Pastoral Posts | Church On Purpose

Heaven, the Citizen’s Final Frontier……Or Is It?

13MarAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

One of the most heartfelt worship songs of the 21^st century is I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. If you haven’t listened to it, you should. It’s a wonderful song! Here is the first verse and the chorus.

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk, by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When you face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by You glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

As I was listening to the song, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “You don’t have to postpone this experience to Heaven. You can have this on Earth right now.” Wow! Can we really? If so, then why do we sing so many songs declaring how we can’t wait to get to Heaven? Why do we delay experiences meant for Earth?

The short and sweet is that many of us have traded the promise of the Kingdom for the empty hopes of religion. God’s intent has always been to establish His heavenly influence on Earth among and through a citizenry of people who manifest and spread His culture. If you’ve been following along with us for even just a short amount of time, you have heard this message several times. Check out our archived messages on our website, Facebook page, or YouTube channel for more on the subject.

Religion is man’s attempt at reclaiming the Kingdom. It is our best shot at understanding and fulfilling God’s intent. Unfortunately, anything we try to do in our own strength and wisdom falls short of God’s marvelous standard and intent. The hope of going to Heaven to live and stay is one of these things.

Jesus makes it quite clear during His ministry that He came to bring Heaven to Earth and not the other way around. “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). From the outset of His ministry, Jesus was laser-focused on restoring the Kingdom back to man, not taking man to the Kingdom. Yes, we will go there one day on an excursion, but make no mistake it’s not our final frontier.

We spend so much time praying to leave Earth and not enough time praying for God’s Kingdom to impact it. “Pray then like this: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matt.6:9-10). That doesn’t sound anything like some of the prayers you’ve probably heard. It’s a prayer for impact, not isolation. It’s a request for God’s government to come, not to take us to the government.

If that wasn’t enough, in John 17:15, we hear Jesus having a conversation with His Father, saying, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” That seals the deal! If Jesus didn’t pray for us to leave, but to stay, then what should our prayer and focus be? It should be on impacting the world with Heaven’s culture while we are here.

Don’t worry, your “hope in glory” isn’t going anywhere. You will go to Heaven someday, put on your white robe, walk the streets of gold, and worship around the throne. However, if that consumes our attention, then how can we fulfill the assignment we’ve been given here on Earth?

Imagine if our churches were all laser-focused like Jesus was on impacting the world with Heaven. Imagine if we were so in tune with the Holy Spirit that we knew exactly what to do to make it happen. What would our churches look like? How would we structure our ministries? How would we see our role in the world today? I’ll tell you!

Our churches would be blossoming with Heaven’s culture. There would be no lying, no stealing, no bickering, and no gossiping. There would be no adultery, fornication, or sexual immorality of any kind. Children would obey their parents. Husbands would love their wives. Wives would submit to their husbands. There would be no divorce and no incest. The moral standard would be high, our vision would be clear and the witness we set for the world would be so weird to outsiders, they would come just to see how all of this is even possible.

Sound crazy, far-fetched, or out of this world? It’s because it is, according to the world’s way of operating anyway. Church On Purpose is determined to be this kind of church. It’s why teach and preach so heavily on the importance of manifesting culture. My prayer, and I hope after reading this your prayer, is that God will renew our understanding and vision for what the church is supposed to be. When this begins to take place, we won’t be singing about how we imagine what Heaven will be like, but about how real Heaven has become on Earth.

Grace and Peace,

Professor Q

The Most Valuable Question You’ll Ever Ask

20FebAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

⁷“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)

Some years ago, I began my journey with an amazing network marketing company. Now, regardless of what your opinion is about network marketing, it is a great industry that helps a lot of people but of course has its bad eggs and bad moments. Kind of like your family. Haha. The good, however, certainly outweighs the bad. But anyway, back to my post.

Up until this time in my life, most of my decisions and governing philosophy for life were based on WHAT I was doing or WHAT needed to be done, and HOW I was going to get it done. This consistently left me with mixed results and outcomes that rarely met my expectations so that even in my mid-twenties I was beginning to feel like I was spinning my wheels chasing an ever-elusive state of fulfillment.

Then I went to my first Saturday training with a company that I believed in and had vision for. There on that Saturday morning I was introduced to the life-changing concept of WHY, and I realized sitting in that seat that for most of my life I had be asking the wrong questions. Like a lot of people, I would ask “Who am I?” instead of “WHY am I?”. I would ask, “Where should I go?” instead of “WHY should I leave?”. The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say that the power of that WHY question began a transformation in my life that DIRECTLY influenced where I am today.

As an outgrowth of that moment I began asking the WHY question about everything in my life. It helped me begin to understand my motives, my habits, my behaviors, my patterns of living, why I went through the cycles of life I was going through and why I was getting the results from my efforts that I was getting. When I began asking WHY, I started to realize that I was more responsible for the condition of my life than I had liked to think up until that point. It was always easier to find someone or something else to blame for my condition in life, until I started asking WHY. When I did, I realized that no matter the external circumstances, there was always SOME role I played in the equation. And the exciting part was realizing that since I’m a part of the equation that produces the results, then if I change, if I get better, then things around me would get better.

And they did.

But not overnight. It’s been, and will continue to be, and life-long journey toward understanding the WHYs in my life. But I wouldn’t change this sense of awareness of purpose for anything. And that ladies and gentlemen is the foundational premise for Church On Purpose. One of our primary goals for the culture of the church is to be able to create a community where it’s ok to ask WHY.

My prayer for you, is that with all the questions that you have in life, that today you will just start asking WHY. Why am I here? Why did that happen? Why am I the way I am? Why do I struggle with the things I struggle with? Why do I care so much? Why do I care so little? Why am I so mean? Why am I still at this job? Why am I afraid? Why am I worried? Why do I deserve to be respected and loved? Just begin to ask WHY.

When you do so, with a sincere and open heart, our Heavenly Father will begin to answer you, and help you begin to understand yourself and your place in His plan. Now it is important to understand, that just like in all of your other interactions, there will be some answers that you don’t necessarily like. Asking why you struggle with relationships may very well take you back to a place in your life, long forgotten, that He needs to heal for you to move forward. But appreciate the fact that any hurts or pains He uncovers, He is more than able to heal. And your life on the other side of that brokenness, is the life that you’ve been dreaming of.

Start today with one WHY, and allow that to take you down the rabbit hole of WHYs. And over time, watch how the fruit of your life begins to line up with the desires of your heart. Because like I learned at that network marketing Saturday training all those years ago, when the WHY is clear, the HOW is irrelevant.

Live each day, but especially today, on purpose!

Coach J

Moving Day…

11AugAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

Monday, August 10, 2015 will forever be a LIFE moment.

A “LIFE moment” is an event that you remember vividly for the rest of your days. Today was a LIFE moment. Today was moving day.

A little less than a year ago, I journeyed to Omaha, Nebraska for the first time in my life. Today, I packed up my family and left my home, my friends, my church family, everything familiar to me. I left my comfort zone in search of God. I already know Jesus, have a relationship with the Father because of him, and dialogue with Holy Spirit regularly (how do you think we ended up in Omaha?? lol) But one thing that has been clear to me since making the commitment to obedience over comfort, is that God has been waiting for me BEYOND my comfort zone.

My comfort zone was that place where I knew all the short cuts to get from point “A” to point “B”. It’s that place where I could drive most of my usual places on autopilot. It was a place where I had an established reputation that did most of the heavy lifting for me.

What I didn’t realize is that my comfort zone had become my CRIPPLING ZONE. The familiarity, the routine, the established customs and habits were leading me down the path to mediocrity because my life was on autopilot. Until God pushed me out of my comfort zone.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY out of my comfort zone.

When the call to plant Church On Purpose in Omaha, Nebraska became clear to me, one of the things that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was that I was going to get to see more of God than I ever had.

And I have!

Obedience to a plan that hasn’t always made sense to me has opened the door for God to do miraculous things. This last year has been a constant reminder of how God works and how He desires to work through Church On Purpose and the Body of Christ as a whole. Over the last year, there has not been a single week that has gone by where God didn’t make himself known, and EVERY time he did it, it was through one of his children.

This last 12 months has exposed so many of the people around me as genuine, loving, humble, Holy Spirit-led believers as God has moved through them to bless my family with love, encouragement, support, prayer, and resources for the work. The outpouring of love and support has been God’s tangible demonstration to us that we are on the right track, and that He is faithful to provide for the call.

We haven’t always had more than enough. As a matter of fact, there have been a number of times where it seemed like we didn’t have enough. The testimony of being able to pay every bill on time isn’t our testimony. Our testimony is that when it got cut off, we found out whether it was a necessity, and the necessities always got cut back on. But those things that weren’t necessities found themselves being cut OUT. Our testimony is one of education and equipping. We have had many difficult, but much needed lessons over the last year.

And it has been a looooooooooong 12 months. It’s crazy to think back and realize that nearly EVERYTHING has changed. What’s weird about all of this though, is that I’m actually more “comfortable” in all of the newness than I was in all of the familiar.

Even in the familiarity of the familiar, there was always an uneasiness inside of me poking and prodding me toward MORE.

But there’s a wonderful thing that happens inside of you, in your heart and your mind when you actually TRUST God. I don’t mean just say it, but I mean ACTUALLY TRUST HIM. In the face of challenging, confusing, and even ridiculous circumstances, He still provides His peace. Through all of the good byes and moments of reflection, He still provides His peace. The Bible puts it perfectly because it truly is a peace that passes all understanding. It isn’t logical. It rarely makes sense. But it’s real.

I don’t know how it works. I don’t how long it lasts. But I DO know, that the same peace I’ve experienced in these last 12 months, is available to you too. It’s waiting for you in your obedience to His call. And in case you were wondering, yes God is still calling people from the land of their father and mother to a land they never knew, to be salt and light, and to experience the limitless power of our God, that we can only access beyond the borders of our comfort zone.

God changed my borders from Norfolk to Omaha, but YOU have to find out what lines you need to cross. Maybe your borders will expand to the neighbor next door, or maybe even the next cubicle over. That’s between you and Him. But one thing is for certain, there’s a reason his final charge to us all started with the word “GO”.

Is this moving day for you too? It CAN be.

Where is He calling you? His peace is waiting in your obedience.

Remember, everything is created with purpose but only you have your vision.

~ Coach J

Vacancy Needing To Be Filled…

01JunAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

This past Sunday in worship, I was called upon to pray and I felt the urgency to pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill the lives and hearts of those in the congregation. The prayer started with thanksgiving and then quickly escalated to a passionate plea for preparation for the Holy Spirit and a desperate cry for Him to come. “God remove anything from within us that is not like you. Then fill us with your Holy Spirit continually,” were the words that leapt from my heart to my tongue and into the microphone. When the prayer had concluded, I found my eyes wet with tears, my breathing heavy, and feeling inflamed with a longing for more of the Spirit of God.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8, ESV

More than anything else that this world needs is Spirit-filled followers of Christ Jesus. With so many issues facing our communities, 1000s of churches closing their doors each year, and even so many despondent Christians who feel stuck in limbo when it comes to a true relationship with God, now is as good a time as any for an invitation of the Holy Spirit into our lives! There is a vacancy that needs to be filled.

The Holy Spirit is the power and the life that inflames us with passion, strength, and courage. He is the one who stirs up the gift of God within us. He is the force that couples our gift with passion to live on purpose. It is He who teaches us, leads us, and guides us on how we can live purposeful lives that glorify God, build us up, and serves others. He is WHO we need to be all that God is created to be!

Going into uncharted territory, Church on Purpose is in desperate need for a continual filling with God’s Spirit. We need Him for guidance. We need Him for direction. We need Him for peace. We need Him for boldness. We need Him for faith. We need Him for strength. We need Him for wisdom. Pray we are continually filled with the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to those in Omaha. They need us to be!

My prayer for you is that you would be continually filled with the Holy Spirit, knowing and experiencing the power, truth and love that comes through fellowship with Him.

Grace and Peace,

Prof. Q

A Select Few…

18MayAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

Matthew 22:14 ESV

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Upon his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the religous leaders sought to corner him and Jesus, in is classic style, spoke to them in parables. At the heels of a parable he gives to describe the Kingdom of Heaven, he says these words, “many are called, but few are chosen.” This was not only an indictment against the Pharisees, but also a proclamation of who shall enter the Kingdom. Who are the chosen? Without bogging you down with theological arguments about predestination, free will, etc., the chosen can simply be understood to be those who are the children of God by faith in Christ and marked by the Holy Spirit.

As the days press on, many have offered feedback about the journey we have embarked upon. Some encouraging and supportive, some curious and indifferent, and others doubtful. All in all, we have learned to be resolved and content regardless of people’s opinions because ultimately they don’t matter anyway. (the opinions, not the people)

When you choose to be one of the few and live your purpose, you will always get feedback from the majority. Some will encourage you, some will be indifferent, and others will be doubtful. When the feedback comes, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). When you get cornered, listen to the voice that matters, the one that is sure, the one that directs and affirms. Thank those that support you, inspire the indifferent, and ignore the doubters. Run with the select few and become all that God has called you to be! After all, life is much sweeter when it’s lived on purpose…

Grace and Peace,

Prof. Q

When nobody else sees it

08MayAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

Vision is an interesting thing.

With vision, you can change the world. Without it, the world is sure to change you.

I’ve had the idea floating around in my head of starting a church since I was in high school. As a senior, a few friends and I would gather together for Bible study, worship and fellowship each Tuesday. We called ourselves Young Christian Fellowship. It was around that time that I started thinking about the purpose of “church” and its components.

Fast forward to Christmas morning of 2011. It was around 2:30 in the morning I woke up out of my sleep, sat up in the bed, and saw three little words in my mind that would change my life: CHURCH ON PURPOSE.

That’s all I would be able to see for another 3 years until venturing to Omaha, Nebraska. It was there that those three little words would grow into a church, and a church into a mission, a mission into a calling, and a calling into a reason for existing.

All along the way I’ve constantly reminded myself of two things:

If it’s from God, let Him lead you through it
Since it’s from God, everybody won’t see it

The first one of course has been the daily inward battle. When God shows you something special, He never gives you the full picture all at once. So it can be tempting to take the little bit of that picture that you CAN see and try to color in all of the other spots with what YOU think should go there. If there’s anything this journey has taught me is that THE PICTURE LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER WHEN YOU JUST WAIT AND LET HIM FILL IT IN. I will talk more about this in a future blog about this journey with Directional Revelation.

The second nugget though, has been both the inward AND outward battle. We live in a world that will celebrate one individual for going against the grain in one way, while trying to destroy an individual that goes against the grain in another way. It can be challenging doing something out of the norm, not because you want everyone to see it and support, but because you want SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE to see it and support. The scariest parts of the journey are always when you’re walking alone.

Returning from Omaha back in August having committed to following God’s directions to plant Church On Purpose, the prevailing thought in my mind was “What if nobody sees it?”. In those times when I would begin to think about how others would respond to the vision, a song we used to sing all the time as a little boy at my home church Union Branch Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia would pop up out of nowhere. It would get stuck in my head and I would find myself humming those words for hours “I will go, if I have to go by myself”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETgh-sqJ8QI]
The comfort those words would provide was always unexpected and appreciated. Those words echo a deep seeded faith in God’s superior commitment to me as I remain committed to the vision He’s given me. As those words would minister to me, story after story from the Bible would flash in my mind of all the everyday people that God used for extraordinary things. I would not only find comfort, but I would find fuel to press forward with the confidence of having my heavenly father leading the way.

Over the last 9 months, I’ve shared the vision of Church On Purpose with countless people. Some have seen it, most have not. Some have supported it, most have not. And you know what, I’m ok with that now. What I’ve learned is to never EXPECT others to see it because God has his own plan for them and if their purpose doesn’t align with what we’re doing, then I don’t want them TRYING TO MAKE IT WORK. We will be fine doing what we were created to do, and pray they will be fine doing what God created THEM to do. Everyone wont be a part of what Church On Purpose is going to do, and God is totally awesome for that.

So to those of you that have supported along the way, THANK YOU! It means so much to know that you understand the work God is preparing us for enough to pray for us, donate to the work, and offer encouragement along the way. Actions always speak louder than words, and may God bless you abundantly for your actions of support.

To those who don’t see it, won’t see it, or can’t see it. Thank you too! Your questions have caused me to consistently evaluate and re-evaluate my position of faith along this journey and your words of doubt have deepened my resolve to pursue God even more passionately in hopes of being a testimony to you that GOD IS STILL WORKING MIRACLES, STILL CALLING PEOPLE OUT OF THE LAND OF THEIR FOREFATHERS TO PLACES HE WILL GIVE THEM, STILL GIVING VICTORY BEFORE THE BATTLE BEGINS, AND STILL USING ORDINARY EVERYDAY PEOPLE TO EXPAND THE KINGDOM!

If you’re reading this because there’s something inside of you that is calling you to more than what you’re living, then let me leave you with is:

God sees all, so who cares if nobody else sees it
God is the provider of all things, so who cares if you don’t have what you THINK you need
God is the author or your vision, so who cares if YOU don’t see every last detail
and last…
The only way to see more of God than you’ve seen, is to do something you’ve never done.

Don’t depend on what you see, or what others see. Afterall, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Remember, EVERYTHING has purpose, including you!

~Coach J

A Land I Never Knew…

04MayAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” -Hebrews 11:8 ESV

Over the past week or so, this Scripture at the forefront of my meditation. Abraham’s faith never ceases to take my breath away. Imagine growing up in your hometown and living there for over 70 years. You have several generations of family there, you made your livelihood there, everything you own and everything that you have become is tied to that place. Then one day, God comes and gives a tremendous vision that not only scares you, but excites you. Then, the punchline comes: you must leave your homeland to go a land you NEVER KNEW. He doesn’t give you the location, doesn’t even give you a road map. He just says, “Get up, grab your family and start walking in this direction. Trust me, the place I’m taking you is crucial to fulfilling that vision I just showed you.” Say whaaaaaat?!!?! Regardless of what Abraham may have felt or thought, he obediently trusted God and went.

Here I sit typing, having a similar experience. Never before had I been to, let alone ever considered moving to Omaha, Nebraska for any reason. Having lived in pretty much one place my entire life, making a move of this magnitude would be very daunting given any other circumstance. Yet in the face of all the challenges that may lie before us, I know and trust that where God is leading me is crucial to the next phase of life. Thus, when my wife and I considered Omaha, I simply said, yes. With no idea on where we will live, what we will exactly do when we get out there, I still was assured (and still am) confident that even though we will be moving to a land we never knew to take on the charge God has laid before us, everything will work out.

I’ve learned that faith simply is trust in God with or without a plan…

~Professor Q