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!
Monday, March 29, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Use the Whole Brain...
I want to take time to encourage you to continue to creatively read the Bible. I shared this past Sunday about an observation made by someone that I had never even thought about before. They shared their thoughts on the Prodigal Son. If he was so hungry and longed to eat what he was feeding the pigs, why didn't he just eat it? Did he think the pigs would "squeal" on him? It was a great question. I believe it got all of our minds wondering about why? One of the reasons brought out was the thought of how he was raised by his father. Though he spent his inheritance on wild living, there was still a lifestyle ingrained into him that called for integrity and doing things right. He demonstrated that by not eating what he was feeding the pigs. What a great observation, and there are still more observations that can be made.
Things like that can go unnoticed until we begin to ask questions and read creatively through the Bible. There is so much more to glean from Scripture, yet we read it like we've read it before. Which is probably true, but the Word of God is not like other books that you read and reread. It is the Word of God. It is alive and sharper than any double edged sword. It comes alive everytime you open it's pages and begin to ask questions and read creatively. Don't just read the Word of God left brained (logical). Read it whole brained (using the right side, the creative side) as well.
And here are some ways to wake up your quiet time with God from Pam Farrel written for navpress and published in the January/February 1998 issue.
1. Write out and Personalize Scripture. Put your name into promises relevant to your life.
2. Praise Jesus from A to Z. Think of different words to praise Jesus as you walk through the alphabet.
3. Ponder Scriptures such as Phil. 4:8 asking yourself what is lovely to you? what is worthy of praise? etc.
4. Write about your relationship with God from someone else's point of view. This requires thinking about how we live and how that looks to others. This may give us much to pray about.
5. Dance before God. Put on some praise and worship music and dance for Jesus. This is can be freeing, especially when you add your kids in the mix.
There are many other ways to wake up your quiet time. What are some ways that you can add to this list? Leave a comment and let me know.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2010: The Year of Cultivating
As a church, we take time to seek the Lord on what He would want to do in our lives this coming year. We then name our year what we believe He is leading us to do. This year for the church as a whole, the Lord gave me the name: The Year of Cultivating." I am really excited about this. The past few years we have seen God lead us through some tough spots and now we are beginning to see the fruits from the struggles. And He wants to do more.Cultivate, in the dictionary, has this as its definition: to loosen or break up the soil; to foster the growth of; to imporve by labor, care, or study; encourage; make friends with. I love that definition. I believe God wants to continue to break the hard ground in our lives (Hosea 10:12) to foster more growth and He will do that as we work for Him (getting involved), care for others, and study His word (signing up for our small groups and personal Bible time). I recently read a quote that said... "Christians are like manure, spread them out and they help things grow. Keep them in a pile and they will stink horribly." So true. We must let God begin to spread us so that we can grow and foster growth in others. We must break the pile mentality and step out into the unknown where Jesus is.
There is going to be an increase in seeing people saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit (personal prayer language), and the gifts of the Spirit manifested in all of our lives as we let God do His work in us. There has been to much hard, dry, ground in our lives for far to long that has stunted our growth. But God is going to begin to break it up, as we let Him, so that we can continue to grow. It won't be easy. I mean, who wants something digging up areas that are hard? It isn't pleasant. But in the end, it brings about growth and that makes it worth it. So get ready for all that God is going to do in 2010. And be encouraged to personally name your year.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
A Winner's Attitude
I am an ex-basketball player (I still play but my college and high school days are over and I am not a pro athlete). When you play a sport you develop a winning mindset. You either want to win or you shouldn't play. It seems that in today's day and age that has given way to "Winning isn't everything" or "We're all winners" and other quotes like that. The problem is that those thoughts are not true. Whoever said winning isn't everything never won nothing. Second place is the first loser, so how can we all be winners? Now those thoughts can be taken out of context and developed into pride and a bad attitude, but in the right context should propel us.
I want to bring those thoughts into the church. I have been reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In this book, he challenges the reader on how much do we truly love Christ. It seems like we don't love Him at all if you look at our actions. And hidden behind a lot of our actions is the excuse of I can't do it the full way so I will do it half way. Or in other words, "Winning isn't everything" or "We're all winners." The problem with that is, we have just shrunk God down. In the scriptures, He calls us to some pretty strict standards that we have watered down all in the name of not thinking we can win and not wanting to.
But winning is hard. You don't win unless you train and work hard. Sure we can water that down so that everyone feels like a winner but not everyone is a winner. Only those who are willing to "count the cost." Read this. We must start counting the cost of what it means to be a disciple. There is only one way to win and that is through Jesus Christ. And winning in this area is everything. There is no second place.
I am challenged by this because I can see where I have not kept myself disciplined in the ways of God. There is no longer any room for thoughts of "that was in the Bible but can not be done today." If Peter and Paul and the other disciples walked in it, then I can as well. And I will pursue God more and more until I am a walking example of the Gospel.
Don't let yourself tell yourself you can't do it. Or that only a few people will ever live the way Jesus called us to. We all can live that life if we are willing to submit to Him, discipline ourselves, and keep a winners mindset. Losing is not an option. We don't want to lose. There may be set backs but I don't want that to hinder us from staying on the winners path.
May Christ change the way we think when it comes to being a disciple of Christ. That we would know we can do it through Him who gives us strength. May we cast off complacency, lack of passion and desire, and selfish ambition and may we clothe ourselves with Christ. He is the only one that matters.
Let me know what you think.
I want to bring those thoughts into the church. I have been reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In this book, he challenges the reader on how much do we truly love Christ. It seems like we don't love Him at all if you look at our actions. And hidden behind a lot of our actions is the excuse of I can't do it the full way so I will do it half way. Or in other words, "Winning isn't everything" or "We're all winners." The problem with that is, we have just shrunk God down. In the scriptures, He calls us to some pretty strict standards that we have watered down all in the name of not thinking we can win and not wanting to.
But winning is hard. You don't win unless you train and work hard. Sure we can water that down so that everyone feels like a winner but not everyone is a winner. Only those who are willing to "count the cost." Read this. We must start counting the cost of what it means to be a disciple. There is only one way to win and that is through Jesus Christ. And winning in this area is everything. There is no second place.
I am challenged by this because I can see where I have not kept myself disciplined in the ways of God. There is no longer any room for thoughts of "that was in the Bible but can not be done today." If Peter and Paul and the other disciples walked in it, then I can as well. And I will pursue God more and more until I am a walking example of the Gospel.
Don't let yourself tell yourself you can't do it. Or that only a few people will ever live the way Jesus called us to. We all can live that life if we are willing to submit to Him, discipline ourselves, and keep a winners mindset. Losing is not an option. We don't want to lose. There may be set backs but I don't want that to hinder us from staying on the winners path.
May Christ change the way we think when it comes to being a disciple of Christ. That we would know we can do it through Him who gives us strength. May we cast off complacency, lack of passion and desire, and selfish ambition and may we clothe ourselves with Christ. He is the only one that matters.
Let me know what you think.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
CORRECTION: WOW, What a Great Turkey Dinner!
We just did our annual FREE Turkey Dinner for our community last night - Monday, November 23 - and had our best turnout ever. We served well over 200 people a free hot meal and showed them the love of Jesus. I'm praying that the impressions that people have of us being an occult are done away with as we serve people and show them the love of Jesus.
It was truly a blessed time. Ford City's mayor, Mark Mantini, stopped by to thank us for what we were doing for the community. He was blessed. We were blessed. There was just a whole lot of blessings going around.
We are truly moving forward in "Extending our Hand" into the community, so that people can come to know the love of Jesus. Many took books, that we gave away for free, such as: One Heart Beat Away by Mark Cahill, The Book of Hope, New Testaments, and 100% Guaranteed by Steve MaGill.
Only a few stayed to watch "Fireproof" the movie, but those who did were touched.
Overall, it was a very successful night. We got to know more people in the community and break down the lies of Satan. Now I'm looking forward to our Gingerbread and a Movie night coming up (Correction) December 12, beginning at 5:00pm, here at the New Life Center in Ford City for families with young children. December 5 is the deadline to register. Here's to reaching those who don't know Jesus, yet.
It was truly a blessed time. Ford City's mayor, Mark Mantini, stopped by to thank us for what we were doing for the community. He was blessed. We were blessed. There was just a whole lot of blessings going around.
We are truly moving forward in "Extending our Hand" into the community, so that people can come to know the love of Jesus. Many took books, that we gave away for free, such as: One Heart Beat Away by Mark Cahill, The Book of Hope, New Testaments, and 100% Guaranteed by Steve MaGill.
Only a few stayed to watch "Fireproof" the movie, but those who did were touched.
Overall, it was a very successful night. We got to know more people in the community and break down the lies of Satan. Now I'm looking forward to our Gingerbread and a Movie night coming up (Correction) December 12, beginning at 5:00pm, here at the New Life Center in Ford City for families with young children. December 5 is the deadline to register. Here's to reaching those who don't know Jesus, yet.
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