IWI #2

This is the view from my balcony as I sit here typing this entry. The water is peacefully flowing with soft music playing in the background. I wish you were all here. Lisa, I really wish you were here! This morning got off to a great start. Dillon went out around 8:00 to do some grunt work with the school of audio. We will be going back a little later to help run through the sound checks.

At around 10:00 I went across the highway to Fellowship Church. Ed Young was actually there this time. I almost always miss him when I come into town. I affectionately call Fellowship Church "the church of the pretty people". Let me explain. FC is reaching around 18,000 people every week from the D/FW metroplex. Most of these people are seemingly 30-40 something well-to-do yuppies. I may sound like I'm bashing them a bit, but actually it's quite the contrary. The fact is, they feel very comfortable with who they are & who it is that God has them reaching. What I think is incredible about FC is how they target that niche & really stretch those folks to use their influence & affluence for the Kingdom.

For example, most of this morning's message was a video interview by Ed Young with Jim Towey, the White Houses Director of "Faith Based & Community Initiatives". By the way, Ed knew Jim from his days of playing basketball for Florida State, while Jim was on the coaching staff. It's all about relationships!!! Anyway, Jim used to be the personal lawyer for Mother Teresa. It's a long story, but the bottom line is that God used his relationship with her to break his heart & eventually place him in his present day position. He said that president Bush always jokes with him about "what the world is coming to when even Mother Teresa has to have a lawyer". I thought that was pretty funny. So did the other 5,000 people in attendance.

What I thought was great about the whole thing was the fact that, once again, FC knows their audience & therefore used Mr. Towey to speak directly to that niche. As a collective body, they have a lot of money. He challenged them quite directly about using that money to help the poor & needy around them. FC is definitely made up of the affluent in society, but don't let that cause you to judge them. They are changing lives! Not just rich lives either. They have missions to the homeless, helpless & needy of the D/FW area & the world. In closing, Mr. Towey gave a quote from Mother Teresa:

"It's not a sin to be wealthy, it's how you use it that counts".

How are you going to use what God has blessed you with?

Check out what The Word has to say in Matthew 25:35-40. Also, be looking for a link soon in my sidebar (the stuff on the right side of the page) to pics of the IWI.

Talk at ya soon!