This summer, my family traveled to Southern California for vacation.  On the way to Hunnington Beach, we stopped at IN-N-OUT Burgers for a true SoCal experience.  If you have never had an IN-N-OUT burger, you need to get on a plane today and go indulge.  That may sound extreme, but for me it was a spiritual experience.

For starters it is a fast food restuarant that has decided to hold onto only fresh ingredients.  Even though they have many stores, they decided to keep it in the family and never franchise.  They make burgers from never frozen meat.  They make fries from daily from fresh potatoes.   They scoop icecream for the shakes.  (I saw you, you just licked your lips).  It was a great meal!  The workers were lived out the values.  They smiled, joked, and promptly served us our food as if we were related.  The line went out the door, but even the people waiting were ok with the delay.  I have never seen anything like it. 

Then at the end of the meal, I looked under the cup and saw the core value of the owner. 

John 3:16

 Check out their site: IN-N-OUT Burgers

This experience made me think about our experience at Mount Ararat.  We are not trying to get people IN-N-OUT, but we are trying to lead people to discover the glory of God.  We want influence people to grow in three relationships: God, one another, and serving the world.  We have created three environments to support these three relationships: Worship, small groups, and serving the world. 

This Sunday, I will begin a new series, UP-N-OUT.  Check out our website, and invite someone to come this week!