I made a commitment long ago to not just understand but apply God’s Word before I teach it. So in preparation for our series that begins Sept 20 & 21 (we are calling that series – Saint!), I’ve been reading and praying through Ephesians chapters 4-6. I’ve already spent two weeks on chapter 4 and it (Ephesians) is not done with me yet. God’s Word is penetrating, if we let it be and do so. Here’s what God has been challenging me with.
Ephesians 4:2 – Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Did God have to say “completely?” Couldn’t he have said, “most of the time.” I experience judgmental attacks. Yes, that comes with the territory of being a Pastor and I do have thick skin. But when it comes it is hard to “bear with one another in love.” I want to retaliate and attack. I’ve wanted to use these verses against my adversaries. That is hardly like Jesus.
Ephesians 4:29 – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Wow, too many of my conversations are more unwholesome than helpful. Can you relate? It is so easy to complain and put others down out of my selfishness. I know this grieves the Holy Spirit (see verse 30 – “do not grieve the Holy Spirit“).
Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Forgiveness is hard. But what makes it hard is that I don’t really get deep in my soul how much Jesus has forgiven me. I somehow forget His abundant grace. When I’m wronged I don’t easily respond out of that grace that has been given me. In my honest moments when I self evaluate, I rarely would use the words “kind and compassionate” in the top ten list of attributes that would describe me. Still a ways to go!
I have just under a month before I teach on these verses. There probably isn’t enough time to get to the place where God and I want me to be. I’m reminded that following Jesus is first a journey and second requires lots of grace from God and from my fellow travelers. Thank you Jesus for your grace. Thank you Pantano for allowing me to be a real human being.
This weekend I start a new series called Life@Work from Ephesians chapters 5 and 6. Then in 3 weeks we start the series Saint! from Ephesians chapters 4-6. If you haven’t read Ephesians yet, let it penetrate your soul.
Trying to follow Jesus the best I can;
Glen
Sierra Vista Campus Launch
Last Sunday we launched our second campus in Sierra Vista. 265 folks attended 2 services. There were almost 120 first time visitors. It was a great day. The SV team performed a miracle in getting the rented building ready. It is a fabulous facility. They connected with new folks, began ministering to children and had great worship. We are off to a great start.
Thanks to our SV brothers and sisters and all the East Tucson Campus folks who showed up and helped.
Now the real work in SV and in East Tucson is to connect with people. Our mission is to love people to Jesus. We connect so we can love. We want to love people unconditionally. In our connecting we want others to see the Jesus we love and who loves us.
By the way, we had over 2700 in attendance last weekend – a new non-holiday high.
Vail Christian Church
Just over 2 years ago we helped start the Vail Christian Church. Today they have about 600 people attending. It is a strong healthy church. VCC was very active and involved in helping us launch our newest campus. They helped do some training; they helped with the Big Event a couple weeks ago and gave a significant gift to help us launch. Thank you Vail!
Our Jewish Friends
Yesterday I spoke to a gathering at the Congregation Anshei Israel. I was asked to share what we believe and what we practice. I felt very welcomed and enjoyed the questions and interactions. I’ve invited Rabbi Eisen to join us on Wednesday, September 3rd at 7pm in our auditorium. We’ll use the same title that Rabbi Eisen used of my conversation – What “We” Need to Know About “Them.” Come join us to learn about modern Conservative Judaism.
Connect Weekend
This weekend you’ll have an opportunity to connect with others. God wants us to connect with others to make a difference. We can’t follow Jesus well being alone or isolated. Come prepared to connect with others and enjoy the opportunity to re-connect with friends.
Together to make a difference,
Glen
This week we become one church in two locations. The Sierra Vista Campus will join the East Tucson Campus on Sunday (8/17). Over two years ago some wonderful folks from Sierra Vista came and asked if we would help them start a church in Sierra Vista. I tried in a couple of ways to gently tell them “no.” They would not take “no” for an answer. They had a calling from God and a heart for God’s Kingdom. Well, as they say, the rest is history. Sunday morning we begin what I hope and pray will be a pattern of starting new campuses. The vision that God has given us is to see healthy campuses started throughout Tucson and Southern Arizona.
This is a lot like the “franchise” model. God has created in us an incredible spiritual DNA. We are a healthy church that focuses on following Jesus, we rely on the Bible for direction, we live life together in authentic relationships and risk and serve to make a difference in our world. We are a welcoming people. I’m not bragging and I don’t say these things out of pride. In deep humility every day I realize this is not something we have created. God is about reproducing healthy churches all over the world and we have the honor of joining other churches that are doing this as well.
One church means one eldership who leads the church, one budget, one set of staff guidelines, one message (via video) and one spiritual DNA. But the beauty of this very effective and efficient model is that each local site can still embrace its local unique culture and respond to its local needs. Everything, except the message, is “live.” It is the best of both worlds.
Please pray for the huge challenges our Sierra Vista campus will face in the coming weeks. We are starting with two Sunday services and I’ve been praying for 400 folks to help get this started. If you’d like to show up one Sunday and just serve and help out where our other campus (notice I didn’t say “they”) needs help, contact our SV Site Pastor – Hugh Sexton at 520-459-1649. Services will be at 9 & 11 at our rented building on 300 E Wilcox Drive, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635. You can find out more at our web site at the Services & Locations button on the front page.
This weekend I’ll be in Sierra Vista for the launch. I’ve prepared a significant message that you won’t want to miss. Both campuses this week will hear and see the message through video projection. I think you’ll be surprised at how effective video teaching can be.
I love this church. I know, I say that often. What a privilege to be a part of a church that’s making a difference all over the world, a church that’s not just a sitting church, but a moving church. Thank you Jesus!
Glen
New folks who have come from other or no church backgrounds want to know who we are. They want to know our connections. It hit me that most of us don’t know where we come from. A healthy part of our identity is knowing where we came from. So I thought it would be good to share a bit of who we are.
We are a part of a group of churches often referred to as the “Independent Christian Church.” We have no formal connection to a denomination – hence the word “independent.” There are about 5,600 churches like us around the U.S. with more than 100 averaging over 1000 in attendance. It was recently reported that of the American churches, we are the fastest growing.
In an article in Rev! Magazine (July/Aug 2008) Alan Nelson made some interesting observations after meeting with the pastors of the larger churches of the Christian Church. He has a keen ability to observe our uniqueness as a church and the reasons why I love being a part of Pantano Christian Church.
• Being non-denominational attracts entrepreneurial leaders who get what leadership really is all about and bring vision to their churches. These leaders love the freedom to lead their churches in ways that fit in their local community. Bottom line, these pastors are allowed to lead!
• Most Christian churches have weekly communion, practice baptism by immersion and have strong elder boards with a constructive and not competitive relationship with the senior pastor.
• Christian churches embrace the Bible. That means they seek to teach and develop spiritual life by going back to the Bible as their primary authority.
• Christian churches focus on the key or essential doctrines of faith and refuse to get into arguments over disputable interpretations of the Bible. Being non-denominational allows each church to focus on the majors and not the minors.
• We work together to plant new churches and make this a priority. These churches are very open and aggressive to partnering with other churches and ministries.
• Their pastors stay a long time to provide stability and also have proven to be able to develop smooth succession plans.
I think all of these are true about Pantano Christian Church. I’m very proud to be a part of the Christian Church. As I share in our Welcome Class (join us this Sunday at 2pm), PCC is a place of grace that empowers people to serve. We seek to be authentic in our lives and faith and reject religious games. We are passionate to make a difference in this world as we seek to follow Jesus.
Blessed to be a blessing,
Glen
In our series called Identity Theft we’ve hit upon one of the most basic, yet important questions of life – Who or what defines me? We have and do let many things and people define us. We allow our gender, race, social status, job, position, voices from the past, relationships, family, our failures and our successes, our education and even our possessions define us. We let our marital status define us. We most often identify with our weaknesses. Advertisers want us to believe that driving a certain car or wearing certain clothes will define us. At 52 years of age I still find myself tempted to define myself by what others think or expect of me.
But in the end there is a simplicity to this thing called identity. We are either defined by the world or by Jesus. We are either “in the world” or “in Christ.” We either listen to what the world says we are or should be or we listen to Jesus and allow him to define us. It really is that simple. Yet it is so hard.
I’ve been listening to the audio book The Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy. In it there is an internal dialog by the main character when he realizes that while he’s capable of being spiritual, he is really an animal. At the end of a day recently I realized how much like an animal I was. In a line I got irritated at a lady who “wasted my time” by writing a check. Hadn’t she seen the Visa debit commercial where everyone is upset at the buyer who slowed down the line by writing a check? I looked down on her as selfish and stuck in “old fashioned” ways. Who was the animal? And then in my mind I told a few drivers that day what bad drivers they were. Animal. When I got home, God in his gentle way reminded me that Jesus would not have treated the check writing lady or the drivers the way I did. I had again let my identity be formed and shaped by the world.
Tolstoy describes our two main identities as spirit and animal. That’s pretty close to how the apostle Paul describes us in 1 Corinthians 2:11 where he talks of the spirit of the world or the spirit of God. He goes on to remind us that “spiritual” means to have the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). To be spiritual is to be like Christ. To be identified by and with the world is to be like an animal (the old King James used the word “carnal” in 1 Cor. 3:1).
Ephesians chapters 1-3 remind us that when we genuinely decided to follow Jesus, we chose to be defined by Jesus. We have two great weeks to go in this study. May we find ourselves defined more and more by Jesus. That is my life passion and pursuit. May others see more and more of Jesus in us.
A struggling saint,
Glen
