Friday, June 25, 2010

Why Join "The City"

The City is here! What does this mean for you? Consider the following scenarios.

It's Saturday afternoon and you're feeling hospitable. You log onto the city and invite your Action Track over for a bbq and quickly and easily make requests for people to bring what you weren't able to go to the store and get.

You just bought some new furniture and would like to give your old furniture away to someone in the church who could really use it. You post this on the marketplace at The City and are able to meet a need in the community.

It's been a rough Thursday. You need someone to be praying for you. You post a prayer request on The City that only your Action Track and elders can see.

It's been a few weeks since you have had work, but today you finally got that job that so many at Jubilee had been praying for you about. You post your good news on The City so that everyone at Jubilee can rejoice with you.

It’s your first time walking into a Jubilee service. You were warmly welcomed and had your kids checked into our jkids program (which they loved). Moreover, you loved the worship and the teaching, and just as you’re thinking to yourself, “How do I get connected?”, a Jubilee member starts a conversation with you on The City about where you want to get plugged in and you do.


All of these are real situations that we run into as we go through life together. One of the great things about Jubilee is that we are a community seeking to serve and connect people. However, the challenge we often run into, is how to stay connected when we leave our actions tracks serving teams, or weekend services. That is one of the many reasons why we’re really excited about The City, our community tool that allows our members, attenders and leaders to stay in contact with each other, share prayer requests and needs, organize events and continue discussions throughout the week that started when they were together last.

The City is not just a social network, like Facebook or Twitter that is aimed solely at developing virtual community; rather, The City gives REAL communities of people a way to stay connected with each other even when they’re not in the same living room or in the lobby of one of our locations. Community doesn’t live on The City, The City just broadens its reach.

So how can you jump on The City and start connecting? If you're in the St. Louis City location, stop by the Information Table and type your email address in to one of the computers there. If you are in Washington or Wentzville, simply use your communication card. It’s that easy. Once you’re on, you can start interacting with the people in your Action Track, on your serving team, and at your location. We want to see all sorts of connection happening on The City.

If you’re having trouble getting connected or would like some extra help, please stop by your locations information table or contact us at grouplife@jubileestl.org We would be happy to help you get up and going on The City.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Faith Part 3: Parents, Don't Squash Your Child's Faith

Did you know that all the "Heroes of the Faith" (listed in Hebrews 11) had parents? Seems like an obvious statement, but maybe what hasn't occurred to us yet is how those parents responded to God's call on their life?

Noah's father had high expectations of his son. Lamech said of his son Noah, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands." (Genesis 5:29) Lamech had hoped that Noah would grow up to be successful and bring comfort and pride back to the family. Lamech wanted Noah to make his life easier, but God wanted Noah to build an ark. I wonder how Lamech responded when he found out that Noah was going to give his attention and money to building an ark versus relieving their comfort? I wonder how Lamech responded when all the neighbors made fun of Noah?

What are your plans for you children? Do want them to have an easy life? Do you hope they are well-educated and well resourced? What if God calls them to do something different? What if God calls them to pass up on an education to pursue further spiritual/leadership training? What if they choose to go to a different school than the one you want them to? Are you prepared to allow the plans that God has for them crush your plans? That maybe necessary for them to walk in the life of faith God has for them.

Hold the plans for your children loosely, because as good as they may be, our desires for our children can actually squash their faith.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Faith Originates, Never Imitates

You got to hand it to Noah for building an ark...that was an original. Not only had nothing like that been done before, but he had no architects to consult or weathermen to double check God's prediction (if you can call anything God says is a prediction).

Joshua received a battle plan that was pretty original as well. Who would EVER think up something like that? "OK, for this battle, let's not use swords. I think trumpets would be a much better weapon."

Abraham, who came from a non-religious family, followed God away from safety, security and wealth into obscurity and the unknown.

I think God sets it up this way so that there's no doubt where the credit goes. When faith is involved there is rarely a clear path or a proven method to go along with what God has called you to do. This is one of the many reasons why I am glad to be a part of a movement (Newfrontiers) whose founder (Terry Virgo) has gone down "No Well Worn Paths". It's easy to trust a man who trusting God.

When God presents to you His call for your life, do not expect to imitate what has been done before, but prepare yourself for something new.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Faith: It's All About Him

What makes faith, faith is that it is rooted and ground in God's promise to us. Moreover, it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to know that God's promise to us is UNCONDITIONAL. Consider God's promise to Abraham.

Genesis 12:1
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Notice that God did not say, if you will do this, then I will do this. Rather, God said, You WILL do this and I WILL do this! "Go from your country...and I will make of you a great nation." It was not a conditional proposition, but rather simultaneously a command and a promise. Why? Because God does not affirm us on the basis of what we do; He affirms us because of what He does. "...I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)

Know that you are affirmed based upon His performance and not yours.