Emmanuel Baptist Church

Yesterday John Lamb (JL) and I drove to Colorado Springs for the 10:30 service at Emmanuel Baptist Church (www.emmanuel-cs.org). Emmanual is part of a Leadership Community for Externally Focused Churches that will convene in California tomorrow for the second time. The church is led, pastored and inspired by Reverend Benjamin Reynolds and Emmanuel is doing a great job living outside themselves and becoming a church that is building the kingdom.

It was a wonderful experience of worship along with a great message by associate pastor, Cleveland A. Thompson. Pastor Thompson spoke on Samson and how Satan will take something we love to get us off track. Samson's strength was not in his hair but in his service to God (remember, the hair was part of being a Nazarite in service to God). Pastor Thompson ended his message with the two lessons his grade school teacher taught him--first, "How to spell church." Second, when doing addition...the need to "carry the one" when the column can't hold all the numbers. His teacher didn't want students to write "1" on the next column but simply to discipline themselves to remember that they had to carry the one. You can imagine how the one became "THE ONE"--the invisible God, who when added to any equation, made the difference. It was powerful. Two hours flew by.

After church we stopped by the Black-eyed Pea for some Shepherd's Pie.