Pantano Christian Church

2008 has been a GREAT year, maybe our best year at PCC and you all make it happen. I am blessed beyond words by you. Every week I have dozens (no exaggeration) of people tell me how their lives have been and are being changed. All praise goes to God!

In less than one month (August 17th) we will launch a new campus in Sierra Vista. Pantano Christian Church will become ONE CHURCH in TWO LOCATIONS.

I am asking for your help. The most challenging time is the month of launch and immediately after. I need the E. Tucson Campus (that’s us who meet on the Houghton Rd. site) to step up big time and help through that period. During that time the SV launch team will work hard to get the “new folks” to step up and fill the spots where we helped out. You can go to SV and serve one service and worship in the other service. The address is: 300 E Wilcox Drive, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 (ph. 520-459-1649).

1. Pray. There is nothing more important. I am praying for 400 on launch day and a staff to care for 400!
2. August 2 – “the Big Event.” The event time is 2-8 pm, but our times there may vary. The location is Veterans’ Memorial Park (3105 E. Fry Blvd, Sierra Vista 85635). This is the large main outreach we are doing for the community. We need volunteers to staff jumping castles, children’s games, food servers, adult games attendees (horseshoes, volleyball…). The goal is for our E. Tucson Campus folks to free up all of the SV launch team to be able to connect and meet the people and not be serving and working the whole time. Call Crisan at the church office for van and car pool options.
3. August 17th – Launch Weekend. Service Times: 9:00 am and 11:00 am. We will need volunteers in Children’s areas, Usher/Greeters and probably Food Ministry support. Our teams are working hard to fill gaps, but any and all are welcome to help support us at launch.
4. August 24th – Connect Weekend. Service Times: 9:00 am and 11:00 am. We will need volunteers in Children’s areas, Ushers/Greeters. We will be doing our connect time just like E. Tucson. A critical time for connecting our teams to potential volunteers and getting folks plugged in to PCC.
5. August 31st – Regular Services. Service Times: 9:00 am and 11:00 am. We will continue to support volunteers in Children’s areas, Ushers/Greeters until these areas are full.
6. September 7th – Regular Services – Service Times: 9:00 Am and 11:00 AM. We will continue to support volunteers in Children’s areas, Ushers/Greeters until these areas are full.

Please encourage your Life Group or ministry team, family and friends to join us in mobilizing to make a difference in SV!

Together to make Sierra Vista and the world different,

Glen

I thought I’d share a few things that you might not be aware of or noticed.

Disaster Action Team
Our Disaster Action Team (DAT) has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award. The President’s words commend our team for “changing America, one heart and one soul at a time.” Way to go team! That’s our vision and mission – to touch one person at a time and change the world.

The Cross
Have you noticed the lighted cross on our roof? It is a microwave tower installed by T-mobile. So we not only are getting some rental income, we also got a lighted cross. May it be a symbol of our following Jesus in service and sacrifice.

Identity Theft
This weekend we begin a study of Ephesians. We’ll actually break this book (letter of Paul) into three series. First we’ll look at chapters 1-3 as focus on our real spiritual identity. We are calling this series “Identity Theft.” You can see the video that introduces this series at http://www.vimeo.com/1353070. Invite a friend to join you in this 4 week series.

Life@Work
Then starting Labor Day weekend we’ll look at chapters 5 & 6 of Ephesians and spend a few weeks with a focus on Life@Work (that’s the title of the series). We’ll finish Ephesians this fall. I’d encourage you to read Ephesians as your book of the month Bible reading.

Modern Judaism
I’ve met with a local Rabbi who has asked me to come and share with his congregation what we believe. I, in turn, invited him to come and share with us. I was invited because Rabbi Eisen realized his congregation doesn’t really know who we “evangelicals” really are. I also know that most of us don’t really know what modern Jews believe. I’ll share more details later, but I’ll be speaking at Congregation Anshei Israel (5550 E. 5th Street) on Wed. Aug. 20th at 7pm. Rabbi Eisen will share with us here at 222 on Wed. Sept. 3rd at 7pm. Come to either or both!

Elders
In the spring a large number of guys were recommended to be elders. All were invited to an orientation. 8 men have submitted applications to be elders. The elders will personally meet with these men and their wives and by fall we should have completed the process and selected new additional elders. Stay tuned, but in the mean time, please pray for God’s guidance in the selection process.

Together to make the world different;

Glen

We concluded our ministry year on June 30th so I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the past 12 months. We had a bit of a rough start back in July 2007 but have ended the year very very well. I’ll try to capture some of the good news.

We had 175 baptisms this year, the highest we’ve ever had. 106 of those have occurred since January. What a joy to see folks make a lifelong commitment to following Jesus.

This has been a challenging year financially. Locally we’ve all felt the impact of a sluggish economy, poor housing market and high gas and food prices. We’ve felt that impact at the church also. While we haven’t closed our books for last year yet, we know we fell $159,000 short of our budget in terms of giving. But because of budget cuts and strict spending controls we ended in the black and cut in spending just about what we were short of in giving.

I’ve had a few folks ask about our financial “crisis.” Let me be clear about that. Things are tight, but we are not in crisis. Budgets are planning tools. When our assumptions don’t materialize and giving is down, we make the adjustments necessary to not spend more than we take in. We’ve lowered this year’s budget already in anticipation of the continuing difficult economy. We continue to get leaner and more focused in our ministry and God is blessing that! And you all have given $211,653 to reduce our mortgage debt. That saves us almost a half a million dollars over the life of the loan!

Our worship attendance for the last 12 months was up 3%. But in May and June (traditionally our lowest attendance months) we have been doing extremely well. In fact in June, our attendance up 20% at 1,734 adults with total attendance including the students and children at 2,371.

The thing that is hard to capture in numbers is the incredible spirit of our congregation. We are a people who clearly see God at work among us. People are experiencing life change. People are inviting their friends and family to join them. New folks are finding a spiritual home. That’s what it is all about.

Our two new services (Traditions & Elements) are doing well. We have lots of new folks visiting the Connecting Place and getting connected. We are just over a month away from launching a new site – Pantano Christian Church – Sierra Vista. I am so encouraged and optimistic about our future.

I love this church, which really means I love you all. I get to be a part of a great group of people who are genuinely following Jesus. You bless me by how you live and serve. Thanks for making a real difference in the lives of individuals, families and in our community.

Together to make a difference,

Glen

Let me give you a preview of what we’ll be teaching about in two weeks. I’ll finish Daniel this week and next week by looking at chapter 7. Then we’ll do a short series called “Identity Theft.” In this series we’ll explore the first 3 chapters of Ephesians to recapture our God given identity that we’ve lost or better, has been stolen.

Months ago in preparation for this series I picked up a non-religious book entitled The Identity Code – the 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World. I’m not really recommending it, but it intrigued me. In fact I really like the 8 questions; I just think the author missed the answers. Here are the 8 questions. As you read them, ask yourself how you would answer them. More importantly, how might God answer them for us?
• Who am I?
• What makes me special?
• Is there a pattern to my life?
• Where am I going?
• What is my gift?
• Who can I trust?
• What is my message?
• Will life be rich? (Surrender to the pull of identity)

As I read these questions I was blown away to realize that God has answered each of these for us. Our identity code is Jesus himself. God designed us and life (his will) with a clear identity that tells us who we are in Christ. If we attempt to live outside Jesus, we’ll struggle with our identity. He’s made us unique and has a purpose for us. He’s gifted us. He’s the one we fully trust. He’s given us a message. He wants our lives to be rich and he’s given us an abundance of blessings.

The first 3 chapters of Ephesians will speak to most of these questions (The series is called “Identity Theft”). You might want to consider reading Ephesians for your book of the month Bible reading. Following that we’ll do a short series called “Life@Work” also based on Ephesians. Then in the fall we’ll finish the book of Ephesians (chapters 4-6). These will be 3 great teaching series.

Next week I’ll give you an update on how we ended our fiscal year and some great things God is doing among us. Have a great celebration of our nation’s independence – we are very fortunate to live in this great nation.

Finding my identity in Jesus,

Glen