Keep Pointing

Wrapping Up...

Wow!  It's hard to believe that 2011 is coming to a close.   This is the time where we typically wind down from last year and gear up for the next.  Here are just a couple thoughts/reminders...

• Let’s finish strong with our operating budget.  If year-end giving is part of your normal giving, make sure to get it in by Saturday!
• This upcoming weekend, we're going to head into the new year talking about Necessary Endings.  You don't want to miss it!
• Check out Jon Acuff's blog post about FinishYear.  Let's walk into 2012 with some purpose.  Don't let the new year come without praying and thinking through some implications for your life.  What are you going to "finish"?
• We have a new series coming up in January called Rescued.  This is going to be a great invitational series.  Who do you need to invite?

So, in 2012:  Get here.  Get your friends here. Watch God's story unfold...

Time's running out...

There are only so many shopping days left until Christmas...blah, blah, blah...

...but there are even fewer left to invite someone to a Christmas Eve service at one our campuses this weekend.  So what are you waiting for?  Don't put it off any longer - invite them right now! 

Racking up some points...

I am blessed and honored to be one of your pastors!  One of the things I enjoy most is watching PLC'ers take faith steps.  For some it's stepping over the faith line and trusting Jesus with their life, and for others it's being baptized or joining a group.  All of us, though, can take a step every week by applying that week's message in our everyday life.

This past weekend we talked about pushing back the gates of hell and bringing God Glory.  I got an awesome email yesterday from one of our Prairie Lakes families who is doing just that.  Check it out:

Hi John,

Wanted to share with you how our Frederika Bible Study shoved back the gates
of Hell and gave Jesus some points on the scoreboard.  We went caroling
to 25 houses here last night and handed out candy and flyers sharing the
good news about Christ!  Like our son Joey says, "We touched many lives tonight,
didn't we, Mom?"  I said definitely!!  We only had one lady be rude to the
boys when they knocked and shut the door on them, but we kept singing :)

...We look forward to seeing how Jesus works in the hearts of those in our
little town!

Merry Christmas!!!

Praise God!  So what's your story?  How are you scoreboarding it for Jesus this week?

Scoreboard!

...Even though my Broncos lost doesn't change this week's scoreboard for us. Whether it's with your mouth, your money, your faith step, or the least of these...push back the gates of hell and scoreboard it for Jesus this week. If you missed it, you can catch the sermon online starting Tuesday.

Don't forget about our Christmas Eve services happening across our campuses this coming weekend. (Yes - snow or no snow...Christmas is this week...) These are going to be faith line services, so bring everybody with you that you can! Drag. Push. Pull. Bottom line: get 'em here!

Make Him Famous...

With Us. 
With Glory. 
Making Him famous…

That’s what it’s all about.  So, get to your campus this weekend – and make sure you’re inviting your friends and family!  Remember, this is the time of year people are looking for an invitation. 

So, get on it!  …I dare you!

See His Story Unfolding...

This past weekend we hit the third part of our series, With Us.  Life doesn’t always go as planned…and often, we find ourselves in a set of unlikely circumstances.  When that happens: see His story unfolding…not your life unraveling. 

As always, you can catch the sermon online starting Tuesday, or go deeper using your notes and sermon curriculum. 

Remember:  God is With Us…this is His story…He’s got you!

With Us in Unsettling Times

From Pastor John's wife, Kay Fuller:

Yesterday John and I were privileged to spend the day with a friend from church who was having surgery at Mayo.  Visits to Mayo always generate a very peaceful and thankful spirit within me, and I’m quite certain it is because Mayo and the whole area there represent times when God has been With our family at very vulnerable times tied to our son’s cancer.  When we are scared or hurting for someone we love, God demonstrates that he is With Us in a multitude of ways, and it’s quite common to be able to recount those because the impact is so significant. 

Yesterday God again revealed that He is With His creation here on earth to another family at Mayo.  There was a couple in the room beside us preparing for pre-op when I struck up a conversation with them.  I found they had traveled from a a neighboring state to have “something” removed from the man’s throat.  They had been there 50 years ago with the man’s father who had throat cancer and 30 years ago with his wife who had cancer.  Now it was his turn for the determination of a diagnosis.  Back in the room post-op, the surgeon came in to relay that the “something” was cancer.  The doctors knew immediately what they were dealing with, and they knew the next step.  Initially we think what a horrible time of year to receive such shattering news.  But, in fact, this season is the very reason we can cope with news such as this.  Because God sent His son, the long awaited Messiah, at Christmas, He is still With Us today.  God revealed His Christmas gift yesterday to this couple when they had someone to pray with them, they had a kind hotel attendant who allowed them to keep the same room-the room they thought they were checking out of, and they had a smart, caring surgeon whom God had equipped and enabled to help them.

We don’t know how this man’s story will play out, just as we don’t know how our stories will twist and turn.  But, we do know that because of Christmas, we never have to worry about being the lone character in our stories.  When we allow God, who is With Us, to play the leading role, we can trust Him in every unexpected bend. 

Are you willing to be overwritten?

This weekend we went to the unlikely people in the Christmas story that God chose to use.  The only thing they have in common is that they were willing to let God overwrite their story with His story.  And that really is THE QUESTION...are you willing?

As always, you can watch the sermon online starting Tuesday, and go deeper with the sermon curriculum.  Remember to use the invite tool (cookie cutter/card) to invite the people in your circle to our Christmas services.  Pray and get after it this season.  Who knows what God will do?!  You do your part, and God will do his.

Get 'em here!

At this very moment, stop and pray about who you’re inviting this weekend.  Who can you hand a card to, take a plate of cookies to, call, or send a facebook message to?  Remember, this is the season when people are more receptive to come to church with you.  You get them in the door…God will do His part, our teams will do their part, and I’ll do my part…let’s watch what God will do in the lives of your friends.  Get ‘em here!

In our Advent series, With Us, we’re viewing Christmas from a different angle.  Rather than “I” and “me” and “my” and presents and food…we’re looking at Christmas from God’s angle.  This weekend we’re going to look at how God looks at us differently than we look at us.  Also, the Campus Pastors will give you a great Influence report about feeding families at Thanksgiving and Operation Christmas Child…thanks for being so generous!