Who do you serve?

So have you ever had those moments in your life where you have found it to be easier to serve something else? Something that wasn't your father in heaven? Now I'm not talking about serving another God as much as serving something that is visible, maybe it's an I pod, maybe you play too much Golf, maybe you put friends or work above your own family, whatever it is you see what I'm saying here. There is this story in 1 Kings 18 about Elijah going up to Mount Carmel, he goes there because they are serving other god's and Elijah decides to challenge King Ahab to a duel of sorts. So they go up on the mountain and they find out who the true God is, he tells them you call out to your god's and I will call out to my God. Let's see what happens.

Elijah first's asks them to choose a bull but to call out to the bale's to light it on fire, they dance around it, they call out from morning till night but nothing happens. It says that later on Elijah begins to taunt them, he says things like maybe he's on vacation or busy, shout louder, or perhaps he is deep in thought. When he says deep in thought it actually translates on the toilet, so Elijah is basically saying that your god is on the toilet, great stuff. So here is an account of the first ever trash talker in human history and it's Elijah, if he was around today he'd be that annoying guy in your fantasy league who is always talking smack even when he losses ever week. Let's see what happens after this.

So Elijah build an altar and makes a trench around it, he then orders them to fill four jars of water and fill this trench. They do this a couple of times, when the trench was overflowing Elijah went to pray to the LORD and asked him to reveal himself to them on this mountain. then all of a sudden God sent fire down around them and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the trench, it also dried up the water that was there. He did this so that there hearts might turn back to him and that they may come back to the one true God.

How many times do we live this story in our own lives? We find ourself worshiping something else because it looks better, it's easier, or maybe it makes you happier and after all God wants you to be happy right? NO! God is more concerned with your joy and your holiness than your happiness. You see God wants to reveal himself to you today just like he revealed himself to Elijah on Mount Carmel, come this weekend to one of our services and allow God to reveal himself to you as we study this narrative more in depth. I hope to see you there.
Grace and Peace,
Clayton Wheeler

Online Church

So I've been having this conversation over the past few months about a common trend I've begun to see amongst today's larger churches, it's the issue of starting online Campuses.  It started about a year ago when I became familiar with the concept when I logged on to lifechurch.tv  Pastor Craig Croschel, and yes I probably miss spelled his name but you know who I'm talking about.  I should tell you early on that this is more of a discussion and a pole than it is a blog, I'll share with you some of the conclusions I've come to but most importantly I want you to share your views and your thoughts on this.  

For those of you who are not familiar with the online campus concept let me get you up to speed.  A online campus is another satellite of a larger church, it's suppose to reach those who wouldn't want to walk into a church building or face the whole concept of being face to face with the local body of believers.  Supposedly you log on into a live service at one of the other satellite campuses and basically watch the whole service, Music, preaching the whole thing.  After this you are put into what you could call a chat room format of a small group where you interact with people who have just watched what you watched at the same time.  It's basically church for people who don't want to wake up and interact with people, it's great for the ubber introverts or those 40 year old men living in there parents basement playing the latest version of Gears of War, or should I even say World of Warcraft.  Sorry if sarcasm afends you I tend to be kind of sarcastic.  So the question that arises is this, is it real?  and is it Biblical?

First of all is it real?  I tend to believe that the holy spirit can convict you in any setting, this is because I believe we are the church more than we just go to church.  What concerns me about this is really my second question.  Is it Biblcal?  Now I am definitely one for using technology for the betterment of the Kingdom but is this going too far, I understand that your worshiping but what keeps one from logging on checking off that they are present, but then they can walk away and make themselves feel good because they went to church or did they.  I mean are they feeding themselves on a daily basis without the accountability of an actual face to face community (Church/Small group) ?  I was even watching a video on this this past week where they were having a problem with the small groups they have, aka there chat rooms/small groups.  Another question about the whole biblical issue is this, who is handling the Church discipline?  In order to be a biblical church from what I've studied in the NT, is that there has to be an eldership or a group of godly men who discipline and disciple those who are in sin and need correction.  So as you can see I have my doubts about online church, but I'm not the only one.  Mark Driscol raised a lot of the same concerns at the recent Advance conference in North Carolina and I have come to have the same concerns, in my opinion it's a bad idea, it feels to fake and the last thing we need in today's church is more people who are fake.  You know those people who think church is all about them being happy and becoming a better you now!  All were doing I fear is catering to those who just want to be safe, safe christianity is an oki moron if you ask me.  We need to be interacting with people in a community on a daily basis, and there is something about being in a room filled with people praising and worshiping the same God side by side.  Before I go any further and if you want to do more research on this before you make up your mind, here are the churches I know of for sure who are doing this if you want to check them out.  Central Christian Church Las Vegas, Lifechurchtv Edmond Oklahoma, North Point Community Church Alphareta Georgia.  Check them out and tell me what you think, I really want to hear your opinions from both sides that is.  

Now let me end with this, I just want to let you know that I still think highly of these pastors listed above I just don't agree with this new trend that they are embracing.  So Jud Wilihite, Craig Groschel and Andy Stanley are still great communicators who speak the gospel well and I look forward to hearing and reading form them in the future.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler

Shine like Stars

If you could be anyone in the world, even if it was just for the day who would it be?  This question came to my attention in the midst of my study this week, we are all obsessed with being some one else so being the serious guy I am I answered this question.  I would want to be a Rock Star more specifically an Indie Rock Star like Ben Gibbard, I'd love to know what it's like to write music and perform in front of thousands and see your video's on MTV and to most importantly have a stage in which I can influence the World.  As I was studying I began to wonder is this really a far fetched idea?  Maybe so or maybe God put this in my head to wrestle with?

I was studying Philippians 2 for my message this week, in that chapter it talks about Shining like Stars and it caught my attention real quick.  What does it look like to shine like stars and what does God mean when he says that we shine like stars?  I understand that he wants us to live differently from the world and to be an influence but maybe that means more than even we can imagine?

This brought me to my senior year of High School, during that year Switchfoot had just released a new single entitled "Stars"  Now listen to this lyric that I resonated with this week.  "When I look at the stars, I see someone else."  You see there is this idea that we walk around everyday doing the mundane and not really loving what it is that we do or who we are as humans, but nevertheless when we look at the stars we see someone else.  Maybe this someone else is the absolute best version of our real selves, that person who really can move mountains, it's that person who truly best resembles our heavenly father.  

You see I believe that Shining like stars looks like this, it's when a Rock Star visits Etheopia and sees a world in poverty and AIDS and says I must do something about this, you see he looked at the Stars and he saw someone else and it changed his life forever.  It's when a Woman learns about Sex trade in Southeast Asia and decides to build a place of refuge and restoration for these girls, she looked at the Stars.  It's when a man who invented the internet saw a world that had been abused environmentally and decided that something had to change, he looked at the Stars.  It's when a man watches a disaster on the Nightly news and notices that the Church isn't there and decides that something must be done so he forms an organization like IDES, he looked at the Stars.  

You see God wants us to change the world, he wants us to look at the Stars and see someone else.  The very Someone he originally intended for you and I to be.

So may you look at the Stars and see someone else, and may you begin to live a life that is different because you truly have become that someone else.

Grace and Peace be with,

Clayton Wheeler.