Evangelism Conference pt. 1

I'm not sure if there will be a part 2, but I did want to post some of the highlights so far. 

Our preacher yesterday was Mark Yaconelli, who was simply amazing.  He framed the practice of being a Christian as the practice of loving relationship.'  Within that, our job is not big picture...it's small picture, very small.  As in, love your neighbor.  Not every neighbor, just the one right next to you.

He also challenged our concept of success, especially given our cultural bent towards achievement.  Looking at Scripture, he said, 'Success is not a name for God.  It's not even a category for God.'.

Humorously, he looked at Jesus' ministry to help break us of our concept of success.  Jesus had 12 guys.  Most of the time the had no idea what he was talking about.  And of the 12, Jesus was pretty sure one of them wanted to kill him. 

Success for Jesus was not a church of 30,000, but being deserted by his best friends and dying alone.  Hmmm.  Food for thought.

Mark had many other awesome and challenging things to say, but I'll tell you about them later.

The other incredible thing was worship led by the praise band of 1st Pres, Lake land, FL.  Old songs, new songs, joyful expressions of faith among the congregation, all wrapped up in modern bluegrassy gospel goodness!

More to come...possibly.  :-)

Coming to Jesus

I just got back from a week of summer camp with our youth group.  It was great!  The thing I liked most was seeing our youth blossom under the care and guidance of their counselors.  Camp Living Stones is a decidedly Christian summer camp.  They do the typical camp activities -- zip lines, rafting, high and low ropes courses -- but there's also dedicated time for devotions every morning and worship every evening.  After worship the campers meet with their counselor/small group leader to talk about the day and pray together.  It's the best of Christian community.

I also like this camp because they don't do a hard sell on the gospel.  What I mean is there's no 'altar call.'  Even so, one of our campers dedicated her life to Christ last week!  Hallelujah!  What a wonderful and life-changing thing for her.

It got me thinking...what do we think about conversion?  Especially us Presbyterians who baptize infants into the faith of their parents and the promises made on their behalf.  There's a thing we call confirmation, but that's just a formalized second step to infant baptism.  It's the point at which, nowadays, we have middle & high school students attend class and earn their "I'm a Christian" merit badge.

I jest, of course, but really, shouldn't confirmation be more akin to what our student encountered at camp?  Shouldn't confirmation be the point at which God's promises in Christ become real and personal for me, and I dedicate my life to living as a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Maybe confirmation needs to be less about a program and more about allowing & encouraging young (and old?) folks to fall in love with Jesus.

"The issue is letting Christ in to change us. Having Christ dwell in our hearts is akin to having a new person move into your household. If they're just visiting, it is all rather easy; you simply offer hospitality and try to practice good manners. But if someone moves in to stay, everything changes. At first you might try to hold on to your familiar patterns and routines, and the new member may work hard to accomodate you and stay out of the way. But eventually they make their mark. Conversations change. Relationships realign. Household tasks increase and responsibilities shift. So it is when Christ moves into the hearts of Christians. This isn't merely tweaking old patterns; everything changes."

                      ~ Karen Chakoian, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Granville, OH.

VBS 2012

Last week was our annual Vacation Bible School.  We had an excellent time doing Daniel and the Lion's Den!  The children (and adults!) learned that God is with us all the time!

When things change, God is with us!
When we need help, God is with us!
When we are afraid...God is with us!
When we are lonely...God is with us!
When we are thankful...God is with us!

Jim Hooper, one of our elders, made this outstanding video of the week.  Enjoy!