Friday, March 18, 2011

The Strength of PCC

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Eph 4:12 (NLT)

The strength of PCC lies not in our pastors but in our people! I have been struck this week by how God is using our volunteers or “unpaid staff”, ordinary men and women who are making themselves available for God to use them in extra-ordinary ways. Let me give you just two examples:
  • Upward Basketball: While our Community Center hosted Upward Basketball for 318 young boys and girls this season, it was a team of 3 “unpaid staff” who managed and drove the league, and almost a hundred other “unpaid staff” who coached, refereed, and served as league commissioners. I sat in our Worship Center on Monday night at the Awards Ceremony and marveled at the league's impact as hundreds of people gathered, many of whom would never come in this building on a Sunday morning.

    Here is an email we received from a follower of Jesus, an “unpaid staff” disguised as a coach:
    The fact is,God is working in these people's lives. My wife had 2 conversations AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY about 'church' with families who currently don't go to church. This is what Upward is really all about; people experience something different when they come to Upward. Upward games are sacred ground and people can sense that. I cannot tell you how many conversations I've had this season with non-believing parents who expressed this 'difference'. We had 12 families from our elementary school join the league this season. None of them go to church. All of them REALLY enjoyed the season. Many of them sat through the devotionals at practice...never did I get a complaint. If anything, it opened the door to candid conversations about faith and God. Interest in spiritual things was piqued for many of them because this is NOT the Christianity they knew...or thought they knew. God used Upward to reach into places and people's lives that normally would not walk on the property of PCC (or any church for that matter).
  • God’s Girls: I picked up my daughter from God’s Girls last night and walked into a room full of life. God’s Girls is run by a team of followers of Jesus disguised as “unpaid staff” and moms of young girls. The point woman of the program told me last night of how much the program has grown this year, how they have outgrown their space and need more room. What a great problem to have! God is using her and her team in amazing ways.

Imagine with me for a moment in the goodness of God. He allows us to get in on the “Family Business” of drawing people to Him and growing them in their faith. This privilege is not just for spiritual professionals, "paid staff," but is for all followers of His. Thank you for living beyond yourself and for beautifully expressing the heart and hands of Jesus to a broken and hurting world.

We start a new series this week on the book of Habakkuk. I have found this Minor Prophet extremely relevant to my life in 2011 and I think you will too. Look for the book in your Bible’s table of contents (in the OT, near the end of it). Read chapter 1 and come hungry to grow on Sunday. We will also be introducing a PCC version of the Wailing Wall this Sunday.

I love being your Pastor!