The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to songbooks…

It’s a little bit after 10:30 Friday night. I just sat back down in my study after spending almost an hour in the worship center listening to my church family read from God’s Holy Scriptures. Carrie-Anne and the girls and I read together from noon to 12:30 today from the middle parts of 2 Chronicles. I read the account of Jehoram in chapter 21. Carrie-Anne followed with chapter 22’s story of Ahaziah. Then Whitney, Valerie, and Carley in order. Whitney gave a stirring rendition of the execution of Athaliah, Valerie’s going to have nightmares tonight about the pronunciation of Jehoiada, and Carley got totally beaten down by almost everything in chapter 25. You can tell by the picture. The look on Carley’s face, especially on the big screen in the upper right hand corner, and her posture are saying, “What am I doing here? How much longer?” Even Siller, whose family was up next, is showing his concern. What a terrific experience, though, reading the Word of God together as a family, filling the new building with Scripture. I’ll never forget it. And I hope the girls won’t either.

I’m not getting as much work done the past two days because I can’t help but walk over into the new worship center to listen in on the readings. I started my morning listening to Bill Crawford and Jim McDoniel take us from 2 Kings into 1 Chronicles. What a relief to watch even Jim struggle with impossible names. He even chuckled at himself once or twice. I’ve been privileged today to listen to older ladies who’ve been here forever and young men who’ve been here less than a year. Senior citizens and little kids. People who are involved in almost every program in this church. And others who don’t seem to be involved in much of anything, but who obviously share a deep love for our Father’s Word. It’s so moving to listen to Bonnie Bell read from Psalm 38: “I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.” Realizing her physical condition, knowing the real pain she lives with every minute of every day, it’s heart-breaking watching her read this. And then she reads from Psalm 42: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” And I know she does. Every day. Wow.

As emotionally stirring as it is to participate with Bonnie as she reads from the Psalms, it’s funny to watch Russell Mihills read from Proverbs 16: “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.”

We’re into Ecclesiastes right now. Our Singles group here at Legacy is reading together from 10:00 to midnight. Then they’re going to IHOP. To start planning their next foreign missions trip. I told Jesse and Pam as I left, it seems like every month I hear about that group doing something or I see them doing something that inspires me. They inspire the whole church. They embody the Gospel as they serve each other and our whole church family.

Sometimes there are a dozen or so people in the new worship center listening to the reading. Sometimes the place is completely empty except for the one person at the microphone. Some sit at the back. Some sit at the front. Some seem to be praying silently. Some seem to be soaking in every single syllable. Some are just there out of curiosity. But all are greeted with smiles and hugs and pats on the back. This Legacy Bible Reading is truly a spectacular event. I encourage you to check it out. I’d suggest setting aside 30 minutes sometime between now and Sunday morning. Make sure you listen to at least three different people read in their 15-minute shifts. Do it right when you wake up. Stop by while you’re shopping or running errands. I promise you’ll be glad you did.

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There are over 960 people signed up and already PAID up for the fellowship lunch after our worship assembly Sunday! 960! Are you kidding me? That doesn’t include those who forgot to register. That doesn’t include our visitors who are welcome to stay and eat with us as our guests. And it feels like everybody’s bringing visitors. Good gravy, we may have over 1,500 people in our new worship center Sunday. We may have to put chairs in the aisles and in the foyer. We may have people sitting on the stage. It may be a couple of weeks before anybody gets “their pew.” We may have to go to two services THIS Sunday!

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I can almost hear the sounds of dribbling basketballs and squeaking sneakers in the Legacy gym.

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There will be at least eight baptisms here Sunday. At least eight. Manuel is baptizing a Spanish-speaking father and son he’s been studying with for a couple of months. A charter member grandfather is baptizing his grandson. Three more dads are baptizing their children. A great friend is baptizing another great friend. And it looks like I’m honored to baptize one of our little guys, too. Three of these eight are directly related to the Faith Builders Day Camp we taught this week. Although all three of those young people have been talking to their parents about this decision for several months now. We stopped the Legacy Bible Reading late last night long enough for Jerry Karels to baptize his son, Carter, in front of all our Bible readers and the Legacy Youth Group who had just returned from Summer Youth Series. What a powerful and amazing God we serve! He is still today, right now, forgiving sins and saving souls and robbing hell. And we’re right in the big middle of it. Awesome. We only have two sets of waders in the baptistry. Help.

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We’re going to invite all the families and friends of the ones being baptized to gather on the stage area around the baptistry to witness the new birth up close. That stage is way big enough to accomodate probably 100 people. The baptizee’s Small Group. Relatives. Bible School teachers. Friends. Anybody who wants to participate, we’ll ask to join us on the stage. And then the whole church family—all 1,500 of us—will recite Colossians 3:1-4 to each new Christian as he/she comes up out of the water: “Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory.” Won’t that be great? A congregational blessing. A real family affair. We’re also going to start putting the video of every single baptism on our church website. And John’s working on a way to, not only watch the videos, but write a note of encouragement to each new brother and sister.

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David Hunter left me a phone message at about 5:00 this afternoon. The news for his wife, Denise, is worse than it was this morning (see previous post). It’s not good. Four times in a two-minute message, David said, “It’s not good.” She’s on a ventilator. She’s still unconscious. Not responsive. Hardly any blood getting to her brain at all. And David just asked that we keep praying. And I’m asking, too. I saw Randy and Jamie at the Bible reading earlier this evening. They asked how Denise was and told me they were praying for her. I forget people read this blog. I never forget how kind my Christian brothers and sisters are.

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A couple of more pictures from the cross-raising ceremony yesterday morning.

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We’re surrounded by all this “newness.” New building. New carpet. New pews. New paint. New smells. New feel. What a perfect time to re”new” our dedication to Christ and to his mission as well as our commitments to his Church and to each other. Our Father is overwhelming us with “more than all we ask or imagine.” May our hearts overflow with gratitude and may our lives reflect his glory.

Peace,

Allan

“To us who are being saved it is the power of God.” ~1 Cor. 1:18

 When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to his blood.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he’ll call me someday to my home far away, where his glory forever I’ll share.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ~1 Corinthians 1:18-24.

Drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’tis all that I can do!

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
and the burden of my heart rolled away,
it was there by faith I received my sight,
and now I am happy all the day!

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood shed on the cross.” ~Colossians 1:19-20

Near the cross! O, Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day with its shadow o’er me.
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever,
’til my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. ~Psalm 119:16

How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth. ~Psalm 119:103

The grass withers and the flowers fall, 
but the Word of the Lord stands forever. ~1 Peter 1:25

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it. ~Luke 11:28

From the first moment of Faith Builders at 9:00 Monday morning through this very moment as I’m listening to God’s Word being read by Susan Garrison and her daughter Allie it has been, and continues to be, an incredibly awe-inspiring week. I’m amazed at the power and the love of our God. I’m thrilled that he looks at me in all my sin and shame and loves me enough to save me. I’m grateful he’s put me in the middle of this community of believers who love him and love each other. And I’m humbled that, for some still unexplained reason, I’m the preacher.

Peace,

Allan

With the exciting move into our new worship center—one church, one assembly, one hectic summer—come exciting opportunities to serve one another in mercy and love. Going to one Sunday morning service (”There is no need for me to write to you about this service.” 2 Cor. 9:1), accomodating untold numbers of visitors (”The people came running from all directions.” Acts 21:30), and picking a brand new pew to call your own (”Here’s a good seat for you.” James 2:3) can all be quite challenging. Here are a few helpful hints and suggestions to make our move into the new facility as smooth as possible and continue putting the needs of others ahead of our own.

(”And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming.’” Ezekiel 21:7)

~ON VISITORS~

Smile. Be extra friendly. Go overboard to foster a warm and welcoming environment.
(”I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile.” Job 9:27)

Greet everyone. Introduce people you meet—visitors and members—to others.
(”There I will meet you and speak to you.” Exodus 29:42)

Wear your name tag. Ooops, I mean find your name tag. Then wear it.
(”What is his name, and the name of his son?” Proverbs 30:4)

Walk all visitors to the Visitors Center at the southeast corner of the foyer.
(”They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept.” 1 Sam. 10:4)

To help you multiply, invite visitors to your Small Groups Church.
(”Now I have become two groups.” Genesis 32:10)

~ON PARKING~

When possible, please use just one vehicle per family.
(”They came with one Accord.” Acts 12:20)

Please park as far away from the building as possible.
(”His command is that you walk in love.” 2 John 6)

Please go ahead and park in the grass if you’re able.
(”Open your eyes and look to the fields!” John 4:35, “Let me go to the field!” Ruth 2:2)

~ON THE NEW WORSHIP CENTER~

No food or drink in the new worship center.
(”Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in?” 1 Corinthians 11:22)

Make use of the new drinking fountains in the new foyer.
(”Here is water! What doth hinder me?” Acts 8:36)

Please sit in the middle of the pews, not on the ends. Scrunch together. Make room.
(”We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8)

Take advantage of the nursery and training rooms at the back of the worship center.
(”The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more.” Isaiah 65:19)

Peace,

Allan

They’re in the middle of the impressive task of installing the pews in our new worship center. And in just two weeks we’ll be assembling together in this beautiful building to worship our God and spur one another on in our lives of faith.  

We say all the time that the Church is not the building, it’s the people.

OK. I’ll buy that. I believe that. Up to a point.

We shouldn’t carry that statement or that position so far that it discounts or nullifies the sacred nature of the actual place where God’s children meet him in sacred assembly.

The building is important. It’s OK to feel that way. There’s nothing wrong with feeling the way you do when you walk into our new worship center or into the old church building in Arkansas where you were baptized or into the church buildings in Tulsa or Abilene where you meet and worship with dear friends once a year.

Our church buildings are vital to our faith. Our buildings collect stories and develop associations that give great depth and breadth to our experience of following Jesus together. It’s in our new worship center where our two younger daughters will put on their Lord in baptism. A couple of them may wind up getting married in there. We’ll sing and pray together in there during the funeral of some very dear sweet person reading (or writing!) this article right now. We’ll send off missionaries together in there. We’ll laugh and we’ll cry together in there. We’ll experience birth and death and everything in between together in there. We’ll hear the Word of our Lord together in there. We’ll share the communion meal together in there. We’ll be convicted and moved, we’ll confess and repent, we’ll chase little kids around the aisles together in there.

And we’ll do all those things together in the presence of each other and in the presence of our Holy God.

Your grandmother’s house is full of stories. Your childhood home is full of memories. Your current space of residence serves as the comforting and stabilizing center of your family’s hectic schedule. Our church buildings serve the same important function of reminding us of who and what has gone before and pointing ahead to who and what is to come, all in the presence of and by the power of our eternal God.

Yes, the Church is the people. But the building represents the people and the stories and the memories and the provision and care of the God we serve.

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Our 20 pollsters for the inaugural The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys Top 20 College Football Poll are all in. 19 Texas residents and one from California. Eighteen men and two women whose formative years were spent in places as widely varied as Chicago and Broken Arrow and Mississippi and Ohio. Judging from our pollsters’ list of favorite teams, it looks like we have the Big XII, Big 10, SEC, C-USA, Mountain West, WAC, and Pac-10 Conferences completely covered. It should be a totally comprehensive poll. And legitimate. Until the first time ACU or Harding or UTA receives votes. Then it’s over.

I still need a logo for this thing. Submit your entries now. Design a logo for the KK&C Top 20 and email it to me at astanglin@legacychurchofchrist.org

Thanks for jumping in. Much more later.

Peace,

Allan

“I will declare your name to my brothers;
  in the presence of the congregation I
  will sing your praises.”
  ~Hebrews 2:12

We’re almost there. On August 17, in just 3-1/2 more weeks, the Legacy Church of Christ will begin meeting as one congregation of God’s people instead of two. For the first time in over 18 years we’ll be together on the Lord’s Day, celebrating his resurrection, communing with the entire family, witnessing baptisms, blessing babies, sending off mission teams, welcoming new members, praising and praying and confessing and encouraging all of each other all at the same time. Together.

Our new worship center is almost complete. The carpet and tile are all installed. The pews are all stacked in the concourse waiting to be placed. It all seems to be just details now.

Here’s the front. As always, click on the pic to get the full size.

Here’s the back.

There’s a full slate of events and activities planned for that weekend of August 17. We’re doing our best to coordinate the installation of the massive stainless steel cross on the outside of the stumple with the beginning of our church’s reading of the Bible. The plan is for our entire church family—all of us, individually, as families, as Small Groups, men, women, and children—to sign up for 15 and 30 minutes shifts as we read the Bible from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. The reading will be done from the pulpit, over the microphone, and carried on our speaker system throughout the new worship center and every nook and cranny of this entire campus. It’ll take about 75 hours. It’ll begin at about 7:00 am Thursday August 14, hopefully following a cross ceremony outside, and conclude right at 10:00 Sunday morning as we gather to assemble for the first time in our new building.

A huge church-wide fellowship dinner will follow that initial assembly. Then we’re inviting all the Churches of Christ in Tarrant County to join us at 2:00 for a singing and time of worship together. We feel very strongly that our assembly manifests the unity of the Body of Christ as a community of faith dedicated to the glory of God and his Kingdom. And what better way to communicate that than to come together with all our brothers and sisters to lift our voices and our hearts to our God and to encourage each other that afternoon? Finally, we’ll host an open house at 3:00 so folks can tour the new parts of our campus, including the worship center, the youth and benevolence center, and the new classrooms upstairs.

Our Christian assemblies, in many ways, represent the visible presence of Jesus to our world. Our gatherings declare his presence and proclaim his purpose. And our assemblies serve to equip his disciples for the mission of our God.

Beginning August 17, the Legacy Church of Christ will share the sacred assembly together. And I can’t wait.

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I’m honored to be speaking tonight to our brothers and sisters at the College Hill Church of Christ, just a couple of miles west of here. My grandparents are charter members of that congregation which was established in the early ’60s, my grandfather a charter elder there. It’s where my mom worshiped as a teenager. Growing up, it’s where we worshiped as a family when we came to Fort Worth to visit my mom’s side. My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary there. My great-grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday there. The funerals of my granddad, two great-grandmothers, and my Uncle Asa were held there. As little kids, my sisters and I ran circles around the auditorium there while our grandmother did her work for Thursday School. College Hill holds a lot of fond memories for me. And it’ll be very special to be with them this evening.

Peace,

Allan

In addition to naming our dreams and visions for the Legacy Church of Christ at our recent elders / ministers retreat, we were each asked to share our goals for the rest of 2008 and our goals for 2009. Most of mine reflect my overall dreams and visions. They’re specific ways, or at least time-frames, for doing what I’m convinced God is calling me/us to do.

The goals are up on the wall in my study as daily reminders of what I’ve pledged to do. And, again, in an effort maybe to encourage or inspire you—and at the least to help in holding me accountable—here they are:

Goals for the rest of 2008—

To explore as a church family the multi-faceted aspects of communion and the Lord’s Supper

To make communion time the highlight and climax of our Sunday morning assemblies

to work harder to foster more relationship and trust between the elders and me

make more hospital visits and send more cards and letters to Legacy members

use more examples and illustrations in my sermons from what God is doing with our people at Legacy

plan a 24 Hours of Prayer event this summer in conjunction with the opening of our new worship center

plan a Friends Day in the fall

Goals for 2009—

plan a four-day gospel meeting at Legacy, for our community, themed around the power of the resurrection; I’d like to call it a Resurrection Revival or something like that

full integration of our Spanish-speaking and deaf brothers and sisters into our Sunday morning assemblies

plan a Tarrant County unity event—some kind of singing and/or worship assembly—for all our Christian brothers and sisters in the area

Please join me in praying about these things as God works in and through me and us together to reconcile the world back to him.

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The temporary plywood wall that’s been separating the west side of our concourse from the new worship center construction has been taken down. You can see the brand new doors leading into the worship center now from almost anywhere on this side of Pod B.

And they’ve begun painting the inside of the worship center now.

Will it be late July or early August?

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Speaking of painting, yesterday marked the annual Legacy Youth Group Messy Games Day. Disgusting. Much more messy than last year. Much more food and food products involved. Egg-tosses. Wrestling in jello for whipped-cream covered watermelons. Human ice-cream sundaes. Yuck. I only got close enough to take pictures but still wound up with caramel and strawberry syrup on my shoes and pants.

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We’re studying the fourth and final Servant Song in Isaiah this Sunday, Isaiah 52:13-53:12. The cross-event is unrepeatable. But cross-bearing is not!

Peace,

Allan

We announced to the Legacy congregation yesterday our intentions to go from two Sunday morning assemblies to one single weekly assembly once we move into the new worship center in late July / early August. For the Pipeline-Legacy Church of Christ, it’ll be the first time in over 18 years that the entire church family will come together on Sunday mornings to worship God and encourage each other.

It’ll be the first time:

that the whole church family will regularly worship together in the same room at the same time.
the whole church participates in the baptisms
the whole church is introduced to new members
the whole church participates in baby blessings / dedications
the whole church participates in special events such as Senior Sunday and missionary send-offs

I’m excited to be able to regularly participate in a thousand-member choir, joining with so many brothers and sisters in raising our voices and our hearts to God in song. I’m looking forward to the energy and the excitement and the enthusiasm of the larger crowd. I’m glad for the lowered utility costs, the uniform start times, and the increased flexibility in planning special events.

But mostly, I’m looking forward to an abundance of opportunities to sacrifice and share and learn from one another.

Right now, we are two different churches. To ignore that fact is to ignore the truth. Our 8:30 assembly is much different in style and dynamic and approach than our 10:45 service. We sing the same songs and do things in the same order for each service. But they’re different. Very different. Sometimes the clock will determine that we leave out a song or two during first service. Different people will pray differently, read Scripture differently, approach communion differently, and even react to the sermon differently. Not only that but, especially since we meet in 37 homes now on Sunday nights in Legacy Small Groups Church, there are huge groups of people who don’t ever meet or converse or interact in any way with their own brothers and sisters who attend the other assembly. We never see each other. As a result of all those things, we really are two different churches.

The first-service people could learn a whole lot by spending more time with the second-service people.

And the second-service people could learn a whole lot by spending more time with the first-service people.

If we were to stay with two separate assemblies, we’d each be able to stay completely comfortable. No change. No sacrifice. No bending. No thinking about others.

Now we’ll all, every one of us, have to make some changes and have to sacrifice a little to make this happen. Some of us, as was mentioned yesterday, will have to wake up a half hour earlier. Some of us will have to get used to not being the very first ones in line at Luby’s. The good news is we all will have to put the needs of others ahead of our own. We’ll each have to consider others better than ourselves. We’ll have to share a pew. We’ll have to get re-acquainted. It’s a win-win situation for growing spiritually with each other as a family.

And when our Lord blesses us with more baptisms and more families and more people and we’re forced to move back to two services, it’ll be that much more wonderful. Whether it’s in six-months or six-years, we’ll do so with an increased unity and a renewed sense of community and family within our body of believers at Legacy. And we’ll look back fondly on whatever period of time we met in one single assembly, glad for the experiences, happy for the memories, and more selfless and sacrificial servants because of it.

Here are the very latest pictures of the inside of the worship center. As always, click on the pic to get the full size.

The Legacy Quilters met for the first official time this morning in their area of the brand new Youth & Benevolence Center. When Kent wasn’t harassing them about no-parking lanes and I wasn’t bugging them to pose for pictures, they actually got a lot of work done today.

Peace,

Allan

I know. I know. It’s been a while. A full week now as I look back. Thank you for your emails and your phone calls. All four of you. Since Virgil Fry was scheduled to preach yesterday and present the vision for Lifeline Chaplaincy’s Tarrant County mission to our Legacy family, I seized the opportunity to take one of my vacation weeks. And, no, I wasn’t on the beach somewhere in South Texas or in the mountains of Colorado as some of you have suggested. I spent the week painting the exterior of our house. Six days of hanging off a ladder, 24 feet up, with a paintbrush in my hand. I couldn’t be happier to be back in the study today.

Today’s been filled with a ton of catching up. So allow me to just post a bunch of pictures, give you a couple of quick-hit updates, and resume the full-time blogging tomorrow. As always, click on the pic for the full size. Except the one of all the tongues near the bottom. Gross.

Since last we blogged, I’ve performed my first ever wedding ceremony, joining Jim & Elvera (Long) McKillip in holy matrimony. And it was so low-stress for me. They have 120 years of marriage experience between them. And they couldn’t have cared less about the ceremony itself. It was absolutely a piece of cake for me. They told me to write the whole thing and just show up and do it. No rehearsel dinner. No pre-marital counseling. I asked them if they wanted to at least write the vows and Jim said, “Why don’t you write them and email them to me.” Great wedding. We ate barbecue and peach cobbler at the reception. Whitney, Valerie, and Carley: I hope you’re taking notes.

We were also duped and deceived into attending a PTA meeting. You know how these schools do it. They say your fifth grader is performing in a concert or a play at 7:00 Thursday night when, in actuality, the PTA meeting starts at 7:00 and your fifth grader performs at 8:00. But you don’t realize it until the gavel bangs at 7:01. After they elected next year’s Green Valley Elementary PTA Officers (I almost nominated Whitney for Third Vice-President of Recruiting) Valerie and her class wowed us with their rendition of “We Go Together” from Grease. I hate it when movies I watched as a kid are presented as “classics.” Carrie-Anne’s mom made the poodle skirt. Way to go, Gram!

Now, about those Stars! I keep having flashbacks to ‘99. The Stars keep winning and they keep advancing and we’re so surprised. How do they keep winning? Nobody was really expecting this. They’re playing so well right now. Modano looks like he’s 27 instead of 37. And they’re dominating the 3rd periods. If you’re playing the Stars and you’re not up by two or three goals heading to the third period, you’re going to get beat. Last night’s whipping of San Jose puts the Stars up two games to none in the second round, the second time now Dallas has taken the first two games of a series on the road. That’s only happened four other times in NHL history. And all four times, the team that’s started 2-0 twice on the road has made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

And then there are the Mavericks. Yuk. The Jason Kidd trade, made out of desperation almost two months ago, is killing them. He can’t score like Devin Harris. He can’t defend like Harris. And he can’t block shots like Diop. Man, they’re missing Harris and Diop. More than that, though, they’re missing Josh Howard. So far in the four games against New Orleans, Howard is averaging only 12.8 points per game on just 25% shooting and 6.5 rebounds. Yuk. And while Mavericks fans probably have huge issues right now with everything from the Kidd trade and Avery’s coaching to the ManiAACs shirts and Laura Green’s hair, my biggest issue—an insurmountable issue for me—is with Josh Howard. And I’m facing a serious dilemma right now in my own house over it. I’ll have to share all this tomorrow and maybe even solicit your opinions and advice.

They’re finally putting the steel roof on our new worship center here at Legacy. The north side was finished Saturday and they’re working on the south side today. By this time tomorrow, I think, everything will be dried in and they can start really working on the inside. The air-conditioners and duct work are in, the rock at the front of the worship center above and around the stage is set and a lot of the interior walls are taped and bedded. I’m still hopeful this can all be done and we can be in the new building by our next 5th Sunday on June 29.

I also want to share with you this picture of Matt and his daughter, Elizabeth, in our living room last night during our Small Groups Church meeting. She’s reading from Romans 15 and I can’t resist the picture. Passing on the faith in our homes. Our children singing with us and reading with us and watching their parents and other adults worship and study and pray. I love the picture and the way it symbolizes one of the key things Legacy Small Groups Church is about. Apply the Word, Connect as a Family, and Evangelize the Community. And do it together.

After last night’s Small Groups meetings I/we hosted a come-and-go ice cream deal to celebrate Carrie-Anne’s 40th birthday. It was a surprise right up until the moment I walked in the door with six half-gallons of Blue Bell. The jig was up. And she knew something was going on. But she wasn’t quite sure what. By the time it was over, we must have had close to a hundred people, mostly from Legacy, through the doors with well wishes and tacky birthday cards. It was a fantastic night with great family and friends. These pictures are of the friends we couldn’t quite run off.

No comment. Thank you, Tonia, for the pics.

And thank you to everyone who came last night. We are so blessed to have made such great friends in such a short amount of time. We love each of you very much. We especially love Jean for washing spoons, Beth for leading us in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” in Portuguese, and Kevin for taking out the trash. And Jill for waiting until they got in the car to ask Kevin why he never does that at home.

Carrie-Anne, I love you. You are the perfect partner. I love you forever.

Allan

“God calls things that are not as though they were.” ~Romans 4:17

A red-letter day yesterday for the family of believers here at Legacy and in our history as a congregation of God’s people. The goal for Missions Sunday was to collect $150,000 to fund our local and foreign missions budget for 2008. And our Lord blessed us with over $209,000 in cash and pledges. And the number is still going up.

What a thrill it was to watch our little children parade with their Bible classes down to the front to announce and then to dump the money they’ve collected over the month of March for our missionaries. How amazing it was to be joined by our brothers and sisters at the Centerpoint church in Bagiuo City, Philippines via video and audio hookup and to see them and talk to them and wave to them and sing “We Love You With the Love of the Lord” to them, half a world away. And then to experience our Father opening our hearts and our spirits to sacrificially give like we never have before was beyond description.

Our God always out-imagines us. He always out-dreams us. We can’t think too big or plan too big for him. He always gives us much more than we can ever ask or imagine. How wonderful to consider the lives that will be saved, the souls that will be won, the people who will be reconciled to our God as a result of yesterday’s blessings.

And our Lord continued to pour out his blessings on us as he held back the rain and kept us high and dry at last night’s fellowship / assembly in our new, not-quite-finished-yet worship center. Nearly 700 of us ate dinner together in the new building and then worshiped our God in song and prayer. We read Scripture together. We confessed Jesus as the Christ and as Lord together. We imagined together all the baptisms that are going to take place in this building, all the weddings, all the singings, all the sermons, all the laughing, all the crying, all the seminars, all the love that’s going to be shared in this building. And then we asked our God to, again, blow us away.

I saw the Legacy church transformed yesterday. I saw all our same people, all our same brothers and sisters. But I saw us differently. There was a different spirit about us yesterday. The Lord was in our midst yesterday and he was working and blessing and inspiring and planning for things I can’t even begin to see yet. But he sees them. They already exist in his sight. Our God calls things that are not as though they were. And we’re beginning to see and to think like him more and more. And it’s exciting.

After we prayed together for all of the future things that would be happening for our Lord and for the Kingdom in this new place of worship, we wrote on the foundation. We wrote our favorites passages of Scripture. We wrote our prayers. We wrote our dreams for our church family. And we wrote the names of our children.

What an incredible day. What an incredible God!

It’s 10:30 pm Monday, my computer’s been down most of the day, and I’m still riding yesterday’s high. I just got out of a Small Groups Church Co-Leader training session with a bunch of couples who are leading new groups beginning this Sunday—new groups that are all multiplications of original groups who’ve grown beyond their capacities. And they’ve all experienced the love and the ministry and the sharing and the fellowship and the connection and the evangelism that takes place in a small group. And they’re all inspired to take what they have and spread it out into our congregation and into our communities.

And we give God the glory. He alone is worthy of praise for all the wonderful things that are happening here. He alone. In Romans 4, when Paul writes about our God who “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were,” he says Abraham’s faith was strengthened and he “gave glory to God” because he was seeing the impossible-to-deny truth that our God has “power to do what he had promised.” Amen.

May our Father use us in his Kingdom. And may we submit our lives and our church family and our wills to him. May we be blessed with his Spirit and his vision. And may his will be done in the Legacy church as it is in heaven.

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And may UCLA beat Memphis Saturday night.

The only way I beat Whitney outright in my NCAA tournament bracket is if the Bruins beat those impossibly-loaded Tigers from Memphis State AND Kansas beats Carolina. I can salvage a tie if the Tarheels win and Tiger High loses. I can salvage a tie if Kansas and Memphis win and Kansas then takes the title. But if Memphis wins the championship or if Memphis and UNC both win their semi-final games, I’m toast. And then, I’m probably done. You can’t lose to your daughter in a college basketball tournament pool. I need Kevin Love to score about 40.

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Michael Young drove one deep to put Texas up 1-0 in the Rangers half of the first inning in Seattle. And Millwood looked good into the 6th. But the Rangers lose their opener (SHOCKING!!) 5-2 to the M’s. Now, Kipi, they’re tied for last place in the American League.

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Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my day in Waco with Jim Martin and some of the other central Texas preachers down there. So I probably won’t write again until Wednesday morning. I’ll reflect a little bit on this year’s Tulsa Workshop then.

 Peace,

Allan

Thank you, Georgetown.

My champion didn’t even make it through the first weekend. I still have three of my Final Four alive. But the second-seeded Hoyas choking against Davidson cost me 20 points in the Stanglin family pool. Peeps and malted chocolate Whopper eggs are soothing me somewhat. Heading in to the Sweet 16, Carrie-Anne’s actually leading the house with 45 points. My reign as Bracket Champ continues. But the throne is teetering.

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What if Mark Cuban trades his entire kingdom for Jason Kidd and the Mavericks don’t even make the playoffs? The Mavs are 9-8 since trading for the troubled point guard. And they’re 0-8 against teams with a winning record. Since trading for Kidd, Dallas has slipped from 5th place in the Western Conference standings to 7th, just a half-game out of 8th and only two games out of 9th. That means they’re just two games away from missing the postseason.

And Dirk’s injury yesterday during their third consecutive loss doesn’t help. He’s gone for at least two to three weeks. And they have a couple of games against Golden State and Denver during that stretch. Wow.

I’m not celebrating the fact that Cuban’s Mavs have fallen apart since they acquired Kidd. OK, maybe I am just a little…

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Easter photos from Sunday afternoon at Vic and Kathryn Akers’. As always, click on the pic for the full size.

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And the stone is up around the stumple on the new worship center! We really don’t know what to call that short, stocky, outcropping on top of the new building. It’s certainly not a steeple. It’s too wide and stumpy. One of our elders suggested “stumple” a few weeks back. And it’s stuck. Here are pictures of our newly stoned stumple.

Peace,

Allan