ARISE January 7, 2024

Intro and Scripture

Isaiah 60:1–4 NIV

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.

Pray.

I do not remember what it feels like to sleep in until waking up naturally. Alarm clock on work days. Children either through baby monitors or slapping me in the face wanting breakfast. The only leniancy that exists is the youngest likes to talk to himself in the crib for 10-15 minutes before he is ticked that noone has come to get him. But for the most part… when the call comes, it is get up. Arise from whatever relaxation you thought you had in that sweet dream of yours and get moving. Why? because they are awake, they will burn the house down or watching something on tv they shouldnt or you name the scenario.

I know I sound bitter about all of that… I will tell my therapist about it. But you get it.

Similarily, the Israelities are being told to get off their bums. To awaken. To move and unlike the parents in my scenario unless they want to meet with CPS, they have a choice to not get up. If they do not then they will miss what is around them. If they miss what is around them, then they miss the glory of God and the invitation to participate in that Glory.

The text:

As we jump in, I want to make something clear, I do not want to carelessly place us in the the blank where Israel is in this text. That is reading us into it. This scripture is a prophetic word that is both about the coming messiah in Jesus of the gospels and it is prophetic word for the future return of Christ. But how prophetic words work means it was both of those things while being relevant to the original audience of Isaiah as well. And a prophetic word for them can frame where we are going as well.

A few observations of the text to frame things for us……

The Israelites are flat on their back

Isaiah 60:1 assumes that Israel is lying down in a drunken stupor.

Now, I do not believe we are flat on our back. Not in the least. When I took this role, I was encouraged by leaders to help us move forward quickly. To not dwell on COVID and the denominational split but we must state something outloud. Just like it is unhealthy for a marriage to not acknowledge a wound… we were wounded.

transitions of pastors, decline, loss of people in the split that we cared for. Transition of staff members. Even further back, a history of senior pastors coming here on the way to retirement or very short tenure, we were not dreaming, we have been just searching for life. Collectively. And let me state this bluntly… a capital campaign and renovation is only a facelift. A cosmetic change. That if God did not stir up a movement of the Spirit then a facelift would be the only thing that it was. I believe the Spirit began to stir and many here over the last several years, a desire for something more. While we are not or probably never were, flat on our backs… we were a prize fighter struggling to get back up.

Picture of a fighter

Evidence of what happened in 2023, as a way of celebrating but also framing this reality.

December of 2022, we began that month in a $350,000 deficit in operating budget. This congregation got off the mat by closing that gap. To close out 2023 we likely finished with 2-3 hundred thousand dollars in abundance.

We have transitioned or hired 8 new staff and clergy and long before that there was a long string of transitions. We are building now for the long term. This staff and clergy are the strongest staff I have worked with and I served at 2 of the strongest churches in the conference before now.

Lay leadership changes. We focused quickly on the deficiency in placing capable leaders where they needed to be. Our governance was a single board with no working committees. Which meant that less than 20 people were involved in the major decisions of this church. Worse than that, less than 20 people were involved in the prayer and discernment in where the church needs to be. In 2023 we made a major change bringing people into working committees and even increasing churchwide participation in important needs.

Next, with the exception of brief seasons, this church has experienced a 15 year trend of decline. Hear me…there has been moments of energy, clarity, vision but for many reasons not a longlasting, expansive, and faithful vision that believes God wants more for us than to be a “successful” church. That trend is coming to an end. This year we have grown in historic ways. Attendance has grown over 30% since the beginning of the year. High marks for Easter and Christmas. 180 new members. New visitors every week. These are not signs of good programs, these are signs of a fresh wind blowing through the congregation.

Testimonies:

Marriages restored

healing from deep addictions

A man receiving communion. Tell the story.

People giving their life to Christ, renouncing sin and darkness, and trusting in the efficacy of Jesus

The calling to ARISE is rooted in the reality that the glory of God is already rising

Can I make you a promise and a challenge today?

Collectively, we will arise. We will move. We will act. We will humbly accept the invitation from the Creator of all things and the king of kings and lord of lords to experience, surrender, and participate in the expansive mission of God

Challenge: Individually, we can miss this. Staff, families, individuals, we can stay on the mat.

ARISE in 2024

So what does that look like for us this year?

The Woodlands Hills Community Church

Discipleship

Student Leadership

The Woodlands Hills Community Church (show graphic)

We are arising in the most obvious way by planting a new church. Friends, not many answer the call to multiply and plant. Did you know that since I was ordained, I was beginning churches and leaders to help me plant? It is hard for comfortable churches to arise in this way. We are and God is moving mightily in the midst of it.

Launching February 18th in Meador elementary

Vision night January 14th

We have a vision for 80 percent of this congregation to be directly involved: finacially, praying, serving in the core team by attending there for a while, and sending people like missionaries to be there permanently.

4,500 rooftops in TWH, 10,000 new homes in the greater area. The harvest is plentiful, the calling is before us. Now we ARISE

Discipleship (show graphic)

LIFE

Living in Community

Investing in Others

Focusing Outward

Encountering God

Stay with Jesus, become like Jesus, do what Jesus did in the world. The calling is not for us to just learn about Jesus and this Christian faith but to get into the game.

Student Leadership Team

SLT is the method which student ministry will utilize to join the mission of FMC of making disciples who make disciples. Those serving on SLT will enter into committed & intentional spiritual discipleship. Spiritual gifts will be identified & developed through training & service. SLT will have opportunities to lead worship, preach, mentor, participate in hospitality, event planning, program planning, & mission service planning.

“If students aren’t leading, they’re leaving”

By focusing on intentional discipleship of the identified leaders, the ministry will be able to multiply itself & utilize a wider ranger of talents, callings, and personalities.

There is urgency because things are so broken….…

There is darkness in the land

Did anyone feel a panic during Covid years. We did. everything was out of our control.

“The gospel of secular salvation promises that you can find meaning by exercising your ultimate freedom and doing exactly what you want whenever you want. Our Western culture has chased this message for years, but Coronavirus is showing that we need a social fabric and structure to live in more than we need ultimate unlimited freedom.” -Mark Sayers

We want the kingdom without the king. that is the promise of secularism.

Closing:

I am grateful that this church is responding to a move of God.

Celebracion ending:

Friends, I want to speak to something directly here. This community has been through conflict and difficulty over the last year. There are no villians or bad guys. There are no winners or losers. There have been people that have been hurt and your pastors have done what we can to reconcile, heal, and walk faithfully with the Lord. I believe in you, I believe in Pastors Frank and Elizabeth, I believe in God working in this community. It is time for us to ARISE together.