The Director of the SSD STARR project and the Communities For Families Coalition, Marilee Hill-Anderson shared some grateful words for my investment in all that has been done for families within our the SSD as well as the potential impact Open Life can continue to have as we pursue future projects together within the community. (She gets the photo credit)

All that to say this; I feel like we are just getting started…by living out the values of being generous and present with our community for the past three years as the founder and pastor of Open Life within our city we have already been honored on multiple occasions for our impact within community. ONLY THREE YEARS SO FAR.  I can’t imagine as more of us engage the vision and mission of Open Life (connecting, serving, sharing), prospering our city and each community we pour ourselves into within the future as we multiply. It amazes me at the potential to shock our region with the heart of Jesus, just how valuable can the church be to a community? HUGE…and all the glory goes to God!

IMAGINE WITH ME, what would it look like to multiply into the surrounding communities with the DNA that has surfaced through Open Life in Bonney Lake?  What is possible as we multiply through other pastors who are feeling the call to begin a church within their community and as they join the apprenticeship or residency of Open Life to reproduce the culture and mission that has been shaped here?

Our latest pursuit that is just in the thought phase; begin a GAP year program for students following High School and prior to their continued education, to clarify their calling, learn how to be an integral part of society as the main mission of Jesus in their life.  Teach them how to be generous and present with a community through hands on experience with our amazing partnerships in the city, in the school districts, professional community and more. Sending these leaders on mission back into their respective communities across our country. We are just beginning this venture and setting our sights on a potential launch in fall of 2014, Lord willing.   HUGE

Imagine by 2020 having 18 Open Life churches in 18 different communities making the same impact we have made in just three years.  I think we could change the world!  It’s all about reproducing the grace, favor and mindset we have currently that has allowed such moments of honor within the gates of our city as today.  I can’t wait to see future communities blessed with the blessing we are able to pour out here in Bonney Lake.

Who knew starting a church would be so fun!

Don’t give up, don’t assume the worst, assume that life will be found.  Assume what Jesus assumed…the role of seeking and saving the lost! Luke 19:10

One of my favorite lines in the movie…”DON’T JUST SIT AROUND HERE, DO SOMETHING”

I often offer to do coffee with those who have yet to experience faith in Jesus due to Christian’s impact within their life. There is something beautiful about the tension they experienced and the redemptive potential of their life.

More often than not the issue that chased them away from the church is they were prescribed behavioral changes before they experienced belief changes.

Someone intending to keep the church holy and the sinners at a distance shared some passages to legitimize their sin and just how far from God they should feel. In that, they are practicing a behave before you believe mentality, but this is bad theology at best. We are not saved by works, or we would be able to boast. We are clearly encouraged to place our faith in Jesus without works in Ephesians 2:8-10. We are not saved by our behaviors, but our salvation does impact our behaviors.

In the account of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-42, where did he prescribe a change in behavior for her? Yet, the whole town is given the chance to believe due to this woman’s “belief”.

How many times in scripture does Jesus ask those seeking healing if they “believed”? He did not ask them if they could change their behavior before he healed them, he healed them due to their belief and then requested a change in behavior.

When will we learn the skills Jesus demonstrated? Have the conversation, allow it to lead to belief before we uncover behavioral changes within the Bible for those we do life with.

What just might surprise you is that behaviors will shift without your asking them. As hearts draw closer to God, behaviors begin to reflect that of Jesus.

Other great passages to consider:

• Romans 12:1-2
• Romans 15:1
• Romans 15:7

Their reply got me to thinking, “it looks nice, but I wonder if their service is still slow.”

The last time we ate there was nearly two years ago, and the service was amazingly slow.  As 8 year old girls celebrating their water baptism they distinctly recalled how tired, hungry and cold they were and the service experience fell short of expected, way short.  They could care less about the decor, and fresh exterior to the restaurant which now proudly has the phrase, “Welcome Back” over the entry doorway.  They just want to know if they enter there again will they have a better experience.

Let me turn the corner of this to the world I spend most of my time in, church world.  Let me challenge you pastors out there to spend more time on your experience for the guest vs. your stuff.  What would happen if you could invest into the training of your first impressions team, make good coffee, know the names of those who walk through your doors.  Shock people with your follow up, your genuine heart for people.

Why do we think that the secret sause is in our banners, fancy thematic backdrops and lighting?  What if there is an 8 year old saying to their parents as they drive by your new street sign saying, “Yeah, but are the people still weird inside? Is that old guy at the door going to try and give me nasty old hard candy? Are they going to ignore me again because I have not been there in two years?  Is anyone going to welcome me this time? I have not heard any of my friends saying they like it yet!”

What past experience in some other church do you need to overcome by this Sunday in order to wow your guests?  How are you equipping your people to be sharers of the experiences you provide, or sharers of your culture?  There just might have been a 10 year old in a car talking about it this week!  Sure made me think!

• Stories of life change
• Stories of behavioral impact
• Stories of influence
• Stories of love in action

I feel blessed to have stories in my life, but have a greater passion every day to capture the stories of those we are leading.  In fact, I get greater pleasure out of hearing the stories of those active on the mission, than sharing those of my being active on the mission.

So…here it goes.  What are your stories?  Stories of connecting, serving and sharing your life and the gospel.

On our pursuit to raise the funds necessary for the trip to Indonesia, we have begun many funding opportunities.   One that has proved to be fun for the whole family as well as those involved is our Flocking Fundraiser.  That is until they were taken.

It’s simple, we place two dozen flamingos in a yard with an a-frame that says on both sides “You’ve Been Flocked”.  The household can support our trip for the right to send the flock to the next home.

Our kids were having a blast on our nightly “ninja” task “going in dark” to a house and sneaking around placing the flamingos and sign and getting out of there without being caught.  Watching the comments on Facebook and social media from those getting flocked was a hoot.

But Sunday, February 10th the flock was taken in broad daylight from a home within our housing development.  To replace the flamingos and a-frame would cost $250.  So in true “Taken” fashion I have begun doing what I know how to do well.  Social media, marketing and community engagement. “I will hunt you down, and I will find you”

Contacting all the news agencies and authorities to get as many eyes open to see our flock and return it to us as quickly as possible because every night we miss “flocking” it will cost us an average of $30 and up in missed donations.

Within 21 hours of the flamingos being taken our story has now gone front page on the local online newspaper Patch.com.  They pushed it out to Twitter and Facebook and the sharing and liking began.  With each view, not only does it raise the visibility of our flamingo fiasco, but gets the mission and vision of Open Life for global impact out there.

All this has made me reflect on Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done”.  Little did we know when we flocked a home on Saturday night the result would be much greater than that of another donation towards our trip to Indonesia.  It was a platform for the vision and mission of this trip to be made known to a community and an open door for even greater impact within our region for the gospel.

John 10:10 – When will the enemy learn that every blow he tries to make will result in exponential good? Romans 8:28

In just one week of going public with our trip many amazing and generous people have engaged the funding process to help us raise the needed money to buy our tickets and expenditures.

Today, three generous friends and business associates with Body By Vi, set up a matching fund challenge they call #gettheHuffstoIndonesia.

Here is how it works.  Body By Vi is all about getting healthy, gaining muscle mass or/and losing weight, they have challenged us to lose weight by giving us $100 per 10 pounds we collectively drop by the end of March, 2013.  Also, for every customer who signs up for the 90-day challenge with Dana or myself they will give $20 as well.  Three promoters of Body By Vi have jumped into this, so that means:

• For every 10 pounds we lose we raise $300 for our Indonesia Trip
• For every new customer on the 90-day challenge we get $60 for the Indonesia Trip

So now our friends can get healthy, and support our trip to Indonesia.  That is a win, win, win, win.

• Win for those who get to lose weight with us
• Win for us who lose our desired weight
• Win for our Indonesia trip fundraising
• Win for those in Indonesia that will be blessed by our coming and assisting in starting new churches and reaching out to those who need hope!

Get in on the matching funds now and #gettheHuffstoIndonesia.

• Become a customer through Dana: HERE
• Become a customer through Thad: HERE

Here is how it all exploded on Facebook today.

Ryan Pohlman - Dana Huff

Attn : Dana Huff and Thad Huff…. I’d like to present you with a challenge. I know you’re both doing a 90 day challenge with Body By Vi and have both had success losing weight. I also know that you are raising money for your missions trip to Indonesia. Here’s the deal…… Thru the end of March, every 10 pounds you guys are able to lose ( combined ) I will donate $100 to your trip. In addition, any customer to sign up under you for their 90 day challenge in this time, I will donate another $20 each!! Project : #gettheHuffstoIndonesia starts now!!!— with Jen Purga and Ranee Palacios.
Dana Huff Oh dear!! The challenge is on!! Who is going to help us and do something about their health and join a 90 day challenge? Let’s talk!

3 hours ago · Like · 1
Emily Olsen Tell me more!
3 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
Thad Huff Guess I better start to excercise to go along with my ViSalus shakes…10lbs = $100 towards our Indonesian adventure. That is generosity!! http://thadhuff.com/indonesia/

3 hours ago · Like · Remove Preview
Emily Olsen I won’t be Able to start till I get paid, I’ll let you know. You guys should start a face book group.
3 hours ago via mobile · Unlike · 2
Ranee Palacios Wow –I’d better get busy and see how I can help too!!!!
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
Jen Purga Ryan Pohlman…I will MATCH your donation !!! For the 10 pounds and for the customers!!! xoxo
about an hour ago · Unlike · 4
Ryan Pohlman Wow Purga!!!!!
about an hour ago via mobile · Like · 1
Ranee Palacios OK—I will match that also! GO Dana Huff and Thad Huff
about an hour ago via mobile · Unlike · 4
Caren Van Kleek You guys ROCK!!! Team work for healthy bodies to serve an awesome God! ~ FANTASTIC ~
about an hour ago · Unlike · 3
Thad Huff This is crazy!! You guys are amazing!
about an hour ago · Like · 1
Jen Purga Thad Huff and Dana Huff…No pressure  but hey it is some motivation for you !
about an hour ago · Unlike · 2
Thad Huff You know we are going to make about $2,000 off this deal. Here begins the fun! (50lbs collective, 10 customers) It’s on! This is how sexy meets missions.
about an hour ago · Edited · Like · 3
Ryan Pohlman How about 50 lbs 30 customers?
about an hour ago via mobile · Like ·
Dana Huff Oh my word! I better purge my house of sweets! Exercise here we come! Thank you Ryan Pohlman, Ranee Palacios and Jen Purga! I love each of you dearly and love your heart. We’re getting physically healthy and we are going to help Indonesia get spiritually healthy!

John 3:16–17 (NIV84) ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

As I prepare my talk for this Sunday on the necessity of serving one another and that the source of service is love, this passage jumped out to me.  As I grabbed it to paste into my talk I realized I grabbed both passages and wanted to just jot a quick blog as to why I do that.

Here are my reasons:

1. The world has not been served with a message of love from the church. They have seen demonstrated a message that condemns.  That was not Jesus purpose or model and I want people to grasp this.
2. Jesus came to save, and that salvation is through relationship with Him.  So when I share about how much God loves with John 3:16 how could I not share the path to that love in vs. 17 …it’s through Jesus.  We need to believe and be saved.
3. People expect a spanking from God, but what they get is a hug.  I think these passages express this beautifully together.

The next time you share the promise of eternal life, consider wrapping it in compassion with vs. 17 as well as vs. 16.

This Sunday Open Life goes 12th Man by encouraging you to be present with our community in one of two ways.

One, you come out to the fun 12th Man party we will be throwing at Kevin and Christy Phillips House in the Quiet Water Neighborhood (It’s easy to find across from Lake Tapps Island entrance – follow the A-frames or directions below). We will have coffee, Krispy Kreme donuts, Hawks Jersey Giveaway, BBQ burgers for lunch, and anything you bring with you to toss into the mix. There will be two rooms with HD Seahawks cranking and filled with the coolest people on earth.

We know some of you won’t feel you know anyone and be tempted to stay home, but this is actually more the reason to come. Let’s connect and get to know one another over a high five and screaming!

Or two, you can join with our community at places like Hop Jacks, Applebee’s, Midtown Grill, or even with your neighbors crazy ridiculous Hawks party and connect with them on a level maybe they didn’t expect.

Jesus was approached various times and accused of being a partier instead of hanging out at the religious temple. He knew moments like this are amazing for making relational connections, which lead to open conversations later. Well…we will do what Jesus did this Sunday

Are we going to preach at halftime? NOPE…we will be sending out the talk for this weekend on Saturday, which was actually pre-planned to be on the topic of connecting with God and each other. We think having a 12th Man party is a perfect way to connect with each other and do the message instead of just listening to it (God foreknew Seattle was going to be in this game…crazy huh!).

We have 50 more weekends to connect to God together corporately at the High School and we plan to make the most of every one of them just as we are this weekend’s unique opportunity. The message will be on Vimeo and you can watch it anytime this weekend so we will keep on pace within our Activate series!

Here is what not to do. Don’t stay at home in your whitey tighties watching the game while curled up on your lonely sofa with your fluffy cat named tiger.

God designed us for relationship so let’s engage in relationship this Sunday at 10am

Here is our goal. Last week we had 64 people in church. Our desire is that you, Open Life…engage more than 64 people in community by joining with others to watch the game. All the other playoff games are at later times and will not interfere with service times.

Doors open at 9:45am game begins at 10:00am at the Phillips house, see you then!

Phillips Family

Pastor Thad

  ]]> http://thadhuff.com/12-man-time/feed/ 0 http://thadhuff.com/those-types-of-people/ http://thadhuff.com/those-types-of-people/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:07:12 +0000 Thad http://thadhuff.com/?p=732 Continue reading →]]> Was just asked “if I associate with those types of people”.

In short, I said, “YES!”  I am honestly shocked that this question could even be asked by one calling themselves a Christian.

In the Gospel, one of the first records of Jesus life, Mark 2:13-17 it makes the mission of Jesus clear.  He, as well, was questioned by the religious spirited people of His day the same as I was today.  There is something that over time distorts the mission of Christians that makes them think their role is to only be with those who live a perfect life instead of impact the lives of those who need Jesus most.  This is not a biblical practice, but a comfortable one, actually based on fear of contamination or impurity, not motivated by love at all!

I want to challenge Christians out there to re-examine the gospels, Acts…your mission.  It is not to be separate, exclusive, and void of contact from the real world.  You are to be the genuine representation of God in our world today.  How can you love those you don’t know?  I challenge you to live a life guilty of the accusation, “of associating with those types of people.”