06.14.06 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

Sunday's Assembly was a sweet time of people sharing to strengthen the church. You can check out more on blog below. The night was so cool. People shared songs (most of them were written by our folks), Scripture and stories. It was so cool.

I think this ties in really well with part of our logo--those paper chain links. We haven't talked about them much, but I've been using a phrase a lot lately that relates to those links. The phrase is "Everybody Plays."

It's not a real spiritual thing. I've heard it the most around sports leagues for kids--so that everyone gets in the game. Coaches yell it out to players to encourage them to keep attentive. More often, parents yell it when they think their kid ought to get in the game.

Everyone Plays. That seems like a fair thing--whether it's soccer or the church. No one wants to sit on the sideline. "Everyone Plays" was a spiritual thing to the "Reformers" who believed what the Bible said about "the priesthood of all believers." (1 Peter 2:8-9) They took heart in this Scripture and in what it said about them--there were no second class Christians. All believers were priests. The clergy and laity distinction should have never existed...but it did. The Reformers took issue with this.

They remembered that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn in two so that God's presence was open to people regardless of their "spiritual class" or "nearness to the temple in Jerusalem." They knew that Jesus could be worshiped anywhere because He said so to the Samaritan woman. They knew that Jesus, our great High Priest, encourages us to come boldly before His throne.

Everyone Plays. That is something we believe as the Reformers did. And it's something we attempt to live out on our quest as well. There are no second class citizens. No one has to sit on the sidelines. Everyone can play. Even the Kids. We changed that in our mission statement on purpose: connecting men, women and children....

Everyone can make a paper chain link--from the smallest to the tallest, from the youngest to the oldest. That paper chain link screams out--EVERYONE PLAYS. Nobody is a better paper link. We are all fragile and need Jesus. We are connected to Jesus and to each other...

We need everyone to play in thequest. We hope to provide the encouragement for men, women and children to be all that Jesus wants them to be.

Everybody Plays!

Press on,

Mike

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