From a church of two to a new home

On the first Sunday in Elan Church's new building, Pastor Max Lyons looks back. In 2016, newly married and on staff at a church in London, he woke with the thought that he had to start a church in Chicago. He told no one and asked God to speak to Juliet, who had vowed never to leave London; a month later she told him God had said Chicago. In January 2021, during the pandemic, they announced the idea of Elan Church as a church of four in a Naperville basement. When they scheduled a worship night with no speakers or microphones, a friend he had not spoken to in ten years called and wired $50,000 within the week. From worship nights to Center Stage Theater, God provided every step, and now there are two services.

The power of the name of Jesus

A family member who does not follow Jesus told Pastor Max that no other religious name bothers them, but the name Jesus is different, because there is power in it. An estimated 5.5 billion people do not identify as Christians, the U.S. share has fallen from about ninety percent in 1970 to about sixty percent, and forty-four percent of American Christians say Jesus was a great teacher but not God. A Bible-believing, Spirit-filled Christian is now a significant minority. The Bible is not a rulebook or self-help collection; it is a revelation of Jesus Christ from cover to cover.

A wedding at Cana

Jesus' first miracle, in John 2, happens at a wedding where He, His mother, and His friends were all invited. Pastor Max notes that God's first sign taking place at a wedding highlights how much He values healthy marriages, and he points to Elan's Group for married couples and new group-based support for struggling marriages. Jesus says in Matthew 22 that the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding banquet, a kingdom here now and coming in fullness when He returns.

Mary waited thirty years

Pastor Max asks the room to imagine Mary, mocked for decades for saying she conceived by the Holy Spirit, raising a son who had performed no public miracle. When the wine runs out, a shameful embarrassment for the family, she steps out in faith and tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Jesus' reply, "Woman," is a formal address, signaling that the miracle will be His choice. Quoting D. L. Moody, Pastor Max urges anyone waiting on God to bring a basket for the bread they pray for.

Not a value to be argued but a truth to be proclaimed

Jesus fills jars meant for ceremonial, outside-in washing and turns them into vessels of inside-out transformation. Pastor Max explains the fact-value split, where faith gets filed under negotiable values. The disciples did not treat the resurrection as a value; they saw the risen Jesus and died rather than renounce Him. In Acts 17 they were accused of turning the world upside down. Culture's goal is not to erase faith but to privatize it, yet James 4:4 says friendship with the world is enmity with God, so each of us must decide which kingdom we love more.

The only way to be free is to give it away

Pastor Max says drinking is not a sin but drunkenness is, and the deeper theme is never to become a slave to any created thing. Jesus calls His followers to deny themselves rather than follow a deceitful heart. After a broken engagement, Pastor Max's appearance became an idol, and God told him to give his favorite jacket to the first person who complimented it. Someone did that same day, and he repeated this for years until God set him free. It is okay to have stuff, but it is not okay for stuff to have you.

Anything you give to Jesus becomes greater

Jesus made the best wine, echoing the Messianic banquet of Isaiah 25. The sign was given so the first disciples would believe, and Jesus is still turning water into wine today, as Pastor Max experienced when he surrendered his life as a teenager. He recalls watching two younger churches receive buildings while Elan waited, then telling the church in January that they were surrendering the lease search to God. Within a month or two, this space appeared. The closing question: what are you holding on to, and what would happen if you gave it to God?