Love God. Love People. Share Jesus.
Ever not feel like praying?
You know you should, but for whatever reason you just can’t.
This week Pastor Craig kicks off the Confessions Series with his first confession: “Sometimes, I just don’t feel like praying.”
It’s funny - how difficult it is to admit openly something that all of us (if we are honest) probably struggle with on a fairly routine basis.
Don’t miss this invitation to wrestle with reality.
I know I’m looking forward to it.
As we wrap up our DISCIPLE series, I want to stick in a quick plug for the new series coming up: Confessions of a Pastor…
Uncover the deep, dark, secrets that have remained untold in the realm of a pastor’s life: insecurities,
doubts, and weariness….frustrations, concerns and mistakes. In “Confessions of a Pastor,” Pastor Craig opens up in hopes of shattering any false pretenses. What is it like to be a pastor? Probably a lot like being anyone else. Let go of the expectations and high standards that are keeping you in bondage and let God start to become one of your truest friends through your own confessions.
Here are the 4 confessions, perhaps you’ll relate to at least one of them…
This will be a great series to bring a friend.
John Maxwell tells the story in one of his books about how once during his time as a Pastor they entered into a building campaign. He and the elders felt a strong leading from God to move forward on a particular piece of property. They prayed and fasted and together approached the congregation with what they believed was God’s will and vision for the church.
The church prayed and fasted and together they rallied behind the vision to raise the money to purchase the land for the new building.
Shortly before they were to seal the deal and after they had already asked the congregation to participate, sacrifice and give generously for this specific piece of property the elders decided to go to the property to pray seek God one more time.
As they walked around the property, something strange occurred. Each of the men began to individually sense that God was closing the door and directing them NOT to move forward. They gathered together and confirmed what they were sensing individually. Walked and prayed some more and then gathered once again.
Bottom line. They were in the midst of a leadership crisis. God had firmly directed their steps to that point in time, but was now firmly leading them in a different direction without all the details.
As we retrace the last few weeks, God was directly leading the leadership to pursue this building and giving us a vision for the mission of Life Connections church, but in the last few days He has been redirecting our steps.
Here are just a few thoughts:
On Friday, Pastor Chris met with several people around the Village including people from the Park District. When he explained the vision for a Youth Center, he also asked them their thoughts on this particular building. Their response was that because of Route 34, the building would be inaccessible to our target audience and therefor limiting. We should instead be looking for something more centralized and/or near the bike trails.
Being the great listener (cough…cough…) that he is, Chris took that info and some of the leadership discussed how silly that was… after all what did the Park District know.
Then on Sunday night one of the youth said something that stopped several of us cold. When asked her thoughts on the building she replied, “It’s nice but it’s not near any of the trails so there is no way for me to ride my bike here.” Hmmmm.
By no means does our reasoning hang on that one sentence. There were several other things that came up as we continued to try to discern what God was saying, and How He was trying to get our attention, but the bottom line is that it became clear that His answer was no.
So what next?
Well, in the case of John Maxwell’s church, they took the news to the people of the church who responded by affirming their leadership for listening to God’s voice. Then God did an AMAZING THING. Another piece of property became available that was about 10-15 acres bigger for the same amount of money. Not only did they have more exposure, but after measuring they discovered it was even bigger than they first believed.
Then God worked out a bunch of cool things. First their were easement issues that people purchased from them. Then there were water rights that were purchased from them. By the time it was all said and done, they basically got this much larger and much better located piece of property for free AND had enough money left over to build.
For us…
The story has yet to be written but we serve the same God!
Thanks for being a part of this journey!!
God is Good!
Hasn’t the DISCIPLE series been great! I’d love to hear stories about how God has been using it to challenge you in your walk with Jesus.
As you think about creative ways that God has equipped you to Share Jesus and reflect on the 3 main points from Sunday - here’s a quick story from a friend of mine that I received tonight.
Joe, was one of the guys who originally helped coach me when Life Connections started.
Since that time he has moved his family out to California to plant another church.
Recently God opened a door for him to get filmed for the show INKED. Here is a clip from his story. Please remember to pray for Joe, his church, and the potential this testimony may have on the show and those who watch.
does not happen. I mean that with my whole heart. This was a picture of God’s people working together for His purposes.The last couple of days have been a whirlwind. LA Ink wanted so much from me in one day. It was very stressful. The day of the shoot I went to LA Ink . . . (I don’t know when it will air. When I know, you’ll know.).
We got to LA Ink and filled out more paperwork, and then they took me away to interview me on
camera for the show. The interview lasted about 45 minutes. It went awesome! I felt like I said everything I prayed about saying and more.
Kat and I met for the first time on camera. We had an instant chemistry and really hit it off. In my closing interview, they were commenting on how much Kat and I liked to talk, and was like, “Yeah, we even got shushed a couple of times for talking to loudly.” 
Kat did a great job on the tattoo (Pic Attached) and I had an amazing opportunity to talk with her. They filmed us talking for about 20-30 minutes but the tattoo took about 2-3 hours. We talked the whole time.
I had a great closing interview and again got a chance to reiterate all I believed God wanted me to say. On top of that, I had a lot of fun, and got to be the goofball that I am. Yay God!!
Think about it - A Disciple Shares Jesus.
As you pray for Joe, ask God to help you Share Jesus with someone today.
Several of you asked about the song that Will introduced on Sunday.
As we continue to seek God’s will for our next steps as a church - it’s an awesome reminder of just who it is that we serve. A God who is big enough to “open doors that no one can shut and shut doors that no one can open(Revelation 3:8 ).”
A God who chooses to work in mysterious way and yet includes people like you and me in His plans and for His city. I met with someone today who serves in one of the local communities who shared that this was also the prayer of his heart - That God would reign down His righteousness over this community.
Whatever direction God leads regarding this particular piece of property, there is no one like our God. and greater thing have yet to come and greater things have yet to be done in this city.
Just wanted to say how cool it was that so many people showed up to check out the property tonight.
It’s awesome to see so many people praying and seeking God’s will about this.
Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Blessings,
Pastor Chris
Received this Email tonight.
Hey - Just wanted to write you a quick note to let you know that this Sunday at 4pm we’ll have a chance as a church to get inside the property.
It will be a great time to get on site, pray together and catch a glimpse of what God wants to do.
More details will be available Sunday morning.
See you there!
Just a quick property update . . .
Looks like we may be getting closer.
We wrote back to the owners today, and are hoping to be able to announce a date where we can open things up for the church to see thing firsthand.
We’ll keep you posted and send out an update email as soon as we get confirmation.
Thanks to all of you who are continuing to fast and pray for God’s leading and direction during the process.
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