When we hear the word evangelist, I’m guessing the name or face of Billy Graham or someone like him comes to mind for most of us. I can honestly say that while I have a fondness for BG, a nameless Samaritan woman in John 6 jumps out at me first. “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town & said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town & made their way toward him.” Jn. 4:28-30‬

This story is truly amazing & blows up so many silly church/ministry stereotypes. It is no small thing that the person Jesus is dealing with is 1) a woman 2) a Samaritan (“for Jews do not associate with Samaritans” v. 9) 3) had a fairly scandalous past & 4) had ZERO ministry/leadership/evangelistic training.

This story screams 1) that Jesus will meet with ANY of us despite our gender, nationality, past mistakes, or violation of societal norms & 2) ANYONE can do ministry & bring people to Jesus! You don’t need a seminary degree or have to know the entire Bible, have all the answers, or been observed/trained for months/years. She was a mess, barely knew anything, & only knew him for all of about 15 minutes before going directly to the people she knew & essentially saying “hey y’all, this Jesus has had a profound impact on my life & I believe he’ll do the same for you; follow me & I’ll introduce you to him & you can see for yourself!”

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for education, training, & equipping but sometimes we just make this far more complicated than it needs to be. I want to encourage EVERY ONE of you SPV peeps to invite someone to our Real Jesus series that starts this Sunday, & even to a corresponding small group/discussion group if possible. You can call, text, email, Snapchat, telegram, or use any form of communication you choose with a, “Hey, would you want to come to church with me this Sunday?” OR... something along the lines of the Samaritan woman: ”come & see (& hear about) this Jesus with me, he’s been known to do some pretty amazing things!”

I hope to see you AND some of your friends /relatives this Sunday for worship, fellowship, Holy Communion, & the new Real Jesus series & let’s all be praying that all of us who are there have a deep & intimate encounter with the Real Jesus.

Much love to you all, Chris. ​

I shared a little bit about prayer in last week’s email & this week would like to continue that thought a little but also provide some clarification regarding spiritual disciplines as a whole. I’m not proud of this fact, but I have on numerous occasions attempted to guilt trip people into praying more, going to church, reading their bible more, sharing Jesus with others, etc. as duties or obligations for what a spiritual life looks like. But these & other spiritual disciplines aren’t duties or obligations that we HAVE to do, but rather gifts to us that we GET to do! 

Jesus said it this way in Mark 2: “The Sabbath was made for us, we weren’t made for the Sabbath.” We aren’t indebted to the sabbath, the sabbath was given to us as a gift to rest, reflection, relationships & renewal. (Ooh, those all start with R, I could work a sermon around that). I often hear people say or churches advertise things like: “do _____ in order to get closer to God.” My personal view of the incarnation (he is in all & through all) tells me that we can’t actually get any closer than we already are & yet there is a relational aspect at hand to where we FEEL closer at times. I used to believe, & even teach, others that God moves away from us when we stray or fall short; thankfully, I don’t believe or teach that any longer & instead believe just the opposite, God actually draws near & even runs to us! But part of discipleship & sanctification is to willfully draw near to him & the result of that is often FEELING closer to him. 

Either way he loves us & is near us but why not take advantage of the gifts he’s given us like corporate worship, prayer, holy communion, meditating on scripture...to maximize the reality of his love & proximity. The sabbath along with spiritual disciplines were given not as nasty tasting medicine that we have to take in order not to get sick, but as beautiful gifts to optimize our health. Let’s receive & embrace those gifts with thanksgiving. Hope to see you & worship with you this Sunday.

Much love to you all, Pastor Chris. ​

I’ve joked in the past about doing a sermon series on my least favorite bible verses. I know, I know, that sounds sacrilegious but that’s a better title than, “Jesus’ most annoying statements”, right? And just because it’s annoying doesn’t mean it’s not right, I mean, he’s Jesus, he’s always right, but if you’re worried about something the most annoying words you can possibly hear in that moment are, “don’t worry” (Mt. 6). And yet it’s a pretty safe bet that most of us are worried about something at this very moment, I know I am, & as annoying as those words are to hear they are also medicine to the soul & guess what, medicine tastes bad most of the time. 

Jesus’ encouragement/commandment to us to, “not worry” isn’t a snarky jab lacking empathy, it’s an invitation to something better. And the, “better” isn’t just simply tricking your mind into thinking positive thoughts rather than negative ones but his invitation is this: “seek first the kingdom of God” & allow the things you & I are worried about to be overshadowed by our preoccupation with the Lord & his purposes. Jesus promises when we do that, his provision will be made known to us & that’s where faith comes in. It seems ridiculous but sometimes I actually forget that this life journey of following Jesus requires faith. So seek first the kingdom, don’t worry, have faith, & receive the goodness & provision of the Lord, even when doing so seems annoying at first glance. 

Much love to you all, Chris.

​This will sound like a controversial statement but I assure you it is very sound theology: not everything in the OT accurately represents the heart & character of God. One of those OT concepts, & probably the most damaging thing I was taught growing up in church, was that, “because God is so holy he cannot be in the presence of sin.” That one little statement (& continued emphasis) caused me to believe that any less than perfect action on my part (losing my patience, cussing, an impure thought...) would immediately cause the presence of God to depart from me until I repented. The Holy Spirit was like a yo-yo in my life & without realizing it I had adopted a faith that was overwhelmingly rooted in my works, behavior, & obedience rather than God’s grace, Jesus’ faithfulness, & the constant (& precious) indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Seeing the Incarnation, Jesus coming into the world as fully God & man, in a fuller light was a game changer for me. God chose to come to us, “in a land of deep darkness (a light has come)” so that overwhelmingly convinced me that God not only can be in the presence of sin but actually runs towards it! And if Jesus/God incarnate ran towards the sin of the world then maybe, just maybe he doesn’t run away from me after every little (or big) mistake I make. And maybe, just maybe, he is kind to the broken-hearted (what is more kind than being WITH someone when they are down or wayward?). That little epiphany (see what I did there?) caused the theological dam to break in my life & I started seeing the Abba revealed in Jesus as running toward the wayward son (prodigal son story) rather than refusing grace until he groveled & repented for hours. I now see that Jesus is the kindness of God that provokes us to repent. Because I know he is gracious & merciful I am now so much more interested in knowing & modeling him more. 

So what does all of this mean? His presence is real & you can trust it/him. We need his presence, your friends, relatives, co-workers, kids, etc need his presence...& he’s even closer than we think. If you needed to hear that then drink it in & if you already know that then be a herald of that good news! 

Much love to you all, Chris.

​I want to give you a very brief & simple encouragement today: find something that gives you life, and do that! I know I tell a lot of, “I used to believe” type stories but I still can’t get over how many things were passed on to me as, “absolute truth”, but upon further investigation actually had zero basis or foundation in anything related to Jesus, the scriptures, or historic Christianity. So I’m not sure how I came by this but I remember thinking that too much laughter, enjoyment, & fun had to be fleshly, carnal or unspiritual. Art, music, sports, nature, even your family weren’t in & of themselves, “good”, or able to be freely enjoyed unless you somehow made it Christian or spiritual. Recognizing that the spirit of the Lord is with me all of the time has been so freeing for me; I don’t have to make something spiritual or perform in order for God to be pleased with me. Knowing this, resting in this, makes life so much more enJOYable, so enjoy! Turn off the news or your phone & take a walk, do a picnic sunset on the beach, have coffee with a friend, paint something, go to a museum, attempt a dish that you’ve always wanted to try....whatever it is, find something that gives you life & do that! AND know that the Lord is with you the entire time & you don’t have to perform for him.

Much love to you all, Chris.

Hello SPV, Happy Independence Day! 

It seems only fitting that we celebrate our freedom from that mean ‘ol British Empire by stuffing our faces with food & blowing things up! Lol, seriously though, it is a good thing to stop & give thanks for where we live, what we especially love about this place called America, and what we ultimately want it to be/look like moving forward. 

Freedom is a mega theme throughout the scriptures. The Exodus comes to mind, obviously, but freedom is consistently mentioned in the OT & is all over the NT as well. Paul writes this to the saints in Galatia: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery...You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Gal. 5:1, 13‬

A few things jump out at me: 

1) We were made to be free, it’s in our very DNA which is why things like slavery, heavy-handed or manipulative forms of faith/religion, oppressive or abusive relationships, or totalitarian systems of government are such an affront to God & should be resisted. 

2) God in Christ Jesus has worked & continues to work for & toward our freedom. As much as I hate various forms of oppression & bondage, it’s considerably more heartbreaking when Jesus/Christianity is used to promote fear, control,  & oppression rather than true freedom. 

3) The heart of freedom is not meant to be a full-on license to do whatever you/we want. True freedom should flow out of love, humility, & service. That is true of us as individuals, the St. Pete Vineyard, the City of St. Pete, or the United States of America. May we never use this beautiful gift of freedom to invoke fear & oppress people but may the freedom we have in Christ actually look like Jesus in how we treat each other, worship, serve, & even in how we govern. 

May you continue to walk in true freedom. Much love, Chris. ​