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;

Camp

We had a wonderful week at Kids Camp. We took five boys and girls to Ogden and God did some great things. There was a team from Illinois that did the services and they were very creative in presenting the Gospel to the kids in ways that they could understand. We also had fun riding the zip lines, go-carts, inflatables and the zorb ball. Good times! I encourage parents to plan ahead and encourage your children to go to camp. It will be the best week of their life, guaranteed. It is a great way to get away from all the stuff that life throws at them and just get alone with God. God always does tremendous things around the altars and I love hearing the testimonies of how God touched these kids. I remember when I was a teenager how camp affected me. I am so thankful for the leadership of the Iowa Network that puts on such a great camp. Way to go guys!

The Community in Hope!

I was reminded this weekend why our church is named "Community Hope." As a church our vision is to reach our community. How do we do this? We do it by being involved in our community. This weekend we had a great opportunity to do just that. Starting Saturday we were at the local parade and afterwards handing out free water bottles and juice boxes to people on the square. Many people were amazed when we told them that the drinks were 'free'. I loved the looks on people's faces like there was something wrong with us by giving away stuff. This was just a practical way to show God's love to our community. Over all we gave away over 200 water bottles and 80 juice boxes to thirsty people. Praise God!

On Sunday our church was able to worship with the other area churches for a 4th of July celebration service. We are so blessed as a community to get together with the other churches and worship together. It is great to build the kingdom of God together as a community and not be about our church vs. their church. Each church will reach different people. The goal is to build the kingdom not individual churches. I love each pastor and each church in this community and thank God for them. They are great men of God and it is a privilege to work with them.

Next week we have another opportunity to be involved in the community. Montezuma is sponsoring Summer Nights every second Tuesday night of the month. Our church has an opportunity to be involved at the square and offer games for the kids. I want to encourage you to come on out and volunteer an hour or two of your time. I will be at Kids Camp that week so we could use all the help we can get.

As the years go on, we must remember as a church that we were called to be in the community and serving Jesus Christ to the community in practical ways. The people of our county need to see Christ followers serving God in tangible ways they can see. There are many opportunities for us to serve so let's keep the community in Hope!

4th of July Community Service

This Sunday we will not be at Community Hope for worship but gathering at the Court House in Montezuma for a special 4th of July Celebration service with the other churches in the community. I will be sharing along with Pastor George from the Presbyterian church and Pastor Klink from the Methodist church. We will have special music, taking communion and also taking a special offering for the needy in our community. Service time is at 9 a.m. Bring a lawn chair if you wish or there will be seats available. Hope to see you there!

Weekend Reflections

1. Friday night we went to see Toy Story 3. It was a good movie but a little scary in a few scenes for Ethan my four year old. Buzz and Woody are always fun and there was funny scenes throughout especially Ken and Barbie. This movie was a little sad with Andy growing up and making the decision to get rid of his toys when he was a kid. All and all it was good movie and would recommend it to anyone.

2. Saturday we celebrated Father's Day since Sunday is such a crazy day. We went to Iowa City and ate at Red Lobster. My wife got her normal motzerella sticks and I got a Lobster and shrimp platter. Yum!

3. It is funny how Mother's Day is our second highest attended Sunday of the year and Father's Day is one of the lowest. Makes you think.

4. Continued our Q & A series on Sunday with the question "How do we know the Bible is accurate?" Many people have this question and I hope that I gave everyone some good information on the reliability of the scriptures. The truth is, if you take the Bible and compare it side by side with other historical documents of that time period, the Bible is one of the most accurate historical writings known to man.

5. I hope everyone got the point that the best way we can prove the Bible is by living it out. God's Word is truth and changes us from the inside out.

6. Gave away a GPS system to Ed Hundley, a Theisens gift card to Pat Cashman and a Grinnell Steak House gift certificate to Austin Young. All great guys and great dads.

No one stands alone

I was reminded this Sunday of one of our core values at Community Hope as I visited another church. One of our core values is 'No one stands alone." This value simply means that when we see somebody in our congregation that is all alone we go and stand by them and engage in a conversation. This also could mean that when someone visits our church for the first time and we see them sitting alone that we go and introduce our self and be friendly and make the visitor feel welcome. Sunday we visited a church in the Pella area. Right before service began, the worship leader talked for about four minutes on the importance of getting to know one another. He then gave everyone about three to four minutes to greet. It is always interesting to look through the lens of a guest in a church and not the pastor. As our family stood there, we only had one person come up and greet us. We stood there for the awkward three to four minutes and had no meaningful conversations with anyone. In fact, the whole time we were there we did not have one person come up and engage us. Now I am not being harsh on this church as the worship was very good and the message was good as well. The reason I bring this up is simply for the benefit of our church. Let's not just have a value for the sake of having a value. Let's practice this value of "No one stands alone." The church we visited was a very large church. This made me think that the larger we get the harder it gets for this value to be practiced. When we were 80 people, it is easy to practice engaging new people and making them feel welcome. It was even easy at 100 and 120. But what about 200? What about 250 or 300? This value will get harder and harder to practice as we grow. That is why it must be intentional. Here are some simple things we can do to make sure "No one stands alone."

1. If you see someone in the foyer that looks lost, go up to that person and introduce yourself.
2. If there is someone sitting in the sanctuary all alone, ask if you can sit by them and engage them in a conversation.
3. During greet time-PLEASE DO NOT ALWAYS GO TO THE SAME PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH. Find people you don't know so well. Greet them and make them feel welcome.
4. If there is a guest with children-make the children feel welcome. Jesus said that if you welcome one of these little ones you would be welcoming Him. Tell the family about our great nursery and children's ministries in the education building.

I want to encourage all of us to continue to reach our to new people. I believe that in these last days, God will bring a harvest to our church. As they come in, we must be ready and welcoming. Let's make sure that "No one stands alone."

Six Flags and Yogi

Had a great week of vacation with the family. We went to St. Louis and camped at JellyStone with Yogi Bear. JellyStone is a great place for the kids as they have activities during the day and a swimming pool to hang out. Tuesday it rained all day so that kind of ruined our plans a little. We ended up finding a Pizza place that had go-karts and games. We spent Wednesday at Six Flags and rode some roller coasters with the kids. Also the kids got to meet some Super Heroes. (Green Lantern and Flash pictured.) All in all it was great week and time of refreshing. It was definitely good to be back and sleep in my own bed on Friday. Sunday we visited a church in Pella and enjoyed the worship and the message. ( I will have to say, I missed our church and our people.) God is good and I'm looking forward to a fruitful week back at the office.

Vacation

Heading out tomorrow for a weeks vacation! We are going to St. Louis and will be camping at JellyStone Park with Yogi bear and Boo Boo. We will be hiding our picnic baskets so the bears can't get them. We also will be spending a day at Six Flags as well. We'll see how many roller coasters I can talk my two older kids to get on. It should be a great week of relaxing and spending time with family. I will see everyone next weekend for Father's Day.

Q & A starts this Sunday

Our Q & A Series starts this Sunday! Thanks to everyone who put in questions who have voted the last couple weeks. This has been a lot of fun. It was fun to get input on what the church was thinking and it was fun to see how the votes went. The funny thing is the votes keep changing besides the top two. This Sunday I will be taking two questions and combining them into one sermon. Looking forward this coming Sunday.

Weekend Reflections

What a beautiful weekend the Lord gave us! Here are some of the highlights;

1. Friday I spent the night hanging out with some great guys as we had a going away/bachelor party for Derek (student ministries leader). We ate some wings at Buffalo Wings, played some mini golf and then went to Bass Pro for some bowling. I'm not for sure when the last time I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. We wish Derek the best the next two months and can't wait for his return in August with his new wife Samone!

2. Sunday we wrapped up our series on "Judgment Call" with a message on when it is the right time to make the call. This is a difficult message but such an important one. The Bible clearly teaches that there is a time to judge and sometimes judging is the loving thing to do. We must always remember though the guidelines set in God's Word before we make that call. 1. First depend on the Holy Spirit, 2. Trust in the authority of God's Word, 3. Accountability is the key to maturity. Always first look to our own hearts and ask God if there is a plank in our own eye. Also, does that person's sin truly break your heart. If it doesn't, then the problem is not with the person but you. If you didn't listen to the message, I encourage you to listen to it on the website at http://www.communityhope.org/

3. On Sunday we also credentialed Darren Mathes with a local church credential. It was exciting to see Darren's family there to support him. Darren will now hold a church credential as a minister of the Gospel. This will allow him to get into the prisons and other ministry opportunities. We are so excited for Darren and how God is using him in great ways.

4. Memorial Day we went to the Omaha Zoo. I love the zoo! The fish aquarium never gets old and they had some new exhibits there as well to explore. The kids had a great time looking at all the animals and it was beautiful day to spend with the family.

Questions are up!

So the questions are now on the website so vote now on which questions you want answered for our June series. Go to www.communityhope.org and click on the Q and A link. We have been getting in quite a few votes already so it's been interesting to see which ones will get the top votes. The series begins the first week of June so vote now.

Fishing Day

Saturday was our Men's/Children fishing day. It was a great day and the bluegill were biting which makes things fun. Here are a few pics of our day.

Money Raised

Yesterday was Possibility Sunday and just wanted to give everyone an update that yesterday we raised a little over $63,000 for the building project. This is definitely a miracle offering and I praise God for the amount. With the money raised yesterday and the current amount we had already raised, we currently have $117,000 raised towards the $250,000 match. I want to thank everyone who sacrificially gave yesterday towards this project. With God-it's possible! We are seeing this come to pass right before our eyes. With this amount we can start pushing ahead to break ground this summer. God is good!

Q and A questions

The questions are in so now it is time to place your vote. I'm hoping to have everything on the website soon. We will have four weeks in the series but I will probably have one Sunday where it is more of a round table discussion for some of the questions that may not take a whole message. Here is what we have so far.

- Does everyone go to heaven? What is the unpardonable sin?
- Why is prayer sometimes so difficult?
- What is speaking in tongues and how to seek the gifts of the Spirit?
- Why is it unChristian to curse?
- Why did God want a blood sacrifice for sin?
- Why is Christianity the right religion?
- Would God send someone to hell if they've never heard of Jesus? What about those in the Old Testament that never heard of God?
- How do we know the Bible is accurate?
- Why do we take communion only once a month?

These are great questions so far. It is still not too late if you want to get your question in. We will have the cards on the information table this Sunday and you can still put your question in the Q and A box. Looking forward to our series in June.