As we celebrated Easter yesterday, I was reminded again why all this matters and honestly, I was very humbled and challenged. I was humbled to be able to serve with an amazing church with fellow messy people from all walks of life and from many different backgrounds. I was challenged by the reality of how eternally important is our life together as a church. In that challenge, I was struck by at least three reminders that I hope encourage you too as you face the “day after Easter”.
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My wife and I have made many journeys by car throughout our marriage. During the last 17 years or so, one or the other of our kids and family have lived about 12 hours away, and we have travelled a lot to visit them. On every trip, we plan our route, but we have learned that our route can be changed by circumstances. We’ve been forced from our route by weather, accidents, something we decide to stop and see, or by the ubiquitous lines of orange barrels (road construction).
At Longview Christian Church, we are on the journey through life together with Christ and each other. We make plans on how we want that journey to take shape, but we often have to adjust our plans as we go. In the last two years, we have adjusted our Sunday morning schedule twice. We are about to adjust it again. In order to accommodate our ever growing family, we are moving the Sunday morning worship gatherings closer together. One will be at 9:30 and the other at 11:00. Each is planned to be an hour and fifteen minutes long. The goal is to spread attendance out a little more evenly between the two services. Our 11:00 AM service is often close to capacity. A full schedule of simultaneous kids and adult Foundations studies is posted elsewhere on this website.
No doubt we will make future adjustments on our shared journey as a congregation. That’s fine. It keeps the journey interesting.
For 20 years, LCC has hosted a carnival style event for the Longview area on Hallowing night consisting of games, food, and lots of candy. The purpose was to shine the love of Christ on a night of darkness by providing a safe and positive atmosphere for those in our community. This major event has been very successful and attendance has grown almost every year.
After much prayer and discussion, the elders have made the difficult decision to no longer host this event.
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Last Sunday night, we had a great start to our life together this Fall! The Fall Kickoff leaves me in awe of what this church family can do together in the name of Jesus Christ. Of course, this event was filled with fun, laughter, goofiness, strangeness, creativity, tastiness, and a ton of sugar! But, in the middle of the event, I noticed the "more" of what was going on. Relationships were being built, conversations were starting that will be continued as people meet for a Care Group or over coffee. The signups for the various groups are just a start of what God can do through the times together when we meet.
Here's a few of the highlight videos:
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It was a week of fun, sports, growing, serving, and sharing for this year's Sports & More 2011 - Play 2 Worship! Even in the midst of an East Texas heat wave, kids and coaches gave their all as they developed and honed their skills in 6 different events. We dug into the Word through the means of live actors, teachers, and Lego sets. We learned why God is worthy of our worship as Creator, Father, and Redeemer.
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