Opportunity to Help Out with Upcoming Youth Mission Trip

The mission trip for the youth is around the corner. They are going again to Inner City Memphis, TN. They will be gone the last week of July. This is an awesome time for several of Marathon youth to reach out to others less fortunate and share the Word of God. A life changing experience for the youth and for the children and adults they will reach!


This year I asked Bryan Holder is there any way the Sunday Service Teams and Life Groups could be a part of the trip without even going. The answer was yes! Until July 19th, I will be collecting socks (for ages K3 – 4th graders), children’s belts, cases of bottle water, or Wal-mart gift cards. The children are in need of uniforms and the gift cards will help Holder and the youth to be able to go to the local Wal-mart and purchase khaki shorts and collar shirts since we don’t know sizes needed right now. If you would like to participate, please bring any of the items to volunteer central in the next few weeks.

YOU Are Why They Come Back!

When you think about it, church leaders, in their ongoing efforts to find new and better ways to carry out the great commission, have made many parts of Sunday morning obsolete. Churches are now streaming their services on line, on television, and on radio with the goal in mind of reaching more, but many times, with the unintended effect of the isolation of the worshipper. And, I'm certainly not saying that we should stop those efforts. In many cases they are extremely effective in getting "seekers" to pay closer attention, and as you know, that's a large part of what we do at Marathon.

With all of the “outside the church” choices in worship today, I sometimes wonder why people keep coming through the doors. You can go online and selectively choose any sermon that you are in the mood to hear, by practically any type speaker; and this variety of sermons and speakers is not only matched, but exceeded by the variety of worship music available at your fingertips 24/7. In fact, statistics show that in many cases the younger, more tech savvy worshipper has stopped coming in favor of the “online variety and experience”.

So why do people keep coming? Why do they get up, leave the computer behind and come to Marathon?

It is because Marathon offers a component of the worship experience that can never be obtained through an online praise service, message, or chat room discussions – the fellowship of the Spirit through human touch. In other words; Marathon offers YOU!

As I told my Life Group last Sunday, the reason for our shared fellowship – what draws us together, and gives us a sense of comfort among each other – is our shared Spirit. Among believers, the Spirit of Christ which dwells in all of us calls out, and is mutually answered. Comfort can be, and is found in God through the deepening of our personal relationship with Him. However, God made us to need the contact of others, and it is only through that contact that we will ever fully develop ourselves.

Worship is more than just experiencing God on our own. It is also experiencing God through others who we come in contact with, and who also have the indwelling of His Spirit.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25

As I have said many times before, YOU are the reason that people come back! YOU are the ones who provide the "seekers" who come through the doors at Marathon with that all important link to the Spirit.

Without this continued contact, the relationship suffers, loneliness flourishes, and joy is dampened. Through this continued contact, loneliness is dampened, the relationship flourishes, and joy abounds!

Thank you, again... for everything!

Robert