3rd Preveiw Service
Jul 2nd, 2008 by Gary Chupik
Well, to be honest, doing preview services are both invigorating and exhausting! I spoke the last message in the “Jaded: Time to Rethink” series and talked about forgetting the old way of thinking about God and letting God speak for himself about how he wants to be understood. Just like us, he doesn’t want to be misunderstood. The only way we can renew our mind is to aquire a God-knowledge kind of knowledge, and to gaze or stare at God.
The good news is we had 50+ people in attendance and people really enjoyed the service. The challenging news is we can’t rest and catch our breath. At some point we’ll need to move our Sunday night services to Sunday morning or Saturday night to attract more people. Most people in our culture, when they think of going to church, think Sunday morning. The YMCA has been great to us and a Godsend, but we can’t rest on yesterday’s blessings. They can become shackles around our ankles that prevent us from pursing God’s best for us today and the future.
Hey Gary, I love the Jaded series! Coming from a past of non-church hood and having the interaction I did have from people claiming to have a relationship with God either in Christianity or otherwise left me feeling quite uncertain about acquiring or attaining my own relationship with God. This series has brought me some peace and has shed some light on my reservations. In regards to our Sunday evening services, I love them! For me and my lifestyle, I can think of no better way to end my weekend and prepare for the next week then by spending it with Emmaus. It is not standard but I love the fact that nothing with Emmaus is. Having us beat to our own drum breaths new life into worship and community. Like everyone, I have a crazy work schedule that does involve some weekends, so to be able to have my Sunday mornings to sleep in a little and move at my own pace, gives me more open ness and energy to absorb the Emmaus message and embrace our group on Sunday night.
Thanks for your response Nicki. It totally made my day! Letting God recalibrate our hearts and thoughts can be so rich and life-giving. I have found I needed to apologize to God for all the stuff I’ve thought about him because I’ve jumped to conclusions. I love the fact that God is slow to anger and abounding in love!
I understand about the whole Sunday morning thing. It would be hard to get up and running on a Sunday morning. It’s not what we’re used to! I have a feeling that if we did move to Sunday mornings, it would be very tough on some people, and easier on others. Thanks for your input and we love hearing from people just like you! We take every comment into consideration as we plan for the future!