Freedom – Release the Chains
I am so excited about this week and the coming month @ The Summit!
Thursday we will be having our church-wide camp out at Crazy Horse Campground AND it looks like we are going to have a baptism! That’s right! Someone said they didn’t wait any longer, so if you want to join in this exciting event we will have a baptism in the pool on Friday Night! If you want to be a part of this, just let us know.
Sunday we will be starting a new series of conversations entitled “Freedom – Release the Chains”.
Have you ever wandered weather there could be a better tomorrow? Have you ever doubted your relationship with God? Have you questioned how God could love you? Have you imagined a life that was free from the past and open to an unlimited future? If so, you do not want to miss “Freedom – Release the Chains” at The Summit! This will be a powerful and eye opening series of conversations on the good news that Jesus delivered 2000 years ago and how it affects us today. This will be a time of new beginnings and new hope. We will learn together how to dream again, hope again and to discover the Freedom God has promised to all of us!
Be Happy!
Bryan
Sacrifice or Praise…What’s the Difference?
For many of us, we have believed the lie that “the more we work and more time we give to God, the more pleased He is with us”. And although God desires our time and commitment to Him, He is in fact more honored when we give Him our Praise Life!
22-23 “Time’s up for playing fast and
loose with me.
I’m ready to pass sentence,
and there’s no help in sight!
It’s the praising life that honors me.
As soon as you set your foot on the Way,
I’ll show you my salvation.” – Psalm 50:22-23 (TM)
This Psalm (read the entire Psalm here) is a Psalm for David, after his affair with Bathsheba. David had realized that after living a life of giving so much effort to God, if he didn’t give God praise in the way he lived, nothing else mattered.
A Praise is defined as “an expression of approval, commendation, or admiration”. The word we translate as praise literally means “a gift of thanks”. In this Psalm we learn that God doesn’t need our material or temporal offerings, but He deeply desires a life that shows how thankful we are for His grace. A life that is selfish, self absorbed, superfiscial, inward focused and about making our name famous instead of Jesus brings God no pleasure.
But a life that is lived lived for Him, that considers Him before ourselves…that is all the thanks and offering that God needs.
Be Happy!
Bryan
My Dad’s Bigger Than Your Dad
The word’s of a jaded 6 year old can be funny, affirming and a bit scary. “Nuh uh, my dad’s bigger than your dad!” Those were the words of Brandon as he and another boy were messing around. It was funny because it reminded me of my childhood jockeying on the playground at our elementary school. Instant flashback! It was affirming because I took pride in hearing the conviction in my son’s words that I was the bigger dad. I was a giant in his mind and he felt that no other dad could go against me. It was a bit scary because I hadn’t seen the other dad and he might have been an even bigger giant.
“4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” - 1 John 4:4. The cool thing about being the child of the one and only God, is that our God doesn’t get scared. It is an affirming thought to know that when I am on the edge of defeat, I can call on my Heavenly daddy to come to my rescue.
When I am backed into the corner of life and feel there is no way out, God’s Spirit quietly whispers to me in my moment of anxiety, 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31.
I am calmed today in knowing that there is no threat or force that is being prepared against me that my heavenly daddy and me can’t handle. It gives me a confidence to step out against the world’s bullies and giants and walk with a bit of a swagger in knowing that today, my God is with me.
Be Happy!
Bryan
A View from The Summit – 06/14/2009
What an awesome day we had yesterday. It was beautiful, warm and there seemed to be an expectancy around The Summit. The band kicked it up a notch yesterday. You could see some expression coming from them we hadn’t seen and it really poured into the church. There are some really cool things happening and it looks like we are ready to go to the next level.
- We gave away another Garmin yesterday as a part of our “Directionally Challenged” series. I like my Garmin.
- We could tell we are in full blown summer. Attendance was down. About 1/3 of the kids were gone from the week before.
- We have a great group of leaders from “Team Effort” Hangin with us for the summer. They are a great encouragement.
- Talked about Distractions to Discovering God’s Will, THERE ARE many more than the BIG 3 I talked about.
- 8 months into this and our church seems to be missing that energy in our worship experience. New Christians? New Attenders? Not sure, but I can’t wait ’till it finally comes out.
- We have a new family that is FIRED up to reach outside our walls. Looks like we are getting ready to establish a community initiative that will blow your mind.
- Close to a new deal on a permanent building. 13,000 sqft; seems too expensive for us; build out expense appears impossible…I think God’s getting ready to do something HUGE.
Be Happy!
Brya
Synchronized Fireflies – Amazing
At The Summit we call our small group experience, Base Camps. We are taking somewhat of a break during the summer, but this past week we went up to the mountains to watch the very unique phenomenon that is only found in 2 places in the world and it only happens about 2-3 weeks out of the years. That phenomenon is Fireflies (Lightening Bugs) that blink in synchronization! You can read all about it here. This event only happens with a very rare breed that is found only in 2 places in the world, one of those being in the Elkmont region of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
So this past Wednesday a group of us went to the area to see this amazing wonder (it’s only about 30 minutes from the house). We actually went to a MUCH less crowded area to see this very rare expression and we encountered an amazing memory. We actually decided to hike up a nature trail to that we could deeper under the canopy of the forest. Half-way up, we had one of the most violent thunderstorms hit us with down pours of rain that made it hard to stand in. We traversed back down the mountain with crying small kids, laughing bigger kids and the nervous reassurances of parents who said everything would be alright. Read the rest of this entry »
Directionally Challenged and a Quick Update
Directionally Challenged – Discovering God’s will for Your Life
We started a new series at The Summit a couple weeks ago called, “Directionally Challenged”. It has been an awesome time of learning how we can better discover and recognize God’s will for our lives. You can catch the previous 2 messages here or here and you can always catch anything we do at our website.
God is doing some really incredible things at The Summit and I am working on getting back to blogging and twittering what we are doing. I have officially been Facebook and Twitter free for over 2 1/2 months and really haven’t blogged consistently for about that same time. Why? Because I realized I hadn’t been using my blog as I originally intended…as a teaching venue. And Facebook and twitter had become more of a “hey, look at who I know or who I’m friends with or who I talked to today” type thing instead of a connection type thing. So…I took a sabbatical so I could focus on the important things. Read the rest of this entry »
