The Great Commission

Isn’t it true that if you’re not careful you end up doing things you were never commissioned to do? How many times have you found yourself at work, not working on the work you were commissioned to do? Urgent things, conversations, Twitter, Facebook, and other things get in the way.

We receive commissions in life. Commissions in marriage, spousehood, parenthood.

Jesus also left us with a commission. And like other commissions, it can get pushed aside if we are not careful. So you and I have been commissioned to, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Now here is the question I ask myself. How am I doing in my commission?

unChristian-judgemental

Part of what keeps people outside of Christianity is the perception that the church is not a loving place. I know that I am biased because I work for the church, but I genuinely think our church is a loving place. Not just loving to those who fit in or to those who look right and talk right. We are genuinely loving because we genuinely love.

If people don’t perceive the church as loving then they will never have the chance to experience love within the church.

What’s your opinion? How would you characterize our church:

1-Never shows love 2-Occasionally shows love 3-Half of the time shows love 4-Usually shows love 5-Always shows love

Why do you think that? What would your friends outside of church say? How can you do better at showing love to people so they will know our church shows love?

unChristian-too political

Why do you think Christians are perceived as being too involved in politics? What is your own level of involvement in politics? How much or little involvement do you think Christians should pursue through politics?

After the glory fades…

If every day were Mother’s Day, kids would pick up there socks.  The house would be clean, attitudes would never need to be adjusted, and everyone win the house would draw me pictures and life would be glorious.  But today is the day after Mother’s Day.  Now what?  It’s not that my family doesn’t appreciate me every other day of the year, it’s just that I’m the Mom.  That’s my job.  They expect and need me to be consistent and follow through on their expectations.

Being consistent has never been my strong suit.  It’s easy at the beginning of things to get all pumped up and give it all I’ve got, but man, 15 years into it and I get a little worn out.  But it’s in consistency that true glory comes out.  Being able to stand the test of time is something to be proud of.

Drew Barrymore said, “I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want the consistency rather than the highs and the lows.”

So no matter what the day holds, I will strive to have the courage to be consistent. Peggy Noonan said,  “Part of courage is simple consistency.”

What God has entrusted to me is worthy of my effort to offer a consistent love and care  and attention to it.  Isn’t yours?

Summer Activities

Let’s get out and have some fun. I am still waiting for a weekend where I get to go out fishing, but I am excited for this summer. 

What are your favorite summer activities?

What should 20someone do this summer?

Searching

As I was tweeting about how I feel kinda lost and a lot unsatisfied with where I am at (mostly ministry wise), a thought dawned on me.

But first let me give you the thoughts leading up to it.

“Things aren’t going like I would like them to go.” I wish things would go the way I would like them to go. I like when things happen according to a plan. The problem is my plans usually aren’t that great. I wonder if great things don’t go the way you would like them to go. But I do want more. I want more influence. I want to see more lives changed. I want bigger things for the kingdom of God.

“I wonder what I should do to change that.” At least, I have thought about maybe wanting to change. I know that’s not great effort. But let’s face it: change is not fun. Unless you’re changing someone else. 

“I’ll get some books.” I like to read. And I have always been one to fall into the trap that if you have written a book then you probably have something to say (which isn’t always true).

“I’m gonna tweet about this.” So I did and in the middle of my tweet.

“Dang. Maybe God’s trying to do something.” Funny how long it takes me to get the point where I recognize God is trying to do something. I tend to put the “spiritual” on a shelf cause I can’t control it. But in reality I probably just need to spend some time with God (which could be why I made a worship set with that theme). Anyway, I need to let God work in me.

“I’ll think I’ll blog about that.” Clearly I need to stop working on the computer as it rarely moves me towards something useful.

The latest in Power Up Ministries

We had an excellent turn out for the easter egg hunt this year. Congratulations to the winners of the raffle. Two bikes, two ipods, and two PSPs were given away.

As you know the Beyond Us offering was taken a couple weeks ago and the Children’s group alone brought in over $200. GREAT JOB GUYS!

Here are a couple reminders for everyone. Mother’s Day is this Sunday May 10th. Go out and get your mom something nice cause she deserves it .  Also coming up is Baptisim Sunday May 17th.  If you feel that you are ready to take the next step and would like to be baptized, sign up with Pastor Sue.

Don’t forget to save your change for the Buddy Barrel offering every 4th Sunday of the month.

And last but not least, follow as on Twitter @cccpowerup!