Clear Creek Celebration!

Here are my notes from the Clear Creek Celebration last night.

What do we celebrate? We celebrate progress, commitment, sacrifices of character. We don't have to be told to celebrate when we see things being done the way they "ought to" be done.

Attendance:

Average attendance:
EB CS
2008 3111 572
2009 3480 4??

Community = 20,000+
Sunday crowd = 2000
Attenders = 3000
Committed = 1400
Core = 500

Healthy balance of servers to attenders.

Clear Springs campus won't grow without personal invitations and relationships. Our life is a circle of responsibility. It is providential who you have proximity to. Need to be proactive about Conversations and Invitations.

Goal = 1000 in attendance at Clear Springs by March 2010. We all own that, not just Clear Springs. We all need to invite people we know all over the Bay Area. We are one church in two locations.

Groups:

We can't be the church to you if you're not in a group. Community is the best atmosphere for making disciples. We do that by using the "7 G's" (Glorify, Grace, Growth, Group, Good Stewardship, Gifts, Go). In a group you are naturally challenged to move from consumer to contributor. Do you have those "2am friends?" Be a Paul / Barnabas (pouring into people, challenging them to grow).

1422 Adults in group
222 Navigators (group leaders)

Goal = 250 Navigators by March 2010.

Helping people in need:

IKE Assist : IKE came and YOU assisted.

We helped 100+ families last year with $82,000 through our People In Need Fund.

Church planters used $131,000

• Ukraine
  
• Cuba

Church has left the building (March 15) - We're not canceling service, we are moving service!

Goal = 100% of groups serving outside the church.

Volunteers:

884 committed volunteers on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Goal = 2400 by March 2010

What's next?

Move into our new kids building by Aug 2009
Aug 2010 - Start a third campus

If you think that's too big of a goal "what are we going to do with our lives?!?" We need to resist the tendency to "get comfortable." Take a risk, be uncomfortable, be daring.

Bruce concluded by reading "I stand by the door." I loved it, so I will post it here for you to read.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!


I Stand at the Door

By Sam Shoemaker (from the Oxford Group)

I stand by the door.
I neither go to far in, nor stay to far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.

Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.

Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.

'I had rather be a door-keeper
So I stand by the door.

The Power of Support

I had the honor of attending the Superior Achievement and Recognition Award (SARA) ceremony with a friend from United Space Alliance last night in Galveston, TX. The accolades and accomplishments of the selected winners were quite impressive! I wanted to share one highlight of the evening with you. The keynote speech was given by Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon who reminded all the SARA recipients to thank their spouses. Without support at home, we would be so much less likely to do the amazing things we do. He shared the story that his wife went home to visit her family and ran into her high school boyfriend who is a restaurant manager. Shannon commented, "It's a noble profession. We need those! But then I got cocky." He proceeded to ask his wife, "Aren't you glad you married me? I'm the Shuttle Program Manager!" To which she responded, unblinking, "Well, honey, if I would have married him... he would be the Space Shuttle Program Manager!"

So, to my dear family and friends who have pushed me to pursue my dreams of working in the space program: Thank you! I wouldn't be here without your continued support!

How Majestic is Your Name!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you have probably heard that my church (Clear Creek Community Church) has asked us to commit to reading the Bible 15 minutes a day which will put us through the Old Testament once, Psalms twice, and the New Testament twice. There is a very useful website that CCCC put together at www.gettingthebible.com which contains a plethora of resources including old test / new test overviews, how the Bible was formed, an article about translations, and the daily readings.

The daily readings can come to you through RSS, email, iCal, etc... or you can just view it online. They are pulling out all the stops to make it easy for you to commit to reading the Bible in a year! It may seem like a daunting task but there are many benefits to taking on the challenge. See Hebrews 4:12, John 8:31-32, and 1 Timothy 2:16-17 for a sample!

Another resource you may find useful is the daily / weekly exposition of the Bible through my friend, Christopher Nelson, at www.christopherlnelson.com. Chris is doing a fantastic job of blogging about general overview information to help you as you read each book and also digging in deeper while pondering the tougher questions that may have come up in your mind as you read.

Having said all that... I hope you will join me in reading through the Bible!

I'd like to share a highlight from today's reading. The Psalm reading for today is one of my favorites (Psalm 8)! The words have been put to music many times. After you read it, you'll see why!

Psalm 8

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Forgiveness

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"...and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us..."
Jesus, Luke 11:4

There is pain - real pain - caused by close friends, relatives. Sometimes it's harder to forgive our friends than our enemies. We're human... we hurt each other all the time. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not. I think most of us know we should forgive, but sometimes we think we can't possibly forgive or we try to tell ourselves we've forgiven someone but we still shut them out of our lives or refuse to talk to them again....that's not forgiveness.

Even if you're not a Christian, forgiveness still applies to you. When we don't forgive, it's like a poison. It eats at us, steals our joy, and prevents us from getting close to people. See this article for a secular perspective on forgiveness which talks about how it affects our physical and mental health.

I see it all the time - even at church. I have friends who end up mad about something the other person did, then another says something mean, then the friendship is over. Neither can humble themselves to ask for forgiveness for their part of the hurt. Why do we create "levels" for our friends? Some people are in our inner circle and others are not. People who bother us, hurt us, annoy us... we shut them out. Why do we think we're in any position to punish someone for hurting us? Maybe we're not trying to punish them, maybe we're just trying to keep from getting hurt next time.

Be wary... that is not the life that God requires. This is one of those areas where we tend to make up our own rules rather than following His word. (Yancey Arrington, one of the pastors at my church, wrote about that here.) God's word doesn't say we should forgive but be cautious of the people we have forgiven lest we be hurt again! When He forgives us, He separates our sin as far as east is from west as if we had never sinned. He welcomes us back into the fold and does not turn His back on us no matter what we do or how often we do it. That's not a license to sin, but some take it as such. We are afraid that if we forgive people, they may take it as a license to continuously hurt us... but that should not prevent us from forgiving them. They may hurt us again and probably will. They are humans. But so are we. We will also make mistakes, have bad days, say things we shouldn't, think and do things we shouldn't. If we can't forgive, the Bible says we will not be forgiven. Woah... that's big.

Think about the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21 - 35. A servant owed a king an enormous debt that he would not be able to pay even if he gave every penny he earned to the king for his entire life! Before being thrown in jail, the servant begged the king for mercy and the king graciously forgave his servant. His joy was short-lived because as soon as the servant walked into the streets with his newfound freedom, he went looking for a man who owed him a small amount of money and demanded payment. The poor man pleaded with the king's servant but the servant did not have mercy and threw him in jail. When the others around saw what had happened, they told the king. Infuriated, the king threw his servant in jail because he could not show a small amount of mercy when he had been shown mercy.

We would be wise to heed the warning in Matt 18:35 - "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Who do you need to forgive? Is it a friend? A relative? God? Are you questioning why God let something happen to you? Why he let someone die? Ask yourself:

1. Who am I holding a grudge against?
2. Why?
3. Let yourself for a minute imagine letting that go and forgiving them - what would that do to you? What would that do to them? How would it affect the others around you? Would it bring them closer to God?

After you do that, also ask yourself: who do you need forgiveness from? Maybe you need to seek their forgiveness. If you have already sought forgiveness and they have not given it, maybe it's time to ask again.


Further reading: When I was doing research for this post I came across a verse that is omitted in ESV, NLT, and NIV. The verse is Mark 11:26 and in the New American Standard Verison (NASB) it reads: "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions." There is a footnote here that says that other ancient authorities inserted this verse. I took that to mean that this statement that God won't forgive us if we don't forgive others is not in the original text or the oldest manuscripts. I'm going to have to ask a Pastor about this because I had heard that verse before and wasn't aware that it's not in the oldest manuscripts. If and when I find out some answers about this topic, I will let you know! But if you know more about this than I do, please add it to the comments on this post!