Thanksgiving Service

Please join Pocono Community Church tonight at 7:00pm at the Pocono Mountain West Junior High School for its first ever Thanksgiving Service!

I look forward to seeing you there!

I'm Thankful For...

1. Jesus and his grace.

2. My wife and kids.

3. My parents and siblings and extended family.

4. Great friends that I get to work with everyday.

5. My church.

6. Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. And fried chicken.

7. That I have a reason to get up and go to work everyday.

8. Friends and leaders that are willing to invest in me.

9. My wife - she deserves double thanks : )

10.The people who pray for me everyday.

David Kim

Rebekah and I had dinner with our friends, David and Rebekah Kim. That's funny - David and Rebekah had dinner with David and Rebekah.

Pastor David leads Promise International Fellowship in NYC. PIF is unique in that it is a Korean fellowship aimed at reaching first, second and third generation immigrants in NYC. They have the largest Korean fellowship in NYC.

David and Rebekah are some of the coolest people you'll ever meet. We're looking forward to being with them in February 09 where I'll be speaking for his retreat.

FIrst Time Guest Response

Each week we send an email survey to all of our first time guests. Below is a recent response from a PCC first-timer. Thought it was interesting and wanted to pass it on to you. You can learn a lot about your church by asking first-time guests for their honest opinion.

What did you notice first?

The very first thing I noticed was the greeter advising me to use my flashers if I was a first time guest at which time I was guided to a parking spot and introduced to the church.

What did you like best?

I think I liked it best that I somehow felt special even though there were so many people there. There were people greeting me at every turn. I was concerned about the size of the church because I thought I would just be a person in a crowd and I didn't feel that way at all.

What was your overall impression?

Honestly it was a bit over the top for me at first but I don't say that in a bad way. I never expected something at such a grand scale that was so organized. I mentioned to a family member that I felt that I had gone to a paid production. I have paid hundreds of dollars to go to events that were less impressive.

How can we pray for you?

You can pray for me to find a spiritual path to walk with Jesus.

PCC 2.0

Had a great time yesterday afternoon with my good friend Joe Dascenzo, co-founder of ChangEffect. He and his team spent 5 hours with some of my staff and high capacity volunteers dreaming together about how we can make PCC the best possible church it can be at reaching people for Jesus in the Pocono Mountains.

In this process of reegineering and rebranding, there are no simple solutions, only intelligent questions.

Here are some of the questions we relentlessly drilled down on:

1) What's our business ... really?
2) What are we most passionate about?
3) Whare are our strengths? Weaknesses?

These questions and many more are helping us go to the next level as a church. One of the hard truths we discovered from Joe's team member, Fred (who led Willow Creek's Re-org) was that "we have outgrown our current organizational structure years ago." In other words, what got us here, won't get us where we want to go in the future. Although that is typical of fast growing organizations, our unwillingness to address these issues could potentially make or break the future of our church.

Last night was by far the most exciting dream session we've ever had as a church. I'm looking forward to all the good changes, both in messaging and structure, that will come out of this process.

PCC 2.0 here we come!

Family Update

As many of you know, my wife, Bekah, was expecting our 4th child. Unfortunately, there were some complications with the pregnancy and she lost the baby last week. It's been a sad and disappointing time for our family but we are trusting in God's providence. Our Father knows best.

On behalf of Bekah and my kids, I want to thank you all for your prayers, cards and food that you've been bringing to the house. You've all ministered to us in so many ways and words can't express our gratitude. A special shout out to our community group too. You guys have been so kind. Thanks so much.

Pastor Dave & Family

The Day After

I just read a response by Chuck Colson regarding the day after the election. I thought you might enjoy reading it.

The Day After
Pray for Our President and Our Nation

November 5, 2008

Whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, whether you’re recovering from your all-night celebration or drying the tears from your pillow, today’s a good day to remember the words of the apostle Paul: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

And the new President will surely need our prayers because he and his administration face huge, serious challenges to the health of our nation and to peace in the world—challenges that, in my opinion, neither he nor any government on earth will have the power to overcome without divine aid.

How has America come to this point? Why is our economy on the brink of disaster? Why is our culture so utterly depraved?

I can only think of what Alexandr Solzhenitsyn said about the catastrophic consequences of the Russian revolution. “I recall,” he said, “hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”

Solzhenitsyn was right. Indeed, I can’t find any better explanation for why we Americans find ourselves in the state we are in. We have forgotten God.

We have also forgotten that American democracy—indeed Western Civilization itself—is the product of the Judeo-Christian understanding of God and humanity. Without that revelation that man is created in the image of God, our founders never would have recognized the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, as I and others like Rodney Stark have argued, modern science and education, liberal democracy, capitalism flourished in Western civilization precisely because of the Judeo-Christian worldview.

The attacks on Christianity these days are only going to intensify in the months ahead. But we must press on all the more to make a winsome witness. Those who would banish Christianity from American life are risking the very survival of American society.

Friends have asked me whether this economic crisis is God’s judgment upon us. I don’t know.

As I’ve re-read the Old Testament prophets recently, I couldn’t help but notice the recurring theme: The people of God turned away from Him and worshipped false idols. The result was always disaster.

Is God responsible for credit markets collapsing around the world? No. We’re responsible. Because instead of worshiping God, we’ve worshipped false idols of the marketplace, credit card companies and cheap mortgages. We’ve put our own appetites over our duties to God and neighbor.

So this is no time for Christians to go into the bunkers. No time to wail or moan over our retirement plans. This is a time to repent, to pray more, to give more. It’s a time for Christians to lead, encourage, and minister to a faltering country in a faltering economy.

This is a time for the Church to get serious about Christian discipleship. Enough cheap grace.

So pray for the new President and his administration. But most of all, my brothers and sisters, this is a time to love our neighbors and to hunger for God and His righteousness.

An Election Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We recognize you as the ruler and authority in our life and nation. We pray that your will be done in this election and our country.

May you establish our governing authorities at a local, state and national level. Raise up righteous public servants that will serve with integrity and humility.

We ask that your Holy Spirit will help us unify our nation and empower us above all to love one another.

Amen.

Birthday Boy!

Today my oldest son, David III, turns 3 years old. He's crazy about the Cars movie so I baked him a cake last night and decorated the kitchen in all his favorite Cars paraphernalia (gotta love Party City). Tonight after I get home from work we are having his favorite meal - spaghetti and meatballs. David's got great taste. And then we are going to open some presents and eat cake.

Here are the 3 Top Things I love about my 3 year old:

1) David has a tender heart towards others. He loves to snuggle and cuddle, especially with his mother. He just loves on his brother and sister, as well. I watch him interact with other children at church and he

2) David has an adventurous spirit. Unlike his sister, he is prone to go exploring - like in the mall when you turn around for just a second.

3) David loves to laugh and learn. He's always sneaking up on his brother or sister and trying to tickle them. He loves sitting at the dining room table with his big sister and "doing school."

Happy Birthday Buddy! Love, Daddy