The Redemption Blog

On the Cusp...

It seems I can’t help but see evidence of God’s grace everywhere I turn these days.

Yesterday I had another such moment.

We had our first sound check at Cutting Hall and we were all nervous to say the least.  The big test was whether or not their system could handle the God-glorifying, face-melting, cross-centered, gospel-saturated music Scott and the boys will bring each week.

The good news is that it definetly will!  

If there had been issues with it, it would have cost us thousands of dollars to rethink how we would launch. But, praise God it sounded amazing!!

Each time I go and stand in the balcony of Cutting Hall I have this moment where I catch a vivid glimpse of hundreds of people coming face to face with the God who loves them.  With one heart, one mind, and one voice, they praise the God who gave His life, in their place and for their sin.

Friends, this is what we stand on the cusp of.

Gospel transformation...

Gospel community...

Gospel mission...

Next Sunday, July 19 from 9:45-11:15 we have our first of two vision gatherings at Cutting Hall and you need to be there.  Cancel plans, postpone trips, do whatever it takes to gather with us.  I want you to get a glimpse of what I see.  I want you to hear about what God wants to do through the small group of misfits He has chosen to plant Redemption.

I can’t wait for you to see what I see!

iPhone pics from the sound check

Cutting Hall Directions

Posted by Ryan Huguley
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision

Milestones

Milestone
def : a significant point in development

I have this tendency to get sucked in to what ever is happening right in front of me, to the point that I miss all God has done up until that point.  When I do this I lose perspective and fail to put my current circumstances into the context of God's larger plan.  Maybe you can relate...

When we lose perspective we lose hope.  When we lose perspective we lose faith.  When we lose perspective we doubt God.

This is what makes milestones so important. 

When we remember milestones we remain hopeful.  When we remember milestones we remain motivated. When we remember milestones we are identifying evidence of God's grace in our lives.

I was thinking of some milestones we have already experienced at Redemption.

• Redemption was established as a legal entity
• Redemption website, blog, twitter and facebook launched
• Redemption began core group gatherings
• Redemption was approved for the Acts 29 network
• Redemption has seen over $40,000.00 in giving in 2009
• Redemption's core group continues to grow and experience favor
• Redemption has identified a facility to launch in beginning in September

This is just a few of the things we are seeing God do and He is working in your life just like He is working in the life of our church family.

Where are the milestones in your relationship with Jesus, your marriage, your family, or your vocation?

Pray God would help you grow in the discipline of identifying the evidences of His grace.  Pray God would help you remember the milestones He has led you through, so you maintain hope for all He will lead you through in the future.

Posted by Ryan Huguley
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision

A Pastor Who Loves...

It is a rare opportunity to spend time with a guy who planted a church over 20 years ago and has seen Jesus grow it well over 10,000 people over four campuses with a fifth on the way.  By God’s grace, I have been blessed with this opportunity in spending time with Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and I wanted to share what I have seen of him:

1.  A Pastor who loves God’s Word
I have heard the Harvest staff say time again that no other Pastor works harder in study and sermon preparation.  He never phones it in and after 20 years is taking a sabbatical primarily to study apart from sermon prep.

2.  A Pastor who loves his people
Last Saturday as I sat with Pastor James during the service he pointed out person after person and preceded to tell me the story of how Jesus saved them and brought them to Harvest. To live with the level of complexity he does and still be so engaged in the lives of the people at Harvest is inspiring and challenging.

3.  A Pastor who loves excellence
Nothing is done halfway and nothing is done if it cannot be done well.  Perfection is not the value, but offering God our best because He is worthy of it, is. 

4.  A Pastor who loves to invest in his people
I have been blessed since my days at Northwest Family Church, to have guys who were willing to pour their own lives into mine, and Pastor James has done the same.  He invests time, energy, and prayer into his staff and congregation. 

I want to thank Pastor James for his encouragement, example and wisdom.  My prayer is that the investment he has made would run deep and that I would be able to follow his example, by God’s grace, and give the next 40 years of my life to Redemption.  For the glory of God and the good of our city...

Posted by Ryan Huguley
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision

Can You?

It is testifying to us.

    Can you hear it?

It is everywhere we look.

    Can you see it?

It is all around us.

    Can you feel it?

It is the evidence of God's grace.

Do you ever find yourself questioning the goodness of God, or maybe wondering if He's really there and really cares? I have had those days. I have had those days where you wonder if God will really come through and really provide.  I was having one of those days yesterday.

Tami and I went and met with the mortgage broker yesterday to finish up a few things with our new home loan and were faced with the reality of how overwhelming and expensive it truly is to buy a house.  We both had that feeling of "How in the world will we pay for this?" "Is God going to provide for us?"

In the midst of these feelings of doubt and worry I received a call from a friend asking me to stop by and see him at work. When I arrived at his office he handed me a check made out to Redemption for over $2,000! This is evidence of God's grace. In this act God was reminding me that He was in control and that our only responsibility was to trust him.

I don't know where you are today and what your going through? I don't know in what areas you are struggling to trust God, but know that God is good and He will provide. Ask that He would open your ears to hear, your eyes to see and your heart to receive the evidence of His grace that is all around us.

Philippians 4:19 (ESV)
"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

True Evidence of God's Grace

It was a sad day in the Huguley house when my coffee maker broke last week, but once again God has provided!! Thank God for Birthday money because now I'm blessed to pour coffee from this beautiful work of God each day...all at the push of a button!

It was a long week last week, but now all is well! 

Thank You...

By far, the clearest evidence of God's grace in my life is the fact that He saw fit to bless me with the wife that He did.  When God looked at Adam in Genesis 2:18 He said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."  All men everywhere should answer with a hearty "AMEN" to this verse. 

Tami has been and is my closest friend, greatest support, amazing wife and also an incredible helper to me.  One of the things that I love in Tami is how she knows just how to speak into my life.  Whether it be encouragement or to challenge me and tell me to "man up", God gives her the the discernment to know how and when to speak into my life. 

We had a conversation recently where she very lovingly and respectfully told me that I need to do a better job at following through with things I commit to.  My brain goes a mile a minute and I'm tend to say "yes" to and commit to more things than I can remember to do.  It is not the first time I have been told this, but there is something different about hearing it from her.  God spoke through her and challenged me in that moment.

What I appreciate about Tami is HOW she goes about helping me with this stuff:

1.  Her goal is to help me become a better Christian, husband, father and pastor

2.  Her tone is always sincere and respectful (1 Peter 3:1-2)

3.  Her timing tends to be God's timing

Because of this approach Tami helps me in these areas.  I feel increasingly blessed when I'm out and about and observe the wives other men have.  In defense of the wives, I firmly believe that there are a lot of disengaged and deadbeat husbands and also on the other end of the spectrum there are domineering and disrespectful husbands in our culture and in our churches.  Unfortunately, this causes many wives to react in one of three ways:

1.  They say nothing to their husbands about anything because they do not think their husbands listen, probably because they often do not  (which is wrong and is not loving on behalf of us as husbands)

2.  They say nothing to their husbands about anything because their husbands are so domineering they are not given a voice (which is also wrong and sin on behalf of us as husbands)

3.  They say things in a way that comes off as disrespectful or nagging (which is wrong because God has called on wives to be respectful and to help their husbands be more like Jesus)

What I appreciate about Tami and where I see evidence of God's grace in her life is that if I'm being an idiot, as my helper she finds a way to help me see that without being nagging or disrespectful.  This is no small task and I've had a front row seat in watching God work this transformation in her life more and more.  Because of this God has continued to grow me through her in so many ways.

In short, thank you God for giving me an amazing wife and thank you Tam for obeying God and helping me be more like Him!

Evidence of Grace...

A few months ago I had the privilege of attending the Text and Context Conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Pastor C.J. Mahaney gave an incredibly encouraging and convicting talk on this subject of seeing evidences of God's grace all around us.  If you can take a few minutes (actually about an hour) and watch this talk it will be time well spent...

I saw an amazing evidence of God's grace last week.  Last week was the beginning of our first round of The 3C Journey Series.  We had 30 people join us and it was incredibly encouraging to see people buying into and gathering around what we believe God wants to do through us at The Crossing as well as how God wants to accomplish it.  If you made it out, thank you so much for taking the time and making it a priority!  I feel forever blessed to be a part of this church family and pray God continues to grow us and draw us closer to Him and to each other!

If you missed the class you can see the content we covered here...
Download celebrate_the_journey_student_notes.doc