Suffering was the subject of Chip Uhrmacher's first ever message delivered on stage at Prairie Lakes this past weekend. (Sidenote: he did an absolutely fantastic job!) The big idea? That God is for us, that He is on our side, and that with Him we can suffer well.
To end the music set, we created a moment that began with spiritual direction in which we walked our people through a few things. First -yes!-God is for us, and in the end, nothing can stand against us. But, in the "in between time," between now and when things will all be set right, we live as broken people in a broken world. Suffering is a part of this life here. Nevertheless, God is present with us in our suffering, and we can keep in step with Him even in our suffering, so that our suffering is not in vain. God can use it to bring about some deep, abiding transformation in our hearts, and in the lives of others.
We closed that particular moment with a special, Hillsong United's "Desert Song." Take a listen below:
Chip closed his message down with an incredibly powerful story from his own life in which he experienced some intense suffering firsthand. His sister, at age 20, was murdered by her ex-fiance in his anger at their breakup. In an incredibly authentic and transparent fashion, Chip explained how God walked with him through his pain, anger, and questioning. Today, 8 years later, God has used this story, gruesome as it is, to give people through Chip permission to invite God into their suffering, and to draw them to Him.
After Chip gave people some direction and space to do some reflection on their own suffering, we closed down with the old hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul." Chip told the story of the hymn's origination, and we sang it acoustically. What a powerful and edifying way to end the service.
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On a completely different note:
Some of us attended a going away party for Joe Whalen, husband to Alicia Whalen, who serves on staff in GroupLife and who sang for us before her and her husband had their first child, Claire. Joe is headed overseas for military service. I know they would really appreciate your prayers. Thank you, Joe, and all of our servicemen and women.
On another completely different note:
Dan has updated some of the technical teams for our Cedar Falls campus. Below is the most current update:
Cedar Falls Tech Team Updated
On still yet another completely different note:
I came across this song while listening to one of my last.fm stations. It's captured something that God is doing in my heart. Maybe it will speak to you.
Sunday musings
It's been a week of silence on the P&P blog. My bad. Gotta get back on the horse.
It seems like we always have some pretty significant things for you to know, and today is no different:
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Staffing Updates
Brett Pyke has transitioned out of his part-time position as Cedar Falls' Assistant Technical Director and into a full-time position at Mudd Advertising. Brett and Stephanie both looked at what the future held, and concluded that it was in their best interest for Brett to pursue a full-time job. They will continue to attend Prairie Lakes Church, and Brett will continue to volunteer on the technical side of our ministry. But, he will certainly be missed nonetheless.
Zach Elster has accepted a position as the Waterloo Worship Director, effective tomorrow. We're really excited to be able to bring Zach on the team as a full-time member, and excited for him to lead the Waterloo campus. He will continue his responsibilities on Wednesday nights at Cedar Falls, leading our Student Ministry environments, the Rock and the Road. Tell him congrats the next time you see him.
Jon Lloyd will begin transitioning out of his role as Waterloo's Worship Director and into a more regular presence as Cedar Falls' Worship Director. What will that transition look like? For awhile, Jon and Zach will alternate at Waterloo on the weekends that Jon is not leading at Cedar Falls. By later this fall, Zach we hope that Zach and Jon are both firmly rooted as a regular presence at their respective campuses.
I (Jesse Tink) will be continuing in my role as the Programming Director, but will also be serving as the Interim Waterloo Campus Pastor while we conduct a search for Ron's replacement. I'll still be in Cedar Falls every Saturday night acting as the producer of the services, but will be in Waterloo on Sunday mornings helping to set up and serving as the campus pastor. I'm excited to get to serve in this capacity, even for the interim - really looking forward to getting a different perspective on multisite ministry, as well as to work with our Waterloo staff and volunteers.
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State of the Union
If you came to our last All Team meeting a couple of weeks ago, you know that the theme for our retreat on August 20-21 at the Waterloo Center for the Arts is "State of the Union." We are going to gather, choose to be authentic and transparent, ask some honest questions, and really take a look at the state of our ministry - post-Waterloo launch, on the eve of Osage's launch, a year into the journey of becoming a multisite church and ministry.
I promised to get some of your feedback as fodder for what we'll be talking about for that weekend. Here is the link to the first survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AXZCRCCAT
The first survey is on our Artistic Direction. It'll take you about 5-10 minutes to answer the 17 questions on the survey. Thanks in advance for your honest feedback.
Again, please send Angela Payne an email if you're planning on attending.
Check back tomorrow for the weekly version of Monday Soup.
It seems like we always have some pretty significant things for you to know, and today is no different:
---------------------------
Staffing Updates
Brett Pyke has transitioned out of his part-time position as Cedar Falls' Assistant Technical Director and into a full-time position at Mudd Advertising. Brett and Stephanie both looked at what the future held, and concluded that it was in their best interest for Brett to pursue a full-time job. They will continue to attend Prairie Lakes Church, and Brett will continue to volunteer on the technical side of our ministry. But, he will certainly be missed nonetheless.
Zach Elster has accepted a position as the Waterloo Worship Director, effective tomorrow. We're really excited to be able to bring Zach on the team as a full-time member, and excited for him to lead the Waterloo campus. He will continue his responsibilities on Wednesday nights at Cedar Falls, leading our Student Ministry environments, the Rock and the Road. Tell him congrats the next time you see him.
Jon Lloyd will begin transitioning out of his role as Waterloo's Worship Director and into a more regular presence as Cedar Falls' Worship Director. What will that transition look like? For awhile, Jon and Zach will alternate at Waterloo on the weekends that Jon is not leading at Cedar Falls. By later this fall, Zach we hope that Zach and Jon are both firmly rooted as a regular presence at their respective campuses.
I (Jesse Tink) will be continuing in my role as the Programming Director, but will also be serving as the Interim Waterloo Campus Pastor while we conduct a search for Ron's replacement. I'll still be in Cedar Falls every Saturday night acting as the producer of the services, but will be in Waterloo on Sunday mornings helping to set up and serving as the campus pastor. I'm excited to get to serve in this capacity, even for the interim - really looking forward to getting a different perspective on multisite ministry, as well as to work with our Waterloo staff and volunteers.
---------------------------
State of the Union
If you came to our last All Team meeting a couple of weeks ago, you know that the theme for our retreat on August 20-21 at the Waterloo Center for the Arts is "State of the Union." We are going to gather, choose to be authentic and transparent, ask some honest questions, and really take a look at the state of our ministry - post-Waterloo launch, on the eve of Osage's launch, a year into the journey of becoming a multisite church and ministry.
I promised to get some of your feedback as fodder for what we'll be talking about for that weekend. Here is the link to the first survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AXZCRCCAT
The first survey is on our Artistic Direction. It'll take you about 5-10 minutes to answer the 17 questions on the survey. Thanks in advance for your honest feedback.
Again, please send Angela Payne an email if you're planning on attending.
Check back tomorrow for the weekly version of Monday Soup.
new rotations
Alright, folks... here are the new rotations for July through January. Click on "Download" on the upper right hand corner of either window to download a copy of the schedule.
Here's a few things for you to know about this schedule:
Cedar Falls Rotation
Waterloo Rotation
Here's a few things for you to know about this schedule:
- If you're still in the process of auditioning or re-auditioning and don't see your name, don't worry... we'll get it on there when you're done with the process.
- If you were previously on the alternate list and did not re-audition, please do! Until then, you're welcome to plug into the technical side of things, and of course, we'd still like to have you at our All Team Meetings!
Cedar Falls Rotation
Waterloo Rotation
Monday Soup
Changin' it up.
That's what we did at PLC this weekend. We changed it up... at least we did artistically:
- We had a stripped down band and instrumentation: 2 people on stage at Cedar Falls, and 3 at Waterloo, with an acoustic, a keyboard, and a cajone.
- At Cedar Falls, Spencer and myself wrote and performed an instrumental prelude on a couple of acoustic guitars.
- We created some more quiet and reverent worship moments.
- We had some extended spiritual direction moments... including one at Cedar Falls that was inspired by this post.
- We introduced a new song, "Cannons" by Phil Wickham. I think we're really going to enjoy this one.
It's nice to have a change, to stretch ourselves creatively, and to invite those members of our congregation who prefer the quiet into worship. Just a great feel.
Pastor Carl filled in for Pastor John this weekend, and did a wonderful job. His message? Be bold... like the Little Caesars pizza guy. (You'll have to take a look at the video of his message to find out what I mean!)
Seek Me to Live
Happy seek Me to live Wednesday.
Did any of you see the movie "Book of Eli" this year? Not necessarily for the kiddos... but a profound movie for The more mature.
Without spoiling it, here's the basic premise: Eli, played by Denzel Washington, is a man on a mission in a post-apocalyptic world. His mission? To carry the last Bible in existence across a war-torn, lawless United States to an unknown western location... all because he believes God told him so.
Yeah. Hollywood made movie like that. Kinda cool.
Anyways, there area couple of very poignant dialogues in the movie that God used to convict me. In one scene, Denzel's character is asked by his significantly younger travel companion:
"What was it like in the world before?"
Denzel responds:
"Everyone had more than they needed. People threw away things that folks kill each other for today."
At another point in the movie, Eli witnesses a robbery, rape, and murder... yet does nothing. He instead clutches his pack with the Bible in it, hides behind some rubble, and says to himself over and over again:
"Stay on the path. It's none of your concern. Stay on the path. It's none of your concern."
We have access to God and his Word at any time. Too often, however, we fail to access it all - simply because of the abundance of all of the other "stuff" in our lives. We exalt its importance, we defend its reliability, we proclaim its truth... but we sometimes do all of those without letting its words form God's life in us on a regular, intentional, prayerful, relational basis.
And while we are on a mission from God through this ministry at Prairie Lakes, his two greatest commands trump our ministry: to first love him and to love others. Let's not make the excuse of being too busy doing ministry that we fail to obey his greatest commands whenever and wherever opportunities arise to do so.
Rent that movie. You won't be disappointed.
Did any of you see the movie "Book of Eli" this year? Not necessarily for the kiddos... but a profound movie for The more mature.
Without spoiling it, here's the basic premise: Eli, played by Denzel Washington, is a man on a mission in a post-apocalyptic world. His mission? To carry the last Bible in existence across a war-torn, lawless United States to an unknown western location... all because he believes God told him so.
Yeah. Hollywood made movie like that. Kinda cool.
Anyways, there area couple of very poignant dialogues in the movie that God used to convict me. In one scene, Denzel's character is asked by his significantly younger travel companion:
"What was it like in the world before?"
Denzel responds:
"Everyone had more than they needed. People threw away things that folks kill each other for today."
At another point in the movie, Eli witnesses a robbery, rape, and murder... yet does nothing. He instead clutches his pack with the Bible in it, hides behind some rubble, and says to himself over and over again:
"Stay on the path. It's none of your concern. Stay on the path. It's none of your concern."
We have access to God and his Word at any time. Too often, however, we fail to access it all - simply because of the abundance of all of the other "stuff" in our lives. We exalt its importance, we defend its reliability, we proclaim its truth... but we sometimes do all of those without letting its words form God's life in us on a regular, intentional, prayerful, relational basis.
And while we are on a mission from God through this ministry at Prairie Lakes, his two greatest commands trump our ministry: to first love him and to love others. Let's not make the excuse of being too busy doing ministry that we fail to obey his greatest commands whenever and wherever opportunities arise to do so.
Rent that movie. You won't be disappointed.
Monday Soup
Happy 4th of July, friends.
We gave many of our kids ministry staff and volunteers the weekend off this past weekend due to the holiday, so many of our kids joined us with their families in the main services for worship. We planned a more kid-friendly service for them around the topic of courage as we continued our series in Acts. Over the course of the service, here's what we experienced:
We gave many of our kids ministry staff and volunteers the weekend off this past weekend due to the holiday, so many of our kids joined us with their families in the main services for worship. We planned a more kid-friendly service for them around the topic of courage as we continued our series in Acts. Over the course of the service, here's what we experienced:
- a patriotic countdown and opening video.
- a worship set of songs the kids worship to at KidStuf and KidVenture... including this one synced with this video. We passed out red and blue LED mini-lights to everyone in the audience, shut the house lights down, and let our lights shine out. Pretty cool moment!
- a giveaway of several vouchers to Lost Island water park.
- a great story from the Morlans, a PLC family that has lived through the story of a kidney transplant - from mother to son.
With Chris Rygh preaching live from Cedar Falls and Ron Phares preaching live from Waterloo, we shepherded our folks through a moment at the end of the service set up by one of the virtue videos that our Children's ministry has used in the past. We sat and wrote down our fears on a sheet of paper, and then prayerfully committed to living more courageous lives, because:
God can do extraordinary things with the courage of ordinary people.
Read Acts 4 again this week - the text from this past weekend. Ask God to help you to live with the same courage of Peter and John. Let's stamp out fear this week.
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