Free will

Why did Jesus die for us if He could have snapped His fingers and corrected our shortcomings? Jesus did not have to die to "fix" us - He has the power to change us any way He wants. Why doesn't God cause us to want to obey Him? He could!

I believe part of being made "in God's image" is free will - the ability to choose. If free will is so important to God that He sacrificed His own son rather than take it away what does that say about freedom? As Christ followers do we need to put emphasis on freedom? As we face a time that our nation is turning socialist how does freedom come into play? Socialism helps others in many ways - isn't that what Jesus wants?

update

I have been horrible about keeping up on this blog. Forgive me I beg. Six months ago I was impatient to get things rolling with The Bridge, but now time is flying by and it is difficult to keep up. Things are going great - not perfect, but great. I would like to put some real nuggets of wisdom down here, but I have used them all up I think - both of them.

We are getting more interested visitors at each service. We want to draw a larger crowd at the Dec 21st preview to get the word out so that the Launch on Jan 18 draws a good group. We have had great attendance with over 110 people visiting over the first 4 previews and an average of 65 overall. If we can get over 200 different people through the doors by the launch we will have a breaking point for word of mouth to really accelerate the attendance. I am excited!

The Message

The service was great! We had 24 new people show up. The music went well and I think the message was received - I am sorry for how Christians have behaved. The apology was sincere and well taken.

There were two things I wanted to get across - first was I wanted the group to know that God is interested in a relationship with them, not in finding some reason to condemn them. Second I wanted the group to look past Christian's behavior to Jesus. Jesus never condemned the "sinner", rather He was loving with them and harsh with the religious leaders.

Sept 28

We had an interview with the Flint Journal and got an article in the paper. The response has been great! I look forward to meeting new people that are interested in what we are doing. I want to extend an open invitation to take you out to lunch. If you want to meet with me and hear more about what we are doing give me a call and I will set a time up to treat you to lunch or coffee.

I am excited about the weekend connection tomorrow! I believe God has good word for many people at this meeting. There is so much I want to say in the message, but I will stick to our point. I will post soon on how the meeting went.

Steve Bentley
810-217-8084

The Preview

The first Preview service for The Bridge went great! We had over 20 volunteers working and over 60 people in attendance. The programs were in place for us to easily accommodate 250 or more in attendance. I, of course, hoped to have more show up, but I am very pleased with how everything went. The transitions from element to element in the connection time went flawlessly and many things went without a hitch. The changes we need to make are due to planning issues and not execution. Everything went according to plan - we will plan even better for the next one though.

The next service - Sept 28 - is getting setup. Come be a part.

The message at the first service was about what God wants from us - a relationship. That is what He truly cares about. Religion is all about rules, but God is all about relationships. I needed to extrapolate more on that in the message - about our relationships to others, but I think the point was received.

update

Tomorrow is the big day! We have our first preview service at 11 am at the Carman Plaza location - they agreed to reduced rent for the first six months. We are excited! There will be video clips, a relevant talk, and a large group of volunteers. We hope the guests out number the volunteers. I will post the sermon here next week. When this is all done we start to ramp up for the next one on Sept 28. I hope we seen you there.

Affirmation

I just realized I posted about our going to an assessment and never put the results up. It may have appeared the assessment did not go well since I did not talk about it again. That is far from the truth! We had a great time at the assessment - we made new friends, learned new things and got a great affirmation. We were fully and unconditionally recommended for church planting! This only happens for 10-20% of the people being assessed. Heading out there we definitely had a little voice whispering in our ear that maybe we are not qualified to do this. We have not done any testing for our ability or affinity for church planting before this, but we did do a lot of study. It really was affirming to have a group of church planters and psychologists say we were real candidates for church planting!

This official approval has given us the opportunity to meet with church planting groups that want to invest in The Bridge as a new church. We have two groups - Growing Healthy Churches and Green Lakes Church Planting - that are putting up matching funds and offering training and coaching. We will be giving back a regular percentage to these groups to "pay back" their investment and add to the original capital so more churches can be planted. We are very excited to be part of these groups! Our vision for planting more churches in the area is better equipped because of these groups, their resources, training and investment.

We just got back from a round table meeting in Green Lake sponsored by GLCP and GHC. We were able to meet with church planters at all stages - from not started yet to planting their 4th church. We also got time picking the brain of John Jackson - a church planter from Nevada that has figured some things out. God is good! He is definitely working in Genesee County. I ask that all of you continue to pray for us. God bless you!

Faith

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1

Lets take a look at faith in this post. Faith is often illustrated with the light switch. You come into a room and flick a switch on with the full faith it will turn the light on. You may not even know how that works, but fully trust it will.

Look at Heb. 11:1b - "...certain of what we do not see." The first time someone ever uses a switch it is faith. Maybe the first month of using it is faith. At some point, rather quickly, it is no longer faith. This person has seen it work consistently every time. They have "seen" it. It is now knowledge rather than faith.

What does this mean for us? When God stretches us with something new we can respond in faith if we choose to follow Him. Tithing is a good example. Tithing is not a law that brings salvation, but a principle of God that can initially stretch us. To begin to tithe may stretch us in our faith. We can't see how this is possible to do. We may start at 1% and work our way up. What will happen over time is we will see God bless us and never miss the 10% we work up to - as long as it is cheerfully given. After a period of time tithing, we will "see" the truth of God's provision. It is no longer a faith act. Faith has become knowledge.

If we are to live a life of faith and not knowledge what do we do? This journey is not a static one. It is an adventure! Being called to faith is being called to something new - perpetually. As a follower of Christ we must be doing a new thing for God always or we are not living by faith. When the scary thing God called us to do, whether tithing or mission work, is no longer scary because we know God will provide, we must allow God to stretch us with the new thing He is calling us to do. This happens in small things - changing our attitude, smiling more or whatever He is challenging us to do - as well as the big things - go to China, sell your big house and downsize so you can give the difference to God, or whatever.

We must be doing a new thing for God to be living by faith. Are you living by faith? What is the new thing you are doing?

update

Katrina and I are headed out to Wisconsin for a Growing Healthy Churches assessment. We are excited about what we will learn and the potential help they can give us. What is even more exciting is that we can become part of this group and help plant more churches. I will be presenting our first sermon at this assessment and will post it here later.

The Bridge Ministry is moving forward. Our location is still in question, but that is not our biggest concern right now. We are continuing to expand our launch team and are looking for more people that are interested in serving God in this ministry. We are focused on reaching the people that don't like going to church, come from an unchurched background or are looking for a place they can serve God. Our Sunday service will be about connecting people to our Relevant God!

The Introduction to The Bridge

Just got back from our Introduction to The Bridge! This was our first public presentation of what we are doing. It went great - there were 78 people attending and good response from everyone. We found areas to improve upon at the next meeting on June 28th and look forward to more people attending at the next. We had a great group of people helping put this together. God is good!

Our focus in our weekend services will be on the new person, but not to the exclusion of being relevant to the regular attender as well. Our goal is for the regular attender to be focused on reaching the new person as well - our motto for the services for our members is "It is not about you!" Our community groups will be about the followers of Christ and their growth.

Our single biggest need right now is obtaining a location. We have an agreement for a lease for unit 17 (10,080 sq ft) in Carman Plaza on Corunna Rd @ I-75. This location meets all the criteria we have set for our desired location. We need to raise the money necessary to lock up this lease. Right now we need $11,000 to pay the deposit and rent to take us through Nov. We are trusting God to provide this through His people or provide for us in another manner.

I am excited about the future for The Bridge! Pray for us as we move forward. I want to thank God for His provision.

Truth

- I have been reading a book called The Truth War. This book has some good stuff in it about truth, but makes big assumptions about churches that are doing things in a new way. Some of the info about the postmodern way of thinking was enlightening. This way of thinking is typified by relativism, truth to you is different than truth to me. The one intolerance allowed is against anyone that would say this is right and you are wrong. The authors contention is churches that are seeker sensitive are following this type of thinking - anything goes just don't be critical. I disagree on this point with the author vehemently. I have been impressed with the seeker sensitive churches I have visited and how they have been straight forward on the truth. They did not compromise one bit and neither will we. A watered down gospel is not only wrong it is ineffective. A church that will not change with the times is not sticking to the truth, rather only sticking to a time frame. Being unwilling to change is not a sign of being a truth devotee, rather it is a sign of a church that has lost sight of God's will.
- I have been reading another book called Every Man's Battle. This book addresses issues discussed in previous blogs here - the issue of men, their eyes and thoughts. I highly recommend this book to all men and women. It is vital to understanding the battle men face with their thought life and roaming eyes.

Core Values

Our Core Values

We Value People

People matter to God

We believe people matter to God and therefore they matter to us. God demonstrated the high value He places on people when he gave His very best, his Son, to provide the gift of salvation. GCIC’s assignment is to get the message of this good news to the world so we can help people establish a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and equip them to become Difference Makers in the world.

(John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Luke 15:7, Luke 15:10))

We Value Application of Scripture

Teaching is for Life-Change

We believe the Bible is God’s Word to our world. Therefore, we must live and practice the life changing principles we discover. God gave us His Word in order to equip us and change us for His glory and our benefit.

(Psalm 1, James 1:22-25, Luke 6:46, Psalm 119:11)

We Value Authentic Community

Life change happens best in community groups

We believe real authenticity is best described as openness with others about our strengths and weaknesses. We will help people find their way from the large group (weekend worship) into relationally-authentic community groups.

(Acts 2:44-47, Romans 7, Colossians 4:5)

We Value Relevance

Although our methods will change, our Message will not

We believe the Bible is the most exciting book ever written, and we seek to share its’ good news in relevant environments. We will create appropriate environments for our Preschoolers, Grade school children, Middle and High school students as well as adults.

(1 Corinthians 9:22, 2 Corinthians 11:2, 1 Chronicles 12:32)

We Value Service

Every member is a minister

We believe God has equipped every Christ-Follower with gifts and passions so they can become difference makers for Jesus Christ. We will encourage everyone to use and develop their gifts and talents in service to our church, community and world.

(1 Peter 4:10, Romans 12:6-8, 1Cornithians 12:4-7, Ephesians 4:11-13)

Sin

Is sin an action? We label many actions a sin, but is that an accurate definition of sin? A definition of sin I heard recently was our attempt to be independent from God. There are so many concepts of sin out there it is important for a group to be in agreement on one concept for discussion and comprehension. My contention is sin is not an action. I will use several examples for this. First, let us go back to the first sin - when Eve reached for the forbidden fruit with the intent to eat it, but had Adam blocked her, would she have not sinned? If someone attempts a murder, but is completely unsuccessful are they free of sin? An adulterous moment is prevented by witnesses, are they innocent? The answer to these questions is NO! They are not innocent. The intent was to do, the decision was made. The action is not the sin, rather the decision or intent is the sin. The actions are only a consequence of the sin in the mind or heart. We all accept (well most) that a person that loses control of a car on an icy road and runs a pedestrian down is not guilty of murder. We accept this because we recognize intent makes a difference. This is the concept of sin I use. I agree with the statement that sin is our attempt to be independent of God - when we decide to disobey God in any manner we are saying we are independent of Him. The disobedience may be murder or it may be eating fruit, but either way the disobedience is in the decision, not the action. The action stems from the decision and the action may be thwarted despite the decision, yet this does not provide innocence.
The great question to be asked after any discourse whether it be religious, political or scientific is "So what?" This concept of sin impacts many things. A great question for men is where does admiration end and lust begin? I have heard it said that lust is the mind saying "If I could get away with it, I would do it!" This is opposed to the mind (male) saying "She is very attractive (hot). Good job God!" The sin is in the choice/decision not the action. Jesus made this clear when he talked about murder and hatred being the same and adultery and lust being equal. This was not about there being some new rules, rather it was about where sin truly lies - in the mind/heart. Jesus was speaking against the Pharisees that invented rules to avoid coming close to breaking the rules, yet sinned in their hearts continually. He was not adding rules for us, but talking about where the problem really is.
I hope this has not been too confusing. Reply to this and let me know your thoughts. Coming soon - Why the forbidden fruit? Thank you.

Purpose

I often use the illustration for finding our purpose here on earth as follows. What is the one thing, as a Christ follower, we can do on earth that we will not be able to do in Heaven? There is one primary thing – that is to evangelize, to lead the lost to God. Does that mean we should not spend time doing the heavenly things – worship, fellowship, personal growth, communion with God and leadership? No! What this indicates is the reason we are not swept into heaven upon becoming a follower is the work God has for us here. That work is sharing the Good News, obeying the great commission. A story goes “People on a plane are stuck on the runway due to weather and conversations start. When one woman discovered the man next to her was a minister she asked him why he did not take care of the weather. He responded to her that she was mistaken; it was not his department, but rather management’s. His department was sales.” Our department is sales. Not in the negative sense, but in the sense we can point them to the solution to their biggest problems. In the past we tried to “sell” by scaring people with their eternal destination. The eternal destination is important, but most people’s immediate problems are so big they cannot see past them. We must show them that God cares about where they are now and can give them the power and resources to overcome. This is not to be confused with the genie concept some apply to God – He is not our servant, but as it is often illustrated in the Word, He is our loving Father that wants what is best for us.

The bottom line for GCIC is we will follow God. If ever we find we are going against God or the Bible we will change. We seek to expand the Kingdom of Heaven with godly men and women. If the people of GCIC claim to be Christ followers, yet their life does not reflect that, then we will have failed. We are not interested in creating a group of people that claim the name, but do not practice the walk. There are some groups out there that do these things, but we are not one of them. Our desire is for any fellow Christian that feels we are off track to come to us and show us where. To stand on the sidelines and criticize without reaching out to offer correction or guidance in love is not a reflection on GCIC, but rather a reflection on that person’s intent. Help us to be the best we can be for God.

Discipling

All the great revivals of church history began with people getting away from the accepted methods of the church and finding more relevant methods to share the unchanging gospel. GCIC is not interested in rebellion; rather we are interested in obeying Jesus’ command to disciple all nations following Paul’s principle of doing whatever is necessary to accomplish it. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) If people are worshiping false gods we will not condemn them for that, but illustrate the need that activity exposes and how the one true God can fill that need. (Acts 17:22-24) If the people in our community are interested in fast paced music that is popular in the bars we will take those types of tunes and put God’s words to them, much as many of our hymns were developed. If our community is facing great financial difficulties we will apply the Word to those issues and show them how God can help them through this time. Does God’s Word apply to our lives today? Yes! Is it relevant? Yes!

Our society is one that is far from God, but comes from a Christian heritage. This has developed a common perception that to hear from God one must go to church on Sunday morning about 11 am. That is why GCIC uses the 11 am service as an outreach to unsaved people. The service is not about us. It is about obeying Jesus in His command to His followers to disciple all nations. Are we like the group I once heard of: gathering people around for an exciting message of how they needed God and if they were to pray right then, they would be saved - after a head count the evangelizers take off to never see the converts again? Absolutely not! GCIC uses the service for multiple purposes, but for the unsaved it is for connecting them to God and to a discipling group. Discipling is more than just converting people to Christ followers; it is also developing them into leaders/ministers in God’s kingdom. We will have regular training sessions for anyone that wants to become a member, move into a position of leadership and for ongoing development. Our community groups will be led by godly men and women in non-threatening environments with a focus on applying scripture to their lives. (Jesus ministry in fields, parties and other places comfortable to those He was ministering to) Our services will be attractive to the unchurched, but have an undiluted gospel. The primary purpose of the Sunday service at GCIC is to connect the lost with God and plug them into discipleship.

The Curtain

When Jesus died on the cross the curtain in the temple was torn in half. (Mark 15:38) The holy of holies was exposed. No longer was there a priest to act as intermediary between God and man. Jesus became our intermediary and He told us we could come directly to the Father now. (Hebrews 2:17, 8:6, Ephesians 3:12) This is significant because we do not have an inner sanctum where we meet with God any longer – the auditorium that many church services are held in are treated as an inner sanctum for the saints of God to come meet with Him. This fosters a belief that the Sunday service is for the “saved” not the “unsaved”. The holy place of God is in our hearts, not in some building. (Hebrews 13:12) If unsaved people come to the “sanctuary” to meet God on Sundays then we must utilize this for sharing the good news. Our society has become one of privacy. We must earn the right to share with people. The one time we do not need to earn that right is when they show up at our Sunday service. They have come seeking something. This is the time to give them the Answer in any manner that will make sense to them. Our misguided thought that things are inherently holy often gets in the way of this. Must we have pews? Must we have music? If there is music must it be over 100 years old? (Ephesians 5:19) Are pianos the only musical instrument that is approved by God? Is King James English the only acceptable language to God? Jesus did not use it. He even used the common Greek of the day when necessary. Before the new covenant God made many instruments, places and rituals holy, but after Jesus’ death and resurrection God made people holy. (Hebrews 13:12)

In Jesus’ ministry He went to where the people were, met their immediate needs, built relationships with them and told them the Good News. (Mark 1:16-20) The apostle Paul said he would be all things to all people to reach some. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Neither Jesus nor Paul said come to me after you have cleaned yourself up and I will tell you how awful you are – or come to me no matter how I appear to you, whether with the appearance of a Pharisee or some irrelevant religious speaker. (Matthew 11:28-30) Paul even told one group their idol, titled “the unknown god” was our God and used their wrong viewpoint to show the relevance of our God. (Acts 17:22-24) Jesus did not tell His followers they had to go to the synagogue to learn about God. He met them where they were at and drew them to God by speaking about the issues facing them. (Matthew 15:1-10 and most of the 4 gospels in general)

GCIC is looking to reach people where they are. We want to speak to their current needs and show the relevance of God. The intent is not entertainment. The saying "The mind can only stand what the butt can endure" is true, but I have found "The butt can endure as long as the mind is engaged", also to be true. The intent is to be engaging, not by the expectation that "good people" will be engaged, but by giving a presentation that is attractive enough to engage the audience. More to come...

GCIC Biblical Foundations

To begin, we must start at the beginning. The story of Adam and Eve in the garden teaches us many things. A very important lesson is in the instruction to not eat the fruit of a certain tree. Did God give this instruction, but not give the power to obey or disobey? Was the instruction valid if they had no option except to disobey? Who is responsible for their sin – God, because He forced them to disobey in His uncontrollable sovereignty or Adam and Eve, because they had a real choice and opportunity to obey? God determined they were responsible and made them suffer the consequences of their choice. Therefore free will must be a reality. God in His sovereignty, controlled His sovereignty so that Man had choice. Did free will end after the fall? Again God held Cain responsible for his actions, thus indicating free will. God apparently believes in free will. (Genesis chapters 2-4)

Why does this matter? At GCIC we believe we have free will to this day and individuals must choose to respond to God’s calling to be saved. (Joshua 24:15) We recognize God’s omniscience, but do not find God’s knowledge of the past, present and future eliminates free will. Our knowledge of Abraham Lincoln being assassinated does not mean there was no other possible actions at that time – Booth could have changed his mind – our knowledge has nothing to do with what happened. Knowledge of a particular activity does not cause it, but rather measures it. God is not constrained by time as we are – He stands outside of time observing and can intervene anywhere. Just as God observes all time we observe the past. Just as God’s observation does not remove the potentialities our observation of Lincoln does not preclude there being other potentialities. This places a great burden on us to follow Jesus’ great commission to “go and make disciples of all nations”. (Matthew 28:18-20) People have free will to choose and we must present God to them as He is – relevant to their lives; living, real, loving – the best choice.

The message of the church - a religious institution!

I saw 2 different church signs - one said "Reason is the greatest enemy of faith" and the other "Faith sees God - Intellect does not". I think I understand the intent behind these signs, but what is the message being received by the unchurched. Faith is unreasonable and counter to intelligence? If faith and reason can not coexist then we should not evangelize. To evangelize is to give the reason behind faith in God.


As Christ followers we unfortunately represent God to people that do not know Him. With that in mind we have to watch what we do and say. A never smiling follower sends the message God is not happy or fun. The statements on the above mentioned signs send the message we are idiots. I believe God gave us intellect and the ability to reason and it is OK to use it.


I do not want to attack the church or give that appearance. I was doing and saying these same things and feel like my eyes have been opened. If the American church was growing and making a difference in our society and culture I would not question the methods, but we have no results. No results are not due to the invalidity of God and scripture, so I must question our methods. Have we sent the message that God, scripture and the church are irrelevant?

The good, the bad and the ugly

As we start a new church we must be prepared to accept the consequences of reaching unchurched people. I have said several times that most people with a background in church will not be comfortable at GCIC. It is not because we will try to make them uncomfortable, but we will focus on making the unchurched comfortable. This will be in the music, videos and stage ministry, but much more than those it will be an attitude of acceptance and love for people that are messed up and messing up others. Check out this blog http://www.garylamb.org/2008/02/02/allow-me-to-rant/ on this topic.

My desire is for a church that Christ followers can come to for real ministering opportunities and a place the unloved, unsaved, downtrodden can come. They will not change in the twinkling of an eye, but we are not about changing them. We are about loving them and introducing them to a God that can change them. How many of us can truly bring positive change to ourselves without HIS help?

GCIC Beginning

Since the late 90’s my wife and I have felt a call and hunger to start a new church. We did not know when, just that we would start a new church. During the summer of 2007 we felt God telling us now is the time. No details, but definitely to get going. This led us to many questions such as where, what, how and who. God began answering these questions.

Our first thought was that God would send us somewhere else – to places we had visited and people we had begun to build relationships with. But, we realized God had been putting people in our path right here in Genesee County who were interested in planting a new church. It finally became clear that God wanted us to stay where we were.

Our observation of the churches we have served in and our personal lives was that most often the Church has been ineffective in reaching the lost in our cultures. There were some ministries we worked in or observed that were growing and impacting the community, but these had leaders of a caliber and talent I do not have (I am not Bill Hybels). If that leader was not there, it would not work. God has increased our burden for the lost and our frustration with the lack of growth. We are losing America while we sit in Sunday School satisfied with learning more stuff. I have reached the point that I am serious about the fight. A quote I read once was “A revolution is an idea with the bayonets on!” I am putting my bayonet on and charging the gates of Hell. Christianity is a fight – a fight against our own natures, a fight against Satan, a fight to save a dying people. Hell is eternal death and every day people are going there. We cannot stand for this! I will not stand for this! Satan better take notice – Genesee County is not going to hell without a fight.

In Hebrews 12:1 the Apostle Paul uses the analogy of running the race marked out for us. Unfortunately, many of the ministries I have been involved in have been on a circle track - it feels like something is going on, maybe even fast, but in the big picture there is no ground being covered no matter how fast or how well you run as long as you stay on the track. We need to get off the circle track! We need to run a race worthy of Him who has commissioned us to “Go and make disciples”!