Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (8.29.13)

This Sunday we finish our series called "Coming Home", and we're going to be focusing on "when we're home but not really home."  So, this message is going to be for those of us that follow Christ, but maybe aren't where we once were or should be in our faith.  Isn't that all of us?  None of us have arrived in faith.  We've all got room to grow.  And don't forget to bring Candy Bars for Archer Teachers this week!  See you there!

"Carry one another's burdens."  

Galatians 6:2

There is power in the Body of Christ.  This past Sunday my oldest son, Morgan, popped his head pretty good in what turned out to be a full-contact game of Red Rover in Kidz Way.  It left him a pretty good knot on his head.  I have four boys, so we live in a house full of scrapes, bumps and bruises, usually inflicted by one brother on another.  We had so many messages, phone calls and e-mails on Sunday and Monday to check on Morgan.  It was just an overwhelming example of the power of the Body of Christ.  Some people say they can be a Christian without church.  You can.  You just can be one very well.  In the Body of Christ, we care for each other, encourage one another, challenge one another, support each other and carry our collective burdens together.  We laugh and cry together.  We celebrate and mourn together.  We are the presence of God in each other's lives.  This bond is even made deeper when we join a small group.  We share our lives together and help each other out.  That is what church is supposed to be about.  A church is people.  It's not a building or an institution.  It's a people who care for, love and support each other.  I can't imagine not having that support.  Don't you want everyone to?  That's why we have a burden to reach people, connect them to Jesus, and welcome them into the Body of Christ.  We all need love, support, and encouragement.  We all need to know we're not at this alone.  Thanks to those of you that checked on Morgan.  He's fine and back to terrorizing his little brothers and scraping more knees.  Be thankful to be part of the Body of Christ, and dig in deeper any way you can.

Flash in the Pan

I, admittedly, didn't watch the VMAs on Sunday night.  I'm pretty much a zombie come Sunday nights, so I probably wouldn't remember it if I did watch it.  After hearing of the uproar, I watched Miley and Robin's forgettable performance.  There's been a million articles written about how tasteless it was, how it had racist undertones, how the reaction (or lack thereof) to Robin Thicke's part in the fiasco proves and underlying sexist attitude.  There have been things said about how we've created this with our child-star culture and over-sexualized media.  I will say that we shouldn't be surprised how far people go when we take away lines of morality.  I'm surprised it's taken us as long as it has.  Of course, I've seen the over-blown articles about how this is proof our country has gone to hell and of the sad state of American culture.  Really?  You didn't have proof before Sunday night?  There really is no such thing as common decency when we've decided that no one has the right to tell someone else what is decent.  So, this is what we get.  I'm cool with that.  I like freedom, and I like to think that if the Church can offer people the love of Jesus in a genuine way, then people who are free to choose another way will choose the irresistible love of Christ.

But, when I watched Miley and Robin, I thought the same thing I thought when I saw that Jacksonville Jaguars new football helmet:  "That won't stick."  (BTW, have you seen those helmets?  They're awful.)  We live in a crazy world of communication, fame and media.  But, being famous is a little about being outrageous these days.  Being popular or famous has become about trending on twitter, getting facebook likes, or being the talk of the morning talk radio and news shows.  That's what sports teams wearing crazy uniforms are all about.  It's what outrageous comments are all about.  It's what twerking in front of America is all about.  But it doesn't last.

In the midst of our shot at fame and popularity, we have forgotten about being classy.  Yet, classy sticks.  Classy becomes president.  Classy gets quoted 50 years from now.  Classy is studied and admired.  Classy makes a difference in the world.  Classy succeeds over the long haul.  My fear is that we've forgotten all about the long haul.  The lure of our twitter culture is that we've become obsessed with blowing up the twitter-verse overnight at the expense of making decisions that are far more classy, get far less pub, but will last a beyond our lifetime.  And I think every industry struggles with this concept now.  Do we do what will get us the most pub right now?  Or, do we do what is classy because it's the right thing to do and the right decision for the long haul?

Everyone's talking about Miley right now, but in 10 years, they won't be, and that's largely her choice.  She and Thicke knew how this would turn out in the media.  They chose to make news, which means they probably won't make history.  I don't know that it's always either/or, but that seems to increasingly be the case.

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (8.22.13)

I hope you're having a fantastic week.  I'm so excited about what's going on and what's ahead at Church of the Way.  One Way Student Ministry was awesome Wednesday night.  Good things are happening there, so get your students involved.  And I'm pumped about some series we've got coming up.  

This Sunday, we're continuing the "Coming Home" series, and I'll be teaching on what it means for those who may have never felt at home with God or in church to come home to Jesus.  We're going to look at one of the more famous stories in the life and ministry of Jesus.  See you there!

Thought for the Week
"Whatever you do, do all for the glory for God."  2 Corinthians 10:31

The last week I've watched a handful of NFL Preseason games.  They're interesting.  They mean absolutely nothing.  The Falcons went 1-3 in the preseason last year and 13-3 in the regular season.  They don't count.  But one of my friends said, "It counts for somebody."  And that's true.  For guys that are trying to make the team, those games are potentially the most important night in their lives.  It's their moment to build a career in something they've worked for and at all their lives.  And they do get the teams ready the big games.  They're practice, and habits are created in those moments.  We tend to think of life in terms of the big moments.  We think about the big decisions.  Where do we go to college or do we go?  what career to choose? Who should we marry?  Should we  have kids or not have kids...and how many?  Do we change careers mid-life?  Should we buy the house?  Should we invest in that fund?  What do we do with mom when she can't take care of herself?  But all of life is a little bit of a preseason game, prepping us for those big moments.  The decisions we make as a teenager build into us the kind of character we'll have and attract a particular kind of spouse.  The people we hang around shape our values and lead us to make decisions about whether we choose career over family.  IT ALL MATTERS.  Every moment.  Every moment has an impact on our lives and our future.  So do it all for the glory of God.  If our little moments, our daily decisions, and our ordinary lives bring glory to God, our big decisions and moments will be sure to follow suit.

In Christ,

Carter 

Sunday Review & Weekly e-News (8.20.13)

Entire Church Group at Church of The Way
Message from: Carter McInnis

Hello Church of the Way!

I hope you've gotten your week off to a great start.  I know many of you are back in the groove with school and off and running for the Fall.  We had an awesome day of worship on Sunday.  Great music and a great spirit.  Four young people were baptized at our Morning Worship Experience, so it as a great day of celebration.  We studied one of Jesus' more famous parables, the story of the lost son.  Traditionally, this has been called the "Prodigal Son" in Luke 15.  Jesus tells this story to challenge our thinking about what God thinks.  Simply, we think we know how God thinks about us and our mistakes.  We think the Father sees our mistakes and is planning payback, when He simply sees the cross and is planning a party.  Jesus' death on the cross means that even our biggest mistakes are forgiven.  No matter how far gone we are or how long we've been away, we're all welcome home.  I hope you never forget that.
Here's a look at what's coming up in the next few weeks: 

• One Way Student Ministry continues on the new night this Wednesday, Aug. 21, at Archer on from 6:30-8:30.  Lots of good food and fun there.  Contact James Savage at james@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.

• Serve Team Sign-ups.  You can still sign up to help serve on one of our Serve Teams.  It's a great way to get to know people and serve God.  You can serve in Hospitality, One Way Students, Kidz Way Children, Welcome Team, Set-Up, A/V, and Administration.  Check it out at churchoftheway.net.  Email Amber Watts at amber@churchoftheway.net if you want to sign-up for a group.

• Coming Home.  The new series continues this week.  This week is a great time to invite people who have had a problem with church and Christianity.

• LIFE Group Sign-ups continue this Sunday.  Every group will be doing a study called "Starting Point" for people at all stages of the journey.  Get connected with a group that fits your schedule or location.  Contact Heather Haynes at heather@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.

• Candy Bars for Archer teachers.  Bring some candy bars on Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 for us to give away to Archer teachers.  We’ll be sticking them in their mailbox the week of Sept. 2.  Contact Amber Watts at amber@churchoftheway.net if you'd like to help deliver them.

• Catalyst Conference.  Interested in going to Catalyst at the Gwinnett Center?  Visit www.catalystconference.com and contact me if you're interested in going.  Tickets are $209 for the 2-day event and it will change your life.  Join our staff for this life-changing Christian Leadership Event.  

Carter

In Christ,

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (8.15.13)

Hello Church of the Way!

I hope you're having a great Thursday and enjoying this cool weather.  Is this really Georgia?  Just a reminder that today is the 15th, and I hope you'll participate in "15 on the 15th".  It's a monthly commitment to take 15 minutes on the 15th of each month to pray for our church and community.  Lift up our students and teachers back in school, pray for our ministry in the community, LIFE Groups starting up and ministries to students and children.

This Sunday, we're continuing the series "Coming Home" in which we're talking about what happens, how we feel and what the answer is when we make a big mistake and feel pretty far away from God.  This Sunday is a great opportunity to invite friends who don't have a church home and may not even be believers.  I think they'll find that a relationship with God might just be 'home.'

Thought for the Week
"Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."  Isaiah 48:10

I'm just about to finish up a book called Sifted.  It's written by a couple of pastors for pastors, especially in difficult seasons, with the message that sometimes God's sifts us to prepare us for the next thing he has in store for us, to make us finer, to make us ready for the next season in life, to make us into his man or woman of God.  It's the message no one wants to hear.  We all want to say, "I'm good, God.  I don't need to be sifted or purified or refined.  Thanks for the offer."  But God has such big plans for us, and we often don't know what they are.  We have no idea the dreams God has for us just around the corner, but he does.  So, sometimes there is a ready-ing period.  God knows who He needs us to be to accomplish all He has planned for us.  The key is to seek to gain understanding, wisdom, and humility in those seasons of refining.  If you are going through a difficult season, or just got out of one, what can you learn from it?  How did God change you through it?  Where might the next step take you?  How did it humble you and cause you to rely more heavily on God?  How will you respond differently in the next period of sifting and refining (because there will be one)?  Remember that God is making you into something, and He's not done with you yet.  If we miss the lessons in the refining, we miss who he's making us to be.  

In Christ,

Carter 

Sunday Review & Weekly e-News

I hope you've had a great Monday and got your week kicked off with some great habits!  That's what we talked about yesterday:  habits.  We all know People Form Habits.  However, often Habits Form People.  The Apostle Paul said in Hebrews 10:24-25 that the habit of worship pokes, prods and encourages us to be who we were created to be -- people full of love and good works.  It's one of those verses that makes you think, "It can't be that simple."  It often is.  We make it complicated, but something happens in our lives when we make God a priority.  I challenged each of us to start this new season of life by making worship a habit.  What if you made worship a priority every Sunday?  I think it would change your Mondays.
Here's a look at what's coming up in the next few weeks:
 

• One Way Student Ministry kicks off on a new night this Wednesday, Aug. 14, at Archer on from 6:30-8:30.  Lots of good food and fun there.  Contact James Savage at james@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.
• Community Fun Day.  Saturday, Aug. 17.  6-8 p.m. at Tribble Mill Park.  The Maple Pavilion.  Bring a picnic for your family and a dessert to share.  Come out for some games and just to hang out.
• Serve Team Sign-ups.  You can still sign up to help serve on one of our Serve Teams.  It's a great way to get to know people and serve God.  You can serve in Hospitality, One Way Students, Kidz Way Children, Welcome Team, Set-Up, A/V, and Administration.  Check it out at churchoftheway.net.  Email Amber Watts at amber@churchoftheway.net if you want to sign-up for a group.
• Coming Home.  The new series continues this week.  It's a great opportunity to invite friends who somehow got a little disconnected from God or church.
• Community Fun Day.  Saturday, Aug. 17.  6-8 p.m. at Tribble Mill Park.  The Maple Pavilion.  Bring a picnic for your family and a dessert to share.  Come out for some games and just to hang out.
• LIFE Group Sign-ups begin This Sunday.  Every group will be doing a study called "Starting Point" for people at all stages of the journey.  Get connected with a group that fits your schedule or location.  Contact Heather Haynes at heather@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.

In Him,

Carter

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (8.9.13)

Hello Church of the Way!

I'm praying for you and friends you're inviting this Sunday to our new series "Coming Home."  I'm so excited about the series.  We'll be dealing with what it means to come home to a relationship with God.  Whether it's been a while since you've been to church, you're trying to get back in the routine, or have never been...God all wants us to come home.  Can't wait to see you there!

Thought for the Week
"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."  Proverbs 18:24

Friday morning, I had the honor of speaking to the entire Student Body at Archer High School, over 2,000 students as part of their beginning of the year rally to strive to reach high and then JUMP even higher.  Their motto is a "High Performance Culture."  It got me to thinking about something that I'm not sure adults think about enough.  When I think "High Performance," I think high performance cars.  And high performance cars need the best fuel available.  We need fuel, too.  One of the most important kinds of fuel with which we fill ourselves is relational fuel -- the people we hang out with.  Motivational Speaker Jim Rohn famously said that you are the average of the five people you hang out with the most.  Simply, we become who we befriend.  Proverbs says that if we surround ourselves with unreliable people, it will ruin us and destroy our lives.  Peer pressure lasts through adult-hood.  Are you surrounding yourself with positive people who stick closer than a brother who push you to be the best you?  Are you hanging out with people that are drawing you closer to Jesus?  Or, are your friends constantly pulling you down, constantly being negative forces in your life and prying you away from Jesus?  Think about it.  Your friends matter.  Choose your friends...choose your future.

See you on Sunday!

Carter

Red Paint

I have a love/hate relationship with red paint.  I love red.  I mean, I really love red.  I've just about always had a red room in my house.  I get it honest:

• My parents high school (Cedartown) red, black and silver.
• I grew up a UGA fan
• The schools I attended from K-12 (Palmetto Primary, Middle and High Schools) were and silver
• The high school all my students attended at the first churches I pastored in Madison and Rutledge, GA (Morgan County) was red and black.
• The high school where our church meets and the cluster my children are a part of (Archer) is red and silver.

Red's just kind of in my blood.  I guess it's in all our blood, technically, but I digress.  Have you ever painted something red?  I'm painting my kitchen red now.  It's awful.  Red paint plays a trick on you because it is so vibrant.  It's such a rich color and shouts at you under the fluorescent lights in the Home Depot section.  So vibrant.  So lively.  So pretty.  It's awful to paint something red.  The paint has so much pigment in it that it takes 4-5 coats.  That's just the way red paint is.  It's so vibrant when finished, but it takes a lot of painstaking time to get all that used to be covered up.

God has a vibrant and bright future planned for you.  It is full and rich and lively.  But you need to know it's going to take several coats to get there.  Sometimes we get frustrated because what used to be there still shows through a little.  The past, the mistakes, that dull color that you used to be.  We want to think one coat will do.  One trip to church.  One quiet time.  One confession.  One Bible Study.  One memory verse.  It usually won't.  The Master Painter is creating you into a vibrant and lively masterpiece, but it's going to take several coats.  Maybe months.  Maybe years.  Maybe decades.  Give God time.  Don't give up because you still look a little streaky.  He's working on you.  Keep going back to the Master Painter so He can put on another coat of grace.  It won't be long and you won't even see what used to be under there. 

Sunday Review & Weekly e-News

Hard to believe its already the second day of school here in Gwinnett County.  I hope you'll join me in prayer for all our students and educators.  This past Sunday we finished the series "Just Like Me" as we talked about the story of the poor widow who gave two small coins and asked, "What if everyone gave just like me?"  In this story, we see that Jesus looks at our hearts.  It's not so much how much as how.  We are not measured by how much we give or have but by how we give with what we have.  I'm excited about how God's people respond in the exciting upcoming season at Church of the Way.

Here's a look at what's happening in the next few weeks:
 

• One Way Student Ministry kicks off on Wednesday nights at Archer on Aug. 14 from 6:30-8:30.  Contact James Savage at james@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.
• Coming Home.  A brand new series begins this week.  It's a great opportunity to invite friends who somehow got a little disconnected from God or church.
• Serve Team Sign-ups.  You can still sign up to help serve on one of our Serve Teams.  It's a great way to get to know people and serve God.  You can serve in Hospitality, One Way Students, Kidz Way Children, Welcome Team, Set-Up, A/V, and Administration.  Check it out at churchoftheway.net.
• Baptism Sunday.  For children, teens and adults.  Whether this is a first time or if you want to celebrate a remembrance of baptism to mark a new beginning in your life, come to the Baptism Class this Sunday, August 11, at 4 p.m. at my home (1280 Bramlett Forest Trail, Lawrenceville, GA 30045).  RSVP and/or request childcare by contacting me.
• Community Fun Day.  Saturday, Aug. 17.  6-8 p.m. at Tribble Mill Park.  The Maple Pavilion.  Bring a picnic for your family and a dessert to share.  Come out for some games and just to hang out.
• LIFE Group Sign-ups begin Aug. 18.  Every group will be doing a study called "Starting Point" for people at all stages of the journey.  Contact Heather Haynes at heather@churchoftheway.net if you have questions.

In Christ,

Carter