So, today, I got to spend some time with my kids since it was a holiday.  Following a quick visit to Uncle Sean’s for Nathan’s dental checkup, we headed from Salem back to Stayton.  I had the CD player on as usual, and we were listening to Chris Tomlin’s new CD.

As I was lost in thought about some things I needed to be working on, I heard two small voices from the back seat.  They started quiet at first, but I could distinctly hear they were singing.  I still stop and marvel at the fact that my 2.5 year-old daughter knows the words to a lot of praise songs, but I digress.  As the chorus to “I Will Follow” began to grow, so did their voices.  By the end of the song, they were singing at the top of their lungs.  I was loving it!  Then, the next song came on, which is “Our God.”  They didn’t miss a beat and began singing right along again.  It didn’t take long for them to ratchet up the volume this time, and they began singing with all their might.  It was too cool!

Then it struck me, and I came close to tears (for those that know me, that means the Spirit was moving – and I’m a big baby).  My kids get it.  They get HOW to praise God.  They didn’t care who was watching.  They didn’t care if they were singing off key.  It didn’t matter if they were jumping and grooving in their seats.  They were lost in praising God with each of their entire beings.  It was awe inspiring.

So, the question I ask is this…Why can’t we praise that way?  Why do we get caught up in worrying who is watching and what they may think?  Why are we self-conscious about whether or not we can sing with perfect pitch?  Why do we have the internal struggle whether or not to clap or raise our hands in worship?  Is it “reverence” that holds us back?  Or, have we lost that child-like energy to praise God?

It’s not lost on me that Jesus was a direct descendant of David.  If you want to study a man who knew HOW to praise God, David’s your guy.  He was known to praise God by dancing with all of his might (2 Chronicles).  He arranged great worship teams (1 Chronicles 6), as did his son, Solomon.  Additionally, he authored a ton of praise and worship songs, and had a great deal of others dedicated to him.  My favorite is Psalms 150:

¹ Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Just reading these words gets me fired up to praise God.  How can we not?  He is AWESOME!  He is AMAZING! He is WORTHY of all of our praise!

We need to revert back several millennium to learn how to do praise!   We need get younger so that we can praise in our adulthood.  We need to praise God like children praise.  In Sabbath school, we teach our kids to clap, we teach our kids to play instruments, we teach our kids to do motions to the music.  Yet, we as adults don’t model what we teach.  Are we hypocrites, or just really self-conscious?  Could it be that we are both?

We need to recapture that child-like enthusiasm.  Don’t hold-back praising the Creator of the universe.  Sing to Him with your entire being.  Praise Him with abandon.  Don’t worry about who is watching, or what others think.  Just praise God with everything you have.  Groove in your seat and lift your voice in adoration.  Clap your hands and do the motions to the songs.  He is more than deserving of EVERYTHING we can give.

In your cars, in your homes, and in your church this week (and forevermore), let’s praise God like children.

This morning, before we kicked off the End-of-Summer Bash, we had a quick devotional on the early church, as found in the book of Acts.  At the end of chapter 2, we find that the believers came together regularly, shared their resources, and generally cared for one another; physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually.  They founded the early church on the basis of community.  I am proud that South Salem SDA is also founded on this premise.  Community, really family, is what we are all about.   Even more so, we are a church family that is committed to help each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  We model the church of Acts.

One of the major components of the church of Acts is service.  The general rule of thumb for service volunteers in a church congregation is that about 10-20% of the membership will actually participate in ministry activities.  This year’s End-of-Summer Bash provided something that I have not seen in my nearly seven years at South, and broke this rule.  What did I see occurring today?  My rough estimate was that we had at least 60 church members volunteering today.  They willingly sacrificed time on their Sunday to serve for their church family.  Given that our average weekly attendance is about 130, we had over 45% of our normally attending members serving today!  So, what did you all accomplish?

The overarching goal of the Bash this year was to expand our community into our surrounding neighborhoods, and even include coworkers, friends, and extended family.  I am happy to say, I saw that goal accomplished today.  The estimated count of attendees today was very close to 200, many of whom experienced the community of South Salem SDA for the very first time.  I heard stories of wonderful conversations with these new “friends of South.”  I also heard stories of several families that were so impressed with our church family that they desire to either learn more about our church or have committed to begin attending our worship services and classes.  In short, our community grew a little larger today.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that this happened.  When you look at the end of chapter 2 in Acts, you see the result of a strong church community.  The NLT version states it this way: “And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

When we focus on including others, when we focus on allowing others to enter our family, when we focus on loving others as Christ did, and still does, we make an impact for His kingdom.   May God bless those that volunteered today.  You guys did an amazing job in serving our Lord and Savior.  Let’s keep it going and keep working with God.  He WILL keep adding to our fellowship (community, family) those who are being saved.

We met with a few guys (I believe there were about seven).  All were very respectful, and came excited to worship.  What I didn’t learn until later is that they CHOSE to come to worship with us.  The pool was open, and many of their peers chose to go hang out in the cool waters.  These guys chose to forgo all of that and attend a worship service.  Furthermore, a few of the guys had to insist that their “staff” (which is what they call their person-in-charge) allow them to attend.  In fact, many of them stated that they can’t wait until there is a service every Sabbath (Currently, they are only permitted to meet twice per month, but that number will be increasing to three Sabbaths per month in the near future).

I also came to learn that several of these guys were leading their own bible studies with others in their units (dorms).  They meet a lot of resistance, and are often ridiculed for their faith, yet they persist.  In fact, they are very good students of the Word.  In talking with one of the teens, he explained that he really loved studying prophecies, specifically the Daniel and Revelation parallels.  A major undertaking for anyone!

Finally, several of them have chosen to be baptized and enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, which will happen on Sept. 11 at the Hillcrest facility (Pastor Dale is stoked to perform the baptisms).  It’s an amazing testament to the universal power of the gospel message to change lives.

I give major kudos to the Prison Ministries team, particularly the Hannegan and Tice families.  You have selflessly devoted your time to these boys, and it shows.  The impact that you have had on their Christian walk is evident.  It just shows that the Great Commission knows no boundaries, walls, or obstacles.  The gospel message can reach any one, any where.  Praise God for your efforts!

The dictionary definition of the word ‘impact’ is “to have a direct effect on something.”  I love that without thinking too profoundly upon the word, this group of young people picked a group name that is indicative of how all Christians are called to live.  Rather than picking a noun that is indicative of what they are to be called, but don’t exhibit action, they picked a verb.  A noun is something that is.  A verb is something that does.

However, they didn’t just name their group with a verb, they themselves are active in their faith.  They too are doers.  I have watched with pride as many of our young adults have shared their faith with their friends, many of whom have begun attending our church and youth group.  As a result, these new people are experiencing the love of God; many for the first time in their lives.

But it doesn’t stop there!  The new attendees have begun sharing their new-found relationship with God and are inviting their friends to our church!  Action breeds action.  They have been mentored by others to see Christianity as a life of doing, not just being.

Matthew 28:19-20 tells those that have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior to go to all nations and spread the Gospel message.  Revelation 14 urges Christians to take the message to “every nation, tribe, language and people.”  James 5 instructs Christians to serve others out of love.  Indeed, everywhere I turn in the New Testament, Christians are called to action, to “impact” the world with the love of Christ, just as Jesus did nearly 2,000 years ago.  Christians are called to be verbs.

The question we each need to ask ourselves is “Am I a noun or verb?”

They were right, of course – that is an absolutely great song by Starfield.  Some of the kids apparently got a hold of Dianne, because she included that song in the worship music on March 27.  What a wonderful prayer and thankful praise song.  Check it out right after Chad’s message in our broadcast at approximately 1:31:00.  This can be viewed through our church website and adjust the progress bar as desired, or just click here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5755623.

Sing along with it a few times, we will be hearing this song again!

We attended our first conference in 2008, when Sean and I took four youth to Seattle for a fun weekend at the Dare 2 Share “Survive” conference.  It was following that conference that I, myself, was so moved by the Holy Spirit, that I was able to hear Him call me to youth ministry.  Fast forward two years and God has blessed us even further.  This year, with the support of our church family, we rented two vans and booked six hotel rooms to hold the twenty people we sent this time around!  God has truly blessed our group with some amazing growth.

However, the numbers aren’t what really matter, it’s the effect that these conferences have on our youth.  After three years of conferences, I never get tired of watching our teens and young adults get ignited by the Holy Spirit.  Even more, they immediately put their faith into action.  Every year, the conference includes a cell phone challenge.  The attendees are literally told (in the middle of the conference) to pick up their cell phone and call a friend to share the gospel message.  Every year, I am amazed at how willingly our group participates in this activity.  This year, we even took it up a notch and not only made phone calls, but sent text messages, posted on Facebook, sent emails – basically, we used any way we could to reach our friends with the gospel.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching our youth and young adults continue their sharing even after they’ve gotten back.  If you haven’t seen their posts on Facebook, they have been posting some really amazing things about God, Jesus, and their faith.  They have been set aBlaze by the Holy Spirit!  Catch up with them at church this weekend and I bet you can see the glow.

South Salem SDA Youth in Seattle

We understand that not everyone is comfortable walking up to a strangers door and sharing their faith and so we are asking for these individuals to support this effort by remaining at the church to pray for God’s leading in this. (you are also the cheerleaders)

Please bring a sack lunch so we can make a quick and easy transition after church. We will likely be out knocking on doors for about 1-2 hours, depending upon the weather. (Please dress for the weather)

Please pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our community to ready the hearts of those we will meet on Sabbath.

Lets turn this church inside out!

Blessing’s,

Pastor Dale

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