We know that most people come to Christ on the arm of a trusted friend.

How are you doing at investing in people and inviting them to join you at Church at the Grove?

Remember, you gotta come yourself if you are going to bring somebody with you or have them meet you at the school!

Who are you investing in?

Here is the concept behind our Core Value “Missional Responsibility”:

We desire to fulfill the mission God has given the Church.  In both Old and New Testaments we encounter a God who is on a redemptive mission in the world.  In fact, we are astounded at the lengths to which God will go in pursuit of his mission to redeem the crowning achievement of his creation – people.  In North America, the term “mission” has been associated with either sending called people to other parts of the world or giving financially toward reaching others around the world.  With the United States now being among the largest mission fields in the world, and the fact that there are now multiple generations born and raised in a post-Christian culture, we must address the need for churches to think “missionally” in a local context.

What if each individual believer and household could see their home as a “base” for missional operations to reach the entire neighborhood for Jesus?

This is a core desire for Church at the Grove.

Those of us at the school to teach character education were asked to go to our classrooms and were given permission to turn the television on with the students.  I spent the morning with high school students, watching as the towers crumbled and life as we knew it was transformed before our eyes.  We talked, cried and comforted one another.   Adolescent problems didn’t matter in light of what we observed on that morning.

That morning was significant in shaping my calling to plant a new church. It galvanized my motivation to take the gospel to the unchurched and those far from God.  I was challenged to view the events of 9/11 through the lens of the Great Commission.  I couldn’t help but wonder what the eternal destination would be for over 3000 people that perished on that day.

It is normal and understandable to be horrified, angry and experience a gamut of emotions in the middle of all the circumstances surrounding the attacks of 9/11.  We experienced loss and grief as a nation.  Our security was challenged and we felt backed into a corner.  As the dust settled, the natural and human response became vengeance.  I completely supported the leadership of our nation based on scripture in Romans 13, but I believe strongly the Body of Christ has a Biblical mandate that is distinct from the State Government.  I think of the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:43–45 (HCSB)
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies  and pray for those who  persecute you,  ⁴⁵ so that you may be  sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

On Sunday morning September 11, 2011 at Church at the Grove, we will be celebrating 5 years as a church.  We will celebrate the many decisions of individuals who have turned to follow Jesus and the many baptisms that have taken place as a result.  In the midst of this celebration, we will pause, pray and reflect on those life-changing events of 10 years ago.  Our challenge that day will be simple:  The hope of change in this world is not revenge, bombs, bullets or even the ballot box.  The hope of this world is taking the Gospel to all people, groups and nations.

We must not allow the contemporary clash of cultures to distract us from fulfilling the timeless mandate of the Great Commission!  Maybe our focus of the Gospel should be toward those that consider us among their greatest enemies.

Matthew 28:18–20 (HCSB)
18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples  of  all nations,  baptizing  them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember,  I am with you always,  to the end of the age.”

I was talking with a friend today sharing some of the story of Church at the Grove and I was so excited talking about what God has done in five years of life-transforming ministry.  I get excited when I reflect on the past, rest in the present and envision the future of Church at the Grove!  My friend commented about how many churches struggle maintaining their focus on reaching people outside the church over the long haul.  It is a difficult task to maintain an outward focus but it is the very heart of God to make His name known to all people.

I came across the Spurgeon quote in the first line above and my heart ached at the thought that CATGrove would ever be negligent of the out outside world.

My prayer is that we would continue to flourish in the years to come by focusing on The Great Commission.  Let’s resolve to maintain our focus on the outside world and God’s love to for those that are yet to be reached.

Luke 15:7 (ESV)
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Let’s stay focused!

This Week in The Grove:

5 year anniversary!
On September 11 we will celebrate an incredible 5 years as Church at the Grove! (Insert applause & cheers) These 5 years have been significant in seeing many people turn to follow Jesus & seeing lives transformed as we have impacted our local community and even touched lives around the world.  September 11 will be a big day and we want everyone who calls Church at the Grove home to be there and to bring your family and friends to join you!

Two Services on September 11
We have continued to see our CATGrove family grow and as a result, we need to create more space for new people.  On September 11 we will launch with 2 Sunday morning gatherings at 9:30 & 11am.  This is to create another opportunity for you to invite your family and friends that you have been praying for and investing in!

Community Groups begin September 11
Our new Community Group semester will begin Sunday September 11! I am convinced that one of the important elements to our growth this past year (God gets the credit, of course) was our Community Groups this past year.  We had more groups and more people connected to groups than ever before!  Please choose a group over this next month and get connected to other people in the church!

Church at the Grove Social Circle
This coming January we will launch a 2^nd location gathering in Social Circle.  God has called us since before we ever launched our 1^st gathering to be aggressive in ADVANCING the gospel through planting new churches and new locations of CATGrove!  I am asking everyone to please pray about being a part of this launch team that will help get this new gathering started.  It will be one of the most exciting things you have ever been a part of.  Consider making this your campus, consider giving one year or six months to help get Social Circle started.  We can’t do without people like you.

I am a little disturbed by the outrage over her mother’s acquittal and here are a couple of questions I have in response to the internet outrage over Casey’s acquittal:

I have read repeatedly that there are so many wonderful families that would have been willing to raise that little girl and if the mom didn’t want her she should have given her to her parents or put her up for adoption.

That is great but if everyone is upset why aren’t they signing up to adopt one of the many of the world’s orphans that need a loving home on this planet? I am just asking!

Also: Where is the outrage over the plight of the unborn children that are killed legally everyday in this country and around the world?  Just asking!

Here is what concerns me:  We have become a nation that has severely disconnected what we say we believe and are passionate about from our practical daily actions.  We don’t live daily with practical concern over orphans and unborn children that are killed daily but we get drawn into the sensationalism construed by the news media over one little girl that was tragically killed.

I am not saying that Caylee doesn’t deserve the attention.  What I am saying is that there is a practical disconnect from our passions and beliefs aroused by this Media driven outrage and our practical actions for the plight of so many that need attention every day that go without homes and are killed legally!

Question:  What about our outrage and disgust over people that die eternally separated from God that simply need someone to tell them about an eternal Savior that died to give them life.  If we are so concerned about this little girl (rightly so) then why aren’t we motivated to share our faith in Jesus with those around us?  Let’s connect our practical daily actions to our passions and beliefs! 

In CATGrove news:

Let’s continue to fast and pray that God will draw us into His mission of redemption!  Join us in fasting a couple of meals one day each week.  If you cannot fast from food, then give up media, internet, television, facebook or someone that is of value to you.  Let’s stay focused on our purpose as a church!  Let’s see what God will do with our new launch in Social Circle and let’s see God work in a tremendous way as we send a team to Romania!

Let’s move forward!

Keep Praying, keep investing, Keep inviting!

In light of this day, let’s look at an excerpt from Washington’s Farewell address that connects these valuable freedoms to the True GIVER of Freedom!

September 26, 1796

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

May we never forget from where our true freedom comes!

God Bless America!

Weekly fast on Mondays
Please continue in our church-wide fast this week.  You may change the day since July 4th is on Monday but please don’t forget to continue to pray and fast for our Social Circle Launch; the continued focus of CATGrove; our Romania mission team and for God to work personally in your life!

Group Link
We will gather again in our Group Link gatherings on July 10!  Let’s get together for some fun and fellowship.  If you have any questions about where you need to be, simply ask!

Community Groups
Community Groups will be launching before too long!  Be thinking about where you will connect for relationships and spiritual growth this fall!  True spiritual growth doesn’t happen sitting in rows starring a the back of people’s heads!  It happens in circles sitting face to face with people!  Make it a priority!

This past Sunday:  Matthew 5:8

Purity of Heart comes from a singular devotion to God.

Purity of Heart is about living a life of integrity

Purity of heart cleanses the eyes of the soul so that God is visible.

Jesus is our reward

This is the great story Nathan shared about how we tend to focus on the exterior rather than the inner heart!

Story from Max Lucado
“Once, when we were leaving for a week-love trip, I remembered I hadn’t unplugged the  ham radio.  I ran back in the house, puled the plug and dashed out again.  But I pulled the wrong plug.  I unplugged the freezer. It was summertime, and it was hot.  For seven days, a freezer full of food sat in a sweltering apartment with the power off.  When we came home, my wife decided to get some meat out of the freezer. As she opened the freezer door – well, I won’t go into details as to what she saw but I will say it was a moving experience.  We then figured out that I had unplugged the freezer instead of the radio.  Guess who would be responsible for cleaning it? You got it. So I got to work.

What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior?  I knew exactly what to do.  I got a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance.  I was sure the odor would disappear with a good shine, so as I polished and buffed and wiped.  When I was through, the freezer could have passed a Marine boot-camp inspection.  It was sparkling.  But when I opened the door, that freezer was revolting.

No problem, I thought. I knew what to do.  This freezer need some friends. I’d stink, too, if I had the social life of a machine in a utility room.  so I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighborhood kitchens.  It was hard work, but we filled our apartment with refrigerator, stoves, microwaves, and washing machines. It was a great party.  A couple of toasters recognized each other from the appliance store.  Everyone played pin the plug on the socket and had a few laughs about limited warranties.  The blenders were the hit, though; they really mixed well.  I was sure the social interaction would cure the inside of my freezer, but I was wrong.  I opened it up the stink was even worse!

Now What?  I had an idea. If a polish job wouldn’t do it and a social life didn’t help, I’d give the freezer some status!  I bought a Mercedes sticker and stuck it on the door.  I pained a paisley tie down the front.  I put a “Save the Whales” bumper sticker on the rear and installed a cellular phone on the side.  The freezer was classy. It was stylish. It was … cool.  I splashed it with cologne and gave it a credit card for clout.  Then I backed away and admired the high-class freezer.  “You just might make the cover of Popular Mechanics, I told it.  It blushed.  Then I opened the door, expecting to see a clean inside, but what I saw was putrid – a stinky and repulsive interior.

I could think of only one other option.  My freezer needed some high-voltage pleasure! I immediately bought it some copies of Playfridge magazine – the publication that displays freezers with their doors open.  I rented some films about foxy appliances.  (My favorite was The Big Chill.)  I even tried to get my freezer a date with the Westinghouse next door, but she gave him the cold shoulder.  After a few days of supercharged after-hours entertainment, I opened the door.
And I nearly got sick. –END–

I was able to spend some time with a few different people this week that helped remind me of why we do what we do at Church at the Grove.

I spent some time with a friend that is hungry exploring faith issues and the Bible for the first time in his life.  It is so refreshing to see that hunger for the Word of God and the things of God.  This is why we started Church at the Grove!  We desired to build relationships with people born and raised in the first “post-Christian” generation that didn’t have the Bible and Christian foundation that so many have had in previous generations, especially here in the Bible Belt.  This friend is vigorously pursing God through reading the Word and becoming a part of the Church at the Grove family.

I spent some time with a precious family that has gone through a recent tragedy in their family and it is so encouraging to see them lean into God during this tough trial.  They have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from their Grove family and are trusting God as they continue to move forward.  I always think I am going to visit someone in need and encourage them but often I am the one that leaves a home being encouraged by the family I visit with.

I was able to cast the vision I believe God has given Church at the Grove with a family this week.  It never gets old sharing the mission and vision God has given us.  It is so humbling and surreal to see how God has delivered on what He promised us He would do just over 5 years ago when we set out on this adventure!  As I shared the heartbeat of our church and what I believe is distinct and significant about Church at the Grove, I was overwhelmed again with gratitude and resolve to move forward faithfully to accomplish what God has led us to do!

Can I remind you?!

Vision:

God has called us to reach out to the first generations born and raised into a “post-Christian” American culture.  We desire to share the gospel with these generations and see God build a church of influence!

Mission:

Church at the Grove exist to develop people who follow Jesus and Make Disciples.

Strategy:

We seek to fulfill God’s Vision and Mission for Church at the Grove through:

• Creating Environments where people can explore faith at their own pace.

• Encouraging relationships.

• Starting discussions and conversations that lead to sharing the hope found in Jesus.

Simply put, we want more than anything else make much of Jesus, glorifying Him through touching individual lives with the love and grace of God.  Love God; Love people!

Keep praying, Keep investing, Keep inviting!

I was completely overwhelmed by the destruction wrought by the tornadoes across the southeast last week.  My heart breaks and goes out to those impacted by these disastrous storms.  I am so thankful for the outpouring of people providing clothes, water and other misc. supplies that will be delivered on Thursday of this week!  Thank you so much for the generosity!  I am so thankful to be a part of a generous church willing to make a practical and observable difference.  I honestly don’t have an explanation to why these disasters happen when they do but I choose by faith to “trust His heart when I can’t trace His hand.”

Bin Laden

I was about to go to bed on Sunday night and just before I turned off the news, I saw the “breaking news” announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed during a covert operation led by an American Military Navy SEALS Team. The news, internet and social media response is overwhelming.  Here are a few thoughts from my heart based on a biblical, Christian persepective:

• I am thankful for the USA and the freedoms for which many have fought and sacrificed!  I am thankful for the military and their sacrifice and their work!  I commend them for carrying out a successful mission.

• Justice against terror is the responsibility of governing authorities and they did their job! Romans 13:1-5

• We in the church and the Christian community should support and pray for those defending us against terror.

• We should be careful of celebrating or rejoicing over any persons death, even when they are our enemy. Proverbs 24:17-18

• The gospel of Jesus is the ONLY LASTING HOPE for people held in bondage by Islam or terrorism.

• We must continue to pray for those in authority who have responsibilities to protect our freedoms. 1 Timothy 2:1-2

• We should grieve in our hearts over those that perish without the eternal life that Jesus offers! 2 Peter 3:9

This past Sunday:

God, out of His GRACE, chooses to establish a nation from which a rescuer will come and He makes three promises to Abram:

1. I’m going to make you into a great nation.  Anybody heard of Israel?
2. I will make you name great?  Who has heard of Abraham?  4000 years ago
3. All peoples will be blessed through you.  3 world religions refer to Abraham as significant.

God Started the relationship with asking Abram to TRUST Him.

Relationship with God comes by GRACE!

Ephesians 2:8–9

God most wants us to TRUST Him!

This Week:

Practice trusting God this week when you are tempted to get anxious or tempted to control things in your own strength.  Receive His GRACE and rest in it.
Proverbs 3:5-6

This explains why this church has remained small and had little “gospel” impact on the community around it! I simply can’t believe that people would resort to such a thing over whether or not that little girl was a “member” of the church.

I believe strongly that this explains in part why the church in our American culture is in decline and losing influence in the community.  This is why we work so hard to stay focused on what our mission is at CATGrove!  It is also why we need to plant more churches!

It was such a powerful Sunday of worship this past week and it was a blessing to have Matt Papa share in the sermon:

Here is what we focused on for this week:

Colossians 4:5–6 (ESV)
⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

• Live Loud

• Focus on the mission in the midst of the madness

• Talk to people about what matters most.

CATGroves Values that impact outsiders:

• Persuasive Compassion

• Missional Responsibility

Let’s stay focused on reaching people with the gospel for God’s Glory!

Take advantage of Easter and invite your friends, family and neighbors to Church at the Grove this Sunday!  Remember we have two services this Sunday only at 9:30am and 11am!

Keep praying, Keep investing, keep inviting!

God continues to blow me away with how he is moving in so many ways!  I am exciting out of my mind that we are training around 100 adult leaders this Saturday night at Leadership Community!  We will have training for our SundayServe teams on how to create an environment to WOW guests.  We will also have training for our Children’s ministry.  Oh yeah!

Easter is coming April 24!  Who are you praying for and preparing to invite to come with you?

This past Sunday we addressed our second Question of our “Questions Uncensored” series:  What does God say about homosexuality? Whoaa!

Here are some thoughts from Sunday:

The cultural issue of homosexuality is a hot issue politically, socially and morally and it is not going away.

If you’re like me, more than once you find yourself reading an article or listening to a story, and you think, “How am I supposed to feel about these things? Do we have the right to set boundaries around human behavior and relationships? If so, where do we draw those boundaries? And how do we respond civilly and Christian-ly to people who live outside those boundaries?”

We must approach this issue in humility!
Luke 18:9–14 (ESV)

First, we must look at what God says about marriage from the beginning!
Check out Genesis 2:18-25

In marriage, he brings a man and woman back together to reclaim the fullness of the divine image— masculinity and femininity.

Jesus confirms God’s plan in marriage.
Matthew 19:3–6 (ESV)

God’s design for sexuality is that it is to be a procreative and intimate celebration of love within the context of marriage.

There are 2 primary purposes for marriage:

1. Procreation – Genesis 1:28

2. Illustration – Ephesians 5:25-28

God does give us some specific prohibitions concerning sexuality:

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19

Leviticus 18 & 20

Romans 1:24–25 (ESV)

Romans 1:26–27 (ESV)

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)

Regardless of our beliefs concerning this tough issue, our response should be the same as that of Jesus as He encountered people:

Matthew 9:36–38 (ESV)
³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

At CATGrove we will stand for truth but we will model Jesus’ example concerning GRACE & TRUTH.  John 1:14

As we stand for TRUTH we will also create an environment and atmosphere where:

• Everybody’s welcome
• Nobody’s perfect
• Anything’s possible through Jesus!