What a great week we had at Sports Camp! Here are some of the pics I promised. Make sure you come this Sunday for our special awards ceremony. The kids will be singing the songs they learned plus we will show a video of the week.

Sports Camp

Sports Camp is officially underway! We've had a great couple of days so far. Yesterday we had 44 kids and today we had 54. Thanks to all those who are helping out and making it a great week so far. I will try to post some pictures if I can.

Planted Seeds

Yesterday I got the chance to slip away and go to Des Moines to celebrate my bests friends accomplishment of being recruited to the Des Moines Fire Department. My buddy and I have been best best friends since kindergarten. While I was there I got to see some old friends from high school. One of these friends I had worked on and witnessed too about Jesus the four years in school. Sometimes it just seemed like a dead end. A couple years ago I saw him for the first time and I could tell that he was searching for something but had not yet crossed that line of faith. I once again was given the opportunity to share with Him about God's love. Well yesterday at the party my old friend came up to me and told me I would never believe that he had become a believer and was actively involved in a church. He and his wife had also been baptized together as well! He is even serving in his church's VBS this week. WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD! My point is sometimes we may not see the fruit for our witness at the time but the seed has been planted in those that we share. I wasn't the one that harvested the fruit of my friend but I was able to plant the seed years ago in his life. How rewarding it is to see the seed grow and have someone come to faith in Christ.

Power of the Spirit

Yesterday we wrapped up our series on "Help Wanted". Yesterday was one of those challenging messages I believe for some of our people. We covered Acts 2 and the day of Pentecost. Three things happened on the day of Pentecost.

1. Given a new language
2. Given boldness
3. Given a heart to share with other people

I believe that God's Holy Spirit will do the same three things in our lives as well. When someone is filled with God's power they will receive a new language, they will be given boldness and they will be given a heart to share with other people. One of the things that stands out to me in this passage is it says that when the followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, the crowd that had gathered and witnessed this were "amazed and perplexed". I believe that Holy Spirit is amazing and perplexing at times. Our God is a supernatural God and will do supernatural things. We cannot fit God into our image and try to explain everything there is about Him and what He can do. The power of the Holy Spirit is a supernatural gift and is given to those who seek it. It is available so that we can receive empowerment from on high. This Thursday we will be giving opportunities for those who would like to receive this gift. Come for a time of worship and seeking God. I believe it will be a wonderful time in God's presence.

Camping Idea

Last weekend I took my family camping to Iowa Lake. We had a great time with the kids at the beach and also took a paddle boat on the lake. While we were there I noticed that the lake does a lot of family activities. One of the activities is they show an outdoor movie for the campers. They have built an outdoor theater screen and campers can bring their blankets and lawn chairs and watch a movie in the evening. As I was there, this thought came to me.....What if we built an outdoor theater behind our church? We can host family movie nights for the community and show some good wholesome movies. I presented this to some of our team members on Monday Night and they thought it was a good idea and are looking at plans on how we can build the screen. Let me know your thoughts, do you think Family Movie Nights would go well in the community?

Only True Church?

I don't know how many of you read the newspapers or watch the news but last week the Pope came out with a pretty bold statement. Here is the quote from MSN.com:

"In the latest document — formulated as five questions and answers — the Vatican seeks to set the record straight on Vatican II’s ecumenical intent, saying some contemporary theological interpretation had been “erroneous or ambiguous” and had prompted confusion and doubt.
It restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, “Dominus Iesus,” which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.”
In the new document and an accompanying commentary, which were released as the pope vacations here in Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the Vatican repeated that position.
“Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church,” the document said. The other communities “cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense” because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles."

Basically this statement is saying that the Catholic church is the only true church and all other churches are not the "means of salvation." This is a pretty bold and scary statement from the Catholic church. First of all, no church can bring salvation to anyone. Only Jesus Christ can do that. It is not faith in a church but faith in Jesus that brings true salvation. Jesus clearly said, "I am the way, the truth and life, no one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus did not say, the Catholic church was the way, the truth and the life. When you take a look at the Catholic church there are many doctrinal errors that are outside the Word of God. First of all, they believe in a purgatory (place where people go after they die and the saints basically pray them into heaven.) They also believe in praying to other saints besides in the Name of Jesus. Many Catholics pray to Mary as if she was a god. Thirdly, the Catholic church has established the Apacrapha books that are added to the Bible. Scripture clearly tells us to not add or subtract to the Word. Scripture tells us that in the last days, many will try to deceive us from believing the true truth of Jesus Christ.

I believe that we need to stay away from groups that claim to put your faith in their church and their particular teachings. Jesus never put His faith in institutions but rather simple faith in Him.

If you missed this past Sunday, we started a new series called "Help Wanted." We are talking about how we can receive guidance from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is such a vital part of our walk with God. Without Him, we could not do it. Jesus said it was to "our advantage that the Helper would come." Over the next few weeks we will be talking about how the Holy Spirit can help us with our walk with God. I am excited to see what God is going to do in the coming weeks!

Conflict Resolution

Spent all day yesterday in Des Moines for District Meetings. The District has appointed me as a part of a Church Health Team. It is pretty exciting to think and strategize how we can plant new churches and revitalize others. While we were there Glenn Reynolds did a teaching session on conflict management. It was really good so I wanted to share some of the points that he made.

There is a good way to handle conflict and then there is a bad way to handle conflict. If conflict is handled in a bad way it can result in 1) Damage to individuals 2) Loss of personnel 3) Damage to organizational trust 4) Loss of learning opportunity 5) Root of bitterness. These are five costs of poor conflict resolution. If conflict is handled the right way then; 1) Surface key issues and tensions 2)Build relational currency 3) Produce new and creative ideas 4) Cause organizations to re-evaluate and clarify goals and mission. 5) Allows for experiential learning. I have been on both sides of conflict and believe me, I would rather be on the healthy side then the unhealthy side of conflict.

So how do we resolve conflict? One way is use the triangle of Satisfaction. On the top of the triangle is the "What?". What is the tip of the iceberg? What is the conflict about? After you deal with the what, we then need to deal with the "Why?". Why did this conflict happen? Is there any Psychological or Emotional Issues behind this? One District Leader met with a board member who gave all his pastors a hard time. Each pastor ended up leaving the church because of this particular board member. Finally, a District official asked the board member if he ever met a pastor that he actually liked. The board member replied, "Yes, one and that pastor molested me when I was a child." The "Why?" behind why that board member was so mean to all his pastors was because of something that happened to him as a child and to this day he could not trust any pastor. Usually in conflict, there is an issue behind the issue. We need to discover the "Why?" of conflict. The final stage is the "How?". How do we resolve this issue or heal the past? In other words, how can we move forward? Is there issues that we need to deal with in our past? Do we need to go and ask for forgiveness to someone? Do we need to forgive the past? Conflict is not resolved unless we move forward from it.

I hope this helps anyone with dealing with issues of conflict. Conflict affects our marriages, our family and our churches. If we know how to deal with conflict when it comes, it will be a lot less painful when it happens.

Community 4th of July Service

Today we had our community service on the lawn of the courthouse. It is truly amazing that all the churches in our area can get together and worship, especially on the court house lawn of all places. What incredible freedom we have here in the United States. There are many nations that surround us that do not have the freedom to worship as we do. I know there are a lot of things wrong with our nation, but let us also be thankful for the things that we have. I am thankful for the right to go to church, play worship music in the great outdoors, and hear the Word of God preached without being scared of the government coming and arresting us or even killing us. Praise be to God! Let us be thankful for the freedom's God has given us.