Pick up Your Chair...

By the way, that IS the original chair we used.

The sound was clear - at the close of Revolution Church's services at H.B. Williams Elementary School, the noise echoed through the gym as dozens of people turned and began stacking the hard plastic chairs we used each week for service.

For 70 weeks, we set up and tore down, every week. In January of 2012, we were blessed to move into a permanent facility. And though many of us don't miss the eight-hour Saturdays when sometimes things would all go wrong, and the late Sunday afternoons making sure the building was cleaned right, I certainly do miss hearing the sounds of the "stair chackers."

Funny thing. That's a transposed way of saying "chair stackers" but I can't tell you how many times I screwed that up on stage trying to say it right. Be my guest, you'll do it too. But that's not the point of today's blog.

Sunday began "Sun Stand Still" at Revolution Church. We challenged our church to own the vision and dream for God to do the impossible. Reaching the impossible requires a full reliance upon the Holy Spirit, and a simple obedience. Quit trying to change the world - just simply change your next step. And that means picking up your chair.

Now that we are settled in a building, the vision certainly has different ways to carry itself out. I want to offer THREE SIMPLE WAYS to "pick up your chair" at Revolution Church. Together, we CAN change the world, and together with God, we CAN do the impossible.

Pick up your chair by:

1. Serving like you worship. During Sunday's music time, Philip Gorodetzky was playing the djembe (pronounced "gym-bay") with his left hand, while his eyes were closed and his right hand was in the air. He was serving as he was worshipping, and do it with the same hands. When you serve like you worship, you are as passionate about serving others as you are about praising the name of Jesus. Because serving IS worship.

Serving happens in systems, but using those systems is a productive way to carry out what God has for you. In a church, find a system and get plugged in to serve - setup, small groups, greeters, ushers, maintenance, kids, cleaning, tech, teens, admin, leadership - or simply see a need and be a part of the system to meet the need by creating ministry.

The key to serving is sacrifice. Make a difference.

2. Praying like you preach. We have called our church to a seven-day prayer fast. Each day from 6-7 a.m. or 6-7 p.m., take an hour to pray for your family, your self, your church, your leaders and your calling/ministry.

Followers of Christ do a lot of talking. We fill Facebook, T-shirts and text messages with constant billboards of who we are in Christ. But when we do not translate our talk into an open communication with God, we are missing the biggest piece of how He works in us.

Pick up your chair by owning the vision in prayer. Call out to God, and intercede for your church and those around you. Step up by kneeling. Get connected with God.

The key to prayer can also be in how well we listen. It's not always about what we say.

3. Finding like you follow. Christians abuse statistics, so without throwing a number at you, I can instead verify that the large majority of people who come to church do so because someone invited them to the Gospel, to a service, or give church a try.

We are in a community with 58 churches, yet 70 percent of the people around us on a given Sunday (whoops, there's a stat) are not in church, and therefore most likely not following Christ. Church membership is not a precursor to salvation, but if a person is not connected to a local church, it is a fair question of how connected they are to the Gospel of Christ which called us to work together.

You are at Revolution Church because you chose to follow - hopefully Christ above all. You responded to an invitation, mailer, outreach event, serve project, buzz in the community - there is a channel which brought you. That channel likely had a person connected to it.

Saved people SAVE people. Served people SERVE people. Found people FIND people. The centrality of the Gospel is to tell the world about the Good News of Christ.

So pick up your chair so someone else can sit.

Today's blog is simple. It's probably not going to change your life.

Funny thing, it might change someone else's life. And if we all pick up our chair, it will definitely change our church.

Don't get comfortable. We haven't even started yet.

I love you, and these are my thoughts.

Pastor Kris