Financial Peace

Financial Peace is coming to Community Hope in September. I am really excited that our church can offer this program by Dave Ramsey. Dave is an expert on finances and this thirteen week study will help everyone manage their money correctly. Their will be a preview of this class on September 8th at 7 p.m. This will be an opportunity to get an idea of what the class will be like and order materials. Please spread the word and make plans to attend. It will be one of the greatest investments you will ever make.

Four New Rules about Rural

Recently I read a book from Shannon O' Dell called "Transforming church in rural America." This is a great read for rural pastors. In September there will be a group of pastors headed to Arkansas where Shannon pastors to meet with him and have a round table discussion. Shannon took a church in a community of 400 people in rural Arkansas and today they reach over 2,000 people through multi-site campuses. It is truly unbelievable how God is using him to reach rural America. In his book, Shannon shares four new rules about Rural.

1. Small does not have to mean boring
2. Rural does not have to mean lack of innovation
3. Excellence is not found in the detail or design of the building
4. Success is not found in the building size.

I remember when I announced five years ago that I was leaving Des Moines and headed to Montezuma Iowa. I had some people call me out and tell me I was crazy. Small town churches won't grow. They are stuck in tradition. It was career suicide. I knew though as soon as I visited Montezuma and Community Hope that this was the place for our family. I knew that God was bigger than many of the mindsets that people had about rural churches. We have seen some of that over the past five years. We have seen growth and lives changed for the kingdom of God. I also know God is not through and the best is yet to come.

Weekend Reflections

1. Quiet weekend at the Jones household. I took Olivia on a date Saturday morning and we went fishing at a local pond. Olivia caught four fish! Way to go sweet girl. Saturday night we went and saw "Despicable Me." I would recommend this movie for all ages.

2. Sunday we started our new series called "Words". Over the next few weeks we will be talking about the power of our words. Our big idea is that our words have the power to steer and determine the direction of our life and the lives of others. It is so true that our words have the power to affect the most important things in life. Whether that's our relationships, our emotions, our health and even our future. That is why we need to get a hold of our words. James 3 tells that spiritual maturity is marked by a person who can control their words. This is so simple yet so profound. As Christians we have a hard time getting a hold of our words. James says that we can tame all sorts of animals yet we have a hard time taming our tongue. How many times have people been hurt because of gossip, slander, or words said out of anger. That is why we need to learn this principle and choose our words wisely. We ended with a prayer that is found in Psalms 141:3 that says, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips." Let us all pray this prayer on a daily basis asking the Lord to help us with our words.

3. Sunday night we had a leadership team meeting with our department heads. We are gearing up for a new series this Fall called "Get into the Game." I am pumped about this series as there will be lots of surprises and fun. The series big idea will be getting all of us off the bench and into the game that Christ calls the church.

We are starting a new series this Sunday called "Words". The next few weeks we will be taking a look at the power of our words. Proverbs 18:21 says, "the tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit." It is so true that in our words holds life or death. That is why we must choose our words wisely. This Sunday we will be talking about the power of the tongue and covering one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, James chapter 3. Make plans now to attend CH and hear this exciting series.

Random Thoughts

The last four weeks have been pretty crazy for me. We started with Kids Camp and then a week of VBS to a missions trip in Springfield to some time away in Chicago. Here are some random thoughts.

1. Had a great time in Springfield with a twelve of our people helping out Rural Compassion. Kent Anderson and the Rural Compassion ministry is doing a great job helping rural churches. We packed hundreds of shoes for other churches, backpacks and also helping with their monthly mailings at the office. The warehouse was extremely hot but the team had a great attitude and were great workers. Wednesday night we went to James River Assembly to their prayer service and really enjoyed the time in the Word and prayer.

2. Jen and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage last week and to celebrate we went to Chicago, IL. We spent some time at the Aquarium, the Navy Pier and did some shopping. We also went on a dinner cruise as well along Lake Michigan. I can honestly say that my wife is my best friend and I love her more today than thirteen years ago. I love getting away and spending time just the two of us.

3. I had a wedding this weekend with two of our former Grinnell students Dave Krist and Christina Wagner. Dave and Christina were very active in our church while they were attending Grinnell and what an awesome couple they are. It was my privilege to perform the ceremony for them.

4. We had our second Back to School Bash on Sunday and saw over ninety people walk through our doors. We gave away shoes, backpacks, school supplies and free haircuts. God is good. I was reading in Psalms 37 just this morning that says, "The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives." I believe that one of the best ways we can express the kingdom of God is by showing mercy to people and giving with no strings attached. Jesus showed us love unconditionally and by giving back to our community we can do a little of the same. Thanks to everyone who donated school supplies to make this event a success!

Rural Compassion

We are getting ready to head out early tomorrow morning and head to Springfield to Rural Compassion. Rural Compassion is an organization that helps rural churches with outreaches. We are teaming up with Rural Compassion this year with our Back to School Bash. We will be handing out school supplies, backpacks and shoes. Rural Compassion will be helping us with the back packs and the shoes. Instead of just taking, I felt in my heart it was important to give back. That is why we are going down to the warehouse for a couple days and packing shoes and backpacks for other churches. I believe it is so important to give back when we can. We are also bringing down thirty I Mac computers that were donated from the Montezuma school. These computers will be given to churches with after-school programs. Please be in prayer for us Wednesday through Friday as we travel.

Vacation Bible School

It has been a great week at Vacation Bible School. The theme this year is "Water Works Park". Which means lots of water games! We decked out the sanctuary like a water park, picked up the chairs and put beach towels on the floor for the kids to sit on. We have had up to eighty kids this week. Jennifer and all our great workers are doing a great job investing in the lives of these children this week. Here are some pics I've captured so far;