Posts by Chris Thompson

Movies in the Park (part 2)

May19
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

FREE.
No Strings Attached.

As a dad of four kids, I love when stuff is free.
When our kids really enjoy it and the whole family has fun too — BONUS!

And I don’t think I am alone.
That’s one of the reasons why we do Movies in the Park for Huntersville.

It’s Simple.
It’s Refreshing.
It’s Easy.
It’s Fun.
It’s FREE.

This Friday, after all the E.O.G. testing has been completed, reward the whole family with a super fun night out at North Mecklenburg Park (on the soccer fields) for Movies in the Park.

Bring your chairs, football or frisbee and have some fun. And it’s FREE.
popcorn
Drinks
Movie
Games

We’ve got stuff planned starting at 6:00pm.
music
Corn-Hole
Cici’s selling $5 pizzas
Give-A-Ways (gift cards)
Shaved Ice
Magicians
Balloon Animals
Minute-To-Win-It Games for prizes
The chance to win a four-pack of season-tickets to Carowinds

The movie MEGAMIND will start when it gets dark (around 8:40pm).

Posted in Movies in the Park, Radiant Life Fellowship

The End.

May19
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

I always carry with me a “to-do” list. Just about every day, I tweak it. I absolutely LOVE marking through an item that gets done. If something stays on my “to-do” list for a long, long time I sometimes figure that it’s probably not worth doing.
One of the items that pretty much stays on my list is preparing for Sundays. I’ve been working on a new sermon series that will take us through the book of Habakkuk. It’s only got three chapters.
Today I’ve been kind of stalled out on how to best introduce Habakkuk this Sunday.
But then I remembered…apparently the world is going to end this Saturday, so not to worry, right?

Does this mean my “to-do” list should only go through Saturday? Do I plan on mowing my grass or just let the weeds win?
I’m not trying to pick on any particular group, but during my life-time there have been predictions, like this, that have come and gone (unfulfilled). I remember a book coming out my senior year in high school by a guy named Edgar Whisenant called: “88 Reasons Why the World Will End in 1988″. When it’s Christians that spend their energy and resources to publicly make these kind of claims, it makes us look like we’re a little wacky. Does anyone else feel like this?

How many times do people have to make these ‘end of the world’ predictions before we realize that Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said in Matthew 24
36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”
So I’m going forward with my plans for the weekend. God is God and I trust Him with today and tomorrow.
In fact, I’d love to invite you to a FREE BREAKFAST for the HUNTERSVILLE COMMUNITY this Sunday to be held 10AM at Blythe Elementary School 12202 Hambright Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078.

Posted in Church, End Times, Radiant Life Fellowship

Movies in the Park (part 1)

May04
2011 1 How Written by Chris Thompson

Why would a church (especially a church as young as ours) host such a huge, FREE, event for the whole community? After all, it costs our church a lot of money, people and time – and the return is close to nothing. For some people it doesn’t make much logical sense.

But for us, it makes perfect sense. Craig Grochel (pastor and author) made a statement in one of his books that has peeked my attention. He says “To reach people no one else is reaching, we must be willing to do things no one else is doing.”

There are scores and scores of people living within 10 miles of our church that are not going to any church … and it doesn’t even bother them. If we are going to reach them with the message of Jesus Christ and demonstrate to them the Gospel lived out, then we have to be willing to do some things that no one else is doing. We have to discover some unique ways to go to them.

It also bothers me that there are scores of people, living within 10 miles of our church, that are asking questions about: Life, Good, the afterlife, social justice, natural disasters… that we are answering… and they are not here at our church on Sundays to get the answers. They have questions we have answers to…and yet they won’t give us a shot until we start doing things that no one else is doing in order to reach those no one else is reaching.

One of the ways we are attempting to reach people no one else is reaching is by offering Movies in the Park to our community.

Below are some of the real reasons why our church is investing in offering Movies in the Park to the families of our community:

>We love Huntersville. My family has lived here since 1996.

>Huntersville is a family town. Families are moving into the area all them time.

>The economy has been rough on families and it is always a blessing to get something valuable for free. Most of the local activities for kids cost the parents an arm and a leg. For every family that can afford all those great activities for their kids, there are 10 other families who will never be in a financial position to participate.

>Our culture and pace tend to isolate families from the blessing of meeting new people and deepening relationships.

>Huntersville needs opportunities for it’s people to gather for some fun and the chance to meet new neighbors.

>My family loves movies. I have four kids between the ages of 7 and 13 and movies are such a big part of us. My kids could watch a good Disney movie over and over for years.

We could spend $10,000 on a church mailer, advertising our church and inviting people to come, that would end up in everyone’s mailbox. But I know what I do with those mailers. They end up in file 13 (trash). Movies in the Park gives us a chance to look people in the eyes, shake their hands, give them a hug, pray for them, throw a Frisbee with them, laugh with them and serve them. While we are interacting with all the people, we can also give every individual a personal, authentic invitation to come check out our church on Sunday because we have earned the right to be heard.

People are skeptical. Our hope is that people ultimately encounter Jesus as the living God. Because people are so skeptical, they live their life guarded and isolated from the influence of Jesus and His church. Our ultimate goal is not to trick people into coming to church or even coming to our church. It sometimes takes an event like this to begin to break down walls and allow for a new image of the church to be demonstrated in our community.

I ADMIT there is great risk for us, as a young church, to invest in such an endeavor. It might fail. It might be a total waste of time and give us no return. But…we we want to try something (and do it well) that no one else is doing in order to reach those (for Jesus) who are not being reached.

This is not the only unique thing we do, either.

>We’ve started, and maintain, a food pantry at Blythe Elementary School that directly benefits special families whose kids attend Blythe.

>We created a spectacular Easter Egg Hunt (with food, face painting, crafts, tattoos and magic) for a local community that for 90% of them, Spanish is their first language.

>We consistently serve at Angels and Sparrows, the local Soup Kitchen for Huntersville.

>We are the only church offering SINGING SANTA to various neighborhoods during the month of December.

There is always room, among us, for one more Risk-Taker like you. We do it because we love the people of Huntersville and they are worth our efforts. This is one of the ways we LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE and PROVE IT.

Posted in Church, Gospel, Just Fun, Movies in the Park, Radiant Life Fellowship

8 Reasons to ARRIVE EARLY to Church

May02
2011 2 Comments Written by Chris Thompson

Time is money, right?
That’s because your time, and my time, is precious.
The truth is that you and I make it a priority to be on time to things that are important to us. If we are looking for a job and we score an interview, we will do everything we can to make sure we are early. Why? Because it’s important to us and it shows we respect the appointment and the relationship.
Some people say: “If you are on time…you’re late.” I tend to agree, especially if you are a leader.

Sunday mornings are a big deal for churches. One thing I have noticed is that our guests usually show up early, to church, and many of our Radiant Lifers tend to skid around the corner of Hambright Road on two wheels at exactly 10am (when our worship service is scheduled to begin).

Josh and I agree that we need to start worship promptly at 10am every Sunday no matter how many people are in the seats at that time. Just because we start with either a song or a video clip introducing worship doesn’t give anyone permission to be late.

Here are 8 reasons you should plan to arrive (at church) early on Sundays.
1) Because it is the right thing to do
2) When you consistently rush to church Sunday after Sunday you will arrive stressed out. It may take a while to engage your heart and mind and body in worship and you may miss a big chunk of the worship experience.
3) Because you care about every first time guest that comes through the doors of Radiant Life. Therefore, you will decide to get to church before our guests arrive (and they usually arrive between 9:30 and 10am) so our guests will have someone to talk with and drink some coffee with around the Radiant Life Cafe area. No first time guest enjoys coming to church to discover a room that’s empty. That’s just awkward (and if you are coming to church late, you would never know the awkwardness they experience).
4) To set an example for your kids, demonstrating to them your priorities.
5) An important part of worship is fellowship (which is essentially caring for, and enjoying, each other). Make it a priority to arrive at church early so you can build and deepen friendships.
6) Give yourself a few moments to be quiet before the Lord. Our lives are fast paced and always filled with noise. Our Lord says He speaks to us in a still small voice.
7) Your Grove pre-school, toddler and infant leaders are expecting you.
8) Because I am asking you to arrive early. We actually need all of our Radiant Lifers to see themselves as ministry partners. If you arrive at church early enough (before 9:45am), we need you to serve as a roaming greeter. Your presence make the room come alive before the official worship service begins. Your presence creates electricity and anticipation. Think about this: Our worship team and our tech team faithfully arrives almost 2 hours before worship in order to rehearse and work through any kinks. It can be deflating to stand ready to lead worship at 10am to a crowd of 5.

Does this mean that if you are running late to church, On Sunday, that you should just stay home? Absolutely not. last Sunday, we had a gentleman walk into our church with less than 10 minutes left in the whole service. I am thrilled he came. It was only his second time at our church and he is struggling with life. He wanted to be prayed for and he wanted to tell me that he has a second interview for a possible job. This was good news. I respect that he came to church, even if he was late.

I am attempting to address those of us who can be at church early, but don’t. My hope is that the 8 reasons listed above will be enough to convince you to make the effort and reap the benefit of doing the right thing.

I love our church. I love the people. I love our potential.
I just don’t want to let some of our values remain in drift mode. So from time to time, I will address our values in an attempt to create meaningful conversation that leads to a church that is healthy, on mission and growing all for the honor of our Lord Jesus.

Humbled and Grateful,
chris

Posted in Church, Leadership, Radiant Life Fellowship

Sunday Mind Dump (05.01.11)

May01
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

*We started a new series today called DIRTY JOBS

*My goal for this series is not to give more information. My goal is to inspire everyone @ Radiant Life to get involved in multiple areas of service. The WIN would be for people to say “Yeah, I would love to try serving in that area around our church.” That’s exactly what happened today.
*We will have more volunteers for Movies in the Park than ever before.
*Last week, we distributed close to 8000 postcard fliers advertising Movies in the Park through 7 local elementary schools.
*Where were lots of our regular Radiant Lifers today?
*Josh, Brittany and Ally started leading worship with a handful of people @ 10am…Awkward!
*We had several guests today — win
*Our worship team went “unplugged” today and still did a great job
*Mark, our Mission Liaison from the Next Level Team, brought another guest from the community who represented the Solomon House to share with us. Our church was able to send this local ministry $500 to help support the work they are doing to help those on the fringe of our community with food, health care and furniture.
*Our Radiant Life basketball team made it through the first round of the tournament before their season ended today.
*Got to watch some of the NBA games today.

*I took Cole and Noah to Abernathy Park to play bball with Michael Davenport, Aaron Nichols, Koby, David and Davon Woodard, Ron Staskel, myself and a few bystanders. I felt pretty good about my play, being the old guy on the court.
*We got to meet 20+ kids who were hanging out at the park. Several of them remembered the Egg Hunt we did in the park a few weeks ago. They also had been to one of our Movies in the Park too.
*The only way to make some substantial progress, for the sake of Jesus, in that community is to be a consistent visible presence. That’s the first step. We also need to pray for a move of the Holy Spirit.
*Called and talked to my dad today. My mom had surgery on Friday. She is home and recovering well.
*I’ve got 2 papers to write this week for school.
*Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. What to do? What to do?

Posted in Church, Radiant Life Fellowship, Sunday Mind Dump

I Deny the Resurrection

Apr26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

SO we CELEBRATED the Resurrection of Jesus last Sunday.
It was en epic day for Radiant Life.
I hope everyone noticed that the whole focus was Jesus from beginning to end.

The first video

That’s My King!

Josh & Brittany, Auturo Jr., Stacy & Chris Liles, Ally, Stephen & Marshall
pointed our attention and our voices to Jesus
Arturo and Elsa graciously invited us to the Lord’s Table
to remember the body and blood of Jesus
I did my best to highlight the strength, power and glory
of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus
Jesus
He is ALIVE and He lives in and leads those of us
who are His submitted followers.

So after Jesus was raised from the grave…

…the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” (Acts 1:6-11)

The church was then formed…

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-27)

And after all that, Jesus tells John (and now us) who need to be reminded of His power and glory…

“Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave” — Jesus (Revelation 1:17-18)

Now What?

Check out this clip and determine if you might be someone
who actually DENIES THE RESURRECTION:

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles. (Acts 4:32-37)

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them.

Posted in Bible, Church, Gospel, Radiant Life Fellowship, VIDEO

Be Brave

Apr21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

Be BRAVE when you invite someone to church.
Just don’t be like this…

Skit Guys – Easter Invite Bundle
Posted in Church, Radiant Life Fellowship

Fishers of…

Apr21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

I wish I was a better fisherman.
I probably couldn’t identify most of the fish I catch. I also don’t know a lot about what kind of bait to use for catching specific kinds of fish. I usually have to ask the store employee who sells the bait.
But when we go to the beach, one of the things I want to teach all my kids (even Sara) is the basics of how to fish.
I want them to know how to get their rig of hooks tied to the end of their fishing wire.
I want them to know how to cast their line out.
Untangle their line.
Bait their hooks (still working on this on).
Get the hook out of the fishes mouth once they have caught the fish (not even close on this one yet).
And the art of patience. Fishing demands patience. In our case, it also demands perseverance and, in many cases, being OK with disappointment. Sometimes we fish for hours and don’t even get one single bite. That’s usually when my kids start taking the little nets and catching those tiny Minos. At least they feel like they have caught something, right. Catching Minos is not that difficult. Noah caught 11 Minos in one scoop today. It’s easy and it gives them a sense that the fishing expedition was not all lost.

(Matthew 4:18-20) One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.

I’m not trying to be too serious here, but I notice that you can learn a lot about being a disciple of Jesus from the simple act of fishing.
Jesus commanded us to BE Fishers of People.
The Gospel message is what we use to attract people to Jesus.
Being a Fisher for people is challenging.
We learn Patience.
Endurance.
DISAPPOINTMENT.

Sometimes we take a risk and start up a conversation with someone about church, Good, Jesus, the Bible, Eternity, Christianity and it’s like the atmosphere just got weird and awkward. Then we ask ourselves “Now What?”
Sometimes we get what we would consider a curious nibble from someone, but it’s pretty obvious that the person is not hungry for more. That's OK.

There are people around you that ARE hungry for the Gospel of Jesus. They not only want to hear it and believe that it is true, they also want to know someone who actually lives it out. They may just need someone like you to continue to be patient, persistent and OK with disappointment.
Keep fishing.
Keep praying that God would choose to use you to expand His Kingdom by one more person who crosses the line of faith and grabs a fishing pole to catch more disciples of Jesus.

Sometimes we just need to catch some Minos (small wins) to help motivate us to take bigger risks and remind us that it’s worth the effort. Catching Minos (in the spiritual sense) would be like inviting someone, that you already know, to go to church with you.
Make it easy and appealing for them.
Tell them you will meet them in the church parking lot.
Offer to take them out to lunch after church.
Offer to babysit their kids or name your next kid after their last name (which could be kind of awkward).

The point is…as a Disciple of Jesus, who called us to be Fishers of People, try catching some Minos first. It might not be easy, but it’s also not too hard to invite someone to church.

Posted in Church, Gospel, Radiant Life Fellowship

laugh…a lot…when you can

Apr21
2011 2 Comments Written by Chris Thompson

We are on vacation this week. It’s Spring Break for my kids (not me. I had to skip my classes this week.) so we decided to do what we always do…head for the beach–thanks to Grandma and Tata. Cherry Grove is our preferred site to chill as a family.
The view is incredible. As a family we love to find things that make us laugh. In fact, we laugh a lot…mostly at ourselves. But laughter has a way of uniting us and it reminds us that life is precious. We don’t need to take ourselves too serious that we miss out on the humor that is present all around us. So we laugh.
I thought I would share some videos, with you, that have made us laugh this week. Than I ask that you respond (in the comment section) and send me some things that make you laugh: Videos, stories, etc.. I dare you to make us laugh.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6) and THIS Who Who from Bon
7) Worst Interview Ever.
So what makes you laugh? Share with us some of your good stuff.

Posted in Family, Funny, Just Fun, VIDEO

Invite Me In

Apr13
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Chris Thompson

Easter 2011 is coming.
Who are you inviting to your church? This is one of those moments where your risk-taking to invite some people to church could end up being just what they need in order to step across the line of faith in Jesus. Your faithful and authentic invitation could change someone’s life for eternity.
Don’t let this moment pass while you continue to sit on the sidelines. Get in the game and start inviting people to come to church with you on Easter Sunday.

Posted in Church, Gospel, Radiant Life Fellowship
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