What a Sunday...

Notice anything missing in these photos?

Curtains... Sound Board... Speakers... Coffee...

staging... lighting... draping...

projectors... screens... almost everything...

This morning (Sunday, July 11) was like any other Sunday morning over the last 4 months… wake up, shower, get dressed, help Christy get the family ready and head out to Sandia Vista Elementary School.  Then a text message came to my phone from our associate pastor, Scott Brownson.  The text read “Who’s getting the trailer today?” and I thought it was a joke.  You see, if you don’t attend Paragon Church, everything we have is stored in that trailer… it is our “church on wheels”.  Without it, we are up a creek.  After calling Scott and realizing it was not a joke, I began to panic, sweat, and make calls to figure out who was getting the trailer.

It turns out that nobody was assigned to get the trailer this morning.  It was completely my fault in the scheduling department and when I tried to locate a quick back up driver, none were available.

All I could think was “what are we going to do?”  No Sound System.  No Video projection.  No staging.  No cool lights.  No carts full of supplies and toys for the nursery.  No coffee for those who can’t survive without it.  We didn’t have any of the things we “needed” to hold a church service… or so I thought.

Knowing there was nothing I could do, the fam grabbed some toys from the playroom and we headed to our church home.  When we arrived, outside sat the group of men that would normally be setting up all of the equipment.  I walked into the gym where we meet and it was bare except for some chairs.   As I stood there looking over the situation and trying to figure out how to “salvage” this Sunday morning, Matt Petre came to me.  He said this was going to be great and to remember that there are groups of people meeting in the jungles of Vietnam with nothing but the Word of God… and Christians meeting in a house in China afraid for what might happen to them during their service.  That really opened my eyes to what God could possibly do this morning.

And He did exactly what He wanted to do.  He opened the eyes of our congregation.  He reminded us of why we really meet in this school.  He let us know that, while all the stuff we have is great and can be put to good use, all we really need is Him.

Our time of worship through song was better than it has ever been.  Just a guitar, a bass, and our voices.  Pure.  Authentic.  Real.  Worship.

The message wasn’t long.  It was not eloquent.  As a matter of fact, it was probably just short of rambling.  I put the message I had prepared all week long for on the shelf and just “went with the flow.”  God was moving and I didn’t want to get in the way.  He brought our congregation back to the roots of why we started this church in the first place…  it was not because we wanted something different, not because we didn’t like what was going on at any other churches we were attending… but because God called us to Enchanted Hills to reach people and we are answering His call.  He reminded us that all the stuff we have doesn’t impress visitors, and it doesn’t lead them to Christ.  It is not about the presentation or show we put on, but it is ALL about the love we have for others – no matter who they are, where they’ve been, or what they have been through.

I had this morning all planned out.  Thank you God for ruining my plans and implementing yours… 

Isaiah 55:8 (NLT) “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”