Archive for September, 2010

For everybody who is interested in finding out about Vertical Church you need to know that the next Vertical Gathering will be on:

Vertical Church will worship together on October 10^th, 4pm at the Holiday Inn in Lumberton. The name of the message will be

Resisting the pull to be like anything you've experienced

“Find the answers to life’s most important questions – look Vertical.” 

Invite a friend and join us on October 10th

As I shared yesterday, we have declared October the month that we will put V-Formation #2 (“Love is a Verb”) into motion – 7 events in 3 cities all in the space of a month! The question that you may be asking is:

How can a church that isn't even having weekly services actually pull this off? One word: together.

Let me share something with you about the team that has gathered at Vertical:  Our Launch Team is not comprised of a bunch of lonely, bored people who have nothing better to do – our group is made up of amazingly talented people who lead complex, busy lives. Organizations would give anything to have these kind of people serving on their team. One thing these same people have in common is the belief in Vertical Vision and want to "lead people to become passionate about Jesus so they can lead people to Jesus". They are the kind of people who want to help people who don't like church meet God. 

We’re not expecting our whole group to serve all 7 “Verb” events – instead, we would ask that they serve the ONE “Verb” event that falls closest to their community and then pick one other event as well. For those are really on-fire they might add a third. I believe that as we serve in one-another’s communities together we will not only live out V-Formation #2 but we will also activate #1 as well: “If we love Him we will love them” and are the kind of people who want to help people who don't like church meet God. 

If you want to be part you may ask, "What do I need to do next?"

• Order your “Love is a Verb” t-shirt. This will be the standard Vertical uniform as we minister together. When you order HERE state the name of everyone you're ordering for and sizes.
• Sign up for your Verb Events. You can do that HERE (make sure you tell us which events you will be a part of)
• Begin to pray now for these 7 “Verb” events (V-Formation #7 is “Pray Now, Speak Life”) – SERIOUSLY, if you believe God can supernaturally change situations, cities and lives, pray for each by name and daily.  

What makes a church a church?

By Donnie Paschall 

When I say “church” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For some of us the first thing we think about is a steeple. For others of us the first thing we think of is a group of people gathered together to participate in some type of religious ceremony or a special building with ornate furniture. Depending on who you ask, and what their experience has been with the concept of church, the responses are varied.  But the Bible has another picture in mind when it refers to the church. In fact, this picture is really the only true picture we should have when we think about the word “church”. So what should come to our mind when someone says the word “church”?

The answer, JESUS!  Jesus is what makes the church the church. There are many definitions to describe the church, but if Jesus is not included in that definition all we have is a definition describing a group of people either practicing religion or establishing a social club. In Matthew 16 Jesus told Peter that He would build the church on Himself when he said to Peter, “on this rock I will build my Church.” The “this” Jesus was referring to was the statement of faith Peter made in vs.16 that declared Jesus as the long awaited Messiah who would bring salvation to the world. Jesus is the foundation stone upon which the church is to be built and He is the message we are to proclaim. Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road drives home this point even further when we consider that when Jesus confronted Saul about persecuting the church Jesus asked him in Acts 9:4, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Jesus is making a declaration that His name should be synonymous with the church. He is the foundation we stand on and it is by His Spirit that we have life.

Church is not about style of music, type of dress, type of building, ornate furniture, worship choirs, or even a gathering of people. Church is about JESUS!! It is about loving people like Jesus loved, forgiving people like Jesus forgave, being patient like Jesus when things don’t go our way, and proclaiming salvation like Jesus proclaimed. As we step out to launch Vertical Church we want people to think about one thing when they hear the name Vertical Church – JESUS!. We want to be known for our love and that our love reflected the love of Jesus. We want to be known for our forgiveness and that our forgiveness reflected the forgiveness of Jesus. We want to be known for our message and that our message was consistent with the message of hope that Jesus preached.

What is a church? A church is Jesus. A light that shines brightly in the darkness that all who are bound in that darkness may find the way of everlasting life. 

 By the way… the picture of the dude at the top… he doesn't like my definition of church