Seek Me to Live Wednesdays

Patti Dykstra serves on our staff in our Communication Department.  She's been huge when it comes to our presence on the web - including both our website and our blogs.

Two of the major "blogging sins" that I regularly commit when it comes to our blog are irregular and infrequent posting.  Patti has gently shown me my wayward ways when it comes to this area, and to be honest, it's spawned a couple of good ideas about some regular posts.

A couple of days ago we relaunched our weekend recap, "Monday Soup."  Every Monday you can check our blog for a chance to celebrate what God did through our teams in our church on the weekend.

And now, I'm proud to introduce to all of you for the very first time another regular post on our blog: "Seek Me to Live Wednesdays."

If you recall, at our All Team meeting in March we talked about what God's vision for our ministry has been these last 3 years:

• in 2008, it was a restored inspired identity.
• in 2009, it was taking inspired risks.
• and now in 2010, it is seek Me to live.

2010 marks a year in our ministry in which we've really been stretched in a number of ways, mostly caused by responding to God's call to become a multisite church.  We've had to recruit, train, and integrate a number of new volunteers to support two campuses.  Some of us have had to take on more than one role or serve on more than one rotation.  In short, we've each had to put ourselves in a position that is at times beyond our capacity and ability.

As always, there is an inherent danger whenever we do this.  It's a temptation, really.  We talk about it all the time.  Whenever we find ourselves in these positions, the temptation is to do godly things without God's power.  To just show up for rehearsal or a weekend without really connecting with God.  To not admit to ourselves or to others just how tired we are.  To pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get it done out of obligation rather than out of the love we have in our hearts from God, for God.

And so for 2010, we believe that God wants us to seek him to live - to seek and find the life that is found in him before we go to serve him or serve others.  We want to serve out of a heart that is full instead of serving out of a deficit.  

Here's what we know: the task is just to great to do it on our own.  We just don't have it in us.  The work and the mission, because of their pure immensity, will eventually crush us if we don't do this with God before we do this for God.

So, every Wednesday, here's what you can expect: a scripture, a devotional, a link, or a resource dedicated to seeking God for our life.  

So here's your first:

Abide is a resource that I'm thinking of checking out, and that you may want to as well.  One of the bloggers that I follow, Ed Stetzer, recently did an interview with Abide's creator, Jared C. Wilson.  Here's a great excerpt from the interview:

...'being' precedes 'doing.' The book explores the difference between doing good Christian things we hope will make us more spiritual or holy and doing good Christian things because we are spiritual and holy. The difference is really that, from Abide's perspective on spiritual disciplines, God is the initiator and we are the respondent, rather than the other way around.

Hope you enjoyed our very first Seek Me to Live Wednesday.  Check back every Wednesday for the next installment.

Monday Soup

I had this idea a little while ago, started doing it, and then let it go.  But I've come to realize: it's just too good of an idea to not follow through with it.  So, with a little rebranding help from a certain Sara Fitzgerald, we're bringing back the "weekend recap" with a new (but unashamedly borrowed) name:

"Monday Soup."

So, on Monday morning, you can plan on a recap of what God did on the weekends at Prairie Lakes Church.

Now, since its been awhile since we've actually done this, I think it'd be a shame to start with this week and leave out last week.  So, you're gonna get two weeks of the Monday Soup, since we've now completed our first two weeks of our series "Big Questions."

Last week Pastor John addressed the question of "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?"  Here was our challenge: while we knew that we needed to answer this question with sound biblical theology, we also knew that people were going to need more than just theology when it came to this question.  It's one thing for my mind to grasp the biblical framework for why bad things happen, but it's another thing for me to be transparent with God about my fears, sadness, anger and everything else that's wrapped up when bad things happen to me.

So, we saw a transformational moment at the end of our services that entailed a few things:

• an inspired risk of calling people to be transparent about what has happened to them by writing and pinning cards on a cork board up front;
• a portion of unprogrammed space in our services for people to sit and reflect, come forward, pray, grieve, etc.; and
• a blurry ending in which their wasn't some big "hooray for God" and "see you next week", but instead we asked people to leave quietly and gave permission for the rest to stay and sit with God in this moment.  We set the environment with some appropriate lighting a music to create a reflective, reverent feel.

In short: people responded, and God was honored.

Both campuses combined, we had over 150 people who took advantage of that space, filled out a card, came forward, and pinned it to the board.  At Waterloo, 40 people stayed for over an hour after the services ended... just dealing with their "stuff" before God in community.  Long story short: God will always honor a risk to create space for Him to work.

And now on to this week.

John, Chris, and myself (at Cedar Falls) and Ron, Brad Graber, and John Church (at Waterloo) sat and took questions live at each campus via both pen/paper and text messages on God, the Bible, life, the church... you name it.  Though we had a few technical difficulties at both campuses, those were dwarfed in light of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we got from people after each of our services.  This weekend we answered some of the biggies:

• What does the Bible say about homosexuality and how we should relate to homosexuals?
• How do you reconcile free will and predestination?
• Is evolution incompatible with the Genesis account?

But we also addressed some others like:

• What does Prairie Lakes Church believe about the role of women in the church?
• Why don't we have a cross in the Worship Center?
• Does God have a "perfect person" in mind for everyone looking for a mate?
• Is there a "right" political party for Christians?

If you missed it, hop on to www.prairielakeschurch.org and click on the services tab to take a look at what we answered this weekend.  The video should be available by this Tuesday.  We'll be doing this exact same thing again in two weeks in the May 8-9 services.

Overall, it was a privilege to be up on a panel with our two senior leaders - not just because they are learned and well-thought out followers of Christ, but also because they are authentic - they choose to be transparent on issues that can sometimes be divisive.  I think that makes God's heart happy.

Stay tuned for next week when we recap Week 3 of our Big Questions series at which Pastor Carl will be answering the question: "Can the Bible be trusted?"

before my very eyes

I'm sitting here observing rehearsal at our Cedar Falls campus tonite.  Here's what I've seen so far:

• Craig Payne came in to play electric tonite after being called last nite due to a last minute schedule need for Spencer.  He's music directing.  Doing an unbelievable job.
• Spencer, even though he's not here tonite, did a bunch of work this afternoon to get us off on the right foot.  We literally plugged in and started to play.  He sent a detailed email to both Craig and Chris John explaining the musical feel for each song.  We're successful tonite because Spencer is leading well through others.
• Ken and Bev Bauer are not only critical parts of our band; they also shepherded us through the Word and prayer.  Oh... and through a cooler of cold drinks.  Can't say enough about their heart and faithfulness.
• Tonite, after rehearsal, I've got almost all of my technical staff plus Dave Koob plus Jeremy Ott coming in at 9:00 p.m. to talk multisite delivery process.  I'm amazed by these guys' dedication.  Great to be on a team with them.

Just thought that you might want a glimpse of what I see almost every day.  Love this.  Love serving with you all.

you're not even going to believe this.

So, as part of our follow up strategy from Easter weekend, we had our "I Once Was Blind" board back out in the lobby at the connection desk this weekend at both campuses, and made an announcement from stage to anyone from last week who signed it and yet didn't get a "Faith Line" packet.

Basically, what we were saying was, "Hey, if you made a decision for Christ last week and we don't know about it or didn't get you a packet, come grab one so we can get to know you and get you connected."

I mean, we handed out 20 packets on Easter across both of our campuses.  That's twenty people in the kingdom that weren't there before.  We didn't expect many more to surface.  Maybe a few stragglers.

Boy, were were wrong.

We ran out of faith line packets this past weekend at Cedar Falls.

We had like 100 packets.

That's somewhere around 100 people.

100 people!

Can you believe that?

God, make our eyes of faith, our hearts to invite, and our expectations all bigger.

And forgive us for our small prayers, our small dreams, and our small courage.

You are amazing.

Waterloo Prairielakians - first impressions?

For the record: I hate the term "Prairielakian."  We gotta come up with a better designation.  But that's for another blog post.

Here's the point of this one:

If you're a part of our Waterloo campus, I would LOVE to know ALL of your impressions about our guest this weekend, Tyler.  You've had a chance to meet him this morning, and I was pleased to see many of you watch him tonite at the River.

Here's the deal: DON'T respond on this blog.  But DO send me an email at jesse.tink@prairielakeschurch.org.  I'd love your unedited and unfiltered thoughts, questions, musings... you get the picture.

Thanks.

And by the way... GREAT job this weekend!

Easter and a same face in a different place

Hey all,

Just in case you missed our All Team meeting this past Tuesday, here were the significant highlights:

Good Friday and Easter

• We saw a significant increase in attendance at our Good Friday service in Cedar Falls.  God revealed himself in unbelievably powerful ways: spontaneous worship, people coming forward to talk to the elders, and a sense of freedom as we focused on the cross and embarked on a hour-long extended time of worship.
• At Easter, we saw hundreds of people across both campuses stream forward towards the stage to have a moment with Jesus, declaring their desire to see him more clearly.
• We had over 20 people come to know Jesus for the first time.
• We had over 30 people significantly rededicate their lives to Christ.
• We logged hundreds of volunteer hours into these services, and God blessed us for our faithfulness.

It was an awesome thing to be a part of, and an awesome thing to behold.  

Jon Lloyd is Moving

We are transitioning Jon Lloyd from his position as Waterloo Worship Director over to Cedar Falls Worship director.  

Why?  Well, first, because the position at Cedar Falls has been vacant since Sandy left and I (Jesse) took over as Programming Director.  Second, because Jon is more than a Worship Leader.  He has a desire and ability to create and influence our worship experience across campuses, as well as an demonstrated ability to raise up, train, and resource our current worship leaders and shepherds across campuses.  This makes him a perfect candidate for our Cedar Falls position, since our services are currently created at Cedar Falls, and for now, Cedar Falls is the facility where our training and resourcing can happen.  So, rather than hiring another guy like Jon for Cedar Falls, we prayerfully and unanimously thought it would be best to move him and then backfill his position at Waterloo.

When?  Jon's transition will begin as soon as we hire a candidate.  Actually, we have a candidate that we're considering who is coming to visit us this weekend.  He will be at the Cedar Falls campus for its Saturday night service, at Waterloo for its Sunday morning service, and then back at Cedar Falls on Sunday night to lead the River.  Jon will begin his transition if and when a new candidate is hired... but certainly not before then.

How?  The start day for the new Waterloo worship director will mark day one of a three month transition for Jon.  During the first 30 days of that transition, the Waterloo Worship Director will attend and observe Waterloo rehearsals and services, and spend most of his time getting to know our Waterloo volunteers, staff, and culture.  During the next 30 days of that transition, the Waterloo Worship Director will begin to share the stage with Jon as an instrumentalist or soloist, as well as start to participate and run rehearsals with Jon.  Then, during the final 30 days of that transition, the Waterloo Worship Director will co-lead with Jon from stage, and then lead by himself under Jon's observation.  After those three months then, Jon will start full time in Cedar Falls.

What happens if...?  If this candidate doesn't work out, Jon is staying at Waterloo until a suitable candidate can be found.  God has continued to bless us at Prairie Lakes with numerous talented and godly worship leaders.  You will be protected, and you will most certainly not be left high and dry.  God will be faithful to us, and we will be faithful stewards with what He has given us... including the health, vibrancy, and worship culture of our Waterloo campus.  I promise: we will be faithful to God, and faithful to you, until this transition is completed well.

What type of person are we looking for?  We are looking for:

• Someone with a humble, authentic heart who leads worship out of that heart.
• Someone with enough musical talent and diversity to lead our gifted musicians and vocalists well.
• Someone who is creative, but doesn't have a desire to create from a blank canvas.
• Someone who leads people the best through being a good shepherd.
• Someone who will continue to advocate for Waterloo's growth and needs.
• Someone who can recruit and train up new volunteers - who has a desire to grow the artistic community at Waterloo in both quality and quantity.
• Someone who will work well with Waterloo's current staff - particularly Ron and Jeremy.

Questions?  Give me a call or send me an email.  I'd love to chat with you some more.