#20: Change. Simple Word. Huh?
After 10 years of Forefront we’ve now done over 120 message series. Thought it might be fun and interesting to share with you my top twenty.
This was a series back in, I think, 1999 and it was based on the 12 Steps. Though A.A. may not “name” the Higher Power people need to turn to, the 12 Steps are all bible-based Christian principles for healing and growth. (No wonder they work.) (In fact, we could easily make a case that A.A. with it’s vague Higher Power actually does a better job of creating biblical community and applying biblical principles than most churches.) (I really like writing in parenthesis.) (I wish I could talk in parenthesis.)
Anyway, I thought it would be appropriate to do a series on the 12 steps because at Forefront we get a lot of messed up people who are struggling to stop doing things they don’t want to keep doing, and to start doing things they want to keep doing. (By the way, I think the reality is that every church is full of messed up people, the difference isn’t that Forefront has more messed up people, but more honest people. We’ve created a culture where people admit they’re problems rather than hiding them behind their ‘Sunday’s best’ outfits and fake smiles.) (Wouldn’t it be cool if every church started every service by having everyone in a circle and each person says, “Hi, I’m Stan, I’m a control addict.” “Hi, Stan!” “Hey, I’m Nikki, I lust after my neighbor’s husband.” “Hi, Nikki!” “Hey, I’m Fred, I steal at work … oh, and I can’t stop farting.” “I’m gonna move across the room Fred!”)
This was a fun series to do, and I think it helped a lot of people. This was also the first series that we ever had our Gel Groups study topics that were connected to the sermons. Until this series (and for a few years after this series) every different group was studying something different, and they had no relation to that Sunday’s message. But for this series all the groups studied the same thing, and it was connected to the sermon. As those who attend Forefront know, this is what we now do all the time.
– featured on newchurches.com