The empty chair..  As I prayed and prepared for today’s experience, God put something very heavy on my heart to implement at H2O in Perry, and to share with all of you that follow this blog.  A few years ago,  I read a Stephen Covey book about families, and in the book, he talked about the concept of “No Empty Chair” for their family.  The idea was that all family members would be unconditionally loved, respected, valued, and accepted no matter what... no matter what... there would be no empty chairs at the table for any family member for any reason.  Every person would have a seat at the table.  I really loved the concept back then and still do today, although I had not thought of it too much... until today.

Here's what God put on my heart today.  Why can't that same concept be an integral part of the H2O Perry culture and philosophy?  I think it can and I think it must.  So, starting today, and every week hereafter, I am going to place one empty chair at the front of the room (or on stage) as a symbol and reminder for H2O in two ways.  First, the empty chair represents an open invitation/chair that H2O is a welcoming and open church for ALL people - no matter one's background, challenges, or "stuff" he or she brings to the table.  ALL people will be unconditionally loved, respected, valued, and accepted right where they are at in life... no matter what.  There will be no empty chairs at H2O... and then we will let God do His amazing work to transform the lives of people.   

Secondly, the empty chair represents people in the community that have not yet found Christ and/or found a church home.  So, even when our experience room is overflowing with people in the future, we will continue to have an empty chair at the front to remind us that we still have more work to do in the community.  Until every person in Perry has found God and a church home, whether it is at H2O or another great, local church, our work is unfinished.  The chair will remind us to press on... to lead by example... and to not be comfortable and inward-focused, but to push outward to reach those that don't know the Good News.   Outward, outward, outward...   

Thank you for being a part of "The Empty Chair" vision at H2O in Perry, Oklahoma!  I am honored to be your Campus Pastor.