Thanksgiving at St. Luke's Lubbock

In church today, I would hazard to say that we had one of the best worship services of all time at St. Luke's Lubbock. I personally know many people who read my blog that have nothing to do with St. Luke's, so I just ask that you humor me by reading on.

I am so glad you are asking why and how it was so great. First, the Holy Spirit was noticeably present. I think that today, everyone in leadership, stepped out and operated exactly how God called them. Our Family Ministries Team coordinated and served the best Thanksgiving meal we have ever eaten at St. Luke's thanks to Chef Alfonzo Duvall and his family and the team of servants around him. Today was the first time in decades that the entire congregation could eat and fellowship together in one setting at the same time thanks to our new facility at St. Luke's Southwest.

Now, I am sure most people think worship leaders (preachers, musicians, vocalist, media operators, etc) offer their best every week. Well, yes and no. I hope we do what we are called upon by our Lord, but I would bet that most of us try to operate beyond ourselves. That is a totally different blog which I will take up later. Today, the choir was the choir of all choirs and offered outstanding music directed by Dr. Andy Coward. The orchestra brought forth music in a way that stirred the hearts of hundreds of people.

A wonderful and humble servant of Christ from our congregation stepped up to led the offertory prayer and admittedly threw his notes out and let the Holy Spirit lead him. AWESOME!

The pastors offered their best, operating in their own style: Rev. Don Kinder led a great time of prayerful sharing and offered a magnificent prayer on behalf of the people. (A prayer request for healing of a person in another town even began to be answered before we ever left the building.) Dr. Will Cotton and I teamed up on a sermon and he offered one of the best messages I have ever heard from him and topped it off with a brief choral arrangement to bring it together and transition to the second part of the sermon. I offered the second half in my style, using props to drive the point home: Thankfulness to God is salvation.

Then there was the praise team. I have been praying for new, gifted people to come out of the congregation to participate. That happened today! Even a 14 year old stepped up to sing and was wonderful. Our Youth director played in on the guitar and our regular bass player was just beaming. Two guests played the keyboard and backed up vocals. Our devoted vocalist, Michelle was eagerly there as well. Top all that off with a drummer who had never played with the team before but agreed to play in at the last minute and was outstanding! Then there was the praise leader, Robert Baldree.

Now, I don't want to give Robert a big head or anything and this is not to place him on a pedestal, but let me tell you about Robert Baldree: 12 months ago, his family was falling apart and they were not even going to church. 11 months ago they found St. Luke's Lubbock. 2 months ago, he found a new peace in his life after giving a testimony about how forgiveness had meant so much to him after the murder of his twin brother. Five weeks ago I asked him to consider being a part of the praise team playing drums and/or guitar. Two weeks ago I told him that I wanted him to prayerfully consider stepping up to sing. The man has not offered his musical talents to anyone in over 14 years. Today, not only did he sing, but he led praise and worship in the most wonderful way. There was the largest praise team we have ever assembled and an entire choir along side of them and the blessings flowed. So did the tears by the way.

I have never received so many text messages, e-mails, phone calls and personal words of affirmation about anything we have ever offered on Sunday morning as I have today. This is a pure testimony to the work God can do through us all when we willingly offer ourselves to Him as servants, ready and willing to do as he asks us to do.

All thanks and praise be given to our great and wonderful God.

Today I witnessed the moving of a mountain - even if is was just a few rocks at a time!
Pastor Matt

Giving or Griping

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. - Luke 12:48
New International VersionBiblicaCopyright © 1973, 1978, 1984
http://www.Biblica.com/bible/verse/?q=Luke12:48&niv=yes


I have been listening to the masses discuss their own perceptions of "giving" as we enter the "season of giving" related to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The problem with giving, is that society has transformed such a wonderful opportunity to add the love of Christ to other lives into a wrong perception that it is not sharing ourselves but rather detracting from ourselves. We see giving as "taking away" not "adding to."

For most of us, the fear of loss is a stronger motivator than the attraction of gain. For example: When it comes to undertaking exercise, the fear of “losing” time, experiencing initial low self-efficacy and dreading physical effort and discomfort may all weigh heavier than the perspective of feeling better, losing weight, and enjoying increased energy. That’s why mustering the motivation to regularly put on one’s sneakers seems an insurmountable challenge for so many.

Parallel to this thinking is that giving requires some thought on our part. Unless you have financial abundance, you might have to figure out where you are going to cut back in order to give: "If I don't eat out 5 times in December, then I have $50 to give." Maybe you have to get up at 5am on Black Friday to shop the sales in order to have some extra cash left over to send to your church or local food bank. Maybe you have to decide if you take a vacation day to deliver a Thanksgiving meal or Christmas gift to a home-bound person. Quite possibly, you just take a few hours out of your regular day off to visit with someone in need. Regardless of the effort, it is a personal effort no less.

I think the problem is our selfishness and perception of personal entitlement. We work hard and spend so much time working all week long that the holidays are for us. Ask yourself this: Does the time you spend all week, every week, and working hard all week, every week, really help someone or change a life? The answer may be, "Yes." So many times, however, the answer is, "Not really." I believe the world would change for the better, and Christ would be received better, if we gave of ourselves in a selfless manner. Giving is not just about Christmas. Giving is about abundant life.

Moving Mountains - albeit, one rock at a time,
Matt