Newchurchlive.tv: Pastor Chuck Blair

Life on life’s terms holds small bits of heaven. Likewise, life on life’s terms holds bits of challenge as well, challenge that can at least feel like (or hurt like) hell. Through all that, can we trust the flow of our lives, trusting that a good God is gently, patiently, lovingly leading us to a good place? That means, of course, that we must grow comfortable with movement and change, trusting that we are moving forward.

With a smile, we can safely guarantee that those who believe a connection with God will save them from all the challenges of life, are headed for disappointment. Life – religious or not – is filled with opportunities to stumble. But we can learn to transform those challenges into parts of our story that while hard, also in some subtle way, create life anew. Meeting life on life’s terms means our hearts break. And our hearts break open.

We will all experience at least a taste of heaven on earth. Those “tastes” will be different but the deeper experience of that soul-level joy, remarkably the same. Life on life’s terms obviously must hold the challenging parts. Thankfully, it holds many beautiful parts as well.  Join us as we examine, together, at what C.S. Lewis called “the secret thread.”

“To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.” -The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People How do we make sure the uplifting spiritual truths we learn make their way consistently and directly into our lives? This service, by Curtis Childs, combines timeless moral principles with modern habit-forming techniques to help us become the people we aspire to be.

God writes of gifts. And these gifts are gifts of transmission, gifts both passed on and passed through us. Our task is how we hold them.

Grace and Mercy – two beautiful words. While they may conjure up images of church-gone-by, they are every bit as important to rediscover for our lives today.

“All creation groans” is a well-known quote. It points to the idea that there are two types of time – chronological time and pregnant time. Join us as we look at what might be getting born into our lives!

We are often tempted to place the problems of life “out there” versus starting with the challenges “in here.” Yet there is great beauty when we both see and share the at times humorous imperfections of what it means to be truly human.

How do we place ourselves in a new story? That is the core invitation of Christianity. The plot will surprise you! To understand how that "new story" might work, we are thrilled to have Brian Henderson join Pastor Chuck. Brian will share with us his journey from being told he would never walk again, to the small triumphs that led him back to the life he shares with friends and family today.

What would it look like in our daily lives to declare independence in our hearts, minds, and spirits? Did Jesus lay out a surprising declaration of independence in the Sermon on the Mount?

God’s work is around opening doors, not closing them. Let's take a look together into the open doors God places before us, and the beauty we can step into.

A Tribute to a Big Heart August 22, 1986 - Mat 23, 2021

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Paul West of West Memorials. Paul and his wife Missy work closely with families moving through the loss of a loved one. The lessons there are myriad about love and about living fully, right here, right now.

As we celebrate the birthday of our denomination, join us as we look at one of the keys around which we are organized ... that first things must always be recognizably first. This service will help demonstrate some of the priorities needed to stay peaceful and happy.

Balancing It All: A Look Back And A Look Forward - Part 2 There is a world filled with light and dark, both inside and outside of us. How do we come to balance it all at a granular level? How can we hold it all? Join us as we look at a new, fresh view of a faith that can do just that!

6/6/21 Balancing It All Part 1: A Look Back And A Look Forward Join us both online and in-person as we pull everyone together for this special service.  We want to reflect on this past season of COVID, and all the experiences we were forced as a global community to navigate – the blessed and the broken.  God’s singular vison is forever one of unwavering love, a love that seeks to open the eyes of our heart, as we move forward, as a congregation, through and with life’s challenges.

5/30/21 Is pursuit of the good life about going backward or forward? Jesus tells us that we have to become like a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven, and this Sunday join Curtis Childs as we are going to look at how we can combine a state of childlike innocence with the wisdom of a full life lived.

5/23/21 The Gospel of John begins with an almost annoying repetition of the word “grace.” Part of the good life is undeniably filled with grace-full moments. When God arrives in our lives, no matter how broken we are, apparently so does grace.

5/16/21 There are many paths to “the best life,” and only one that ultimately becomes ours. Along the way we have to balance the demands of that individual pursuit with our connections to our families, communities, churches and the world. The path becomes clearer if we can learn to listen for “the sound of the genuine” in ourselves and others, which we all have the capacity to recognize from God.

5/9/21 It should bring a knowing smile to recognize that we can make ourselves miserable any time, any place.  Much of that unhappiness grows when we fail to differentiate between living A good life, as God defines it, and living THE good life, as culture defines it. When we focus on attaining THE good life, experience shows that we may never be satisfied because the rules change over time, along with our perspective. Usually we can find more contentment in the long run by just doing the right thing.