Freedom Sunday

Today is Freedom Sunday - a day set aside to increase awareness and encourage action against human trafficking. Love Chapel Hill is one of nearly 2400 churches, spread across 50 countries to join as a part of the Abolitionist Faith Community.

ORANGE has been our recurring theme for the fight against human trafficking. Today we have had the opportunity to increase awareness about where and how slavery exists, but also some very simple ways that we can begin to make a difference.

As a apart of Love Chapel Hill's participation in Freedom Sunday, we watched a few key videos which are posted below. I've also posted here a few other videos that are really eye opening.

** Please know that the topic of human trafficking can be very raw and offensive. These videos, while mostly shown on mainstream television, do contain content that I would consider to be for mature audiences only; best watched in a group setting.

If you have any questions about ORANGE, Freedom Sunday, or human trafficking in general, please feel free to email me and I'll do my best to get you connected to the information you are looking for.

Check out these videos:
Freedom Sunday:








Additional:
Constance


Call+Response Extended Trailer - KEY INFO

Sharing the Journey of Lent

Lent is perhaps the most difficult season of the Christian Church calendar. It's dark, a desert place, wilderness that causes an intense introspection. Even though we know LIGHT defeats darkness, we walk through this season, surrendering and submitting again that Jesus paid the price and walked through the deepest and darkest places, taking on our sin and death.

As we remember what Christ has done, we as a church are walking through this season together in fasting and in prayer. I want to invite you to share in this journey as we read common texts over these 40 days. Join us over at the Love Chapel Hill blog - 40 days. http://lovechapelhill.wordpress.com

ORANGE

When's the last time you thought about slavery? It's not even on the radar for most of us. Crazy thing is though, there are more slaves in the world today than EVER before. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 million, in fact. Hard for me to even conceive... 27 million individual lives are caught in the bondage of slavery...

Even worse, I'm part of the problem. All of us are. It's part of our supply chain. Most clothes made of cotton, most electronics, a lot of food, coffee - somewhere in the supply chain many of the mainstream products we buy use slave labor. A major area of modern day slavery, also known as human trafficking, is sexual exploitation. The numbers are shocking.

There is so much to learn about human trafficking, and perhaps learning about it is the first step to doing something about it. As a church, Love Chapel Hill is starting into the fight against human trafficking. How do we become modern day abolitionists. You can learn more about the problem and find very practical ways to get involved over at lovechapelhill.com. Checkout the ORANGE page.

Keep in mind as you go shopping this weekend, look for SLAVE FREE products.

Have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!

HAITI: How do we respond?

FROM LOVE CHAPEL HILL:

As news reports of devastation continue to roll in from Haiti, the question continues to rise, "How can I help?" The chaos and loss of life is overwhelming, but there are people on the ground there who are able to save lives and provide hope. Love Chapel Hill has teamed up with two organizations that already have people in Port-au-Prince working around the clock. The American Red Cross and World Hope International. You can join in supporting their efforts in three simple ways.

GIVE $10 to The Red Cross: text "HAITI" to 90999 - You'll receive a text to confirm the gift. Reply "YES" and $10 will be added to your next cell phone bill (standard text messaging rates apply).

GIVE any $$ amount to World Hope International by going to their giving page: https://www.worldhope.org/donor/donate/default.aspx (choose "Disaster Response - Haiti") Your gift will provide water, food and essential supplies for survivors to begin healing and rebuilding their lives.

GIVE $$ on Sunday. This Sunday Morning at Love Chapel Hill all cash given during the offering will be sent to World Hope International for their relief efforts in Haiti.

You can help! First... PRAY! And if you are able, simply choose one of these giving options. If you have any questions about these or other giving options, don't hesitate to email team@lovechapelhill.com or call 919.442.8828

LOVE with the Heart of Jesus!

The Love Chapel Hill Leadership Team

Getting in the Water -

Love Chapel Hill celebrated its first baptism as a church in the cold waters of Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill, NC. Witness this amazing day with us in the video below. This baptism is special for Jeanine and I as it is our brother, brother-in-law, and friend Stephen "Tony" Walker who gave his heart to Jesus just a few weeks back. We are proud of you Tony! The old has gone and the new has come!

A surreal moment...

The picture is not so great, but I had to share it. I'll capture a better one in the light of morning. This Sunday, October 4, our new church plant will make it's LANDING into the community of Chapel Hill. Where are we landing? The center of it all, one of Chapel Hill's greatest landmarks: The Varsity Theater. To be clear, we're not owners of the building, or operators really. We are a church meeting at The Varsity on Sunday mornings at 11. Our hope is to see The Varsity remain a central business in the heart of Chapel Hill, inviting and inspiring a creative community. We love this place! Just a little while ago, I got to write our web address...Letter...by...Letter across the marquee. Surreal is the only word to describe it. I really still can't believe it's actually up there! We want people to know what's happening, but we also want them to know that this is a church for them... This is a church for me and for you; for us all types of people, and maybe even those who don't really like church. You're totally invited to come see what is a bout to happen at 11am on October 4. Varsity Theater, Chapel Hill, NC. www.lovechapelhill.com

September is here...

As you may know, I've got a birthday coming up. My good friend and co-pastor, Matt, also has a birthday coming up. We are September babies, and well, September is here. Check out this video ->



If you want to learn more or would like to give, visit http://mycharitywater.org/mattandjustin
Instead of gifts or presents for us, we would love for you to help save lives by giving to this AWESOME organization. 100% of all financial giving to charity : water goes to building wells. They even cover their administrative costs from other funding. Rest assured everything you give will be bringing clean water to those who need it most!

not fairweather..

As we worshipped together last night with a time of singing and preaching out at the old well it occurred to me that we are not fairweather followers of Jesus. Literally - check out this picture from Worship at the Well:

Yesterday was a full range of weather from beautiful golden sunbeams to torrentional downpours and thunderstorms...with a little dash of rainbow at the tail end. It was an awesome day of Loving Chapel Hill together. The impending radar picture and occasional rain shower couldn't keep us from a time of worship. Join us for the next Worship at the Well on September 12 at 6pm.

Also, check out Love Chapel Hill's new website at www.lovechapelhill.com

Perspective of The Intern...

There's a guy here with us in Chapel Hill for the summer. His name is Nick Coronado...we affectionately refer to him as "The Intern"... but that doesn't even come close to describing him... A student at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, he comes to us as much a minister to this town as me, Jeanine, Matt, and Sarah. He's a spiritually mature man of God just living out his faith. He recently started a blog and I want to encourage you to check it out. It's neat for me to see his perspectives on thing as he gets into this mission of Loving Chapel Hill. Alright, enough talk, take a look:

http://nicksbignews.blogspot.com/

My Pastor and My Friend..

I just got home from "the story: a journey in the life of jesus". It's a Bible Study of this new church starting in Chapel Hill, NC down on Franklin Street. Check it out! We had some great discussion tonight about Jesus and His turning toward the cross in the last few days of His life. My pastor and my good friend Matt LeRoy brought a great time of teaching from the book of John. Matt is just an anointed and gifted teacher of the Word. It's an honor to get to work with this guy!
















Anyone is welcome at "the story" that meets in the upstairs of McAlister's Deli on Franklin Street. Every Tuesday night at 7 we share a meal and dive into the life of Jesus. Come join us on a Tuesday night. Find out more at www.lovechapelhill.com

I've got some pictures from DC coming, not to mention this weekend is our annual whitewater race in Webster Springs, WV. Fun stuff...stay tuned!

Love Chapel Hill - Update...

Click on the picture below to get the latest update from the City on a Hill Project

What's up??...

Realizing it's been too long since I last posted let me just give you a few updates:

1. In two weeks time we've been able to enjoy 30 degree snowy weather and 80 degree carolina skies.
2. I've got a new temporary job working at the UNC School of Dentistry.
3. Jeanine and I head down to Rose Hill, NC just about every other week where I get to do some preaching at Bethel Wesleyan Church.
4. "The Story" our Tuesday night Bible Study down on Franklin street is in it's 7th week and it's going great!
5. Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church and founder of World Hope came to visit Chapel Hill!
   
6. Matt and I recently traveled to Oklahoma Wesleyan University and met some students who are going to come spend the summer as a part of the City on a Hill Project Team.
7. We just returned from a great weekend of sharing the COAHP vision with Bagley Swamp Wesleyan Church in Hertford, NC. Many Thanks to James Spaugh!

With those updates I just want to share some pictures with you. These pictures remind me of the hope that exists everyday, even in the midst of the rain and when we can't see beyond the gray sky, this always exists -----> (I love to fly)

stories...

Over the past few weeks our journey, our story, has had unexpected twists and turns. The experiences Jeanine and I have walked through together will continue to shape our lives, probably for the rest of our years. As our hearts and lives have gone through cycles of brokenness and healing, we've been reminded that pain is a universal experience. There's not one person immune from feeling the pain of loss, disappointment, or struggle. But, neither is there anyone who cannot receive healing.

As we've heard so many life stories over the past few weeks with pain as a consistent theme, we're reminded of a choice we have to make. In our places of feeling and being broken, we can try to control our lives and drive them our own way, seeking out what we think is a better way (definitely our natural inclination). Or, from our places of brokenness we can discover ourselves as part of a larger story, one where pain is exchanged for gladness, and sadness for joy. Each of us has a story that matters: it's the one of where we've come from. At this point, now, each of us gets to decide how the rest of our story will go. Fighting and struggling to make our own way, or loosening our grip to something, to someone beyond ourselves.

We choose the bigger story, the one bigger than us, the one with hope and mystery, the one whose founder is Love himself. It's the story that brought a random group of people around a common table last night to journey together for the next 15 weeks. It's the story of Jesus - God, showing His grace is available to every person, extending the invitation to be a part of the greatest love story on the planet. That's the story, check it out.

think inside the box...

Through this season we're partnering with our local IFC Community Kitchen to help provide food for the people in our town who need it most. Check it out:



This video is free for the taking...send it out to everyone you know and come subscribe at www.youtube.com/lovechapelhill If you would like more information check out www.lovechapelhill.com and www.ifcweb.org

oh yeah and check out Matt's blog - something about free hot chocolate at UNC?

Give some LOVE this Christmas Season!

Direction of Hope

On this All Saints Day I can't help but consider the hope that has pierced the hearts of men and women through the ages. The hope is that which has changed lives by bringing freedom to captives, a voice to voiceless people, sight to blind eyes, and second chances to death bound wanderers. The hearts of men and women filled with this hope have been given over to something much greater, much higher than themselves.

The past few weeks I've attended political rallies, heard endorsement speeches, enjoyed a politically motivated concert, and talked politics with people, one on one...through each of these things I've found the word "hope" to be associated with a particular campaign and a particular agenda (if you don't know which one I'm referring to, please stay under your rock for a few more days :). Obviously, people put their hope in many different things, but over the past few months, for some people, the sight or hearing of the word "hope" immediately brings to mind a presidential candidate and the coming election. While I could have a field day here discussing the genius of branding and marketing, I fear that "hope" as a word has lost a bit of its power.

While hope for political change is not at all a bad thing, seeing it as an ultimate goal is significantly missing the mark of where hope best impacts and changes lives. Hope, when it is found in the enemy-loving, self-giving, self-sacrificing, person of Jesus, can not only impact a life for eternity, it can bring about real life-altering change, today. It is that hope that is the hope of the Saints which we celebrate today...the Saints who have decided to give their lives to the good news of Jesus. In the coming week I hope we will consider where we put our hope. Is hope changing lives...literally? ...mine? ...yours?