But that’s not the point of this blog post. The point is that there was a couple in the front stage-right section of the crowd who were fully making out in the middle of my sermon.

That’s right – MAKING OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SERMON!!

It was crazy. I looked in their direction at some point and saw something that looked like making out, but I just thought the guy was helping the girl get something out of her eye or something innocent like that. But no, I looked again, and the guy had half his body on top of the girl and was just sucking her face off. It was freaky. I had to just ignore it and keep going. It’s a big room. I couldn’t point it out and I couldn’t look anymore or I would have just died laughing or throw up or something.

I did youth ministry for 15 years and I never had a couple fully french kiss in the middle of my sermon right in the front of the room. At least teenagers would sneak out and make-out in the bushes or something. It was unbelievable.

Matt Doan said that they were visitors and I guess they had a pretty great church experience. It seems like they will probably come back. Does anybody else know anything?

Have you ever had someone make-out in the middle of your sermon?
Calvary Elevation People – what is your version of this story?

I guess I’m glad that people felt comfortable at Calvary who obviously had no previous church experience.

Wow.

I also want to show people that it’s not something we should get caught up worrying about too much either way. There is an amazing verse that I can’t wait to read today. It’s in Romans 14.

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Then in Elevation I did the same thing and it went well for the most part. I had a person planted in the service that was going to tell what it was like for a new person at Calvary. That was pretty good too. I tried to reduce the guilt trip factor of it a little bit. But then things started to go a little weird. My hands-free mic went out and so I had to use the hand-held one. That always bums me out.

Then this random homeless man with a big bag and an artificial leg walks into the room in the middle of the sermon and walks all the way up the center aisle to the front row. Don’t get me wrong. I am very comfortable with people of all different backgrounds and situations coming to our church, but when you are on stage and somebody is walking up to the front row in the middle of the sermon – it throws you off a bit. Especially when they are talking kind of loud and you’re not sure if it’s to you or to themselves. He took about two minutes to get all his stuff put down and then sits right in the front center seat. Then he starts talking out loud to me. He was being very supportive, but really loud. He starts pulling stuff out of his bag. Remember, I’m still trying to preach. Also, our church has stepped up our security since the church shootings in Colorado on the same day that we had a man come on our stage in the middle of Pastor Dave’s sermon. So I see one of our police officers that attends the church move up to about two rows behind the man, whose name I found out after church was Bill. The officer told me later that he was just watching what was being pulled out of the bag in case it was a weapon. Then i see one of our elders come and walk up to Bill. Remember, I’m still preaching. I say, “It’s OK, let’s keep going. It’s cool.” So then the elder sits down next to Bill and he was awesome. He puts his arm around him and starts talking with him and is able to help Bill listen without being “too” disruptive. I also see one our church psychologists move up into a position pretty close to the man at this point. Remember, I’m still trying to preach. Then a woman who was friends with Bill walks up the center aisle and high-fives Bill and sits about two seats over and then proceeds to fall asleep. Remember, I’m still preaching.

So at that point I keep preaching and I’m talking about love. Of course. I was proud that our church handled this potentially bad situation with love. We didn’t kick him out. We didn’t treat him poorly. But we did take precautions. We had an armed police officer and a trained psychologist waiting only steps away with one of our elders lovingly helping the man engage in the service.

I met the man after the service. He was still talking with the elder about 35 minutes after the service. He met another elder who did the same stuff in the Marine Corps as Bill did. Let me just say that this was one of the more difficult preaching services for me. It wasn’t bad, but it sure was really distracting to me and everyone else. In the future I think I might address the situation a bit more. Not a lot. But maybe just stop and say. Let’s pray and get re-focused. I went way overtime because I was so distracted and slow. I felt like I couldn’t remember what was on my notes and what I was supposed to say next. It was weird.

So in eternity’s perspective it was a good Sunday. From my communicator’s perspective it was horrible. But hey, more people will remember today than most other services.

Thoughts? Were you there? What did you think?

Pretty busy and eventful day. I’m tired.

I am about to spend some time in prayer and then practice a bit and then I can go be a part of all the ministry preparation that takes place before everyone shows up. After I’m ready to speak mentally and spiritually, I like to stay busy and not think about it. Usually I will have to make a trip to the restroom. I have done this pretty much before every “talk” I have given for the past 15 years. The body has strange reactions to public “performance.”

So anyways, please pray for me if you read this. Pray that God would speak through me and that my flawed and faulty memory would work better than it usually does.

I am preaching this Sunday on 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. It’s a pretty cool passage where Paul basically says that if you are going to present the gospel to people, you need to do it right, with integrity. No swindling, no flattering words, just be real and self-less. I like that message. He talks about the importance of loving like a mother and caring like a father for the people in our life that we care about. Good stuff. I’m feeling a bit behind and sort of rusty this week in my sermon preparation. I realized that I haven’t preached in Elevation since mid-November. That’s almost two months. I need to get the cobwebs of my preaching chops. Hopefully I won’t suck.

Prediction – a comment by Victor that will say “You probably will suck.”

#1: High School Group at 8:45am. The Kenya team presented to the High School students for about 35 minutes. I probably did too much talking, but we didn’t have a video that we were supposed to have so we showed a slideshow of pictures with us talking about it.

#2: Elevation service at 10:45am. I preached in our second main worship service for about 35 minutes. I spoke on the story of David & Goliath as we are doing a series on the life of David. I liked the angle for this almost overly well-known story. The series is called THE PURSUIT: DAVID’S HEART FOR GOD. The whole series is supposed to be about us pursuing having the kind of heart that David did. So the angle on the Goliath story was, “What about David’s heart caused him to be able to face the giant so quickly and without hesitation?” What about his heart allowed him to see the world so differently than everyone else? You can listen to it and see the notes and PowerPoint here. I felt like it was a pretty good morning. I felt differently than I ever have before preaching a sermon. I honestly didn’t feel like preaching on Saturday. It was an odd feeling. Usually I am a bit nervous in a pumped up sort of way, but I was just apathetic. So I prayed about it a bunch – even into that early morning random wake-up time (4am) when I was out of it and I just started praying and dozing and praying and dozing and praying some more. Then I went into church and prayed while driving. Then I practiced my talk once more and I felt much different. Then I went into the Worship Center at about 7:40am and prayed some more. After that, I was ready.

#3: All Student Ministry Staff Meeting at 12noon. I spoke at our volunteer training on the first point of our Mission Statement – REACH THE SEEKING for about an hour. It was good, but by now I was getting tired and so were people listening to me – many of which were in all three of these sessions.

#4: Lighthouse Area Fellowship at 5:00pm. This is our church’s small group program. I lead our first Lighthouse of the fall and it was pretty good – a bit quiet at some points, but a decent start. Poor Kevin was in all four of these meetings. I feel sorry for anyone having to listen to me this much.

So a crazy day, but a good day. I’m happy to be chilling at home this morning. I’m tired, but grateful.