In case you missed our announcement a couple weeks ago, Tim Coop will be moving to Las Vegas in July. Both of Tim and Sandy’s daughters and the 6 grand kids live in Las Vegas. They have made a decision to be with their family. I am so grateful to Tim for his friendship, mentoring and the kind of church he shaped. Pantano is a very healthy place because of the wonderful influence of Tim Coop. I’ll greatly miss Tim’s input on our teaching team and the many other things he does so well. Please keep the Coops in your prayers as they go through this transition.
With Tim’s departure we’ll need to develop some of our other staff to help in the teaching rotation. Pantano has always been blessed with many good teachers. You’ll see more of Roger and we’ll add Jeff Parziale, Bryan Lee and Mike Parejo in the teaching rotation a bit more too.
Why do we use a teaching team? Well, it simply is better. I teach about 60% of the time (give or take a few percentage points) and the time off allows me to be sharper, refreshed and better prepared. And different teachers speak to us in different ways. The diversity is rich and helpful. Finally, we prepare and evaluate each other as a team. We are all better teachers after having others give us input and help us prepare and teach better.
Easter week is coming soon. Here’s what we have planned:
Palm Sunday Weekend (April 4 & 5) – during our regular services we’ll remember the meaning and power of the cross as we finish our series on secrets.
Maundy Thursday (April 9 – 7pm) – We’ll remember the last supper and final day Jesus had with his disciples. We’ll celebrate communion and remember the meaning of Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet.
Good Friday (April 10 – 7pm) – We’ll remember the sacrifice of Jesus through a creative event called “Portraits of the Passion.”
Easter Weekend (5 services: Sat. April 11 – 6pm & Sun. April 12 – 7, 9, 11am, 6pm ) – We’ll celebrate the power of the resurrection of Jesus through worship and a message called “The Easter Door” and invite folks to participate in our series that follows Easter – “One Month to Live.” Be sure to use the Easter invitation cards (in the lobby) to invite folks to Easter services and to the one month to live challenge that follows. What’s the challenge? What if you knew you only had one month to live? How would you live your life differently?
The Sunday 9 & 11 services will be full. Please consider attending one of the other 3 services on Easter weekend to make room for our visitors. Thanks.
Together to make a difference,
Glen
www.pccwired.org
I’m on my way to Ukraine with Norm and Lisa Record. Norm and Lisa are our new Ukraine focus team leaders so I’ll be introducing them to our Ukrainian partners. I’ll be teaching a class on Missions (9-4pm for 6 days).
One our members sent us a note after the message on Secrets (March 7 & 8). I thought it captured the challenge of secrets so well. Here it is:
I hate my secrets
I love my secrets
I need my secrets
My secrets destroy me
My secrets make me happy
My secrets hurt me
My secrets excite me
My secrets scare me
I can’t live without my secrets
I can’t live with them.
I’ve been reading parts of What’s So Amazing about Grace by Philip Yancey (Zondervan). This quote by Douglas Coupland caught my attention:My secret is that I NEED GOD – that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.
Maybe that is the biggest secret of all – we need God!
This weekend we continue our series on Secrets and Bryan Lee will help us explore our brokenness. Brokenness is something we also try to hide. I recently had an article published about my journey to embrace brokenness. It is titled “Great Leaders are Broken” (click to read).
Here’s the last sentence of that article: “When I remain strong, ministry becomes as small as I am. When I am weak and broken, ministry can be as big as God is.”
Have a grace filled week,
Glen
Pantano Christian Church
www.pccwired.org
520-298-5395
This weekend I’m talking about shame. It’s one of our secrets. Shame is self-condemnation and self-disapproval. I’ve had my experiences with this secret.
The shame hit me big time after we had just moved here from Ukraine. My kids had a huge time adjusting. They hated Tucson – hot, no friends, lots of isolation and boring compared to life in Ukraine. Then Wendy, my daughter, had brain surgery due to a series of grand mal seizures. She started her freshman year in high school with half her head shaved, a huge scar and drugs to prevent seizures that caused short-term memory loss. Her self-esteem was at an all time low. In the winter of 1999 we discovered she was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. She was suspended from school. Our world flipped.
I was so ashamed. “What kind of parent was I?” And then it went to “What kind of pastor was I?” And finally it went to “What kind of Christian was I?” Shame!
The shame was growing. I didn’t want anyone to know we had a drug addict daughter. But I knew we couldn’t keep the secret either. Those were horrible days. Shame sucks the life out you faster than anything.
We found a drug rehabilitation group where Jolene and I could participate in Wendy’s recovery. I finally confessed the shame that was going on in me to a parent who also had a child in the group. This wise parent helped me realize that I was not the cause of her decisions. Those were her decisions. While the shame lessened, it still lingered. Church (and religion) has a way of increasing our shame. I felt I didn’t measure up. I saw myself as damaged goods.
I offered to resign. I was still new at PCC so I wasn’t sure I was “acceptable” as a pastor. Pastors are not supposed to have family issues. I was ready to find a new kind of work. The leaders refused to accept my resignation. They said; “Why would we want to let go a pastor who is doing what we want any parent to do when they find out their kid is doing drugs?” Wow, was I surprised by grace. Over time, with the help of great friends, I was able to rise above the real and imagined voices of shame.
The voices of shame came back when I was being considered to be Lead Pastor. There were some who felt that the way my kids were living was a poor reflection of the kind of man who should lead Pantano. The shame is always lurking.
None of us are perfect. We mess up. Our families mess up. There are lots of voices out there that judge and condemn us. But God is not among those voices. His words are not words of shame, but of grace and truth. May we learn to live in His grace and truth and reject the voices of shame.
Living in the blessing of “no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) everyday,
Glen
We are being tested big time. What’s being tested? Our faith. Why? It is mainly the economy and all the depressing news associated with it. There’s just no good news out there. So it is easy to slip into worry, anxiety, fear and depression. We worry about losing our jobs. We’ve already lost our job and worry if we’ll ever find one. We are anxious about losing our cars through repossession or our homes through foreclosure. We are fearful about the future. We wonder if we’ll ever be able to retire. We are concerned for our health and our ability to pay the medical bills. Wow, there’s a pile to be anxious about.
It started to hit me late last week. I can’t tell you how hard it was to cut our staff benefits and salaries. Then we hit a 12 year low in the stock market and I realized I have little left to retire on. I had a couple of conversations with folks I really love who might lose their homes. It just got to me. I knew it when several folks in a row asked if I was alright. I lied. I said I was great, but I wasn’t. Folks were too kind to press my façade.
As I muddled through my dark emotions I realized I was being tested. I believe it was one of those moments when the Holy Spirit grabbed me by the throat and said “Wake up!” Okay, the Holy Spirit doesn’t actually do that, but he does get our attention. The message? It had two parts. The first part was scripture; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). The trials are here. But joy? What’s the source of joy?
Then my mind went to the place I often end up. If I lose everything, what do I have? If it all goes bad, what’s left? God. And he’s enough. He really is all I need. He’s still wild about me. He’ll not cast me aside as a corporate liability. He’s not walking around with his shoulders humped over in depression. He is not shaken or powerless. God is still God – the same God who’s always been for me and never withholds Himself from me.
Is everything going to be alright? I don’t know. I have my doubts. But I choose not to worry or be anxious. In fact, it will now be an adventure to watch God show up big time. Will his showing up remove the trials? Probably not. But he will show up and I don’t want to miss what he’s doing. The best of times are those times when we no longer rely on our income, our health, our possessions or any other perceived safety net. The best of times are when we really rely on the One who will walk with us through the trials. My Father is so much greater than the trials I face. My faith is in Jesus and Jesus alone.
Now changing subjects, we start a new teaching series this week called “Secrets.” I’m really excited to see how God will help us expose our secrets and learn to live in the openness of His light.
Glen
