Plantation Minutes for 2/27/08

 

Worship & Prayer

–        “Who’s on your mind?  Name them out loud as the music begins.”

–        Holden Evening Prayer – Psalm 141 “let my prayer rise up” only

–        Unity is topic tonight – we want to grow in appreciation for the gifts brought by various musical streams

–        Contemporary Lenten praise song: As the Deer

–        Theme: Paul’s peace-making priorities: When should you compromise?  When should you hold your ground?

Text:  Romans 14

–        Offering

–        Contemporary Lenten praise song: By His Wounds

 

Share peace, sit with small groups and triplets afterwards.

 

Short testimonies of praise

What did God do on Tirosh? 

  • Jonathan Robbeloth has accepted a call from God to keep the 11 male participants who attended SALT #14 involved and grouping together.  This Sunday, several youth came together to pray and come up with ways to keep these youth involved and in church.
  • Amy Drum shared that a story of one female participant from her school who attended the weekend who had a powerful experience.

 

As a result of prayer triplet activity?

  • Dave Kryder shared that he and his wife have been praying for their neighbors – about 15 couples.  They have been blessed with the opportunity to pray with several of the neighbors recently, and one couple has joined our congregation as a prayer partner.  Dave asked that God would make him sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit so that he can listen and pray for the needs.

 

Teaching/application

 

  1. Progress report on prayer partners – 120 so far; 75 from COH:

·                     Need someone to call those without email addresses (Erik Meyer, Mike Stephens, Gail Stern) – when prayer concerns come in by email, someone needs to agree to call those who don’t have email so that they can stay informed.  Dave K will call Mike, Jonathan will call Erik. 

·                     Some names still need email addresses – please check the sheet to make sure it is complete

·                     Goal – 150 from COH; 300 total?

 

  1. Personal testimony/passion – Pastor Dave shared that it’s still easier to talk about it than to do it.  He is tempted at times to cut himself some slack – covering two additional full time jobs, transition, etc.  But when will there ever not be something else to occupy his time and attention?  There are people whose lives are miles of heartaches away from where they could be, and if he makes himself available, God will direct him to a few of them.  It isn’t about making something happen – it is about being available so that God can use you. There is a hell, and there could be people who die while we are waiting for this to become a priority.  All of these things matter to the lost not just in this life – but in the next life too.

 

  1. Video: Fast Food Parody (from Illustrate, volume 6) – The video illustrates religion, American style, where we pick and choose the aspects of religion that we like and throw the rest out.

 

  1. Lenten series theme: Paul’s peace-making priorities: When should you compromise?  When should you hold your ground?

·         Saw on Sunday two areas Paul unwilling to compromise – legalism, and antinomianism.  Standing your ground on the essentials is actually peace-making, not peace-breaking.  There are two sides to peace-making.  The first is an unwillingness to compromise on the truth.  The other side of peace-making is recognizing the non-essentials. 

·         Romans 14 shows the other peace-making side of Paul – recognizing the non-essentials.  Which do you see?

o        Diet

o        Food sacrificed to idols

o        Sabbath laws

o        Cleanliness laws

o        Alcohol

Others’ needs need to be put first, and if your choices are a stumbling block for someone else, you ought not to do it.  Strive for unity.

·         Romans 14:9 – “Make every effort to do what leads to peace.”

 

  1. Various things essential for unity.  All necessary, but none sufficient:

·         Common set of core beliefs and values

·         Outward focus – something beyond looking at ourselves

·         Basic humility

·         Single unifying force (Jesus – i.e. Romans 14:7-8).

Tonight we want to work on our core values as a church.  At the boot camp Pastor Dave attended, this was the first 20% of the work in planting a church.  We won’t need that much time because we already have much of this established.  However, we’ll do some core beliefs later, as part of an evangelism tool kit, so that the exercise is more dynamic than static. 

    • Open discussion – what do you see as the things that are characteristic, or different, about COH?  (Both youth and adults)
      • Small groups
      • Priority on youth - intergenerational
      • Strong Biblical foundation – growth continues
      • Holy Spirit’s presence
      • Genuine love for one another - intimacy
      • Safe place to be for everyone - acceptance
      • Actively love God - worship
      • Prayer
      • Great messages
      • Transparency
      • Strong marriages
      • Open to the Holy Spirit’s direction
      • Minimal politics – don’t have to jump through hoops to do something for the Lord
      • Mission / global emphasis
      • Humility
      • Relational
      • Coffee
      • Open to the gifts of the Spirit
      • Variety of worship
      • Evangelical
    • Core values – Pastor Dave distributed Community of Hope’s Mission and Core Values.  This was originally drafted 10 or more years ago.  In planting a church, the really hard work involved in planting a church is in drafting a mission and core value statement.  The draft that Pastor Dave distributed has been updated slightly to simplify the language and define some of the churchy words.  In addition, core value #9: Here, there, and everywhere, which focuses on global missions.  A modification has also been made to #5, where it deals with the sanctity of marriage and life.  There is no change in our beliefs related to these issues.  However, our statements of faith related to these issues will not be expressed on the web site as a means of opening the door to people who are hurting and struggling with those issues.  Pastor Dave stated that many visitors state that they came to COH because of the web site.  Again, the core values are not being changed.  Instead, Pastor Dave tried to read through the core values from the perspective of someone who is hurting or seeking, and removed those things that would trigger an immediate negative reaction.  The goal is to be able to relate and draw people in.  The web site should give people a taste of the Kingdom and should invite them to come in.  Need to keep in perspective that those who are far from God may be more likely to come in because they want something fixed – but may not even be in a place where they expect God to be the one to fix it. 
    • Discussion of core values focuses on excitement, not wordsmithing.
    • “This is who we already are.”  It’s not only a dream, this is a present reality.  Plenty of room to grow, but plenty to celebrate, too!

 

  1. Review regarding prayer &  prayer triplets:

·         The biblical norm is not to pray for God to save someone, but to pray for more workers (Matthew 9:38), for more success (2 Thessalonians 3:1), and for more boldness and courage (Acts 4:29-30).

 

  1. Door-to-door opportunity in two weeks – March 12

 

  1. Prayer triplets (notecards from last time)

o                    Review: Record others’ info, pray for them, and next time together, share any progress

o                    Review successes and failures of the last week

o                    Pray for upcoming opportunities in the next week