Category Archives: Decisions For Christ

Kingdom-Minded

13 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by in Church, Church Leadership, Church Planting, Decisions For Christ, purpose driven

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What does it mean to be Kindom-minded? Simply stated: We are all on the same team! The goal is to help people find and follow Jesus. And it’s going to take more workers to harvest the billions of people out there who have not experienced a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Our Philosophy in helping staff plant a NEW church.

… the more the merrier! Last month, I visited our Skyline Church Kansas location. It was great to see the work that God is doing there. And while we love our Skyline Church Kansas location, we know it takes many different kinds of churches to reach many different kinds of people. That’s why we have helped others plant different kinds of churches. All of these churches teach the relevance of scripture like Skyline, but each approaches how they do it in slightly different ways. For example, we’ve sent out three church planters and a campus pastor in the last three years.

We’ve come alongside Pastor David Ordaz with One Church, who specializes in bilingual, Spanish and English services. We also sent Pastor Weston Stutz to launch Captivate Church, who focuses on doing life together in a community. More recently, we’ve helped Pastor Scotty James plant The Village Church, who is rooted in simplicity and scripture. Others, like Pastor Jason Sneddon in Kansas, relocated from Skyline Church Lakeside to build the same kind of church … Skyline Church Kansas. Whether people leave the current body to build a new church or the same church, we continue to expand the Kingdom of God!

Am I really Kingdom-minded?

Over time, I’ve seen certain churches with an unsaid (or said) philosophy that says “Keep ‘em and if they want to leave guilt ’em, coerce ’em, or threaten ’em if you have to, but they better not leave!”  This philosophy just doesn’t work. Everyone says they’re “kingdom-minded” … until … they’re tested… And we’re ALL going to be tested in that! Because God is never concerned with building our kingdom. His focus is on building the Kingdom. If we try to compete with His Kingdom building we’re going to lose every time.

If someone is called by God to plant a church, they’re called BY GOD! You might as well support that person because they’re going to go if God is the one telling them to go. We have to remember that it’s all about GOD’S work, not our work. When you let people go to do God’s will, THAT says you are Kingdom-minded. I truly believe that at the end of the day we get Kingdom credit, not Skyline Church credit. I’ve learned that when you have your hands open, God can get a lot more to you than when your hands are closed.

Church Planting Is Brutal

We need to be asking ourselves, “How are we advancing the Kingdom of God?” I want to see people experience the freedom of Christ. THAT is my passion! And the reality is, Church planting is brutal. I’ve been there! You are LITERALLY face-to-face with Satan because he does NOT want new churches being planted. 

By deciding to plant a church, you enter a strategic war. Your heart has to be in the right place. Your process also has to be right. I’ve seen hundreds of church plants die. And, I’ve also seen hundreds of churches succeed! That’s why I lay out a church planting formula for those who feel called to navigate those difficult waters. It fires me up and I’m ready to jump in with you. Still … some people want to do their own thing, and that’s okay. But when someone wants to plant a church, there are some key strategies that can help a new church have the best chance to succeed. I love helping people do that! 

Why Are You Planting A Church?

When I hear someone say they think God wants them to plant a church, my goal is to help that person figure out EXACTLY what God is leading them to do. With that being said, one of the first things I ask a potential church planter is … “Why?” The reason I ask this is because their answer says a lot about God’s calling and their motivation.

The number one reason that you plant a church is to reach new people. Your primary motivation should not be because it’s a beautiful area or because you can pull people from another big church nearby. Your mindset should always be to seek and save the lost. That means we need many different kinds of churches (all grounded in the Word of God) to reach many different kinds of people.

Lastly, I want to know from the church planter what God has specifically been putting on their heart. I want to help them get to the bottom of their motivation. Some may think that they can do it better than their current church. While that may be true, it’s never good to plant something with an attitude of strife and division. If you’re not called to plant the church, you won’t last in planting the church. You want to plant a church with good intentions, a good heart, and a Kingdom-mindset. It’s not about building your own little kingdom or wanting to speak more or be the guy upfront or call the shots or anything other than having a heart for lost people. I like to get to the bottom of the church planter’s motivation to give them their best chance at making a difference for the Kingdom. 

The More The Merrier!

We recognize there are many different ways to do church and that ultimately, we are called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not a building. At Skyline, we have a very specific way we believe church should be done because we’re intentionally zoned in on our purpose statement. It’s not how every church does it, but we believe in giving you practical ways to apply the Bible on Sunday so you can use it SEVEN days a week. We’re going give you something on Sunday you can use on Monday. We believe that growing people change, you can’t do life alone, saved people serve people, you can’t out-give God, and found people find people! We believe that being Kingdom-minded means helping people plant churches in order to expand the kingdom. The bottom line is this … we serve a BIG God. To be Kingdom-minded, you have to wholeheartedly believe … the more the merrier!

Team Colors

02 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by in Baptism, Baseball, Decisions For Christ

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God’s game is back! Did you know baseball is God’s game? The Bible DOES start in Genesis by saying, “In the BIG-INNING!”
Get it?
Beginning… Big-INNING.
In the … you get it.

Anyway, I’m so excited to kick off another amazing season of baseball! We’re a just a couple weeks away from Spring Training, if they don’t push it back a month like they are talking about doing. And I want to know … what team colors are you wearing this year?

Whenever we join a team or become a fan, we put on their team uniform and colors. 
The same goes for when we decide to follow Christ! When we’ve made a decision to follow Jesus, we put on a NEW uniform. If we join the Padres, we wear brown and gold (The best uniforms in the league if you ask me). We don’t join the Padres and say “I want to wear Dodger blue.” No, we wear the team colors. It is our public profession that signifies that we believe in this team.

When we make a big decision like following Jesus Christ, we do something similar in putting on the team colors, the Bible calls it baptism. Christians confirm they are on “Team Jesus” by participating in baptism. It is the Christian’s public profession that they are on Team Jesus.

It’s important to note that you don’t have to be baptized in order to attend a church service, read the Bible, or learn about Christianity. But … if you come to a point where you’re ready to admit that you’re a sinner and need the Savior … you may be ready to take a step of faith and follow Jesus. 

If you’re new to Christianity, you may be wondering what baptism looks like. As Jesus demonstrated in the New Testament, we too are fully immersed in a body of water. By completely submerging your body in water, you’re symbolizing a burial to your old way of life. When you come out of the water, this symbolizes new or like Jesus, resurrected life.

There isn’t anything magical about the water. Many people ask if they have to be baptized in a church. The answer is no. In fact, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River! You can be baptized in a lake, the ocean, a friend’s pool … any body of water. We do this as an outward display of an inward decision to follow Christ.

Following Jesus isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. You won’t magically and instantly have it all together. Every day is a willful and conscious decision to become more and more like him. We say it all the time at Skyline Church, God does not require perfection out of your spiritual walk, but he does require progress. And sometimes that’s two steps forward and one step back. When you’re ready to make a decision to follow in HIS footsteps, we’d like to invite you to celebrate that choice through baptism.

So let me ask you again … what team colors are you wearing? All season long I’ll be wearing my Padre gear. When I wear Padre gear, I’m saying I have faith that I’m on the winning team. I’m wearing the brown and gold jersey rain or shine. Are you ready to put on a winning team jersey? I can promise you, that Jesus IS the winning team.

Jesus will beat anxiety every time.
Jesus will beat stress every time.
Jesus will beat depression every time.
Jesus will beat financial struggles every time.
Jesus will beat temptation every time.
Jesus will beat pride every time.
Jesus will beat deception every time.
Jesus will beat religion every time.
Jesus will beat diseases every time.
Jesus will beat _____fill in the blank with your specific circumstance___ EVERY TIME!

Soon, we’re going to see our Padres take the field (and for our Kansas Church baseball fans, the Kansas City Royals will be playing too!) And maybe, we’ll see you take the field for Jesus THIS weekend, February 7 at our Baptisms. Come join the over 50 people who have already signed up to be baptized on Super Bowl weekend! 

Maybe you’re on the fence and want to know what it really means to be on this team. We want to help you navigate those questions. Let us know if you have any questions about baptism!

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It

26 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Decisions For Christ, mission, Oikos, small groups

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We’ve been given a very clear mission in Scripture. Any Mission Impossible fans out there? This is your mission, should you choose to accept it…

From Acts 20:24 we read, “My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” 

Notice, it doesn’t say our aim is to “start” the mission. It doesn’t say that we should aim to “think” about the mission. Our goal is to “complete” the mission of telling people about God’s grace. When we became Christians, we were actually given a mission to accomplish. 

The most important thing in our life is to complete the task the Lord has given us. Acts 13:36 says, “David did the will of God in his own generation and then he died.” Is there anything better that can be said of someone? That they did the will of God for their time on earth? That is completing the mission! 

That’s why evangelism is part of our Core Values at Skyline Church. Our church family knows that FOUND people, FIND people. Now, evangelism is a very churchy “Christianese” word, but it doesn’t have to be weird or awkward. So, how do we do it? Well, let me share a story with you from my baseball days when I visited a church as a new Christian. 

I sat in on a service where the pastor was sharing about a time he was in New York City. He was walking past a traffic cop when the Holy Spirit prompted him to go witness to the cop. But the pastor kept walking. Well, soon he felt guilty for ignoring the Holy Spirit and so he walked back to the traffic cop. In the middle of the street, he told the cop, “Hey, I want you to know, God told me to tell you He loves you.” And he turned to walk away. But the traffic cop said, “Whoa, hold on.” After calling for backup to have someone take his place in the street, the cop joined the pastor on the side of the road to chat. Tears slowly fell under the rim of his mirrored sunglasses as he spoke to the pastor and said, “I prayed last night for the first time in a long time. I asked God that if He was real, to send someone and just let me know.” The pastor led the traffic cop to Christ right there and then! 

NOW that’s something to get excited about––what a powerful story! I got so pumped up when I heard it that I went out looking for traffic cops to witness to!

We ALL get excited about stories like that!

But how do you think the church responded to that story? I’m not against doing what God tells you to do. However, we can hear a story like that and think that’s how we’re supposed to lead people to Christ. Did you know, less than 1% of people come to Christ through a stranger. The most effective way to help people know Jesus is by being a witness. Acts 1:8 tells us that we will spread the Good News of Jesus by being a witness. God doesn’t expect you to be a salesman. God doesn’t expect you to be His attorney. He doesn’t need your defense. He does say, to be a witness. 

But what does it mean to be a witness? It simply means to share what you’ve seen or experienced. It means sharing what God has done in your life. You don’t have to be a Bible Scholar, a Christian for 20 plus years, or sinless. We say it all the time at Skyline, NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED. You can share what God has done in your life with authority and confidence because it is YOUR story. Your story matters!

Do you remember the Bible story of the man born blind? The religious leaders were distraught over his healing and accused Jesus of many things. The healed man couldn’t speak to their accusations and said, “All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” 

You don’t have to be an expert or have it all figured out! You can take the evangelistic, preachy, and condemning pressure off your shoulders and remember the moment that Jesus changed everything for you. Sharing the Good News will suddenly become easy and impossible to keep to yourself. 

THIS is your mission, should you choose to accept it … to finish telling people of what God has done for you. 

You can start by telling me! Fill out a Connection Card at SkylineChurch.org. Tell me how the grace of God through Jesus Christ has saved your life. But don’t stop there. Our aim is to finish the race and complete the task Jesus gave us. Think of who else you can share this news with today … because your story matters!

The Most Important Answer

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Christian Habits, Decisions For Christ, Holiday, Oikos

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Why is it that over 3 billion people are celebrating this week around the globe? As we turn our attention to Holy Week, the most important week in Christianity, I’m confident there are some of you reading this who may not understand the significance of Holy Week. Or, you have someone in your Oikos (relational network) who could use a link to this blog because they just don’t “get what it’s all about.”  There are also those who would say they are Christian, but they are not sure about Jesus entirely and they are apathetic about the pursuit of the full truth in Christ. 

And, there are those out there that would say they are agnostic, which is a person that believes nothing is known or can be known about God. While the agnostic or apathetic belief system may be a convenient one, it certainly will not get you the answer to the most important question. When it comes to your faith or the lack thereof: What you believe about Jesus is the most important thing in your life. It has implications for this life and the life to come.

Briefly, let me give you an overview of Holy Week. Our attention turns to this miraculous week on Palm Sunday, one week before Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:5-9) as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as predicted in Zechariah 9:9, some FIVE centuries before it actually happened: 

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
Continuing into Holy Week leads us to Thursday, traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. Jesus uses the setting of the Last Supper to be an example by washing the disciples feet before the meal. It reminds us of when Jesus said  “I have come to serve, not to be served” Mark 10:45. Maundy Thursday also signifies the remembrance of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus had with the disciples before he would be arrested later that night.  Maundy comes from the latin, mandatum meaning “Commandment” which comes from Jesus’ words on that Holy Thursday, in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.” 

Good Friday is typically a more sepulchral or subdued time where we as Christians reflect on all that Christ did for us in taking our sins on himself and suffering the punishment and death we deserved on the cross. This is a time of worship, communion, reflection and prayer in churches (online this year) and homes across the world.

Then Sunday, that life-changing, world changing day when Jesus Christ rose from the grave and proved he is who he said he is…God in the flesh, forgiver of sins, giver of hope, purpose and life.

So, why are over 3 billion people celebrating this week? They have figured out the answer to the most important question in life when it comes to Jesus Christ. 

The most important thing you have to figure out about Jesus is this … 
Is He God or is He a fraud? 
Let me give you an example: If I said, “Hi, my name’s Jeremy and I teach the Bible and it IS going to help you,” … you could probably buy that. You may even say (if I paid you enough) that, “Hey, Jeremy’s a good teacher.” But if I said, Hey my name’s Jeremy, I teach the Bible, because, by the way, “I’m God,” … you’d have a decision to make! Am I who I say I am, or am I a fraud? Because a “good teacher” in their right mind, would never say that they are God. Yet Jesus did say that. 
Colossians 1:15 claims that Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.” That’s an audacious statement! He claimed to be God many times, even in John 10:30 when he said, “I and the Father are one.“
So, Jesus, although he was a good teacher, he never claimed to be just a good teacher. He actually claimed he was God! That leaves humanity with a decision to make, is Jesus who he said he is or is he a fraud? 

If you’ve been around Christianity you’ll recall this argument. It’s the Liar, Lunatic or Lord argument, and I’ve added another “L”, Likable. It goes like this, Jesus is either a Liar … a Lunatic … or he is the Lord. For many people, they may say, “Well, I don’t think he is a Liar, or I don’t think he is a Lunatic, but I can’t say he’s the Lord.  But I would say he is likable. He taught good things, moral things, he was gentle, he helped people, yeah, he’s likable.” 

But, here’s the problem, Jesus doesn’t leave us with the option of “Likable.” Although he certainly is, he said, “I am God, and when you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” That leaves you with a decision to make.  He is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or he is the Lord of the universe that over 3 billion people are celebrating this week.  The answer to that question in your life, is the most important one you will ever give.

I want to encourage you if you’re apathetic or agnostic or even an honest atheist, to dig, do your own research on Jesus, dig into the claims of Christ. Who knows, you just might find what you’ve been looking for all along; Peace, purpose, happiness, and what over 3 billion people are celebrating this week, salvation in Jesus Christ.

If you want more information please tune in to our Live Good Friday service this Friday (April 10) at 7:00pm PST and our Easter Sunday services at 9:00am, 10:30am, 3:00pm, and 5:00pm PST, all available on http://www.skylinechurch.org.
God bless you, happy Holy Week, and keep your head up, we’re going to get through this Coronavirus together.

Jeremy

And if you’re interested in getting baptized, let me know by filling out our Connection Card. Just check Baptism in the Next Steps section and we’ll get connected!

Baptism

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in Baptism, Baseball, Decisions For Christ, Salvation

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September 2, 1997 was a big day for me and my friend Dukes Knutsen. We were both Christians  and Dukes was our local Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader in Duluth, Minnesota when I was playing Independent League baseball for the Duluth Superior Dukes of the Northern League. While we had both been Christians for years at that time, neither one of us had been baptized.

We decided to do a study of the WHY behind baptism. We realized it is not something that is salvific, in other words, it was not a prerequisite to being saved and going to Heaven. However, there was something more, it is certainly emphasized in Scripture and especially in the Great Commission. As we studied, it became apparent that baptism in Scripture was the beginning of something more. It was both a demarcater of something that had taken place, namely salvation, but it was also the beginning of something else.

Baptism is an outward sign of something that has taken place on the inside of an individual. It is a moment where we put our priority on our obedience to Jesus Christ and obeying His command to be baptized and follow Him no matter what. Whether we do this in front of the whole church or only in front the person baptizing us (Acts 8:26-40), it has the same meaning in Scripture. It is an identification of whose team we are on. It is as if we are putting on the jersey of Jesus Christ’s team. We are no longer a free-agent, we have signed with our team and made it public.

Island Lake in Duluth was our place of baptism. Although the weather outside was at a comfortable temperature, the lake felt as though it was mid-December. I believe it was in that moment of commitment in that freezing cold lake, that my future in ministry was cauterized.  It was a time where I made a decision, that no matter what was to come, I would follow Christ. No matter what difficult paths may lie ahead, I would follow Christ. No matter what my future may hold, I was, at that point confident of who held my future.

The Lord has been so good to both Dukes and I. Dukes remained in Duluth for years until heading to Florida full time and ministering to people from inmates in county prisons to Major and Minor League baseball players on the Rays and Twins among other teams.  I’ve been so thankful to be able to preach the Word and minister to people through being a local church pastor. We’ve both seen lives changed and God do special works in people’s lives. And I truly believe, God’s greatest works are still ahead in our lives, but I am not sure we would have seen all God has done, had we not committed through our decision to be baptized.

Every year on our baptism date, we send each other a note. A note to relive that moment, and to remember that decision, that commitment to follow Christ, no matter what.

What about you? Have you been baptized? I want to encourage you, think it through, process it, study it, the decision certainly is not about your future in Heaven, as that is already sealed with your decision to accept Christ as your Savior. While it does not have to do with your place in Heaven, I believe it has a lot to do with your place on Earth.