I had a great time Sunday at our monthly Ridge Church Prayer Gathering. I always enjoy getting together with you all, and Sunday was cool because we got together to pray!
Last month, we prayed through the ACTS process. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, ACTS is a "recipe" to follow in prayer so that your prayers make sure to honor God and "cover all the bases" that you want to pray about. This is way better than the random "beef stew" prayer that we often send up to God, full of all kinds of stuff that just gets added into our prayers willy-nilly. (Maybe this isn't a good analogy, but it's what I got right now.)
Anyhow, A stands for adoration; it's the time for adoring God for who He is. C stands for confession; it's the time for admitting our sins to God and requesting His strength to obey Him in our lives. T stands for thanksgiving; it's the time to thank God for all kinds of stuff. Finally, S stands for supplication; it's the time for praying for others and ourselves, and is at the end on purpose!
Anyway, this week we decided to pray through the Ridge Church values. In an hour, we got through the first 3: Truth, Grace & Faith, and Community. I had a great time, and I hope you all did, too. The Krispy Kremes that Sue Irving brought were a nice treat! At our next prayer gathering in September, we'll "pray through" our other 3 values.
On Sunday we also took up a special offering for our Pakistani brothers and sisters in Christ. You all shared more than $50 that will go directly to Pakistan to provide clothes and lodging for Christ-followers who have had their homes burned by angry Muslims. Thank you for sharing what God has trusted to you so that we can be an encouragement to others in Jesus' name!
This Sunday, we'll meet at One Life Church for worship. At our Prayer Gathering, I said we'd meet at 9:45 at Powell High School. The time for their worship gathering is 11 a.m., not 10 a.m. as I thought. So, we'll gather at 10:45 at Powell High School this Sunday the 23rd. Childcare is provided by OneLife, so kids are welcome! After worship, everyone is welcome to eat lunch with us as always!
See you at small group and on Sunday!
Showing posts with label Grace and Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace and Faith. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Mother's Day this Sunday!
Hey! Mother's Day is this Sunday. This is a cool holiday for Moms to be celebrated and encouraged for all the hard work they do. But, it's also a cool holiday to recognize our kids and what a huge responsibility we parents have toward them.
This week at our worship gathering, we'll be dedicating several children to God. What does that mean? It simply means that we recognize that our children are a blessing from God, and they belong to God entirely. If we are followers of Christ, then we want to raise our kids in a way that would honor God. But, that's no easy task!
Sunday is an opportunity for parents to dedicate themselves to raising their children God's way, with the dual gifts of Grace and Faith. Of course, parenting isn't easy, which is something Emily and I have already learned... and today is just Chloe's six-month "birthday!"
So, here's how it goes: On Sunday, our parents will acknowledge publicly that their children belong to God. They will commit to striving to honor God in their parenting, and ask for His help in doing that. We will pray for them, encourage them, and thank God for their children. Then, we will also, as a church, commit to encouraging and supporting the folks in our midst who are raising the kids. This is a great picture of the body of Christ working in harmony!
So, be sure to be there on Sunday and encourage our parents (Emily and I included!). It will be a great experience.
Of course, not everyone is a Mom, and not everyone has kids. And, that is OK! Emily and I didn't have kids for the first 10 years of our marriage; God just chose to bless us in other ways!
Because Moms are important, and because we value everyone at The Ridge, we want you to come even if you're not a parent. Get behind our parents and support them, and praise God for all the kids at Ridge Church. Again, it's a great picture of the Body of Christ!
Speaking of Chloe, she finally had ear tubes put in this morning! And, she seems to be feeling much better. Will this result in less crying on Sundays? Come this weekend and find out! Hahaha!
This week at our worship gathering, we'll be dedicating several children to God. What does that mean? It simply means that we recognize that our children are a blessing from God, and they belong to God entirely. If we are followers of Christ, then we want to raise our kids in a way that would honor God. But, that's no easy task!
Sunday is an opportunity for parents to dedicate themselves to raising their children God's way, with the dual gifts of Grace and Faith. Of course, parenting isn't easy, which is something Emily and I have already learned... and today is just Chloe's six-month "birthday!"
So, here's how it goes: On Sunday, our parents will acknowledge publicly that their children belong to God. They will commit to striving to honor God in their parenting, and ask for His help in doing that. We will pray for them, encourage them, and thank God for their children. Then, we will also, as a church, commit to encouraging and supporting the folks in our midst who are raising the kids. This is a great picture of the body of Christ working in harmony!
So, be sure to be there on Sunday and encourage our parents (Emily and I included!). It will be a great experience.
Of course, not everyone is a Mom, and not everyone has kids. And, that is OK! Emily and I didn't have kids for the first 10 years of our marriage; God just chose to bless us in other ways!
Because Moms are important, and because we value everyone at The Ridge, we want you to come even if you're not a parent. Get behind our parents and support them, and praise God for all the kids at Ridge Church. Again, it's a great picture of the Body of Christ!
Speaking of Chloe, she finally had ear tubes put in this morning! And, she seems to be feeling much better. Will this result in less crying on Sundays? Come this weekend and find out! Hahaha!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
A Great Month of Worship Gatherings...
Hey! We've had a great time at our Sunday morning worship gatherings together over the past couple weeks, and there's more to come...
Two weeks ago, we had a special guest, Andy Hughes of Journey Church of the Highlands in Boone, NC. Our church supports Andy with our finances and our prayers. We want you to get to know all of the church planters that we support, so we invited Andy to visit and have some time to share with us on a Sunday morning. He had hoped to bring his wife and kids, but he had a sick child in the house, so that didn't work out. Maybe next time!
Andy drove nearly three hours to be with us because he is excited about what's God is doing in Boone, and also because he is excited about what God is doing through Ridge Church in Fountain City. Please pray for Andy and his family... Boone is a tough place to plant a church. If you'd like to send an email greeting or prayer to Andy, just email me, and I will get it to him.
Last week, we discussed the future of The Ridge and what you can expect to see, hear, and experience with our church in the next year or so. Believe it or not, Emily and I have been back here in Knoxville for 9 months, and we're pretty pumped about what God is going to do through our church in the next 9 months!
We talked extensively last Sunday about what commitments are expected from everyone who calls Ridge Church home. We also talked about what you can expect The Ridge's leadership to commit to as part of our relationship to each other. Being part of a community of faith is a big deal, and we take that "community" and "faith" stuff seriously at Ridge Church! (As a matter of fact, those words are both in our Core Values!)
We shared last week our core values and also our statement of faith. I will be adding these to the website soon. Also, if you don't have a copy of those from our worship gathering, keep your eyes open for them this week and pick 'em up. Or, you can just let me know and I'll email you a copy.
This week, we're celebrating our first Palm Sunday together as a church! This will be a great two gatherings... Next week is Easter!
This is a perfect time to bring a friend to check out The Ridge. For those of you who've been bringing friends and family to see what Jesus and Ridge Church is all about (and there have been several of you)... Awesome! It's the invitations of family, friends, neighbors and co-workers that carry the most weight and are most often used by God to draw people into a relationship with Himself. Keep it up!!!
Two weeks ago, we had a special guest, Andy Hughes of Journey Church of the Highlands in Boone, NC. Our church supports Andy with our finances and our prayers. We want you to get to know all of the church planters that we support, so we invited Andy to visit and have some time to share with us on a Sunday morning. He had hoped to bring his wife and kids, but he had a sick child in the house, so that didn't work out. Maybe next time!
Andy drove nearly three hours to be with us because he is excited about what's God is doing in Boone, and also because he is excited about what God is doing through Ridge Church in Fountain City. Please pray for Andy and his family... Boone is a tough place to plant a church. If you'd like to send an email greeting or prayer to Andy, just email me, and I will get it to him.
Last week, we discussed the future of The Ridge and what you can expect to see, hear, and experience with our church in the next year or so. Believe it or not, Emily and I have been back here in Knoxville for 9 months, and we're pretty pumped about what God is going to do through our church in the next 9 months!
We talked extensively last Sunday about what commitments are expected from everyone who calls Ridge Church home. We also talked about what you can expect The Ridge's leadership to commit to as part of our relationship to each other. Being part of a community of faith is a big deal, and we take that "community" and "faith" stuff seriously at Ridge Church! (As a matter of fact, those words are both in our Core Values!)
We shared last week our core values and also our statement of faith. I will be adding these to the website soon. Also, if you don't have a copy of those from our worship gathering, keep your eyes open for them this week and pick 'em up. Or, you can just let me know and I'll email you a copy.
This week, we're celebrating our first Palm Sunday together as a church! This will be a great two gatherings... Next week is Easter!
This is a perfect time to bring a friend to check out The Ridge. For those of you who've been bringing friends and family to see what Jesus and Ridge Church is all about (and there have been several of you)... Awesome! It's the invitations of family, friends, neighbors and co-workers that carry the most weight and are most often used by God to draw people into a relationship with Himself. Keep it up!!!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
An update on my sister-in-law, Tina
My mom, Frances, emailed me this info today about Tina, my sister-in-law. I mentioned an important prayer request for her a couple days ago.
My mom and dad, Roy and Frances (you can pray for them too, if you want!) heard from my brother Keith last night. He and Tina "learned that the nasal tumor was indeed a pregnancy - related thing that just happened to end up in her nose. Apparently the spot in front of her ear has gone down some. She still has headaches, too, but maybe they are better. The great news is that the situaion seems a lot better than we originally thought. Praise the Lord! It sounds like she is seeing a group in El Paso who will decide Friday about when to do the surgery."
The quotes contain most of the email from my mom. Below is the final sentence of the email:
"Kevin, someone misunderstood the info earlier and there is apparently no spot in her brain, so that needs to be clarified on your website."
So, I guess that clarifies it! Such awesome news! No "spot on the brain." (Wow, isn't it hard to pass along information that doctors share? Who knows where that misinformation/overreaction occurred, but who cares. Ever try to play "telephone" with about 5 friends? You get the point.)
Please join me in praying that Tina's nasal tumor and other spot can be removed easily and harmlessly.
I choose to see God at work here in Tina's life! I have no problem believing that He can heal anyone, anytime, anyplace.
On a continued happy note, here are some pics Keith sent me of their new little girl, Isobel! The last two are pics of Aiden (their middle kid) and Jeremiah (the oldest).
My mom and dad, Roy and Frances (you can pray for them too, if you want!) heard from my brother Keith last night. He and Tina "learned that the nasal tumor was indeed a pregnancy - related thing that just happened to end up in her nose. Apparently the spot in front of her ear has gone down some. She still has headaches, too, but maybe they are better. The great news is that the situaion seems a lot better than we originally thought. Praise the Lord! It sounds like she is seeing a group in El Paso who will decide Friday about when to do the surgery."
The quotes contain most of the email from my mom. Below is the final sentence of the email:
"Kevin, someone misunderstood the info earlier and there is apparently no spot in her brain, so that needs to be clarified on your website."
So, I guess that clarifies it! Such awesome news! No "spot on the brain." (Wow, isn't it hard to pass along information that doctors share? Who knows where that misinformation/overreaction occurred, but who cares. Ever try to play "telephone" with about 5 friends? You get the point.)
Please join me in praying that Tina's nasal tumor and other spot can be removed easily and harmlessly.
I choose to see God at work here in Tina's life! I have no problem believing that He can heal anyone, anytime, anyplace.
On a continued happy note, here are some pics Keith sent me of their new little girl, Isobel! The last two are pics of Aiden (their middle kid) and Jeremiah (the oldest).
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Another wild week...
Well, I made a big mistake in my last post. I pretty much promised to post a couple times last weekend, and obviously, that didn't happen. So, I apologize. Life intervened last weekend, and my schedule didn't go as I planned. Maybe I should apply James 4:13-16 in my life next time! I guess the lesson to be learned is that life is always apt to change your plans and schedule.
Anyway, this weekend was a strange mixture of fun and difficult. Our friends Josh and Maria, and their son "little Josh" drove up from Jacksonville on Thursday and stayed until Monday. We stayed up far too late each night talking about old times. Friday, we explored the area and ate at Zaxby's on Cumberland. On Saturday, the five of us spent the day at Cades Cove and pretty much wore ourselves out. On Sunday, we visited a local church and had lunch with Emily's parents, Bill and Sue Irving.
At lunch, I got one of those calls that you hate to think about. My mom called to tell me that my grandmother (who lives in West Knoxville) had a stroke. So, Emily and I left lunch and drove to the hospital to visit her and my grandfather. It was a pretty stressful time. We arrived and saw my grandmother in the emergency room, unable to speak.
Praise God that His grace was present in abundance, and my grandmother has improved steadily since Sunday. She's moved from the ER to the critical care unit, and finally to a "regular" hospital room.
I'm going to share a little more about what happened to my grandparents here. I hope they will forgive me if it's too personal, but there's a reason for it.
My grandfather had to make a momentous decision on Sunday. He had to choose whether or not to have the doctor at the ER give my grandmother an IV medication that could break up the clot in her brain and help her condition. The problem is that my grandmother is already on blood thinners, and too much thinning of the blood can cause hemorrhaging and even more problems than a blood clot.
My grandfather, mom, and dad all chatted with the doctor, and it finally came down to a crucial question. My family asked the doctor, "Would you give your own mother this medication?" The doctor said that he would, because there was a 60% chance that the medication would help my grandmother and a 40% chance that it would cause more problems. My family had to choose between the advice of their expert adviser and their own gut. Fortunately for everyone, they took the wise advice of the expert and my grandmother is steadily improving.
The point is this: How often do we trust our own "gut" about what is best for us in life, and reject the "advice" of God that is found in the Bible? Pretty much daily, with repeated negative consequences. We struggle so much in life because we think we have the answers to our own spiritual, social, emotional, and family problems and we choose to live outside God's best plans for us.
In truth, God gives us a 100% guarantee that if we operate in the truth that He presents to us in His Word, our lives will be lived to our fullest potential. This doesn't mean we will have a life devoid of pain and difficulty, but it does mean we'll live a life that is deeply meaningful and fulfilling.
So, when faced with difficult life decisions, we need only look to the examples laid out for us in the Bible. When we trust God's Word and place our faith in Him, we are free to let go of worry and allow Him to guide our paths.
Anyway, this weekend was a strange mixture of fun and difficult. Our friends Josh and Maria, and their son "little Josh" drove up from Jacksonville on Thursday and stayed until Monday. We stayed up far too late each night talking about old times. Friday, we explored the area and ate at Zaxby's on Cumberland. On Saturday, the five of us spent the day at Cades Cove and pretty much wore ourselves out. On Sunday, we visited a local church and had lunch with Emily's parents, Bill and Sue Irving.
At lunch, I got one of those calls that you hate to think about. My mom called to tell me that my grandmother (who lives in West Knoxville) had a stroke. So, Emily and I left lunch and drove to the hospital to visit her and my grandfather. It was a pretty stressful time. We arrived and saw my grandmother in the emergency room, unable to speak.
Praise God that His grace was present in abundance, and my grandmother has improved steadily since Sunday. She's moved from the ER to the critical care unit, and finally to a "regular" hospital room.
I'm going to share a little more about what happened to my grandparents here. I hope they will forgive me if it's too personal, but there's a reason for it.
My grandfather had to make a momentous decision on Sunday. He had to choose whether or not to have the doctor at the ER give my grandmother an IV medication that could break up the clot in her brain and help her condition. The problem is that my grandmother is already on blood thinners, and too much thinning of the blood can cause hemorrhaging and even more problems than a blood clot.
My grandfather, mom, and dad all chatted with the doctor, and it finally came down to a crucial question. My family asked the doctor, "Would you give your own mother this medication?" The doctor said that he would, because there was a 60% chance that the medication would help my grandmother and a 40% chance that it would cause more problems. My family had to choose between the advice of their expert adviser and their own gut. Fortunately for everyone, they took the wise advice of the expert and my grandmother is steadily improving.
The point is this: How often do we trust our own "gut" about what is best for us in life, and reject the "advice" of God that is found in the Bible? Pretty much daily, with repeated negative consequences. We struggle so much in life because we think we have the answers to our own spiritual, social, emotional, and family problems and we choose to live outside God's best plans for us.
In truth, God gives us a 100% guarantee that if we operate in the truth that He presents to us in His Word, our lives will be lived to our fullest potential. This doesn't mean we will have a life devoid of pain and difficulty, but it does mean we'll live a life that is deeply meaningful and fulfilling.
So, when faced with difficult life decisions, we need only look to the examples laid out for us in the Bible. When we trust God's Word and place our faith in Him, we are free to let go of worry and allow Him to guide our paths.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Ridge Church Value #2: Grace and Faith
Yes, it's true! Ridge Church does have more than one core value. (As a matter of fact, we have six!)
Our second core value is "Grace and Faith." Below is some information on our value of "Grace and Faith" from our Launch Proposal. (That's a document church planter dudes share with folks who are interested in supporting a church from afar with their prayers and finances, or supporting it locally by being part of it.)
We'll be sharing our Launch Proposal with everyone who comes to our Information Meeting on Monday the 28th at 7 pm at the Kroger Community Center in Halls. We'd love to have you come and learn about The Ridge and ask all the questions you want!
Here's what our Launch Proposal says about Grace and Faith:
"We believe that all people, especially those who do not already follow Christ, matter to God. They should be offered grace by the local church and actively and continually invited by Christians to place their faith in Christ and His Gospel."
There's always a little "unpacking" to do when someone says that some concept is a core value. For me personally, Grace and Faith are crucial.
When I was a younger believer, I was a very legalistic individual. I believed that even though I was a believer in Christ, there was a ton of stuff I had to do to please God, and those who didn't do the right things (or, conversely, did do the wrong things) weren't pleasing Him. Then, I kind of oversteered to the other side and spent some time believing that as long as folks believed in Christ, they could do pretty much whatever and God was cool with it. (Don't get me wrong, I thought that within good reason... You could say I just was very "anti-rules.") This is often called "antinomianism" in theological-speak. Here's a good definition of that word.
We believe that Christians and the local church must always offer God's grace to everyone with whom we come in contact by sharing the Gospel (or "Good News") of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When those who aren't Christ-followers respond to God's call on their lives and accept God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus, they become Christ-followers and are adopted forever as part of God's family.
Of course, those who are Christ-followers sin or mess up daily in their lives. Often our difficulty is that we aren't willing to allow Christ to live through us as we selfishly attempt to control every aspect of our lives. But this doesn't mean that we are "losers", useless, or are not loved by God!
So often through the years, our churches have "shot our wounded"--people who are hurt or struggling with sin or pain or some other "issue"... At Ridge Church, that's not going to be the case!
At The Ridge, everyone who is not yet a believer in Christ will be showed God's grace and challenged to accept Christ in faith. Those who are already believers will be shown grace when they "mess up" and challenged to allow Christ to be the Lord of thier daily lives as they walk with Him in faith. Put another way: forgiveness, grace and love will be offered to all with one hand, and faith and discipline will be a challenge presented to all with the other hand.
As always, a blog is an imperfect place to share one's most theological thoughts... If you have questions about grace or faith, email me at kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com!
There are several verses in the Bible that support our value of Grace and Truth. Check out these: Acts 2:37-41, Matthew 18:21-35, Acts 8:26-40.
Our second core value is "Grace and Faith." Below is some information on our value of "Grace and Faith" from our Launch Proposal. (That's a document church planter dudes share with folks who are interested in supporting a church from afar with their prayers and finances, or supporting it locally by being part of it.)
We'll be sharing our Launch Proposal with everyone who comes to our Information Meeting on Monday the 28th at 7 pm at the Kroger Community Center in Halls. We'd love to have you come and learn about The Ridge and ask all the questions you want!
Here's what our Launch Proposal says about Grace and Faith:
"We believe that all people, especially those who do not already follow Christ, matter to God. They should be offered grace by the local church and actively and continually invited by Christians to place their faith in Christ and His Gospel."
There's always a little "unpacking" to do when someone says that some concept is a core value. For me personally, Grace and Faith are crucial.
When I was a younger believer, I was a very legalistic individual. I believed that even though I was a believer in Christ, there was a ton of stuff I had to do to please God, and those who didn't do the right things (or, conversely, did do the wrong things) weren't pleasing Him. Then, I kind of oversteered to the other side and spent some time believing that as long as folks believed in Christ, they could do pretty much whatever and God was cool with it. (Don't get me wrong, I thought that within good reason... You could say I just was very "anti-rules.") This is often called "antinomianism" in theological-speak. Here's a good definition of that word.
We believe that Christians and the local church must always offer God's grace to everyone with whom we come in contact by sharing the Gospel (or "Good News") of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When those who aren't Christ-followers respond to God's call on their lives and accept God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus, they become Christ-followers and are adopted forever as part of God's family.
Of course, those who are Christ-followers sin or mess up daily in their lives. Often our difficulty is that we aren't willing to allow Christ to live through us as we selfishly attempt to control every aspect of our lives. But this doesn't mean that we are "losers", useless, or are not loved by God!
So often through the years, our churches have "shot our wounded"--people who are hurt or struggling with sin or pain or some other "issue"... At Ridge Church, that's not going to be the case!
At The Ridge, everyone who is not yet a believer in Christ will be showed God's grace and challenged to accept Christ in faith. Those who are already believers will be shown grace when they "mess up" and challenged to allow Christ to be the Lord of thier daily lives as they walk with Him in faith. Put another way: forgiveness, grace and love will be offered to all with one hand, and faith and discipline will be a challenge presented to all with the other hand.
As always, a blog is an imperfect place to share one's most theological thoughts... If you have questions about grace or faith, email me at kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com!
There are several verses in the Bible that support our value of Grace and Truth. Check out these: Acts 2:37-41, Matthew 18:21-35, Acts 8:26-40.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)