1. You get totally geeked up by the thought of the Church engaging with the community because you really believe that church happens outside of whichever set of four walls happen to house a weekly meeting for the purpose of corporate worship.

2. The day to day operations of your life offer you very little opportunity to interact with the people of State College/Centre County in a way that fulfills the passion referenced above.

There is an easy solution in the works for you and it is taking place next weekend, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon. Our very own (and awesome) State Theatre is beginning a new feature they call LOCAL FOCUS, the goal of which being to highlight locally produced performances. The first performance happens to be produced by friends of the Gresh family, Richard and Heidi Biever, and they have extended a welcome to local choirs and churches to join in, for it is an AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION production!!

The show is $15 per person, highlighting the musical genius of Rogers and Hammerstein, and is an audience sing-along led by Mrs. Anna from The King and I. Audience members will perform well-loved numbers from Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacific, Carousel, and The Sound of Music. The end of Act 2 even includes a cast party complete with cake and punch.

Speaking of cake…. this may not be your piece thereof. But if you are looking for a way to engage with your community and rub shoulders with your neighbors, and you have a certain affinity for fun and musical theatre (that includes a number of you at Centre Church) then this is a great activity to drag your behind away from the TV set and out into the world. The same one God loved so much. Sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t it? O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A….. okay!

What: Oscar and I
Where: State Theater, downtown
When: Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
Cost: $15

No, I’m saying the Grammys were last night. Don’t know if you watched them, seeing as an awesome thing called CHURCH happened last night as well! That’s what is better than a Grammy. Being part of a community that…

Prays for you…
Laughs with you…
Brings meals when you are sick…
Throws parties for your birthday and nuptials and baby birthing…
Cries with you…
Sends you off to foreign lands as a missionary…
Notices when you are not around…

You are noticed when you are not around. You matter. You are the Church.

Those Grammys end up dusty in display cases, tossed in the back of closets (it’s true) and one day we know that along with every other piece of metal, wood, and cloth from this earth they will be consumed by fire. Ashes to ashes… even that coveted statue that is the pinnacle of many careers.

But the Word of God will never pass away, and neither will what we have as members of this family.

You matter. Just want you to know that today!

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” Luke 21:1-4

Every once in a while something too good happens on the Secret Keeper Girl tour and I have to share it, believing it translates to the church at large. Such a thing just happened in Anniston, Alabama.

SKG Tour is sponsored by Holt International, also the sponsors for the Winter Jam Tour, and you may have seen the video featuring Autumn Gresh at intermission of that tour… and Autumn on stage for that matter. Our intermission “pitch” for Holt is very similar; with 64,000 international adoptions (Autumn being one of them) under their belts, Holt has is an appealing ministry. Abby, a little girl from Alabama thought so, too.

Abby approached the Holt table with her mom at intermission, looking pretty down in the dumps, tears pooling a bit in her eyes. “She can’t afford to sponsor a child,” her mom said, “but she wants to give what she can.” And Abby handed me a $10 bill. Now, I can afford the $360 a year to sponsor a child. The wife of a Green Bay Packers D-lineman sponsored five children at an event this fall. $1,800 a year. That’s generous… and probably in the budget. But Abby didn’t have much beyond her $10, and she had actually brought that money to the event to buy a memory for herself.

Good thing our God sees what is done in secret, though it’s not a secret any longer, so forgive me, Abby. No more than 15 minutes later Laura pulled a name from a basket containing 300 other names. The winner would receive a full set of our SKG fiction books, a value of $30, and who do you suppose won those books?

Not that our drawings always go hand in hand with the “Most Selfless Secret Keeper Girl In the World” award, but it’s a nice picture of God’s Word in action, isn’t it?

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4

I don’t know if you are struggling with giving, or if your faith just needed a little boost, but hopefully the story of Abby and the Secret Keeper Girl’s Mite encouraged you today. No need to be afraid, for this is our King of Glory. The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle… and in product giveaways.

Abby and Mom

In his best selling book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins explores what makes some corporations rise and remain far above the cream of the crop. In terms of leadership, he cites humility and will as key factors – not charisma and killer strategy as some might expect. Such leaders “channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company.” (Collins 21) It is not that great leaders have no ambition, but rather that “their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not for themselves.” It could be argued that Joe Paterno was such a leader. Abraham Lincoln was such a leader. Jesus was such a leader.

As Jesus completed his three years of ministry on earth, his training camp for the church if you will, he concluded (John 17) with an epic prayer on our behalf.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23

Jesus had gathered 12 disciples to himself, and at least 70 other followers whom in Luke 10 he sent out to preach the gospel. Of course we know that from the moment of Jesus’ resurrection those numbers began to exponentially grow. Jesus appeared to over 500 believers after his resurrection, and Acts 2 says that Peter’s message at Pentecost resulted in over 3,000 new disciples. We might expect that a great leader would have thousands of followers and then leave his work to a lesser man so that the magnitude of his leadership might be verified and for the sake of his legacy never again matched.

Not so. Jesus was preparing his rag-tag band of followers to do far greater things than he had ever accomplished. He thought first of the Kingdom of God and prepared for its advancement after he was gone. His plan and his heart were that those who came after him would do exceedingly more than he had been able to accomplish… though a great leader may have the power and the authority to achieve feats of monumental proportion, true greatness in leadership is measured by the disciples he has prepared for the next phase.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

Sunday night, Pastor Harold McKenzie of Unity Church of Jesus Christ spoke of a symphony. If you have ever heard a symphony in its warm up stages, it is a cacophony, albeit a somewhat beautiful noise. One might fear these musicians have no idea what they are doing. This is only because warm ups find these exceedingly talented musicians in an every-man-for-himself phase. Each instrument must be in tune. But when the conductor steps to the front and raises his wand, an expectant hush falls over the room and what ensues next is the most powerful display of harmonic bliss that the instrument world has to offer. A world class oboist playing a solo may be recognized as very controlled, in tune, displaying great skill… but that same world class oboist worked into the unity of a symphony is exponentially more awe inspiring.

Pastor McKenzie also talked about an illustration from the book EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey (gotta fit Ramsey in somewhere, right?) Belgian draft horses are one of the largest breeds in the world, each able to pull about 8,000 pounds! Conventional math would dictate that two Belgians yoked together would thusly pull 16,000 pounds; instead they are able to pull over 20,000 pounds, almost three times as much as one horse can manage. Pastor McKenzie mentioned this same truth (and God math) to be found in Leviticus 26:8.

Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

The bottom line is here: If we lead as one, putting aside our time of symphonic warm up and committing to the symphony, we will wield an exponentially greater influence in Centre County. This is not every church for itself – it cannot be. Despite our doctrinal differences, to not come together now would severely limit each church’s, and as a result, the kingdom’s influence.

From now on, when people ask where you go to church, say, “I attend ______, but I am part of the City Church.” When people ask you, “What is the largest church in State College?” answer The City Church. This is a paradigm shift we must make in order to lead in the power of One. After all, we are going to ask God for the impossible – this city.

First of all, it’s okay to admit that fasting is difficult and that it is not the most eagerly anticipated time of the year for you. This does not mean that you are immature or “unspiritual”. It only means that you have a sober view of what takes place during a time of fasting. The body becomes a bit discombobulated as it is cleansed or detoxified from our (let’s face it) otherwise unhealthy dietary practices. The flesh and the spirit absolutely go to war against one another – it’s so easy to go to food for relief from boredom or stress or depression, but that solution is unavailable during a time of fasting. The enemy will be active, particularly in your thought life, encouraging exorbitant amounts of sleep, grouchiness, or moments of breaking the fast.

But keep in mind that the fast is two-fold in nature. Thank God it is not only in the physical! If it were, such difficulty would never be met with great reward.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. II Corinthians 4:16-18

I am grateful that God allowed me to see the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus wrestled in anguish with his impending death. The reward of Jesus’ obedience is yours and mine and his. He is glorified forever and we will share with him in that inheritance. Talk about light and momentary troubles -depravation of food – versus an eternal glory outweighing all else! No, the reward of obedience obliterates the complaints of the flesh.

Fasting is not for the faint of heart. It is not for the baby who still requires milk and will spit out or turn his head against anything “untasty”. When we are young children, we are not capable of focusing on the needs of any but our own. Food, sleep and play are all scheduled or dictated by others and punctuated by fits of selfishness. Growing up is all about learning to lay down those claims to self. Fasting is all about growing up.

Take some time this week as the 2012 fast is introduced to study the help sheet we will give you and to pray about the fast God desires you to undertake. Spend some time investigating suggested web sites and talk with others who have undertaken the fast before. Prepare your heart, asking God as you respond in obedience for the gift of the same strengthening he has given millions who have gone before you, as well as the same revival.

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  James 4:6-10

Happy fasting? It can be, and we will pray that your testimony at the end of this month will be one of joy and complete satisfaction in him!

• Fasting and Prayer can restore the loss of the “first love” for your Lord and result in a more intimate relationship with Christ.
• Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble self in the sight of God (Psalm 35:13; Ezra 8:21). King David said, “I humble myself through fasting.”
• Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life. The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!
• Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.
• Fasting can result in a dynamic personal revival in your own life and make you a channel of revival to others.
• Fasting and Prayer are the only disciplines that fulfill the requirements of II Chronicles 7:14.

How Should I Fast?

• Consider any personal restrictions such as pregnancy, food allergies, age of family members, work and travel, etc.
• Take possible fasting formats to God in prayer.
• Choose a fast and set its parameters… type, frequency, restrictions, etc.
• Check out following websites for helpful recipes and fasting tips:

http://www.ccci.org/training-and-growth/devotional-life/personal-guide-to-fasting/index.htm
http://newlife.com/a-partial-fast/
http://daniel-fast.com/recipes.html
http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/

Been thinking a lot lately about this word: BUSY

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel 12:4

Maybe it’s just fun to say “to and fro”, but I think the KJV gives us in that verse a good word picture of our world, even within the church, today. Man, are we ever busy! A few years back a marketing director frustrated with her own busy life offered her Twitter followers the chance to complete the following sentence: You might be too busy if….

Here are some of their better responses:

• Hot chocolate and pizza logs eaten at a skating rink constitute dinner. Twice a week. For four months now.
• You’ve already put in 8 hours before you take your shower.
• You have to schedule time on your calendar for a bathroom break.
• You can’t remember if you ate or just thought about eating.
• You spend so much time organizing your to-dos that you don’t have enough time to actually do them.

Any of those sound familiar? They should, because they define both this century and our culture. Well, I’m starting a rebellion and inviting you to join me. A rebellion that says quit working so hard? Not really. But I do want a different definition of hard work.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

   “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

I want to do the greater things. I want to work in my passions, learn to say no, and give and serve more. Martha was running to and fro. She was so busy trying to be the perfect hostess that she became, the Bible says, distracted. Note that Martha was doing a good thing. It would have been expensive for a widow such as Martha to entertain so many people. She was hosting a band of rebels at that, as Jesus had a price on his head. There is a good chance she was working within her passions to serve and entertain… but she became burdened. There is a point at which too much care is excess, and in this case Mary accomplished the better thing.

Work smart, not hard. That’s what my college professors used to say. Do the better things, and weed out the things that distract or bog you down. Be sure to ask the question, “Is this really necessary? Does this work of mine add anything, or might it even be getting in the way?” often and with as much objectivity as possible. The goal? That I might be able to do things like wrap gifts for Toys for Tots, attend a city wide prayer meeting, be an elf at the Polar Express, and ring the bells for the Salvation Army like I was sitting at Jesus’ feet. Unburdened, except for the love my savior has, and shares with me, for those he came to deliver.

Cooler yet was praying WITH people who had come forward and the chance to get a glimpse at their hearts. It is nothing short of a blessing to be part of a church where so many people really do want to be a city on a hill and the light of the world. But if you’re anything like the person in the chair next to you on any given Sunday night, you struggle a little bit with exactly what that means. How am I supposed to address the big “E”… evangelism?

Saying that we are a city on a hill or that we are called to be the light of the world simply draws attention to the fact that we are very much seen in this world. Our day to day lives and our character as followers of Jesus may be honored and respected… or they may be hated and maligned. But one thing they are for certain is seen.

And this is really what evangelism is all about. While there is nothing amiss with methods of evangelism, such as The Gideons, Evangelism Explosion, or The Way of the Master… in fact, these ministries should provide great conviction that we should, indeed, be proactive in all of our relationships… the Bible itself provides only one piece of instruction for evangelism. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Without getting too technical, the Greek word for “Go” in this passage is not active, but passive. Many theologians say that this verse translates loosely to, “As you go about your lives, make disciples…” This being said, new light is shed on the question one Centre Church couple posed Sunday night. Wanting very much to be salt and light in their new neighborhood, they were at the altar praying earnestly for ways and means to share Christ with new friends. “What do we do now?” they prayed.

As we spoke I could see the stools from The Dollar Club still in place behind them. We exist to help people rethink church, rediscover Jesus, and allow Him to redirect their lives… as we go. Hopefully we are being built together as a picture of completeness – a machine whose well-oiled cogs produce good, good fruit for not only our village, but for others around us as well. Here is a picture of how that machine might work:

There are people in and around Centre County doing amazing things. We get to hear from a lot of them through Dollar Club. Sure they need financial support, but we realized long ago that our $100 gifts are not making the truest difference. Our service is. If you think about it, nearly every organization and ministry we have interviewed has expressed needs for volunteers, prayer, visitors, patrons, audiences, and time. Men and women all around us are involved in life-changing pursuits, if ever we wanted to go about our lives serving, and inviting others into the fray with us.

True… you could invite someone to Centre Church (and that’s not a bad idea). On the other hand… you could invite someone to attend The Ballet Magnificat when Abbie Helsel brings them to the State Theatre. You could take someone for a cup of exotic coffee at Johnny Pons’ cafe “The World Cup”. You could take your neighbors, the ones you hope to build a relationship with, to wrap gifts for Toys for Tots. Soon, we’ll be asking you to ring those Christmas bells for the Salvation Army.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The opportunities to serve and shine and be salty are abundant. We are not lone rangers at Centre Church, but part of this big ol’ world around us. As we serve our community and God’s Kingdom, inviting our friends and neighbors to serve along side us, I’m pretty sure the part about their eventual visit to Centre Church on a Sunday night will fall right into place… because you have already been the light of the world.

We’re not talking “New Year’s Resolutions” here. Everybody knows “NYR” is just a euphemistic term for “good intentions”. I do apologize if you’ve ever made New Years resolutions that you have actually kept and bettered from, but if you’re like me you have a long list of resolutions gone bad – still great ideas, but they’ve really gotten away from you. Do you have those, too?

One of my newly written goals is to spend at least one hour per day reading business/marketing/church growth materials. I’ve started with Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership. Thus the goal writing, and thus this encouragement to you: If I were to relay to you five principles of written goals and seven areas of goal setting, would you sit down for an hour or so and wrestle with some personal goals for the upcoming year or two? But… why should you do this?

Good question. I suppose the answer lies with the quandary of resolutions – they just aren’t resolute unless they can also be measured and held to some sort of accountability. In other words, if we don’t write down our goals, we aren’t truly taking aim. And, if we aim at nothing we will hit it every time. (Zig Ziglar) Maybe this will reveal for you, as it did for me, why so many of my good ideas have fizzled away and actually been forgotten!

So if you are game… here are the rules of goals:

1. They have to be specific and measurable.
INCORRECT: I want to read more this year.
CORRECT: I want to read one hour each day.

2. They have to have a time limit or deadline.
INCORRECT: I want to ask for a raise.
CORRECT:  I would like to ask for a raise in May.

3. Goals must be your own, not someone else’s.
INCORRECT: My husband wants me to lose weight.
CORRECT: I really want to lose 25 pounds by next Christmas.

4. Goals must be written down.
INCORRECT:
CORRECT: I am going to write a new Christmas song for the Christmas Eve service.

Give it a try. This exercise comes with a guarantee: You will immediately feel hopeful, stronger, and better prepared to face the year ahead. If you really want to get crazy, set goals following the above rules in each of the following categories: career, financial, spiritual, physical, intellectual, family, and social.

We’ll be checking with you soon to see how it’s going. Ready? Set…

Whatcha doin’?

Check out EntreLeadership here!  

So much has already been said in dissecting exactly what has happened in this… shall we call it State Gate?… debacle of the highest degree. It seems there is nothing new to say. It probably can’t be said much better than Pastor Dan Nold said it anyhow. From the sports world, Rick Reilly nailed it pretty neatly.

There’s nothing new under the sun. That’s what King Solomon said. Actually, what he said in its fullness is a little more chilling:

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
Ecclesiastes 1:9- 11

You see, this isn’t the first time that any of the following have happened:

It is not the first time that a man has become engulfed by an unholy lust.
It is not the first time that children have been preyed upon.
It is not the first time that men of power have feared position more than they have feared for another’s welfare.
It is not the first time that a popular leader has been brought down by his own inaction.
It is not the first time that public outcry has swayed decision makers.
It is not the first time that one man’s sin has caused collateral damage.

And it is not the last time.

The passion of this particular scandal will fade for those who rioted in Beaver Canyon. Lessons learned will be forgotten, life will go on, and Happy Valley will return to “normal”. There’s a kicker though. You want to know the kicker? It doesn’t have to be the same “normal”.  It doesn’t have to be the same normal for those who will go to prison, for those who have been violated, or for those who have simply been devastated by their misplaced trust in Dear Old State. Granted, this present earth will never be Heaven, but I love what author Randy Alcorn has to say… This world is the closest that those who are in Christ will ever have to come to the gates of Hell.

This could be the beginning of something… new. Revival perhaps, as we pray together in community and grieve over the realization that our own culpability has been called into question this week. Something tells me we should all be covering our heads with ash and tearing our robes. I don’t know. Everything still sounds hollow to me. Perhaps it does to you as well, the effects of shock and grief. But underneath it all I hear this promise building that revival lurks in the shadows of our sad little town. Grace enough has been shown to shake us from our self-slumber, and though I could swear I saw that same cold shadow laying across the face of everyone I saw out and about today… the shadow proves the sunshine.