Churches in Kenya

The blessing of our Christmas Eve offering will soon be received by fellow believers in Kenya, Africa. Our goal was $10,000 to build 2 churches in a remote area of Kenya. One church would also serve as school for children and the other a seminary to train pastors. The total for the Christmas Eve offering (including a few late gifts) was $16,500! PCC will be able to fund 3 churches in Kenya for the Maasai people and provide some furnishings as well. Trudy Marshall, founder and director of Libraries of Love, leaves for Kenya on Jan 30 to see that the churches are built. The blessing of Christmas Eve 2012 will be felt by our brothers and sisters in Christ in Kenya for many years. Praise the Lord!

Check out the website of Real Life Ministries to learn more about the work in Kenya and to see pictures of the people our Christmas Eve offering will be helping. http://www.rlmkenya.com/

Les Mis

Sandy and I went to see the film version of the musical Les Miserables last Monday night. We’ve seen the stage production twice, the first time at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, my favorite theater in the world. Victor Hugo’s novel is my #1 favorite novel of all time. Yes, even better than Lord of the Rings. I’ve read it twice, all 1,463 pages. The film version of the musical is stunning. It captures the spirit and passion of the novel. It is one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

Les Miserables is the story of the redemption of a hardened convict set in 19^th century France. Only two novels have reduced me to tears, and this is one. And yes, I was fighting back tears at the end of the film. Victor Hugo, a master story-teller, weaves the separate storylines of a number of characters into one grand tapestry of tragedy, betrayal, heroism, and redemption. I grow weary of the typical Hollywood revenge plots. I’m not inspired by so-called heroes that “save-the-day” by blowing away all the bad guys. I am inspired by the bishop that shows Jean Valjean the shocking grace of God. One of my favorite lines in the novel about the bishop is: “He did not study God; he was dazzled by Him.” I am inspired by the relentless determination of Valjean to serve God in response to his redemption.

This story inspires me, and makes me want to be a better pastor, a better human being. The film production of the musical succeeds in capturing the passion of the novel through the music. If Valjean’s song, “Who Am I?” and Fantine’s “I Dreamed a Dream” don’t move your heart you don’t have a heart. The story Victor Hugo told 150 years ago is essentially a retelling of the gospel. It’s the story of the glory of God revealed in the redemption of a wicked man and bursting forth out of tragedy. In the novel one of the last things Jean Valjean says is, “It is nothing to die; it is horrible not to live.”

In my opinion, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen this incredible film.

http://www.lesmiserablesfilm.com/

Reading 2012

I love to read. I must read. I read for the pure enjoyment of it and I read to learn and grow and be better prepared to preach. Here's my reading list for last year.

1.      Is Hell For Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? By T. Keller, R. Mohler, J.I. Packer, & R. Yarbrough

2.      Spirituality According to Paul, Rodney Reeves

3.      Rebecca’s Revival, Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World, Jon Sensback

4.      Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving

5.      The Final Martyrs, Shusaku Endo

6.      Junia is not Alone, Scot McKnight

7.      Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë,

8.      The Kingdom and Cross, James Bryan Smith

9.      Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

10.  Psalms, The Prayer Book of the Bible, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

11.  Sinning Like a Christian, William Willimon

12.  Glittering Vices, Rebecca DeYoung

13.  Bad Religion, How We Became A Nation of Heretics, Ross Douthat

14.  God is Red, Liao Yiwu

15.  The Years of Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power, Robert Caro

16.  The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

17.  The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, Tim Keller

18.  Studies in Words, C.S. Lewis

19.  Veneer, Willard & Locy

20.  The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton

21.  The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald

22.  Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, Brant Pitre

23.  Exposing Myths About Christianity, Jeffrey Burton Russell

24.  Trusting the Shepherd – Insights from Psalm 23, Haddon Robinson

25.  Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

26.  Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards

27.  The Last Christian on Earth, Os Guinness

28.  A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller

29.  One Nation Without God, David Aikman

30.  Seeing Through the Fog: Hope When Your World Falls Apart, Ed Dobson

31.  The Complete Father Brown Mysteries, G.K. Chesterton

32.  God in the Manger, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

New City Catechism

Our call to worship this Sunday was Romans 14:7-8 (NIV)
For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

It’s the verse that goes with the first question of the New City Catechism (www.newcitycatechism.com). The New Year is a time to initiate new resolutions, efforts, & commitments. There are a number of new things PCC is initiating this year; none I am more excited about than introducing the New City Catechism. It’s not a program. It’s a bold new commitment I’d like us to make together… a commitment to work toward a deeper comprehension of the faith we claim… a commitment to the 2nd part of our purpose statement… “To produce growing disciples who serve Christ.” Growing disciples must know what they believe. I fear that we don’t know the gospel and foundational truths it is built upon very well. The NCC is a tool that will help us grow as disciples of Jesus Christ; it’s a tool we can use both at church and at home.

NCC is a free internet catechism comprised of 52 questions and answers, one for each week of the year divided into 3 parts:

PART 1 = God, creation and fall, law (20 questions);
PART 2 = Christ, redemption, grace (15 questions);
PART 3 = Spirit, restoration, growing in grace (17 questions)

Questions #1 and the answer: “What is our only hope in life and death?”

Answer: “That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus.”

The same questions are asked of both children and adults; the children's answer is always part of the adult answer. A Bible verse accompanies each question and answer. In addition, there is a short commentary & a prayer. Each Sunday this year our call to worship will introduce the next question & answer from the NCC and the corresponding Scripture.

The practice of catechesis takes truth deep into our hearts, so we find ourselves thinking biblically. When death intrudes upon your family as it inevitably will and your children wonder, you wonder: “What is our only hope in life and death?”

Don’t you want their thinking & yours to go to that glorious answer of the gospel: “We are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus.”

Is this a church or family thing? YES! We’ll introduce the Q & A for each week at church. Our SS teachers will be reinforcing the answers in SS class. But this is 1st and foremost a family spiritual education tool. Make this a regular part of your family.

Are we supposed to memorize the answers? YES! The discipline of memorization drives concepts deeper into the heart and holds us more accountable to master the material. Be creative with it. Make flashcards, quiz one another, and review in the car, at breakfast, at bedtime. The idea is to build a biblical mindset. Don’t get too legalistic about the memorizing. Do the best you can… 2014 will be our review year.

What if I don’t agree with the answer? If you or someone in the family questions the answer given, let that be the catalyst for discussion. Let the discussion push you back to the Bible for more information. Encourage the kids express their doubts and questions. But learn the answers given. I hope the process will stimulate family discussions about the faith.

Will learning the NCC guarantee that my children will remain committed Christians when they grow up? No. But, Princeton theologian Archibald Alexander said, it is like firewood in a fireplace. Without the fire—the Spirit of God—firewood will not in itself produce a warming flame. But without fuel there can be no fire either, and that is what catechetical instruction is.

My prayer is that everyone connected to Pflugerville Community Church will share this new resolution to learn the NCC. It will take perseverance and patience and some hard work, but at the end of 2013 we will have strengthened the foundation of our faith. Not sure if this is right for you and/or your family? Go to website and check it out for yourself. www.newcitycatechism.com

ONE Resolution

I decided to make one and only one New Year’s resolution this year. I have resolved to open God’s Word each day BEFORE I open my laptop. No longer will I put the sports news or the weather report or Face Book friend’s comments before the One I call Lord. I know, shocking that a pastor would take so long to recognize his little idols that displace Christ our Lord. So far I’m 100% in keeping this resolution in 2013!

Book Review: The Final Martyrs

Shusaku Endo is one of my favorite authors. He was a 20th-century Japanese author who wrote from the unusual perspective of being both Japanese and Catholic. My two favorite Endo novels are Silence and The Samuri (not the book the Tom Cruz movie was based on). Both are set in 18^th century Japan where Christians are a persecuted minority. Both novels are marked by intense inner-conflicts centered on the Christian faith. They are not pleasant little feel-good stories with happy endings. Endo forces his readers to wrestle with hard questions about faith and God. Not ready for his novel? Try The final Martyrs, Eleven short stories that are deeply spiritual. The title story is set during the 18th-century persecution of Christians in Japan. I have found Endo’s writing to be inspiring and disturbing. Sometimes my faith needs to be inspired and sometimes it needs to be disturbed.
http://www.amazon.com/Final-Martyrs-New-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811218112/ref=sr_1_21?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356212964&sr=1-21&keywords=Endo