Ember Outdoors

This summer we're doing something fun at Ember. Rather than meet at the church building and continue services as normal, we're going to meet outside, in our backyard, and have church around a campfire. Some of the same elements will be there, but many won't. I won't be preaching. Instead, I (and others) will be leading discussions on some of the topics we've covered this past year. We'll also eat a meal together, which I hope will be a true expression of the Lord's Supper in our own context. (It's actually supposed to be something closer to a full meal than a nibble of bread and a shot of grape juice.) We'll sing songs around the fire, and just generally have a great time hanging out.

We'll meet from 5-7pm at our house. If you need directions, send me an email at andy@emberchurch.org. It's open to everybody, and should be a really low key way to get to know some of the amazing folks at Ember.

Ember Tuesday

Yesterday was a crazy day at work as we welcomed in the Governor of Ohio and the Mayor of Columbus. I also played in our first company softball game of the year. All that to say that I didn't have time to blog about church this past week.

It was another great service. I was telling Garth, afterward, that it seems like we're just beginning to hit our stride--just in time to transition into Ember Outdoors, where we'll be focusing on community-building and living out the things we've been talking about lately.

Speaking of which, Sunday night's sermon was one of my favorites. It was one I've preached several times before, but never at Ember, although the themes from the sermon undergirded all that we've done in the past year. 1 John 4:7-21 was the text, and the sermon was called Agape.

This is a message that you really ought to listen to. It's been formative for a number of people, not least of all myself. I don't say this very often about my sermons, but this is one you've got to hear.

We had a sweet time of responsive worship, both before and after the sermon. My amazing wife Breena did a great job with her songs. I love watching her worship, coming more and more into her own as a singer.

In a couple of weeks we move from the sanctuary to the firepit. What an appropriate place for Ember Church to meet! I'm really looking forward to building our community in a nontraditional way. We'll have more information on this coming soon.

Ember Monday

Yesterday morning I sensed that God wanted me to give a different message at church than I had prepared. I had planned on giving an old message called Agape, from 1 John 4. It's a very important message, one that I'll probably preach this coming weekend. But God had something else in mind for last night's church service.

In the hours leading up to the service, I sensed that the Spirit was going to show up. I had no idea what that would look like, of course, but I just had the feeling that God was going to move in some way. In my mind I was thinking, "I sure hope so, God, because I have only a vague idea of what I'm going to say!" So in our prayer time before the service started, I asked the team to pray over me--that's something I haven't done yet at Ember.

The service started and Emmy belted two powerful songs, You'll Come and Closer, neither of which I had ever heard before. It was a powerful way to start the service. I especially appreciated the simple words of Closer:

Beautiful are the words spoken to me
Beautiful is the one who is speaking

Come in close, come in close and speak
Come in close, come closer to me

The power of your words
Are filled with grace and mercy
Let them fall on my ears and break my stony heart

That's the whole song, but I felt the words were right on target with what my heart, at least, was yearning for.

When I got up to pray before the sermon, the tears came. It took me completely off guard. I hadn't even started preaching yet, but I was already crying. I haven't cried in a long time, and certainly not while preaching since I don't even know when. But I wasn't crying because I was sad, or downtrodden, or empty. I cried because I was full. I cried because, after running on empty for months, God had filled up my soul.

The sermon was about the second beatitude, Matthew 5:4, which reads like this: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. I basically talked about what I had learned from Dave Johnson, pastor of The Church of the Open Door, while at the ARC National Conference last week. The basic point of the sermon was that mourning means letting out what's on the inside, and that God's kingdom is where the people who have the courage to do that are comforted, not condemned.

I preached without notes for the first time at Ember. I didn't know exactly what God wanted me to say, I just knew that this is what he wants for our community: that we would be a place where those who mourn are blessed because they are comforted. After the sermon, which you can listen to in the sermon player, I invited everyone to take whatever posture they felt appropriate for our responsive worship set. As I sat in the back, running the slides, I didn't see anybody standing. I thought to myself, "The sermon fell flat, but that's okay. God wants us to be this kind of church, so I'll keep preaching this message." But when I stood up I saw something unexpected. I saw people laying across the chairs, heads buried in their hands. I saw people kneeling. I saw people weeping.

I don't know exactly what happened. I don't know what was going on in each person's heart. But I believe that the Holy Spirit showed up, and I believe that he spoke to us. Beautiful are the words spoken to me. Beautiful is the one who is speaking. Come in close.

It was a rich and tender time together in the presence of Jesus. I hope that we have more times like that. We gather together every Sunday night at 5pm at 401 E. Schrock Rd. All are welcome. Always.

Ember Monday

Last night at Ember we started a new non-series series. Since I only have four preaching weekends (and six weekends altogether) before we transition for the summer, I thought I would preach on some things that are important to what we're doing, but not necessarily tightly related to one another. This week and next I'm preaching two sermons from 1 John that I wrote while I was at Heritage. Last night was a sermon called Halakah, from the first 16 verses of 1 John.

The point of the message is that what we do with our bodies matters to God. John was dealing with an early form of the Gnostic heresy, which taught that everything spiritual is good while everything physical is evil. The implication of this heresy is that Jesus, who was good, did not have a body. If he did not have a body, then he could not have died for us. There are other, equally drastic implications of this teaching. I'll post the audio soon (hopefully today?). I found a post I wrote a couple years ago after preaching this sermon at Heritage, which you can read here.

After church a bunch of folks came over to our house. (We try to invite everyone, so if you haven't been invited, I'm sorry. We really want you to come!) Specifically because Travis and Kristy were out of town, we decided to have a campfire in the backyard. (That's what you get for going to Clevelandtown!) Here's a photo from my wife's instagram stream.

We love campfires, and these are going to be a big part of what we do as a church over the summer. But more on that later.

Ember Monday

Christ the Lord is risen today! That was our celebration last night at Ember, even though we didn't sing that song. Garth and Kelly pulled together a great team of musicians and singers from our congregation to lead us in praising Jesus. I think it was our biggest music team yet!

I preached a message on Mark 16:1-8, which concluded our series on the Gospel of Mark. It was our longest series yet--15 weeks in all. I preached all but one of the weeks, when Cory led us through a Passover meal (which was awesome!). You can listen to the audio of that presentation here.

The part of the service that I was most excited about, of course, was the baptisms. We baptized three folks last night--Mary, Ian, and Dustin. I've already written about the holy privilege of getting to hear their stories, which made it so much more meaningful to baptize them last night.

Special thanks to Lauren Kreischer for taking photos. It was a great night and a great service. My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who made it happen. The resurrection of Jesus is the reason that we all gather together in the first place.

Ember Monday

Technically, yesterday was Palm Sunday. We should have been celebrating the triumphal procession of Jesus into Jerusalem. But because we don't have the capacity to host holy week events, we covered the crucifixion. In other words, we had Good Friday on Palm Sunday.

We talked about the gruesome details of the crucifixion, and the agonizing pain that Jesus endured on our behalf. But there was more than physical pain at the cross; there was also cosmic, divine pain.

I put a rather provocative post on facebook yesterday afternoon: "Tonight at Ember Church we'll be talking about the end of God..." By "the end of God" I meant the end of the divine dance of self-giving love that had been going on from eternity past among the members of the Trinity. At the cross, the Father cried out, "Stop!", and the dance stopped. And in that stillness, he reached out his hand to you and said, "Come. Come and dance." The end of God is the new beginning of us.

The sermon ended with a cliffhanger. I wanted the congregation to feel the dissonance of the cross, to experience a bit of what the first disciples experienced that first Saturday. To wait, disturbed. As the preacher said, "It's Friday...but Sunday's coming."

The music team did a great job last night. Emmy and Kristy sang beautifully while Garth and Travis held down the instrumentation. Once again I saw that, though we are a small church, God has given us many gifts. There's a lot of talent at Ember!

Ember Monday

Last night we did something completely different. Instead of gathering in the sanctuary, we pulled some tables together in the lobby/fellowship hall and celebrated a Passover meal. Cory Baugher, who is a Christian high school Bible teacher, led us through the meal, teaching us the symbolism of the feast and how Jesus fulfilled Passover. It was truly remarkable, and I learned a lot! I heard from several other people who said it was a wonderful night at church, and they were really impressed with Cory's teaching. I just wish we had been able to find a way to record it. If you want to experience it first hand, Cory will be taking his home church, Karl Road Baptist, through the same ceremony and teaching in a couple of weeks.

It was so nice, for me, to be able to sit back and be blessed by someone else's teaching. Thus far, when we've had someone else teach (mostly Travis Ell), I've either been in Children's Ministry or doing something else for the service. But last night I just got back to sit back, relax, and be taught. It was truly refreshing.

I've been thinking about what to preach on after the Mark series ends on Easter Sunday. We have about a 4 or 5 week window for a preaching series. Do you have any suggestions? Is there something that you'd like to hear me preach on, whether you go to Ember or not? Let me know in the comments section.

Ember Monday

For those who were at church last night, we probably won’t remember much from the service, but we will remember huddling in a small room in the basement, waiting out a strong thunderstorm and a tornado warning. Just as I was ending the service, we started to hear the tornado sirens, and somebody mentioned that we were under a tornado warning (which is the more series kind). So we cleaned up really quickly and headed down to the church basement to stay safe.

The church basement is really half first-floor, half basement. It has several doors to the lower level parking lot on the south side, but is built into the side of a hill, so there are no windows or doors on the north side. As the storm approached, we moved into an inner room to stay safe. Other than some funny comments from my kids, things were rather uneventful.

There was some video from last year’s tornados in Joplin that I kept thinking about. About a half dozen people were holed up in a beer cooler at a local gas station. You couldn’t see anything on the video, but you could hear the prayers, the cries, the screams. It was intense. Though we were never in serious danger from the storms, I did imagine something like that happening to us. (What can I say? I have an active imagination.)

During the actual service, we covered Jesus’ teaching in Mark 12. We also opened up the floor to those students who were coming back from short-term missions trips the previous week. Becca Lowe shared about her time in Jamaica, how the students there are very bold in their evangelism, and how the campus leaders are excited to have 5 or 6 people show up for their gatherings.

That last point really convicted me, because attendance has been down significantly at church, and that is discouraging to me. While I’m not that interested in building a megachurch, I do want Ember to grow, and I want to see more people entering God’s kingdom. I think we’ve got a good thing going here, and that we bring something unique to the table as far as central Ohio churches go. Hearing that those Jamaican leaders were excited about having 5 or 6 people at their gatherings was really good for me. That’s the perspective I need to have. I need to remember that this isn’t a race or a contest, and that the size of a church doesn’t reflect on the character or calling of its pastor. More importantly, I need to focus on the people that do come to church, what God is doing in their lives, and how I can best serve them, loving them in Jesus’ name.

Ember Monday

Last night was our most lightly attended service ever. I say that with a bit of enthusiasm, though, because about half of our congregation were on short term missions trips with Cru. Some were in Jamaica, others were in Florida. We prayed for all of them, and trust that God is doing great things in and through them this week.

We continued our Mark series with chapter 11, where Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey and clears the temple. We asked the question, "What sort of king is Jesus?" He's not a typical king. He's the sort of king who goes to battle on a colt, not a war horse. He's the kind of king who goes to a cross, not a throne.

Jesus began his reign as King over All through his humble self-sacrifice, and his reign continues in the same spirit. Our task, then, as his followers, is to live like he reigns. Our lives must reflect the rule and reign of King Jesus.

Furthermore, the New Testament makes it clear that we, Jesus' followers, are the new temple of God. We must live like Jesus reigns because we are where Jesus lives. If we are his temple, our lives must reflect his reign.

Next week at Ember I'm going to try to shoot some video, so bring your friends! Let's get that place packed out for a little promo video I'm putting together!

Ember Monday

Last night we rebooted our series on Mark (after a 1 week hiatus) with the story of the Rich Young Ruler. I preached a message that I had (mostly) written in seminary, which I titled Too Big for Heaven then, but changed to The Small to fit the titling convention of this series. I wrote that sermon probably six or seven years ago. A lot has changed since then, but I think it held up okay. My voice was giving out after a few days with the flu, so I definitely rushed it. (It was only 23 minutes, about 10 minutes shorter than normal.) My friend Evan got the main point and Instragrammed it.

We welcomed another new addition to the music team--Kristy Farren! She did a great job of leading several songs, and especially One Thing Remains, which is fast becoming an Ember favorite. I love watching Kelly & Garth bring new people in the musical fold, and I REALLY love watching all this talent pop up from all over the congregation!

God has us in a really interesting place right now. Sometimes I think this first year is a cocoon year, a year of active preparation and testing. I don't know what's going to happen on the other side of it, but I'm sure looking forward to it!

Ember Monday

We've officially moved past the half year mark of services: Last night was our 27th service. The message was from Mark 9:30-50, where the disciples are arguing over which one of them is the greatest. (On a total side note, some scholars would have us believe that the Gospels were written to solidify certain disciples' standing and position within the larger Christian community. If that were true, then why do the disciples consistently come off looking bad in the Gospels? To put it simply, these guys are not the heroes of this story; Jesus is.) Jesus' answer to their selfish ambition is to say this: If you want to be first, be last. If you want to be great, serve. Where Jesus is King, greatness is measured by an upside-down standard.

If I had a main point to the sermon, I suppose it would be this: The path of greatness can only be traversed by those who have forsaken greatness altogether. The aim of our lives is not greatness, achievement, or the actualization of our potential; the aim of our lives is Jesus Christ, the one whose purpose all along was to die at the hands of the authorities and rise again three days later.

One of the best parts about Ember, for me, is watching my wife's heart come alive as she sings with the music team. She's done it 4 or 5 times now, and it's been a revelation for her. And I get to have a front row seat for the experience! It couldn't be better.

We also welcomed a new member to the music team tonight, Emi. She's got a great voice and has been serving at the church since just about the beginning. It's so cool to see people like Emi get involved.

If you live in central Ohio, you should come join us for worship some time. We meet on Sunday nights at 5pm at 401 E. Schrock Rd. All are welcome!

Ember Monday

Last night at Ember we reached the midway point of our series through Mark, and we came to the story of the Transfiguration. It's a truly remarkable story, and we saw how it is a picture of the great redemptive arc of Scripture. In fact, I made the audacious claim that I would explain the entire Bible in that one sermon. I think I managed to do it, but you can judge for yourself. Listen to the sermon called The Gospel According to Mark 07 - The Glory in the sermon player. Or, if you're a reader, you can download my sermon manuscript here.

We tried something a little bit different with the music last night, as Kelly and Garth led from the floor, and went unplugged. I enjoyed the change of pace as it felt even more intimate than we typically do, which is saying something.

The big announcement is that God came through for us in a big way by providing me a full-time job, which I started today. We prayed and believed for a long time, and God came through in his time, and in a big way. My new employer is the #1 rated place to work in central Ohio. I'll be doing a lot of cool stuff with video, and I get to work with a great team of people. I couldn't have asked for more! This means that Ember is free to move forward with the only financial constraint of rent. There's no stopping us now!

Come and join us sometime for worship. We meet at 5pm on Sunday evenings at the beautiful American Baptist Church in Westerville: 401 E. Schrock Rd.

Ember Monday

Yesterday we pressed deeper into the identity of Jesus during our series on the Gospel of Mark. The sermon was called The Question, and the text was Mark 6:1-16. In this text we find Jesus coming back to his hometown of Nazareth, where the people who watched him grow up can't accept who he has become since his baptism. They sneer, cynically, "Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son?" The people who knew him best doubted him the most, so that he was hardly able to do any miracles in Nazareth.

The lesson we learn from the unbelief of the people of Nazareth, especially when contrasted with the faith of the twelve disciples, is that Jesus can only truly be himself in you when you trust him. Your lack of supernatural faith neutralizes his abundance of supernatural power. But the converse is also true. When you respond to Jesus in faith he will unleash his supernatural power in your life. You can listen to the sermon in the audio player on this blog, or you can download it from our podcast: http://sermon.net/EmberChurch/rss/ (I've submitted our podcast feed to iTunes several times now, but still can't manage to get us in the podcast directory!)

The music last night was excellent, as always. I especially love the services when Garth shows up with his upright bass. We were especially blessed to have Rocky on the drums--we don't get a full drum kit very often, so we're always excited when we do.

The last song we sang was that old hymn What a Friend, which encourages us to take our burdens to God in prayer. Of all the things that God is teaching me right now, taking my burdens to him in prayer is at the top of the list. And the message of the song is that we can take our burdens to Jesus in prayer because he is our friend! So true.

Ember Church meets every Sunday night at 5pm at 401 E. Schrock Rd. in Westerville. All are welcome.

Tithing

Warning: This post is about money. 

Further warning: Money is probably the most powerful idol in your heart.

I've written this post because money is an important topic for Christians to talk about, but many of us pastors are afraid to talk about it because of the sins of those who have gone before us. We are afraid. But, alas, some things must be said, even at the risk of being lumped in with the Jimmy Swaggarts of the world.

In the interest of full disclosure, part of my motivation to write this post is the financial state of Ember Church. However, I have no intention of trying to motivate people in my own congregation to give so that the church can be rescued. If you were at church last week when we publicly discussed our financial circumstances you know this. (If you attend Ember and missed this information, but would like to know more, please let me know.) What Ember needs is for me to find a full-time job somewhere else in the city, something I am trying to do in earnest. However, what I've written below still needs to be said. As usual, I've tried to state things as clearly and frankly as possible.

I'm convinced that the reason we don't like to talk about or hear about money at church is because we love money, put our faith in it, and wrap our identities around it. Let me be plain. Money is an idol. The more viscerally you respond to a sermon on money, the more likely it is that you are harboring money as a powerful idol on the throne of your heart. I know those are strong words, but I believe them, and I believe they need to be said. God hates all of our idols because they steal his rightful place in our lives, and they ultimately make us less than human.

Last week at Ember I mentioned, while talking about the church's finances, that part of why we tithe--give to the local church--is to wage war against the idol of money that captivates our hearts. If greed is the idolatry of money, then generosity to God's work is the antidote to our greed.

What does the New Testament say about tithing?

Oddly enough, the NT does not mention tithing, though for the earliest Jewish Christians it seems likely that they would have continued to tithe to the Temple, and then given an additional amount for the work of the Church. The Gentile Christians did not have to pay a tithe (which was really closer to a national tax for Israel) for the upkeep and operation of the Temple. So what drove them? Here is a sampling of some Scripture from the NT. (Thanks to a commenter at the Jesus Creed named Amos Paul for compiling these.)

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 • Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Romans 15:27 • They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:11 • If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

1 Corinthians 9:14 • In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

2 Corinthians 8:12 • For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

2 Corinthians 9:7 • Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Notice that there is no set sum, like a tithe (10%), for the NT churches. Rather, giving is governed by the principles of grace, willingness, and generosity. C.S. Lewis noticed this absence of specific direction, and concluded thusly:

“I do not believe that one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid that the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

In other words, give until it hurts. Make sacrifices for the work of God, and especially for the local family of God to which you belong. The church's responsibility is not to make its pastors rich, but to make their work possible, and a joy. God takes very seriously the work to which he has called ministers, and his will is for them to "receive their living from the gospel."

Should I tithe when I am in debt?

I hear this question from time to time. "Isn't it God's will for me to be out of debt? Shouldn't I put that ahead of giving to the church?" In fact, it is God's will for you to be out of debt. However, if you're not going to give to the church because of your debt, then neither should you buy any new clothes, eat out, go to the movies, buy Christmas or birthday presents, or do anything else than the absolute, bare minimum required to survive until you have successfully paid off your debt. If you're so concerned over your debt (and you should be concerned over it) that you would withhold from the work of God in your midst, then you should also withhold from yourself every blessing of life in modern America. No cable. No Netflix. No internet. No cell phone. And you should probably sell as much as you possibly can in order to speed up the repayment of your debt.

Have I overstated things? Maybe I have. But is it right to withhold from God's work and indulge yourself? A cell phone might not feel like an indulgence, but when you're giving $100 to Verizon every month and $0 to your local church, and you claim that you're too in debt to tithe, perhaps something has gone awry in your heart. Perhaps there is an idol on the throne of your heart, the throne that rightfully belongs to Jesus.

My family is in debt. We have a mortgage. We have a car payment. We bought a new HVAC system in 2010 that we're paying off. We had our basement waterproofed. We have a significant chunk of debt to pay off. But, despite our debt, and even though I'm the pastor of the church to which we tithe (Yes, pastors tithe too!), we give sacrificially to Ember Church. We do it because we love the local church, and believe in the power of the community of Jesus and the necessity to fund it. (Incidentally, our giving has not increased since planting Ember. We give the same percentage to Ember that we gave to Heritage.)

To answer the question, Yes, you should tithe even when you are in debt. For many of us, we are in debt because money has been an idol. Paying off your debt will not solve the idolatry problem. But I believe that generosity will.

How much should I give to the local church to which I belong?

There is no definitive number for this. Let the principles of grace, willingness, and generosity guide you. You need to work out with God just how much to give. But don't ask, "How much can I afford?"; ask, "How much, God? How much must I give to kill the idol of money in my heart? How much will it take to starve the beast within me?" I know a family that gives 10% of their pretax income to the local church. They do pretax income because they want to make sure that God and the Church gets financial resources before the Government.

Here are some more tithing tips:

• Don't chop up your giving. If you've decided on a certain amount to give to the local church, don't reduce that amount to support missionaries or do other charitable giving. Let the local church be your first commitment, then support missionaries from your abundance, if you are able. Also, trust the church to be able to responsibly direct the funds.
• Never tell your pastor, "My tithe pays your salary." If you still consider it "your tithe", then you haven't been gracious, willing, or generous. When you put it in the basket, it doesn't belong to you anymore. Just as "your taxes" don't pay for every single thing the government does, so "your tithe" doesn't pay for everything the church does.
• Don't withhold tithe to make a political point or express your dissatisfaction with the pastor. This is childish. Don't let your money do the talking when you're perfectly capable of doing the talking yourself.
• Trust that God will provide. My family has consistently given more than we can afford, and we have consistently seen God come through for us. Because of God's faithfulness in the past, we have faith for his continued provision in the future.

Tithing is, in the end, a discipleship issue. Tithing calls us to fully root ourselves in a particular faith community, and to follow Jesus in the most sensitive of areas--our bottom lines. It is an act of war with the idol of money. It is an exercise in faith, and God will prove himself faithful.

Ember Monday

Last night was the third week in our series The Gospel (According to Mark). We covered Mark 3:7-35 in a sermon called The Family. It was a different kind of preaching experience for me because, rather than taking one central idea and working it out for a half hour, I went through the text section by section, treating each one independently. Normally, I don't like to preach that way, but the passage I chose was so long, and so full, that I didn't know how else to attack it.

Something huge that came out of the text, for me, was what Jesus was doing when he appointed his disciples. He chose 12 men, which is, for Israel, a tremendously significant number. There were 12 tribes of Israel--12 sons of Jacob--that formed the original nation. Jesus, by choosing 12 men to be his inner circle, was symbolically reestablishing Israel, recreating the nation of God's people. And here's the kicker: He put himself at the center.

What's so significant about that? Well, consider who was previously at the center of Israel. Who was the first one to establish Israel? Who was in the center of the camp as the 12 tribes moved through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land? It was YHWH. Does that mean that Jesus is replacing YHWH? No, it means that Jesus is YHWH, and that he is replacing the YHWH the people thought they knew. Jesus replaces the God you thought you knew. Everything you thought you knew about God is refined and corrected in Jesus.

Giving communion to one another at Ember.

At the end of the sermon we took communion. We did it in a way that was outside of typical. Normally, communion will be passed down the aisles or administered at the front of the church by the priest or pastor. In order to demonstrate that we are a family in Jesus, I had us administer communion to one another. We formed a line (that's what's happening in the picture), and each person administered the elements to the person behind them in line, saying, "The body of Christ, broken for you. The blood of Christ, shed for you." For me, it was a profound picture of the church in action, giving one another the sacred body and blood of Christ, providing the spiritual sustenance to each other we all so desperately need.

Ember Church meets every Sunday evening at 5:00. We rent a beautiful church called The American Baptist of Westerville, which is at 401 E. Schrock Rd. in Westerville, Ohio. Please feel free to come be a part of our community.

Ember Monday

I was really flying high after our baptism service last week. Seeing God move in people's hearts to take that huge step of baptism is one of the most emotionally rewarding experiences a pastor can have.

Yesterday's service was also a powerful one for me because I felt a freedom to worship that I hadn't had in a little while. I'm convinced it was because I was emotionally and spiritually prepared for worship on a level that I hadn't been yet since we started Ember. Everybody in the building stopped whatever we were doing at 4:30 and gathered to pray. While we had done this sort of thing before, this time it seemed more intentional. The Spirit really moved us, and his presence carried over from that time right into the service.

The sermon was the second in our series on the Gospel of Mark, and we looked at four passages where Mark is demonstrating the authority and Lordship of Jesus in particular realms. When he drove out a demon, Jesus demonstrated that he is the Lord over spirits, both angels and demons. When he healed the crippled man who was lowered on a mat from the roof, he demonstrated that he is the Lord over the human body and all that ails it. When he calmed the storm on Galilee, he demonstrated that he is the Lord over nature. Finally, when he raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, he demonstrated that he is the Lord over life and death. In fact, what Mark is telling us in these episodes is that Jesus is Lord Over All. There is nothing over which he does not have authority. There is no where which he is not King.

Jesus is Lord!

Ember Monday

Yesterday was another night of firsts at Ember. Our first service of 2012. The first week in our series on Mark. And, most importantly, our first baptisms! Let me tell you the story.

Travis Somers came to me a couple months ago saying he wanted to get baptized. We talked about it for a bit, then somebody had the great idea to have our first baptism service on New Year's Day. What better way to start out the new year than to be baptized?

For a long time Travis was the only person who was scheduled to be baptized. We announced it at church several times, and I'm sure I mentioned it online on numerous occasions, as well. But nobody bit, so Travis was it.

On Saturday my son and I went to the church to get the baptistery ready. We turned on the hot water heater, swept out the baptistery, and wiped it down really well. (By "we" I mean "I did all that while Cyrus colored in the kitchen"!)

I returned to the church the next morning to fill up the baptistery with the hot water from the giant water heater. What came out, however, was a brown, mucky, horribly-stinky water-type solution that might have been hot, but was certainly unsuitable for baptizing. In fact, the water smelled so bad the odor set off the toxic gas alarm on the other side of the sanctuary!

Pastor Mark (the pastor of American Baptist Church - Westerville, where we rent space) and I had no idea what to do. We decided the best course of action would be to dump out the stinky brown water-like substance and fill the baptistery with clean, but extremely cold, water. And boy was it ever cold!

I tried boiling large pots of water and dumping them into the baptistery, but that wasn't having any effect. Also, the stove is in the basement, down a really long flight of stairs and clear on the other side of the building. No, thanks. After unsuccessfully searching around town for a sumbersible water heater, I decided that we would just have to suck it up and deal with the frigid temperatures.

About that time I got word from a friend that Becca Lowe also wanted to baptized. Awesome! That's 2! I made sure that both Becca and Travis knew to wear warm clothes.

During the service, I made a call for those who have never been baptized to come forward and be baptized tonight. I didn't expect anyone to come forward because I had been making cracks about the water temperature all night. But Cody Parsons responded! That made 3!

Normally, I would invite each person to go into the baptistery separately, where I would stand with them and ask them a series of questions, which basically amounts to a profession of faith in Christ. This time, however, we took care of all that before getting into the water.

After they each confessed full faith in Christ and submission to him as King, I got into the baptistery (So cold!) with Travis. We both about died from shock. We managed to get through it, though, and I said as loud as I could, "Based on your profession of faith, I know baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And under he went! It was exhilarating! After Travis came Becca, and after Becca came Cody. We all came out alive, and we've all got a great story to tell of the first baptisms we ever had at Ember Church!

The Curious Way God Made Ember Church Possible

This is a story I've been meaning to write for awhile. It's the story of how God used a blog (not mine) to make Ember Church a reality. Enjoy!

One of the best experiences I had while working at Heritage happened the weekend before Lent, 2010. We usually brought in a big-time guest speaker the weekend before Lent, and this year was no different, because we invited Scot McKnight to come speak to us about Mary. The responsibility fell to me to pick Scot and his wife Kris up from the airport, escort them to the hotel, and to and from church for the weekend. They could not have been nicer, more down-to-earth people; and Breena and I got to share lunch and dinner with them! (Thanks, Heritage!)

Scot has a very popular blog called the Jesus Creed, on which he (and others) makes many thought provoking posts every day. There is usually good, civil discussion in the comment threads. I enjoyed taking part in the discussions for the better part of 2010, and Scot was even gracious enough to post several of my book reviews there.

American Baptist Church - Westerville
Mark Farmer, Pastor

When I moved into full time church planting in early 2011, I stopped commenting at the Jesus Creed, but was still an active reader. One day, in the Spring if I remember correctly, Scot posted about a book he recommended to me over dinner, Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh. It is an excellent book and, as an introvert, I resonated with so much of what he wrote. (You can read my review of the book here.) I left a brief comment on Scot's post about the book, saying something to the effect of, "You recommended this book to me when you were in Columbus, and I really enjoyed it!"

Later that day I got a comment on my own blog from someone going by the handle Pastor Mark. My first thought was, "Is Mark Driscoll commenting on my blog? Does he want to fight me?" As it turns out, it was Mark Farmer, a pastor in Columbus and fellow frequenter of the Jesus Creed blog. He contacted me because he had read my mention of Scot's trip to Columbus, and thought it would be great to get together to chat. I happily agreed, thinking this was a great chance to meet another pastor in the area. I am, after all, the world's worst networker, so whenever I get an opportunity to network with other pastors, I jump at it.

This is where things get God-level interesting. Mark and I both live in Westerville. In fact, we live in the same neighborhood. What is more, he pastors the church that is about a 2 minute drive from my house! We met up at Panera and had a wonderful conversation. He was a missionary and church-planter in France for a long time, and I was eager to hear his stories of ministry in what I perceived to be a difficult environment.

Our first Sunday evening at Ember

Meanwhile, Ember was still in the planning stages, but the summer was fast approaching, and that meant the fall, and our launch, was right around the corner. I had been looking into renting the local elementary school for our Sunday morning services, but the cost, along with the cost of storage, audio/visual equipment, and time to set-up and tear-down seemed prohibitive. We had some money, but not enough to get us off the ground in an elementary gymnasium.

So we turned our attention to renting space at a local church. But who would let us rent part of their building to hold a church service while they were having their own church service? It seemed like we would have to look into the possibility of meeting on Sunday nights.

The beautiful stained glass at ABC.

I had been against that from the beginning because I thought people would then perceive us as Junior Church, or Extra Church. In our culture, you go to church on Sunday morning, and everything else is extra credit. Fighting the culture over Jesus would be hard enough; I didn't want to have to fight the culture over what time you go to church, too.

But it didn't seem like we had many options. As we brainstormed the various churches we could contact, Mark popped into my head. I said to the team, "I just met the pastor of a church right down the road. I don't think they have anything in their building on Sunday nights. I'll talk to him." The following Monday I spoke with Mark, and he presented it to his deacons that night, and they approved it! So we drew up a rental agreement, and we found a home! And it's so much better than an elementary school gymnasium. The building is beautiful. We get to store our stuff on site. They even gave me an office! All for much less than it would have cost us to rent a public school facility.

God is full of surprises. You never know how he's going to provide for you, or make his mission possible. For Ember Church, it was a popular author, his blog, and a local pastor with a wide vision of the kingdom of God.

New Sermon Series

Okay, I'm really excited about this one! We're starting a new sermon series at Ember this Sunday on the book of Mark. It's called The Gospel (According to Mark). I know, I know. I'm so creative! But seriously, I'm stoked about preaching through Mark.

This series will take us all the way through Easter, which is April 8. I'm expecting God to show up in powerful ways in our community as we explore the Gospel through Mark's eyes. In fact, Mark's Gospel is probably Peter's Gospel. Many scholars believe that Mark wrote down the memoirs of Peter and turned them into the very first Gospel to be published.

We'll also be celebrating the new series, and the New Year, by having baptisms. If you have not yet been baptized, it's an important step to take as you follow Jesus. As we'll see on Sunday night, even Jesus was baptized! We are baptized as an act of obedience and as a public declaration that we belong to Christ. Baptism is the symbol of our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We would love to baptize you at Ember this weekend. For more information, please send me an email. I'd love to talk with you about baptism!

Ember Monday

Last night was our last service of 2011! It was also our shortest service ever. It was a very low-key service, as many of our friends from Otterbein were on Christmas break.

We celebrated the birth of Christ by singing some Christmas carols, and I preached a short sermon from Luke 1 and 2. The message was about God's surprising plan to overcome the powers of sin, evil, and death through a sneak attack, through subversion. He took out the ruler of this world, Satan, from the inside, and he did it through this child that was born to Mary & Joseph in Bethlehem.

God is quite daring, isn't he? He sent his Son to be born as a helpless baby into a culture where the child mortality rate approached 40%. The family into which he was born was not wealthy or powerful. They had no influence. They had no means to raise the child in a special way. What a risk God took in Jesus, and what a reward we all have gained! Merry Christmas!