Anyway, our second service was also well attended, by our Vineyard friends and the community. While I think we may have had fewer visitors, we had several people return for our community meal, and a couple of new them stayed to worship with us that had not stayed before. All together we had about 36 people in service, and 16 children (four of which were visitors, that is not a bad ratio). We served a good meal of beef stew and had beautiful worship and a good message by our Senior Pastor Rick Evans.

At our home group meeting this week we discussed these first two services and came to a very satisfying consensus that these services “felt like church.” In other words, they had the same feeling or rightness and belonging that we normally get when we go to our other two campuses, just in a different building. This is a very good thing because it means we are getting it right, and we are establishing our community in fellowship with ourselves and with Christ.

In closing I would love to here other people’s stories of starting a church and what they experienced with that. Did you have problems? Did it go well? Did it start well and then hit a lull or a valley? Share your feedback please!

Allow me to back up a bit. In 2010 my family had been attending a small, non-denominational church startup for several years. As some of the people began to leave for other churches the money began to dry up, and the church decided to fold. Since my wife and I had been attending the small groups of another church for several years, we decided to make our new church home The Vineyard Cleveland.

Shortly after we got there in January of 2011, Pastor Rick announced that the church was planning on expanding again. The main church had already spawned one satellite campus in another suburb, and now the idea was to start a third campus, this time inside Cleveland itself. Pastor Rick said the church would be somewhere on the near West Side, and he asked people to pray about possibly being a part of this new campus.

Immediately I knew this was what God wanted me to do. Not only was my wife in immediate agreement with me on this, but this was the part of the city I lived most of my life in, and where my heart has always been. This is a neighborhood of strong, working class people who have fallen on very hard times. Where the auto and steel industries once provided good jobs for thousands in this area, most of those jobs were gone. The infrastructure of local businesses is gone. For many, the hope is gone.

So we started on a journey to find a location and raise money for the new campus. In the summer we held a bike-a-thon, with a goal of raising $10,000 for the new campus. We met that goal with joyous praise for the Lord’s provision. Now, we have found a location, at the site of the old Puritas Lutheran Church, where we will be serving a free meal at 5:15, and holding service at 6. We are very excited to be starting this Saturday.

If you had asked me back in 2010, if I would be on a team of church planters today, I probably would have said no way, that it is impossible. However with God all things are possible, and I rejoice in this opportunity to serve Him, by helping to feed His people physically, and spiritually.

2012 is going to be a great year.

The US Senate is currently considering new hate crimes legislation that would add sexual orientation into existing laws on hate crime. While some people think it is good to add these “enhancements” to the law I submit to you that it is not, and will explain why.

Hate is not a Crime Hate is an emotion,not an action. We can’t punish hate anymore than we can punish love (which we cannot by the way). Only actions are punishable, along with the intent that preceded them. But without action, intent is meaningless. So if we cannot punish emotion, what are we attempting to punish? Thought and speech.

Speech in the US is protected Almost all speech in this country, with the exception of sedition, is protected under The Constitution. Ten years ago the Ku Klux Klan held a small rally here in Cleveland, Ohio where they made racist speeches. Many people here thought our mayor, who at the time was black, should not have given them a permit. But the mayor did the right thing, allowing them to march and rally. While the Klan may be dispicible, they have a right to exist, a right to speak, and those opposed to their views have a right to condem them, which they did. Hate crime legislation would make it illegal for a Pastor of a church to read or expound upon the chapters of Leviticus and Romans in the Bible that condemn homosexuality as a sin. This would not only violate our right to free speech but but also our freedom of religion as well.

Hate crime is not justice The US Constitution guarantees equality under the law. Equal protection as a defendant, equal punishment as the convicted. Hate crime elevates certain crimes to a special status, requiring enhanced punishments. This is not justice it is revenge. What is worse, under the new hate crime bill the defendant is only charged with a hate crime. If he proves that he did not commit the crime based on hate, hw would be found not guilty, receiving no punishment.

No life is more valuable than another. If the victim of a crime is of a different ethnic group then the perpetrator, do they suffer more? Of course not.The Mathew Shepard murder was a despicable crime, but it is no worse than any other murder. Does Mathew Shepard’s mother miss him more than any other mother who has lost a child? No one in their right mind can say yes to this. Therefore this legislation is illogical and unnecessary.

Hate crimes legislation is not needed The only way this legislation would make sense is if someone who committed a hate crime today would not be punished under existing law. But the fact is that people are punished . In the previously mentioned Mathew Shepard case the two men were both given life sentences, one without the possibility of parole. Another good example of a punished crime involving hate is that of James Byrd, Jr. a black man from Jasper, Texas who was dragged to death by three white men in 1998. In this case two of the three men received death sentences, the other life in prison. What would hate crime legislation do? Can we kill them twice? Can we make the third defendant live long enough to serve two life sentences? Of course not. If that is not possible, then it is not possible for this legislation to do anything productive and is therefore unnecessary.

Men, if we want our rights to free speech and free exercise of religion protected we must stand up for them.  Thomas Jefferson said: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” I urge you to call the US Capitol switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask your Senators to not support this bad legislation (S. 909), lest it become bad law. If you do not know who your Senators are, you can simply tell the operator where you live and they will connect you.

I would also ask that you pray for God to grant our elceted officials wisdom in these troubling times, for mercy for our sins, and for repentance and revival to come to our troubled nation.

Amen