Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Holley Christian Church will begin a ?40 Days of Community? campaign on Feb. 19.
The campaign follows up on the ?40 Days of Purpose? campaign of 2004, which was based on the themes of best-selling book ?The Purpose-Driven Life.?
Holley Pastor Kevin Hill invites the community to join his church for this spiritual journey.
?After participating in the 40 Days of Purpose campaign in 2004, our church grew, and our people are excited,? Hill said. ?Everyone is on the same page and moving in the same direction. We have more energy and enthusiasm than we know what to do with. And the question is, ?Now what? Where do we go from here???
Some 20,000 churches in the United States and 40 other nations have participated in the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, Hill said. The campaign was launched by one of America?s largest churches, Saddleback Church, two years ago.
This spring, hundreds of those churches will take step two in what Rick Warren, author of ?The Purpose-Driven Life? and founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California, is calling a ?trilogy of campaigns? designed to move churches into implementing God?s five purposes in the world, Hill said. It ?moves people from focusing on God?s purpose in their personal lives ? ?What on earth am I here for?? – to focusing on God?s purposes in their church and community – ?What on earth are we here for??? he said.
The book used in this campaign for daily devotions is short, Hill said. Participants will read two pages each day.
?Its focus is on ?we?re better together,?? Hill said. It builds on the principles of ?The Purpose-Driven Life,? and applies them to community.
?Forty Days of Purpose, for me personally, was just, I guess, a clarification,? Hill said. ?I had thought of all these things, but he put it together.?
The message to Hill was ?I?m not going to waste my life on things that don?t matter, that aren?t eternal, that don?t last,? he said.
Locally, Hill believes Holley Christian Church is the only church participating in the program at this time, he said. He knows of one church in Keizer that is participating.
The program starts on Feb. 19 with a special message from Warren broadcast to the church.
The program includes corporate worship on Sundays, daily devotions, small-group studies and doing something for the community, Hill said.
?The campaign will water the seeds of the purposes that were planted in people?s lives through 40 Days of Purpose,? Warren said. ?It?s a necessary step for maintaining healthy, balanced, purpose-driven lives.
?The primary focus of this campaign is on fulfilling God?s five purposes together by deepening the sense of community within the church and reaching out to the community around the church.?
To reach out to the community, Holley Christian Church will host an Easter community service at 10:30 a.m. on April 19 at the Boys and Girls Club, 890 18th Ave.
?We want to offer an Easter service to those in our community who don?t have a church home in a setting they?re comfortable with,? Hill said. ?Instead of saying, ?Come to us,? we are coming to you.
?The focus is doing something for your community, gifting your community with something. We?re not expecting anything from anybody at that Easter Service.?
The church will not pass the offering bag during the service, Hill said.
?We will also be serving a free breakfast before the service and there will be an Easter Egg hunt afterward,? Hill said. ?All this will be free of charge and is a gift to our community. In addition, during the 40 Days of Community Spiritual Growth campaign, our kids will be gathering food and other items for SHEM (Sweet Home Emergency Ministries).?
When the campaign ends, following Easter Sunday, Holley Church will have a celebration on April 9.
In ?The Purpose-Driven Life,? which now has sold more than 20 million copies, Warren identifies five purposes, including worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission.
A third campaign, to be launched in the fall, will focus on God?s purposes around the world.
Warren?s church has some 20,000 members, Hill said. Like Holley Christian, he said, Warren wanted Saddleback ?to be a church for people who didn?t go to church. Here?s a guy that?s done it successfully.?
Warren gives away 90 percent of his money, Hill said. He has not purchased a new house or sports car with the success of his book. Rather, his idea was ?to start a purpose-driven church? and then help other churches become purpose-driven.
For more information about Holley Christian Church and 40 Days of Community, contact Hill or Chad at 367-6030 or email [email protected]. More information can be found on the Internet at http://www.purposedriven.com.