Dallas Willard in his book The Renovation of the Heart has prompted me to think some more about spiritual formation. This might be helpful as we enter our new weekend message series called Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition which is all about spiritual formation. The goal of this series is found in the tag line - “Experiencing God in all the Spaces of my Life.” If you missed the first message last week (Aware!), you can listen to it or download it from our web site or order the CD in our lobby.

The inner person, the soul, or better, the heart is formed. It is spiritual. Thus every person is spiritually formed - whether they know it or not. Muslims are spiritually formed. The animistic tribal person in remote Africa is spiritually formed. An atheist is spiritually formed, even in their denial of a spiritual reality. Every heart is spiritual and every heart has been formed regardless if they are terrorists or saints.

And our hearts, however formed, affect the way we live and shape our character.

Here’s the crux of the matter. Only Jesus is fully able to transform the whole heart of a person to become the heart that is like God the Father. We can and should learn a great deal from other religions and from the social sciences about how to grow and be healthy. But real, genuine and authentic formation of the heart will only occur as Jesus continually cleanses our hearts of sin and re-forms our hearts to become the heart of God.

At Pantano Christian Church we choose one way to be formed. It is Jesus who forms our heart - period! And as our hearts are formed we will become more and more like Jesus. That is what we believe and who we are here at Pantano Christian Church. In this new message series and as long as God gives us existence, we’ll explore the many ways that Jesus can form us.

May Jesus continually form our hearts and may our hearts be transformed to reflect Jesus.

Together with Jesus to make the world different,

Glen Elliott

I heard a slogan that I absolutely resonated with. Here it is:

No perfect people allowed!

I’d actually like this to be one of the slogans of Pantano Christian Church, but I’d love for it to have so much more meaning to us than just a slogan. There are a couple of aspects for each of us to embrace.

First, it really is OK not to be perfect in this life. We are all projects in process. We are all broken and as we allow God to heal our junk, we find more junk in places we hadn’t looked yet. We are on a journey and it is toward God and toward healing. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The “poor in spirit” are those who know they are spiritually bankrupt, broken, damaged and yes, far from perfect. That’s real humility. The goal is not perfection, but continual movement toward Jesus.

Second, PCC is a people who welcome and accept all imperfect people. Look at the model of Jesus in Luke 15:2:

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Yes, Jesus! He really liked the imperfect ones. It was the “religious” leaders who thought they were perfect who had discounted the less-than-perfect sinners. But that’s who Jesus hung out with - the “less-than-perfect” types. Jesus’ only harsh words ever recorded were against these religious leaders who put down and showed disgust toward those they labeled “sinners” (See Matthew 23).

In every way may PCC welcome all broken people and sinners. May Pantano Christian Church have a reputation like Jesus did - “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19). May we be a safe people to come to and be honest about our messes.

That’s what I love about Celebrate Recovery (meeting every Friday night at 7pm). If you missed the weekend service they did, check it out and listen to it on our new and improved web site. This is a ministry that says “come as you are” and we’ll join you in non-judgmental acceptance and walk with you on the road to recovery. That’s what the Kingdom of God is all about. We are on a journey of recovery - everyone of us.

Together with Jesus to make the world different,

Glen Elliott

Want to know God better? Want to really know He’s with you? Want to truly experience God just like you would a spouse or best friend? Want to have a real as real gets relationship with God? Do you want to see God active and at work all around you everyday?

We start a new weekend message series next weekend. We are calling it “Extreme Makeover - Soul Edition: Experiencing God in All the Spaces of My Life.” Ok, that’s a long title! In 2002 ABC put out a show called Extreme Makeover where volunteers went through a huge change through plastic surgery, exercise, hair styling, dental work and new clothes. The before and after pictures showed a dramatically transformed person. Later they rolled out the series called Home Edition that had teams completely remodel homes for folks who had significant needs.

God wants to do a remodel job on us. He wants to see us experience continual transformation. But the dramatic changes that God wants don’t begin on the outside, but rather on the inside. Real transformation of our lives only happens when we deeply connect with God on a daily basis. This new series at Pantano is about how we can go about experiencing God in all the parts of our lives on a daily basis.

This series will address the 4th Pantano Pathway Expectation as seen in the inside cover of our Pathway Handbook. Over the next 11 weeks (up to December) we’ll be exploring how we can be spiritually formed. In our Handbook we define Spiritual Formation this way: “We seek to live in rhythm with God and invite Jesus to continually form us and be formed in us.”

We want to connect with and experience God in such a real and regular way that He changes us. We want Jesus to shape and form our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions and actions - in our daily lives and routines. That’s where we are going in this series. Come for the next few weeks with an open mind and heart for how you might develop a deeper and more significant relationship with God.

Finally there’s a great class that I’d encourage you to consider. It’s called Perspectives Exposure - Discovering God’s Heart for All Nations and Your Part in His Plan. It starts this Sunday @ 11AM in room: TH 6.

Together with Jesus to make the world different,

Glen Elliott

We wanted to let you know some of the major things we are focusing on this fall so here goes!

Weekend Teaching and Themes:

Fall Connect - this weekend!

“Personality or Purpose?” - message by Tim Coop next weekend.

“Extreme Makeover - Soul Edition” series. Sept. 23 starts an 11 week series subtitled “Experiencing God in All the Spaces of my Life.” We’ll look at 11 key ways we can deepen our relationship and experience God.

December series: “Christmas Presence.” The children’s Gloree choir will present the weekend of Dec. 9 & 10. We’ll have two great messages playing off the connection between presents (gifts) and presence (as in God’s presence) on the weekends (Sat. pm & Sun. am) of Dec. 16 & 17 and 23 & 24.

Christmas Eve Services. We’ll have two one hour long Christmas Eve candlelight services on Sunday (12/24) at 6pm and 11pm. That’s a total of 2 morning and 2 evening services on Christmas Eve.

Big Events:

Women of Virtue. On Sat. Sept. 30 we’ll host the Women of Virtue conference with about 1700 women attending. Call Debbie at the church office for more information.

Leadership Community. We want all our volunteer leaders of life groups and ministries to join us on Sun. Oct. 15^th from 3-5 pm. During the first hour we’ll talk about the transition with our leaders and from 4-5 we’ll have an open forum where the congregation can ask Glen questions before the vote for a new senior leader.

Make A Difference Day. October 21^st is a day to make a difference in Tucson. Watch for sign-ups soon.

Vote for Lead Pastor. On Oct. 28 & 29 all members are asked to vote on the new Lead Pastor. The Elders are recommending that our congregation elect Glen Elliott as our new Lead Pastor (formerly called Senior Pastor).

Rocky Point. We’ll build several houses in Rocky Point Nov. 9-12. Sign up now on the web or at a table on the weekends.

What a great Fall!

Glen Elliott

I concluded my message last weekend with the C.S. Lewis description of Jesus in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - “He is not safe. But he is good.” You can read or listen to the conclusion on our web site.

Here’s the context. Jill, who is thirsty, hears the sounds of a stream in the forest. Though afraid to enter the forest, her thirst gets the better of her. When she arrives at the stream, she sees Aslan, the lion (the Jesus figure), sitting nearby. Not knowing how to proceed, she waits a long time. Here’s a summary from The Silver Chair (pg. 16ff)

Finally, Aslan says, “If you are thirsty, you may drink.” “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion. “I am dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the Lion. “May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And just as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the steam was driving her near frantic. “Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I come?” “I make no promise,” said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. “Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as is it were angry. It just said it.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.” “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

Here’s the reality - there is no other stream from which we could drink and be fully satisfied. In order to quench all our real thirsts (desires, hungers, needs & wants), we must deal with the Lion - Jesus. As C.S. Lewis says, “He is not safe. But he is good.” We serve a Jesus who is not safe, but He is so good. Let’s us risk to drink from the river of God, face the Lion and experience His goodness.

Glen Elliott