Friend Day

I am excited about Friend Day Next Sunday.  This week I preached on "Jesus is a freind that always gives Hope!"

I have had a lot of difficulties in my life and the one thing that has helped me through my difficulties beside my faith is my friends. 

Come and learn about how to build real friendships and learn how to let Jesus be your best friend.

Jesus Understands My Lostness - Season Finale of Lost

Tomorrow we will be talking about how Jesus understands our lostness. This Sunday will be the season finale of "Lost."

See what CNN says about how the season will end:



Come Tomorrow and find out how it really ends!

Family First for the Millennials!

I recently read this article over at the Christian Post! I thought it was very interesting and really applied to our church.

"A study by LifeWay Research of those born between 1980 and 1991 show that this generation, sometimes termed “Millennials,” puts family first in importance in their lives, followed by friends, education, career, and religion. 62% of Millennials placed family first on their priority list with friends a distant second at 25%. Religion came in sixth at 13%; other responses included finances (12%), happiness (12%), health (10%), and the future (5%).

Researchers Thom and Jess Rainer said the priority of family was mentioned most often by whites, the more educated, those who were married, and those who self-identified as Christian. Friendships are more important to younger Millennials, those with higher incomes, and singles. “Millennials are committed to family above other priorities, even though many are waiting to start their own families,” Thom Rainer said. “Churches with a strong understanding and sense of family—as well as those that are able to cross generations, allowing older adults to reach younger adults—will be able to more easily reach Millennials.”

Christian Post 5/11/10

Monday Meditation - Jesus Understands My Doubt

Yesterday was a great day! I continued to preach on the series "Jesus is a man that understands my temptation to Doubt" out of John 20. I talked about Thomas and how he doubted and Jesus understood and still gave him a personal experience to grow his faith. In summary - I said that Jesus understands our temptation to doubt and he helps us overcome our doubts...

1. Through giving us a personal experience - Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him to place his hands into the holes in Jesus' hands and feet. The point is that Jesus wants to give us all a personal expereince to overcome our doubts.

2. Through the command "quit doubting and believe." Jesus wants us to work on our doubts through changing our thinking.

3. Through helping us focus on the blessings of belief! Jesus told Thomas that "blessed are those who beleive and have not seen."

Jesus provided a way for us to overcome our doubts...

Encouragement Service - What I Enjoy Most About the People...

We recently had an encouragement service at the church. Over the next few weeks I want to share some of the responses from the people at the church.

What I enjoy most about the people who attend RPCC IS… • Friendliness • Caring • Like Family • Can Count on them for prayers • They make everyone feel welcome • Fellowship • Warmth and Good Examples • Their Love • Genuine • Their love and friendship • Kindness people show each other • Genuine

I really love some of these responses. I really liked the word "Genuine." I hope more than anything that the people at our church are genuine and authentic.

Encouragement Service

We have currently been looking at "Jesus - A Man Who Understands." Last week we talked about the fact that Jesus understands our temptation to quit. Therefore yesterday we had an "Encouragement Service." The service was designed to encourage the church and others through our 60 minutes together.

We spent time discussing how God encourages us. We had encouragement stations set up around the room with questions for people to answer. We will talk more about the questions in the following days.

Then we spent time writing encouragement notes to each other. We had people write down thier names on the 3 X 5 card and then we passed out the cards and another person wrote an encouragement note to the person.

Finally we spent a few mintues writing encouragement notes to teachers and staff at Whittier Elementary School. We wrote 50 encouragement notes...

It is good to be encouraged!

TransForm East Coast Conference

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Transform East Coast Conference. This conference is centered around the Emerent community. The emerging church is a group of committed believers that look at the margins of community and think about ways that those communities can be connected to the christian community. The Emerging Church and ideas are continuing to grow. My hope for Restoration Point is exacting in line with the emerging ideas:

• A Place where a variety of worship expereinces take place. Services like the "encouragement university"; Silent Service; Prayer Station Service; and Communion Services.
• Diversity is Desired - We want people from all nations, races, and backgrounds to join in community together.
• Focus on community not ritual - The reality is that some churches go through the motions of worship and service. Emerging churches and Restoration Point seeks to find creative ways to serve our community and not just focus on church only programs.
• Growth is Essential to Spirituality - Preaching and teaching are essential to the movement of God in a person's life.

The bottom line is that we don't want to be like every other church. We simply want to be the church that God called us to be.

Key Question: What kind of church would you like to be a part of?

Monday Musings - Jesus Understands My Temptation to Quit

This new post each Monday will be my reflection on this past Sunday's Service. It has often been said that Monday's are the worst day for preachers because of the let down after the Sunday Services. I want to spend a few minutes reflecting on my thoughts of the Sunday Service. This first post has to do with my sermon yesterday - Jesus, A Man Who Understands My Temptation to Quit! I really liked this sermon because I so often feel like I want to quit. I understand that I live in a world that quits. 50% of marriages end in divorce. We talk about the fact at the National Fatherhood Inititive that 24 million children grow up without a dad in the home (24 million dads giving up on their kids). I talk with people almost every week that give up on their dreams. I also see so many people that are quitting church. In fact one of the books that I read last year was "Quitting Church" by Julia Dunn. Matthew 26:36-46 tells us about how Jesus understands our desire to quit. Jesus was in the garden and he basically told God he felt like giving up. I tried to communicate yesterday that we tend to quit when we focus on our own wishes, lose focus, put God on our timetable, or refuse to face difficulties. One fact that the Holy Spirit really impressed on me about giving up was from Judas. I said that "Judas didn't get to experience the resurrection because he was stuck at the crucifixion." The point was that I should not let my difficulties lead me to quit so I miss my victories. Finally, I had the church write down one thing that they vowed that they would never quit. What would be your thing?

Jesus - A Man Who Understands

We are starting a new sermon series - JESUS, A MAN WHO UNDERSTANDS! As I have been thinking about the price that Jesus paid in going to the cross the price for our sins. I kept coming back to the fact that the whole "Cross Experience" was to communicate to us that He understands our pains, worries, and all of our life experiences. Hebrews teaches us that "Jesus is one that can sypathize with us in our weaknesses." I love this fact - Jesus, understands me. If you want to find out how Jesus understands you - come check out our church. One quick question - What would you like Jesus to understand about you?

WOW Service and Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we celebrated our Easter Service with a special outdoor service and then an a easter egg hunt! We had almost 50 people and the weather was just beautiful. We were blessed with special music by Roy Denton and a wonderful testimony time about the 24 hour prayer retreat and the annual prayer service.

After the service we had a easter egg hunt for the kids. It is always fun to watch the kids run around searching for the eggs.

I also preached about how Jesus Understands Us. The message of the Resurrection is the fact Jesus understands us and understands our need for a Savior. Over the next 8 weeks we will be looking more into this topic and the ways that Jesus understands us.

My only disappointment was that we did not have as many visitors as I would have liked. I have such a heart for the community and I just want them to come to know Jesus as I do. He has done so much for my life and know that He could do great things for them as well.