More about Kidzworks on Sunday Night

Okay, I know that our Facebook invitation (click here to check it out) told you to bring your elementary kids this week, but a simple invitation isn't enough.  Here comes the hard sell...

Up until now, Sunday nights in Janesville have been all about adults.  Oh, sure, we started providing "child care," but that was just so that we adults could talk about the business of planting a church.  But I've been convicted that our kids shouldn't just be "along for the ride."  I think our kids can and should play just as big a role in launching this work as their parents do.  Let me explain.

On launch weekend, all of us adults will be working our tails off preparing for all of the people that will come from the community.  We will have spent weeks in outreach and marketing and inviting our friends and serving the people around us, and we will be creating a great place for people to come and meet Jesus.  We aren't doing it so that we can look good.  We aren't doing it so that we can feel like a "success."  We're willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears so that people we know and love who are far from God will have a place to come back to him.

And what in that previous paragraph isn't true of our kids?  Do they have people they love and want to introduce to Jesus?  Do they have friends and neighbors and other kids at school who are hurting and could use a place that accepts them just as they are?  Of course they do.  And if we rob our kids of the opportunity to be a part of creating that kind of place for their friends, shame on us. 

So, when your elementary aged kids (K-5th) come this Sunday night, they'll experience our worship time with us, and then they will head out with some adults who are ready to help bring them into the process.  They'll spend time talking about the kind of place that their friends might want to come to.  They'll have fun, but our hope is that they'll leave feeling like they're a part of something, not just along for the ride. 

Don't miss this Sunday night... and don't let your kids miss it, either.

(We will have child care and games for the little ones through the entire service as well.)

Launch Update from Orlando

I have friends who God talks to all the time.  "God spoke to me in the shower yesterday." "I was talking to the lady at Dunkin' Donuts and God told me what to say."  I think it's awesome.  It's just not my experience.  I'm sure it's because I'm too busy or too caught up in my own life to listen, but I just don't have that many back-and-forth's with the Father. 

Don't get me wrong... I pray.  I spend regular time in his Presence and his word.  I look for his leading every chance I get.  Often, I look back on my recent past and see where he's guided me, but it's not very often that I clearly sense God saying something specific to me at a specific time. 

Until this week. 

And, can I just say "Holy Crap" without offending you? Because holy crap.  I'm in Orlando at the Exponential church planters conference and God is rocking my world.  He keeps whispering things over my soul.  Specific things.  And just when I think he's done, I step into another session he throws me another curve-ball.

A week ago, I would have told you that I couldn't have possibly been any more excited than I am about what God is about to do in Janesville.  I think of our Launch Team, and I am completely blown away with the caliber of people God is raising up.  I think of our entire church and their support and willingness to give us the freedom to try anything, and I thank God for the opportunities that opens up. I think of the leadership in our church, both staff and elders, and I know that God has been aligning all of the pieces for just this place at just this time, and I'm overwhelmed that I get to play a role in it.

You see, God is at work all around us.  Sometimes we see it.  Other times we don't.  This week, I'm privileged to have been given a glimpse of what God is doing, and I'm bursting to share some of it with you.  So you'd better make sure you're there this Sunday night at 6pm at Parker High School (yes, that's a shameless plug.)  Get ready, because God is filling me up this week, and I can't wait for him to pour it out all over our Launch Team on Sunday. 

See you then!