Hi Everyone - It is John Vandervelde
writing today!
This week we're launching a
new plan to be more diligent about communicating with our friends through
the HoneyRock Blog. As you may know, we send out a monthly e-newsletter, we update our FaceBook fan page every so often, add videos to our YouTube page when we get a chance, and work to
keep our website current. But, we also have this great HoneyRock blog,
and it frequently gets checked by those interested in what is happening
at HoneyRock despite the fact that it is not updated regularly. We've
realized we need to be more diligent about updating it and interacting
with people through this blog.
So, we're now going to be
updating our blog every weekday! Our plan is to share with you our
prayer requests, what we're thinking about and learning, what programs
are coming up next, events you can get involved in, and other things
that are a part of our ministry. Things are going to be a little different
than they've been in the past on this blog. We're going to attempt not
only to communicate more regularly, but also communicate more of our
heart and the things God is doing in our lives and through this place.
On with today’s update...
Each morning at 7:45am we meet
as a staff around the fireplace upstairs in the Chrouser Center Dining
Hall. We spend 15 minutes in a time of group devotion to God. We open
his word and we pray together. Today we read Ephesians 2:1-10 and I
shared some thoughts about our spiritual "Regeneration" -
how God, by His grace through Christ, makes us Alive again. We were
once dead in our sins, but now we are alive. We are regenerated.
This weekend I was down in
Wheaton taking a class called "Evangelism and the Local Church"
led by Nancy Grisham. As a part of this class we attended Willow Creek's
Saturday evening service. It had been about 10 years since I had been
to Willow Creek and in addition to the many structural changes to the
building; I also noticed many other changes. As I approached the building
the door was opened for me by a greeter who said, "Welcome to Willow
Creek." As I stepped inside another greeter in a bright red Willow
Creek greeter jersey welcomed me, "Hi, we're glad you're here this
evening." A third greeter, stationed at the door to the sanctuary
welcomed me and handed me an "outline" for the sermon. Finally
a fourth person guided us to our seats and asked if we were comfortable.
I was amazed. For years part of Willow's strategy for reaching "Unchurched
Harrys and Marys" who were potentially seeking after God was to
allow anonymity. Meaning, in the past, you could drive into the Willow
Creek parking lot, park your car, walk into the building, take a seat,
stay through the service, and leave at the end without anyone from the
church even saying hello to you.
The second change I noticed
was the style of worship music. In the past Willow Creek has not been
much of a singing church. The songs were chosen to be seeker-sensitive
and more entertaining than drawing people to worship God with their
whole hearts. This Saturday I stood with about 5000 other people in
the Willow Creek sanctuary, many of them with hands raised high, and
sang 3-4 deep, meaningful worship songs—including 2 hymns.
Another change I noticed was
in Bill Hybels’ sermon. Known as being an incredible speaker who is
authentic, dynamic, and speaks to the heart-needs of people, Hybels
and his seeker-sensitive messages were used to fill the seats at Willow
Creek. Not known for tackling issues like sin, hell or doctrine from
the pulpit, Hybels’ mission used to be to draw people back to the
church and into small groups or mid-week services where they would give
their lives fully to Christ. The Bill Hybels I listened to on Saturday
preached on doctrine. He opened Ephesians 2 and did a beautiful exegesis
of the text that was challenging and meaningful to me, a committed follower
of Christ. He even preached about hell, and he unveiled a list of the
"doctrines of the Christian faith" and explained how belief
and understanding in the Doctrine of Regeneration is necessary to be
a follower of Christ. He used a diagram to powerfully show the difference
between the life of someone who is dead to God and the life of someone
who is alive through Christ. He preached for nearly 45 minutes. It was
powerful, challenging, relevant, and not what one would have traditionally
thought of as "seeker-sensitive."
Finally Hybels concluded his
sermon with an altar call. That's right, an altar call at Willow Creek.
He asked people who knew they were dead to God in their sins to come
forward and give their lives to Christ to be made alive.
There's a phrase I heard recently
in regards to the idea that no church is perfect, it goes something
like this: "If you find a perfect church, don't go there, because
than it won't be perfect anymore." Truly no church is perfect,
including Willow Creek. But I do applaud their efforts and the changes
they've made. We need to constantly be evaluating the methods we use
to share the Good News with others, and we always need to keep God's
Word at the center of what we do.
People in today’s world are
hungry to hear God's word and are hungry for the Truth. They are still
hungry for the gospel after 2000 years, maybe more so today than ever
before. There is an openness in today's culture to spiritual things,
and spiritual conversations are not something completely outside of
normal for most people, even the unchurched. What an exciting and adventuresome
time to be a follower of Christ! What a cool time to be involved in
a ministry like HoneyRock that not only shares the gospel with people
but also further encourages Christ Followers in their walk with him.
My prayer for us today at HoneyRock
is that our lives and our words (our words and our deeds) would point
people toward Jesus—that we would have the boldness to live lives
and have conversations that testify to God's love and grace in our lives
and that people (young and old) will be drawn closer to God.
TODAY'S PRAYER REQUESTS / PRAISES:
We praise God for a great weekend
working with 5th graders from Three Lakes and Sugar Camp (our local
school district). Despite coldness and rain kids had a fun and challenging
time learning how to work as a team and care for each other.
We are praying for Edie Williams
(Bud Williams’ wife) who was recently hospitalized and in critical
care with fluid in her lungs. Edie is doing better but is still in the
hospital.
We pray for 7-year-old Ethan
Welsh (nephew of former staff members John and Lauren Welsh) who was
recently hit by a car. Ethan has swelling of the brain and also contracted
H1N1 in the hospital. Pray for healing for him.