Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of God.

OK, so I have never really begged for you anonymous readers to post, but I am asking now.

I am begging now.

I want to hear from you!

If you could visit a church (or a few) that have unique use of permanent worship space, where would you visit?

You can also e-mail me directly at (space(at)dayspringumc.com)

Barna published an interesting breakdown of divorce rates by denomination. I was trying to make some correlation between liturgical churches and lower divorce rates until I saw the Episcopals.

This morning about a dozen men from the church (visitors and members) met for a MAN’s (not men’s) breakfast. We ate cholesterol and grease and washed it down with caffeinated goodness. It was a good time just to get together and connect. No agenda, not much church talk, just mostly getting to know each other. I am amazed by the different people that God is bringing together. I love hearing each ones story and I am so blessed to be the pastor of this community called Dayspring.

• I woke up this morning and it was pouring
• The setup team is awesome – rain or shine they work so that others can worship
• Despite the rain (or maybe because of the rain?) we had one of our higher attendance Sundays
• I spoke about Christian stewardship this morning. The sermon was called Rich
• The music was fantastic this morning and so was the participation
• The band closed with “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” and I was blown away.
• I am going to have to poke fun at Aaron tomorrow because he led into the song by talking about wanting to introduce a new song to them. I knew what he meant but I could not forget the fact that it was written over 325 years ago
• Part of my message was about simplicity. Here is the simple and beautiful graphic that Aaron put together for today:

I am preaching on Christian Stewardship this Sunday. So, preachers and lay people, what do you think about this:

A Christian author says churches that teach tithing as a mandate is a “growing scandal.” In his book, Should the Church Teach Tithing?, Russell Earl Kelly insists that tithing was never biblically commanded as a moral principle of the New Covenant to the Church. Although he supports freewill giving, he states that a mandatory 10 percent is unscriptural.

Tithing, as Kelly describes in four ways, is the tenth part of produce or other income, free-will offerings, ten percent of gross income or, on a specific biblical note, an ordinance of the Mosaic Law for the use and benefit of the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant. He stresses the “biblical fact” that the poor did not pay any tithes.

“Circumstances are different from household to household. God understands,” wrote Kelly in his book. “The grace principle of ‘equality giving’ refers to giving as much as one is able. That does not mean that everybody is to give the same percentage.” He also recognized, however, that “compulsory giving cannot possibly produce the level of giving which is prompted spontaneously by the Holy Spirit when the gospel is preached with power and authority!”

Kelly goes on to criticize churches for teaching tithing out of context as a biblical mandate. “No Christian is under any curse of the Old Covenant Law! It is simply unethical to preach ‘out-of-context proof texts about tithing’ sermons only from Malachi and Genesis 14.”

Research among clergy and laity found earlier this year that, while most ministers say Christians are under a biblical mandate to tithe, most people in the pews do not believe the same. Congregants are also equally split on whether tithe should be based on net income or gross income. And both ministers and churchgoers are mixed on where tithing should go — whether it’s limited to religious organizations or open to any organization regardless of religious connection or lack thereof.

A recent study, “The State of Church Giving Through 2004,” found that giving by church members has decreased from 3.11 percent in 1968 to 2.56 percent in 2004. Both are well below the 10 percent tithe.

• Watched Lost tonight and now I am still lost. I really love the show and love complaining about it opening more mysteries than it solves. But hey, that’s what keeps me watching.
• Sharla will be gone with Avery tomorrow night and Anson and I will be home alone – boys night in (we will finally rule the house).
• With my running over the past several years, I have maintained a good weight, but lately I have lost too much. My wife is complaining and so now I have to gain some weight (about 10 pounds). Please, no comments about giving me your extra pounds.
• I have been in serious prayer lately about the next steps for Dayspring. God is not a God of confusion, so I think I will know when the right path opens up. I don’t think it has yet, but I will be patient and wait.
• I have a small bit of my sermon written for Sunday, but am going to have to write it tomorrow. I am going to preach on stewardship this Sunday. I really think it is going to be a great service. I am also very excited about the music this week. Our band always does a first class job and this week we are playing a few songs from the 80’s —- like the 1880’s. Love it!
• Today I saw a sneak peek of the first video for our Live Different Series. Let me say that it is funnier than anything we have ever done. I know that does not say too much, but seriously this raises the bar for funny at Dayspring.

One of the advantages of being a new church is that the potential for making outsiders (those new to your organization) feel welcome and part of something is much easier than in an established church or organization. The newness, however, will eventually wear off and your church or organization will quickly begin to have those who are “in” and those who are “out.”

Churches (new and old) must have an intentional process for turning new people into “insiders.” If someone feels uncomfortable, unneeded or unmissed they will quickly disappear. We have been working on tweaking our process for incorporating new people into the life and leadership of the church. We don’t have a lot of committees but we do have lots of areas of service. Our goal is to see all of our members plug into some role of serving in the church. We still have a long way to go on this, but we understand its importance and are making strides toward getting it right!

This morning at church I spoke on the topic of second chances. We had a smooth service, but people just seemed quiet today. Next week we are talking about something that I cannot reveal yet. I can tell you that it is the first time that I have spoken on this at Dayspring. Then, the first week in May we will launch into a series called Live Different. Aaron and our creative team spent all day Saturday shooting videos for the four-week series. Just hearing some of the crazy stuff they did will make milk come out of your nose. If for no other reason, you will not want to miss this next series because of the videos!