#2: Your Life Is Not an Accident

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.

We did this series in the first few months of our church. It was inspired by Bob Russell, who is one of the better preachers I’ve ever heard. While I was an intern at his church back in 1994 he did a series through the book of Esther. I tucked it away in my massive brain and pulled it out years later.

I love this series because it’s a story. We basically went straight through the book of Esther, but since the book just tells a story, our series was a three week story. And it’s a great story. One of the “twists” I did was to make the story into a movie. At the beginning I set the story up as a movie (called “In the Shadows.”). Then, as each new character entered the story I would have a mock casting call, telling the actors or actresses I considered hiring, and then announcing who landed the role. Ben Kingsley, Michelle Pheiffer … it was incredibly exciting. It also gave Forefront the chance to hear my mean Sean Connery impersonation. But, to my surprise, the highlight of the series was when I did a Cartman impersonation (“Respect my authoritae!”) and everyone went nuts.

The basic idea of this series is that Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God, but even still God is all over the book of Esther. He doesn’t show Himself but He’s at work “in the shadows.” The same is true in your life as well. Even when God seems conspicuously absent, you can be sure that He is totally at involved in your life. He’s writing your story, and writing you into His story, and so … your life is not an accident.

– featured on newchurches.com