Palm Sunday At Ecclesia

4-17-11
The Palm Sunday service at Ecclesia was lovely and all about the work of the cross. Ecclesia's regular guest speaker Bryan Belknap, did the sermon and he drove home the point that as good as some of us are (good boys like himself and good girls like me :D), we are still undeserving of Christ's work on the cross. We sinners are all in the same boat because we (and all of scuzzy Hollywood) are all seeped in sin and unworthy of His sacrifice. Bryan asked the question, “Will we (the body of Christ at Ecclesia) give up our fleshly ways and take up our cross (whatever that cross may be) and follow Jesus? We've read in the scriptures how the apostles, disciples and 1st century Christians did it but would we really do it in these modern times when some view God as irrelevant?” My own flesh wars with me constantly about this but we must tame the flesh man within us and do what Christ would have us do.

Bryan put this in a personal perspective as it was announced that he would be leaving to serve in another state. He told us that he would miss Ecclesia terribly but that the Lord had put it in his heart to do this. He even joked that the Lord did everything but appeared in his living room to confirm it. I myself had a similar experience so it was funny that he shared his moment.

Bryan has been a writer here in L.A. for years with some level of success, so moving to another state outside of the entertainment biz and L.A. might affect his career. He shared that he was also lead by God to move to LA 15 years ago and he prayed to find a good church here. God blessed him with the fellowship of Christians at Ecclesia for nearly 7 years and I know God will bless Bryan for choosing to follow Him once more.

Bryan was one of the first people that I met at Ecclesia and I found him to be an easy-going open and approachable type of guy. And I talked to him a lot usually after church service, faith in film events or at the community meetings on Thursday. We'd talk about everything from the Bible scriptures he quoted in his guest sermons to children and child care (he was in charge of child care services at Ecclesia). We also talked a bit about the craft and business of writing movies (he arranged the Re-Imagine series for writers etc).

We also talked about writing books( he's an author of the Blockbuster Movie Illustrations series (3 books) and each of these books include over 100 movie clips used to help illustrate Biblical principles to teens). And we talked a lot about movies, films and the interaction of faith as he was in charge of the Cinemiklings group at the church. So you can tell that I'll really miss him.

Pastor Joseph had us say our good-byes to Bryan at the send of the service. Bryan got choked up a bit then joked that he had promised not to cry. We all laughed but I must admit that I shed a few tears myself and I saw some others tearing up, too.

Go with God, Bryan, and we wish you and yours the best!