Richard Sims

We're On The Same Team

A few years ago my kids and I attended my parents’ church on Father’s Day. My home church has been a strong church for years, reaching people for Christ, developing believers, giving away lots of money to missions, and teaching English to the large number of foreign nationals in an Air Force town. Their worship service is also fairly traditional.

I knew what to expect from the kids, and I wasn’t disappointed. “Who are all those people?” “That’s the choir.” “What are they wearing?” “Those are called choir robes.” You get the picture. It was all just too foreign to three children who are used to loud guitars, drums, lots of clapping, you know,  a “cool” church.

And to be honest with you, I felt the way they did. I mean, I’m so past that traditional type of worship experience, and I don’t look forward to attending services like that. Ever.

But then came time for the invitation. After explaining to the kids what a hymnal was and showing them how to sing along to “Just As I Am,” I watched as an older couple went forward and shook the pastor’s hand. Then he introduced them as a couple he’d been meeting with...and they were coming forward to publicly give their lives to Christ!

I was ecstatic. When we got there that morning, these two people were lost. Now they were found. And I turned to my children and said, “This is why we should never make fun of a church who does things differently than we like. This church did things their way, and now these two people will be in heaven.”

That’s why I don’t understand when I hear Christians putting down other churches. Sure, there are lots of churches out there who aren’t doing anything for the kingdom and are just interested in getting their needs met. As far as I’m concerned, those churches should be called to task.

But I hear people talking negatively about other churches, not because of their ineffectiveness, but just because of the way they “do” church. What does methodology matter, if they’re impacting the world for Christ? And why do we have such a desire to belittle churches that don’t do things our way? What good does our slamming each other do for the kingdom?

There are all kinds of people out there without Christ. It takes all kinds of churches to reach them. We’re all on the same team. Let’s act like it.

Four-peat

Time for a little bragging... Yesterday Tori's Cartersville Middle School soccer team won their fourth straight region championship! Well, it may be their fifth, but it's their fourth straight with a Sims on the team. Their only loss of the season was in the final regular season game, when they lost to Woodland in PKs. Woodland finished undefeated, but yesterday those same two teams met in the championship game, with Tori and the Canes winning in PKs. Congratulations Tori and CMS!

What I Did Last Sunday

Last Sunday the Alise clan gathered at Maggiano's to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Kim's parents, John and Carolyn Alise. What a great time, and what a great accomplishment. All four children and all four sons-and-daughters-in-law were there, and the 12 grandchildren traveled from Cartersville, LaGrange, Phenix City, and Valdosta to be there.

We all wrote letters to Mr. and Mrs. Alise to tell them what they've meant to us over the years, and Kim did an absolutely incredible job of putting together a 30-minute slide show of music and 70 years of photographs and memories. After that was over, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

It was one of those days you'll never forget, and I know that it meant the world to Kim's parents.

So while I wasn't able to attend the road trip to Buckhead Church, I was doing something special for some very special people. 

Weekend Summary

Here's a summary of this weekend, including yesterday's gathering at Tapestry...

• Anslee, Andy, and I headed down to Warner Robins for a night with my folks and a chance to see my sister and nephews. Sorry we missed you Joel!
• On Saturday, the WR folks got to see Anslee play her soccer game in Macon. Great game! Meanwhile here in Cville, Kim took Tori to her two soccer games in the Turkey Tournament.
• I got home Saturday night just in time to wash/dry soccer uniforms!
• I know that I'm the pastor, but Sunday mornings are the highlight of my week. Josh Fowler led worship for us, and his passion for God is so contagious. Thanks, Josh, for worshiping on stage and helping us worship at the same time. 
• Andy's message was so incredibly helpful. Even if we think it "won't work," we are to go and lovingly confront friends who are sinning. In those cases, judging someone is the loving thing to do. We can't hide behind "it's not my business" or "we're not to judge." The next time someone is in trouble and you want to confront them, and someone attacks you and says, "We're not to judge," tell them to go read their Bible!
• Yesterday Tori had two soccer games in the tournament. In 4 games over 2 days, they went 3-0-1 and gave up one goal in 4 games - they are the 2008 U-13 Girls Turkey Tournament Champions!
• Meanwhile, I took Anslee to her Rome Arsenal game in Duluth. We won 3-1! She had such a great game I had to stop by DQ on the way home.
• Got home last night, completely exhausted. How was your weekend?

What a Week!

What a week it's been!

Here's a brief summary of the last several days...

On Halloween, Andy was a great Luigi!  He had a blast getting the candy that night, and I've had a blast eating it.

Saturday brought soccer games for the girls, and then Andy and I went with the Crane's to the Hawks home opener! Philips Arena was rockin', and though we were down by 21 at one point, we took our first lead with 2 minutes to go and never looked back. Awesome time!

On Sunday we heard part 2 of Andy's series Judgment Call. There have been so many times in my 18 years in the ministry when someone had to be lovingly confronted, only to have others rise up in protest saying, "You're not to judge!" We learned Sunday that churches have this completely backwards! We think we should judge people outside the church and give everyone inside a free pass. That's just the opposite of what the Bible teaches!

We also had Moxie and the guys leading worship - great job!!

Sunday night meant InsideOut for grades 6-12. Jason Sartain led us in a beautiful all-acoustic worship set, and Josh continued the series Rhythm. Great time!

Then sometime on Sunday night, I came down with a cruddy sinus infection and I'm just now returning to normal.

So that's my summary of the last few days.

What have you been up to?

Family Matters

This Sunday at Tapestry I'll be talking about "Family Matters," because, well, family matters at TC.

I think that when it comes to ministry to children and teenagers, we have a philosophy that's different from most other churches. We do not offer a babysitting service. This generation of children and teenagers matters to us way too much for that to happen.

But we can't do it alone.

So if you're a parent, join us this Sunday morning for "Family Matters." And if you're not a parent, here's a chance to learn even more about the vision of Tapestry Church.

Here's What's Happening...

Two days this week with the kids out of school, and I'm way behind on blog posts. But we had an absolute blast during our Fall Break.

Sunday we closed out the LO$T series with a most practical message. If you weren't at Tap last Sunday and would like the fill-in-the-blank points, just shoot me an e-mail. And if I say that Danny Dukes led worship, do I even need to tell you that worship was incredible? I will anyway...it was incredible!

On Monday the fam drove to north Georgia for some apples, a petting zoo, our Halloween 2008 pumpkin, and a picnic at Amicalola Falls. Like I said, we had a blast!

Yesterday, well, I now have two lawnmowers that aren't working. Not much else I can say about that.

And here's a heads-up for this Sunday...I'll be sharing Tapestry's philosophy about our ministry to children and teenagers, which I believe is different from most churches around. More on that later in the week...

Fight Club and Parents

We're just two days away from Fight Club at Tapestry! This entire 4-week video series is about family relationships, which sometimes can be tough but are always worth fighting for. This Sunday Holly Delich tells the story of her relationship with her dad and about her battle for that relationship. I am pumped! You can go here to send an e-vite out to your friends.

Speaking of families, Josh has started a brand new site, and if you're a parent go check it out right now. Seriously, stop reading this blog and click here now!  At Tapestry, we want to partner with parents, and as part of that we want you to always know what your child is being taught in Waumba Land, UpStreet and InsideOut. This site is part of that, as are handouts your child is given when they leave church on Sundays. Check out the link, and then tell us what you think. Hey, that even rhymes!

Things are Cranking Up

Summer vacation is slowly winding down, and that means things at Tapestry are gearing up. UpStreet returns on August 10, along with a great video series called Fight Club, a 4-week series with 3 different speakers discussing the importance of family. Invite everyone you know to this series! Plus, we're working hard to get our Community Groups going this fall.

I had a great meeting with this guy the other day, and I am so pumped about what we're going to be doing in family ministry. Waumba Land is going strong, UpStreet is coming back, and you'll also be hearing more about our ministry to students in grades 6-12.

This Sunday, we close out Mythbusters with the messiest myth of all.  Great things are on the way!  I am pumped!

Fun in Rome

So we had to take Anslee to soccer camp tonight in Rome, which lasted until about 9:30. Kim and Tori had a little shopping to do, so us guys had the opportunity to take in a double-header with the Rome Braves. Well, almost a double-header; we had to leave after the third inning of game 2. Cool thing is, the Braves won game 1 in their last at-bat. Ah, one of those good, father-son times you just can't get enough of...