Fortunately, Jon Acuff over at Stuff Christians Like always has lots of stuff to say. Not spiritual stuff, per se, but stuff related to spiritual stuff. And certainly stuff related to Christians.

While you might not be going on vacation with your family on Monday, you’ll still smile or laugh out loud as you read his hilarious account of a very awkward moment that he refers to as, “The Assumed Hug.” Enjoy and have a great weekend!

A fellow pastor in the Acts 29 Network recently told me that the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) published the findings from their extensive 2010 survey. This information is important to our church and to other like-minded churches because it helps us to be better missionaries in our own cities.

Here are some highlights from the Brazos County report, which includes both College Station and Bryan:

• The population of our county grew from 152,415 in 2000 to 194,851 in 2010. Our community saw a 27.8% increase in population in those 10 years, making our county one of the fastest-growing in the entire U.S.
• Out of the 194,851 people in our county, 114,654 had no church affiliation whatsoever. That means 3 out of every 5 people you meet in your neighborhood, at your workplace, or on campus are unchurched. And the vast majority of unchurched men, women, and children are non-Christians.
• Just 38,472 people attend an evangelical Christian church in our area. Keep in mind that this number is not reflective of church membership, but regular attendance. Further, this number does not reveal how many of these people genuinely hope in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
• There are over 5,600 men, women, and children in our county who are Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or a part of a cult. That’s twice as many people as attend the largest evangelical church in our area.

Friends, I think some of us have been lulled to sleep hanging out in our Christian bubbles. While we are called to love one another and disciple one another, we are also called to make disciples of those who do not believe the Good News of Jesus. This data reveals that over 60% of our community is either unchurched or subscribes to a non-Christian faith.

Matthew records this: “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Matthew 9:35–38)

Let’s pray for God to send more laborers into the harvest of College Station, Bryan, and the surrounding area. But let’s also go to our neighbors with the Good News of Jesus, believing that God intends to use our imperfect witness to the Gospel and our imperfect lives to call others to repentance and faith in the perfect Savior.

In last night’s message, we learned the truth that God is great, so we don’t have to be in control. On Sunday during the sermon, it sounds good. It sounds true. It makes perfect sense. Whether you should have or not, you even Tweeted it during the service (you know who you are!).

But on Monday, the truth that God is great tends to get lost in the midst of:

• That acceptance letter that still hasn’t come in the mail
• Your coworker’s apparently seamless rise to the top of the company
• The kids’ concerning behavior toward one another
• Those bills that seem to be more than you can pay

It’s not hard at all to remember that God is great, so we don’t have to be in control on Sunday. But on Monday, it’s a totally different story. That’s why we need to remember that fundamentally, you and I don’t have an knowledge problem. We know, theologically-speaking, that God is in control.

The problem is that our sinful hearts tell us we can’t believe that God is in control. The answer for us to go to the Word of God and to ask God for faith to believe what He has said about Himself. And what He has said is that He is great and in control of all things, so you and I don’t have to be.

Faith comes by hearing, Paul says (Romans 10:17). Will you listen to your feelings and your circumstances or to God’s Word today?

We hope that you can join us tonight at 5pm as we begin our new 4-week series called “Battling Unbelief.” As we learned in Exodus, much of our sin stems from unbelief in God and His Word; and the series title also captures the reality that believing God and His Word is a daily battle.

The goal of this series is to help us close the gap between what we say we believe about God and how we actually live our lives on a daily basis. To do that, we’ll learn four truths to turn to when we are tempted to disbelieve God and His Word:

God is great – so we do not have to be in control.
God is glorious – so we do not have to fear others.
God is good – so we don’t have to look elsewhere.
God is gracious – so we don’t have to prove ourselves.

We hope you can join us tonight as we consider Genesis 16:1–6 and the truth that God is great, so we do not have to be in control. See you at 5pm!

If you’d like to learn more about Tim, you can check out his website here. Not only is his site full of great content, but it’s all written in real English (not American English). This means that he writes “programmes” rather than “programs” and things like that. What fun.

You certainly don’t need to read You Can Change in order to greatly benefit from our upcoming series. The principles Tim identifies in the book  come straight from Scripture like the texts we’ll be preaching from each week. However, if you’d like to read through the book, you’ll be even more prepared to battle your own unbelief through faith in God and His Word. See you this weekend!

Taylor Joy came into the world loudly expressing her displeasure at her new surroundings, quite angry about the abrupt change from womb to hospital room. But then the coolest thing happened. The nurse handed her to me, and I loudly whispered, “Taylor Joy!” just like I did when she was still in the womb. Right then,  she stopped crying and opened her little eyes to look at me. It will always be one of the most special moments of my life.

While this may seem like a dad’s ploy to get you to read a story about his kid, bear with me and I’ll take this somewhere.

In the last few months, there has been a lot going on in life and ministry. At many points, I’ve been very aware of my circumstances, my feelings, and my responsibilities, but not very aware of God and His grace in my life. Maybe like you tend to do at times, I’ve tended to crowd out time that should be spent reading God’s Word, praying, or simply sitting silently and allowing God to speak, choosing instead to worry or to work harder.

I don’t know if this is something that she perceived or not, but last week, Taylor Joy wrote me a note and stuck it to my desk for me to find later. It said this:

I Love You I want you too thenk abawt God

God used my little girl to remind me that not only does she love me and want me to think about God, but that God loves me and wants me to think about Him. Just like Taylor Joy was mainly aware of her discomfort until I spoke to her that day in the hospital room, I had been more aware of my discomfort until God spoke to me through Taylor Joy and her note the other day. Now I have her note taped to my monitor so I can see it every day before I start work.

God loves you and He wants you to think about Him. I’ve read lots of theological works that said less with way, way more words.

After spending nine months in a book of the Bible, you get pretty attached to it. Ending the Exodus series last night was bittersweet — bitter because we have learned and grown so much through it; sweet because we get to move on to other great books and lessons.

In a book as wonderful as Exodus, it’s hard to pick just one thing as the main takeaway. But if I had to choose, I would say that the greatest lesson I’ve learned through Exodus is that God keeps the promises He makes. Just consider a few:

• God promised Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved 400 years, but that God would bring them out with great wealth. At the outset of Exodus, the people have been enslaved for about 400 years. In 2:24–25, we read, “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.”
• God promised Moses that he would lead the people out of Egypt, and when he did, he would serve God on Mount Horeb (3:12). In Exodus 19, this promise is fulfilled.
• God promised Pharaoh that if he did not let Israel go, then He would kill Pharaoh’s firstborn son (4:22–23). In Exodus 12:29–32, we read that every Egyptian household had someone dead in it.
• God promised to discipline His people for their sin (32:34), and He did visit their sin upon them in the form of a plague (32:35).
• God promised to keep His covenant with Israel, even though they had rebelled against Him (34:27–28). God did not disown His people, but kept them as His own.
• God promised to fill the tabernacle with His presence and dwell in their midst (25:8), and once the tabernacle was complete, God’s presence filled it (40:34–38).

What we see in the Book of Exodus is that God makes promises and keeps them, time after time. Michael Lawrence notes, “If we want to know this God, then we must understand the biblical story of promise and our promise-making God. In a very profound sense, the Bible is nothing more than the story of a single promise, made by God himself, and how he kept and will keep that promise. When we understand this story, we are also in a position to be able to help those whose lives have been wounded by the pain of broken promises” (Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, 166).

So the fact that one of the main takeaways from Exodus is that God makes and keeps promises shouldn’t surprise us; that’s consistent with the rest of the Bible. And that’s not just neat information; it is truth that helps us know God, trust God, and minister to others who have been hurt by the broken promises of parents, spouses, friends, and institutions. It is truth that helps us worship and minister. That’s a great takeaway.

After 9 months in the Book of Exodus, it all comes down to this. We’ll be finishing the book tonight in a message called “The Power of God’s Grace,” which covers chapters 35–40. There are many powerful forces in our world, but none are as powerful as the grace of God. God’s grace is the only force powerful enough to change the sinful human heart.

This evening, we will learn:

1. God’s grace compels us to give generously.
2. God’s grace empowers us to obey fully.
3. God’s grace enables us to serve freely.
4. God’s grace moves us to follow faithfully.

We hope you can join us tonight for the Exodus series finale and as we kick-off Building the Future.  See you at 5pm!

It’s just two days until we officially kick-off Building the Future! On Sunday night, we’ll be collecting a special offering that will go toward our goal of raising $350,000 by December 2012. This week, members of New Life have been prayerfully considering how God is calling them to give sacrificially both on Sunday night and between now and December. If you are a regular visitor, a friend, or a fan from afar, we would love to partner with you as well. You can consider giving a one-time gift or you may commit to give a monthly amount between now and December 2012. You can find more information on Building the Future, including options for financial partnership, by clicking here.

If you are considering how God is calling you to give, our Finance Team is here to serve you. Please contact them here if you have any questions at all. We look forward to seeing what God will do on Sunday and in the days ahead!

At New Life,  our vision is to preserve and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God. Our hope and aim is to be used by God to see many lost men and women come to faith in Jesus, grow into mature disciples, and then give their lives to see more people come to faith in Jesus and grow into mature disciples.

Since March 2009, God has done many great things through our church. We’ve grown from a small group of 35 people to nearly 400 in attendance on Sunday evenings. We’ve baptized 80 people and have seen hundreds grow into more mature disciples. We’ve sent out scores of men and women to be healthy church members in other cities, states, and nations around the world.

Our hope is that God would continue to expand our reach and accomplish more great things in and through our church. As a result, we believe that the time has come for us to pursue our own facility that we can use to reach the lost with the good news of Jesus, equip Christians for the work of the ministry, bless other ministries, and serve our city.

On Sunday night, our church body decided to move forward with a focused fundraising effort we’ve called “Building the Future.” Beginning this Sunday, May 6th, we will begin to raise funds to help pay for a church facility that will help us achieve our church’s vision. In addition to the funds we have already saved over the first three years, we have set a fundraising goal to raise $350,000 by December 2012.

We need your help to achieve our goal. Whether you are a member, a regular visitor, or a friend of New Life, we ask that you consider praying for and donating to Building the Future. If God moves your heart to give, you may do so by mailing a check (please mark “Building the Future” on the memo line) or you may give online (no finance charges apply).

Thank you for your prayers and your partnership. We are eager to see how God moves in this exciting new season!