Wes: We are a rather unique church in the fact that our vision is focused on making sure that we actually engage the neighborhood where are church is located. This vision is why we are investing in this building and the old fire house a few blocks from here on Maholm Street.
A couple of years ago, an opportunity was presented to us. A little church building located on the east side of our city became available and we were offered the chance to go in and restart this dying work. Today we are going to update you on this ministry. On April 15 of this year they opened as a new church with a new vision. In September of 2005, we presented from this platform, the concept and idea and introduced Chris Easton as the pastor. We challenged you to consider being a part of this church either by praying and involvement in individual outreach projects or by taking yet a bigger step of actually becoming part of the core group.
Some individuals and families with a real heart for lost people and for the unique setting of what was then the Eastside Church of the Nazarene, signed on and began making plans for the launch of this new church.
Today we come to you six months into this work with a report and a telling of the story. Our prayer is that some of you will have ears to hear and eyes to see and a willingness to go. This church is not a separate church from ours. We are one church in two locations. 
The Early Years
Wes: For a little over 60 years this church has had a presence on the east side of Newark. As I understand it from the limited amount of people who seem to know about it, this church was started by our church in 1944. The church you are now sitting in was started from a tent revival conducted in 1918 that produced 20 people to form a core group of members for a new Nazarene church.
Some twenty six years later Newark First church decided to do an outreach on the east side of the city. As we so often do, they did what had worked for them twenty six years earlier. They conducted a tent meeting and out of that meeting a new church was started. That makes them our spiritual daughter.
In the beginning all they could afford was a basement and so for several years they worshipped in the basement of the existing building. Later they were able to add a top floor with a room for conducting services in.
This church touched a lot of people over the years. There were people from the neighborhood who heard the good news of the gospel of Christ. They have always been able to reach out to children.
I discovered a fact this week that was quite surprising to me. In April of this year one of the first pastors of this church passed away. Stephen Nease only pastored one church and that was Eastside in Newark Ohio. He went on from there to touch thousands of lives. He was the founding president of Mt. Vernon Nazarene University. He was educated at Brown University and Harvard Divinity School. He served as President of Southern Nazarene University and also as president of the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City. This little church helped birth a leader.
The early years of vision eventually turned into years of status quo and decline.
As the challenges of sin in the form of drunkenness, drugs, prostitution, violence and broken homes became more and more common the church became less and less effective. There was fear regarding the neighborhood and eventually it became a little church huddled inside of the four walls with little or no engagement in the community it was there to serve. It was designated as a church in crisis by the Central Ohio District of the Church of the Nazarene and slated to be shut down because of ineffectiveness.
That was the situation when our church responded to the call. 
The Vision Today
Wes: I want you to hear from Pastor Chris Easton today. Chris took on this church before he graduated from Mt. Vernon. I believe in my heart that very few if any of his classmates would have been willing to move into the parsonage and take on a challenge of this side. Matter of fact, he might not have been willing if he would have known what would lie ahead. Most of us were given churches right out of college that didn’t matter. In other words we couldn’t do anything to harm them. In most of those churches where people go to learn how to pastor, we found out that the little congregations ministered to us a whole lot more then we ministered to them as we bungled our way into leadership.
Chris was not given that chance. He has been placed in a high profile church with incredible challenges in a neighborhood in serious decline. His mistakes have been highly scrutinized and he has remained willing to be shaped and molded in his leadership. Sometimes this has been painful I am sure. Early on our District Superintendent challenged the original church that was there to take Chris and Melanie on as pastor and raise up a leader. All but one or two left, but those who came from this church have taken on that role and been faithful in serving with Chris as he leads with a heart that breaks for his community.
Chris: Not a day goes by that I don’t wish for an opportunity to share my love an adoration of Christ with someone. It has been really amazing to see how the opportunities make themselves available so easily as we reach out to people on the East Side. Talking about Real Life is the easiest thing in the world for me to do. It is also the most cautious thing I do. So many lives have been touched in these last few months and I have so many stories I could share this morning. Unfortunately there is mindset that we must fight almost every single day. These people are not numbers; they are not notches on our belt, or people “we” have won to Christ. These are regular people just like you and I lost in the chaos of sin desperately needing the freedom found only in knowing who Jesus Christ is and obediently listening to his call on their lives.
In coming today to really give you a sense of what is in my heart I took a look back at August 14th 2006 here is my journal entry edited a bit.
Saturday we had an amazing time! Well over 270 kids came and received back-packs stuffed full! I ran a popcorn machine and Melanie helped as we told people about the upcoming movie night. Some amazing things happened while we were there. One thing I loved was getting there before it all started and just seeing how many backpacks we had! I do not know how much money it would have represented but I know it was a lot. I couldn’t help but think about how someone went out to buy each bag for a child on the East end. I wondered about Wal-mart, Meier and Family Dollar and what they thought of the influx of supplies that were being bought. So much work was put into this event. Here are some moments I want to share so they will never be forgotten.
When advertising for Racing Stripes (a movie we are showing next week) the kids were all ecstatic. I couldn’t help but think how most had probably seen the advertisements but were unable to go to the theater. I mean it costs a lot to go out to a movie, especially if you have a large family. I thought to myself “WOW! If church would have been like this when I was a kid/teen, I would have been able to really invite a lot of people to something they would actually be interested in.” Mom’s mostly showed up to this event but there were a few dad’s too. The overwhelming majority were very interested in Real Life!
Everyone we had come to our section of the gym we gave an outreach card with our website, phone number and map on how to get to our church. One person called the church before the service and asked what it was we did on Saturday night and if it was open to all ages. I didn’t see that anyone from this event came but she called and I believe the connection was made. It was really awesome.
Casey, Autumn, Dave and John ran an icee machine. I know they were giving out cards and advertising for our upcoming outdoor celebration concert. Michelle was the leader of this event and I know she put a ton of time into it.
Overall I got a sense that a lot of people knew where we were located when we asked if they knew where we were located. I was excited about some of the responses. “Yeah you all put fliers on our door all the time, or I can’t believe how much stuff you all are doing for the community”, some” yeah, my kids go there sometimes.” Being able to talk with them and give out free popcorn and talk about another family event the next week that was free was really great! I thank God for all the help he has given us. We are really starting to make an impact on people’s perception of church. I believe it is only a matter of time before people really start to respond and begin investigating what our service is really like. If not our service another one somewhere else. If God has put us here just to soften hearts of a few people that would be cool. But I know and believe we will do more than that! I pray, God, that you would help us to know what to say and do to bring people to know who You are! 
Picking Up the Towel
Chris: When I pass on there will be a lot more of my journals to read but I really just want to give you the sense of urgency on my heart! Jesus gave us a job to do as Christ Followers. John 13:14-16 “And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.”
At Real Life our goal is not to be the largest church in town, not to have the most multi-sensory worship experience and not to simply be a place for Christ Followers to meet. We are narrowing our focus and are strongly focusing on community families whose lives we believe God can impact who’s chaotic, frustrating, and hopelessness can be restored This is not something that is simply a call at Real Life or Newark Naz. we believe this is God’s call for everyone who bears His son’s name.
This is called Servanthood and it is not something that comes easily especially in our culture today. As I get ready to let Wes come back up I want to share this story with you.
Mary Louise Starkey has a difficult job. She is trying to turn ordinary people into servants. The current economic climate has fueled the need for servants. In the past decade, the number of American households worth $10 million or more has quadrupled and the newly rich want help managing their large homes and busy lifestyles. Servants are needed, and Mary Starkey's International Institute for Household Management of Denver, Colorado, is trying to meet the need. With household managers earning $60,000 to $120,000 a year, applications are at an all-time high, but servanthood is not easy to learn.
Those enrolled in the rigorous eight-week, $7,200 course devote themselves to mastering the more mundane aspects of running a large household: dealing with trades and outside vendors, managing household staff, learning table manners, and taking cooking classes. Instruction is given regarding setting a formal dinner table and ironing table linens so they are perfectly crisp and wrinkle free.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of servanthood, however, is the element of personal self-denial. A consulting beautician at the school recently told an attractive young female student to trim her long blond hair, lose the showy earrings, and lay off the red lip-liner. It seemed that her good looks were drawing attention away from her employers.
Servants are not to draw attention to themselves; their only goal is to meet the needs of others.
Wes: Interview with Michelle
1. Why did you and your family choose to become a part of this ministry?
2. What has been the biggest challenge?
3. What has been the biggest blessing?
4. Why would you recommend others to join this ministry?
Becoming a part of Real Life is not easy. It is not always a feel good experience. Sometimes you feel like your heart is going to break and sometimes you feel like your back is going to break. Jesus is our ultimate example of what it means to be a Christian. Everything about the New Testament cries out against the consumerist mindset of so much of today’s church. Churches all too easily slip into organizations that live to serve themselves instead of the community they are a part of.
We are adamant in this church that we are here to serve our community outside the walls of our buildings. Richard Halverson wrote: “The true measure of the churches influence is what is happening when the buildings are empty, the programs idle and the people scattered throughout their communities, metropolitan areas, and the world.
Jesus taught in His sermon recorded in Matthew 5, “Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be filled.”
Is this some kind of emotional moment that is going to happen? Is it some holier than thou experience. Absolutely not! He also said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” He then followed up this teaching with these words: “You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world”
Being salt and light and serving God by serving others is unquestionably tied to the righteousness that Jesus was teaching about.
It is highly distressing to me that we sit here every Sunday with a church full of people who pack into this room but we have been neglectful in sending enough people to engage in the work of Real Life.
Real Life church is an opportunity to do authentic Christianity. You were not called to be church consumers or coinsures. You were not given the gift of salvation to keep it to yourself. You were given it to share.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”
When we think of “wicked ways,” we often think of personal morality – illicit sex, marital unfaithfulness, abortion, drug and alcohol abuse, pornography and a hundred other things. Most of us who are Christ followers are not guilty of that kind of sin so what must we turn from. What are our wicked ways?
Could it be our worldly ways of thinking—the materialism, the secularism, the humanism that have so badly infiltrated so much of the American church? Is it conceivable that our love affair with bigness, the spectacular, the dramatic; our adulation for the celebrity and the superstar; our readiness to equate these things with effective influence for Jesus Christ in the world—is it possible that these are the wicked ways from which we must turn?
In the original biblical languages, righteousness and justice come from the same root. Is it possible that our indifference to justice – our neglect of the poor, our lack of concern for the oppressed, the imprisoned, the hungry, the malnourished – is the wicked way from which we must turn?
Jesus taught that we were to pick up a towel. In the same manner that he served his disciples on that day we are to serve our society.
What would happen if the people of God longed for righteousness?
What if we really hungered and thirsted for righteousness?
What if more than anything else in life we desired the kingdom of God and the justice that comes with it?
What if we sought to be pure of heart and meek?
What if we were willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake?
What if justice was more important than anything else in life?
In Genesis 18, there is a story of Abraham and God telling him about his plans for Sodom. Abraham was concerned for his nephew Lot and his family and so he prayed that God would spare the wicked city.
Abraham asked, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place of the sake of fifty righteous people?”
The Lord agreed to spare the city for fifty righteous people. Abraham then began to bargain with God. “How about only forty, or thirty or twenty?” The Lord agreed to spare the city for that many. Abraham has one more prayer, “May the Lord not be angry but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there? The Lord said, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
We are the body of Christ. We call ourselves members of Newark Naz. Newark Naz. is not a building. It is not cool music and effective sermons. It is not just a place to hang out on a Sunday morning. We must be the body of Christ in a broken world. Even today, I am thinking about those from this church who will scatter this week into the work place and serve those around them in Jesus name. That is the church.
In Ezekiel 22:30, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”
What tragic words!
We are calling on all of you today to examine what this might mean for you? I believe that there are some of you today that will hear the call to pick up a towel on the east side of town. Some of you have heard the call where you work or go to school.
Will you stand in the gap? Are you willing to pick up a towel? Today I am going to invite some of you to pick up a towel on behalf of Real Life church.
Maybe you have been thinking about it but you are afraid you will fail or you are scared. I understand that. Real life is frontline ministry. It is getting close to the battle. It is getting your hands in the messes of life.
If you know that this is what God wants you to do or you are pretty sure you need to consider it, I want to invite you to come forward and pick up a towel. We are going to keep our heads bowed and eyes closed so this doesn’t feel like you are putting on a show.
Are you sensing a call of God today?
Are you hearing His voice?
I invite you to come and pick up the towel.