My Favorite Team Ever, Part Two [Todd]

Still talking about our staff team, but I left one Part-Timer out the other day:

Mike Grubbs - Counseling Pastor. Mike is not compensated by the church, but we do subsidize his counseling ministry to make it affordable to nearly everyone. Mike is crazy skilled at penetrating to the heart of issues and struggles and has helped more people get "unstuck" than just about anyone I know. Plus, I am told he has great taste in cigars (I wouldn't know)...

Full-Time Staff

Kathy Risch - The indispensable one. It is RARE for a church our size to have only one administrative staff member, but Kathy does it all. With excellence, patience, kindness, and skill. Check this out: she is going on vacation next week and so to prepare us for that she put together a spreadsheet of what she does, who is filling in for her, contact names and phone numbers and, I think, directions to the Lost Ark.

Mark Gillming - People are shocked to learn that this is Mark's first full time church gig! He has been a traveling musician, ran an insurance agency, and worked part time for churches, but Next Level was his first full time church position. He was NLC's first employee and it is not too much to say that there would not be a Next Level today if not for Mark. He is that central.

Jared Kirk - The guy is a biomedical engineer who gave up a potentially way lucrative career to lead students at Next Level. In addition he is one of central communicators. Smart, thoughtful, great at applying the Gospel to all of life, compassionate, gifted...but with a really bad sense of humor, unfortunately.

Harrison Gillming - You guys can stop asking him about American Idol now. He hates it. The rarest of guys - someone who could be touring as a musician but is passionate about Next Level and leads wisely and well. Great taste in music, always stretching, learning, and growing. HIs one character flaw is an unreasoning and frankly ugly hate for all things Carolina Tar Heels. I keep asking him: "Is it the unbroken record of integrity? The academic excellence? The record of success on the court and field? What is it? Why you gotta hate?" Oh, sorry, I digress.

Next time...Doug and Rob.

My Favorite Team Ever, Part One [Todd]

I spend a lot of time bragging on the people of Next Level Church. With good reason.

They are the most caring, sacrificial, committed people I have ever had the privilege to lead.

I don't spend as much time as I should bragging on our staff team. Need to do more of that. For they are incredible. Let me tell you why...

I'll start today with the part-timers:

PART-TIMERS
Rene' Gillming - Probably shocks you to know that our children's pastor is part-time when there are hundreds and hundreds of kids and dozens of volunteers each weekend! Rene' doesn't work part-time hours, though her compensation is part-time (we operate on a shoestrong around here). She leads her team with excellence, organization, compassion, and an amazingly even temperament.

Robbie McLaughlin - Robbie made his all church teaching debut this past Sunday and he rocked! He is an incredibly gifted teacher, the best senior high youth pastor I have ever seen, a sharp thinker, and a really gifted graphic designer. As a matter of fact, since Robbie does all of our graphics on and off-line he actually more than pays for his part-time compensation. He is an incredibly important part of our Creative Team.

Melissa Jackson - Melissa is even more part time than Robbie, and is the newest addition to our team. She is responsible for two areas that appear to be wildly varying: First Impressions (greeters, hospitality, basically everything you see in the lobby and in the Cafe' on Sunday morning), and the Give:Love Project, the expression of our passion to love and serve our community. Melissa and LD (and their insanely adorable Clare) are just rock solid parts of NLC's foundation. Melissa has an infectious personality combined with real organizational ability and the gift of being able to motivate others while letting them know they are loved.

You gotta know this - none of these three work full time for NLC...and none are paid very much at all. But their contributions to our mission and the Sunday morning experience at NLC is absolutely incredible. I wish you knew them like I did!

Tomorrow...the Full-Timers.

A Path for Growth

Have you ever been to an Ikea?

The whole store is built around a pathway. When you walk in there is really no doubt about which way to go. They take you up the escalators to see all the furniture in action before you are led to the place where you can actually pick out the furniture to buy for yourself. Part of the genius is that they help paint a picture for you of what your house or room could look like if you fully buy in to the ikea plan. So by the time you get to where you can pick out a wine holder, it's not just a wine holder, it is one piece of making your whole home into something amazing.

Well you may not know it when you first walk into the doors, but all of Next Level Church is built around a pathway. The first two steps are just about attending on Sunday morning, but if I can I'd like to suggest you head up the escalator and attend Starting Point at Next Level Church. This is where we paint a picture of what your life could be like when you get involved at Next Level. It's also where you see how all the pieces fit together from Life Groups to the Give Love Project to Personal Bible Study (SOAP). What's that? It would be really helpful if this were all neatly organized into a diagram?

BAM!

Because our hope for you is that you are always moving down a path closer and closer to God, Starting Point on Monday, July 20th is where we lay out the rest of the path for you. Our goal is for every single person at Next Level Church to attend a Starting Point class. It is from 7-8:15pm, dinner is provided, and childcare is free. RSVP kathyrisch@nextlevelchurch.org

Leaps and Bounds at Summer Camp

At Next Level Church we always talk about helping people take their next step in their relationship with God. And we believe this is true from pre-school onward. So every year we take a group of middle school and high school students to summer camp to help them disconnect from their normal routines to focus on God. Along the way they make new friends, form relationships with godly leaders, and learn to live independently, but our primary hope is to connect students with God and His Son Jesus Christ.

And boy did that ever happen. It was fantastic. To all of you who bought coupon books, baked for the cafe, and have given generously to Next Level Church over the past months let me just say thankyou. Your support and prayers are helping to build a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ in our students.
If you are a parent of a middle school or high school student that could not make it to camp this year please allow me to encourage you by saying that it is worth any earthly investment to help your children mature into the kind of adults that will change the face of this world by making God famous.

Orphans vs. Sons and Daughters [Todd]

As promised here is the list of ten characteristics of spiritual orphans, ten characteristics of spiritual sons/daughters, and a three step strategy from moving from an orphan to a son mentality.

As always, any time you guys hear me talking about orphans vs children I owe an incalculable debt to the writing and lectures of the late Dr. Jack MIller.

Ten Characteristics of Spiritual Orphans
1. Anxious over needs – relationships, money, future, health.
2. Lives on a pass/fail basis.
3. Defensive and sensitive to criticism.
4. Needs to be right – will reject relationships when the other person does not agree with me.
5. Tries too hard to please, is always tired.
6. Always points out what is wrong.
7. Compares with others all the time – and is either depressed or prideful as a result.
8. Needs to be in control.
9. Prayer is either nonexistent or dry.
10. Needs to criticize others and gossip to feel OK.

Ten Characteristics of Spiritual Sons and Daughters
1. Trusts God and is increasingly free of worry.
2. Is increasingly free of fear and partners with God rather than trying to impress him or giving up.
3. Open to criticism and freely admits when I am wrong.
4. Takes spiritual risks all the time, especially in the areas of boldness, finances.
5. Can say no or take on a big project without getting burned out.
6. Sees when things are wrong, but focuses on what is right.
7. Confidence that comes from security in Christ.
8. Can let others lead and can accept surprises.
9. Growing in ease and confidence in prayer – it is first, not last resort.
10. Is known for saying I am wrong…only speaks well of others.

Moving from An Orphan Mentality to a Son/Daughter Mentality
1. Do an honest orphan inventory. Where am I adopting an orphan mentality?
2. Have your own personal declaration of independence from an orphan mentality before God and at least one other person (Galatians 4:4-5).
3. Ask daily for the Spirit of his Son (Galatians 4:6) to remind you that you are a son or daughter.

Friday's Promise

[Suggested soundtrack for this post: You and I, by Wilco, off of the album Wilco (the album)]



"For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died." - 1 Thessalonians 4:14



One of the greatest promises and comforts given to those who follow Christ is the prospect of seeing loved ones again who have passed away. And it is no exageration to say that this great hope comes directly from scripture. In 1 Thess. 4:14 we find the most succinct description of what happens.



Jesus died, but he didn't then go to heaven. Instead he came BACK TO LIFE!! He was given a new body superior in every way to the old one. And that was the reason that his disciples could see him again after he died. Because God brought him back from the dead and gave him a new body. It is actually significant that Jesus doesn't ascend to heaven until after he is raised from the dead because Jesus is Lord not just of "the afterlife" but of the whole world here and now!



And the Bible says this is why we have hope to see those who have "fallen asleep in the Lord". Because just as Jesus was given a new body and quite literally came back from the dead, so God will give a new body and bring back from the dead all of those who die in Christ. It is so much more concrete than these strange notions we have developed about white lights and "passing through to the other side." Our ressurection will be just like that of Jesus, the only difference is the timing. So our hope for reunion lies not in "I sure hope I'll see them when I die" but in the historical reality of Jesus ressurection from the dead. Because as it happened to him, so it will happen to all those who follow Jesus.

Ask, Seek, Knock

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8

I love this passage. Talk about a few verses that contain some promises!

Jesus is talking here in one of the most famous passages of the Bible, Matthew 5-7, the sermon on the mount. I would highly recommend that you push PAUSE right now and go read the whole thing. If there is anything that is worth your time...

...

... All done?

Ok, check this out. Jesus is saying some pretty powerful stuff right here. Ask and it will be given to you... does this mean that if we ask for a Ferarri that we are going to get it? Experience shows that this can't be the answer.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened to you.

I think these two ideas capture what Jesus was trying to say. If we seek after God with open eyes and open ears, we are going to find Him. This is a promise.

If you knock on the door, if you ask God to let you in on His way of life, if you ask Him to be in charge of your life, He is not going to keep the door closed. It's always open. This is a promise.

Try thinking about this today. Our God is so full of love, He has a 24/7 open door policy. He wants to fill us with that love if we just ask.

If we seek.

If we knock.

Open doors await...