First, I want to sincerely thank every one of you who have been praying for me and for OVCF over the past couple of months concerning out move.  I have told the folks more than once that what we did in somewhere around two months often takes church planters up to a year to prepare for.  The transition to the new offices went smoothly and even the hook-up of the phones and internet went fairly well.  I described that here. I am still looking for things since I still have a makeshift office.  The desk came late yesterday afternoon so I think once that is put together I will seem to be in a much more permanent situation.  But I was really struck by how well the people adapted to the two services, in spite of it being a new experience for most of them.  I am convinced that much of that was because of your prayers.

Second, I know you have been in suspense to know what I chose to do with our Mission Statement.    I cannot tell you how invaluable it was to hear from so many of you, especially from those who are part of OVCF.  It made me stop and think and pray hard about what I was going to say and the influence it would have on others.  I shared with the people the new Mission Statement: “Love God…Love People…Make a Difference.” It is a good progression of thought.  If you love God and if you love people then you will make a difference in peoples’ lives.  Funny thing happened afterwards.  Dan Drewes, who designed my blog header as well as the church’s header and logo, was walking out when I said, “Hey Dan.  You know what this means?”  He looked at me and said, “Yeah.  Love God…Love People…Change the Banner.”    I am glad he was such a good sport about it!!

Several years ago I wanted to convey to the people how we were going to attempt to share our mission with others.  I see the Mission as “what we want to do” and the Vision as “how we plan to accomplish it.”  So I put together a PEACE PLAN that made it pretty simple to see and understand.  I shared it with the folks Sunday.  For some it was a review.  For others it was a great way to introduce some core values of OVCF.  Here is what the PEACE Plan is:

Proclaim the authority of God’s Word without compromise. This is a non-negotiable.  Biblical preaching is not preaching about the Bible, but preaching the Bible.  Methods may change but the message never will.  I see Biblical preaching being substituted for on the altar of “relevancy” and being hacked to pieces by people who claim to be God’s messengers (shysters).  There is no substitute for well-grounded people.

Exalt Christ through worship. Worship is declaring God’s worth.  It is being aware of an audience of ONE.  While some may not like changes that take place in the way things are done, in the end we really only have one person to please.  The people sitting in our chairs must take that same approach.

Accept the Imperfect. Honestly, is there any other kind?  A couple of years ago I preached a whole series on No Perfect People Allowed. We are all imperfect, broken.  We are all a mess.  It is not our job to fix people or to change them.  That is best left to the One who can.  We need to provide a place where hurting people can be healed.  We need to let people know God is not their enemy.

Compassion in Action. Compassion is not compassion until it is seen in action.  What good is it if we say “be warm and be fed” but do nothing to alleviate their concerns?  In the old way of thinking God preferred to hang out at church with His people.  The degree of devotion was centered on church and activities.  The new way of thinking is that the target of God’s redemptive love is the world not the church.  We don’t go to church. We are the church.

Equip to Serve. God gave specific gifts to specific people.  To some He gave leadership responsibilities (Eph.4: 11-12).  To others He gave other gifts.  We need to function in the body according to our gifts.

There is so much more I could have said but time limited that.   Got any thoughts?  Can it be tweaked any?  Is there any one aspect that resonates within you?  As  most things it is a work in progress so I am not opposed to hearing other views.  Let me know what you think?  One more question: does your church fellowship practice these?  Do you?  Oops now I have gone and asked two more.  Have a great day!

I am posting this early Sunday in the hopes that maybe some of you may get this and remember to include it in your prayers today.  We will be taking off for Ohio following our morning worship experience to see our grandson and his parents.  Oh yeah…also to take Jo’s truck to our son-in-law.  Jason had been laid off from his job since November or December (sorry can’t remember for certain) and God has been good to bring odds and ends jobs to him.  To compound the issue our daughter’s job at the daycare was eliminated  (lack of funds) so they have had some “close” months.  However, God has always provided… which is cool!  The good news is that Jason has a job.  The bad news is that it is at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina.  We are taking the truck to Ohio for him to use while he is gone.  (The real reason, of course, is to see our grandson).  I will be back, Lord willing, late afternoon on Monday.

But while that is a praise and a request (for safe travel for us and for him), the real reason for the request involves the church I pastor, Owen Valley Christian Fellowship.  Ever since its inception, OVCF has used the Owen Valley Sports Complex as its meeting place.  Each year the rental agreement has been a hassle, except last year (due to the flood).  Two years ago we thought we had moved to the Middle School until two months in when they called me into the office to tell me that we had to leave.  Something about “when we said the community could use the school we didn’t mean permanently.” Well, this year the complex has raised our rent to $1000/month and taken away our Wednesday usage.  We have always had the complex on Sunday and Wednesday from (get this) 12:01-11:59.  Even though that seemed silly we were content because it was available when we needed it.  The new contract wants to take away our Wednesday.  We have an afterschool program, sign class, our monthly pitch-in, and offer it to Campus Life free of charge.  This is unacceptable to us so we have looked high and low, even contacting other churches to share their building with us (SDA who use theirs on Saturday).  So far, every road has been a dead end.  The old National Guard Armory sits empty, an albatross around the neck of the county (it was given to them), and we have asked for it to be “given” to us.  It has no AC and utility bills of $3000/month.  However, we have offered to remodel it, making it energy-efficient and so far we have received negative responses.  Their next meeting is not until June 1 (the day our lease is due to be signed).  My prayer request is three-fold:

• That we would exhibit a Christ-like spirit in all our dealings.
• God would open some/a door and we will recognize that open door.
• That we would have the wisdom to make the decision that is best for OVCF and honors God.

If we have to “bow” to the demands of the new complex contract, then I am willing to accept that.  It is not my choice but this is not about me anyway. It is about a place for us to worship.   I am asking you to include OVCF (and me) in your prayers.  Thanks ahead of time.

Now…how can I pray for you?

Yesterday we started a new era at OVCF.  Our youth/worship pastor resigned after 4 1/2 years to pursue God’s calling on his life in other areas.  So that left us with a “new thing,” something we hadn’t had to do in all those years…figure out what to do with the worship experience.   A couple of weeks ago I began to get an initial team together and to have the secretary with me in picking music   {Note to reader: I love music. I love worship.  I don’t sing or lead music.}  Needless to say that presented an interesting challenge for me but one I felt God needed me to spearhead until He led the right person to take over this task from me.  Our first worship experience was yesterday and I am pleased to say that God was honored.  I was so thrilled how the worship  team came together and lead us in worship.  To use an overused word: awesome!   In the afternoon I met with those who were interested in playing or singing as part of a worship team.  The response was overwhelming and some who wanted to be there couldn’t.  I shared with them some of my thoughts on worship.  I thought I would share some of them in this post.

Worship is not so much about engaging with people as it is engaging with God. I/we are there to meet with God and to worship Him.  As someone has said, “If you meet me and forget me you have lost nothing.  But if you meet Jesus and forget Him you have lost everything.”  If I succeed in engaging with people but neither I nor those in the audience engage with God our attempt at worship was a failure.

True worship always forgets itself.  It is not about me or the singer or the instrument or men’s applause.  It is about Him.  Worship is to be from the overflow of the heart.

Matt Redman makes a great distinction in his book, The Unquenchable Worshiper. He says there is a difference between a worship leader and a lead worshiper. God is looking for lead worshipers not worship leaders.  A worship leader stands up to lead songs.  A lead worshiper leads the people into worship because he himself is in worship.

Leonard Bernstein was once asked, “What is the most difficult instrument to play?”  He replied, “2nd violin… because everyone wants to be 1st violin.”   That speaks volumes.  A rewording of someone’s statement would be this:  “There is no telling how far a church can go and what it can do if no one cares who gets the credit.”

Words in green are from Matt Redman’s book.

I hope your worship experience yesterday was filled with victory.  What are you ideas of worship?  If you care to share, I care to hear.

Do you remember the old way of distinguishing groups and generations of people?  Frankly, I could never remember the dividing lines between Yuppies, Gen X, Gen, Y, Gen Z and all the other Gens in between and beyond.  My head swam with trying to figure out target groups and needs of a certain generation when I had trouble knowing what generation they were from/in.  Well…I have some new ones for you.  If you have read Church Unique by Will Mancini you will have read these and may even remember them.  If not, then good!  I am going to give you some groups and I am going to ask you to guess what they stand for.  Then I am going to make some comments before I give you the answers.  Have some fun and try to figure out what they stand for before you read my answer.  Okay here they are and I am going to ask you in the form of a question:  Are you or do you know a Muppy, a Dinky, a Glam, a Sitcom, or a Sadfab?  I know the cynic in me wants to be well..cynical and say sure.  A Muppy is a young muppet.  A Dinky is something small.  A Glam is an 80s rocker.  A Sitcom is someone who sits in front of the TV and watches…what else?…sitcoms!  And a Sadfab is someone who used to look fabulous but the ravages of time have made a sad spectacle.  Here is a hint: Each letter does stand for something, i.e. Yuppie stood for Young Urban Professional (who liked pie).  So get your best “guesser” on and take a stab.

Now for some thoughts.  In about 6 weeks the leadership of OVCF will be getting away on a Friday night/Saturday morning for a Leadership Advance (why do we call it a Retreat?).   It has been almost a year to the day that we last took time away to pray, think, brainstorm and strategize. We came away with a new mission for OVCF: Love God…Love People. Over the past few months, as I have been praying and thinking and reading and listening I have come to the conclusion that it is insufficient.  So on Feb.15th I will be introducing  Love God…Love People…Impact the World. The old mission was fine and definitely shared the heart of OVCF.  But I began to feel it was incomplete.  Hence the reason for the addition.  I believe it is more complete.   But even though OVCF is located in a fairly staid community, the needs of the people are expanding.  We have to be able to meet those needs as best we can.  But we don’t want to be a copy of another church, repeat another church’s ministry, nor try to reinvent the wheel.  OVCF needs to be OVCF.  Nothing more, nothing less.  As I have heard and read so much lately: OVCF needs to find its own DNA and reproduce that.  We need to ask and find out what we are good at.  What we do best and focus on those things.  We definitely will be investigating that at the Advance.

Enough for now.  I am going to give you the answer to the names given by marketers to these new groups of people.  I think they are humorous but then again, you may not appreciate my humor (which sometimes can be off the wall).  Okay…here they are:

• MUPPY: Middle-aged Urban Professional
• DINKY:  Dual Income, No Kids Yet
• GLAMS: Graying, Leisured, Affluent, Married
• SITCOM: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage
• SADFAB: Single And Desperate For A Baby

How many did you get right?  More than that: I would like to hear your thoughts on where you feel the church is today in your eyes.