Message Series Mayhem

One of my favorite days we have around the office at Christian Life Center is when we sit down for a whole day and just brainstorm possible message series for the next season. Things are always tentative and subject to change here, but it is definitely helpful to have things scheduled far in advance so that we can begin to study, think of creative elements, and allow time of the Holy Spirit to change our minds.

Today we had one of those brainstorming days and came up for some fun ideas for series. Here is the tentative schedule from now until next September:

December 2010 - "Advent Conspiracy" -
With a focus on how Christmas has been celebrated throughout history as well as in different cultures. One of these messages will include the group from YWAM who is hosting our Haiti team sharing which will be fun.

December 29-January 10 - "Mission"
We'll talk about mission and have a send of for our Haiti team as well as welcome them back and hear of what God and we can continue to partner in mission with others.

January 2011 - "Extend"
This will be a three week vision series describing how we are "A Community of Christ-followers extending the faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ." The three messages will focus on 1. Faith 2. Hope and 3. Love.

February 2011- "Modern Family"
A relationship series in which we look at the functionality and "disfunctionality" of Jacob's family life in Genesis, including his son Joseph, and see how it parallels and speaks to our modern families.

March 2011 - "Stewardship (very working title!)"
We don't have a title for this series, but our heart is to empower people in their financial lives. It is not a giving series, but rather it will discuss how we can have financial freedom in our own lives by using God-given principles concerning money. We are hoping to have a financial expert come in and do a seminar as well as share on a Sunday morning. We are also hoping to have a Mission's on April 2 to raise money for the missionaries we support and spur us on to thinking beyond ourselves when it comes to our finances.

April 2011 - "The Telling"
We are going to look at the three times in the book of Matthew that Jesus foretells his death and resurrection and how these accounts are interestingly all connected with stories about who Christ is and how we are called to be servants of all like Christ. This will lead up to Easter Sunday where Christ's resurrection foretells our own hope and future resurrection.

May-June 2011 - "Genesis"
A ten week series going in depth into the first 12 chapters of the Bible and how the story of the first humans is really our story. It will cover topics like "The Genesis of Creation" "The Genesis of Sin" "The Genesis of Death" "The Genesis of Anger" and "The Genesis of a People"

July-August 2011
We are considering two series here, one is "One Prayer" in which we partner with LifeChurch.tv and churches all around the country around a certain theme. Last years theme was unstoppable, this years hasn't been announced yet. It is always fun to pick some messages to share from our congregation from some world famous pastors that we know they'll love.

We are also considering a series called "Party" in which we look at God's purpose for parties. We'll look at some of the different feasts and festivals that were instituted in the Bible such as Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, Day of Atonement and maybe talk a little about American party culture in the process.

That's as far as we got. Should be a fun Winter-Spring!