Monday, March 29, 2010

Monumental Event...

I have to say that in my short few years as a senior pastor our Easter Egg Hunt this past Saturday, March 27, was the best one day outreach that we have ever done. We, as a church, have done Easter Egg Hunts before here at the church. We would show a movie, eat some pizza, and find eggs spread throughout the church. This only ever attracted around 50 kids plus some parents. Not to bad but you are hoping for a lot more.
Well, this past Saturday, under the leadership of one our children's ministries leader, Tara Garris, we moved the event outside to Ford City Park. We had food, games, prizes, and of course, the egg hunt. We had advertised in the local paper, sent out postcards, and hung up posters. This lead to the greatest turnout ever. There were 180 kids ages 1-11 that showed up and probably close to 300 counting parents that accompanied the kids. Praise the Lord. At the end, we shared cardboard testimonies. We wrote on cardboard how God has changed our life. It went really well.
Our goal for this year has been to become better at reaching out to families. We want to give families a place to come and hang out and have fun. But most importantly, we want to see families come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What a way to start.
I'm looking forward to other great outreaches that we do this year. Thanks to Tara Garris and all of the others who made this possible. The New Life Center Church truly came together to make this a success. Thank you all! Let's do it again for the glory of God!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Observation...

Numbers 13:31-33

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”



As I read these verses, I can't help but wonder if we have done this in our church's? Do you know what I mean? Have we spread bad reports about our church and the city that we live in bringing discouragement and despair and squelching the power of God to overcome? There are so many church's that have closed down. There are so many church's that are close to it. Why?



Now I know that there may be many reasons that a church closed down, but maybe one of the main reasons that we fail to take into account is the bad reports that are spread among the Christians. You might have heard statements like, "Ford City is a dying community." "Kittanning isn't anything like it used to be." "You can't talk to people in this town because they are religious." These statements might be true but they are bad reports. That might be the outward perception but what is God's perception? In His eyes, these are bad reports. Yes, Ford City and Kittanning have had seasons of set back but there are still souls ripe for the harvest. There are still God ideas out there to see Ford City and Kittanning come to know Him as Lord and Savior. And that is what I'm pursuing.



I'm looking for some Caleb's and Joshua's (read all of Numbers 13) who will stand with me and take this land for Jesus. Yes, it may look difficult but whose eyes are you looking through. If you are looking through God's eyes, nothing is to difficult or impossible. And that is whose eyes I want to see through.



Lord, may you guard my lips and all of our lips from speaking bad reports about the land. There is still hope for this area because you are still on the throne and you always have another move. We are asking You for another move of Your Holy Spirit in this area bringing people to the foot of the cross and also jobs and properity. May I only spread God reports and not look at the giants that might stand in the way. Because there are giant slayers yet to be unleashed that will go forth slaying those giants through the power of the Holy Spirit. May You raise them up for such a time as this, Lord. Amen.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Use the Whole Brain Part 2

I wanted to add some more thoughts from the last post on using your whole brain when reading the Bible.

First and foremost, you need to be reading your Bible. J.I. Packer said, "Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover to cover every year." Reading the Bible is important if you are going to grow as a disciple and in your faith. Romans 10:17 says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." So we must lay a foundation of reading the Scriptures everyday, if we want to grow in our faith. But this must not just become a chore. Yes, it needs to be a habit, but it can not become boring.

As humans, we can get caught up in routines so much that a lot of life is lived out of habits. I fold my shorts a certain way so that when I pull them out of the drawer I can put them on without thinking about it whether there is a light on or not. But if my wife folds them a different way, when I pull them out of the drawer I will put them on backwards because I do not pay attention. It is such a habit to go to the drawer pull out my shorts and put them on that I don't even think about it. Folding them different creates an adventure because now I have to think. This is what I want to see when it comes to reading God's Word. It cannot become mindless ritual. It must be a new adventure everyday.

We will go through valley's as we read and we will have our mountain top experiences as we read, thats understandable. But sometimes we get so caught up in reading or praying in a certain place that we lock our creative juices up and it becomes a mindless ritual. The Bible is alive and needs to be read that way. We must unlock the David in all of us (read the Psalms). He had such wonder and awe for God. He asked questions and talked to God like He was a friend. And do you know what? God desires for you to think and ask and talk to Him like David did.

There is so much more in the Word of God if we would let it come alive. As we have been walking through our sermon series, "Love God..." based off of Mark 12:30 and a book by Mark Batterson called "Primal" it has challenged us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But what does that really mean? Most of us don't take time to ask God what it really means. We read over it and don't give it a second thought. We can quote it to others but we ourselves have no clue what it means. Let us question and meditate on His Word. He will reveal great truths to us as we read.

You may need to get Scripture on your MP3 player and go for a walk while listening to the Word being read. You may need to play Scripture as you are driving. You may need to get out of the office and read in the sun or by a stream. Don't get locked into mindless repitition. Let God unleash a desire in you for the Word to come alive.

So when I talk about reading creatively through the Bible, we must let the Bible be what it was written to be... Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." I don't want us to read the Bible out of mindless repitition like I put on my shorts and miss out on what God wants to say.

I am also by no means saying read your own thoughts and meaning into the Bible. I am simply saying that we need to let our minds wonder onto the wonder and awe of who God is as we read the Bible.