This past week, we signed the necessary paperwork for leasing the Renaissance Movie Theater in Racine, WI. The timing couldn't have been better.

On Sunday, we passed the 1500 people mark for the first time. WE ARE COMPLETELY OUT OF SPACE. I honestly don't know how we're pulling off services anymore. Our massive volunteer force is implementing new things every week and I'm only hearing about them second hand. It is an exciting time for our faith family.

I've never claimed that anything we do at Great Lakes Church is EPIC... BETTER THAN... OR MORE OUTSTANDING than any other church or organization. It's not. Nothing we do is all that unique or impressive. What we do have is a whole bunch of people passionately committed to the vision of making the message of God's grace easy & accessible to as many people as possible.

Jesus is the hero of the story! 

Stats and stories can come across as arrogance. I realize that. But I also realize that on occasion we all need to be reminded that our prayers, hard work, ongoing commitments, and financial sacrifices are making a difference.

Let's enjoy the moment and not just talk about the past or the potential of the future. 

It's a fun season in the life of our church. And even if it wasn't... God would still be amazing!

-Dave

PS - Here are some pics of the Renaissance Theater

Two people becoming one is pretty much impossible. That's why Ephesians 5 says, "This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one."

Think about it. Marriage is two individuals with completely different upbringings, traditions and backgrounds trying to merge their lives together. 

At some point in your marriage relationship things are going to get really tough. There will be seasons where you're going to want to call it quits. The work of staying together is going to seem way too much. BUT DON'T LOSE HOPE.

2/3 of unhappy marriages will become happy in 5 years if the couple commits to going through the hard work of weathering the storm together (Tim Keller in The Meaning of Marriage).

Chris Rock asks, "Do you want to be single and lonely or married and bored?" The good news is that you don't have to settle for either one!

The couples who we all admire are the ones who've gone through the discipline and hard work necessary to achieve the love they have. If someone's marriage looks easy, I promise you it took a long time to get to that point.

Here's a video of Rindy and I that was shown on Sunday morning as we talked about the challenges we've had to go through in our journey to a happy and healthy marriage...

 

There was lots of energy and lots of people. In fact, outside of Easter, it was our highest attended Sunday yet!

If you're wondering why we do a relationship series every year, here's why:

Healthy marriages don't happen overnight. They take time. A one-time talk, a good book, a conference or even an entire series on relationships isn't going to help anybody long-term. Marriage is a journey of growing, learning, discovering and maturing. So I look at any series we do on relationships as part of an ongoing discussion about love, sex, dating and marriage.

The fact is, before I got married I struggled praying regularly, picking up after myself, eating healthy, being concerned for others, doing chores, and a bunch of other stuff I could add to the list.

Then I said, "I do".

And I discovered that Rindy was also coming into the marriage with her own list of struggles.

No wonder marriage is tough.

This coming Sunday, Rindy and I are planning on talking about some of the lowest points and biggest challenges we've had in our relationship and the journey we're on to build a marriage that goes the distance.

So over the past year I've wrestled with the entire concept of church membership to ensure we're not just doing something at Great Lakes Church to do it. Here's the summary of my thoughts:

1) The local church is a faith family.

2) The local church is the key to spiritual health and growth for every Christian.

3) The local church is the best environment to actively live out our faith.

4) Being a follower of Jesus has many responsibilities including: praying for, caring for, encouraging, challenging and serving the people in our faith family.

In summary, church membership is much more than a formality. It's a way of identifying ourselves with a local group of believers and partnering with them to bring the message of hope, healing and forgiveness to as many people as possible.

 

Here is a brilliant article on this topic, if you're interested (click here).

By the way, if you attend Great Lakes Church, you can sign up for our upcoming GLC 101 (membership class) here.

Coke vs. Pepsi

McDonalds vs. Burger King

Packers vs. Bears

Mac vs. PC

Justin Bieber vs. Puberty

One of the greatest rivalries of all time is one that we're not even aware of. It's taking place inside of us. It's the battle between gratitude and entitlement.

In Luke 17, we read a well known story of Jesus healing 10 individuals with leprosy and only one returning to say thanks. At the end of the story Jesus asks, "Why didn't the other nine come back to say thanks... where are they?".

From our perspective, it looks like the 9 lepers who were healed were totally ungrateful. But most likely that's not the case. Most likely, they were incredibly grateful, but got so busy with life they never returned to say thank you.

When we don't say thank you, it communicates that we're not grateful. People aren't mind-readers, so when we don't say thanks it communicates that we feel entitled. Learn to express gratitude. One handwritten card. One phone call. One verbal expression of thanks makes all the difference in the world!

That's it. 

I know it doesn't sound all that impressive, but it's been a whole lot more effective that coming up with a long list of things I'll never do. The results have been amazing! I'm getting a bunch of stuff done.

And guess what? Today I read Michael Hyatt's blog and it was freakin' brilliant! It pretty much summarized what I've been experiencing. 

It makes sense when you think about it. So here it is: Slay Your Dragons Before Breakfast

Just read it...  apply it... and who knows, someday you may have your own stories of the dragons you're slaying before breakfast!

In some ways, it feels like just yesterday that I received a call from the local school district informing us that we had lost our lease with the school that we were renting, because we had decided to take on the topic of sex (and advertise it). That one event sent our less-than-one-month-old church into crisis mode! I've never been more panicked in my life.

Looking back, it all worked out great. Losing our lease with the school started a chain of events that eventually led to us to being at Tinseltown Movie Theater. I can't imagine doing church anywhere else.

But here's something interesting: Today, 36 months later, I still run into people who ask me if I'm the pastor of the "sex church". My answer, almost always, is "You know it!"

The question never offends me, but truth be known... I never want that to be our identity. I'm not interested in being known as the "sex church", the "beer drinking church", or the "church that plays loud music". 

I want to be known as the church that loves God and is obsessed with showing His grace to others. That's it. It's nothing complicated or fancy, but it's what I'm hoping to be identified as.

"By this will all people know you are my followers, if you love one another." John 13:35

This is a myth.

It's an Old Testament way of thinking that goes against what Jesus taught.

Jesus is "The Anointed One". In Luke 4:18-19, he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor..."   

Everything else Jesus taught us was about how essential each and every person is to building and expanding God's Kingdom. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, God has given you the Holy Spirit to make a difference in this world and in His Church.

This means all of us are essential. There is no place for celebrity pastors or celebrity thinking in God's Kingdom. It's all about Him. 

When God uses people in a special way, we like to believe there is something special about the person (ie - the anointing). The fact is, when you are open to being used by God, He uses you in conjunction with your personality, talents and passions! God uses rich people and poor people. He uses individuals at the end of their life and some just starting out. He uses men and women. He uses pastors and mortgage brokers.

As much as I'd like for people to bow before me and kiss my ring, there is nothing biblical about it.

I love the message of grace, the hope of heaven, what the cross represents, the fact that I have a worldwide church family and the constant challenge to become more and more like Jesus in my character (Sorry, Kirk Cameron films don't make my list of "likes").

But it's not all roses.

When we open our hearts to God, our souls are converted, but our flesh is not. I hate this.

No matter how much we love Jesus. No matter how much we pray. Now matter how much Scripture we can quote. It's always going to be a challenge to reflect the character of Christ.

We're always going to experience the tension of forgiving people who don't deserve it.

We're always going to struggle with true generosity.

We're always going to battle lust.

We're always going to want to retaliate when someone hurts us.

We're always going to enjoy gossip.

We're always going to hope our "enemy" doesn't do well.

It's just reality. Our flesh will never be converted. The only thing we can do is tame it and discipline it and control it (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

I woke up today to hear a bunch of commentators talking about how Rick Perry's campaign went up in smoke last night as a result of a pretty big brain lapse (see video below)...

Really?!?! I swear I'm missing something. I honestly couldn't care less about the Perry campaign, but to say it "went up in smoke" is about as big of an exaggeration as one can make.

This past week I somehow gave out the wrong address for my house to a Growth Group that was coming over for breakfast. I don't even think I'm fit to run my own life.

It is amazing how much we care about the dumb things that other people do, but when we do something dumb we expect mercy and grace 'cause after all, "we're only human". 

This is why Jesus taught us to treat others in the same way that we want to be treated (Luke 6:31).

Seriously, if Rick Perry's blunder made your blood boil or cause you to assume he's an idiot... get a freakin' life!!! You are a loser. 

And no... I'm not voting for Rick Perry. I promise.