Jesus Experiment

Hey before I give you a scripture to practice and meditate on for the next week let me give you a great simple prayer to pray every morning.

"God, how can I serve you today?"  

Then watch, listen, and become aware of the Holy Spirit's prompting.  Hearing God is a practice that can be developed the more we tune into His channel.  Let God show you daily how you can serve Him. I have found this prayer to be an exciting way to live each and every day because you may find yourself with a simple assignment like helping someone get their groceries into their car, or find yourself in a full blown discipling relationship.

The Jesus Experiment verse for this week:

Luke 11:9-13

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Tonights Book Study, "Experiencing God"

In the last post I mentioned that we are having an "Experiencing God" book study on Wednesday nights at 7:00 and all are welcome to attend.   That is still true....However we will not be meeting at the church tonight because there is work being done at the church.

So....if you were planning on attending call me and I will tell you our secret meeting place for tonight.
My cell is 618-334-3575.
Love, Pastor Kent.

Can't Sleep

It's 11:47 PM Sunday and I have been lying awake praying for everyone in our congregation and going over tonights service. There is always so much more to say about the goodness of God and His ability to change your life and I just don't want anyone to miss what I am trying to convey in the service.

My ministry is not about being religious or routine, extravagant or even proper. What I want for everyone who comes to our church is for each and everyone of you to know the reality of Jesus and know that the Holy Spirit is waiting to unveil Himself to you so that you can become significant in the growth of Gods Kingdom.

What does that mean?  Well there is a great bible passage that gets abused often that I want to share with you so I can shed some light on "becoming significant for God's Kingdom!"

John 14:10-18

¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

The sentence that we get hung up on is, "You will ask anything in my name and I will do it." Wow wouldn't that be great?  But like all bible verses you must take them in context. The preceding verses are the qualifier to the last verse. Jesus said that God, the Father was in Him and the words He spoke and the works He did He did because He did nothing outside of the Fathers will. Jesus is telling His disciples to listen and follow His desires. Then we will do great, might, miraculous things, like we learned in the stories tonight. We can do powerful things for Gods Kingdom when we act on what God is prompting us to do. 

The stories I shared tonight are common to those who have developed a relationship with Jesus and know the voice of the Holy Spirit and are acting on His prompting.

The book I read from at tonights service is called "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby.

If you found those stories inspirational I highly recommend this book as a lead in to deeper bible study. AND I want to mention to all of you that there is a group of us currently meeting on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm and we are going thru the book. We have had two meetings and if you would like to join us all are welcome. You do not have to have the book to join the group.

There is also a group of us who meet right before the book study to pray. We meet at 6:00 PM.

The real question is, "How are you going to get from where ever you are right now to where ever God wants you to be?" Well that will only happen by submitting yourself completely to His direction. That usually happens by following one prompting at a time. Slowly moving closer to the Truth of Jesus.

God really really does have an amazing plan for your life!

Ok,  back to bed to try and get some sleep.   Love, Pastor Kent

PS if you ever have questions about anything I have talked about or just want to sit and talk with me please call me or email me and we will get together.  my email is bon-kens@hotmail.com
and my cell is 618-334-3575.

Tonight...Three stories and Two Options for Your Life

I hope you will join us tonight at 6:30, Esic church. Come hear the Good News!

Sometimes it's good to hear about how real God is in "all" circumstances.

God has a plan for your life! My prayer is that you will begin to hear His voice tonight.

Love, Pastor Kent

Should I Go?

This question will be asked by millions tomorrow. Should I go to church? It's been a tough week, it's beautiful outside, sleeping in would sure feel good, the kids have football, I need a day to just relax.

Praise Community Fellowship offers an alternative. We meet at 6:30 PM. A place where unconditional love changes lives. It is our goal that those who attend our services will meet and get to know the living Jesus. It's not about religion, it's not about a bunch of shall not's, it's about the Gospel.  And the Gospel means, "Good News!"

Come and get some Good News in your life tomorrow at 6:30. Come sing with our praise choir and band. Come and meet some new friends and catch up with some old ones. Come and hear what Jesus is doing in peoples lives.

Three "real life" true powerful stories tomorrow. We believe in the Gospel, the "Good News" of Jesus.

I hope to see you and your family and the friends you invite tomorrow.

Love, pastor Kent

The Jesus Experiment Continues

To contemplate for this week:

Revelation 3:20

²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

This story reminds me of when Jesus met Zacchaeus. You can read that story in the New Testament in Luke 19:1-10.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector.  Tax collectors were despised by most of society because they were know to be greedy and dishonest and worked for the Romans. But Zacchaeus knew in his heart that Jesus was someone different. Someone special. So he made it a point to be where Jesus was and he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus as he passed by. To Zacchaeus' surprise Jesus noticed him and said these famous words, "Zacchaeus, come down from that Sycamore tree, for today I must stay at your house." 

Jesus will come to anyone. The key is making yourself completely available to Him. Climb a tree if necessary, do what ever it takes but make yourself available to Him!

This Sunday we will come together to make ourselves available to Him.  I will be sharing real life examples of people who made themselves available to God. People who heard His voice and acted on that prompting.  We will also hear a very moving testimony of how the power of God can dramatically change a life, even when from all outward appearances, there is no hope!

See you This Sunday at 6:30 Esic Church.  Praise Choir will be singing. It will be a feast.

Love, Pastor Kent

Introducing:

The Kaburicks: Front row, Lane and Leah. Back row, Jennifer, Reed, and Alan

Birthdays: Jennifer, June 6th    Alan, January 10th   Reed, February 21st,   Lane and Leah twins April 1st.

Jennifer's
Hobby:                      Spending time with family, singing, reading
Favorite music:        Christian, anything by Casting Crowns
Favorite Book:         "Not a Fan" but I'm pretty hooked on "Experiencing God" right now
Where I grew up:     Festus Mo.
Bucket list:                Go to Grand Canyon, Learn to play violin, take kids to Big Sky and stay at the   320 guest ranch where Al and I honeymooned.

Alan's
Hobby:                     Doing anything with family, hunting, bicycling
Favorite music:        Country and anything Jennifer sings
Favorite book:        "Happy Happy Happy" by Phil Robertson
Where I grew up:    Carlinville, Il.
Bucket list:               Go see Tour De France, Learn to play guitar, ride my bike from Colorado to Illinois        

"Don't Just Do Something!"

We are an industrious people. We always want to accomplish something. The idea of doing God's will sounds exciting. Once in a while, someone says, "Don't just stand there- do something." Sometimes individuals or churches are so busy carrying out plans they think will help achieve Gods purposes that they don't bother to find out what He actually wants. We often wear ourselves out and accomplish little for the Kingdom of God.

I think God is crying out to us, "Don' just do something. Stand there!" Enter into a love relationship with Me. Adjust your life to Me. Get to know Me. Let Me love you and teach you about Myself as I work through you." A time will come when action is required, but we must not short-circuit the relationship. Your relationship with God must come first. Out of your walk with God He accomplishes His plans for our world.

The above is an excerpt from the book, "Experiencing God" by Henry and Richard Blackaby.

This Sunday we will be taking a look at what happens when people not only hear the voice of God but begin obeying it. We will hear a moving testimony.

I hope you and your friends and family will come join the Praise Community Fellowship Family as we come together to worship with the Praise choir this Sunday at 6:30.

God has a message and a plan for you! See you there.  Love, pastor Kent

Our Own Dr. Jeannie Trimmer

This is a photo of Dr. Jeannie Trimmer who, according to Judi Bertels, worked tirelessly seeing hundreds of the Zambian children.

We are called to serve. We will be hearing more about Laurie and Jeannie's mission trip soon.

Tonight kicks off the 2013 Raise The Praise season. We will be rehearsing at Troy United Methodist church where Emily Ottwein is the music director.  Tonight we are inviting everyone to come and enjoy the kickoff celebration and enjoy the fellowship.  Prayer starts at 6:30, music begins at 7:00.

See you there, Pastor Kent

Let the Season of Worship Begin by Making a Joyful Noise unto the Lord

Raise the Praise Kickoff Tomorrow!

Dear PCF:

Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend the 2013 annual Raise The Praise rehearsal kickoff this Monday, August 19th at 7pm, at Troy United Methodist Church.  We will be having a Praise & Worship singalong service for about 45 minutes and would love to have all of you attend to show your support, and to worship with us as we embark on this season of worship.

This is an exciting time - we hope to see you there!

Love, Pastor Kent and Bonni

Laurie Frey Talks about Zambia

Guest Blog:  by Laurie Frey.

Here is a story from the Africa trip:  I have two from this day, so stay tuned for part 2.

It was Friday August 9^th.  I had been told we were going to visit Sonshine Kid’s Club Ministry and it was on a trash dump.   That was hard for me to comprehend, until I saw it.  The community is literally surrounded by a giant dump.  Trash is strewn everywhere.  Despite that, we were greeted by hugs, and warm handshakes by both children and adults and led into a church with a dirt floor and walls held together my mismatched boards letting in light from outside.   About 30 kids greeted us while singing loud and proud about God’s love for them.  Many recited Bible verses for us.  Their huge smiles covered up their dirty faces and clothes with holes in them.  Only a few wore shoes. 

Moving outside, we were joined by many more children from the community.  They just kept coming and coming.  Our AVOH mission team led them in joyful songs many with little dance steps and hand motions.  A few of the kids joined in, but some just stood there as if they just didn’t have the energy to wave their arms and jump up and down.  We had been to many places so far on the trip, but this was, by far, the place filled with the most lonely, sad eyes.   “What is wrong?” I thought.  “Where is all the joy?”  I soon learned that this is what hunger and malnourishment and extreme poverty look like.  Straight faces.  Few smiles.  Lethargic.

When the singing was over, our mission tem helped them make little parachutes out of cloth, yarn and clothespins.  After making their parachutes, many just stood there looking lost.  They did not know you could throw them up in the air and watch them float down, or fly them like a mini kite.  Not knowing what else to do, I figured this was a time to make a complete idiot of myself.  I grabbed a parachute and started to spin around while shouting, “wooooooo!”  Pretty soon I had about 20 kids following my lead.  Was that some giggles I heard?  “One….Two …..THREE!!!”  I threw a parachute up in the air.  Now about 40 kids were following with their joyful giggles. For a moment, the fact that they were running past a giant trash dump didn’t seem to matter.  I held the parachute and ran while many more sets of bare feet chased me through the dusty rocky terrain.  Contagious giggles.  Now I was laughing at their laughter.  More white teeth showing against their brown skin.  A totally unplanned game of follow the leader.  Some ran up on mounds of dirt, some kept spinning in circles and some continued to throw theirs up in the air to watch it float down.  JOY…at least for a few minutes, these children could forget about the poverty they lived in and truly be kids. 

Trash dump day (story #2)

The morning we got to the Sonshine Kid’s Club I happened to have 12 little girl dresses that my friend Billie Mae, here in Edwardsville, had sewn out of pillowcases.  I could have given away 100.  I was giving them to random girls and was down to one dress.  Hanna, one of our high school students on the trip ran over and asked if I had any dresses left, because one little girl in her group did not have a shirt on.  She brought her over.  She looked like she was 4 or 5 years old.  Her pants had most likely been on her for weeks.  She desperately needed a bath.   She may or may not have living parents .  Many kids here are cared for by older siblings.  I slid the dress over her head and it fit perfectly.  She looked beautiful.  A little smile crept across her face as Hanna carried her back to the group for singing and crafts.  One dress that would have been gone just seconds later now fit perfectly on a little girl and made her day.  I’d say that was a God thing. 

So.......

If you've been burned and/or deeply disappointed by church in some way, shape, or fashion, don't forget that it wasn't Jesus who burned you or disappointed you.

The short comings of church should not be mistaken as the short comings of Jesus. Jesus does not fall short in any way, shape, or form and you need Him desperately.

It would kind of be like going to a bad restaurant and getting some really bad service and some very mediocre prepared food and deciding that because of that experience you will never eat food again. That would make no sense. But that is what is happening to many past church goers.

What is really sad is people are trying to fill their hunger and fill the void in their life with something. People have to be fed Spiritually or they will live in want. But it is important that you are being fed what Jesus has to offer. He has the complete balanced completely nutritious food that your spirit requires.

Praise Community Fellowship, we are doing our best to serve Jesus as our main course!

Come join us on August 25th, 6:30 pm. It will be a feast!

Love Pastor Kent

Misunderstanding!

There seems to be a huge misunderstanding among many Christians. I found myself in this category for many years and this is a wake up call to all churches.

Why have so  many dropped out of church? The reasons are many but a common one I hear is, "Church just doesn't do it for me!" And you know what, I get that. But here is what everyone who says that needs to understand. "Church" the institution, will never do it for you. It wasn't meant to do it for you. It was meant to bring people together to meet the living Jesus. To develop a personal relationship with the living Jesus.
                           
Too many people are missing the blessings that God has for them because their entire spiritual experience and relationship is with a particular church instead of with the person Jesus. The institution of the church, which is made up of traditions, doctrines, formats, times, places, fallen humans and sometimes misguided teaching will not be able to change the world until it's primary focus becomes helping people to  develop a personal relationship with The Lord of the universe, Jesus. Then, and only then will all the programs, meetings, fellowship and worship services change peoples lives in an undeniable way.

Church cannot give you eternal life, only Jesus can.
Church cannot mend your broken heart, only Jesus can.
Church cannot bring you peace, only Jesus can.
Church cannot fix your marriage, only Jesus can.
Church cannot heal you, only Jesus can.

We meet together to meet Jesus.  We sing together to worship Jesus. We have sermons to understand Jesus. Church should be a place where Jesus is easy to meet and get to know.

I want Praise Community Fellowship to be such a place. Each and everyone of you who comes to PCF has a mission that comes with being part of this church and that is to make sure that no matter who walks through our doors on a Sunday evening that we are doing everything in our ability to help people meet Jesus our Lord.  Amen!

Love, Pastor Kent who at this moment is still only 56 years old! Hallelujah

To My Amazing Congregation

OK that's two years in a row that you got me. What a surprise. I am so very blessed to have such a wonderful church family. Thank every one of you so much for making my 57th  birthday so special.

I know that I am the most blessed pastor in Madison County. And it is because of all of you that Praise Community Fellowship is so very special. I told the board that I know we have a lot of work to do, but in a God centered church such as we are, we will always have a lot of work to do. This church will never be put on autopilot.

It is my prayer that Praise Community Fellowship will continue to profoundly affect peoples Spiritual lives thru the power of the Holy Spirit.  That we will be able to draw the hurting, the poor, the broken spirited, and all who seek to know God the creator of everything. Thank you for your continued support and trust in me as your pastor. There is nothing on this earth I would rather be doing. I would not trade this calling for anything.

I love each and everyone of you and thank you for making PCF such a wonderful place to serve.

With much love, Pastor Kent

What if You could Hear Gods voice tonight?

How would that change your life?

We will be continuing our look into "Hearing Gods Voice" tonight at the service.

The girls have some wonderful music, several new songs and we will share in communion.

Come gather with us. Your renewed life is waiting for you.

See tonight at 6:30.  Love, Pastor Kent

New Cars and the Church.......?

Here is the problem. Churches are failing to reach the unchurched and that is really why we are in business right?  I have scoured the internet looking for statistics and I have found a few but I'm not sure of their validity so let me just go with my personal observation.

For the most part churches attract Christians, people who are already believers. And new churches like ours many times attract believers away from existing churches. That is not what church is supposed to be about. We are in the business of bringing the good news of Jesus to people who really don't know Him.  But how in the world can we do that when non believers aren't interested in church?

Here is what the common model is. "Build it and they will come!"  Build what?  Well a modern nice facility that has a stage, wonderful concert type lighting, great music, serve Starbucks coffee in the lobby, offer an array of children's programs, adult small group programs and give a message that is easy to understand that is more like a motivational seminar than a sermon by a guy or a gal dressed in casual clothes.  The problem is, even though "some" of these types of churches are growing. They are not attracting the unchurched. They are instead attracting people away from small more traditional churches that are declining in membership.

So what we have is a society of believers that are for the most part staying about the same in number, just moving from one facility to another.  If my observations and these surveys are true then the church is failing miserably at its mission of reaching the unchurched.  That is why I said in one of my posts a couple of days ago if we looked at our operations from a business analysis we are extremely inefficient and our business model is failing.

Now before some of you decide to throw me overboard let me also add that church does play a vital roll in Christian development. I get that and I am 100% for continuing to do that. But the problem of reaching the unchurched is real and so far it is not being solved as far as I can see.

So What about the title of this post "New Cars and the Church?"
Maybe this will shed some light on our situation.  For those of you that still get the newspapers let me ask you something, "How many of you look through all the car ads that are usually in the paper?"
Think about the answer. You only look at the ads "IF" you are interested in buying a car otherwise you probably never give it one second of your time.  All those papers, all those hundreds of cars available and you look right past them.

Now let me ask you another question.  "How many unchurched people do you think wake up each day and say to themselves,"Wow, I hope a new church with wonderful music, a cool pastor, and a great place to have coffee shows up in my neighborhood or sends me a mailer soon?"

Church is probably the furthest thing from the unchurched persons mind. So how in the world can we get the unchurched interested in what we offer?   The answer is found in the bible. In the book of Acts the Holy Spirit came into the believers and they "went out" and professed the good news all over town. They did so with power because they had the Good News inside of them.  It was real and it had changed their life. They had been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They went out into the market place and into their work place and told everyone about what Jesus had accomplished.  He had overcome death.  He was alive and was available to everyone who believed.   In other words they went out and "INVITED" people to find out more about the Good News that had changed their life.

As I see it, that is where Christianity is failing today. We aren't sure about the "Good News" ourselves because if we really had it and believed it, we would be out shouting it from the roof tops that there is a better way to live.  We would tell everyone we met that there is a solution to your heartaches, your disappointments, your sorrows, and your fears.  We have the answer to a whole new life and you don't have to pay $150 for a one day seminar to learn the "Secret"  we have it and it is free for the asking!

Do you have the Good News living inside of you?  If not then we need to talk. If not then you need to come to service this coming Sunday. If not then you need to go to God and ask Him to empower you with His Holy Spirit. If you do, and I hope that is the case, then reach out to someone who may need to hear the Good News and bring them to church with you this Sunday. Let us all have a chance to love some brand new people.  People who just don't get church....yet.  People who haven't developed a relationship with Jesus....yet.

The Good News is real!  He is waiting for you to commit to Him. He has an amazing plan for your life.
Love, Pastor Kent   See you Sunday!

Right Now!

I know it's Tuesday.  Things are crazy and hectic. Your schedule is packed, and already there are a weeks worth of problems to solve ASAP!  But did you know in this very moment God is with you and can use you in the thick of all this stuff?

Today, right now, ask God to open your eyes and ears so that you will recognize how He can use you right where you are right now for His purpose so that He may be glorified.

Oh and by the way, when you pray this prayer....get ready because God loves a willing servant!

I can't wait to hear from some of you and the stories you will have!
God has a great adventure for all of us, BUT we must tune in to His coaching.

See you this Sunday Love, Pastor Kent

Church?

Bonni and I just came back from lunch and as usual I found myself thinking about God and our religious practices today. What I found interesting as we passed two churches on the way home, was that both were very nice buildings on very nice kept property yet both very empty. Their parking lots were also completely empty. I know it's 2:00 in the afternoon but we also went past the cinema 12 theater and guess what? ....... The parking lot was almost full which tells me the theater was also almost full.

Now I am not against theaters, or having fun, nor am I suggesting anything except that I am observing where our society as a whole has placed their priority of God. For the most part God has been placed into a time slot on a calendar.

As I continue to wrestle with God and what Praise Community Fellowship needs to accomplish for His Kingdom I want you to think about a few things.  When Jesus walked the earth he had what I call Kingdom meetings. But His meetings were very impromptu. He met people at the seashore, in the market place, by the well, in the desert, at someones home, and yes sometimes in the temple.  They were never announced ahead of time but rather happened spontaneously as the Spirit prompted Him.

I think Jesus was demonstrating how He wanted His followers to put His teachings into practice. He wanted us to live what He taught and profess it everywhere in all circumstances.

 Here is what I have a hard time getting around in my mind. We currently have two members of our congregation on the other side of the world in a place called Zambia. It is one small country amongst many in the world that has immense poverty, starvation, and disease. The saddest part of this plight for the Zambian people and others who were born in poor countries is that it is totally fixable.

So why isn't it being fixed? The bottom line answer is,"Because the gospel of Jesus has not yet reached enough hearts!"  Forget politics, racial issues, and money issues, the root cause of suffering in this world is caused by not enough hearts being changed by Jesus!  Because when Jesus comes into someones heart their life changes. They become filled with Gods love which displaces greed and selfishness. They have a new type of love given to them. The bible says when Jesus comes into your life with His Holy Spirit He will replace your heart of stone and give you a new heart of flesh, the heart of Jesus Himself.

So, knowing that the primary issue in the world is lack of Jesus in peoples hearts, my question to all of you reading this blog is, "What can we at Praise Community Fellowship do to help get more hearts changed for Jesus since that is what will bring about the greatest impact, healing, and change in this world?  How can we meet in an efficient and effective way and still accomplish the Great Commission?

Should we build a big, grand, wonderful sanctuary?
Should we try to collect more money for missions?
Should we start meeting every Sunday?
Should we have more bible studies?
Should we Start having Sunday school for the youngsters?
Should we start a youth program?

I know that I have mentioned this before but if you took the budgets of all the churches in this town alone, you would probably have well over $1,000,000 per year. And MOST of that money is not going to spread the good news of Jesus throughout the world but to keep the doors open on these buildings.

Yes people show up at the buildings and Jesus is being taught there but is this being efficient for Christ?  I mean if you had a team of business experts look at the model of most churches and what it costs to do business, do you think that the business experts would approve of the expense ratios most churches have based on how many hearts are actually being changed for God?  My bet is the business experts would say, "Shut it down, You are way too inefficient!"

 So what's the answer?   That is the million dollar question of which at this time I have no good solution. God is definitely calling us to preach the Gospel to the world. But I think it is also very important as to how we go about it.

How can we change tradition to become more effective for Christ?

Here is what I know for sure. I currently do not have the answer but with God all things are possible. I want Praise Community Fellowship to be extraordinarily effective for Jesus!
Have a great Sunday and let God's Holy Spirit change your life into something extrodinary!

Please remember Laurie Frey and Jeannie Trimmer and all members of the African Vision of Hope team in your prayers. See you all soon, Love Pastor Kent

The Holy Spirit is Speaking

I have been bothered and prompted to clarify what I tried to say in a post I made on August 1st. Here is a copy of that post,

"My guess is that there are many people today who have misguided ideas about what it means to be a Christian. As a matter of fact I bet there are many Christians who have misguided ideas about what being a Christian is.  Hey, I may be one of them! 

But there is something that I do believe gets lost in all our preaching, teaching and doctrine. And that is, "It is not what you know that will get you to heaven, but Who you know!"  It's really that simple.
It's about a relationship. A close, loving relationship with "The way, The Truth, and The life!

The Holy Spirit will not leave me alone about this post so let me clarify and correct my statement.  It definitely does matter what you know about God and Jesus and what Jesus taught. My intent was to say that having a close intimate relationship with Jesus is vital to opening the doors to Gods Kingdom but one must also have knowledge of His teachings to be able to be effective for His Kingdom here and now.  So I stand corrected. It is very important to me that I listen to the Holy Spirit so that I can become an effective pastor. None of us can be an effective Christian without the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes my desire to help people find the reality and power of God is so powerful that I run ahead of the Spirits prompting and that is never good. 

I pray that this, what appears to be a gloomy Saturday morning, turns into a glorious day for you and those you love.

The truth of the matter is, if you could get into a jet plane and fly up high enough above the clouds, the sun is shining brightly right now. So even if your life circumstances may seem gloomy at this moment know that above that gloom is the bright shining love of God. He is here. He has a plan for you and for me. But we must take the time and the energy to tune in.  I will be posting a special Sunday edition tomorrow since we will not be gathering. But know this, you are loved, God is real, there is a plan for you and our beautiful little church, and you have the ability to become "powerfully significant" in someones spiritual growth. 

A prayer of faith for today. "God, please help me to hear your voice. Let me experience the joy of being able to be your messenger to someone who has a need that I can fill. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so that my Spiritual eyes and ears will recognize the path you have for my life.  In Jesus name, Amen.

See you soon, Love Pastor Kent

The Jesus Experiment :

John 13:35

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Are you a diciple of Christ? 

Do you want to be known as a disciple of Christ?  If you do then this weeks practice verse is simple and to the point. 

Have a blessed weekend!  See you all next Sunday. In the mean time, spend some time getting to know  God. 

^{Love,  Pastor Kent}

Is Being A Christian Difficult?

My guess is that there are many people today who have misguided ideas about what it means to be a Christian. As a matter of fact I bet there are many Christians who have misguided ideas about what being a Christian is.  Hey, I may be one of them!

But there is something that I do believe gets lost in all our preaching, teaching and doctrine. And that is, "It is not what you know that will get you to heaven, but Who you know!"  It's really that simple.
It's about a relationship. A close, loving relationship with "The way, The Truth, and The life!

Bible study starts tonight at 7:00 at church.  We will be looking at the book, "Experiencing God."


God has an amazing plan for your life!  See you soon.  Love, Pastor Kent