All posts tagged Willow Creek

God With Us.

by Tim Schraeder on 12/21/2009 in Inspiration, Personal with 2 Comments

You know how God has to sometimes put something in front of us a few times before we notice it?

Well, for me, it’s been the simple phrase: God with us.

I’ve been thinking and pondering the significance of that simple statement… and was sort of oblivious to the fact that it was also the theme of Willow Creek’s Christmas service, which I attended this weekend.

When the angel appeared to Mary in the ever-familiar Christmas story, it was proclaimed Jesus’ would be Immanuel, meaning… God with us.

What does it mean to be “with someone”?

It means to be in close proximity, not just physically, but emotionally. It’s an intimate togetherness.

God wants to be with us… it’s wrapped up in the very character and nature of who He is. He designed us for relationship with Him.

I think we don’t think of God and us like that.

I think too often we think God AGAINST us… God SILENT towards us… God is DISTANT from us… God HATES us… but through Jesus, we know God is WITH us.

I’ll be honest, this year has been full of amazing opportunity, new friendships and great moments, but it’s also been wrought with some hard moments, tough decisions, and disappointments.

In moments like those it’s easy to think that God is far away, but I guess the thing I’ve discovered sometimes when you look around and don’t see Him it’s because He’s right beside you or in places you may not expect.

So, moving into a new year [and a new decade!] it’s my prayer that we can live knowing God is WITH us. As we obediently follow Him and His leading, He is with us and promises to give us the strength we need to live out the life He’s calling us to live and give us everything we need to accomplish what He’s asking us to do.

One of the beautiful truths that Bill Hybels shared in his message during the Willow Creek service was…

“one of the best ways to see ‘God with us’ is in the faces and stories of people around us… “

As various people from Willow Creek began to share their stories and how God intervened and was “with them” I realized that  one of the most vital ways we make it through life is through community. Through the people around us who speak life into ours and who do life with us. People who laugh and cry with us; people who listen and give advice.

In one of the final moments of the service as we were singing a song about “God with us” people all around the auditorium stood up with signs… some said “all shall be well…” others said “God with us.”


It was a beautiful reminder and profoundly moving… HUGE props to the entire team at Willow.

I pray this Christmas season, no matter what you may be trusting God for in the New Year that you will know… all shall be well… God is with us… and He is with YOU.

Merry Christmas!

The Forgotten Way, Part 2

by Tim Schraeder on 09/18/2009 in Church Communications, Examples with No comments

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video that my friend Blaine and his team at Willow Creek put together to promote Willow’s new series “The Forgotten Way.”

Today he posted the “opening credits.”

Absolutely love it.

THE FORGOTTEN WAY PT. 2 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

The Forgotten Way

by Tim Schraeder on 09/03/2009 in Church Communications, Examples with No comments

My friend Blaine and his team at Willow have done it again.

Blaine just posted a video that he and his team put together for one of Willow’s upcoming series called “The Forgotten Way.”

I absolutely love this video and how it raises a really important question… have we forgotten how to be?

I think there is definitely an art to visual storytelling and this team is consistently showing they’ve got some mad skills at making it work.

The thing I love most about this video is the fact that it asks questions. Rather than saying “hey come and learn five ways to find your way… blah, blah, blah…” it simply gets you thinking and it moves you. That, to me, is effective communication.

Instead of telling, you’re asking. And in asking, the people will tell themselves… wow, I need to check this out.

I’ll definitely be tuning in to these messages. I think learning how to be is something we all need to get better at.

Behold the Dreamer Cometh

by Tim Schraeder on 08/11/2009 in Inspiration, Notes, Willow Creek Arts Conference 2009 with 3 Comments

My friend Blaine is the Experience Engineer out at Willow Creek (what a cool title, huh?) and he and his team put together a phenomenal piece called Behold the Dreamer Cometh for the opening of the Willow Creek Arts Conference back in June.

I was so excited when Blaine posted a blog entry about the process behind it as well as a link to the video.

If you are an artist or creative-type, take a few minutes to watch this video.

This piece did an excellent job highlighting the creative process and the struggle we all face to find inspiration and new ideas and thoughts in our constant struggle to give glory to God in what we do with our art… whether it’s with words, images, video, song, etc.

I was totally moved by it experiencing it live, and you’ll get the same feeling as you watch it here:

Pretty awesome, huh?

If you don’t already, be sure to follow Blaine on Twitter and subscribe to his blog. He has some brilliant insights and I’m excited to see where’s he’s going to take Willow’s experiences in the next few years.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →