Want a great picture of God’s heart for you? What He really thinks when He sees you? Watch Quest online today…(it’s happening right now) at 9, 10:22 & 11:55 Eastern. I got to see this service last night and it’s one of my favorite pictures of God’s love for us of all time!

~ Connie Sanders (Research Assistant)

www.questcommunity.com

p.s. If you missed it live, check out one of our full services available on our website anytime. This one will be up soon!

Have you ever felt completely loved? Maybe you remember that look in your own eyes…or the look in someone else’s as they walked around with a unique confidence, joy and strength of life. The feeling that you are explicitly loved is all-encompassing. How much more so when the source of that love is from God?

Do you remember what happened when you lived in that kind of love? Life couldn’t touch you. Circumstances didn’t have the same grip. Dark things didn’t seem as dark. The world seemed brighter. Life had purpose and meaning.

This weekend I get to teach on my favorite prayer in the bible not uttered by Jesus. This prayer from Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21 is from a man who lived in that kind of a love. A man incarcerated, but utterly free. He may have been subject to someone else’s authority, but he lived as a free man, subject to Gods authority alone. He was a man submerged in the love of God…and he lived free, with a confidence that can’t be robbed.

Come this weekend…because that kind of love is for you and me. In the light of His great love for us, everything looks different. Come and watch as other things fall into their proper place and proper perspective as we study one of the most beautiful prayers ever prayed. You’re invited Saturday at 5:55, and Sunday at 9, 10:22 and 11:55 Eastern.

I’ll see you there.

Do you live for a purpose larger than yourself?

There’s something powerful about a large group of people gathered together for something bigger than themselves in honor of a person or a cause that doesn’t benefit them. This week I spent a couple of days in Louisville, Kentucky at a gathering of a  couple of thousand leaders from the Christian & Missionary Alliance, the denominational family to which we belong as a church. I saw people from so many nations around the world, it would have been difficult to count them all. Missionaries and pastors and leaders who serve God and His Kingdom…people who have forsaken building their own smaller kingdoms for His sake. People responsible for the leadership of millions. Real heroes.

These people have joined with the apostle Paul, saying “my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.” They are living to serve God and serve people…spending countless hours praying, counseling, going to hospitals, visiting people…standing in funeral homes over caskets, comforting the brokenhearted, preaching the word of God, and sharing their faith with those around them. They do it for little glory, few dollars, and lots of headaches and challenges. They don’t live to benefit themselves, but others…investing their one and only lives in the Kingdom of heaven. The time and cost is something they’ll never tell you, and you’ll never know. They do it because Jesus died on the cross for them and rescued them, and they want others to experience His rescue, as well.

Do you know what I saw when I looked into the eyes of missionaries from around the world and pastors here in the U.S.? Do you know what struck me when I talked to them? They have a real joy and a sense of purpose. They know why they’re living…and who they’re living for. For many of these people, you couldn’t pay them, drag them or coerce them away from this life…a life that is primarily difficult and other-focused. They live for something bigger than they are and consider themselves the luckiest people in the world to do so.

I consider it an honor to count myself among their number, and I trust the joy in my eyes and the gratitude in my voice continue to increase and intensify over the decades in front of me. I pray that I would live out all the plans God has for me…doing the one thing God made me to do.

So do you live for a purpose larger than yourself?

P.S. I just posted a new survey. Can’t wait to see what you think…

God just keeps bringing us fantastic stuff in our series, Letters to a Fractured Culture. This was a unique weekend where I got to observe great things in our worship experiences.

1. The bible, when read and taught properly, is sometimes comforting, sometimes encouraging and inspiring…and sometimes it is challenging to the point of being so in your face that you either choose to be confronted and examined, or you turn it off. I saw both responses this weekend.

2. As we studied Ephesians 2:11-18, I sensed that on the whole, Questers agreed in their hearts and minds with my opening prayer, “God we invite you to do everything in us that you want to do. Holy Spirit, we invite you to move through these rows of seats and say just what you want to say to each of us.”

3. The Ephesians 2 passage we considered deals directly with the sin of racism, and in fact you could say that Paul puts the smack down on prejudice, hate and self-elevation.

4. In last week’s survey I asked a question about close personal relationships with people of different ethnicities. I was sad, but not surprised, at the lack of participation. And I was certainly disappointed to realize that so many had only one or two close friends of different ethnic origin.

5. I’m so proud to pastor a church where people can go onstage and share their struggles with this issue, confessing “I built that wall,” knowing they’ll be ridiculously loved and valued. I thought to myself every single service…”I love this church. Where else in the world could this happen other than in the loving bride of Christ? Man I love this place, and I love Questers.”

6. Yes, I meant what I said when I doubted out loud that most people would consider the homework I gave. Believing that 15-20% would go for it was a faith stretch.

7. For the record, I believe that if the percentages were reversed…if 80-85% of us really took strategic, courageous, humble steps to build bridges & tear down the satanic wall of racism, we could change our city more than you could believe.

8. There were times during each weekend worship experience that you could hear a pin drop…and other times where spontaneous applause was offered. I’ve been praying that those would not just be momentary convictions, but that they’d be lasting steps …as we actively agree with Jesus that He has torn down the dividing wall of hostility that separates us. I am praying that Questers really will let God do a fundamentally shifting work in each of them.

9. I saw isolated interactions of real holiness and steps toward Christ this weekend. A middle aged man in a repentant voice thanked me for the talk and confessed, “I have so many walls, you can’t believe it, but I am going to do the work.” A former white supremacist approached an African American woman in her 30s to offer God-prompted confession and seek a measure of forgiveness. A black man in his 20s confessed the great prejudices he and his family harbor, and that he believed this weekend marks the end of just believing that’s okay. These are just a few of the gorgeous baby steps God was provoking us with this weekend to really become the loving, unity-building bride of Christ Jesus prayed for in John 17, a community that overwhelms everybody with unconditional grace and acceptance.

10. Revelation 7 is true. The Holy Spirit inspired those words to be written through the apostle John to give us the gorgeous picture of what eternity will look like…people from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation…all dressed in white, holding palm branches and singing to Jesus, the Lamb on the throne. Everyone together as one family with no divisions…no hatred, no comparison, no superiority…no powering up, no majority vs. minority…no black nor white, no male nor female, no Jew nor gentile…no “everybody else.” We will live a wall-free eternal life, loving each other as we were loved by the One who took the nails for us, and Jesus calls the church to begin to look a lot more like heaven today as we prepare for tomorrow.

I love doing this with you, Quest. I love letting our hearts go to these places together for the glory of God. You can do this. You have no idea how much I believe in you. Go for it.

Week Three of Letters to a Fracture Culture: We came face to face with the dividing walls in our world and in our lives tonight. Not a fun topic to preach on, but a great topic. Not a warm fuzzy, but important. I am thrilled to see how Questers are really grappling with this content and with Paul’s work from Ephesians 2:11-18.

Mark my words…there is nothing that will open a person’s mind and heart to Jesus like the sacrificial & reckless love of one of His followers. It’s why Jesus called us to it. It’s why Paul is writing about it. And it’s why we preach & teach about it. It’s why we must live it.

If you couldn’t be here Saturday & you weren’t planning on being here Sunday, I challenge you to reconsider.

I’ll see you here…

(go to questcommunity.com for directions or to watch live)

So a couple of colleagues, Perry Noble and Tony Morgan, who have both been blogging for a while now, told me that if i really sensed that the Lord wanted Quest to have a global influence I really needed to seriously consider launching a blog. I could tell they meant what it, so I began to pray. I asked the Lord to show me if this was a valuable way to invest my time and energy. My sense was that He was leading me to begin petehise.com. So I stepped out in mid March and launched this site. I prayed then that He would use this blog as a conduit to make Him famous.

Sometimes we are guilty of believing too small and asking too little of God. Oftentimes Jesus has more to give than we ask for and His increase surprises us.

Over the eight weeks petehise.com has existed we have tried to be honoring to God, relevant to the lives of those we hope to reach, and authentic, loving, frank, bold and truthful about everything we’ve written. I hope God has been pleased with what we have offered here.  Having said that, I must confess that I am humbled by the potential of a Christ-honoring blog.  He has given us a measure of influence I am surprised by.  This blog has thousands and thousands of readers from over 57 nations including Iceland, Slovenia, Tobago-Trinidad.  I cannot believe I just wrote the number 57!

Every week we run a new survey…a couple weeks ago I asked readers to vote for the country that had the most petehise.com readers (China, Canada, Pakistan, India, Australia). Voters overwhelmingly chose Australia (probably because Quest’s worship Director – Anyerin – is from Medowie, Australia) but that is way wrong.  Next people picked India (I assume they picked it because we have 10 international staff from our church there)…good choice, but wrong.

Only 9 people chose the correct answer…Pakistan! Only 9 people picked it! Heck 7 people chose China…a closed country where we have no readers at all, compared to the 164 Pakistani readers. Can you believe there are 164 people in Pakistan reading about God’s exploits here at Quest? Let me just say this: Yea Pakistan!!!

In fact to everyone in all 57 countries, let me just welcome you and tell you how honored I am that you read. I hope and pray to the Most High God that you are inspired, provoked, encouraged, and drawn to the love of a Savior who died on the cross for you. Jesus died because He is crazy about you and knew there was no other sacrifice that could build a bridge to His Father in heaven for you. So welcome to my blog…make yourself at home here. Stop by everyday to see what God might have for you. You might also want to swing by questcommunity.com for some awesome stuff.

Sometimes we think too small. I did when it comes to this blog. I am going to begin to believe bigger for all God might want to do through this blog. I can’t wait to see what 57 countries will join in the conversation here next.

At my home we have a beautiful covered deck that overlooks not only our backyard, but miles and miles of Lexington. We live at the top of a hill…one of the highest elevations in our city. Out on the deck there is always a little breeze and such a great view. It is a really relaxing spot. There is, however, a problem with my deck. We have no patio furniture…nowhere to sit, no table to sit at, nothing to rock on. Zip, zilch, zero pieces of furniture to relax on. So this week  I decided to remedy all that. I bit the bullet, and my 10 year old Corey and I went out to actually buy a patio set…not the usual looking and never finding…but actually spending hard-earned dollars on chairs and a table.

In order to save a few dollars, we bought a terrific looking set at Walmart rather than an expensive patio shop. The upside: good looking, cheap furniture to outfit our cool deck. The downside: it came with “some assembly required.” In fact I would argue that nearly “all assembly was required.”  In case you don’t know me personally…here is the problem with this scenario: I don’t know how to use tools very well!!! So, I grabbed my 10 year old to instruct help me, and we set off on what has turned out to be a many day project (all 6 chairs are put together…we haven’t begun the table yet!).

Throughout this do-it-yourself adventure Corey and I have embarked on, a couple thoughts have occurred to me:

~ Following instructions carefully  is very important (while certain bolts may be close in size…using the wrong ones in the early stages makes for huge headaches later).

~ There are obvious reasons why pre-assembled furniture costs so much more (& I’m a fan of the benefits).

~ Metal tools can rip skin off a hand, ankle or a finger like nothing at all (ouch!).

But through this adventure, most of all I realized how much I love doing anything with my boy at my side! The time we have had putting this Walmart-some-assembly-required patio set together has been absolutely priceless! I’ve watched Corey (and my 5 yr. old Carson, a little) learn how to start something and see it to completion (almost!). I’ve caught Corey trying to impress me, needing my help (and admitting it), trying very, very hard to surprise his mom with all of this, and learning to use tools. I’ve seen him laughing at mistakes (and instructions written by who knows who), solving challenges, wanting to do excellent work…and most of all just loving being with his daddy (that’s, ME).

I have loved doing this with my oldest boy like you can’t imagine!

You see, I don’t believe God entrusted me with Corey so that I can focus my life around him, as if I was the anchor of his life. That job belongs to Jesus alone. My privilege, as a dad entrusted with the beautiful gift of this child, is to love him, cheer him on, point him toward Christ, and prepare him for heaven. I get to love him so much that he knows God must be even more crazy about him than I am. So I try to maximize times like this father/son project…making the most of every opportunity over the relatively few years I have him under my roof. I can’t wait to sit on the deck together, in furniture we put together with our own hands, as we talk not only about  the overwhelming goodness of God, but also the remarkable times when we got to hang out and just have a blast together…Priceless!

This past weekend I found myself in a situation I am in about 5 times each year. I was in Lexington…yet I was not teaching at Quest. When I don’t teach at weekend worship experiences, I am usually either out of town at meetings/conferences or on vacation. Roughly 5 times per year I have the privilege of sitting under the teaching of one of the great Pastors from Quest’s Teaching Team. With Helen Musick aptly handling Ephesians 2:8-10, I was free to do something I’ve only done once before. I got to attend worship experiences at Quest Frankfort! This was only my second time attending services since we opened the campus in December 2008. I was pumped out of my mind…couldn’t wait!  Here’s some of what was going through my mind while in Frankfort:

1. I love Quest’s Frankfort Campus…

2. I was treated like the President…people were so kind, so eager, so genuine. When I got to the campus, I met a sweet lady named Lindley (I think) and she was leaving…yet she turned around and walked me into church just to be kind! Thanks Lindley (sp?). I met person after person…couple after couple who just blew my mind with their hospitality. It was like I was a VIP Guest rather than the pastor. I just want to say: Thank You, Questers in Frankfort…you were awesome.

3. Beyond friendliness…people shared with me their very real stories of spiritual progress…seekers still weighing things out…a young couple who had come to Christ…a husband, wife & mom who had come to Jesus since January! This is just a sampling of evidence to say  GOD IS CHANGING LIVES IN FRANKFORT!

4. Sarah, Jon Headley and the Quest Band rocked! Worship was alive…people were singing out…God was pleased to be receiving the gift of our praises.

5. Helen’s sermon contained the best teaching illustration she has ever used. Great job teaching those seminary students a lesson to remember forever. Jesus took the test for all of us. It is up to us to sign on the dotted line to receive  the free gift of His grace!

6. All the volunteers…from KidsQuest to the Host Teams to those in the Production booth are just awesome! You guys are thrilling the heart of God with your selflessness and contagious joy! Keep up the great serving and hear God say, “Well done!” You are an inspiration as you give your one and only life to something bigger than yourself.

7. I talked to a number of people who have given their lives to Jesus and told me that they were gonna sign up to be baptized in Quest’s first Outdoor Tailgating Baptism on June 17.  I can’t wait for the 17th and I am asking Jesus to bring 20 from our Frankfort campus…sign up Frankfort Questers…it is time to go public for Jesus!

8. I heard that 54 Questers from Frankfort jumped into the Life Group Kickoff!!! Way to go guys!

9. I love the Frankfort campus, BUT it is too small to last for too long! We need to ask Jesus to bring hundreds and hundreds of people to this awesome campus. It isn’t just our first multi-site campus…it is an awesome place to hear about the love of Jesus and enter into great authentic community. I can’t wait for the day when we hit 1,000 people in Frankfort. I pray it is soon. So let’s invite Frankfort…invite, invite, invite!

10. Here is the last thing I will mention that was going through my mind this weekend: At Quest Frankfort I encountered Christ in beautiful fashion. I worshipped in an alive, vibrant, thriving church where God is miraculously changing lives every single day. This was a church that had closed its doors…it had died, but now it’s pulse is racing for the cause of Christ. God is being lifted up and honored inside of these walls…and people are coming face to face with Jesus. C’mon pastors…go for it…ask God if He will give you the gift of risking the launch of a second, third or fourth campus. Why? So that more and more lost people can meet the Savior who died in their place and is head over heals in love with them. I dare you to pray it pastors!

So when the storms blow into your world, your marriage, your health, your family, your finances…what do you do? Do you turn to God? Do you turn to friends? Do you have people in your life who love you so much that they will press pause on their own lives to come to your rescue?

When I open the Bible to the early pages of the book of Acts and read the description of the Church that Jesus left His disciples behind to launch, I am speechless. The early church that bore the name of Christ was nothing short of breath-taking. It wasn’t only the message of a risen Savior. And it was more than the miracles being performed by the apostles in the name of Jesus. Those things all mattered a great deal…but don’t underestimate the power of people wrapping their arms around others in loving, serving, sacrificing, caring, enduring ways.

When the Church was birthed, it had the most transformational message ever preached. But it was a message that was proven to be believable by the followers of Jesus who began to imitate their Master as they laid their lives down for those around them. We learn that they did so with extreme acts of selflessness like selling their belongings and giving the proceeds to those in need…by rejecting the cultural norms for separation of people groups…by rejecting the notion that their lives should be all about themselves. People loved God and others so much (once they had given their lives to Jesus and been filled by His Spirit) that they decided not to simply live for themselves…but to come to the rescue of others.

This past week a great friend of mine fell ill. She is someone I love very much, and she became sick with something that has yet to be identified yet. I fully expect she will be fine when all is said and done…when Jesus touches her with His healing hand. She’s being very brave, but this blog is less about her bravery in the face of pain and more about another beautiful thing I have witnessed. I have watched person after person…push pause on their life and rush to my friend’s side. People are refusing to just be concerned about themselves and their problems. They are joyfully, eagerly, prayerfully coming to the aid of someone who needs them. It has been thrilling to watch the church, the body of Christ, sacrifice and serve someone who is hurting.

You see, 2000 years ago the sacrifice and love of the Church was so magnetic that it was nearly irresistible to the watching world. This week as I have watched sacrificial love at work in the life of someone encountering a rogue storm, I must say…the Church that bears the name of Christ is still irresistible. So who do you turn to when the storms hit?

You can’t BELIEVE how much it fuels me to see 39 leaders ready to lay down their lives to make Jesus famous and see His lost kids come home!

Just got out of five hours of Accelerate, Quest’s advanced leadership development program, where every other week I get to invest in 39 people I love who are serious about letting Jesus shape them into the forceful, insightful Kingdom-advancing leaders He created them to be. Accelerators, you blow my mind!

I’ve got to wonder…what can’t God do through ordinary people who live out their lives as chosen sons and daughters and advancing servant leaders?