was church!

Something to Think About Today . . .

Another quote from Bob Roberts:

“Converts grow a church, but disciples change the world.”

Are you a convert or a disciple?