August 4, 2006
Dear Resurrection Family,
This last weekend I was in Oklahoma City. (I'll tell you more about my experiences in two churches there below) and returned to Kansas City on Monday. I've spent this week writing, trying to complete one of the books I've been working on. I will lead worship on August 13, returning to my regular schedule on August 15, and I will preach the weekend of August 19/20.
Here's what's up in today's e-mail:
1. 7:45 am Worshipers -- I'll See You This Weekend
2. My Experience This Last Weekend at Two Very Different Oklahoma Churches
3. Last Chance to Sign Up for Willow Creek Conference
4. Hear Dallas Willard Speaking on Spirituality
5. Do You Have a Classic Car?
6. Seeing the Gospel in Room 318 of Shawnee Mission Medical Center
1. 7:45 am Worshipers -- I'll See You This Weekend
This weekend I will be in the 7:45 am worship service to speak to this congregation about the three-week sermon series I'll preach August 20 -- September 3. We're doing something special for this sermon series that we cannot do in the Wesley Chapel where the 7:45 am service usually meets. I'll lay out a proposal for the 7:45 am service congregation for the three weeks of this upcoming sermon series this weekend. If 7:45 am is your usual worship service, I hope to see you this weekend for a brief announcement at the beginning of worship.
2. My Experience This Last Weekend at Two Very Different Oklahoma Churches
Last weekend I was in Oklahoma City and had the opportunity to worship in two very different congregations. I wanted to tell you about my experiences. The first was a church called, "Life Church" -- their congregation is located in Edmond, a northern suburb of Oklahoma City, and started about 10 or 11 years ago. What is unique about this church is they have been starting satellite locations for several years. They have four locations in Oklahoma City, one in Tulsa, one in Fort Worth and one in Phoenix! The Edmond campus averages about 4,000 in worship. Worship is live at all satellite locations and all of the satellites have campus pastors and programming. The sermon is broadcast live from the Edmond campus via satellite. I worshiped at the south Oklahoma City campus -- they meet in what appears to be an old grocery store that they have gutted and remodeled into a worship center and children's facility. This campus started 15 months ago and today they average 3,100 people per weekend during the school year! The style of the service was a bit different than what we will offer at either of our services at Resurrection West, but the concept is the same. We launch Resurrection West on August 20. Our aim in doing this is to build a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. We believe our approach to worship and ministry is one that will reach people other churches are not reaching. We have a remarkable team of pastors, staff and lay leaders who are leading this effort. They have a great vision and it will be exciting to see how God uses this new ministry!
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3. Last Chance to Sign Up for Willow Creek Conference
Just a reminder -- this next week is the Willow Creek Conference. I am looking forward to this event -- We have over 800 people signed up from Resurrection and a host of other churches in the area. If you are a leader at Resurrection, or hope to be in the future, I would like to encourage you to be a part of this event. Online registration is now closed but you may register by contacting us at 913-897-0120.
4. Hear Dallas Willard Speaking on Spirituality
Many of you had the opportunity to attend our conference with Dallas Willard earlier this year. Willard is author of The Divine Conspiracy, Renovation of the Heart, Spirit of the Disciplines, and his newest, The Grand Omission. His writing and speaking is focused on helping Christians grow deeper in their faith and in more faithfully following Jesus Christ and living as citizens of his Kingdom. There are only 200 spots still available for this event, sponsored by Christ Community Evangelical Free Church on Kenneth Road (State Line) at 141st Street. The event will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2006. Register on-line at www.ccefc.org or by phone at 913-685-1161. .
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5. Do You Have a Classic Car?
In my upcoming sermon series beginning August 20 entitled, "Road Trip," we'll look at the restoration, maintenance and driving of a classic car as a metaphor for the Christian spiritual life, which is a life of spiritual restoration and maintenance with the aim that we will actually "hit the road" and pursue a lifelong journey with and for Christ. This series will be a great opportunity to invite your friends who are not actively involved in church -- particularly men who I think will find this metaphor and the illustrations we use to be quite impactful. I don't want to give away the surprises, but suffice it to say this will be one of the more creative and intriguing series we've ever done. Among the things I'd like to do for fun and as a bit of a draw for your unchurched friends would be to have classic cars on display on the walkways around the building. If you have a classic car you'd be willing to display around the building for one of the weekends of this sermon series, would you please e-mail my assistant, Sue Thompson, letting us know the year and model of your car and your (and its) availability on the weekends of August 20, 27 or September 3. You can e-mail Sue at sue.thompson@cor.org.
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6. Seeing the Gospel in Room 318 of Shawnee Mission Medical Center
Last Saturday before leaving for Oklahoma I stopped by Shawnee Mission Medical Center to see Rich Bartel. Rich was one of our key volunteers here at the church. He and Phyllis have been involved in so many ways in ministry and service to Christ and others in the church. Rich had suffered a severe stroke last week from which he would not recover. The celebration of his life was held this morning in the Wesley Chapel. What I experienced in Room 318 last Saturday was so moving I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Rich was surrounded by his family who, in the midst of their grief, were rejoicing. Rich was a man of deep faith who knew he belonged to Christ. His hope was in Christ, and though he loved life, he, like the Apostle Paul, looked forward to the day when he would enter God's heavenly kingdom, knowing it was ‘better by far." This faith, this hope, turned the tragedy of Rich's illness and impending death into a victory. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so evident in the hospital room. Phyllis proceeded to tell me about the small groups she and Rich were a part of, and how amazing these people had been. The members of their small groups had been at the hospital all day the day before, leaving to give space for the family, and then returning to check on them. They carried the family through this time. While we were visiting two members of their small group stepped in and joined us. At the visitation last night I saw several of their small group members, supporting the family, and grieving the loss of their good friend. These folks hadn't known one another before several years ago, but in Christ they had become the dearest of friends. They were ministering to one another. Phyllis told me of the rotation of pastors who had been to the hospital calling and caring for the family in such meaningful ways. All of this reflected the body of Christ at its best.
When people tell me they are concerned about the size of our church, I love to tell them stories like this -- when you get involved in a small group, invest yourself in caring for other people, relationships begin to develop, and suddenly this very large church becomes very small, intimate and a profound reflection of the body of Christ.
I am reminded of Paul's words to the Thessalonians. He noted that we as believers don't grieve as those who have no hope. We grieve, but we grieve knowing that at the end of our lives there is a victory. Death is not the end, it is the portal through which we must pass to enter the heavenly kingdom. Paul notes, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it been conceived in the hearts of human beings, what God has in store for his people."
Do you have this kind of faith and trust that allows death to be a victory? Do your children and friends know you have this kind of faith, so that, sitting around your hospital room their grief would be mingled with joy and confidence and hope? Have you invested in the lives of others in a small group, so on that day, there would be others carrying you and your family during your time of need, and grieving because they had lost such a good friend? If not, I want to encourage you to pursue these things -- they are yours for the taking -- but you have to take your faith seriously, you have to be willing to share your hope with others, and you must invest in building significant Christian relationships in small groups.
In Christ's Love,
Adam Hamilton