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I am so glad we have spent June in the book of Haggai and in the series "The Comeback Kids."

People have seen how the bible's story intersects their own story; time and again, folks have told me that they came to church this month desperately in need of a "comeback."

I've also been grateful for the video series we put together with poignant on-camera testimonies each week.

It's all been building to this Sunday: "Rings & Things" from Haggai 2:20-23. You'll learn about Zerubbabel, signet rings, Jeremiah, family trees, and your own destiny. I like it a lot.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Haggai 2:10-19 does some interesting thing with the concept of "time."

So we're going to dig into this coming Sunday.

"Time Passages."

A message that many of us who major in impatience need to hear.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

This is my Vacation Bible School crew for 2011:



We are in the middle of a program called Jump: Put Faith In Motion.

This morning, my group and I were discussing today's bottom line: Jesus ROSE again so that you would know He is GOD.

I briefly told about the crucifixion on Good Friday followed by the resurrection on that first Easter Sunday.

The face of one of the little boys in the group grew bright as he had sudden flash of insight: "So that's why we have church on Sunday! So every week is a celebration of the resurrection!"

How's that for downloading 2000 years of church history -- and understanding one of the early church's most fundamental decisions -- in a twenty minute Vacation Bible School lesson?

Jump, indeed.

So we started The Comeback Kids yesterday.

Along the way we discovered some common threads between Bruce Springsteen, PTL, and the prophet Haggai.

Springsteen's haunting "My City Of Ruins" describes so well a land and a people in desolation:



So yesterday John Pavlovitz sang it, backed by Chris Macedo and the GS Band. It was terrific.

Then the sermon opened with a photo of the yet-to-be completed Heritage Tower on the campus of the former PTL club in nearby Fort Mill. Construction on the tower stopped in 1987 and hasn't resumed since.



Just like the unfinished Jerusalem temple in 520 B.C. Haggai is charged by God with motivating the people of Israel to begin their own "comeback" and finish construction on the building that had been halted 16 years earlier.

Cities in ruins, buildings half-finished, and Bruce Springsteen in church.

Sounds like a good way to start a comeback.