EXCITEMENT METER RISING!!

Sunday will be a first for us!!  Get ready!!  You won’t want to miss it!!  You will want to invite everyone you know!!!  WE begin a brand new message series entitled Beautiful.  And…it will be delivered by my wife, Kelly.

If you were here in June you might remember the message series I presented during our UFC series (we talked about male spirituality [including the distribution of bratwursts] and what it means to be a husband and father).  It was unapologetically directed towards men.

We wanted to do the same thing but unapologetically directed towards women.  When we thought through it, we thought it would be best delivered, and best heard, if it were coming from a woman.  PLUS if my wife has any gift (and she has many), discernment, wisdom, and listening are her gifts.  She has served as a counselor to many women over the past 13 years and has much to share that can save many a women from MAJOR LIFE disasters and mistakes (I’m not kidding about this).  And yes…we’ve heard them all!

So, Kelly and I will both be on stage sitting in stools and I will lob questions at Kelly in regards to a host of issues that specifically deal with what women are dealing with (e.g., who they are in Christ and why that changes everything in regards to relationships, what kind of guy to marry, what to do to ensure your children grow up with a solid foundation in Jesus, what to do if you are in a crappy marriage, how to be an incredible wife, red flags in your relationships that should give you pause, how to stop making stupid decisions while experiencing “love blindness“, etc.).

Dudes…you should be there too.  Here is why:

1. When your butt gets dumped you’ll know why.
2. If you are interested in a beautiful women, you’ll know what to look for, and once found, how to treat her.
3. If you are married, you need to understand the deepest longings and identities of the women you are committed to.
4. If you have a daughter, you are vital in insuring she grows up to see herself as God sees her.
5. If you have a son, you are shaping in him how he will treat a woman…and if that future woman happens to be my daughter, he better know how to treat her, or he will get his butt dumped…and then I’ll kill him just saying…

It is going to be great!

So…if you single ladies (why do I hear “all the single ladies throw your hand in the air…“) want to hear how to get a ridiculously handsome, charming, intelligent, amazingly strong, spiritual, and somewhat balding husband like Kelly – see you Sunday 9:30 or 11:30 a.m.

NEXT TWO WEEKS…HERE AT THE LIVING STONES CHURCH… BEAUTIFUL… BROUGHT TO YOU BY KELLY BARRINGTON!

Yesterday morning at our 9:30 & 11:30 services we were blessed to witness 14 people give their lives to Jesus in baptism!!  It is always exciting and truly a highlight!

This year we have had the high honor of witnessing 52 people (and counting) get baptized!

So…to Melissa, Michael, Brandon, Toni, Patti, A.J., Kayla, Mitchell, Judy, Rebekah, Michelle, Kymmi, Patrick, and Jon...CONGRATULATIONS!!  We love you and we’re praying for you!

(Thank you to Doug Harsch for putting the video together…on top of an already very busy week…thank you my friend for your sacrifice of time)

We hesitated, but after watching the video, how could we not?!?!!

This is why in church world (and American Idol), just because someone says they can sing, does not mean that it is the empirical data necessary to prove…they can in fact…sing.

Third week of our Unafraid series continues this Sunday!

Began our new series, UFC:  Something Worth Fighting For this morning at the Living Stones Church.

Week 1:  Getting Apathy to Tapout

After a week of vacation, it was great to be back at the Living Stones Church.  It was especially great because it was Father’s Day.  Highlights:

• Loved the set design for the morning including fencing that imitated an octagon feel and look.
• Posters of UFC fighters with weekly message promos that were placed in the lobby AND in the men’s room above the urinals and bathroom stalls
• Watched this morning as Jeff Gritton and Glenn Hammerquist pulled in with trailers and trucks to unload grills.
• Grilled brats for all the men to celebrate Father’s Day.
• Had a raffle to hand out rib-eyes to four lucky winners! (with a root beer to wash it down)
• Introductory song - Eye of the Tiger.  Sky Medor brought it.  It was awesome.
• Great videos to celebrate Father’s Day and to transition into message.
• Preached a message that I feel VERY passionate about.  (that isn’t a statement about its quality…only that I feel very passionate about it)

Great morning with a great turnout.  After church Kelly and I reflecting on the morning just appreciated the reality of being in a church that LIKES to have fun.  It seems that people come with a spirit of fun and a desire to enjoy the worship experience.  Do you know how many pastors long for such a spirit in their church?  By contrast, it is difficult to do anything with excitement and energy when you have to prepare yourself for the group of people who are ALWAYS looking to be upset, complain, or criticize anything and everything.  That is why I love this place!

Many thanks to a newly formed Creative Arts team facilitated by Carolyn Coleman who pulled off much of what you saw and experienced this week.  This was their first planned worship service.  They did AWESOME and I only look forward to more in the future as God has gifted us with many creative people!!

Finally, got me some Outback Cheese Fries for lunch.  Happy Father’s Day to me!

This morning was just one of those mornings that I have little words for.  It was a first for us.  It was an amazing experience.  I was humbled, overwhelmed, thankful, happy, etc.  We gathered ALL together for the first time since going to two services this morning.  It was awesome to see that gym FULL of Living Stoners!!  We baptized 36 individuals.  And we sang the YMCA .  We worshiped and ate fried chicken.

I need to say a HUGE “THANK YOU” to so many people who invested so much time and energy to make this morning happen.  I was so impressed with the organization, planning, execution, dreaming, etc. that came together today.  I even had a LAMINATED list of people getting baptized.  LAMINATED!!  And how did all that happen?  Because of people like Ann Lynn, Jennae Gee, Doug Harsch, Paco Bayer, Matt Hooton, Alex Peek, Karin Gilbert (YMCA Youth Director and LSC attender), an incredible 1st Impressions team, an incredible Praise team, a crew of people who were willing to sacrifice time and energy to set everything up Saturday evening, people who at the last moment rescued us with heavy lifting (thanks Kenny Boyce and Brad Wilson), a food serving crew, and an additional crew of people who were willing to pack everything up and move it out. It was the first time we had done something like this but watching Saturday night’s assembly (especially all the sound and visual equipment – Thanks Paco & Matt) was just down right professional!  Thank you thank you thank you thank you!! I’m so humbled and honored.  What a joy it is to serve alongside you in our mission of God’s love!

And to the 36 individuals who got baptized – Jamie, Cody, Kyle, Kayla, Ed H., Lori, Wilma, Ed K., Bill, Elaina, Anne, Sara, Emily, Jennifer, Taide, Greg, Gloria, Aric, Adrian, Adam, Pam, Sara, Matt, Chad, Nelfa, Leon, Nick, Quentin, Amber, Kristi, Jabari, Destiny, Tatiyana, Lacy, Doreen, Johnny – congratulations and thank you for letting us journey with you on your next steps in Christ!!  We are praying for you!

Highlights:

• The video of stories and confessions.  Fought to keep it together emotionally.  I did…because I’m manly.  Doug Harsch put it together…and it was GREAT!
• Watching so many people just pour into the YMCA.
• We sang the Village People’s YMCA getting started
• Worshiping together as one church.
• Not a single hitch (that I was aware of) in sound, video, etc.  Really…we were in a new place…and a gym!!  Amazing.
• Watching everyone’s face when they ate the “bread” that came with the 2-in-1 bread/juice combo (new portable communion option)…your faces were priceless…in the words of Sky Medors – “foam.”  Don’t worry – back to normal next week!
• Used Martin’s fried chicken buckets to take up collection and connection cards
• Seeing that our church was excited to be excited.  Energy was great.  We said today was “celebration” and you came ready for “celebration.”
• Getting the high honor of baptizing 36 people!  I can’t explain how that feels.
• After the baptisms my mom and dad came up to me crying and said they were  proud of me.  This was special to my dad.  No one knows our collective story better than my dad.  Long before I got here, he planted the seeds for what happened today.
• As we left the pool deck Randy Templeton, dad, and I took a moment to remember where we have been.  Trust me – there were some very difficult times.  Today, we committed again that we would do it all over again to get to see what we got to see today.
• I kept turning around to see what needed to be done next – and Ann, Jennae, Matt, Paco, (and many others) had it already taken care of.
• Fried Chicken.

Here are a few pictures from the morning.  There are WAY better pictures that were taken by some gifted photographers.  This is what Kelly and I grabbed off our personal camera -

Phenomenal help tonight setting up for tomorrow’s service. HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped!!!

10:00 a.m. – YMCA – Baptismal Celebration

One tip for tomorrow:  dress in cool clothes (and by cool I don’t mean “hip” – I mean summer attire).

Last night we had our pre-baptismal meeting that included a video taping session of people’s stories.  WOW!!!! So much of the spiritual life is in some way intangible.  It is hard to measure, gauge, and assess…difficult to put hard statistics and counts on things spiritual.  So our primary measurements take the form of STORY.  It is the narrative of God’s work in people’s lives and the stories that were shared were INCREDIBLE.  You will hear portions of these stories via video at Sunday’s baptismal celebration (YMCA @ 10:00 a.m.).

I’m sure barring death you already plan on being there (oh…and those of you that I know were already scheduled to go out of town or whose employers who are making you work)

But for the rest of the Living Stones Church family I just want to give you one last encouragement that this is a day for us to gather and really celebrate.

1.  We get to gather for the first time since August 10th, 2008 as ONE whole church.  God has really blessed us over the past year with growth and an enlarging family.  The evidence of that will be a combined service where we get to collectively witness what God has done among us.  We will see the “brothers” and “sisters” that God has added to the Living Stones Church and be able to celebrate together that he has been faithful and good and allowed the church at 718 E. Donmoyer Ave. to participate in his mission of love in our community!!  The effective power of this collective gathering necessitates YOU!! And your presence in-and-of-itself will be an encouragement to those who have gathered too (Hebrews 10:25).

2.  We will celebrate about THREE DOZEN people getting baptized and sharing their story of God’s rescue.  Baptism is A MAJOR decision and event in life (think about it like you would someone’s wedding, 50th anniversary party, retirement party, graduation party, celebration of a new child, etc…you don’t miss those events because they are important events in the life of those we love), and we are gathering to support, celebrate, and encourage those who are making A HUGE decision and step on Sunday.  This day is about God…and the celebration of those he has rescued.  The Christian life calls us to live for the sake of others…this is a morning where our presence to witness, celebrate, and encourage IS for the sake of others.

We know from Scripture (Luke 15:10) that there will be a great celebration in heaven over this day with us.  And what happens on earth (even at the YMCA in South Bend, IN) will be a reflection of that celebration in heaven (Revelation 5:13).  So, again, I know some of you because of work or travel will be unable to attend.  But for the rest of you – Sunday morning IS NOT the time to decide to get a little more sleep; it IS NOT the time to hit the golf course; it IS NOT the time to take the kids to the zoo to see if the rumor about the passing of Susie Bear the Asiatic bear is true (it is…you don’t need to go); it IS NOT the time to head over to Kohl’s for some great sales.  That would be…to put it bluntly…uncool.

Don’t let in the midst of heaven’s celebration for God to ask, “Where’s _____________ (fill in your name)?”  Only to hear as a response, “Rather than joining your party…they decided to go to the garage sales.”

(How is that for pastoral guilt and pressure!!!!?   ) – But I love you.

Sunday we honored our mothers and celebrated a Child Dedication.  Loved seeing the little ones as families, and us as a church, made commitments to raising these little ones in the faith.

Here is a video of the children being dedicated we showed on Sunday.

After church, my dad splurged and took the entire family out to Tippecanoe Place for a Mother’s Day brunch.  Delicious!!

Very good morning.  Excited to see all that God is doing.  Great turnout for Mother’s Day!

Celebrate mom on Sunday by bringing her to the Living Stones Church. There will be a special treat for her (I know because I keep snacking on the goodies…they keep calling my name…and they are goooooodddd).  And at the same time, be a part of our Child Dedication as we celebrate 19 babies/children that we will pray for, and pledge to raise in the faith of Jesus Christ.  It will be an exciting morning.  I’m REALLY looking forward to it.  You should to.  Trust me.  Bring a friend.