I can’t ever remember enjoying a birthday party so much! The celebration for five years of fresh life was something I don’t think I will ever be able to forget. We thanked God for all we have seen Him do, experienced the Fresh Life Story, and unleashed the plan for 2012.

If you missed it, we will be making the film available in the days to come so stay tuned.

Click to view our Christmas Card

I am so excited about the great opportunities that we all have to reach those around us with Christ’s love on this great week of celebration. It is remarkable how open and interested, even vocally thankful, people are when invited to go to church on Christmas Eve. For inviting and bringing people to church this truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

I’ve heard pastors cynically decry the public interest of people in church around holidays. They say stuff like, “sure, they’ll come now but won’t be back next week.” Ok, maybe that’s true. But last time I checked we were meant to cast the net not to ensure which fish remain in the boat. As far as I am concerned any ramped up receptivity to hearing the gospel is a great thing, and an opportunity that we will be held accountable for having been given.

I wanted to let you know about what we are doing to reach out online to those who can’t get to church or for those who are unwilling to come into one:

Christmas Eve
We have two HD webcasts on Christmas Eve, one at 2pm and another at 6pm. (Mountain Time) This will be the grand finale of our Majesty series.
The online experience will stream to iPhones, computers and iPads at freshlifechurch.com. If you have sketchy internet you can listen to an audio only feed at freshliferadio.com
We have built a page where you can tweet, facebook or email a friend about it. Click here to check it out.

Christmas Day
I am super stoked about what we are doing on Christmas and want to invite you to be a part of it. We have put together a Christmas worship experience to-go. It includes some beautiful Christmas carols performed exclusively for this purpose, a message that I filmed on the east coast and an optional interactive question guide for families to discuss what Christmas is all about with their kids. The vision behind it is for everyone to take some time to honor Christ as Lord, though in different places, before opening presents. Plus this way you get to go to church in your pj’s!

We are giving out DVD’s with the content on Christmas Eve, and QR codes that point to the content for those traveling, but I will also post it here for those of you on the blog who would like to join in. Look for it here anytime after midnight on Christmas day.

I have previewed it all and trust me when I say that it is really special and it would be a huge joy to know you were joining my family in this special way.

“The modern Christian has lost a sense of worship along with the concept of majesty and reverence…We must see again how awful [awe-full] God is, how beautiful and how perfect. And we must begin to preach it, sing it, write about it, promote it, talk it, tell it and pray it until we have recaptured the concept of majesty…” -A.W. Tozer

After a seemingly endless deluge of the typical variety of news–evil dictators dying, crowds of people protesting, politicians promising change, and corrupt people doing corrupt things–it has been a refreshing change of pace to read of these so-called “layaway angels.” These beautiful actions provide a perfect picture of Christmas and of what Christ came to this earth to do.

Today you will open your mouth and speak many different times. That in and of itself is quite a feat. Did you know that it takes the coordinated effort of seventy-two different muscles to produce human speech? Complicated stuff. Thousands of different words will pass through your lips to those around you today. What you accomplish with all that work is entirely up to you.

Words are a powerful thing. They can build up and tear down. They can unlock potential and they can crush spirits. Indeed, death and life are bound up in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

Your allotment of words today could be used to encourage someone who is depressed, inspire someone to do something beautiful, or give hope to someone who is lonely. Each word becoming a brick to restore broken things around you. On the flip side you could use your thousands of words as an arsenal of bullets as you go on a verbal shooting spree, cutting into those around you with sarcasm, cynicism and pride.

I’ve reached the end of days where I’ve gone both ways. And I want to tell you how much better it feels to speak words of life. Not just for those who are on the receiving end either. It feels better to use your tongue for good and not for evil. For loving and not for lashing. That’s no coincidence. When your words are like medicine they bless you as they pass through you. And if your mouth is like a Komodo dragon, teeming with bacteria, it won’t just be those you bite that are infected–you poison yourself in the process.

Make the decision with me to speak words of life today. Build up. Choose to inspire, to beautify with your mouth. Be an encourager. Since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, hide God’s Word into your heart and regulate what else you let in there. Garbage in, Garbage out. And in case of emergency, if you sense you are slipping and your tongue is about to talk some trash…Bite it!

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.