Light the Darkness

God's Viewpoint

Last week Belinda and I attended the Exponential  conference in Orlando, FL.  It was tremendous! There were 3,000 church planters and/or people committed to building movements of multiplication.  As you could imagine we were soaking up the vision with like minded people.  It was combustable!

Often my mind returned to the challenges we have at home in funding our budget and developing people to fulfill the multiplication model God has given.  At one point in time it was almost like God spoke to me from heaven and said you are looking at things from your point of view and not mine.  You are worried about a multi-site church of 1300 and wondering how you can plant 20 reproducing neighborhood churches while I am looking at a city of 2M and 1M of them are my children but they don't know me.  Your plans are way too small.  You aren't thinking my thoughts you are thinking way too small.  I felt appropriately corrected. 

I'm asking these days to dream God's dream for Kansas City.  If we can plant 20 neighborhood reproducing churches by 2020 what would 2035 look like.  Indian Creek will be 50 years old, how many churches will we have planted by then, 50?  What will it take to reach a city for Christ?  I am committed to seeking God's point of view.  Honestly, I don't believe I've heard His 50 year vision but I'm listening and I'm dreaming about reaching a whole city for Christ because I think that is what is on the heart of God--the whole city.

Gary Kendall

Olathe Serve Day Results are In!

More than 20 churches were involved and we saw God do amazing things as we served together.  (Compiled by Rod Janzten)

45 home projects were completed for needy Olathe residents (we worked with the city on this initiative).  Thank you to Tom Craig from Westside Nazarene for coordinating this effort.

16 Olathe parks and their respective trails were cleaned as volunteers prayed over our city while picking up trash.  Thank you to Randy Bentele from Olathe Bible Church for coordinating this effort.

150 single mothers and widows received a free oil change, car check up and lunch at Bretts Autoworks and Christian Brothers.  Thanks you to Jeff and Marlene Bettes from Life Church for coordinating this effort.

4000 food items were collected as volunteers sorted the food and stocked the shelves of three local food pantries.  Thank you to Julie Huff from Westside Nazarene for coordinating this effort.

5 Title One Olathe Schools (schools in low income areas) were served, cleaned and beautified, with the intent of churches adopting the schools in future months.  Thank you to Rick Bradshaw from College Church for coordinating this effort.

2 pre-fabricated homes were built on site at ODAC to be constructed for a needy family in Spring Hill and another family in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans later this summer.  An additional $1250 was needed on Saturday to complete the wall building efforts and about $1600 was collected by the volunteers.  Thank you to Tom Bassford of Significant Matters for coordinating this project.

 "All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord." (emphasis mine Acts 9:35).

Can an entire city be transformed for Jesus Christ? The book of Acts reveals that at least one city was. There are four key ingredients required among its Christian leaders to see a city transformed. These include prayer, humility, unity, and knowledge of God's ways.

Join me and other pastors and Olathe residents next Thursday, May 7 at noon on the County Courthouse steps for the National Day of Prayer observance as we gather to pray for our city, state and country.

Loved, Believe it!

Do you ever get a song in your mind that you can't get out?  Not that that's a bad thing!  I've been thinking about the song, "Sing, Sing, Sing" recently.  Or maybe you notice a particular thing and then everywhere you look you seem to see that.  I've been loving the red bud trees and since I'm looking for them I see them everywhere.  Sometimes we do the same thing with a thought.  The last few days I've been reading and meditating on John 14-17 and I was struck by how many times and in how many ways God tells us He loves us.  It is everywhere! 

Here are a few examples:  John 14:21...and because they love me, my Father will love them and reveal myself to them.  v23...My Father will love them and we will come and make our home with each of them.  John 15:9...I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. John 16:27...the Father himself loves you dearly.  John 17:23...You love them as much as You love me (Jesus speaking) and vs.26 ...Your love for me will be in them, and I (Jesus) will be in them. 

What would it be like for you if you walked around thinking about how much the Father loves you?  What if you couldn't get it out of your head like a song?  What if you saw evidence of it everywhere?  How would it change your life?  Are there some thoughts about God that you should trade for these thoughts?  You are loved whether you know it or believe it!  Live in His love!  It is for you.

Gary Kendall    

Where is My Space?

 Erwin McManus kicked off the Exponential Conference in Orlando in front of a record crowd of 3,000 church planters.  It is believed to be the largest conference of its kind in the world.  His talk was electrifying and set the stage for what was to come in the next three days.  The theme is “Movements.”

 

Erwin used Acts 17 to highlight the life of the Apostle Paul who operated in three spaces.  The first space was the Synagogue.  He was most familiar with the synagogue having grown up a Jew and a Pharisee.  He originally had acceptance there and it gave him a platform to begin.  However, as he began to teach about Jesus and the message of grace, even for the Gentiles, he was rejected by his first space.

 

So he went to the second space which was the marketplace or the culture.  There he debated with people in public space and the gospel gained a hearing.  It wasn’t his home turf and often it was hard to tell who was winning the argument.  But there the Gospel made a greater difference in the culture than in the synagogue.

 

Finally enough people in the second space believed that they opened doors for him he couldn’t open on his own.  He was invited to the third space which was a place you can’t go unless an insider makes the way possible.  He was asked to speak at places like the Areopagus, a place where Greeks debated the meaning of life.  From there he had access to a whole new crowd who were insiders to each other but he, Paul, was welcome even being an outsider because he had an in with those of influence.  It was in this third space where he would make his greatest impact eventually reaching even Caesar. 

 

Erwin’s charge to us is to be aware that we may be drawn to the church as our first space and that feels natural and safe.  However, the church isn’t effecting much change in the culture.  We must venture out into the second space, strategizing how to get the Gospel out into the marketplace and the places of entertainment and recreation.  From there if we gain a hearing we may be invited into the third space, a place we can’t go on our own, but from there the Good News may change another whole group of insiders.  This is how the message of Jesus has penetrated cultures, societies and philosophies for centuries and it is our hope for America in this changing melting pot of a culture that is our world.

 

Yes Jesus, thank you for Erwin’s message.  Right on!  If you want to follow the Exponential conference live you can find the URL at DaveFerguson.org  Enjoy!

 

Bring on day 2!

 

Gary Kendall

A Perfect Fit

In Matthew 11:29 and 30 Jesus says these words, ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” 

There is no way in our cultural context that a yoke seems easy or light.  A yoke is the wooden piece that goes across the shoulders of two oxen.  It has to be strong enough that the oxen are tethered together.  To wear a yoke would seem troublesome and stiff.  We can take consolation that they usually linked a younger developing oxen up with a veteran ox so the idea is that we are connected to Jesus and that is encouraging.

But there is also another whole different meaning for the word "yoke".  A yoke was a way of teaching, way of life.  Every rabbi had a way of looking at the life God wants us to live.  Some rabbis had a harsh yoke, it was all about discipline or sacrifice for example.  What Jesus is saying is that His way of life fits us perfectly.  In fact, it is so healthy, so affirming, so perfect for us that when we wear it we find it is a benefit to our soul.  We can say, I was made for this!  It feels light, like this is the only way to live. 

Isn't it interesting that He describes it with words like "light", "gentle", "humble", "restful."  Is that the way that you experience the yoke of the Jesus?  If not maybe you are listening too much to others and not diving into the the gospels themselves.  Take some time over the next month and press into the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and see for yourself.  It's a perfect fit.

Gary Kendall

New Creation

The new can be true for you.

Click here:  http://www.indiancreek.org/mediaplayer.aspx#/video/5babe0ac-f612-48d8-a921-42ba9095263f.flv  The video will automatically load.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old has passed away and all things are become new.  Check out this graphic way of demonstrating the new that Christ brings into our lives.  This was the opener for Easter last week at the Indian Creek Olathe campus.

Gary Kendall

Living the Dream in Gardner

Tonight I wrote the CMA, Church Multiplication Association, newsletter.  How cool that it features the new campus launch in Gardner.  Here is the article.  The praise goes to God--and to think, He includes us!

Indian Creek Community Church  is all about helping people find their way back to God and they have a new campus in Gardner to extend their reach.  Campus Pastor, Ben Stears, reported that 220 persons attended at Easter and three people accepted Christ!

A fun story that is growing is how the new campus reached the janitor named Paul.  After meeting  Ben, supporting the volunteers and checking out the preview services, Paul decided to go all in.  He invited his five children and their families to be a part—that’s 25 people!  He donated his time and opened the school early on a Saturday so the Gardner team could make sure everything worked perfectly for the first service.  Paul even asked the principal not to charge the church for that day. Every planter knows you want to make the janitor your BFF. They are on their way!

The launch capped a five month pre-launch period that saw the Olathe campus invest over 100 people into the new core.  A key piece was staffing a matrix board placed in the Olathe atrium for recruitment.  Indian Creek Gardner needed to fill 163 serving positions (multiple positions could be filled by one person).  They filled over 150. Ben recruited a solid team. Lindsey Phillips leads worship and Jesi Kendall leads kidzAlive!  He has a super volunteer team and Indian Creek is providing infrastructure through Central Support.

It was just last November that Indian Creek and Lead Pastor Gary Kendall asked Ben Stears to lead the campus launch. Ben was well prepared to become the Campus Pastor for Indian Creek Gardner having grown up through the Student Ministries and later leading the Student Ministries at Indian Creek.  Read his profile at www.indiancreek.org/Gardner.  Indian Creek practices the Big Idea for message and service preparation and Ben presents the messages live.

Lead Pastor, Gary Kendall , said he knew from the beginning that Ben and the Gardner campus would put together an excellent service.  His hope was that the plant would transform hearts and impact the community.  Gardner is a community of 17,000 situated 15 miles SW on I-35 from Olathe.  It is predicted to grow 8-10,000 more people in the next few years.  The plan is for Gardner to reproduce and plant another campus within five years. 

Ben says, I’m living the dream and greater things are yet to come. 

 

 

One Night with the King

Who knows but what you created for such a time as this.  Those were the words of Mordecai, the Jew, spoken to Esther encouraging her to risk her life to go before king Artaxerxes.  God used her courageous act to spare His people but it wasn't without great danger.  If the king did not extend the royal scepter to her she would be killed for treason.  Considering what happened to the former queen, Vashti, this wouldn't have been a prudent act. 

We watched One Night with the King tonight.  It is the story of the life of Esther.  I thought it wasvery inspiring and encouraging. I like theway that the movie portrays the drama leading up to the request. Not only is it true to the sScriptures but it is true to life.  The plot turned again and again as one thing after another went "wrong." Just when it appeared to be too late God honored the faith of the one who was faithful.

Sometimes we face situations where it looks like faith has failed us.  Many times it appears that we've lived for the principal of the thing only to see our hopes dashed.  But don't give up.  I like the words of Esther, if I die, I die. If you live but you aren't true to what you live for are you truly living or just existing?  But if you die for what supersedes this life then you are truly alive even if you die.  Don't back down.  Don't give up.  Don't faint before you finish what God has asked you to do.  Even if He is the only who knows--He knows and that is enough.

Gary Kendall

The Greatest Love Story

I had a great time writing the message for Easter Sunday.  It made it even more fun to plan it and write it with Ben Stears, Campus Pastor for Gardner.  The theme that grabbed my heart was this thought, "This is the greatest love story every."  Hollywood doesn't have anything on the Bible.  It has been said, "art imitates life." The best love stories all seem to have the idea of substitutional atonement (if you don't know what that means read the message).  I hope you will take the time to read the message.  Feel free to pass it on.  Here is the file Download Love_Final_MS03[1]

The Unseen Hand

I've been thinking recently about God's unseen hand--by that I mean that He is working even when we can't see it, feel it or verify it. I started thinking about this last Saturday wondering what the disciples were feeling on the day between Good Friday and the resurrection.  It is like the forgotten day.  Don't you think they thought it was the end of everything good? But the next day was the best day in the history of the world!

Then I continued thinking about how many stories have an in between day, or longer, I thought about the years between the promise to Abram and the birth of Isaac.  Then there is the time from when Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers and the day he was put in the number two position beside Pharaoh.  How about the time between when David was anointed to be king and when he actually became king.  Consider what it was like for John the Baptist to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and then to end up in jail and having to send his disciples to get confirmation that his prophecy was true.  Do you suppose it was tough being Peter after he cursed and swore he didn't know Jesus up until Jesus reinstated him?  How long was it that Paul and Silas sang in the jail before the earthquake came and set them free?  John the beloved was on the Isle of Patmos how long? 

I'm sure there are even more examples but those are the ones that jump quickly into my mind.  So my question for myself--and now for you is this, what if, although it might feel like God is not answering my prayers (at least the way I want Him to), He is simply moving His unseen hand in a way I don't recognize?  Probably the best growth comes in the in between days.  There faith grows, we build character, our motives are purified and our desires are tamed.  I trust him even when I can't see evidence of Him and that puts me, perhaps you too, in good company.

Gary Kendall