Living Outrageously for Christ: 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Father's Love

The dad in this video handles what happens with love. Click the link above to read the whole story. Hope you are blessed by it.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching” (Acts 2:42a). This was the Scripture for Pastor Mel’s teaching titled “Being Fully Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching” this past Sunday. When he reminded us that when the New Testament church came into being they did not have the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. All they had was the Torah. At that point, all I could think of was the Downhere song “Cathedral Made of People” from the album “Ending Is Beginning”:

If they shut down the churches
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?
We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her
If they burned every Bible
What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?
When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things
That you know are true
They can tear down this temple
But they can't touch you
We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her

Pastor Mel’s sermon certainly got me to thinking. Could you and I survive without the church building? How would we learn? Who would teach us? I know we could survive without the building. But without a Bible? That would be a lot harder. What some of you may not know is that before any of the books of the Bible were written more than 3,000 years ago, the stories and songs were passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. It makes me wonder if we would be more devoted followers if we had to learn God’s Word by memorizing it. All of it. All 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. How can we become better students of God’s Word?

A few weeks ago, Pastor Mel introduced our congregation to “Life Journals”. The reading plan that is introduced will take us through the entire Bible once a year. We have an opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with God’s Word by journaling using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer). We could then answer the questions in Downhere’s song:

What would you know? We would know the Scriptures because we studied them intimately.

How would you grow? What will you do? The same thing Marcia did when she was having her MRI done. Singing the songs of worship and going over the Scriptures because they would be written on our hearts from our time in the Word. “We are a cathedral made of people in a kingdom that the eye can't see. We're a house, we are the bride where God's Spirit lives inside and nothing ever could stand against her.” Nothing can stand against God’s Word. My challenge to you … join us in journaling our lives.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Healing the Heartland

The goal was to provide a message of faith and hope for the heartland following last years historic flooding in Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa through with music, food, fun, inspiration and community care. Did that happen? It sure did and more!

After months of preparation the week of the festival was upon us. On Saturday, June 6^th about 15 of us gathered on at Taylor Elementary School to go door to door with fliers for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ. Wendy B., who coordinated the BBQ, had picked up 3,000 for us to hand out, prepped maps and even had bags of doggie treats for us to hand out. The group from Hus included Wendy, Diane, Karissa, Marissa and myself. Also there was a great group of young adults from Watershed. After splitting up the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods we set out to hand out the fliers. About an hour and a half into it our group called it quits because the rain was coming down so hard. We were quite literally soaked to the bone. By the time we made it back to Taylor the rain had let up and we decided to finish the last few blocks around the school, get lunch and go at it again that afternoon. Fortunately after lunch the rain had stopped and we were able to complete our task. Unfortunately the combination of the rain and the sun left a lot of humidity for us.

On Thursday, June 11^th I spent the day putting up the concert stage and roof. This was the first time that roof had been used. In addition to the half dozen or so volunteers the company that was contracted to provide them had six of their employees there as well as a factory representative for the company that made the roof. The first thing to go up was the roof which would eventually be about 60 feet up in the air. After assembling all the individual pieces the process of putting the supports in place began. After hoisting the first one the chain for the motorized roof hoist was being threaded when the line got stuck. One of the employees climbed the 60 feet up to fix that. After that the factory representative suggested they put together a mechanism that would use the rest of the motors to put up the supports. That was much easier, not sure why we didn't start off like that. Once the supports were in place the fitted tarp was put in place and then stretched to fit. We then went to work on the 40' x 40' stage. The stage was much more difficult to put together because of the uneven ground and the shear weight of the individual platforms. When we finished at 8:30 PM, just a short 12 1/2 hours later) I could not wait for the concert in just two short days to see how it would look.

The three day Healing the Heartland Festival kicked off on Friday night, June 12^th with a big backyard barbeque in 11 locations in and around the Greater Cedar Rapids area. Area congregations with Serve the City were the hosts for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ and provided food, games and a neighborhood atmosphere in parks and on school campuses. Hus Presbyterian had the pleasure of serving as one of the co-hosts for the BBQ at Taylor Elementary School which targeted the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods and was headed up by Hus member Wendy Barton. Despite the pouring down rain over 400 neighbors and friends came to Taylor Elementary for the BBQ. In fact the busiest time we had was when it was raining the hardest. People just kept coming, most of who walked to the school. It was neat to see some of the people we had handed fliers to the week before. Principal Brian Christoffersen was amazing and spent a great deal of the night with us. Fortunately we were able to find several areas with overhangs. The first one provided a safe, dry place for the sound board so we could continue playing music through out the entire evening. We covered the speakers with small tarps that were light enough let the music be heard and to keep out the rain. We directed people to the rest of the overhangs so they could stay somewhat dry while they ate. We had the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Some were survivors; some were people who had helped and continue to help and one young couple who had just moved to Cedar Rapids and are now living in a renovated home that had been flooded. The pain is still there and will be there for a long time. Most are still hopeful for a brighter future. One man wondered out loud why God would allow it to rain when people were trying to do something good for the neighborhoods. My response was that God had a reason. He then said, "Maybe to remind us of the flood last year." To which I responded that might be one reason, another might be so that we could bring glory to God by remaining there and continuing the BBQ and loving on our neighbors regardless. No matter what the reason everyone was grateful that we had the BBQ. A big thanks to the Hus crew, Wendy B., Diane V.W., Karissa L. and Riley W. (Riley’s home was flooded last year).

Saturday was one huge community “backyard” festival that was located Kingston Sports Complex and the CR Ice Arena. We celebrated surviving and healing, thus the name Healing the Heartland Festival. The activities included a Community Barbeque, Family Fun Zone, Sports Zone, a comprehensive Community Care/Services Tent and a concert venue with bands and speakers. The Community Care tent offered information and care to community members including job search and resume writing, mobile medical clinic, registration & fingerprinting of children by CRPD and more. As I walked through the mobile dentist chairs were all full with people waiting to get looked at. Others were taking advantage of the free clothing giveaway. Life 101.9 was there. 89.1 The Spirit was there broadcasting live. We are very fortunate to have two Christian radio stations in the area. The Fun Zone was located in and around the lobby of the CR Ice Arena. Activities included face painting, balloon artist, stick-on tattoos, bounce around playground, puppets, kids’ songs and visits from local mascots including Shucks from the Kernels and Ricochet from the Roughriders. The Sport Zone was held in the same arena as the Roughriders play minus the ice. The area featured emcee and international speaker Keith Cook and exhibitions from the “Untitled Skateboards” Team, Basketball Exhibitionist Tanya Crevier, and the Mike Hagen Strength Team. The day concluded with a concert emceed by Christian comedian Dr. Dennis Swanberg, a testimony from Mickey Robinson and music from David Phelps, BarlowGirl and the Newsboys! What a way to end the evening. I was back stage as security and as a stage hand. Diane and Karissa spent the night working the merchandise table for BarlowGirl along side the famous trio's parents. I think the highlight for them was when they got to meet the girls after they finished signing autographs. Twitter provided some immediate feedback from each of the artists. David Phelps tweeted "Had a great concert in Cedar Rapids with BarlowGirl and Newsboys. Great crowd. I think we made some new fans. Hope some of u were there!" Alyssa Barlow tweeted "Wow I lllooovvveee Iowa! I want to take you all with me! Please???" Lauren tweeted "The show tonight was so stinking amazing!!!!!" Do you think they like Iowa? The Newsboys tweeted "This town was under 12 feet of water last year. Heard some amazing stories from a local cab driver. Hope the show is a blessing to the city", "Great show tonight. Despite a few gear problems and the slippery stage, we had a wonderful evening!" I am guessing their drive out of town was not as much fun because the "Bus caught on fire on the way home! Everyone is fine. Bus is fine. Thanks to the "good samaritans" who stopped along the road to help!"

On Sunday the festival concluded with Faith Night at the Kernel's which included a second free exhibition from the Mike Hagen Strength Team in the parking lot and a concert inside provided by the New Covenant Bible Church "Big Band." With the exception of the Saturday food vendors and tickets to the baseball game the entire weekend was free. It was the desire of the of the 39 churches and 9 ministries that make up Serve the City to provide a weekend of free activities to our community as they continue to recover from the 2008 Flood as many cannot afford any fun family activities. The festival is over, but three years of Prayer, Care and Share to the community continues with numerous unprecedented opportunities to show and tell about the love of Jesus Christ. Continue praying for guidance on what you can do.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Our pictures from the Healing the Heartland Festival:

For more on the festival, check out my friend, Pastor Kim Pagel’s blog posts and pictures:

Thursday, May 07, 2009

For the Youth of America

Youth of America
2009 National Day of Prayer
Cedar Rapids, IA

Our youth live in a world of fear where hope often seems out of reach. The fears of today’s youth are the same yet very different from those we had growing up.

When I was growing up computers were just appearing in homes. Now they are everywhere. We had to leave the house to socialize, but online sites like facebook are how kids socialize today. Bullying existed when I was a kid. It still exists, but thanks in part to the Internet and cell phones cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking are on the rise. A 2006 survey by Harris Interactive reported that 43% of U.S. teens had experienced some form of cyber-bullying in the past year.¹

Twenty-five years ago my friends and I worried that a nuclear war could happen at any time. Since 9/11 we can add the fear of a terrorist attack in our own backyard.

So what can do? Proverbs 22:6 teaches us to “Direct our children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”² The church body needs to mentor our nation’s youth. As an advocate of mentoring, Governor Chet Culver stated, “Time spent with a child is not only an investment in that child but an investment in every Iowan.”³ We need to make that investment and serve as trusted counselors and teachers to them. We cannot afford to let our youth slip between the cracks.

PRAYER

God we look to you to bring about a day when children can live without fear, walk in hope and lead future generations to Christ! I pray for a spiritual awakening of the youth in America. I pray that we, your Church, commit to coming alongside youth teaching them how to become authentic disciples of Christ. They need to know “how much God loved not only the world, but also each one of them: He loves us so much that He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”⁴ By directing them to the right path we will have helped them to find their eternal destination in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

AMEN!!

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

When All Else Is Gone, What Do You Have Left? - Sunday, April 26, 2009

When All Else Is Gone, What Do You Have Left?
(Listen to sermon to hear lead in audio clip)

Rules/Laws

Rules are all around us. There are a lot of rules and laws that we need to follow. There are so many rules; there is no way we can know them all. There are rules for driving, rules at school, and rules at work. The one place that most of us know all the rules is at home. Who felt that their parents had too many rules? I know my brother did. He seemed to break nearly all the rules. It was almost as if once the umbilical cord was cut my parents lost control of him. I’ll never forget the when a friend of his gave him some “Chinese stars” made out of steel. Everything gets kind of fuzzy after mom and dad found holes in the kitchen cabinets. Apparently he decided that it would be fun to throw those stars at the cabinets to see if they would stick. Funny that I can remember all the things he did wrong, but very few of the things that I did wrong.

Now I am the parent of teenagers and I am pretty sure they think there are too many rules. I didn’t notice it when I was a kid, but apparently no matter how we say it when we are talking about rules and sometimes anything, we are yelling at them. Clean your room is met with “You should see Marissa’s room, its worse” or “I don’t have enough room for everything” or even “Just where would you like me to put it.” Telling them that it is time for bed elicits something like “but its only 11 o’clock!” Whether it is one of those or something like brush your teeth many times the answer will be “in a minute.” Did you know that a minute for a teenager is more like an hour for parents? The only time they have any concept of time is when they want or need something. Then look out. A minute becomes a minute.

It is likely that kids view parent’s rules the same way we might view some of the laws that are still on the books in many states, just plain stupid. Did you know that in Cicero, Illinois humming on a public street on a Sunday is illegal? In Lehigh, Nebraska it is illegal to sell doughnut holes. New Britain, Connecticut requires that fire trucks cannot exceed 25 mph, even when they are going to a fire. It is illegal to speak English; American is the officially recognized language in Illinois. If you live in Tucson, Arizona and you are a woman, it is illegal to wear pants. A kiss may last for as much as, but no more than, five minutes in the great state of Iowa. Can you believe that at some point in time our legislators actually took the time to come up with these laws? I’m guessing the donut hole law came about when someone got home and had an empty box. (www.helium.com/items/174681-unusual-laws-that-remain-in-us-state-codes-despite-being-outdated)

A few weeks ago Pastor Mel talked about how inflated the federal tax code has become. “The federal criminal code is just as bad. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to criminally punish “treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever.” Yet the federal criminal code today spans some 1,400 pages, and that’s just the “pocket edition.”” (www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,113861,00.html)

God started with just a few basic rules that can be found in Genesis 1:28-31 and 2:15-17:

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." ²⁹Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. ³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:28-31 NIV)

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17 NIV)

Seemingly simple stuff. God gave them permission to have sex. Told them they had control over the whole earth. There was only one thing they were not supposed to do. They were not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Kind of botched that one up didn’t they. Often times Eve gets a bad wrap because she the serpent talked her into eating the fruit. Read closely, because Adam was standing right next to her the whole time and he kept his mouth shut. Note to all the men, keeping your mouth shut is not always a good idea. It can cost you. And did it cost Adam and Eve. Because of their sin they were separated from God. God didn’t just write them off, but He did lay it out for them that life would no longer be easy. And so it would be and is for all of us.

Concerning the law Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17 that He came to fulfill the law, but that the law still stood. This brings us to Israel’s unbelief. The beginning of today’s Scripture tells us that Israel continued to pursue righteousness through the law, but that the Gentiles attained righteousness through faith. Israel kept on believing that if they fulfilled the Law of Moses they would be justified and holy in God’s eyes. From the beginning God simply wanted us to trust Him. To have faith that he would take care of us.

Faith

Yesterday I read an online comic that showed a middle aged man standing next to a young women and he was talking to a friend. The caption says “Making your faith fit your lifestyle.” In the comic, the friend said, “So, you left your wife for a younger model and now you’ve given up your faith. That’s ‘convenient’ don’t you think?” Rather than live the way that God wants us to, some would rather give up on Him altogether so they can have their way. Others will say one thing and do another. “On the dc Talk album, Jesus Freak, author and speaker Brennan Manning draws this conclusion. “The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”” (Live Like a Jesus Freak, p. 17) The first time that I remember anyone being fake was probably in junior high. Kids were getting older and the need to fit in was becoming greater and greater. It only got worse in high school. That desire can lead many good kids down the wrong path. It can lead to drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, STDs, jail time, and in recent years even death. No parent wants that for their child. I have known kids whose parents went to church on Sunday, but the rest of the week did everything but live a Christ-like life. Just going to church and being a good person will not make you right with God. Just going to synagogue and following the law did not make the Jews right with God. Then and now, kids learn from their parents. If you do the math you can see why Mr. Manning drew the conclusion he did.

So, what is faith? Faith on the primitive level is a universal human act. (Basic Christian Doctrine, p. 171) Everyone has faith in something. Atheists profess to not believe in anything. I would think that people who do not believe in a creator have a lot more faith when it comes to the creation of the world than they are willing to admit. They are banking on everything being in a state of perfection in order for the universe to have been created. Think about this. “If the gravitational force constant were larger by just one part in ten billion billion billion, we would be crushed out of existence.” (Expelled Leader’s Guide, p. 5) Additionally “The famous astronomer Sir Fredrick Hoyle compares the probability of spontaneous life to lining up 1x10⁵⁰ (one with 50 zeroes after it) blind people, giving them each a scrambled Rubik’s cube, and finding that they all solve the cube at the same moment.” (Expelled Leader’s Guide, pp. 6-7) Just because we can not see it or because we did not witness it does not mean that something did not happen.

The writer of Hebrews said in chapter 11 that Faith [is] in What We Don't See:

^1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

³By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.

⁴By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice. (Hebrews 11:1-4 MSG)

This chapter is filled with others who lived by faith. In telling of Enoch it was written, “It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 MSG) The movie Evan Almighty gave a glimpse into what people might think today if someone were to build a ship in the middle of dry ground. Noah likely got some of the same sneers. The list continues with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and his parents, the Israelites as they left Egypt, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

^39-40Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours. (Hebrews 11:39-40 MSG)

Combine this with what I said earlier about faith being a universal human act and we can conclude that faith is personal act. No one can have faith for you. They could have faith in you, but you would first have to earn their trust. A couple of years ago we took the youth on a mission trip to St. Louis. While there we helped Pastor Scott and his wife Terri at Baden Community Church love on their inner city neighborhood. Each morning we spent doing something for the neighborhood. Scott had the kids attending VBS climb up on some playground equipment, turn around and fall into our hands. Many of them were afraid. They were not sure they could trust us. Then Scott, who was a big guy, said he would go first. The kids were quick to line up to catch him. I knew we could catch him, but I think it took more faith that we would actually be able to hold him. Fortunately none of the kids attending VBS we squashed. Scott showed his faith in us; this in turn showed the kids that they could have faith in those who were putting on the VBS. This was the beginning of teaching many of these kids that they could have faith in Jesus. We could not simply tell them about Jesus, we had to put that faith in action.

For an entire week we loved on those kids. We showed them what the love of Christ looked like. This is what Jesus taught us to do. When Jesus was questioned, “³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ³⁷Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV)

How can we confess something that we do not know? This is what makes Bible study and time alone with God so important. Today’s the passage has several references to the Old Testament. There are references to Isaiah, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Joel. To simply know one part of the Scriptures is not enough. We have to have knowledge of all of the Scriptures.

If we do the math, we see that faith is a personal act that requires love, knowledge, trust, action and a relationship.

Hope

In the beginning God had created a bridge to us. Because of sin we, not just Adam and Eve, burned that bridge. It has been my experience that once you burn a bridge with someone the likelihood of rebuilding it is very slim.

When there is nothing else left…when all else is gone, what do you have left?

On April 20, 1999 a 17 year old teenage girl was at that point. With a gun pointing at her head, there was nothing left, everything was gone. She was asked two questions. She would only have the opportunity to answer one, “Do you believe in God?” She said yes. She didn’t get to answer why because she was shot and killed. Cassie Bernall died knowing her eternal destination because she had a personal relationship with Jesus. Cassie did not know that when she woke up that morning she was going to die. We do not know when our last moment on earth will be.

But there is hope! When all else is gone we have one thing left. Faith in knowing that if we “confess with our mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NIV) It is in this act of faith that God, not us, rebuilds the bridge between us.

Amen!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Record flooding threatening ND & MN again...

Michael, a former employee and his family had just moved. Micheal's dad is a pastor and he had just accepted a call to go to a church in Fargo, ND. It wouldn't be long before his mom emailed to tell us about the flooding. It was 1997 and the Red River had crested at 39.6 feet.

Fast forward 11 years and Cedar Rapids, IA would see record flooding. It has been 8 months and things there is a lot of work left to do. We learned that it took almost a decade for the recovery in ND and MN. We have a long way to go.

They may be starting all over again. Just Google ND Flooding and there are over 1200 initial results. High school and college students are being let out of class as they have determined that they will need nearly 2 million sandbags by this weekend. To quite honest, that scares me. It has been a short 12 years and they are already looking at new record crest of around 41 feet.

Please pray for the cities and more importantly the people in Fargo, ND and Moorehead, MN as well as surrounding areas.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Friday, February 27, 2009

Praying In This Economy

I received the video for this story from Bryan Taunton on Facebook and just had to share. Below are two quotes from that video. It wasn't until after I found the accompanying story "Praying In This Economy" on Alabama's ABC 33/40 that I realized that the reporter had also made note of them. "A number of folks in Sylacauga may have lost their jobs, but they don't want to lose hope. " wrote reporter and producer Ebony Hall.

"I beleive that if anybody can get us where we need to be its Christ and I'm all about the community coming together and praying."

- Rachel Pody

"I know that God is not going to take away the bills and take away the debts we owe but he can just bring that peace and calm assurance. And when we come together as a city that really means alot."

- David Isbell

Thanks for sharing Bryan!

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry