Churched

What are you doing?

2009-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post and I have gotten a lot of good responses from it (and I've probably pissed some people off and to that I say "I don't care, don't read my blog, simple solution). So, i figured its about time I got my rear in gear and wrote another post. So while I am sitting here listening in my office listening to the the rough tracks from the upcoming CFC Worship Album (lemme just take a second...wow guys seriously. Wes and Paul are knocking this thing outta the park. When this finally gets produced y'all need to get a copy of it. I'll post a link don't worry), God has really been speaking to me lately about something and it kind of ties into my last post, but in other ways it really doesn't. So before I put y'all to sleep with my mindless and pointless ramblings, let's get to this.

Since before I can remember, I have been doing some type of tech thing at church. If you know me (and for those of you that don't), you know that I am a total geek. Star Wars, Firefly, computers, and A/V is basically the BMTP (bread, milk, toilet paper...ya know the essentials) of my life. I can remember being five years old at First Baptist Church of Herndon sitting in the balcony "running" the sound for the Sunday morning service. Over the years, I have continued to run either sound or generally give a hand on Sunday for service. This has continued even to today when I am at CFC where I, generally, on Sunday morning run around doing something even if it isn't tech related. Like I said before, my buddy Ryan, calls me a tech amoeba (although an amoeba is a parasite that usually indicates bad things so I wonder what he is really saying...). In fact, it has gotten to a point now that I cannot attend church without doing something, not because I feel "holier" by serving, but because I am so grateful for Christ and his sacrifice that I need to give back in someway.

Here in lies the problem I see with a lot of church's today. The congregants come, sit through the service, check the box and leave. They might even attend a small group during the week, checking another box but they aren't giving back to the church. No, I am not talking about tithing specifically, though we will get to that later, I am talking about serving the Bride of Christ and helping to advance His Kingdom. I am tired of the church being filled with spectator christians (and yes, I used a lower case "c" for a reason...think about it) who come, sit in the seat, check a "box" and go home. When did this become an "ok" action? A Holy God came down from Heaven, which we have got to believe is pretty cush...lets be honest now, was born in a barn, grew up and ministered and when He was in His mid-thirties, HE WAS BEATEN WITH A WHIP AND CRUCIFIED ON A CROSS AND BLED AND DIED! And He did that so you can sit in a SEAT ON SUNDAY MORNING AND CHECK A BOX. I DON'T THINK SO!! Yes, I am fired up about this. How can you, knowing that Christ hung on a cross and died for you, sit in your seat and not do anything about it. It screams selfishness to me. Let's back this up with some scripture alright?

Grab a Bible or go to youversion.com and go to Matthew 22:21. Now in this set of verses, the Pharisees (who, every time you see them in the Bible like the Imperial March from Star Wars should start playing in your head. Basically, they are the bad dudes that killed Jesus.) tried to trap Jesus into breaking the law or at least saying they could break the law by not paying taxes to the Romans. Now, if you are from a church background and have ever heard a message on tithing your probably thinking, "yup, i've heard this one before" but I would challenge you to look at again in another light. What if, now this might make your head explode, we didn't look at the coin that Jesus is referring to as money but as our gifts and talents God has given each of us. Now, read the verse again in that light.

19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius,

20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar's,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”

Ouch! We are more than willing to use our talents out in the work world but what about in God's world, the one that really matters.

Now, when I say serving in the church, people's first reaction is usually "Well, I can't preach". Neither can I bro! But I get techie stuff! Where are your talents? Can you cook? Why don't you make meals for people that need them (My mom has done this for years at her church). Do you like talking to people? Be a greeter or an usher. Do you hate interacting with people? Join the security team. There are so many places that we can use our talents and serve in His Kingdom that there should be no excuse for us to come to church and sit on our butts each week. It doesn't mean you have to get up in front of everybody and perform or preach. 90% of ministry work is the behind-the-scenes work...setting up chairs or being on the prayer team or any number of things. Go and find your volunteer coordinator at church and find out where you can use your God-given talents to serve. My hope and prayer for you is that you will go back to your church and start serving. Only thorough you using your gifts can the Lord's kingdom advance.

Until next time

Keep Rockin,
Chris

Do you have PASSION?!

2009-07-31T03:25:00.000-07:00

So I find myself sitting in my office at work, playing some seriously awesome air drums to 3 Doors Down, trying to get STK to do what I tell it (astrodynamics can be rough at times), and thinking about what the Lord has been speaking to me about lately.

For a while now I have been following NewSpring Church's podcast and when I am at school I even attend their web campus on Sunday mornings. I have fallen in love with NewSpring. Perry's sermons are funny and extremely challenging, which is exactly what I need (you can get to the podcast here ).

After watching this latest sermon (7/26/09 In Rhythm - Jump), this thought hit like a ton of bricks (I continually tell the Lord that if wants my attention, he's gotta hit me with a ton of bricks because otherwise I'm just clueless). I already serve at CFC in the Worship ministry as, as my good friend Ryan Yorde calls me, a tech amoeba. Basically, any tech job be it camera, stage hand, gopher I can do on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. I love serving because it allows me to really connect with the service and not be just a participant. But I have always been looking for more to do and to really help bring more people to Christ. After watching this sermon by Perry (which, in like one sentence is all about jumping into ministry and serving the body of Christ), the thought hit me. What this world needs is a generation, my generation, that is completely on fire for Christ and the way to accomplish this is to create a church or environment where young adults (older teens, twenty and thirty-somethings) can worship and get spiritually feed in a way they can connect with.
How do you create that environment? Find some people with a PASSION for Christ that aren't afraid of telling it exactly how it is! That's what this generation will respond to! We need an environment where this generation can come, worship as freely and passionately as they want, and hear relevant messages that challenge them. I don't see that in any of the church's in NoVA. I don't see a place where young adults can come, worship, hear a challenging message, and then leave motivated to radically change the world for Christ!

In one of his earlier messages, Perry challenged the congregation with this, "If you could do one thing in this life without fear of failure, what would it be?" Last week, I wouldn't have known how to answer that question. But today, I think I would say, "I'm going to help build a church that can minister to this lost generation".

Now let me be totally clear, I have no aspirations to preach or lead worship, or anything that puts me in front of hundreds possibly thousands of my peers. I can't help there, but there are other areas that I do have gifts in, such as tech and management. This can only work if a bunch of like-minded peers come together and combine our talents (Captain Planet style).

In the end I need some serious prayer warriors behind me. I'm still not totally convinced this is what the Lord wants me to do, but if you had told me a year ago that I would even be entertaining the idea of going into ministry, I would have laughed at you so hard something might have torn.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep praying about this and continue to try to get the satellite I launched to capture Mar's orbit.

Keep rockin!
Chris

Starting Off

2008-11-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

Hey all in the blogsphere!

Here I will be posting all of my mindless ramblings from either the IT world, college, gaming,church...pretty much anything I wanna talk about.

I am a junior Integrated Science and Technology major at James Madison University and I work with the Department of Police and Public Safety as the Police Cadet Special Events Supervisor. For the past few years, I have served as the Technical Director for JMU's Intervarsity Chapter and I currently consult technically for Cedar Run Community Church in Herndon, VA.

I am a licensed pilot, audiophile, gamer, wed developer, soon-to-be IT professional, and most importantly a follower of Christ. Feel free to comment.

Chris