Brad Wilkerson // COC Metro

AZ

As I sit down to write this week and I enjoying a great cup of coffee at the café in the lobby of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Chandler, Arizona a city much like Plano or Frisco that is located on the South side of Phoenix.  I am here all week for a church planter’s conference called, Next Steps, with the organization, Converge Worldwide.  This ministry, Cornerstone, is an incredible testimony of what God can do with a leader with a huge dream (vision) and a handful of people who are ready to break beyond the barriers of status quo church.  Cornerstone (www.cornerstonechandler.com) started in 1995 in an Elementary School with a group of passionate people who had a desire to leave their mark on their community for Christ.  They now have land and buildings as well that are a living testimony to the grace of God and the generosity of His people.  That handful of people in the Elementary School has grown into a ministry that runs five services with over 6,000 in attendance for worship.  That’s right a handful to 6,000 in just short of 13 years.  I told you so.  I told you it can happen!  When I visit with the Pastor here at Cornerstone or any of their staff they continually give God the glory but they cannot talk about their ministry without referring to the GENEROSITY of the people of Cornerstone.  God can do above what we would ever think or ask when we generously get involved in what He is doing rather than demanding Him to get involved in what we are doing.  COC metro is such a place.  There is no way that I can physically see a facility like this for us or the idea of 5 services let alone 6,000 attendees but I can see it with my spiritual eyes.  I encourage you to stay faithful to God and His call on your life and look for ways to continue to develop a community of generosity among us.

Could it actually be that Luke 6:38 could actually be true?

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Break That Barrier!

I have been looking forward to this week for quite sometime.  Pastor Dane I are taking in the Engage 08 Conference at  Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX.  What a great ministry Presontwood is and it is great to be exposed to not only their ministry but to many great men and communicators of God’s Word this week.  Today we had the privilege to hear from Jack Graham, Pastor of Prestonwood and Kerry Shook, Pastor of Fellowship on The Woodlands in The Woodlands, TX.  Both men brought great talks but Kerry Shook spoke on a subject that is very near and dear to my heart as we press forward in our desire to plant a church that is relevant to our culture yet a ministry that preaches/teaches the truth of the Word of God.  Kerry referred to the fact that churches have way too many barriers that keep people (attendees) from finding Jesus.  He used Matthew 27:50 – 53 as his sermon text.  He made such a profound statement when he said, “When Jesus died on the cross the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom removing any barriers between God and man.”  He then went on to say, “If the veil or barrier between God and man has been torn why are most Pastors and churches trying to re-stitch the veil.”  Wow, could it be that in many cases people cannot find Jesus because the church is in the way.  I would have to say that I completely agree with Kerry.  It could be barriers such as unfriendliness, perfectionism, competition, selfishness, language (speaking Christianese), or just simply the barrier of boredom.  As the Pastor of COC I will strive to continually look at not just what can we add to our ministry to make it better but also what do we need to remove so that our culture can not only see Jesus but find a new life with Him.  It can all be summed up with Kerry’s closing statement, “It is not always necessarily how big your church is…in most cases it is how alive is your church.”  Barriers kill and suck the life out of the energy needed to make Jesus real to a world that is full of seekers.  If God tore the veil then leave it that way.  Put the needle and thread in the storage closet.

Misguided Passion

Alright, if you are an OU fan please forgive me before you read any further.  I am a huge Longhorn fan and will not apologize for that.  I mean come on, my son sleeps on Longhorn sheets, with a Longhorn pillowcase and covers up with a Longhorn blanket.  Oh yeah, did I mention he has Longhorn Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling in his room.  You see I understand when the Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go….” 
 
Anyway, last week was a great time for me as I got to spend 3 ½ days on a planning and vision sabbatical in Wichita, Kansas.  My friend who Pastors there in Wichita put me up in a hotel free of charge and I got busy for 3 days planning and working hard getting ready for a great 09 for COC.  Now, if you know me, you know what I did during the ½ day that was left!!!
 
So, I am driving back to North Texas on Friday and I came through Oklahoma City about 11 a.m. and that is when it hit me.  Traffic is going to be crazy south of here because all the OU fans are going to be headed south for the great state of Texas.  Well as I figured, it was absolutely crazy.  If you got out of the fast lane you never got back in.  We were all pretty much bump drafting at 80 to 85 mph.  It was wild.  I have never seen so many OU flags and bumper stickers.  I just simply rolled down my window and proudly showed my hook em horns to each car as I passed them by.  I was enjoying myself when it hit me, wow, these people are like seriously passionate about the Sooners.  Part of that is because until recently Oklahoma had no pro teams.  I mean think about it, we have the Cowboys, Mavs, Stars, Rangers and even the Desperados.  Our passions are distributed amongst many teams.
 
But after seeing their excitement for their beloved Sooners and crimson and cream I was reminded that passion will do a lot for you.  You may be misguided and in my opinion be rooting for the wrong team…but I’ll give it to you…you all have passion.
 
May our passion for the Lord be the same!  May we be willing to go to whatever means necessary to get to church to worship our Lord and Savior.
 
Keep it up COC…you can’t go wrong with PASSION.
 
By the way….great game…hook em horns!

AMEX...American Expressions

Benjamin Franklin once said… “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”

Soon we’ll start a new series at the Church of Celebration Metro on a term that many, if not all of us would like to be labeled… “generous”!  That’s an interesting term.  What does that mean exactly?  In your own words, how would you define it?  Are you a generous person, or is there room for improvement?  I don’t personally think many people in this world would mind being classified as such a person.  However, it’s a difficult thing to be, when we face obstacles that keep us from being such.  What do I mean?  The main barriers of being generous usually deal with being selfless, misunderstandings, and most of all…trust.  Do we trust what or who we are being generous with?

One major reason generosity is not as popular today is because of a worldwide epidemic called debt!  Consumer debt is at an all time high-currently over 1.4 trillion dollars.  US credit card debt is over 500 billion dollars.  According to the Federal Reserve, American Consumers are adding almost 5 billion dollars a month to their credit card debt.  In the past ten years, credit card balances have increased a staggering…163%.  The nation’s debt is rising… prices are rising …personal financial issues are rising …the government is bailing out Wall Street and generosity is declining.

The problems that stem from this financial crisis are far greater than just financial bankruptcy.  Emotional & spiritual bankruptcy is happening at a destructive pace!  Hope & peace in everyday life are being stolen before our very eyes!  Materialism is at an all time high and its stealing time from far more productive areas of our lives!  The average American shops 6 hours a week but spends only 40 minutes playing with his or her children.  By the age of 20, the average television viewer has seen one million commercials.  Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college.  In 90 percent of divorce cases, arguments about money have played a major contributor in their divorce.  There is a battle happening, and it’s bigger than you or me! 

So I guess my question for us in this issue would be… “Do you feel financial peace?”  Randy Alcorn (Money, Possessions & Eternity) writes… “Materialism can never be corrected by high-sounding courses in ethics or the campaign speeches of politicians calling on us to restore the moral fiber of our nation.  Moral fiber must come from somewhere.  It cannot simply be grabbed out of the sky in the midst of a moral vacuum.  Materialism can only be corrected by changing our view of God!  This change, in turn, can only come from a belief in and study of the Scriptures, which tell us about God, and which alone give us the context to understand ourselves and the proper place of money and possessions.”  Many people may say that money or possessions are not a spiritual issue.  I would beg to differ, as would the Bible.  Did you know Scriptures record about 15% of everything Jesus spoke about was specifically related to this very topic…Money & possessions?  He actually made reference to these very topics one out of every ten verses in the New Testament.  This was an issue that God knew would be extremely influential in the lives of all mankind, and He was doing His best to prepare us for such a battle. 

The fact of this matter is that generosity is truly a desire in every person.  I’ve never heard anyone get ticked off or say something like… “Knock it off, stop calling me generous!”  Within every human being lies something good!  We were created in the image of our God, who in His very essence defines good.  Finding that good is a matter of the heart!  Finding God helps you discover who you are, and what you were meant to be!  My encouragement to those of you, who are like me, that have issues with money & possessions, would be to discover the joy of being generous!  My prayer is that the grip of greed would be broken in your life allowing you to understand and experience real peace – that’s only found in Jesus!  Remember…Pursuing a “good” life is the enemy of having a “great” life!