The Local Church

It was good to be back in Berkeley, as this past Friday, Homegroup 2 met at Klesis House again, thanks to the hospitality of the residents. Instead of the usual Bible study however, we had the opportunity to watch a sermon from Willow Creek Church's own pastor, Bill Hybels. Serving in Chicago, Hybels is well-known for his dedication to building up the local church, the topic for the sermon we watched. Struck by his professor while at Trinity College, Hybels has devoted his entire life to building up the body of Christ, as represented in today's society in the local church.

Each of us were struck in different ways from the message, such as the challenge from Hybels' professor to "lay down our careers and life plans" or the traumatic story of a violent boy striking another child at an age of 7 or 8. However, the entire message revolved around the firm truth that Hybels pleaded with each us to hold as our own: that the "local church is the hope of the world. And nothing is better than the local church when the local church is going right." These are truths that I know each of us will hold on to from this video, as we each were challenged to examine our own lives. We are free to do what we want with them, but what will our choice be?

Afterwards, we hit the bowling lanes! We were surprised by many of our group, as hidden talents emerged to dominate the scoreboards, throwing up X's and /'s like nobody's business. While others struggled to keep their shots out of the gutter, it was awesome to see the fun we were able to have, no matter the results. Regardless if someone just rolled three strikes in a row or three 0's in a row, there were plenty of high-fives and yells of joy all around.

Hope to see you next time!