As I sit in my old room in Crawfordsville, Indiana this Thanksgiving, I realize that I have a lot to be thankful for (by the way, is there a more cliche opening sentence to a Thanksgiving blog than that one?  I think not.  But you see, it's a classic one, because there are so many directions I can go in: will it be funny?  Serious?  Heartwarming?  You'll just have to read...).  Of course, as the preacher at ACC, there are countless things that I have to be thankful for... so, in honor of the holiday, I've decided to make a list.  So, here in all its glory, I present:

The Top Ten Things At Ashland Christian Church That I Am Thankful For!

(note: I understand that this could be construed as me ‘sucking up’ or ‘blowing a lot of smoke’ or any other number of sayings which may or may not be inappropriate for a church website.  But you know what?  It’s not – I am legitimately excited about what’s going on at Ashland Christian Church, and I wanted to share.  On to the list!)

10. A leadership that is not only on the same page, we’re on the same paragraph.  It’s truly a joy to work with people I respect AND who support the things I do.
 
9.  People who understand technology a whole lot more than me who are able to work on and operate both the sound equipment and the website.  Seriously, these guys are the best.
 
8. A music team that has worked hard over the last several years and now can pick up and play a countless number of songs of any type of style… even if we don’t all agree which style or songs we should be picking up and playing!
 
7. A congregation who listens to me joke about the big boned chick from Wilson Phillips, the nipples on George Clooney’s Batman suit, and the lack of cuteness of Meg Ryan… and still pays attention when I talk about serious spiritual issues.
 
6. The people who show up on Wednesday nights week after week for Bible Study, and people who stick around Sunday after Sunday for Sunday School (especially the ones who came to the Cultivation 101 class.
 
5. The people who say ‘that Powerpoint presentation was great!’ despite the fact that the Powerpoint presentation in question shut itself off before it was through, causing great embarrassment to the creator of it (me).  I’m not sure if they didn’t notice or if they’re just trying to be nice, but at any rate, the encouragement is always appreciated. And while we’re at it, I’m thankful to anyone who has ever said anything encouraging to me over the past three years.  Honestly, it always comes at a time that I really need it, as this whole ministry gig isn’t always the easiest to handle.
 
4. 26 baptisms in 12 months.
 
3. 18 different people baptizing in that same period.
 
2. The next 12 months, in which only God knows how many people will be baptized and will do baptizing.
 
1. That when we do our job, God does His… and we’re just getting started!
 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and don’t forget – bring a friend to Connection Sunday on December 7!

My dad sent me a link to one of the more incredible videos I have ever seen - seriously, you really have to watch it to believe it.

It amazes me how so many Christians have trivialized baptism and its role in a person's conversion to Christianity.  It is a beautiful picture of re-birth and a new beginning, and it is a declaration that you are going to, from that moment forward, live for Jesus Christ.  As my dad told me when he called me to tell me about the video, if anyone's thinking about taking this step, this video should be inspiring AND remove any excuses of 'inconvenience' that we might have.  Check it out (if you have trouble loading, keep trying - it'll work eventually!):

http://www.bibleleague.org/blr/novdec08.php

What do you think?

For one reason or another, I've been thinking a lot about God's will for our lives recently, and whether or not you can truly quantify what that might be.  It seems that in my life, every time I have a firm grasp on what God wants, another surprise smacks me in the face and sure enough, I'm back to square one.

This Sunday's adult class with Jeff will focus on Acts 27, and in that passage we read about a sea voyage on a ship with Paul and 275 other people.  To make a long story short (and do not discourage you from coming to class because I reveal everything about it here!), God had a specific plan for the people onboard that ship, but that plan was 100% dependent on the actions and choices of the people involved.  In other words, while God had a plan, he left the execution of that plan up to those involved.

To me, this is fantastic news - God is not like Kelly Leak playing center field for the Bad News Bears, taking care of everything on his own; instead, he allows us to have a say in our own respective paths.  The applications for this are endless, but the bottom line is that we have much more to say about God's will than I think many of us consider.

In a semi-related development, I ran across a story about a young kid who tragically lost a leg, and the impact it has had on his life and family.  It's actually quite fitting to this discussion of God's will and our involvement in it.  The link is here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/news/story?id=3695819

Check it out, and as always, leave comments in the blog feedback!

One of our church members posted this earlier today in the 'Blog Feedback':

I have a friend who is a Christian going through some really hard times. I have been trying to play the role of being the supportive, comforting, and helpful friend through her struggles. I have tried to be kind and be a soundingboard to her without passing judgement. But, in doing so I feel I have sacrificed my values and have not voiced what I believed to be true for fear of hurting her feelings, making her feel like I was passing judgement, etc. I guess my question is as Christians, how do we figure out the delicate balance of being there for others without condoning behaviors or decisions we fundamentally disagree with? That line is very fuzzy for me, especially right now, and I feel I have failed to be authentic and vocalize what I think is right or wrong in this situation for fear of damaging the relationship. I guess I don't know how to "speak the truth in love" or I am just afraid to do so. For the record-I feel like I am on Dr. Phil or the "New Life Live" show. I have discussed this in depth with 3 Christian friends and the last one said-You better ask your minister on that one!!! The line was fuzzy for all of us-so I thought others might have the same experiences.

This is a really hard issue - on one hand, we want to be there for our friends through thick and thin, and we want to be liked; often, that can mean we don't necessarily stand up for our viewpoints, in fear that we'll be rejected, etc.  On the other hand, a true friend wants what's best for the other person, and so we also want to speak the truth in love.  How do we keep a balance?

For me personally, every situation is different, and it's all about the individual.  There are some people who I can be completely, totally blunt with, and I know that not only is that what they need, but that's also not something that will destroy our friendship.  There are other people, though, who I'll always be delicate and gentle with, because their personality dictates that I have to be. 

It all boils down to one thing: what is your goal in 'speaking the truth in love'?  As Christians, we always have one goal: to help people find Christ.  You don't do that by tearing people down, you do that by building them up - and that includes both harshness (at times) and gentleness (at times).  I would just make sure that the person I'm talking to understands my motivation; even if I don't express myself well, at least the other person knows where my heart is.

The hard truth, though, is that sometimes people need to be told the truth bluntly - and that's really hard!

Thoughts?  Leave it in the 'Blog Feedback' above!

... just no fun at all.  Seriously - between yesterday's sermon being lost (despite the valiant efforts of our sound technician, the incomprable Thaddeus William Huffington III) and the powerpoint video quiting in the middle, we're on a roll here at ACC when it comes to computers.  Such is life...

In other news, do yourself a favor, and check out this article by a guy I went to college with - I wish I'd written it:

http://christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1058


drew

So the last few weeks, we've been talking about what our mission and method is at ACC, and we've adopted this whole 'Connect.Call.Cultivate' slogan as a catch-all for what we're about (if you haven't been at church the last few weeks, feel free to head on over to the 'streaming sermons page' and check out the first two sermons; the third one didn't record correctly today, which is a different story altogether...).  All that being said, you might be asking yourself - what does this tangibly mean for next year?  What are we shooting for?

As it turns out, we have a distinct goal for each part of the CCC vision - for 'Connect,' we want to grow in two ways: first, we want to grow to over 175 regular attendees at the church.  That sounds like a lot, but consider this: we currently have somewhere in the neighborhood of 140-145 regular attendees (a 'regular attendee' being someone who attends at least once a month, but on a regular basis), so that isn't all that difficult.  The second goal is pretty huge though - by the end of 2009, we want to be AVERAGING over 135 per Sunday morning service.  That sounds like a lot, especially considering that we are averaging right around 100 per Sunday for each week.  How can we average that many by next year?  It's simple - YOU SHOULD COME TO CHURCH EVERY WEEK!  See, it's that easy to succeed at our first goal.

Our second part is 'Call,' and that deals with conversions to Jesus Christ.  This is pretty much the coolest part of being a minister - seeing people give their lives to Jesus and receive eternal life.  So, that's pretty sweet... our goal is to see 25 baptisms in the next year, which is suspiciously similar to how many we've had over the last year (26).  That's a pretty big number, especially considering the size and demographics of this community, but remember what we've said all along: when we do our job, God does his.  It's that simple.

Finally, we have 'Cultivate' (the mystery sermon from this morning that is forever lost...).  This is really where you come in, because we truly want you, as members of ACC, to be growing in your faith - so our goal is that we have 70% of our Sunday Service attendance in Sunday School, 75% of people involved in some sort of service at ACC, and over 50 attendees each Wednesday night.  Each of these areas would reflect healthy spiritual growth at this congregation.

The bottom line is this: we are just gettin started at Ashland Christian Church!  Leave a note, talk about this, talk about anything else you want, give me ideas for future blogs (not that I don't have a ton...), and let me know how we can make this site be a tool for your spiritual cultivation!

drew