I have struggled with transformation, both leading it as a Pastor and experiencing it as a Christian.  Even today's sermon dealt with my desire to have a total "ABOUT FACE" in my faith so that, instead of moments of holiness in a life filled with distractions I might have moments of distractions in a life filled with holiness.  It's rough.  And, I'm not sure I'm doing such a good job leading the transformation as well.

So, I stumbled over to Soul City Church's website.  They're a church starting up in Chicago that would be fun to check out.

When looking at their VALUES, I found the following under "Transformation" that caught my attention:

At Soul City church everyone is accepted, but everyone is expected.  We believe that God created us to transform and through the power of the gospel God changes every element of our lives from the inside out.  We believe that as we are transformed into our true identity we experience freedom that liberates us to love our community in a way that promotes peace and health that can bring transformation to our neighborhoods, city, and the world. 

“You must display a new nature because you are a new person,
created in God’s likeness-righteous, holy and true.”
Ephesians 4:24 

I love that first sentence there.... "everyone is accepted, but everyone is expected."
We don't expect much from most folks...even ourselves.  That's a great reminder there.  They even have the following video to drive the point home: