GlocalNet

This Easter was a mix of the old and the new, the good and the bad, the past and the future--it was all present.  The man standing beside me helped us start our church 21 years ago.  I love him deeply. His name is Gene Powell.  The Josh Williams family is experiencing their daughter’s first Easter!  This is the last Easter service in our present building--apart from a new church using it--be it deaf, Hispanic, or something else very unique.  One shot is from the back of our present Worship Center--one shot is from the side of the stage where you can see Brent and Jordan leading worship.  Finally, that little speck of a guy in the new Worship Center is Randy Miller, our Transparent Connection Pastor, or Discipleship Pastor, or Teams Pastor, or, well, you get the idea! 

While thousands were worshipping with us this weekend, I had several emails from friends around the world asking for prayer.  In one country, a young emerging leader was kidnapped.  His ministry was growing and he was perceived as a threat.  In another country, people were beaten with cricket bats, a pregnant woman was stomped causing her to lose her baby, and others were brutally attacked.  Most of the Easter weekend I thought and prayed for all of them, but especially the young man.  Was he alive?  Was he afraid?  Was he in pain?  Would he be brutalized like his Christ this Easter--and if precedent follows--lose his life? 

I preached with abandoned passion building a case for transformation--not merely conversion.  Why is it a Buddhist, a Muslim, or Hindu would choose Christ and thereby choose persecution and suffering?  If we all believe the same thing, and all roads lead to the same place why not just join the majority religion?  There are good people in all those religions. I’m friends with many--even a close friend to many atheists.  One reason is because what Jesus did on that cross was not merely to give us a model to follow, like Buddha, or a way to point like Mohammed, but He gave us redemption.  When we couldn’t do it, in and of ourselves, grace was extended through the cross.  Sin impacted us spiritually with God, relationally with others, societal with the world, and biologically with a flawed Body.  The grave couldn’t hold the Body of Jesus because there was no sin in it!  It was His redemption that gives men hope and meaning.