Wednesday Devotion and Prayer Prompts

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" (David Livingstone) 

You're probably familiar with William Carey, known by many as the Father of the Modern Missionary Movement. Carey, after being called to missionary work in India, became part of the Serampore Trio-­joined by Joshua Marshman and William Ward. Together they preached, translated Scripture, began a school, and loved the Indian people with the Gospel.

Three times a year (January, May and October) they would gather together and read out loud what was known as the Serampore Compact of 1805. This document is amazing, and well worth the read. Click here and youcanreaditinitsentirety. 

A few highlights:

1. "It is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value on immortal souls." Is that how I feel about people? The man at the auto shop who works on my car? Our pediatrician? The driver in the car that cuts me off on the way to work? The one who hurts me deeply with false accusations? 

2. "It becomes us to watch all opportunities of doing good." Is that how I live my life? Am I constantly looking for and aware of opportunities to love and to serve other people and to point them to Christ?

3. "Let us give ourselves up unreservedly to this glorious cause. Let us never think that our time, our gifts, our strength, our families, or even the clothes we wear, are our own." Have I given myself unreservedly for Jesus to use? Am I only willing to serve and love when it is convenient or when it is not difficult to do so? Do I recognize that everything in my life is a gift from the Great Giver of all Good Things? Definitely check out the compact when you get a minute! 

WEDNESDAY PRAYER PROMPTS: 

1. Pray for our preschoolers and elementary students on Sunday mornings. Pray for their protection and that the Word of God would begin to take root in their young hearts and that they would fall passionately in love with Jesus.

2. Pray for our preschool and elementary teachers and leaders. Pray that God encourages them in their ministry to the children in their class and that he would give them vision and passion as they teach the Bible each week.

3. Pray for our Children's Ministry as AWANA begins on August 28. Pray for our AWANA leaders-­that God would multiply their time each week--and pray for our children involved in AWANA-­-that they would treasure God's Word and that each Wednesday night would be encouraging to them in their walks with Jesus. Pray that AWANA would become a vibrant evangelistic ministry in our church!

4. Pray for wisdom as we begin planning for next summer's VBS-­-June 22-­‐27. Pray that God would bring many unchurched families to our week of camp and that He would use that week to do some mighty and marvelous things that only He can do!

5. Pray for BOOM! on Sunday mornings! Thank God for our BOOM! leaders and their passion to see kids worship Jesus with everything they've got! Pray that God would continue to grow BOOM! and that it would be a place where children feel welcomed and loved!

Haiti Missions Update

Hey folks! Just wanted to give you a quick update on the Haiti Missions Team that traveled to Haiti at the beginning of April. Check out the video below and also click here for our Missions Blog that has lots of reflections from mission team members, photos and updates.

Haiti 2012 Update from Apex Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Handyman Ministry in Shangri-La

Here are some photos of our Handyman Ministry hard at work in Shagri-La today! (If you'd like to get involved in our Handyman Ministry please contact us here!)

Upward Celebration Night

This past Tuesday we had our Upward Celebration night and it was a wonderful time. We wanted to share a few photos with you so you can experience some of the excitement from the night! We'll probably post a few video snippets as well later on. Here you go!

The Privilege of Journeying to the World's End

Nathan Stam
Communications/Children's Pastor

We began Reconcile yesterday afternoon and I wanted to share a quick reflection with you based on a book I'm reading entitled CrossTalk.

I quickly forget in my own life what a privilege it is to be a "minister of reconciliation" and to be part of God's mission. A privilege!

One of my favorite books is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. Read the way King Caspian responds and encourages his weary sailors and friends as they debate the pros and cons of journeying to the World's End.

"Friends," he said, "I think you have not quite understood our purpose. You talk as if we had come to you with our hat in our hand, begging for shipmates. It isn't like that at all. We and our royal brother and sister and their kinsman and Sir Reepicheep, the good knight, and the Lord Drinian have an errand to the world's edge. It is our pleasure to choose from among such of you as are willing, those whom we deem worthy of so high an enterprise. We have not said that any any can come for the asking. That is why we shall now command the Lord Drinian and Master Rhince to consider carefully what men among you are the hardest in battle, the most skilled seamen, the purest in blood, the most loyal to our person, and the cleanest of life and manners; and to give their names to us in a schedule." He paused and went on in a quicker voice: "Aslan's mane!" he exclaimed. "Do you think that the privilege of seeing the last things is to be bought for a song?"

We are co-laborers with Jesus our King, and it is a privilege and honor to come alongside him and plead for the world to be reconciled to God! It shouldn't be a duty only, or something that we check off of our list each week. This is no onerous chore. This is a high and holy calling for children who have been adopted into the family of God through the blood of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the grave!

This is a glorious task! Let us "press onward and outward, expressing our love for others in sacrificial ways."

(If you'd like to get plugged in to a Reconcile Team please contact Tim Shaw.)

Reconcile Begins This Sunday!

Reconcile, our weekly community outreach, begins this Sunday, January 15! We're so excited to have this opportunity to love on our community for Jesus and so far we have around 60+ folks from ABC participating! 

How about you? Would you like to get involved in something special? Here are some FAQs:

When is Reconcile?

Reconcile meets from 4:00-5:00 each Sunday afternoon. We currently have eight teams and your commitment on a team would be for one Sunday each month. That's right: one hour one Sunday a month!

Where does Reconcile meet?

We meet in the Fellowship Hall at 4:00 and then split up from there.

What will I be doing?

When you check in at the Fellowship Hall you'll sign up for various options: emailing, letter writing, note writing, phone calls, visits, prayer, childcare. Whatever you feel like doing that particular afternoon.

Who will we be contacting?

None of these contacts are cold calls. Everyone we will contact has had a touch from ABC or visited ABC previously. We will also be ministering to those in the community who have recently lost loved ones.

Why is this ministry called Reconcile?

Great question! The name comes from Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5. "That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us." Paul goes on to say that we are ambassadors and that God appeals to the lost through us "to be reconciled." What a calling and a charge! Our hope is that through the ministry of Reconcile we can be a part of peoples' stories as they come to know the mercy and grace found through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

What happens when there are five Sundays in a month?

During that month we will be involved in some sort of community project. It won't necessarily be on the last weekend or on a Sunday, but we'd love for all the Reconcile teams to be involved and anyone else from our Fellowship to come alongside as well. i.e. April has 5 Sundays so we will be organizing Project Reconcile (formerly known as Operation Inasmuch) on Saturday, April 21.

Do you have other questions or would you like to sign up for a team? Contact us here!

A Big FX Thank You!

Chuck Thompson
Youth/Missions Pastor

Wow! What a night! Together we had one of our biggest, and arguably one of our best, ministry events ever this past Saturday night. We had workers from elementary school age to folks in their 80’s; workers who are brand new to our ABC Family and some who have been with us for more than 60 years - and we had more team members than ever, too! It was great to see the body of Christ – with all of its Spiritual gifts, Heart’s passions, Abilities, Personalities & Experiences (SHAPEs) in action! We were incredibly blessed to serve with all of you!

“Yes,” it was special to engage, serve and share the love of Jesus with that big BUNCH of folks, but just plain AWESOME to watch our Lord work during the invitation times. Our praying for unsaved folks, our pursuing them in spiritual conversations (bringing Jesus up) and persuading them to come to FX (ultimately Jesus) paid off. We recorded 33 decisions for Christ – most of those for salvation! Please pray for our follow-up touches with these folks this week. We will be presenting many these folks to the church at the conclusion of the worship services this week – I know that you’ll greet and encourage them warmly.

FYI, on Saturday night, we sent our FX guests an e-letter with an invitation to visit our ABC services. We’ll be inviting them to our Christmas programs, too. On Sunday afternoons we’ll make more contact with many of these non-churched folks through RRCONCILE. If you would like to help with this flexible, low risk ministry, please contact Tim (tim(at)apexbaptist.org).

Thanks again for all of the energy, time & love that you invested in our first FX. Every contribution was important, and we trust that as you gave generously, you were blessed richly. If you have any, we want your FX photos so we can post them on the ABC website. Please email these to Adam (adam(at)apexbaptist.org) or drop them off to him ASAP. We welcome, your ideas, too, that will make our FX on Saturday, October 27, 2012 even better!

Lastly, we’d like for you to share a simple blessing, reflection, story or “at a boy” with us about FX so we can rejoice & praise the Lord with you. Send these to Nathan (nathan(at)apexbaptist.org), and we’ll post them on the website. We’ve got one from Jackie Gilbert below:

On Saturday night at 7:00, I had the amazing and totally unexpected privilege to hear the testimony of Kevin Clapp, a member of the FAITH FORCE team, who I had known in Burlington while living there for 10 years. I was in choir with his Mom and styled her hair. Kevin was so sweet, and when he was led astray, she was surprised, heartbroken and asked all her friends, "PLEASE PRAY FOR MY KEVIN". During Kevin's testimony, he told us of the wrong path he'd taken, which mirrored the pain I remembered sharing with his precious Mom. That young man that I thought was lost now stood before me, transformed by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak with such a boldness that made me want to shout! Tears flooded my eyes through his whole message remembering the pain and rejoicing as I was seeing this miracle of Christ right before me. The power of muscles breaking blocks symbolized how God broke the walls of Satan's lies with the message of love- John 3:16. Oh! The power of Jesus love!


I have folks that I'm praying for and Saturday night was a message from the Lord that nothing is too difficult for HIM who IS in control. We just need to continue to trust and pray to Him who is ALL powerful--- He is able to perform miracles!

God is SO GOOD!!

FX October 28 Update

It’s getting exciting around here! Tomorrow we expect more than one thousand children, plus their parents, to join us for our first FX. Thanks to all of you who have already registered to help, passed out FX fliers, prayed and contributed all kinds of candy, goods & services. It’s gonna be great! Below is today’s update.

Pray
• That our Lord’s love, joy & grace will fall over our campus on Saturday
• That the skies will be clear on Saturday afternoon/evening
• That our workers will lovingly & genuinely engage all of our participants
• That our e-letter going out to our guests on Saturday night will be well received
• That many of our unchurched guests will join us for services on Sunday morning (Tim will be preaching)
• That the relationships within our church family will sprout, sweeten & be strengthened as we serve together on this ministry project.
• That souls would be saved and that strongholds would be broken during the FAITH FORCE presentations

Needs
• more donations for the Cake Walk - we certainly don’t want to run out!
• another photographer or two
• more vacuum cleaners to speed up the cleanup process
• plenty of clean up help – the last 5+ years we did a great job & were more than 95% complete in less than 45 minutes – YES! Let’s do it again!
• sign board help for the hallways (Saturday afternoon). We use the Preschool's dry erase boards for directions, welcome, etc

Reminders
• If you ordered an FX t-shirt by Monday, we’ll have it labeled & ready for you to pick up in the fellowship hall on Saturday afternoon. We ordered a few extra, so if you don’t have one, contact Amanda Poe (Amanda@apexbaptist.org or 362-6176 x222) to reserve one. First come – first serve.
• If you want to dress up in a non-scary fashion – go for it.
• Please park away from the church campus on Saturday afternoon so we’ll have more room for our guests to park.
• Our final briefing and prayer time for our workers will be at 3:40pm in the fellowship hall.
• We want to be in position & ready to begin by 3:55pm.
• Eat when you can during the evening.
• Rotate in and out of service with your team mates or others who want to spell you
• Around 5:15, we’ll invite the children & parents to go to the Sanctuary for FAITH FORCE. If you can break away to serve as an usher/counselor that would be great. Likewise, we’ll shut all events down at 6:50 and encourage everyone to go to the sanctuary. We’d like our ushers to be in place by 6:40. Both performances will be shown live in the Choir Room.
• After FAITH FORCE, we’re asking each of you to help clean up the area where you served so it is ready for services on Sunday morning. Then please help others clean their areas so we can all go home ASAP.
• Smile all during the FX, especially when your photos are being taken. We’ll post them on our church website on Friday night. You may see yourself on the big screen on Sunday morning, too!
• If you know some others who would like to help, but haven’t “officially” registered, contact me (Chuck@apexbaptist.org or 362-6176 x232 or 602-5677). We’ve got several places to plug folks in to serve.

Why Come To FX?

Here's one reason you should come to FX on Saturday:

There will be horses!

FX October 20 Update

FX- biggest & best party in town!
Yes, FX will have all of the elements of the Fun Fests we have had in previous years plus more – more events, more food, more ABC member participation, and more evangelistic outreach. Festivities include: horse riding, the mechanical bull, 4 inflatables, carnival games, a blue grass band, hay ride, cake walk, Limbo, fishing booth, chicken wings, hot dogs, chili, nachos, snow cones, smoothies, lots & lots of candy and MORE! FAITH FORCE will perform at 5:20 and 7pm in the sanctuary. Don’t miss it!

HELP WANTED!
We need help in the following areas:
• Picking up & setting up the halogen lights in the parking lots
• Serving chili, crackers & tea in the Fellowship Hall
• Cooking & serving fried Oreos & candy bars
• Horse clean up after the event
• Grills & help with chicken wings
• More baked goods for the Cake Walk
• More candy donations
• Pumpkin painting help
• Stage cleanup after FAITH FORCE

You can sign up to help online at www.apexbaptist.org/fx or on one of the FX sign up sheets available at the ABC hallway displays

Did you know?
Did you know that Mark Kerr of FAITH FORCE was a 2–Time Drug Free Strongest Man and 5-Time World Powerlifting Champion? Guess what position he played on his high school football team? You may get the answer on the 29th – great & inspiring story! Who are you bringing with you to be entertained, inspired and to hear the Gospel?

Publicity help
Our FX Fliers are available in the hallways as well as online. Hope you’ll use these to help get the word out to your friends, neighbors & businesses.

Let’s pray that …
• our ABC Family will do a great job of publicizing FX
• that our ABC Family would greet & engage guests & each other warmly
• lots more ABC members will sign up to help with the remaining FX needs
• we will pray, pursue & persuade non-believers to see FAITH FORCE
• the weather would be great for FX – we don’t want rain!
• that souls would be saved at FX!

FX October 14 Update

So what is FX again?
Yes, FX will have all of the elements of the Fun Fests we have had in previous years, but we’re adding extra emphasis on ABC member involvement & evangelistic outreach. There will be food, fun, fellowship & games galore for everyone. Additionally, we’ll have Bluegrass music provided by Fairview Grass and two special programs by the FAITH FORCE power team. Through serving & being served there’s plenty of good stuff for your whole family to experience!

Have you signed up yet?
We’ve had several Life Groups sign up to help with events like: the “Dot Room”,
the “Limbo Room”, fried candy bars, and registration. We’ve also had several individuals sign up to help with various events. How about you? Remember that we want lots of folks to help so that we can minimize the burdens, maximize the blessings and have a lot of fun along the way. The sooner you sign up, the sooner we’ll be able to work out schedules. Sign up sheets are available in the church hallways and at www.apexbaptist.org/fx. Register by Sunday, October 16 and get your free FX t-shirt!

Want to know more about FAITH FORCE?
Check out www.faithforce.com to see learn about some of the feats of strength these men perform, about their ministry and the stories behind the men – good reading! FAITH FORCE will perform at 5:20 and 7pm in our sanctuary. Who are you bringing with you to be entertained, inspired and to hear the Gospel?

Publicity help
Our FX Fliers should be ready by the weekend. We’ll have a version that you can email to your friends & neighborhood groups, too. The best publicity however is word of mouth. Let’s get the word out!

Other help needed
We need Life Groups or groups of individuals to help with pumpkin painting, stage set up, take down & ushering for FAITH FORCE. We need lots more CANDY to give away, too!

Let’s pray that …
• our ABC Family will do a great job of publicizing FX
• our folks will sign up promptly to help with FX
• we will pray, pursue & persuade non-believers to see FAITH FORCE
• the weather would be great for FX
• that souls would be saved at FX!

Why FX on October 29th

So, after twenty plus years of the Harvest Fest at ABC followed by the Fun Fest all happening on October 31, what is going on with FX (ABC Family Experience), and why are we having it on Saturday, October 29?

Those are great questions and we'd like to take a moment to answer them briefly:

FX is basically the same thing as Fun Fest, except a whole lot bigger, a whole lot Funner, and is much more INTENTIONAL in sharing the Gospel with our community. We'll have more details on the schedule soon, but one of the highlights is Faith Force coming to do two shows--one during FX and a 7:00 show following FX in the ABC Sanctuary. Faith Force is all about the Gospel and we're excited as to what God is going to do through their presentation.

But what about October 31? I thought the whole point of having a "Fun Fest" was to provide a safe alternative for parents to bring their kids, instead of being surrounded by a culture that celebrates death and darkness?

Dr. George Robinson, from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote an interesting blog on this subject entitled provocatively, "Why All Good Christians Should Celebrate Halloween." (He said what?!)

We'd like to share a few quotes here from Dr. Robinson's blog in regard to Halloween and our calling as believers in Jesus Christ.

"Ironically, most good Christians that I know won’t be celebrating either Reformation Day or Halloween. Instead, they will be showing support for their local church by attending a “safe and sanitary” alternative called a Fall Festival. This alternative allows good Christians to invite their neighbors and friends to come to the church and get candy, play games and have some good, clean Christian fun. No pagan witches and goblins allowed. But they can dress up as David or Moses or some other biblical character. All the fun without the pagan revelry, right?"

This is exactly what we've done with the Harvest Festival and the Fun Fest the past few decades. But Dr. Robinson continues:

"I would like to propose another alternative – that good Christians should indeed celebrate Halloween. I think that they should stay home from their church’s alternative Fall Festival and celebrate with their pagan neighbors. Most of them wouldn’t have come to your Fall Festival anyway. And those who did would’ve stopped by briefly on their way to “real” trick-or-treating. I’m sure that some of you reading this blog might be more than a little unhappy with my proposal at this point, but stick with me for a moment: The reason I propose that good Christians celebrate Halloween and stay home from the “Christian alternatives” is that Halloween is the only night of the year in our culture where lost people actually go door-to-door to saved people’s homes -- and you’re down at the church hanging out with all your other good Christian friends having clean fellowship with the non-pagans."

Ouch! We leave our homes the one night of the year that our unbelieving neighbors drop by our house?

"Living with missional intentionality means that you approach life as a missionary in your context. I lived with my family in South Asia and we had to be creative and intentional in engaging our Muslim neighbors. We now live in the USA and we still need to be creative and intentional. That’s why for the past 2 years we have chosen to stay at home and celebrate the fact that Halloween gives us a unique opportunity to engage our neighbors. In fact, last year we had over 300 children and 200 adults come to our doorstep on that one night. And we were ready for them!"

So, what are some practical ideas of how we can be intentional on Halloween?

"We had a tent set up in the driveway and gave away free coffee and water to the adults who were walking with their children. Our small group members manned the tent and engaged them in conversation and gave each one of them a gospel booklet (“The Story” gospel booklets are available with a Halloween distribution rate here: http://story4.us/offer). The children ran up to our door while the parents were waiting and got their candy, along with gospel booklets (even if they were dressed as witches or goblins!). In all we gave away more than 500 pieces of literature that night, each with our name, e-mail address, and a website where they could get more info."

How about it?! Let's be intentional with the Gospel on October 31 and see what God does!

FX (Family Experience)

FX (Family Experience) is coming on Saturday, October 29 and we'll be using the blog to keep you updated on what is going on in the FX camp these next few weeks! Here's the first update!

FX Sign-ups Have Begun
We want everyone to “get in the game” and be a part of FX – that way we’ll maximize the blessings, minimize the burdens and have a lot of fun along the way! Sign-up sheets are available on tables near the sanctuary, at the welcome center and online at www.apexbaptist.org/fx. You can serve as life groups, families, or individuals. We’ll try to have a point person at each station to help schedule the team’s workers. In these weekly updates we’ll inform you of other areas to serve as they arise (BTW, we’ll need several ushers for the Faith Force programs).

NEW FOR 2011
* YES!! This year we’re glad to have FAITH FORCE (see below) with us for two programs
* YEEHAAH!! Fairview Grass, (Billy Powell & his blue grass buddies) will be “pickin’ & grinning” with us
* YIDDIE UP!! We’ll have horse rides in the rear lot
* Praise YAHWEH!! Bible Bee Students will dazzle & inspire us with their scripture memorization
* YIPPEE!! The Apex Police will have a 911 Simulation for the kiddies

FAITH FORCE
We’ve been friends with the FAITH FORCE power team since Metamorphosis 2003, and three team members will do two programs during FX. In addition to having incredibly strong physical bodies, they have wonderfully tender hearts. They just got back last week from a 10 day trip in Russia where they saw our Lord work sweetly & powerfully. These guys will do a great job of entertaining, inspiring and clearly communicating the Gospel. You don’t want to miss! The first program will be around 5:30 and the second (longer one) will be at 7. Yes, you’ll be able to view the program in the sanctuary or on the big screen in the fellowship hall. (We’ll aim to close all of the FX activities down just prior to 7).

Pray, Pursue, Persuade
Do all of your friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers and classmates know Jesus as Lord? Probably not. Today, begin to pray for these by name that God would stir in their hearts. Next, look for opportunities to “bring up” Jesus and pursue them with the truths of Christ in conversation. Ultimately, you want to persuade them to come to Christ. Persuading them to come to FX and to see the Faith Force Team can play a big part in them coming to Christ! Your guests may even get saved on Saturday night! What an FX experience that would be!
Pray…
* That our many wanted & needed workers will sign up promptly
* That our ABC Family would do a good job of praying, pursuing and persuading in these next 24 days
* That our workers will lovingly & genuinely engage all of our participants & guests
* That our Lord’s love, joy & grace will fall over our campus on that Saturday evening
* That many of our unchurched guests will join us for services on the following Sunday morning
* That souls would be saved on Saturday night and Sunday morning
* That the relationships within our church family will sprout, sweeten & be strengthened as we serve together through this ministry project.
Also
* Sign up to serve by October 16th, and we’ll get you a free FX t-shirt! You also may wear your Fun Fest t shirt from a previous year or dress up in some non- scary fashion.
* Supper (hot dogs & chili) for our workers will be at 3pm in the fellowship hall.
* Our final briefing & prayer will be at 3:30pm in the fellowship hall
* We want to be in position & ready to begin by 3:50
* We’ll have a FAMILY EXPERIENCE Flier attachment for you to forward to your friends & neighbors next week. We’ll have hard copies, too. Remind everyone that it’s all FREE!
* Remember that helping at our Fun Fest is a great way to meet a lot more folks in our ABC family.

Global Missions Video

In case you missed Sunday evening, here is the Global Missions Video with several missions opportunities for you and your family this year!

The Most Important Unreached People Group

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

We hear about unreached people groups all the time in evangelical circles. And for good reason. According to the Joshua Project there are currently 6,913 unreached people groups. Around 2.83 billion people. Unreached means that less than 2% of each of these groups are evangelical (Christians with fairly clearly defined theologies). Bringing the Gospel to these peoples is truly a monumental and an important work for our generation. There is no doubt that our relationship with Christ compels us to GO.

But here's the other side of the coin. Recently, in a seminar, I heard a person make an argument that I had never quite heard in this particular form. He said, "The most important unreached people group today is the children of believers."

I had to let this sink in. And as it did, I realized the truth of this statement. Someone once said that it only takes one generation for a church to drift into heresy and folk Christianity. We can have the fastest growing church in the world, on fire for Jesus, but if we're not grounding our children in a Biblical worldview and teaching them a personal relationship with Christ, it can be all for naught. It really is a task of utmost urgency in the church.

With that being said, it is sad that we have to beg and plead for folks in the church to help in our children's ministry. It should be an honor! A privilege! A most sacred undertaking! Not done out of guilt or duty. These kids are our future--our hope that God will continue to use ABC in the future as a light in a dark place long after our time is gone. We should have to turn away workers because we already have too many! 

“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children..."
Lamentations 2:19

RECONCILE (Coming This January)

We are excited to announce our new Go Initiative beginning Sundays, January 2012. RECONCILE springs from 2 Corinthians 5 and is all about our church living missionally as “ministers of reconciliation” in our community. Throughout this Fall we will have three Launch Prep meetings for RECONCILE that we hope you can attend! During these times we will worship together and seek God’s Face. Make sure to attend our Vision Night on September 25 from 6:00-8:00 PM in the ABC Fellowship Hall where we'll talk a little bit more about RECONCILE and plans for 2012. Check out the Launch Prep dates below and contact us with any questions!

1. Launch Prep 1: Sunday, October 2 at 4:00 PM in the ABC Choir Room
2. Launch Prep 2: Sunday, November 6 at 4:00 PM in the ABC Choir Room
3. Launch Prep 3: Sunday, December 4 at 4:00 PM in the ABC Choir Room

Praying Without Ceasing

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

We could learn quite a bit from the Celtic missionaries of the 7th, 8th and 9th Centuries. Although they were monastic they didn't sequester themselves away from the world, but traveled all over Europe sharing the Gospel with the barbarians--daring to pioneer the way into uncharted and dangerous territories. And scores of them paid with their blood.

One of the many beautiful legacies they leave us today is that of "contemplative prayer." Their concept of prayer fulfilled Paul's admonition to "pray without ceasing." George G. Hunter III writes that contemplative prayer "is an ongoing, or very frequent, opening of the heart to the Triune God, often while engaging in each of the many experiences that fill a day."

The Carmina Gadelica gives many examples of these prayers, including prayers "to accompany getting up in the morning, for dressing, for starting the morning fire, for bathing or washing clothes or dishes . . . and for going to bed at night." Here's an example of one for starting the morning's fire:

I will kindle my fire this morning
In presence of the holy angels of heaven,
God, kindle Thou in my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbor,
To my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all,
To the brave, to the knave to the thrall . . .

These prayers engaged people's imaginations, and contemplative prayer could be a useful tool for many believers today. Not as mantras, but as a way of turning our hearts to God throughout our common activities. Ray Simpson has written a book, "Celtic Blessings for Everyday Life," which includes prayers for the every day workings of a modern world. It even includes a prayer for taking an exam! Check this out, and if you're a student this prayer might behoove you to focus your thoughts on Christ before you plunge in to filling in bubbles on the Scantron or writing in your Blue Book, and totally change your thinking on tests!

I bless this exam

in the name of the Designer of truth.
I bless this exam
in the name of the Protector from ill.
I bless this exam in the of the Spirit who guides.
Open my eyes to see how this subject
reflects something of you.
Aid me to understand this subject
with my heart as well as with my head.
Give me
Wisdom to know the nub of things,
Strength to recall what is useful,
Peace to leave the result to you.

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

The last two blog posts (including this blog title) have been taken from The Faith of Leap by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. I highly recommend it!

In our calling to be a missional church it is helpful to have practical steps we can implement. Especially as we strive to be a people of God involved in non-Christians' lives outside the four walls of our building where we meet each week.

So, how do we do it? And what does this kind of missional life look like? Juliet Kilpin from Urban Expression in the UK has a few suggestions:

1. Listen to the rhythms of your context. Sit in local places. Hang out in local coffee shops. Talk to local people. Join community groups.
2. Be employed in the neighborhood. Be free of being so driven by results. Stop measuring your success by how many people attend, and start measuring it by what God is doing in your context.
3. Engage in snowball research. That is, meet the community gatekeepers, the movers and the shakers. Listen to them. Hear of their dreams for your neighborhood. Who knows, they may be the persons of peace referred to in Luke 10.
4. Get rid of your church building!! Well, Juliet was being cheeky here, but she pointed out that many churches don't engage in their neighborhood because they are too locked into their building. If you got rid of it, you'd have no choice but to go and engage with the community.
5. Say yes to every invitation you receive. Follow Jesus's advice to his disciples in Luke 10 and accept all offers of hospitality. Say yes to every party, every meal, every committee you get invited to attend.

It's all about "cultivating a church with deep roots" in our community. How about you, do you have any ideas of how we can minister in our community where God has placed us?

Seeds of Mustard Ministry

Today's blog is dedicated to a wonderful new ministry called "Seeds of Mustard." Check it out to see how you can get involved!

Seeds of Mustard is a faith based IRS recognized non-profit ministry. The ministry began in Sept of 2009, following the untimely death of George and Nicolette’s 16 year old son. The ministry is funded by the support of local churches, individual donations and the operation of a thrift store located on Maynard Road in Cary. (For more details on the history of SOM, visit www.seedsofmustard.org.)

The mission of SOM is to bring glory to God by assisting children and families in crisis situations with the hopes of furthering HIS kingdom by serving HIS people. Since its inception, SOM has helped dozen in families in providing clothing, furniture and financial assistance. Currently, SOM is providing support locally to children in low income communities in Cary near the store and abroad in Dominican Republic through Rainbow Families. It has partnered with Freeway Church, Grace Christian School, Haven House, the Cary and Kraft YMCA and Rainbow Families, and is looking for more opportunities to form additional long-term relationships.

SOM needs help. Thrift ‘n Gift is located in 2000 sq ft and is outgrowing its space. God has given us opportunity to double our space and our rent. Currently 100% of our proceeds from the store go straight to the mission field. Expenses including rent, utilities, insurance and our one paid employee have been paid through regular individual contributors to the ministry.

How can ABC and its members help?
ABC can greatly help by spreading the word through church communications. (How will they know if we do not tell them?) and setting up collection boxes for the store several times a year.

Members can:
1. Consider becoming a regular financial contributor to Seeds of Mustard.
2. Shop at Thrift ‘n Gift located at 1381 SE Maynard Road, Cary, www.thriftngift.org
3. Donate gently used items to Thrift ‘n Gift.
4. Donate time by becoming a volunteer. We are in desperate need of Spanish speaking volunteers as well as volunteers to help with Craig’s list items, website, advertising and general store positions.
5. PRAY for Seeds of Mustard and Thrift ‘n Gift. That GOD’s will and ways would be accomplished for HIS name’s sake.

Update from Mexico Missions Team

Make sure to keep up with our mission teams for updates and photos on the missions blog...

We arrived on Thursday, it was an 18 hour trip door to door. Friday was our tour day and we spent our day touring the city and learning about the culture and religion in the cities of Mexico. The King and Pagan children were so excited to see one another and we sensed the encouragement God has planned for all of us in just bringing us together. The photo from Micah’s ipod shows that enthusiasm.

Friday we visited the city of Guantanamo and a group of believers that are planting churches as well. This group has been working for several years and has several ministries for children, youth and adults even in other cities. We were able to pray with and for them and offer them prays of encouragement. We also visited a mummy museum, this gave us a better sense of the false worship in Mexico. As the days progressed, we have seen the Catholics here worship Mother Mary, of course, a doll which is in the city of San Juan De Los Lagos. This doll, is believed to have miraculous power and the legend of her bringing a dead girl back to life has thousand or hundreds of thousands, millions Jamie says, pilgrimage hundreds of miles to worship her. We visited this church yesterday and watched people approach this alter of the doll on their knees. Some stay on their knees until they bleed. This is all "works" based so that they can earn there way to heaven.

On Sunday we were blessed to be a part of the home church service at the Pagan home and then to a larger established church in Leon, where Alex was invited to preach. The audience was very attentive to his message from Hebrews 6 and we enjoyed the Spanish worship. George was able to share our testimony as a family who is becoming more mission focused at the morning service and he also was able to introduce us to the congregation in their native tounge as a family. It was wonderful to worship in spirit and truth despite the language barrier.

Today we went into a community in Leon where the Pagan family has been working to try to start a new church. They go there about every other month and set up an outreach event with food, games for the children, bible lesson and time of talk with the women. It was amazing to see the effort in trying to make relationships and build trust so that one family might offer their home as a place to start. There is one family with a very sick little girl, she has no aorta. She was not expected to live and is now 6 months and they go and pray for her and the family is considering allow a group to start meeting there. Please pray for this family, pray for a door of opportunity....today as we prayed in their concrete floor, three room home, the front door was open and I sensed the holy spirit saying just as the door to this home is open so will the door of opportunity be opened here, for a door that the Lord Jesus opens, no man can close.

We also have had several opportunities to share why we are here with some of the Mexican people esp in the hotel although the language barrier keeps us from gaining much ground.

Please remember us in your prayers and we finish our week here, as the Cosio's go onto Mexico City to do VBS with Lena's brother's church, as the Pagan family continues this great work and as we travel back to the states on Thursday.

Blessings from Mexico,
The King family