Weekend Update – Time Change, UGA Fall Break, Living The Dream

Don’t forget to turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night – that means you get an extra hour of sleep and therefore have one more piece of evidence that God loves you.

For those of you on Fall Break at UGA this weekend – the rest of us hope you enjoy the break, get some rest and leave people wanting more of Jesus because your life serves as a magnet to him.

If you’re in town on Sunday, you’re going to love what we’re doing this week – the band’s playing a stripped-down acoustic set (including songs like Come Thou Fount, Blessed Assurance, The Power of the Cross, and Mighty to Save), we’re going to lay out an opportunity this Christmas season that I believe will take our church to new heights of love and generosity, and we’ll talk about ‘living the dream‘ from the story of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.

Oh, and if you’re going to go to all the trouble to come out and be part of the gathering on Sunday, you might as well bring someone with you who’s not part of our church.

Some quick hits:

• Thanks so much for your financial generosity – this is the toughest economic climate our church has ever faced and you’ve covered over 90% of our current year budget! I can’t encourage you enough to keep up the good work.
• If you’re a bit behind on your regular giving this year, we’d love to have you catch up this Sunday and next Sunday. We have some large one-time expenses that are due (such as the annual tax assessment on the property we own) and need to bring in $10,369 which is about $2,000 more than we normally average over two weeks.
• We’re giving men permission to be men – this Wednesday night at my place from 7-9pm.
• We’re hosting a hayride next Sunday, November 8 at Bill and Joanne Bath’s house beginning at 4:30. Check out the blog next week for more details – today, all you need is to have the date locked in on your calendar.
• Our next community lunch is Sunday, November 15 after our worship gathering. More details coming soon.

Resources

• Process this week’s sermon by picking up a copy of Tim Keller’s  new book, Counterfeit Gods
• What is the gospel and how does it work out in your life? Take a look at Gospel-Centered Life for $1 – contact the church office at office@c2pca.org
• Living missionally is not about chasing down a series of events – walk through the TK Primer with your community group or a handful of friends. This will change your life in the best of ways…

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New Teaching Series – The Journey

You were created for a ferocious drama and have been sucked into a ridiculous game – your kids, your dreams of romance, or an actual game like football or soccer. You can’t see anything more than what’s around you and your passions have become shrink-wrapped to the size and scope of your life.

When Jesus Christ came to earth, he reminded us that we were created for a king and a kingdom – that our lives are about making much of the Great King as we wait for his Kingdom to saturate this world. This is our great hope and our deepest desire – a hope and a desire that extends from the beginning of time and shapes the story of the world that is told in what we call the Old Testament.

So this might sound weird – but if our future is going to turn out brilliantly, we have to walk backwards and remember how we got here in the first place. So for the next four months we’re going to tell the story of the Old Testament – to remember what our Great God has done in the past, to see where he’s taking us in the days ahead, and to reshape life into something we’ve always dreamed about but never thought was remotely possible.

This is our life – our journey…waiting for a King and his Kingdom.

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Expectation Reminder and Graphic

I want to remind everyone about the night of musical Worship and Prayer.  On October 24th 7p.m. We will have another night of music and art. You do not want to miss this night.  Child Care will be provided. Please let Jared Bryant know if your family will be using the nursery. Email him at jbryant@c2pca.org

It will be a night focused around celebrating the person and work of Jesus. We will spend time praying together and singing together.

Feel free to take this graphic and make it your picture on facebook or twitter.  

The graphic is here.

Revelation 22:20 “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 

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Parents and Children: Our Approach

We want to partner with parents in the spiritual formation of their children by:

• Developing parents (50% of our efforts)
• Resourcing parents (30%-40%)
• Developing and resourcing children (10%-20%)

I’m not sure if those percentages are deadly accurate but you get the point – the vast majority of our work with parents and children is focused on mom and dad. Why?

• Because parents have up to 50 times more interaction with their kids during the week then we’ll ever have in the local church.
• Because the current paradigm of ministry to children and students simply doesn’t work – both statistically and anecdotally, the dropout rate of students from the local church once they finish high school is upwards of 70%.
• Because parents – particularly dads – have gladly abdicated their role and responsibility in the formation of their sons and daughters. We refuse to be complicit to this kind of ongoing pattern.

What does that mean for us? We’re still working through the details and really want your involvement in that process. If you’d like to help us think this through and plan out what’s ahead of us, drop a note to Jared Bryant, director of ministry to parents and children, at jbryant@c2pca.org.

We understand that this approach bucks convention – but we believe a better path lies ahead for you and your kids as we take steps in this direction.

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