robwestbrook.com

When tropical storms or snow is predicted in northeast Mississippi, the busiest place in town is always Wal Mart. I don’t know how Wal Mart’s business went this morning but we did surprisingly well. The rain was pouring, the wind was blowing, but 106 brave souls came to our modern 21st century facility. It’s not bad for Mississippi, it even has a roof! No one got wet today, inside at least. (I know, that joke’s on its last leg.)

I had the great honor this morning to do something I never get enough of, baptizing a new follower of Jesus Christ. This morning the one being baptized was a young teenage man and one that I feel God’s got something special for. His mom and dad were there and it was a great event. And we have three more to baptize waiting in the wings.

The service was another good one. Of course the band was spot on. Great songs with great messages. The band did a song today that they do quite often and it’s one I so connect to. It’s called “I Will Not Forget You,” by Ben and Robin Pasley. The first part of the chorus goes like this:

“A grateful heart I give, a thankful prayer I pray,
a wild dance I dance before you”

I can’t really describe the imagery that line provokes in my heart but I loose it every time.

The message today was very challenging for me to preach and I hope very challenging for the guys and gals present. We’re nearing the end of our “Church: Get Connected” series and the topic today was “Get Connected: Just Do Something.” It was drawn from Acts 6:1-7, and a few additional verses from 1 Corinthians 12. LifePointe has rock solid people serving, but we’ve reached a tipping point. We’re maxed out people wise. There’s now more ministry than there are people to minister. All our Sunday morning ministry is being done by a handful of people and the challenge today was for more people to step up and “just do something.” I didn’t guilt trip anybody but explained that God gifts us all uniquely to serve Him and the church. There are holes that only certain people can fill and we need those holes filled. I wasn’t really comfortable from the get-go but I leave the effects to God. I do know of a least 4-5 new people volunteered to serve in various areas.

We had our first KidzClubb tonight and it rocked. The event is so cool. It’s music, drama, comedy, and life lessons all rolled into one. KidzClubb lasts about 45 minutes and they fly by quickly. We have an exceptional team leading KidzClubb and it appeared they’d been doing it for years. There was only one goof up during the entire event, and I’m the goofee. I was running MediaShout, and really good, I might add, until the last 30 seconds of the whole thing. Here’s the setup. We were going to have a prayer to close and as soon as the prayer was done, I was to cue up a Grits song “Ooh-Ahh”. I had my finger on the mouse button, tense and ready to click, anticipating “Amen”. I had my other hand on the mixer to take up the volume if necessary. So I had my wingspan stretched out tight. Tim was praying, everybody was mouse-quiet, which was not a good moment for my mouse finger to suddenly twitch. Right in the middle of the prayer, blaring out of the speakers, comes Grits and the words “My life be like ooh-aah.” Kind of broke the prayer mood. I panicked. I clicked the wrong button, which quickly refired the music and just as Tim regains his composure and continues his prayer, you got it – “my life be like ooh-aah.” Finally got it sorted out, possibly as a result of the prayer Tim continued with, mentioning technology in his prayer, and we finished smoothly . . . I think.

After KidzClubb we got many more actors and other support people to volunteer for next month’s event. This KidzClubb thing has huge potential as a community event for children and their families. Heck, everybody loved it. I can see this becoming a thing that will bring out the Sunday evening crowd. It really is that good. A big thanks for the KidzClubb material goes out to 252Basics and The reThink Group where we get our material for our children’s Sunday Morning Worship and their Family Production, which we edit a little bit and rebrand it “KidzClubb.”

All in all, another fantastic Sunday at LifePointe Church. If you’re “just doing something” at LifePointe, I want to personally thank you. And if you’re still sitting on the fence, jump on in, there’s a pair of big hands to catch you and hold you up!