His Responsibitlity, Your Opportunity

His Responsibility, Your Opportunity

This past weekend was the first in the series titled, "Grow or Go." Many of you came in wondering what exactly the sermon was going to be about. I bet there were some pretty good guesses.


In short, Pastor Chris challenged the people of Experience Life to grow in their faith, or if unwilling to do so, to leave and find another church home. As our pastor, Chris wants every person that walks through the doors at Experience Life the experience ALL that God has for them. The only way that this takes place is through person growing in their personal relationship with the Lord. Some of you may argue that you can grow in your relationship without doing some of the things that Chris challenged us to do. He helped many of us to realize that there is a huge need at Experience Life that is not being met. Every weekend, it takes countless volunteers to make church happen. There has to be people to set up, tear down, watch kids, park cars, pray, serve Tea/coffee, and countless other things.These volunteers show up and serve because they are "in the game." However, a large majority of the volunteers serve multiple services because there is a LACK of people that are willing to help on the weekend.

How does all of this relate to growing in your PERSONAL relationship with God? Well, the main purpose of the church for those who are believers, is not simply another event on the calendar. Rather, the church body is to be the people that God uses to draw others to Jesus. Think about that for a minute. Church for a believer is his or her opportunity to serve others so that God's kingdom can be advanced. This was God's intention for church. So, for many people to claim that they are growing in their walk with Him, and yet be unwilling to serve one of the main ways that spread His fame seems contradictory.

This message may not be accepted with ease by some people. In fact, it may cause some people to "go." But, I came across a verse in Ephesians a couple of weeks ago. The verse talks about some of the gifts that Christ gave to the church. These include apostles, the prophets, the evangalists, the pastors, and the teachers. According to Ephesians 4:12 it is "their responsibility to equip God's people to do his work to build up the church, the body of Christ." So, yes the message was bold, but for a very good reason. Pastor Chris doesn't take his responsibility lightly, and I pray that your response wouldn't be taken lightly as well.

Now, I can hear some of you saying "Well, alright. It's pretty easy for you to write about this, but how does this look for you?" I have to say as Chris' wife that my service to and for the church looks different than most. When we started Experiece Life, I helped in the childrens area. As time progressed, I realized that my role needed to change. Over the past two years, I have helped Chris to make sure that he was ready for every weekend. Some weekends this means taking care of our sick girls by myself so that he has the energy to get up an preach. Some weekends it means that I get to attend several services so that I can support and encourage him. Preaching five services is a huge task every weekend, and I want to be his biggest fan. This is where I feel the Lord has lead me to serve Him and His church. I pray that you will take the time to pray and ask where He wants you to use your spiritual gifts.