Weekly Rundown (9.19.2011)
- Amazing baptisms yesterday! I really believe baptism not only blesses the one being baptized, but those watching and welcoming the new Christ-follower. Baptism is a public and bold reminder of what God works inside the heart of man. My faith grew larger yesterday, and I was reminded that God is indeed mighty to save.
- We are continuing to see people saved in regular frequency in our worship services. We praise God for this and ask for more! The greatest thing in the world is to be saved and satisfied by Jesus Christ!!
- Our new series “LIFE APPS” continues this week.
- Is there someone you are positioned to invite?!? Praying you do!!
- To all our amazing volunteers: THANK YOU!! You live out our core value of active participation.
- I’m excited to be able to hang out this week with our Tech/Production ministry team. They are true unsung heroes because 99% of people never know they are there unless something goes wrong. And >>>99% everything is right because of their hard work, service, and commitment to excellence!!
- Missions update:
- We have a team going to Honduras later this month to dig a well and present the Gospel.
- After one year of radically increasing our missions giving and going, our elders believe we will need to hire a missions/outreach pastor in 2012. I believe our church has unbelievable potential to impact our local communities and penetrate lostness & relieve poverty around the globe. Ask anyone who has taken a trip this year and you will discover how God enlarged their heart to match more closely His heart. This is what is happening to our church’s collective heart as well. Psalm 67!!
- Beth has a scan this week to hopefully/prayerfully discover that all the EBV ‘nodes’ are gone from her body. Please join us in prayer. Once this hurdle is cleared, we should be able to talk more about moving her back home “full time”!!
Excelling in Giving
Last year our church approved a faith-based budget of $3.2 million dollars. This budget was born out of prayer and a vigorous pursuit of wisdom. We doubled the amount of money we invested in local and international missions. We sought to wisely and adequately fund our own ministries for worship, children, students, discipleship, and day-to-day operations.
Even with the troubles in our local economy, we have seen our weekly giving increase this year! However, we are still falling short of our budget by around $2000 per month. Because we have some reserve funds and some built-in margin, we are not in a crisis. We can easily adjust our spending to handle this shortfall, but that means cutting back on some investments to which we believe God has called us.
We believe this is an opportunity for us to “excel in the grace of giving” as Paul encourages churches to do in 2 Corinthians 8:7. So rather than back down and reduce our budget for the remainder of the year, our Elders believe we can rise up and exceed our budget by finishing strong in this last quarter of 2011! Here’s how:
The $10-$50 Plan
Our church currently has about 1400 giving units (a giving unit could be one person or an entire family). If each of those giving units increased their monthly giving by $10 to $50 we would easily meet and even begin to exceed our budget goals!
So we are asking anyone with an income to prayerfully seek to raise your current monthly giving by between $10 to $50.
Think about it this way: over 30 days that represents about 3-5 gallons of gas, 3 Starbucks’ coffee drinks, or 1 movie ticket!!
If you have never given consistently to God’s church, then would you prayerfully consider starting to give around $10-$50 per month? This is a simple way for you to begin giving regularly and begin to experience God’s leadership over your finances.
Remember: it is simple and easy to set-up online giving directly from your checking account (called “E-Give”). You can sign-up directly from our web site by clicking here.
If we as a church take this step together, a few things will happen:
1-We will meet and could even exceed our 2011 budget!!
2-We will be more like Jesus by becoming more generous (2 Corinthians 8:9).
3-We will resist the pull of complacency, instead experiencing the thrill and joy of being open to God’s direction and leadership in our lives (2 Corinthians 2:14).
4-God will be more glorified as we invest in His Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and kingdom work locally and globally.
Thank you for being a part of what God is doing at Rock Bridge! We know God is moving and we know that He is providing through the generous hearts of His people!
**If you have no income, are unemployed or under-employed and need assistance, please allow your church family to help. Financial counseling and/or assistance with groceries or other basic needs are available and part of our budget to minister to those in our church family who are experiencing tough times.
Weekly Rundown (9.13.2011)
- Excited to kick-off a new series called “Life Apps”. If you have a smartphone, you love the “apps” or applications it has to tell you the weather, find a location, check your bank balances, etc. etc. … in this series, we’ll learn that God has some “apps” to help us navigate life.
- Baptism is this weekend!!!! Life change, going public for Christ, obedience, the wonderful illustration of salvation … not to mention the BBQ and fellowship … can’t wait!!
- At our Dalton campus this weekend, we are experimenting with a new environment called, Meet the Pastor. We’ll meet in the Gathering after every service (Thursday 6:30 pm, Sunday 9:30 & 11:00 am) on announced weekends.
- This will be an informal and easy way for me to meet guests and newcomers as well as for those looking to connect more with our church family.
- We’ll have other staff members and ministry leaders there as well, plus refreshments!
- If you know someone who is new to our church, then please invite them to this!!
- Beth has been home for the past week!! She’s done great and it is awesome to see her energy returning and her start to feel so much better!!
- She’ll head back to NYC later this week. The next big check is a repeat PET/CT Scan to check for Epstein-Barr “nodes”. She had a few left (reduced in size) last time and the doctors.
- Last conversation with her doctors gave us some indication that she could be home permanently by early to mid-Fall!!
- Your grace and prayers to us continue to be tremendous blessings!
A Sincere Apology
I need to apologize to our entire church family.
Today during one of our services I inappropriately ‘called out’ and corrected two teenagers who I felt were being a distraction. My comments were off target, made in anger, and reflect poorly on the values of Rock Bridge. There is no excuse for this from me or from God’s pulpit. I have spoken with and apologized to the specific family but now I need to do so to our entire church.
Our church has a core value of Christ-like acceptance and my words and their tone violated this foundational principle of Rock Bridge. Additionally, they created an “unwelcoming” atmosphere and uncomfortable moment in our service. We strongly believe that only the Spirit-brought conviction of God should make anyone ever feel uncomfortable at RBCC, not our actions or words. I apologize to all of you and any guests who may have been with you.
A second core value our church shares is radical dependence on God and His Word. We believe that only God can change people and author salvation in their lives. We believe He does this in large part through the sharing and teaching of His Word. Today, I incorrectly believed that my particular method of presenting and communicating God’s Word was more important and more powerful than the simple message of His Word. My dependence was not on God or His Word but on myself and my presentation; that is sinful. As a result, I took the attention off God and His truth. I apologize for the negative effect on your worship experience.
I am deeply sorry for my words and the anger behind them. Along with our elders, our staff, and my wife, I will seek to repent, resolve anger biblically, choose words wisely, and rest in the sufficiency of God’s grace.
Today, I need to ask for your forgiveness.
Matt Evans
The Lord’s Supper
For me, teaching the subject of the Lord’s Supper and participating in this gift of Christ to His church is more than just theology and obedience; it is personal. During some stretches of Beth’s treatment and recovery from bone marrow transplant, I was with her and unable to be in church. I remember just desiring to connect with God and sense His presence in a more tangible way than prayer and Bible study. This literal ‘hunger’ pushed me to learn more about the Lord’s Supper and want to observe it. Christ gave us this gift because He knew we needed it, and He gave it special symbolic and spiritual significance to indeed help satisfy our hunger for Him. I believe He did this for several reasons:
1) He knew we tend to be forgetful. Over and over again we are warned not to forgot God or His faithfulness, and yet over and over again we do. The Lord’s Supper is a visible reminder to us that God is faithful (He gave us His Son), God is sovereign (even over death!), and that God is for us (“This is My body, which is for you …”).
2) God uses our 5 senses to strengthen the “6th sense” of faith. Just as food and drink nourish our bodies so does Christ nourish our souls. We truly do not live on bread alone (Matthew 4:4)! Just as we receive physical benefits from eating and drinking, we receive spiritual benefits from feeding on Christ through faith. We receive forgiveness, grace, mercy, strength, peace that passes all understanding, and hope that does not disappoint. Through proper observance of the Lord’s Supper, Christ does in fact become more “alive” and real to us.
3) God creates anticipation of His future grace in the form of His promises. Christ has promised to come again (“… whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.“). Christ has promised us more grace than what we now have. This future grace helps fuel our present day obedience and keep us joyfully focused on what is sometimes the difficult and narrow way of walking with Christ. The Lord’s Supper calls us again and again to live by faith in God who keeps His promises of love to His children.
4) The Lord Supper prompts examination and thus exercises preventative discipline and if necessary, corrective discipline in our lives. The Lord’s Supper includes a process of examination that should prompt repentance and feasting on God’s amazing grace. And let’s be honest, we often wait to change until we experience pain and consequences. By bringing us close to Christ’s painful death, the Lord’s Supper can serve to awaken in us the desire to change, to repent, to confess and therefore, be filled anew with God’s presence.
The goal of the Lord’s Supper is not just to do it as a task to complete. Paul warned the church at Corinth by saying, “…it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat …”. We take communion in order to facilitate closer communion with Christ. We do not merely observe the Lord’s Supper but experience the Lord of the Supper. And any encounter with the Risen Christ, will strengthen our faith and deepen our joy.
Update on Beth
Overall, Beth is doing much better and feeling much better. She has had several consecutive weeks of feeling strong and generally good. We are awaiting an immune function test to see how well her T-cells are performing.
Things on the “needs to improve” list include resumption of normal eating, reduction in throat mucus, and elimination of the last EBV “nodes.
- Eating: She is primarily using the ‘G-tube’ to eat with some attempts to eat normally but throat mucus continues to be an issue. Thankfully, through the G-tube she is getting all the calories and nutrients she needs.
- Throat mucus: After much examination by ENTs, infectious disease specialists, and the transplant doctors the consensus seems to be the mucus is from a fungus that likes to feed on the dead Epstein-Barr tissue which was most concentrated in her throat/nasal areas. It is improving … slowly.
- EBV: The last PET Scan showed that the “nodes” (or sites) are either gone or significantly smaller but there is still enough EBV present for the doctors to order another round of T-cell treatments (1 dose a week for 3 weeks).
Hurricane Irene is heading for NYC-area this weekend. Beth is not in an evacuation area but they are warning that the city could be without power for several days.
Finally, she will get to come home after Labor Day for about a week (still no crowds, etc.). In mid-September the doctors will reassess where she stands in relation to EBV and her immune function.
But the biggest and best news for us and the doctors is how well Beth feels and how strong she is — we walked almost 2 miles around Central Park last week! We still have challenges and risks remain on her road to recovery so we remain careful and prayerful … but we are moving in the right direction and seem to be picking up speed!!
Serving
Guest post by Executive Pastor Alfred Turley
1 Peter 4:7-11
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
This weekend Matt taught on this passage specifically and how the church represents the realm of eternity on earth now. And in representing God, we see that each of us has been given gifts and talents, desires and dreams that God wants us to use to represent Him and His Son. Serving Him is supposed to be a joy and privilege, not something we do to earn points with Him or something we do to “be a better Christian.” God wants us to do it out of love and out of a response of gratitude for Him and for what He has done for us.
Serving in a church can be one of the most enriching and encouraging experiences we can know. There is something that happens when we steward what we are given, when we join up with others in God’s church, and when we allow Him to move in us and use us for His glory! It’s truly a recipe for blessing!
I have always been so amazed at all the gifting and talents each of us has. Some of us have a talent to imagine big and to put that imagination and creativity into reality. Some of us just thrive off of being around people and engaging in their lives and loving them. Some love being hospitable, and cooking and serving others physical needs. Some of us have wisdom and can help others make better decisions. Some people are natural leaders, and people readily trust their heart and their judgement in how they direct things. All of these talents and gifts are needed in the body of Christ, the Church! In my own life, I have found serving in Children’s Ministry and Student Ministry, and helping to lead small groups all to be amazing uses of what God has given me, and it gives me great joy to lay those gifts down for His use. It has been a wonderful ride to take what came from Him in the first place and give it back to Him. He has given us so much, and He has given us the life of His own Son, so giving back is the least we can do!
Serving has also been a place where I truly began to engage others and get to know people, and to have them come along side me and support me as well. I have had countless times when I came in great need of a friend and support, and got it every time. And there have been countless times when I have seen serving teams and small groups surround those in need and those hurting and bring healing through community and through the unconditional love of Christ. Those who have struggled to connect to the church relationally: get on a serving team, and get in a small group! You will be stepping joyfully into the open arms of a church ready to love you.
One of the most surprising things about serving has been how challenging it has been, and how it has pushed me to trust in God as never before! Loving each other unconditionally requires that we lean on God and on the power of His Spirit inside of us. So many times I have seen lives changed because a group of people went to God in their needs and His power came and worked a miracle! God wants to be the power that fuels our lives. Serving stretches us and pushes us to trust in Him and lean on Him often, and we grow because of this!
Serving in the church is a joy God wants for each of us. It is a place where He brings us together in loving and supportive community, united around the cause of His heart: reaching a lost and hurting world. God will use our service to grow us and stretch us in a good way, and He will use it to surround us with healthy love and support that will be there when life takes hard turns.
Serving in the local church, specifically Rock Bridge, has been a joy and a great blessing for me and for many others. Please pray and ask God to show you what gifts and talents you have that should be put to use! And take a step of faith! Serve on a team and get in a small group!
Membership Matters
Because God loves us and because He is honored when we make godly commitments, the Bible is clear that membership to a local church is the normal practice for a Christian. Scripture speaks of Christians being committed to a specific church leadership (Hebrews 13:17), to intentional meetings with each other (Hebrews 10:25; I Corinthians 11:17-18; Romans 16:5), to mutual accountability (Matthew 18:15-17; I Corinthians 5:1-13), and to being known as a serving member of a church (Romans 16:1; 16:3-16).
Clearly a commitment to a specific group of Christians (how we define membership) is expected and the normal practice in the New Testament and too many verses in Scripture could not be obeyed without a membership commitment. But are there other reasons for committed membership? Here are four:
1-Membership defines the team, enabling the team to be organized, efficient, and effective in fulfilling its mission. This makes sense in sports, the military, businesses, and even in our families. It also makes sense in the local church. There is a reason why banks want to see the “membership” of a church before giving churches loans — they are assessing the strength of organized and declared commitment.
2-Membership helps the elders protect the church from false teachings and unhealthy influences. (see Titus 1:9)
We require background checks for all volunteers that work with children and youth and rightfully so. Protecting them is extremely important. The Bible also mandates that the church be protected from false and incorrect teachings. Membership helps the elders ensure that the church body and those who teach it (children’s workers, small group leaders, etc.) adhere to sound biblical teaching. Unhealthy spiritual influences can wreck havoc on a person and in a church.
3-Membership defines the protective scope of the church. I don’t discipline my neighbors kids. I don’t feed them or clothe them either and they don’t sleep in my house. Why? Because they are not my kids. Christians need discipline, care, and at times provision. Membership defines where these things most readily and naturally occur. Membership is us giving permission for our church family to provide discipline, accountability, and care.
For example, there are certain sins and sinful tendencies that are part of my life story. Only in an environment of love, trust, and commitment can these sins be addressed and biblical accountability provided. This protects me from sin and its consequences as well as the witness of our church. The church by definition and by practice exists in part to protect one another from sin while protecting the overall “salt and light” witness of the church before the world. Membership defines the protective (and at times corrective) reach of the church.
4-The work of the universal, and eternal church will be advanced further and faster through committed members of healthy local churches. If every community had multiple healthy, biblical, Christ-centered churches and if every church had committed members, then more people would be saved and discipled, more money would be available to reach the world for Christ, and the church’s ‘light’ of hope would be brighter. When Christians act as if church were optional, hop from church-to-church, or withhold their full commitment, then the Body of Christ is weaker and the cause of Christ suffers.
Ask yourself: If every church had members as committed as you are, what would the future of Christianity be?
Update on Beth: Major Milestone
For months we’ve known Beth’s immune system needed to have “200″ T-Cells to be in the normal range and for her immune system to even be considered mature enough to protect her against most infections. Talk of returning home was always conditioned on the number “200″. Specific and frequent prayers were offered with the number “200″ in them.
TODAY WE LEARNED BETH HAS 251 T-CELLS!!!!!!!!!!
Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for praying so faithfully with us and for Beth!!
We are awaiting a test to determine if all of those T-cells are functioning properly; however, this obviously feels like we are entering the home stretch. No predictions yet on when Beth can return home … but this is MAJOR MILESTONE.
Small Groups
Guest post by Discipleship Pastor Brian Holt
We’re more technologically connected then ever before, and yet we’re lonelier than ever before. In “Social Isolation in America”, the authors write that, “while modern technology has made it possible to connect more frequently, email and text messaging do not lend themselves to intimate revelations or in-depth conversations. These are things that may be necessary to combat loneliness and isolation.” In other words, we’ve traded deep, meaningful connections with shallow, surface-level friendships through technology. We “know” more people, but we don’t know them as well – and that impacts us internally. We were created for community (see HERE), and the natural level of community that exists in our culture just isn’t cutting it. In order to thrive, we need others to love, support, and encourage us.
Small Groups are often misunderstood. To many, it sounds kind of lame. Why would I want to sit in a circle, hold hands, and tell everyone about my feelings? It sounds pretty awful. Thankfully, that’s not what small group is all about. In fact, if it were no one would go.
Small Group is so much more. Yes, small group is fun. You’ll have a blast meeting with each other every other week (or every week if you’re daring enough). The food is (usually) excellent. It’s an all-around good time.
But that’s not what makes small group so vital to a Christ follower. You can have friends and spend time with them anywhere. Small Group is vital because it allows for deliberate relationships centered on Jesus Christ. And those relationships help you grow!
To get involved in a Rock Bridge Small Group in Dalton or Calhoun, come to GroupLink at each campus on August 14th right after the 2nd service.
To get involved in a Rock Bridge Small Group in Chatsworth, stop by the Small Group booth in the lobby after both services.