Energy

One of the spiritual catalysts that we seek to understand and leverage around Longleaf Church is called Pivotal Circumstances. While our lives are always moving in one direction or another, inevitably we will encounter defining seasons of life when we must respond to challenges or difficult circumstances. The sum total of our wisdom, our faith and our passion is brought to bear in the midst of Pivotal Circumstances. When we compile these three elements of spiritual fortitude and respond to life's challenges, the result is directed ENERGY. ENERGY derived from trusting God. The more daring our hopes and dreams are, the greater our ENERGY (faith, wisdom and passion) must be.

The prophecy, the life, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important message in the world. Just before Jesus was betrayed, arrested and crucified, He prayed this prayer to The Father; "Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). The passion and the perseverance of Jesus rescued us all. Jesus subsequently placed the church (God's people) at the epicenter of a great struggle. We are called according to purpose to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. BTW, don't miss our Good Friday Service this Friday night!

In 2010, the subtle presentation of our struggle is complacency. When we take a complacent approach to church and treat it like a social club that simply runs programs for our families, we are really missing the mark. Our passion at Longleaf Church is to be defined by authentic community, life change and relevant environments that lead people into growing relationships with Jesus Christ. A church full of ENERGY! God has granted us ENERGY and we are preparing to fully launch our church!

The pre-launch chapter of Longleaf Church is winding down as we focus on our final pre-launch hurdle. The response to the pre-launch financial goals at Longleaf has been truly amazing. The final hurdle is for us to rally around our pre-launch goal of $20,000 per month in average monthly giving. Our current giving pattern is $14,000, so we are 70% to goal! It would be easy for us to skip ahead and ignore this final piece but we want to launch a church that's going to reach this generation, and the next. To do that, we need to reach this $20,000 mark. Thanks for your response. Thanks for your ENERGY. Thanks for your part in the Longleaf Church Community.

Renewed

You've got to love weddings. I loved the perspective that I had on one this weekend. I had the privilege of performing a wedding for a young couple this weekend, our friends Amanda and Kellen. Weddings are such exciting and purposeful events. Everyone's smiling at weddings, or even shedding tears of joy. People gather at weddings to celebrate the union of a friend or a loved one. Weddings instill hope for the future and they represent a celebration of family legacy. Family members of the Bride and the Groom are filled with pride as they recount the lifetime investments that they have made into the lives of the Bride or the Groom. While we celebrate the Bride and the Groom, marriage ceremonies are also a great time of reflection for everyone attending. The ceremony reminds us that marriage is a reflection of an even more significant relationship, that of Christ and His church, and for married couples the ceremony renews the vows our own marriages.

Renewal is a pivotal process for everyone. Renewal speaks to a process by which we recalibrate our focus and our priorities. We pause intentionally to remember our values and to put first things first. Life can quickly create a gravitational pull that makes our lives reactive and out of order. Unintentionally, we married people can make incremental sacrifices to our marriage relationships in favor of trying to manage all of the other relationships and related responsibilities in our lives. If we let it happen, the "urgent" will overtake the important every time. There is a limit to our mental and emotional margin. We can't expend all of our energy on other people and neglect the relationship that's second only to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm certain that I'm going to disappoint people in this life by not granting them all the time and energy that they want from me. I'm also certain that I don't ever want those disappointed people to be my wife or my children. Our time is limited so in turn the number of meaningful relationships we can have is also limited. We must make proactive, wise choices with our time or slippage will occur in our most important relationships.

As I reflect on Kellen and Amanda's wedding, I am renewing my mind around the priorities of this life. For believers, a central truth to this life is to love God and love people. This begins and ends at home. My energy and passion is also renewed for the vision and direction of Longleaf Church. In particular, I have renewed conviction about one of our guiding principles; our church will be mission driven and NOT program driven. Simply put, we want to focus on cultural relevance, small groups and empowering families. By taking a less is more approach to church programs, we challenge our people to spend more time investing in their families, doing life together with fellow believers and living out their faith within our communities.

As Amy and I spent time with Amanda and Kellen in the weeks leading up to their wedding, we charged them to take one key step after they tied the knot. That key step is to join a small group at Longleaf Church. Yep, that's how significant we think it is for people to "do life together" in small groups. When I've conversations with men and women describing broken marriages, it always occurs to me that the accountability, belonging and care of a small group could have guarded the healthy direction of their marriages. The healthy direction and the hope exists on a wedding day. As we renew our minds around God's truth this week, let's all remember the hope and promise of a wedding day....

Choosing Your Line

It's not hard to understand that looking forward is important if we charge down a mountain on a bicycle. There are obstacles and pitfalls along mountain trails that could cause us to crash. The most notable obstacles are rocks and trees. In mountain biking, choosing your line, refers to a bikers attentiveness to the trail ahead as he mentally plots a course to stay on the trail and navigate around obstacles. It also refers to the process a person takes in designing a mountain biking trail to flow with the features of the mountain yet avoid the obstacles. Looking forward to evaluate the paths we are on in the important arenas of life requires just as much attentiveness and prudence, but sometimes we just don't evaluate and plan our paths as we should.

• The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. (Proverbs 27:12)

In part one of Destinations,we were introduced to the principle of the path; direction, not intention, determines destination. In part two, we discussed how looking forward is the answer towards staying the course and directing our lives to the place we want to be relationally, financially, spiritually, etc. Proverbs 27:12 teaches us that to stay on course, we can't ignore the warning signs. It takes courage to take the first steps to right our course, but relief will follow. One of the best ways to maintain personal guard rails in our lives is to connect ourselves to a small group. Another is to seek input from the people around you that care and have the courage to encourage you.

We can't wait for the next Longleaf LIVE and Part 3 of Destinations on March 14. We're excited about our new venue and the direction of our church! We are certainly applying the principle of the path as we plot the course of Longleaf Church. See you on March 14!