O.K. this is a Monday where I'm just going to let my A.D.D. brain loose and write about a plethora of things going up there today:
Grand opening of "The Well" was awesome...so proud of the story in the Pantagraph (Thursday) and on News 25 last night (Sunday) about it. I'll say it a million times...you don't build a mega-church...God makes that happen...our only job is to be faithful with all HE has given us. It's still a little discouraging to hear of the haters on the websites talking bad about Eastview. We are not perfect, but we're trying our best to become a loving community of Christ followers...just sad that some refuse to see past their pre-convceived notions.
I know that about 700 people read this blog every week, but I don't know how many preachers do...so if you are a preacher or someone who loves preaching....get on eastviewchurch.net and check out our "power of the word" conference in March...gonna be great.
Can someone get high on Hall's cough drops? Just wondering...cause I had about 50 of them through all three services yesterday...and I felt dizzy sometimes :-) Just wondering. Also, I wondered if while I was praying with people who came forward yesterday if the vapors from my mouth (again filled with cough drops) made their eyes water...cause it kind of did mine.
Seriously, are we going to have winter or what...this has been a weird one huh? Got the new "blonde" coffee blend from Starbucks...it's lighter for all of you "Starbucks coffee tastes burnt" people. This is much milder..I prefer the thick stuff..but whatever. Have you tried the cookies in the Cafe' 19 - they are awesome! Seriously, may be the best dollar investment you can make....too bad they're 600 calories...but that's about right for breakfast...right?
My heart goes out to a long time family of Eastview (family of our former Sr. Pastor, Gary York) Theron and Roberta Summers. Roberta passed away Sunday morning early after battling cancer...Theron (a man I truly admire) survives. Long legacy here...one extended family member on staff and one elder...most of their family attends Eastview. They've been around for over 50 years...awesome...many prayers for them today.
Sorry if you are from New York of New England...but who cares about the Super Bowl now? Not me. ..wait, yes I do, there will be food and cool commercials. Anybody but me hate running on a tread mill?
I basically laid in bed or on a couch all day Friday and Saturday recovering from this flu/cold. Saturday night, I still staggered in to the church auditorium...looking really bad...baggy, non-matching sweats, knit hat pulled over my eyes (my wife said I shouldn't be seen) so I was praying and walking through my sermon on stage when a family comes in to check out the auditorium (probably a family from our Upward Basketball leagues) and they were startled to see me. They apologized and I said, "No problem, I'm just practicing tomorrow's sermon." They left quicklyt...I bet they got a good first impression of the preacher at Eastview:-)
Monday, January 23, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
I agree. It is very sad, yet predictable, that people are going to have harsh, mean and totally uneducated and unnecessary things to say about a church, and such a large one at that.
However, even reading negative comments is a place for us to grow. It makes me think about why I truly love Eastview and how I really feel about the church and the new addition.
People think churches should be taxed, yet this will break the separation of Church from State.
Which would end up with people being mad at "us" like before.
People think we could have done many others things with the money,
even though we do every year, pfft every day for that matter. We help out numerous people inside our church and out in the community.
This was built with our money, that we willing and lovingly donated to our church which is run by God and he put it into the hands of great people who felt led to improve our worshiping space.
Do we see people complaining about a new Starbucks opening up? No. Even though Starbucks can be doing numerous other things with their money. Do we see people complaing when Eastland Mall opened up or does updates? They can be doing other things with their money.
How about a new school, or roads being built or a new government office building? They could be doing other things with OUR tax money and getting ourselves out of debt. But they aren't and we don't see as many people hating on them as we do on the church.
I dunno.. Moral of the story:
This was much much MUCH needed and long overdue!
Yeah, this place looks like a mall. But wouldn't you rather hang out with family and friends in a mall then in a small, drafty, musty smelling building with uncomfortable pews and no food or drink?
Times have changed, so has the look of the church.
The cost of living has gone up, so has the cost of building a church.
But after everything is said and done.. Times change but God does not.
Rant = Over.
As usual Pastor Mike, you are hilarious! Love you, glad to hear you are feeling better.
God, Himself, gave plans for the Temple He allowed Solomon to build. It was a glorious place filled with gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, and most importantly, GOD's PRESENCE! God supplied the people with the means to build the temple.
Eastview is also a nice place...not as ornate as the temple...but it, too, is filled with GOD's PRESENCE! The Word is central to its message and the Spirit leads Christians to give of their means supplied by God to erect a place where we can serve Him and serve the community and several places in the world. It is a life-changing place where Jesus is Lord and its servants serve Him with their whole hearts.
May God bless Eastview and those who serve willingly and with dedication.
Donna
Awesome message Sunday, even if you were "high" on Halls cough drops!
Pastor Mike: I really enjoy reading your blog, halls or no halls :). I, for one, am very happy to be a part of Eastview Christian Church. We moved to Bloomington-Normal last April; this has been a very welcoming church. God is doing awesome things through ECC. Others may have negative things to say, but I'm guessing part of that is because we are following God. ECC has a nice building, its big, the addition is awesome. Sure, there's always choices as to how the money is spent, but it's nice to see a church that uses those funds to offer more opportunities for serving others. This is a great church! Thanks for the blogs! Thanks for the leadership!!
Post a Comment