Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Full Engagement Step 1 - Prayer

Last week we started a new series called Full Engagement! God wants us to be fully engaged in making disciples who worship Him, grow in Him, serve Him, and reach others for Him!

For the last eight months I have been praying with many of you in our church and asking God the question, “What will it take for us to go to the next level as a disciple-making church?”

The first and most important step is prayer. The Bible says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer…” Colossians 4:2

Why is prayer so important?

Unless God is at work in us, all of our labor is vain. Our very best efforts are meaningless without His blessing.

But the kind of prayer that God blesses, isn’t just an occasional plea to Him to “bless our church.” The Scripture says that we are to “continue steadfastly in prayer.”

What does it mean to “continue steadfastly?”

It means to be fully engaged! We are to be diligent. We are to never give up. If prayer falls off our radar or we lose focus, we must recommit ourselves to the work at hand.

We need to “continue steadfastly in prayer” because it is a great work that we do when we ask God to do what only He can do!

What would happen in and through the ministries of our church, if we had 150 people praying daily with this kind of full engagement? How might God work? Wouldn’t it be exciting to see!

I would like to encourage you to take ten minutes right now to walk away from your email and pray! Ask God to make you into a man or woman of prayer! Ask God to raise up a company of people in our church who “continue steadfastly in prayer!” Ask God to prepare our hearts to do whatever is necessary to go to the next level as a disciple-making church!

Warmly in Christ,

Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Immanuel - God Is With Us!

On Saturday morning we had a special Christmas celebration as a family with my parents and sister who were visiting from Little Rock. As much as we enjoyed giving and receiving gifts, the greatest joy was just being able to be together!

The message of Christmas is a joyful message of togetherness ...

"Immanuel" means "God is with us!"

God the Son - infinite in every way with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit - crossed the threshold of eternity and took on the fullness of our humanity, except without sin.

It is because Christ is fully God, fully man, and without sin, that He is also the perfect sacrifice for our sin. And it is because of His sacrifice that we can have the joy of togetherness with God.

I hope that you will come and join us as we celebrate together the birth of Christ on Sunday, December 21, at 10:00 a.m. and again on Wednesday, December 24, at 6:00 p.m.

Warmly in Christ,


Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Reach Others For Him!

God wants us to worship Him, grow in Him, serve Him, and reach others for Him!

On Tuesday night some of the women of our church hosted our annual Ladies Christmas Tea. This year's speaker, Sharon Allen, told her story of how she became a Christian. She then shared with the women present about how they could make the same decision to follow Christ.

Seven women indicated that they made the decision to follow Christ, and one other woman said that she wanted to talk with someone further about committing her life to Christ!

Tomorrow night about 100 people will gather at our church for the Solano Warrior's (my son's football team) end of the year party. We will be giving away about 50 New Testaments published by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and 33 copies of Facing the Giants - an evangelistic film about football. Pray that God will use the gifts of New Testaments and DVDs to reach at least one of these young men for Christ!

Thanks to all of you who are serving with us to help reach others for Christ!

Warmly in Christ,


Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Serve Him!

Do you want to experience God's blessing in your life? Do you want God to pour out His goodness on you in overwhelming measure?

I think most of us would answer both of those questions in the affirmative.

Recently I have written some about where we are going as a church.

I have said that God wants us to...

Worship Him, Grow in Him, Serve Him, and Reach Others for Him!

Serving should be thought of as more than filling a slot in a ministry org-chart or calendar. Serving should be thought of as a powerful way of relating and loving others.

In John 13, Jesus was about to celebrate Passover with His disciples. But there was no one available to wash their feet - a job normally reserved for the most humble of slaves. Certainly it was a job that was too humiliating and unworthy of any of the disciples!

Jesus didn't stop and take a spiritual gift inventory and then evaluate the opportunity based upon His giftedness. He didn't spend days praying over the commitment. Instead He saw the need and rose to or - perhaps better said - humbled Himself for the occasion and washed the feet of His disciples.

True servants see needs and seize opportunities! (Galatians 6:10)

After serving in this very humble manner Jesus says something like this to His disciples, "I have given you an example. You should do for each other as I have done for you. I am the Master and you are My servants. If I as the Master serve you, certainly you should serve each other. Now you understand My concerns. But you will only be blessed if you serve each other as I have served you!" (John 13:1 - 17)

What drives how you and I serve will determine whether or not we are blessed in the serving.

So how can a person get started in serving God through the ministries of our church?
You can be a greeter on Sunday mornings or help with refreshments.
You can help run sound or multi-media if you are tech-savvy.
You can serve as a worker or teacher in the children's ministries or student ministries.
You can host or facilitate a 2:42 Group or small group.
You can serve on the worship team as a musician or vocalist.
You can feed, shelter, and give the homeless a message of hope through Nomadic Sheltering.
But there is one thing you can't do and expect to experience God's blessing. You cannot simply sit back and do little or nothing.

Jesus has given us an example to follow! We will only be blessed if we do it!

Warmly in Christ,


Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

VOTE!

Today we will elect a new president and vote on some very important propositions.

The mission of the church is not to elect the “right president.” It is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

As followers of Christ, God wants us to be good citizens. But ultimately our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). Our greatest loyalty must not be to a political party or ideal. Our greatest loyalty must be to Christ (Matthew 16:24-26)!

Last night I was in the middle of a lot of people talking politics where my political views were definitely in the minority. I tried to listen well and hold my tongue.

I have very strong political opinions, but I reserve most political discussion for my family and closest friends. With everyone else I try to point out that all change without a change of heart is superficial. Our principle concern shouldn’t be over who occupies the White House, but who reigns in our hearts!

Most of us, if not all, want an honorable peace in the Middle East and we want to bring our young men and women home safely. But the ultimate reason for all war is that there is violence in our hearts. And only Christ can change the heart!

Most of us, if not all, want a stronger economy. But a lot of the mess in our economy is due to greed in our hearts. And only Christ can change the heart!

Most of us, if not all, want cleaner, less expensive, and renewable sources of energy. But only Christ, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, can release God’s power in abundant measure that cleans our hearts from the inside out!

Today, I hope you will vote. But more importantly, I hope you will invest your life in following Christ and being a change-agent for Him in our world (Acts 1:8)! This should be the mission of every person who calls Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.

Next week I hope to share more with you about where God is leading us as a church.

Warmly in Christ,

Pastor Gary

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Grow In Him!

Wouldn't it be great if you could grow into a "Spiritual Champion" simply by showing up for church and listening to inspiring sermons? Wouldn't it be great if you were automatically patient with your children, kind to your spouse, and never tempted to watch too much TV, eat too much dinner, or visit a compromising website?

How many Olympic champions have become the best in the world in what they do, by doing little more than listening to motivational talks by inspiring speakers?

Over the last couple of weeks I have been saying God hasn't called us to make church-people busy with church activity. He has called us to make disciples! (Matthew 28:19-20)

God wants us to worship Him, grow in Him, serve Him, and reach others for Him! Growing in Christ isn't the result of simply attending inspiring services.

Growth isn't a work we do. It is a work that God does in us (Philippians 1:6). But it is a work of God that we must cooperate with and be fully engaged in (Philippians 2:12-13).

Paul reminds us that a passive approach to anything "Christian" destines us to failure.

"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (NIV)

If we are to grow, we need healthy and holy connection with God's people where we build friendships for spiritual encouragement and accountability to train like champions for the purpose of godliness and growth in Christ-like character. (1 Timothy 4:7-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)

One of the things that I want to see happen in our church is the emergence of dozens of 2:42 Groups (Acts 2:42) that encourage life-changing spiritual growth! I want to see groups shift from a focus on being "small" to being "2:42 Communities" where people continually devote themselves to the word of God and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer! I want to see groups where people experience God's grace, love, and power for spiritual transformation!

Warmly in Christ,

Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Friday, October 17, 2008

Worship Him!

Last week I wrote to you that God hasn't called us to make church-people busy with church activity. He has called us to make disciples! (Matthew 28:19-20)

I also told you about how we have been praying and asking God about the steps He wants us to take to go to the next level as a disciple-making church.

God wants us to worship Him, to grow in Him, to serve Him, and to reach others for Him!

Some people think of worship as a service they attend once a week on Sunday mornings. But there is more to worship than just giving God a one-hour slice of our week.

Worship is not a service that the church provides for people to watch and listen to, like they might go to a concert, movie, or sporting event. Worship is a service that we individually and collectively give to God.

Romans 12:1 says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

When we think of and practice worship as the full surrender of our lives to a merciful God, then we take the first step toward becoming a more effective disciple-making church!

Warmly in Christ,

Pastor Gary
Acts 20:24

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Making Disciples

God hasn't called us to make church-people busy with church activity. He has called us to make disciples! (Matthew 28:19-20)

A disciple isn't a religious nut who wears a long robe, sports a long beard, and carries a 20-pound King James Bible. He is a person who embraces self-denial, sacrifice, and even death to follow Christ, but discovers hope, meaning, joy, and abundance in the journey and in the end, eternal life. (Matthew 16:24-26; Mark 10:28-31)

So how do we go to the next level as a disciple-making church?

In July of this year I asked three people to lead three teams to prayerfully consider what it will take for us to become a more effective, disciple-making church and to draft a plan that would answer the question above.

At the end of August, these three teams came together to present their proposals and interact with one another.

Since that time, I have met repeatedly with Steve Acord, Joy Rounsavall, Matt Skinner, Tessa Valle, and Johnny Wilson to glean some of the best ideas from the team proposals and prayerfully put them together in a unified ministry plan that we believe can help guide us to the next level as a disciple-making church.

Over the next few weeks I would like to share with you some of the ideas that have come out of this process.

Warmly in Christ,

Pastor Gary

Acts 20:24

Sunday, June 15, 2008

In recent months I have felt like God has wanted me to rethink several aspects of ministry in our church. I want to have three teams of people to ask and answer the question, "How do we take our church to the next level as a disciple-making church?"

I want to have three groups to encourage greater participation and diversity of thought.

There are several things I want them to keep in mind as they try to answer this question.

1. I want them to think like missionaries and not like “club-members.” Matthew 9:9-13

We want to engage the lost of our community on their turf where they are comfortable, rather than waiting for them to come on ours where we are comfortable. This means serving our community in a way that builds trust and opportunities to proclaim the gospel.

2. I want them to focus on disciple-making over crowd-gathering. Matthew 28:19-20

Our challenge is to change lives and not just attract numbers. This means that we want our people to understand and practice things like whole-life stewardship. We want our people to follow Christ – to surrender their time, talent, treasure, thinking, and testimony to Him. We want people to follow Christ and use every resource that He has entrusted them to bring others to Him.

3. I want them to think relationship-building over event-planning and programming. John 13:34-35

This doesn’t mean that events and programs are bad. But relationships are key for true disciple-making. “You can impress people from a distance, but you can only impact them up close.” Howard Hendricks

We must not confuse busy-ness in church activities with spiritual growth and discipleship. (Our aim is to make disciples and not just make church-people busy with church-activity. This may mean some – perhaps even many – programs must go.)

4. I want them to think multiplication over simple addition. 2 Timothy 2:1-2

How do we multiply ministry by reproducing leaders? “He who does the work is not so profitably employeed as he who multiplies the doers.”

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

If I could do it all over again...

Seventeen years ago I was a young seminary student, engaged to be married, and excited about “changing the world!” I wanted – and still do – to spend the rest of my life with Joy planting a church that makes disciples, making disciples that plant churches, and planting churches to reach our world!

Since moving to Fairfield, I’ve done a few things right and a few things wrong.

So what have I done right?

1. About six or seven years ago I started consistently taking my Fridays off and taking a short ride over to Napa with Joy. Getting out of town and spending time with Joy helped me detach from the ministry and focus on deepening our marriage. Now my Fridays with Joy are the most treasured part of my week.

2. About four or five years ago we challenged the people of our church to transition away from being primarily a Sunday-morning event to become a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day disciple-making church that is reaching our community and our world one person at a time. It hasn’t been easy. A lot of people left the church. But we saw a lot of other people grow in a heart-deep commitment to Christ.

3. About three years ago we were facing some financial challenges. It didn’t look like we were going to be able to meet all of our commitments in the coming months. I felt like the unstated mission of our church had become survival instead of seeking and saving the lost…instead serving others with a sacrificial spirit. So we decided to do something reckless. We decided if we were going to crash and burn, we might as well crash and burn doing something we believed in. So we gave away an entire week’s offering to help plant a new church. Three years have passed, the economy hasn’t been the greatest, but we’re still paying our bills and we still haven’t crashed and burned.

So what would I do differently?

1. I would have spent less time watching TV and playing computer games for relaxation and more time reading, reflecting, writing, bike-riding, hiking, or just sitting in the backyard enjoying a cup of coffee with Joy!

2. I would have been less concerned with attracting a crowd and more concerned with serving – really serving – a community!

3. I would have spent less energy trying to please people and more energy on challenging people to follow Christ and bring others to Him!

4. I would have been less concerned with the survival of our church and more concerned with multiplying new churches!

In some ways I grieve because we still haven’t become what God wants us to be as a church. I believe, in part, because of many of the things that I have done and haven’t done mentioned above. I want to invest what is left of my life in leading our church in making disciples, making disciples that plant churches, and planting churches to reach our world!


**********

The other day I was wiriting a few thoughts about what the church is. So what does Jesus say to us about the church and being the church in the world?

“…I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

So what is a disciple?


  • Disciples aren’t just a bunch of pewsitters wanting to be “fed!” Nor are they people who live in a bubble of religious activity trying to hide from the world! A disciple is someone who abandons everything dear in this life to follow Christ, only to find that nothing on this side of heaven can compare with what we find in Him!

    Jesus said,

    “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

  • A disciple is someone who follows Christ and brings others to Him!

    Jesus said,

    “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19


Friday, April 11, 2008

Thoughts about church as it is and can be

Yesterday I ran into a friend of mine at a baseball game. I have been praying for him for about seven or eight years. I invited him to church on Sunday and told him I'm doing a message for people who don't yet believe in God , but are spiritually open. Like so many other people, my friend said that he believes in God he's just not too crazy about the church. When I asked why, he said it was mostly the money thing. Even the last time he was in church they were talking about tithing.

I told him the Bible says a lot about money, so it's kind of hard not to talk about it as a pastor. But the Bible says a lot more about money besides giving. God wants us to please Him not just with how and what we give, but how we spend, save, and earn as well.

From there our conversation went to a book I'm reading - Bob Roberts The Multiplying Church. I commented that a lot of people in the church are hungry for change. In Bob's book he tells us that the church in the west may have more to learn from the church in the east, than the other way around. So my buddy asked if he could read the book after I finish.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

As I was thinking about my conversation with my friend I realized how similar we are. My buddy didn't like the church so he gave up on it - at least for the time being. I didn't like the church, but I was much more arrogant and presumptuous so I became a church-planter. The truth is, we have been deeply dissatisfied with the status quo.

After reading the first couple of chapters of Roberts book I decided to work again on my definition. I am sure that my definition was and still is inadequate. But this is what I'm thinking as of now: "The church - local church - is a group of people who share a common devotion for God, who are committed to following Christ together, and who want to be a powerful force for good and dynamic witnesses for Christ as they live lives led and directed by the Holy Spirit. They are people who believe they are stronger together because of how God is working in and through them. They have a passion for reaching their community and world one person at a time. And they are content with nothing less than changed lives - theirs and others."

Monday, April 7, 2008

News from Hungary

This blogging stuff is still new to me. I'm still not sure what to say.

Earlier today I read an email from a friend of mine in Hungary. I met him back in 1980 when I spent a year in Hungary doing missionary work. Pishta wrote me to tell me that his mom died. She was 82.

I remember Pishta's parents. They couldn't speak English and my Hungarian was horrible so I really didn't have the patience to try and pursue a conversation with them. I don't know the stories of Pishta's parents, but I know they lived through the years of World War 2 and probably a lot of other hard years I don't know about. I'm sure they could have told me a lot of great stories if I had the wisdom and patience to ask and listen.

I have a lot more appreciation and respect for their generation now, than I did then.

Friday, April 4, 2008

I have recently been thinking about what makes Christianity Christian. A lot of people or groups may claim to be Christian, but what are the central, core, defining beliefs that most Christians - if not all - have claimed over the last two thousand years?

I am currently preaching on this subject on Sunday mornings and I have been using the Apostles' Creed. I have always wondered how you take the one thousand-plus pages of material, that we call the Bible, and reduce it to a two to three page statement of faith.

The Apostles' Creed has been used by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, as well as many other Christian denominations as a starting point of defining much of the essential beliefs of the Christian faith.

I like Alistair McGrath's version in his book I Believe:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.