Passion, Intention, Sermon-Driven...Life Church

Life Church was the experience that Kyle and I were really waiting for. We went to the Oklahoma City Campus tonight for their 5PM slot. We toured their church yesterday and was able to take it all in and see behind the scenes.

Let me share with you some pictures from it all and then my observations about Life Church...

The picture above is their stage for their current series "Warrior".

This picture above is one of the many wonders awaiting the kids who enter "Toon Town" (Part of the Lifekids Ministry of their church.

Here's Kyle and I onstage next to one of the Warrior guys. (If you're wondering, they are from styrofoam and they had a guy artistically cut them with a chain saw.)

Here is a shot of part of the control room on the main campus that handles everything in full HD and is also their satellite uplink center. (There is a lot of equipment in there that I had no idea what it was...but there was a lot of Mac's in there.) Oh and check this other picture out...

This little device sits on the wall next to the door of the control room. It is a fingerprint scanner and will only unlock the door if your fingerprint is approved! Can you believe that? One more picture and then I'll give you my observations...

Here is a shot of worship live that I took during the 5:00PM service on Saturday night. They rocked the house!

Things that I observed:

*Passion was everywhere. I don't know what it is. But from every staff person to people who were just sitting in front of me in church, even the people that greeted me when I walked in. There was undeniable passion in their eyes. They were excited about their church. They were plugged in at their church. They loved their church.

*This is a sermon-driven church. I cannot effectively communicate to you how many places we simply saw the sermon. They had the image of the sermon on a GIANT poster in the parking lot as we drove in. The volunteers had the image of the sermon on their T-Shirts as they greeted us. The worship bulletin had the image of the sermon on it. Their were banners of the sermon image on various walls as we walked in. And, you've already seen what the inside of the auditorium looked like. The sermon is literally imprinted on you everywhere and every way they can possibly think of. It is a unifying and momentum building thing to see such an emphasis on the sermon.

*This is an intentional church.They wanted to make sure I left with a clear understanding of the message. All obstacles are removed. There was great intentionality in making sure that the message gets received as easily as possible.

Overall, we were blown away. And to be frank, the message was something that rattled my cage spiritually (it was all about sons reconnecting with their fathers). I left very, very affected by what I had seen and heard and experienced.

I cannot be Life Church. The Fort is who we are. I don't want to come home and try to replicate. What I do want to come home with is the passion. The intentionality. I want God to move our people to be more passionately in love with Jesus. I want us to be so in love with God that our noses start to bleed.

We need more passion. I was going to be starting a sermon series on the differences between men and women...not now. That's being shelved for later (maybe never)...we need to get our passion fires lit. God is in the driver's seat for the next sermon series.

I have no idea yet, but I do feel God stirring deeply in my heart...and I love it. I want it. I need it.

I can't be Craig Groeschell. I can only be me. I don't want to copy him. I want his passion though. I want his vision. I want to get a hold of that.