People want to know

I love to take every opportunity to let you guys know how God is using a place like UC Fellowship in ways that you may not be aware of. This week a two year old church in the Charlotte area emailed to me to say:

During the retreat of our church’s elders last Saturday we all agreed that we need to sit down with you and have you walk us through your vision for UCF and how this is being implemented week by week. We sense that you are going the same direction that we are headed but you guys have a track record and we are just getting started.

I am always honored to share what I know, but they really don’t want information as much as they want transformation. You see, some leaders in this church have spent some extended time with many of you at UC Fellowship. They are truly awed by the work that God is doing in your lives and how you are seeking to love loud, risk often and hope always. They have seen God’s work in you and want to see that same transformation happen over and over again in the life of their church. They aren’t looking for new “methods,” cute “slogans,” or the next great church strategy. They want to understand how God is transforming people at UCF. You need to know this because you need to know what an amazing work God IS doing and the unique way He is using UCF for His Kingdom.

On Tuesday, I responded to another request from a mission strategy and planning group that I have talked with in the past. They want to do a profile on our church to be able to share with other churches and mission agencies. They are really excited about our approach to making a global impact in Ethiopia. In many ways, mission work is at a critical time due to a couple of factors.

1) Nearly all mainline denominational churches are declining and their mission involvement is declining as well.
2) Most new churches (younger than 10 years old) are not focused on making a global impact at all. Nearly all of their resources are focused locally or are consumed by the church itself.

This leaves a huge hole that is getting wider and wider every day. I believe God has called us as a church to lead the way missionally and blaze a trail for many other new churches to follow. God has led us to this point and you have made it happen through your prayers, your passion, your sacrifice, your giving, your willingness to go and your resolve to never forget about the world around you.

So once again, I want to say thanks for being you, for being the church and for being a model that God can use to help lead others.

Love loud… risk often… hope always,
David

The Compassion Ripple

This Sunday was one of those days that we had a great plan and everything worked. I know that God is always present (when people say “God showed up” it is always odd to me) but there are sometimes when we are more aware or in tune with his presence than others. Today was one of those days for me. I knew that God wanted me to turn the focus of The Compassion Ripple on the ripple that is closest to us relationally. I look forward to hear the stories of life change as you move with compassionate love toward your spouse, your kids, your neighbors and co-workers. I know that many of you are at the end of yourselves and ready to all God to bring life beyond your wildest dreams into your life. One person who talked to me after the service simply said, “I am so there!” He meant that he is at the point of the end of himself and the beginning of God.

The video of how compassionate UCF is to the world around was incredible. The shots of houses being built in Mexico, homeless being fed in Charlotte and Omaha, houses being built for cancer patients in Hickory and a small party being thrown for 12,000 of our closet friends in Harrisburg… it was incredible. To think all of this took place in the last 20 days is even more amazing. The way that this community moves out into the world with compassionate love absolutely blows me away. That is why I didn’t have to spend much time today challenging UCF to serve the world more… all I had to do was celebrate it. This church is incredible.

We had 37 people at our “New to UCF” lunch. It was a great time of sharing who we are in a creative way that is distinctly UCF. I look forward to seeing how God uses each new person in our community.

A day at Ridge Church. Most of the staff went to Ridge Church on Sunday night. They are a new church (6 months young) that meets in Matthews. I was very excited about how much I knew we would learn from simply being in their environments and seeing how they create an amazing experience for people. We showed up at 2 pm to help them load in and set up for their service at 6 pm. Seeing a group of people who have planned and prayed for a few years to begin a church in itself is an awesome sight. The feelings of 20-30 volunteers doing something that significant with their time is incredible to be around. We are already making notes on what we learned and what it means for UCF. More to come.