The Portal
One of threads that is weaved throughout Old and New Testament is awe. That is a pretty good end goal: we want people to live their lives in awe of God. Our weekend experiences need to be designed to fill people with "a deep sense of awe" (Acts 2:43).
One of my deepest held convictions is that no one walks through our doors by accident. Every one is there by divine appointment. We have a unique window of opportunity to speak into people's lives and alter the eternal trajectory of their lives!
If you asked the average person to supply adjectives for church, descriptors like boring, irrelevant, hypocritcal, outdated would probably top the list. That is a long way from I Corinthians 14:25--"They will fall down on their knees and worship God declaring, 'God is really among you'." We want people to have a "God encounter."
Our weekend experiences are NCC's primary portal--that is how most people come into contact with NCC. I think the mantra is true--as the weekend goes so goes the church. Everything else we do is important--especially small groups. But I think weekend services set the tone for the body at large.
When I preach on Sunday I'm cognizant of the fact that a half hour is multiplied by the total number of people in attendance. I pour my life into preaching because that half hour is multiplied by approximately 700 people. So one message equals 350 hours--nearly two weeks!
One of my deepest held convictions is that no one walks through our doors by accident. Every one is there by divine appointment. We have a unique window of opportunity to speak into people's lives and alter the eternal trajectory of their lives!
If you asked the average person to supply adjectives for church, descriptors like boring, irrelevant, hypocritcal, outdated would probably top the list. That is a long way from I Corinthians 14:25--"They will fall down on their knees and worship God declaring, 'God is really among you'." We want people to have a "God encounter."
Our weekend experiences are NCC's primary portal--that is how most people come into contact with NCC. I think the mantra is true--as the weekend goes so goes the church. Everything else we do is important--especially small groups. But I think weekend services set the tone for the body at large.
When I preach on Sunday I'm cognizant of the fact that a half hour is multiplied by the total number of people in attendance. I pour my life into preaching because that half hour is multiplied by approximately 700 people. So one message equals 350 hours--nearly two weeks!
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