As of August 1, OneLife’s offices will be at a new home. We are moving just a half-mile down the road to an office that will provide us enough office space plus a large meeting room. This room will hold more than 50 people, giving us a space to do ministry throughout the week including student ministry, band practice, small groups, and more.

To save money, we need your help! Come help us paint and clean it up before the floors are put in. Different volunteer teams and OneLife Communities have been pitching in throughout the week. On Friday night, we’ll have a free-for-all night for anyone and everyone to come help us finish up. Come from 6-8 p.m. We’ll provide pizza and drinks. Simply comment below to let us know you are coming or email volunteer@onelifeknox.com.

Click here for directions and then come to Suite 101. See you Friday night!

Yesterday’s sermon was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to preach and definitely the heaviest. The topic of divorce is one that – in my opinion – requires a delicate balance of truth and grace. Truth so that those in marriage or considering marriage will understand the seriousness and sanctity that God intends, while those who are divorced or going through a divorce understand they are not condemned (Romans 8:1) and that His grace is more than sufficient.

If you would like to read more of what I found in studying, check these out. There are various views represented, all from respected Bible scholars and pastors who hold the Bible in high regard.

- Mark Driscoll and Resurgence – A position paper by Resurgence, led by Pastor Mark Driscoll. By far the most in depth and comprehensive study on divorce in the Bible that can be read in a quick sitting.
- John Piper – A position paper by John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church. This view holds to a strict interpretation that no remarriage is permissible following divorce while both spouses are alive.
- John Murray – An author whose book on divorce and remarriage has been held by some as a standard for the argument that remarriage can be biblically permissible in certain cases.

It’s been quiet around here on my blog, twitter, and facebook for the past week. That’s because our church has been dealing with a pretty tough tragedy that – on top of a staff retreat this week – has had my mind and emotions pretty much occupied.

My wife’s most recent blog post sums it all up better than I could, so as I break my week-long silence I’ll just defer to her.

InsideMyFishbowl.com – Cloudy with a Chance of Yuckiness

A few years ago I heard a quote at a leadership conference that changed me. It was something like this…

“If you were to die or retire and someone came into your organization to take over as the head leader, what would be the first things they would change?”

Wow. What a question! I’ve been part of a lot of organizations that roasted the key leader. Everyone had their opinion about what the guy or girl at the top did wrong. And if they would just do a few things differently, we’d be much better off!

In that conference I realized that the person who would be roasted at OneLife if I didn’t continually ask this question would be – *gulp* – me!

So routinely we look at where we are and ask a similar question. Currently, I’ve posed this question to our staff guys and key leaders:

“If we could start all over again, what would we do differently?”

And guess what. Whatever the answers to that question may be, that’s exactly what we’re going to do! Because if we find ourselves talking more about how great it USED to be back in the past rather than how great it WILL be going forward, we have lost our vision and will soon perish (Proverbs 29:18).

Then it hit me. The same is true in everyday life. If I died and my wife got a better husband, what would he be like? If my daughter got a better dad, what would change? If my employees had a better boss, how would he treat them? If our church got a better pastor, what would he do differently? If someone could come in and be a more devout Christ follower, what would they give to Jesus?

That thought process is a game changer, because reality about Jesus is this: HE is our chance to start all over! It’s not about what we do or how hard we try to be better or do more. So give it up to him. And ask HIM, if I could start all over, what would be different? Then don’t just sit there. Go do it. Go start all over.