Monday Night Clarity

We had another great day of worship yesterday at Sixth Street. We continued with week three in our series Ekklesia on the topic "Community: The Glue that Holds Us Together." It felt like a great spirit of expectation as we left yesterday to be the church.

• I received some great feedback and encouragement on my sermon. I can sense a real hunger that many of us are longing to put aside the religious masks we have been carrying so long and really being to experience life together. I know that some of the stuff I said yesterday may have sounded very different from what we've grown to expect at church. However, I believe that as we develop a sense of biblical community, we will find what we've really longed for in church for a long time.
• Our music was very good yesterday, especially as we sang "Revelation Song". It was great to hear God's people singing such sound doctrine and getting a taste of what heaven will be like.
• I mentioned yesterday that I have three goals for Sixth Street for this year. First, I want to see us begin to develop a real sense of biblical community and possibly being some "Community Groups" later on this year. Second, I want to see us begin to move towards our long-range plan of relocating. We have lots to pray about and need to reach more people to accomplish our plan. However, I believe that as we stay sensitive to God and His timing, the plan will be clear. Third, I want us to outline a clear process for making disciples and a mission statement that reflects that. These challenges will take us far down the road to being what I believe God wants us to be.
• It was great to hear Morgan Jones share about her trip to Honduras. I know that God used Morgan and the team despite the obstacles that they faced. I loved seeing the slide-show of pictures and some of the places that I had visited on my trips to San Pedro Sula with Dan Moran.
• It was also awesome to see young Jackson Tucker singing last night. Jackson is a great kid with a great smile! Thanks for blessing us Jackson.
• Thanks also to my father-in-law Dr. Scotty Hogan for blessing us last Wednesday night. It was great to have "Papa" visiting the family and preaching in my church for a change. He challenged us to dream big dreams for God.
• Big thanks to Ginger Young, Deborah Perry, and Willie Ward for all their help this past weekend making the church directory happen. It was great to see so many families showing up for their pictures and to think about what the final product will look like. These three ladies did much of the work behind the scenes and stayed their for three days until past 10:00 each night. That's going above and beyond.
• On a not-so-spiritual note, I am stoked about the new season of 24. I'm a big Jack Bauer fan, but I have been real disappointed by the last couple of seasons. However, the first 2 nights show some of the old traces of 24 may still be there. Been typing this tonight during commercial breaks.

Verse of the day: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23