About a year ago I wrote a blog post about this topic which you can read here: Are We Moving Into Another Building? We have now put a search for a building on "active" mode. But what are we looking for? In many ways, we still have a lot to figure out. About a month ago Stan Nancy Miszczenski visited a new church plant that was launching out of a leased retail space. It...

I have been finding myself feeling lonely and sad lately. I have been feeling like someone or something has been missing. I'm looking around and my family is there and friends are there. So, I'm asking myself, "What is your problem?" "Why are you so sad?" "Why are you feeling lonely?" Then it dawned on meI was sad because I was missing God I pray every day, but the chaos,...

When my daughter Kayla was a baby, we had a certain kind of organization to the schedule: when she napped, when she got fed, who was home with her when, how to get Jess naps, etc. But as Kayla grew and began crawling and eating food, the organization changed. Gates needed to be put up near the stairs, food needed to be blended. Now we have three kids at various stages ...

When I first got into church-planting back in 2009, there was a lot of talk, trainings, and workshops centered around how Sunday morning gatherings had been too overly-emphasized in past decades. I was taught and reminded of the other important vehicles for community and discipleshi So when we started True Life, I talked about Sunday mornings sort of in the negative: "o...

Two weeks ago - in Easter - part 2 -- I briefly mentioned the 3 P's of Mission. 3 Aspects of Mission that we as a church and each of us individually should be engaged in. CAN be engaged in. Here they are spelled out in a bit more detail: PRESENCEThis is about simply BEING the presence of Jesus, letting the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit ooze out of us onto those around ...

This past Sunday was "In the Beginning - Part 2: Our Purpose." Usually while preaching I end up leaving out some of my notes and expounding on something else. Most of the time, it's because the notes I left out just would not be helpful. But with this past Sunday's message, I feel it might be helpful to follow-up with a blog and include some of the things left out, mainly...

Below is an email sent to Pastor Chris by Liz Mack this past week. _______________ Hi Pastor Chris! I just wanted to share something with you Yesterday during church you were talking about the fact that one of us may be the person that God wants to use in response of someone somewhere praying. You happened to mention my name, I was paying attention lol. Anyway at the ver...

The following is an excerpt from a book I'm reading called "Winning on Purpose" by John Edmund Kaiser. I thought it went along well with the thrust of our sermon from this past Sunday (Resurrection - Part 2: Power to Go). _______ The first question for any band of believers who cares about their collective destiny is this: Why does our congregation exist? Before we look ...

September 18, 2012 Up until recently, predestination was the biggest hot-button topic amidst church groups that I've been around. But now - alcohol at church functions has taken over. And I'm glad it has. I'm thankful that at such an early point in the life of True Life Church people have raised questions and voiced concerns about alcohol being allowed at church function...

Since True Life launched in March of 2013, bagels and coffee has been a staple of our Sunday gathering. We have a whole team devoted to making sure we have it. But I think it's easy to take the bagels and coffee for granted. I think it's easy to treat them as common-place. As mere niceities. Or even worse, I think it's easy for them to become distractions to worship (an...