April 21st marks the 2 year anniversary of me first walking through the doors of Harvest View Church. The first time I walked through those doors, I didn’t really believe in all this Jesus stuff. I kind of believed in God, but I didn’t really know what to think about him. I had a lot questions. My lack of faith was not due to a lack of education. I had grown up in church and I was even baptized in my early teens, but I went through some very rebellious years and just lost my way. Even after I grew up and settled down, I just couldn’t seem to let Jesus back into my life. I had lots of friends and family that believed in Jesus, but he just seemed like a fairy tale to me. I would go to church with my family for holidays and special occasions, but I just didn’t get it.
So I found myself 2 years ago searching for answers and I knew it was time to try something different. The only reason I even knew this little church existed was because Derrick had been my son Vijay’s t-ball coach a couple of years prior. I didn’t know Derrick as a pastor, I just knew him as a t-ball coach. I did a little internet research before coming here and I was interested in trying out this “Life Change” triangle, which consists of Worship, Bible Study, and Service. I joined a Life Group pretty early on, within my first month at Harvest View, and I just couldn’t imagine my journey without them. They have been an immense source of gentle, loving guidance and support. Me finding my faith and accepting Jesus was kind of like a Chinese finger trap. The more I tugged and pulled and tried to figure it all out, the more frustrated and trapped and hopeless I felt. But once I was able to relax and just let Jesus in, it was just the most freeing experience. His love is so pure, it’s overwhelming, it’s life changing.
This triangle stuff isn’t something the leaders of our church made up, it’s what Jesus called us to do. He wants us to worship God and to study on his word and his ways, he wants us to serve others. When his disciples started arguing about who was greatest among them, Jesus told them, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10: 43-45)
My Life Group means the world to me, they are more than a study group, they are family. We eat together, we study together, we pray together, we work together, we play together, we cry together, we celebrate together...you get the picture. Sunday morning worship is great, Paul and the band do an amazing job leading us in praise and Derrick and Austin do a wonderful job delivering spirit led messages. But this is only one side of the triangle. For the full experience, you need to work the whole triangle and a life group can help you do that. I want to encourage you all to find a life group to join or start your own. My life group meets in the church office on Wednesday nights, there are also groups meeting Sunday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday nights.
If you have school aged children, the Wednesday night group is a great one to try as there are activities going on in the main building for K-college aged kids. In the Wednesday night group, we spend the first hour or so sharing a meal and catching up with everyone, then we have an hour or so of study and discussion time. Every third week we meet at Joel and Mary Reed’s house to help stock shelves at Jesus’ Helping Hands. Please feel free to come up and talk to me after services if you have any questions. You can also visit the church website to see meeting times and contact information for the Life Groups.
