Confession Time: As the snow & ice rained down late Saturday night, I thought: "C'mon, God... why does it have to be this hard?" We were hours away from the launch of our New Brunswick campus and the winter storm swirled outside.
Funny, isn't it? How God sometimes allows the elements to remind us of a very simple truth: When all the planning is said and done, WE HAVE VERY LITTLE CONTROL over life.
Seriously. For weeks & months, our incredible team of Liquid volunteers & leaders have been planning, praying, sweating, and pouring over every detail to make sure all was in place for our LIVE LAUNCH this Sunday, January 11th.
(And it wasn't just New Brunswick-- our Internet Campus was launching too. Our "Geeks-for-God Squad" have been testing, testing, and re-testing for weeks!)
So on Saturday-- mere hours before all went "LIVE"-- the Storm hit. Snow. Ice. Freezing Rain.
Man makes his plans... God laughs.
Here's my suspicion: I think God does this intentionally. Not to
tease or frustrate us. But to remind us of a simple truth: that when all is
said & done, HE ALONE is in control. (When you're knee-deep in
details-- from a project at work to planning a wedding-- the subtle
temptation is to believe YOU can "cover all the bases" to ensure a
perfect outcome).
• I prayed for sun, of course. But I also went to bed tempering my expectations. Reminding myself that Liquid has been-- and always will be-- a "God thing." Jesus is our Leader, we are His church, and we simply need to get on board with what He's already doing. (I recall hearing somewhere: If God's truly behind something, it will be "unstoppable" regardless of the obstacles ;-)
So I slept peacefully, calmed by God's reminder that even if only a handful of people showed up in New Brunswick, it would be a significant win for the Kingdom.
I lack words for what happened 8 hours later.
They came.
In spite of the snow. In spite of the ice.
In spite of the freezing rain... they came.
And they DID NOT STOP COMING!
All told, 650 men, women, and children PACKED OUT the FIRST-EVER Liquid services at the Hyatt New Brunswick... raising up the name of Jesus and worshiping God together in central Jersey!
650 new faces-- new families, little kids, Rutgers students, street people... they came then...
THEY JUST KEPT COMING!
We actually ran out of parking! (how great a problem is that?!?)
The day was truly overwhelming. The sight of all those people-- people with ETERNAL SOULS-- who were made BY God, and FOR God... coming back to their true identity in Christ. In the middle of the 11 AM service, I had to step away into a men's room stall for a minute to compose myself because of the sheer emotion in the room during worship. The sea of faces, hands raised in worship...
Does it get better than this?
The Kingdom Came.
• Colleen and I were once again A-MAZED by Liquid's army of volunteers. I can't remotely express HOW PROUD I am of our people-- people who TOGETHER will literally do anything short of sin to "take church to the people."
As we toured the LiquidKids level, I teared up again. All those little stools, tables, art supplies... the teachers, leaders, and mentors pouring hours of their lives... all in an effort to serve Jesus by leading the next generation into a relationship with Him.
Understand something: There will be lives FOREVER CHANGED by what happened yesterday in New Brunswick. Changed for eternity. The stakes are that high.
Which is why, I think, God wanted to remind us with the weather:
In the end:
IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM!
• As Colleen & I drove north to Morristown for afternoon services, we had to shield our eyes because the sun was so bright. I laughed. I laughed because as the snow & ice melted in the rearview, I realized God was using the weather to remind us all of a very simple truth:
It really is ALL about HIM! And: He is in TOTAL CONTROL (any control we think we have over life or outcomes is merely an illusion).
And-- when we surrender our hopes to His Lordship; drop the attitude of "We can do this!" for a simpler posture of childlike dependency-- guess what happens?
He opens the floodgates. Surprising us in ways we can't even envision.
Why? Because CHRIST ALONE is "able to do exceedingly more than all we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).
• After greeting all the new peeps in New Brunswick, it was so good to see your familiar faces in Morristown! Here's an encouraging thing: We had almost 1,100 people in Motown; which means that the majority of the 650 in Brunswick were truly NEW PEOPLE (not just transfer growth). Goooooooo, God!
(This month I'll be shuttling back and forth between Motown & NB and am SO EXCITED about what God's going to do at BOTH OUR NEW CAMPUSES in 2009!)
Thanks again to EACH OF YOU who have been praying, serving, giving-- SACRIFICING!-- to fulfill our God-given vision to "take church to the people!"
If I had any lingering doubts of whether God was in the details, they were BLOWN AWAY on Sunday.
• The upshot is that 1,935 SOULS experienced Liquid yesterday amidst the snow and ice!
Our Internet Campus launched under the expert leadership of Pastor Dave, Lauren V, and Matt J... and catch this: our church welcomed online participants from New Zealand, Korea, London, Amsterdam, Mexico, Brazil, Rome, and Hong Kong!
At 11 AM (New York time), our electronic map began "lighting up" as over 200 people logged on for the first time to participate in Sunday's service from around the world. The IC team was giddy (especially since God miraculously overcame a last-minute technical snafu)... and plans are in the works to launch a Saturday night service (EST) which will reach people in Asia on Sunday morning (their time).
Guys, this is just the beginning. The start of Something Big. Can you feel it?
Can you believe we get to be a part of it?!?
I am speechless.
God is not just IN the storm. He IS the storm.
His goodness beyond imagination... His Spirit UNSTOPPABLE!
Especially when it snows.
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