Weekend Update – 2 Samuel, Advent Conspiracy, Moving Forward

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We all are facing different hurdles in life, but we all have much to be thankful for.  This Sunday we’ll be welcoming some of our friends back in town from Thanksgiving break, and moving forward in our desire to be a church radically bent around the gospel. 

We’ll be journeying through 2 Samuel this week, seeing how humanity’s longing for the perfect king has finally been met – in Jesus.  Join us as we worship this king and look to follow him whever he leads.

Don’t forget – Advent Conspiracy is still going on!  Join with us how to move resources towards meeting real kingdom needs.  We’ll be wrapping up on the 6th, so be planning and praying between now and then.

Looking forward to worshipping with you on Sunday!

 

Therefore you are great, O Lord God.  For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.  2 Samuel 7:22

 

 

 

Lessons on Missional Living and Discipleship

Jeff Vanderstelt is one of the leaders of Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington – one of the more intentional missional communities I’ve been exposed to. Recently Jeff did some training for church leaders in Phoenix who passed along some of the lessons they learned from Jeff.

Here are a few:

20. Is the church really equipped? Every church would say, ‘Everyone is a minister’. Few actually structure and live that out. Will we do that?

21. People you disciple need to see you living the gospel out in your real life.

22. Every Missional Community sees themselves as the core of a potential church plant.

23. If you teach people the Word but do not train and equip them to obey it, you have not made a disciple.

24.. The power is not in your status or stature, but in your life. Jeff’s church is around a 1000. Not a megachurch by any means. He is 5 foot nothing. And he does not have a great preaching voice. But I’d listen to him all day because he says what is true, and his life backs it up. Did you hear how he told stories from “last week”. And they were names of people on his street? This isn’t “once upon a time I led this random guy to Christ.”

Read the rest here – would love to hear which of these encourage and challenge you.

Sunday Reflections – November 22, 2009

Two weeks away from Advent Conspiracy – can’t wait to see what God does in us and through us as we take the resources that he’s provided us and invest $10K in the Kingdom. Don’t forget how you can help:

• Pray. Pray through Malachi 3:10 as you consider how you and your family can personally invest in the Advent Conspiracy. Ask the Holy Spirit to ignite radical, passionate generosity in our church.
• Plan. Budget your Christmas expenses and move the money God leads you to invest from spending on each other to investing in local, state-wide, national and global needs. Look for posts this week and next week on the particular projects we’re investing in.
• Pitch In. Be ready to show up on December 6 and celebrate God’s gifts to us and through us. We’re planning out how we want to mark this day in the life of our church – it’s gonna be a great day!

Other thoughts from Sunday:

• Climate controlling a gym is not easy. Thanks to those of you who let us know whether you’re too hot or too cold on a Sunday. We’re finalizing a plan to make the room comfortable for everyone. If you get cold easily, I’d encourage you to bring a sweater or light jacket, thank Jesus for the gift of said sweater or jacket and make much of him with the rest of us.
• I had a good time with the message from I Samuel. I’m amazed at how often God takes the stupid stuff I do, uses it to humble me and turn it into something beautiful.
• Good turnout on what has become one of the lower-attended Sundays of the year for us with UGA students getting an entire week off for Thanksgiving. We love it that so many students have embraced us as their church – and I’m personally blown away when they choose to stay in town like they did on Sunday or make plans to bring their entire family to our Christmas Eve gathering.
• We remain financially bipolar – $11,000 two weeks ago and less than $1,000 last Sunday. It makes us laugh a bit in the office – which we can do because God continues to provide and we continue to learn how to be generous.
• Had a great conversation after the gathering with a man who comes every 6-8 weeks and usually leaves during the sermon because he disagrees with something I say. He came up to let me know that he didn’t have anything to argue with this week and said God was working on him. Let’s continue to pray for all of us to be converted and renewed to Jesus, his community called the church, and the mission he has for us.

Weekend Update – Advent Conspiracy Update, 1 Samuel, How NOT to Be Missional

Looking over the set list and my notes for Sunday’s message from 1 Samuel – I’m a bit stunned by how our God can be ruthlessly passionate about justice while bending over backwards to put grace into our hands.

• Only two weeks until Advent Conspiracy on December 6th. Look for more information on the blog early next week on how your investment will be used in Oconee County, across the state of Georgia and around the world. $10K for the Kingdom! All we want is for you to do your part – pray, plan, pitch in!
• To help you nail down your financial investment in the church in 2010, we’ll be providing cards that allow you to indicate the percentage or dollar amount you’re asking God to provide through you to the church from January-March.
• We’ll have a good number of people on the road because of the Thanksgiving holidays. If you’re gone this weekend, please know that we love you and will miss you.
• Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas present some wrinkles to our lives as we travel and uproot our natural rhythms of daily activity. Don’t let off the gas pedal in your pursuit of God – this season of the year should draw us deeply to God’s pursuit of us through the life and death of Jesus.
• Let me say this a different way – regardless of where we are and what we’re doing for the holidays, there are people around us who are dying and going to hell. Please, please, please – let’s never get that off the radar screen and lose our God-given sense of urgency. We might dress casually but there is absolutely nothing casual about what we do.

Quick Hits

• As we grow in our understanding and practice of missional community, posts like this one by Jonathan Dodson on how NOT to be missional are critical. If you’ve equated mission with social action, evangelism or events – this one’s for you.
• The audio from last week’s Acts 29 bootcamp in Louisville is up. If you’re on the road for Thanksgiving, download these sessions on your iPod or a CD and soak this in.

Resources

• If I had to choose only one book to help me prepare for Christmas during Advent, I’d go with Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, a series of meditations from John Piper, Tim Keller, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, etc. You can pick up a copy for less than $10 here.

 

“I pray, O God, that I may know thee, that I may love thee, so that I may rejoice in thee. And if I cannot do this to the full in this life, at least let me go forward from day to day until that joy comes to fullness.”

Anselm, Proslogion, LCC edition, page 92. (via Ray Ortlund)

Resources on Gospel-Centered Marriage and Dating

Great list of resources by Jonathan Dodson:

Dating

• Articles at Boundless
• Chapter 3 from Mark Driscoll’s Religion Saves: and 9 other misconceptions

• Doing What’s Right in Matters of the Heart/free ebook (Ensor) – eminently practical guide to manhood and womanhood is available
  

Marriage

• Sacred Marriage (Gary Thomas) – argues that marriage is for holiness as much as it is for happiness. Love this quote: “We don’t fall out of love as much as we fall out of repentance.”
• When Sinners Say I Do (Harvey) – heavy on the gospel-centered dynamic between husband and wife
• God, Marriage, & Family (Kostenberger) – uber-biblical, with a twist of practical. Great for reference and finer concerns.
• The Momentary Marriage/free ebook (Piper) – God-centered, biblical, and practical. I really enjoyed this new book by Piper that sets your marriage in the larger context of the glory of God and the mission of the church.
• The Mystery of Marriage (Mason) – more philosophical reflections on marriage. Our copy of this book is legendary. We read it in 2000 and keep bumping into people who have read our copy, and say they love the book. Weird.

• Love that Lasts Riccucis – marital wisdom for a lifetime. The Riccucis are transparent and helpful.

• “First Year Off” (of marriage) – how much time to spend together the first year of marriage. Don’t forsake mission, but don’t forsake one another.
• “How Do Husbands Love Wives?” – cultural and biblical reflections on love
  
• “Marriage: Cynicism and Idolatry” – things that keep us from the joy of marriage
  

You Should Be Learning – Year-End Book Lists

Here are 20 books you should read if you’re in your 20s.

Driscoll talks about three books you should read if you’re a younger adult or care about younger adults – particularly young men.

If you’re Christmas shopping for a man who likes books, this list by CJ Mahaney will help you figure out what to buy him.

Sunday Reflections…on Wednesday – November 15, 2009

Thanks for the prayers, emails, tweets and questions about last week’s Acts 29 Boot Camp in Louisville. This was the most encouraging and helpful boot camp I’ve been a part of – really thankful to be part of such a great network and encouraged particularly by what God’s up to in Georgia.

Let’s talk about Sunday:

• I’m still stunned by the generosity God expressed to us as a church through you. We had some unique expenses that created a need far greater than our normal weekly budget expectations and you went above and beyond those needs! In a two-week period where we needed to bring in $12,000 you invested $14,000 in our church. Thank you.
• We continued our Journey through the Old Testament by walking through the story of Judges – a brutal story that got us to the beauty of a brutalized Jesus. We’ll talk more about this as we get into 1 Samuel this Sunday but these stories remind us that the heroes and kings we lean on in this world can’t hold a candle to our real Hero and King.
• Really fun bluegrass set at the end of the gathering – I’m wondering if there’s a musical genre our band can’t pull off!
• Huge turnout for our community lunch. Great time meeting some new people and watching so many of you meet new people and make some connections we hope will continue in the future.
• I love coaching our community group leaders – stunned by the phenomenal job they’re doing in following the lead of the Holy Spirit as he creates families of missionaries empowered by the gospel.

Couple of quick hits:

• Advent Conspiracy is going down on December 6th. We’re asking you to pray, plan and pitch in as we invest $10K in the Kingdom. More information is coming this week about the specific ways we’re looking to express the generous heart of God to our friends in the community, around the state, across the country and throughout the world. You can start by budgeting for Christmas and investing 50% of what you plan to spend on the needs we’re tackling together through Advent Conspiracy.
• The Christmas Eve gathering is on the books for 5:00pm at WCA. We’ve started working on it and seriously, you don’t want to miss this!

Weekend Update – Community Lunch, There Goes My Hero, Conspire and Commit

Thanks for praying for me while I was in Louisville this week for the Acts 29 Boot Camp. Aaron and I took six of the men from the church and we had a blast. Learned a lot, maybe taught a thing or two and really enjoyed catching up with some friends and assessing two church planters here in Georgia.

Let’s talk about what’s going on around Christ Church:

• Our next Community Lunch is this Sunday after the worship gathering. We are having a potluck lunch and are asking last names A-H bring an extra large main dish, side dish & drink and last names I-Z bring an extra large main dish, dessert & drink. If you’re part of our church – regardless of your life stage – we’d love for you to pitch in with food and help us serve our family and friends from outside the church well.
• Speaking of friends, the Sundays we host a Community Lunch are great days to invite people who aren’t following Christ to come with you to the worship gathering. Just sayin’…
• We’ll be digging around in the book of Judges this week. If the message had a theme song, I’d go with ‘My Hero‘ by Foo Fighters. Their greatest hits album – by the way – is phenomenal.
• Here’s a question to be asking before you show up on Sunday – what do you need most in life? And don’t get super-spiritual on me – some of you want to say Jesus but let’s shuck the corn down the cob and ask what your life says you need the most.
• Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for your generosity last Sunday. We needed $6K and you invested almost $11K in our church. Let’s keep it going by asking God to provide $6K again this week to help us get ahead as we head towards the end of 2009.
• We’re going to keep talking this Sunday about Advent Conspiracy and have some more news about how you can help us plan and prepare for 2010.

Sunday Reflections – November 8, 2009

Getting ready for this week’s Acts 29 Bootcamp in Louisville – looking forward to the opportunity to brag on God’s work at Christ Church to over 400 church planters from across the country. I’m so thankful to Him and incredibly thankful for you.

Here’s what went down yesterday:

• We needed $6K – you graciously invested almost $11K. In one day…you might think God is up to something!
• The story of Joshua reminds us that the way we get into God’s kingdom is the way we stay there. Our journey is not an adventure of trying harder but one that watches God persuade us to trust more deeply.
• The next chapter of your story might include walking away from some bad dreams – or it might mean taking one more step in the great dream of a life with God. Either way, the guide and the goal in that next chapter is Jesus.
• Love it when students bring parents to our worship gathering. It never gets old to see moms and dads thankful to watch their son or daughter take ownership in their spiritual pilgrimage. Thinking about hosting our own parents’ weekend next spring.
• If you weren’t at the hayride last night…no seriously, why weren’t you at the hayride? Because whatever you were doing wasn’t even in the same stratosphere of fun as we had. Tons of people, unevenly cooked hot dogs, great music and conversation. Joe May even threatened to take away people’s salvation if they didn’t square dance – I always knew that guy had more power than he was letting on. Oh, and people rode through the woods on hay. Thanks so much to everyone from Bill Bath’s community group who dreamed up the idea and put it into play.

This week:

• If you’re not in a Fight Club, you need to plug into one or get one started. Email me (madair@c2pca.org) and let me help you.
• Same thing if you’re not in a Community Group – email me and let’s get you locked in somewhere. You need to build your life around other people if you want live well.
• Rumors of two more community groups forming. Truth is we should have about 4-6 more…praying for leaders to develop and then step up and lead.
• Spend time budgeting for Christmas – and then take the rest of the week to pray about investing half of what you plan to spend in Advent Conspiracy (10K for the Kingdom!) and getting creative in how you give gifts to the people closest to you.
• Aaron and Ryan Keck (btw, sweet new Guild he was playing this week!) are heading up to Louisville with me – they’re going to be part of a worship track with some friends at Sojourn Community Church. If you don’t have a copy of Sojourn’s album Over The Grave you must buy it as soon as you can get enough pennies in your piggybank. One of – if not the best – albums of 2009.
• Already starting to work on next week’s message on the book of Judges. What do you need more than anything if you’re going to live the dream of a life with God?

Weekend Update – This Land Is Your Land, Hillbilly Rednecks, 6K

Just finished looking over this Sunday’s message on the book of Joshua. Some of us know some of the stories in the book – a million people crossing an impassible river, the destruction of an entire city by a marching band – but what this story comes down to is a deep desire for land…a place…a home. This is a great story – a story that describes the story of our journey with Christ. Can’t wait to unpack this with you and your friends tomorrow!

We’ll talk some more about Advent Conspiracy – an opportunity God’s opening up for you and me and us to make a greater impact in our community, state and world. We’re asking God to move us to invest $10K towards local needs, worldwide church planting, and one-time expenses we have to keep us rockin’ along in 2010. You need to be in on this – what an incredible way to watch God work. Start by figuring out how much money you’ll spend on gifts this Christmas and talk with your family about using half of that money for Advent Conspiracy – it will help you be more creative and intentional in giving gifts and free up financial resources for God’s kingdom. That’s a win all the way around!

Don’t forget the Hayride this Sunday at 4:30 at Bill and Joanne Bath’s place – check out the blog post below for more details. But seriously – s’mores, hay, square dancing and bluegrass music. So get your hillbilly redneck on and bring a friend or three.

Quick Hits:

• Our next Community Lunch is Sunday, November 15th. I’m hearing rumors of a Thanksgiving-themed meal…look for more details early next week.
• Two big financial weeks in front of us – because of some annual one-time expenses we need to bring in $6,000 this Sunday AND next Sunday. Your part is simple: pray, assess what you need to give, and let’s take care of business.
• Great job by some of our high school students at last Thursday’s ‘Faith on the Field’ event in Oconee County.
• I’ll be speaking at the Acts 29 boot camp in Louisville next week. Would love for you to pray for me, Aaron and the six other men who are going with us on Monday.

Resources:

• Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods is one of my favorite books of the year.
• As we make our way through the Old Testament, Mark Dever’s book Promises Made will give you a great overview of the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi.