If Image Church were to shut down next week for whatever reason, I hope we would leave a giant hole in the community, and after seeing what I saw today, I think we would. I have never been more proud of our church than I was today. The director at the ACTS shelter couldn’t stop saying thank you for how Image responded to their immediate needs. The bathroom renovation is done and now mom’s can safely give their children baths without worry. Image, thank you for being on mission and for living the vision of being a community of people reflecting the Image of Christ! Let’s stay on mission and keep redeeming broken things, so that it shouts the redeeming work that only comes from JESUS!!!

Here are some more pics…

Praise God!!! He is doing an amazing, miraculous work… I love how HIS WORD never returns void, check this out:

1st: We had 2 people commit their lives to following Jesus Christ this past week, plus another guy get serious about his faith, get broken over his walk, and officially join the church… the Holy Spirit is truly moving!

2nd: It was great to shout praises to God this morning, it was good to have Mike Scott back after being gone for over a month, and the Image Band just plain blew it up… I love worshiping with our church!!! Also good to have Lauren back as well!

3rd: Got a ton of people to come talk with me after the gathering, always encouraging to see people submitting to the WORD and the Holy Spirit!

4th: We had about 50 of our core team out of town or gone for some reason this morning, what’s encouraging about this is that everything went extremely smooth. You could definitely see that a lot of people were missing, but it didn’t stop HIS ministry. We gathered 244 for worship today, we were way down, but it did not even matter… bring it!!!

5th: Hope everyone got passionate about our mission at the shelter this morning, go hit the registry we have set up at Bed, Bath and Beyond and lets finish this bathroom right!!!

6th: Looking forward to Manna weekend next Saturday and Sunday!

7th: Remember what was preached…

How our beliefs on genuine faith affects our lives…

1] If we believe faith is based on profession alone, then we will live out a faith by profession alone James 2:14-17

2] If we believe faith is based on knowledge and emotions alone, then we will live out a faith based on what we know and how we feel, alone                                                                                                                                                         James 2:18-19

3] If we believe faith is based on Jesus’ merit alone, then we will live out, and reflect, a faith from Jesus alone James 2:20-26

Imagine this…

Imagine the profession of your faith in Jesus matching a faithful life in Jesus

Things are looking so great at the shelter renovation, here are some pics…

New sink getting ready to be installed

Brand new tub and fresh paint

New light fixtures

I will post more pics as I get them. You can also help finish this project by going to the registry Image Church has set up at Bed Bath & Beyond, here is the link: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regHome.asp?order_num=-1& and look for “Give a great gift” box.

It’s that time of year again, when we all gather at Leesylvaina Park for our annual 5K Race! We do this every year because we have a deep desire to do something bigger than ourselves. It’s not about just running, it’s not just about the festive atmosphere, it’s not just about getting our name out in the community, although all those things are good, but it’s about MISSION! What we wanted to see in the end, we built into the beginning, and from the beginning Image Church has had a vision of being on mission, even on the other side of the world! Almost from the very beginning Image Church teamed up with Ralph & Becky Done and Manna Worldwide to support an orphanage in China. Some of our members came up with this idea/vision of having a RACE that would raise funds to help the orphanage, and so I-RACE [the Image 5K] was born. So, again this year, we will have a race, really throw a running party, at Leesylvania Park. You can get more details about the race here, imagechurch.com. Register, come out, have fun, and be a part of something much, much bigger than yourself!!!

Got some pic’s, from the bathroom renovation, at the shelter yesterday, it should be done this week! This Sunday we will be releasing a list of items, we can purchase, to help put the finishing touches on this mission!

the future stand up shower

the tub has been installed!

prepping the walls

Here is what GOD did yesterday:

1st: Praise God for how HE is using our music and media guys, they did an incredible job taking us into worship, as a church yesterday! I loved the use of the media during the intro. of yesterday’s gathering.

2nd: We gathered 322 people! AND we took communion together proclaiming the finished work of JESUS!!!

3rd: I-KIDS was FULL again yesterday. I walked through hallway at the beginning of the 2nd gathering and there were little kids everywhere, not to mention a full nursery! Loved seeing Chad Bungard busting out the wipes and cleaning up spilled milk, HA!

4th: Loved seeing our teens sitting on the front row during worship! It is a great feeling, when I am preaching, to look down and see them taking notes and tracking along!!!

5th: We added more to the building fund yesterday which means we are that much close to getting more space!

6th: Met some guys that were checking out church for the first time, said they loved it and want to talk more about what I was preaching on!!!

7th: PRAISE JESUS for what HE is doing!!!

Keep reflecting the Image of Christ!

Christians that are growing in the Word, practice the truth in their lives. Stagnant believers talk about their beliefs. Passionate Christians not only talk about it, but also live it out, and practice the truth of God’s Word in their lives. There is no replacement for living out the Truth! The thing is we are what we eat. If we eat junk, we will look like junk, feel like junk, probably act like junk and treat others like junk! The Word of God, the Truth, is not junk. So when we ingest the truth, it pushes us and gives us the desire to live out that truth – AND the truth of this passage is so crucial to our lives, so read this…

James 2:1-13

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. [ESV]

If we believe Jesus is the Son of God, that He is gracious, that His Word is truth, and that one day He will judge us, then our behavior towards others will reflect our beliefs about Jesus!!!

See you Sunday at 9:29 or 11:09 as we continue our series through the book of James, MILK to MEAT!

We have begun our renovation of the bathroom at the ACTS Shelter down the street from Image. It has been exciting to see our people come together and make an impact in our community! Here are some pics, below, that will reveal the beginning stages of renovating the bathroom. We will update again next week!

Another exciting, momentum building Sunday at Image, here we go:

1st: Our band did a great job leading us into worship through music, and it was almost a completely different band than usual. John Williams lead, Shane Hinton, usually our sound engineer, was on drums, Knapp was on bass, thanks guys. You all did an amazing job ministering to the church!!!

2nd: Pastor Tim shared with me that the Spirit was really working on some of the elementary students in I-Kids this morning. Some of the kids were even broken over not being more bold about their faith. Nothing I love more than hearing about our kids desiring to be more passionate in their walks with Jesus!!!

3rd: The place was hopping again, we gathered 310 people. YO, we gotta hurry up and get into that new space!

4th: I got a chance to talk to several people after the 2nd gathering that shared about what God was doing in their lives, good stuff. I also ran into someone in the hallway at the beginning of the 2nd gathering and they said they had been in the 9:29, but just wanted to hang out a little longer because they just loved being here!!!

5th: Appreciate our media guys showing the video clip today, it really helped drive the point home!

That’s it, but remember this: we need to truly receive, live, and release the WORD we say we know, believe and love! Keep reflecting the Image of Christ!!!

We will be switching things up a little this Sunday at Image as well as continuing our series MILK to MEAT. I have heard great things from several different people about how they are consistently growing deep in the WORD, lets keep this up and stay focused on HIM! As we grow as a church, lets continue to pray for the following vision of our church:

In the area of WORSHIP…

1] Preach the WORD deeply 2] See at least 50 people drawn to Jesus and baptized 3] Expand our facility space

In the are of COMMUNITY…

1] See P.O.D.’s [Points Of Discipleship] in at least 25 homes

In the area of SERVICE…

1] See at least 300 people run in I-RACE 2] Give $36,000 to Manna Worldwide 3] See 150 at Image Open 4] Renovate the Shelter 5] Send 2 more people out on mission 6] Hire another Pastor on staff

Stay in the WORD and be disciplined to pray for all of these things!!!