Inside Out has Wrapped Up

I was there for What a Ride (the 15th), Life by Life (the 20th), Chapter 2 (the 25th) but none of those compare to the 30th anniversary celebration, Inside Out. The United Center wouldn't even have fit this party! 30 days of neighborhood service to celebrate 30 years of Willow Creek Community Church. Four major serving blitzes (for each of the four areas around the South Barrington campus) with 347 additional local serving projects.

Last week was Elgin's blitz and we found out today how it went -

• 700 Elgin area families participated
• 310 bags of groceries were donated
• 690 care packages for incarcerated youth were donated

I think everyone has loved this experience and I bet we're going to see a lot more of these things in the future.

So let's go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is - not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This "insider world" is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let's take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus' name. Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship - a different kind of "sacrifice" - that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

-Hebrews 13:13-16 (The Message)