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Going Double

28 Aug 2009 by Helen

Guess what?  In less than 48 hours we will have done it.  That’s right, by this time in 2 days we will have survived a monumental day in our churches history.  In about 38 hours we will start the 1st of 2 services on Sunday.  Why is this so exciting?  Why not

  1. since I started this job I feel like all I have done is prepare to go to 2 services.  It has been an exciting and sometimes a little overwhelming task for the first few months of a new job.  Though at times it has seemed difficult, I have had amazing volunteers step up, grab the vision and run with it!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it.
  2.  Double services means no children’s volunteer will ever have to miss another service.  The teacher’s that serve our children will no longer have to depend on a cd to grasp the vision and feel burnt out after as they diligently serve their  month in Kid’s ROCK with no opportunity to participate in coorporate worship.  Now they get poured into so that they are full and ready to pour into our children every week.
  3. Double services have will have a tremendous impact on our children.  Teachers will now serve every week, giving opportunity to build more consistent deep relationships with children.  There are also 2 new classes opening up for Kid’s ROCK.  Planet ROCK will be for preschool children age 2-5 and ReROCK will be for children ages 6-9.  This is for children of volunteers, since they will be attending both services.  The children will go to their regular class during 1st service and then will be taken to the Planet ROCK and ReROCK for 2nd service.  The kids will have a blast and parents can serve and attend without worrying about whether their kids are tired or bored.  (Trust me, they won’t be bored!)  Parents – get ready….your kids are gonna start begging you to volunteer so they can go to their second service.
  4. It’s just the beginning.  Somewhere along the week, it hit me!  This is just the begining.  When we reflect Monday morning about how Sunday went and we all take a deep sigh of relief.  It will only be a brief sigh because getting through Sunday doesn’t mean we have arrived, it means we have just started a new era in our church.  I once heard someone say (wish I could remember who but) God won’t send us the harvest if we aren’t ready.  Going double means we have already created room to grow 100%  easy!  Look out ROCK Church….here we go!

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Category: Featured post, God, Volunteer  Tags: , ,  2 Comments

When things aren’t easy…

14 Aug 2009 by Helen

This has been quit a week.  Here are some things I have been reminded of in the midst of all that has happened in the last 7 days.

  • Satan is real and really doesn’t like us.
  • God is real and really, really loves us.
  • I have an incredible, yet imperfect family
  • I have an incredibly perfect and gracious God
  • God’s plans for me are bigger than my current abilities
  • My God is bigger than my inabilities
  • People will fail, God NEVER does
  • Difficult situations reveal our true character
  • Difficult situations provide opportunities for God to show off.

God never promised life would be easy.  We are imperfect people bought with the blood of a perfect savior.  I have walked out of this week stronger, more determined, and focused on what this life is all about.  It has nothing to do with my failures, other’s failures, or even our successes.  It has everything to do with the reality that we live in a fallen world in need of a Savior and I know how to introduce them to Him.

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Category: Family, God, Ministry  Tags: , ,  One Comment

Swimming in the Flood

10 Oct 2008 by Helen

My last 3 post have been an explanation of crazy things have been…just to keep the trend going, let me fill you in….

  • Yesterday, I went to pick up a desk that I was getting for Kennedy, forgot my door was broken and did the stupid thing.  I opened it!  I then spent an hour trying to get home without the door flying open.
  • Today, I get a call from my still very sick husband who informs me that BOTH of my girls have been sent home from school for FIGHTING(each other, getting warned and then demonstrating how they were fighting to someone else only to hurt another child) before school ever started.  WHAT?  ARE YOU KIDDING?  THE GIRLS?

I have to be honest for about a half hour I was beside myself.  I couldn’t concentrate on teaching.  I felt like I couldn’t do my job because I wanted to deal with my family issues.  I was frustrated, dumbfounded, bewildered and mad.  And as I sat at the table trying to focus on what I was supposed to be doing I had a light bulb moment…this is another attempt to get me off task so I decided to turn it around, so here’s how I did that.

  • The economy might be bad, but gas is getting cheaper
  • My husband may have pneumonia, but he is getting some rest
  • We may have had to replace the alternator, but at least my dad was able to do it and now we have a brand new alternator so we shouldn’t have any issues with the alternator in the truck for a while.
  • The door on my van may be broken, but at least it’s the sliding door on the passenger side and not the driver’s door.  At least I don’t have to climb in to drive from the passenger seat everyday.
  • I may have forgotten to post lesson plans and gotten in trouble with my principle but at least I know I won’t ever forget to post them again.
  • My girls may have gotten sent home from school for fighting but it just kept me from having to get a second job!  Let me explain this one, our kids have always been told extracurricular activities are a privilege not a right and if you can’t make good choices and do a good job at school, you won’t be participating in extracurricular activities.  Since we started this financial class and looking at our budget, we realized in order for the girls to continue their extracurricular activities one of us would need a second job.  We didn’t want to deprive our girls from something they loved.  We also didn’t want a second job, but as parents well…you know how it goes. 

So today as I found myself getting into a mood over the girls getting sent home and thinking about how it just won’t stop – feeling like I was living the saying when it rains it pours.  I found myself having a moment of feeling like I was drowning in the flood so I decided to change my perspective…and then I realized that even in the flood I can swim if I’ll just change my perspective.

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Category: Family, God, Parenting, Uncategorized  Tags: , , ,  One Comment

You can't fix what you don't understand

17 Aug 2008 by Helen

Last night Johnny and I had some people over last night to discuss something very close to our hearts – racial unity.  We talked for 3 hours, went through an entire cassette tape recording (front and back) and started on the second tape before we finally just prayed to end it.  If you have ever been in a meeting with a meeting full of leaders, you will understand that everyone (including me) had to put in their 2 cents.  We all had something to say, something we felt, and had no rhyme or reason to where each conversation lead.  It was great discussions, but I must admit it left me feeling a little frustrated.  I wasn’t frustrated with anyone or with anything that was said, but I felt a little frustrated at the fact that we just talked…there was no resolution, no finality – I’m not sure what I expected, but I know that wasn’t it.

After everyone left, I spent the next 2 hours talking, thinking, praying (making my husband crazy) and I began to realize that there was so much more that came out of that meeting than we realized.  God began to give me ideas of how to address things, how to tweak the ideas we already had because the ideas were only part of the bigger picture.  There was so many other things I hadn’t thought of, so much I hadn’t even considered.  There were things we had thought about.  Things we had answers for because we had already asked those questions, but there was so much more.

 I’m a teacher.  My nature is to figure out the problem, find the solution and then teach people what to do to fix it – A 6-point lesson plan of sorts.  My frustration was that I couldn’t solve all the issue, I couldn’t give a step by step program for how to fit the things the thoughts and perspectives that were addressed.  What I realized last night when everyone was gone was that I wanted to fix a problem that I didn’t fully understand.  I understand there is more to racial unity than we what have experienced (and we have experienced much more than most churches), I understand my perspective, my husband’s perspective, but have I listened to the perspective of others? 

I tried to go to bed and as I closed me eyes, I kept seeing faces, hearing their words, and kept getting up to write something else down.  I began to realize I have to hear people.  Last night wasn’t about the solution, it was about understanding the need to hear people.  I can’t fix what I don’t understand….and if that wasn’t enough confirmation, here’s a quote from Pastor Ron today that just says it all…”You need to ask questions before you take action.” 

How many times in life have you created a solution, made a decision, developed a program based soley off your understanding of a need?  How many times have you seen a need or had God put a burden in your heart for something and immediately took action?  I think we’ve missed a step somewhere – understanding the need.

I am so excited about what God is doing…I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

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Wilderness to Promise Land

05 Aug 2008 by Helen

A couple of days ago I was sitting in a hospital room with a friend reading a book and got to the chapter about wilderness experiences.  As I read I had a thought (which had nothing to do with what I was reading about) so I stopped reading…I have pondered it all for a few days and here is part of my thoughts. 

Moses/Joshua…Wilderness/Promised Land – Now before you read this understand I am no Bible scholar and I’m just sharing from what I can remember and what I have read recently…so take it for what it is worth. 

What was the wilderness to Israel?  It was a place that brought them from the bondage of slavery to an absolute dependency of God.  It was a place of testing and for learning the faithfulness of God.  It was a place where Moses heard from God, did as God said, and the people either followed or didn’t.  How did Moses lead in the wilderness – He was THE leader.  He struck the Rock.  He held up the rod…He went up to the mountain – just as God told him.  Moses (at least once they left Egypt) was in many ways a one man show.  I’m not saying that as a bad thing – It just seems for the most part the responsibility and weight of leading always fell solely on his shoulders.  If the other leaders helped it was by holding him up (like when they help his arms up when they got tired). 

The wilderness was a place of always enough but never abundance.  God never let the Israelites go without.  He always provided…there was manna every morning but only enough for that day and it was always the same thing…not a lot of variety.  Their shoes never wore out but I’m guessing there wasn’t a shoe store out there to purchase new shoes either. 

 Why do you think it was like that?  Why do you think Moses lead the way he did?  Why do you think God provided the same thing over and over and over again?  Is He not God in the desert too?  Couldn’t He have provided anything & everything even there?  Why did they stay there so long? 

I think there are many reasons God did it this way, but here are a few thoughts on how it relates to where we are.    God knew He could trust Moses.  He had prepared Moses from birth to do this.  Moses had lived in freedom, luxury and had it all, and Moses had lived in the wilderness where he had nothing and God had blessed him.   I think  God knew this mass of humanity that He loved dearly had lived only in captivity…they wouldn’t know how to handle freedom.  They didn’t know how to handle God’s provision.  They didn’t know how to follow a leader willingly because they all they had ever done was follow a leader because it was required.  They had to learn what Moses had already lived. They had to learn how to enjoy freedom without abusing it…how to honor leadership by choice not by force.

So what changed with Joshua?  Joshua was still the appointed leader of Israel.  God still gave him the directions but God’s directions changed.  Read Joshua chapter 3.  God gave Joshua the directions but those directions required him to instruct others to carry out the word of the Lord.  Joshua didn’t part the waters of the Jordan as Moses had done with the Red Sea.  Instead God told Joshua to  choose 12 priest to carry the ark of the covenant into the Jordan which would part when the soles of their feet touched the water. 

Joshua was able to empower the people to be a part of what God had called them to do because the people understand who Joshua was. And  they understood who Joshua was because of the leader Moses had been.  The Bible says in Joshua 4:14 that God exalted Joshua that day and that the Israelites feared Joshua that day just as they had feared Moses.  Why?  Joshua didn’t do anything – the priest did.  The water didn’t part until the priest set foot in the water.  They feared him because they understood authority.  He didn’t do it but he gave the instructions from God as to what to do.  All the priests authority came from Joshua - all they did was what Joshua told them to do…Joshua’s authority came directly from God.

So how does this relate to our church’s transition…Pastor Ron was to us what Moses was to the Israelites – the man who taught us how to live in freedom and how to honor authority.  Pastor Bryan – Joshua…the man who honored Moses and served him with no thought of himself only to be raised up to take the Israelites into their promise land!  Without Moses the Israelites could have never followed Joshua.  Without the wilderness experience the Israelites couldn’t have respected and appreciated the promised land.  The wilderness was a bridge from captivity to destiny. 

Does that excite you?  Hold on…there’s more….later.

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Category: God  Tags: , , , , ,  2 Comments

Wilmington in Black and White

01 Aug 2008 by Helen

I got an email tonight from another co-worker and fellow Rocker about a class offered this September at UNCW.  It is called Wilmington in Black and White.  Here’s what the flyer has to say

Objectives

• Develop a historical perspective of relationships between African Americans and whites in the

American South placing Wilmington’s history in a larger context;

• Establish a community dialogue grounded in history and focused on citizenship that goes

beyond blame and defensiveness; and

• Improve race relations in our community.

Can you believe I can take this class and get credit towards renewal credits for my teaching license.  I think it is funny how God can orchestra things.  I am so excited about this class.  All I have to do now is make sure we can work out all the details with the kids since it takes place for 6 Thursdays in September and October while Johnny will be coaching football.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.  Seriously read the whole flyer about it here….Wilmington in Black and White Flyer

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Category: God, Uncategorized, Work  Tags: , ,  One Comment

An amazing story

29 Jul 2008 by Helen

I want some of this…the kind of heart that changes the world!  Holy cow, seriously you have got to read this now.  It humbled me, convicted me, and excited me all in about 30 seconds.  Seriously, stop reading what I wrote and go read this!  This is the kind of person I want to be and the kind of kids I want to raise!

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Category: God, Money  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment

Wow! What did God do at your church today?

27 Jul 2008 by Helen

Wow!  What to can I say.  Oh wait, I know I just embraced the ride with my hands up!  If you don’t understand, read this.  I mean today I got it!  When we came out on stage my heart was racing, hands sweating, not for the fear of messing up but because I had an expectancy of an encounter with my God.  For weeks  I have been wrestling with God sorta like my friend Lori.  Sleep has been a struggle (and I LOVE to sleep), church has been a struggle (not cause good things weren’t happening but because God was pressing me), life has been a struggle but today before I ever got there, I said “I trust you”…little did I know what Pastor Bryan would be speaking on and what it would mean….

God showed up in a big way.  We sang this song by U2 this morning at the beginning of the service and ended with the same song.  Apparently U2 sings this song at the end of every concert.  I don’t know, that’s just what I heard.  All we were really told as a worship team was that it was going to be ministry time and the goal was to sing the chorus and gradually fade out.  The band would leave, the singers would fade out and one by one we’d leave hoping the congregation would keep singing.  It was one of those things I didn’t quit get at the time but thought it was cool so why not, right?  WOW, I mean WOW God showed up and it was an encounter with the creator that didn’t need anything to be added to, it just was!  Thanks Pastor B for being sensitive to the voice of the Lord and for stepping out of the box.

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