On "Fire" for Jesus . . . or Feeling like it anyway!

When West was created we said we wanted to be "Different" . . . certainly today was testimony to the DNA of a different church! I don't think I could have been more frustrated by the end of the sermon. Then this afternoon I received a "forward" from a friend and it was a devotion by Saddleback and it was entitled "Jesus laughed." He reminded me that today Jesus would have laughed and it would have been ok!!!! And he was right . . .

That, along with feedback from the Leadership Team, has reminded me that it is ok to laugh . . . it is ok for bizarre Sundays! Because even in the "differences" there were the "God moments" that won't be easily forgotten!

There is something powerful and spiritually moving when a faith community unites together to lift up people within the community in prayer.
I know that Don, Jake, and Jason felt the power of prayer from their faith community. And despite the CRAZINESS of the day . . . the heat, the phantom microphone muting, the random flying objects, etc. somehow we ended up in a place and time of worship! Thanks for being a part of West!

Now . . . for a bit of humor from the day . . . my top "10" list of why it was fine for there to be ZERO air @ West today!

The Top 10 Reasons that No Air @ West was a Good Thing!

10. All participants in worship or Wired/Sparked lost a guaranteed 1.5 pounds.

9. In addition to teh new weight loss, an additional 200 calories were burned as a result of fanning.

8. If you are unable to experience vacation in a tropical area you were able to experience what one could potentially feel like and not spend a DIME!

7. You had the opportunity to see first hand how many different colors the shirts of the band/worship team could be, depending on degree of sweat.

6. It allowed you an opportunity to sit close to the stage without seeming like an "over-eager" worshipper. (Don't you want to sit that close every week?)

5. Many were able to reminisce to the days of their childhood of "No Airconditioning."

4. Those who load/unload the trailers and experience new body smells after they are done w/ the physical labor now have something in common with the rest of those who attend West.

3. We now know how much it takes to send Andrea to the edge in worship . . .
a. Heat that takes your breath away when you walk on stage
b. Tons of movement in front of people's faces so no eye contact can be gauged.
c. Flying insects coming in from all the open doors that have potential to sting consistently flying in Andrea's face, around her body, and refusing to leave her alone until she yells at it and offers up a prayer, "God I need a break!"
d. Hearing every outside noise possible because of all the open doors.
e. Actually having written out a sermon while on vacation only to have the inability to focus and "engage" because of the bizarre circumstances

2. IF the theology of West was a "Fear Based Theology" today would have been a prime opportunity to preach on Hell. AND we will always have this to fall back on as an example.

1. I've always wanted to be a "Hot" preacher w/ a "Hot" church! ;)


Seriously - We have now witnessed that we can withstand LOTS of factors!
a. Worship Leader Interview in worship in which he ignored every direction of worship team and pastor
b. The beautiful rendition on the Sunday before Christmas of "She's Got Legs" and "If You Wanna Be My Lover" playing pre-worship and then during the announcement video
c. The Palm Sunday experience in which we sang 9,423 choruses of "He Reigns" while waving palm branches in the air because the children forgot to leave.
d. The Palm Sunday monologue in which Andrea was being rolled out on a bed w/ curlers in her hair, pajamas, fuzzy bedroom shoes, and a face mask as she is sitting up in the bed yelling at the Worship Team to "sit them down" because the congregation was still standing and it was time for the monologue.
d. Today.

And each time those who make "West" "West" carry themselves with grace. I am not exactly sure what grace I carried w/ the whole bee/wasp thing . . .because at that point I wanted to just give up . . . but I decided that was not my best option!

I am grateful for the folks that come and fill those seats each week . . . and believe it or not - we had a first time worshipper today and her quote to someone was . . .

"Well, it was a little warm but we had a great day at church!"

So . . .there you go! God does work through and in all things!


I'm so blessed to be able to be a pastor at such a amazing church!