I kind of pride myself on not being one of those guys that tries to be all athletic and act like I know every little detail of what a coach should do in a given scenario because I played pee-wee football in first grade. In fact, when it comes to being athletic I’m pretty much, well, terrible.

But…there have been a few glorious moments of exception. First was my lone year on my school’s swim team as a senior in high school. That’s right, I was district champion in the backstroke.

BAM!

The other was intramural flag football at UT. Believe it or not, I actually got pretty good at defense. And there was one reason for it. I knew my position on the field. When one of the wanna-be-jock coaches told me what to do, I did it and nothing else. It paid off! I got more sacks and “tackles” than just about anybody on our team. Not because I was most athletic, but because I knew my position on the field and focused on being the best I could in that role.

This same concept is what we focus on as a church. OneLife is a team sport! We can’t do it with just a pastor and a staff. So everyone who ends up being a part of our church MUST know their position on the field if we are going to win! And our win is far more important than a swim meet or flag football game.

Our win is seeing lives changed and a community transformed. It takes people who are gifted in teaching and leading, to be sure. But they can’t do it alone! It also takes people gifted in hospitality, encouragement, prayer, generosity, service, faith, wisdom, administration, and on and on the list goes. It takes all of us. It takes YOU!

But it takes you knowing your position on the field so you can focus on that and do it with every fiber in your being. And when we all do that, we WILL make a difference in this community. It WILL leave a mark on the lives of many. And we WILL use our one life to make a difference.

So don’t sit back and let the talking heads on a stage do all the heavy lifting. Because reality is, they simply can’t and won’t. Discover your position on the field, get out of the bleachers, and get in the game! There’s a place for you on the field. It’s your job to be the best you can at it and help our team to claim the victory.

Do something about it today. Start by answering this question honestly: “What is my position on the field?”

After being out for two weeks celebrating the birth of my beautiful, one-of-a-kind, cutest baby you’ve ever seen, cuddly daughter, it was SOOOO good to be back at OneLife! Here’s the quick run down.

• We kicked off a new series called “Really?” It’s dealing with all the crazy things we ALL believe but need to say “Really?” next time we think or say them!
• This first week was the lie that we should all just follow our heart.
• There’s a HUGE problem with that as outlined in Jeremiah 17:9: our hearts are deceitful and sick!
• Jesus said that all sin comes from our heart – not Satan – but our heart.
• The only hope is to have our heart of stone ripped out and replaced with a new heart…all thanks to Jesus.
• Then we can follow HIS heart and not OUR heart! BIGGGG difference!
• Watch it online here and get the follow-up discussion questions.
• Our creative process paid off big time. It was a very focused, easy to remember kind of day.
• The band played Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” which set the sermon up great. The main gist of the song for those of you not into Pop-Punk is “Pain – That’s what you get when you let your heart win…” A great message!
• I was so proud of our OneLifers. Fall Break was over, it was the kick-off to a new series, and we challenged everyone to invite people who aren’t plugged in to a church to come with them. The result was a record day!
• 314 people attended, including 193 in the first service. Both new records for a “normal” Sunday…aka it wasn’t Easter or our 1-year anniversary.
• Why is that a big deal? Because we got some GREAT feedback from many of these people who desperately needed to hear that they can follow HIS heart instead of theirs! Lives were changed!
• So we want more and more people to have their lives changed, too.
• Next Sunday is going to be another fun one. We’re talking about the lie of “Everything Happens for a Reason.”
• Yep, that’s right. Next time you hear that you should say, “Really?”
• Come find out this Sunday why that is indeed an untruth!
• And don’t come alone…share your story of what God is doing in your life with someone this week and bring them with you!

Well the last two weeks have been two incredible weeks! Last Sunday (October 10) started with my wife laying in bed breathing heavily. “I think I’m having contractions,” she said. So I started timing. They were close but not terribly close and this was our first rodeo with having a baby. So what did it mean?

She got in the shower then I did, too. We were going to head on in to church and just see what happened. Then as she walked to the linen closet wearing her bathrobe I’ll never forget what happened. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“I think my water broke.”

And sure enough, there below her was the evidence! I was so excited I went into the kitchen and did the silent fist pump while jumping up and down. She called the doc and to the hospital we went. After cleaning up the evidence…

Oh yeah, what about church. The Friday before all of this, my wife was having some serious contractions – 5 minutes apart. We went to the hospital and they would have kept her but didn’t have a bed! (comforting thought) So they sent her home with Vicadin and said come back when they hurt more. Again, comforting thought. So we went ahead and enacted the sermon back up plan then. And while my trooper of a wife laid in psuedo-pain for two days, our creative director Tyler edited down a Perry Noble sermon that fit perfectly with our series.

Here’s the cool thing. While we were in the hospital welcoming our new life to this earth, three people were being re-born spiritually at OneLife! Yep, video sermons do work. People loved it and people were saved. What a great day!

Back at the hospital, the labor continued. And finally at 8:52 p.m. the prettiest baby ever was born. Mariclaire Isabelle Arnold.

We got to come home a couple of days later and my staff guys and our church family took great care of us. I took the week off and loved every second of not thinking about work or church and focusing solely on my family! The next Sunday (October 17) I got to simply attend church while Hunter Wright – a future ministry partner and church planter to Knoxville – preached the Word for us. It was great.

So now I’m back in the saddle. We’re starting a new series at OneLife and I can’t wait. Check it out here: www.onelifeknox.com/series and I’ll see YOU on Sunday!

Two years ago the University of Tennessee football team had reached a tough spot. Phillip Fulmer, coach for 16 years, had experienced an unbelievable career including a national championship, two SEC championships, and was within a stone’s throw of becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history. But his program was struggling. Struggling badly. And thus, he was fired in the middle of the season.

The very next game was against a sub-par Wyoming team that should have presented no problem. The verdict? An embarrassing loss, on homecoming, that sent the team to its second losing record in three years. Why did this terrible loss happen? I think the answer is simple.

Trust in leadership was shot.

Any organization will be all but done for if there is no trust in leadership. For a church, it is even more important. The staff and especially the pastor must be trusted or you can guarantee the momentum will be lost. As a result, we aggressively defend our leadership and unity at OneLife.

The dream of reaching people who are far from God is too real and too urgent to do anything else. If someone doesn’t trust our leadership, that is totally fine. We will help them find a church where they can. Not because our way is the right way. But because our way is our way that God has clearly given.

I count myself as one of the most blessed people I know because I am surrounded by a staff and church that does in fact trust its leadership. This month is Pastor Appreciation Month and I have been blown away – to the point of tears – nearly every day this week as another card, another gift, another hand written note has shown up. It has reminded me of the unusual unity our church is experiencing. OneLife, we must protect that. Trust me. Trust our staff. And let’s watch God do some amazing things in our city.

What if there is more to heaven than pearly gates and streets of gold? What if there’s more to it than not going to hell? What if there’s more to it than getting a big mansion?

There is.

That’s what we addressed this weekend at OneLife. Heaven is the place where God finally has the relationship with his people that he always longed for. Revelation 21:1-4 teaches us that and several things. One of my favorites is that our greatest fears will be gone (“…there was no sea.”). One thing I thought about since then is the fact that Scripture teaches where there is fear, love cannot abide. So naturally, fear cannot exist in God’s presence.

I also learned something else unique this week. We don’t always know when someone’s life is being changed by the Gospel. Maybe they don’t raise their hand during the invitation. Maybe they don’t fill out a card. Maybe they just give their hearts to Jesus. We saw that yesterday because we ran out of new believer gift bags at our welcome table!!! But yet no one marked their card and dropped it in the buckets as they left. Maybe – just maybe – Jesus really can change lives outside of our systems and procedures

This coming Sunday wraps up our “To Be Continued” series with a snapshot view of Revelation. We won’t just answer the question of “What will happen at the end of the world?” but we’ll be answering the questions of how that helps us to live life NOW in a way that will impact eternity.

If you have someone who needs Christ…share your faith stories with them THIS WEEK! And then invite them to come worship with you at OneLife. God is doing some amazing things! Don’t miss it.