Open Mike

I Cede My Blogging to a Higher Blogging Power for this Weekend

2012-01-27T07:30:00-05:00

Every time we have our 'Hope in a House of Blues' worship and teaching series, we try new things (like the fantastic Blues Prayer Shack being built right now on campus, and having Mike Farris, his band, AND Donald Miller all here for the full weekend).

One new thing we're trying has to do with blogs. A national church communications expert will be with us, blogging parts of our weekend. Tim Schraeder travels nationally to Church Conferences and blogs their events. He is passionately committed to helping churches effectively communicate the message of the Gospel in a way that’s relevant to our ever-changing culture.We are really excited to have him with us.

Go to www.TimSchraeder.com to find out more and to track what he blogs about our weekend. He's primarily blogging our Leadership Weekend on Friday and Saturday, which is for church leaders at Lake Forest and 8 other area churches, featuring Donald and Mike. Tim will be with us at the concert as well on Saturday night, and maybe (I don't know) church on Sunday. I look forward to seeing what fresh wrinkle Tim adds to the mix.

For my readers, a tip - its not too late to get tickets to the Mike Farris/Don Miller concert this Saturday if you haven't already. It is close to selling out. Go to this link to purchase your ticket now: http://mikefarris.eventbrite.com/

The Materials of Grief and Loss: Brought to you by Sanctified Imagination

2012-01-25T08:13:41-05:00

The experience of loss is universal. Sudden, tectonic-plate-shifting loss of someone/thing you loved. A phone call from the police or the doctor's office. And small losses - the project at work that failed, the friendship you had hopes for that just stalled out at the level of okay.

The Bible shows us that God doesn't deny the human experience of loss, anymore than its healthy for us to. In fact the Psalms in particular model people praying their loss, and the resulting pain, in open-ended ways. “For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me." Psalm 38:17

Sunday begins the most all-in preaching series I will do for a long time - finding hope in the blues of our loss and grief. I've wanted to examine the specific experience of loss in the Bible for a long time, and now we get to do that together. I can't wait.

The parts of the Bible that deal best with loss and grief are the more artistic parts - the lyricism of the Psalms and the poetry of Lamentations. So to accompany our series, artists of Lake Forest are hard at work using their sanctified imaginations to lead us all in worship through our sensory experience and supra-rational concepts of beauty and meaning.

I walked around our entry space and worship center this morning and took a few closeups of the material our artists are using to shape our worship encounter with the living God, bringing our loss and grief for healing. (thanks to Tracy, Jerry, Robin, Debbie, Wes, Angela, Ginger and many others on their teams)

A European First Church Experience @ LFC: Welcome Who Jesus Welcomes

2012-01-18T09:00:01-05:00

We had a church visitor from Europe (Spain) last fall, who wrote me about his 'coming to church' experience.

I want to share his note with you today. It's interesting to me for several reasons. One - I'm hoping to visit a couple of European church plants this summer, to see what the Gospel looks like today when creatively contextualized to that continent's thoroughly post-Christian culture (that is proving highly resistant to re-learning about Jesus as the actual Son of God - the attitude is 'been there, done that' culturally and philosophically). So I'm gratified to hear the reflections of a 'given up on church' European who visited our church recently, to help me reflect on our own cultural contextualization of the Gospel and worship.

Reason two its interesting to me - I really love this man's family. His son and daughter-in-law came to Lake Forest Church a couple of years ago saying 'yep, we are exactly who you mean when you say 'given up on church but not on God,' and its thrilled me to see them begin following Jesus as a family, taking progressive steps into serving in the church and risking being known in Christian community. I'm proud of them, and their lives encourage me. So, knowing about their father/father-in-law in Spain and their relationship, I would be hopeful that sharing their newfound church and faith experience would strengthen their extended family ties.

Reason three its interesting to me - in part of his note to me, this poetic man described to me the fact that he darkens the door of the local, formal Catholic church only a couple of times a year, but primarily attends 'church' by walking and seeing nature's beauty, and learning to talk out loud to God for himself. I too enjoy the Lord in this way, and so was all the more curious if 'organized worship' of our type would put him off, or perhaps draw him farther than his solitary prayers.

So here's my new Spanish friend's email, sent after he arrived back home (edited, of course, but I've left in the endearing style he uses in English as a second language, which impresses me):

Dear Mike, I have been a guest in your church, Sunday the 27th of November… That’s already over 2 weeks ago and now “back home” in Spain, I still would like to share my thoughts with you and explain how I did experience that special Sunday morning!

I spent 4 weeks in the United States to visit my five sons, their families and the grandchildren and happened to be in Huntersville during the Thanks Giving Day weekend. I happily accepted my son’s invitation to join him and his family for your early Sunday morning service, however I felt somewhat uncomfortable to do so in a pair -for that matter- clean jeans?

My son just chuckled about that hesitation: “Watch how Mike will be dressed!” he assured me, knowing I still reflected that old fashioned church in Holland, we left that many years ago.

So I entered your church…

I was impressed, astonished…, flabbergasted, you name it!

What an impression! And how surprising were the warm feelings you got within minutes! Yes, minutes! I immediately felt myself home!

Of course the change you undergo, entering your church versus to enter that old fashioned Dutch church years ago is overwhelming! The style of the music; the entourage, the atmosphere …; the big video screens; the band and the group of singers, which to me not only just performed magnificently by their professional voices… No! To me their songs seem to come straight out of their hearts. No wonder we all tried to sing with them or at least to hum with them, like I did?

Mike, I didn´t decide to write you to just give you -well deserved- compliments! No, my decision to write you, is my hope and wish that your people; all members of your church will understand and realize the great advantage, the privilege they do have to be able to be in your church each and every week!

Each and every week to have the possibility to listen to God’s word, presented in a normal, very clear and warm manner and not –as I experienced for so many years-in dramatic , almost threatening or even scary versions. (Sorry to describe this that way…)

How lucky and thankful they should be, to be in a position “to recharge the batteries!” each and every week! I thought of that at time you mentioned a simple expression during your preach. “Empty nesters” … “Empty Nester”… A so typical American solution, to clearly describe a situation by using two words only.

I admit you were talking my category that very moment, but I could smile thankfully when I glanced at my son and his family at my left side from where I was sitting, for that moment I knew him sitting there, in his church would warm that empty nest overseas!!! Surely a nice compensation!

Yes Mike, I have to agree with my son´s valuation of your church: “Our church is awesome!”

But now Mike, I can look and think back of how my son experiences “church”! I can assure you: A good, darn good feeling! And that’s what I liked to share with you, Mike!

Despite my clumsy English, it was good talking to you, Mike! Sincerely yours, L.S.

Dirty Jersey takeaway: Spiritual Gifts Test

2012-01-15T11:10:44-05:00

Some sermons are more fun to me than others (fun isn't the main purpose, so its okay when they aren't). Today's "Dirty Jersey" message about SHARING our spiritual gifts was just fun for me as preacher. To my fellow pastors who read this blog - I wonder if you also find your sermons varying in mood and intensity from month to month like I do.

I asked everyone at Lake Forest to "not be ignorant about spiritual gifts," as I Corinthians 12:1 says. So for all Christians, here's how I think you best discover and use your spiritual gifts to cooperate with Christ's purpose of 'building up' the church (Ephesians 4:11-13).

1. Believe God's Word that you have a spiritual gift as a 'manifestation of the Spirit' in you (I Cor. 12:7), given for the 'common good' of the church. Begin to open your eyes to learn about it. Read relevant portions of the New Testament.

2. Jump into serving on one ministry team at your church that appeals to you at least a bit, and begin to serve.

3. Take a spiritual gifts test. Here's the one posted with our sermon discussion notes from todays sermon: http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi?intro=1

4. After you've gotten an idea of your gifts from the test, and served for a while, ask a person or two you serve in church with "do you see these or other gifts in me?"

5. Watch for: spiritual fruit and joy (which will be present in some measure when you serve using your unique gifts).

All throughout my twenties I knew the three spiritual gifts God had given me, but not unitl my thirties, after serving in a lot of ministry, did I know which was primary. For me primary is the gift of encouragement. Secondary is teaching. Third is leadership.

The Sweetest Preaching Spot in the World: Intersection of Bible & Blues

2012-01-11T13:49:25-05:00

My favorite preaching over the past decade has been our Hope in a House of Blues series. The material both in life and in the Bible is almost endless, and equally rich. Its not a simple thing to put the Blues and Hope together through worship and the Scriptures - its an art. Its also the series in which I am the most influenced by our artists - visual and musical. The ambience and art they put together ahead of time while meditating on the scriptures and themes always change where I head in my messages - its the most interactive, dynamically changing preaching I do. AND ITS THAT TIME AGAIN! Here's the press release going out this week. If you lead another church, PLEASE steal this series idea and make it your own.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lake Forest Church Turns Up the Volume with Hope in a House of Blues Series Starting January 29. Featuring award-winning musical talent and best-selling author Huntersville, NC. Hope in a House of Blues, a Lake Forest Church (LFC) tradition, will kick off on January 29, 2012 at the church’s Huntersville and Davidson, NC campuses and will continue each Sunday through February 19. Hope in a House of Blues 2012 is a four-week sermon series addressing hurt, hate, hope and healing with an inspiring, blues-based musical backdrop. Critically acclaimed musician and vocalist Mike Farris returns to kick off the first week of the series in Huntersville on January 29. Recipient of the Americana Music Association’s “New & Emerging Artist of the Year” award in 2008 and winner of the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for “Best Traditional Gospel Album of the Year” in 2010, Farris’s stunning vocals are a celebrated highlight of the Hope in a House of Blues series.

Best-selling author Don Miller will lead services at the Davidson campus on January 29. Miller’s New York Times bestseller, Blue Like Jazz, tells the story of his experience at Reed College, voted at that time as “the most godless campus in the country.” Since then, Miller has written other best sellers: Searching for God Knows What and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, the story of his writing of the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz-the movie. Rev. Mitch White, LFC’s Pastor of Spiritual Growth, says, “Hope in a House of Blues 2012 has a very transformative feel. As a church, we have added another campus in Davidson, established a footing in an impoverished local neighborhood and are in the midst of an expansion at our Huntersville location. Though the actual series is only a month long, we are establishing ongoing counseling, leadership and spiritual growth opportunities which will allow us to extend the impact of Hope in a House of Blues well into the future through multiple venues.” Kyle Dillard, LFC’s Worship Arts Director, says, “Mike Farris’s bio perfectly captures what it’s like to experience his talent; ‘In music there are those special artists that seem to transcend genre and defy categorization. From time to time, one hears a voice that can stop you dead in your tracks and shake you to the core. Mike Farris is that artist and he has that voice.’ We are thrilled to have such an incredible talent join us to kick off Hope in a House of Blues”.

During the second week of the series in Huntersville, Larry McCray will be the featured guest performer. McCray’s savage blues-rock guitar and warm, soulful vocals have drawn attention worldwide. In 2000, he was honored as the Orville Gibson Male Blues Guitarist of the Year and has opened shows for legends such as Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, and Buddy Guy. Billboard Magazine has hailed McCray as "a deep-voiced player with strong original tunes." Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue, featuring the McCrary Sisters, will also be in concert at Lake Forest Church-Huntersville on Saturday, January 28 at 7:30pm. Don Miller will speak during the intermission. General admission tickets are open to the public and cost $12 in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets can be purchased at http://mikefarris.eventbrite.com .

LFC is a growing, Evangelical Presbyterian Church with campuses in Huntersville and Davidson, NC (just north of Charlotte). Started in 1998 by Dr. Mike Moses, LFC has grown to a weekly attendance of 1500. Since its beginning, LFC has been known for reaching “people who’ve given up on church, but not on God”, through a clear and engaging focus on Jesus. Sunday worship times in Huntersville, located at 8519 Gilead Road, are 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00am. Worship times in Davidson, located at Davidson Elementary School at 635 South Street, are 9:30 and 11:00am. -- END

-- Contact and reference information For more information on Hope in a House of Blues, contact Kyle Dillard at 704.948.3232 x222 Visit the Lake Forest Church website at: http://lakeforest.org/ Visit Mike Farris’s website at: http://www.mikefarrismusic.com/ Visit Larry McCray’s website at: http://larrymccrayband.com/#!/about Visit Don Miller’s website at: http://donmilleris.com/ Visit the McCrary Sisters’ website at: http://themccrarysisters.com/ For tickets to the Mike Farris concert: http://mikefarris.eventbrite.com/