COTM

Before the meeting, I listened to the Church on the Move sermon from Mar 4. I was hoping to find the one that Mindy and David listened too (maybe they still have it on their iTunes?). Pastor Willie George gives a brief history of the church (it's 20 yr anniversary) and explains why it has "prospered." He draws comparisons between his church and Jesus's.

Quotes and notes: "One out of every seventy people in the Tulsa metro area goes to this church." "The answer(to why we prosper): we live by a code." "God picks the weak, the less educated, etc because they naturally don't think they have all the answers; they know they can't do this alone." God cannot use the most talented, gifted, most educated because they are smug. "It's the code not the personality that makes the difference." Used story of The Sacketts by Louis L'amour (really, the movie with Tom Selleck) as illustration of how to live by a code. Points out CSN&Y's song ("only the first line, the rest of the lyrics are terrible"): "you, you out on the road, must have a code that you can live by." "We can't compromise our integrity, and there's the difference. We live by a code. And our code is different. It's a code of life. It has the power of God in it." "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." "We have people here who have built successful businesses because they built them on the Word." "A good name is better to be had than riches (Proverbs), so don't build your business on sand." He is implying that one should stay honest and not over-extended in business. Not to do "what is convenient, easy, and produces the quickest gain." "Can you think of things today that weren't acceptable 40 or 50 years ago?" Today's culture is built on sand. [Makes me think of The Channels.] "The sand, I change, but the rock changes me. That's why I live by a code." [That really makes no sense] There are five essential codes for churches and individuals, and over the next five weeks he'll tell us what that means.