Jeff's Blog: A Weekend Experience

I love it when I get a chance to combine a couple of my favorite things which is the case with the current weekend series Remember at Alive Church. My dear friend and world known artist Phil Starke painted an oil painting of Jesus face while on the cross while I talked about Communion and it's meaning. Phil is best known as a western artist and western landscapes, but is very skilled with portraits. Having the expression of an artist while teaching and being able to interact with him makes for a great overall experience. In fact one person came up to me after one of the weekend services and said: "that was not just a talk, that was an incredible experience."

Part of the passion we have is to create a weekend experience every week and at every venue that is a relevant environment for people who are far from God and followers of Jesus. Within the context of Relevant Environments is an incredible joy to be creative and yet still share the Bible, God's Word. While the message of God's Word never changes and there is never a need for us to make it Relevant, (it already is) we are committed to communicating it relevantly.

Let me illustrate this. If you are near my age you can remember things like Albums when you first started collecting and playing or dancing to music. Then came the 8 tracks - what a revolution! I can remember that it wasn't long before all the 8 tracks were traded for Cassettes. About the time I got to the place I had all the Cassettes I wanted along came CD's. I had a big financial investment in Cassettes but I could see how much better CD's were and started making the change...and like most of you CD's went by the wayside to MP3s...digital everything...and now all my music is on my iPod, with better quality and more songs and they all fit in my pocket and go with me everywhere I go.

That's Relevant Environment. You see the music is still the end result, that's not the big change. In fact most of the music I had on big old vinyl albums is some of the same music I have on my iPod. For some reason a lot of times in the church we are still communicating the message of the Bible, God's Word, which never changes, in ways (environments) that are antique. Relevant Environments is a matter of method not message. I am so glad that our loving heavenly Father never changes, His love is steadfast, and that His Word never changes, (that is the truth and message of the Bible) and yet He gives us the creative skills and abilities to communicate with creative methods, Relevant Environments!

My friend Phil will be joining me again during this weekend series Remember, I am looking forward to it as we create another Experience!