church

on a lighter note…

kevinhaglund Leave a comment

My last posts were a little on the heavy side. Admittedly, I have a tendency to react strongly and swing my pendulum wildly the other direction. So, to balance it all out, a little humor is in order.

Jeff Foxworthy has made a name for himself with the phrase, “…you might be a redneck.” I’m not being critical, I’m just poking a little fun with my own version, “…you might be an attractional megachurch.” For each one, you can click on it to read the true story. Really. I’m not making this stuff up!

  • If you have RSVPs for your church’s very first services, you might be an attractional megachurch.
  • If your worship leader leads the nominees for Dove Awards, you might be an attractional megachurch. If your budget has a line item for worship team clothing allowance, you might be an attractional megachurch. (true story, although I can’t find a link for it!)
  • If your church auditorium used to be the home of a professional athletic team, you might be an attractional megachurch.
  • If your church’s pipe organ is on the list of the world’s largest pipe organs, you might be an attractional megachurch.
  • If your church spent more than $1 million on its Christmas production, you might be an attractional megachurch.
  • If your church building tops the list of the largest churches in the world, you might be an attractional megachurch.

If you come up with some good ones, feel free to post a comment and add your own! It’s even more fun if you’ve got proof to back up your comment!

generosity’s cheap imitation

kevinhaglund Leave a comment

I was thinking about Acts 2 and how the early church sold possessions and shared things in common with those who had need. That model has been celebrated and admired by many aspiring churches. And, like most of God’s jewels, Satan has attempted to manufacture a synthetic that is almost like the original, but not quite.

In this election cycle, we heard quite a bit about socialism and its partner, communism. I’m not an expert on the matter, but from what I can piece together, communism seems to be a cheap imitation of an original masterpiece. We’ve heard much about “redistributing wealth” for the benefit of all. In communistic countries, the wealth all belongs to the government and wealth is distributed at its will. With the early church, the “redistribution of wealth” was done by the willful generosity of the owners.

These past two weekends, browns mill church was the recipient of some incredible generosity. Dogwood Church, our sending church, collected a special offering each of the past two weekends and the total amount came to just under $15,000! We are stunned by the generosity and humbled by the confidence the people exhibited in our vision and leadership abilities for this new church. For some reason, seeing it come directly from the givers and not simply extracted from the general operating fund of the church brings extra meaning.

It is an incredible thing to witness generosity in action! God truly does love a cheerful giver. At this Thanksgiving season, we are incredibly grateful for the generosity of our family at Dogwood Church.