theCityChurch begins season to focus on serving the least...Day 1 of 90 Day Journey, 9-26-12 #cancelworshipservicesfor90days

SUNDAY GATHERING INFO: We will NOT meet at Stellar Beans on Sunday's, from September 30 till Christmas.  We WILL be meeting as a community on mission together to equip to serve others, including the least, or to go and serve.  Why the change? Well the video above and text below, and the last few posts will give you the picture.  THIS SUNDAY we are meeting at Paul's house from 10:45-Noon.  You are welcome to join in on the 90 Day Journey.  Need directions?  Call/text/email/tweet Paul, 337-794-9891, paul@theCityChurch.us, @paulpettefer.  

How do you feel about adventure?  It's fun to watch on movies, but in real life, it can be scarry!

As a church, we recognized something in recent days: that we were fairly equipped to having worship gatherings, but were not nearly as equipped to serve others, especially the least of these...so we are doing something to remedy the situation: From now until Christmas Day (90 days) let's focus all we do on learning, as a team, to be others oriented, that is, to learn to serve others, especially the least of these.

That means we have canceled our regular Sunday Worship Gatherings, and are spending our energies on learning to serve others.  For a pastor of a church, that, my friends, is a little scary!  We are using an incredible resource, the Barefoot Church Primer as our primary tool in walking us through the first part of this process.  It's a daily walk our whole church is doing together.  Oh, and the author of the book and the primer (a daily guide) is walking us through this with a daily blog (here is day 1, today, http://barefootprimer.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/week-1-day-1/.

Our journey using the Primer will have us gathering as a Missional Community on Day 5, which is Sunday Morning, and our first week is at Paul's house (email paul@theCityChurch.us. or text 794-9891 for directions).

Keep checking out theCityChurch's website at www.theCityShouldBeDifferent.com, or on  www.Facebook.com/theCityChurch for updates and to participate.

Join in with us anytime, or bring the 90 days to your church or group!

Because God's love is real...theCityShouldBeDifferent

paul

Baptism Party on River TOMORROW (No Gathering at Stellar Beans)

Tomorrow, we will NOT meet at Stellar Beans, but are gathering at 116 Villa Drive, Westlake (MAP) at a great house on the West Fork of the Calcasieu River for a Baptism Party!

• Worship Gathering concluding in Baptism from 10:45-Noon
• Party on the River (including pool, boatriding, jet ski's, brisket, music, friends, fun) from Noon until tired!

You are welcome - and invite a friend!  Questions or need something, call/text paul 794-9891

Something More (part 3)

Did I mention yet that change is hard?

There are a lot of hard changes.  Like the one where you discover that after banging my head on the wall time after time, getting in arguments with friends, getting bitter, chasing after things that seem indispensable but fail to pay off...that the problem is...me! This is an essential step in discovering that God's Hope is available for you and me. But it requires that we be willing to change.

Another time when change is necessary is when you want to do something different. We are planting theCityChurch because something needs to be different. Again, we're NOT against any churches - if you're for Jesus, we're for you! However, the church in America is in decline. There are lots of articles about this, here are two that were at the top of a google search: Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/28/trends-for-us-churches-mostly-pointing-down_n_985886.html, Ed Stetzer, Chief Missiologist at Lifeway Research, http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/06/sbc-2011-statistical-realities.html.

So, we're planting this church, and in our Rallying Cry, theCityShouldBeDifferent, there is the call for theCityChurch to be different, and for our city, Lake Charles and SWLA, to be different. But, as I just said, being different, changing, is hard to do! We naturally drift toward the things we like or are accustomed to. This reality requires us to regularly re-look at our objective, and examine how we need to adapt to stay on course.

Even new things like new churches need to do this. So, we're doing just that right now at theCityChurch.

One very helpful handle is to think of the activities of a church in these two categories:

Gathering and Scattering

What we are discovering is that we are much more accustomed to and better at the Gathering types of activities. Worship Gatherings, Community Group gatherings, Bible Study gatherings, and general party/social/hanging out gatherings.  That only makes sense, since that is what we have tended to do, historically, in church in our culture.  We're more familiar with gathering, so we're better at it.  Again, this is NOT a bad thing - Gathering it Vital, Life-Giving, Required to be the Church the Bible describes. We need to Gather!  The work church literally means, gathered people. So, we will gather and we say #RightOnToThat

What we have recognized is that saying that you want to go out and serve, setting that up as a key value and preaching about it (all of which we have done) is still leaving us with a gap to fill. We just haven't done serving and scattering very much, and aren't sure what to do, or how to do it. So, theCityChurch is going to build our skills and experience at Scattering. Specifically, focusing on serving others, making the Kingdom of God tangible to people. Serving others includes our neighbors (people like us) and serving the least of these (the poor). We will do this as a community, so it's a 2-for-1 special! 

The U.S. Marines have a motto, Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.  I heard Clint Eastwood quote that in the movie, Heartbreak Ridge, and it's stuck with me ever since.  We are going to adapt at theCityChurch to learn to train our own hearts and hands to be a community of faith that goes out on Jesus mission to serve others, making disciples as we go! 

The world, our city included, needs to see the church of Jesus learn to scatter, to go out and love and serve, to be on mission as a community of faith. Jesus said to make disciples, and serving others is a vital part of that mission - it trains us to remember that "it's not about me."  

I'm pumped! You can join in our our path of discovery, adapting and walking it out!

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"  Jesus, quoted by his disciple, Matthew 25:40

Something More (Part 2)

Since we're planting a church with the motto, theCityShouldBeDifferent, it's easy to talk a lot about the things we want to see changed, in ourselves, in our church and in our city.

And that's ok.

But let's be super, crystal, look down and see the sand and shells at the sea floor in 30 foot of water clear:

Following Jesus is where it's at.

This part does not change. Ever.

Jesus said his followers were to Love God.
                                                        And love people (including each other).
                                                                  And make disciples (followers) of him.
                                                                           Repeat.

No conversation about "Something More" can skip over the foundation that the Gospel of Jesus is THE Good News that the whole world needs. That our city needs. We can never skip over the grace of God revealed to the whole world in Jesus.

No forms of church or methods are more central than following Jesus. If we have the "perfect" form and don't follow Jesus in love and make disciples who do the same, we've missing everything.

#RockOn
paul

Something More (part 1)

I'm going to ask a couple of questions, and then answer different parts of them in a series of posts over the next few weeks.  Here is the first question:

"Is church something I go to on Sundays?"

I am leader in a church.  I listen to podcasts and go to conferences where other church leaders talk about the themes of church leadership, what's working well, what's not, and how to follow Jesus with all you are.  It's easy for leaders to either keep doing what we've always done (hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it), or want to throw rocks at the church and in frustration take pride in a desire to storm out the door of "traditional" church and be more "real," or whatever.

Those discussions have a place and can be super helpful.

We live in the South, and I rarely meet people who have zero experience with church.  Most folks here have had at least a little exposure to church life somewhere along the way.  And they drive past lots of churches all throughout the city.  And those who are not now vitally connected to a church are voting with their lives that "church life" is not for them.

There are lots of possible reasons for that.  Part of what I think is missing for many people is a visible, breathing, person in their life who demonstrates church is not just a meeting you attend where you watch as leaders sing or teach.  Church is not a club you join.  Church is not an event you attend.  Church is not a set of beliefs you ascribe to.  A church is a family, a spiritual family, seeking to connect with God and each other.  A church is this spiritual family seeking to be a part of God's amazing love story where He meets messed up people right where they are, mess and all, and brings freedom.  And He uses His Church to accomplish this.

I like gathering as a church.  A lot!  We usually call this a "Church Service."  I can't remember many times I walked away from one and didn't feel blessed to be there.  I'll say it: I love church gatherings!  Going, participating, putting them on, speaking at them.  Oh yeah!

But there is something more than attending gatherings.

Anytime we face the need to change, it's scary.  And unless the change was our own idea, we usually resist.

I was just looking on my Facebook feed for a quick picture to put on this post, and I found this one from last semester.  My bro, Willie King, is a classroom mentor, and some of the kids from a class he worked with got parent permission and came and helped do a "dash for trash" at a nearby neighborhood. We made 4 trips to this neighborhood, and the kids learned some cool things about working together.  It was fun.

That picture can be a decent little metaphor for "something more".  There's a black dude arm-in-arm with a white dude. That means we must have some things in common that are greater than the things we have that separate.  We're not standing at either person's church property.  And the picture wasn't taken before or after a church gathering.  It's in a neighborhood, at a park.  And the sign we are standing in front of tells simple and compelling story:

You are the vehicle for our city to be different.  

You, church, are the means by which renewal will come. The folks who have voted with their lives not to be vitally connected to a church are not expecting us to do this.  What they are are expecting from us, well, can I say this...they are expecting us to have a lot of meetings, to invite them to our meetings once in a while, and for us to be against some things when it comes election time.

I don't hear people outside the church saying they are expecting church people to be positive, life-giving, generous, willing to sacrifice, loving, listening, humble, and serving.  They aren't usually talking bad about church people; they just aren't thinking about us much at all.

There is something more: A whole life of learning to follow Jesus in his way of love, grace and truth.  Jesus said these markers were the signs of His new Kingdom.  And when people who don't know Jesus yet see these markers, they start expecting more good news, which is exactly what Jesus brings.

#theCityShouldBeDifferent

paul, on mission for Lake Charles

P.S. We'll unpack this more as we go, but to keep us on the same page, I am NOT talking about burning out for Jesus. I'm NOT taking about being an over-the-top zealot who is constantly talking about church. I am NOT talking about bring at a Bible study or service project every night.  I am NOT talking about the church being a place for people who have overcome all their problems and are now ready to give back - NO, the church is a spiritual family EXACTLY FOR people who have huge problems and need God to provide remedy.  Jesus said his burden was easy. Let's explore this together

No Strings, No Catch...Good News! Bringing fruit to teachers in our city

The word Gospel literally means, "good news."  God knew that we needed some really Good News, so He sent Jesus.

When people see people see church people coming, they should think, "Hey, good news is on the way."  Sometimes when they see us coming, it's like knowing a telemarketer is on the way, and they are looking for a place to hide.  I don't know about you, but with the advent of caller id, the telemarketer's never get to talk to me...if it says "Out of Area" on my home phone, I let it ring.  And if I do pick up and get a script-repeating telemarketer on the phone, I can't wait to get off the line.  Never have I heard from a script-reader and thought, "Wow, this is really good news!"

We are bringing some simple good news to the teachers and staff at a couple of Elementary Schools we are fans of in the city.  We were privileged to be able to do some simple volunteering for JFK Elementary last year, and are doing so again this year.  We also have someone who is a part of theCityChurch whose son attends A.A. Nelson Elementary.

So we are fans of both of these great schools, and as a way of showing we care, we are bringing a fresh fruit basket to their teacher's lounges.  Simple ways to be Good News and to bring that good news with you wherever you go.

Believing that theCityWillBeDifferent, I remain sincerely your servant, paul

Heart Matters

The Condition of the Heart Matters.

We aren't trees, so we have feelings.  Emotions are wonderful, and reflect a God who created us in His image, full of emotions.

But unlike God, our hearts can get into trouble.  That's why the Proverbs give us this truth:

"Above all else, Guard your heart,

     for it is the wellspring of life."  Proverbs 4:23

You can view the messages on the Heart at our Ustream.tv page, and can view the discussion we are having on Joy in the Heart today Live on Ustream or at 319 Broad St, 10:45 Sunday.

God's heart is For You!

Love, paul

Declaration of...(In)Dependence

General George Washington, on his knees, desperate for God

I LOVE America!  I'm serious.  #Loveit


On the 4th of July, it's good to celebrate what we have in America - A Grand Experiment in Freedom!  I’m proud of our history, including how our nation has self-corrected away from terrible injustice.  For example, we moved from days where black men and women could be owned as property to a glorious day where a man whose ancestors were born in Africa is the duly elected president of the United States!  That’s a successful experiment in Freedom!

America is great because America is good.  Not sinless, not perfect, with several black eyes along the way, but she has been an enormous force for good in the world.  It's very fashionable to bash America, both within our own borders and abroad, but a cursory review of the broad strokes of history reveal a self-sacrificing nation that has championed freedom here and around the globe and spent our own blood and treasure not to conquer enemies and take over nations in empire building, but to free people from tyranny so they can have their own experiment in self-government.  (We don't rule over Japan, Germany, or Italy who we and our allies defeated in WWII, nor over Russia's empire toppled in the Cold War, etc.)

I'm so proud of America!  

However: America is NOT the savior.

Our theology (theology means how we view and understand God) is NOT to be America-centric.  I don’t think we’re going to be speaking English in Heaven.  We are a blessed nation, and because we have much we are responsible for much…but we are not in control of the world.  

Americans need to remember...let me focus this in a bit: People who follow Jesus in America need to remember that Freedom comes from the mouth of God, and we are DEPENDANT on God.  

The Founders of our Nation realized this.  President Washington appealed to God in his 1st inaugural address, 

"...who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States..."

The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.  Its final paragraph states this very well...I'll let you read it:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.  http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

Freedom was presented to humanity when God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sin and set up a new Kingdom, where God's grace could bring freedom to every human heart.  That's what the Declaration of Indenendance draws from as it delcares, 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We, church, are dependent on Divine Providence, the Hand of Almighty God, for our freedom. For our very lives!  Let's celebrate with Joy on July 4th how God has provided political and religious freedom in America and then use our Freedom to be a City on a Hill!  (Jesus said that in Matthew 5, referring to how people should see his followers, the church, as a City on a Hill, giving light to guide people to freedom.)

We say RockOn to that!

What makes this even better is that God is going to finish the story, and it's going to be better than America. Better than any nation ruled by man.  Here is how the Apostle Paul said it, 

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ..." Philippians 3:20

#letfreedomring

paul

Gathering at Stellar Beans Tomorrow (been a cool 3 weeks!)

In the last 3 weeks we have been doing some interesting stuff:

• Supporting Kids in Schools
• We helped put on the Field Day at JFK Elementary by volunteering and bringing the prizes.  
• We also brought some new P.E. equipment and benches needed at the school.
• Participated in classroom mentoring at JFK during the year, and the American Press wrote a great article, which you can find here, 
• We participated in the Graduation of the 5th graders there.  25 5th graders at JFK and ALL of them passed the LEAP!  11 of the class scored as Advanced or Mastery - WOW!  We will be participating Shadowing a Professional with these kids and others this summer.  
• 2 weeks ago, we held our Worship Gathering at the Civic Center Seawall, at the Marina and had a great boat party afterward.  We were able to take kids in the boat and tubing who had never been in a boat before.  We got to meet and worship Jesus with people we met at the Civic Center.  We prayed over our city, while we were at one of the keystone places.  
• Last weekend we had:
• Mancamp at Toledo Bend - way cool!  We fished, swam, threw ax's, cooked meat over fire, went tubing behind the boat, watched Saving Private Ryan, and worshiped Jesus around a fire...what else can you say!
• Ladychurch at ShaSha's - Jesus' people can meet anywhere.  We think that theCityChurch should be different, too!  
• We moved our Freedom Display to the Water's Edge Gatering's Community Theater for the 5K Run for Freedom today to support International Justice Mission - very cool!  Ben Spenser was in charge of creating the interactive experience to tell the story about the enslaved, and we were so glad to support that effort!

Tomorrow we gather at Stellar Beans again, after a couple of weeks doing other things.  I can't wait to see you at 10:45 tomorrow.  We're starting a new series, and it will be very interesting!

We're planting a church because we want God's love to make our city different.

Paul

Mentor Paul Pettefer congratulates Ja’marlin LaFleur on winning a “PBIS award.” LaFleur was given the award when a teacher caught him doing something nice for someone else. (Michelle Higginbotham / Special the American Press)

Girl Church Is Gonna Be Fun!

Today's post is written by April.

I wanted all the City Church ladies to know about our "girl church" plans for tomorrow and also why we're doing something different this Sunday. Tomorrow we will meet at Sha-Sha's downtown at 11:30 to share a meal and some Jesus conversation. We won't be gathering like we usually do, but there is a reason for that.

I want us to be able to spend some time learning about how Jesus is working in each other's lives and encouraging one another.  I think it will be easier to do that over a shared meal - and it's Biblical. Jesus taught His disciples over meals several times. And I think we'll have a better conversation over lunch. (No one will feel like she's in the spotlight this way!)

Let's spend some time talking about things we are thankful for, things God is teaching us (even those things we feel we're taking a long time to learn!), and those places in our lives where we need some prayer and encouragement. 

I hope to see all our ladies there! And, if finances are an issue, let me know, and The City Church can pick up your tab.