Flood Update

So this has been one of the most interesting weeks I’ve had since being at FGF. Wednesday I showed up in the morning to a flooded out church. Come to find out that a pipe had burst under our foundation slab. All in all, it was looking a little bleak, and we started the ball rolling on moving our church services to a different site until repairs could be made.

That was Wednesday.

Thursday the leak detection guys came out and pinpointed the ruptured pipe. It’s all of about 3″ below the slab just outside the bathroom. Yes the slab will have to be jackhammered to get at it, but just a very small portion. What was originally looking to be a very long repair job turned out to be one that could be done in a day. Also on Thursday, we got water flowing to the fellowship hall so we’ll be able to have church there this Sunday.

By the way, if you’re reading this, and you don’t have a church home and you live near Hercules, Ca…we’d love to have you worship with us!

That was Thursday.

Today I got the final estimate from the plumbers and the cost for the plumbing repair should be a LOT less that I had originally thought. So far it looks like what will cost the most and take the most time is getting the offices and the bathroom put back together. Amazing! This is one of those times where I just shake my head in wonder at how God works. Not so much the circumstance, but at how quickly we were put at ease about the severity of it. I know I immediately jumped to the worst possible scenario in my own mind. I’m pretty sure some other people did as well.

Speaking of that…

In the last 48 hours so many people have stepped up offering to help. I can’t tell you how humbled and honored I am to be your pastor, FGF. Seriously. Can’t wait for Sunday!!! See you there.

Flood at FGF

So I came in yesterday morning and was greeted with a flooded church foyer. This quick little video shows how far the water extended. The damage doesn’t seem too bad, but the cause of the leak is a pipe under the slab. We’ll find out today what, exactly, that means as far as repairs.

For Sunday, we will either have service in the Fellowship Hall (if we can get the water turned back on) or we will have other options. We’ll make that decision this afternoon.

This is a big opportunity, in my opinion. Something like this definitely changes the routine of “church” and can stir us up. I’m excited to see where God is going with all of this. Seriously.

The Parable of the Spa (part 4)

Our little saga is about to end. If you’ve been following along, you remember that our spa has gone through a few phases:

1) No power = dead spa
2) Right power + wrong wiring = blown fuse
3) Right wiring + wrong power = no heat

That brings us to where we are now:

4) Right power + right wiring = hot water therapy bliss

The Parable of the Spa (part 3)

Bet you didn’t know this would end up being a saga, did you? It wasn’t enough that we waited over a year to get our spa hooked up. It wasn’t enough that it drew more amps than the wires would allow which blew a fuse. No no…now our poor little brand new, ten year old spa would be hooked up to a different power supply. It was hooked up to 240v. Now, as a temporary fix since the electrician was going on vacation for a few days, it would be hooked up to 120v. [I think it's 120v. I'm not an electrician. -john] This would make it take longer to heat the water, but it would keep the amperage down when we fired up the jets. Brilliant!

The Parable of the Spa (part 2)

After a year of having our spa just sitting there taunting us, we decided that we would use our vacation money to hook it up. What an exciting day that was! I went out back to check on it every half hour to see how much the temperature of the water had risen. That night we jumped in and it was fantastic! Three nights later, as we were enjoying the jets and scalding hot water…it shut off. One moment we were in water therapeutic bliss, the next we were in mourning over what just happened.

The Parable of the Spa (part 1)

Last week Jen and I enjoyed our brand new, 10 year old, spa for the first time. It has been a pain in the neck to get installed, and we were both very frustrated through the process that took about two weeks. As I was wallowing in pity and wondering why nothing ever seems to go as planned for us, I was struck by the different phases our little spa had gone through to get where it is right now.

What is pentecostal preaching?

Every week we take time during our service to get out of our seats and meet & greet the people we’re worshiping with. It’s something we’ve been doing for years, and it is one of my favorite times on Sunday.  I make it a point to try to talk to every person in the church during that time.

Recently, as I was shaking hands with one of the long-time members of the church, he said, “I have one request.”  Curious, I asked what his request was.

“Preach like you’re pentecostal.”

What about the children?

OK, this is a serious question for all of you guys that don’t have a Sunday School.  I’m not bagging on it at all.  We are adding a second service in the next few months, and Sunday School may become a casualty.  I’m not elated over that possibility, but I also don’t mind it.  I’d like us to move more toward a small group mindset for a number of reasons, but I always come back to the kids.  Adults can always put together a mid-week Bible study small group, but if we get rid of Sunday School, we get rid of something we see as a benefit to children.

What are you doing for educating the kids?  I really do want to know.

Four Lessons for Preachers (part 2)

This week, I’m going over four lessons on preaching that I’ve learned from Jesus in John 6:51-66. Yesterday I talked about the importance of preaching the message that has been given to you.  Moving on to lesson number 2: Expect people to not like the message.

If you are preaching the message God has given, then you can expect some people to not like it.  This push back will come from all over: people close to you, people not close to you, the denominational leadership (or covenant partners for you independent types), the deacons, the first time guests, the lifetime members. The folks following Jesus didn’t like His message at all.  ”This is a hard saying.  Who can hear it?”  This complaint can fall under two categories.

1. This message is too hard for me.
2. This message is too hard for them.

There will be those in the crowd that will be personally challenged by God through the message He gives us to preach.  God is not satisfied with living on the fringes of Christianity.  Jesus said things like:

“You’re either with me or against me.”
“You’re either gathering or scattering.”
“Because you’re lukewarm, I’m spewing you out of my mouth.”

This sort of message flies in the face of the relativism that is generally embraced by people both outside and inside the church (note the lower case “c”).  A message that challenges the crowd, stretches crowd, or tells the crowd that something is not right will generally be rejected by the crowd.

There will also be people that will pressure you to change the message because it is too challenging on the crowd, and might drive them away.  In other words, you will be pressured to do all you can to keep the attendance from declining.  The disciples of Jesus were in the middle of a record attendance:  5000, not counting children’s church.  To them, a crowd meant success, but, and I love how Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv puts it, “Jesus didn’t die for a crowd, He died for His church.”

So let’s recaps the lessons so far…

Lesson #1:  Preach the message God’s given to you.
Lesson #2:  Expect people to not like the message.

Would LOVE to hear your thoughts so far.

Four Lessons For Preachers (part 1)

I’m afraid to even look to see when I posted last.  It’s been way too long.

This week, we’ll look at four lessons on preaching modeled by Jesus in John 6:51-66.  

Lesson #1: Preach the message given to you.

I’m sure every preacher has had a message that was not so easy to give.  I’ll never forget the time I was woken up at about 3:30am on a Sunday morning and God told me, “I have become too common to the church.  Remind them I am terrible.”  

“Terrible?!  Are you kidding?!  In 7.5 hours I am to tell these folks that You’re terrible?!”

I’ll never forget the response of the congregation that morning.  Exasperated is a good adjective.  One woman actually gasped, “No!”

One more personal example, and I’ll move on.  One afternoon, as I sat down at the table to start taking notes for the upcoming service, I was getting all my books and computer set up to get going and I heard God clear as day.  He said, “I know you can study, but can you listen.” 

As preachers, we are sometimes tempted to preach to the crowd or for a crowd.  However, we must never let the crowd (or hope for a crowd) shape our message.  Jesus had a crowd of 5000 men (children’s church wasn’t counted), and when they got hung up on Jesus saying He was the Bread of Life, He got even more offensive and said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”

Jesus had something to tell the people that had been following Him.  It would not be easy for them to hear.  It would be even harder for them to apply.  However, He made no attempt to shape the message in a way that would make it palatable to the majority. 

Let’s learn from Jesus.  

• Preach His message as is!  
• Apply communication principles and styles, yes, but don’t compromise the integrity of the message.
• It’s His message and His church.  
• Let Him worry about the response.