"Service" or "Serve-us"

Tonight (Dec 24th) from 5-6 PM there will be a celebration of Christmas at Robinson High School for the entire community. Please make your last minute invites to your friends, neighbors and co-workers. It will be an amazing time together. Cafe opens at 4:30.

I love the way many of you serve. More and more the majority of churches are made up of huge percentages of people who don't serve at all, they simply go and "consume" a church "service" (kind of an ironic name) and then return to their previous life feeling more mature as a follower of Christ. The numbers don't lie - 80-90% of regular attenders in churches do nothing other than show up. I'm glad God has formed and led this church to embrace a different definition of what church is. And I love how you "serve."

Today over 700 stockings stuffed with Christmas presents went out into our community because one couple (trent and Carmen Post) decided to be missional with their lives and pour themselves out, and one small group (missional community at UCF) decided to jump in full force to support this couple's efforts, and then when needed the church as a whole gets behind one action point (life Just Stuff It) and it is a beautiful thing to watch. This is SERVICE. This is LOVE. This is UCF. And this is why UCF is such a vital place.

And plese don't think that this just happens during Christmas. This is all the time. By my estimations sometime this Fall people at UCF just served the 30,000th meal to a homeless person. Thirty- thousand meals. Served one at a time, to one person at a time, by a group of people from UCF. You don't serve 30,000 meals by just doing it at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

But UCF isnt just out there serving the poor, it is right here serving our friends. I had a conversation with a friend of mine after church last Sunday. After knowing him for 5 years he decided to give UCF a try about 6 months ago. He spoke to me through tears about what this place has meant to his life and how something is happening inside his heart that he has never felt before. I told him it was God's activity and I look forward to the journey ahead as we talk through some questions that he struggles with.

I know God is up to something big in the place we call UCF. I love being a part of it. I can't wait to see you all tonight to celebrate Jesus... Immanuel... God with us.

Love loud... risk often... hope always,
David