March 7-8 Weekend Recap

The set list from this weekend:

Come Thou Fount Come Thou King – D
Friend Of God – D/E
Here I Am To Worship – G
From The Inside Out – F   (Special Music Over The Offering)
Giving It All – A

We had a guest speaker this weekend, Gary Kinnaman.  Gary brought a very encouraging and challenging message.  One thing in particular that stood out to me was research done by The Barna Institute (where Gary’s son is one of the top guys now.)  They had a series of questions that identified people as biblical “Born Again” Christians.  At the end of their research, there were 3 identifiable differences between “Born Again” Christians and non-Christians:
 

1. They go to church
2. They give money to a church
3. They have more bibles in their homes than non-Christians 

Gary Kinnaman

Other than these 3 things, there was no other difference in the lives of Christians.  Gary spoke about how it seems that most people today are in pursuit of happiness, and not really in pursuit of God’s blessings.  At the close of the service, Gary gave an invitation for people to make a spiritual commitment and accept Christ into their lives.  Both services there were 10-15 people who raised their hands…..a huge reason to celebrate and worship!!!

You’ll be able to hear Gary’s message on the Living Streams Website within the next week.  I highly recommend checking it out if you weren’t there.  Gary will also be teaching a series on Wednesday nights at Living Streams for the next 7 weeks.  It’s called “ESSENTIALS: What Every Serious Christian Should Know.”

Gary visited one of our staff meetings a couple months back, and he talked about how there are so many Christians who don’t have a good grasp on the foundations of our faith and spiritual walk.  I’m planning to attend, and will be encouraging all the people involved in our Worship Arts department to attend Gary’s classes as a refresher course and encouragement to go deeper in our walk with God.