Let's Build a Church!

This past weekend Bonni and I were at Big Cedar Lodge on Table Rock Lake. While there we discovered two beautiful country churches pictured above.  I have to admit I was drawn to the simplicity and the beauty of these two buildings. I began thinking and dreaming how wonderful it would be to have a service in either of these two amazing chapels.

But then it dawned on me, both of these buildings were empty, with the exception of Bonni and I and a couple of friends. As beautiful as the architecture of these two buildings are, they remain empty most of the time. There are people who wonder through them as we did but they lack life without a congregation. People make the church. Without people there is no worship, no music, no fellowship, no coffee hour, Sunday school, conversations, discussions, dream sharing, grief sharing, prayer.

Praise Community Fellowship is a congregation of people who love and support one another and come together to worship. We have met at Esic Baptist church, Glik Park, The Crystal Garden, and now at Immanuel Methodist. Our home is with one another and God.

And, this is the place we call home now. A beautiful place to worship!

Reminder, only one service this Sunday at 10:00am.

See you there! Love, pastor kent

This Sunday 10:00 am service only!

         Giant, squash that was thought extinct comes to life!

There will be ONE SERVICE this Sunday at 10:00am.  Immanuel Methodist has a tradition on 5th Sundays where both the 9:00am service and the 10:30 am service combine into one 10:00am service so people from both services can come together and worship.

Pastor Jackie will be leading worship this Sunday.
Pastor kent will resume his series on  "Making Your Life Amazing With God's Direction!" next Sunday, February 7th.

Please continue to lift the following people in prayer:

The Coy family.
Chuck Weiss, healing.
Stan Rutkowski, healing.

Fascinating!

A group of archeology students uncovered a clay vessel that contained seeds that were estimated to be at least 800 years old. They were squash seeds that were found in an indian burial site. The amazing thing...they planted the seeds and they grew! It grew a type of squash that had been extinct for hundreds of years. They grew 2 dozen squash from the seeds they planted and one of the giant orange colored squash was over two feet long and weighed 18 pounds!

How can something 800 years old bring forth life?

Gods word is also very old! But the words are spiritual seeds. Once planted in your heart, amazing things can happen. And, just like the 800 year old squash seeds that were lying dormant all those years just waiting for the right conditions, God's word is also lying dormant waiting to be planted into your heart. 

Our 1000 flower bulbs that were planted this past fall are lying dormant in the cold dark earth.  There is no sign of what is to come. The blooms are still a couple of months away but they are preparing.  

You too can blossom into something beautiful.  Put God's word into your heart and see what fruit comes forth!

See you Sunday. Love, pastor kent

Taken Too Soon....Now What?

Saturday I will be participating in a memorial service for a good friend of mine, Terry Coy. Terry died this past week from cancer. She was taken way too soon.

There were many of us praying for a miracle healing for Terry.  The healing did not come as we had hoped. Unfortunately, when the death of a loved one comes, the experience can sometimes weaken our faith in God and prayer. We may deny that weakness but it still happens.

There are three stories of Jesus raising the dead in the New Testament. Jairus's daughter, The widow's son at Nain, and Lazarus. Why would Jesus resurrect these three and not others? 

Jesus was giving us a glimpse into His fathers will, a glimpse into His kingdom. He was proving to us He was who he said he was. He was showing those who witnessed these three miracles how God's Kingdom operates. God's Kingdom is one of Life, Joy, and Restoration. We live in a broken world where God's Kingdom does not yet have full authority. Someday God's Kingdom will rule here on earth again, but it has not yet been established.  Therefore, we will suffer loss, disease, war, pain, and death.  But Jesus says:

John 16:33“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

Jesus holds the key to this magnificent Kingdom. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is the gateway to this Kingdom of life and restoration.

What has died in your life? A dream, a loved one, a marriage, a friendship, a career? Jesus is the restorer of all good things. Do not become discouraged. Believe! "Thy Kingdom Come!"

My prayer for all who read this blog is that God's Spirit will awaken you to His Kingdom and all the Possibilities and Hope that this Kingdom holds. Jesus said that His Kingdom is available to all who believe and trust in Him.

"Dear Heavenly Father, open our ears and our eyes and our hearts to the reality of your Kingdom and all that it holds for us. In Jesus name, Amen!"

Terry's memorial service will be held at St. Johns United Methodist Church located on rte 143 Edwardsville. The service begins at 10:00 am Saturday the 23rd of January.

See you soon! Love, pastor kent

There is So Much More!

We began our sermon series yesterday on  "Making Your Life Amazing With God's Direction! I used the scripture from the book of John 2:1-10 The Wedding at Cana. We hope to have this sermon on our website soon. We recorded the service yesterday. This will help any of you who could not make the service stay up with this important series. I'll keep you posted when it is available.

We hope to have a New updated website soon that will help everyone keep up with all the needs and happenings of PCF and IMUC. 

Until then let me give you a rundown of all that is taking place for the rest of January.

Friday Free Lunch. Immanuel sponsors a free lunch from 11:00 to 1:00 every Friday. Open to anyone and everyone.  You can come and eat or talk with Sharon Koening about helping in the kitchen.

Saturday January 23rd, 6:30 pm is Karaoke night at Immanuel. This is a fundraiser for IMUC and all are welcome to join in the fun. Kids welcome. $10 adults, kids 12 - 18 $5.

PCF Praise Team rehearsal. If you ever were curious about how all the music is put together come and sit in with us. We meet at 7:30 and go till about 10:00 every Thursday evening in the sanctuary. Come see what goes on behind the scenes. Ken Winchester is looking for a sound tech backup person. You never know how God may want to use you for His kingdom.

Kids Free Lunchbox Program. Every Saturday at 8:00 am a team packs lunches in the church basement. This is actually a fun activity. The lunches are then taken to 2 locations in Edwardsville and distributed to Children who are vulnerable to hunger. If you want to Be the Church, sign up to help with this program  once per month. I promise it will put a huge smile on your face and warm your heart. You would be finished by 10:00am. 

Sunday school is available. Every Sunday after the 9:00am worship service there are Sunday school programs available to the youth in the church basement. 

5th Sundays.  There are 4 months during the year this year that have 5 Sundays. January, May, July, and October. IUMC has a tradition where they have one service where their 9:00 and 10:30 services come together into one service which is held at 10:00am. We have been and still are invited to attend this special service however PCF may start doing something different on the 5th Sundays. Stay tuned as the board and I discuss the possibilities. It could be meeting at Glik park in the summer. Having an afternoon service. Other suggestions are welcome. This is just something we are looking into. We are still invited to attend the IUMC 10:00 service. 

Coffee and donuts on PCF Sundays. On the Sundays that we lead worship, we are looking for a couple of volunteers to come in before the service and make the coffee and bring the donuts, cookies etc. We lead service 2x per month. This past week we had Sandy Fultz, Nancy Darnell, Sally McLachlan.

We are getting involved with people! That is a huge part of the gospel. Jesus needs all of our hands, feet, mouths, and ears. You can be a blessing!

I'll keep updating the events so stay tuned. 

Sincerely, pastor kent.

Tomorrow FREE STUFF ......

Tomorrow at 9:00 am

Free Donuts
Free Coffee
Free awesome Live music
Free Warmth
People who will love you just as you are!
A ripping piano solo that is going to knock your socks off!

Where: Immanuel Methodist Church 800 North Main Street.

Praise Community Fellowship will be leading the Worship. Pastor Kent will be launching a new sermon series  "Making Your Life Amazing With God's Direction!

Do You Need Encouragement?
Do You Need a Fresh Start?
Maybe You Need A Big Dream!
Do You need Healing in Your Marriage? Your Business? Your Soul?
Do You Need Real Hope?

Don't let the cold let you miss out on an appointment with God!

See you tomorrow! Love, pastor kent and pastor jackie...we will be looking for you!

This Sunday! Making Your Life Amazing

Praise Community Fellowship will be leading worship this Sunday. There will be Great music and I will begin a message series on "Making Your Life Amazing With God's Direction!

Do You Need Encouragement?
Do You Need a Fresh Start?
Maybe You Need Big Dream!
Do You need Healing in Your Marriage? Your Business? Your Soul?
Do You Need Real Hope?

If you you have answered yes to any or several of these questions then PCF's music and sermon series for the beginning of 2016 is the place you will want to be on Sunday mornings.  I am so excited about what our worship team is planning that I wish we could meet twice a week. There is so much power and hope in God's word and the music that He has inspired.

This Sunday at 9:00am PCF worship team will begin helping you find the Encouragement, the Dream, The Hope, and the Healing to make this year the year you blossom in all that God has for you.

Come join us and bring a family member or a friend or neighbor who needs to hear the "Good News!"

Please continue prayers for:
Chuck Weiss is still at Barnes hospital with atrial fib and waiting on more tests and procedures.
Terry Coy, Rick Coy's wife is battling cancer.  Pray for a miracle healing.
Stan Rutkowski has compression wound that needs healing. Stan has been battling this for a couple of years now.
Connor McAleenan, Mary and Lee Knapp's grandson healing from severe brain trauma.

Romans 12:12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Please begin checking the PCF calendar regularly on our website to stay up to date on all that we are doing and when we lead worship.  www.praisecommunityfellowship.com

See you soon! love, pastor kent

PCF Happenings and Dreams for 2016

Welcome to the New Year!  Please take a moment to read over the PCF happenings and dreams for 2016.

Prayers are so important! The following friends are in need of prayer.

Chuck Weiss is at Barnes hospital with atrial fib and may need a heart valve surgery.
Terry Coy, Rick Coy's wife is battling cancer.
Stan Rutkowski has compression wound that needs healing. Stan has been battling this for a couple of years now.
Connor McAleenan, Mary and Lee Knapp's grandson healing from severe brain trauma.

Praise Community Fellowship needs:

Coffee and Donuts.  We need volunteers on the Sundays that we lead worship to make coffee and bring the donuts or baked goods that we place in the annex. We will be leading worship this coming Sunday the 17th. Also looking for a committee chairperson who would coordinate this for the two Sundays a month that we lead worship. Contact Kent if you would be willing to help.

Weekend Free Lunch Box Ministry. We have a wonderful ministry started by Faye Heuchert, Free Lunches for Kids on weekends. We are serving approx. 50 lunches to children with limited family means every weekend at two locations here in the Edwardsville Glen Carbon area. We need a group of rotating volunteers who could sign up for a Saturday morning delivery from 9:00am to 10:00am and/or to help pack lunches usually on Thursday evenings. This is a very rewarding activity. We also are looking for someone to coordinate this schedule!

High School Youth Bible Study, Double Edge. We have a youth bible study group that meets 2 x a month in the church basement. They meet on Saturday evenings from 6:00pm till about 7:30pm. We need a rotating group of volunteers to chaperone while this group meets. The chaperone will also make sure there are soda's and Pizza or some other food item available for the group. The church will re-imburse the volunteers for the food and drinks. There is no preparation necessary to chaperone this group. I have been with them and they are self led and are a very wonderful group of young adults. This group is led by Lydia Bertels a senior in High school. Their next meeting is January 23rd and then will continue on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. 

Technically inclined individual for Sunday morning slides and videos.  This person would be in charge of running the slides and videos used during worship service. Must understand how to run and use the computer technology necessary for this ministry. You would sit in the balcony each Sunday next to Ken Winchester our sound technician to operate the visuals.

Thursdays evenings are music rehearsals. We typically meet from 7:00pm till about 9:30pm to prepare for Sunday worship but have been known to go to 10:00pm.  Ken Winchester gets to church before the band and choir members and sets up the microphones, music stands, hooks up equipment and tests the setup before the band and choir arrive. He is also usually one of the last ones to leave. Thank you Ken! It would be good to have a backup since Ken is really "the guy" right now. If you have an interest in the technical aspect of running sound and would like to become part of the music worship team, please let us know. 

Dreams for PCF  Bonni and I still dream of putting together a large choir. We both feel that music is the gateway to opening the heart to God's spirit. We have a wonderful group of gals who harmonize like angels and we will continue to develop this group. But, we also would love to someday have a Raise The Praise type choir to fill the sanctuary with songs of praise. We are planning and praying for this to start happening. We both dream of what Sundays would be like with a 50, 60, 100+ member choir singing praises with power. 

What are your Dreams for PCF? Got an idea? Let me know. 

How you can help this ministry now!  Some of you might ask how you can help this ministry. The best way is to stay active and get involved. Be there for the church!  When I said yes to this call from the original "Breakfast Club" 4 years ago I knew that we had a very special group of people.  We are so unique because we are a volunteer church. We don't have the payrolls and mortgage that so many churches are burdened with. I pastor out of passion, not because it is my job! I told Chuck Weiss just a few days ago when I was visiting Him at the hospital that if being a pastor ever becomes a job, it would be time for me to step down. I don't know what God is moving you to do, but I would bet that if you would go to Him in prayer today and ask, He will lead you to your ministry.  Pray for the church. Pray for me. I need guidance just like everyone. 

I do believe it is time to start dreaming big! God does BIG things. Miraculous things but He does them through us; little, weak, many times broken people! We learned this when we were still little children and sang the song, "Jesus Loves Me," "we are weak but He is Strong!"

Yes it is cold outside, but God can work through us in any temperature. I know that out there in the frozen earth there are hundreds of bulbs lying dormant, seemingly lifeless. Yet, when the conditions become right, they are going to burst out of the cold ground into the sunshine into an array of beautiful, colorful, and fragrant  blooms! It will be amazing. Your dreams are also like those dormant flower bulbs. Just lying there waiting for the conditions to be right. Lift your hands in praise and Ask, Seek, Knock. Let's all join hands and see how much we can accomplish this year for God's Kingdom!  Let's dream big! Amen!  Contact kent @ 618-334-3575

Ephesians 3:20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

See you Sunday at 9:00am  800 North Main Edwardsville!   Love, pastor kent

Keep It Simple

Top illustration = Religion
Bottom illustration = Jesus

The cool thing about being a follower of Jesus is, you become His mouth, hands, feet, ears, brain, and the doer of good as led by Him. So don't get hung up on believing you have to belong to a certain church or follow a particular pastor. It's great to have a CHURCH HOME as long as you are becoming more like Jesus because of it.

When you become a follower of Jesus it becomes a matter of the heart, not about belonging to a certain place. As the author Bob Goff says, It's Jesus plus nothing!

Praise Community Fellowship and Immanuel Methodist. Two groups of people learning to let Jesus love through us. We meet at 9:00am Sunday mornings at 800 north main edwardsville.

Hope to see you soon! Love, pastor kent and pastor jackie

The Greatest Thing God ever Said to Me!

I am not a bible thumper! I'm not a holy roller! I am an ordinary guy that believes in God. So when I say publicly that God "Said" something to me I know there will be some rolling of the eyes and some "Whatever's" being said. I get that. But God does speak to us within. I think He speaks to everyone it's just that many times we cannot hear Him because we have drowned Him out with today's loud life; our busyness, our problems, our distractions, our schedules, our focus.

There was a time in my life when I was so low that it is hard to even think about. There was a time that it seemed as if there was no hope for anything ever getting better. But I continued to pray and seek God. I was mad, and many times my prayers were probably more like complaints but I persisted. Then one day when I finally got myself quieted down He spoke to me. Not out loud with an audible voice that I could hear with my ears but with a very audible voice I heard very clearly in my heart. The answer was only 2 words. Two powerful words that I hung onto. These two words were so very loud and clear that it gave me a peace that I cannot describe. He simply said, "Trust Me!" But  those two words were the very life saver I needed.

I have been reading and studying and praying this morning and I was prompted to put this answer  He gave me on the blog today because something tells me there are others who need these two words from God at this time in their life. "Trust Him!" You can. With all things.

Psalm 9:10And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

As a pastor I have one desire, and that is that you can find the same Trust and Peace in God as I have found. It is a journey. My suggestion for you is that you would seek God by just being honest with Him. And that honesty may start with, "God I don't even know if you are real, but if you are I am going to try to hear your voice. I may not be a very good listener so you may have to help me. But please, if you really exist and can hear me, I want to hear from you. I need your guidance, your peace, and I want to trust you!" Amen

Praise Community Fellowship and Immanuel United Methodist Church. Two groups of people coming together to be part of God's plan. We meet together on Sunday's at 9:00am at 800 North Main, Edwardsville, Il. 62025

Hope to see you soon! Love, pastor kent

What is Possible for You in 2016?

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

I read this morning that Mark Zuckerberg, developer and CEO of Face book has set himself some new goals for 2016. The biggy is to develop a personal assistant robot that can basically do about anything a human can. He also said he will read at least 2 new books every month, learn Mandarin, and meet someone new every day. Whether the fact that he is worth about $46 billion has any influence on any of these goals...who knows?

The important question is, "What do YOU want to do with this New year?"  What changes could YOU make in your life that would help make this year outstanding?  The possibilities can be very exciting!

Here is the deal. There is an amazingly wonderful future available to you and this church. But we must bring it into existence with our God given talents which includes praying, dreaming, planning, preparing, and then doing.  I will begin a sermon series starting on the 17th of January that will take us through the miracles and teachings of Jesus' ministry and what they can teach us about this process of creating something amazing for God's Glory!  Let the possibilities of something wonderful in your life begin forming today. How wonderful do you want to be?

We remain a volunteer church. The offering we take in on Sundays pays our rent to Immanuel Methodist which is a very reasonable $1,000 month and we have about $1,300 per month in music accompaniment costs. The rest is used for our outreach programs such as the Kids Weekend Lunchbox program, cancer ministry, and helping other non-profit organizations.  But there is so much more we can do.

I encourage all of you to set some amazing personal goals for 2016. I also encourage you to go to God and ask Him what He would like you to do for His kingdom this year? Let the possibilities be planted in your heart just like the flower bulbs we planted. The dreams hold the seed of possibility.

Praise Community Fellowship....Let's be Different and let's be Great!

Hope to see you soon! Love, pastor kent