Sunday Worship Preview - October 5

Sunday, October 5 (8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Traditional and 9:45 A.M. Contemporary)

Features - 21st Sunday After Pentecost & World Communion Sunday

Sermon Title - “A Forty Day Journey - Presence"

Scriptures - Revelation 4 & John 4:7-24

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Theme - This is the third sermon of a six-part sermon series on “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, and Service: A Forty Day Journey.” On this middle Sunday of our forty day journey together, we will reflect on the third week of readings which focus on the vitally important Christian discipline of weekly communal worship.

A 2nd Look at Prayer/Healing

As I started on my three mile run yesterday, it dawned on me that my injured right foot was healed! This past weekend, I must have done something to hurt it. On Monday, I could hardly put any weight on it but thankfully that was my sermon/worship planning day so I was at a computer most of the day.

On Tuesday, my foot wasn't any better. I had a district meeting and began to notice throughout the day, that my knee was beginning to give out on me because of my foot problem. That night was the Impact World Tour at the High School and because the gym was packed, I had to stand for two hours against a wall on the gym floor level. I tried to relieve the pressure on my foot by resting it on my other foot, but you can only do that for so long.

Wednesday was another tough day for the foot. I made hospital calls in Dayton which meant a lot of walking (3 different hospitals.) We had the 2nd and final night of the Impact World Tour that night and I was wondering if I should go since my foot wasn't getting any better.

That night, one of the Impact World Tour leaders invited people to come to the front of the stage to make a commitment to Jesus Christ. As one of the local links, I came forward with my bum foot. While we were all standing together, the speaker slipped in this little comment, "Maybe you need to be healed from something tonight. We've heard stories of how God can heal us physically...if you are in need of healing, I pray that God would take away your pain..."

Now, I realize that being at the Impact World Tour wasn't primarily about me. It was about having a small part in how God was reaching younger generations for Jesus Christ. But when the leader made the comment about how God brings healing and as my foot was throbbing with pain at that moment, I decided to move my injured foot about 6 inches closer to the stage. After the prayer, I went about my business not thinking any more about that prayer.

On Thursday, I went about my morning with a meeting and a bible study at the church. Later that afternoon, I went for my three mile run, and that's when it dawned on me that for the entire day, I didn't have any more pain in my foot whatsoever. During my run, I thought about that prayer for healing the night before and how I had moved my foot closer to the stage.

Now, I'm not one that is particularly drawn to healing ministries, although, in my years of pastoring, there have been circumstances in which prayer and God's healing touch, were the only ways in which doctors and church members could make sense of certain situations.

A couple of reasons why I'm on the cautious side of not making a huge deal of physical healings is because of Christians who have misused or exploited this gift of God not to mention that there are a number of faithful Christians who for whatever reasons have not experienced healings and and have had to live with an ailment and with pain that comes with it. As a pastor, that raises a number of theological and pastoral questions.

All I know is that I hurt my foot pretty badly. I didn't let it rest or do anything to help it heal. Somebody prayed. And I was able to run 3 miles without any pain whatsoever yesterday.

Thanks be to God!

Island Breeze - Wednesday Night

The 2nd night of the Impact World Tour was another great success. Last night, Island Breeze, a Polynesian dance team performed to a packed house at the Xenia High School gym. At the end of the evening, it appeared that approximately 150 people came forward to either accept Christ for the first time or make a recommitment to Christ.

Several members of Island Breeze were guests at our Wednesday Common Cup food court before heading off to the high school to get ready for their performance. It was very touching when one of their members grabbed a microphone during the food court time to thank our church for hosting them. They proceeded to sing to us as they made their way out of the church building.

I haven't heard official numbers of the two day campaign, but my guess is that close to 400 people (almost all under 18) came forward and made commitments to Jesus Christ. This means that the 125 or so trained local links will be making contacts with these folks over the next 8 weeks, encouraging them to continue to grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.

Like Tuesday night, there were Faith Community volunteers all over the place helping with the event. Our Common Cup churches were also well represented by serving in a variety of capacities. A big thanks to all of you for helping to make make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Proud of Our Church!

The first night of the Impact World Tour at Xenia High School last night was a huge success. The gym was packed with teenagers and children who came out to see GX International which consists of awesome skateboarders and dancers.

Throughout the hour and a half performance, several different performers shared brief testimonies of how Jesus had made a big difference in their lives. Several times during the night, they mentioned that they were doing all of this because of their love for God and their love for the people who had come to watch them perform. After each of these comments, I thought to myself, "that might be the first time that many of them had heard anyone say that they were loved."

I arrived an hour and half before the performance, along with what looked to be 125 trained Local Links, to receive some additional training on how we were to help people who would receive Christ during the program. They gave us bibles to give to people and a follow-up procedure to help new Christians begin their journey of discipleship. During the program, I ended up giving my bible to a youth who was around 12 or 13 and accepted Christ that night.

One of the Impact World Tour leaders specifically told me of what a huge help Faith Community has been in providing a number of volunteers to serve as ushers, set-up, local links, and for how our church is providing meals for 70 IWT workers and performers. I saw a number of our church members serving in a variety of ways last night. I am so proud of our church in providing so much support for this wave of evangelism in Xenia.

Toward the end of the performance, people were invited to become a disciple of Jesus Christ by coming forward to the stage. A swarm of children and youth came forward. I don't know how many came forward but my guess is that it was in the neighborhood of at least 200 people. Praise be to God!

Pray for the Local Links as they now begin to make personal contacts with these new Christians to help them in their new journey of faith. Also pray for tonight's performance as Polynesian dancers share the good news of Jesus Christ.

The picture is from last night as skateboarders were performing.

Sunday Worship Preview - September 28

Sunday, September 28 (8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Traditional and 9:45 A.M. Contemporary)

Features - 20th Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon Title - “A Forty Day Journey - Prayers”

Scriptures - I Thessalonians 5:12-22 & Luke 11:1-13

Theme - This is the second sermon of a six-part sermon series on “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, and Service: A Forty Day Journey.” On this second Sunday of our forty day journey together, we will reflect on the second week of readings which focus on having a deeper prayer life.

Daily Devotions on the Run

This morning, I came across a website that will provide a new way of participating in daily devotions for me. If you enjoy "The Daily Office" approach for your daily devotions and you like to use your MP3 player, this might be of interest to you. The website is provided by an Episcopal Church in Maryland.

This morning, before I went for a jog, I downloaded their morning devotions for Friday, September 19. (They also have a noon-day & evening service.) In addition to the readings, this download also provided a mini-worship which includes a call to worship, prayer of confession, the scripture readings, other prayers, the Apostles' Creed, and a benediction. It was 17 minutes long.

"The Daily Office" (not to be confused with NBC's hit show, "The Office") is the Anglican/Episcopal/Catholic approach to the daily reading of scripture in which each day consists of readings from the Old Testament, the Psalms, an Epistle, and a Gospel.

There are three main reasons why I love this daily devotion method. First of all, the scriptures always reflect the present liturgical season (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Ordinary Time, Easter, etc.) Secondly, the lessons repeat themselves every two years which means that after two years, I will have read through most of the bible. Last but not least, since many denominations use this method, there is a sense of unity since we are all reading the same biblical lessons each day. Presently, the New Testament readings focus on Acts and the Gospel of John, while the Old Testament just began the Book of Esther.

If you're not into the full MP3 "The Daily Office" service, you can go to a couple of other websites (non-MP3) and just get the daily scripture texts. If you want to read the texts only, go to this website. If you want to have the texts read to you which is also pretty cool, go to this website. For people who really aren't into reading, I highly recommend either the MP3 website or the website that reads it for you.

Enjoy!

Update on Local Links Goal

Last week, about 10 folks were trained to be local links for the September 23 & 24 Impact World Tour which will be held at Xenia High School. A local link is someone who has been trained to be a support person for someone who accepts Jesus Christ.

Tonight, we had another group of folks trained at our Wednesday Common Cup program at Faith Community, and yes, we finally got our electrical power back after high winds from Hurricane Ike blew through here Sunday afternoon. Praise God!

It looks like about 15 to 20 people were trained over the past two Wednesdays at Common Cup. Our goal was 100 but those we trained will help 15 to 20 new Christians keep moving forward in their walk with Jesus several weeks after the Impact World Tour is over.

The picture above is from our 2nd and final local link training tonight at the church.