Hey friends –

Sunday was awesome! Never in a million years did I think I would hear myself say “I love church business meetings,” but I can’t help myself! How fitting it is to celebrate all God is doing, and to collectively lean into the adventures he is calling us into in this coming year.

On Sunday I shared my top 10 highlights from 2009 (in no particular order), and I wanted to share them here too. We believe God is leading us into some very important and exciting adventures in 2010 as well, but I’ll save that for another email . . .

And finally, this weekend we will be talking about the “together” aspect of our vision. God has made us to do life deeply with one another, but how do we live into this? We’ll get into the Scriptures on this question on Sunday.

Here is my top 10 from 2009:

1. First Children’s Ministry Director – What a great moment in our church life! When Life started the largest population was single adults. By year three, the largest population was young marrieds. Now, lo and behold, those young adults are reproducing! Life now has about 30 young children, and we are proactively seeking to minister to young families well, and to make Life a place that our friends will be eager to have their kids a part of too.

2. Mozambique orphanage – We are in our fourth year of a 20 year commitment to Mozambique, and God has done a lot! This year marked the beginning of a third phase – a vibrant ministry to women and children at risk (known as the Melanie Center). Makes one wonder what God will do next . . .

3. Events with our church plants – This year we partnered with Catalyst to put on a very good marriage conference called To Have and To Hold, and we held a joint baptism service and BBQ with Restoration Covenant.

4. Good Friday, JusticeNOW, VBS – This year we also partnered with several local churches for some great ministry. I think God smiles when he sees his children playing well together.

5. HOW – Life piloted a small group designed to help people grow in their ability to share their faith in natural, normal ways. This is a significant growth area for us as a church, and I see God using this in many of our lives in the year to come.

6. Appenfelder family – What a joy to see God at work, even in the most trying of times, in this precious family! Though Paul lost his life to cancer, he, his wife, and two adult children all found new life in Jesus.

7. Scotty sent out – Losing Scotty was like losing my right arm, but what a joy to see God move Scott deeper into his calling as a pastor and leader. Among other things, God is making us a church that trains and sends others well.

8. Nicole and Bridget’s surgeries – We saw God come through in two very scary health situations, and I was proud of the way our church family stepped up and cared for these families during tough times.

9. Lord’s Prayer teaching series – This had to be one of my all-time favorite series to teach, and from the response it seems it was helpful for many. I have a sense that God will continue to use this to shape us in years to come.

10. Expanding influence (Tim’s book, national church planting team, podcast) – God is doing something very interesting with our church: he is granting us impact disproportionate to our size. I have a growing catalog of stories of how, without us seeking it out, God keeps using Life Cov as a resource to other churches and pastors. What is God doing? I’m not sure, but I know we need to pray and lean into it. To God alone be the glory.

Finally, let me just say what a joy I count it to be called your pastor. I love you guys, and love doing life with you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

I’m just home from our denomination’s annual pastor’s conference, and I feel refreshed and blessed. What a grace that Life is part of a healthy, missional family of churches!

This Sunday is going to be great – it is our annual family business meeting (emphasis on the “family”). Ordinarily we do this immediately after our worship gathering, but this year we are going to do part of it during the service as well. It seems appropriate as we give thanks for all God did in 2009 and look ahead to where he is leading us in 2010 to make this part of our worship. It’s going to be great - hope you can be part of it!

Lord bless you guys, and we’ll look forward to being with you this weekend -

Tim
Mt 6:33

Hey friends –

Thank you so much for your generosity toward those in need in Haiti! I love that our church is always ready to step up and act like the church.

I was invited to post some thoughts about this tragedy on a new blog at my alma mater. I know many of us are wrestling through these questions too -

Earlier this week a friend and I were talking about the tragic earthquake in Haiti, and he asked me how God could allow suffering of this magnitude to take place. In the face of the tremendous pain and loss we see going on there, any attempt to answer that question feels hollow. Yet the question persists: if God is good, how can he allow such suffering and evil in the world? My answer went something like this . . .

(Click here for the rest of the article)

Love you guys, and love doing life with you. Lord bless you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

Hey friends!

Lots of very good stuff this Sunday:

• Mozambique – The money we raised during the Advent Conspiracy made a BIG difference in Africa. Details and stories . . .
• Vision – We anticipate God doing some very exciting things in and through us in 2010 – you need to be part of making it happen! Up, In, Out, Together . . .
• Book release party – I wrote a book! On Sunday we’ll celebrate, and pray together that it blesses a lot of people. Thanks for sharing the joy!
• Food – We’ll be sharing a meal after worship on Sunday - sign up with Deanne to bring something (deannefunk@gmail.com).

Love you guys, and love doing life with you. Lord bless you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

Thank you for the plethora of responses to last week’s challenge to do hard things (“Jefe, what is a plethora?”). That post clearly hit a nerve (in a good way). I love that we are a church that doesn’t want to just play at Christianity, but live it!

Along those lines, last Sunday we began our series on Life’s vision for 2010 by noting that before we ask the question of what kind of mission God has for me, we need to ask what kind of me God has for his mission. Am I becoming the person God intends me to be? Am I available to God – in terms of my character, my time, my relationships – in a way that will allow me to be part of the action?

These are the three questions we posed (out of Romans 12), and I want to invite you to continue to take these to God in prayer this month as you look forward to 2010:
1. What is my plan for spiritual growth? (v. 1-2)
2. How will I use my gifts? (v. 3-8)
3. How will I grow in community? (v. 9-21)

This Sunday we will continue our series by looking at what we see God doing with us in the coming year, and what our response as a church family needs to be. Good times!

And two upcoming events:

• Next Thursday is our homeless dinner, and in addition to food we want to provide gently used jackets, sweatshirts, and long sleeve shirts to our guests. If you have any to contribute can you bring them to worship this Sunday, or contact Risa at pinkytink55@yahoo.com.

• And Sunday the 17th after worship we will be having a little book release party and family dinner. Sign up with Deanne to bring something (deannefunk@gmail.com).

Love you guys, and love doing life with you -

Tim
Mt 6:33

I recently came across a book for teenagers called Do Hard Things. I didn’t read it (personal rule: after one’s hairline begins receding one should not read books written for teens), but the book grabbed me all the same. The premise is simply this: *We were made by a big God to do big things in God’s big world, so it’s a tragic mistake to live small.* The problem, though, is that living big is not safe, nor is it is easy. But it’s better. So do hard things. (Can I get an amen?)

You have chosen to be a church planter. And not just that – you have chosen to be part of a church community that wants to reach out to the least reached group of people in our city (young adults) and minister to the needy in our own city (not downtown). And that joyfully gives away large sums of money to care for orphans in Africa and Mexico, help the world’s poorest people develop businesses, and educate pastors to start churches in a country most of us will never visit. And you are part of a church that is actively praying for the privilege of sacrificing to see a new church started in 2010 in Vegas! And that is crazy enough to believe that God will use us in seeing 1000 churches planted around the world before we’re done!

You could be doing something easier, but you’re not. You are doing hard things, and I commend you for it. (And seriously, do you want to go to your grave knowing you lived a comfortable Christian life or knowing that you changed the world?)

January is vision month, and beginning with this weekend, we will be talking about doing big, gnarly, important, hard things. Don’t miss it!

Love you guys, and love doing life with you -

Tim
Mt 6:33