April 21.2006
Dear Resurrection Family,
I'm writing this e-mail from my hotel room in Charleston, West Virginia, where I am leading a two-day conference on preaching. Methodism began in the 18th century as a renewal movement within the Church of England that focused on two things: preaching and small groups. I believe preaching matters, and there are few things a pastor does that are more important to the overall health of his or her congregation than preaching effective sermons. Thank you for allowing me the time, once each month, to encourage and teach other pastors across the country. This is a key part of our effort at renewing the church. Tonight I will preach last weekend's Easter sermon in the closing worship service. I wonder if you would pause for just a moment and pray that God will bless the people who will attend the conference today and that God would use me to encourage them and strengthen their ministries.
Here's what's up in this week's e-mail:
1. Easter Attendance Way Up - Thank You for...
2. Prayer Vigil - A Sign of Spiritual Maturity, Something to Celebrate
3. Help Needed with Upcoming Sermons - Your Input Appreciated
4. Resurrection Hosting Bono of U2, Patrick Lencioni, Bill Hybels?
5. Auction Items Needed: Some Suggestions
6. Learning Preaching from Jesus
1. Easter Attendance Way Up - Thank You for...
What an exciting weekend of worship on Easter! We had record attendance with 18,173 people - up more than 2,000 over last year when we had 16,100 in attendance. We had over 200 first time families visit. What was amazing and, I believe, a work of the Holy Spirit, was the way the congregation was spread across our nine services. While we had some in folding chairs, we didn't turn anyone away. We blew it in not allowing more time between the 7:30 and 9:00 am services, which created some parking lot problems between these two services - we'll correct this for next year. But otherwise it was a terrific weekend in worship. I want to thank all of you who worshiped at an alternative time to make room for visitors at 9:00 and 11:00 am and Sat. 6:00 pm. Because you did this, while each of these services was packed, we did not turn anyone away. I was just telling the pastors at the conference yesterday about your faith and commitment to the mission of our church as expressed by your willingness to give up the prime worship times in order to reach out to new folks. I am so proud of you for this. I am also grateful for all of you who gave of your time in ministry this weekend - it takes hundreds of people to minister to all of these folks on Easter weekend. I am so proud of our congregation and your willingness to do whatever it takes to pursue the mission. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are amazing!
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2. Prayer Vigil - A Sign of Spiritual Maturity, Something to Celebrate
One of the signs of people growing in their faith is their investment in prayer. If our Prayer Vigil is an indicator (which I believe it is) then many of you are maturing in your faith. This year attendance at our Good Friday Prayer Vigil was up significantly (I believe it was double last year's vigil, if not more). We pray for each member of our church by name at the vigil. Usually I come in at the end and pray for several hundred people at 10:00 pm in order to make sure everyone was prayed for. This year I went to pray for the first time about 3:00 pm, and when I checked in I found that we had already prayed for every one of our nearly 14,000 men, women and children! I can't tell you how exciting that was. It was a joy to begin praying over the names of 100 people who had already been prayed for once. I was also blessed to see that this year Prayer Vigil participants prayed for the people in all of the neighborhoods within a five-mile radius of the church. While we didn't have the names of these people, we prayed for those living in these subdivisions, asking for God's care for them. Thank you to all who participated in this Prayer Vigil and to all who helped put this event together.
3. Help Needed with Upcoming Sermons - Your Input Appreciated
Beginning April 30, I will preach a series of sermons entitled, I & Thou: Faith and the Power of Authentic Relationships. I'm excited about this series, which will include humor while taking serious looks at the various relationships in our lives and how our faith is meant to affect them. But I need your help. I wonder if you have specific issues you hope I'll cover or issues related to the theme. In addition, I will look for humorous illustrations of the struggles we face in these areas, either your own stories or illustrations from film. I'd also be interested to know how your faith has made a difference related to each of the themes. Below are the themes. I would welcome your input. Please e-mail your thoughts to me via my assistant, Sue Thompson, at sue.thompson@cor.org.
April 29/30 - The ONE Relationship That Transforms Them All
May 6/7 - Developing Meaningful Friendships
May 13/14 - Loving Our Children, Loving Our Parents (Mother's Day)
May 20/21 - Special Message: Jesus and The DaVinci Code
May 27/28 - Faith at Work: Loving My Co-Worker
June 3/4 - Romance that Endures: Making Love Last a Lifetime
The first sermon, whose title is a bit cryptic, will focus on how we develop a vibrant relationship with God, the other titles are self-explanatory. Thanks.
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4. Resurrection Hosting Bono of U2, Patrick Lencioni, Bill Hybels?
Yes, Bono, Lencioni and Pastor Bill Hybels will all be joining us in our Sanctuary this August 10-12 - via live video feed - as we host the Willow Creek Leadership Summit by satellite. This is one of the premier leadership training events for Christians held anywhere in the nation. The main event is at Willow Creek's campus in Chicago. It is broadcast live via satellite to 160 cities with an expected attendance of about 70,000 people. We will be the Eastern Kansas location (serving south Kansas City and the eastern third of the state). In addition to Willow Creek's Pastor Hybels, the event will draw from extraordinary leaders across the country including: U2's Bono, Patrick Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), Ashis Nanda of Harvard Business School, and other terrific leaders. This will serve as our leadership training event for The Church of the Resurrection this fall. Invite your friends, co-workers and neighbors who are involved in other churches. This event will be awesome. The cost is $65 for Resurrection members; registration information will be available very soon. For more information please check our website at http://www.cor.org/Willow_Creek_Leadership_Summit_2006.3075.0.html, or contact Robin Houghton at robin.houghton@cor.org.
I am told from business leaders who have attended this in years past that this is the best leadership training event they have ever attended in any setting. I'd hate for you to miss it!
5. Auction Items Needed: Some Suggestions
Our Resurrection Golf Classic and Auction are coming up - this is our single biggest fundraiser for special mission projects including two inner city projects here in Kansas City and the building of a church in Pinetown, South Africa. We're still looking for golfers who will serve the Lord while enjoying a great game of golf at Blue Hills Country Club. Consider inviting friends, business associates or clients to join you in helping change the world!
The Auction is a critical part of this effort - it is where most of the funds are raised. Last year we had 750 items donated. To date we've received about 400. It is true that most of the items come in during the last few weeks, but we're now at the last few weeks, so I'm encouraging you to consider what you might donate to the auction.
Items that have been hits in the past - professional services - this year I suspect there will be a real interest in estate plans and wills. I know others have donated orthodontics, eye care, and other services. Special and unique gifts - things individuals couldn't buy anywhere else are great items. I have bought several awesome gift baskets in the last couple of auctions. One was a Chiefs barbecue pack donated by a small group - it had some really great items. Gardening baskets, cooking baskets, children's gift baskets for boys and girls - these are fun to design and fun to buy. I bought a hand-made blanket one year. Sport's memorabilia and other collectibles also do well. Sports tickets, vacation homes, antiques and even cars have been donated and sold at the auction. I am told we are short on items for kids to bid on, home & garden, and gift items like collectibles, books, and CD's. We also could use additional sporting goods, etc.
LaVon and I will once again donate a hayride and hoe-down at our home for up to 16 - it will include a cook-out, home made ice cream, S'mores, singing by the campfire, and a hayride. Jasper's has again donated dinner for twelve with LaVon and me - this was a wonderful evening last year.
Here are a few of the items donated to date: One year of chiropractic care; fly fishing package; vacations to Hawaii and other cool places, and 380 other awesome items.
To donate please contact Holly Hayden at hhayden@everestkc.net.
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6. Learning Preaching from Jesus
Several months ago as I was flying to Dallas to speak on preaching I did a brief study of the gospels to see what could be learned about preaching by analyzing Jesus' own preaching. What follows is not comprehensive - just a few brief thoughts I share with pastors that I thought you might find interesting.
1. Jesus taught and preached using parables. As we learned several months ago in worship, parables are analogies - stories which illustrate a point. He was a storyteller.
2. Jesus challenged people to a very high standard of behavior, what some consider nearly impossible. He called his listeners to radical obedience to God. At the same time Jesus demonstrated remarkable grace toward people who could not live up to his standards. Holiness and grace went hand in hand for Jesus.
3. Jesus challenged prevailing interpretations of scripture. People in Jesus' day were sure they understood what God expected of them and they could quote chapter and verse of the Hebrew Bible to support their views. But Jesus said things like, "You have heard that it was said of old..., but I say unto you..." He challenged their assumptions about God and the scriptures.
4. Jesus did not seem to preach "expository" sermons. Expository sermons are those which take a biblical text and preach from it, line by line, explicating the meaning of the text. These kind of sermons are important, but Jesus generally seemed to preach by focusing on a theme or issue and then explaining God's will regarding this theme. It was likely that some would have criticized Jesus' preaching for not being "biblical" enough!
5. Jesus preaching comforted those who were outcasts and afflicted, but afflicted those who were the most "religious" or pious. He encouraged lost people, while calling them to follow him, but the religious leaders he confronted, challenging those who thought of themselves as most pious.
There is a great deal more that could be said about the preaching of Jesus - these are just a few of the thoughts that came to mind as I was reading the gospel accounts of Jesus' preaching. I reminded the pastors I spoke to yesterday that Jesus' preaching could never be divorced from his actions. He preached the kingdom of God and the call to love one's neighbor. And then he healed the sick, ate with sinners, offered grace and love to the lost, and washed his disciples' feet. I think we're all called to proclaim the good news - to be preachers of a sort, but, like Jesus, our words about God must be accompanied by deeds that demonstrate what it means to live for him.
In Christ's Love,
Adam