Holy Ground

Through the years, numerous people have asked why we use the “sanctuary” for so many different activities. We’ve used it for Vacation Bible School, banquets, graduations, movies, parties, and numerous other events. Why? Because it’s a great room!

In the Old Testament, the sanctuary (i.e., Temple, holy place, etc.) was the place where God resided, where his people went to meet him (Psalm 122:1).

In the New Testament, the sanctuary (i.e., Church) is defined as the people of God, individually and corporately. The New Testament tells us that God does not live in temples built by human hands (Acts 17:24), but that individuals who come to Jesus are joined with other believers and become a “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). How is this possible?

The separation caused by the fall meant that man could not come back into the presence of God without death. This was why an angel was placed at the gate of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword (Gen. 3:24). This separation was seen even further in the Old Testament with the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system. Priests could only enter into God’s presence by the blood of a lamb (Heb. 9:22). The point: to enter into the presence of God required death; there was no other way.

Yet when Jesus, the perfect lamb (1 Pet. 1:18-19), died for our sins—the separation between God and man was done away with. Why? Because only the blood of one who was perfect could free us from our sins and make it possible for us to enter into God’s presence (Rev. 1:5, Heb. 9:11-28). What’s the result? The result is that we don’t go to a place to be with God anymore; he resides in people individually and corporately.

How does this affect how we do life? It means ordinary things become ways we can live our lives before God. Whether it’s eating or drinking (1 Cor. 10:31) or whatever we do—God wants to be able to accept our lives as an act of worship (Romans 12:1-2). This frees us to use whatever means necessary to reach people and develop relationships with humanity (1 Cor. 9:22).

The beauty of it all is that God has always been using ordinary things like idols (Dan. 2), stars (Matt. 2:7), and culture (Acts 17:16-32) to communicate with humanity. If God is like this wherever He is; we are like this wherever we are. The result: life is restored, and things once used for the glory of man become used for the glory of God (even Superbowl parties).

So why use our worship center for so many things? Because it’s a great place to bring glory to Jesus.

Andy McDonald, Jeff Cinquemani & David Achata

Branding Church by Jeff Cinquemani

I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the Hula Hoop craze that broke out in 1958, as I was just being born, but you can bet I was around to see most of the other crazes that hit us Baby Boomers between the 60’s and 70’s. It was an age of hard-hitting advertising and youth marketing that the world had never seen before. We watched Adidas, Calvin Klein and Izod take relatively cheap and inexpensive apparel and turn it into ultra high-priced, pretentious fashion statements. We saw companies like Winnebago, Harley Davidson, Ski Nautique, and Tupperwear not just make products, but form literal communities of loyalty and establish clubs formed solely for the reason of being with others who also loved that same product.

I think it was this kind of marketing exposure that gave me the idea to attempt my own “craze”: The AC Bike Company. It was pure genius. My friend Paul had bike part connections, and I had friends who loved biking. It was the perfect marriage. We would both build the bikes and then, because of our low overhead, sell them to all our friends at a margin that everyone would be happy about. As I shared the idea with my friends, I could tell by the look in their eyes that this idea had potential. Already I could see the anticipation of our new product line growing. By the next day my girlfriend at the time already had orders for five caps, fourteen t-shirts, and one pin, all with our “AC” logo. Could it get any better, I thought?

When I walked into his garage, the site where the proposed bike production would take place, I could tell Paul was less than excited. “What’s the problem?” I asked. “I don’t like it,” he shot back. “I don’t like the fact that we have people wanting to wear hats, and t-shirts and silly little pins but have no intension of ever even sitting on a quality AC bike.” My girlfriend was prepared for my “Purist” Partner. She began to eloquently explain the value of product branding and marketing. She tried to help him see that this strategy would pay off in the end as more and more people became familiar with the AC logo, but with each point Paul became increasingly hardened. Finally in frustration, she blurted, “Do you think that John Deere wants everyone who buys their little toy tractors, or caps, or ties to be a farmer? Of course not! They don’t care; they just want to make money, and they found out that their name makes money.”

That was all it took. Paul stated that he was out, and my dreams of being part owner of a huge bike company were over. Paul was not interested in selling a name or creating an image. He could care less about trinkets and flare. He wanted to build bikes for people who wanted the best, and anyone who would settle for less – in his mind – should not be part of that elite.

Now being a pastor, I see people like my friend Paul all over. I enjoy the conversations we have – some from a perspective of being a church member, and others from looking in from an “outsider’s” viewpoint. I think it’s important to wrestle with these issues, and though the church is not a company, we still must seriously consider the questions. “How far do we go to ‘popularize’ the church?” “Is there a point where our broad acceptance of others compromises our mission as a church?” “Does our brand loyalty to a particular church help or hurt us in the Kingdom of God?”

On one hand, I learned a lesson in image versus substance. On the other hand, Paul built one bike from this whole deal. It was a very good bike, but no one else has one.

Jeff Cinquemani

Sabbath Blog Gone Off Track by Jeff Cinquemani

Whenever I am scheduled to preach, my thoughts during the week preceding the sermon are heightened, to say the least, towards anything that might pertain to the topic being covered. This last weekend, I gave the last sermon in our Sabbath series with a talk entitled “How Fun Can Holy Be?” I think that is why I got caught up in an internet blog focused on the Sabbath. I’m really not sure why, but while I was “Googling” I hit one of the links, and it put me smack-dab in the middle of this Sabbath blog string. So I just began reading the entries. Some were just comments, some were responses to the comments, and some were accusations criticizing others for their opinions either way.

As I kept reading down, page after page, seeing how the conversations almost took on a life of their own, I started to wonder: What question or comment started all of this? Being the “gaming” guy that I am (my wife says I can make a game out of anything), I decided to try and guess what the original post was by looking at the evidence before me. I read them all, from the first entry all the way to the most recent blog. I came up with what I thought were the top three possibilities: 1. What activities do you think God condones on the Sabbath, and what is true reverence? 2. Is there scriptural evidence that the Sabbath was God’s day for us to enjoy and have fun? 3. How “far” can couples “go” on the Sabbath?

As confident as I was about my guesses, I couldn’t have been more wrong. After all the reading, I finally couldn’t wait any longer. I had to see the “results” to my little game. The original blog entry was apparently from a new believer that wrote into a Sabbath Keepers Blog. It read as follows: “I am so very excited about my new found love affair with Christ and the day he’s set aside for me and him to be enjoy our “date”.

I couldn’t help myself. I had to read many of them all over again. How could it have gone so far off track so quickly? I had to respond. I wanted someone to say, “I’m so glad for you!” But unfortunately, I was not a member of the blogsite so it never got posted.

I decided to go ahead and write my sermon, but this week I may join that blogsite!

Jeff Cinquemani

Growing Up by Jeff Cinquemani

The last few months for me have been painful to say the least. However, though the physical pain is centered in my back with a herniated disc, the real pain is in my "psyche". To now have to "sit on the sidelines," so to speak, while others are actively involved in sports or recreations is just not me. And, though my wife may not entirely believe me, it truly does pain me to have her lifting the water jugs while I stand and watch.

It’s well over a year now since I've turned 50, and during that time I had one of my physician friends tell me that I now will have to exercise twice as hard just to maintain my current stamina and strength. He said that everyday cells are deteriorating faster than they are building, and if that wasn't bad enough, I also found out that – with 50 – there comes a slower recovery time after exhaustion, a quicker fatigue time during exertion, and of course, a longer time to heal after any kind of set-back.

Talk about depressing! Well, I thought I would do a little investigating on my own, and sure enough, it really is depressing. Statistics show that, the closer you get to the "50 mark", the higher the rate of depression among both men and women. Now it was obvious that I was not the only one who researched this statistic. Everywhere I looked on the Internet were companies all targeting their ads at me with products, procedures, and programs all promising me a better, newer, healthier "me".

Wow! How engrossing this could get. I mean with enough money and a little help from my friends, I could actually turn back time – well at least make it look like it for a while.

And that is where I stopped. I thought, Wait a minute. If 50 is the proverbial mark that someone has finally grown up, then maybe I should. Maybe there's a really good thing about turning 50. Maybe that is where I stop worrying about me "growing up" and start focusing on something else for a change. What if I turned my attention from my adventure to someone else's? What if I thought first about someone else's prosperity and preservation instead of my own? And what if I looked first at how my experience could help others instead of making it my excuse for entitlement.

I told my wife a while ago, “Look, if all I talk about when I get old is my "regularity", my medications, and my ailments, then just shoot me.” Well, she hasn't bought a gun yet, but you can bet I'm still gonna get this back taken care of before she signs up for target practice.

Jeff Cinquemani

Where do YOUR Friends Live? by Jeff Cinquemani

Call me old fashioned (which is a phrase I'm using more and more these days), but the use of blogs doesn't seem to be something I've gotten excited about yet. Even when it comes to finding information, I still want to hear a voice with the comment. Better yet, I would rather discuss face to face.

I was recently waiting at the Geek counter at Best Buy for a warranty job when a young girl came up to have her laptop looked at. When she placed it on the counter, I read the sticker that she had placed on it. It read, "Don't take my computer - all my friends live in here". As I thought about that, and yes, I know it's just a sticker, but do we really want to know those who we blog with? Are they really our friends, or are we content to call them "friends" as long as they stay in our computer?

Now don't get me wrong. I know blogging is not a new thing, and if the technology would have been there, it’s just possible we would be reading the 1st and 2nd blogs to the Corinthians or Luther's 95 blogs. Today there is no doubt that blogging serves a great purpose, but I wonder if it, like all mediums, can be a double-edged sword. On one hand we have the privilege of sharing our thoughts and feelings instantly with hundreds of people, while on the other hand I fear it may be a bit of a mask for some, keeping us from truly connecting.

Like I said, I may be old fashioned, but I do want to make sure my friends have more of a life than the belly of my computer.

Jeff Cinquemani