Mike McClenahan

View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com . Community Serve Day was a great Sunday of worship... worship by offering ourselves in service (Romans 12:1). How do you measure the day? By numbers: somewhere between 1300 and 1400 preschoolers, children, students, adults served in 80 locations all over San Diego County. By the stories: there are so many to tell. Those whose imaginations created the site as a place where the love of God could be tangibly demonstrated; the site leaders who prayed for workers, even till the last minute and saw people come together in new ways; the participants who "bought in" to the idea that we'd have no worship services in the sanctuary, only opportunities to serve; the organizations, people, families who welcomed us into their world; the bypassers who saw green shirts and asked questions.  I started out on our church campus hosting Steve Luke from KNSD. He worked with us two years ago on our first CSD. I love the opportunity to tell ou...

Each week in worship we bless our children.   First through sixth graders sit with parents or a trusted adult for the first 25 minutes of worship, then are dismissed with a pastoral blessing. We raise a hand or place a hand of blessing on "our" children as a way of physically extending ourselves to them.  Last Sunday we baptized an infant. The couple professed their own faith in Jesus and committed themselves to raise their daughter in an environment where she might one day profess her own faith in Jesus. The congregation likewise committed ourselves to  come alongside the parents and the child. I've said before, "'Their' children become 'our' children." We want to be a place where children see their parents and other adults worship God, serve the world, meet together and love each other. We want them to have an experience of the church in organized and organic ways. Our hope is that one generation would "commend the works of God to th...