Last weekend Efrem Smith, author of The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting With the Movement Shaping Our Culture
and a pastor from … in Minneapolis MN, preached at Willow Creek and all I can say is “Wow.” He blessed us and challenged us and inspired us — fantastic sermon. He preached from 1 John 3 and, in effect, he deconstructed and then reconstructed some current ideas by making this argument:
You can’t have God’s Beloved Community until you have God’s Beloved Church, and you can’t have God’s Beloved Church until you have God’s Beloved Life …
New life in Christ is designed to create the Church and God’s Church is to be a blessing to the Community. The sermon ended on a powerfully dramatic note when Efrem talked about “love lifted me” and Bill Hybels asked him if he could sing the song. Well, Efrem said “No” but an African American woman in the front row said she could — and she sure could!
OK, truth be told, I’m not a little proud that Efrem is a Covenant pastor at Sanctuary Covenant.
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