Sunday, March 5, I spoke at Village Church of Gurnee. The pastor is an old friend. Todd Habeggar and we first met on a basketball court: he was the star center at Fort Wayne (now Summit College) and I was a guard at Cornerstone. Todd had pointed elbows, and I learned right away that he could use them.
\nHe had to stop using them, however, when he went to seminary at Trinity, one year after I did. We occasionally met in the gym, and then eventually were on the same intramural team \u2014 and I must admit that we were a pretty good team. Well, before I had left the area to go to England to do doctoral work, Todd was the pastor of Village Church of Gurnee. And he\u2019s been there ever since \u2014 some 20 years. It now runs about 1200 per Sunday. Encouraging place with lots of folks finding their way through life.
\nThe difference between college and now: as Todd said it, \u201cWe are the same, but we just are bigger and have less hair.\u201d
\nAs I drove to Village Church I got to thinking about and praying for Todd, and an odd thought came to my mind: How do you come up with sermons at the same place for 20plus years? There is an easy answer to this, of course: the Bible is big and you can\u2019t preach through the whole in lifetime. But, still, one wonders how one can stay fresh. When I got there I saw Marty, his wife, for the first time since seminary days, and I got to wondering how a pastor\u2019s wife can remain contented, as Marty obviously was, with all the issues that arise in a local church. Frankly, pastoring has to be one of the biggest challenges in our culture today.
\nMy sermon, if you can call it that \u2014 I preach but I don\u2019t \u201cdo\u201d sermons because I\u2019m a teacher with points, was on Jesus Creed: that Jesus learned a sacred rhythm of love from his parents; that Jesus embodied the Jesus Creed at the table; and that it takes a lifetime to learn how to love others. (They didn\u2019t ask me to wear a tie, but I kept my shirt tucked in.) One person told me she thought I was talking to her the whole time (because it was she needed to hear, but most of the time I feel that I\u2019m talking to myself as much at to the congregants).
\nIt was a challenge to speak three times: 8am, 9:30 and 11am. But, there was great worship, a really good band with a drummer I met when he was a kid (Paul Hebel), the sound technician was my former barber (Brad \u2014 don\u2019t need one very often anymore and he used to charge me extra \u2014 \u201cfinder\u2019s fee\u201d he called it), and a host of others I hadn\u2019t seen in some time (shouldn\u2019t even try to mention them all).
\nHere\u2019s what I said when I got home: \u201cKris, there are lots of Christians in Lake County.\u201d I know of a few churches over a thousand, and a bundle of churches about 500 or more, and I\u2019ve come into contact with scores and scores of smaller churches, emerging groups, and house-churches, and it is just encouraging to see the Church grow throughout Lake County in many ways. (Please don\u2019t press me on the numbers issue; I like big churches and I like small churches; I just like Church.)
\nThis week we go to Coldsprings Community Church in Placerville, California; the next to Harbert Covenant in Harbert Michigan; then the next to Springdale Community Church in Louisville; and then we finish this mini-tour in Delaware at Eastpoint Community with Tom Ward.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, March 5, I spoke at Village Church of Gurnee. The pastor is an old friend. Todd Habeggar and we first met on a basketball court: he was the star center at Fort Wayne (now Summit College) and I was a guard at Cornerstone. Todd had pointed elbows, and I learned right away that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n