Quick thought

Sunday I preached, "Becoming a Messy Church". I was reading Mark Batterson's blog and he was writing about a the A2 Conference he had been at and he said, " It seems like one of the subplots of A2 was a simple reminder that church is messy!" Man that just jumped out of cyberspace and got in my spirit. That's what I've been trying to say for months now...I finally got it when I read it. Church is messy! Jesus' associations in this life were messy! The issues of those who came to Him were messy! It's a natural inclination of everyone to "avoid" messes. We don't like them and we're taught and trained from our childhood that messes are ugly and need to be avoided. Wow, Jesus never learnt this lesson! As I said Sunday, "Jesus welcomed the mess". He didn't avoid or ignore it, he welcomed and invited it. Why did he do this? Because the mess represents people. People are messy and their issues aren't always fun to work with. But then again, neither are mine.

So the thought that dominates my mind is this, "If Jesus were the Lead Pastor of LSC, what would it look like? What would the theme of this church be? What kind of people would fill the auditorium every week that maybe aren't right now?" These are all questions that are stretching my mind and pulling on my spirit.

Here's the thing, you don't have to create a mess, just look around. Talk to anyone long enough and you'll see the signs of a mess. Messy people are everywhere, the work of clean up is unlimited. I told my church Sunday to find a mess and help clean it up!

I want LSC to be a messy church! Bandera needs a messy church!