What a great weekend

Sunday was amazing!  I was honored to share a role in a huge part of every Christ-follower’s life.   I baptized 21 people during the Sunday am service and man, was it fun!  Our Urban Ministries pastor, Jory Hire, shared a great message and everyone seemed to be…. Well… feeling good.  That’s one of the reasons that I love Living To Go Church.  It just seems like everyone is happy to be there and no matter what is going on in our lives, good or bad,  they seem to genuinely be glad to see you.  I want to encourage those of you that follow this blog and haven’t been out to hang out with us to come grab a cup of coffee with us.  It’s a great place to be and an even better place to find the community that we all long for.

This Sunday my father, “The Happy Pastor” Paul Baggett,  will be sharing and you can count on some extra excitement in the house when dad is there.  I’m sure that he has some more stories that will remind of us why he was tagged by Robert Duvall in “The Apostle”  .  I’ll see ya this Sunday

What is Church?

This Sunday we continue with our discussion about stripped down Christianity with the question “What is church?”. America’s “church” culture is so caught up in mega this and meta that… postmodernism vs. modern….. We find ourselves in place where there seems to almost be an identity crisis that truly threatens the gift that God gave to us through His church. Actually I think that is exactly what the problem is…. We act like the church is ours but really it is God’s church. In Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Sometimes I think that we trust out own abilities and ideas instead of relying on the Spirit of God to guide us as His church. The gates of Hell will not prevail over HIS church not OUR church. I think that is a lesson that I’ve learned over the last year…. Living To Go Church is HIS church and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it…..

So back to this week-end: What does His church look like? What does it not look like? The answer may be much different from what we normally see in “Christian” America…. Can’t wait to see you this Sunday morning..

What is a Christian?

We kick off a new conversation this week at Living To Go. Our goal is to try to peel back some of the layers of "tradition" and get to the real issue of basic Christianity and real church. Sometimes I think that we get so caught up in "doing church" that we lose sight of our main purpose as follower's of Christ. Most of us will never sit down and have a real conversation with someone about why we believe what we believe. My goal is that over the next 3 weeks is that people start talking about their faith. That we stop being afraid of asking questions and realize that it's OK to not have all the answers. Last time I checked I wasn't omnipotent and you probably aren't either so let's leave the Omnipotent God thing to... well..... God! :)

This week we open the discussion about what a real Christian is.... over 75% of Americans consider themselves "Christians". Obviously, by looking around our nation, something isn't playing out right if we are that predominantly "Christian". So what's the problem? Where is the miscommunication between God and us? My guess is it's on our end :)

Letter to the Church

I wanted to share the letter that I sent out this week to our family at LTG.

"There is no better way to start this letter than to praise the one who has
blessed us so greatly. I hope this letter finds you all in health and that
your families are doing great. As dad and I began talking about where we
are as a church and where we are going, we immediately agreed that this is a
church built for and that exists to promote a renewal in the hearts of God's
people. A place where the sick are healed, the bound are set free and the
lost are gloriously saved. Everything else is a by-product of the glory of
God in the House!

As we all know we have been praying for a fresh move of God to explode in
our church and for those of you that have been out for whatever reasons for
the last little bit I am excited to let you know that the revival we've
sought after has arrived. I and my father have both felt the release of a
fresh anointing at Living To Go. This is the moment that we've prayed for
in over 5 years of intercession. This is the time for us to rally together
and rejoice as people lives are radically changed by the presence of God.

Maybe you are someone that has felt like you were at the end of your rope or
feeling so discouraged by your circumstances that giving up seemed the only
logical thing to do. My word to you today is that the yoke breaking
anointing is here and available to you. Isaiah 10:27 says "And it shall
come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed
because of the anointing."

Let this be a battle cry and a call to all of you who have believed and
prayed for this season of revival. It is time to jump into the river of God
that is beginning to flow. We need you and we can't wait to see you this
week-end. On Sunday November 4th Dad will speak a fresh anointing to anyone
who comes seeking. Bring your lost friends, your sick relatives and anyone
who is depressed or discouraged. We believe that God is going to heal them
and that you will experience a revival in your own heart as well."