We should all be familiar with Saint Patrick’s missional pursuit of taking the gospel of Christ to Ireland.  Patrick was born in the Roman Empire and was taken as a slave to Ireland.  He left after hearing God speak to him and returned to the Roman Empire for the purpose of preparing (educationally and theologically) to return to Ireland for the sole purpose of sharing Christ with an uncivilized people.  As a result, many Irish monks were equipped and ready to leave Ireland and travel east to Europe where they would share the hope found in Christ.

The message of Christ spread throughout Europe and filled a huge vacuum left as a result of the Barbarian Invasions.

We simply want to obey the biblical mandate to go to the whole world to Make Disciples found in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8.

This is simple and not complicated.  We just want to obey the words of Jesus found in the Word of God, the Bible.  We started in Loganville & Walnut Grove, we have now moved to Social Circle and helped plant in other places like Pennsylvania.  We want to take the gospel to the “ends of the earth”.  Nothing more needed.

We want to live by the Psalm 67:1-2 principle of “paying it forward”.  

God has been so gracious to us and He has blessed us so much with the gospel.  We have WAY more than we need and we believe in the “so that” principle.  He has been gracious and blessed us “so that” we can make Him known to the nations.

We want to cultivate “selflessness” in our lives.

Philippians 2:5-11 describes the character of Jesus & how he left his heavenly throne to come to earth wrapped in human flesh to show us how much God loves us.  He “emptied” himself for us!  We want to live in that same spirit and that same character.  How can we keep the “good news” of God’s love, mercy and grace to ourselves?  How can we escape the wrath of God and not invite others to join us?

Are you living your personal life with the same sense of “mission”?  Are you living day by day with a plan to grow as a disciple of Jesus?  Join with us at Church at the Grove as we seek to fulfill God’s mission for sharing the love of Jesus with our community and the world!  I hope to see you Sunday as we share about our experience here in Romania!

Keep praying, keep investing, keep inviting!

Keeping the Message Simple:
We emphasize that God’s plan was to eliminate unnecessary religious components and make it simple to connect with God.  In order to accomplish this we attempt to remove any and all religious “hoops” that churches can tend to force people through to connect with God through a personal relationship with Jesus.  By religious “hoops” I mean things like dress, worship styles, liturgy (all liturgy is not bad), terminology, or connecting certain disciplines or religious activity to your acceptance with God.  Please don’t get me wrong, we do teach doctrine and we encourage spiritual disciplines as a means to grow spiritually.

Read this: Acts 15:19

The NIV states “we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

We are constantly evaluating how we communicate the gospel to our church and our community.  Our desire is to “lead” people and not emotionally coerce people into a growing relationship with Jesus.

Keeping the Methods Simple:
We realize that we live in a culture that is more and more demanding on an individual’s and family’s time.  We believe that we (Church at the Grove) can accomplish more by doing less.  I learned in a seminary class that the most committed people in a typical church will potentially spend 14 hours per week on the campus of their church keeping the operations going for that local body.  If they are spending that much time on keeping the church going, there is very little time left to invest in people outside the walls of the church!  Our desire is to simplify the methodology of our church for the purpose of freeing up time for people to invest in the mission of the church.

We do three things at Church at the Grove to accomplish our mission of leading people to follow Jesus and Make Disciples:

• We create environments where people can explore faith in Jesus at their own pace.
• We encourage relationships through Community Groups where people can connect in meaningful and discipling friendships.
• We start discussions that lead to sharing the hope found in Jesus by serving our neighbors and our community.

Things we will not do or require to keep it simple:

• We will not start a Christian school.
• We will not launch a sports league.
• We will not require men to be circumcised.
• We will not ask or force people to serve in multiple areas to be a Small Group leader.
• We will not ask people to spend all their free time doing work to keep the church going.

What we do ask people to do to keep it simple:

• We ask people to simplify their lives for the purpose of having margin for God’s mission.
• We ask people to utilize their children’s sports and other extracurricular activities as a way to invest in people for the purpose of sharing Jesus and inviting them to The Grove.
• We ask people to connect in a community group.
• We ask people to serve on a Sunday Serve team regularly.
• We ask people to look for opportunities to start conversations that lead to sharing the hope that is found in Jesus.
• We ask people to do these things in their normal circle of influence.

How do you keep the message and the methods simple in your life?

SERVE
Why is this number 1?  I think so many followers of Jesus miss out on the impact of serving people around them in practical ways to demonstrate the love of Jesus.  Jeremiah 29:4-7 says to seek the peace and prosperity of a city and if the city prospers we will prosper as well.  One of the greatest ways to make an impression on the people and the world around you is to simply serve people in the name of Jesus.  The spiritual discipline of “service” is under-utilized in making Jesus known to people.  Serve in your church and in your community.  In John 13:3-5 Jesus demonstrates service as he washes the feet of the disciples.  Question:  How do we wash the feet of people around us in the 21st century?

GENEROSITY
In America, we have more money than we know what to do with. (And yet we are still in debt.)  We live self-indulgent lives and money has a stronghold on our hearts through greed.  Jesus told us that we cannot serve God and money at the same time (Matthew 6:24) The way we break the stronghold of greed and money is to give generously!  There is nothing like the discipline of generosity to change our hearts.

SHARE
Most believers don’t know how to start a conversation that leads to sharing the hope that is found in Jesus.  We must cultivate the discipline of sharing our faith.  Regardless of your personality you are accountable for making Jesus known to people in your circle of influence.  You can learn how to get into conversations and actually share your faith.  You can click here to see how I equipped our church to share their faith.  I believe if you practice the disciplines of SERVE and GENEROSITY, this discipline will come more naturally.

Read God’s Word
Some will ask, “Why in the world is this discipline number 4 on the list of most important spiritual disciplines for a believer in America?”  Simply because most Christians that are involved in spiritual growth are “over-read and under-applied”.  We have no shortage of Bible studies available to us but most followers of Jesus are not actively applying the Word of God to their daily life.  Some of us need one less Bible Study in our life and need to get out in the community and serve and practice generosity.  Here’s the deal:  If you are serving and giving generously of your resources and sharing your faith, you will want to read your Bible even more.  God’s Word, the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us and we should read it daily, don’t get me wrong.  These disciplines are specifically applied to believers living in America.  READ IT THEN DO WHAT IT SAYS! If you do what it says, you will want to read it MORE!

Talk to God
We should communicate with God through the amazing gift of prayer.  This is an underutilized discipline with most followers of Jesus.  Prayer is learning to depend on God.  This discipline is so often a formality and ritual in the life of the American Christian because we don’t lack for anything.  We don’t HAVE to depend on God because all of our needs are met in our culture.  Real, life-transforming prayer is depending on God for what we don’t have.  Pray without ceasing!  Don’t just stand there, pray something!

Connect with other believers in a local Church
Go to church! Join with other believers for the purpose of glorying God and joining Jesus in His mission of redemption.  God has sovereignly chosen to involve us in His mission of redemption.  We get to take the gospel of Jesus to people that are far from God.  2 Corinthians  5:20-21 says that we are His ambassadors.  Go to church!  Hear the Word! Celebrate Jesus with others!  Put into action what you hear!  Do it every week!  Don’t forsake it!  Hebrews 10:25

Circle Up with a Few other Believers
Circles are better than rows!  Invest your life with a small group of believers that can put into practice together these other disciplines.  You can read the Word and study together, serve together, give together, pray together, love one another!  You can’t grow spiritually as God intends by sitting in rows every week simply staring at the backs of people’s heads!  Get into a small group and get to know others on a deeper level and discover what it is like to live on mission with God with a small group of other followers.

These are the disciplines I believe that followers of Jesus must put into practice to grow spiritually and join God in His mission of getting the gospel OUT into the world we live in.  Some may not like or agree with the order of importance I put them in and that is ok.  Let’s don’t argue but simply apply these disciplines in our lives and the lives of those we are responsible for ministering to on a daily and weekly basis!

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–