Mercyview Launch in Pictures

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: baptism, church planting, communion, Gospel, Jesus, kingdom of God, mercyview, preaching, resurrection, sabbath, sacraments, sacred space, urban, worship
• Date: Apr 26,2011

It has been 11 months since my family moved to the urban core of Tulsa, Oklahoma to plant Mercyview. Within our first few months here, God graciously brought a humble band of urban missionaries around the mission and vision of Mercyview. Since that time, we have sought to plant the Gospel deeply in our lives, praying that out of this, God would graciously plant His church in the center city of Tulsa. And I’m humbled to say that He has!

But what is the church? Is it an institution? It is a building? Is it a worship service? Well, when I say God has planted His church here, I mean that He has planted His people in a particular time and place to cultivate the knowledge of the rule of His Kingship. George Ladd says, “…there can be no objection to the recognition that the church is the organ of the Kingdom as it works in the world.” God is building His church, His redemptive Kingdom agents on mission, here in the urban core of Tulsa and we are stoked!

The church began with the deep belief that Gospel transformation typically happens best in smaller groupings of people. We have experienced this firsthand in our time here with our missional community. Our missional communities are inter-generational, small groups that meet weekly in homes, sharing meals, prayer, the Scripture, and our lives with another, as well as participating in missional endeavors.

At the turn of the new year, I felt that God was moving us to provide another environment for individuals to experience the Gospel, community, and mission at Mercyview through a gathered worship experience.

We began to talk about this as a community and I was blown away at how God was already moving in the hearts of those that were a part of this to move in that direction. We made plans to launch a worship gathering on Easter Sunday, knowing that God was going to have to provide a space, sound equipment, kid’s items, etc. We stepped out in faith and asked the Lord to meet us at the point of our need.

Well, this past week, we celebrated the launch of Mercyview’s first worship gathering on Easter Sunday!

God graciously provided a space that seats around 125 people, has rooms for children’s ministry, an abundance of parking (which is a precious commodity in Midtown Tulsa), and room to grow at Tulsa Adventist Academy, in the neighborhood just to the east of the University of Tulsa called Turner Park. We had churches, organizations, and individuals donate special financial gifts, sound equipment, kid’s items, and Bibles to help us with our launch. And I am so proud of our team – they did an amazing job in pulling this together in a short amount of time!

Now, we haven’t arrived. The goal has never been to launch a worship gathering. Our goal will always be to find our identity in Jesus and to live in the freedom that His grace and mercy bought for us. This will happen in our gathering. But it will also happen in our scattering. It will happen in the neighborhoods we live in, the businesses we work in, and the places we play. God willing, He will continue to build a people who will make Him famous in Tulsa and beyond.

Here are some pictures from our special day:

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worship is enacting the gospel

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: baptism, church, communion, Gospel, hymns, liturgy, New Testament, planning, preaching, sacraments, sacred space, worship
• Date: Aug 19,2009

In prepping for the class I teach each fall here at MBU called Worship History and Leadership, I’m reminded of why I love where we begin: a theology of worship. And what is at the core of that worship theology? I believe it is this:

“Worship is a dramatic enactment of the relationship that we have with God, a relationship that stems from historical events. Enactment may be done by means of recitation (creeds, hymns, and preaching) and drama (ritual) (that) have their basis in the Old Testament and New Testament, particularly in the Passover and Eucharist. In worship, we enact or act out the Gospel.”

-Robert Webber

For more on this, read Chapters 6-8 of Webber’s Worship Old and New. Also, an excellent theology of worship can be found from D.A. Carson in Chapter 1 of the book he edited, Worship By the Book, entitled “Worship Under the Word.” Portions of Carson’s chapter are available here at Google books.

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margo’s baptism in pictures

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: baptism, Christianity, family, fatherhood, New Testament, sacraments
• Date: Jun 23,2009

I had the awesome privilege to baptize my daughter Margo this past Sunday @ Versailles Christian Church in Versailles, MO – the church my wife grew up in. Praise God!

Here are some pics from the baptism:

And as a part of this beautiful sacrament, we all prayed this together to thank God for his work in our lives…

Prayer of Thanksgiving

In the beginning, O God, your Spirit moved over the water, and you created all that is, seen and unseen.
We give you thanks for the gift of water that sustains all life.

In the time of Noah, you destroyed evil in the water of the flood; and by your saving ark, you gave a new beginning.
We give you thanks for new beginnings.

You led Israel through the sea, out of slavery into the freedom of the promised land.
We give you thanks for the gift of freedom and the gift of the land.

In the water of the Jordan our Lord was baptized by John and anointed by your Spirit; by the baptism of his death and resurrection, Christ set us free from sin and death and opened the way to eternal life.
We give you thanks for our own baptism and the gift of eternal life.

The Lamb has come to lead us to springs of living water.
We give you thanks for the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

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