A Stone's Throw

Most of us know of Halloween being the day before “All Saints Day.” (See John’s blog for a nice little history lesson!) Sidebar: By the way, if you haven’t heard John’s act, you need to!! He did an awesome job for us at Blowout! He really connects with people . . . and is a great magician. You can see his act tonight at South Gate Baptist Church in Springfield.

Besides being Halloween, October 31st is Reformation Day–the anniversary of Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, nailing his “95 Theses” to the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany. It was common in that day that the Church doors would be a place of public notice, much like our modern day bulletin boards. This public display began a debate of doctrine–specifically the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences, the granting of penance of sin. Luther’s argument was that the church had gone away from the central idea of Christianity of justification–God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous–by “Faith Alone,” not by anything any human can do. This act began what is now called the Protestant Reformation and a breaking away from the Roman Catholic church.

All this talk about Halloween being a terrible thing is funny. I really think it is a great opportunity to reach out to be a good neighbor. Here is a good perspective about Halloween I read today:

This year we’re doing something else. We’ve invited all of the neighbors over for dinner before the festivities begin. We’ve got at least 40 or 50 people who are planning on coming by for a barbeque. We’re doing this simply because we enjoy our neighbors and love to spend time with them. Halloween evening can be hectic, with parents getting home from work and then rushing to prepare their children, so we thought we’d attempt to relieve one burden by taking care of dinner for everyone. It should be fun and we’re looking forward to it.

My encouragement to you today is to think and pray about this issue so that you can do what your conscience dictates for that day. I do not see Halloween as a great evangelistic occasion and this is where some of my thought on the issue has probably developed most. In the past I may have tried to convince myself that Halloween would offer occasions to share the gospel, but I don’t think this is usually the case. Nor does it have to be. I think Halloween is a time that you can prove to your neighbors that you care about them, that you care about their children, and that you are glad to be in this world and this culture, even if you are not of this world or this culture. Aileen and I feel that God has deliberately placed us here and among these people. We want to celebrate with them, even on an occasion of such dubious importance as Halloween.

Have a Great Halloween . . . and Reformation Day!!

We had our 5th annual Harvest Blowout on Saturday.  It was really great . . . but not for the reasons most people would say it was great.  We didn’t have near the crowd of people there that we have had in years past.  We had WAY too much food left over.  We had less people come to church on Sunday than the week before.  All of those things can really bum you out–if you were strictly evaluating an event by just numbers and things you can measure.  But we HAVE to evaluate everything we do by numbers AND intangible ways as well.

One of our teenagers was so excited to help at Blowout.  You know why?  Because he came to our church for the first time last year at Harvest Blowout.  His mom works with one of our members and was invited with an invite card (like these for KidStuf.) The mom has yet to attend any services that I know of, but this student and his older sister got plugged into our church.  He went to camp with us this summer, volunteers in the cafe most Sundays he is here, and is really growing!  It is awesome to get confirmation from the Lord that He is really doing something in people’s lives–something that we often don’t get to see, much less can we quantify it or put a statistic on it.

Just one more reason why we do what we do here at CFC–Life Change.  We want people to come to an event like Blowout and realize that church can actually be fun and come back for a regular service or for another fun event like our monthly KidStuf.  Then they start to get plugged into small groups and service and God begins to change their heart.  Then they begin the process over again and invest in people’s lives that they have influence with and invite them to CFC to experience the same amazing God that they experience!

Just thought I would share with you the GREAT THINGS going on in my life.  Especially after the last post.  With a post like that, sometimes people think they need to keep me away from sharp objects!!

God has done some AMAZING THINGS the past week and a half that I HAVE TO SHARE!  More on that next time!!

I haven’t really been in the blogging mood the last couple of weeks. Honestly, it is difficult to really focus on this type of medium when things are not going well in your life. I think that there was this naivety that thought that since we have been doing this for almost 5 years now, that the “hard part” was over. Now that we are at this point, I am hearing and reading that there is a “wall” at about year 5 for most church plants. Naive indeed!

It sure seems on the surface that things are good at church . . . on the surface. We, like many churches in this area, are struggling with finances. I think it is a matter of trust (sounds like a Billy Joel song!) We really do have a hard time “waiting” on Him as the Scriptures tell us. However, in the midst of these difficult times, there is a sense that God is really moving in a powerful way! We have always prayed that God would allow us to be a part of something only He could do–and as Bill Bright says, “God, you’ve got a problem.”

I think we have exhausted all of OUR resources and God is going to have to provide HIS resources. As if we really have much of anything to offer to the God of the universe. I often wonder if He kind of sits back and smiles as we do all of our stuff and really try harder to do things “for Him.” I think there are times, like these, when He simply says, “Are you finished?” Then He comes in and does what He wills to do.

In the midst of a pretty dark time, I am reminded of what a cool people we have at Finley Crossings. Jenny and I got this email today and was a HUGE encouragement to us both!  Here is the prayer/email.

God I pray right now that you would reach down and wrap your arms of Love around David and Jenny.

I pray that you provide for their every need. I ask you to give them peace that passes all understanding.

God I ask that you give us wisdom, discernment, vision, and clarity. I ask that you provide us with every thing we need to complete the task you have placed before us and that you would make it completely clear what that task is. God may we be disciplined in being on our faces before you, that as we seek you, you will be found by us. Fall on us. Do a work. Provide our needs. Move in a way you have never moved before. With everything that we have Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. where there is doubt, grant reassurance. where there is pain, grant comfort. where there is confusion, grant clarity. where there is pride, purge us. Break us of everything that is not of you and rebuild us resting solely on who You are. It is not about us God. But about You, and glorifying your name. Glorify your name in us and through us. Make us rest in your strength alone. Not in our capabilities-but in yours. Without you, we can do nothing.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Thank you for the encouragement!!  The Lord really knew we needed it!!