Keep Pointing in Cedar Falls

Wednesday Activities Still On at PLC Cedar Falls

All Wednesday activities for tonight are still on at the Cedar Falls Campus, but be cautious. Stay home if the roads aren't safe enough for you to drive! As a side note....chili and hot dogs for supper, so it's very good cold weather food!!!

What is forming you?

Here are some more thoughts from my Spiritual Formation class. I promise, not every post for the next month will about this class! I want to share with you a quote from a book we are reading, Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr. 

As a side note...it must be a good book if the guy's name is 1) an initial and 2) he's a "jr". I'm pretty sure if I went by the name G. John Berger III I would be a great author too. 

Back to the point now. Here's the quote, "Spiritual formation is not an option! The inescapable conclusion is that life itself is a process of spiritual development.The only choice is whether that growth moves us towards wholeness in Christ or toward an increasingly dehumanized and destructive mode of being."

The point is, God can and will use pretty much anything and everything to form us. Personally, up until the past few years I would probably have said the main ways God can, and does, form me is through the Bible and prayer. I would have said journaling counted too, except I hate to journal so don't do it much. There are probably a few other things I would have said "counted", but the truth is I have been formed and am being formed by lots of other things too. That's not at all to say I shouldn't be praying, or I shouldn't be reading the Bible, or that I don't need to do both. What it is saying is that my journey to becoming more like Christ is formed in many ways. Some of the biggest ways I have been formed in the past three years have been me giving up things I have tried to control in the name of wisdom or common sense. Addressing fears that kept me from following where God was leading. Money. Significance found in my career. Stage fright (seriously). Self-sufficiency. The list goes on. All this was framed in a relationship with God that includes Bible and prayer, but not solely in Bible and prayer. 

I don't have all this figured out, but that's the journey I'm on. It is still hard to "count" some of those other things, but I'm getting better at seeing how God is using all the circumstances He puts me in to change me to become more like Christ. 

My Weekend

For me, this past weekend largely entailed spending nearly 16 hours of sitting in a room with about 20 other people. Doesn't sound all that exciting, I know, but the 20 of us are taking a Spiritual Formation Class through the School of Church Leadership. Today I am processing what I heard and what I learned, and thought I would share some of it with you.

• To start with, here is the definition of what spiritual formation is from a book we are reading together: A process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others.
  • It's a process!
  • The idea that it was for the sake of others is the most interesting/challenging thing about this definition for me
• Control was a consistent theme for me. It came up multiple times in conversations with people in the week leading up to the class, and then we hit it pretty hard right at the beginning of the class. Here are a couple lines from my notes:
  • Our view of discipleship is primarily striving instead of surrender. Another way of saying this is that our view of discipleship puts us in a position to act rather than in a position to be acted upon by God. 
    
  • Too many people believe rightly and live wrongly, but most of the tools and descriptions we have give us control rather than grant God further control

Those are just a couple of the highlights. We talked about a lot of other things, but for me everything seemed to build off of these two ideas.

Thoughts on Valentine's Day

As I sat down to write this blog post today, one thought kept coming to my mind. Sex. Not in the way you are probably thinking though.

Pastor John's message on being Rescued from the Lies of Sex this weekend led to to discussions with a lot of people who are struggling with it. For some it's been the porn side of things, and for others it's been another aspect. As I was reflecting on those discussions and other issues that have come up this week, I was reminded of how important it is to have healthy boundaries around sex. Maybe it's having the right software on your computer (Covenant Eyes or XXX Church are a couple of options). Maybe it's making sure you are not putting yourself in compromising positions with members of the opposite sex. Maybe it's finally having the courage to deal with the issue of sex in your dating relationship. Maybe it's something else entirely. What I was reminded of this past week was how much this thing can mess up your world. If you missed the message, check it out. If you heard the message and were convicted, get some help. Find someone to help hold you accountable. Have the tough conversation. If you need healing, get some help on there too. I realized that most of the toughest discussions I have had in my life and in my ministry have come back to sex.

• The couple that walked into my office within a couple hours of finding out the wife had been cheating on the husband.
• The man who, years later, is dealing with the impact an affair has had on his marriage and his family.
• The discussions with the dating couple who is sleeping together.
• The dad who is dealing with the pain of knowing two of his kids have been abused by someone they know.
• The Christian couple who are still dealing with an ongoing porn addiction after years and years of marriage.

I could keep going, but what I know (even with my little experience in life and ministry) is nobody is immune. Some of the people I never would have guessed would struggle with this one I've later found out have had ongoing issues with it. Too much is at stake to let this one slide. If it's a problem, deal with it. If it's not, make sure you don't start down that slippery slope of letting it become one!

 

 

Stories

Some cool stories always come out of our weekly staff meetings. There are many more, but here are a few just from the past week or so!

• We had just under 300 college students watch the Super Bowl here at PLC on Sunday night. Dozens of amazing volunteers took time to cook food and serve the students, and one great tech guy figured out why the game was only in black and white. Lots of the students had never been to PLC before.
• A college aged girl stepped over the Faith Line last week and is already inviting and investing in her sister!
• Kyle Thomas, our High School Coordinator, got to spend the weekend teaching at a camp for Junior High Students where at least four people stepped over the Faith Line!
• Huge numbers of people are taking intentional steps in their walk with God through our classes. Roughly, 50 people are taking Financial Peace University, 50 people are taking Laugh Your Way to A Better Marriage, 40 are taking Urban Compassion, and 15 are in Starting Point! Plus, dozens of people have signed up to join a small group. 
• There's a great story in the Courier about one of our ladies who is doing some cool stuff to fulfill her pledge towards A Better Story. Check out this link to read the article.

Keep investing and inviting. Keep taking your next steps! If you sign up right away, I might be able to convince John Church to still let you joing a group, even though we're past the deadline! Also, we are having a rare day-time Membership Class next Monday (February 13), so sign up for that if you are looking to be a member. You can sign up by sending an email to: plccedarfalls@prairielakeschurch.org. 

 

First Timers

Last week I had the "privilege" to go to my six year old daughter's school assembly. I use the world privilege kind of loosely because, to be honest, I didn't really want to be there. School assemblies aren't all that exciting to me, but Anna really wanted me there because she was going to "be on stage" singing a song with her class. So I went. About 10 minutes in, it hit me that what I was experiencing probably resembled what people experience the first time they come to PLC. I've been thinking about that a lot lately because, in the past three weeks, we've had over 20 new families come to visit PLC. The actual number of first time visitors is probably MUCH higher though, because those are only the new families that checked their kids into the nursery. They come for all sorts of reasons. Some by themselves and some with a friend. Some are Christians and some aren't. With that being said, here are a few things I learned from my first school assembly that apply to us here.

• It's a little intimidating and confusing! I realized I probably have no clue what it's like to experience church for the first time. I grew up in church. I've been coming to PLC for over 13 years. Most of the churches I have been to in my adult life I've gone to with a relative or friend. I can't imagine how intimidating it must be to pull up to this building for the first time, especially if the idea of "church" is new to you. Where do I go? How long am I stuck here? What do I do with my kids? My daughter's school is not all that intimidating, and I've been in the building before, but I still didn't really know what to expect. 
• Some things will seem weird! Who knew that a school assembly could involve lots of clapping and singing? I definitely did not expect a bongo and a piano when I walked in the door. Not to mention the random cheering! I kind of thought I'd just sit there and someone would would talk to us the whole time. Turns out, I was wrong. I wonder if new people around here ever feel the same way. My guess is, they probably do. 
• Enthusiasm makes a difference! The kids and the teachers and were really getting into it all. I wasn't, especially not at first. But they were enjoying it, even the fifth graders! I sat there and watched the most "mature" of the students and realized they were actually the most excited ones. And to be honest, it seemed very genuine. After a while, that helped me relax and get comfortable. I realized that if someone new walks into PLC and sees a bunch of us sitting on our hands and sort of staring at the worship leader or the pastor, they are going to have a much different experience than if they see a group of people who are passionate and excited about worshipping Jesus. Especially if those of us who consider ourselves mature in our walk with God are passionate about worshipping our Savior. 
  

Here are a couple challenges I walked out of that auditorium with that apply to myself and to those of us who call PLC home. What am I doing each week to help those who might be a little intimidated as they walk through the door? This isn't something I can leave up to the First Impressions team or Pastor John. We all play a part, whether we are drinking coffee, serving in children's ministry, or sitting in our seat before the service. Am I coming with a heart and an attitude of worshiping God each week, or am I coming to watch and observe? At one level this is a personal, heart issue. On another level, it's a huge deal for those who are coming here to check out this God thing.