Waiting for...

The news. The status update. The new episode. The next season. The lucky break. 

We we wait for them to happen. We feel like there's nothing to do while we wait for the done, or nothing to make while we wait for the made. 

Is that life? Is it living? It is natural for us, no question. While we were spiritually dead there was nothing we could do but wait. We couldn't act or make or do.  

That is no longer so. We have been given life. Quickened, as ye olde folks might have called it.  

It's not a bad thing to look forward to an episode or an important answer. Sometimes we truly need those things for which we wait. But for everything else? 

May it be, for all the unnecessary, the addictions, and the fillers that the next time they arrive they find you living to such an extent that they have to wait for you. 

You have a life - have it to the full.  

Church doesn't exist to fill up your life's empty (or already congested) space. We believe that God wants to use the Church and its ministry to fulfill you and give you more life.   

At Illumine, we're creating a discipleship model that's meant to do just that. It flows in a natural (quickened-person-natural) cycle that improves you using the only means we know can improve anyone: God's grace. 

It starts with Worship. In worship we create a place where you can relax and God can serve you. We like to think of it as God's love shining on us. We don't have to do anything but bask in it. It refreshes, it relieves, it rejuvenates. 

Next, Education. The goal of every educational opportunity we provide is to challenge you so you grow. You should be bigger, stronger, more than you were before. God's light shines in you and the darkness in you decreases as the light increases. 

And finally, (there is no finally in a cycle) Service. Shine the light, show your stuff. Exhaust yourself by benefiting the people around you. And then, once you're exhausted, come back for worship. Get re-rejuvenated.

This isn't the only way to do ministry or the only way to build a church, but we believe it will work not because of our amazing programs or worship or classes, but because of the power, love, and grace of God that is central to each step of this process. 

So, no more waiting. It's time to live.