"Home" Music

We just finished our "Home" series at Church at the Triangle. We set the tone with some great music before and after the Experience. Here's a sample of what you might have heard if you have joined us.

In Christ,
Jay

Experience Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak of Sunday's Experience at Church at the Triangle. We're holding our first outdoor worship event at the Meredith College Amphitheater this weekend...with a picnic to follow. From what I understand, we'll even have a "bouncy house." I might break a hip, but will have to give it a try!

Check out our set list...

Hope you can join us at 10:30am this Sunday morning.

In Christ,
Jay

Sunday's Set List

Never tried this before. But here's an iMix of the band's set list for Sunday, May 31st at Church at the Triangle. Enjoy.

Jay

The Prodigal God

Thank you, sir. Can I have another?

These words rang in my head as I read Tim Keller's amazing book "The Prodigal God." This itty bitty 132 page punched me in the gut like Buster Douglas pounded Mike Tyson. With each paragraph, Keller's insights on Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son landed body blows on my soul.

And somehow, I liked it. In someway, it was good for me. In the words of the great philosopher and theologian John Mellancamp, "It hurt so good." Kinda like a velvet hammer.

Thank you, sir. Can I have another?

In "The Prodigal God," the author points out that we have long overlooked the powerful Second Act of the parable, what Jesus had to say about the Older Brother. He correctly reminds us that the Older Brother is just as lost as his younger sibling. The Older Brother has obeyed his Father in order to get something in return...NOT out of love.

For someone like me that's worked hard to obey the Lord, it makes me stop and wonder about my motive. Am I obedient simply because I want something? Shouldn't the Father's love be enough. Ouch.

Thank you, sir. Can I have another?

Do yourself a favor. Read "The Prodigal God." But be warned. It packs a punch.

In Christ,
Jay

The Woman on the Bench

She haunts me. I see her wherever I go. Her words ring in my ears. The woman on the bench.

This past Sunday, Lead Pastor Lee Towns played a video called "An Unspoken Plea" in the conclusion of his message. In the video, a woman on a park bench talked very frankly about how we, as Christ followers, treat her. She says we call her "lost," and has no idea what that means. We judge. We condemn.

The woman on the bench asks questions are like daggers through my heart.

"What are you going to do when you leave this building? Are you going to share with me what you've been learning? Or are you going to just bottle it up and pull it out next week for your friends?"

Ouch.

Funny thing. Now I see her everywhere. In every conversation I have with my friends at work. In the car next to me at the intersection. In the eyes of every person I see. There she is...the woman on the bench.

I have to admit that I've had a miserable few days since meeting her this Sunday. Suddenly God is allowing me to see people as He sees them. It's both awesome and awful at the same time.

It's all because of the woman on the bench.



In Christ,
Jay

A Lame Hobby

Church is a really lame hobby.

I heard Matt Chandler of the Village Church in Dallas say that in his weekly podcast. No truer words were ever spoken! He talked about if church is only a hobby to you then it's really nothing more than weekly Christian version of Halloween. You get all dressed up in your costume and pretend to be something you're not.

Church is a really lame hobby.

I think that's what Jesus was talking about when He said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God" (Matt 15:8-9 NLT).

If church is only my hobby then I'm just wasting my time. And yours. Church is SO much more than that. It's folks in community who share a radical and counter culture belief in Jesus and who are on a mission to reach as many others with His message as possible. Church is no hobby. It's a passion. A passion for Jesus. A passion for people.

If that's not what church is to you, then go home. Do something else. Sleep late. Play golf. There are plenty of great hobbies out there. But Matt Chandler was right...

Church is a really lame hobby.

In Christ,
Jay

A Coat Rack Moment

It was a "Coat Rack Moment." Not to be confused with a Kodak moment.

I've had a couple of them recently. One in a very physical sense. Another spiritually.

The first "Coat Rack Moment" happened a couple weekends ago. I was carrying wood into the house to stoke a crackling fire. Somehow, someway, I stepped on the foot of the free-standing coat rack in the front hallway as I was closing the front door.

WHAM!!!

The coat rack cracked into my forehead and sent me and the firewood sprawling in the hallway. My forehead was cut open like Ric Flair in a cage match. Needless to say, it got my attention.

The second "CRM" was this past Sunday at church. Lead Pastor Lee Towns sermon dealt with "forgetting what lies behind" from Philippians 3:12-14. His basic message...get past your past. As he spoke, I realized that I had some pretty nasty bitterness from the past year that I had never really gotten over. The day before, I received an email that didn't just poke at an old wound, it torn it wide open. Bitterness and unforgiveness boiled over. So as Lee preached his message on Sunday, the Holy Spirit slammed His divine coat rack into my forehead once again.

WHAM!!!

No blood this time...but a boat load of conviction. I've had the chance to confess my sin to close friends over the past couple of days. That's REALLY helped me drain the bile from my life. I needed to confess. I needed to repent. I'm sure there's still more work to do. But I'm thankful that God used this moment to get my attention, however painful it might have been.

A "Coat Rack Moment."

In Christ,
Jay