Mission Field at Home

The Church

2010-04-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

For the last several months, the idea of "the church" has changed in my perspective. We grow up knowing church to be this place we go and learn about Jesus, have a bagel or 2, then go to lunch afterward. As humans tend to do, we, give a physical portrayal to something that has a greater meaning.

In 1 Corinthians Paul writes about "the body" and how it has many parts. That "body" is the church. What we all need to know is that the church is a community of believers...and not just that! The church is a body of believers that is striving toward attaining the goal of spreading the good news to the ends of the earth!

Too often I know that myself, and others, get caught in the idea that church is one of 2 things. 1. a building 2. A community of believers that does whatever the pastor says. So what should we be focusing on? As Romans says, we are all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God!! Because of Jesus we have been redeemed and others can find joy, peace, and assurance in our divine, holy, God.

Last week I told the Kids at RVC how that if we were real sick with cancer and found the cure for this cancer we wouldn't just keep it to ourselves...We would spread it to our families, friends, other people with the disease, across the world!!

As a person on staff at a church I know that my role is not to tell others what to do, but, to tool people with resources and work together to be effective ministers for our great God! Even deeper, as a children's leader, I hope to help tool families to effectively minister to each other and those needing the cure of Jesus Christ.

A church "staff" and families need to become one unit in raising and mentoring kids. It is our job to train kids just as much as reaching the lost...Our kids are born into this world as sinners and it is our duty as church and family to guide them to Christ.

Elementary Minisry

2010-04-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Once again God has led us on a new journey. This time it is just as my blog page is titled "Mission Field at Home." River Valley Church in North Fresno has given us the opportunity to share God's call on our lives of encouraging and teaching elementary kids and their parents. I hope to have weekly blogs up for parents, kids, leaders, and anyone else interested.

The hope I have for this blog is to unite families to their kids and the church so that we can cohesively work as a team church, parents, and kids to change the world we live in. It is so exciting to be a part of RVC and the clear mission of growing, living, and reaching.

God is Bigger

2009-09-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

God is Big. I have found it so easy just to forget this at times. When you seem at a dead end in your own personal plans for the future and life. Then you get this gentle tapping on your shoulder, a tiny nudge on your arm, a thought of the vastness of our God.

A buddy of mine shared a song with me the other day and it really made me think. I can't remember the name of the song or the artist but I do remember the theme. It spoke of how I've read the words a thousand times and did all the right things, but forgot of the vastness of His true glory. The chorus spoke of how we simply walk on the shores of His greatness and marvel at what might be at the ocean's floor.

God is so much more than a moral standard or words on pages. He is the creator of all things, the force behind our world, the wrath that crushes our world . . . He is the altar, the King, the Almighty . . . He is the LAW, the author, the protector . . . He can crush the world with a thought! Yet he is the inventor of love, beauty, and peace. He came down as man to die upon a tree . . . . for me. Yet I worry, I doubt, and I think I can make the difference.

Boy, what a wake up call. . . His plans for us are much more important that our own. I pray His will not my own!

Educating Parents

2009-08-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

(This is an in depth blog on section B of Effective Children's/Family Ministry)

I can say from first hand experience that parenting is not easy. I have only been a dad for 16 months now and I think every day I learn something new. Sometimes, I think we learn from peers who are parents, other times from radio broadcasts or books, and also from mentor couples who have "been there done that."

So, where should the church enter into this game plan of parenting. The crazy thing is that the core of all spiritual growth of a child will come from the parents. From what we read to our children, what we allow them to watch on TV, what we teach them about faith, and what they see in our actions (NO pressure or anything, parents.)

Let me be the first to say that no one is going to be perfect and I don't think that a "sin natured child" is going to learn from a perfect parent. The child needs to learn the skills of problem solving, communication, and anger management. Have you ever told your spouse, you act just like you mother! If you have you probably won't ever say it again. But, there is much truth to this . . . we emulate what our parents did to a certain extent (this can be good or bad.) Parents should probably learn how to see their parenting in God's eyes not necessarily how our parents raised even though they may have given us some great skills. God is our ultimate judge not our thoughts, feelings, friends, the church, or parents.

Anyway back on track here . . . what is the church's role. A strong support system. A group of people all seeking God's will in their parenting lives and sharing scripture, experiences, and spending time together in prayer.

I won't list all the programs I believe will be most effective, just let me say that every phase of bringing up children has its own battle from toddlers to adolescence. Having a mentor couple, weekly prayer with other moms and dads, and classes available for all stages would truly be a blessing to all parents. And might I add that whether our church supplies these classes/programs or not, all parents should seek out Godly friends and family to help them through finding God in every tough circumstance.

Infinite vs Finite

2009-07-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

All week I have been filling my mind with amazing mathematical concepts at a math teacher's institute. The CSU Fresno professors have been really pushing us to think "outside the box." As I was listening to people speak about rational and irrational numbers I saw the fingerprints of God and His creation.

Just in case you are unaware of what rational and irrational numbers are, let me refresh your memory:

Rational numbers are any number that can be written as a fraction or whole number. Any decimal that terminates(ends) or a decimal that has a repeating infinite pattern can be written as a fraction, so they too are Rational. I like to refer to rational numbers as the "ones we use to define real world things" (the ones we actually use)
Irrational numbers are the rest of the numbers that are "not rational." They are infinite decimals that never repeat and never end. Or as I like to say the "ones we don't use very much"

If you were to graph on a number line every rational number, in between every 2 rational numbers, there are infinite irrational numbers. Let's put that into perspective, on a number line, if you were to make the irrational numbers' location red and the rational numbers' location blue and zoom out from the number line 20X, all you would see is red. Weird that there are so many numbers THAT WE NEVER USE!!!! The professor asked "Why do you think that we spend so much time talking about the rational numbers and not as much time with irrational?" The answer was that the rational numbers matter to us as humans; they have meaning.

I began to relate this discussion to God why would God create an infinate space and an infinate amount of different matter, but send his son to die for me. If you zoom out and viewed the entire universe I am sure our galaxy wouldn't be noticable. So why? Why? Why did God send his son to die for me. Just like the we relate to the rational numbers who get lost in the number line is the reason why. We matter to God, we have meaning to God.

Infinity exists for God and we will never fully understand components of infinity because we are finite. What we truly need to focus on is that the infinity came down and made the finite matter and have meaning. As we look at the red on the number line that is God! We are the little blue dots that are drowned out by God and his power and love. Hopefully, when people see a Christian this is true about their life. Less of me and more of you God!! I just pray that I may be drowned out by the red dots!

Uniting Husbands and Wives

2009-07-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

In my earlier post titled Effective Children/Family Ministry I outlined how a successful Children's ministry might look . . . Here is a deeper look into my thoughts on Point A "Uniting Husbands and Wives." Please note that I nor my wife are by any means experts, we just know that there are specific things that we need to keep our marriage going and these are our experiences and thoughts.

Recently, Rose, myself and some of our friends have been working through some scripture in Ephesians chapter 5. We always joke about that scary term "SUBMIT." I always joke that the conversation heart people should keep the usual "hug me," "kiss me," "text me," "love," but add a new heart that states "wives submit." PLEASE NOTE I SAID JOKE!! The reason I emphasize this joke is because my wife always reminds me that I should love her as Christ loved, the church with includes my tithe (10% of income in HER pocket). . .again a joke. We laugh about this all the time, but when we started this study our eyes, minds, and hearts really became focused on Eph. ch. 5 v. 21 "be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." (NASB) the NIV states "SUBMIT to to one another out of reverence for Christ." WOW the S word again!!

J. Mac talks about the power struggle that husbands and wives have and dates all the way back to the Garden. This very "curse" as J. Mac calls it, causes us to think all out of order. What I have realized is that I need to be submissive to my wife and she to me. At the alter we gave our relationship up to God and now we need to give ourselves up to one another as well. As much as I want to do what I want to, I have to remember that my God and my wife come first. This is why Grace is so amazing. Because if you know me, even just a little bit, I am no way perfect, nor is my wife (SHOCKING ISN'T IT!!) Grace from God is the dearest of all things; but grace from my wife is pretty amazing too.

God calls us as husbands and wives to seek Him and serve each other. The only way we can get better at this is by (Point A1 in Post #1) :

1. Daily Prayer/Reflection/Study together (even for just 10 min)
Again, by no means are Rose and I perfect in this but when we sit down together and just discuss and study what the Bible says, we get on the same page. Husbands and wives must be on the same page to lead a family. Of course, leading a family cannot be accomplished without prayer and the power of God! Lastly, we must reflect upon our own actions to see if they are sticking to what God called us to do and seek that grace from God and our spouse if we wronged them. NOTE TO HUSBANDS: Discuss with your wife, do not preach, even if you are a pastor. This will cause WWIII.

We also need to have some fun and laugh, though. So that brings us to point A2 in Post #1:

2. Weekly or Bi-Weekly Date nights (fun times one-on-one) With kids this often is trouble some but if you don't do it your relationship is going to be "all work and no play!!" We all know that makes Jack a very dull boy! Finding other couples craving this time works out perfectly because you can watch their kids one week and they watch yours the next. Every 2 weeks you will be able to connect with your spouse and serve another family. WIN-WIN, DING-DING!!

Finally I would like to dissect this topic by focusing on point A3 on Post #1

3. Communication and Understanding of your Spouse . . . I will be honest here, I don't always understand why my wife does things (Again SHOCK!!). In turn, she doesn't understand why I do things (DOUBLE SHOCK!). . . That is why we need to learn to communicate. I do have to admit it is a learned behavior we need to speak to other couples about how they work things out and be taught by those who have made it a long time in their marriage. Our small group and trinity class at the Bridge have brought us to others seeking successful marriages and we have been taught and reminded by a neutral party what we are supposed to do. No marriage will succeed unless we have these communities of Biblical teaching support, fellowship, and prayer. WE ALL NEED IT!

Why is this important to Children's Ministry, you say. Well, that is simple . . . parents are the greatest role model they will ever have. They see the good the bad and the ugly, and how you handle it. "Be careful little eyes what you see and hear." We need our Children to see God's Commands, God's Love, and God's Grace. Not a word needs to be lectured to the child . . . we show these things by what we do.

Psalm 6: Craving a Savior

2009-07-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Psalm 6 says the following:

¹O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your wrath.
²Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am ^B)">pining away;
^C)">Heal me, O LORD, for ^D)">my bones are dismayed.
³And my soul is greatly dismayed;
But You, O LORD--how long?
⁴Return, O LORD, rescue my soul;
Save me because of Your lovingkindness.
⁵For there is no mention of You in death;
In Sheol who will give You thanks?
⁶I am weary with my sighing;
Every night I make my bed swim,
I dissolve my couch with my tears.
⁷My eye has wasted away with grief;
It has become old because of all my adversaries.

David so eloquently lays his heart out before the Lord and gives a poetic, clear description of all mankind's stature before receiving Christ! David knows he is "pining away" and he asks to be saved by God "because of your (God's) lovingkindness." I truly connected with this Psalm today, in that, I feel I should daily have the same desperation for my savior. I need to realize daily where I was before, and what Christ did for me!

We can't ever reach perfection, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Some faiths will state that we must earn our grace by service and obidience. Some will say that if we are a good person they will be accepted into Heaven. But God so clearly shows us the heart of man, not perfect, possibly under wrath, destined for death but craving powerful God who can save us. We all still have daily struggles with worldly fears and ambitions or, maybe, a past that we just can't forget.

This scripture also shows us David's heart as hungry, fearful, and submissive to God's authority. This state of David's heart reveals how small we are compared to God. . . and looking forward to Christ, how he can free us from the world and lead us to salvation! We must yearn for Him, crave him, and seek him; because we NEED Him. Death was our destination, we needed a savior. Only God can save us, we can't save ourselves.

Romans 3:24 "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."

We have been given an amazing gift. Christ has saved us of all transgressions; past, present, and future. I love our God and Savior. We are truly blessed. I just have been reminded how I must see my NEED for Christ. He is our breath of life and we would be dead in our transgressions without Him!

Effective Children/Family Ministry

2009-07-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep tonight because I was thinking about how Christian families are falling to divorce and disaster as quick as wild fire. With the opportunity to lead a Children and Family ministry at a church plant in Utah, my mind has been racing on how we should set up this ministry and how it should function. I made up the following outline listing 4 key components. Uniting the family unit NEEDS to be the main focus of anything we do.

I believe that it is not the church's duty to raise kids spiritually. A child only spends maybe 3-4 hours a week at church. Mom and Dad are the MOST important role models in a child's life and it is the church's job to resource the parents and support what they are doing at home and encourage parents in their marriage. Keep in mind some children don't have parents who are believers, so, in that case it is the church's job to reach out to that child's family and also provide Godly role models and resources for the child.

Anyway, this is a brainstorm of my thoughts, I think I can go to sleep now that I put all these thoughts on paper. . . Feel free to post any comments if you have any. This is just a brief overview, I will post at a later time more specifics in each category.

4 Components to a CHILDREN/FAMILY MINISTRY

A. Uniting Husbands and Wives
1. Daily Prayer/Reflection/Study together (even for just 10 min)
2. Weekly or Bi-Weekly Date nights (fun times one-on-one)

Switch off weeks with other couples and baby-sit for each other

3. Communication and Understanding of your Spouse

Sunday School Classes
Mid-week Bible study with other couples
Resources, Resources, Resources, Books, Sermons, DVD, whatever it takes

B. Educating Parents
1. Provide Resources on Childhood Stages and Godly Parenting Tips

i.e. Bringing baby home, Newborns, Toddlers, Preschool, Kinder, Early Elem., etc.

2. Midweek Bible study and fellowship with other couples/mentor couples
3. Stage Based Sunday School Classes

C. Uniting the Family as a Unit
1. Daily Devotions (Resource) Given to Families
2. Weekly Family Fun Night (Just Parents and Kids)

Pizza Night
Movie Night
Mini Golf
etc.

3. Monthly or Bi-Monthly Church-wide Family Gatherings

Bowling
Picnics
Holiday Parties, etc.

D. Educating Children
1. Newborns

safety, care, experience Godly love
leaders praying over children

2. Toddlers

Learn who God is and his presence in our life
again, prayer for these young children

3. Pre-School

Learn moral behavior and basic Bible History
basics of saying prayers

4. Kindergarten

learn rules of the Bible History and basics on what sin is
How to pray as Jesus did

5. Early Elem. (grades 1-3)

Truths of the Bible about God's Law transitioned to understanding grace in the Bible
How to worship and preparing our hearts for worship

6. Late Elem. (grades 4-6)

Learning the truth and evidence of Christ
Concepts of Salvation
Basics on how to share and defend your faith

**For work with Parents, Husbands and wives there will need to be accountability
**For work with kids there will need to be motivation, fun teaching/activities, exciting worship, and rewards.