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Turn Up The Volume!

In the last 3 weeks I have talked with what feels like a TON of people that are struggling with feeling knocked on their rear, flat out, full on depressed than I think I ever have at Christmas. I’m talking about can’t get out of bed, feeling totally unmotivated, full of worry and stress and fear kind of lose your mind, DEPRESSION.

Everyone knows that Christmas is a time of year when people struggle with depression more than any other. This is not news. But I’ve got a theory that it’s actually something much deeper…

I think it’s maybe more accurate to say that Christmas is a giant emotional amplifier. Whatever is running around in your heart going into the season will be magnified, amplified and super-sized as the month of December marches on.

Mild depression turns severe. Light anxiety turns into full blown worry. Stress turns into panic. Concern turns into worry. Have you ever noticed this? Now, the opposite can also be true – contentment can turn into joy. Being centered in Jesus can lead to peace. Feeling forgiven can lead to incredible acts of grace and mercy. But Christmas often will take whatever is running around in your heart and turn up the volume on it for better or for worse to the point that it can drown out all other noises and voices.

So be mindful and watchful for what direction your heart is headed the next couple weeks. It’s worth listening to whatever the volume is being turned up on – it can tell you a lot about what’s been going on in your heart. And if you find yourself struggling with depression, anxiety, worry or fear, etc. name it! What’s that about? where’s it coming from? Is there something here that I need to surrender to Jesus and that I’m not trusting him with? Listening to what’s loudest in your heart will allow you to more actively mix the sound – turn volumes up and down in your heart – so that the right voices end up being the loudest.

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The Skinny On The NEW Evergreenpinecity.org

Hey Evergreeners!

I thought I’d just take a minute this afternoon to encourage you to check out the NEW Evergreen website at evergreenpinecity.org. Let me highlight some of the changes and upgrades for you as well as say a word about what you can expect to find there as time goes on.

1. SEARCHABILITY: The new site is “Google-able”. What does that mean? It means that our previous website was not visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. When you did a search for us on the web and came up with evergreenpinecity.org, it was likely that you got there through a third party such as this blog, the Pine City Chamber of Commerce, etc. But you would not have come across our actual website in a web-search as one of our old site’s limitations was that it was simply “invisible” to the Googles of the world. In today’s day and age when your church’s website is really your front door and people will check you out online and even “virtually” attend a worship service or take in a message long before they even visit you… That’s a bad deal. This is a huge step forward for us.

2. FUNCTIONALITY: On Evergreen’s new site, all of our audio and video podcasts, as well as our creative videos, are in ONE PLACE and visible either through the Apple iTunes Store, OR directly on the site itself. That means every message, both the audio and the video versions, every creative piece we ever make… They’re all… HERE. Gone are the days of having direct people to re-post your sister’s-cousin’s-uncle’s Facebook page link or search for us through hundreds of thousands of videos on YouTube or Vimeo. Everything is available to be watched, listened to, downloaded, or shared right from our website through a media player that’s elegant, easy to use and state of the art.

Additionally, if you’ve checked out the new site on your web-enabled phone or e-tablet, you’ve already noticed that there is a mobile version of the site that’s easier for your device to utilize and load than our full website.

As time goes on, you’re going to notice an even heavier use of video greetings on this site from myself or other staff members along with pictures, links to blogs, upgrades to how you can donate to the church online, integration with Facebook and Twitter, and even an Evergreen Leadership Podcast. The new site is a whole ‘nutha level of functionality for us, and it’s packed with features that both long-time Evergreeners and potential visitors will really enjoy.

3. PRACTICALITY: Our old website was created, maintained and run through ONE single computer at the church. PAINFUL! The new one can be updated from anywhere through the web. And in a church were our volunteers are spread out over a number of smaller communities, this is a really helpful feature for us!

4. AWESOME-LOOKING…ABILITY: The new site is a much better look for us and more in keeping in what you’d expect to see from a church like Evergreen.

5. BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE MESSAGES ON THE OLD SITE?? Have we lost them all?? Great question – I’m glad you asked! NO, WE HAVEN’T! If you’re interested in sharing or listening to a message from a message series that ran PRIOR to September 2011, check out www.archives.evergreenpinecity.org. Everything we’ve ever posted on the old site is still there.

Happy surfing, Evergreeners! Enjoy the new site – we hope it’s helpful to you as a resource in sharing the message of Jesus with your friends and family. That’s the reason we do EVERYTHING we do!

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4 Things Evergreeners Need To Know!

Hey Evergreen!

We’ve got so much going on in the next number of weeks that I want you to be aware of, but first, let me say a HUGE thank you to everyone that helped to make the series we just wrapped up, Hot Potato, one of our best series EVER in the history of our church!

The KIDS ministry KILLED IT all month long by offering kids programming for both services. Without them doing what they did it would have been difficult for us to talk about the topics we talked about. These were “adult swim” kinds of topics and our Kids Ministry are the ones who really helped us create the environment we needed in the worship center to have the kinds of conversations we did.

The response to Hot Potato has been amazing. In case you missed it, the message on homosexuality alone has already received 90 views on Vimeo and it’s been watched in The United States, Canada, England, Australia and the Russian Federation (btw, you can catch that message HERE). That’s not too shabby for a little church in Pine City, MN!! That’s big time stuff, guys!! I’m so glad that so many of you responded so positively to this series. It was definitely a risk, but one worth taking.

As we move into the month of December there are 4 things I want all Evergreeners to know!

1. WE NEED MORE SPACE AT THE 11AM SERVICE! We’ve reached capacity at our 11AM service and we need some of you to make a commitment to start practicing “MISSIONAL SEATING”. What does that mean? It means we need at least 20 people to make the switch from attending the 11AM service to the 9AM so we can free up more space at our most popular service, creating more room for people far away from God at a time they’re more likely to attend. Seriously, guys, your butt can save the world by sitting in a service 2 hours earlier on Sunday! There is a definite attendance gap between our two services, and that’s something we EXPECT. But to the extent that we can even things out a little bit, we will be able to continue to have room to grow through the holiday season. Would you be willing to be on mission with Jesus by getting you and your family to church a couple hours earlier so someone else can have room to find him as well? Shoot us an email, a Facebook post or a comment on this blog that lets us know that you’re on board with us and that you’ll help us practice missional seating!

2. Evergreen’s Community of Leaders gathering takes place tomorrow, November 29 at 6:30PM. If you’re at all interested in Evergreen, this meeting is FOR YOU. As we always do at COL meetings, we’ll be doing our yay-God’s, developing as leaders and talking about some stuff that we do NOT talk about on the weekends. I would love to see as many people who call Evergreen their home join us for the November edition of COL – I promise you – it’s fun and you’ll leave having spent some awesome time with God and having a better handle on who we are and what we’re all about as a church.

3. A number of you have been asking about Evergreen’s holiday schedule this December. Here’s the skinny: We’ll be holding Christmas services on December 23 & 24 @ 6PM, and we’re doing something a little different this year – we’re asking you to pick up tickets for our special holiday services. WHY TICKETS? Because as we get closer to Christmas, it helps us to have an idea of how to prepare and get ready for the big day(s). For example, if we need to move service times or add a service, it helps us to have a general feel for where people are landing with their holiday worship plans so that we can maximize our space and the opportunity to share Jesus with people this season. SO – STARTING THIS WEEKEND… Please pick up your family’s (free) tickets to the Christmas services on Dec. 23 & 24!! Bringing guests (you SHOULD BE!)? Pick up tickets for them as well! The services are already planned out – and they’re going to be AMAZING! You will not want to miss them – they’re more creative than anything we’ve EVER done!

4. Whoville starts this weekend at Evergreen and this is a series that we want you to be more invitational with than you’ve EVER BEEN! There are people that are willing to check out church at Christmas that aren’t willing to go any other time of year, so be passing out your invitation cards, utilize Facebook by re-posting Evergreen Creative Videos and messages and send out invites to your friends, utilize POST CARDS and send people an invite through the mail – in short, DO EVERYTHING SHORT OF SIN TO GET PEOPLE TO CHURCH THIS DECEMBER AT EVERGREEN! We’ve been thinking and praying about this series for months now, and we’re so excited to dive into it with you. But who are the who’s that are counting on YOU to bring them to church this Christmas?

Even with Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror now, I’m so grateful for each and every one of you and for our church, and I can’t wait to celebrate Christmas like we never have before at Evergreen!

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The 12-Weekend Church Challenge

Beginning with this weekend there are exactly 12-weeks until Christmas day, did you know that?

Now, nobody panic! That the wave of overwhelmed nausia you just felt when I said that? That’s a good thing – that just lets you know you’re alive and aware of your situation!

But what that means for us at Evergreen is that the fall is now in full swing and our ministry is running with the throttle wide open –

• Kids ministry has been busting at the seams the last few weeks, to the point where we are actively considering options for expanding our programming to even out the flow of kids through our doors.

• Our student ministry, Evergreen eXtreme, has been re-launched and we’re very excited about the results so far of that effort – they’re planning a big outreach event for the end of this month and we hope to see this effort expanded even more.

• Our worship services this fall have continued to be packed with as much amazing music, creativity, and solid, relevant teaching as we can fit into them. Restored has been one of my favorite series we’ve ever done @ ECC. I hope it’s made a positive impact on your walk with Jesus.

• We’ve begun video-podcasting the weekly message online, and in just 4 short weeks Evergreen’s messages are being watched by people as far away as the United Kingdom. That blows me away.

As we continue to march through the fall towards Christmas, I want to offer you a challenge –especially if you’re new to church or faith – we’re going to call it the 12-weekend church challenge.

I want you to take the next 12 weeks and… are you ready for this? NOT MISS ONE SINGLE WEEK OF CHURCH. No, I’m not crazy or abusing any substances, and yes, I meant what I said. For the next 12 weeks, I want to urge you to make weekend worship at Evergreen a priority like you never have.

For many who are new to faith, it takes time and serious intentionality to develop the habit of coming to church every week. For others of us, sometimes it just gets a little too casual or easy to let habits slip or take the opportunity to worship together for granted. This fall, I want to see as many Evergreeners as possible kick these habits of heart and mind in the teeth as you develop a consistent discipline of worshipping together.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Too many of us think that going to church 1-2 times a month counts as consistent church attendance. The author of Hebrews says that’s what most people are “…in the habit of doing…” Think for a minute about other things you’re in the habit of doing 1-2 times a month – working out, make a minimum payment on your visa card, etc. – how much progress are you making on your goals with your 1-2 times per month commitment? Probably not as much as you could.

Take the 12-Weekend Church Challenge at Evergreen – you come to church every weekend between now and Christmas, and at the end of it, if you aren’t seeing positive results in your life and the way you live – feel free to drop it like 3rd period French class, ok? Seriously – if you’re not seeing any difference in your life after 12-weeks, go back to your normal routine! How is “NORMAL” working out for you, by the way?

But I happen to know what’s coming up in the next 12 weeks, and if you make a commitment to attending for each of them, I think you’re going to find encouragement, challenge, hope, healing and food for thought like you’ve never experienced. SO –

Instead of thinking, “What will I miss at the the cabin if I stay home for church?” I’d encourage you to consider it the other way around – “What will I miss in church if I head out of town to go to the cabin?” What will my kids miss? My family miss? My marriage and my friends that I’m trying to reach?

This weekend we’re wrapping up our fall launch series, “Restored,” with a message titled, “Drivin’ With The Top Down” – you don’t want to miss it! The band is singing Rolling Stones, the creative pieces will make you both laugh AND cry, and we’re going to learn how to make the commitment to living a restored life.

Next week we’re going to kick off a 3-week series called, “You’re Not The Boss Of Me” – it’s going to deal with authority issues and it’s going to be awesome. In November we’ll be in a series called, “Hot Potato” where we’re going to take 4 weeks and talk about 4 topics we’ve been told for too long you can’t talk about in church – let the gasping begin now! And then in December we’ll transform the church into a Dr. Seuss wonderland with a message series called, “Whoville: The What’s What about the Who’s Who.”

Does any of this sound like it’s worth skipping out on for even 1 weekend?? I’m telling you –take the 12-weekend church challenge! You will NOT regret it!

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Worshipping With Simon Cowell

So last night I watched a new TV show on FOX called “The X Factor”. Simon Cowell of American Idol fame is back on TV with a NEW (mostly) panel of judges in a NEW singing competition show that’s like American Idol on steroids – it’s bigger, badder, bolder and wider reaching.

Now, whether you like Simon Cowell or not (personally I think he’s hilarious), he’s widely regarded in the music industry as one of THE best talent scouts in the world. He has a knack for finding people with high ceilings of potential and through a process of brutally honest feedback he helps them become the best they can be. He pushes people, he prods them; he’ll tell them EXACTLY what he thought of their performance. And though some people think him cruel, the truth is that all he’s doing is saying what most of us at home were already thinking – That REALLY DID just sound like 9 cats being thrown under a bus! This guy REALLY DID make me wish I had lost my hearing as a child! That woman REALLY DID sound like she was singing karaoke on a Carnival Cruise Ship! He just had the guts to say it, that’s all!

One of the things I noticed about Simon Cowell in his feedback to contestants on The X Factor last night was that it wasn’t that he was even JUST judging people’s singing. He was constantly making comments about people’s energy. Their dynamic. Their mood. He would tell someone they had a great voice, but they just didn’t seem to believe anything they were singing – because if they did, they would have brought more enthusiasm, more umph, more guts and gusto to their performance. Instead, some people get on stage and get all nervous and awkward about it and they end up looking like they’re just going through the motions as they’re singing their song. They’re well intentioned! But they don’t seem to believe it. Simon calls people on that… And I LOVE IT!

So as I’m watching The X Factor unfold, I had this thought… What if Simon Cowell was the judge of the way you or I worship every week? And not just with the music, either – this isn’t just a musical question because worship isn’t just about music – it’s about the message, it’s about the prayers, it’s about giving our offerings and tithes – there’s more to worship than just the music. But wouldn’t that FREAK YOU OUT? You’d get to church and think, “Oh my gosh! How I worship God is actually being WATCHED by someone who has a CRITICAL EYE – who knows the difference between what’s good and bad – who might have a few very HONEST things to say about how I’m worshipping today!”

If Simon Cowell were listening to or watching your worship of God… you might do a few things differently, wouldn’t you? Some people might just shut down altogether and find another church to attend because Heaven forbid that there be expectations around the heart, energy, focus and effort with which we bring our worship to God. YIKES!

But for others, if you knew someone was watching your worship with a critical eye or listening with a discerning ear… You might worship with a little more passion. You might bring a little more energy. You might focus a little more on God and a little less on yourself. You might engage with a little more priority – like it really is a big deal and when you worship there really is a lot at stake.

What if I told you that there is someone present in every church who does watch and listen to your worship with a discerning ear and a watchful eye? Someone who is very MUCH aware of the energy and focus you’re bringing or not bringing. His name is Jesus.

In Isaiah 29:13, the bible says this about the way people were worshipping God: “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. “

Do you know what that means? It means that when it comes to worship, God is watching. He’s listening. He knows when we’re mailing it in and not engaged. So often we think of the pastor or the band as the ones performing and all the people in the pews are the audience. Can I share something with you? That’s jacked up! God is the audience, the people are the performers – and He knows the good stuff from the bad stuff!

So how do you get better as a worshipper? Ask yourself the Simon Cowell questions! Do you worship like you really believe this stuff? Are you bringing your energy? Are you bringing focus, or are you distracted by shiny things? Are you singing, are you learning, are you praying, are you really engaging God, or do you approach it like the people on the platform are the performers and you are the audience?

We do this for an audience of ONE. And He’s full of grace and mercy – he doesn’t care if you’re off pitch, can’t carry a tune, etc. This isn’t a singing competition (thank GOD!). God knows you and LOVES YOU SO MUCH! He just wants to see you taking this seriously! Part of our loving Him back is bringing our energy and focus to His House when we go…

And speaking of how often you go, another great Simon Cowell question is this: Are you willing to get consistent? Simon is always asking questions like that – “Are you willing to work at it? How open are you to trying to improve? Do you think you can do this consistently?”

In church terms, the way to say that might be: Are you developing any consistency to your worship, or are you one of these people that think that you can go to church 1-2 times per month and your heart will naturally grow closer to God? “I can worship God anywhere!” Really? Is the reason you missed church last weekend because you were so consumed with worship and enraptured by God’s presence somewhere else?

The church of Jesus – people who have been redeemed, bought with a price, forgiven, covered, and SET FREE ought to never be people who go to church and go through the motions. Every opportunity to engage in corporate worship is a chance to throw a party and celebrate God! We should never be paying it lip service and be unengaged with our hearts.

So next weekend, church… I dare you to bring The X Factor to your worship of God – with your energy, your focus, your single-mindedness in following and worshipping Him for what He’s done for you. Sing with all your heart. Take notes on the message like your life might depend on it. Pray along with every word of every prayer. Give – even TITHE and worship God by making your wallet bend a knee – and then practice making this a consistent part of your life.

Are you willing to do it? Do you worship like you believe that He is who He says He is? Ask God for His help – His coaching! He’s called us a royal priesthood; a city on a hill that cannot be hidden – Let’s worship Him like it matters! When we do, it gets infectious, and the prize that’s won is more and more people getting drawn into the presence of a holy, loving, and awesome God.

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Video Podcastng Begins

This past weekend at Evergreen, we began video podcasting the message portion of our worship experiences, and I want to tell you something about this right up front… We’re very new at this. This is like a big experiment for us, so please be patient with us while we work out the kinks in video quality or camera work. We didn’t know how people would respond to the video of the message being available in addition to the audio, so we went into this weekend with few expectations and knowing that we have a lot to learn.

However, as of this writing, our first video-message has already been viewed over 30 times in places as far away as Alaska and the United Kingdom! I’m so excited about the potential of this new ministry media at Evergreen and I hope you continue to dial in from wherever you may be watching. We’ll get better at this every week, I promise. Thank you to everyone that’s been watching, and I pray these messages are a blessing to you.