Tuesday's House Update

Yes, it's still Monday, but I doubt I'll have a chance to write anything tomorrow. Tuesdays are my busiest, most exhausting days, and other than the weekend, it is my favorite day of the week. Tuesdays we have our usual prayer and Psalm reading time as staff, and then have staff meeting. It's a chance to hear what God did the past weekend in other ministry areas.

Tuesdays my intern Paul comes in. He is a friend of Josh and is studying ministry. He has a willing heart and I hope that he gains ministry insights from his time with us that will help him long into the future.

Then Tuesday nights is one of two New Believer's Growth Groups that I lead and host at our home. Between the two groups we have twenty-five people, not including leaders, involved.

Anyway, framing starts on the house tomorrow. We were out twice today making decisions on chalk lines. I didn't think that there would be much to change, but I was wrong. We widened the space for the refrigerator to go to a 48" instead of 42". That moved an entire wall! We wanted more space in the entryway, that moved two walls! We wanted more space around the door in the master-bath toilet room, that moved two walls and a door!

All the wood is there and we saw the viga poles (10" and 12" diameter lodge poles). They really look cool! I can't wait to see them installed. The trusses will be delivered on Thursday, which will probably be the day that they put them up with the crane. It'll be a busy week (but really fun!)

Ministry to New Believers - Coordinator

In today's blog I'll begin talking about structure. We are beyond the place where the pastor can do everything. A church doesn't have to be larger than 12 for that to happen. In fact, larger than 3 shows the need to begin having others lead (see Jesus and the disciples). At Palm Valley Church, we have what we call Volunteer Ministry Coordinators (VC). Their job is to care for the volunteers of each ministry area. We have a ministry lead who is typically a staff member who oversees and sets vision for a ministry area, then we have the VC who oversees the ministry area itself.

The VC does the recruiting (with help from others) and follows recruits through the application process. This is important, because we don't want to just plug warm bodies into holes, we want people to engage in ministry where they are passionate. Different ministries have different requirements. For example, our children's ministry staff all ned to have background checks done as part of their application process. For our Fresh Start Coaches (FS is our primary ministry to new believers, and our volunteers are called coaches), we want people who interact well with others, and don't mind making phone calls to the people they encounter or are assigned (more on coaches next week).

For the Fresh Start Team, the VC (Diane is fantastic!) handles the application process, scheduling (we do an every other week rotation), and care. We want the VC to focus and emphasize the care part. That includes sending encouragement cards, birthday cards, etc. as well as calling them to encourage and pray for them. When issues come up, she contacts me (the ministry lead) so that I can be involved. Often she has already taken care of whatever comes up.

The VC also handles most of the training. Basically, the VC runs the day to day of the ministry. I cast vision and do broad team training, but Diane works with the individual Coaches to bring excellence to the ministry. Next week I'll write about the Coaches. These people are on the front line of life change and they rock!

Turning What If into What Is

I just got back from the C3 conference at Fellowship Church in Dallas. The theme was "Turning What If into What Is". Here's a couple of things I observed at the conference:

Mark Gumm has a new nickname - Crash! We made the annual Palm Valley Church slick track go-kart trip and had a blast! Mark's objective was to crash as many people as possible, even if it meant crashing himself (which happened a lot!). It was a lot of fun, though we did come back with a couple of people a little banged up (it's really a full contact sport). Pretty funny that it's not bumper cars, but we sort of turn it into that!

If you ever need to get to good seats when there is a croud waiting to get in some place, make sure that you have Nancy and Jillayne with you! These two are amazing at sweet talking there way to the front of the line, and then once in, were able to save the seats we wanted without any problem, and there was 15 of us!

The parking and greeter teams at Fellowship rock! They all seemed to genuinly enjoy what they were doing and they really madu you feel like they were glad you were there.

The lead from Cool and the Gang sang "Celebrate" to end the conference. It was really cool, but it would have been better earlier in the day or earlier in the conference when everyone was fresher and not wanting to head for the airport.

Now, about the teaching, most of it was really good. I'll write more about that in a few days.

It was good to get away, get refreshed, get challenged, and get home!

What if...

In Greg's message this week kicking off the "PureSex" series, he talked about some of the things that would be eliminated in the world if everyone did sex God's way. It was a great message and you can check it out at www.palmvalley.org

It got me thinking a step further. If everyone kept just two of the commandments (not even the God focused ones), how many of the worlds problems would be eliminated.

First, don't covet. This command focuses on selfishness. If people (me included) stopped wanting what they didn't have, and stopped wanting what doesn't belong to them, think of what would be eliminated.

Second, honor your parents. What this means is to make your parents' name great. It means to make it honored and valued in the community. This isn't just an obedience issue. This is about integrity. How many more of the worlds problems would be eliminated if we all did this?

You don't even have to believe in God to fulfill these two commands on most levels. Of course it makes a huge difference if you do, and of course all the worlds problems would be eliminated if we all kept just one command. That is to love the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, sould, and strength.

But, think about it, from a worldly perspective, if we all stopped being selfish and brought honor and value to our parents' name what a difference there would be!

Tuesday's House update

This will be a really short post, since nothing happened this week! We got a couple of days of rain.

Steve and Terri's house made progress. They finished praming, installed the HVAC and fireplaces. The next stage of plumbing was put in and electrical is started. They met with the cabinet guy (Who happens to be a christian who is a prayer warrior).

Hopefully, we'll start framing early next week!

Ministry to New Believers - Programs

I could write so much more about foundational issues related to minisering to new believers, but I'm not writing a book here.

For us at Palm Valley Church, we currently have three programs that are geared specifically to new believers.

First, our Fresh Start ministry is the front line ministry where people interact directly with those who accept Christ or rededicate their lives in our weekend services. We have a table set up where people can come. We have a resource kit that includes a New Believer's Bible, a CD (soon we'll ad a DVD as well) which has a message from pastor Greg which is basically a summary of our Fresh Start Class. The kit also includes a basic "Steps to Peace With God" tract, and an outline of what's on the CD. At the table our coaches begin to build a relationship with the new believers, hear their stories, give them the kit, and pray with them. They attempt to answer questions the person has, then they follow up on them for the next ninety days to encourage them toward their next steps in their Spiritual growth.

Second, our Fresh Start Class is a one time class that lasts the length of one of our services. It is designed to answer three basic questions that new believers ask. Those questions are, "What decision did I make?", "How can I know that I'm saved?", and "What do I do now?"

Third, we have a New Believer's Growth Group, which is a six week Home Team (small group) that Paige and I host at our home. I have a couple of our Fresh Start Coaches co-lead the group so that they can host the group after the series is over (They currently take them through "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren). The NBGG focuses on basics for a new believer to have the tools needed for them to grow in their faith. We cover inductive Bible study, prayer, community, worship, and Spiritual growth.

In the future we are planning to convert the curriculum into a video based series. Our plan is to include our membership material and have all of our new home teams go through it as well as the new believer groups.

Next week I'll write about the ministry coordinator and the coaches. They rock and we couldn't do what we do without them!

PureSex

What a weekend! I loved Greg's comment after service Saturday night, "We're runnning with scissors now!" For a church to talk about sex at all is something. To be open, honest, challenging, and most importantly, Biblical is really rare. It's what being a dangerous church is all about.

Michael Gray is doing a great job with the media on this! He does a great job on our communications stuff, but he has taken it to the next level with this series. We had an artical in the West Valley View which was based on an interview with Greg and Ryan. We had a news spot on the local CBS news Friday Night, and Saturday we had an ABC crew at our services and an interview with Greg and others on the 10:00 news. It was good.

We had a lot of people there this weekend. Some may have only come because of the publicity, but it got them in a place to hear the gospel!

The buzz was great and Greg did a great job. I can't wait for the rest of the series. And yes, people met Jesus!

Our elementary kids kicked off a winter extreme series with snow machines! Yes it was snowing in Goodyear AZ today! Way to go Dave!!!

It was great to see several people come early to pray over the chairs that people would use during the service. People prayed over the seats in the theater on Sunday where the youth meet. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to make it over there, but I know some of the prayer warriors who did, and God knows I was praying as I did other stuff.

Palm Valley Church rocks!

Tuesday's Post - Thursday

I'm finally getting to Tuesday's post updating the construction on our house.

The foundation is done, but we are waiting to begin framing until I get back from the C3 conference at Fellowship Church in Irving, Texas (Dallas area). Kind of a bummer, but I am sure I'll be glad they are waiting. I don't want to be out of state when there is a decision I have to make. The framers had another job in between the two houses anyway, so it all works out.

Steve and Terri's house is moving along well. They are done with framing, plumbing is going in, and they delivered the roof tiles yesterday. They also started on the A/C ductwork. I haven't been out all week, so when I see it tomorrow I'm sure it will be exciting!

We purchased the cast iron tub for the guest bath and the shower faucets and valves for the master bath and guest bath so that they can be installed during framing. The tub we got from Lowe's who matched another quote we received, and the faucets and valves we got on line and at Home Depot (those were actually closeouts so we got a good deal).

Sorry about the day on the post, but its been a wild week. Nothing bad, but I decided Tuesday night after Bible study to leave the computer off, and again last night I spent time with my valentine instead of being on the computer.

Ministry to New Believers - Laying the Foundation - Part 2

Continuing from last week's post - laying a foundation for ministry to new believers. First that new believers matter to God, and second, that they should matter to us as well.

Third, there are tremendous joys connected with ministering to new believers. There are also painful sorrows as well. If there aren't, your heart isn't in the right place! At th e beginning of the month we conducted a survey of people who had indicated that they accepted Christ at PVC last year. It was encouraging to see how many are still connected (I'll post the results soon). There is disappointment over the ones no longer attending here, but some solice in the fact that they are attending somewhere.

The pain is in those not attending anywhere! It is hard to hear about those that are to busy, or that simply don't care. Those hurt! On the one hand, we can say that they have to choose for themselves, and that they need to take responsibility. You can also say that perhaps they really didn't choose Christ.

The other hand, is the elephant in the room. What could we have done to connect them. What do we need to change, or do, or not do, to help the seeds planted in them take root. I think we do some things really well, or at least have the processes in place toward doing things well. The issue is the constant knowledge that we need to do better. That's not a bad thing, it just is. It's a constant. It's a good thing to not be satisfied with the status quo. We don't beat ourselves up over where we are at, which leads me to the next point.

Fourth, it's all about God! I shouldn't have to say that, but I do. I need the constant reminder too! It's not about programs, it's about people. And, it's not really about the people, it's about connecting the people to God, or at least providing every opportunity for them to get connected. The hard thing, humanly speaking, is waiting on God. Things happen in His timing. If they don't, He isn't in it! This is the biggest thing I have had to learn in the past couple of years. Sure I knew it in my mind, but I never really put it into practice, until this past year.

Prayer has to become more than a devotional and crisis event. It has to become truly a "pray without ceasing" lifestyle. If you want to know what God wants, you have to spend time with Him. That means reading and studying the Bible, and talking with Him in prayer. If this sounds really basic, it is! You can't expect God to show up if He isn't invited to the party! This not only goes for the programming, it goes to the relationships too. Waiting for God's timing can be really hard, but it's necessary. When you pray, study, and wait on God, you learn to expect Him to show up big when His timing arrives. The joy you find in that moment is indescribable, and the impact is immeasurable.

There is so much more that could be said that is foundational, but I'll add that later. Next week I'll begin to talk about what we do to minister to New Believers and how God's timing has impacted the ministry.

House Update

On Tuesdays I'll write updates on the house we're building. I should call it "Into the abyss" because the number of decisions we need to make continues to multiply exponentially. For those new to the blog, welcome! We are building our own house (with the help of some skilled help), along with my wife Paige's sister and her family who are building next door.

Our pad will be poured tomorrow. They poured Steve and Terri's yesterday, and dropped off their trusses. Framing begins on theirs tomorrow. Ours won't get framed until the end of the month (unless the framers get ahead of schedule on other projects). It's getting really exciting to see the houses begin to rise out of what once was an alfalfa field.

Our building consultant is a great man of God who prays for our homes as much as we do. It's so great to work with people that look at things like a house as a tool that God can use to reach people.

Here's a funny. We drove out to the land last night at sunset with our oldest son Josh. He hadn't been out in a while, and it was great to spend some time with him. The sunset was amazingly beautiful (Go God!). Paige commented that the new house will be closer to the sunset! We all had a good laugh. The house is a quite a bit farther west from where we are now. Some of our friends a joking that it's no longer West Phoenix, it's East LA. We aren't moving that far out!

Selfishly, I began the idea of the new house wanting more space for my workshop for my woodworking and car hobbies (The new house has two four car garages, one of which is an air conditioned workshop). As I began to really pray about the house, and gave it to God, he began showing me ways it can be used for Him that I never imagined. I can't wait to have father-son workshops so that they can learn while spending valuable time together. The back yard will be a large enough grass field to do about anything we want. We are setting up the irrigation and lawn so that it will cover both back yards as one yard. We will have a football field sized lawn! We are really looking forward to entertaining. We are already praying for our future neighbors and actually hope that not all of them are believers.

Anyway, some of the decisions this week have been selecting faucets for the showers (not as easy as it sounds) so the valves can be installed during framing. We ordered the Jacuzzi tub for the master bathroom. Friday we'll pick out the latillas (lodge pole columns) and review framing issues like door heights. We were going to go with 8' doors (10' ceilings), but some of the narrower doors look goofy to us at that height, so we're going to go with the standard 78" doors except for the sliders and front door which will remain 8'. We are also looking at fireplaces for the master bedroom (Jacuzzi tub, fireplace, I'm really working on bonus points since I bought a huge TV for the family room). The plan is to have a plasma tv built in above the fireplace. I'll talk to the framers to see if I need to get that now too (I hope not).

Stay tuned!

Ministry to New Believers - Laying the Foundation - Part 1

Monday's it is! I will plan on posting thoughts, ideas, concepts, things I'm learning, things we've tried that work (or didn't work) regarding ministry to new believers on Mondays. Realizing that as readership to this blog grows, pastors and new believers alike will read it's contents, so I will write with both in mind.

For today I want to begin to lay the foundation for developing a ministry that focuses on new believers.

1. New Believers matter! Jesus could have said to "Go and make converts", but He didn't. He said to "Go and make disciples" (See Matthew 28:18-20). Paul wrote in Colossians 1:28 that we are to "present every man complete in Christ." Peter wrote that we are to grow in our faith (See 2 Peter 1:3-11). There a numerous other passages that show us that as individuals we need to grow in our relationship to Christ, and many others that show the church that it is to lead people toward maturity in their faith. To this end, our vision at Palm Valley Church is "Leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ." this basically summarizes the passages that I have listed.

2. If new believers matter to God, they should matter to us. It's not about programs! If you're looking for a cure all program that will take new believers from conversion to maturity, you're looking for the wrong thing. There are to many variables. We should want to help new belivers grow. We should want to connect with them personally. We should want to connect them with others who can come along side them to encourage them in their faith. We should want to teach them how to feed themselves spiritually. To put it simply, it's about the heart. All of the "one another" passages include new believers. We should love them, letting the love of Christ flow from us in a way that compells us to come along side them, especially in their first steps in their faith.

Of course there are programs, but they flow out of vision. In conjunction with the vision of PVC, our vision for our Fresh Start Team (ministry to new believers) is "Coaching New Believers toward Spiritual Growth." Our team can't do everything. We can;however, be there to guide, support, encourage, and pray for new believers as they begin their faith journey. Notice that there isn't a guarantee in this statement. That's because while we take ownership of a part of the process, the new believer has a part in the process as well, and must desire to grow. You can have the most perfect program, but if you don't connect, and if they don't engage, then you have nothing!

If you care for new believers, then check it out next Monday when I blog on Laying the Foundation - Part 2.

Thanks for reading!

Updates

Josh, the 7 year old we have been praying for is doing great! He's being moved out of ICU today! Praise God! Only He could heal this boy.

We expanded the New Believer's Growth Group this week and had 7 people (Two were leaders). That makes 18 new believers involved in discipleship. It's so cool to hear their stories and see them get excited about God's Word.

Our Fresh Start Coaches met this week to contact everyone who accepted Christ at Palm valley this past year. We wanted to know their current involvement level and a few other questions. I can't wait to complile the results of the survey. I'll post about that when I have reliable data results to share.

The pad for the house will be poured next Wednesday. We are franticly trying to purchase the tubs, and faucets so that they can be installed during the framing.

I'm so excited! Tonight we purchased the main TV for the new house. I've been looking at this TV for over a year. We didn't get the sound system because I have no clue! The $750 speakers sound like the $250 speakers to me. I can't tell the difference. I can tell the difference in the lower priced stuff, but in this range, I don't notice. I shot the wad on the TV, so I can't on the sound system, though I do want it to sound good. I'm sure that there must be a balance in there somewhere.