Follow Up

Alright, I was going to post this tomorrow BUT I have time to do the follow up of my last blog now.

I was going to go into a different subject about people looking back in life and holding onto the past. But in this case it is people at my church. So here's the scoop.

Our church when it originally started was A LOT more charismatic...... 100x more. So now a lot of people really miss that and want that back... they are tired of being Lakeshore ReVineyardformed Church. They want to be a Vineyard again to be free.... and I agree... I agree 1000%. I want that so bad... I came to a Vineyard I want a Vineyard church... it has turned very Reformed in the past 2 years but I also have a hard time saying I want it to be like it was 8 years ago. I heard one person say that they "Don't remember the last time they saw a person slain in the spirit". (I do... it was at a Fresh Wind.. which by the way are awesome and need to return). But why do we need people to be "slain in the spirit" to show us that God is moving. I don't think it is bad but it isn't necessary.... I can think of a lot of other things that I would like to see (or that would show God moving) before that. I do want the Holy Spirit released in FULL at our church but is it wise to look back and say "I want that... or we need to have that back again".

For me I guess it depends. There is a reality that we as a church are different then back then... much different. There is also a reality that churches change. Personally... I don't want to go back there... there were also a lot of struggles that we have now bypassed since then. I too want some of what we had "back in the day" but I want it to be different. I want people to be aware that it can look different. That we as a congregation can change and that we don't have to look back to our past and say.... now what did we do then that made the spirit move so well. I fear that people will try and recreate what they experienced in the past... that they will want to live in the past. And I just don't think that works... frankly it doesn't work. It is a whole new leadership. Some things that happen will look similar and some might look totally different. I know Dave and I have a desire also that people will open up more and serve the people around them. I believe if you are fully open to the holy spirit in that you will see God in a powerful why too... and you know what? If each day we loved on people around us and were moving in the Holy Spirit and tuned into the Holy Spirit we would see God moving in an even more powerful manner at church. Can you imagine if everyone in the service was tuning into the Holy Spirit on a day to day basis. That would be crazy awesome.

I guess I am just not a big fan of living and hoping life is the same as it was in the past. As I said earlier it is tempting but in many ways not healthy. We need to live in the reality that we are in now. In the churches case, we just need a NEW refreshing of the Holy Spirit... God will meet us where we are in any way that He sees fit as long as we are open to His leading.

So that is what I think....