Last night at “The Altar” (our once-a-quarter contemporary worship service), I shared the need for our church family to pray for CCC’s growth. For those of you who couldn’t make it – and as a reminder for those of you who did -- let me share that need.

CCC is growing. This is good, and is consistent with God’s plan for His church (Acts 2:47; 6:7; 9:31). However, we’re not sure how to accommodate this growth with our current facility and services.

We’ve thought of a few ideas:
• We could expand our current facility, build a bigger one or even relocate to a different site

We’re in this series called “40 Days of Love,” and we’re talking about all the ways that we can obey the Great Commandment: love God with all our hearts, and love others as ourselves. So right in the middle of October, we’re going to interrupt this series and go out into our community to serve.

Why? Because actions speak louder than words!

We’ve not been put on this world – and specifically in the Chillicothe/Rome/Princeville/Lacon/Henry area – to simply talk about love. We’re here to truly love by what we do for others in Jesus’ name.

Most people who know me know that I love music. Sometimes, I even lose focus while playing bass guitar because I’m caught up in the music and try to sing along (I keep my headset mic OFF!).

I’ve got all kinds of favorites in the worship music category, but one of my top songs is “All About Love.” I first heard that song in 2002, performed by the musician who composed it: Rick Muchow, the praise band leader at Saddleback Church. It captivated me then, and I still love it.

Part of verse one is simple, but powerful:

Love the Lord with all your heart

BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE…

Many of our church families have taken vacations this summer. The Caterpillar shutdown has helped that, as well as lower gas prices (remember $4/gallon? Yikes!).

Our family had the opportunity to camp out at Indiana’s largest state park, Brown County State Park. Some of the family stayed in an RV, some in a tent, and some in a “rustic cabin.”

This is the continuation of my July 2009 "Family Ties" newsletter article...
IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

In 1982, Tom Peters wrote a groundbreaking business book entitled "In Search of Excellence." In that book, Peters listed eight common themes that made up excellent organizations.

One of these themes was “Productivity Through People.” In that section , there are many examples of businesses that treat people well and have excellent people working for them.

I was attending a revival service at the Lincoln Christian Church a number of year's back. The preacher was a professor at Lincoln Christian College - in fact, he was my third-year Greek professor. This man was a very engaging and Biblical preacher, and I loved listening to him.

That's why, when he announced at the conclusion of one evening: "Tomorrow night, I'm going to preach the greatest sermon ever preached!," my curiosity was aroused. The greatest sermon ever? Wow! I had to hear that!

I shared this story with the Easter choir…and I think it’s worth sharing with you.

I went to Pearce Community Center right after second service on April 5th, hoping to catch our “Fifth Sunday Servants” in action. They were just finishing up, and it looked as though they had done a great job.
I asked around: “Has anyone taken any pictures?” I did want to see what had been done by our church family, but my real reason for asking was so that we could send a few photos in to the local newspapers. You know, a little good publicity never hurt anyone…

Easter Praise 2009 is history, and I have nothing but praise at the moment for everyone who made it happen.

First of all – praise God, who has given us the gifts and talents of an amazing church family. To Him be all the glory.

I’m excited about Easter Praise 2009! The day we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection is always a joyous occasion – and having it at our building with two worship opportunities (9:00 and 10:30) will be great! The BELIEVE choir and drama group are working hard to make this a memorable time of worship. Be sure to invite friends and family!

We began this thing called the "New Testament Challenge" on January 1, and I'm pretty sure that it's been the exact right thing for our church this year. Would you agree? So after reading the daily readings, participating in a small group, and preaching messages based on the big New Testament themes, here are a few things that I've learned along the way:

• The "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7 is simply AMAZING. I found myself digging out some old commentaries just to get personal insights.