BLeach

Cruisefest Outreach 2008

Last night was a blast!  Hundreds of people stopped by.  We gave away 750 hot dogs!  Just making our city healthier one hot dog at a time:)

I met so many new people throughout the night.  I imagine Jesus through great parties.  It's a great feeling to make the church the place where so many people want to be!

I'll post a few pictures.  To see the larger collection you can visit the facebook album here.  Thanks to everyone from Church of the King, The Oaks, Solid Rock, Resurrection and Life, and Bridge Community Church for serving!

Fall Expansion

This has been one of the best summers we've had at Church of the King as we've continued to grow right through it.  Our dream is to connect our city to Christ, and God is increasing our influence in this city!

One thing I'm learning is that answered prayer often leads to new problems.  In this case we've prayed and worked for growth.  God has answered which means that now we have a great problem...a space problem.

Our kids areas are overflowing on Sundays, and our worship gathering has been packed several times this summer.  As a result, we've been asking God for several weeks to give us a strategy to reach more people.  It's time for us to take a fresh risk!

This Sunday I'm going to share some exciting expansion opportunities.  If you are a part of Church of the King, I hope you'll be here to celebrate the news.  If not, be sure to check the blog next week for details.

Can't wait to transform our city this fall! 

The Cruisefest

I'm pumped for Friday!  The annual Woodward Dream Cruise (which I believe is the largest car cruise in North America) is this Saturday.  The Dream Cruise takes place about one mile from our church. 

On Friday night, the city of Berkley kicks off the weekend with the annual Berkley Cruisefest.  The Cruisefest draws thousands of people, and the cars literally drive right past our building.

Our church will be joining the excitement by throwing a party for the community.  The action starts at 5.30 with free food, a live band, tons of games, and some incredible giveaways.  Someone from our community will actually win a Wii!

This year we have five other churches joining us to sponsor the outreach.  Pretty excited to work together with some great pastors and churches to serve our city!

Send me an email if you live in Metro Detroit and would like to volunteer.  We could use the help!

Fields Will Be Bought Here Again

Jeremiah 32 begins with Jeremiah in prison.  Zedekiah put him there for prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem.  While suffering for his prophesy, God told him that he was going to run into his cousin who was going to ask him to buy a piece of land, and that when he did, he should buy it.

This of course was confusing to Jeremiah.  Why invest money into property in a city that's about to be leveled?  Yet God told him to buy the land and bury the deed.  When Jeremiah asked why, God simply responded, "Fields will be bought in this land again."

Faith is the courage to invest resources into God-ventures that no one else may recognize as fruitful at the time.

My friend Norflette leads a church on the East side of Detroit in a depressed neighborhood.  Houses around his church are selling for $500.00.  No one is moving into the neighborhood.  Yet he and his family are investing their money, their dreams, and their lives into the city.  They believe people will buy property there again.

Some church planters decide where to locate by looking for the fastest growing communities.  Then there are others who are called by God to move into places that are being abandoned. 

They believe, like Jeremiah, that God's promise is more concrete than property values.

Face First

Wow!  This chapter tore me up this morning.  Here's some quick context.

God instructs Jeremiah to buy his cousin's field in Jerusalem right after informing him that he was going to allow Jerusalem to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.  Jeremiah felt as I often have when my God-inspired dreams exist in contradiction with present reality.  So the bulk of the chapter finds Jeremiah seeking understanding.

Some great themes emerge in the process.  The power of vision.  God's sovereignty.  God's determination to redeem broken cities.  Faith to invest money into things unseen.

But what sticks out to me is God's explanation as to why the trouble was coming to Jerusalem: They have turned to me their back and not their face (verse 33).

I can't ever remember intentionally and rebelliously turning my back toward God.  But I don't think most of us do.  My reasons are more subtle.  I forget to look to God because I'm trying too hard to live on my own.  Sometimes I'm afraid to face God because that would require facing my own sins and weaknesses.  Other times I fail to look to him because I'm simply too distracted, focusing on something or someone else.

But the greatest 180 degree turn is to turn your face to God. 

Give God your attention.  Be honest and vulnerable.  Let him look you in the eye.  Discover the courage to be known.

I took some time to face up this morning and re-establish some lost intimacy with Christ.  We made eye contact again.  You know, those eyes that burn with fire?  They're also filled with love. 

It's no wonder the after-glow of repentance is worship.

Breaking News

Brett Favre just had breakfast.  This most likely means he will either be traded to Tampa Bay or New York since most people in both of those cities also eat breakfast.

Seriously, the media mayhem has got to end!  Watching Sportscenter these days makes me feel like Brett Favre is twittering.  I know what he is doing at all times.

Speaking of twittering, I have really tried to get into it, but honestly I'm struggling.  I can't seem to remember to update my feed throughout the day.  But I've really tried.  I even had Jeff Leake's feeds texted directly to my cell phone.  That got to be a little too much, especially for Leah, when my phone started vibrating every time he finished a meeting or went to bed.  It got to the point that I was actually worried about him if I hadn't heard from him in a few hours.  I'd tell Leah, "I really hope Jeff's okay:)"

Team Retreat

Getting back in the swing of things today after two incredible days at our leadership team retreat.� I always enjoy this time away with our leaders, and this year might have been the best so far.

We focus on two things during our summer retreat: praying and playing.� We pray for each other and the church.� We've got some big dreams for the fall, and it was great to zoom out and pray for faith.

We also�play.� We play hard.� In fact, I'm still a little sore from several hours of kickball, blobbing, water volleyball, and other full contact activities.� Seems like our injury rate for the team was almost 100%!

I find incredible joy in ministry by watching all that God accomplishes in people's lives.� I also find joy in the context of community.� Planting a church with the dream of changing a city involves long days and hard work.� But doing it with people I love means the journey is filled with lots of laughter and great memories.