I knew blogging once a day would eventually burn itself out. I’ll try to keep it to at least 4 or 5 posts a week, but I’m just not ready for this kind of commitment. It’s not you, it’s me.
So, now on to bringing the “your mom” trilogy to a close.
After shutting down from Connecting Point, I finally got the chance to actually get to Chipotle for a late lunch/early dinner. I always get a Fajita Burrito with Carnitas. I used to be a steak-only kind of guy, but when I finally tried the pork, there was no going back. That was over a year ago and I still have not tired of my delicious carnitas. Life is indeed burritoful.
After eating, I headed back to the church for Raise the Mark @ 5:30p. If you haven’t been to an RtM, you haven’t ever really experienced Watermark. It’s our monthly Sunday evening service with extended worship through music and prayer. This is the heart of the church, people. RtM is also the time where we take communion together and then have what we call “Family Time” where members of the body are invited to share what God’s been teaching/showing them lately. We do a little bit of prescreening, but it’s always a highlight to be able to celebrate with folks when they’re on the mountaintop and to grieve with those in the valley.
There was no one running graphics when I came in. Ryan was attempting to do both lights and ProPresenter, so I volunteered to do it in order to relieve some pressure. We had a volunteer running the sound console who’s been with Watermark from the beginning, Martin Eddy. It happened to be Martin Eddy’s birthday, so Ryan affectionately turned one of our intelligent fixtures on ME’s position and gave him various colors and patterns as the night wore on. I love how the one service each month where all the elders are present and part of the service is the one service we have a little fun in the booth. Irony is fun.
Right after Raising the Mizzle was Shoreline, our Sr. High service. One of the main reasons I decided to break up this post into three pieces was to give Bode a chance to get the “Mike Talks to College Girls” video shorts on YouTube so I could share some on here. I got the biggest kick out of these and will no doubt waste many half hours watching when they finally get on there. But the SM guys all left for the Shift conference at Willow Creek yesterday, so it’ll be several days before I can share.
So, you have a bunch of high schoolers in a room. What do you teach on? Why Song of Solomon of course. I’m not joking. Mike has been preaching in the early chapters leading up to Solomon’s marriage. He plans on stopping at the marriage because, well, these are high schoolers after all. (Though there was surprisingly little snickering going on considering the age and subject.) That’s not to say the early chapters of SoS won’t get you all hot and bothered. Try this naughty phrase uttered by Solomon’s woman on for size:
Sustain me with raisin cakes.
Was it good for you? Apparently, according to Mike, raisin cakes were thought to be an aphrodisiac back in the day. I say we bring back the raisin cake. Who’s with me? Anyone? Bueller?
Again, it was awesome to see my volunteers working their tails off to serve these kids. I’m really excited about the level of maturity I’m seeing in our youth. Watermark is a young church. There are not a whole lot of older people in the church seasoned with wisdom that only comes from walking with the Lord for a lifetime to pour lasting influence on us. God must have compensated and given the vast majority of our young staff wisdom beyond our years because these high school kids are growing up to be spiritual studs. They go out of their way to invite their friends and neighbors. You won’t see a new kid standing around by his/herself for very long before a “regular” goes up and starts talking with them. Again, all this to say: These kids are gettin’ after it.
With Shoreline finished, I mingled for a bit before finally heading home. This was just one day, folks. And I can’t lie and tell you it was too out of the ordinary. With the exception of my tire, everything from services to volunteers showing up on time went flawlessly. Imagine how much more crazy had this been a more “festive” Sunday…
It’s now Wednesday and I haven’t been home before 10p in over a week. I might pull it off tonight, but it’ll still be like 8 before I get home if all goes according to plan. But guys, it’s days like Sunday, April 6, 2008 that sustain me. It’s days like Sunday where you can almost physically feel God on the move in this body. And it’s not because it’s Sunday and we have “church.” It’s not because someone receives an emotional (not necessarily spiritual) experience through the worship music. It’s not because 5,000 or so people bring 75 and 635 to standstills in an attempt to get to our facilities. It’s not because we’re using the latest and greatest revolutionary sermon series from Saddleback, Willow, Granger, NewSpring, or wherever. (We actually don’t use much stuff from anywhere really.)
It’s because God is just that big and he is using this body to call people to be fully devoted followers. Watermark is committed to being firm where the Bible is firm and flexible where it is flexible, but we are committed to not being committed to any one system forever that would prevent us from reaching an ever evolving society of lost people. Todd likes to tell a story at Connecting Point of a couple of folks who were with Watermark from the earliest days who came to him one day a couple years ago and confessed “they just didn’t feel like it was their Watermark anymore.” Too much had changed. Todd replies along the lines that we’re not committed to any particular atmosphere, any clothing style, and music style, any service length, any place, etc. (Todd then pauses to tell the Connecting Point crowd that if they are there to join because of any one of those things, they should grab a bag of chips, a can of coke, and have a great day because this won’t be the church for them.) And then he asks the forgiveness of those “concerned” people who approached him. And I love this:
He asks them to forgive him for anything he might have said or done to make them feel this church was about them.
Zing!
From our pastor right down to our student ministers, this is why I love this body. I might get stressed and angry when something hits the fan (and believe me, we have a TON of fans around here…as well as “stuff” likely to hit them), there can be no doubt God sustains this body to will and to act according to his good purpose. God used this day to humble me to this fact through student servants, a sermon from Galatians, a blown tire, a guy living life and community with me, a new members class, through communion with the body, and through hanging out with a bunch of teenagers spending time in Song of Solomon.
And this was just one day at Watermark.
21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s people, 22 let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:21-25
Persevere my friends. It’s all worth it. The Kingdom is near.
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