The Sunday After Easter

No, there’s no official name for the Sunday after Easter on the Christian calendar. But today sure seemed like a special day. Maybe we’ll call it “the first Sunday after Easter.” After a rich time of worship and prayer, we heard some powerful testimonies from the Columbus Teen Challenge ladies of how Christ has set them free, healed brokenness and given them new life! They told us fresh examples of signs, wonders and miracles like is mentioned at the end of Mark 16 … following the story of Christ’s resurrection. How appropriate, this first Sunday after Easter, to be reminded what it looks like to live out a life with resurrection power! If the same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, He must have a purpose for that power beyond simply attending church and waiting for heaven. The end of Mark 16 (last Sunday’s text on Easter) tells us that purpose: Christ rose from the dead so that we could partner with His resurrection power to a) revive the church and b) reform the culture.

With the founder of Teen Challenge, David Wilkerson, passing away this week, we were reminded of what had been accomplished through one country preacher willing to walk out a life in the resurrection power of Christ. The ladies testified and sang, we cried, clapped, cheered then prayed together. We shared a meal among our missions committee and board and the Teen Challenge friends prepared by one of our members. What a rich time of fellowship.

Then I went (with our team pastor, Amber) to the Cleveland City Mission to participate in the Bible read-a-thon where the entire Bible will be read aloud from today through Thursday leading up to the National Day of Prayer. Why did I care about this? A few reasons… City Mission is one of our supported partners and it’s a joy to participate in anything they host. Reading the Bible aloud is significant even if there’s no audience because of how it impacts the unseen world. City-wide transformation is fed by unity among Christians so to participate in something bigger than us outside my “tribe” is important to me.

Today was one of the most satisfying Sunday’s I’ve experienced in a long time. I have a sense that God was pleased/glorified as people praised Him today and walked in Resurrection Power. This “first Sunday after Easter” was a special day. I think we should make it an official holiday!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LOST ART OF HUMAN BLOGGING

I’ll admit my curiosity was piqued when the entertainment for our area ministers’ Christmas party this past Monday night was advertised as a story-teller, song-writer from Wyoming. We gathered around after the eats in the cozy overstuffed leather furniture, hot beverages in hand. Layton Howerton was his name. He had a book of one-page stories that were simple, yet powerful and delivered upon the platform of his warm personality. As I listened, I thought “it’s like he’s reading his blog to us”.

Unpretentious and engaging, Layton picked up his Gibson guitar darkened with age and began his first song, finger picking “Chet-Atkins style”, a style my Uncle Richard used to play, almost better than Chet himself. When he got to the chorus of his first song, that easy-gravel, booming male voice reminded me of my Uncle Dewey who would sing gospel songs with passion and what I later came to know as the “anointing” of God. It was just understood among our family that after a time of conversation, a guitar or two would come out and music began. No one asked. It just happened.

Layton’s next story was about an orange… the sole Christmas present received with deep appreciation, not too many decades back, not many miles from where we live … a story very similar to ones I’ve heard from my dad and his siblings. How did life get so materialistic so fast? My emotions were being bumped.

If I stop the noise and listen right now, my memory can surface the voices of the deep, slow southern draw of my dad and his brothers as they would tell stories. And we knew how to prod the stories. “Hey dad, didn’t your Uncle Lee test his Martin guitar for being water proof once?” That’s a great story (involving a river, a boat, a rope) that makes me lol right now. “Laugh out loud”? Oh, that was a contagious, rumbling reality among a room (without a T.V.) of present people who loved each, not just the push of three lower case letters on a cell phone.

A Christmas song with the mandolin, another story, then Layton reached for his “neck stand” that would hold his mouth organ a.k.a. harmonica so he could play it at the same time as his guitar. My dad had a large collection of harmonicas in various keys. But the most interesting was a double length silver harmonica, kept in a padded case, with a chromatic button on the end. He purchased it in Germany while in the Army during the Korean conflict and we knew not to play with it. Dad might have liked a neck stand like Layton’s to hold the harmonica, but he didn’t need one ... because he had me. As a child, I was just the right height to reach my dad's face with the harmonica when he sat holding his guitar. Wow, were we amazed he played two instruments at once.

My dad and his brothers have all passed away. But the stories? They’ve been replaying in my mind since Monday night’s party. It seems when the story being told intersects with OUR story, we are deeply moved as was I at the rich evening among colleagues enjoying the beautiful art of human blogging … or storytelling.

This Christmas, why not do some story telling of your own among your loved ones. And remember, the greatest story ever told is the story Christ is writing and He's written you into His story. May your stories intersect.

http://www.thestorytellersjournal.com/

After delivering a powerful acceptance speech and receiving a standing ovation, the first woman elected to the office of executive presbyter at the national level of our denomination was congratulated by her ministry colleagues of the executive presbytery (pictured here). BETH GRANT lifted our gaze to the bigger picture of the needs of our world and the value of working together. This afternoon at that podium, BETH was an inspiration to every woman in ministry and a cheerleader to ever man who has ever used his influence to affirm and assist a woman called of God. I’m especially glad to see Beth on the Presbytery because, as a world missionary, she brings a global perspective and missional sensitivity to the table that will remind us of our roots as an organization and our assignment as believers.

Moments later, BRYAN JARRETT, age 35, was elected to the Executive Presbytery representing ordained pastors under 40 years of age. I hope today’s action rings a message out across our fellowship that the Assemblies of God values it’s younger ministers and needs their voice in places of influence. I had a chance to congratulate him, take his picture and visit for a few minutes. We are so much the better for inviting diversity to the table. I love it when we can identify what we want to change, design a plan, then execute the plan. What a great day and I had a front row seat to it all!

Ash Wednesday and FACEBOOK

Today is Ash Wednesday. I saw one of my "friends" gave up FACEBOOK for Lent. It caused me to soberly think about where I put my time and affections and where the priority of my relationship with God fits into all of that.

For my time of personal reflection today, I'm looking over again the list of Strengths and Cautions about Facebook I shared with Rockside Church this past Sunday. This was compiled from feedback I received from friends when I asked how facebook impacted Biblical fellowship.

Strengths:
1) connections with life long friends across geographic/time barriers
2) Reminds us to pray for and support people
3) Creates a Christian community of presence
4) There’s a sense people are always watching (support/accountability)
5) Reinforces (but can’t replace) live connections (small group, church, get-togethers)
6) A sense of living life together/enjoying goodwill of the people Acts 2:47
7) Works against loneliness and isolation
8) Makes room for more thought-out responses (James 1:19; Proverbs 14:29)
9) When one is in need, the networking kicks in (Acts 2:45)
10) It’s fun. God likes us to have fun! (Nehemiah 8:10)

Cautions:
1) Addiction/time waster
2) Healthy emotional boundaries are easy to cross
3) Often tends to be shallow communication
4) Facebook has diluted forever the term “friend”
5) Selective sharing about ourselves
6) Bullying and rejection takes place
7) Exposure to porn and other inappropriate material
8) Miscommunications through the limitations of written words
9) Invades solitude that feeds our souls (Mark 1:35)

On this strategic day marking the start of the season leading up to Easter where we celebrate Christ's resurrection, I'm reminded that God wants us to redeem technology for His purpose responsibly (Luke 12:48), understand the times and know what to do, (I Chronicles 12;32) accomplish greater things than the first century church (John 14:12) while being wise to satan’s schemes too. (II Cor 2:11). God, help me honor you in all I am.

THREE MINUTES with Cuyahoga Valley Chamber of Commerce

(2/25/09) Each month a different business/organization is a "sponsor" for the luncheon which means they get the chance to set up a display table, put literature at each plate and share about their "business" for 3 to 5 minutes. Today, ROCKSIDE CHURCH was the sponor of the luncheon. So what did I say when I was introduced

"Good afternoon. You might wonder why a church would join the Chamber of Commerce or why the pastor would attend the monthly luncheons and activities. I was asked that question when I joined the chamber 6 years ago and talked with Christine Coniglio. The truth is that as an Ordained Minister with the Assemblies of God, I often feel more comfortable among you, business men and women from the work place, than among minister colleagues. You see, being a pastor is my third career.

"My first career was working as a court stenographer in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas. Then I worked in a law office in Youngstown for 7 years as a paralegal. It was during that season in my life I lived with a huge tension between my work world and my personal faith in Jesus Christ. My church world didn’t seem to understand the culture of my life in the law office. And I interfaced with people Monday through Friday who could have benefited greatly from the God factor. But the gap between the two worlds was just too large.

"As a minister, I served as a youth pastor for 10 years at a church in Austintown just west of Youngstown. I came to the Cleveland area and was an associate pastor 7 years at a church in Parma. When the opportunity arose 6 years ago to start a new church, I knew part of that church’s dna would be to bridge the gap to the business community.

"Rockside Church believes the church is the people not the building. So we meet in a rented conference room in an office building. Rockside Church wants to be near and available to the 30,000 business people who work in this Rockside Road Corridor. So we are located at 4100 Rockside Road. We don’t measure the success of our church by how many people attend service on Sunday morning at 10:30 AM, although you are certainly welcome to attend if you don’t have a home church. Rather we value being a church of influence in the area and available to serve people Monday through Friday.

"For example, last Sunday afternoon we participated in the BEACH BLAST sponsored by the City of Independence. We are active in Twenty Five and Alive. We helped a few weeks ago with mock interviews for high school seniors. We are in the process right now of co-sponsoring an assembly speaker for the Middle School and the High School.

"You might be wondering, 'What can a Church do for my business? Well, if you are in human resources or have employees, you know that the success of your business is impacted by the care for the needs of your team.Here are some examples of ways we’ve been able to help.• When we offered personal budgeting classes using Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, of the 70 attendees, on 12 were from our church. We offered the 13 week course 2 more times after that.• When I taught a time management series at noon and again at 7 PM using Dr. Richard Swenson’s materials entitled “Margins”, 50% of the attendees were from this business community.• We can be a referral service to help you network. Recently a person called ready to get help with alcoholism. We not only referred them to a nearby support group, but were able to offer for one of our parishioners to attend the first meeting with them. They accepted, I followed up and it was a helpful connection.• We’ve were a drop off place for a person wanting to give clothing as a benevolent gift to a person in need.• Last week a professional stopped by asking for a referral for a counselor for a particular problem in another region of the city. I was able to give them contact information for someone who could help.

" Maybe it’s not you but a teenager in your home in need. We have a youth ministry that serves teenagers and children. FUSION is an open gym night we provide on the third Friday of each month where students can socialize in a positive environment, enjoy recreation, pizza and hear a 5 minute presentation about faith.• Prayer is a pretty big deal to us. You can e-mail prayer requests or stop by for prayer. We have a full time staff person, AMBER HELMS whose portfolio is to help in the areas of prayer, kids church and assist with teens.• We have a great relationship with the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine and I’ll be giving the invocation and benediction at their upcoming graduation ceremony.• The next opportunity upcoming is DIVORCE CARE, a 13 week support seminar on Thursdays at 7:00 PM starting March 12. • We have a Bible study each Monday at 7:00.• A prayer hour each Wednesday at 7:00.• I’m available for pastoral counseling or prayer.Rockside Church is not here to proselytize people into our church or away from your church. We are here to serve people in the business community. So let us know if we can be of help to you or your business.

" Thank you very much.”

Some of the comments afterwards were, "we had no idea. Thanks for sharing." :-) It was fun!

Does FAMILY GUY know Jesus Christ accurately?

As I read again the Christmas story from the Bible in Luke 2, it was verse 32 that jumped out at me when Simeon declared that “Jesus came as a LIGHT to reveal God to the nations”. God must have felt he wasn’t being known adequately and accurately to all the world that He needed to send Jesus to bridge the gap between humanity and deity. Two Thousand years later, I wonder if Jesus is known adequately and accurately. As I listen to my Muslim friends refer to Jesus as just a prophet, I long for them to know Jesus as the Son of God and the One whose acceptance can assure them of eternity in heaven. As I listen to a teacher of Cleveland Schools elementary students tell how Santa is better known than Jesus and a chocolate cross got mistaken for a “T”, I pray for those young students to personally know Jesus as the Friend who can stick closer than a brother and the LIGHT on their path of this journey through life. Last week while waiting for Fox Channel 8 news to begin, an episode of Family Guy caught my attention. My attention turned to grief and then a prayer. I pray for the creators of that blasphemous, inaccurate and disrespectful portrayal of Jesus and all those who saw it to encounter the reality that Jesus came to bind up a broken heart and set free every person locked in bondage. As we Christians busy ourselves with the traditions, gift involvement and even church activities that come with this holiday season, may we take time to lock our gaze on that Light of Luke 2:32, the person of Jesus Christ and give our heartfelt, personal focus to the Lover of our souls, the only One who can make us whole, who is still the Reason we celebrate Christmas. Possibly God can then use us as a light to point to "the LIGHT who came to reveal God to the nations."

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

The first time I walked into The Log Cabin Gallery in Peninsula a few years ago, I felt like I was home. It’s one of those places that just refreshes my soul every time I visit. Maybe it’s the rustic log cabin with it’s earthy, warm feel. Or it might be the ever-changing creativity by local artists beautifully displayed by it’s director, Diane Seskes. This afternoon, I had the privilege of providing Christmas music with my travel size Martin guitar as part of their OVER THE RIVER WINTER 2008 EXHIBIT. Santa and his elves showed up as well as the Tin Soldier and a few customers hummed along.

I was able to select a charity of my choice for donations that came in. My friend, Cathy Monnin (a member of Rockside Church) helps lead a missions organization that, among other things, cares for orphans in Madagascar. So Worldview International was the charity of my choice. They are set up to accept donations online at www.worldviewinternational.org if you’re looking for some children in need of a Merry Christmas.

It was a very fun afternoon and, I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking …. it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!