Thank You

I think my family and I are on the road to recovery after an intensely crazy week. January is by far my busiest month for a few different reasons: 1) Taking care of end of the year and beginning of the year church business, 2) Gearing up for a new trimester of Action Tracks (if you go to Jubilee, sign up today!!), 3) Gearing up for our February sermon series (this year: it's www.XXXPOSEDchurch.com), and Mobilise USA (a conference for 400 students and twenties).

This year, God added a twist to our month: the birth of a precious little girl named Josephine Rose Mowrey. We had expected her to come around February 8th, but she came a month early. This put us in a bit of a tail spin, but we have been so blessed by all the prayers, good wishes, gifts, meals and much more. The outpouring of support for our family has been overwhelming and humbling. I want to thank all of you and say how blessed I feel to be a part of such a great community. Love you guys!

Life Change

In my recent blog series, Looking Back at a Decade, I recounted all the life change that has occurred because of Jubilee's ministry. Here is an example from a wonderful family that used to attend Jubilee, but has since moved to North Carolina.

Bryan,

I saw your post and felt inspired to write something. Jubilee Church will always hold a special place in my heart. I will always consider you guys family, even the new ones that I don't know. I look back at the past ten years and remember where I was emotionally and spiritually. Drugs, Insomnia, Rage, Anger, Pain. We had just lost my dad to suicide and had uprooted ourselves from "home." (Franklin NC 1999) My mother was falling apart and could not maintain employment. I was LOST! After many months of searching, God placed her with Pat Donjon, She will forever, in my eyes, be a "proverbs 31 woman". I remember meeting her family and going to Alpha at there home which consisted of the Poe's(senior) and Abbie, Dusty, Susan. I remember thinking I have never met people who really love like this. I want what they have. The way they interacted together, to their families, was something I had never experienced before. It truly drew me in. Steven was pretty much on the same path, the wide one. Even though the first few years of being saved we continued to mess up, but we were always welcomed. I remember being blessed at our wedding and having total support. I appreciate the leadership and elders who counseled us, it took us a while but we eventually got it. Many of those voices are the words of wisdom we still hear today. I know for a fact if it were not for Jubilee and prevalent truth that is preached on how to love some one, Steven and I would not be where we are today. We now have four children, I am able to home school them and we are both still desperately seeking the Lord. Our oldest Cora-8, was baptised this year and our second daughter, Lilly-6, was saved at VBS over the summer. Thank You Jubilee for your obedience in Christ, and your persuit of the Lost, because I know with out a doubt we were Found.

Much Love, Erin Willis

Strategic Giving vs. Spontaneous Giving

The recent crisis in Haiti has got me thinking a lot about giving. Specifically, how Christians should give and for what reasons. There are really two different approaches that people have toward giving and I think both should be implemented in the life of the believer:

1. Spontaneous giving: In Acts 11:27-30, a need arose (a famine) and the church quickly gathered funds to help.
   
2. Strategic giving: 2 Corinthians 9:5 records Paul instructing the believers to regularly set aside money in advance to take care of the needs of the church in Jerusalem.

I think Americans are good at spontaneous giving. A need arises, a few movie stars are gathered and whamo!...millions of dollars are raised. However, the needs in a place like Haiti were there before the disaster (80% of the country lives on $2 per day) and the needs will continue long after the disaster has subsided. That is why strategic giving is so important.

While it is monumentally IMPORTANT that Christians are spontaneous givers to needs that arise unexpectedly, I believe that church ministry an the needs of the poor are meant to be primarily funded by strategic giving. Strategic giving is giving according to one's means (a percentage) and is given regularly.

At Jubilee, we employ this principle to both funding church planting as well as giving to the poor. Jubilee sets aside money strategically for church planting as well giving to the needs of the poor. Therefore, when a need does arise, we have it available. There are also, of course, other times when we also give spontaneously to a specific church plant or an unplanned need.

I want to encourage you that if your giving is only spontaneous, to consider praying about being a strategic giver.

Looking Back at a Decade: Part 3

Investing in Other Leaders and Churches

One of my favorite things about being a part of Jubilee (and something I find very humbling) is the influence we have beyond St. Louis.

• Over the past decade, we have invested more than $300,000 in other churches.
• We have trained 33 young men and women outside our church as a part of the FYT program
• We have trained 85 men and women through the Trilogy Project...13 of which, went on to lead churches, 20 are a part of leadership teams and 8 were a part of church-planting teams.

You did this! You hosted them in your homes. You mentored them. You served them through setting up or feeding them meals. You released your leaders to devote time to teaching and inputing.

I am very proud to lead a group of people who think beyond themselves.

What Are You Doing With Your Extra?

This past Sunday, I started the year off with a sermon on money titled, The Purpose of Our Extra that challenged us to think about the extra we have and what we are doing with it. If you missed it you can download it off our website at www.jubileestl.org/city/

If you are a member of Jubilee, I do want to encourage you to give this serious thought and prayer to what you are doing with your extra. Are seeking the kingdom first in your finances? Are you making giving a Priority, a Percentage and is it Progressive?

Make it a priority: I Cor 16:1-2, “1Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income...” This appears to be Paul's command not just for one church, but for all the churches (at the very minimum two)...to make giving a priority ("first day of every week"). This idea was demonstrated in the OT as the people of Israel gave their "first fruits" to proclaim who was truly God. Practically speaking in 2009, this means your decision to give is made prior to making any other financial decision. It means it's the number one line item on your budget (you do have a budet, right?). Rachel and I make our giving decisions at the beginning of the year as to what we'll give, keeping our eyes open to more opportunities to give throughout the year.

Make it a percentage: You'll notice in that passage above that Paul says to set aside a sum of money "in keeping with his (or her) income..." Paul is communicating to us the idea of making our giving a percentage. Making it a priority and making it a percentage...not just giving out of a knee jerk reaction, but making a decision to give regularly in proportion to our income. What percentage should you choose? I think 10% is a good place to start. I'm not saying that 10% is a rule, but it's a good place to start. Here's why. God asked the Israelites to return to Him 10% (a tithe) of the money He gave to them (they also gave an additional 10% to the festivals and 3.33% to the poor). When Jesus came on the scene, He didn't abolish the tithe, but called for something more. In Matthew 23, he gets on the Pharisees's case not for tithing, but for ONLY tithing (he actually commends them for tithing). Jesus' gripe was that they were fulfilling their religious duty, but they were not generous to the poor. It makes no sense that now that we are in the new covenant with greater revelation that somehow we should give less. Luke 12:48 says to whom much is given, much is required. So 10% I think is a good place to start. But whatever the percentage, the NT guide is that it's generous and sacrificial (read 2 Cor 8:1-7).

Make it progressive: The more we experience God's grace, the more we'll want to give. Luke 7:47 says he who is forgive much loves much and he who is forgiven little loves little. Jesus said this after a "woman of the city" (probably a prostitute) just poured out a year's worth of income in the form of perfume all over Jesus' feet. The point here is that the more we realize how merciful God has been to us in light of His righteousness and our sin, we will naturally give more. Progressive giving flows out of the assumption that you are growing day by day in your relationship with God and in your understanding of His grace in your life.

If you struggle in the area of finances, I want to HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you go to the Goodsense Action Track. It will give you some hands on practical help in developing a God-honoring plan for your finances.

Bible Reading Plans

I have mixed feelings about Bible reading plans. On one hand, they are very helpful in keeping me on a plan to systematically and thoroughly read the Bible. However, on the other hand, they can also be an accuser when I fall behind schedule and I have a lot of "unchecked boxes" staring me in the face. When that happens, I completely miss the point, which is to connect with the living God.

Ultimately, I think Bible Plans are helpful and should be used as a guide to stay on track to do what you what to do. Paul says in I Corinthians 9:26-27a, "So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control,..." In this life, we shouldn't be casual about our pursuit of God. We are pursuing an "imperishable wreath"!

If the the truth be told, we apply discipline to that area of our life we are most passionate about. Could be work, could be video games, could be golf, could be fantasy sports, could be a lot of stuff. The funny thing is that when we apply discipline to those areas we are passionate about, it doesn't feel like work nor is it a strain. So maybe when I look at my Bible reading plan and feel condemned, stressed and strained, it's not the plan's fault. Maybe my heart has lost some zeal and passion for God? What I need to do is step back, and pray for a renewed faith and zeal and then, like Paul, continue to apply discipline in my pursuit of God.

With that being said, I have enclosed a couple Bible Reading Plan options for you:

Printable: Choice One Choice Two

Online: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/

A Look Back at a Decade: PART TWO

Last Blog: People Impact

What God Has Produced in Us

Our mission is to Connect People to Jesus Resulting in God-Honoring Life Change. This statement implies that we will be proactive about reaching the lost, which was what my last blog was about. However, this mission of ours also implies that God will produce a work in us. When I look back at the recent decade, three things come to mind that I believe are strong community characteristics:

1. Generosity: The people of Jubilee Church have invested $3.55 million into the Kingdom in the past ten years. I find that to be an outstanding number for a few reasons. A) We are not a large group. We were only 66 when the decade began and 137 five years later. It wasn't until 2007 that we started to break through the 200 number and it wasn't until this year that we starting breaking through 300. B) We're a young group. The average age of adults is 27. This tells me that people are giving not out of their surplus, but out of sacrifice. God loves a cheerful giver an blesses those who seek first the kingdom. I'm proud to lead such a generous group.
2. Flexibility: Do you know that Jubilee Church has met in 11 different locations in the past 10 years? I couldn't believe it either. It takes a lot of flexibility for a group of people to make that many major changes. Not to mention all the set up and tear down of our rental locations. Church growth experts say that you will lose 10% of your congregation in making a location move. If that would have been true for us, we would have zero people. However, we have not moved from place to place due to our wisdom, but because of God's direction. We have been a people that have paid close attention to God's prophetic direction. Words like "I'm moving you out of the shade and into the light" that we received in 2003 got us thinking beyond 700 Tuxedo Boulevard. God also said that we would be like a lunar module bouncing around on the moon (and we bounced around for a few years), but then we would settle into a place and where there was once not life, life would emerge. I always thought that had spiritual implications only, but who would have thought it meant taking a mortuary and turning into a celebration center for the glory of Jesus and the benefit of the city?
3. Love for one another: We have been through a lot together in these past years. We have mourned together and we have rejoiced together. I am grateful for both because I believe it has produced a genuine love one for another. I don't just have friends at Jubilee...I have brothers and sisters as well as fathers and mothers. I love that we are not just about doing church but being the Church. I love that we do life together. That we know each other, care for one another, serve one another, and give to one another as there is need. I'm grateful too that it's not an inward love, but a love that is inclusive of new brothers and sisters. No group is immune to the temptation to form cliques, so it is a battle we'll need to continue to fight...but I'm proud of what I see.

God is so good to work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Let's continue to seek after Jesus and have Him form us and mold us more and more into His image.

Next Blog: Leaders We've Trained