Whose Report Will You Believe?

I've been spending a lot of time in the Old Testament lately. Here's another great story that has inspired me to trust God and in His economy while we find ourselves in difficult financial times.

In the book of Exodus, Moses leads the people of God out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Before taking hold of their blessing, God told Moses to commission 12 spies to go in and check out the land of Canaan. The majority of the spies, ten in all, returned with a bad report. Almost in the spirit of Eeyore, these men said, “We can’t do it. The enemy is too big. The challenge is too great.” The remaining two spies, on the other hand, brought back a good report. They said, “The land is flowing with milk and honey. Yes, the enemy is great, but our God is greater!” (Numbers 13) Whose report would Moses believe?

Much like Moses, we are faced with, yet again, two reports. Some reports say our current economic uncertainty will lead America into a financial collapse making it impossible for us to buy gas, heat our homes, and provide for our families. Yet God’s report says, “The righteous will not be forsaken.” (Psalm 37:25), and “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) Whose report will you believe?

Friends, we must trust in God and obey his giving principles during this difficult economy.

Getting the Pattern Right

This past weekend our special guest speaker, Lynn Wheeler, shared a message at the Iron Man Retreat entitled, "Getting the Pattern Right."

The gist of the message was that when we do life God's way, He honors our obedience with His blessing. 

For example, God instructed Moses to build a Tabernacle so the children of Israel would have a place to worship Him while in the desert prior to inhabiting the Promise Land. God gave Moses very specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. 

Unfortunately, Moses thought he knew how to build a better Tabernacle than God. In fact, God had to correct Moses 17 times and bring him back to the divine design. Once Moses executed God's blueprints, the book of Exodus tells us that God's glory filled the Tabernacle. In other words, when we get the pattern right, the glory of God shows up.

When I survey the landscape of my relationships, marriage, family, finances and ministry I have been personally challenged to execute God's pattern, not my own. Less of me and more of God. There is no substitute to the glory and presence of God showing up in my life and ministry. Help me God to get the pattern right!

Leadership Quote

"Nothing emboldens sin more than mercy." Shakespeare

Evangelist Lynn Wheeler

This is my friend Lynn Wheeler and he's a full-time evangelist. He travels across the US and also internationally preaching the Word of God. He's a powerful man of God with a heart for the lost and broken.

I'm looking forward to his ministry here at PCC this weekend. He's speaking tonight and tomorrow at our Iron Man Retreat and will also be speaking for us in both services at PCC on Sunday morning.

Please say a prayer for the kick-off of our Iron Man Retreat this evening. We have 100 guys that will be there and many of them need a spiritual breakthrough in their lives.

And you don't want to miss this Sunday. The service is going to be awesome. Come with an expectation for God to do great things and be sure to bring a friend.

Staff Outing

On Tuesday of this week I had the opportunity to take some of my staff to Brooklyn, NYC to spend some time with Pastor Jim Cymbala and his staff.

Let me just say how proud I am of our staff here at PCC. God is really building a a team of committed followers of Christ who are all about putting the vision and mission of the church first and foremost. I love you guys!

We also attended the weekly prayer meeting Tuesday night at Brooklyn Tab. Only one word can describe the prayer meeting - AMAZING. It's hard to put into words what its like to be with about 4000 people who are crying out to God and interceding for their city. I look forward to the day when the PCC prayer meeting has to turn people away because there is not enough room to fit everyone in the church.

Accountability

Accountability is the one of the key's to spiritual growth. Anyone who operates without accountability doesn't understand authority and places their life in a very spiritually vulnerable position.

Accountability helps me ward off mediocrity in my life by creating an opportunity for me to take stock and evaluate my life. A friend of mine says, "The difference between an amateur and a professional is honest evaluation."

I have an accountability partner that I meet with on a monthly basis that asks me the hard questions.

Here are a few of those questions.

1. Are you cultivating a growing relationship with Christ through consistent time in the Word and prayer - beyond your sermon preparation?

2. How are things between you and your wife?

3. Are you spending enough quality time with your children? What investments have you made in the lives of your kids since we last spoke?

4. Are you entertaining any secret sin? Are you remaining sexually pure? Have you viewed or been tempted to view any explicit content since we last spoke?

5. What's the financial snapshot of your life look like? Are you faithful with your tithe?

6. Who was the last person you shared Christ with?

7. Have you been completely honest with me during our talk?

Leadership Quote

I am speaking tomorrow on the subject of leadership. Here's one of my all-time favorite leadership quotes.

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how." Victor Frankl

New Construction Pics

Here are some of the latest pictures I took yesterday from the construction site.

This is where we are: the concrete slab floor is finished, the framers are on site and underway, the electrical and sewer systems are only a few weeks from being completed and the exterior walls will be finished within the next couple of weeks. We are still on target to be in by Christmas.

I want to thank all of you PCCers out there for your faithfulness to the capital fund initiative, It's About Time. Last week over $30,000 was given to the building fund! Thank you for your generosity and continued prayer as we work together to realize this miracle of God right here in Pocono. Isn't it cool that even in uncertain financial times that God is faithful!

Mega Church Study Released

Leadership Network and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research came-out with a study last week on megachurches.

Here's the summary:

"Megachurches - Protestant congregations that draw 2,000 or more adults and children in a typical weekend (attendance not membership) - show considerable consistency over the past eight years.
They continue to:

• Grow in size,
• Lead the way as America's most multi-ethnic class of church,
• Show a strong bias toward contemporary worship, and
• Remain minimally involved in politics.

However, they also are institutions in transition. They are now:

• Offering more worship services and expanding to multiple-locations,
• Shifting to playing a greater role in community service,
• Decreasing their use of radio and television, and
• Putting greater emphasis on the role of small groups.

These are some of the most salient findings of a national study of America's roughly 1,200 megachurches with approximately one third returning a usable response to an eight-page, 150-question survey that was fielded between February and August, 2008, with comparison given to similar (but non-longitudinal) national studies in 2000 and 2005."

You can see the full report with charts and graphs here.

The Christian Post has a summary article here. RedOrbit has another summary article here.

Iron Man @ Home

Pastor's Masters

Yesterday PCC hosted it's 5th Annual Pastor's Masters Golf Tournament in an effort to raise funds for missions work in Africa. I want to give it up for our Tournament Director, Rick Diynysious and the volunteers who put together yet another great tournament. In the tournament history, we have raised approximately $50,000.

The favorite part of the outing for me is the opportunity to meet a lot of business men from the community who don't attend our church, but love to come out and play golf. The tournament has become a real evangelistic outreach for our church. At least 1/3 of the players that were with us yesterday do not attend church regularly. What a great opportunity to raise resources for missions while also "doing" missions right here in our community.

Yesterday we raised $8,000 in the tournament and this weekend we will be taking a special offering for the African Missions project that involves digging water wells, building medical clinics and schools and most of all - planting churches.

All you PCCers out there please pray this week about what God would want you to do this coming weekend as it relates to helping the people of Africa. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Tail-Gate Prayer Meeting

Tonight we will be meeting at the church property for our monthly prayer meeting, The Gathering. Since we can't actually be in the building, we decided to set up some huge screens outside and have an worship / prayer gathering under the stars.

The night will include great music and worship, candlelight communion, and a special video and music presentation from our youth highlighting their summer missions trip to Arizona.

Don't miss this night to remember! Be there at 7 and we'll wrap up around 8:10.

See you there.

The Responsibility Process

I met with my coach last week, Nelson Searcy, and he took us through an exercise called The Responsibility Process. It's very simple, but yet powerful. Here's how it works. Have someone sit down with you and ask you each question. The question-asker is not allowed to ask follow up questions or interject any personal thoughts. Just ask the questions and let the other participant respond. Give it a try.

The Responsibility Process: Just ask the questions and wait…

• First Question: What is a difficult or troubling situation in your life? This is the open door and you have to be honest…

• Second: What payoffs or benefits do you get for keeping it like it is?

• Third: What cost do you pay for keeping it like it is? The pain of facing the situation (ounces) or the pain of regret (weight)

• Fourth: How do you create, promote, or allow it to be the way it is?

• Fifth: What do you pretend not to know?

• Sixth: What do you want?

• Seventh: What actions can you take and what requests can you make to get this done?

• Eighth: When will you do this?

Iron Man Kicks Off

Yesterday we kicked off our new fall series, Iron Man. What a phenomenal response as God's Spirit showed up and spoke to men. My favorite part of both services was the conclusion when the men responded to the call to commitment and stood shoulder to shoulder and filled the altars praying prayers of confession and worshiping God.

One guy caught me between services and said, "Pastor Dave, I don't know whether I should hug you or hit you." That's how we feel when the Spirit speaks to us through someone else and brings a word of challenge and conviction.

Here's what the men committed to yesterday:

• To attend all the Iron Man weekends in the series
• To go to the Iron Man Retreat Sept. 26-27
• To sexual purity
• To serve their home, church and community faithfully
• To take a stand for Christ

To all you Iron Men out there, please know of my prayers for you today!

Check out this new book by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I have Mark's book pre-ordered on Amazon for its release on Oct. 3. I suggest you do the same.

Guest Blogger Rebekah Crosby

As election day approaches I have been researching all parties involved. I want to feel good about the choice I make on that day. As I was researching I came across a press release I found very interesting. Come to find out Governor Sarah Palin, who will be accepting the position as Senator John McCain's Vice President tonight at the Republican Party Convention, attended an Assemblies of God church in Alaska since she was a teenager. I attached the press release if you are interested in reading it.

Dave and I will not endorse any candidate in the upcoming election. However, I do urge you to do your homework. Research the parties involved. Get to know them and their views. The way to pick a candidate is to compare their views against the word of God. Do they line up with His Word. Voting is an important responsibility that we as citizens have. We all need to pray for the upcoming election, and choose wisely.

http://app.razorplanet.com/acct/40149-8554/resources/Palinstatement.pdf

Guest Blogger Rebekah Crosby

It was Kate's first day of Kindergarten today. After prayer, many discussions, and more prayer Dave and I made the decision to home school. There were many days before today that I wondered if we made the right decision for Kate. After today I know that for us this was the right decision. We had a great first day, and I got to be with her for every moment. As a mom I ate up every second, knowing I was investing in my daughter. It was such a fun day. We did reading, writing, spelling, math, puzzles, games, history, and geography. Kate is a little sponge. She loves to learn, and I love teaching her. We both ended today wanting more.

I only get Kate for a few years and then she will be off on her own. Every moment I invest in my kids I am preparing them to become adults. I don't want to miss a thing.

The most important thing you can do is invest in your child. Spend time with them, get to know them, play with them, pray with them, read to them, and educate them. It doesn't matter if your child is in public, private, or home school. The kids who get the best education, are the kids whose parents are involved.