Light the Darkness

Partnership Mentoring

This is a Youtube mentoring video by Jim Davey about Partnership.  I'm a big fan of Partnership.  It is so helpful to reach out a hand to someone just ahead of you on the spiritual journey and so necessary to reach back to someone coming along with you.  I'm finding it to be a great joy.  Jim does a good job here telling his story.  If you are not a partner yet then I highly encourage it.  Partnership is a commitment to mutual mission, relationship and growth.  It is one of the primary ways we are transformed into persons living out the love of Jesus.

Navigating for Eternity

"navigating for eternity" THIS Saturday, November 1, 2008

Use this as an invitation to friends.  You can forward this URL if you'd like.  Spread the word.  Culture House is giving all Indian Creekers a 2 for 1 special.  Visit their Web Site for tickets and tell them you attend Indian Creek Community Church.   Störling Dance Theater "navigating for eternity" One Night Only !  Saturday, November 1, 2008 7:30pm Indian Creek Community Church 12480 Black Bob Road Olathe, KS  66062 $20 & $15 general seating Tickets:  913-393-3141     COME ON !! YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS !              New Work from three of our favorite choreograhers !    Don't miss the premiere of 3 new pieces by Mona Storling-Enna, Marc Wayne, and Courtney Kierl-Bourman.  One of the wonders of Storling Dance Theater is that such strong artists with such different approaches can work together so successfully.  These three top choreographers have all expressed their appreciation for getting to work with a company that is full of such broadly skilled dancers with such magnetic stage presence.    Performing alongside our choreographers will be senior company members Tawny Gentry, Asst. Artistic Director Tobin James, and Anne Wayne; company members Alexandra Wilson, Andrea Goldstein, and Laura Holladay.  Our apprentices, Jillian Daco and Mary Marshall, will be joined by guest artist, Marissa McKay, and trainees Talessa Bice, Emily Minnick, and Kristen Stanley.    Alexandra Wilson will be performing a new solo set on her by Mona Storling-Enna, entitled "Kamakazi Mamma".    Not to be missed !!

Why "Back" to God?

Jon DeWitt raised a good point in his comment, why "back" to God vs just find God.  I'm glad you are thinking Jon.  We've given this point some thought too.  The word "back" comes into play for two primary reasons, first because everyone is born into a right relationship with God until we sin.  We are created in the image of God and if we die before we are conscious of choosing our own way over and against God's way we are not living in sin.  So we start out with God.

Therefore once we choose our own way, which is how the Bible defines sin, then we need to find our way "back" to Him.  He never moves.  His arms are open wide to us.  On the cross the price for our sin is paid and forgiveness is offered.  But we must choose to embrace the grace that is already there for us.  We have to turn back to God and away from being our own god.  If we die in that state we are separated from God not by his choice but by our own.  So the need to turn back is critical!

Adding back to the phrase reminds us of the urgency and reminds us that we are the ones who left.  It actually becomes a very important word in the vision statement.  People are lost outside of a relationship with God.  For me this is a "take the hill" rally cry.  I'll give my life for that just like Jesus gave His life for me. 

Thanks for commenting, Jon.  Does this square with you?  Other thougths are welcome.

Gary Kendall

Helping People Find Their Way Back to God

If you are around Indian Creek any time at all you will hear the statement, we love God, we love people and we live out.  This is a combination of our mission statement, we love God and we love people and the beginning of our vision statement.  You may not be as familar with our vision statement, we live out the love of Jesus as a biblically functioning community that is the most powerful instrument of change.  And that is a problem.

We are considering a change to a vision statement that both reflects the important priority of fulfilling the Great Commission and is a rally cry so simple anyone can remember it.  We are trying it on for size this month so I invite you to comment.  Here is the new proposal, We live out the love of Jesus to help people find their way back to God. 

The first part is the same, we live out the love of Jesus.  The second part simplifies the spirit of the original vision statement, we want to see lives transformed through the church.  So how about saying it simply in a memorable way, we help people find their way back to God.  Jesus died for this cause.  It is our primary cause.  Obviously we want every believer to become Christlike but that process only starts if they find their way back to God. 

I think it is valuable for us to keep the priority of helping people find their way back to God front and center in all we do.  We may say it this way because the language is friendly to the people we are trying to reach.  Words like lost, evangelism, unsaved, unchurched, etc are offensive to many.  Even though they might be insider language that motivates a Christ follower to reach out they don't help us when we talk about our vision in public settings.  For that reason, helping people find their way back to God is a good way to describe what we are about.

Give it some thought and then let me hear from you. 

Gary Kendall

 

Similar but Different

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. like normal but I thought I could squeeze in another half-hour of sleep since it was Monday and it had been a busy weekend.  But that thought ended in a crash.  Then there was the sound of breaking glass and a series of thumps followed by more breaking glass.  Belinda was already up so I jumped out of bed and ran for the hallway, shouting, "what's going on" as I ran.  I didn't hear screaming so that was reassuring. I found Belinda looking down at our stairs to the basement.  Our big clock fell off the wall, crashed on the stairs breaking the glass face, bounced down the steps until coming to rest in a pile of glass at the bottom of the stairwell. 

After cleaning up the glass and vacuuming, I put the clock back together and guess what?  It worked!  The arms were a little bent and there is no glass face but all in all, it is quite functional.  That got me thinking--by then I was WIDE awake.  There are a lot of things that happen in life that turn out differently than I thought they would.  But different isn't necessarily bad it is just different.  The clock looks similar, it works fine if you don't care that it has a scrape on the side, bent arms and is missing the glass face.

My thinking moved to the disciples, perhaps because I spoke about Peter this Sunday. I'm sure you think it must be weird for my mind to go from broken clocks to the disciples but that's what happens to Pastors!  The disciples thought it was over when Jesus died but the best was yet to come in the resurrection.  Then when the church was going strong after Pentecost persecution hit.  I'm sure it seemed that was the end but in reality it was the impetus to take the Good News around the world. 

I think I am often too quick to say something went wrong when it just went differently than I expected.  What if we could let go of how we think things have to be and just believe God will make a way?  It could be similar but different and still be just fine--or in God's economy of things it might turn out even better.  I'm going to keep the faith and watch for His hand at work when things go "wrong" as soon as I can catch up on my sleep!

Change

I continue to get requests from people to post the paper copy of my messages so here is today's message.   Download Change.doc  You can get the podcast tomorrow by Noon by going to the Indian Creek Website, click on "Resources" and then Media.  Chose the message you want to hear and you can either download it as a file or listen to streaming. 

I thought Brandon Michael did a great job today on his testimony.  I appreciate his honesty and transparency.  That is one of the reasons why he is making progress.  I praise God for His ability to meet us right where we are and lead us to a better place.  I'll talk to our Worship Arts team and pass on to you how to find that story either as an audio file or on YouTube.

Thanks for your prayers today.  God is at work and we want to cooperate fully.

Daybreak Prayer

Nearly every morning I was in town Belinda and I started these 21 Days at the cross.  We called it Daybreak Prayer because we started the prayer in the dark and by the time we finished it was getting light.  There has been a great turnout.  Most days there have been double digit attendees and it has often been cold or rainy or both.  Each day there was a prayer focus that came from the chapter of John we were to read for that day.  At the end of praying together we sang a song before we went to our work day. 

I need to be quick to say we don't get more credit for praying early, at the cross or in cold weather--that's not the point.  I just want to say what a privilege it is to pray with people who love God and love Indian Creek. It is inspiring and encouraging to hear the passion and experience the commitment.  For example one day when it was raining no one wanted to leave until after 7:00 a.m. and when we did leave we were hugging and commenting about wet hair without an ounce of complaining.  People wanted to be there to pray for our friends to come to Christ, our church to grow, our country to put God first.  And that leads me to my point--why don't we do this more often?  There is a special grace and a very tangible sense of God's Spirit when we pray together in groups.  Let's do it more! 

When I think of what do I want to do to keep the spirit of the 21 Days going, praying in groups is at the top of my list.  I can invite you to three groups that I participate in, Friday morning at 6:15 a.m.; Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m.; and Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m.  All three groups meet in the Prayer Room.  Come see what I'm talking about.  Where two or three gather in His name, He is there!

21 Days Continued

I'd like to know what you are going to keep in your 'No Regrets' lifestyle as you move into the future.  Will you comment so I can hear from you?

I felt challenged to give up the nightly news to spend time reading.  Several nights I had my devotional times in the time when I am usually watching the news from 10 - 10:30 p.m. It might not seem like much to give up but if you knew how faithfully I watch the news you would understand.  When I asked God what to do and I heard that I knew it was from Him.  I've enjoyed the break although with all the upheaval on Wall Street I've been very curious.  It is probably a good use of time because I can find everything I need on the Internet anyway.  I don't want to be a slave to legalism so I won't say "never" but I have enjoyed the break.

Attempting to take a Sabbath has been challenging.  I like to work.  I love my job.  But this invitation felt right on.  I think God is inviting me into His rest (His completed work).  My role is to trust.  I've struggled with workaholism my whole adult life and I want to break free.  I'm sure I will still work hard but I also need to let go and know that God's placed a wonderful team around me, and by that I mean this congregation at Indian Creek , and even more importantly He is on the throne.  If God thought it was important to rest and he has no limits who am I to try to do differently.  This has been good for me and I want to keep working on it. 

So what will you carry forward?  I've enjoyed finding more time for God and more time just being with Belinda .  That translates to fewer regrets (I haven't quite made it to the "No" regrets yet).

Gary Kendall

People Friendly

Sometimes things that seem little are actually BIG.  Recently we made the decision at Indian Creek to allow people to take drinks into the Auditorium.  Yes, the floor slopes, yes,the seats are close together, yes it would be bad if someone spilled on someone else and it could become a mess if we don't clean regularly so why allow it?  Because we put people first.  

People seem to relax more when they have something in their hand.  They are more open to conversations.  I read a study once where a study was done on two things that both created conversations.  One test group was allowed to have a beverage and the other was not.  The ones without fidgeted more and appeared to be more self conscious in a crowd.  The ones with a drink had something to do even if no one talked to them.  They looked relaxed and it translated into more conversations.  The second study tested how many conversations took place between people walking the sidewalk.  One test group had a dog on a leash.  The other group did not.  The ones walking the dog had almost twice as many conversations as those without.  Evidently it felt safer to stop and talk or even just to say hello (maybe comment about the dog) when the motivation to be out was to walk the dog. 

Don't worry, we aren't bringing in dogs next.  However, if there is a way to help people feel more comfortable and get them into the flow of community we will do it.  We'll take on the risks to raise the comfort level because if a person relaxes enough to engage in community it will be worth it all.  Hey, they may even stay awake during my message if they have enough caffeine.  Put people first.

I wrote this last night.  Then this morning I found this article in the Kansas City Star on First Impressions.  http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/855365.html

Gary Kendall

God Did It Again

Tonight we completed our fall semester for ALPHA.  At the end of each ten week period we invite the participants to share what God is doing in their lives.  Usually there is a long pause before the first person shares and then the stories start flowing.  The presence, the power and the love of God are easily seen in the stories and the lives of the participants.

The first story was a story of healing.  At the beginning of the 21 Days a member in the class felt God impressing her to call the person who abused her as a child and offer forgiveness.  She made the call and felt a load of shame lift off her shoulders.  She thought she was doing it for the other person but as it turns out it was huge for her.  Another person shared about how he came back to Christ after going through a divorce and depression.  God used Indian Creek and Alpha to reveal to him that God never quit loving him even though he wasn't living a lifestyle God could bless.  Another person talked about breaking out of an addictive lifestyle and gave God, Partnership and ALPHA credit for a complete turn-around.  Another shared about breaking free from a Meth addiction and finding community was a missing piece in his life.  He signed up to take the next step class, The Life You've Always Wanted. A young lady stepped out to follow a prompting of God during the 21 Days and offered her gifts in a way that she thought was insignificant only to learn that it was a dead hit on the target for what someone else needed to hear.  She was thrilled to be used of God. A mom shared how when she came back to Christ that two of her adult children also decided to choose Christ. 

We went overtime listening to the way God is at work in this class of 40 persons.  There were more stories than I listed here.  It is inspiring to see the look on the face of the one sharing.  It is obvious God is up to something divine.  When you consider that most of the people taking ALPHA are either brand new to faith in Jesus or coming back to faith after a detour it is even more remarkable.  The reality is that just 12 weeks ago most of the class was in a totally different place spiritually.  I just never get tired of seeing the amazing ways that God is at work.  Do it again God!