• The last 6 weeks have been AMAZING!!! River City Church hasn’t grown this much (spiritually speaking) since we launched.
• God has been using worship, prayer, preaching, and LifeGroups to bring about this change. I really feel that we’re on the right track.
• God has been changing lives like we’ve never seen before. Individuals, relationships, and marriages restored.
• I am going to miss the Fallen sermon series. The Book of Galatians has been life changing. Did I already mention that?
• I preached for over an hour last night on sowing grace into our relationships. The bottom line is that the way we sow grace into others is through forgiveness.
• The best way to work through forgiveness is first to take the plank out of our own eye so that we can see clearly.
• Then and only then can we humbly approach others regarding forgiveness.
• Too much to explain here. You better just have a listen below:

• I had a last minute thought, “I should have Darin come up and team teach with me.”
• Sucks to be Darin.
• But actually it worked out great. He filled in all the gaps. He was a natural.
• As a pastor, you always have to have Biblical backing for all your decisions. My backup for asking Darin to preach with me at the last minute was 1 Peter 3:15.
• We talked about the vision of RCC. God has called us to be a unique voice in Missoula. He’s called us to be a force for transformation.
• But if we try to be a force for transformation under our own power, then we run the risk of bringing glory to ourselves.
• In order to make God famous in Missoula, we need to be His disciples. We need to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• We need to do God things, not just good things, in Missoula.
• So, how do we grow in our spiritual walk? How do we become modern-day Jesus followers?
• Here’s what Darin and I taught: discipleship happens in a relational environment. Discipleship happens when you have intentional leaders. And discipleship happens when you have a reproducible process.
• For River City Church, this can all be summed up in LifeGroups. We love Sunday gatherings, and we love to worship with everyone at RCC. But if you want to grow spiritually, you ALSO have to be plugged into a small group. It’s where life really happens.
• Oh btw, I thought that worship was great. Not just because I was on the team either. But I think that our team really gelled last night. We’re growing in what it means to worship, and to lead RCC in worship.

• Great service last night. Seems that we continue to have a few first time guests each week, and also had a few people come back who we haven’t seen in a while.
• I thought worship went well. We’re doing 3 songs at the beginning, and 2 at the end. We might even swap that around. The response time has been really good the last couple of weeks.
• We played Jenga in church. I used the Jenga puzzle to represent the church. I then labeled a bunch of the pieces with different spiritual gifts. Each piece represented a unique person in the church with unique giftings. I then had people come up and take out pieces one by one until it collapsed. You get the point.
• God has shaped each of us to serve Him in a unique way. None of us was created identical. We need to celebrate our differences.
• The church is incomplete without you. RCC needs you to show up and serve with your unique gifts.
• The best place to exercise your giftings and abilities is in a LifeGroup. If you aren’t in one now, get in one!
• As is our new tradition, we wrapped up the evening with some ribs and a Cold Smoke at Famous Dave’s BBQ. Gotta love that place! Good food, good friends, can’t go wrong.

• Happy Valentine’s Day! Lot’s of love floating around RCC tonight.
• We continued our series Wild Goose Chase tonight and talked about the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life.
• Based on what we see in the New Testament, the evidence of the Holy Spirit comes is manifested in 3 ways:

1)  The Power to Effectively Communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ

• On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples and the first thing that happened is that they all spoke in tongues proclaiming the miracles of God.
• Then the most unlikely preacher of all stood up and boldly declared the gospel of Jesus Christ

2) The Power to Effectively Demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ

•  Jesus worked miracles to confirm His Word and his disciples worked miracles to proclaim the gospel.
• In fact, Paul told the Corinthians that he didn’t try to persuade them with wisdom or lofty words, but by the power of God.

3) The Power to Effectively Live Out the Gospel of Jesus Christ

• Some of us have a form of godliness in our lives, but we don’t let God change our lives.
• The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in our lives as a sign that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and that we continually becoming more like Christ.

• So much more to share, but you’ll just have to listen for yourself!

• Great service last night! We had a lot of new people even though it was snowing out.
• It was Sam and Emily’s last night leading worship for a while. They’ve been so faithful and such a blessing to RCC. Be praying that they would clearly hear God’s voice regarding this next season for them.
• Looks like Eric and Jamie are going to step up and start leading again. Looking forward to a new season of worship!
• God was in the house last night! I sensed the presence of God in a way that I haven’t since we moved into the new building.
• I feel like there’s an expectation in the people, and that we’re on the verge of a move of God. Not even sure what that means, but I’m excited!
• Kicked off our new series, “Wild Goose Chase”. The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit, “An geadh glas”, meaning the Wild Goose. They believed that living a Spirit-filled life was akin to chasing a wild goose. Wild geese are unpredictable, untameable. They can’t be caged.
• We started last night by tacking the most basic, but important questions: “Who is the Holy Spirit? And, what is His primary purpose.
• The Holy Spirit is not a force, energy, or power. He is a person. The 3rd person of the trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, co-existant, and co-equal.
• I likened the roles of the 3 to a building project. The Father is the executive. He is the funder and calls the shots. The Son is the architect. He has the master plan. The Holy Spirit is the contractor. He gets the job done.
• The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is this: To point us to Jesus and the cross; to bring glory to Jesus Christ.
• One of my longest sermons in a while, but worth a listen!

• What a great service tonight! I enjoyed everything about it…my personal prayer and worship time before the service, meeting new people, the worship, preaching on the importance of community, commissioning LifeGroup leaders, praying for people.
• I felt like there was some breakthrough tonight. Maybe it was just in my life, but I don’t think so.
• I’m so stoked that almost everyone signed up for a LifeGroup!
• RCC seriously rocks. We have almost 100% participation of people in ministry of some sort. Now we have nearly 100% participation in LifeGroups. That may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much. RCC is beating the statistics!
• I talked about Consumer Christianity tonight, but we have few people in RCC who just show up on Sundays. Most people are involved one way or another. I love it!
• Acts 2:47 basically says that when people saw how the church lived in love and community, that people wanted what the church had and God added to their numbers daily.
• I want to be that church. I want RCC to be revolutionary, counter culture in such a way that they desire the Jesus that we know.
• I think once we get that, God will grow His church.

• What’s a pastor to do when he can’t find his bible and sermon notes right before the service? Thank you Bryce for finding it in the nick of time! Thought I was gonna have to wing it!
• We continued talking about getting our game on by getting involved in small groups.
• Small groups are to the church as special teams are to football. Some of the biggest plays of the game are made in small groups. In fact, the game is often won or lost depending on whether special teams get in the game or not.
• Small groups are where we get to run up the score on our opponent.
• We had a meeting with potential small group leaders after the service. We’re going to start a “Turbo Group” with those interested as a way to train them up in a short period of time. Then we’re going to release them to lead their own groups starting the week of January 24th.
• I can’t wait for RCC to get our game on!

• Sorry for the late update. I left on a hunting trip right after church on Sunday and didn’t get back until Wed eve. If you’re an animal lover, don’t worry. The elk are safe and sound with me in the woods.
• I believe that RCC is at a pivotal moment right now. Over the last year, we have worked hard at building RCC, based on relationships. Relationship with God, relationship with others.
• Although some spiritual growth has come out of the relationships that have been built, I am realizing that if we are not intentional about spiritual growth, then it won’t happen for everyone.
• The primary purpose of the church, and of RCC is to make disciples who are making disciples. In other words, we exist to help people grow spiritually to the point where they can help people grow spiritually.
• So, we are purposing to become more intentional about spiritual growth through small groups.
• We’ve even changed our Mission Statement. The new part is underlined and italicized: Doing whatever it takes to reach people who are far from God, and helping them become genuine followers of Jesus Christ.
• Contrary to what has been ingrained in most of us, a genuine follower of Jesus Christ is not someone who faithfully attends Sunday services. Although that is a part of spiritual growth, and it is important, it is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak.
• A genuine follower of Jesus Christ, according to Jesus in Matthew 4:19, is someone who lays down their life to follow Him, is continuously being transformed by His resurrection power, and who is doing their best to help others along in the same journey. If you’re wondering how I got all that out of this one verse, then listen to the sermon below. It will all make sense.
• Really, we’re not changing direction or redefining who we are at all. We are just taking spiritual growth to the next level for RCC.
• If RCC fails to make true followers of Jesus Christ, then we will have failed in our mission altogether.
• Let’s do this…together.

(This particular post was not triggered by any one conversation I’ve had with a person, but rather was a culmination of multiple conversations over many years. In fact, I’ve had a draft of this saved for sometime and was just waiting for the right time to post it. All names have been reduced to encrypted initials so that there is NO way you would know who I am referring to. Well, other than Jesus. I guess you could say I outed him.)

My wife and a friend (we’ll call her JB) were having a conversation today about what it means to be a non-traditional church. I think that most people define non-traditional as casual dress, lattes before the service, upbeat music, and witty sermons that use a lot of video clips. We espouse to be a non-traditional church according to the above definition. But in fact we start our Sunday services with “coffee”, then a “welcome”, followed by “worship”, followed by a “sermon”, followed by an “offering” followed by a “you’re dismissed”. Umm, sounds pretty traditional to me.

But here’s what JB went on to say (my paraphrase): “We’re non-traditional because we’re about accountability through relationships. It’s not just about Sunday mornings, it’s about relationships throughout the week.” WOW!!! WOW on so many levels. First level is this: I’m always saying this, but to have one of our church members say it means it must be getting through, and we are really living it out! That’s the greatest thing I’ve heard in a long time. That one will make me smile for a whole week, at least. Thanks JB. Btw, I already knew that you got it.

Second level is this, does this mean that most churches aren’t about relationships? Ouch! Say it ain’t so. But let’s face it, most people “go” to “church” on Sunday because they’re looking to get something out of it. They go because they like the music, they go because they like the sermons, they go because they like the children’s ministry. When was the last time someone told you they went to church so that they could contribute something? I rarely hear anyone say that. Most church hoppers will go on and on about how they just can’t find a church where they are getting fed. Well, that’s the problem. You aren’t supposed to go to church to be fed. You’re supposed to go to church to help feed others. In the natural, only babies need to be fed. When you grow up, you start feeding yourself. It works the same in your faith journey. The problem with the “I want to be fed” mindset is that people leave as soon as the sermons aren’t tickling their ears, or the children’s ministry changes leaders and they switch things up, or the music is too fast or too slow. People, what happens on Sunday mornings doesn’t define “church”. Oh sure, Sunday mornings are an important part of what we do as a church, but maybe only 0.6-3.6% important (0.6% for those who spend 1 hr on Sunday with the Church, and 3.6% for pastors and staff who spend 6 hrs on Sunday with the Church). The “Church” is not necessarily a specific time and place within 4 walls, but rather is defined as God’s people gathered together.  I saw the Church at an Osprey game last night. I saw the Church on Tuesday setting up elk camp. I saw the Church at the Ironhorse last week. In fact, the Church was and is gathered all around Missoula, at all times, in houses, pubs, parks, clubs, etc. Jesus said “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I”. We are the body of Christ (the Church) wherever there is more than 1 of us.

There are many passages in the New Testament that give us a glimpse as to what the church is and how it is to function. Read the Book of Acts, and all of Paul’s epistles for more info. What is clear is that the church is an organism rather than an organization or even a meeting. And an organism needs all of it’s body parts working together to function properly (i.e. relationships). Oh sure, a lion could probably survive without one of its feet, but it would probably be a weak and mangy lion. An eagle could probably live with only one eye, but it would be such an an ineffective organism, not living up to its God-given potential.

I know this is a little out there for some of you reading this, because you’ve been trained all your life to believe that church is what happens on Sunday mornings. But I’m here to tell you that Church is much, much more than that. Church is, first and foremost, about relationships. Relationship with God, and relationship with other believers, wherever we might be. The church is also about the other 167 hrs a week (the other 99.4% of your time) that we’re not meeting in the City Life Center. If that makes us non-traditional, then so be it! Because it makes us Biblical.

I’m a huge advocate for keeping the faith by keeping it simple. I think we complicate things way too much by requiring way too many meetings, making way too many rules, and creating way too much red tape. So here’s my attempt to outline 3 things that I would like to see RCC people do well. If you do these 3 things, you’re walking out the vision of RCC. If you’re not doing these 3 things, I challenge you to get engaged:

1. Engaged Collectively. We want people to be an active part of Sunday morning worship. This means more than just showing up at 11am and warming a seat. This means engaging.  Find a way to serve. Find a way to be a part. Get involved. It could be as simple as setting up chairs.
2. Engaged Relationally. We want you to be engaged in other people’s lives. The easiest way to do this is through our small groups we call LifeGroups. Find one that works for you. Start one yourself. Let’s face it, you can’t be engaged relationally with others if you don’t spend time with them!
3. Engaged Missionally. We want you to be actively reaching out to our community and the world for Jesus. This is called being missional and it’s engaging in Jesus’ mission for his church. There are numerous ways to do this. Get involved in our Helicopter Egg Drop. Volunteer your time with a nonprofit. Spend time with people who haven’t yet made a decision to follow Jesus. Keep it simple. Don’t complicate this.