Hey everybody, I can’t tell you how often I hear pastors talk about their churches and how they just can’t get folks to serve or give. I want you to know that in my 19 years as pastor I have never felt that way about you. Sunday was another day for you to show the heart you have for God and others. 257 of you signed up to serve in some capacity in ministry! Wow, this is exciting and a great sign for our future potential.
Many of you have already received phone calls or emails from ministry leaders to help you know how to take the next step so that you get plugged in. I want to ask you to make their task easier by returning their calls or emails promptly. I also want to ask you for patience as the ministry leaders do their best to contact you and answer all your questions. Lastly I want to ask you to take the next step to finding or discovering your place of service. It’s not a life-time obligation. It’s simply a place where you can get your feet wet and test out the waters.
If you missed Sunday, you’ll want to listen or watch the message. I described how you can discover the fulfillment and joy of serving.
Here are several events you’ll want to make plans to attend –
Journey Classes – January 30 at 3pm
Baptisms – February 6 – attend the class this Sunday at 9:35am
Rethink Leadership – February 12 at 8:30am – a great opportunity for everyone who wants to grow
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we talk about Radical Prayer. I hope you’ll all be ready to hear the challenge God has laid on my heart for our church family concerning this prayer.
Pastor Ron
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
This Week at Twin Cities - January 20, 2011
Hey everybody, I want to talk about one way we’ve seen God bless our church so much in the past year. Last January I made a list of potential speakers for Sunday mornings (there were six) and began to pray about what God might have next for us in our teaching ministry.
Last week, we heard from the last person on that list, Fritz Moga, and based upon your responses, we’re on to something. You really enjoyed hearing from Fritz. If you weren’t here, make sure to watch or listen to the service online. Fritz did a superb job as he encouraged us to be part of “Radical Community.”
The principle I’m operating from is this: People love variety. If you serve the same meal again and again, your family will get tired of it no matter how good it is. The same is true with everything we do. So, over the past year both Dave Bollen and I have been looking at ways to increase the involvement and variety of experience you get on Sunday mornings.
We’ve done that by increasing our teaching rotation to six speakers. We’ve increased our music/worship leader rotation as well. We’ve also changed up our message and music content. We still have relevant messages and awesome music, but we now are seeking to be more intentional in being broader in selection and style. We feel this fits with where our culture is and coincides with all we learned from the Reveal study we did two years ago about how people grow in their journey with Jesus.
I believe we’re on track to help people grow by offering different styles and voices from which our experience will be gleaned. I look forward to all God is going to do in the next year to help us be even more strategic at reaching people.
Speaking with more intentionality,
Pastor Ron
Last week, we heard from the last person on that list, Fritz Moga, and based upon your responses, we’re on to something. You really enjoyed hearing from Fritz. If you weren’t here, make sure to watch or listen to the service online. Fritz did a superb job as he encouraged us to be part of “Radical Community.”
The principle I’m operating from is this: People love variety. If you serve the same meal again and again, your family will get tired of it no matter how good it is. The same is true with everything we do. So, over the past year both Dave Bollen and I have been looking at ways to increase the involvement and variety of experience you get on Sunday mornings.
We’ve done that by increasing our teaching rotation to six speakers. We’ve increased our music/worship leader rotation as well. We’ve also changed up our message and music content. We still have relevant messages and awesome music, but we now are seeking to be more intentional in being broader in selection and style. We feel this fits with where our culture is and coincides with all we learned from the Reveal study we did two years ago about how people grow in their journey with Jesus.
I believe we’re on track to help people grow by offering different styles and voices from which our experience will be gleaned. I look forward to all God is going to do in the next year to help us be even more strategic at reaching people.
Speaking with more intentionality,
Pastor Ron
Thursday, January 13, 2011
This Week at Twin Cities - January 13, 2011
Hey everybody, We discovered on Sunday that one meaning of the word, “Radical” (the title to our new series), is “rooted in the source.” The idea is that we are only normal (radical) as we remain rooted to our source. Since our source is Jesus Christ the connection is obvious. We will only be as radical as we are connected to Jesus. Since it’s His desire that we live our lives as He would live our lives, it’s vitally important that we develop habits and disciplines that will keep us connected to Him.
Example: On Sunday, after I gave my talk, I took my kids out for a quick lunch and then we went home. I’ve been living as a single dad while Kimberly is in Uganda. What happened, that my kids so lovingly pointed out to me is that I was “grumpy.” And they were right. So, I decided to concentrate on my responses to them the rest of the evening. Guess what? I acted differently.
My kids were the stimulus God used to point out to me that Jesus probably would not have been responding that way. I asked Him to help me change this about myself. What that means is that He’s going to give me even more opportunities to work on this until the “Jesus response” is my natural response. Folks, this is why our church teaches the way we do. Our teaching style assumes that truth (information) + action (application) = life change (transformation). I got to practice responding as Jesus would.
Sunday I described the difference between being a Christian, a label a person wears, and being a Follower of Jesus, role a person assumes. I had several people thank me for the clarification, and they told me they were going to ask their friends who feel turned off by Christianity to watch the message online. If you weren’t in church Sunday, you might want to watch or listen online. You might even want to forward this email or link to a friend you know who is confused or turned off by the observations they have about how Christians act.
Looking forward to Sunday as we talk about being a Radical Community,
Pastor Ron
Example: On Sunday, after I gave my talk, I took my kids out for a quick lunch and then we went home. I’ve been living as a single dad while Kimberly is in Uganda. What happened, that my kids so lovingly pointed out to me is that I was “grumpy.” And they were right. So, I decided to concentrate on my responses to them the rest of the evening. Guess what? I acted differently.
My kids were the stimulus God used to point out to me that Jesus probably would not have been responding that way. I asked Him to help me change this about myself. What that means is that He’s going to give me even more opportunities to work on this until the “Jesus response” is my natural response. Folks, this is why our church teaches the way we do. Our teaching style assumes that truth (information) + action (application) = life change (transformation). I got to practice responding as Jesus would.
Sunday I described the difference between being a Christian, a label a person wears, and being a Follower of Jesus, role a person assumes. I had several people thank me for the clarification, and they told me they were going to ask their friends who feel turned off by Christianity to watch the message online. If you weren’t in church Sunday, you might want to watch or listen online. You might even want to forward this email or link to a friend you know who is confused or turned off by the observations they have about how Christians act.
Looking forward to Sunday as we talk about being a Radical Community,
Pastor Ron
Thursday, January 6, 2011
This Week at Twin Cities - January 6, 2011
Hey everybody, we’re beginning 2011 with a wonderful opportunity to hear from God. On Sunday, Rick Henderson, one of our pastors overseeing Student Ministry, spectacularly launched our new “Radical” series with an inspiring message on the power of reading the Bible. If you missed it, make sure to watch or listen online. I am so grateful for the way God has developed the team of speakers and leaders here at Twin Cities. We are blessed in a huge way with the men and women God has gifted and called to serve here with us.
Speaking of calling, on Sunday we are going to look at what it means to be a Radical Follower of Jesus. From the research I’ve done, the books I’ve read and the voices I’ve heard, the consensus is that the “church” has done a disservice to the world by misrepresenting (albeit innocently) what it means to be a Christian.
I hope to unpack this on Sunday and help us realize that Jesus never intended us to sign up for Christianity or religion, but He called us to become disciples. He called us to be men and women who follow Him with all of our lives.
This series is crucial in us being able to understand what kind of church God wants us to be in the coming decade. 2011 is our preparation year as we look forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2012. We want to seek His face desperately over the next year, together, so that we can get in touch with His unique purpose for us.
Becoming radical with you,
Pastor Ron
ps. Please pray for my wife, Kimberly, and Janene Bello who left Thursday morning to serve our sister church in Uganda. Pray for courage and boldness for them and for spiritual breakthrough in everyone attending the Bugembe World Miracle Center Women’s Conference!
Speaking of calling, on Sunday we are going to look at what it means to be a Radical Follower of Jesus. From the research I’ve done, the books I’ve read and the voices I’ve heard, the consensus is that the “church” has done a disservice to the world by misrepresenting (albeit innocently) what it means to be a Christian.
I hope to unpack this on Sunday and help us realize that Jesus never intended us to sign up for Christianity or religion, but He called us to become disciples. He called us to be men and women who follow Him with all of our lives.
This series is crucial in us being able to understand what kind of church God wants us to be in the coming decade. 2011 is our preparation year as we look forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2012. We want to seek His face desperately over the next year, together, so that we can get in touch with His unique purpose for us.
Becoming radical with you,
Pastor Ron
ps. Please pray for my wife, Kimberly, and Janene Bello who left Thursday morning to serve our sister church in Uganda. Pray for courage and boldness for them and for spiritual breakthrough in everyone attending the Bugembe World Miracle Center Women’s Conference!
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