CherryCreek

helping people connect with God

It was about two years ago that God cemented in our minds that His mission for us as a church was all about “helping people connect with God”. It was this personalization of Jesus’ “great commission” (Matthew 28:19,20) that has helped me to focus in on what I (and the church, together) should be doing.

I’m pleased that God has called us to “help people”. Churches have been accused of manipulating or coercing people into doing or believing things... we aren’t called to that. We are called to help people do what they really want to do - make a life changing connection with their Creator. People are built with the innate desire to connect with something... someone bigger. They are naturally drawn to the big questions of life:

• Where did we come from?
• What is the meaning of life?
• What happens after we die?

Helping people connect with the God who has the answers to these questions is a great privilege.

One of the interesting aspects to our mission is that as we help others connect with God, we develop a closer, a stronger personal connection with God, ourselves. In fact that is often the very best way for us to strengthen our connection with God. I don't know for sure where this will lead us personally or as a church... but I can't wait to find out.

Risk

On page 127 on Andy Stanley’s book “Visioneering”he writes: “There is always risk. There is always sacrifice. But it is an individual’s willingness to break through the barriers imposed by risk and sacrifice that positions him or her to see what could become a reality. He who shrinks back from the challenge spends his life wondering.”

That last line “He who shrinks back from the challenge spends his life wondering” is a haunting thought. Spending life “wondering” seems like a miserable existence. We all have “what if” moments in our lives… that’s probably normal and natural, but if our life is characterized by “wondering, what if” we are in trouble.

It occurs to me that the trick is to get a sense of what is really important – important enough to risk and sacrifice. There is nothing heroic in risking and sacrificing for the trivial things (money, “toys”, hobbies, etc.). But when we figure out the one or two things that are of most importance to us, challenges should not keep us from attempting “to see what could become a reality”. The alternative is to spend our lives unfulfilled and constantly “wondering, what if”.

30 Feet

It’s finally baseball season again (technically it’s the preseason, but I’m excited anyway). It’s great how life comes and goes in seasons. I’m finding myself in an exciting season of life and ministry. For some time at Cherry Creek Wesleyan Church we’ve talked and dreamed about launching other ministries and churches from our church... most of that has been very random and theoretical. Then in a miraculous way, pieces have come together in a remarkably quick timeframe. We have actually begun the process of “becoming a network of neighborhood churches” when Marty Reiswig came on staff at the church with the clear job description of launching a new church in the coming months. This season is really exciting and remarkably scary. I can’t wait to see how God blesses and uses our efforts. Ahh, springtime.

Oh Grow Up!

We are always growing and changing. We often grow and change for the better - but not always. Our personal spiritual lives are growing, changing and evolving, but not always as much or in the direction they should.  The Bible has a lot of great advice and information about proper personal spiritual growth. God’s Word urges us to grow up… to become mature… to have the foundations that we need to cope with life and to be a positive influence on the people around us... and then gives us the tools to make it happen. Together in the next few Sunday Worship Services at CCWC we going to study Ephesians 4 to better understand God’s plan for our personal spiritual growth. Don’t miss it!