Below are a few of Jen Strohkorb’s thoughts on art and worship:

God gives artisans their skill and ability to give Him glory by manifesting His creativity and beauty in the earth – to take abstract words and ideas or emotions and make them substance. We are made in God’s image. How much of God’s creation is a manifestation of some thought or emotion burning in the heart of God?

Think about the most beautiful places in creation that you have seen and ponder, “What was in your heart God, when you created such beauty? What emotion was burning in you, what thought were you trying to express?”

Since we are created in His image, not only has He given us the ability to reason and contemplate, dream and envision in our minds and hearts, but also the ability to carry it through to completion – to make concrete or physical those things hidden inside that are invisible or spiritual. Sometimes there are no words to describe the emotions and thoughts one has.

When we are in love, it is not enough to simply ponder this love in our hearts and minds, but it springs forth into physical forms of affection; poetry, songs, art, gifts, kissing, dancing, etc.

And so it is with God. His love for us was not sufficiently expressed in abstract concepts or ideas in His mind, or in burning affection hidden in His heart, or even in the words He gave to Moses and the prophets.

His love broke forth and was made manifest here on the earth through the life and death of His son; His very thoughts and emotions made flesh. He brought forth the culmination of all creation in Jesus- perfect in beauty and holiness- then He poured all of His love and goodness and the Truth about His emotions for us into the physical body of Jesus. Then, in the ultimate display of His burning affections for us, He offered this perfect display of His goodness in our place, to be broken, bruised, shamed and put to death, taking upon Himself all of our ugliness and giving us His beauty in return.

With this one act, God has invited us to partner with Him, like Mary, to birth His very word and beauty and glory into this world. We are all artisans in this way. Just imagine, Mary birthed the very Word of God, the eternal Word that shall not pass away. In a similar way, He invites us to birth His will into the earth. Just as a man cannot birth a child on His own, God chose to birth His will and beauty and emotions on the earth through His bride.

God places His beauty, glory and will in our hearts and we have been equipped to birth, nurture and feed the very dreams in the heart of God, bringing them to fruition and completion here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Oh Father, let your Kingdom be fully manifested in us, Your bride!  

Hey everybody,

This Friday @ 7pm (Sept 14) we’re gathering at Trailer City for a Hot Dog Roast. It’ll be a time of food, fellowship, and fun… building relationships with the people at Trailer City and sharing the love of Christ with them. We’ll have a campfire, cook hot dogs, maybe some marshmallows, play some music, and generally just have a relaxed get-together with the people there.

Hot dogs and buns will be provided. If you can bring any condiments or drinks, please do. Lawn chairs would be good. Bring a good hot dog stick or coat hanger if you can. But most importantly, bring yourself and share the love of Jesus. There are exciting things just waiting to happen at Trailer City!

Directions: Take I-264 East to Birdneck Road, take a right and go a couple of blocks to Virginia Beach Blvd., and turn right again. You will see a trailer park on the right side of the road, go to the last entrance which is just past the last trailers, turn right, and we will be in an open grassy area where there is a big wooden cross.

I had read this quote once before, but forgot about it. Chris McGrath emailed it to me and I had to share it with you:

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
(Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper & Row, 1982)

If you know how to read, but don’t, how are you better off than those who don’t know how to read?

So, I encourage you to turn off your TVs, grab a tall glass of lemonade (or iced tea if you prefer) and read this book:

Organic Church by Neil Cole

Christians in America aren’t starved for good teaching. We’re not slacking in our faith for lack of great worship music or places where we can gather to sing songs, talk to other Christians and hear the Bible preached. We’re not hurting for resources. We don’t lack freedom of religion. We aren’t persecuted. It’s not difficult to find a copy of the Bible, they’re pretty much everywhere.

So, since we are so richly blessed, I bet Christians in America are radically living for God. I bet we’re walking out the teachings of the Bible since there are so many great teachers and resources. I bet the church is firing on all cylinders, functioning passionately as the Body of Christ, constantly baptizing new believers and discipling people to truly live as Jesus lived.

Or, are we?

I think it’s pretty clear that the church doesn’t need amazing teachers, talented musicians and singers, nice buildings, and lots of money to thrive. In fact, I sometimes wonder if we would be better off if those things would be stripped away so that we would learn not to focus on them.

Neil Cole wrote, “Christians in America are already educated beyond their obedience, and more education is not the solution.”

Do you think that’s true? Or, do you think we just need more or better education to get the church to wake up and BE the church? Is that what sustained the New Testament church? What’s the next step?

Leonard Sweet says, “Christians have much to learn about faith as a lived experience, not a thought experiment.”

I can’t help but feel that we are sometimes missing the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. I don’t mean just stuff like serving the poor or caring for orphans and widows. That stuff’s important, but it’s just a glimpse of God’s heart for people. What about the Sermon on the Mount for starters? Have you ever read Jesus’ words that day…reading slowly and seriously considering the depth of each part and what it would look like to actually obey Jesus’ teachings?

This is not simply obeying a set of commands, but living a certain life that can only be lived with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Things like Matthew 5:13-16… Being salt and light to a world that is hopeless and dark. Are we doing that here in Hampton Roads?

So, what’s the next step? I think we need to take our Christianity to the streets. We need to bring the light of Christ to our community, here in Hampton Roads. We need to be the church outside of our ‘church buildings’ and live as Jesus lived. This is not a moral lifestyle, but in fact is itself true life.

If you’re checking this blog to get the update on the Trailer City outreach scheduled for Saturday, June 30 (tomorrow), here’s what you need to know:

Rain and paint don’t mix. What that means for us is that we need to POSTPONE the outreach since there is a decent chance that our work could get washed out by a shower or thunderstorm.

All is well, though, ’cause we have a plan. We have rescheduled the event for Saturday, July 28. We’ll be sure to have outdoor AND indoor stuff planned for the 28th, so the ministry will happen rain or shine.

We believe that this extra time to plan will allow for the event to make an even larger impact for God’s kingdom. So, stay tuned for more info and keep July 28 reserved on your calendar.

If you have any questions or want to get more involved with this ministry, contact Randy Hill at randghil@gmail.com

I’ve heard it said that “our current system is perfectly designed to give us the results we are now getting.” (I think I heard that from Dallas Willard) It’s one of those obvious truths that we somehow easily forget. To put the statement in the terms of the church, you could say “the current way that we ‘do’ church is perfectly designed to create the types of disciples that we are now creating.”

So, the question is: what types of disciples is the modern church in the U.S. making?

While the answer is probably ‘many different kinds,’ I think I could argue pretty convincingly that for the most part the modern church creates consumeristic, Christian spectators… kind of like what you see happen at an NFL football game, where you have 50,000 people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 people desperately in need of rest. We focus on a weekly event to the point where we even refer to that event (and the building where it is held) as ‘going to church.’ We attend the service as if we are going to a temple where God lives, forgetting that the curtain was torn when Christ died and the Spirit of God lives in us! In fact, we ARE the church (whether we acknowledge it or not) 24/7, wherever we are!

And so, a church that focuses on and defines itself by a weekly service (where very few are serving in their gifts, and the rest merely look on) is going to make disciples that are conditioned to let the mission of the church stay in the hands of a few people that stand on the stage each week, and all the while forget the incredible, awesome, world-changing potential that is sitting dormant in their own life!

It’s this reality that is causing us to rethink what it means to be the church (not go to church!) It’s the fact that we understand that we are meant to be disciples of Jesus (and in fact the church is supposed to be the Body of Christ) yet most of the Body is lying dormant, as if in the state of a coma.

And I think God is saying to the church in the U.S. what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” !!!

So, that’s our mission. We are going to, through God’s help and direction, learn what it means to be the church, and make disciples of Jesus that together truly function as the Body of Christ here on earth.

Our first step is to stop focusing on our weekly service. We are going to focus on Life Groups…that’s where we will all learn to function in the giftings that God has given us. That’s where we’ll build true community, minister to each other, pray for each other, invite unchurched people to hang out with us, have fun together, serve the community, etc. We must interract with each other life on life, and learn to live as disciples of Christ in the context of community. Our weekly 5pm gathering is going to be seen as a ‘gathering of life groups.’ Our projects in the community (serving the poor, the elderly, orphans/widows, evangelism, etc) are also going to be seen as functions of the life groups, so that we are learning to obey Christ’s teachings in the context of community.

And so, we are calling this movement “the Mission”

God, help us as we strive to radically live, as Jesus radically lived. Help us to love sinners, as You love sinners. Help us selflessly sacrifice, as you selflessly sacrificed for us… and teach us what it means to be the church.

My home page is set to cbsnews.com. So, whenever I open my web browser I get a quick look at the latest news. The top headline just now caught my attention more than most: “$500M Treasure Ship Found in Atlantic”

Wow. That’s exciting. Fortune, adventure, scuba diving, 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins… maybe I chose the wrong profession.

But then I remembered what Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like. “…the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who was searching for fine pearls. When he found a valuable pearl, he went away, sold everything he had, and bought it.” I guess that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve found something that’s worth our full attention. Something that’s worth giving up everything else in life. And, we’re pursuing it with passion.

So, some have asked me recently when our next service project to the poor will be. Let me fill you in on what’s going on:

People who are excited about BEING the church (not just going to church) are coming out of the woodwork and saying they want to get involved. We’ve been needing people to organize and lead service projects, outreach projects, prayer events, etc to help provide opportunities for all of us to BE the church during the week. So far, here’s who is helping to lead the charge:

Randy Hill – Randy is working on a BBQ cookout and painting project at Trailer City. It’s going to be great for building relationships with some of the poor people in that area. If you want to get involved in this, email Randy @ randhil@regent.edu

Jason Plumley – Jason is working on an outreach to some of the local nursing homes in the area. Is there a better way to grow as a disciple of Christ than to serve and share the gospel with the undervalued elderly in our community? Imagine sitting down and writing a letter to a son or daughter for hands that are too old and tired to write themselves.

David Crane – David and the rest of the Life Ministry team are continuing to advance our efforts in fighting against what is clearly one of the most (if not THE most) important social injustice issues facing the church today…abortion.

Emily Teagle & Doug Drader – This project, called “Less is More” is going to be awesome. Imagine if everyone in our church were to simplify their lives by bringing in their possessions that they don’t really need or use. We all have those things that we don’t need but we hold on to anyway. With “Less is More” we’ll benefit by simplifying our lives and becoming (hopefully) a bit less materialistic. But that’s only the first part. We’re then going to sell the items and use the profit to do something awesome like dig a well in Africa or buy a trailer for a widow who can’t afford a home. Stay tuned for more info. ALSO, we still need one more person to help lead this in order to launch it. If you are interested, contact Emily at emailtheteagle@yahoo.com

So, that’s not just to inform you of what’s going on. This is an INVITATION to join in on this movement. If you are interested in getting more involved, contact me at briansweet77@yahoo.com Let’s pursue the kingdom of heaven with all that we have and all that we are. Let’s pursue it with passion.

Last week, Bill Gualdoni talked with us about the importance of community in the church.  He said that we should be intentional in our relationships, and that without a strong sense of community within the Body of Christ (church), we are missing out on one of the essential components of ‘being the church’.

This whole conversation about community brings up something that I’ve been pondering lately.  If it is our goal to be the church in a biblical, authentic, and Christ-honoring way, then one of the first things we should do is ask ourselves what are the main functions of the Bride of Christ.  What are those things that if we don’t do, we are missing an important component of being the church?  It seems to me that if we can focus on these main functions/purposes of the church, and if we can do them well, then we will be well on our way to being an authentic, biblical church.  Also, knowing what these things are will help us determine where our freedoms are in terms of how we go about being the church.

Not long ago I was asking someone what they thought these main functions/purposes were.  He said that he thought they are laid out pretty well in Acts 2:42-47, and are specifically:

• Worship
• Evangelism
• Fellowship
• Teaching the Scriptures
• Serving

I talked to another guy about this and he said he thought the list looked like this:

• Worship
• Community
• Discipleship
• Service
• Outreach

I’ll throw out one more list from a book titled From the Ground Up: New Testament Foundations for the 21st Century Church:

• Worship
• Learning
• Fellowship
• Evangelism/Mission 

What do you think?

I read an article today by Shaun Groves entitled “From Singers to Servants” that started out like this:

I go to church with 5,000 singers. I can’t call us worshipers yet because many of us come to church only to feel better, be served and hear our favorite songs while our kids are kept in short-handed pre-school classes. And after church, on Monday, you won’t catch many of us singers at the reitrement home writing letters for hands too bent by age to hold a pen. A few miles north, in East Nashville, you won’t find us playing basketball with a child of another ethnic background, giving his mom a dress or a job. And down the street, few will bring blankets, tooth-brushes or a kind word to the rapists and thieves in the county jail. We’re great singers, but, to be honest, some of us are lousy worshipers.

Wow. I’m really convicted by that statement. I have to ask myself, am I a singer or a worshiper? I wonder how so many churches are content being full of singers, but in actuality contain very few worshipers. I wonder how church leaders can justify focusing almost exclusively on facilitating opportunities for people to sing and hear a sermon, but not so much on opportunities for people to truly worship. I wonder how so many people can go by the title of ‘worship leader’ when in actuality they are only functioning as living juke boxes that churn out the latest and greatest worship songs for people to sing along to. Do we go to church to feel better? Why do we live by the concept of “going to church” when in actuality we are supposed to be the church, 24/7?

Shaun later points out that “‘Worship’ in our English bible is never translated from a Greek or Hebrew word meaning “singing” or “songs.” So where is the disconnect in churches today? Does our modern view of worship distort the truth and allow us to justify lives that aren’t lived in such a way as to reflect the true meaning of worship? Can you find instances of people in scripture who encountered Jesus, became his disciple, and yet their lives were not radically disrupted for the sake of God’s Kingdom? Were there comfortable worshipers who suffered little sacrifice? Or, like the rich young ruler (Matt 19, Mark 10, & Luke 18), is it the people who are not willing to radically disrupt their lives for Christ that miss out entirely on knowing God?

I have to believe that these are questions that we, the bride of Christ, should wrestle with. Is a church that’s full of ’singers’ a beautiful church? What do you think?