crazy love: drowning in comfort

To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid "big" sins-is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?
~Francois Fenelon, The Seeking Heart

Chuck, my brother-in-law, is always telling me about a new book he just read, or a new idea that he thinks would transport the American church from ineffective organized religion to meaningful passionate revolutionary love for Jesus. The ideas have always caught my interest. The books, however, I have pretty much always ignored...until this one. Because I am a truck driver, I listen to a lot of radio and I have really developed a nice little audio book library. Knowing this, Chuck took the time to get me a copy of this book he said I just had to check out. So earlier this year, I received a package in the mail from Chuck (who currently lives in Virginia) and it contained a couple cd's: one was a Jason Upton album and the other Crazy Love by Francis Chan on audio. I wish I could say that I downloaded Crazy Love onto my Ipod immediately, but that would be lying. In fact, it wasn't until I watched some online sermons preached by Chan and then got to hear him teach live at a conference I attended earlier this year that I finally decided to give the book a chance. So, one day a few months ago, I started my day early as always for work and as I drove to my first destination I listened to Francis read his book to me. The intro and the first few chapters were very good and encouraging. And questions were being asked like "How many of you have read the New Testament and wondered if we in the church are missing it?". But to be honest, I didn't really begin to feel the impact of what Francis was getting at until chapter 4 which is titled:Profile of the Lukewarm. He begins to talk about what most of us want to deal with but are too afraid to confront. He goes on, chapter after chapter, painting 2 images: one, what we in the church might look like now, and one of what we could...what we should aspire to look like. I am so sick and tired of seeing nothing happen. But truth be told, change is uncomfrtable and requires effort and sacrifice and I haven't been totaly willing to enter into that kind of life...until now. And I am dead serious. Before us is the opportunity to let the light of Jesus in all our lives shine, but instead we count on someone else to be the missionary, the pastor, to feed the homeless and care for the sick and broken. I don't want to sit and watch and wonder anymore from the sidelines and i am in the role of a pastor! I want in. All in. And believe that deep down, so do you.

This Sunday, we will begin looking, examining, and getting real with not only the church and the world, but ourselves. We will use the book Crazy Love to guide our sermons, small groups, and discussions about who we are individually and as the body of Christ. This will get uncomfortable. It will be challenging. But I believe with all that I am that if you will go through this with us, we can begin a journey towards a goal I think we all want, even the world...a church that loves God and loves people and does so with action. Please join me this Sunday night at 6pm and leave your comforts behind. The only regret to be had is for those who choose not to act. I'm not begging you, I'm daring you to come out.