My church leadership retreat last month was themed "All In." There was image of a poker table; two hands pushed poker chips, a cell phone, and credit card to the center of the table. Wait - gambling as a theme for a church leadership retreat? Hey, it was just a metaphor. (Side note: One of my high school youth retreats was centered entirely on the movie "Zoolander." I'll be the first to admit that church themes can be ridiculous!)Think about it like this: are you "all in"? Are you committed to the work of God - or just letting life pass you by? God wants all us of - not just the leftovers. It's like privacy settings on Facebook: God doesn't want to see your "limited profile," he wants to see EVERYTHING, even those pictures we're not proud of, or those not-so-glorifying wall posts. We need to hand over our time, money, and talent to worship him.
Some of my key takeaways:
- More than anything, God wants us to humble ourselves.
- Community is messy.
- We were born to take risks.
- Mess is inherent with spiritual growth.
- Whose mat do I carry? Who carries me?
- In everything we do, we must ask: is it for the glory of God?
I felt blessed to be in a room of 270 small group leaders at National Community Church, and we're growing. (Did you know Pastor Mark's vision is to have 20 locations by 2020?!) I love the leadership team at NCC - they're passionate, creative and DRIVEN. I feel blessed to be a part of it all.
1 comments:
Bravo! I like the stance this entry takes; I am frustrated by spiritualities that make people so afraid to make a mistake of commission that they omit all exploration and stake their faith in only what is comfortable. We were born to take risks and Jesus is in the yoke with us. Thank you for these thoughts.
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