Kirk Bowman's blog

Christmas at the Movies - promo from Rock Church on Vimeo.


Had a great weekend going down to Atlanta to minister at Tim & Andrea Skinner’s church – Church In Motion. Tim & Andrea used to be part of our leadership team at The Rock and are still a part of our family. They have been going about 6 months and are doing a fantastic job starting up a brand new church. Great worship. Great team. And about to upgrade into a semi-permanent facility. It was a blast to see them and be in their church.

This weekend we are starting our new series “Christmas at The Movies” Our whole team is so excited about this series. Lots of work and creative has gone into this series.

Every Sunday we are pulling life lessons out of the Christmas classics. This Sunday – “Elf”! Lots of fun stuff added to every Sunday, as well. And .. we’re going to show the movie we cover on Sunday morning in it’s entirety on Sunday evening at 6:00. Complete with popcorn and refreshments.

This will be a great series to invite your friends and family to.

We’re not going to participate in any recession.

That’s what I keep telling my church every week.

We’re going to keep growing and giving and sowing and blessing others.

God’s word and God’s economy is still the same – not matter what season our US economy is in. No shrinking back with fear or hoarding our resources.

I realize we cannot stick our head in the sand concerning our economy but I still believe God’s word and promise and principles prevail over all. This too, shall pass but God’s word lives on forever.

Someone is growing and prospering and blessing others in this season. Might as well be us.

Every year for the past few years, our church has blessed kids and families that would not be able to have Christmas without our help. This year, we are at it again. I am so proud of our church. We are nearing 300 kids being sponsored in our “Christmas For Kids” program this year.

Let me encourage you to rise up and let faith and not fear make your decisions about life.

This past year I have attended a handful of conferences in an attempt to scan the landscape of what’s going on in the church. And in an attempt to explore new “God connects” for Suzette and me and our church.

Several conferences, several different tribes. Some have been tribes I totally identify with, some just tribes I was interested in observing.

I have walked away from all this with at least two major observations:

1. The church in the US is amazingly strong. I have personally met and can name off the top of my head dozens and dozens of leaders and churches that are totally getting it done. Strong, life giving, city shaking, God glorifying churches. Growing, reaching people, making a difference.

I know a lot of people like to point the finger at the flaws of the church but make no mistake there are a lot of really great churches. And that is just in the tribes I have seen.

2. There is no one way to do church right. There are so many different styles, approaches and flavors that God is blessing.

The variety of church style that is working is quite amazing.

It does confirm for me that you just have to be the unique you that God created and He will bless.

We can learn from others but no need to copy. God blesses our uniqueness.

Had the chance to see Coldplay - one of my favorites - this week. They were incredible! My second time to see them. They are definitely getting better in concert. Awesome fun.

A few pics: