The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

We are in a series in our church called “The Principle of Agreement” Pastor Dan is talking about how agreement is God’s plan to fulfill our lives. It has been going very well, and this past week we introduced an element to the sermon that had me nervous the entire message. As the message wound down, pastor announced that we were going to do an exercise that demonstrates agreement. We played a game of Simon Says with the entire crowd…and it was a hit! My fingers were crossed even as we played, not knowing how people would respond. We got the idea from Granger Community Church, and loved it. It fit with what we were teaching on, and it seemed to be a great way to add an interesting creative element to the message. We ordered the video from Granger, and then found out the audio only covered the intro to the video! Since we didn’t expect that, and didn’t want a video that went silent halfway through, our creative media director had to remake the entire video! Truly, we had no idea if it would go over at all. We pulled it off, and it was a learning moment for me. Here are a few things I learned from this experience:
1. Our pastor is not afraid to take a risk
2. The only reason something doesn’t work in a church service is because people have expectations of what church should be, and usually fun is not on the list
3. Our church does not have many of these people (if the response is any indication)
4. Pushing the envelope can be uncomfortable and nerve-racking, but is always worth it.

I will post the video soon…

I listen to a lot of pastors talk about how they have had success in their ministries, and read books on how to be effective in ministry. Most people will tell the stories of how God has moved in their communities, and what they have done to facilitate growth and change. There are a few, however, who can really help others step into what God has called them to do. These people tell more than their stories, they tell what makes them THEM. By this, I mean they are willing to tell you what makes them tick, and why their personal identity makes them successful. These people will tell you this; “what makes us tick is what makes us successful, and that won’t be what makes you tick or successful.” This is huge! We often look to people who are doing big things and experiencing moves of the Spirit and want to emulate what they are doing. Some churches do small groups really well, some to great outreach, and some teach like you and I could only hope to. If you think about it, you can probably pinpoint some of these churches and pastors who have their niche. We can only be us, and if we do us as best as we can, we WILL be successful. God wants to move on our behalf, and He needs us to be who he created us to be. When we grasp this, I believe God will sweep through our midst more than we could ever dream of.

I am always surprised to see how our society has furthered its obsession with the supernatural, yet the Church continues to shrink away from the topic. You see it all over the place on television, from “That’s so Raven” to “Heroes” and “Eli Stone” to “Pushing Daisies.” Everyone is interested in the supernatural. Just look at the scariest of horror movies. Blood and guts aren’t nearly as scary, or popular as evil spirits and ghosts. Why is it then, that we as the Church try to deflect these conversations and in some cases, deny the supernatural when it comes with God? Things like divine healing and supernatural provision are sometimes labeled as, “things of the early church.” This boggles my mind, when we see it over and over in scripture and then somehow think that God doesn’t, or can’t do those things now. God is a big God, and I’m pretty sure that scripture tells us that He doesn’t change. He doesn’t always move in the same way, but his experiencing his presence will always result in something miraculous, whether internally or externally. This will never change. Maybe it is us who have changed, because of doubt and unbelief, we sell our God short. While the entire world is asking God sized questions, we are providing man sized answers, and then quickly changing the subject. I pray that we would begin to look for answers to the questions people are asking and know who God is and what he is capable of doing. I hope that as we seek his face, we realize that God is capable and willing to do the miraculous. He is still God, and He is still on the move.