This is our largest Serve Tucson/Sierra Vista to date! Pantano is making a difference this weekend! It’s not too late to join the fun – register at pccwired.com. Take a look at some of the facts and figures I just got from Bill Fisher.
808 total people registered
Serve Tucson
759 total registered for Serve Tucson (1/3 are children). That’s a 1/3 of our weekend attendance! We turned some people away from certain projects because they were full!! It pays to register early!
Serve Sierra Vista
49 total registered for Serve Sierra Vista (36 adults, 13 children). This is just under 1/2 of the Sierra Vista congregation! Way to go folks!
78 projects in Southern Arizona
71 project locations – 9 different projects in Tucson
7 project locations – 6 different projects in Sierra Vista
113 registered to visit assisted living facilities all over Tucson
30 registered to visit veterans at the VA Hospital. This is a new project!
Donations
Wow, Pantano, you’ve been more than generous. Our donations have been through the roof! Wal-mart, Basha’s, Safeway and Mission Linens also donated or discounted many items also. Between both locations we’ve collected:
- 100 lbs. of Hershey’s Kisses
- 11,434 bottles of water
- 2,000 Otter Pops & 105 Fudgesicles
- 805 ice cream sandwiches
- 3,600 lbs. of ice
- 300 car wash towels
Thanks for serving our community! Thanks for all those who are leading in this.
Also, thanks Pantano for your faithful and generous giving. Between your good giving and our deep budget cuts, we’ve managed to be in a positive cash position – a big turnaround since February. Please continue so we can end our ministry year in June well. And our attendance in our weekend children’s ministry (all campuses) has run over 500 during all of April – the first time ever!
Together to make a difference;
Glen
We are beginning our 30 day challenge to a no-regrets life this weekend. The challenge is to live these 30 days as if they were our last and to live them fully alive. The challenge is to think about and do the things that we would want to do before we die. Maybe we need to offer forgiveness and attempt to reconcile with someone. Maybe we need to have a conversation we’ve been avoiding. Maybe we need to tell or show someone that we love them. Our challenge will be unique to each of us.
Some of us might see our last 30 days as a time to frantically try to do everything. We might see it as a time to fill our lives to the full with activity. We might think, if I have only 30 days to live, I’ve got to fill every waking moment with activity and conversation. Somehow that doesn’t seem to be the model of Jesus.
Maybe there’s another way to view a life that’s fully alive. Maybe a life with no regrets might consider more about what NOT to do than what we should do. Maybe our lives are already too full and too busy with stuff that really doesn’t matter. Maybe the 30 day challenge can help us figure out what’s NOT important and eliminate the stuff that consumes us without adding much to life.
That’s why God has always taught the principle of the Sabbath rest. God knows we need to work and work hard. But our minds, our bodies and our souls need rest each week. The God who created us knew that we needed a weekly time to reflect, remember and rest. God knew we needed a “pause” in our week to be quiet enough to enjoy the world and the people he’s created and savor all the beauty and wonder.
Maybe if I found out I had only 30 days to live, I would slow down to truly appreciate the people around me. I might slow down because I know that my frantic schedule won’t serve me well. I might pause more to enjoy our Arizona sunsets and the cacti blooming. I might value a picnic or a hike more than pulling weeds, washing clothes or dusting the living room.
And maybe if I had 30 days to live, I might take more time to connect with the God whom I love. I might spend more time preparing for the time when I would meet him face to face.
And what if I did these things that are part of a Sabbath rest regularly until I die, no matter how long I might live? I have a strong sense that I would be more alive and experience life to the full – the way God intended life to be.
May we slow down in order to fully live.
Glen
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There’s a funny movie called The Bucket List (PG – 13). The two characters Edward (played by Jack Nicholson) and Carter (played by Morgan Freeman) are in a cancer hospital. They both find out they have six months to live. They create a list of things they want to do before they “kick the bucket.” They escape the hospital and the fun and discovery begins.
What if you found out you only had one month to live? What would be on your “bucket list?” How would you make each day really matter? What would you do, start doing or quit doing? What would you focus on? What would you want to be sure was not left unfinished?
The fact is our life on earth is short. Almost all of us will have more than 30 days to live, but life still passes quickly. We have one life that God has given us and he guides us to use it wisely.
Many of us live with regrets – the things we which we would not have done or even the things we wish we would have done. To regret is to live in the past. Jesus calls us to live in the present to make a difference for eternity.
If we knew we only had one month to live, it might help us focus on being passionate, fully alive and living without regrets. In our series that begins this week, we’ll discover 4 key principles that Jesus teaches and models that will help us to live a full and blessed life.
I’ll introduce the One Month to Live challenge this weekend. I want to challenge all of us to live the next 30 days as if they were our last. What would we do or change or even stop doing? Join the adventure of living life to the full as we follow the example of Jesus.
Here are some ways you can maximize this 30 days challenge. We’ll have follow up One Month to Live studies and sharing times in these groups:
• 222 (meeting around tables) meets Wednesday at 7pm in Coop Court (child care available)
• Sunday mornings at 11am in TH 6
• Contact Crisan (298-5395 ext. 304) at the church office if you’d like to use the DVD and workbooks for your life group.
Please share with us your stories and experiences as you take the 30 day challenge to a no-regrets life. Click the One Month to Live button at the PCC home page (www.pccwired.org).
This is also a great series to invite your friends and family to join you.
Glen
www.pccwired.org
For a huge majority of Americans, going to church is worse than going to the dentist. Church has such a bad feel for so many today. Recent research shows that many Americans greatly dislike and mistrust the church. The number of folks who claim no religion rises every year. Only 17% of the population of Pima County attends church on a given weekend. Many folks are fed up with church and religion
What is church? A building? Programs? Services? Leaders? Budgets? Is church a meeting on Saturday night or Sunday? Is church when we listen to a teacher, sing songs, take communion and give an offering? Of course not! These things are a few activities and resources of the church, but they are not the church.
Church is people who are authentically following Jesus. Church is when we serve and sacrifice for each other. Church is when we are making a difference in this world in the way of Jesus. Church is when followers of Jesus suspend judgment and offer love and acceptance just like God unconditionally loves us. Church is when folks live so much like Jesus that others feel and experience it and give honor to God. Church is when people of the Book go past knowing the Bible and really live the Bible and do what it says. Church is a group of folks who have little interest in themselves but focus on God and what he wants and seek to love their neighbors.
So, how are we doing Church? Yes, we have a ways to go, but we are on the right path. We are a people who are chasing after Jesus and desire that he make a difference in us first so we can make a difference in the world. That is my prayer and mantra – “Jesus, make a difference in me so I can make a difference in the world.”
This week we celebrate Easter. Jesus never commanded we celebrate Easter (or Christmas for that matter). We choose to celebrate it. We choose to focus on the wonderful reality and hope of the resurrected Jesus. But the heart of Easter doesn’t stop with what Jesus did, but how we continue as his people to live that out. Are we living Easter lives? Is Jesus alive in us? Do others see that Jesus is alive in us?
Don’t forget, if you can attend the Saturday 6pm or Sunday 7am or Elements 6pm service that will help us make room for visitors at the Sunday 9am and 11am services.
Glen
www.pccwired.org
I love writing my blogs. I enjoy writing! But this week, I got nothin’ to write about. Part of that is I’m tired after my trip to Ukraine. I’m still about 10 hours off on my internal clock. So I sit here trying to make up something profound or significant to write about and nothing is coming.
Sometimes life is like that. We got nothin’ to give, at least nothing that seems profound. But what’s interesting is that I feel this compulsion to contribute something significant. I SHOULD have something to say. I wonder if I’ve kept God out lately and haven’t been listening to Him. Or maybe I’ve not been reading enough of my Bible or other books lately.
Why can’t we just sometimes say, “I got nothin’” and be quiet. I’ve been doing this blog since January 2nd, 2006. I’m on a three year plus run. So it seems that it is perfectly okay to have nothing to say after 165 weeks.
So let’s re-commit to true authenticity and admit to others when in fact we got nothing to say. Maybe when we are in a discussion it would be really wise to say – “I got nothin’ to add.” Maybe silence shows how smart we really are. Maybe next week I’ll have something. Until then, I’ll follow the wisdom of Proverb 17:28
Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.
Or how about Proverbs 18:12:
A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.
Hmmm……
Have a great week,
Glen
