Friday, July 27, 2012

Being the Church

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14

I’ve always prayed that we would grow PCC on Sunday through Monday, not just on Sundays. Seems like God wants that too!  Here are just three (of many!) pictures of the ministry of PCC I was able to see this week:

1. PCC in Afghanistan: I received a letter yesterday from First Class Officer Rosa Melgar, who has served our country through the Navy for 13 years.  As God would have it, he grew up in Redwood City and still has family in our great city.  While serving in Afghanistan, he volunteered to receive all packages sent to the troops and distribute them. (Not just to troops, but our forces in Afghanistan take the bulk of packages and goodies sent to them and distribute them to Afghan schools, orphanages and refugee camps!) In his words, he said “I cannot explain the boost in morale seeing the package your church in MY hometown gave me.  THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU.” (Caps were his!)  Way to go, Reveille!

2. PCC Middle School Ministry: I received an email from a grateful parent whose son was on the Middle School Ministry Mission trip to the Yakama Native American Reservation.  Here is what was conveyed: “We'd be remiss to not take the opportunity to convey to you (and the Student Ministry team) that we are completely impressed by the job Lauren Majewski did with last week's EPIC Mission trip.  Her vision to lead the trip, followed by identifying a unique and special organization to partner with, securing an adult leadership team, planning and organizing the trip, followed by outstanding execution at very low cost is humbling to witness.  She thought through all of the details, had timely and excellent communication with the parents, and maintained an upbeat and cheerful attitude. Furthermore, she motivated the kids to do unpleasant work in high 90 degree heat and complete the goals they set for themselves; and they seemed to have fun on the trip, too (at least, we can speak for our son as he rated the trip as a “10” on a scale of 1-10)! Clearly, God was at work through her, and we are thankful that Lauren had her ears open to the Holy Spirit and was obedient to Him.” Way to go Lauren and Student Ministries!

3. Connex Family Camp: The sanctuary was a wreck last night and I couldn’t have been more pleased!  Last night was the culmination of 4 nights of parents and kids gathering together to eat dinner, engage in high energy, Christ-centered fun and experience growth together as a family.  Seriously, I wish I could have bottled up the Holy Spirit’s presence as MrJ was sharing the gospel to the generations.  While there has been much talk lately about our value of being intergenerational, this week God gave us a picture of the power of the generations coming together around our mission.  It was an incredible week.  Way to go Children’s and Family Ministry!

I could go on and on, from School Aged Child Care to the Center, to Young Adults Ministry to High School Ministry to Plus Ministry, God is on the move.

When we say every gathering at the end that this is the most important part of the gathering, we are going to break and go be the church, we mean it!  Obviously, many PCCers mean it too!

I love being your pastor!