ACTION WEEKEND!

Hey friends and family!
Come over and join us for an amazing weekend of teaching and ministry July 23-24. There are going to be several classes offered but I think that 2 really jump out as great experiences for YOU! If you're from out of town, let Corrie or I know and maybe you can crash with us or we can find you a home for the weekend.

VBI:Vineyard Bible Institute

Biblical Overview: Friday, July 23, 7-9pm and Saturday, July 24, 8:30am-12pm. Christianity is essentially a historical religion. An overview of the biblical story is important before we get into the details of the faith. Childcare is available. Contact: marji.larson@thevineyardchurch.us.

Learning to Minister Like Jesus

Learning to Minister Like Jesus: Friday, July 23, 7-9pm, & Saturday, July 24, 8:45am-12pm. Come receive crucial training for how to pray for others. Childcare is available. Contact: marji.larson@thevineyardchurch.us.

Great news from our Sullivan campus

I love my new job. Part of what I do is to work with our multi-site campuses. This morning I received an amazing email about their June 13th baptism service. I've edited a little (my changes in italics), but here's what I got today....

Good Morning,

We had baptisms yesterday. As is often the case with baptism day it was very powerful. First service the auditorium was extremely full with 150 and second service over 100. We also had 115 in Planet Vineyard (our kids' ministry), total attendance was 365. Our offering was above average plus we had a special gift of over $10,000 given toward a new building. At 365 we are certainly very full. We had people standing at the door waiting to enter especially between services.

Pretty cool thing happened, one of the Grandparents there watching a baptism (not a church man you might say) had tears in eyes as he watched baptisms. One of the teenagers who gave her testimony could hardly explain her energy (it was the Holy Spirit all over her). Awesome to see what God is doing in our community!

Blessings guys,

J

Pretty cool stuff friends!

And we're seeing miracles through our small group and their prayers. We will share one story when God carries it to an amazing conclusion... at this point just know that someone who should have been paralyzed or dead through a car accident is being restored rapidly... go Jesus!

DEEPER vs. ACTIVE (a good email I got today)

A common complaint I hear from pastors is that the problem with Christians today is they lack depth in God’s word. From my own experience, this is certainly true of some people. But when I look at the landscape of American Christianity, I don’t think depth is really our problem. From blogs, to podcasts, to seemingly endless Bible study resources, we have more access to the Bible and excellent teaching than any other generation in history.

The greatest problem of American Christians when it comes to the Bible is not that we are not deep in God’s Word. The problem is that we are not active in God’s Word. We have a lot more revelation than our current level of active application. And revelation without application leads to stagnation.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is “living and active.” The Bible was never meant to simply be a source of passive theological epiphanies that we gain as we delve deeper into it. It was meant to be a force that penetrates and delves deep into us and activates action.

I wonder if what we need is to gain a true understanding of what “depth” actually means. Deep teaching and preaching is not when I give my people insights they have never heard of before that will never be seen again when they disappear into vacuum of their minds or a drawer that holds all of their sermon notes. Deep teaching is teaching that enables, equips, and empowers people to live in light of the deep truths they are encountering.

The point of the study of the Bible is not to learn things you’ve never heard of before but to begin living in a way nobody has seen before. And this can only be the result of active engagement with God’s Word, not merely increased depth in God’s Word.