When you find loose change while cleaning or in your pockets before doing the laundry, you become joyful. When you face change in life that takes you into a new direction, many people become fearful. For many Christians, change is incredibly difficult. For most of my life I attended or worked in churches that if you mentioned the word, “change,” you realized that you just committed heresy. That sounds drastic, but look at this example and think of how you or your church community would have reacted.
It was Palm Sunday 2011. Our pastor got up to speak and the people sat up straight to listen to the Word of God and his wisdom. Okay, that’s a bit much because to be honest, I wasn’t there. (For my Midwestern friends, yes, I missed church. No, I wasn’t sick. I had to finish an assignment for my credentialing program due that week, and I was teaching full-time, so time was valuable. I know. Some of you think I committed the worst sin ever. You should know what my other sins are. )
As I sat in that coffee shop, I decided that after two hours of working on my assignment, to look on social media and see what I missed at church. It was there that I read the following message from our pastor. “Hey, everyone, join us next week for Easter at our new location in Hollywood.” Yes, we were moving. We had one week’s notice. We moved a few miles away, but in Los Angeles, that can be light years away.
How did the people respond? They showed up all week and fixed up the new rental building. We were renting it for three years. Six years later, we’re still there, and the building is beautiful and becoming famous in its own right in Hollywood. So, could you move locations in one week? It was free rent for a year. We didn’t want to waste one week. There were no committee meetings. There were no arguments. There was no congregational vote. There was joyful cleaning and rebuilding. If you have to move in your life immediately, can you change and move? The benefits of this move far outweigh sitting back and staying in the same spot. Change sometimes comes quickly and unexpectedly.
Since that day, our church grew in many ways. We have a worship team that leads us into amazing worship, and went on tour with Chris Tomlin, and our team back at the church is amazing in their own right. We have more people. We have had thousands baptized in the last six years. We have more staff members. Most importantly, we have Jesus in our presence, and we are bringing His message to Hollywood. We were rescued with that year of free rent. We were blessed with our response to the move with continual spiritual and numerical growth. Jesus called and we responded. I am so thankful for my leaders who see change as positive. We are not perfect in any sense of the imagination, but we do change well.
On the very first Palm Sunday, the people honored Jesus as he entered Jerusalem with palm branches and a joyous celebration. Jesus came to change the world. That day he was entering his most powerful week. The following Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. So much change had occurred during that week with the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. Imagine if we stayed stuck on Palm Sunday and never got to the resurrection Sunday.
Think about it. That first Palm Sunday was an amazing worship experience. It was beautiful. Why would anyone want to change anything about it? What good would change bring? I am extremely grateful for the change that the rest of the week brought. That Friday brought a huge change, and then on Sunday the biggest change of all would come. I’m thankful for the following Sunday and the change in brought into my life.
When we come to Jesus, we are to change. Some people change slowly. Others change quickly, but the change must come. Change leads to growth and growth leads to change. Our church changed and grew when we moved. Thanks to the growth, we are still changing. So, all of this taught me to allow change in my life. I can see the tides bringing change, and I know I’m in a season that will cause growth, maybe even pain, but the end result will be a life transformation. I am ready for change and growth.
Side note: For my friends who are in full time ministry. Use this story when you have to approach your leaders or board about making changes. Comfort them with, “Well, we could be like a church in Hollywood that’s growing and move locations with a one week’s notice.” Got to make people think it could always be worse than it is.
