Flood

Yesterday was my moms birthday so we were headed to Des Moines but before we went I decided to stop by the church and I couldn't believe it but the church building had water in it once again. This time it was all in the sanctuary, the nursery and foyer. We just tiled all around the two buildings hoping it would solve this problem. I heard we had 4 inches in matter of a few minutes Friday morning. We called a cleaning crew and thankfully with a lot of fans and dehumidifiers we got it dried out. I am so thankful to those who came in today and helped put the church back together for Sunday. We are very blessed with great people who step in in a time of need. Thankfully we are all set for church tomorrow!

Quick Happenings

Lots of things going on lately. Here are just a few things;

- Had our work night last night- Cleaned up the storage area (What a mess!!!!!) Also did some painting in the new Sunday School rooms. Honestly, we could of used more help.

- Today is the first day of summer. (Kind of) The kids are officially out of school and I've already heard the famous sentence of summer, "I'm Bored!"

- Met with Heath Adamson today about the 7 Project. I'm really pumped about the 7 project coming to Montezuma. We have three schools booked including BGM and English Valley. The hard work begins now with prayer, getting the other churches on board and raising funds necessary.

- Also met with Vanna Bushong today. Vanna is going to help me out this summer with video projects and other projects in the church. Really excited about having an extra hand.

Missions Meeting

We had our missions meeting last night and I've got to say that it is always exciting giving money away. Our church was founded on the principle that missions is a priority. That is why we take 10% out of our general offering every week that goes towards missions on top of what is designated. Even when didn't have money to give, we gave and that is why I believe our church is blessed. Here are a few things that we did:

Gave $200 to the new church plant in West Des Moines
Gave $208 to the Key Bearers Ministry (Pentecostal Evangels to Prisons)
Gave $250 to one of our own church attendees missions trip
Gave $25 gift certificate to Walmart for graduation gift for Missionaries son.

Also we are starting a care package ministry for those overseas and college students and looking at possible visitation to nursery homes on a regular basis. I hope this gives everyone an idea of what we do with our Missions money. Every time we give towards missions it is making a difference.

New Look

I decided to give the blog a new look and new name this week. I've changed the name to "Hope Filled Thoughts" going off the name of our church Community Hope. I plan on blogging more as lately I haven't done a great job at keeping up. Let me know if you like the look and name or if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see on this blog.

Memorial Day Fun

Had a great day today just spending time with the family. We went to Diamond Lake and played on the playground, went fishing, took a hike and then ate a picnic lunch. I really cherish these times together as a family. We even took Maggie our dog with us!

SIMPLE

We started our new series called "Simple" today in church. I really feel that we often make the Gospel more complicated then it really is. When Jesus came to earth, He made it really simple on how we should follow Him.

Today I talked about the first step which is simply "Follow Me." The story we read was from Matthew 9 and the story of Matthew the tax collector. It is interesting that Jesus asked Matthew who was a tax collector and sinner of his time to follow. Jesus didn't say, 'get your act together' and then follow nor did He give him a bunch of rules that he had to obey before he could be a disciple. Jesus simply said "Follow Me". Somehow we have gotten this backwards in the church today. We think that people have to have it all together before they can follow. Some how we have thought that even church is for church people. The more I study Jesus the more I find that people unlike Jesus liked Him and those who were unlike Jesus were attracted to Him. Which makes me think that if we are true followers of Christ then those who are unlike us will like us and those who are not like us will be attracted to us.

Jesus extends the invitation for everyone to follow Him. As we follow, God begins to do a work in our hearts. But before He even has a chance, we must first start following. Let's remember that very important but simple step.

Children's Ministry Revamp

Tonight we had our first meeting on some of the changes in our children's ministry department. I feel that this is our number one priority right now as a church. We will be making changes to our nursery, starting a preschool ministry (3-5 year old) and also changing some of things in our Kids Church (K-5) I was a children's pastor for 10 years before entering adult ministry and I know the importance of a good kids ministry. I have seen first hand how a children's ministry can not only reach kids but also adults. There are nine references of Jesus ministering to children or referring to how we should be like children in the Bible. If Jesus thought it was important then so should we. There is a staggering statistic that says that when a kid is between the ages of 1-14 we have a 32% chance of reaching them. After they reach 18 that chance goes down to 4%. What should this teach us? We should try to reach people when they are young. In order to do this we need volunteers in all our children's department. We basically need to more then double our volunteers on Sunday morning. If you would like to be a part of reaching the next generation for Christ, we can definitely use you. Let's take the opportunity that God gives us and reach kids for the Kingdom of God.

Think like child

Sunday was definitely one of those wild days. We started at 9 a.m. with Baccalaureate at the school and then we had our own service at 10:30 a.m. Graduation was at 1 p.m. and then after parties all day. It was still great day as Pastor Keaton got the opportunity to speak at graduation and did a great job talking about becoming world changers. At church I talked about how to see life through the eyes of a child. Here are the four essentials in seeing life through the eyes of a child:

1. Walk in the wonder of worship

2. Trust with child like faith

3. Be bold and unashamed

4. Learn to walk in innocence.

At the end of the service we handed out little play-doh containers to remind our selves that being child like is not necessarily a bad thing. Jesus said if you want to be great in the kingdom than begin to see life in this way. I hope everyone has a great time playing with their play doh this week.

Mothers Day

I hope all the moms had a great Mothers Day yesterday. We had a great day in church as we had 154 in attendance! I challenged all of us to honor our mothers not just one day a year but honoring our moms and our dads on a regular basis. Remember the three A's of honor:

Acceptance: I accept that God chose you to raise me
Appreciation: I appreciate everything you have done for me
Affirmation: I affirm and respect you by listening and praying for you on a regular basis.

I hope most of us took the time to write our letter of honor which includes all three of these important things. I took my letter of honor to my mom yesterday after church. I could tell she was really touched. I hope your mom was too!

Drive Conference

Just back from Atlanta and the Drive Conference. What an amazing week of learning. I was privileged to bring the team with me this week and we even got the chance to meet Elvis. (As pictured). Every workshop and main sessions was just what I needed. I want to share with everyone five random thoughts that Andy Stanley shared about church and leadership.

1. "To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things that no one else is doing." Wow, what a thought. As a church, let us not be satisfied with what we are currently doing but let us always find new ways to reach new people.

2. "The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation." The takeaway is, we can either fight it or fund it? Are we willing to risk failure for the next generation? Let us not be critics, lets be students.

3. "What do we believe is impossible that could change our church." We must not put limits on God. He is the God of all possibilities!

4. "If we got kicked out of leadership and came back with fresh eyes, what would we change?" This is a good question as it is easy to become emotionally attached to the things we are comfortable with. Are we doing ministries and programs that are ineffective? What are manufacturing energy in? We must own up to the things that are not working and why they are not working?

5. "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near." I've heard a lot of people say, "We need to go back when........." We can't be experts on the past. If the vision isn't driving the church then the past will. When the past is driving us then the end is near. We must always look towards the future and what God is in store. Vision comes from a burden within. What do we have a broken heart for? These are the things that should drive us into the future.

Andy closed by saying that the real issue in America is not the high price or gasoline or the war in Iraq or who will be the next president. The real issue of America is the heart. Only the Gospel of Jesus can penetrate the hearts of people. This should drive us as a church because we are ones with the incredibly important message. We carry the hope of Christ with us. Let us do what is necessary to continue to reach this generation for Christ.