Friberg's Friday Favorite

Starfield is such a great worship group. I first heard about them a year ago and I love singing their songs to worship God. Filled With Your Glory is another classic from Starfield that can be used in any church.

Wednesday's Brian Teaser

Favre is back with the Vikings. Everyone in Minnesota is excited!

Name four teams in the NFC that are NOT happy that Brett is back this year.

Thanks for playing!

Community

Brianne and I are looking for a church close to where we live. As we search, we are constantly reminded that the health of the church is only as strong as volunteers and leadership of the church. If there are not any volunteers in the church (or the church is struggling to get volunteers), the signs point to a congregation that does not buy into the vision of the leadership. If there are an abundance of volunteers, the leadership has a vision that everyone is excited to support.

We visited a church that had energetic and helpful volunteers out in the parking lot and in the information booth. Their volunteers made it easy for us to get a cup of coffee and find out information about the church. After the first service, the lobby was jammed with people serving, talking, hanging out, and connecting to each other. The air was alive and I could sense that people loved being together at this church.

What makes a church alive? The first answer is the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus exalted, and God changing lives. The second answer is the leadership. The first thing I noticed was how the senior pastor served. Note: the church probably has 1000 people coming through the doors every Sunday (typically, senior pastors are behind stage or no where to be found in serving areas of large churches).

When we walked into the church, I saw that the senior pastor was greeting people as they entered the sanctuary. Next, when the offering was taken, he served as one of the ushers, passing the offering bags from aisle to aisle. Finally, he did not go on stage to speak or mention his status to anyone at the church. A guest speaker was there and the senior pastor did not even walk on stage. He helped serve communion and greeted everyone as they left.

As I reflected on my experience, I knew why the church was so healthy - the senior pastor lived the vision. He served and gave himself to the congregation. He threw himself into the mix.

I was blessed and encouraged. We are going back to the church and will probably call it our new church home.