EIGHTEEN: Red or Blue | Big or Small | Missional or Attractional

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY TWELVE in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

One of the things I feel like people are always trying to figure out about us is…what “type” of church we are. Sometimes the question is searching for some sort of denominational affiliation or worship style. I get it…it’s normal to try and categorize churches in “types.” Once something has a label, it makes it easier to agree with, dismiss, or criticize. The “type” of church question is often slanted towards trying to understand things such as; do we lean more liberal or conservative? Are we more red or blue?

Other "Christian subculture" examples are: Is our worship style traditional, contemporary, or Blue Like Jazz? Do we like Rob Bell or John Piper? Are we a Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Church or a Francis Chan, Crazy Love church? Do we believe in church growth or church health? Do we think Chick-Fil-A should remain closed on Sundays or open up? The questions about the ‘type’ of church we are can be that ridiculous!

So many churches identify who they are by the type of church model they adopt or what Christian leaders they identify with the most. Nothing is inherently wrong with this, but where are we all on this?  Do we adhere to a particular “type” of church model?

As a new church plant, we are working to sink roots in an urban area of OKC, therefore some people immediately assume we must be a missional church. The missional label is not necessarily a good or bad label, however it’s a label that can be ambiguous and hard for many to understand and even explain. To some it means doing church with a lot of missions activity, while others believe it’s a theological perspective on church and life. Some would even say it’s a label that is “trendy” and has an empty core to its meaning. We certainly believe in God’s mission and that He has called the Church to join him in His mission to restore his creation. But…are we a missional church?

The antithesis to missional in many church model conversations is attractional. Purely attractional churches are aimed at reaching out to the community by attracting crowds typically through mediums such as; special events, highly purposed and prioritized Sunday worship services, and marketing and invitational strategies to get people in the door. The big knock on attractional churches is often connected to the amount of resources that are spent to get people to show up and once people show up--many of them struggle to actually disciple them.

The Oklahoma City metro certainly has a few dominant styles or types of churches. Most people want to know if we are more like a Baptist church, a Pentecostal church, or like Life Church? Do you want to be a big, medium, or small church? These questions aren’t typically rooted in theological identity – they are more about style, flash, vibe, or past experience.

At some level I understand this. Everyone deserves to know some essentials of the church they go to. People certainly should understand the theological framework of the church. Everyone deserves to know if there are certain methodologies that create expectations for the people of the church. Creating this picture of the church is something we are doing at OKC Community and will continue to do.

Here’s the thing though…
We’ve intentionally decided that we aren’t trying to be a certain “type” of church. We aren’t emulating some model, following the leadership of a certain pastor, or an inspiring book. We can honestly say that although we learn from others, we aren’t adopting any particular church models. We can sincerely say that we are committed to God’s mission and believe that it calls us to live missionally, however we don’t wear the label of missional like it’s some badge of honor. With hopeful anticipation we can say that we make efforts for our church, and namely the gospel, to be attractive, yet we are mindful of our resources and our ability and energy spent on making disciples. As you can see being a type of church is hard to pinpoint.

So what are we about?
We are about many things…but a real place to begin is that we want to be pure, authentic, and clear in all that we do. Sadly, many people’s church experiences have not been that. Many of us have negative, impure, inauthentic, and murky stories about our church experiences that have left us hurt and frustrated. OKC Community simply wants to be pure, authentic, and crystal clear about who we are, what we do, how we can help, where we struggle, and what God is really doing.

These thoughts have everything to do with the type of church we want to be. First, we want to be the type of church you can trust. Once we gain your trust, we want to help you in the ways of following Jesus. We’ve been intentionally slow to adopt models or certain terminology because we honestly believe the Lord is doing something within OKC Community that we are supposed to allow to come to life. Our church doesn’t lack vision in the type of church we are supposed to BE – yet we remain patient in some of the more physical things we need (like buildings) and will do (like programs and various ministries).

We realize we are part of a long story of the Church. We are thankful to be a part of the story of the Church that has been happening since Jesus commissioned us. So when someone says what type of church are you…our answer is, “We aren’t necessarily a “type” of church – we are simply a church. We just want to BE the church the best way we know how. 

We aren’t trying to be missional or attractional, red or blue, big or small, traditional or contemporary, or whatever. Although we may be a little of a lot of those things. 

We hope it’s acceptable to say that…we…are…a…church.
Plain and simple. Pure and authentic. 
We hope that’s not only acceptable…but refreshing.

EIGHTEEN: The Oxymoron In The Church

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY ELEVEN in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

I find oxymoron’s entertaining. They may not always make you laugh out loud (yes I spelled LOL out), but usually they’ll bring a small inner chuckle that happens inside your brain. Oxymoron’s represent small ironic contradictions in life. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Jumbo Shrimp
• Unbiased Opinion
• Pretty Ugly
• Books on CD
• Driveways and Parkways
• Microsoft Works (wink, wink)
• Country Music (hehe!)

See…you are at least inner chuckling right now. They’re sort of funny.

So there is an oxymoron in the church. It’s been present for some time now…and unfortunately it’s not a funny one. It’s an understanding of the church that is a difficult one for most of us to overcome. The oxymoron is this – Church Building.  

What do I mean? Church buildings are real places. Okay, so think of it this way…the place that our faith is most engaged is typically a location that has pews, altars, crosses, and video screens or hymnals, depending on the type of building you attend. Some buildings have steeples and others look like schools or warehouses. But most importantly all churches have walls.

Sadly, our definition of a church is often reduced to being within the walls of a building. I find this challenging in the context of my own life and job as I can easily work within the walls day after day doing “the work” of the Church.  I’m realizing that the more I stay within the walls of the church the more disconnected I become the generation who is not in the church.

I’m want to make sure we have a healthy perspective about the Church. The Church does and should include an actual place to worship. The sanctuary, or House of Worship, is important in the makeup of the community of believers. But is it possible that have we over emphasized the identity of the Church as a place rather than about being the body of Christ? The Church is a living organism that is created for movement; it should breathe into the community and flow into the cracks of society.

Walls are more than physical reminders of the struggling definition of the Church, but symbolically the walls restrict, confine, define, and separate. Walls are some of the most real things that exist for the church today. 

So what are we supposed to do with this reality?
Well, there are a couple things we want OKC Community to do with this.

1. Always remember the Church (big ‘C’)is the community of believers and not an institution or place. The church (little ‘c’) is a local church that may include a building and walls, but is purposed for the larger mission of the Church.
2. Realize that your first priority in serving the 'Church' and the 'church' is to serve outside the walls of the church building.

When you serve your neighbors, your city, the people you work with, or your kid’s school with the heart and intentionality of sharing the love of Jesus you are serving the cause of the Church. Sure, we want you to be involved in things like—serving our kids ministry, being on one of our teams, or helping lead worship, but when you serve solely in the walls of the church you’ve bought into the myth that serving the Church is about one thing that happens in a building.

You may have heard this idea before…but have you lived it yet?
Be the Church.
Serve the Church…anywhere, anytime, for anyone.

EIGHTEEN: Our Community House Es Su Casa

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY TEN in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

Have you ever had that person in your life that it feels like their house is always open, welcoming and available to anyone who enters? Sometimes that person is a grandparent, neighbor, or a loving friend. We can all agree that hospitality and an open house can make people feel great! The freedom to feel at home somewhere that isn’t literally your home is a special feeling. We want the Community House to have that sort of vibe.

The original dream for our Community House on 23rd Street included the desire for people to use it. Our church will definitely use the heck out of it. We’ll do as much as we can, but honestly, there is still quite a bit of time every week that this wonderful place sits unused. Not to be overly cliché, but we want you to feel like the Community House can be your “home away from home.” We want you to use it.

We hope it can be one of the first places that comes to mind when you are trying to think of a cool place to have a birthday party, meeting place for your business, special event for your family, a watch party for a big game, or just a place to get friends together.

We’d love for the people of our church to see it as a place they can use.
We’d love for the people of this community to see it as a place they can use.

We just want it to be a resource and space that reflects the heart of this church to everyone who enters the door. If it can serve you or this city in any way possible way…that is what it is for. Simply contact us if you would like use the community house – okccommunitychurch.com/contact.

Nuestra casa es su casa.
Or in other words… our house is your house.

EIGHTEEN: Laying Some Groundwork

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY NINE in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

The saying “we need to lay some groundwork” infers that we are about to get real serious.
So I don’t want to scare you…but, we need to lay some groundwork.

There is a common denominator for those who are business minded, organizational strategists, or entrepreneurial developers that most agree on. They all agree that you have to start somewhere. So where do you start? It’s probably a good idea to start with what is most important to the business, organization, or development.

So here we are, a church plant in the process of developing. So what is most important to us? Well, the easy answer is to say something like, making disciples, loving God, loving others, etc… Obviously those things are essential. However, in the early days of this church we’ve landed on some important W O R D S.

I have the conviction that words matter a lot. Who we say we are matters and what words we use to express our church to others matters. So in the development of this church we chose some words to help lay the groundwork to describe some of the work that God is doing within this church.

We chose words that articulated our dream as a church.
And, we chose words that articulated some of the things we value most as a church.
So here they are…

Our dream is to bring life to our city
by loving God and living the gospel.
This is a pretty simple statement, but it carries deep meaning for who our church is becoming. "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Jesus is the source of life and through proclaiming and living the gospel story we can see life restored in our city. Our mission to advance the gospel!

Here are a few things we value...

• LOVE: The gospel positions love as life's greatest commandment and the virtue that binds all things together. (Luke 10:27, Col 3:14) 
This is our greatest value as a church and the value that runs through all of our other values.
• THE CITY: The gospel makes us a church for the city (Micah 6:8-9).
• RESTORATION: The gospel restores the broken, hurting, and captive (Isaiah 61:1-4).
• DISCIPLESHIP: The gospel commissions us to make disciples (Matt 28:18-20).
• CULTURE: The gospel shapes culture (Col 3:1-17).
• COMMUNITY: The gospel creates authentic community (Acts 2:42-47). 
• WORSHIP: The gospel leads us to worship the one true God (Romans 12:1).

So, there you have it. That’s the real serious groundwork of a few w o r d s that matter to us. These words keep us honest and centered on what we must always be thinking about, praying for, and doing within our city.

We have a simple hope that we live our dream and care about our values.

EIGHTEEN: We Like Parties

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY EIGHT in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

In Luke 5 we find a story about Jesus going to a party. The scriptures say that a man named Levi held a great banquet for a large group of people. Like any party they ate and had several festivities, This was an unusual gathering of Jesus and his followers mingling with tax collectors and sinners. This dynamic created some unsettled Pharisees. Certainly, an interesting scene. 

In John 2 we find another story. This time Jesus is at a wedding. He was there with his disciples. The text doesn’t infer that they were there to do some sort of specific ministry. It seems as if Jesus was simply there. He was likely a friend of the bride and/or the groom. John doesn’t write anything about the actual wedding, but instead this story is about a scene that happens quite a bit of time after the ceremony – we know this because we read that the wedding guests had already polished off all of the available wine. Another interesting scene.

Jesus went to parties?

It’s funny how the word party has such varied interpretation. Depending on the conversation it can be in reference to an innocent 4-year-old ballerina birthday party. In other conversations it can mean an out of control kegger at a frat house. If someone says they are a partier – well…that likely means they are high as a kite. Sometimes the word party can even be classy – all you have to do is call it a dinner party. Clearly, there are all sorts of parties: birthday parties, drinking parties, dinner parties, wedding parties, dance parties, work parties, holiday parties, pre-parties, after-parties, surprise parties, pinterest parties, Super Bowl parties, tea parties, block parties, and the list goes on and on.

What about a church party? What does that look like?  

Traditionally, a church party involves some potluck casseroles, a Jell-O mold, and if you’re lucky some horseshoes for entertainment. That scene is not too interesting.

At OKC Community Church we like parties. We want to learn the art of throwing parties. Parties bring people together, they build relationships, and they create life. We believe that when we engage in life instead of operating programs we might actually find ourselves following the ways and rhythms of Jesus. Too many times in the church we try and systemize, categorize, and programize life in order to shuttle people through our prescribed methods of community and discipleship. What if we decided we’d be more intentional about enjoying life with people?

OKC Community wants to throw parties and we want our people to throw parties! It’s been said many times, but - people are the church - therefore anytime you throw a party it’s essentially the church throwing a party. The church (the organized body) will throw occasional parties that have a simple agenda to build friendships and enjoy life together. Church leadership will often organize these, but anyone can initiate a party at the Community House or somewhere else for the people of OKC Community.  

I want to make sure you understand the significance and purpose of these times together. They aren’t unnecessary “events” – instead they are subtle attempts to reframe the way we understand the Church. The Church isn’t an institution aimed at providing religious goods and services in the form of programs and better systems that you can plug and play in your life. The Church is intended and purposed to be source of community, support, love, and encouragement in your life with Christ. Parties and fun times together clearly can’t stand on their own as a strategy for a church to exist. However, parties can help significantly in bringing life to a city.

What if you threw some parties?
We don’t want you throwing keggers or date parties, ha! However, you could throw an occasional party for people in your neighborhood, families from your kids class at school, some people from your work, or even a mix of people from the church.

We need to throw parties. It’s crazy how many of us sit in our wonderful homes and think that our house is our escape from the world. Our homes are brimming with the potential to bring life to our city. I believe our homes are the best place to bring life and love to others. It can be the best place to enjoy life, enjoy relationships, and be the church.

As a part of our “Love Your Neighbor” initiative we’ve created a list of practical suggestions in how to throw a party for your neighbors. Go to Love-Your-Neighbor-Party to learn more.

So, like I said – we like parties. 

EIGHTEEN: Your Neighbors Name Isn't..."Hey maaaannnn..."

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY SEVEN in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

The vast majority of us have little to NO relationship with our neighbors.
Most of them are nameless faces that we know more about their habits of yard care than about who they really are.

We occasionally wave, or we may have had a conversation or two with them, or maybe we’ve even gotten their name at some point, but chances are we’ve forgotten it. Then comes that awkward situation where when you see one another you have to say – “Hey bro! Hey maaannnn… how are you? Hey girl…good to see you! Howdy, neighbor - the yard is looking great!"

I want you to think about your neighbors right now.
I want you to determine how many neighbors do you actually know their name.

Go ahead and think…go up and down your street.
I wonder how many of us are in the 0-2 category? 3-4 category? 5-8 category? More than 8 category? A group in Denver has worked really hard at trying to determine how well people know their neighbors. They’ve found that the vast majority of people know 0-2 of their neighbors names. And only 5% of people know 8 or more names of their neighbors (meaning 8 households).

So the natural question for me is…Why is this?
Is this something that has always been a challenge for people?

Well one challenge that I believe is timeless – that even Jesus spoke to is the natural instinct for most of us is to become very individually focused. We can get caught up with our own lives, our own families, and our own interests and responsibilities and as a result spend little energy on generating new relationships or in real basic terms putting effort into loving others, much less “loving our neighbors.”

So the timeless challenge we face is our natural instinct to be individually focused. But I also think we face some cultural challenges that make loving our literal neighbors more challenging. A few things that have changed in the past 50-60 years that make knowing our neighbors a bit more challenging are:

• Air Conditioning – we spend more time in our homes because it’s more comfortable
• The size of homes – in the past 30 years the average American Home has grown from about 1400 square feet to 2400 square feet – all the while the size of families has shrunk. So we have less people living in larger spaces – causing ourselves to stay more secluded in our miniature castles.
• Technology has changed many things – sources of information and news don’t come from Town Squares and coffee shops, no they come from our iPhones, computers, and televisions all conveniently accessed from within our wifi equipped homes.
• Garage Door Openers – People can literally drive up their homes open their garage doors, pull into the garage, shut the garage, go into the house and never step outside of their home for weeks.
• Busy Lives – today we live at a more hurried pace than possibly any other time in the history of the world, so we simply don’t value knowing our neighbors. We have other responsibilities and relationships that we’ve chosen as the priority.

Simply stated about our neighbors…we act like they just aren’t important enough for us to know them.

Yet, Jesus said this,
“…Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

Loving our neighbor is central to what it means to follow Jesus. There’s no skirting around this command from Jesus. We must do better.

In October of 2013 – OKC Community adopted our first cause as a church. There are so many wonderful causes to adopt and we will get involved in things like: orphan care, clean water, human trafficking, global hunger, etc… But our first cause is: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.

What if we could become the best neighbors that our neighbors have ever had?
What if we started by learning our neighbors names?

Step One: Learn your neighbors names.
(Move from Strangers to Acquaintances)
Step Two: Initiate and allow natural conversations to form.
(Move from Acquaintances to Friendships)

The natural instinct for many Christ followers is to think that this is some strategy to reach people and get people to our church. Sure we always want people to come to know Christ and be involved in a church…but what if this was more out of a natural hope to be the people that Jesus called us to be. People of love. In order to do that, we would simply love our neighbors with no agenda attached and no covert mission hidden in our conversations. We must trust that God will lead the relationship and guide us in our interactions.

Love. Your. Neighbor.
A simple, hopeful, and beautiful way to be human.

EIGHTEEN: Why Non-Denom?

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY SIX in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

It took us a while to make the decision. After extended prayer, research, and much needed counsel we landed the plane – we are a non-denominational church. I recall several years ago when I first started hearing about these churches who classified themselves as non-denominational. My first impression was that these were the rebels, the hippies who were intent to fight the power. My second reaction was that these were the loose cannons; these were the churches that you couldn’t pin their beliefs down or understand if they were more Baptist or Pentecostal; are they more democrat or republican?

Being non-denom is much more common these days and isn’t a big deal to many people, but it still can leave people wondering a bit about what kind of church we are. I want to frame this entry is in a way that helps you understand a little more about who we are. First, we aren’t hanging our hat on our non-denominational status. This isn’t some major identification label for us. In fact, this says very little about us. The term non-denominational isn’t a statement of who we are…although, for some churches it has become a statement of who they aren’t. Let me clear this up in the case of OKC Community Church. Our status as a non-denominational isn’t a statement either way.

Here’s our story. Early on we worked pretty hard at exploring our denominational options and were pretty convinced we would affiliate with a denomination. In fact, we were very close to officially becoming a church affiliated with a particular denomination. However, as the relationship grew it became apparent that it wasn't the direction that God was leading. We discovered that were attempting to make something work that felt more like checking a box than being authentic about what God was doing within our community.

So after much prayer, much wise counsel, and a few “duh” moments we decided that OKC Community would establish relationship, oversight, accountability, resources for our church plant, and a connection to the larger Kingdom work of the Church around the world in some different ways. So we came up with a different plan.

I want to be clear about a few things that have important in our process:

• We decided that this doesn’t mean we get to do whatever we want.
• We learned that being non-denominational actually makes us have to work a little harder on certain things.
• We decided that if we were going to become a non-denominational church – we were going to have do something about it.

So here’s what we’ve done. We've created a plan that takes all things of planing a new church into consideration and we are hopeful this will lead us to be healthy, well led, and connected to other churches beyond ourselves. We have four major areas of consideration.

1. Leadership from Within the Body
   Beyond our pastoral leadership of the church we have organized what we call an “Advisory Team” to serve this church plant in the initial incubation period of this church plant (next 2 years). This team will serve as a source of wisdom, accountability, and will give critical input to the decisions of our church.
2.  Church Partners
   We want to have other churches that we can literally call our friends. Sadly most churches don’t work to hard to be friendly to one another. Churches often feel threatened by one another instead of encouraged. We are working to have several local churches that we can call our friends, and we are specifically hoping to have a couple churches that we would call “Church Partners.” Our Church Partners would be churches that have a vested interest in our church plant being established. They may serve on our Advisory Team or assist us in other ways. We would also do whatever we can to serve and be a blessing to their church.
3. Church Networks & Ministry Friends
   We don’t what to be an island church that is only focused on what we are doing. We want to be connected with other churches and ministries around the country and world that we can learn from, invest in, and have friendship. OKC Community will be a part of Church Networks that we have an affinity to through their mission or relationship. Our ministry friends could include local churches, missions organizations, or other types of ministries that we choose to partner with in order to advance the Kingdom beyond our local church.
4. Long Term Plan
   By the time the 2 year incubation period is over. Our church plant will begin to implement the long-term structure of leadership, oversight, accountability, and church governance. This will include everything from theological boundaries, to the several processes and systems that churches need to have in order to have a healthy process of decision-making, accountability, pastoral leadership, lay leadership, etc.. 

We believe that when we do these things well – we will be able to create a more well conceived and developed church than if we simply checked a box. We certainly don’t believe that denominational affiliation is a bad thing…it’s a great thing for many churches! However, we are so thankful for the path that God is leading our church down.

We are hopeful that God will use this sliver of our identity and journey to help us crystalize our message and practice of the gospel. We are also hopeful that being non-denominational will help us as we try to engage a wide range with people with various backgrounds and theological lenses.

Hopefully this helps you understand how we interpret, claim, and have wrestled with becoming non-denom. 

EIGHTEEN: Our Church Team of Ryan, Jamie, Courtney, Jessica, and Stephen are Doing Some Pretty Amazing Things.

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY FIVE in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

I have the privilege of saying a few things about the people listed in the title of this entry - they would probably rather that I not say anything, but as the one who is writing these entries...well I get to say what I want : ) I actually receive quite a few questions, especially from other church leaders about our team…or as some people would say, our “church staff.” People wonder how we have such a large “staff” for being a new church plant. I actually avoid the term “staff” because I think it infers a few things, most importantly it can infer that they are paid employees. It really is pretty amazing what this group of people are doing…and I want to share some of that with you.

Top From Left: Stephen Thorne, Jamie Stolp, Carrie Stolp, Christie Mannin, Tim Mannin, Ryan Moore. Bottom From Left: Jenny Thorne, Courtney Whittier, Jessica Cox

Ryan Moore, Jamie Stolp, Courtney Whittier, Jessica Cox, and Stephen Thorne have done some pretty extreme things in order to give themselves to planting this church.  For now, for the sake of clarity -- they are not the OKC Community Church “staff” as much as they are the team that God has brought together. Trust me, all of us would love for them to become our staff, but we all knew early on that it would take some sacrificial faith and some “God Has You” sort of decisions in order to be a part of this church.

These five people (plus Carrie, Timothy, and Micah-Anne with Jamie – and Jenny with Stephen) have been incredible. They’ve committed to this church beyond comprehension – they’ve changed their jobs, taken part time jobs, and arranged their lives to come and serve this church with no money on the table and no promise of money. None of us know if or when this church may grow to the point of being large enough to have a church staff --- we want it to, but that’s not why any of them are here. We have a team of people here who believe they’ve been called by God to do this.

I want to tell you a few statements that I will never forget. These statements came during powerful moments with each of them. It was either during or some time after Christie and I poured our guts out to these friends about the church God is calling us to plant. When we shared with them we were simply sharing…not recruiting…and this is response we received in return.

• “So when do we start.” The first response by Ryan Moore after telling him we were going to plant a church.
• “Is it okay if Carrie and I pray about moving our family from South Dakota to OKC to be a part of this church plant.” The shocking question by Jamie Stolp on a routine phone call I had with him when he suggested moving his family to be a part of this church.
• “I know I should probably say I’m gonna pray about this…but I am thinking that I am supposed to be a part of this.” The first thing Courtney said to me after I told her about the church.
• “Okay I’m gonna do it. This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy. I’m going to do it, Oh my gosh I can’t believe It, I’m gonna do it.” Said by Jessica Cox on the idea of being our kids ministry director
• “Hey I think Jenny and I are going to come to your church.” Said by Stephen Thorne over coffee – to which I replied, “Well if you are going to come to our church…you’re gonna lead worship right?” To which he replied, “Well I’d like to, but I didn’t want to say… I want to come to your church and lead worship.” To which, I laughed!

In order for each of them to be a part of this church many left full time ministry jobs, they've had to find new jobs, move where they live, and so much more. They've done all of this with no money on the table and no knowledge if there will ever be. God has amazingly provided each of them jobs and support that have provided the resources and time to do what they feel God has called them to do. It’s not always easy, in fact I know there have been some tough challenges through the transitions, but God is doing deep work within each of them. Most of them have even moved into neighborhoods along NW 23rd street in Oklahoma City. They’ve given their lives to the cause of this church.

 Why do I tell you this…

• So hopefully you know the kind of people that are here.
• So hopefully you are inspired by their example of faith and passion for the church.
• So hopefully, you will encourage them and help them in their journey of faith and ministry.
• So hopefully, you will know we have a team that is serious about what we talk about.
• So hopefully, you will pray for them.

OKC Community is overly blessed by the people who are part of this church (we have a church full of amazing people) – and the very first people who raised their hand and stepped out in faith were these few courageous people.

Anyway, I thought this was pretty amazing and worth sharing with everyone.

One final thought -- this isn’t the purpose of this entry, but If you ever feel led to financially support any of these people please let us know.

EIGHTEEN: The Future of a Building

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY FOUR in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

Possibly the most common question I receive about our church is…”so when do you think, you’ll get a building.” My first reaction is…“well, God has already provided two pretty amazing buildings for our church!”

1. The Civic Center Music Hall
2. The Community House

I never want to brush those things off as minor details. If you think about the incredible “buildings” that God has provided to help start this church with it ought to blow your mind. I’m not sure we could have had a better or more amazing facility for our church plant to begin having church services in than the Hall of Mirrors at the Civic Center Music Hall. What an amazing room for us to call our first home for our worship gatherings. It’s in the heart of the city, an iconic location, immaculate facility, plenty of space, and not to mention we have a friend who runs the Civic Center coffee shop. It’s been perfect.

The Civic Center would be enough, but wait there's more! I don’t know if God could have given us a better gift than the Community House. Our location on 23rd Street has been amazing to be able to create “presence” in the part of OKC that we wanted to sink our roots. God gave us a location that we were able to put our church sign up smack dab in the middle of the area we desired to be. God gave us what we needed, what we could afford, and then exceeded our expectations with it being an incredibly cool spot. It’s been the perfect location for us to have parties, groups, meetings, and to allow our team to be present in the perfect 23rd Street spot. 

Okay…so what’s next? We can’t meet in the Civic Center forever... 
No we can’t. We will meet there for a while, but eventually we will move on to a different building. 

As of now…(Fall 2013)…we are working on the future. We are exploring properties in the area, keeping an ear to the ground, saving as much money as we can, and dreaming big. We are convinced God will continue to do the perfect thing in the perfect time for us

Essentially every option is on the table…

• We could find a new facility to rent.
• We could purchase property to build something new.
• We could purchase property with a building to renovate. 
• We could do something crazy : )

The point is…we are in the prayer mode right now.
We need everyone to pray that the Lord will simply lead and guide us.

We are also in the explore, create, and find mode.
We are constantly exploring options, trying to be creative with options, and searching to find the thing we haven’t thought of yet.

We welcome your help, ideas, and creativity.

My final thought in this building saga is the most essential ingredient to the future of our church. Our church isn’t and can't become about a building. We are the church! The people of God is what makes a church...a church. We cannot pin our hopes on building it so they will come, but instead our hope must remain to be the church the best way we know how as men, women, and children of God. 

When we do that we will be able to trust that God will provide in his perfect time…another perfect place. 

EIGHTEEN: We've Begun by Mostly Focusing on How We Ought to Live

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY THREE in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

So what is the title of this entry all about?

Well, when I was about 22 or 23 years old I went to conference that was supposed to teach me everything about building a large and successful ministry. I showed up with a few others and was overwhelmed by the huge and the creative ideas that we saw. They shared a number of successful ways to gather a crowd of people.

This conference told me all about having city-wide hamburger eating contests, bringing in famous people to your church, having things like a wolf at one of your services, and having massive giveaways and door prizes to hopefully attract a huge crowd. I also saw that providing iPods, computers, and endless video game systems in your church for teenagers to play on would be a great way to attract young people and their families. During one of the messages given at this conference the guy speaking literally repelled on to the stage from the rafters of the church. He literally zoomed in from out of then air, landed on the stage in a flamboyant Bear Grylls type moment complete with background music adding to the dramatic effect. He then proceeded to share with us how to impress a crowd a people when you give a message... I guess I should say, "mission accomplished bro - I'm impressed!"

I get it. It’s all good. I’m not here to trash anyone or anything. Those ideas are simply ways to attract people in in order to share the Word of God with them. It certainly has worked and people have come to know Christ as a result. I’ve done my fair share of this sort of ministry.

Over time I’ve developed the conviction that gathering a crowd isn’t the hardest or most important thing to do in the church. If we can get enough money and we put enough energy into it we can get a crowd of people to show up. If our goal is a crowd – well then as a church we are smart enough, resourced enough and creative enough to do it.  But…it will come at a cost.

What is that cost?

Well besides a lot of mullah. It typically comes at the cost of creating disciples. If the goal is the crowd and the crowd was enticed by flash…well then the crowd will typically want more flash. Then the church is in the ever-present reality of creating more flash in order to maintain and grow the crowd. The justification for this sort of ministry is often the example Jesus…Jesus would attract a crowd by doing miraculous signs and wonders and then he would share the Good News with the crowd. This is the model that many churches believe they are essentially following.

For the record…attracting a crowd by purchasing 5,000 hamburgers for an eating contest isn’t the same as Jesus feeding 5,000. Jesus attracted people with the power of God – our churches have reduced themselves to attracting people with the power of entertainment.

Let me stop deconstructing on that point. Often we deconstruct too much.
Let me construct something different.

What if the primary energy of a church was focused on the transformational power that God can do within each of us in the way we are living our lives day in and day out? OKC Community Church has started this church by spending our primary energy on talking about and painting a picture of how each of ought to live. Instead of most of our energy being spent on creating events, producing programs, or providing consumer type ministries – we are hopeful that we actually will learn what it means to live the gospel.

For many of us our Christian life has been a process of sin management, church attendance, and for those who are extremely committed, the discipline of a quiet time. There is obviously much more to what it means to live the gospel. OKC Community is decreasing the noise and the flash in order to genuinely talk about what it means to follow Christ.

How do we become people who doing things that matter every day?
How do we become the most loving people in our neighborhoods?
How do we become a living sacrifice?
How do we love God and live the Gospel?
How do we BE the Church?
How do we bring life to this city?

 This is where we have focused. This isn’t intended to be an indictment or a slam to anyone. This is statement of clarity about our focus and how God is leading this church.

 Romans 12:1-2 (THE MESSAGE)
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

EIGHTEEN: Who Is Our Target Audience?

Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY TWO in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.

I’ve heard it so many times…”who is the target audience?” This question is used in business, advertising, book publishing, web design, and nearly everything else that involves people buying into what you are doing. One of the most amazing business stories I’ve ever read about is the rise and success of Southwest Airlines. Southwest entered the market of air travel when the likes of American Airlines, United Air, and Continental Airlines had a stranglehold on the industry in the United States. Southwest came in and created a new target audience. They didn’t concern themselves with the “executive platinum” flyers of American Airlines. They weren’t looking to attract flyers going from Los Angeles to New York City – they thought of something different. 

The founders of Southwest believed they could convince people who travel from places like Oklahoma City to Houston to fly instead of drive. By creating convenient and inexpensive regional air options they turned 3-8 hour drives into 1-2 hour flight experiences. Effective regional air travel was essentially created by Southwest Airlines. They made 2-3 day business trips into 1 day trips. Pretty sweet deal…all because they had a new target audience. Their target audience wasn’t people who were already flying...it was people who were driving.

Pretty smart. 
Begs the question…should our church have a target audience?
Maybe as a church we should create some unique niche or go after a particular type of person.

This is what many churches do. I’ve heard all sorts of answers to this target audience question. I’ve heard churches that say they are focused on young families, the next generation, young professionals, the artist community, white collar, blue collar, and even multicultural (yes…it’s possible to try too hard to be multicultural). 

Here’s what I know…birds of a feather flock together. Although I certainly wish our human nature were different and we would seek to be surrounded with a variety of people, I can embrace this so called “law of nature.” It’s common for churches to have the natural tendency to gather people within similar demographics. Even when a church has the best and most inclusive intentions this can happen. 

So what does OKC Community think about all of this? We believe that Jesus came to restore everyone. We believe he came for everyone. Most churches believe this, but what we will intentionally be is a church who does our very best to never target a specific type of person. We hope to grow and learn how to build natural relationships with all sorts of people – and we realize that will take some hard work and deep prayer. 

The diversity of our city ranges widely through the prisms of race, economics, and social groups. We hope over the years our church is a reflection of our city.  We actually hope that our church can trust the gospel enough to allow it to attract and serve the diverse people and needs of this city. This doesn’t happen by accident – we must purpose ourselves and pray often to be this sort of church.

So, I guess it’s fair to say that we don’t have a target audience…unless you count people.

Target audiences make sense in the world of commerce and things like music genres. Southwest Airlines brilliantly chose the right target audience for their business to succeed. Here’s the difference for us…the church is not a business. The church is the Church. Too often the Church falls for the notion that we must adopt successful practices of business aimed at success in the bottom line of dollars. The Church can and should learn from all sorts of things in this world such as, businesses, other religions, social and civic groups, culture, and government, but we must always maintain that our call as the church is for e v e r y o n e. 

Our target and hope is that radical inclusivity becomes part of the OKC Community human nature.

EIGHTEEN: On Sundays We Start Seven Minutes Late on Purpose

Posted By: Tim Mannin 

INTRODUCTION: This is entry one of eighteen in a writing series that we are doing about OKC Community Church. We wanted to write about some of the things that sort of lie underneath the surface of our church. These writings include various thoughts – some things are very minor in the grand scope of things, but seemed important enough to share…and some things are huge and foundational to who we are.

_____________________

ENTRY ONE

It’s sort of funny to watch the habits and rhythms of groups of people. One of our habits has become to officially start our Sunday worship gathering at 10:37. We obviously communicate that we begin at 10:30. We are sure this drives some people crazy. How many times have you heard someone say, “If you are going to say 10:30, you should be a person of your word and begin at 10:30!!”

Why do we do this?
This is a simple answer.

Community. We actually want people to show up at 10:15 or 10:20, in order to have 15 or 20 minutes of conversation with people in the church. However, even if you are a person that habitually shows up at 10:32 for church that starts at 10:30, well you’re still going to get about five minutes to get a few quick fist bumps and hello’s.

This is huge for us. We want to make it difficult for people to come to OKC Community anonymously. This isn’t a gimmick, a growth engine idea, or some bait and switch. This is an authentic and genuine hope for people to feel loved, accepted, and open to receive.

This is what we believe…

• We believe learning names moves people from Strangers to Acquaintances.
• We believe conversations move people from Acquaintances to Friends.

This is why we start 7 minutes late.

And by the way…this is why we have 7 minutes of conversation in middle of our worship gatherings. We make room for relationships. We make room for God to work through conversations.

This is for the purpose of creating a culture of community.

OKC COMMUNITY FALL FESTIVAL

We are very excited about Sunday, October 27th – we are hosting a Fall Festival for the people of our city. We know…every year churches all over the place do these sorts of things. Why are we choosing to put resources and effort into an event that several other churches are doing? Well, simply stated we believe these sort of things work – especially for a new church like us that desires to let the community know we are here and that we’d love to know them.

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We intentionally don’t do many “events” and we aren’t trying doing this one to “lure” people into our church. We are simply using a natural time of the season (Fall & Halloween) to throw a community event for the people of our city.
 
So here are the deets:

WHEN:
 Sunday, October 27th 5-8pm

LOCATION:
 723 NW 23rd Street | 23rd Street Courts |
The grounds surrounding the Community House, Cuppies & Joe & Bubba’s BBQ

WHAT’S HAPPENING:
 Family Fun Activities | Free Food | Festival Games |
Inflatables | Candy | Kids can come dressed in costume & ready for a good time!

So, if you are part of OKC Community Church  – here are a few things for you.
1. Be Involved – we need people to serve throughout the event – contact jamie@okccommunitychurch.com and let him know that you are available to serve.
2. Bring friends, family, and neighbors to enjoy the night with you.

If you aren't a part of OKC Community Church simply come and have some fun with us.
It's going to be a great time!

Living the Gospel

Posted By: Tim Mannin

This summer our church has been learning from the book of John. We’ve been jumping around the gospel account to gain greater perspective about our lives and what it means to Live the Gospel. This statement of living the gospel is a wonderful thought, but a difficult reality. It is even somewhat of a difficult concept to grasp. What does it mean to live the gospel?

In order to understand this, we must first identify our relationship with the gospel. As believers we relate to gospel everyday. The gospel is a story, an event, and a lifestyle. The story is God’s story of redemption in this world. The event is the life and sacrifice of Jesus that we read about in scripture. The lifestyle is how you and I adopt the teachings of Jesus and God’s story as a way of life. 

So what is our relationship to the Gospel as believers?

My belief is that we shrink the gospel – the story, the event, and the lifestyle. Essentially, we make Jesus and the gospel smaller. Making Jesus smaller in our life is more common than we’d ever like to admit. We shrink Him and his significance around every corner…maybe not on purpose or with ill motives. Typically it is things like fear, shame, uncertainty, or a feeling of inadequacy that cause us to shrink Jesus. We don’t necessarily mean to shrink him…but we do. 

In John 18 we read about Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, and his moment of making Jesus smaller. On the night Jesus was arrested, Peter was asked three times if he was one of the disciples of Jesus to which he adamantly answered, “I AM NOT!”  (Read John 13:36-38, 18:15-27).

Peter’s  “I Am Not” moment is a sad reality…it’s a statement many of us have felt…and done.
 • I am not sure I can do this…
 • I am not willing to do that...
 • I am not going to take the risk…
 • I am not willing to be judged…
 • I am not going to sacrifice that….
 • I am not sure I can trust God with this…
 • I am not going to bring my personal faith into a professional environment…
 • I am not going to change...
 • I am not going say anything…

I imagine if Peter had been brought in by the Sanhedrin and was put on trial he would have boldly proclaimed that he was a disciple – he wouldn’t have denied Him.  But in this moment…this denial seemed small…it was no big deal. This moment is a reminder that life is not always on the big stage…it’s easier to try and be perfect when everyone is watching.  Living the Gospel happens in the small moments of everyday life…when most people aren’t watching…maybe it’s just one moment or one person. Living the Gospel is about the moments when not everything is on the line. Peter’s first denial was to a slave girl – maybe he thought…it’s just a slave girl and this won’t matter.

Making the gospel smaller plays out in everyday by the choices we make.

HAVE YOU MADE JESUS SMALLER IN AREAS OF YOUR LIFE?
    In your workplace…
    In your coming and going…

Jesus can’t live on a shelf, in your backpack, or in your purse…you don’t carry him around and then pull him out at the right times. Jesus shouldn’t be a rare sighting in your public life.

Now I’m not saying you should run out on the streets with a bullhorn or wear goofy Christian T-Shirts everyday in order to prove our faith. We don’t need any more – “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirts out there—please, no more “Reece’s” shirts that say Jesus instead of Reece’s. We have to be wise. We have to be courageous. We have to learn to courageously share Jesus and proclaim Him in ways that are natural, attractive, and frequent. 

Too many of us claim that we are waiting for the “right moment.” At the same time, too many of us don’t create the moment…we hope it will fall in our lap someday…but what if it doesn’t? What if the moment is never easy…will we proclaim him by the way we live and by the words we say?

The gospel should not be a quiet matter in your life.

Living the Gospel is a hope for all of us.
To be the church we ought to be.
To be the person we ought to be.

To live the gospel in such as way that we diminish the Peter-like, “I AM NOT” moments of making Jesus smaller in our life to the world around us. The gospel must become bigger!

What is your relationship to the gospel? How big…or how small is it to the world around you?

Click Here to listen to our messages from the teaching series "Living the Gospel" 

Doubt

Posted By: Ryan Moore

I have been wrestling with a thought in my mind over the last few weeks. It has been a struggle to bring it to a tangible understanding so I have decided to help my thoughts along through the process of sharing them with you. The thought that has been birthed in my spirit is; those of us that call ourselves believers will in one moment trust God to faithfully provide in the craziest of circumstances, yet we turn around and doubt him in the next breath.  Why is that? Why do we waiver back and forth from moment to moment? It is as if, in one instance we are standing on the street corner proclaiming His name through a bullhorn and the next we are starring at our utility bill afraid that our power will get shut off. How is it that when we face a trial or difficult circumstance in our life we can at one moment trust Him and in the next moment doubt Him? Perhaps I am the only one that is in this particular lane on the highway of life, and if that’s the case, I am talking to myself. (which happens regularly, so don't feel alarmed)

As I was flipping this two-sided coin in my heart, I chose to look to history for the answer. I’ve fallen asleep watching the History channel a lot lately, in the vain attempt to somehow gain mass quantities of knowledge through osmosis.  (It hasn't worked.... yet). I love history and the process of studying what others did in the midst of extraordinary circumstances. I feel as if our past provides a blueprint for our future. This affinity for history is one of the things that I love about Scripture. The history that is found within its pages is so enveloping. It isn’t difficult to read the Scriptures and see miraculous stories of how God was unwavering and trustworthy to his people, but somehow when I am doubting God, it is hard to connect those 2,000 year old stories with the mountains I feel like I am facing today. Anyone of us can look back to a time in our past, whether it be 5 years ago or 5 minutes ago, when we said these words; “God, where are you!?” 

You only have one story to write and the pen is in your hand

It is easy to see how God worked in the life of the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt, I can see how God worked in the life of Nehemiah as he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but I can’t see God in the story of my life! I can’t open up a book and read the story of my life to find out the ending and if God will come through for me. If it were that easy, I would never doubt. (I hope). Now, I realize we can't read our story before it is finished, but what if I told you that you were writing it? What if I told you that when people look back and read the story of your life, they will read what you wrote today. You only have one story to write and the pen is in your hand.

As I developed this thought more and more I decided to write out the story of my life. (Don’t worry, I won’t include it in this blog, but my hope is that it will be made into a made for TV movie starring Brad Pitt) In order to write this out, I took major life events across a timeline and underneath it I created three categories. On one line I wrote the event or what I was facing, in the middle I wrote how I felt at the time, and on the far right side I wrote how God answered the prayer. It, to this day, has been one of the most humbling moments of my entire life. It was eye-opening to take the time and reflect back over how God answered my prayers, came through for me, and glorified Himself through my life. It was during this reflection that the words of Paul in Romans 5 came to mind. “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” What an incredible answer that God provides for us. We are called to worship in the midst of our trials and doubts. We are called to lift our hands and praise Him even in the very moment we may doubt Him. Because we know that through this perseverance there will be character, and through that character we will find the hope we are so passionately searching for. As I stood back and looked at the timeline of my life and surveyed the faithfulness of God, I felt as if I just came out of the water and took a huge breath of air. It was so refreshing to know that even in the circumstances I now face, God has always been faithful and he won't stop now. 

So my challenge to you today is if you are in the midst of a trial, difficult time, or even doubt, to throw your hands up in worship.

Because through our worship we will have perseverance, through perseverance, character and through character we receive a hope, a peace, and a love in Christ that is greater than anything we have ever experienced…. And of that, I have no doubt.

She Is The Plan

Posted by: Tim Mannin
​Our final post (for now) from our conversation about the Church during the "SHE" teaching series.​

​We are afraid to live the gospel.

Some are ashamed. Some are afraid of looking or being different. Some are fearful of what others will think. Some are afraid that they aren’t ready. Some fear failure. Others are fearful of rejection. And many are fearful of what they don’t know.

FEAR GRIPS US MORE THAN WE WILL EVER ADMIT.
​Fear has singlehandedly limited the power of the Church in my life more than anything else I can think of…I’m afraid all the time. I’m scared of what others will think. I’m afraid of not knowing what to say or do. And fear stops me…all too often.

Fear has created believers who stop short of living the gospel.
​The gospel is the greatest movement the world has ever seen, but in the U.S. we are witnessing the unstoppable movement of the Church being…stopped all the time.

It’s often stopped (at least severely slowed) by fear. Instead of stepping into these courageous moments of our everyday life we place the majority of our energy and trust into two endeavors in life. These two things are the primary pursuit of a vast majority of Americans. 

THE PURSUIT OF SECURITY & COMFORT.
​- Comfort of life. A great house and great vacations and an easy work schedule.
​- And security – assurance that we won’t loose it. Things like retirement, insurance, nest egg, and our savings account.

Nothing inherently wrong with either of these things. But we must admit that nearly everything in life goes into those two endeavors. Accomplish all you can so you can be comfortable and secure. Basically live a safe life. One in which you don’t risk anything and you gain much. Let me ask you something…is God’s purpose our safety, our comfort, or our security? 

One of my favorite writers Erwin McManus says it this way… “Many people say that the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. I’m sure people say this with the best intentions, however I completely disagree. I believe being in the center of God’s will, will be anything but safe. In fact, it may be the most dangerous place you’ll ever be.”

Listen to Paul.
In 2 Corinthians 26 he says, “I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger from false brothers.” 

Now if God is about making us feel safe, why was Paul in constant danger? God is interested in us releasing our grip on comfort and security and becoming followers of Christ that will do something courageous with their life.

We cling to truths that God will bless us, take care of us, protect us, and give us peace. Those are great promises and he will do those things…however, I’m not sure those things were promised in the context of a life gripped by fear and pursuing a life of security and comfort. Am I saying your life will be uncertain, full of risk, and in danger of being hurt? I don’t know what I am saying…I am just looking at scripture and trying my best to interpret who we are supposed to be.

In the beginning days of the church the apostles experienced suffering for the sake of the gospel. In Acts 5 they are arrested, threatened, and flogged for proclaiming the life of Jesus, in verse 41 it says,  “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”  (I recommend you to read all of Acts 5). 

Will we suffer for Christ they way they did?
It’s unlikely. We aren’t going to be flogged for our faith (thank goodness). We probably won’t be thrown in prison (in this country). Every one of these apostles eventually died for their faith in Jesus, except for John who was put in exile on the Island of Patmos. 

We won’t suffer like them.
​But have you ever suffered for Jesus? Has your courage come at a cost to you? They rejoiced in their suffering!!

EVERY MOVEMENT IS FULL OF COURAGE  & EVERY MOVEMENT REQUIRES FORMS OF SUFFERING.
​Today people suffer for the movement of the church. Today people risk their lives for the church. The underground church in China from the 1940’s until the 80’s saw thousands killed or thrown in prison (all the while growing from 2 million to 60 million followers of Christ). Today we have brothers and sisters in Christ in places like Burma, Syria, and Somalia being imprisoned and murdered. 

Sometimes we forget how big of a deal Jesus is.
​Sometimes we allow our life of plenty to rob us of courage…because we can live without it.

This country could use some more courageous Christians.
We may not suffer like some of our brothers and sisters around the world…but if we aren’t willing to suffer through the small moments of fear that put our reputation at risk, or the possibility of failure or rejection…if we aren’t willing to suffer in those moments??

Well, you get the point.

The Church is a powerful movement.
​And she’s been happening for quite some time.
​She’s been knocked down. She’s been criticized. She’s been misunderstood, but somehow she endures. She keeps going. She moves when the powers of this world try and stop her. She has more power when she suffers. When it seems like she’s dying in one area of the world, she explodes in another part of the world.  She is known for her flaws, but the world unknowingly experiences her grace and her love all the time. She has been hated. She has been loved. When done right She’s the best thing going in this world. Governments and empires have fallen, but she keeps going. She’s endured the Crusades, the Dark Ages, and Darwinism.  She leads the way in promoting freedom and love. Darkness has tried to overwhelm her, but the gates of hell will not prevail against her, because no man, no power, can stop what God has started. She is the plan. 

God didn’t leave anyone else in control. Jesus didn’t create a plan B.
​She’s it. You and I are it. 

We 
​are 
​HIS 
​big 
​master 
​plan.

We. Are. The. Plan.
​May we never allow fear to stop…what God has made unstoppable.

She Has Been Deceived

Posted By: Tim Mannin
​some more thoughts from our conversations about the Church in our teaching series called She...

She has been deceived. 
​The church as been lied to. She’s been robbed of life.

John 10:10 says,“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”​

You and I have an enemy in this life that is out to destroy our lives. He is out to deceive us and steal our life right out from under us. The enemy (a.k.a. the devil, Satan, Lucifer, and the evil one) he hates you. As real as there is a God in heaven who loves you without end, there is an enemy in hell that hates everything about you and is purposed to destroy your life ONE SMALL DECEPTION AT A TIME.
​
​But Jesus has come to snatch life from the jaws of death.

In Revelation, Jesus gave a message to seven churches…called the seven golden lampstands. To one of those churches he gave this message. “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Jesus tells the church of Laodicea…your lukewarm attitude towards me…towards the gospel…makes me sick.

LUKEWARM IS EPIDEMIC.
​We lack passion.
​We lack a life altering conviction for the gospel!

I know this because it’s a battle for me to really be broken…I mean, I care for people who don’t know Christ. Sure, I care - but am I broken for them…do I pray passionately, do I make real effort to change anything? Or is my activity basically all on a treadmill…I work up a sweat but don’t actually get anywhere.

Let me ask you…

• Do you have any stories about seeing the Kingdom advanced through your life?
• Do you have any stories about God changing you and using you? 
• Do you have any stories about the gospel happening in your life?​

For most of us our stories about God are few and far between, and often it's more about what we observed rather than actually did.

Stories of the gospel are what your life needs and it’s what the thief has robbed the Church of…he’s robbed your life of. How has he deceived us? He’s made the Church in America consumer based, entertainment addicted, gospel deficient, and lukewarm in its approach to the loving Jesus.

• The enemy has given us entertaining church services…why? because we are pacified by them.
• He’s provided religious goods and services through our churches…why? to distract us from the purpose of the church to give life, instead of focusing on on what we receive while attending and consuming.
• He’s provided measures for temporal security…why? to highjack our desperate need to place our trust and faith in him.

The Church has been deceived.
​We have been robbed.

​​But there’s good news.
​Jesus says in verse 20 to the Laodicean church,“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

We often picture Jesus as the one inviting us into a life with him…He is looking to be invited into our life. There are times that we must open the door and let him in. Life to the full is only found in the complete surrender and Lordship of Christ and I promise you it’s going to cost you.  It will cost you the freedom to sit back and watch. It’s going to cost you the comfort of being the recipients of religious goods and services.

It’s time for the Church to abandon entertainment driven agendas and to start creating communities of Christ followers who actually love Jesus more than their church (little c).  We have churches that are supposed to be brimming with life but it’s been stolen and replaced by lukewarm lives.

As people we make up the Church (big C). Our lives and our Church have been deceived. We have settled for a lesser version of living. And here is the sobering reality about life...
​YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE AND NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT BUT YOU.

We must do something. But what?

• Decide that you aren’t going to be deceived any longer.
• HE STANDS AND KNOCKS… invite Jesus in more than you ever have… invite him into your every day, going to work, living in your neighborhood…every day life…and allow Him to be in control.
• Don’t treat the Church as a “place” you go and receive…instead see the Church as a part of your every day life.
• Join with others in your local church (little C) to be a beacon light and a bringer of life to the world around you.
• Have stories to tell about gospel movement through your life. Do this by committing to the gospel like never before.

She is tired of the lie that she's being fed.​
​She's ready for a new day.

She Is Misunderstood

Posted By: Tim Mannin
​​some thoughts from our conversations about the Church in our teaching series called She...because the Church is a she.​
​

​Do you ever feel misunderstood?
​Sure, there are times we all feel misunderstood, misinterpreted, and even misrepresented by others.

If there’s anything in the U.S. that is misunderstood it is the Church.
​Today’s postmodern culture is deriving it’s understanding of the church by what they see and hear…their personal experiences. Unfortunately, the loudest voice in the room about the Church in U.S. is portrayed on television. Things like: fallen celebrity pastors, Catholic priests who molest children, politically driven religious agendas, and the craziness from Westboro Baptist are the things that capture the media’s attention. 

In addition to the flaws associated with the Church she is also largely known for what she stands against when it comes to policy, social responsibility, and reputation. This has helped create perceptions about the Church. Well over 70% of 18-30 year old’s identify the Church as judgmental, hypocritical, too political, out of touch with reality, and boring.  In one study only 16% of people said they felt like Christians consistently showed love to others. What??? Meaning that 84% of people believe that Christians don’t show love consistently!?  We want to scoff at such things, but it’s easy to see that the church in today’s culture has a very mixed view (to say the least). The church in today’s culture for many people is largely irrelevant – considered by many as nothing but a nuisance. 

SHE IS MISUNDERSTOOD.
​AND, I BELIEVE IT’S MOSTLY OUR FAULT.

It’s like this…the Church is a pineapple.

For me the pineapple has no competitors in the world of fruit. Every time I eat a fresh pineapple an explosion of flavor happens. I am surprised—it’s like a partaaay in my mouth. I really do have this unexpected experience that ends with me wondering why I don’t eat more pineapple. 

Beyond the taste of the pineapple the fruit carries some interesting traits that are worth mentioning for our conversation. Imagine never tasting a pineapple before and when you initially encounter the fruit you are immediately struck by the shape and texture of the outside of the pineapple. When a pineapple is ripe it grows a hard outer rind that is almost armor like. It is then covered in prickly spikes to fend off birds and other animals. If you were ignorant of what was inside the pineapple it may not seem worth the effort. It’s intriguing, but it sends the message to stay away. 

According to the perceptions by today’s generation the pineapple is an accurate depiction of the Church. Generically speaking the Church has formed a hard outer surface. For many she represents and institution that has dug it heels in on issues that condemn and isolate people. Christians have earned the reputation of being ‘holier than thou’ and judgmental – the perception is a hardened group of people that are close-minded. 

Not only has the perception of the Church become a hardened group of people, but many believe she has grown sharp edges that that are aimed at fending off anyone that may happen to disagree. The Church has the reputation of being people who are not accepting, not loving, hypocritical, and judgmental.
​
​The message has been sent – STAY AWAY! ​Thankfully, this is not all that the church has to offer. We must learn to skin the pineapple. We must peel back the negative perceptions that have been formed and let them taste the heart of the church. If people can taste what She was created for – our spiritual fruit – it would transform the way people would experience the Church. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” 

What are we letting our culture experience?
​Our religious rants? Our separatist attitudes? Our judgmental opinions? Is that what they are tasting…the hardened surface of the pineapple? 

Maybe you’d say…”not me…that’s just the stuff they see on TV.”
Fine you aren’t the one ranting…but what are you doing to reframe the misunderstood nature of today’s Church?

The overwhelming truth that we must wrestle with is this -- in our everyday, going to work, living in our neighborhood, life – WE AREN’T TERRIBLY DIFFERENT THAN ANYONE ELSE. 

What are we doing to stand out in this world and live the gospel in such a way that people can taste and see the Lord is good?

We must do better.
​It's time that we let the world know what we stand for rather than the world only hearing what we stand against.

So we must be better. ​The problem is many define better differently.
​Some think that means better buildings. Better programs. Better outreach. Better sermons. Better organization. Better leadership. Better offerings. Better videos. Better coffee bars.

So...what is better?

I’ll say this…the Church shouldn’t get the leftovers in your life.
​Meaning, whatever effort or energy you have to spare isn’t what the church should get.

Obviously as a pastor I would say this right? Sure, it seems like I’d love for the best hours of everyone’s day to be spent on serving at the church. Remember we aren’t talking about OKC Community Church or any other local body…this is about being The Church…and being the Church happens every moment of everyday.

So YES, we are supposed to do Church better. 
And yes…the church should be intertwined in the best hours of your day!

Be the most loving person in your neighborhood…start by learning their names.
​Be the most loving person at your workplace…start by asking people about their story.
​Be the most loving person at your school…start by finding ways to serve people.
​Be the most loving person in your family...start by saying unusually kind words.​
​Be the most loving person at your bank, kids school, supermarket, and doctor’s office.

​What if the world knew us by our love (John 13:34-35) instead of by our flaws, boycotts, political preferences, and lame t-shirts?

She is misunderstood.
​May we change the way our world experiences the Church by living the gospel in such a way that they may taste and see how good He is.

She Is Everywhere

​Message excerpt from April 7…our teaching series about the church.

Ephesians 5:25-27
​25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

The church is the bride of Christ. 
​In a marriage, the bride and the groom are one…we belong to Jesus and He belongs to us. 

WHERE JESUS GOES AND IS…that’s where the BRIDE GOES…the church goes with him.

This begs the question, where is Jesus and where does he go?
​I think we agree…he is and goes everywhere.
​Soooo, where should the church go and be…you got it…everywhere!  

Think of it this way… If I placed a wall up in my marriage where on one side of the wall I had my family, my marriage, maybe even most of my friends, and a lot of my activities, but on the other side of the wall…I placed a number of relationships that my wife, Christie didn’t know about. Let’s just say that I placed some activities that I enjoy, such as season tickets to the  OKC Thunder, but instead of 2 tickets, I only purchased one…for me…awkward. Maybe on this side of the wall I put other things I enjoy like traveling and eating at wonderful restaurants – so it would be no big deal for me to travel without my wife to New York City to eat at Tavern on the Green.

That would be weird right? Like stupid weird. That would be living with 2 separate worlds (sadly the reality of some marriages). In marriage the bride and the groom are one…we go together!

This conversation about the church starts here….
​Where Jesus is and goes…the CHURCH is and goes. 
​The church isn’t a building, an institution, or a press release statement about our stance on some policy.

THE CHURCH IS YOU!
​The world must experience this.  The church has been walled in.  Society identifies the church as a building on a city block. 

The church IS everywhere!
​This means that we carry the GOSPEL everywhere – through every DOOR. No walls should divide the church from the real world.

Every real world door needs you to carry Jesus, who loves all things – right into the middle of the room. BUT, here’s the problem we have divided things into sacred/ secular, or spiritual/ non-spritual, or clean and unclean. On the clean side of the wall we have things like the Church, K-Love, Chick-fil-a, our personal time with God, and our prayers On the secular side of the wall we have things like: jobs, movies, school, entertainment, sports, & nearly everything else in life.

In all seriousness, the spiritual side of the wall -- the Church, Jesus, our devotional life, and the Scriptures – they rarely intersect our jobs, our relationships, sports teams, school days, neighborhoods, and everyday life.

We don’t fully know what it means to be everywhere. 

We are comfortable and fine with the church being a building and place that we enter ourselves. Sure, anyone is welcome, but the idea of the church being everywhere is not practiced. 

The truth is we intersect people all the time, but we don’t do a great job of carrying the gospel.

I’m not talking about Jesus existing in your head and heart -- meaning he goes with you everywhere. I’m talking about Jesus and the Church being spoken in WORD and DEED – everywhere.

So why does this matter – because, we all agree, the Gospel matters. 
​Because the church can no longer be marginalized in our life.
​Because the church can no longer be marginalized by the society at large.

The church can’t be pushed to the edges any longer.
​The bride goes where the groom goes.
​She Is Everywhere.
​

​

The Greatest Act Of Love The World Has Ever Seen

Posted By Ryan Moore

A few nights ago I came home from a long day at work and collapsed onto the couch. I was really looking forward to a few hours of rest and mindless channel surfing. I sat down to drift away into another episode of Sportscenter, but was enticed instead to watch a documentary on crucifixion. What I didn’t realize is that this documentary, and the events that were about to unfold would not be my average night on the couch. What was about to take place would shape not only my evening, but I feel, the rest of my life and every aspect of my ministry. 

The purpose of this documentary was to walk the viewer through each step in the crucifixion process of ancient Rome. It was said that the Romans obvious goal was to execute people who rebelled against the state, but it wasn’t just about killing them, it was about terrorizing all others who may think of rebelling as well. It was a device they used to not only carry out punishment, but also strike fear into the hearts of any who witnessed its brutality. As one would suspect, much of the focus was on Christ and the details of his crucifixion. He is obviously the most well known case of execution the world has ever seen and having heard the story so many times, it is shamefully easy to allow the gruesome reality of what happened slip away.

Scene by scene, minute by minute, this documentary grew in intensity. Even for TV, this was at times shockingly graphic. There is something indescribably powerful about seeing something as opposed to reading about it. I think we can all agree that reading about someone being crucified is a stomach churning thought, but to see the hammer and nails that would actually be used, puts the thoughts into a new frame of mind. 

As the narrator described the pain that Christ would have experienced just to pull himself up for another breath as he lay spread across two beams of wood, it was simply more than I could handle. I struggled to see the screen as I wiped tears from my eyes. Motionless, I thought about what that would have felt like to have his back ripped open with pieces of metal tied to the end of a whip. I thought about the thorns that pierced his scalp and the blood that ran down into his eyes. I thought about the pain that would have shot through his body as metal spikes were driven through his wrists and feet. I tried my best to understand what he was feeling and somehow make sense of the whole situation in my mind. Sadly, I could not. I could not even begin to experience the pain that he felt on that day. My mind could never come up with an imagination that would scrape the surface of the reality that is dying the death of crucifixion. The suffocation, the broken bones, the nail pierced wrists, the shredded back, and the complete helplessness of being naked and having ones arms spread open and waiting to die, is beyond anything I could ever fathom. 

On top of this horror, there is the ever-present fact that Christ chose this. In Philippians chapter two, Paul states that Jesus chose to give up his seat in Heaven in order to come to earth to suffer and die on a cross for our sins. His love for us was so great, that he willingly chose the cross in order to save us. In the garden when he was being arrested, by simply saying, “I am he,” all the guards were thrown to the ground. He possessed the power to avoid this death, but instead, he humbly allowed these men to take his life. Stepping back to take that all in is overwhelming. What kind of love would ever do that? This is the type of love that is impossible to describe or measure. He gave it all. He was seated at the right hand of the Father, in a place with no tears, no pain, and streets paved with gold. He left his position and power and lowered himself to nothing, so that, he could one day reign with us in Heaven.  His love is what moved him. His love for you and I moved him from a place of comfort to a place of sacrifice. His love for you and I moved him from a throne in heaven to a cross on a hill. His love for you and I is so great that nothing can ever separate us from him. 

Never before has anyone loved so great and paid so much. 

What an opportunity we have this week to reflect back on the greatest act of love in the history of the world. As we approach this symbolic day of Easter, let us do so with a heart of gratitude and thankfulness for a love that isn’t earned, but graciously received. For it was he who first loved us and paid for all we owe. Every ounce of pain was worth it for him. Why, because you were worth it. You. Everything that you are was worth it to him. The thought of being separated from you for eternity was more than he could stand. He chose the cross for you. He chose love in its grandest form. Every drop of blood, every agonizing scream of pain, and every second on that cross… He chose, because you were worth it.