November 26th, 2012

John 15:5  Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing!" Let us remember this as we enter the season of Advent this Christmas.

It's Raise the Praise crunch week. 

Let us worship Him and call on the Holy Spirit to fill us so that we might fill others with our joy and music. It gets hectic this week for all the participants in Raise The Praise as we prepare for the dress rehearsal and the concert. Please include this wonderful dedicated bunch of people in your prayers. 

REMINDER: There will NOT be a Praise Community Fellowship worship service this coming Sunday the 2nd of December due to the Raise The Praise concert at the Wildey Theater. We will resume services on the 9th of December.  See you then!   Love, Kent

PS "Are you thinking about what your 5 barley loaves and two fish are?"

Watch what God can do when you bring your gift and joyfully give.

Monday November 19th, 2012

Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in my ordination ceremony last night, it was wonderful! It is such a good feeling to be part of this church family and such an honor to be ordained to serve as pastor of Praise Community Fellowship.

Praise Community Fellowship is about relationships. Your relationship with Jesus, your relationship with your family,  and your relationship with the family of people who attend Praise Community Fellowship. We come together to help each other with life's journey. We come together to celebrate the victories, the joys, the successes and triumphs of life as well as to lift up, carry, attend to, and support one another in the times of need.

I see great and wonderful things for Praise Community Fellowship as we reach out to serve others.

There is a secret to having the fullness of God in your life. It is stated many times in the new testament, and it always has to do with loving and serving others. Jesus made the Kingdom of God accessible to everyone who believes in Him.  Jesus said there are two commandments you need to follow, Love God and Love your neighbor as much as you love your self!  Bingo, do that and your life is going to change for the better.   I have tested it personally and will tell you it works!  Here is one such passage about love from 1 John 4: 7-11

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I am here to serve you.   I really want to sit down with each and everyone of you and get to know you better and discuss your hopes, dreams and concerns. Please call or email me and we will set up a time to meet. My email is bon-kens@hotmail.com or you can go to the link on the Praise Community Website, or call me at 618-334-3575.
 Love, Pastor Kent

Three Questions

The last sermon was about re-prioritizing your your life. Much easier said than done. I think there are three questions we could all spend some time with that could help us when it comes to re-prioritizing.

1.) What do I need to quit?

2.) What do I need to start?

3.) What do I need to keep doing?

These are great questions for everyone including churches and organizations.  I recently heard a minister on line use these three questions. Made me stop and think....now to implementing.

Love, Kent

Monday,11/11 2012

The scripture to ponder from Sunday's sermon is
Luke:14:28-30 ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?

This verse has a lot of depth as most passages of the bible do. Consider the costs....and whether you have enough! There are many types of costs when you choose to commit to something. Money, time, resources, energy, ability, to name a few.

Lets just examine the cost of time and see just how important it really is to consider the cost and whether you have enough.

The magic number is 168. We are each allotted the same 168 hours to accomplish and make an impact in this world. That's where many miscalculate when they make a commitment. Too many people are over committed and do not allot enough time to complete the tower, or whatever the commitment requires to be done with excellence. Some commitments can be easily calculated when it comes to time cost, well maybe on the surface. "Can you come over next Saturday and help me move a couch?" that shouldn't take too long....or could it?  Sometimes it depends on the person who is asking. We all know of people who ask for "simple" favors that will "only take a couple of minutes" and then 5 hours later your still there helping....you get the picture. 

All commitments need careful consideration when it comes to time costs. Marriage for example. If you want a vibrant successful marriage there is going to be a time cost. You are not going to build a wonderful marriage by only passing in the night. Why do you think so many people leave their spouse for someone at work?  Time.  They spend more time with the people at work than with their own family. You want to start and run a successful business, there will be a huge time cost. As a matter of fact just about anything that you want to do with excellence is going to have a considerable time cost. I believe as Christians we are called to be excellent in what ever endeavors we persue.
Choose wisely!

We live in a time sensitive world. Consider carefully your priorities and your mayonnaise jar with 168 hours.  (listen to yesterdays sermon for definition and story of mayonnaise jar).  

The bible is so full of wisdom it boggles my mind!   Love it!   

God has a great plan for your life...get your mayonnaise jar in order!    Love Kent

Gas pedals and Brakes!

I have had an interesting week. I have learned something very important. God has made some of us gas pedals and some of us brakes.  Let me explain.  Praise Community Fellowship and Esic Baptist have been talking, and kicking the idea of merger around for some time now.  Some people want it to be a done deal now, others have hesitations and need more time.  Thus, some people are gas pedals and some are brakes and I do not mean this analogy in a negative way at all.  

Simple question. Would you get into a car and start on a journey without one or the other?  No way. You need both for a safe journey.  Thank God there are gas pedals and brakes. We wouldn't survive long without either one.

Hey this Sunday the sermon topic will be, "God has a plan for your life, but......?

The RTP choir will be providing some wonderful music and I pray that God will move in your life and you will be enriched and blessed in a big way.  Big choir, big message, big blessing.  Hope to see you there.

PS God has a big plan for your life and you may be very surprised by what this message is going to be about.  I think you will leave uplifted, motivated, and changed!  

Love, Kent

Monday November 5th

Life can wear a person down. There are troubles in this life but Jesus said,

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

As I said in my sermon last night I want to create a culture of excellence at Praise Community Fellowship. God wants our best, not our leftovers. 

We can become great and excellent in everything we do at PCF, but it is going to take all of us to step up with the talents and gifts that God has given us.

Praise Community Fellowship needs you.  The following are a list of opportunities that we need to fill with people who are committed to excellence. 

Look at the needs and then pray about it if you feel called to volunteer. Pray about all decisions because God will guide you. If you feel like you can fill the need and God is urging you to fill the need, I am asking for a one year commitment. 

1.)  AV technician and Computer operator.  We need someone to operate the computer on Sundays that put the music lyrics and the sermon points on the screen. Bonni will email or give you a dock drive but you must have some knowledge of computers ad technology. 

2.) Musical equipment setup and storage team. We need a couple of people to help set up musical equipment and choir risers for Sundays and some rehearsals. There are guitar amps, drums, pianos, microphone stands,and music stands that all must be set up according to the music that will be played for the service. Bob Ahrens has been doing this along with Rusty Burian, myself and Bonni for years. We would really appreciate a dedicated couple of able bodied people who have a passion to help make our music program spectacular. This crew will work closely with the music dept. This job requires lifting! The setup will be required to be completed at least 2 hours before our service begins to facilitate rehearsal time. There also may be setup and storage needed in the middle of the week at times for rehearsal purposes. Again this would be a one year committment.

3.) Official visitor welcomers. We need several people to make sure all visitors are welcomed, offered our card so they know about our website, and names are taken so that I can make sure I am introduced to them. Many times there is so much preparation before the service with music and prayer time before the sermon I do not get a chance to meet an greet everyone. We just want to make sure people are welcomed in a warm, official manner.

4.) Nursery or child care during service. There are more and more children showing up or the services. We need to have at least 2 people volunteer for child care. One year commitment.

Our new mantra is to be, 
"Serving God with excellence in everything we do!" 

Excellence does not happen by accident but with great preparation, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice!  I know not many people like to hear the word sacrifice but excellence requires sacrifice. If you are not willing to make the sacrifice necessary to make Praise Community Fellowship Great, Excellent, and wonderful...don't tell me tell Jesus who sacrificed everything for you!

Jack Stack of Springfield Remanufacturing Company said something to the employees of the failing company he took over and then turned it into a multi-million dollar business in a few shot years. He said, "It's easy to stop one person, but it is very difficult to stop 100 people moving in the same direction with the same goal in mind."

Praise Community Fellowship is over 100 people strong. Won't you join us in this commitment to excellence for the glory of our Lord Jesus? 

Look at what we already have accomplished in 10 months. Look at the talent we have assembled. God has given us talents and we are to be good stewards. Do we settle for mediocrity and stop growing and die like 4000 churches did last year? Or do we march forward as the Hebrew people did and face the barriers and the challenges with faith and with resound that we will pass through the oceans and we will rely on Gods hand to guide us and deliver us but we will give everything we do our very best. Our all!  

I am asking you to trust the living God and watch what He will do with people who are willing to make Him #1 in their life. Come grow with us. Be a part of creation something amazing and wonderful for the glory of God!

I thank you in advance for you help and dedication and commitment.  Sincerely, Kent