Monday Morning Thoughts

For years I have been involved in the music ministry. It started in the 70's when our band Storm was the back-up band for Godspell put on by an amazing young talented group at Eden Church.

For years I dreamed of someday having a church with an amazing sound system and stage where the music ministry would flourish and the mechanics of doing the music ministry would be easy. Well, God works in mysterious but glorious ways, and accomplishes what He wants accomplished in the way He can best get it accomplished.

PCF may never have a big building or a sound stage BUT I believe God is going to use us as we allow Him to use us to accomplish great things for His Kingdom and that is what it is really all about. The last time I served on the Eden church council I had an agenda.  And that agenda was to get a new sound system for the church. I took the initiative to get quotes and had a sound engineer come to the church and design the perfect system for our sanctuary. To do it right  we were looking at least $75,000.00, probably more.  But as I got more and more involved in the discussion about making my sound system agenda a reality, God spoke to my heart. He made it VERY clear to me that the money it would cost to put that sound system in would have much better uses for the children of His Kingdom who were in need.

That revelation changed my whole reality paradigm about what church should be about.  I even went to the council and confessed my agenda and what God had laid on my heart.  The whole project was scraped. And, as much as I really really wanted to take the music ministry to what I thought was the next level, I know in my heart God had spoken on the matter.

So today, 10-12 years later, Bob Ahrens and I joke with each other about how fun it is to still be lugging equipment around and having to set up and tear down every Sunday.  The reality is, we really have found it to be "kind of" fun. Right Bob?

Recently I met a few people who work for a Mega church in Colorado.  By Mega I mean about 20,000 people show up each Sunday!  Can you imagine? The guys I spoke with work as technical people behind the scenes at this church. This church has the biggest and the best, sound stage, video, lights, smoke machines, sound systems and on and on. They also have an enormous debt.  Millions in debt. So what becomes a priority?

I love PCF. I love Esic Baptist for helping PCF. Esic Baptist is the only church that welcomed us with open arms and basically gave us free reign with no strings attached. Amazing!  Simply amazing especially in this day and age.  So a huge thank you to Esic Baptist for allowing our ministry to get established and for your continued graciousness.

So what is the essence of this blog?  We are staying the course of remaining debt free. We will continue to allow God to guide us as we move forward. We will continue to work a little harder to set up and tear down, to make it work with what we have and to continue to be a blessing to those in need as God opens our eyes to where He wants each of us to get involved.

The sermon last night was given by Jesus a long time ago.  We are each called to be the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and to use what ever it is we have to be a blessing to who ever God puts in our path. I'll be honest, sometimes I get down. Sometimes I think we just keep struggling and maybe we aren't making a difference.  Then I come to my senses and realize that the deceiver is working his voodoo on me. So I go to God and read scripture and it doesn't take long and I snap out of it and realize that we, PCF, really are wonderful and amazing.

Everyone who attends our Fellowship should be grateful for all that we have accomplished and we should also be looking to the future with great expectancy to see what God has for us to accomplish next! Maybe we will be the Wandering Hebrews again??? Who Knows?  But where ever God leads us, let's rejoice and continue worshipping Him and blessing one another. We are blessed!   We are a wonderful family. And I feel very blessed to be part of such a wonderful group of Gods people who are willing to be different, who are willing to live their life as a demonstration of Jesus' Hope, Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Healing to others.  To love their neighbor as much as they love their self!   So please pray with me, "Father, let all our plans come from you.  Let all of our work be motivated and empowered by your Holy Spirit. Let your dreams become our dreams and your mission become our mission. Help us to bury all of our personal agendas, and let us always lift the name of your son Jesus up to all those who cross our path. In Jesus name, Amen!!!!!!

Love, pastor Kent

This Sunday

Sermon Topic:  How to Start Living an Extraordinary Life!

Come join the conversation. Choir, band, fellowship, the Holy Spirit and YOU!

God has a plan for your life.  See you Sunday, 6:30.  Love Pastor Kent

Tonight and more

Tonight the Garden Club will meet again at the Edwardsville Care Center located on the corner of Route 143 and St. Mary Drive in Edwardsville. We will meet at 6:30. It was a fun great group last week come join us.

What do you think would happen in three months if starting today you did what I call the 4 -10's?
The 4 tens are  10 pushups, 10 sit-ups, 10 deep squats and 10 jumping jacks.

I know that doesn't seem like much of a work out to those who work out regularly.  But to others doing 10 of each may seem next to impossible depending on the physical shape you are in.
What if everyday for the next 3 months you commit to doing the 4-10's?

Do you realize that at the end of three months you will have done 900 pushups, 900 sit-ups, 900 deep squats, and 900 jumping jacks?

Now imagine eating only a Salad for lunch each day during those 90 days.

Ok now what do you think would happen if starting today you start doing the following everyday for 3 months?
Eating 3 Krispy Cream doughnuts for breakfast, a cheeseburger, large fries, and a large soda for lunch, and eating some kind of fast food for dinner with a large bowl of your favorite ice-cream before going to bed every night? And, during this time you watched TV for your only activity avoiding any type of physical exercise.

Obviously there would be a physical effect on anyone who would follow such a 3 month routine.  In the 4-10 example the physical effect would probably result in weight loss and over all strengthening and toning of the body whereas in the second example there would probably be weight gain and other negative physiological changes.

What we put into ourselves and what we do has a major impact on our health.

Our Spiritual health reacts the same way. What we feed our Spirit and what we do as guided by our Spirit determines our Spiritual health.

God has a plan for your life….get on with it!
Love, pastor Kent

Your Personal Ministry

Does everyone have a personal ministry?

Unfortunately No!  And the reason is, most people have never considered the fact that God has a personal plan for their life. But the fact is, everyone who has accepted Jesus, can have and should have a personal ministry.

Great, how do I know what my personal ministry is?

God will unveil your personal ministry when you surrender your will and goals and desires to His will goals and desires. However you can start experiencing the joy of your personal ministry today.

How?

By living your life as a demonstration of Jesus' Hope, Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Healing with everyone that crosses your path.

The world is starving for Kindness, Compassion, Love, Honesty, Healing. The crazy thing is, the world is craving and starving for Gods Kingdom. You can begin sharing Gods Kingdom with others today.  Tune in and listen to Gods Spirit. He will guide you to your ministry and it may come to you one person at at time.

Hope to see you soon.  God has a plan for your life!  Love, pastor Kent

Monday Morning Prayer

God please help me to see the plan you have for me today. Please allow me to hear the voice of your Spirit and help me to be Jesus to someone today. Amen.

God wants to work through us. Our busyness, our agendas, and our goals hinder God's ability to do what He wants to do through each of us. He seeks surrender and submission from us first. Then He comes in and begins to work through us.

People are afraid to surrender and submit to God. I know I was for years. I think we are afraid because we play the "What If" game.

What if God ask me to do something that I don't want to do?
What if God asks me to do something I cannot do?
What if God asks me to do something I will not do?

The answer to all of these is simple.  God is never wrong no matter what He asks you to do. He will equip and empower and motivate you to accomplish His work no matter what it is. The key is to continue to surrender your will to His.

God has a plan for your life. Don't be afraid of it!  Embrace it.  God wants to be your partner. Where He takes you and what He asks of you will always bring you the most joy, peace and fulfillment, the very things that we are all seeking.

God has a plan for your life.  See you soon. Love, pastor Kent

A new Chapter Begins Tonight!

I hope you and you family can join us TONIGHT at 5:30 for an evening of food and fellowship as Praise Community Fellowship  begins a new chapter in it's history.

Come find out about how you can become part of a new way of doing church. Come join the conversation!

God has a plan for YOUR life!

See you this evening at 5:30.

Love, pastor Kent

This Sunday…A New Direction Begins

This Sunday, 5:30PM 2nd Year Anniversary Dinner!

Fried Chicken
Friends
Fellowship

Deserts requested, make your best pie, cake, cookies…..and come celebrate.  We will not have a formal service but we will begin a conversation on possibilities as we enter our third year together.
We will be talking about the 3 M's of PCF.

What's our Message?
What's our Mission?
What's our Method?

And, we will discuss the huge potential and effectiveness of finding your personal ministry!
God has a plan for your life!  Hope to see you and some of your friends Sunday.  Love, pastor Kent

Tonight

Garden Club meets this evening at 6:30 at the Edwardsville Care Center located on the corner of St. Mary Drive and Rte. 143 Edwardsville.

Please mark on your calendars this Sunday at 5:30PM we will be having our annual Fellowship Dinner celebrating two years as a church. Come and join us as we sit down together to eat some of the best fried chicken in the world, thanks to Mark and Denise Reeder! We will not have a formal service this Sunday but will enjoy our meal and then have a discussion about our future. Deserts are requested but everything else will be furnished.

I kicked off some of the changes last Sunday and will continue the discussion this Sunday. This will not be a formal meeting but an evening of lively dreaming and sharing about all that is possible for our future.  Bring a friend.

Hope to see you soon.  God has a plan for your life!
Love, pastor Kent

PCF

Praise Community Fellowship

We love people!  Come join the conversations and find your ministry.

Hope to see you soon.
Love, pastor Kent

A Ministry Opportunity

This is a note from Lisa Guilliams executive director of the TWIGS program. If this is something you would be interested in please contact Donna Bowers. This is the program that Lisa presented to us this past year about packing lunches for children who are in need in the summer when school is not in session.

Hey Donna,

Just wondering if there are folks from your church who would like to volunteer for Twigs this summer? It appears we will likely have 2-3 locations depending on how the Cottonwood area lays out. We already have some other churches who were involved last summer, but would love to include your congregation in the mix. We will be having a basic training meeting for 1-2 key people from each church/group sometime soon after Easter.

Hope all is well with you.

Please let me know. Take care.

Lisa

Are you ready?

Here is what's happening this week at Praise Community Fellowship:

Tonight RTP choir and band rehearse at Maryville Baptist Church. Musician setup starting at 6:00pm rehearsal starts at 7:00.

Wednesday the Garden Club will be meeting at the Edwardsville Care Center located on the corner of St. Mary's Drive and Route 143 Edwardsville.  Meeting time 6:30

This coming Sunday March 23rd, we will be gathering for our annual fellowship meeting at 5:30 with a spectacular fried chicken dinner. This will be a fellowship evening with no formal worship. Please invite someone to join us. This will be a fun evening because besides getting to eat some of the worlds best fried chicken, we will begin brainstorming about our future. Deserts are requested, everything else will be furnished.

Formal church wants to put God in a box, our box as we design it. God does not fit into anyones box.

No matter what happens, you can always trust God!

What is your ministry going to be?  Children can have a ministry, young adults can have a ministry, retired people can have a ministry. Start praying, thinking and listening. God will use us powerfully when we allow Him to. When you you start participating in your personal ministry as guided by the Holy Spirit, your Spiritual Life is going to bloom! I am looking forward to seeing a "huge" colorful, blooming congregation soon.

See you soon. Love, pastor Kent

Tonight's Service

Relationships, Love, and Ideas

So what's all this about a big Change?
What If I don't Like the change?
When will all this happen?
How is it going to happen?

I hope to see you tonight so these questions and others can be addressed.

God has a plan for your life.  Come and find that ministry.
Hope to see you tonight. Love, pastor Kent

What If….?????

What if church became something so totally different than anything you have ever thought church could be, that you couldn't wait to bring everyone you know to the "event?"

What if church became a place where your dreams could be developed?

What if church became an exciting conversation within a very welcoming social environment?

What if participating in church became as fun as going to the movies or a night out with your best friends?

What if church could become a place that you could become all that God wants you to become?

What if coming to church was as enjoyable as going to dinner with your best friends?

These are questions I am going to be answering and soon.  Change is coming.  Big change!  Why? because as Laurie Frey loves to say to me, "If you keep doing what you have always done your going to keep getting what you have always gotten!"  or something real close to that. Right Laurie?

PCF family, your pastor is bored and I think many of you are too.   Let's always be honest with one another. Let's also be willing to fix what needs to be fixed.  God has been moving me into some amazing, radical ideas for change. Every one of you who receive this blog, if you have ever been a part of the PCF family, God has a very important ministry waiting for you to develop and you are going to get the help and the opportunity to begin developing it.

I'm being brutally honest, church as it exists today is failing it's mission.  And that mission is to get people to know the living God.  To do that we must be excited and full of Gods love and compassion and acceptance ourselves, just like Jesus was. But we cannot reach people for Jesus the way we (the church) has been trying to do it for the last 1500 years. Yes the music has changed, the instruments have changed, but the overall method has not changed. Like I said in my last post, we are still trying to bring people in who are using Bluray DVDs and all we have is a VCR. 

In case you have not noticed, people have radically changed over the past 1500 years. The need for God is the same.  People need God, they just don't want God packaged in the way church has packaged Him.  And I agree totally. 

So, what do we do about it? Well I am devising a grand radical plan that I will begin unveiling this Sunday. I will need lots of help and will need lots of suggestions and feedback. This is going to be a different path but a path that I believe God has planned for us. 

I will tell you this. It involves Food and drink, conversations, events, and more conversations. 

Conversations mean questions, talk, listening, learning, eating, sharing, dreaming, experiencing, getting to know one anothers struggles and victories, and getting involved in problem solving. This is going to involve brain storming and thinking not only outside the box but making a whole new box!

A long time ago I posted the following on the blog: Stop Going to Church!  Become the Church!

I want everyone who gets involved with PCF to experience the living God and the primary way that happens is by allowing the Holy Spirit to love, care, help, and guide each of us as we fellowship with one another.  God works through anyone who is willing to allow God to work through them. Miracles happen that way.

There is huge change in the wind.  It is a refreshing wind. We are going to become something new and different and exciting. We are going to change the way people think about church. Did you get that?  We are going to change the way people think about church!  You have a part if you want in.  It is going to take work, money, effort, love, patience, and a desire to be part of something way bigger than you. A new church is coming! I promise. We are essentially going to be boarding a ship for an undiscovered land. Hang on for the ride of your life!     I can promise you this much, it ain't going to be boring!

 

Hope to see you Sunday!  Love, pastor Kent

God

He is with you right now in this moment, It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing He is there. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior it even gets better, the Holy Spirit lives inside you and is there right now. The key is tuning in.

I hope you will consider tuning in this Sunday at 6:30. Change is coming. There is something in the wind.

Come and be a part of the Grand Experiment of Love.  Come and find your personal ministry. It's going to get real exciting.

God has a plan for your life.  See you soon. Love, pastor Kent

What is PCF trying to accomplish?

What is Praise Community Fellowship trying to accomplish?
  Answer:  Getting people to become excited about putting Gods love into "action."

How?  
Answer: It's on the horizon. There is change in the wind. Come and experience the change!

I am convinced that people aren't hungry for fancy polished sermons or elaborate service designs.  But people are starving for a real relationship with the living God!  People want what Jesus has to offer but I don't think they want it packaged the way churches are packaging it. That's why so many people are quitting church across America. As one author stated recently,  "Think of the church as a VCR. If you have newer Bluray DVD's you can't play them on a VCR. You need an entirely different device.  The current church is a VCR and people are buying and playing DVD's.

All I'm saying is, get ready, change is in the air. Get ready for A Grand Experiment of Love!

Garden Club resumes tonight 6:30 at the church.

Hope to see you soon.  Love, pastor Kent

Allow Me another Chance to explain!

About a month ago I gave a sermon that made a few people very uneasy. In that particular sermon I was talking about the bible and how I believed without a doubt that the bible was the "inspired word of God!" So far, no problem.  But I went on to say that many times our interpretations can fall far short of the intended meaning of some of the scriptures. I then went on to say that is why it is hard for me to say that the bible is the "infallible word of God."  Now I'm in trouble with some people.

So let me explain what I was trying to say and evidently said it poorly.  If you would go back and listen to my sermons you will find that I also have said on more than one occasion that the bible contains God's infinite spiritual wisdom that can only be decoded by the Holy Spirit.  In other words we can read the bible everyday and thanks to the revelation from Holy Spirit, we can continue to receive relevant wisdom from Gods word throughout our entire life.

So how do I rectify those words of teaching with my comment about having a problem with calling the bible the infallible word of God?  Well here is what I was trying to say:

Gods word is infallible, to that I have no doubt. But our interpretation can be fallible. All of us are capable of missing the point or the meaning of a particular scripture. My case in point and the example I gave on the night I preached on this was slavery. There was a time when some Christians used the bible to defend slavery quoting such irrelevant texts as:

Psalm 123:2

2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

Ephesians 6:5-6

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

Colossians 3:22

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

And there are many others. Their argument was, this is the infallible word of God, and here it is in His word, "Slavery is OK." My point is, we are fallible and therefore our interpretations can be fallible and that is what many times causes much strife within the church. I think this is wonderful that this situation regarding my sermon was brought to my attention because it emphasizes the point of how much our interpretations can influence our decisions in life. 

I have a quote I love because it is so powerful to me. It is:

"If you really believe something it will affect your actions!"  Meditate on that one for awhile and then examine your life based on what Jesus taught.  To me that was a life changing paradigm.  

Here is the bottom line folks…the real deal.  Your pastor is very fallible, goofy, messed up, and probably has no business being a pastor EXCEPT for the fact that I know God has put me in this position for a reason. I love Him, and do my very best to live my life as an example of Jesus' hope, love, forgiveness, compassion and healing which still falls far short. But that is why we have Jesus. He is my advocate, my savior, and His sacrifice made me clean. And because of Him I can go Boldly into the throne room and fellowship with the Creator of the universe.  Just like you!

I always welcome all questions and comments. Please feel free to ask or comment on anything. This is how we grow and learn. To me the objective of my ministry is to make all of you ministers.  That is the only way to expand Gods Kingdom that makes sense.

Hope to see you soon.  God has a great plan for your life! Love, Pastor Kent

Tonight

Clocks pushed up an hour we will meet tonight at 6:30 to sing praises with the RTP choir and band, share communion and hear the word from God.

Hope to see you tonight.   Love, pastor Kent

Become a Disciple

Your ministry begins right where you are right now in this moment. No matter what your circumstances, situation, how busy, over booked, tired, frustrated, angry, ….you fill in the blank. God can and will give you a ministry, a powerful ministry right where you are.

But how?  I've got too much on my plate to also have a powerful ministry!  If you think this way then you do not understand what a powerful ministry is. You can have a powerful ministry without being a sunday school teacher, a member of the choir, serving on a committee, as a matter of fact you can have a powerful ministry without ever setting foot in a church!  The ministry I am talking about is allowing ourselves to become a vessel for God to work through.

This can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. We must become submissive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  We must surrender our will to His will.

So what does that mean in reality today?
It means that you can become a forgiving, compassionate, loving, caring, giving person, right now and from this moment on with the help of the Holy Spirit. You can become Jesus to others now in your current circumstances and that is a powerful ministry. Jesus said to be the light and the salt of the world.

Hope to see you Sunday! Come and be part of our Grand Experiment of Love at Praise Community Fellowship.

Love, pastor Kent

What is Praise Community Fellowship?

Praise Community Fellowship is a grand experiment of love!

Hope to see you Sunday. Love, pastor Kent

Tonight

The Garden Club will not meet at the church this evening. Instead there is a group meeting at the Showplace theater in Edwardsville at 7:00 to see the movie, "The Son of God."  All are welcome to come join us.

See you soon.  Pastor Kent

Change

If you don't like change you are probably not going to like the Christian life.

The Christian life is about change. Theres no getting around it. If your stuck in your ways, it is going to be hard for you to realize all that God has for you.

The biggest thing most of us are stuck in is what I call our reality paradigm. The way "we believe" the world works. If you are going to follow Jesus, you can bet that your going to be walking on a different road than what you would normally take.  That means you will be seeing and experiencing different things.  It's about a different routine. If you can't let go of the path you are on, how do you expect to follow Jesus when He goes in a different direction?

It's about change!

God has a plan for your life. Love, pastor Kent

Service Cancelled Tonight

Looking at the forecast and present conditions Praise Community Fellowship will not have services this evening. I will look forward to seeing all of you next week.

Love, pastor Kent

Church or No Church

The church is not a place. Believers are the church. I am going to start a series on how to have and enjoy the power of God in your life.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Here is what I know.  If we learn how to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and dedicate ourselves to prayer, all things are possible. It's about learning how to leave our carnal lives and converting to a spiritual life. Your spiritual life can be a life of impossibilities made possible by God's almighty power!

I will be addressing how to "get there" in my next several sermons.  

The weather?  Who knows?  I will keep you posted. If we do not meet tomorrow, no worries we will met the next week. Stay tuned, stay in prayer. 

God has a plan for your life!  Hope to see you tomorrow!  Love, pastor Kent