Our First Sunday at our New Location!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

This blog post is courtesy of Taryn, who was wonderful enough to post about it on her own blog, as I was the sick prayer director/greeter, who ended up just sneaking in for a few minutes, barely, to see it all.  Thanks, Taryn!

It was after 10pm when we left the church last night, hoping we had as much as possible prepared for worship this morning. In the night, we were awakened by thunder and lightning and rain (Praise God!) at 1:45. Also during the wee hours, a family's little boy was hospitalized for recurring seizures, and we were awakened with texts from Pastor Todd that he was stable but being transferred to the children's hospital in Peoria. That also meant our children's director and some of the teachers wouldn't be there today, because they are the little guy's family, and Pastor Todd would be going on next to no sleep, as he went to the hospital at 5am this morning.

So, while we were excited about our first morning in the new building, our hearts were heavy for our little friend in the hospital and so many other physical and emotional struggles going on within our church family. We were exhausted from working so hard physically this week. But, we recognize that we are in a fight. Satan doesn't want another church in town preaching and praising and worshipping Jesus. Our excitement and love for God is much stronger than the devil!

So, we got up at 5am and we did church! Jeremy was there by 6:30, I think, making sure the building was clean and things were ready for people to come in. I took Caeden in at 7:30 for praise band practice.

Things were not "perfect." Our drummer was sick, so we had only one keyboard and one guitar and 4 singers...which is still plenty enough to lift praise. Our prayer director, who is also a greeter, had become sick in the night, and wasn't able to be there to lead our pre-service prayer time...But we still prayed, and God was with us!

We let God lead the way He wanted to service to go, including Angela being prompted to add in the "old" song Holy Ground and reading of much of 2 Chronicles 6-7 as we, in a way, dedicated the temple to the Lord today.

We still have a lot of chairs to fill. There were nearly as many in the children's area as in the sanctuary today. But, it is not about the numbers of people; it is about lives changing.

God is working out amazing stories in lives of this church, and in the lives of those we know and love. We are privileged to be a part of His plan! It is exciting!

Even while we work hard on the details of planting a church, we work hard at the personal things--prayer, worship, ministering to the sick and hurting, helping those in need, having fun together, studying the Bible, reaching out to others...these are what the church really does, the most important things.

We all knew the Holy Spirit was with us this morning. He comforted us, gave us joy and peace, made us glad, and reminded us that He keeps His promises. We had a beautiful time of worship and learning and prayer together.

Our announcement time turned into an impromptu launch team meeting after church. We all received PoC pens, invitation business cards, and flyers about 3 fundraisers we're having this week. Though we've been able to accomplish a lot, there is still a great deal to do.

“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, ²⁰ that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ²¹ And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive."

- 2 Chronicles 6:18-21

1...2...3...Wait!

Have you ever heard God calling you to do something, but then you weren't so sure? "Is that a yes Lord, or a no?" And if you find yourself having to ask this several times, it could quite possibly be that God is indeed giving you a resounding answer, one way or another... Or maybe, somehow, the answer is both. Maybe it's "worse" than a yes or a no.


Maybe it's a yes, but wait.


Whhaaatt??!!


Why would God give someone an instruction or next step, and then say wait? Surely it must be a mistake. Biblically, though, waiting on the Lord is not unheard of, and it works out in our favor. (Doesn't anything, if done God's way, work out in our favor???) In Isaiah 40:31 it says "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (KJV). That's right, I went old school with the King James Version ;)...


This verse kept going through my mind while at the Prayer Conference this last Thursday and Friday. (Blog post on that coming soon!)  And I felt pretty peaceful, despite no obvious next step. How could I feel so at peace with waiting? Have I been waiting on a next step in frustration, and God has been trying to get through to my thick skull, "Woman, your next step is to wait!!! I can't give you a next step to say yes to until you say yes to waiting!!!"


The regular me would not be okay with this. How can I be at peace with this??? How??? Here's how: the best kind of waiting - the kind that produces strength - is waiting on and for and with God. Don't wait by yourself, alone, for God to re-emerge. Wait with Him, in His presence, for renewed hope, strength, and power.


Power? Yes - power. Just ask the disciples. They encountered a big "1...2...3...Wait!" moment. At the end of Matthew we read in chapter 28:19-20 about how they were to go and make disciples: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (ESV). Yet, at the beginning of Acts we read "And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'." (Acts 1:4-5, ESV). [emphasis added]

If the disciples, in all their excitement, hadn't waited, but had proceeded onward without the power of the Holy Spirit, what would they have accomplished? A whole lot of flimsy nothing in their own strength... Not only would they have failed at the task they had been given, they would have been downright disobedient. And, they would have missed out on the promise given at the end of Matthew 28 - "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (God's promises and commands seem to go hand in hand... hmmm...) It's a good thing they waited!!!


If they can wait, so can I... and so can you. The same God who is so faithful to call, so faithful to instruct, and just... so faithful... can manage to let you know when to wait, when to move, and at what speed.


Alright, I'm waiting Lord! I don't like it! But... your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts.


Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!"


Psalm 37:7 "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices."


-C

Be looking for a blog post re-capping the latest PoC excitement:  we had our first Sunday last weekend in our own space at the IBEW as well as PoC at the Prayer Conference in Springfield, IL last Thursday and Friday!!!

Why We All Serve in Children's Ministry

Gulp... that's the sound of me, swallowing my pride.  :)

So, here's a little last night post-power-tools/construction conversation recap (That's right, I'm getting to be handy!):

Me:  "Babies --- [insert some fear and disdain-related sound here] (my response to my impending nursery duty)

Tony:  "You were a baby once.  You needed someone taking care of you."

So true, so true.

So, I'll be honest.  I'll say it.  I do not want to hang out with a bunch of babies.  I'm learning to love babies a bit more, but one's that are the newest to this world are so... little... and so... little... and did I mention... little?  And they squirm and cry and I can't control it.

But, as we're planting this church, we're "all hands on deck" because "we're the launch team".  That means we're all to serve in children's ministry.  Now, I like children.  When I chill with Keller children and we go on adventures, I consider it time hanging with friends rather than "babysitting".  And thanks to Joshua and Pastor Baby Mac I'm increasing my love for babies, as well, though slowly.  :)

However, despite this, I have been less than thrilled of this call.  I have been selfish and pouty, thinking, we're going to have double services soon, and that means double the time with babies, and not being in the service.  But I want to worship.  I want to rock it out.  I. Don't. Want. To. Hang. With. Babies.  <----And this, from someone who was a co-counselor at Kids' Camp in 2011.  :/  Uh-oh, sounds like someone is thinking a little too much like the baby she once was.  It's not about me anymore!

So, I was on a walk this morning over by Tipton Lake, and I thought about my attitude.  And I thought about God, who occupies my thoughts continually.  And I had been previously trying to reconcile this "duty" as a chance for me to learn about as many of the different ministries as I could.  But I was still less than enthused.  But, God kicked me in the but with scripture and with His Holy foot.  I needed it.  God never fails.  Keep on chiseling!  (ow...) 

It's time to get excited, because children's ministry is VITAL to the health of a church.  It's VITAL to the Kingdom of God.  And, in a way, all ministry is children's ministry.  And we aren't the only ones who have something to teach children; they have something to teach us as well.

I was a baby once.  Someone took care of me. 

Yes.  I was a baby once.  Both physically and literally, in the littlest (4 lbs,1 oz), neediest (premature) sense of the word.  And metaphorically... I was a baby once in my walk with Christ (I'm a toddler now!) I was squirmy and fussy and whiny and shook my little fist at God quite a bit in protest. (Sometimes I still do... hey, I'm a toddler... I'll nap when I want to, you can't make me!)  In both cases, people took care of me.  And I'm eternally grateful because I'm eternally with God as a result.  And that gratefulness that I have should be extended in outward action toward God's children (the small and the new).  I should be just as pumped about nurturing the babies of our church as I will be about nurturing those newest in their faith.

Don't laugh at me.  But, I've been looking at babies all wrong.  I haven't been looking at babies as a part of the church.  But, babies are a part of our church.  They aren't just babies - little squirming things.  They are the littlest, squirming members of our CONGREGATION, growing physically and spiritually along with the rest of us.  :)  They are the body of Christ.  They need care physically and spiritually... who doesn't???  And when I think about all the babies growing up without knowing the love of Jesus, I want to vomit.  We need to be praising God for every baby we have.

"Pastor Baby Mac"

Child of God and launch team member at Point of Change Church of the Nazarene



So I love Psalm 127:1-2, but always stop before I go on to the stuff about children.  But I know it's there, and God brought me to it as I walked around the lake: 

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.  Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!  He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."

I don't want to attempt to be exegetical or be hermaneutical or whatever, because I don't even know what those words mean ;)... But it says "children" not "your children" - it doesn't matter if the children are mine or not.  We're all in the family of God and they're going to be here long after I'm gone.  They're my heritage too, as far as Jesus goes.  I want the love of Jesus to continue, and the work of Jesus to continue, long after I'm gone.  That requires investing now.  Also "from the LORD" --- I know enough about God to know that I want to accept and treat with the utmost care and respect every gift and blessing he bestows on me.  Anything "from the LORD" warrants care and respect and love.

Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." 

Luke 18:16-17 "But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it'." 

Ephesians 5:1  "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children."

1 Thessalonians 5:5a "For you are all children of light, children of the day..."

John 1:12:  "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God"

Matthew 18:2-6 "And calling to him, a child, he put him in the midst of thenm and said, 'Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

I could go on and on. 

Search Biblegateway for children (I used ESV) and you get 458 results.  Clearly there's something here that God wants us to pick up on.  Children are gifts.  We have a responsibility to our children.  And all children are our children.  Babies and new believers alike...  And we are all children and need to come to our Heavenly Father in that capacity and mindset. 

Not only do we have a responsibility to them, it sounds like we have some stuff to learn from them as well.  They have a secret that we can forget or discard as we get older.  I know I did.  What if I had stayed the 5 year old who loved God, and honored that decision, and kept it that simple...?  What an adventure I'm having, reconnecting with her.  :)

And this is why we all serve in children's ministry.

See you on Sunday, July 29, after our launch team meeting, at the children's ministry meeting where we will here from Lisa Alvis.  See you all in the nursery as well (contact Jana Benjey for this opportunity).  This is our last night at Friends and Family, and our last evening.  We. Can. Do. It.  !!!!!!!!  God, who can feed thousands on a few loaves of bread and fish, can stretch money into ENOUGH, time into ENOUGH, strength into ENOUGH, energy into ENOUGH, talent into ENOUGH, you into ENOUGH, etc etc etc. 

Blessings,
Celia

This Is Happening

We have a billboard!

9.16.12

This.  Is.  Happening.

(In case you've been too busy to notice...let it sink in...now would be good...this is happening.)

Thank you God for your your salvation, your love, your calling and continued provision. 

I was reading in Romans earlier and I liked this verse, so I thought I'd share:

Romans 11:29

"For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

Amen.  And, goodnight.

Love Looks Like Something

The sermon series we had been doing recently was entitled "Love Looks Like Something" - and, for "Mama Heidi", a missionary in Mozambique, love looked like building a well.  What will love look like for Point of Change?

I think these past "marketing" activities we did on the 4th of July - passing out water bottles at Miller Park, for example, shows what love looks like for POC.  I overheard Zac, one of our launch team members, talking about "next year" when we did this, what we would do, etc.  (And "next year" we'll be a church, not a launch team!)  I loved that forward thinking!  This wasn't just a marketing event to get brand recognition.  It was also love.  A free bottle of water on the HOTTEST DAY EVER... love looks like something.  Loving your community can be that simple.  :)

What kept running through my mind that day was --- why weren't we doing this before?  Because this is awesome! 

I'm so excited that God is using our launch experiences to grow our character and compassion, and to teach us what we should be doing anyway.

Thanks for all your hard work, team! 

Alright well, keepin' it quick, today.  I've got a lot of other things to say, a lot on my mind, a lot of burdens... take it to the Lord in prayer :) 

Pray SPECIFICALLY. 
-C