Here are a few pictures from some of the service projects. A couple of our families visited with the residents at a local retirement center. They just LOVE visitors, and especially the children.

Others were given $70 to go buy donuts for people at the local donut shop. Some were suspicious at first, but ultimately warmed up when they heard we were buying breakfast!

Best of all, though, was how we were able to bless one very hard working guy. We had pre-arranged with the pizza delivery company to bless one of their drivers with a car full of groceries and a really REALLY big tip. They made sure our delivery was assigned to an individual who was particularly hard working, but who had experienced some challenging circumstances in 2011. What a joy it was for us to be able to start his year off on such a note of encouragement and a reminder of God’s love for him. I think it is safe to say he has never had a delivery like this one before!

When all was said and done, we had met some amazing people and had a whole new list of names of people that we could be praying for. Best of all, it was another affirmation of how rich life is when you love people the way Jesus did.

A cold, wet and yet entirely fitting celebration of Christ's birth

We give thanks that Christ was willing to give up the comforts and glory of heaven to journey down into our broken and sin-filled world. Because of HIM, all the wrongs are made right. Thank you, Jesus!

Hot chocolate on a cold night!

Some of the LifeBridge children singing a closing blessing

It was a fairly ordinary moment by some standards….just an elderly lady dropping a few dollars in the offering plate. But, for me it was one of the most beautiful acts of worship I had seen in a long time. You see, Rose and her husband were in church for the very first time in a long time. Their health was bad, getting out was an ordeal, you know the drill. But that Sunday…and every Sunday since, Bob and Rose have been in church with broken bodies and grateful hearts.

Why? Simply because they had experienced the grace of Jesus once again through people who bear the name “Christian”. We came across Bob and Rose through a local assistance ministry who were concerned that they may no longer be able to live on their own. Their home was in disrepair, the septic tank was backing up, and they were having a difficult time caring for themselves.

One Saturday workday later, many of the glaring physical problems were taken care of by a servant minded crew from LifeBridge. Since then, others have brought them meals, taken them to appointments, and just kept tabs on them to make sure they are doing OK.

All this is what made the offering that day such a beautiful moment. Her gift was given with great joy, not because she had to, but because she had experienced again the wonderful provision of God through His people. There are so many beautiful lessons in what I saw that day.
– Giving is a response to the outrageous generosity that God first shows us through Christ and then also through his people.
– One of the lessons God wants to teach us by having us give the FIRST portion of our income (rather than the last) is that He is going to take care of us. Things got difficult for Bob and Rose…but God planned all along to take care of them and bless them through us. By making our first check each month out to God, it is a statement of faith and trust that He is going to provide for all of our needs.
– Joy. The Bible tells us that our giving ought to be done with joy, not because we feel forced or guilty. When we remember all that God has done for us….well, our faces should look just like Rose’s did that day as she brought her gift to God.

I pray that our lives are continually marked by outrageous generosity, so that others might experience through us the radical grace of our Lord Jesus.

So, as we look at church life and the type of faith community God is calling us to be at LifeBridge, we are making a very intentional effort to “do church” differently. We de-emphasize programs and put a much greater emphasis simply on loving and helping people. Always, our prayer is that God would help us see the world through the eyes of Christ, and that He would then give us hearts to reach out and love in Jesus’ name.

One by one, we see that being lived out in very real ways. This coming weekend, we have a work crew heading to the home of an elderly couple who simply can’t keep up with the demands of their home anymore. We’re going to unclog their sewer, clean out some trash, and repair the floor…all in Christ’s name. It’s the same heart that compelled my wife and I to complete Rescue Family training through our work with the Montrose Street Reach…and now to open our home for a number of weeks to a newborn baby whose momma is in prison. There are so many stories…but one by one by one, we touch lives and change the world in the name of Jesus Christ. That’s what Jesus did, so it only makes sense that as his followers we would do the same thing.

“Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)

Here, the Pike family brings bikes to Peace and Emmanuel, refugee from Rwanda with an amazing family story

From time to time, God blesses us in our faith journey with a story that inspires and encourages. Sometimes they are just stories in a magazine or off the internet…but every so often you get to meet one face to face. This is the story of Jean and Bellincire (Rwandan refugees) and their children Peace, Dorcas, Emmanuel, Stella, Hope, and Bonielle. We got to know Peace at a Vacation Bible School that LifeBridge did at the Los Arcos apartments this summer, then ran into them again when Randy and Jamie Pike got involved in Life Cycles, a non-profit ministry that gives away refurbished bikes to refugees trying to build a life here in America. Little did we know the extent of their family story. Read below the e-mail that was shared with me about their family.

The Africans’ story is remarkable. Their father is a Christian preacher. While in Rwanda, a group of the militia came to their home and roughed up the family and killed Emmanuel’s maternal grandparents, then took his father from the home. They took him and buried him to his neck & told him they were going to machette his head from his shoulders. All the while Jean kept preaching to them and telling them he forgave them already for what they were about to do. And that God loved them and would forgive them. One of the men said “fine if your God is so great, when we return from the bar he will have delivered you from your grave.” What they did not know was that there was a saint from Jean’s church who had seen it all and was hiding nearby. As soon as the coast was clear he sprang into action digging Jean out quickly before the men returned. Upon arriving back at his home & seeing the carnage he packed up his family and escaped to a refugee camp near the border. He still pastors today. He and another man copastor an african church not far from here. The mother, Bellincire, has not fully recovered from the trauma but, how could you really? Their childrens’ names are Peace, Dorcas, Emmanuel, Stella, Hope, Bonielle. I often joke with them about “where is Love?”. They are the sweetest, kindest people you will meet. Peace and Emmanuel speak 7 languages including Somali, Arabic, English, Rwandan, Swahili & 2 others.

What a tragic, yet inspiring story of God at work in the midst of all the carnage that Satan tries to bring. One of the things that I cherish about this LifeBridge adventure is that for the first time in my life I find myself regularly around stories like these. For years, my Christian reality was shaped largely by programs, church services, and the more traditional American Christian experience. Now, I am regularly around people and situations where I see the hand of God at work in a visible and astounding way. Not surprisingly, the most profound lessons of faith are often found in the midst of some of the most difficult situations.

Which is why, as we minister in a relatively affluent area of suburban America, I am becoming increasingly convinced that it is vital to our faith to be around some of the harder things of life and faith. God shows up at the Montrose Street Reach, in the refugee apartment complex, and in the overseas mission field, in ways that we typically don’t encounter in our comfortable church settings. While we have a lot to offer a hurting world, we often find that they have even more to offer us.

Thank you God for these amazing stories of faith that you put into our lives to inspire and encourage us.

So many things have already jumped off the pages of Scripture and spoken to my heart, but I’d like to share one that seems especially appropriate.

Our Bible journey right now has us in the time when God (through Moses) led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. For 40 years they would wander in the desert before finally being allowed to enter into the promised land. During that time, God literally lived among them in the tabernacle (tent) that they had built for him in the center of the camp. His presence was made known by a cloud that covered the tabernacle by day, which looked like a pillar of fire over the tabernacle by night. When God wanted them to pick up camp and move, the cloud would lift up from the tabernacle and move ahead of them. Where he wanted them to stop, it would settle down over the tabernacle. In the book of Numbers 9:23, it shares these words: “At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out.”

What a beautiful picture of being led by God! Every morning they would get up and look to the tabernacle to see if on that day God wanted them to stay or go. In every sense of the word, God was their leader, and their job was to simply obey and follow wherever He would lead.

Oh, that we would live our lives that way! Teach us, God, to look to you for all things. You are our provider, our guide, our compass, our map, our leader, our King.

Two things that I’d like to share with you that speak to that truth. First is a song called Where You Go I’ll Go

Second, is a quote I have at the front of my Bible from when I was a teenager. It was written by a missionary to China named Betty Scott Stamm who was beheaded by Chinese communists shortly after she wrote these words. Her words profoundly touched me as a young man, and I’d like to share them with you.

Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to you, to be yours forever. Fill me and seal me with your Holy Spirit. Use me as you will. Send me where you will. Work out your whole will in my life at any cost, both now and forever.

May you be led by God this day.

1. Read Through the Entire Bible in a Year — We’ll be walking through the entire Bible in just one year. Each week, pastor’s message will set the stage for the next section from the Bible. Then, during the week, people will be encouraged to pick up their Bible and read, and we’ll have a number of opportunities where people can gather in a smaller group to discuss what it means for their lives. Sound daunting? It’s not! We’ll have varying levels of committment — you can read every single page, or you can simply hit the key highlights. Our goal is that by the end of the year, each person in our church will have a deeper understanding of the story of the Bible and what it means for your life.

Download the Are You R.E.A.D.Y. Bible Reading Plan

2. Extend God’s Glory in a Different Context — God didn’t just call on us to GROW, he calls on us to GO. For this, we are challenging people to inconvenience themselves for the sake of the Gospel. Most of that will happen in rather ordinary ways as we live out our lives in our homes, our schools and our workplaces. But, we are challenging each person to prayerfully commit to giving up 2% of their time (that’s about an hour a week) to “GO”ing into a different context. That may be a weekly committment to our refugee ministry or street worship. Others may be led to take a weekend mission trip as a family, or to respond when the next natural disaster hits. The goal here is to love and serve the world as Christ did.

3. Approach God in Prayer for the Entire World — Our recent mission trip to Nepal brought us a stark reminder that most people in the world do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior…and that many of them have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ. As a church, we will be praying for every country in the world, using some amazing resources provided by Operation World. We’ll highlight a different country during the prayers each Sunday morning, and encourage individuals and families to be praying each day for all the various countries in the world. Click here for today’s prayer focus.

4. Dedicate Ourselves to a Multiplying Community — Being in church each Sunday morning is so important, but it isn’t enough. We need to share life together, laugh and cry together, care for each other and invest in one another’s life. That’s when the most significant bonds of faith and life are forged. As 2011 unfolds, we’ll be exploring more opportunities to “share life together” as a faith family.

5. Yield Our Money Sacrificially for a Specific Purpose — What would happen if each one of us would intentionally give up some of our extras, with the goal of redirecting that money toward an urgent physical or spiritual need that we encounter this year? That’s exactly what we are asking each person to do. This isn’t a ploy to get people to give more to LifeBridge. Instead, we are asking each person and family to look at how they could live on less, then be seeking out a direct and specific project that they can give sacrificially towards in 2011.

All this starts Jan. 2, 2011, and continues every Sunday and every day throughout the year. To do this well will require some time and committment, but I can assure you that there is nothing in life that is more important than taking care of the spiritual side of things. Come join us on this journey of faith in 2011.

What do you see in the faces of these guys as they worship God? Passion, sincerity, longing…they are crying out to Jesus with all their heart. Everywhere we went during our mission trip to Nepal, that’s what we encountered. Whether it was the church planters at the Pastors’ conference, a single family worshipping outside their home, or a prayer meeting in one of the rural villages…when they sang and worshipped Jesus it was with PASSION. Almost every single one of them had previously been Hindu, so coming to faith in Christ had come with great sacrifice. It was not a decision they made lightly, but one that carried great conviction that Jesus truly is who he claimed to be.

I couldn’t help but compare that with the lackluster attitude that we often bring into worship here in America. Perhaps it is because faith is so easy and our sacrifices for faith so light, but I have found it very easy to slip into complacency as I worship God. My mind wanders onto other things, I mouth the words but my heart isn’t in it. How about you? It reminds me of the Bible verse where God laments about how people“come near me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13)

One of my prayers for our church (and for all Christians) is that we would develop a deep sense of longing and expectancy as we approach God, and that our hearts would cry out in worship to the one who gave everything for us. Thank you, my friends in Nepal, for serving as a living reminder of what worship is.

Pastor Michael

A couple days into the trip, Gil commented that he felt like we were in the middle of the book of Acts. Well, that only increased as the trip went on. God is doing incredible things in Nepal. We talked to person after person who came to faith after being healed or freed from demon possession. The church is growing like crazy, yet also experiencing many of the same challenges and dangers of the early church. These early Christian pioneers are suffering for their faith, being disowned from their families, and are rejoicing at the suffering they are experiencing because it is for their Savior, Jesus.

Since the last time I wrote, we visited the church that Abraham and Om Maya Tamang (the missionaries from downtown Houston) started a few years ago. We had a wonderful time getting to know their extended family and seeing the beautiful ministry they are doing in Pokhara.

Then, the last leg of our journey took us out to rural western Nepal to visit some of the church planters we had met at the conference. Wow, do we have stories to tell from that! These are some truly amazing servants of Christ that have inspired me in faith.

And there is so much more. We can’t wait to share more with our church family in the coming days and weeks.

Pastor Michael

Nepal is a city with many challenges and difficulties. Filth and ruin are everywhere. Poverty is rampant. There is very little in the way of infrastructure (poor sewage, no hot water, spotty electricity, etc) … and this is one of the few “modern” spots in Nepal. Already, we are bracing ourselves for our remote portion of the trip next week when we will experience a more third world environment.

But, it is so obvious to see Christ at work here. There is a hope and a conviction in the hearts of the Christ-followers here that is truly inspiring to be around. 30-40 years ago, Christianity was virtually non-existent Today, it has grown to almost 4% of the population, and we have the joy of seeing some of the ground floor work that is being done as the Christian faith gains a foothold in this predominantly Hindu and Buddhist country.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of teaching 45 Nepali church planters for close to 3 1/2 hours. They were so hungry for God’s word, sitting at the edge of their seat and writing down every Bible reference and taking meticulous notes. They prayed with a fervor and intensity, and their singing was absolutely beautiful…because it was from the very depth of their souls. Watching them served as a stark reminder of the complacency and lack of zeal that we so often bring into our worship life. Oh, that we would learn from them what it means to come into the presence of God!

During the afternoon, Gil had the chance to sit down one on one with about 10 of the pastors, to hear their story and what was going on in their churches. Wow, does he have some amazing stories to share with you! His comment yesterday was “I feel like we’re in the book of Acts.” Most of the people coming into Christianity are because of miraculous healing that are taking place all over here. Sick people are being healed, people with demon possession are being made well, and all sorts of things that are straight from the pages of the Bible. Amazing!

Julie and Sasha spent the afternoon at the orphanage, which they loved. The children are in the middle of school exams, though, so they didn’t get to spend much time with the children.

Then, last night, we were able to spend the evening with Abraham Tamang’s family at their home here in Kathmandu. It was wonderful to experience a “real” home and spend time getting a feel for what everyday life looks like in Nepal. Their entire family has a deep faith current running through it, they run a couple of orphanages, and are leaders in their church. Their pastor even stopped by as we shared a traditional Nepali meal and celebrated Asha’s one year birthday. Asha, by the way is doing better. She’s still a bit sick, but seems to be past the critical part of her sickness. Thanks for your prayers.

Today I teach for two more sessions and then lead closing worship. I am loving it, but for the first time in a long time I feel talked out. Gil is going to join me in teaching the last session. It is such a joy for me to see what God is doing in the hearts of all of team members. I wish everyone in our church could experience this…it’s the kind of thing that will change your life and shape your faith forever.

Thanks for your prayers.

Pastor Michael