Initial connection with ARC

My connection with ARC goes back to 2006. On Launch Sunday of our church, which used to be called Hilversum International Christian Center, I ended up having lunch with David Koerts, a pastor friend from Holland, and Billy Hornsby, who at that time was the President of ARC.

Fast forward to 2009. We were close to hitting one of the most difficult times in the life of our then 3 year old church. Half a year before the big clash came, I was supposed to be in the New Jersey area in the US. I was hoping to connect with some pastors there, but somehow I felt I wasn’t getting the right kind of connections.

Pastor Greg Surratt

And then Mark Batterson, whom I met the year before at a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, suggested I’d contact Greg Surratt. Greg Surratt is the Lead Pastor of Seacoast Church, a multisite church of 13 locations and 13,000 in attendance in Charleston, South Carolina. So I did and Pastor Greg invited me to fly down to Charleston and spend a day with him.

I had no clue what to expect. In the mind of a Dutch pastor of a church of maybe 200-250 at that time, American megachurch pastors have castles, at least one Bentley or Rolls-Royce, have lots of bling and are arrogant. The opposite was true. To my big surprise Pastor Greg picked my up himself from the Charleston airport. That was a big myth buster for me!

So we went and had dinner, I stayed at his home and spent hours and hours discussing ministry and social media. I really enjoyed my time with Pastor Greg, his son Jason, who serves as the missions pastor of Seacoast Church, and the rest of the staff.

That was the start of a life-giving relationship that made a huge difference for me and for the church I pastor. In fact, if it wouldn’t have been for that relationship and the connections with other pastors that flowed out of that initial relationship, I would probably have been another statistic. I would have been another church planter who gives up in the first 3 years after the launch of his church.

What makes ARC successful?

I don’t know how much you have heard about ARC and the success they have had the last 13 years with planting churches in the US. I am not sure if you have ever attended the All Access Conference, ARC’s annual conference. It’s all impressive, especially when you’re trying to serve God in a dry and weary land like Europe.

But the success of ARC is not the 300+ churches they started. It’s not the 90% or more survivability rate. It’s not the inspiring worship and preaching at the All Access Conference. These things are all great, but they’re only the topping of the iceberg of their real success: strong, healthy and life-giving relationships.

ARC Lead Team coming to Holland and Ireland!

I am sold out to the ARC. I am all in. That’s why I am so excited that some of the ARC Lead Team, Greg Surratt (who is now the President after Billy Hornsby’s death in 2011), Matt Fry and Peter Haas, are all coming to Holland on June 6 for an All Access Exchange (yes, you’re invited too!). They will also be in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 4 (yes, I’ll be there too!).

There is a lot we can learn from these guys, even though their context might be totally different than ours (probably not as much as you thought, though). But not only that, when you come you have the opportunity to build a relationship with them and with other pastors who have the same heart as I have: to see Europe changed for Jesus!

Let me just leave you with two inspiring videos. The first one has many testimonies of pastors who have been blessed by being a part of ARC. You might recognize me between Chris Hodges and Craig Groeschel . In the second video Billy Hornsby and Greg Surratt tell the story of ARC. Pay attention to Billy’s LSU cap… ARC really is the Lousiana Mafia.

In Pastor Greg’s words: “Let’s change the world together!”

Before answering those questions, it is important to get a handle on what “life-giving” really means. Some people we meet are life-sucking… you really don’t want to be around them too much because they’re just plain negative and will pull you into a negative spiral. Other people are life-giving. They’re fun to be around and they’re always on a mission to encourage you.

I believe that’s what every Christian needs to be like: we all need to be life-giving. And the churches we are part of need to be life-giving churches. And that’s only possible on a consistent basis if we tap into the source of life, Jesus Christ. Jesus said that he came to give us life, life more abundantly (John 10:10). And that’s the life people need to be able to see in us and in our churches.

So how do we build a life-giving church? In preparing last Sunday’s message I stumbled upon a great passage in Romans 12, verses 4 through 21, that nails it down pretty well. Here are the key points:

1) We Build the House by Using Our Gifts

Romans 12:4-8 identifies the first aspect of building a life-giving church:

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.

If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

So the first thing we need to understand if we want to build a life-giving church is that we build the house together. Together we’re one body and each of us is a part. A house needs to be built first before you can throw an open house. So that’s why God has given each and everyone of us gifts to build his house.

And those gifts can seem truly spiritual, supernatural, such as prophecy. But notice that most of the gifts are pretty down-to-earth: serving (anyone can do that), teaching, encouraging, leading, showing kindness, etc. Apparently those “natural” gifts are as supernatural and important as prophecy is!

And even “giving” is listed as a gift that God uses to build his church… and I don’t think Paul meant tithes and offerings here. I think he meant people who have the supernatural ability to make lots of money because they have a great job or a successful business, but maybe lack the time to volunteer. So God calls them to help grow the church with their finances, way beyond their tithes.

So build the house with whatever gifts God has given you!

2) We Build the House by Living and Acting in a Life-Giving Way

But there is a second important aspect in building a life-giving church, which can be found in verses 9-13:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

We need to live and act in a life-giving way towards other Christians. If we want to see the lives changed of people outside of church, we first need to make sure we set our own house in order. We need a life-giving culture. And all of us need to work towards building that culture.

So what does a life-giving culture look like? It is characterized by:

• Love: “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.”
• A culture of honor: “take delight in honoring each other.”
• Energy: “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”
• Spiritual expectancy: “Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying”
• Generosity: “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.”
• Hospitality: “Always be eager to practice hospitality.”

Those things are the perfect benchmark for the DNA of any church that wants to be life-giving, and they first need to be practiced among Christians. Why? In order for us to show love to the unchurched and the lost, we first need to learn to live out life-giving values among ourselves. If we don’t, the love we may have for the unchurched will seem fake. They may think we have ulterior motives: “They’re only nice to us because they want to win our souls!”

So in order for us to be effective as a church in reaching out to the lost, we need to do our homework and love one another! And that is not only a feeling we have in our hearts… it’s also the language we use towards one another. Language communicates culture… and even beyond that: language builds culture!

When you attend a service at Thousand Hills or any other church that calls itself life-giving, you need to be able to experience that love. You need to be able to experience that culture of honor. You need to be able to experience that energy. You need to be able to sense a spiritual expectancy. You need to be able experience generosity and hospitality.

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.” May we live and act in ways that are life-giving to one another!

3) We Build the House by Extending Love to the Lost

So Paul talks about all those values in the context of the local church, between believers. But then he goes on and talks about those same life-giving values in relation to people who don’t belong to the church, to outsiders. Check out Romans 12:14-21:

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them…. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God… Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

So here’s the third component of building a life-giving church: we build the house by not keeping the love to ourselves, but by extending it to the lost, to people who are far from God.

God wants us to live out a lifestyle of love, generosity, honor and hospitality among people who don’t deserve it, who have hurt us, who may not want to have anything to do with God and with the church.

I can guarantee you: it will work. When this is the way you treat your enemy, his or her heart will soften and open up to the love that God has poured out in your heart. It may take long… but that’s the patience and persistence we need to have when we say we are generous people.

What if we all did that?

What if we all did that? What if we all turned our second cheek if someone slapped the first? What if we all blessed the people who are against us, instead of cursing them? Could it be that when we would do that the love that we experience amongst ourselves will overflow into the world outside of the church?

Wouldn’t that make a huge difference? Wouldn’t that not only make the church attractive, but also lower the barriers for people to encounter Christ and find the salvation, restoration or healing that they need?

If we get these three things right – using our gifts, living according to life-giving values other and extending love to the lost – we will throw the biggest open house party we have ever thrown, and not only as a one-time thing, but as continual event. Lives will be changed week in, week out, for eternity!

Will you partner with us as we continue to build a life-giving church?

Want to watch the full story? Check out the video below. If you’re looking for the audio, sign up for Thousand Hills’ podcast here. The message is called “Open House.”

The Exchange will help you grow as a leader as you continue to make an impact on your local community. There is absolutely no charge to attend, plus lunch is on us! Registration is required, though, so that we’re well prepared for you coming!

At this All Access Exchange on June 6 in Hilversum, the Netherlands, ARC Lead Team Pastors Greg Surratt, Peter Haas and Matt Fry will be telling their stories as well as myself.

Greg is the president of the Association of Related Churches (ARC) and the Senior Pastor of Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Peter pastors Substance Church in Minnesota and Matt pastors C3 Church in North Carolina. I am the Lead Pastor Thousand Hills in Hilversum and I have been a long term friend of ARC.

So what’s ARC? In president Greg Surratt’s words: “We are an association of relational churches working with church planters, church leaders, and churches in transition to provide support, guidance and resources to launch and grow life-giving churches.”

– Click here to register for the All Access Exchange –

Here’s a promo video for the Exchanges ARC is doing in the US. The one in Holland will be similar.

We organized the dinner because we wanted express how much we appreciate the time, effort and finances our volunteers invest in building Thousand Hills International Church. I am thankful for so many great people who are making a difference and leaving your mark.

Only because of their involvement we have been able to reach so many people and have seen our church grow from the handful of people when we started in 2006 to the 400+ people that now attend our services weekly. Our volunteers are real rock stars!

During the dinner I took the opportunity to share some important things with them that are happening in the life of our church. If you are a volunteer at Thousand Hills but you couldn’t make it, this one is for you.

Help us recruit more workers

We need you to be on the look out for people who are attending weekly, but are not yet serving. Invite them into your team, mentor them, help them grow! Show them how much satisfaction you are getting from serving the Lord in this particular area of ministry. It’s a lot of fun too (hopefully!).

This church won’t continue to grow because all of us will work even harder than we already do, but because we will work smarter! We need to keep looking out for people who will help us bear the load.

Did you know that calls from stage for volunteers are usually quite ineffective? The most powerful way to find new people to step in when volunteers recruit new volunteers.

Missions team from US coming to help renovate in April

We’re now REALLY the owners of the Zuiderkerk thanks to so many amazing people who have given sacrificially. Now the real work begins! Let’s make this house a home!

From April 7-13 we have an American team visiting that will help us renovate the stage area. They are taking off time, funding their own trip and are even helping us finance a big chunk of the total cost of the renovation of the inside of the sanctuary.

At the end of April our sanctuary will look totally different because of their effort… and because of your involvement! You can help them! Wouldn’t it be great if you could join the team on evenings, weekends or during the week. Yes, you may need to take one or two days off!

Heart for the House offering

We realize many of you have already given sacrificially towards the whole building project. But in order to continue with the improvements with our building, we will need to raise at least an additional 50,000 euro in 2013. We will do that through the 2013 edition of our annual Heart for the House campaign.

The main purposes of raising that extra cash are: 1) renovations and 2) decreasing the debt load. Last year we raised 116,000 euro, so 50,000 shouldn’t be a difficult amount to raise. Would you mind praying with us that the Lord would stir up generosity in the hearts of all our members?

A pretty cool thing is that we will give a tithe (tenth part) of the whole Heart for the House offering to missions.

Easter is around the corner

Even though we said earlier that this year we will have water baptisms again during our Easter services, we have decided to postpone our baptism service to May. Why? The US team that will be coming in April will build in a baptismal tank into the stage, so we would love to use this tank for the next baptism service.

But we’re still expecting many people! So: we’ll have three services, two in the morning (regular service times: 9:30 Dutch and 11:15 English) and one on Sunday evening (19:30) specifically aimed at youth & young adults. Our youth band MORE will play. The sermon will be in English, but will be translated to Dutch.

Will you pray with us for many unchurched visitors to these services and will you make an effort to invite them? Promotional material will be available soon.

Special guest Amy Stephens Fields on Good Friday

Good Friday is going to look a bit different this year. We have a special guest worship leader and Bible teacher with us: Amy Stephens Fields. She will lead worship that evening, as well as share a short devotional about Christ’s crucifixion.

Because we would like all of us to enjoy her music and message, we want to encourage you to come in before 19:30 so you won’t miss anything. When she wraps up her message, we will open up the tables where you can celebrate communion with our pastors, elders and other leaders as in years before. And besides communion there will be other ways to respond to God. It’s going to be a GREAT night of worship, prayer and reflection!

I really believe 2013 is going to be our best year yet!

Here they are:

1. What are we sensing? Where is God taking us the next season?
2. What is working well?
3. What is taking our power pill? What is draining our energy?
4. What do we need to stop?
5. What do we need to change?
6. What are our biggest barriers?
7. What direction do we need to take?

The result of asking these questions in relation to our ministry at Thousand Hills is that we identified three key focus areas for 2013. You can find them in this blog post.

Kent shared a short message based on Proverbs 16:3: “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” He challenged us to roll back our ball to God as a way to commit our actions and plans to him. He also challenged us to all to be “all in” with Thousand Hills’ dream for 2013.

So what is that dream for 2013? Basically it consists of three parts that will determine what activities the church will start or strengthen. But even more, these three parts of the dream are also things each individual who considers themselves to be a member of Thousand Hills can work toward.

So, here they are. Our dream is…

• that each person will develop a hunger and passion for God as they experience who they are as sons and daughters, deeply loved by God the Father;
• that each person will experience true communitas (=cause-created community or community with a purpose)
• that each person will multiply their faith in the lives of others, both unchurched people around them and others who attend Thousand Hills.

So, all of us can take practical steps to experience more of the Father’s heart, to live in true communitas and to multiply life in other people. Those practical steps you can find in the flyer that is available in church or that can be downloaded here.

If you would like to see my “dream” talk and Kent’s inspiring message, be sure to watch the video here! Definitely worthwhile if you couldn’t make it on January 6, 2013, or if you want to see it again:

When you’re there on Sunday, you’ll discover that Kent is a passionate preacher and is madly in love with Jesus and the local church. That’s why I selected him to be one of Thousand Hills’ overseers, next to men like Greg Surratt and Terry Hoggard and a couple of others.

I met Kent about five years ago for the first time after a mutual friend introduced us to each other. Since that time, Kent preached a couple of times in Thousand Hills, both for the adults and for the youth. Here is a video and MP3 of a sermon of Kent in 2010.

We also meet each other each year at the All Access conferentie of the Association of Related Churches. And multiple times I spoke for him at MCA Church. It is always amazing to experience the warmth of this church in cold Alaska!

Will you be there this Sunday? He’s speaking in our Dutch service at 9:30 and our English service at 11:15.

Many of you already are celebrating the holidays… but this is my last one before a vacation with the family. In fact, this is quite a busy day for myself, our staff and many of our volunteers as we’re gearing things up for tonight’s Christmas Eve services.

I am looking forward to seeing you tonight – if you’re in town – for our 18:00 o’clock service in Dutch (less then two hours to go!) or our 19:30 o’clock service in English. This year they are earlier than the years before so that you can even come when you have small children. Our worship team has prepared some beautiful Christmas carols with a contemporary twist, the kids will sing Holy Night and I will be speaking what Holy Night tells us about God and about ourselves.

I am believing for many changed lives as people open their hearts to the God of the universe who loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son so that we may have life! I am reminded of the words of John the Apostle, who wrote this:

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)

May we always be thankful to God that he took the initiative to make peace with us, because we would have never been in a position to make peace with him. Jesus didn’t remain a cute little baby in a manger; he grew into a man, 100% man and 100% God, who would lay his life down for us, for our peace, for our forgiveness, because God loved us so much! He didn’t owe us anything, but still he did!

It is my prayer that as you spend Christmas with family or friends, that you will experience God’s peace and proactively live out his peace in potentially tense situations (we all know how people can get us on our nerves and the other way around ).

What does the new year have in store for you?

Also, it is my prayer that you will be refreshed spiritually over the Christmas season so that you will be ready for what I believe will be a big year for our church, probably the biggest year we have had so far. So what does the new year have in store for you?

January 6 – guest speaker Pastor Kent Redfearn

We’ll hit the ground running on Sunday January 6 with guest speaker Pastor Kent Redfearn from MCA Church in Anchorage, Alaska. He will speak in both services and during that same service I will give you some insights on what will be our key priorities as a church in 2013.

January 13 – start of Awakening

And then the three weeks after, starting January 13, we’ll be joining thousands of churches around the world in a 21 day fasting & prayer campaign called Awakening, preparing our hearts for the great things God will do in us and through us.

Our Sunday messages will be focused on prayer as we explore what the Lord’s Prayer means to us today. If you’re wondering if fasting and prayer is something for you, check out this video to inspire you:

Well… I am looking forward to seeing you tonight or otherwise in the New Year! Enjoy your holidays!

In the mean time, we wrapped up a message series called “Restore”, which I thought was amazing. It helped cast vision for how God wants us as believers to get involved in his plan of bringing restoration to a broken world. And that goes way beyond only saving souls!

If you want to check out the videos or listen to the MP3s of the sermons, you can find them here in English or in Dutch. My last sermon was called The Local Church, Hope of the World? I hope you would take the time to watch it, because it really nails down what I feel the church can be like in “post-Christian” Europe!

But there is another thing I wanted you to see… and that is that we set up a YouTube playlist with the core list of songs we’re singing during our services at Thousand Hills on Sunday mornings. Check it out here and enjoy:

A few weeks ago I kicked off the series with a message on what that restored world would look like. Then the week after my friend Jamie Corcoran, pastor in Navan, Ireland, talked about the cause of redemption and the context of change. He shared some very cool stories from his own life and from his church.

The week after that I talked about what our relationship as Christians should be with the culture outside the church and how we should engage that culture instead of hiding in our own Christian bubble. The fourth message was preached by Kathy Harris and she talked about how we can move from always being offended when stuff in society happens that may not correspond with our Christian values.

And then last Sunday I talked about what our attitude should be in our work places. Some of us hate our jobs… yet the Apostle Paul challenges us to give the companies we work for our best! Below is the video of that sermon. If you want to check out the earlier messages, click the links above. And yeah, there will be two more messages waiting for you.