Worship 24/7/365 (even with NO Sunday Worship Gathering Tomorrow, November 28))

Worship is a way of life.  We can't turn it off, we're giving our mind's attention and heart's affection to something of someone all the time.  24/7/365.

So, though we will NOT have a Sunday Morning Worship Gathering as theCityChurch this Sunday (November 28), we will seek to worship Jesus wherever we are!

We will be back together next Sunday, December 5.  Can't wait to see you then.

Jesus is Alive!

New Things (New Life & New Website)

This past Sunday, three awesome, Jesus-loving people were baptized in the chilly water after our worship gathering.

It was Fantastic!  (I'll post more on it later.)

And it's all because of Jesus.

When He arrives on the scene, opportunity for a New Life arrives in Him.  These three made a public statement that they have put their trust in Jesus, been made alive by Jesus paying for their debt of sin and the death is brings on the cross, and putting His life, made possible by Him rising from the dead, inside of each of them!

We're believing that God wants to make our city, and the whole world, new because Jesus is Alive!

We're redoing our website to put the flavor of our city and the Jesus-Action here right out front.  So, it may look weird for the next few days as we get it ready.

#theCityShouldBeDifferent

Honoring Veterans (with Free Laundry)

theCityChurch & Laundry World:

Veteran’s Day Appreciation

Free Laundry Service

To celebrate and value the service of our Veterans, theCityChurch (www.theCityChurch.us) and Laundry World (www.LaundryWorld.net) are giving away free laundry services to Veterans the week of Veteran’s Day.  (More info also at www.LaundryWorld.blogspot.com.) 

No Strings, No Catch…Just Love

From Thursday, November 11 until Wednesday, November 16:

Þ    FREE Coin-Wash to all Veteran’s (up to 5 loads). 

Þ    FREE Drop-Off Laundry to the spouses of Deployed Veteran’s or the surviving spouse of veterans killed in action (30 pound limit).  (the Family Resource Group sent this flyer in an email to the hundreds of families of the soldiers curently deployed from the 156th, Bayou Bandits, of the Louisiana National Guard.  WE ARE WITH YOU & PRAYING!!!)

WHY are you doing this?

We’re doing this because we believe that www.theCityShouldBeDifferent.com
because there are people here who love Jesus.

A small group is planting a new church in Lake Charles, called theCityChurch.  The pastor of the church, Paul Pettefer, also owns Laundry World. 

We believe that God’s love & Grace expressed through Jesus are incredible, that God meets people right were we are & brings us to Him, and that He wants all of us to experience Hope!  We wanted to put a little wind at the back of Veteran’s & spouses of deployed veteran’s with this simple act of love.  If you would like, we would love to pray for you.  Simply email paul@theCityChurch.us , text to 794-9891, or leave a prayer request at the Laundry.  

theCityChurch has a worship gathering on Sunday mornings @ 10:45 at the Clubhouse of the Village Green apartments, and you would be welcome to join us (2700 Earnest St., park in the long parking lot on the south side of the complex).  (Meeting locations are subject to change as we grow, so call or check out the website to keep up to date.)  We also host other Community Groups and smaller discussion groups, which you would be welcome to hang out at, or just call for coffee.  

You can call/text Paul Pettefer @ 794-9891, email us (above), or check out our website at www.theCityShouldBeDifferent.com.  Go Jesus!

What does "Go Jesus" mean?

I don't remember exactly how it started.  Well, I suppose I do.  It started with God, who is rich in mercy, who made me alive, together with Jesus! (Eph 2:6)

While I don't remember the first time this phrase made it's way into our group's vocabulary, I do remember what I was thinking when it happened.  I was thinking that I didn't want anyone who was observing me or our group to be confused about who we were talking about.  Our God became flesh, you see, and He made His presence visible among us (John 1:14).

His name is Jesus!

I heard Heather Mercer speaking about her experience, being kidnapped by the Taliban shortly before 911.  She and a friend were there serving the poorest of the poor, and sharing Jesus with people along the way, as they were welcomed to do so by those they were serving.  She spoke the name of Jesus throughout her testimony, and spoke about how His name changed things while she was serving the suffering in Afghanistan.

Jesus.  She kept using His name.  Yes! was the cry in my soul: Jesus!

Such was born "Go Jesus!"

So, what does that mean?

Names have meaning, of course, and Jesus' name encapsulates all the power, revelation, love, justice, mercy, duty, belonging, life, identification, suffering, empowerment and exclusivity of the Gospel.  The resurrection of the Dead - that's in His name, for He rose, and those who have trusted in Him are risen as well!  "Because I live, you also will live." (John 14:19)  When I say, "Go Jesus", it's an admonition to pursue all of life, including the thing we just talked about, whatever it was, because you are alive in Jesus!  Or, it's an encouragement, a faith-speaking word, that we will go and be and do whatever the issue of the moment that we are dealing with is, because of Jesus and in His name!

Go Jesus is sort of a lifestyle of all-in discipleship.  All-in passion to pursue God in all of life, when it's easy and when it's tough.  When I feel like it and when I don't.  And it's a rallying cry when we have experienced Him and want to share a praise to God!  It's belonging to Jesus out of an truth-telling that we are His, because of a blood-stained cross, where my sins were paid for, and an empty tomb, where death was done away with because Jesus is Alive!

Today, I desire to Go Jesus!

Love, paul

What does changing impressions look like?

This was a great week. It had some difficulty, to be sure. I celebrated two birthdays (and the people who love me made them both soooooo special)! And we keep learning new things.

And we watched some leadership in action. Pattie had the idea of doing a Free Car Wash, because, no one does that.

So, yesterday, at the Tobacco Plus (Ryan & Sale, the KMart parking lot) we held up big, cool signs telling people "Free Car Wash."

Oh, and even better, everyone was wearing my birthday present...t-shirts with "theCityShouldBeDifferent" on the front, and ".Com" on the back, huge letters. Yes!

We didn't know how it would go down, of course. There's risk anytime you lead or innovate. (Some Embarrassment and failure are the inevitable price of leading.)

Really, we're standing on Ryan St., shamelessly smiling, joyfully talking to each other, and holding up colorful signs sharing our Free Car Wash invitation. (We learned, if you hold the sign over your head, the drivers can see our shirts, and wonder, "what is 'theCityShouldBeDifferent' "? Yeah!) And at first, no one pulled in. We had a couple of short conversations through car windows. Waiting. Say a prayer. Put a band-aid on Emily's foot. (Go to Walgreen's first and get first aid supplies, lol.) Wait.

It could be a flop. We could have wasted this time and energy.

A car pulls in. Another. Then none. I get called over from the street to the cars to talk to someone. Then more cars. More conversations. Some are really needing to feel God's wind at their back.  The question is asked a few times, "Why are you guys doing this?" Our response, "We'll, we're a church group, and because we've experienced God's love, we want to give it away."

No Strings, No Catch...Just Love.

People wanted to make donations. We weren't accepting donations. Those who absolutely insisted on giving, we gave the money to the next car. One very cool guy stayed and helped us wash cars for two hours! I can't wait to get to know him better. He brought back his brother and sister-in-law (Happy Anniversary!).

We prayed with several people, calling out to God for their needs. I was so pleased to meet a couple of people who were looking, it seemed, for something of God that day, and this simple act of service spoke to them. I'm looking forward to seeing "B" at Group @ the Park soon (we have Community Group @ 8 pm on Wednesday nights @ Prien Lake Park, under the open pavilion near Prien Lake Road, weather permitting). Oh, and I'm so praying now for our new hairdresser friend to let me know how she was impacted by the Indescribable DVD we gave her.  And my new wed morning padna (not sure how you spell that) as he drove to Baton Rouge with Louie Giglio's "Two Words that changed EVERYTHING" in his cd player.  

How is theCityGoingToBeDifferent?

Part of it is changing some people's impressions about church and church-people. Giving God's love away because Jesus is Alive!

Half My Life...

Today, i will have been a Jesus-Follower for Half of my life. A guy befriended me in this psychology class at McNeese. He spent a couple months getting to know me and letting me get to know him.

Then he invited me to this multi-church thing at the Civic Center. He called it a Revival. I asked, what's a revival? "Oh, you'll meet some of my friends from church, we'll sing some songs from church, and this dude will talk out of the Bible," he answered.

My response: "Why the hell not."

So that night I heard the Gospel of Jesus for I think the first time. I'd been to a church as a kid, but don't remember hearing that I needed a savior. That night, I was in college, running my life, feeling the emptiness in me and trying to mask it. I was unaware of the love of a God who reached out to me from the incomparable riches of His mercy, so that I could be rescued.

Half.

What a wild ride so far. It's gonna be rockin to see what God has in store next!

I can fell Him moving...theCityShouldBeDifferent!

Gather and Send

One of the rhythms of theCityChurch is to Gather and Send.

It's not complicated, and I'm thinking Jesus did this as well. He gathered with his crew, did life, and trained them. He hung with his three closest friends, Peter, James and John. He did life with the 12 disciples. Sometimes is was a larger group who were following Him (a crowd). And sometimes it was an enormous gathering (5,000 men plus their families). Jesus gathered people together and did life with them, training them along the way. He was super relational, because He loved people.

Then, Jesus sent out His followers on mission. For example, in Luke 8, He sent out the 12 disciples with some specific instructions. Then, in Luke 9, He sends out 72 with instructions on the mission for that day. And when Jesus was leaving the Earth, He left instructions for the disciples and for those who come in their wake (that's you and me), sending out His church to make disciples and teach them to obey Jesus' commands (Matthew 28:19-20).

Gather and Send.

At theCityChurch, we gather together and pursue authentic community. That takes time and God's Grace. And the results, loving one another and God using community in His name to grow us and give us strength, support and courage, are so worth it! We'll mess up and miss the mark along the way, no doubt. But God's Radical Grace is our operating power and we believe it's sufficient to grow us from wherever we are to be more like Jesus! Our church gathers together. One new expression of this happened this past week as we moved our Sunday Morning Worship Gathering to the Clubhouse @ Village Green Apartments. (We outgrew my living room, which we were meeting in, yeah!) It was really cool, and I'm looking forward to worshiping there in this season. You can come and Gather with us! Find out more here.

I really dig Gathering!

And we send. Send each other out, having met with God and experienced His Grace through Jesus, we send each other out as Relational Missionaries to love and serve, without strings attached, with the awesome news that God's love and restoration is available to all. Last night we did some Sending, "After Midnight" style, hanging out and giving away water and burgers in a place where people who aren't your typical church-goers would be after midnight on a Friday night.

I really dig Sending!

I'm so proud of theCityChurch for your courage and willingness to embrace Jesus in this life.

Pre-Launch

It's been a little over a month since announcement day, when we shared publicly the conception of theCityChurch.us.

Our life since then, it's been...Well, it's been Awesome and Terrifying.

Awesome because I've come to grips, more than ever, that God is the One whom I totally depend on. Terrifying because I have come to grips, more than ever, that God is the One whom I totally depend on.

Planting a church is a spiritual endeavor, a process where we walk in God's power to see His Kingdom move forward in our city. We take steps of faith, guided with His light which illuminates the path a step or so at a time.

I thought about the pre-launch process for the Space Shuttle. I really like the series of pictures on this blog, www.nyike.com/rarely-seen-shuttle-pre-flight-activities. The whole space flight thing is incredibly exciting, reminding me of boyhood times dreaming of rocketing into space.

As we can see in the series of pictures, to put that Orbiter into space, there are a lot of steps along the way, all done under a master plan, with various people with different roles and skills preparing the shuttle in different ways.

In planting a church, there are different roles and lots of steps along the way.

For theCityChurch.us, we are in the pre-launch phase, gathering a Launch Team (if you are reading this, YOU can be a part of the Launch Team! I'm serious); building relationships with people, including those who aren't vitally connected to a church; serving people without strings attached; reaching out the Gospel in God's love. All of this making theCity ready for this endeavor.

I'm not sure which of these shuttle pictures of it's pre-launch phase that makes us. But I do know this, you won't be confused when you see the Space Shuttle launch...it's awe inspiring. And I've only seen one launch from 60 miles away.

When God's love and power show up in someone's life, it changes everything and is unmistakable. Just like the shuttle launch.

We want to see that happen more and more in our city.

The City Should Be Different.

Courage (comes from God)

Walking with God. Sometimes is takes courage.

We've been Reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, as we finished up our couples Community Group this week. If you haven't read it, DO IT NOW! God's love is so crazy! And our response back should be in kind, the sort of love that changes a woman, changes a city.

The reality is that there is a war going on, all around. A battle for eternity. It's spiritual, and it's results are in the physical. They decay and desperation in the city is a sign of this war's seriousness.

To engage in the battle will take several things, including Courage. If the city is going to be different, we will need to grasp fully the Hope that is in Jesus, and walk forward. Walk Courageously.

Francis asked a couple questions in Ch. 10. "Most of us use 'I'm waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life' as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn't that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet slow to commit to serving God." (page 169)

That led me to Hebrews 13:1-7 this morning.

"¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Jesus. He's the One we must fix our eyes on if the city is going to be different. He is the Hope we must cling to!

Maybe you need to courageously walk with Jesus, to love radically, to serve and see the Gospel brought to new heights and new souls? Put your faith to work, and see God show up and blow you away! It's the stuff that makes a city different.

Jesus.

We're praying for you. As I type this, I'm praying for you. Ask God the hard questions, and ask yourself. We're ready to partner with some of you on this mission to make the city different, because of Jesus.

Announcing theCityChurch

Today, April and I announce to our home church of Trinity that we believe God is leading us to plant a new church in Lake Charles, theCityChurch.us. We love you, Trinity, and so appreciate our experience with you! We rejoice in the Grace of God you are extending to us, sending us out at Missionaries in our city to reach new people in new ways. Thank you, Trinity, for sending us out with such blessing, us and whoever God sends with us from those who we've shared life or ministry with.

We believe that theCityShouldBeDifferent, because of Jesus. He is leading us to plant theCityChurch.us with this heartbeat: To be totally intentional about reaching people far from God, far from a churched background, and to make disciples. To be a people longing to look like Jesus.

If you want to know more about theCityChurch.us, I would love to visit with you and share our vision. Leave a comment below, email me, paul@thecitychurch.us, or call/text me at 794-9891.

Jesus' mission to make disciples is incredible. He provides the power, as we obey and walk in faith. Jesus said in Matthew 9:38, "So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields."

We say Go Jesus to that.

theCityshouldbedifferent

(Video available at YouTube also)