40 Days News

OK, we've got so much information out there now about the 40 Days of Community, I wanted to put it all in the blog so that you can find out everything you need to know in one easy place. (See how much I care about you?)

1. Timeline
9/11 24-Hour Prayer Vigil & Day of Fasting (sign up for a 30-minute slot; prayer lists will be provided for all pray-ers)
9/15 Camp-Out at Church (overnight—bring games & camp food)
9/16 40 Days Kickoff
§ Outdoor service at 10:30 (bring a chair if you don't like folding chairs)
§ Potluck & games following (bring stuff for giant hoagies & your own table service and drinks)
§ Small Groups start meeting this week
9/30 & 10/7 Journey Class 101 (Church Membership) 4:00-6:30pm
10/6 Prayer Walk Through Our Community (more info to come)
10/14 Ministry Fair (more info to come)
10/28 Trunk Or Treat/40 Days Celebration

2. Small Groups
There are a number of options for small groups. If you would like to join a group (we have set a goal of 100% participation), you can sign up in the church lobby, or call the host of the group you are interested in. Here is the schedule of when each group will meet during the 40 Days:

Sunday: 8:30am (John Fisher; 769.6990)
1:30pm (Shaun DeKarske; )
6:00pm (Mike Majchrowski; 787-8703)--MEN'S GROUP
Monday: 11:45am (Tanya Hardaway; 796-0558)--LADIES' GROUP
7:00pm (Jim & Connie Gray; 783.5977)
Tuesday: 6:30pm (Sharon Houck; 596.2661)
6:30pm (Karen Bliss; 789.6707)--LADIES' GROUP
Friday: 7:00pm (Pam O'Neil; 764.0529)

***The books are $8.25 apiece; however, if the cost is prohibitive for you, please let us know, and we will make sure you can still be in a group--we don't want the cost to stop anyone from participating.

3. Children's Ministries
Starting September 23 (the week after the combined-service kickoff), we are moving Awana from Wednesday night to Sunday morning at 11:00, during the second service. KIDS Church will be moving to 9:30.

Here are some of the reasons for this switch:
*Attendance in Awana has been declining, partly because it is an island on Wednesday night, not supported by anything else going on in the church.
*Adult helpers for Awana have found it difficult to make it on Wednesday nights.
*We anticipate that identical worship services during the 40 Days will increase attendance at 9:30. Along with the resumption of small groups, this could place a strain on our current Sunday School by adding many kids.
*It helps reinforce our goal for members to "attend one/serve one" on Sunday mornings.

There are also further reasons for this switch; if you have questions, please direct them to Pastor Brent, the head of our Life Development Team, which oversees the children's ministries of our church.

This means that we will be in need of helpers to serve in Awana during the second service. If you would like to help out, please see or email Pastor Brent.

4. Identical Services
Don't forget--we're going to try out having identical services for the 40 Days of Community. This means we'll have the same music and other worship elements in both services. So if you want to serve in Awana, or the nursery, or attend a small group, etc., you don't need to worry about the service style--they'll be exactly the same! Feel free to attend the service that best fits your schedule.

5. The Main Thing
In all the details, don't lose track of the point of all this: It's time for us to "Get 1t Together!" We will declare as a church during these 40 Days that we are committed as a community of faith to the mission, vision, and values of PCC, and that this commitment will be demonstrated in our lives, not just in our words. Get ready for God to do great things among us!

100% Participation

For the upcoming 40 Days of Community, we are praying for 100% participation. That means every single person in a small group for the 40 days of the campaign. Why is this so important?

• You don't want to miss out! This is the kind of thing that promises to make a huge impact on our church. This is what people are going to be thinking about, talking about, and living out in their lives. You don't want to be outside the loop. Be aware of what's happening, and be a part of it instead of getting left behind.
• You don't want to lose out! This is a great chance to grow spiritually. Everything that we're doing as a church for a 40-day period is going to be reinforcing each other. The worship services, the small groups, the service activities, the times of prayer--all of it fits together. If you opt out of any of the components, it makes the rest of them weaker and less meaningful and impactful for you. Don't lose out on this great chance for spiritual growth!
• You don't want to mope out! These groups are going to be fun! They're so much more than just a Bible study--you'll be talking about what God is teaching you, and hearing about what he's doing in the lives of others; you'll also be banding together with your group to show God's love to those outside our church in tangible ways. You may just make some great new friendships with those who are on this spiritual journey with you!
• You don't want to conk out! We need the help and support of each other sometimes to keep going. If these lessons that we learn over the course of the 40 Days of Community are to take root in our lives, we need to talk about them and live them with others. We were never meant to do the Christian life on our own, and in fact when we try, we nearly always fail miserably. We need each other to support us and stand by us and cheer us on to keep us going.

It's very simple--for our church and for each of us as individuals to get everything we can out of these 40 days, we need to get involved in it. We have to give ourselves to it because we're only going to get from it what we put into it.

Nevertheless, you may still have some reservations about getting into a group:

• What if I have an unusual schedule? We're trying to put together groups that will meet all schedule needs. If you desire to be in a group, sign up and let us know your schedule needs, and we will do everything we can to match you up with a group.
• What if I can't afford the book? We're working on trying to acquire free books from other churches who have already done 40 Days of Community and have leftover books. We will use these resources to offset costs and even provide some materials free of cost for those who need it. Please don't let money prevent you from getting everything out of this campaign that God wants you to experience.
• What if I had a bad small group experience in the past? I know that some people have tried to participate in a group before, and it didn't work out for whatever reason. That's no reason to never try to connect with any people ever again! The truth is that we can never be what God intends us to be without the direct involvement of other people in our lives. We all need to keep trying until we find the right group for us.

If you are still unsure about groups, talk with me! I am confident you will not regret joining with other people for these 40 days, and I'm also confident that if you choose to skip out, you will not get the full benefit of this campaign. Commit right now to letting God work in your life; commit to taking part in this campaign. We're praying for 100% involvement!

40 Days Of Community

Alright, it's time to get ready for 40 Days of Community, coming 9/16!! Here's an overview of this dynamic moment for our church:

1. PURPOSE: We can't ever forget why we're doing this. We need to unite as a church around our mission, vision, and values. These are the most important things in the world--more important than our careers, our possessions, our entertainment options, or our personal preferences. They are what hold us together in community.

2. PREMISE: "Let's Get 1t Together!" If we can come together and pursue our mission, vision, and values with single-minded determination and persistence, trusting the power of God to bless the obedience of his people, we will see him do great things in our midst. As Pastor Brent reminded us this morning, God's promises are fulfilled only for the obedient.

3. PREPARATION: We need everyone to prepare their hearts and minds to hear what God has to say to each of us individually, and to all of us corporately. I believe God wants to move us to a new level as a church--where we are passionate about PCC's mission, vision, and values; and where we can be authentic and real with one another, sharing and carrying one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Preparation happens through PRAYER. PRAY for this campaign and what God wants to do in your life and in the life of our church.

4. PARTICIPATION: We are praying for 100% participation in this campaign. That means every single person in our church in a small group for these 40 days. If you're already in a small group, great! If not, we'll have options for you to plug into. It's only for a few weeks--I promise, you won't regret making this commitment.

4. PIECES: Here are the different campaign components that make up the PCC version of the 40 Days of Community:

• Weekly small groups, starting the week of 9/16--one version for adults and another for teens, all centered around each week's theme.
• Daily journal that will lead you to scriptures and prayer centered around each week's theme--daily journal and small group studies are combined in one easy volume.
• KIDS Church focused on each week's theme--all ages will be learning exactly the same lessons at the same time, all on an age-appropriate level. These multiple reinforcements aid learning and foster family discussion.
• Identical Services--both services (9:30 & 11:00) will offer contemporary music. Now you can choose the service that fits your schedule best!
• Special Events--24-hour Prayer Vigil & Day of Fasting (9/11); 40 Days Kickoff Service (9/16); Prayer Walk in our Community (10/6); Ministry Fair (10/14); Local Missions Projects, including Trunk Or Treat (10/28); Celebration Service (10/28)
• Combined Worship Services--We'll be starting and ending the 40 Day journey all together with a combined service at 10:30 on 9/16 and another one in the evening on 10/28.

5. PRODUCT: A clearer sense of purpose, a greater commitment to God and his church, an enthusiasm for reaching out to others, and a passion for advancing his kingdom.

Please don't miss this chance to be a part of what God wants to do among us. Plan now to clear out whatever you need to clear out, in order to make room for 40 Days of Community. For 40 Days, let's commit to doing this right, and "Let's Get 1t Together!"

McFaith

Our new message series starting August 12 is called "McFaith." The Key Three of Pathway Community Church are Real Spirituality, Real Community, and Real Story--these are the things we need to do to be effective, faithful, and fruitful as a church. But lately I've been thinking about what derails churches and turns people away from Christ, and I think it's the doppelganger cousins of these three core values--McSpirituality, McCommunity, and McStory.

You see, people can spot a counterfeit a mile away. People know when our words and our lives don't line up. And this is not so much about whether or not we are perfect; the world isn't looking for perfect people (they know that's a stupid thing to look for). It's not about whether or not we meet our own standards because nobody meets their own standards; everyone, by their own admission, is sometimes selfish, dishonest, irresponsible, lazy, or whatever.

This McFaith series is about pretending to be perfect when we're not. It's about pretending to have it all together when we don't. It's about arrogating to ourselves the responsibility to tell everyone else what's wrong with their lives, when we're having plenty of trouble with our own. People hate that. I hate that. God hates that. It's ugly and repellent.

There is a counterfeit faith that is running rampant in contemporary American Christianity, and we have to stamp it out. It is a spirituality that is all knowledge and no deeds. It is a community that is self-centered, self-serving, and self-absorbed. It is a story that is arrogant, condescending, and rude, when it even gets told at all.

This is not the faith that Jesus calls us to, and it is not acceptable for his people. We need the real stuff, not McFaith. That junk-food faith won't feed us, won't nourish us, won't satisfy us. It will only make us fat and unattractive. Let's get ourselves set to enjoy Real Spirituality, Real Community, and Real Story!

Communication

It's a funny thing--now that we have computers, email, voice mail, cell phones, iphones, Blackberrys, instant messaging, texting (how is that a verb? but I digress...), and whatever other communication tools are coming out next month, it seems like communication is harder than ever! The problem is that in the information age, there's just too much information to absorb. With all the noise out there, they say it takes at least seven exposures to one message for us to retain it.

For instance, we have a Church-wide picnic coming up next Sunday after the second service. Who knew?! It's been in the bulletin every week since the end of June. I mentioned it from the platform on June 24, when I talked about the emergency budget and how we would now have to each provide our own table service. (Incidentally, not having coffee seemed to strike a real chord--many of you responded by bringing in all the coffee we'll need for the next six months! Hopefully, you're inviting new people to church as well, but again I digress...)

It's just part of the communication paradox--the more communication we receive, the less we hear.

In our church, we have several communication systems:

• The platform on Sunday mornings. This one can be very effective when used correctly. Most of the time, we don't do verbal announcements because the more that is announced, the less is heard. After two announcements, everyone is already thinking about where they want to go for lunch after the service and not listening to a word that is being said. We reserve this time for events that are timely and related to every single person in the church.
• The bulletin. This is the primary communication tool of our church. A new edition comes out each week full of information that will keep you connected with what is going on with the Youth Group, with PrimeTimers, with small groups, with church events, and more! Don't forget to read your bulletins!! So many people never even crack them open (you know who you are!) and miss out on all sorts of stuff they might like to know.
• This blog. Here you can find out stuff before anyone else does. You can find out what direction we're heading as a church, what our big hurdles are, how you can pray, and what kind of progress we're making. Many times, the stuff that comes out here eventually comes out on the platform, but you can get a heads-up before the rest (or if you miss a week visiting Aunt Gertrude, you won't come back saying, "When did we decide we're going to plant a church???")
• The Prayer Posse. I send out an email (almost) every week to 50+ people in the church, detailing our prayer needs. This is not meant to be a newsletter, but the fact is that in order to pray effectively, people must know what is going on. So each email includes background info, as well as specific prayer requests. (Incidentally, for those without internet access, a print copy is available in your mailbox.) Not part of the Prayer Posse yet? Sign up here.
• Our website (http://www.pathwaywired.com/). Most of the information on the website is static, but you can always see what is going to be coming up for the worship services on Sunday, and there are also places to sign up for the Journey classes or get information about small groups or how to plug into ministries.

In the fall, in conjunction with the 40 Days of Community Campaign, "Let's Get 1t Together", we'll be launching a new communication tool, a revamped edition of the e-newsletter. It will be emailed every week, or every two weeks, and it will contain information that we don't include in the other communication tools, such as events at other churches or in the community, denominational news, youth and children's ministry updates, our church's finance figures, and little tibits like where to find the minutes from last month's Church Council meeting (labeled mailbox in the lobby).

Effective communication is extremely important; it's at the heart of every healthy relationship. Please understand that we are trying very hard to be as effective as we can possibly be in communicating well with this congregation.

HOWEVER... It is also important to understand that communication is a two-way street. When information is coming out, it's important that someone listen to it; otherwise, communication gets short-circuited. When information comes out and there is no feedback, it's hard to know if communication has occurred or not. We take our responsibilities as communicators seriously, but the recipients of communication have responsibilities, too.

I'm notorious for not being able to follow conversations in a crowded restaurant or at parties. I have trouble focusing in on one person and tuning out all the other conversations around me in order to hear them. It's not easy to block out noise, but it's the only way for effective communication to take place.

Ultimately, if we want our spiritual lives to have top priority, and if we are bound to one another in a spiritual community of faith, it means we all have to make church communications a top priority. We have to be intentional about sharing and listening so that it doesn't just get lost in the sea of noise.

Let's Get 1t Together

I mentioned in the services this morning that in September, we'll be launching a 40-day campaign called, "Let's Get 1t Together!" that will be based on the 40 Days of Community, a follow-up to the 40 Days of Purpose that our church did almost 3 years ago with Pastor Gayle. Whereas the intent of the first campaign was to discover the answer to the question, "What on earth am I here for?" this second one focuses on the question, "What on earth are we here for?"

For us at Pathway Community Church, I believe this campaign will give us the opportunity to join ourselves to one another in a stronger way around our mission, vision, and values.

• Our mission is to meet people where they are on their spiritual journeys and lead them to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
• Our vision is to become actively involved in planting new churches to reach the 100,000 people in Jackson County with no church family.
• Our Core Values are Real Spirituality, Real Community, and Real Story--focusing on our relationships with God, with each other, and with the world.

These three things--our mission, vision, and values--explain why we exist, how we function, and where we are headed together. They are more foundational and more fundamental than anything else that can be said about us as a church. They represent the indespensable elements of our corporate life, and this is what we sign on to support and uphold when we make the pledge of membership.

Unfortunately, it is too easy to allow other things to creep in to our thinking--like believing the church exists so that I can have a nice group of people to be with, so that I can have fun activities to participate in, so that I can listen to the kind of music that I like, so that I can be around people who are like me. Whenever any of those thoughts surface, then we drift away from our mission, vision, and values; instead, we divide over the same things the rest of the world does: age, gender, race, socio-economic status, educational background, political persuasion, school districts, sports rivalries, etc.

We want to "Get 1t Together" and declare that none of that stuff matters--it's all temporal, insignificant, and pointless. It serves no purpose. Instead, we want to unite as a community around our mission, vision, and values--so that we are actually living out these indispensable elements of our corporate life, instead of just talking about them.

I'm currently putting together a planning team to coordinate the various elements of the 40-Day campaign. If you are interested or if you have questions, please email me. Additionally, I ask that all of you would pray that God would prepare us for this campaign, that he would accomplish his purposes through it, and that he would be glorified through a greater commitment and unity than we have ever seen in our church before!

Soli Deo Gloria

Soccer Camp In Review

I wanted to take a few inches here to devote to my reflections on Soccer Camp 2007. I would love to be able to share with you all sorts of stats and information, but unfortunately I don't have that available right now--be on the lookout for a comment to be added to this post once I can obtain that info.

What I do have are some random thoughts and observations:

• It was great to see new people helping out with Soccer Camp! Many of our dependable soccer servants who have contributed their time and talents over the years were out of town this week, and it blessed my heart to see a number of new people step into key slots.
• Our numbers were down this year. My understanding is that they've fallen somewhat steadily since the first year when we had over 100 kids. There are a number of potential factors: 1) We changed the week from what it has been previously, possibly affecting some families' plans; 2) Our new week coincided with a number of VBS and other church programs in the area (we didn't know this 4 months ago, of course); 3) Increased competition from area sports camps, day camps, and video games makes it harder to attract kids to church functions in general--there's just a lot more for kids to do these days; 4) More churches are offering soccer camps now, so it's not as unique a thing as it once was. The Life Development Team will be taking a look at these factors and evaluating the overall effectiveness of Soccer Camp as a ministry.
• I think we did a better job than in the past of reaching out to the families who were here on our property. As I posted last week, we can host a great event, but it won't matter if we don't build bridges to the people who come to us. I saw many people making an intentional effort to strike up conversations with parents and grandparents. Way to go! We'll see what kind of results that might produce for attendance on Sunday mornings. Remember, it may not happen immediately--if you met someone new and hit it off, do what you can to follow up with them and build that relationship even more.
• We didn't know what my availability for Soccer Camp was going to be until the last minute (because of my schedule at Olive Garden), so I wasn't put in charge of anything. It was really wonderful to be able to meet the families, introduce myself, and not feel the pressure of preparing a message for the kids or leading the singing. As it was, I worked about 80 hours last week, so I'm especially grateful to the people who stepped up and helped out in those areas. Terry and Loretta... you rock!

Once I find out, I'll pass on to you what we know about the families that were here--how many unchurched, how many who have not been at Soccer Camp previously. I'll also let you know how many decisions we had for Christ--I'm confident it will be fewer than we have had in the last couple years because we had fewer kids and because we focused more on building relationships with the families instead of trying to get kids to simply "pray the prayer."

I don't want to downplay a child's decision to receive Christ by any means, but as I've shared with you in a recent worship service, when a child is the first in his family to receive Christ, the rest of the family also become Christians only 3.5% of the time. I further suspect that the vast majority of those kids who grow up in a home without faith will not grow up possessing an authentic daily relationship with God through Christ. So our focus is now on reaching families, not just having kids accept Christ.

We're trying to become more effective in our outreach ministries--bearing fruit that will last (John 15:16). Don't miss your last chance to sign up for an outreach small group, which will meet over the next 4 weeks. Call the office (784-5388) this week if you are interested. I promise after you are a part of this group, you will gain confidence to reach out to the non-Christians around you every day. Don't miss this opportunity to let go of your fear!