State of Renovation 2024

INTRODUCTION
Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.
We are in the midst of what is a bit of 3 week interim-period from what we normally do here.
Last week I gave an important message on why we are updating the name of House Group to House Church…
…please listen to that message if you missed it!
Next weekend is Family Fun DayS, and I’ll be doing a one-time message teaching through Matthew chapter 20.
And I’ll explain this week in a second.
But I did want to tell you that in 2 weeks, we will be back into our normal style of working our way through a book or chapter of the Bible…verse by verse.
We are actually going to be teaching through the Book of Proverbs, chapters 1-9…
Which, has a ton of practical advice, and should be really cool!
This morning, I am giving a message entitled:
(State of Renovation 2024 slide)
The State of Renovation – 2024
We did our first ever “State of Renovation” message back in 2011, and have done it, not every year, but about at the pace of every other year or so since that date.
In many ways, it’s similar to when the President of the United States gives an annual “State of the Union Address…”
…which is an important speech to congress (and the nation) on where the presidents feels our country is headed, and what its weaknesses are, and what needs to change.
And if you want to get into the spirit, you can feel free to all stand up and clap every 15 seconds or so today.
If we’re going to assess ourselves as a church…and determine “The state of Renovation” then we must do so based on our mission for our church.
Here is our mission:
Our Mission:
To follow Jesus and help others do the same
And we believe we are to balance out the two parts of that statement on the screen.
And that’s hard to do!
It’s easy to become out of balance and just focus on one of those things to the detriment of the other.

FOLLOW JESUS
So I want to health check-up on these two parts of our church. How are we doing?
Let’s start with the first part: To follow Jesus.
Are we closer to Him this year than we were the year before?
In many ways, I suppose the answer to that question is different for every one of us.
But in a general sense, I hope that you all are growing closer to Jesus because of this church and the people of it.
God is doing absolutely amazing things here
And yet there are some challenges we face.
One of them is an interesting one:
You may have noticed we’re growing 😊
We have, over the last 3 years, not doubled, or tripled, but quadrupled in size…in just 36 months.
That is absolutely exponential growth…in a very, very short time period.
And while that is amazing (praise God)…it obviously creates challenges too.
And here is the first challenge I see for our church if we’re going to live out this first part of our mission statement well and follow Jesus well.
Challenge #1: Multiplying Leaders Fast Enough
Because when a church grows, it’s not as simple as just adding more people into the worship center.
As we’ve grown, we’ve also had to:
Add countless leaders for our volunteer teams, and new teams we needed to start.
In Renovation Kids alone, each individual room has a leader or two, overseeing its own whole team of volunteers.
We’ve obviously added a ton of House Churches, which requires yet another elder, and small group leaders.
Our staff has grown exponentially to support our growing church.
And a lot of this is great.
The work of the ministry gets spread out.
It makes me think of Paul’s writings in Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:11-16
Page 800
Paul is writing to the believers in Ephesus and talking about the role of the leaders of the church and the PEOPLE of the church.
This is really important.
(Ephesians 4:11-16) – NIV
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Challenge #1: Multiplying Leaders Fast Enough
So look at verse 11:
Paul says that the leaders, the apostles/prophets/evangelists/pastors & teachers are to equip the people
For what? To consume good content and get good Bible studies?
No, for works of service…to serve the body
And when we do that (when the whole body leads and serves)…we’re built up into fullness (v. 13) and maturity (v.15)
And appointing leaders is a huge part of that.
And we are figuring out ways through our House Churches, through our teams, to raise up leaders faster…and train them faster.
But there is one thing you can do in the meantime that will help serve our body of Christ here through this incredible season:
When someone asks you to lead, say yes.
Unless the Holy Spirit directly tells you to say no…say yes!
If I can be a little vulnerable here, this has actually been something that has been hard…even painful to watch this past year or so.
Our volunteer leaders, and key volunteers, and staff work themselves like crazy to try and keep up…and they are shouldering an absolutely enormous load for you all
And so one of my biggest hurts is how many people say “no” when they are asked to lead
Or when our elders go through every name on the roster… “can you be a small group leader!”
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope…but we’ll all be there!
And we’ve heard every reason for a “no” response to all of our different leadership positions.
Some people say:
“I’m still in college”
“I just recently got married
“I just had kids…toddlers in the house. Not in this season”
“I’ve got a middle schooler & a high schooler and we’re at an activity every night of the week”
“I’m finally retired, and I want to take it easy”
There is not a life stage in which service to Christ and his body will come easy.
We just covered this in Romans 12
In View of God’s Mercy…we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice (not convenient stroll)…sacrifice
And it says that is our reasonable service to God
And this sacrificial life is not just for leaders, but for volunteers as well.
Even if we’re not called to lead, we’re all called to serve.
When leaders lead, and others respond to serve when leaders ask…the body of Christ can function!
And this serving part of the equation brings me to our second unique challenge we’re facing this year:
Challenge #2: An increase of cruise ship thinking
You’ve probably heard us share one of our beloved core values before that goes like this: We’re not a cruise ship, we’re a row boat. Pick up an oar.
We want everyone here finding a place to serve God and his body.
And listen, I’ve had the unique opportunity to pastor a church of all sorts of different sizes as I’ve been the pastor of this church since it was just 2 people…my wife and I…all the way until now.
And when this church was 200 or even 300, picking up an oar to serve was a lot more intuitive.
People would come into the gym at Northpoint and you’d just instinctively think, “Wow. They set all of this up in here? These people look like they need a lot of help! They probably need me”
But as churches get bigger, that becomes less and less intuitive.
And churches look more and more like they have it together and don’t need you.
But in my experience, often the opposite is true.
Often the bigger the church, the more needs there are.
And one of the stranger experiences of my ministry has happened over this past year.
Typically, over the last 14 years, when we make a call for something…and we say, “We need 100 more volunteers to serve, or 300 volunteers for Family Fun days…”
It’s just full…in a week or two.
And in the last year or so…that hasn’t happened anymore.
We can’t fill spots…even though there are WAY more people to fill them.
And I do get that part of the challenge is that so many of you are like, “Bro, I just got here 3 weeks ago?”
Which is totally fine!! You just got here.
But for everyone else, let’s talk about this…
And again, if you’re just checking out Christianity or just back in church for the first time in years…that’s awesome (I love you!, this part isn’t for you)

But for those of you who have been here for 6 months, a year, 2 years, and you just came from another church down the road, and you like this one because it goes deeper into the Bible…
…but you have no intention of ever being in a House Church, or no intention of picking up an oar to serve…
…hear my heart this morning.
What God is doing here in this place…it’s not revival…but it’s the closest thing to it that I’ve seen with my own eyes.
We’re seeing hundreds…from our city…come to Christ! Hundreds!
It’s like, we’re a ship… out on the sea…bringing near revival to a city…
A lot of Christian got excited about it, so they got on the ship to watch…
But just watch.
And now the ship has a whole lot more people on it, but many of them never picked up an oar.
And so what will happen?
It’ll stop. And revival never comes.
God has brought His hand of blessing down on this city…but it will not stay if we don’t walk out and live out the principles of his Word.
My deepest prayer for this church is NOT:
“Lord, fill this room.”
It’s NOT: “Fill this room with people who want to come watch”
My deepest prayer is:
“God, give me men and women who will pick up their cross for you…and die to themselves…and do whatever it takes to live for your glory and your mission”.
That’s what I want.
And if you don’t want that sort of DEEP walk with God, let’s be honest, I’m just going to drive you crazy over time anyway.
And……..I do think that part of the problem is we have this misnomer for the word “DEEP” in American Christianity.
We say, “Oh, like this Renovation Church because I can go deep in my faith”
But what we mean by deep is that we learn a lot.
But that’s not how the Bible describes a deep faith.
James 1 says this:
(James 1:22-24) – NIV
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 
(State of Renovation 2024)
A deep faith is measured by obedience not knowledge.
Now, knowledge is necessary, but knowledge should merely be a precursor to obedience.
Let’s get back to the heart of this…
In View of God’s mercy, let’s offer our bodies as a living sacrifice again.
Will you do that with me?

HELP OTHERS DO THE SAME
Let’s move to the second half of the Mission Statement
Our Mission:
To follow Jesus and help others do the same
And so we don’t just want to grow in our love for and obedience to Jesus…
…the Bible says we are to help others do the same.
Some of Jesus’ last words before he ascended back into heaven are what we call the Great Commission:
(Matthew 28:19-20a) – NIV
 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
So we don’t just lead people to Christ, we teach them to obey everything He has commanded.
Our Mission:
To follow Jesus and help others do the same
That’s the heart of our church.
It’s why we follow-up with EVERY single new believer…and we disciple them 1-on-1…
…teaching them in how to read the Bible, develop a relationship with God, and to follow Him.
Part of the growth of this church is that we are seeing, not only so many people come to Christ, it’s that we are DISCIPLING them…
And in their growth and their excitement, these new disciples are bringing in people that you and I don’t even have connections with….sometimes even discipling them
This is one of our core values: We are disciples who make disciples who make disciples!
And so God has moved mightily here in our church.
So much so that it’s going to provide some unique challenges in our future.
We just did our Grand Opening, and we are already almost full in our 2nd service for example.
Side note: If you can make 3rd service, go to 3rd.
But I also want you to know that despite any challenges or obstacles that may come, we’ll keep finding ways to reach more people.
I think of a story from the 1800’s about the famous missionary Hudson Taylor…
On one of Hudson Taylor’s many travels, he was on a large ship in China when all of a sudden, he was startled by a huge splash, and someone crying out “Man Overboard!”
He ran up to the deck, and to his great dismay, his Chinese friend, Peter, had fallen overboard.
Thankfully, there were 2 fishermen nearby.
Hudson Taylor yelled out to them, “Please help. Come drag with your net over here. My friend is drowning!”
They responded, “It’s not convenient”
Taylor was shocked and yelled, “Don’t talk of convenience! Hurry or it will be too late!
They said, “We’re busy fishing”
He said, “Nevermind your fishing. He CAN’T Swim. He’s going to drown. I’ll pay you”
They said, “How much”
“I don’t know. Five dollars! Hurry!”
“Not enough. They said. We will not come for less than 30 dollars!”
“I don’t have that much money. I’ll give you all I have. Please!
Finally, they begrudgingly went over…but it was too late. His friend Peter had already drowned.
When Hudson Taylor first told that story to his listening audience back home in England in the 1800’s, a sense of rage dripped over the audience
They said, “How dare they! The selfishness and callousness of these people must be unparalleled.”
But Taylor would challenge them back, and he’d say:
“What’s more important? The body or the soul?”
He said, “We SO quickly condemn those non-believing fishermen.
We say they’re guilty of that man’s death! Because they easily could have saved him, and yet did nothing.
But what about us? What about people all around us….whose SOULS are drowning in a life that will lead to eternal death and never-ending suffering in hell
…and we SO easily could reach out and tell them….and yet we do nothing.
We just callously go to the next soccer game, work towards the next promotion, and clean our homes.
(State of Renovation 2024)
We must never take our eyes off the reality of eternity.
We can’t say…. “Meh, God’s done enough. Isn’t this enough?? Let’s just focus on the people that are here.”
Yes, let’s disciple the people we have.
Let’s do it better than ever!
But we cannot put our own preferences of size before saving our neighbors from hell.
Roughly 55,000 people just in this city aren’t in church.
That’s 4 out of 5 households
When you drive into your neighborhood today…I want you to count. I’m serious. Dead serious.
Count the houses.
4 out of every 5 houses is a family that is careening towards an eternity without Christ.
That’s why our heart at this church is UNTIL ALL HEAR.
We’re going to keep going until everybody in our city can hear the Gospel
And so many still don’t know it.
That’s why we’re doing Family Fun Days next weekend
(Family Fun Days slide with service times)
Which, we’re still in need of ___ volunteers!
We’re going to have 6 services next weekend to fit all those who are coming to hear.
2 on Saturday afternoon
And then 4 on Sunday
If you are flexible, come on Saturday.
Or Sunday at 9:00am
That helps a ton to make room.
Even Sunday at 12:45 if you can.
10:15 & 11:30 will be very busy
The way it works is everyone will come here to our church service, in which I’ll be sure to share the Gospel, and then afterwards:
kids will get a free wristband to play in a field full of inflatables across the street at Sunrise Elementary
…and every kid AND adult will each get two free food tickets to use at one of many, many food trucks we’ll have there.
And it’s SUCH a good opportunity to invite your friends, family members, co-workers, dentist, chiropractor, you name it, to come hear about Jesus.
In fact, what I want to do now…is I want to invite Kristin Boxwell to the stage.
Kristin was invited to come to Family Fun Day the last time we had it in 2022.
And I want you to hear her story.
(Kristin Testimony)
That’s why we’re doing this.
Her life, and her family’s life, and her kids’ lives and futures…have been completely transformed!
And God can do this with your friend or your family member.
We don’t know His will, but we pray the impossible around here anyway…because that’s what He tells us to do.
We’re going to hand you invite cards on the way out.
Trust God this week that He does miraculous things like this.
Hand them both out and see what He does.
Text a friend. Message somebody.
Let’s trust in the Lord.
In fact, this kind of change doesn’t happen without prayer.
(Family Fun Days Prayer Night Slide)
And so I’m going to be hosting a prayer meeting for Family Fun Days right here in 2 days, on Tuesday night from 6:30-7:30pm.
And I want you to come and pray with me over this weekend.
There is going to be childcare for 0-6 year olds.
But we’re going to bang on the doors of heaven and ask God to save our friends and family.
This is so important.
Come and pray…
We’ve got a mission to live out:
To follow Jesus and help others to the same.
Let me pray.