Richard Sims

Pivotal Circumstances

This Sunday, September 20, we'll close out the series Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith with the message "Pivotal Circumstances."

Every one of us has faced circumstances, both good experiences and bad, that have effected our faith. When we face one of these times, we get to decide whether our faith grows stronger or gets weaker.

In the great times, the times of celebration and joy, our faith grows when we decide to praise and thank our Heavenly Father and acknowledge that he is the source of our celebration. Our faith weakens when we pat ourselves on the back and give all the credit to our abilities, our wisdom, ourselves.

In the difficult times, our faith can grow weak very quickly. We begin to doubt that God loves us and that he could do anything to help us even if he wanted to. Or, our faith can grow huge, as we cling the One who created all things and who loves us more than we can comprehend and who is in absolute charge of our circumstances, whether or not we understand it.

God wants to grow your faith. Sometimes he chooses to do that through difficult circumstances. It's up to us how we respond.

Everyone you know is either going through a tough time or is heading toward one. Do everything you can to get them to Tapestry to hear this message. It's that important, and they'll thank you after the service.

I'll see you this Sunday at 6pm for our final worship service at New Covenant Church and to take a closer look at "Pivotal Circumstances."

Messy Ministry

At Tapestry Church, we want to be a place "where people who are broken or frayed are woven together into the body of Christ." What do we mean by "people who are broken or frayed"?

Just what it says. All of us have sinned. All of us are broken and frayed in some way. The good news is that all of us are loved dearly by our Heavenly Father. But there are lots of people around us who haven't heard that incredible news. And that should break our hearts.

There are broken, frayed, messy people all around us. Many of them need to know Jesus. The truth is, lots of churches want these messy people to know Jesus, but they don't really want those messy people in their churches.

I do. I want God to send to Tapestry messy people who no one else wants. I want us to love them, and I want them to understand that God loves them.

This isn't an easy ministry. Messy people are, well, messy. But God loves them just as much as he loves me. He sent his Son for them, just like he did for me.

Here's where the church comes in: "And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others." (2 Corinthians 18b-19)

So let's tell others. Let's love people, even messy people. Especially messy people. Let's invite them. And let's make sure they hear the wonderful message that their Creator loves them and wants them to be reconciled with him.

Something Different This Weekend

This weekend is a long weekend, with lots to do as summer officially kicks off. There is no service this Sunday at Tapestry Church. So what should you do?

Have fun! And do it strategically.

What I mean is, take this opportunity to invest in the lives of friends, neighbors, co-workers, and classmates who don't regularly attend church and who may need Christ.

The sky's the limit on what you can do this weekend, but instead of just hanging out with church friends, why not spend this valuable time with people who need Christ? You never know what God will do when we offer ourselves this way.

So...have fun! Step out there, get a little uncomfortable if you have to, and know that you're making a difference.

 

Ok, so how many of you guessed that we'd open our Prayer series with "Livin' On A Prayer"? Thanks to Jason Sartain and the band for opening us up with that song and for leading us in worship.

Prayer is so vital to the Christian life, yet many of us just don't pray enough. How about you? Do you have a strong prayer life? Or does your prayer life need a boost? Are you completely honest with God when you pray? Do you pray throughout your day? Do you pray about everything that's important to you?

Since we're talking about prayer, here's something important that we'd like to ask you to pray about. We're currently blessed to be meeting at New Covenant Church, a church who has opened her arms wide to us and to whom we're so grateful. We still view this location, however, as a temporary one, and we're praying and searching for property that will allow us to move back to a Sunday morning meeting time.

But not just any property. We want to create an irresistible foyer environment. So would you consider praying this prayer on a daily basis? "Heavenly Father, please provide us with a Sunday morning environment where we're comfortable inviting unchurched people to attend." 

If you'd be willing to pray that prayer with us, let me know by adding your comment to this post. I am pumped about what God has in store for us!

Easter!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged much this week. But it's EASTER WEEK!! And all of our energy is going into this Sunday's worship gathering. I am so pumped!!

We'll have lots of music, an Easter message, and baptism. You don't want to miss this one!

It's only Thursday, and there's still plenty of time: have you invited someone to come with you this Sunday night? Have you given away your two "Why Worry?" invite cards?

Get ready...EASTER'S ON ITS WAY!!!

Ready for Sunday!

I can't believe how fast this week has flown by! I've had a sick little one with me most of the week, but now he's back in school and almost back to normal.

I am jacked about this Sunday! The message is absolutely vital and our response to it is crucial. We're going to look at an obscure story about four unknown guys who stumble upon something amazing, and I believe their story parallels ours in many ways.

Keep in mind that Easter is on April 12 and our "Why Worry?" series begins on April 19. If you were at TC last Sunday, you were given 2 invite cards - have you given yours away yet this week??

See you for "Just Ask" this Sunday night at 6pm...

What Now?

Last Sunday was a huge day for Tapestry as we formed small groups for both adults and teenagers. That's huge because it means that we now have all 3 environments in place.

We now have the structure to truly lead people into a growing relationship with Christ. Because we think "steps" rather than "programs," we can invite people into the foyer, help them take the next step into the living room, and eventually step into the kitchen, where life change and spiritual growth happens best. (If you're new to TC, you're really not going to understand anything I just said unless you break down and click on that link above.)

So what now? There are still over 20,000 people within 5 miles of where we meet who do not know Christ. 20,000 people who are going through life without knowing their Heavenly Father. They work with you, go to school with you, work in the stores where you shop, live near you. So what now? Continue to invest in their lives and invite them to our gatherings at Tapestry.

You can start by inviting them this Sunday to part 1 of "Text." More on "Text" tomorrow, but your friend will learn more about the Bible than ever before during this series. Plus they'll have the chance to actually read their Bible and interact with others right here on this blog about what they read. You'll have the opportunity to do that too, but you'll just have to come Sunday night to see how it all works!

Invest...and invite!

Imagine, Part 2

 Seems like it's been a long time since our last worship gathering! I can't wait for this Sunday to get here. Andy Stanley's message this week is so important in the life of our church, but also for us as individuals and our spiritual growth.

The thing is, we talk in the church about wanting to be "more and more like Jesus," but when we read about his life, it's obvious  the people who were not the religious type, they liked Jesus. The religious type? Not so much.

What about us, the church? Do we like people who don't act like us, talk like us, or vote like us? Do we get excited when talk to somebody who obviously doesn't understand the "rules"? Or do we stay away from them and secretly hope they don't defile our churches by attending?

Let's start being more like Jesus. The people who were not like him, liked him. And he liked them. Can't wait for this Sunday!that

What's This About the Foyer?

Last week we looked at the three environments at Tapestry Church, including the foyer. In your house, the foyer is the welcome area for visitors and new friends. It's where you first meet. It's where you can help them want to come back. Not a whole lot of conversation takes place in the foyer, but it isn't designed for that.

At Tapestry Church, our foyer is the Sunday worship gathering. It's where we welcome visitors and new friends. It's where we first meet. It's where we can help people want to come back. Not a whole lot of conversation takes place here, but it isn't designed for that.  Of course we worship in the foyer, and we learn here, but everything we do in this service is looked at through the eyes of someone who is new, someone who has never been to church.

Here's the bottom line of why Tapestry Church exists...we want to create a church that unchurched people would like to attend. That's it, bottom line. There are people living and dying every day in this community who don't know their Savior. That should break our hearts! That should make our blood boil! That should fire us up to do something! That should fire us up to do something NOW!

Our foyer environment is designed so that unchurched people can attend, find it enjoyable, find it helpful, and want to come back. Simply put, Tapestry Church is here to introduce people to Jesus. And if we don't do that successfully, we are not successful as a church.

The question I am burdened with right now is not "Are we reaching some people?" The question that gnaws at me is, "Are we doing everything we can to create the best foyer environment possible to reach the most people possible for Christ?"

How would you answer that question?

 

Why Are We Here? Part 2

Yesterday we talked about the reason Tapestry Church is here, and we said that we're here to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by creating environments in which people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with believers, and influence on those outside the faith.

But what are we talking about when we use the word "environment"?

Well, every ministry, program or event that any church has is an "environment." The location, atmosphere, the type of activity, all kinds of things come together to define a particular event's or ministry's environment.

At Tapestry, we've simplified things so that we only have three basic environments. Everything we do fits into at least one of these three environments.  And the terms we use for our environments are based on the parts of a house, which just helps us to explain them a little easier.

Your foyer is your welcome area for visitors and new friends. It's where you first meet. It's where you can help them want to come back. Not a lot of deep conversation here, but not a lot of pressure either. Our Sunday morning worship time is Tapestry's foyer. We want to be a church that unchurched people like to attend, so in our foyer, folks can come in, experience it, talk to a few people if they want to, and make the decision, hopefully, to come back. Oh, we worship here, and we learn here, but everything we do in this service is looked at through the eyes of someone who has never been to church. Will they find it enjoyable and helpful? And will you have the confidence to invite them in the first place?

In your home, your most intimate conversations often happen around the kitchen table. This is a safe place where you can share your life, open your heart, ask tough questions and have tough conversations. Coming soon to Tapestry, our small groups will be our kitchen table environment, where people meet regularly for Bible study and prayer, and where spiritual growth has the best opportunity to take place. That's quite a jump from the foyer, where you hardly even talk, so there needs to be a step in between...

That's where the living room comes in. There's more interaction than in the foyer, but not as much as in the kitchen. The living room is where you begin friendships. Along our journey as a church, we'll be hosting more and more living room events. The perfect example? Our Christmas Party, Sunday, December 14, 6:30 pm. This will be a great opportunity for us to meet each other and get to know the folks we worship with every Sunday but never get to talk to.

So there you have it. Everything we do fits into at least one of these environments: foyer, living room, kitchen table. And these environments are what help us to lead people into a growing relationship with Christ.

Next week: A closer look at the foyer.