More Thr3e

I am still processing everything from Tuesday and what God was/is speaking to me.

I mentioned in my last post about THR3E that the level of transparency was unusual coming from a church and pastor hosting a conference. Many conferences will make light of some past mistakes that have been made, but they still work hard to present themselves in the light of "success." This is not an indictment, I fully understand it. In the attempt to put "their best foot forward" it sometimes gets overpolished and overcooked to the point of being too slick.

We have hard wood floors in our house. They are beautiful and they look great when they are polished and shiny. My wife is teaching our daughters various life skills including cleaning. Not long ago, she let them take turns polishing the floors. They got a little carried away with the polish in a couple of spots. The floors looked great! But, if you weren't careful, you would have an undignified slip and even fall because the floors were overpolished and too slick. Not even shoes could prevent this. Eventually, the polish wore down and now those spots aren' treacherous any longer.

It was refreshing to see and hear Steven Furtick and staff be brutally honest about what got them where they are and what they face. He laid it all on the line and held nothing back. Even admitting his personal struggles and insecurities as a leader. He is a great man of God and a great leader, but he is human and flawed. That is vital. It is vital because that is what and who God uses: flawed men who do not shrink back because of their flaws and do not attempt to present themselves as more than they are.

Everyone of us could do with some more transparency in our lives. I'm not talking about dumping our crap on everyone we meet and constantly presenting ourselves as needy and whiny and weak. I'm talking about living real and not being phony and plastic in our relationships. Life is gritty and it is dirty, so why do we try and present like we are living on clouds and everything is white and shiny and clean?!

We are flawed. Let's admit it. Let us also strive to overcome. Let us live to encourage and build up. Let us work to glorify God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness, not in our best most polished projections of ourselves. If we really want to glorify God, let's allow people to see that He is working in, through, and among us even though we are not perfect. That brings Him more glory than anything.

Elevation church is glorifying God. They are doing it by giving their best most passionate effort, by obeying His Word, by trying things and failing and succeeding, by being real and raw, by allowing God to do His thing among them and in them. Would that more of us would live and operate the same. We would see more churches have exponential growth.