Day 6- we started the morning at Riverside Tabernacle with a service before our grocery distribution.  It was a cool outreach, but the volunteers had been touched by tragedy because one of their most loyal volunteers had been brutally murdered just days earlier.  It was a sober reminder that the violence and crime of this city was not confined to those who lived lives that cried for it, but that servant hearted people were the victims as well.

However, the most transformational moments happened after our outreach was over.  Over the course of the last few days, a story has been unfolding in one young family where a girl who has been hiding from the Lord and battling drug addiction, came back to faith on Sunday, prayed for the strength to enter rehab on Monday and brought her sister to the same place today.  At the same time, a lady who had been faced with the tragic loss of her fiancee arrived at the church, hoping there was someone there to pray.  In both of these cases, Freedom Center North had been their home and after extended absences, both found that the key to the front door still fit.  It is amazing the reliance on the power of prayer here.  I can’t tell you how many times mid-task everyone in the building dropped everything to gather and pray and the Lord would speak profoundly.  It was beautiful to see that there is a sense of the greatest resource this church owns is an audience with God and the willingness to use it.

The other thing that arose today actually started last night.  Late last night as I was preparing for the message this morning, something clicked.  It was no longer the team from Dallas and the team from Oklahoma.  A bond was formed.  Suddenly there was this cohesion of heart, where members of the two teams were up late sharing life and joy.  Every missions trip I have ever attended has had that moment when the team becomes one and the resulting community experiences power.  I fully believe that the friendship from last night flowed into the altars this morning.  There is a supernatural power in community.

Our last two days have been wall to wall outreach.  We started Friday morning at North End Soup Kitchen, where each day droves of homeless people from the community come for lunch and dinner.  Having never been behind the scenes at a soup kitchen, it was eye opening the level of commitment that a handful of men and women have to muster to keep such a vital compassion initiative running.

Today we received the opportunity to be a part of Revive Flint- an evangelistic outreach that launched in April in several cities across the U.S.  We walked through some of the toughest neighborhoods on the North end of Flint.  We saw some cool moments of deep prayer and salvation on the streets.  One of the best stories is of a lady who our team ministered to and she accepted the Lord and then joined back at the church for our adopt the block picnic.

At the end of both days, I have landed in an uncomfortable place. The beauty of the soup kitchen was seeing families have an immediate need met and walk out full, when they were so terribly empty.  The brutality of the soup kitchen was that we only made a small dent in the destitution of their lives and they will be hungry again and our momentary supply was just that momentary.  After walking the streets of Flint, sharing the good news, the beauty is the prayers we got to pray with those who so desperately needed it.  The brutality is there were so many more.  There were so many more frustrated and hopeless souls, who felt hiding behind a locked door was a better option than exposing themselves to the possibility of hope.  These last two days have been beautiful efforts of grace that violently reminded me that we need the supernatural power of Jesus to do more than our best efforts ever will.

The team has arrived safely and set up camp in Flint, MI (about 60 miles outside of Detroit).  The tour of the city and church has given me a few quick hints into the city and the reasonable response of the church and our team.  The area of the city seems to be older and in need of a facelift.  The church/Dream Center itself has a remarkable story of an eight-year journey of waiting to receive an old rundown building.  We walked into what seemed to be an oasis of hope for this community.  Just last week, they took a handful kids to their first ever youth camp and they returned with the knowledge Jesus, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of healing.  That may describe the story of this city best- a city that is has lost its way and is desperate need of the knowledge of the Saviour, the power of the Spirit, and spiritual, emotional, and physical healing.  Our assignment this week is to point them with our servanthood and our lives to the only One who can give hope to them.

As the Movement, our biggest wins come when we see lives changed by grace. We have seen God do some cool things during our stories//Remix series. So this Sunday, we are going to celebrate the work of grace with water baptism. It is not too late to register here.

Water Baptism

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At the Movement, we believe it is crucial to live in Christian community. Our summer small groups will give you the opportunity to create rich relationships and take that next step of growth in your spiritual journey. Register online here.

With such legend, there is an assumption that no one would antagonize Lee. At least, not knowingly. But the contrary was true. The assumed deadliest man in the world was constantly challenged by men who wanted to prove that they could be the one to destroy the legend. One story tells of a man that climbed the wall surrounding Lee’s home to attempt to fight him and test the legend’s toughness. The final account states that Lee had to be restrained from killing the man for invading his life.

Let me hasten to a point. As I thought about the documentary, I asked if the same assumption crippled my walk with Christ. I have often thought as a Christ follower that the last trial that I overcame had earned me a space to be untouchable. I assumed that because I passed the last test, the enemy of my soul would be sent packing. But the contrary is true. As a great preacher once said, “New levels bring new devils.”

But there is another lesson in the Bruce Lee documentary. You can’t stop doing what won the last battle. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (KJV). My dependence on the sacrifice of Jesus and my faithful proclamation of what He has done is the method that maintains victory. So within every challenge, there is a greater challenge- when we are faced with the next of life’s foes, will we be found positioned behind the power of the Lord’s grace or will we be caught off guard depending on our own power?

Saturday, May 14, join the Movement as we invade the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Cheer on the American League champs as they take on their division rivals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not a baseball fan? Come hang out anyway! The game will be preceded by a Toby Mac concert that will be fun for the whole family. Kids and friends are welcome!

Volunteers: Join us free of charge and enjoy carpooling with the Movement, which means parking fare is on us!

Not a volunteer yet? Sign up here and get a free ride to the game. Tickets will be $11.

Sign ups available at the Movement or by contacting any of the Movement leaders or on the form below.

Rangers Game Sign Up

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First thought- I laugh about the phrase “the church’s Super Bowl”, because I don’t think I had a true understanding of what that really meant until the city of Dallas hosted their first ever Super Bowl this past February.  Maybe you are reading this and you are not from the DFW Metroplex, so you are not privy to details of the Dallas Super Bowl debacle.  Of the many crazy occurrences, the stadium and team owners purposed in their hearts to set an attendance record for the Super Bowl.  They figured out the necessary number of seats, allotted the space, and even purchased the extra chairs to facilitate the endeavor, but the one thing they forgot was to actually place the chairs in the space where people could sit.  Minutes before the doors opened for the event, teams of workers unsuccessfully scrambled to fix the oversight, but in the end many were turned away.  In essence, their desire for the cumulative glamour ruined their effectiveness to the individual.  Thousands upon thousands of people enjoyed the Super Bowl, but the man or woman with tickets to mythical section x became outsiders denied access to the game of their dreams.  I fear that I have often fallen victim of being so concerned with the cumulative glamour that I have forgotten to make places for the individual.  Whether it was chasing that big attendance number or some marquee achievement, I have often been so wrapped up in the goal that access has been denied to the individual who had the ticket, but no true place was made for him/her.

Second thought- this was the first year that I wasn’t shooting a video or playing a character or some other task directly involved in creating the experience.  As I sat as a spectator of the story of Jesus, it felt odd. I was less interested in hitting the right cues or the technical excellence of the production, I was just invested in the story.  In fact, while my eye is trained to recognize mistakes, no miscue diluted the power of the story.  The messiness of the Gospel only adds to its power.  As much as I am called to do, lead, and present this message with excellence, I often question if that quest for excellence has more to do with honoring me than Him.

Final thought- Because of my spectator’s role in Easter, I was in an unusual position.  Typically after a big Easter service, I am either focusing my energy to reload and do it again or I am mustering that last bit of physical, mental, and emotional strength to tear down quickly what we spent months creating.  Today, I had to interact with people.  Not that interaction with people is a bad or uncomfortable thing, but what do you talk about after watching the portrayal of the crucifixion of the sacrifice of Jesus?  Small talk is a little odd.  After experiencing the gravity of the Easter story and carrying the weighty realization that my sin caused this, it is more than a little awkward to talk about the playoffs or my work schedule or the weather.  The proper respond would seem to be silence and reflection and anything else would seemingly be an attempt to escape the fullness of the moment.  All of that is a pretext to say, the sacrifice of Jesus is no less real on the Monday after or six Sundays before, but on this weekend my sensitivity is heightened to it.  My thought is, more accurately my prayer is, Lord, let Easter last longer than Sunday.  Increase my soul’s capacity to be receptive to your sacrifice.

Just some random thoughts . . .