Sunday Nite (on a Monday Afternoon)

Yesterday had to be the MOST uncomfortable day that I have ever experienced at Hyde Park. The decisions that were made, however, also showed to have an amazing payoff that I believe brought glory to our Lord Jesus. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I am referencing "What Happens When..." Sunday which took place yesterday. For one day we asked the question "What Happens When": 

• When the church doesn't function like the church
• When people don't use their spiritual gifts to serve the body
• When new believers don't follow through with believer's baptism
• When attenders don't become members
• When disciples don't live out a lifestyle of repentance

We demonstrated the idea of how important it is for all of us to take our next spiritual step, whatever it may be, by not doing all the things that we normally do and that we often take for granted: we had no band, no worship team, no choir - just a guitarist and worship leader. There was no audio/visual assistance from the screen, no computer graphics, no sermon notes. We took it back to the year 2000 and had the lyrics to the songs printed inside of the bulletin. There was no iServe team working in Guest Services, parking cars, greeting and making Sunday the best day of the week. And most tragically, there was NO ROC CAFE' (oh NO!!!!! )which meant there was a shortage of caffeine in the house not to mention a shortage of patience for those who love them some coffee...

To say the vibe was weird is an understatement. When I share with you that a tension filled the air I'm being kind. I have never felt more challenged and transparent than I did yesterday and I know that it's not because we were missing all the "bells and whistles" that we utilize. I believe that the strangeness I was feeling were the questions of the congregation wondering to themselves (and some to one another), "why are we doing church like this?"

The absence of our teams highlighted to our congregation HOW MUCH BETTER WE ARE WHEN WE TOGETHER LEVERAGE OUR TALENTS for God's glory and it reminded us how much we appreciate those who give; it reminded us of how blessed we are with the sweetest people in the land; it illustrated how many people it takes to pull off what we do every weekend; The service showed us how much better an environment we create when we allow God to use us to our fullest.

Don't get me wrong - we had a great service: the music was amazing (Brandon and Steven flat-out brought it with a great acoustic set - very proud of them) - we had MUCH movement at the invitation as people brought their "MITE" to God asking Him to make it mighty - people took next steps to join ministries, join the church, surrendered their lives and people gave their lives to Christ. All in all, a great day!

I close by sharing that I poured myself out through that message because I wanted you to see my heart as I shared with you that we want you to be part of the story of Hyde Park. I know though that it wasn't my message that stirred your hearts, rather...

THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVED AMONG US, GIVING US THROUGH THE ABSENCE OF ALL THAT IS FAMILIAR A GREATER APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HAPPENS AT HYDE PARK WEEK IN AND WEEK OUT. Thanks to all of you who pour your lives out for Jesus every Sunday through serving at Hyde Park.

With that in mind - get out the instruments, the iServe team and get ready because this weekend is going to be an explosive weekend of worship (and yes... the ROC CAFE' will definitely be open for all your caffeinated needs ).