I hope you had an amazing Christmas. My family and I had a rich time together celebrating and spending time with good friends. This really is one of my favorite times of the year…giving gifts, surprising my boys, living in the overflow of God’s unbelievable generosity to us, as He sent HIS boy to us 2000+ years ago.

I loved celebrating with Questers and our guests last Friday and Saturday in our seven Christmas Eve Services over two campuses! If you were one of our guests, please know that we were so honored that you joined us. There’s nothing like this remarkable community. Over 3600 people got to be encouraged with the truth that God is indeed with us…a reality that changes everything. And He will be our light…a light the darkness can never extinguish.

We were all reminded of His great love for us, 100s and 1000s were exposed to the truth of Christ, and dozens placed their trust in Him. The question I asked at all of our services rings out, where do you look for hope?

The only indestructible hope in the world is found in Christ! And His light has dawned.

Listen to my favorite new Christmas verse of the year, Luke 1:78-79…

“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

How about THAT as a promise?

When the real world turns back on after Christmas, remember Jesus will guide you on the path of peace. For all who find themeselves in dark places…and for those who struggle in the shadows, the morning light of heaven is HERE. The encounter you had with Him at Christmas isn’t meant to stop there. He will always be a light in the darkness. And His peace can rule your hearts and minds always.

I love you, Quest. And I’m so grateful to be your pastor. Have an amazing time with family and friends this week, and draw close to the One who moved heaven and earth just to be with you!

What a weekend! Where to start?! Questers…your inviting WORKED! And Jesus showed up in a remarkable way!

• We heard from more people this Easter…”This is like a dream!” The back-up at the bridge…doing four services…the feel in the room…125 going from death to life! REMARKABLE!!!

• Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, friends and co-workers…all encountering God in remarkable ways. Wow!

• Loved talking about the father in the earthquake digging out rocks to get to his son. A gorgeous picture of God digging through the rubble of our lives to get to us!

• I loved hearing this quote…“Do you remember when we opened the building and there was a backlog of cars streaming in? Well, this morning, the cars are past Meijer…10 & 15 minutes out!” People waiting in line to worship!

• That balcony blows me away! It was gorgeous to be using this building and our Imagine2 sacrifices for exactly as they were intended! Hope was spilling out in Lexington, in Frankfort and around the world on the web!

• Husbands & wives gave their lives to Christ and walked the bridge together…fathers & sons, mothers & daughters…so many lost kids all getting close to the cross to thank the One who rescued them!

• I hugged so many men who were emotional as they gave their lives to Christ and surrendered to the control of another!

• Luke 15 is the best story on the PLANET – two lost sons – two lost boys from opposite ends of the world spiritually – it covers everybody on the planet…and lots of us this weekend. That’s Amazing!

• The new understanding we got of God’s grace talking about Kezazah was substantial. Breaking the pot onstage and seeing the broken pieces before our eyes gave such a clear picture of our brokenness and of the father’s heart!

• I loved telling my mom’s story…she had no idea her story would ever help people come to Christ.

• I cannot WAIT for the Man Series! Bring EVERYONE you know…ladies, don’t think, “Why just for the men?” This will help you more than you ever believed. Bring you man. Invite like crazy. It’ll be man-style and it will be so beneficial. You’re going to love it, ladies. It’ll be like you get to look in on what men talk about when they’re alone. Guys…this one is all for you. You’re gonna love it.

I love our church…I love you, Questers. This is going to be the best year yet!

I hope you’ve been drinking in these days of Being Christmas with your family and friends. For over 1300 of you, this was your FIRST CHRISTMAS EVER WITH JESUS IN YOUR HEART! UNREAL!!

Can you BELIEVE what He’s done in you? In us? Thanks to those of you who shared pieces of your story in Lexington and Frankfort this weekend. You are a reminder of the WHO and the WHY behind what we do. There are literally THOUSANDS of stories like yours…stories of hope, restoration and God’s great rescue in this community. Thanks for never going back to “normal” after your encounters with Jesus!

Questers, you are a remarkable group of people. You bring the hope of the world with you everywhere you go, and you live with an uncommon love and an uncommon generosity. Everywhere I go, I’m hearing reports of your generosity and your transformation. I’ve been overwhelmed with the number of letters, messages, twitters, etc on what God has done in your lives this year. He’s just that generous with us! As I’ve watched you step forward in Being Christmas, it’s felt like a really breathtaking and right response to the One who’s been so generous with us – the One who love the world so much that He GAVE…

Now let’s finish out this year with strength…we’ve met and exceeded our first two goals of Being Christmas, (donating 35,707 lbs of food and 9007 toys!) And we’re almost halfway to the final year-end Being Christmas goal of $500k. We can do this! For our families and friends, and for the thousands of stories who’ve yet to be written…there is no better investment on the planet! I promise…you will not be sorry.

Eagerly looking forward to a great conclusion to Being Christmas with you, as we step forward to a year of Being Jesus! You won’t believe what He’s got in store! Let’s swing the doors WIDE OPEN for Him to unleash every single plan and dream He has for Quest Community Church in the coming year!

Merry Christmas (and an early Happy New Year) everyone!

I loved sharing the stage this weekend with Assistant Pastor Justin McCarty in Lexington and Frankfort Campus Pastor Billy Fray in Frankfort for our last words of 2010! Didn’t it feel fantastic to all worship together at one time for this last full weekend of Being Christmas?

I gotta confess…I really just love our church. We are a bunch of ordinary broken, flawed, sinful people who’ve BEEN WITH JESUS…and it changes everything. Thanks to those of you who joined Justin, Billy and I onstage this weekend to share pieces of your stories…really remarkable, friends. This is NOT NORMAL.

Here are a few thoughts from Justin on what he saw this weekend…

• What God is doing through Being Christmas has been remarkable and it was a privilege to help wrap up the series — even as the new era of generosity is just beginning. (Thanks for the opportunity, Pete!)
• Worshiping together in one big service was so much fun! Not only was it great to see everybody all at once, but the feeling of everyone worshiping together (at both Lexington and Frankfort) was so unifying!
• I heard Frankfort had a great service and Pastor Billy Fray knocked it out of the park teaching, as Frankfort had a teacher live on site for the first time ever!
• I couldn’t believe how many folks had traveled serious distances to be at Quest this weekend. Though the clear winners were the Aussies (clocking in at 24+ hours of travel time), I was floored at the number of people who traveled 10+ hours to be here. The reach God has entrusted us with is humbling and amazing.
• Christmas was never meant to be a finish line — it was a beginning. What if the current of generosity, hope and joy we’ve been in could become a lifestyle instead of just an event? We don’t have to go back to “normal,” Questers.
• You can still learn alot from those old wise men!
  • Keep Your Head Up – Pay attention to what God is doing; don’t just be about you and yours.
  • Alter Course As Needed – The path to the place God is leading you is often inconvenient, costly and unintuitive, but don’t let it stop you — alter course as necessary.
  • Love Extravagantly – They didn’t hold back when it came to demonstrating love and neither do we.
• I loved how it all came back to living openhandedly instead of clenching your fists. We can stay in the current of what God is doing all year long with our hands wide open.
• A special thanks to all my friends who shared their stories during the sermon(s) — both in Lexington and Frankfort. Thanks for never going back to “normal” after your encounters with Jesus!
• And thanks to Pastor Pete for bringing us the final word of 2010 at the end of the talk. Not only did you help us understand what it looks like to transition from Being Christmas to Being Jesus in 2011, I loved being reminded that every investment in the church is an investment in the treasure of heaven! Let’s finish the Being Christmas Offering year-end goal of $500k with strength! Thanks Pete!

Have you ever given a great present? Not expensive, just what their heart would beat for.  Can you picture God before the first Christmas?  He has been anticipating the moment when Jesus’ eyes would open for the first time.  I’ve wondered before, what are the things that made this unique?  It wasn’t just that Mary was a virgin or that it was a silent night.  I know it has something to do with the light pushing back the darkness.  The Father was saying, you have no idea the gift I’m about to give you.  Century after century, just waiting to say, there’s a gift coming.  Just hold on to hope, hold on to what you understand of Me.  You won’t believe the gift I have for you!

You picture that He sends a whole sky full of angels.  The sky was filled, so much activity – Jesus was about to be born, and God was about to reveal the great gift.  You can see Him saying, I know earth doesn’t look like much, but I want you to see what happens when heaven visits earth in an unmistakable way.  He gathers them all together, let’s watch this.  The best gift you could never even begin to predict.

Then, in a little backwater town, on a night no one seemed to care, God gave up His very best gift, the best gift that ever had and ever would be given.  He offered up His son to save us from our self-hyphenated lives, our sin and entitlement, so that we might invite the One born in this barn to make His home in our hearts. So that His love would spill into our hearts.  So that those who receive Him would be Christmas for those around us. Not a holiday to be celebrated, a miracle to be expressed through generous love, the conduits of God’s heart, like on that first Christmas.

I think that sort of makes sense, makes sense to me, when I picture the Father taking this step, when Jesus was finally on the scene.  It makes sense that Mary is stepping back, treasuring it all up, going, I was just your normal girl, Joseph going, I’m your average guy.  The Father said, not the average gift, this one will change you from the inside out.  Our Father is a giver, not a taker.

The nature of giving, of God’s heart, makes sense when we generously give to someone else.  Doesn’t it feel fantastic when you sacrifice yourself, your time, your experience to give away freely?  Not in a way to get anything back, just expressing the miracle out loud?  When you act like a generous person, isn’t it weird how good it feels?  It’s because you were designed to be generous. We were made to be generous, because we are made in the image of God.

Keep going all out BEING CHRISTMAS, Questers.  Ask Jesus to show you creative ways to be the conduit of His generosity.  We still need thousands of pounds of food…hundreds of new and gently used toys…and financial support to finish out 2010 with strength. Let’s be the people of the open hands! Express the miracle. Let His love pour out of you. Something substantial is happening through Questers this Christmas, and heaven is cheering you on!