Alexis Madrigal onstage at the 99% Conference. Photo: Julian Mackler / MACKME.COM

In an article on the99percent.com recapping their conference this year I was excited to see a quote from Alexis Madrigal, “Don’t found “the next big thing,” found “the next big culture.”  It encouraged me because it was like a pat on the back that we at Open Life deserve by accident!

When we set out to launch Open Life we began in our home, then set our sites on launching a service in the Regal Theater in Bonney Lake on Jan. 10, 2010.  One of the things we wanted to do was not launch a service but launch a movement, not a church but a “culture.”  (Much harder said than done!) To project this to the community in the venue we were launching in we placed a video in the Regal that would play before movies began.  Expensive, but cool to see!

Using smart marketing strategy our opening video on January 10, 2010 was a variation of the original marketing piece that aired in the theater.  Knowing words matter we thought long and hard about our future and who we would be, what people we would connect with and how we would fulfill our vision for Open Life within the community, region and Northwest.  Here are the words we labored long and hard over:  Open Life, church for the rest of us, what if church was not a place, but a culture. Where people belong by being who they are. It’s about life, all of life, real life. Doing life together, living life open. (and with a crescendo in the music and cool graphics we hit the point) THIS CULTURE BEGINS NOW.  We are the culture, regular people in Bonney Lake.  We are that church. Welcome to the open culture.

Looking back…honestly speaking in faith.  How could we claim to be culture shaping and creatives before even pushing start on our mission within the world?  Every word in that video made me nervous because it was a audacious claim.  That we would be more than a church, but a culture.

Now, two years later, I hear the same cutting edge encouragement being taught to the worlds most creative people in New York at the 99% conference and it makes me leap with joy that God gave us this instinct two years ago…ahead of the culture and not catching up.  That is not something said of churches very often.

Although it has been hard charting new territory and discovering the pains of a fresh approach to leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus we have seen a culture impacting result.  We are not just shaping the future pattern for churches starting in new communities, but we are shaping the culture in the business communities within our area.  I believe our impact is just barely beginning and the difference we will make right in the center of culture will continue to be absolutely mind blowing to those who have the opportunity to jump in and experience the open culture!

Obama made a big step today by sharing his “personal opinion”.  It just so happens that his personal feelings actually do affect more than just him, but that is beside the point.   His statement in support of same sex marriage was in response to a ruling yesterday in North Carolina defining marriage as between a man and a woman and upholding a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

As a bible believing Christian I am completely familiar with this subject, especially when pastoring a church called Open Life!  I believe every word written in the bible and it leads me to understand that my relationship with God should foster my view on marriage and the intent of such to be between a man and a woman.  I get that, and I also get that some of my family and friends are gay.  We can probably all echo this unless you are living in denial or a separatist life in hopes of never being contaminated by the world (which is unbiblical and off the intent of Jesus example).

That said; I don’t see anything within the content of scripture encouraging me to legislate morality.  If anything, I see the opposite.  We see that Jesus came to fulfill the law, and introduced us to the fullness of God’s forgiveness, hope and mercy.  While Jesus lived according to the law of the land, even paying his taxes, he did not encourage the disciples to go forth and make laws upon that land that would make people with no relationship with God live as if they were children of God.  Instead we see that purity and faithfulness to God’s standards is a matter of the heart and surrender to a faith in Jesus.  And we are challenged to bear the fruit of those who are no longer under the law, which makes sin abound, but under grace which makes love abound for all.

So why does it surprise the conservative politicians and religious rulers of our day (who take an offensively harsh and impersonal approach at morality and culture) when people get ticked at their attempt at legislating morality?  Their push back is totally justified by our hypocrisy!

Maybe if those of us who love Jesus live out a life that truly reflects Him, we would inspire people to live according to the word of God instead of trying to force those who are without a demonstration of faithfulness to live biblically in a very post biblical culture.

You can’t claim you have a better way of living unless you prove your way of living bears better fruit.  Let the fruit lead your friends, family, city, state, government and country into right relationship with Jesus and stop trying to force them to live as if they are Christians before they ever choose Jesus in the first place.

Until then, let’s love people…all people, no matter their ethnicity, gender, sexual preferences, or criminal pasts!  Let’s engage in life with everyone, learning where they are coming from and allowing them to see where we are coming from, but all the while living in unity, community and love.  Isn’t that what Jesus said we would be known by?

Let’s get back to leading by love vs. legislation…it just works better in the end!  And I echo our President…”it’s just my opinion.”

I am continually being reminded by God lately to take into consideration His perspective.  Jesus said, “Every good tree bears good fruit.”  But within our fast pace “results now” world we are not patient enough to raise up an orchard and believe in the process, we want to manufacture fruit as fast as possible thus compromising the quality for quantity.  Who wants a plastic Apple?

Have you ever shown up to church for a nice crisp apple and when you sink your teeth in you found that it’s fake?

I think of Open Life, the church we pastor, in Bonney Lake and how many of those who are engaged and seeing their friends and families lives impacted are those who through many years of seed have shown their apples.  Through many invites, many conversations about what is happening in and through our church mobilizing within the community.  Through many stories from others about the impact Open Life made in the city, the seed finally gives way to a tree and starts producing fruit that people love to eat before they even realize the source of the harvest.  The source is Jesus, and the fruit is fulfilled lives!

Many churches have stopped short of fruit because they lost hope in the seed.  God promises that if we will sow it, that seed will bear fruit, 30, 60 or 100 fold.  But if we lose faith in the ability God has to make the seed grow, we will lose sight of the apples that will come.  And the worse case scenario will be we manufacture something that looks like apples because we have lost faith in Jesus and put our faith in appearances.  NO ONE WANTS PLASTIC FRUIT!

Keep your hope in the Apples…the harvest is plentiful, it just might take a few years before the exponential results of faithful sowing kicks in!

We promised to give $5 to Charity Water for every person in attendance and when it was offering time we also made known that every undesignated dollar that was in the buckets was going to this amazing organization as well.  It is better to give than receive we believe!  On Sunday alone we generated over $1,500 or you could say provided 75 people with clean drinking water in the developing world! If you want to give towards Charity Water through Open Life to help us towards our partnership with them just go here, log in and select strategic partners/charity water.

So proud of our people for inviting their friends, trusting Open Life to be a safe place, and truly serving well to create a very excellent environment for God to make known His plan for mankind.  Jesus the risen Lord, and the promise of paradise for all who call on Him.

What really cranks my tractor are the stories I know were represented in the 139 people Sunday.  I know the prayers that were behind the chairs.  For the 8 individuals who chose to follow Jesus, Sunday was their one day to change the world moment.  What an honor to share this moment with those our people trusted to Open Life, knowing we don’t have it all together and welcome all who are in process to join us in growing in a relationship with Jesus.  I was honored to have some personally invited guests and it was so rewarding to see them choose to call out to Jesus, “Remember Me“.

Here is the astonishing thing…we had more guests the week before Easter than we did on Easter according to our connection cards.   Both record setting days for growth and the makings for a very exciting April at Open Life.

I have to honor our volunteers and staff for making Sunday an amazing moment in the lives of so many, but really making every Sunday the day that could change someone’s world.  Proud to be the pastor of this amazing movement in Bonney Lake!  Can’t wait to multiply into the surrounding communities, saturate these cities with those faithfully living for Jesus and watching the cultural impact.

What would make me do something like this?  Simple: I want to reach the broadest audience with a very clear, memorable and creative talk that adequately brings people from all backgrounds to a place of comprehending what Jesus did through the cross and resurrection.

Some older school preachers would be taken back by their staff suggesting changes to their talk, seeing the talk as some sort of untouchable oracle from God.  I do believe that what I say on Sunday’s is very much so a gift from God to the listeners, but why not make it more affective by taking input that will broaden it’s reach?

Truth is (don’t say “Amen” too quickly here) but some times I ramble, go on tangents and miss the point, and Easter is too important of a day in the life of the church to miss the mark.

Statistics say people will try church once every 7 years, if Easter is that moment where most will give it a shot, I don’t want to go on a tangent that loses the potency of the presentation.

The reality of the moment was that it was way valuable for me, and way awkward for some of our team.  But the insights and questions that arose were invaluable.  Honestly I can’t wait until I can do something like this every week to ensure our talks always connect.

To my staff, thanks for having the courage to voice your input…you guys are amazing and this Easter will be stronger because of you!

The Bible is full of “one days” that are both good and bad, but nonetheless they changed the course of history.

• Exodus 2:11 – “one day” Moses sees one of his own being beaten as a slave and takes action
• Judges 16:1 – “one day” Samson enters the house of a prostitute
• 1 Samuel 14:1 – “one day” Jonathan says to his armor bearer lets go to the enemies camp
• 2 Kings 4:8-37 – “one day” a Shunammite’s generosity turns into the answer to her childlessness
• The Gospels – are filled with “one day’s” where people were healed, delivered and taught the ways of Jesus
• Acts 3:1-4:22 – “one day” Peter and John healed a man who was begging for money and sent the entire region in an uproar

It only takes “one day” to change the world! 

My One Day: I remember June 6, 1993 was my “one day” moment.  I was at a conference in Salt Lake City, Utah when I went to a Sunday morning service at the Delta Center.  It was huge filled with crazy people singing songs and being all motivated.   When the band began to share their story, my heart was doing something odd.  I could not stop crying.  It was not necessarily the story that made me cry, it was something uniquely happening in my heart.

With every word spoken it was as if I heard it, but was listening to something else calling me that I had never heard before.  I lost all sense of time, space and awareness of others around me and when this dude said people needed to come forward and invite Jesus into their lives…I didn’t move an inch.  But then, as if God spoke to him about me, he offered up a second call.  He said, “if someone is out there that is feeling your heart tugged, it is God calling you to himself.  Maybe you need a little help today to come respond to His call for salvation, so turn to the person next to you and ask them if they would go up with you.”

I don’t know what came over me, but I turned to my friend James and asked him if he would go forward with me and he said, “yes.” I jumped over the railing where I was seated in zealous response and quickly made my way to the front.  We prayed to invite Jesus into our lives and during that prayer I remember telling the Lord that my friend James was the first of many I would give my life to leading to Him.

That was my “one day”.  Someone was crazy enough to drag me to that Sunday morning service and now my life is drastically different due to my choice to follow Jesus and grow in a relationship with Him.  Changed my world!

This Easter, Open Life is planning a service called “One Day to Change the World.”  We can’t wait to see who is crazy enough to invite their friends into a safe environment with a world-changing message.

Who will experience their “one day” this Easter?  Someone’s life trajectory will forever be different because someone had the courage to hand a simple invitation to the most inspiring 70 minutes of his or her year.

How will this “one day” impact your life?  Who could you turn to and ask to go with you to experience their “one day?”  Don’t hesitate…make the invite today so people can mark it on their calendars!

What would it look like if each of us at Open Life would invite our friends, family and neighbors who are not yet following Jesus?  What if they made a decision to come and choose to follow Jesus this Easter?  Think of the impact on their future, family and enjoyment in life itself, literally changing the course of their world, family and destiny in one day.

The leadership team at Open Life has been praying and preparing for this very dream as we approach this Sunday, April 8^th at 10am.  Our goal is to double the amount of people Open Life reaches with the gospel this Easter. Here is how:

EASTER SUNDAY

April 8^th – 2012 Easter experience, “One Day to Change the World”.  Kids will enjoy games, prizes and an egg hunt of their own while you enjoy the most inspiring 70 minutes of your year designed especially for your guests and you of course!

March 18^th we will begin introducing the idea of taking a special Easter offering to go to Charity Water, our newest Strategic Partner (providing clean drinking water to the 1 billion people without it in the developing world). Everything that is not designated tithe will go to Charity Water during our normal offering time.  This offering will be above and beyond your regular giving.  Even the kids will hear this idea and receive an offering on Easter morning.  People coming to church always thing we want one thing from them, their money.  But something special happens when they realize we want to give it away!  Every stereotype is broken in that one act of compassion.

THE INVITATIONS

Invitations: Statistics clearly indicate that 60%-70% of first time guests on Easter are the result of personal invitation; therefore, we have invested once again on invite cards that are clear, informative and portable.  They are easy for you to bring with you as you go throughout your week to hand to those you interact with.  By giving this card to those you invite Open Life will be that place people hear about Jesus. Our goal is for every person to invite at least 10 people to the Open Life Easter Experience.

Direct Mailer: We have made your invitation gain traction by sending a direct mailer to 5,000 residents in the radius around Bonney Lake High School going out the week of March 25^th.  If you invite someone within this area chances are they will see another invite, which will assist your efforts of reaching your friends, family and neighbors.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

This year we will again serve the City of Bonney Lake as they hold their annual Easter Egg Hunt at Allen Yorke Park on April 7^th.  We will help put out the eggs and hand out invites to the Open Life Easter Experience to every person in attendance attached to candy.  This results every year in Open Life being a blessing to our city and families make their way to our Easter service and hear about Jesus due to the invite.

Easter 2012 is going to be the beginning of something extraordinary in someone’s life that you will invite.  Over the next three weeks we will be praying with you and resourcing you to multiply your reach this Easter.

See you this Sunday!

Thad

One of the quotes that is resonating and challenging me is, “The death of a dream is often a subtle form of idolatry.  We lose faith in the God who gave us the big dream and settle for a small dream that we can accomplish without His help.   We go after dreams that don’t require divine intervention.”

When we felt prompted to start a church in Bonney Lake in the spring of 2009 we looked at a demographic study that said there were 91,000 people within a 5-mile radius of the city and 80,000 of those did not indicate that they were following Jesus.  My heart was encouraged that our region has 12% of it’s population growing in a relationship with Jesus, about 6% higher than the average of our state.  At the same time my heart was broken for the 88% of our community that is missing out on so much of what life has to offer.

As we lay awake at night I could see a church that would engage the community with the same energy and passion as Jesus shows in scripture.  Living a life of faith that demonstrates the love of Jesus, that our example would demand an explanation.  I could see the impact of relevant people engaging the community by being on mission no matter where we were; work, play, poker, etc.   In my mind the big dream was that we would exponentially grow, as in scripture, seeing people lead into a growing relationship with Jesus daily.  Reaching the 80,000 became something I verbalized so frequently.

But over the last year we have grown in favor, but not number.  Honestly it is easy in a season like this to let your dream become more realistic and accept addition to the faith instead of multiplication.  Avoiding numbers and sharing stories because the numbers honestly are not that encouraging at times.

This book is awakening the passion in me again to not accept anything but the 80,000.  It is possible to reach our city, region and world with the gospel and through creative means we must multiply and not embrace addition because people’s eternities are at stake.  It is just too high a price to accept something less than the dream God placed in our hearts of reaching the 80,000 not pursuing or even considering a relationship with Jesus.  So, I am not leading people to go after one plus one or two plus one any longer.  It’s 2 times 2 and 4 times 2 and 16 times 2, true biblical multiplying.

This week we will put a challenge out to our church to reach those whom they love through the Easter Experience we have prepared at Open Life called “One Day to Change the World.”  We are going to dream big for April 8^th and believe for multiplication, not for our growth sake or to say we did it.  We are going after doubling our church because eternities are in the balance, because the dream of Open Life is to reach 80,000 not 80!  Because Easter is the one time a year people truly ponder “what if Jesus is real”.  This will take God mobilizing His people in the next 4 weeks, it will take God in the weeks following Easter as well, and yes; the months following as we continue to multiply.  People are about to have an unforgettable encounter with a safe church passionate about a powerful message that is alive and well today…the gospel.  The power of salvation for all who believe.

Time to dream big again…pray with me for the 80,000

You would think the word, prayer and church would be the source of inspiration and transformation, but how about Disneyland, Movements like Kony2012, CharityWater.org and just taking note as we go through life.

The latest thing that has me thinking was our recent trip to Disneyland.  For those of you who have gone, you know that it is crazy expensive and the shorter time you go the more you can save, right?

Our family made the decision to say, who cares about the cost (figuratively speaking, you know Dana)…let’s go for a week.  Everyone told us 4 days max, but no we wanted to soak it in and went for 7 days!  Sure the tickets cost a fortune, but the lesson learned was worth every penny.  Don’t rush life!

Dana and I snagged the books from the library that would teach how to Disneyland in 2 days.  I truly think they entirely miss the point.  It would have been impossible to take the time to meet the characters, enter the shops, ride the rides, enjoy the shows and just purely relax.  We came home exhausted, and we were in the parks for 6 days!  Our family enjoyed every second of it!

We live in a world where people are just trying to check off the moments in life that are truly cherish able.  Let’s fly in and out of Disneyland and check it off the list is missing the experience and intent of the very nature of the parks.  It’s supposed to be the happiest place on earth not the most stressful place on the planet!

What would happen if you just slowed down a bit, take a look around you, and see what life has to offer.  Are you giving yourself to the most important things…your family, friends, faith, future…

Take a breath and take it in.  Life is to be enjoyed and is full of amazing opportunity to appreciate what God put her for our pleasure! 

Don’t rush life! Don’t just go after the greatest experiences in life as a check box.  Those doing life with you deserve so much more!

1. We thanked everyone who had given even one dollar over the course of our first two years.  We surely could not have done it without you!  From the one time gift from a church or individual, the churches who supported us with ongoing resources and most importantly those who sacrificially fund the mission through their obedience to the biblical mandate of tithing.
2. Our second thing was a challenge to walk in obedience to the teachings in scripture to tithe.  Realizing that financial support of your church is a spiritual decision and not a financial is key.  We presented a tithe challenge which is a three month window to test and see if the Lord is good.  Malachi 3:10-12 gives the open door for this…a testing of the Lord in the area of financial blessing.  Many took the challenge and as they did they continue to move Open Life forward in our ability to generously and strategically impact the community.

Thank you again to all who have supported Open Life financially.  Your giving, be it in a service, from another church or online is making an eternal difference in the community beyond what we can even capture on this documentary.  More stories will surely be making their way to this blog as we see the fruit of so much that has been sown into our city!