Turning Point

For the last four weeks we’ve been in Turning Point – the second track of our church growth track here at Bay Summit!  While creating this course I’ve realized how far we can sometimes stray from the basics of Christian life.  In a world full of fresh revelation and current trends when presenting the gospel it’s easy to forget the foundation of our faith.  For instance, it seems as though mainstream Christianity has promoted the life of Christ more as an additive than a life-surrendering experience.  As I was growing up the word surrender was the theme of various songs and sermons.  I do admit it was a bit overused but today it seems to be extinct.

Jesus was clear when He said to gain His life we have to lose ours.  Of course this does not happen overnight but without these words as the goal or focus of our journey we can easily embrace a gospel Jesus never preached.  And therefore, we will struggle to express the authentic lifestyle of Christ to a world that sees our faith as a tainted religion.  Jesus’ spin on living the life His Father intended for Him evolved around surrender – giving up His for ours.

I’ve discovered there is a liberating factor in surrender.  For certain, the human nature within us screams at the thought of surrender but the God nature craves it.  As a matter of fact, the will of God being accomplished in and around us hinges on it.  While the act of surrender is elementary to the Christian faith, it never ceases to be the turning point in all God leads us to be and do.  May we always live out the words written in 1891 by Judson Van DeWenter:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory to His name!

Until next time…….

The Journey – Year 1

It’s hard to believe in a few weeks we will have resided in California for one year.  I have to say, without a doubt, more has happened this past year than any other year of my life.  The headliners would be as follows: The move which, according to UHaul, is 1949 miles,  starting a new business, planting a church without a team, official launch on 3/1/2009.  In retrospect it is inspiring to feel as though we exerted a lot of time, energy and financial resources toward making our lives count for the kingdom.  While I do not think anything is more fulfilling than working for that which is eternal I clearly see the physical results.   It’s amazing when I think of the people now in my life that I get to hang with who I didn’t even know six months ago.  And together we get to do something that is bigger than all of us combined.

I’ve read and spoken about the story of Peter getting out of the boat many times.  I’ve often wondered why Jesus stayed on the water and did not get into the boat.  Then it became clear, the Lord always gives us an opportunity to move from where we are to get to where He wants us to be which is closer to Him and His plan for our lives.  This usually involves risk but the potential benefits are endless.  Peter was able to accomplish something that night that only Jesus did.  What a legacy!  I think God thinks more about the legacy we leave behind than we do.  He wants our life to count!  What is it that He is calling us to move toward?  Whatever it is and regardless if we succeed or fail, we will be close to God.  Obviously, there is no greater place to be on the planet.  For the Purkeys that place is the east bay of Northern California and we couldn’t be more fulfilled!

Interesting Facts

Things that have amazed me:

The people who are hanging out together now who didn’t even know each other existed 3 weeks ago.  The amazing people we have become connected with in such a short time.  The number of students and young adults who love and serve in the church.  The amount of people who called Bay Summit their home church the very first day we launched.  The quality of staff we do life with even though we did not know them previously.  The central location of our church and how it is positioned in the community.  The worship team that leads us weekly into the presence of God.  Over half of those who attend Bay Summit are attending our life groups.  Somewhere between 3 and 20 receive Christ every weekend.  The privilege we have to be a part of the ARC – the greatest church planting organization on the planet.  The backing of New Life Church in Arkansas – we couldn’t have done it without them.  The overwhelming grace and anointing God has bestowed upon us.  We know God is building His church and the most amazing fact – we get to be a part of it!

California Dreamin’

As I was traveling with Lynnette today throughout the San Francisco area I was caught up in the beauty once again.  I was reminded of the times I dreamed of making this drive as a Californian and not as Arkansan.  Well… I’m here!  It’s a dream come true!  Les Brown, a business consultant, once communicated,”find out what you want and go after it as if your life depends on it.  Why?  Because it does.”  I’ve learned if a dream is within my reach or is something I can get to using my own resources it is not a dream from God.  He only gives dreams that include His involvement and they are big as He is.

I can’t wait to continue the series God’s Top Ten this coming Sunday @ 5pm!  One of our overseers, Bobby Hamilton, will be with us as we celebrate what God is doing @ Bay Summit.  We hope to see you there!

Livin’ the dream!

2nd Launch Day

It’s hard to beleive we are already upon our second service. This week has been a blast as I have hooked up with some awesome people who attended our grand opening.  It is so cool to feel as though you have known people for a long time even though you just met.  Their comments have been encouraging and at the same time confirming to what God has called us to do here.

This week starts our new series, “God’s Top Ten – Reshaping Your Life Code” .  Are the 10 commandments a list of rules and regs?  You won’t want to miss this series as we will be taking a peek at these ancient words and discovering how relevant they are to where we live today.  Look forward to seeing you there!

bay-summit-sermon-top-ten-slide21

Launch Video

For those who weren’t able to be there, please check out our video.  It was such an awesome night!

Soon we will be podcasting my messages on the web as well.

Bay Summit Church Grand Opening

Oh what a night!  What a team!  Our core team worked incredibly hard to pull off this launch.  I definitely want to give a shout out to them!  I was amazed to watch how in a matter of a few hours we went from a core team to an official church.  When we moved here to the East Bay of NorCal  1 couple had committed to the church and last night 155 people gathered on a rainy night @ 5353 Concord Blvd in Concord, California to celebrate our grand opening.  Approximately 20 people decided to give their hearts to Christ which made all the work worthwhile. We were totally stoked about the comments from the people who visited.   People expressed the service was refreshing, felt like family, worship was flawless, never seen anything like this, felt like home….  People were expressing this was now their home church after their first visit – how does that happen? Personally I felt as though when I was speaking I had stood in front of them for years – they were such a great audience.  Many of them expressed how much fun they had.  I could feel the presence of God in such an awesome way.  He brought all of this together and He gets all the credit – no doubt! I want to thank everyone who celebrated this awesome day with us!  We were honored to have you there!  Thanks to all those who prayed for us and celebrated this day with us from all over the country!  Next week starts the new series, “God’s Top Ten”.  It will be a fresh look at the 10 commandments.  We will discover how these commands are not a bunch of rules but grounded in grace.

Until then, be blessed.

Consolidating blogs

Hey everyone, I am moving my blog over to wordpress and wanted to put some of my other posts over here as well.  I will be getting current here soon.  Launch is only a few days away now.  Can’t wait!

This is a post from January 23, 2009

We cannot believe there are only 36 days left until we make our official launch. It has been almost a year and a half in the making. We have been blown away by the steady opening of doors God has provided since we have been here. Don’t get me wrong it has been very tough at times! But in some quirky way we have grown to enjoy living on the edge. Not really knowing where or how things will materialize has become so much fun! I’ve learned there is a joy unlike any other living outside my comfort zone. God has done so much especially in the last 2 months. We have grown from our family and another couple to almost 40 people. They are such awesome people. We are so having a blast doing life with every one of them! Rob and Brianna Read, former Campus Pastors of Healing Place Church in Danville, CA, have hooked up with us at Bay Summit. Wow – what a great addition to our team. They are true pastors who have a big vision to see God change this valley as well as the entire bay area. Then there is Doug and Breanne Romano who are just starting to help out with our students. Breanne was a student in our youth ministry in Modesto, CA. about 12 years ago. Amazing how we found each other right here in Concord/Walnut Creek! In a few weeks we will hit a huge milestone by moving our services out of our home and into a building with everything we need. We are thrilled not to have to transport chairs, sound equipment and children’s supplies every week. Way cool! The building borders the cities we intended to reach since our first visit over a year ago. The reality of a vision is about to take place and we are still pinching ourselves to see if this is really happening! I am amazed at the willingness, determination and effort of every member of the Purkey fam! Lynnette is by far the hardest worker and leads our women via Bible studies and prayer. It excites me to see her fulfilling her purpose here in California. Tiffany and Kirsten are faithfully doing nursery and children’s church with about 10-15 kids every week. Eric runs the sound and helps with worship as Ethan creates and runs the video aspects of our church. I could not ask for a better team than my family. It has been obvious to me that God wants to do something in the east bay of San Francisco. He is set on accomplishing something big here in NorCal. I am simply following His lead and anticipating a lot of great news in the weeks and months to come.

Here we go!

Hey everyone, looking forward to keeping you up to date with everything God is doing through Bay Summit Church.  Hope you check in regularly.