Choir rehearsals have started for the year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being back with the choir. This year and a half has been a tough stretch. I haven’t had the weekly contact with them, since most of my time is spent working on the contemporary services in the gym. Phil Woodworth, Christopher Kraus, and Ruth Ann Stovicek have done a wonderful job in my absence, but I have missed my time with the choir.

Yesterday was an especially powerful rehearsal for me, because it was a keen reminder of why God has us in community; why God, in His wisdom created the church as a body. One of our members informed us of an unfavorable medical prognosis. We were all very saddened at the news. But then, a response that could only happen in the body of Christ took place. We surrounded this member, laid our hands on them, and prayed for healing and blessing for all involved.

I was blown away to watch this member receive the blessing of our prayers. I was blown away as I watched our members fervently seek God’s intervention on behalf of this member and the family. We all needed this time, and God in his love gave it to us and blessed us.

So how was this evening a display of God’s wisdom? God places us in community that people would know Him though how we love each other. Jesus told his disciples in the week leading up to his death; “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34

We love each other to show Christ to each other and the world. If you find yourself a part of this church and are looking for that kind of community, please talk to us, Pastor Karl Nockengost in particular, about becoming part of a small group. Through this ministry, we look to find authentic community where God’s love can show through our love for each other to the world around us.

–Sam Stein

I was recently confronted with the challenge of communications, and both incidents involved my youngest son Andrew.

The first incident occurred on the golf course. I took him golfing for the first time last month. Being his first time, success was not the goal, fun was. He hacked his way down the fairways, trying to get comfortable swinging a club. Midway through the round he was getting confident, and decided he wanted to hit the ball as far as daddy. As any golfer knows, when you try to hit the ball far, you tend to “pull off the ball”, oftentimes missing it completely, which he was. My appropriate encouragement to him was, “Andrew, keep you head down.” Imagine my surprise when his next swing was attempted with his head 15″ from the ball. He took me literally! “I kept my head down dad, but that was really hard!”

The next incident happened yesterday, as I was playing badminton with my kids on vacation. Andrew and I were teamed up against Alex and Anna, his older siblings. At a particularly tense moment in the match, I hollered the encouragement to him, “Alright Andrew, let go get em!” He proceeded to charge under the net and whack his brother with his racket! Again, in the mind of a 4 year old that was probably the correct response. (That and he loves any chance to hit anyone with anything. He is four, remember!)

I made the mistake in both occasions of assuming my audience would understand my cliched instructions. He responded based on his experience in a way he thought would honor my request.

After both incidents, I was challenged to rethink how I approach planning worship services on Sunday. Oftentimes we use “insider talk”, words like “sanctification, justification, atonement” and phrases, “saved by grace through faith”, “Christ’s blood covers our sin”. The list is endless. While these words communicate strongly to those of us striving to understand their meaning, to an audience with no understanding or background, these words can be quite confusing, without proper explanation.

We are building a new building with the anticipation that many people with limited or no church background will join us at our invitation. It is a challenge to me to make sure the experience they find won’t be cluttered with confusing “insider talk”, but will provide opportunities for people to experience the Love of God that is waiting to transform their lives.

–Sam Stein

My family and I are spending the first part of our vacation in my hometown, Glenwood, Minnesota. This past weekend, the town hosted its annual summer celebration, “Waterama“, which, for the first time in 15 years, I attended as a spectator, and a father of three.

If you know me at all, you know that my pride for “The Homeland” runs deep. But I need you to hear what I say next apart from my loyalties and my pride. I was blown away by what I saw this weekend. This town of 2500 people put on a 4 day festival that included:
10 different athletic tournaments/competitions
a full scale musical production (Radiogals) that ran 4 nights
3 nights of street dances
special shopping days for the local business
three separate parades–a kiddie parade, a lighted pontoon parade on Lake Minnewaska, and a grand day parade of more than 100 units.
a vintage car show
arts and crafts displays
helicopter rides
and to cap it off…a very respectable fireworks show.

Again, I say this not to brag, but for inspiration. What is waiting for me when my family gets back from vacation is a season of our churches life together that I am really looking forward to: the opening of the new building. This is an occasion worthy of a celebration! This is a time to celebrate what God has brought us through, and more importantly what God has waiting for us once we open those doors. We get to celebrate with anticipation the thousands of lives that God will impact through us, His church, and the new building He has blessed us with. The 2500 citizens of Glenwood hosted a community festival for pride, and did an amazing job of it. The 1600 people that call BVBC home get to host a season of celebration, welcoming people to our new facilities, and a potiential encounter with the loving God who longs to transform their lives! Our cause is greater, and our resources more numerous. With God’s help, let’s knock this thing out of the park! I look forward to working with you all to celebrate what our great God has done and is doing.

–Sam Stein

Well, we are wrapping up our trip to Nicaragua!  You can read our updates on www.SummitDE.com, the student ministry blog.  Here are a couple of our video updates; the first one was from our third day in Nicaragua, the second one is from our seventh day.  Enjoy!

- Pastor Matthew

Hey parents (or anyone interested!), if you want to get on the text message update list to get occasional updates blasted to your cell phone from the Maine mission team, just click the link below and fill out your information!  This is different than our email prayer updates; these will be more along the lines of real time short status updates (for example, ‘we arrived safely in Maine’).  There won’t be more than one a day.  Don’t worry, the sign up screen is secure!

Sign up for our TXT message alerts!

- Pastor Matthew

Sometimes being a youth pastor is the best thing in the world! The above is a note from four middle school girls to me during last February’s winter retreat. To give you some back story, I heard through the grapevine (other middle school girls) that these four were planning on spraying me with some water. I decided to do a preemptive strike, so when they were talking with me and asked what I would do if someone pranked me, I told them “I would probably do something like this …” and then I totally sprayed them all and ran away before they could get me. Well, a couple hours later they found me and managed to hit me with some water. Then they gave me the above note, which reads:

Matthew – we know that we already sprayed you with water but you got all 4 of us and we only got you. So to make it even we have to get you 3 more times. So watch out man! IT IS WAR!

From: Katie, Kelsey, Laura, Kayla

P.S. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya! Ha Ha Ha. LOL!

P.P.S. If you want to get us we are all in cabin Keystone room 3.

Wow. I just about died. That has got to be my favorite note of all time – I still start laughing every time I read it!

And that is just another reason why middle school ministry is AWESOME.

Here it is!  The music video from our high school all night event, Endless Night (May 1-2, 2009)!  Good times!  Let me know what you think!

- Pastor Matthew

Nothing matters as what a person believes about the world around us. Below are two versions of Psalm 23. Which one fits what you believe about the world.

The unfettered pursuit of happiness is my shepherd, I will not be thwarted.

            The grass is always greener on the other side,

a little white water never hurt anybody,

and excitement keeps me going.

This pursuit takes me down the path of self-fulfillment

for my well-being.

Even though I risk my health

and damage people around me,

I will fear no evil:

I have insurance;

My doctor and my lawyer

will make it all okay again.

The entertainment world reassures me,

            when others judge me,

that most people are like me.

            I can handle this!

Surely pleasure and security will follow me

            all the days of my life,

and I will shop the malls of America forever.

OR

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

The path we choose makes all the difference.

                                                                                                        Pastor Bo Matthews

“These are the words of him whose head and hair are white like wool, as white as snow, and whose eyes are like blazing fire: I know your concern for the poor and the suffering. He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.

“I know your passion to balance the righteous demands of my commandments with the unfailing need for mercy by sinners. You have not cast the first stone. You have tried to remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from the eye of your brother.

“And yet, I have this against you: You are anxious and distracted by many things. The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things threaten to choke the word of God in you. Purity of heart is to will one thing. I counsel you to seek me first. All these other things will then fall into place.

“You are also like the eye that says to the hand, “I don’t need you;” and like the head that says to the foot, “I don’t need you.” Without your brothers and sisters in other churches you are as clumsy as a hand without an eye to guide it or a head without a foot to do its bidding. I counsel you to remember that you are part of a whole. If you do not repent, I will give you over to anxiety and the illusion of your self-sufficiency.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

The Book of Revelation for our time.

                                                                                                   Pastor Bo

The following is adapted from the Just Walk Across the Room sermon series; this segment is based on chapters 3-5 of the book.

Deciding to “just walk” is one thing, but knowing what to do once you reach the destination – the person standing on the other side of the room – is quite
another!  Living in 3D encourages Christ-followers to learn how to reach out to others effectively once they find themselves standing in the Zone of the Unknown. Awkward first meetings can grow into transformational friendships by tuning into the Spirit and by choosing to “live in 3D”:

• Developing friendships
• Discovering stories
• Discerning next steps

Too often, the trajectory Christians follow is that the longer they walk with Christ, the more isolated and insulated they become from the world they are called to reach. Instead of openly accepting and embracing people who are far from God, they snub their noses at anyone who isn’t already “in” the circle.

Living in 3D, Christ-followers find that the mission Jesus lived and died for can be fulfilled in their lives too: people who name the name of Christ can be God’s loving hands and active feet in a world that desperately needs to know God’s care. Christ-followers need to begin viewing every interaction as a potential friendship in the making – an opportunity to learn of another person’s journey, as well as to add value to that person’s life by naturally and appropriately sourcing the needs they reveal.

What do you think about the idea that Christians often times find themselves isolated from the world?  How do we avoid that?  What are ways that you intentionally try to develop friendships, discover their stories and discern the next steps you will take with the person you have walked across the room to?

- Pastor Matthew