The Contemporary Worship Service meets in the Family Life Center each Sunday morning at 11 am. This service strives to be a comfortable place where you can encounter Christ. So, whether you like to wear jeans or khakis or even a suit, feel free to come and worship God and be transformed.
Upcoming Sermon Series Beginning June 6
Summer is a great time to escape the heat and retreat inside to the cool of the movie theater. It's a great time to let yourself escape into the worlds of mythical dragons, aliens and fantastic voyages. Few things say relaxation and family fun like popcorn, Coke and a good movie.
Throughout the summer, the Contemporary Service will be engaged in a sermon series discovering Biblical principles that can be found in movies. As part of this series, we will beoffering chances to gather together to watch some of the movies that will be featured in the series. Whether you plan to attend the series or not, you are invited to watch some movies with us - both in the FLC and in the theater.
The following movies will be shown in the Family Life Center and will include some free snacks for your movie viewing pleasure:
The Blind Side
June 23 from 6:30-8:30
(please note this movie is rated PG-13)
Up
July 28 from 6:30-8:30
These movies will be seen in the theater:
Robin Hood
June 9 (time/place TBA on June 6)
The Last Airbender
July 7 (time/place TBA on July 4)
Some of the other movies that will be included in the series are "How to Train Your Dragon", "Parenthood", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Terminator: Salvation". We hope to see you during the summer @ the movies!
Past Sermon Series
Fast Food: What are You Hungry For? Contemporary Worship Service Sermon Series
Fast Food restaurants are known for their ability to fill our needs in record time. You drive up, you shout your order into the box and they statically repeat your order back to you. You hand over the cash and in return, they hand over some variation of the food that you ordered. Regardless of how you feel about the quality or the nutrition of fast food, you have to admit that they deliver what they are known for (though I do wonder if that can really be steak if it only costs .99 cents). Sometimes it is just great kid toys, sometimes it is an atmosphere and sometimes it is a sense of belonging.
For six weeks, beginning April 11, we are going to look at some of our favorite fast food restaurants and what they offer us, besides a meal for around $5. They promise to let us have it our way; they promise us a sense of community; they promise us adventure. Join us as we look at "fast food" and see how what they offer us feeds us or leaves us longing for something more substantial.
What comes to mind when you think of the wilderness? Do you think of the dry, cracked, parched earth? Do you see barrenness, wasteland? We often view the wilderness as a scary place. I mean, Jesus spent 40 days there in temptation, who wants to sign up for that?
But when we go to Scripture and we read these amazing stories from the wilderness, an amazing thing happens. Instead of encountering snakes, vultures and wild animals that can run faster than your first car, what we discover is God. God waiting for us. God meeting us. God with us.
Join us for 40. 40 days that will change the way you view the barren moments in your life.
Daily life usually sets us on a path that's almost robotic and we forget to see God in all things - the good, the tragic, or even the mundane. Think of your day today. Did you see Him in your kids' laughter, the homeless person on the corner, or even the papers you stapled? He was there. Join us for the first two weeks in February as we discover how to see God in everything.
"Origins" Contemporary Worship Sermon Series
As we look back through Scripture we can see how God's gentle and mighty hands were there guiding us, supporting us and reaching out to save us. Join us in the Family Life Center at 11:00 am during the month of January as we look at some stories of God's redemption.
The story of the birth of Christ is a story that has changed the world, but sometimes we get lost and forget about the power of the story. It's easy to do-the tensile is so shiny after all and the LED lights dance as the twinkle. We have allowed ourselves to be drawn away from the simple beauty of the birth narrative and thrown into traffic jams, long lines, huge debt and unneeded stress. An event that marks the fullness of time, the indwelling of God among us now leaves us feeling empty as we ponder the unwanted gifts that we have received, the bills we have to pay and the disappointment of not being able to give everybody everything that they want.
Advent is a time where we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. We remember His first coming and look forward with great expectancy to His return. Sometimes we forget that. This year, let's focus our hearts on God. This year, let's be intentional about rediscovering the power of the Advent and Christmas. This year, let's be intentional about reclaiming the meaning of Christmas as we remember how to worship fully, spend less, give more and love all.
"Red Letter Words"
They used to make these Bibles that had all of the words of Jesus in red letters. My grandfather gave me a King James Version of this kind of Bible when I graduated from High School. It was black leather and my name was engraved on the front in the lower right hand corner. They probably still make these Bibles, I just don't see them very often. Now, they even make Bibles that are green lettered to help us find the scriptures that remind us to be good stewards of this beautiful world we live in. But there is something special about those Bibles with the red letters which cannot simply be duplicated by adding or changing the colors (not that that is the goal of the Green Letter Bible). When you open one of them, the words of Jesus just pop up - they practically leap from the page. The red letters are Jesus' words that remain for us. They have shaped followers of Christ for centuries; in many ways they have defined our faith and our understanding of why Christ came and dwelt amongst us.
For five weeks beginning October 18, we will look at some of those red letter passages and figure out what they meant two thousand years ago, how they have shaped us and how to live them out today. - Rev. Tara Paul
There's an App for That!
Technology is everywhere. It claims to solve all of our problems in life...from losing our car in the parking lot to deciding where to go for dinner to counting our calories for us and warning us when we have eaten too much. We have learned that by purchasing the right gadgets, we get all the help that we need to make it through the day. The iPhone convinces us that for whatever our issues are, there is an app that can help us solve that problem. Apps are there to make our lives easier.
As people of faith, we also have apps--apps that make our lives easier, that help us make it through each day. In Galatians, Paul refers to some of these "apps" as fruit of the Spirit; they are marks that Christ is at work in us. For nine weeks, beginning August 9th, we will look at these fruit and see how we can apply each one of them to our lives to help us be more Christ like and to help us make it through each day. So if you ever find yourself tired, angry, bitter, or at the end of of your rope, join us for these 9 weeks, because... there's an app for that!
My son loves these robots called Transformers. As their name would imply, they transform from one thing, like a car, into another thing, like a robot. They are transformed into something bigger, better and more powerful in order to save the world. They are really cool!
As it turns out, God has given us the ability to be transformed as well. There are spiritual disciplines that help transform us into better humans, better parents, friends and better followers of Christ. Join us for five weeks as we look at some of these disciplines that change us from the inside out, that transform us.
Sometimes Christians Get It Wrong
The images above are real. They are pictures of faithful Christians who are living out their belief in Christ in the best way they know how. They are images that many of us struggle to agree with. The sad thing is that for some people these are the only images they ever see of Christians. For three weeks we will look at some of these issues. As we examine critiques that those outside the church hold of Christians, we will wrestle with what it means to be faithful while remaining grace-filled. We will ask ourselves if these critiques are valid, and if not, how can we correct these misconceptions?
24: a day in the life of Christ
One day can seem like a lifetime. A lot can happen in one day. Your life could change forever. During Lent, we will examine the last day in the life of Jesus. From the meal with the 12 Disciples to his death on the cross... join us as we see how a day change our lives forever.
Jonah
During the month of February we spent four-weeks in a sermon series based on the life of Jonah. We discovered that our God truly is the God of second chances!
