Multiplicity!

No, not talking about the movie with Michael Keaton (although parts of it were pretty funny) – I’m talking about multiplying CLC.

That’s actually the theme of our annual Leadership Gathering tonight and all-day tomorrow, when we’ll pour into our ‘leaders of leaders’ as we look at how to multiply campuses by multiplying our vision in order to multiply our ministry through multiplying our leaders who will multiply their teams by multiplying our effectiveness! (Whew, that’s a mouthful)

It’s always one of the highlights of the year for me, and this year’s gathering takes on extra-significance by coming on the eve of our GRAND OPENING of our 4th campus!

Let me just ask this: WHO could you still invite today? The call you’ve been putting off, or the personal invitation you’ve procrastinated could be the very ONE who would respond by attending this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Hyatt of Lisle (corner of Rt. 53 and Warrenville Rd).

I’m serious.  It might make an eternal difference in someone’s life.  Pick up the phone.  Shoot ‘em an e-vite.

And pray with me for the Holy Spirit to show up in a big way at the Hyatt on Sunday!

Ask the Pastor

Here’s this week’s question: “Pastor, I would like to get a better understanding about the rewards we are going to get when we get to heaven.  I know that our rewards are going to be based on how much good we did while on earth (I think), but some people say that if we don’t win souls or make some type of difference, we won’t get any rewards and we will just be in heaven but we won’t have the same happiness others have who did a lot for God’s people. Is this true?  I even had a disagreement with someone who said that people are going to be almost fighting for those rewards.  This does not sound like the place that I’ve always heard about. I thought when we make it there we would not have any more cares or worries.  I don’t want to have to struggle over rewards. Please enlighten me on this.”

GREAT questions.  Let’s look at them in order:

• Our rewards will be based on what we did here on earth, according to 1Cor. 3:10-15

• The Bible doesn’t address the question directly, but I don’t personally think the rewards we receive will have anything to do with our ‘happiness’ in heaven – after all, it’s a place of everlasting joy!  (see Revelation 21:3-4)

• That description of heaven in Rev. 21 certainly precludes the idea that there would be any ‘fighting’ or competing over ‘rewards’

• While this is probably not an exhaustive list by any means, the ‘rewards’ that we will receive in heaven will probably include these 5 ‘crowns’ described in Scripture:

1. imperishable crown – given for ‘self-mastery’ or self-discipline (1Cor. 9:24-27)
2. crown of joy - given for winning others to the Lord (1Thess 2:19-20)
3. crown of righteousness - given to those who look forward to His appearing (2Tim. 4:7-8)
4. crown of life – given to those who endure tests & temptations (James 1:12)
5. crown of glory & honor – given to those who have shepherded His flock (1Peter 5:1-4)  (There are days in the pastorate that I think deserve this crown!)

Finally, I really think the last thing on our minds in heaven will be struggling over these rewards, since as I understand Revelation 4 (which is when we’re caught up to heaven as you see in v.1), the first thing we’ll do after seeing the One who sits on the throne is remove our crowns and place them at HIS feet, since HE is the only One Worthy!  (I get goose-bumps just thinking about it!)

Hope that helps a bit.  Now, let me ask you a question: have you invited anyone to the Grand Opening of our Lisle campus this Sunday.  There’s still time, if you go here now!

Finally, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

it’s about time!

Why is it that the ladies seem to get all the cool stuff?

• Mother’s Day is always one of the big days on the church calendar, with a gift or flower for every mom in attendance-

• Heart 2 Heart has all kinds of advantages: chair massages, spa-type pampering, special treats & more, every Wednesday-

• Their retreat is always the bomb, every Spring, year after year

I think it’s about time CLC did something special just for MEN!

So I’m calling on all the guys to join me at a MEN’S RETREAT at Camp Friedenswald in nearby Cassopolis, Michigan this October 1-2!

There will be lots of guy-stuff – competitive games, manly-food, and testosterone-laced conversations, not to mention some great teaching about “The Blueprint for a Man of God”.

And it’s only $50 for your lodging, all meals & snacks, and all retreat materials.  You can register at any CLC campus this Sunday, including our newest campus whose Grand Opening is this Sunday at the Hyatt of Lisle! Have you sent an e-vite to any of your friends yet?

Be there or be square.

I woke up this morning….

“with my mind, stayed on Jesus” (is how the old spiritual went – boy, a long time since I heard that song!).  In my case, I woke up still jazzed about my Equip U class last night on “Preaching for Life Change”.

See, I’ve been preaching for over 40 years, and I’m still convinced that it’s the primary means to a healthy church, which is all I’ve ever wanted for CLC.  (Healthy things grow)

As a pastor, nothing gives me more joy than passing on what I’ve learned to others – and over half of my class are young men & women who are coming up at CLC to impact the next generation.  That’s exciting!

We even have 3 young men from our newest campus in Lisle, which will celebrate it’s GRAND OPENING this Sunday!  I’m SO pumped about that, too – if you know anyone in the western suburbs, use this link to invite them to join us at the Hyatt of Lisle this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Now, I’m going to get to work….

CLC is a multi-site church!

As we’re counting down the final days until the Grand Opening of our newest campus (in Lisle, on Sunday, September 12!), I just received an interesting report from Leadership Network about the whole multi-site movement.  (Full disclosure: CLC was one of the participating churches in the survey from which the report is based)

At any rate, I thought it was interesting reading, for those of you who may be curious about such things, or for pastors like me who eat, sleep, and think ‘church’ 24/7 (that’s not a good thing, by the way, just another honest confession).

The results show that multi-sites are multiplying across the world, and most importantly, are successfully enabling churches to reach more people with the Gospel in perhaps the most cost-effective manner, and that’s just for starters.  The report is chock-full of interesting data and graphs and other goodies, again, for people like me who like to think and talk ‘church’.

I can’t post a copy of the full report here, but you can download your own from Leadership Network’s website here (you will have to register first) OR request an email copy here.

Just 5 more days until the grand opening of CLC-Lisle!

26 years ago today…..

I remember the day pretty vividly.  Chris was miserably pregnant….had experienced preclampsia more than a month earlier, and her doctors had warned her the baby could come at any time.  So for four or five weeks we’d waited….and waited….and waited.

Then on the morning of September 6, 1984, I took her for a walk around the neighborhood in the hopes it might bring on contractions (like the old-wives-tale said it would).

It worked, and a few hours later, Brenton James McQuay made his entrance into the world – and our family was complete.

I’m thinking about him on his birthday today.  As my friend Mark Batterson says, we don’t love our children equally, we love them uniquely, because they are unique.  Brent has certainly been that!  He’s the one who climbed out of his crib before he could walk….the one who was always scaring us on vacations by climbing into rocks or trees…..the only one of our three to break a bone (broken leg at age 3!)….the only one to need stitches for a playground accident…..yep, he is unique.

His siblings would point out that, since he was the baby of the family, he got to do a lot of things they never got to do.

He also experienced a ‘manhood ceremony’ at graduation that I learned in Men’s Fraternity after Chad and Jen were grown.  As I’ve said before, I’m not sure he got anything out of it, but I bawled all the way through.

And he’s also the one who went off to live in Mexico City just two years after high school…..and came back home with a beautiful Latina wife.  And of course, he and Sol have given us our first grandchild, Jaeden. 

Brent has served at CLC since he was a child, and now manages Thriftique at our newest location in Lisle, where he’s part of the launch team that will celebrate their grand opening at the Hyatt of Lisle just 6 days from now - THIS Sunday!

I love you, son…..happy 26th birthday!

Weekend reflections

Today sorta marks the end of summer and the beginning of a new season for most churches.  Here’s my random thoughts on the day at CLC:

• at the Tinley Park campus, while it was definitely a ‘holiday-weekend attendance’, we closed out the ‘ONE’ series with a bang, as about 7-10 people prayed to receive Christ and at least 2 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit!

• Also had a chance to meet several new attenders in the lobby today, including a Muslim college student from Pakistan who was attending a Christian church for the first time in her life! (She came with a college friend who’s a CLC member – gotta love it!)

• I really enjoyed honoring some of my ‘heroes’ today – CLCers who are making a difference in a myriad of ways as they “go around doing good” (Acts 10:38).  In case you missed any of ‘em, here’s a few pics again:

• Pastor Doug says he received more feedback from today’s message than any he’s ever preached, and reports a great service in South Bend today!

• Our Media Director tells me we had over 200 online guests today, including a first-ever from Germany!

• Pastor Pat Johnson says the Shorewood service enjoyed great worship & had one person pray to receive Christ…..remember, the Value of ONE!

• Pastor Herley Montes from our Philippines campus reports a full house, a mighty move of the Spirit in worship, and 9 visitors who prayed to receive Christ……that just never gets old!

• At our Spanish service today, Pastor Jaime reports 6 first-time prospects even though it’s a holiday weekend!

• And our Lisle campus broke their all-time attendance record today with 127 people at the Hyatt in their final ‘practice’ before the GRAND OPENING next Sunday!  Kudos to EVERY ONE of the invaluable launch team members who are working together to make CLC’s first ‘portable church’ happen.  I’ve heard great reports about how it’s all coming together, and can’t wait to be there next Sunday to celebrate the opening day!

Ask the Pastor

My most regular questioner writes, “I have questions regarding Melchizedek…..Who and/or what was Melchizedek? I hear he was a great priest….I also hear that it’s not so much a name as it is a title or designation of honor. Well, that still leaves me confused.  I also heard that he was never born and didn’t have parents.  Please explain this to me.  Melchizedek’s name is always used as an example in the pulpit, also I know that Abraham paid tithes to him, but was he a human being?  I’ve even heard some people say he was Christ in the form of a man. HELP!!!!”

Great questions, all.  And I should admit upfront that there are many different opinions as to his identity.  But since this is my blog, I’ll tell you how I see it:

• by looking at Genesis 14:17-19, (the historical reference to him), plus Psalm 110:4 (a Messianic prophecy about Jesus), plus Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20 (all referring back to the prophecy of Psa. 110) and then Hebrews 7:9-20 (which explain the significance of that prophecy as it relates to Jesus, and his eternal priesthood), you have read everything we know about Melchizedek, except for what I consider the most pertinent information (and the answer to your questions)

• that info (and the ONLY other time he is mentioned in Scripture) is found in Hebrews 7:1-3.  There we learn:

1. He is the “king of justice and the king of peace“
2. There is “no record” of his mother or father, or of any genealogy as far as his ancestral line, which causes the writer of Scripture to say, “no beginning or end to his life”.  To me, that would really leave no option but to say that Melchizedek (like our recent question about The Angel who wrestled with Jacob) was a “theophany” (an appearance of God in the form of man; i.e., a pre-Bethlehem appearance of Jesus!)
3. Having said that, I should in all honesty say that some people disagree, and their explanation is that “he lost his birth certificate” (I guess I’m being a little sarcastic, because, in my humble opinion, the significance of him not having any ancestry is that his priesthood is eternal, which wouldn’t be true if he were just a human being)

So, to answer your questions, he was definitely a priest to whom Abraham paid tithes, and he was NOT born so he had no parents, but rather he was Jesus in human form prior to Bethlehem.  Since he never died, his priesthood lasts forever, unlike the priesthood of Aaron in the Old Testament!

I hope that helps.  Now, what would YOU like to Ask the Pastor?

Fat bones!

Not talking about barbecue ribs (although that does sound good)…..but the truth of Proverbs 15:30 and the great report I just received from our Backyard Bible Clubs this summer:

• 172 in attendance at only 5 clubs, with 18 salvation decisions, including the mother of one of the children attending!

• One child overheard to say, “I thought this would be boring, but it was the best Bible study ever!”

• Every CLC host family reported how much fun it was & wants to participate again in 2011!

Kudos to Pastor Cheri Garrett and Deanna Mason and their entire team for all the work in making this possible!  Enjoy a few pics:

Vision

Still chewing on the messages from Marilyn Hickey this past weekend, and particularly the “sofia” kind of wisdom, the-big-picture-kind-of-wisdom that God gives us.

One of the most insightful verses of Scripture about that is Proverbs 29:18 that tells us without vision, people perish (that’s the KJV that I grew up with). However, many other translations express it a little differently: notice the NASB,  or the ESV, or the NLT, or even the Message - and see that without an overarching big-picture vision for our life, we are unrestrained….we cast off restraints, or we run wild, stumbling all over ourselves.  In other words, unless we see God’s ‘big-picture’ for our live, it’s easy for us to chase after most anything, trying to find the fulfillment that ONLY is found within HIS plan for us!

The problem with promiscuity isn’t that we enjoy sleeping around; it’s that we don’t see God’s big picture plan for our life, so there’s no reason to pursue a more noble lifestyle.

The issue with sleeping late, wasting time playing video games, or allowing trivial pursuits to steal our days and nights is not that we’re just bored or lazy; it’s that we don’t have a ‘big-picture’ vision that’s compelling us to become the person God has caled us to be.

The reason even Christian leaders can just ‘punch the clock’ and put forth half-hearted, mediocre efforts in our area of ministry is not that we can’t do better; it’s that we still haven’t seen the ‘big-picture’ vision that makes our ministry meaningful and fulfilling.

I’ve got to get off my soapbox and get some work done, but let me simply ask: do you see the Big Picture that God has for your life?

If not, I’m praying Col. 1:9 over you today (the ‘wisdom’ there is ‘sophia’ wisdom!) Once you see it, you’ll never do life the same again!

Next Page »