We’re having some trouble with our calendar software (i.e., it scarcely works at all!), so just in case it doesn’t get updated within the next couple of days, I should let you know about some changes….

First of all, Youth Group has been moved back to Wednesday. We meet at the church’s nursery room at 7pm. It will be Wednesday permanently now that school is back in session, according to Adam, so that means we’re meeting TONIGHT. (Sorry for the late notice!)

Also, Open Portals was moved to Thursday just for this week, because the usual day, Monday, was Labor Day. So we’re meeting in the sanctuary at 7pm on Sep. 4th, although you’re welcome to come early (say, 6:30 or so) to help set up. I’m not sure if we’re meeting again the following Monday or not…I’m guessing not, just because it’s so close to Thursday. If not, the next gathering will be on the 15th, so mark your calendars.

Hope to see you all there!

It’s summer again and that means fairs and farmers’ markets! And as we all know, fairs and farmers’ markets means lots of people in one space—the kinds of places that Jesus and the apostles did much of their work. So, taking advantage of this splendid opportunity, Grace Fellowship is having a booth three times this month at the Santa Rosa Downtown Market. We’ve already done two events, and the last one will be tomorrow evening. It’s an amazing time of healing prayer, encouraging words, and sharing the Love of Jesus Christ. A lot of people have been touched every time we have been there (or, I should say, every time GOD has been there!!).

I have an interesting testimony to share: every week we were placed next a food booth. This meant that, unfortunately, people seemed generally more attracted to eating dinner than investigating what we had to offer. There were a few periods when everybody walked by quickly and scarcely looked at our sign. But Jesus is ALL-POWERFUL, as we know, so every time we had a dead period I prayed that God would bring in the Lost and Hungry so that we could share His healing love with them. Sure enough, every time we would pray like that, about a couple of minutes later we’d get a flood of people coming in, enough to fill up the booth! And this didn’t just happen once. It happened EVERY TIME WE PRAYED. Don’t you just love the way He helps us? We weren’t doing our ministry alone—He was at the center of it all!

This is the way we had our booth set up: we divided it in half with a curtain. In one half, I had a massage chair and was giving free chair massages for about 10-15 minutes for each person. And considering how so many people are tight and stressed out these days, I was glad to give my services, and I could feel them relax and let go of their stress as I massaged them. Then I’d encourage them to get spiritual healing too by going to the other side of the tent for prayer (I didn’t that every time which was bad of me—I apologize). But several people did go over to the other side…and that part was better than any massage!

My friend Rosemary, who’s also a Certified Massage Therapist, helped out with the massage in the later part of the evenings, and I’d like to take this time to thank her for volunteering.

So, again, our final date will be Wednesday, July 30th, on Fourth St. just in front of Thai House. If you’d like to learn more, call Kathy White at: 707-545-6676.

And here are some cool photos I took, too…

OK, well, I talked to Diane Luman and she said it’s OK to put church announcements from the bulletin up on the blog here. Thanks, Diane!! Ironically, there were hardly any announcements from this week’s service because Diane wasn’t even there that morning! But here are a couple of things I’m taking off the bulletin she printed up before she left:

• City Kids Festival, Downtown Santa Rosa, 8/23/08. This is a great place to take your kids because they have all kinds of fun activities, music, food, and socializing. Of course, there is plenty of good ministry happening as well. Last year Grace had a booth doing face painting and balloon drawing for the kids, and I was part of Redwood Gospel Mission’s Gospel Tent telling kids about the Good News of Jesus and how He died and rose again to save us from the curse of sin and death. A lot of kids responded and accepted Jesus that day! So if you want to be part of that this year, find out more at Redwood Gospel Mission.
• The Women of Grace group is starting a book club. They’re going to be studying The Shack by William P. Young. Reading is always fun and so is fellowshipping with your friends! For more information contact Lisa Smith: lpsmith97-AT-earthlink.net (replace -AT- with @, of course—this is to prevent spam).

Have a blessed week!

Yes, I know…we’ve all flaked out on the blog again. (But thanks, Stephanie, for the great interview!!!) Anyway…it has come to my attention that this is the official CHURCH blog, not my own personal blog, which means that there should probably be announcements and reports of church doings in addition to philosophical musings. So, here’s an announcement for this week:

The youth/young adult group has been moved from Wednesday night to Thursday night this week; in fact, I believe it will be that way for some time to come (I’ll have to check with Adam about that). We’ll be meeting on Thursday, Jul. 24th, at 2325 Chapman Ct., Santa Rosa, CA, 95403, instead of the usual nursery room at Grace. If you’re planning on coming to youth group tomorrow night, DO NOT GO TO THE CHURCH!! Go to the above address; you can find out where it is at Google Maps. We’ll be meeting from 7-9pm. See you there!

Also, there will be no youth group meeting next week because we’ll all be at the Jesus Culture youth conference. Of course we’ll be loaded with testimonies and pictures as always! I promise to give an account of our adventures when we return, so stay tuned.

And lastly, our Prophetic Arts/Outreach group just had a prayer booth at the Santa Rosa Downtown Market on Jul. 2nd and Jul. 16th. We had a great turnout and saw a lot of amazing things happen! I don’t have time to report it all tonight, but I promise I will do it VERY SOON. And remember—we’ll be doing our last date on Jul. 30th (unfortunately, I won’t be there because of the aforementioned Jesus Culture). But I’ll get reports from Kathy White (formally Cia) about what will be happening during that evening, so don’t worry!!

May God bless you richly with His presence this week!

Interview with Shayne White, member of Grace Fellowship

What do you do for a living, Shayne?

I’m a massage therapist.  I have owned my own business for about a year.   Before that, I was homeschooled, and was part of a band with my family, where I played harp.  We went around performing a lot, so I was making money through childhood.  But that was a long time ago.

You were part of a band with your family?

Yeah, it was celtic music, and it was called Distant Oaks.  We played all around northern California.  Being homeschooled, we just got into that because my mom was always into music.  We were always hanging around when she was doing it, so we just got right into performing even when we were young. 

How old were you when you started performing?

I was nine, actually.  Distant Oaks officially ended a couple years ago when my mom passed away.  Jared (my brother) and I had our own projects doing electronic music with synthesizers and stuff, but we didn’t play the harp and recorder again until we started playing for the church, last year. 

How has it been to play in the worship band at Grace?

It’s been different.  The music itself is totally different from celtic music.  The other aspect is the focus is not on our performance, but on seeking God, almost like we’re doing a prophetic thing on stage.  It’s been a good experience.  It was kind of hard at first because whenever I’d play harp, I’d think of my mom a lot.  But God got me through it, and now I’m really enjoying being in the worship team.

It’s 9:07am in the morning, and you’ve just pulled into the parking lot. You’ve drunk two or three cups of coffee already, and you wonder why you’re always ten minutes late to church.

“Oh, well,” you tell yourself, “at least I’m here. I’m doing my Christian duty.”

You walk into the building, get handed the weekly church bulletin by a very nice lady, and find a seat somewhere in the back row. From this point onward, all you have to do is wave your hands, sing if you feel so inclined, put some money in the offering plate, and be a statistic of the percentage of churchgoers in your state. The worship band is pretty good, and it seems like it’s going to be a good morning. And how long will it be to lunch?

Well, there are a lot of people who fit that very description. They used to be called Christians. Now they’re called churchgoers or religious attenders. There probably isn’t much difference no matter what names they’re called. Or should I change the pronoun to “we”?

Let’s think about this situation for a minute. Why did you get up early in the morning, when you probably wanted to sleep in, and drive 10 miles to go to this church? Was it to listen to the music? You could just as easily listen to your iPod. Was it to fellowship with friends? Nah, a picnic in the park would do just as well. Was it to get a chance to sing without anyone really listening to your hoarse voice? No, you could simply sing in the shower with the door closed. Was it the adrenalin rush you get from being in a large crowd? Probably not—a ball game would suffice. (For a lot of people, ball games probably do give more personal satisfaction than going to church!)

We could go further and assume it’s a charismatic church. Did you “go to church” to hear someone speak in tongues? Did you go to church to hear yourself speak in tongues? Did you want to see some famous pastor make a prophecy that might end up in Christian media? You might have even come to see some miracles happen! Or did you want a chance to scream without anyone thinking you’re weird? Or fall down on the floor and make a big show?

Now, don’t get me wrong! I have absolutely nothing wrong with speaking in tongues, miracles, screaming, listening to worship music, or seeing friends. But at some point you have to stop and consider: why am I here? Where is this leading? What will this accomplish? What is the ultimate goal here?

• Simply going to church will not get you to Heaven, or beyond that, to the New Earth.
• Mere singing and screaming, or turning up the PA system, will not bring the Holy Spirit into the room.
• Just putting a twenty dollar bill into the offering plate will not shake the foundations of the earth.

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11)

Well, it seems I’m painting a pretty bleak picture here. Maybe it’s because I’ve just finished reading the Book of Ecclesiastes (and Job not long before that). Or maybe because “going to church” never seemed to make sense to me for a long time. But now the question enters: why am I writing this blog post? Is it to make myself look important? Is it to show off my essay skills (or lack thereof)?

If our going to church is all about the church service, there isn’t much point in it. After the sensation is over and the next day comes, things pretty much seem the same as before. Meanwhile, a lot of money has been spent on the lighting and sound equipment. So what is the real cause here? What is the real force that makes us go to such lengths to do the things we do, like attend a church service or write a blog post?

Because we want to serve God and seek His face.

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:5-7)

It isn’t about the service. It isn’t about the singing and music. It isn’t even about tongues, or miracles per se. It’s about loving and serving God, and being close to Him. Learning to become His children. Thanking Him for His sacrifices. Getting His Spirit fused into yours. Remembering that He sees us in secret and wants to make us like Him, so that we might move on from this earth to the new one and reign with Him. Everything—the worship, the miracles, the fellowship, the offering, the teaching, the praying—are all for this one purpose: loving and serving God. It all points to God—all of it, even down to every little drop of the communion wine (or grape juice) that is served.

Suddenly, everything makes sense. Why you got up at six o’clock in the morning. Why you drove the ten miles. Why you listened to the pastor give a prayer. In fact, you could drive a hundred miles for Him, couldn’t you!? And give a thousand dollars? And pray for twenty people? And knock over your chair in your zeal for Him? It doesn’t even matter that you showed up seven minutes late to church—you could arrive an hour late and still God can fill you and work in you just as well!

Of course, there’s one more caution. We must remember that even if we love God and want to do the right things for Him, that we don’t do those things out of our own ideas only. Suppose we invented new methods of worship, church organization (or disorganization), and key evangelistic buzzwords that we think unbelievers would respond to. The apostles in the early church soon found out what they were doing wrong:

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)

Let’s get God’s vision for the Church! Let’s leave the pride of our own showy performances at the door and humble ourselves in His name! Let’s turn from seeking a bunch of spectacles, dazzling lights, and loud music to seeking His presence and His power! Because where the Lord is, there is no evil!

My parents instilled in me from an early age an appreciation of excellence and a drive to want to do my very best at anything I do. There are many ways in which we can slack off and cut corners, and there is no end to the excuses we can come up with to justify such behavior. “Oh, nobody will notice.” “I don’t have time to make that right, it’s good enough for now.” “They don’t give me enough consideration, so why should I spend my time and effort on this?” “I’ll save money if I use this inferior part…what they won’t know won’t hurt ‘em.” And the list goes on.

I read a great book many years ago where a blacksmith was showing a young apprentice how much time he spent to work the metal for some axles and gears and whatnot underneath a carriage, and how carefully he made sure everything looked as precise and as well-designed as possible. The apprentice asked “but why spent so much time and effort on all this stuff underneath the carriage? Nobody will know it’s there.” The blacksmith’s response was simple: “But I know it’s there.”

Yes, God’s creative power is always excellent and his artistry is the height of perfection. But is there a line we humans can cross that leaves true excellence behind and enters a world of harsh criticism and judgement, or perhaps compromise and agreement with human wisdom rather than divine wisdom? Speaking to this, I heard a great comparison that our pastor, Ken Smith, made in a recent sermon (this one, I think) between excellence and correctness, and I wanted to share it with you since I think it’s a really important distinction to grasp.

Correctness is concerned with:

• What humans think of us; being admired by others.
• Being seen by others
• Keeping the peace with others
• Meeting expectations of others
• Getting MY way!

Excellence is concerned with:

• What God thinks of us; bringing God Pleasure
• Being watched by God
• Protecting our relationship with God
• Meeting God’s expectations of us
• Conforming to God’s ways: His “wagon tracks.”

That last bit about the wagon tracks refers to the “paths of righteousness” that David speaks of in Psalm 23. According to Ken, those paths can be interpreted as the tracks in the ground left by wagons as they pass over the same road time and time again over the years. That’s a great analogy — Jesus has already left his tracks in the ground and all we have to do is follow in His footsteps!

I want to live a holy, righteous life of excellence — without falling into the trap of correctness. Only God has the authority to give us the blueprint for our actions, and we must be careful not to cede that authority to any other.

“Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Editor’s Note: this was written by Hali Lenox over on our Facebook group, and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.

Truth is such an awesome thing. Sometimes it seems to me that as Christians we are swimming in a sea of truth. We hear sermons and special speakers. We go to classes and schools to learn more truth. It is exciting and truth is well… beautiful. It doesn’t look or smell like anything else. And it makes me feel good to hear it.

But Truth is meant for more than that. It’s design and purpose is to shake me to the core. It is to be the tool for repentance and closer relationship with God.

What I’m grappling with these days is being a hearer AND a do-er of the Truth and not treating it like a tasty meal or treat. “Oh! that was good, moving along now!” Truth is not to be skimmed over.

It is the sword that shapes me.

Just a reminder (to myself)…

 Trees and bushes grow. Water rushes down creeks, turning rocks round.  Beetles and ants crawl through the dirt.  All this with or without my notice.  This weekend I spent time in the great outdoors.  I noticed.  I was reminded that all this twirling land does just fine without my notice.  When I did notice, I felt very unimportant.  I was not responsible for any of it. 

At night my constellations stood brightly in a sky that I don’t often notice.  When I did notice, the vast space above my head begged the question, “If you do not notice this fierce wide sky, what do you spend your days & nights looking at?” 

There is time to notice.  I lifted my eyes to the twirling world and to the yawing space above every horizon.  Oh yeah (for the thousanth time), that’s right.  God is huge.  He doesn’t need my help: he’s got the natural order covered.  I’m reminded of what a good job he does with his creation.  

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” Psalm 24:1

“Our help is in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8 

“Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.  Amen and amen.” Psalm 72:18-19

  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Matthew 19:14

  And (Jesus) said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”  Matthew 18:3-5

  First off, all our hats should be off to Mothers and Fathers - the welcomers of children.  According to this last verse, when they (or anyone) welcomes a child in Jesus name, they welcome Jesus himself.  That itself is wild.  When would they be welcomed?  Well, I suspect when a mother finds she is pregnant.  Either that or when a child runs back to the house for dinner.  I suppose either way would work.  Anyhow, that is a side-thought.  But what a thought!

  I often watch my niece and nephew on Mondays.  They’re two years old, and it’s such fun to see how they’ve grown each week.  I’ve made a few observations since. It appears that children are earnest.  They do only what they want to do, unless taught to obey.  They are without guile.  They need attention and affirmation like crazy.  They need boundaries, love, directions, fun, lessons, discipline, comfort.  Sometimes they take toys away from each other.  Other times they give kisses when the other is crying.  Being earnest, they don’t live as they ought to.  They live as they do.  There is no “ought” involved.  

The kingdom of heaven belongs to those that are “such as children.”  Child-like folk.  Earnest people.  Not good people.  Children don’t seem inherently good.  They seem inherently selfish, and inherently needy for love (And yes, inherently adorable).  They earnestly desire their parent’s approval.  The kingdom of heaven, as far as I can tell, belongs to those who are parented by the Lord. 

So, what’s the use of growing up? What’s the use of coming of age, learning to be an adult, if Jesus tells his disciples that unless they change and become like a child, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven?  These are the disciples!  They are in danger of not entering the kingdom?!  I get very sad and confused by this until I remember that they were prodding Jesus to say which of them was the best.  That’s what started this whole thing.

  I don’t get how a child is ”humble” and still outrageously selfish.  But then again, an adult is full of “ought-to’s” and responsibilities, and still pretty darn selfish.  I guess a child knows he is small, knows that counters are too high for him.  He still wants to know he is the center of his parant’s heart, but he cannot be the greatest.  Mom and Dad are much greater. 

  So then, we can still grow up.  We get the green light to become adults.  It looks like what Jesus was getting at was that he wants us to become earnest people.  We are to remember God’s greatness, and how high the counters really are.