What happens when the Super Bowl comes to town?  No doubt, the Super Bowl makes a lot of money – well over a billion dollars annually including advertising, ticket sales, etc. –  but what about for the towns that HOST the Super Bowl?  What is the economic impact for them?  Well, according to a recent study, New Orleans (which hosted this month’s Super Bowl) made $500 million off the game.  WOW!  That is a super bowl of money!  When the big game comes to town, it makes a big impact … enough that the local merchants certainly took notice.

I was thinking about this today as I was reading Acts 19.  In this chapter, the Gospel comes to the city of Ephesus … and when the apostle Paul brings the Gospel to this city, there is a super impact.  An impact that is felt by the local merchants.  How big of an impact did the Gospel bring?  Well, the text tells us the people responded to the Gospel message by sacrificing today’s equivalence of $7.5 million in valuables! That is no Super Bowl, but it is quite the impact for a brand new movement known as “The Way.”  And when I say sacrifice, I mean DESTROYED … not that they gave these valuables to charity, but that they destroyed them a bonfire!  And not only did people sacrifice that kind of value, but they also stopped buying other things, as their affections shifted.  This created such a profound impact that a local trade guild started a riot to try to drive the Christians out of town, because the life change that was occurring among the people in response to the Gospel was threatening to drive certain trades out of business.  WOW!  What an impact!

This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church in part 8 of our “Deep + Wide” series, we will be looking at Acts 19:17-27 to see what happens when the Gospel sets up shop in the hearts of genuine Christ followers living in pagan surroundings … it has such a deep impact that the surrounding city takes notice!  How might the Gospel impact our community as it takes off?  We will talk about that this Sunday as we dive deep into the Scripture together.  Hope to see you Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 service … and bring friends!

On Sunday, February 16, 2025, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Acts 13:1-3.  This message was part 7 of the “Deep + Wide” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video from the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Acts 13:1-3
3. Have you ever been on a missions trip before?  What was the purpose of the trip and what are the strongest memories you have of the experience?
4. In 13:1 we see a list of leaders from the church in Antioch.  This is a diverse group!  Have you ever been a part of a group of people with very diverse backgrounds that came together as one?  What created the unity?  How does Jesus make this kind of unity among diverse people possible inside the church today?
5. When was the last time you prayed and fasted for the mission of Jesus in the world?  Take some time to pray specifically for the church Jesus is growing ever wider around the world.
6. Share the names of some missionaries that you know and/or pray for/support.  What is the nature of their work?  What encourages you about the ministry Jesus is working through them today?
7. In what way are you personally participating in taking the Gospel to the world?  Giving, prayer, personally going, helping send others?
8. Being For the Nations flows through the local church.  Have you considered being a part of the Deep+Wide campaign at Wildwood?  Find out more info at wildwoodchurch.org/build
9. What stands out to you most from this message?  Any particular takeaway?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

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Deep & Wide #7 2.16.25

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I am a sinful person.  My desires are not always pure and my actions not always righteous.  More often than I want to admit, the grid through which I process a situation is “what’s in it for me?”

Can anyone relate?

Because of that, I should not be surprised that in my flesh, I often think that whatever I see is for me.  Last slice of cake?  Must be mine.  Last $20 in my wallet?  Must be for MY lunch.  $50 for a birthday gift?  What do I WANT?  Our flesh puts the center of gravity in OURSELVES, putting everyone and everything around us in our orbit.

This attitude is not just present in our attitude toward things, it also even filters into the way we think about our church.  We want the best leader leading MY small group.  We want the best preacher preaching the service that I ATTEND.  We want the best worship band leading ME in worship on Sundays.  We want the coolest most amazing Youth or Children’s Pastor impacting MY KIDS.  We put ourselves at the center, and we don’t let anything get too far removed from our gravitational pull.

Because of this dynamic, we find what happens in Acts 13:1-3 quite alien.  A long time ago, in a time before ANY CHURCHES sent people out on mission trips, one church (in Antioch) released their beloved Senior Pastor and his hotshot young teaching protege out on an extended missionary journey.  They took up a collection, they released them from their Antioch specific duties, and they sent them off to lead OTHERS, to preach to THOSE WHO HAD NOT HEARD, and to lead OTHER PEOPLE’S FAMILIES to the throne of grace.  All this meant that the pulpit in Antioch and the Sunday school classes in their hallways would be led by someone else.  How amazing is this!?!?

To put this in practical terms, imagine a hypothetical situation where Wildwood gathered for worship on Sunday and had a particularly amazing time of worship and prayer … and at the end of that service, commissioned our two favorite staff pastors (whoever that might be) to take the Gospel to a foreign land, leaving Wildwood to serve in another field.  Now some of you might be excited by the change, but some of you would also be sad by this development!  What could enable a congregation to move past their personal agenda to take such missional action?

People with themselves at the center would almost never send someone they like to permanently serve someone else.  They would want to keep them around to serve THEIR needs.  However, in Christ, there is another option.

If Jesus (not us) is at the center, and His glory is at the forefront, then everything exists to honor Him.  And Jesus has said that the Gospel is to go “into all the world, making disciples of ALL NATIONS …”  So, churches in sync with the Savior do not collect ministers like stamps, but instead send them out to the ends of the earth.  Instead of relegating missionary activities to those who “can’t cut it here,” the Spirit-empowered church is open to sending its best to those who have not heard.  The task is that important!

This Sunday, February 16, 2025 at Wildwood, we will continue our study of the very first church in the book of Acts, following its continued growth toward the ends of the earth.  This week we will see how the church in Antioch launched the first missionary movement, sending their best and brightest to the world.  May we be reminded in this study that the church Jesus is building, a church that is both Deep + Wide, is a church that is FOR THE NATIONS, and is mobilizing its resources to share Christ among those who have never heard.  See you Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 service as we share communion, study Acts 13:1-3, and worship together.  See you Sunday … and bring friends!

On Sunday, February 9, 2025, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Acts 9:1-18.  This message was part 6 of the “Deep + Wide” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video from the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Acts 9:1-18
3. In past weeks we have talked about the big growth that occurred on the macro level to the church in Jerusalem.  This week we are looking at the micro story … the conversion of one man – Saul of Tarsus.  How does looking at the story of Jesus building the church from these two different perspectives give you a greater appreciation for God’s grace and love?
4. Saul was NOT on the road to awesome; he was on the road to awful!  Yet Jesus demonstrated His love for Saul in that while he was still sinning, Jesus died for him!  This is a vivid picture of salvation by God’s grace.  Do you understand your own salvation to be a product of God’s grace, or do you think of your salvation more as a story of your achievement or spiritual progress?
5. Is there anyone you have “written off” as unreachable by God that this story today might encourage you to pray for or evangelize anew? 
6. Conversion happens in a moment, but maturity happens over a lifetime.  How does reflecting on the timeline for Paul’s life encourage you about God’s commitment to maturing us, not just collecting us?
7. Want more information about the Deep + Wide Campaign or to make a financial pledge to the facility expansion?  Visit wildwoodchurch.org/build
8. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

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Deep & Wide #6 2.9.25

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Great storytellers tell tales at two levels: the macro level and the micro level.  At the macro level, the world setting of the story is arranged.  Then, at the micro level, we meet the main characters whose lives we will follow.  At the macro level, we learn the WIDTH of the story.  At the micro level, we feel its DEPTH.

Some examples?

Tony winner “Les Miserables” begins in a prison camp with no hope.  Then, we meet Jean Valjean … a man who is trying to escape this miserable life, and we yearn for hope through his eyes the rest of the musical.  Without meeting Valjean and those he protects, it would be just another history piece.  But with the connection we build with his character’s redemption, we FEEL the era.

Oscar winner “Schindler’s List” begins with the epic tale of the Holocaust during World War II and the massacre of 6 million Jews.  Then we meet Oskar Schindler, and we realize that not everyone stood idly by to watch the slaughter unfold … some did something about it.  BONUS: Director Steven Spielberg also chose to shoot the entire movie in black and white, but introduced color in two unforgettable scenes, where a young girl in a red coat is colorized amidst the grayscale, so we see her … only (heartbreakingly) to see her again later in a pile of bodies killed by the Nazi regime.  You don’t see 6 million deaths in Schindler’s List, but you see many … but hardly any as emotional as the story of that one girl whose name we never even learned, but who was highlighted for us to see.

Golden Globe winner “Lonesome Dove” begins touring the lifeless, dusty streets of a south Texas border town in the 1800s, before the camera zooms in on Augustus McCrae.  This former Texas Ranger is both salty and sweet, the perfect set of eyes through which we can process this world teetering on the brink of either despair or delight.

And we could go on and on.  Most stories have a macro and a micro level.

So far in our “Deep + Wide” study looking at the very first church in the book of Acts, we have been investigating the macro story as recounted in the book of Acts, where in the first 7 chapters we learn the story of the very first church in Jerusalem.  We have seen the church grow from 120 people to over 10,000 in just over one year’s time!  This macro level journey has helped us see the WIDTH of the story.  This Sunday, we are going to switch to the micro level, as we see the Christian beginnings of ONE of the converts to Christianity in those early days.  If the first 5 weeks of this series helped us learn the scale of the church’s growth, this week we will feel it through the conversion of one man.

If 10,000+ trusted Jesus, why is the story of just one of those converts highlighted?  It would be easy to say that the reason this one conversion is highlighted is because of the influence this one convert would have in the world – and this angle is both true and historical.  But by highlighting this one conversion story, something deeper is at play.  The Master Storyteller authored this moment in history NOT just to introduce a new character, but to reveal the heart of the Character who has been center stage all along: Jesus Christ.

In Acts 9:1-18, we get the conversion of a man named Saul (whose name changed to Paul), who would go on to plant churches in many significant cities throughout the Roman Empire AND write nearly half of the New Testament books.  Saul’s life was extremely consequential … but what is clear in Acts 9 is that in Paul’s conversion we learn WAY MORE ABOUT JESUS THAN WE DO ABOUT SAUL/PAUL!

At the macro level Jesus was building His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.  But at the micro level, Jesus’ amazing grace calls us by name, and not number.

I hope you can join us this Sunday at Wildwood Community Church for part 6 of “Deep + Wide” as we look at Acts 9:1-18, and learn more about God’s amazing grace.  See you Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 service … and brings friends!  It will be a super Sunday.

On Sunday, February 2, 2025, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Acts 6:1-7.  This message was part 5 of the “Deep + Wide” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video from the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Acts 6:1-7
3. What are some examples you have experienced in life of challenges as things that you are a part of have grown (family, work, church, etc.)?
4. In Acts 6:1-2, we see the first church in Jerusalem experience challenges as it has grown: the ball was dropped in the care for the Hellenist widows. Have you ever seen or experienced this first hand inside a growing church?  What happened?
5. The apostles were committed to their apostolic duty, but also understood that the needs were real and needed to be provided for.  Their solution was to mobilize a new set of leaders to attend to THAT task, so that the apostles could continue in their task.  Together, the 12 and the 7 could do the ministry the Lord had for them.  Have you ever seen leadership teams grow to address needs inside a growing church? 
6. How has the Lord gifted YOU for ministry?  What are ways the Lord might be preparing YOU to be the answer to some of the needs of a growing church?
7. Want more information about the Deep + Wide Campaign or to make a financial pledge to the facility expansion?  Visit wildwoodchurch.org/build
8. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

To listen to message offline, click the link:

Deep & Wide #5 2.2.25

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