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6pm Christmas Eve service cancelled due to icy weather.

prestontrailcc — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:40:07 +0000

NOTICE: Due to the icy weather, we are cancelling the 6pm Chritmas Eve service. The 2pm and 4pm services are still on. See you here! Merry Christmas Eve http://prestontrail.org

God’s Word for Tough Times

paulbasden — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:23:45 +0000

In today’s blog I want to encourage you if you find yourself in tough times.

When Christ-followers face life’s challenges, the most natural thing to do is pray. The second most natural thing to do is read the Bible. In prayer we talk to God, in the Bible we hear God’s voice, it’s a dialogue. And God delights in it.

Ditto for a church. PTCC is facing its own challenge at the moment (see last week’s blog), but God wants us a church to approach problems in the same way an individual believer does – again, through prayer and Scripture. We’ve called on our people to pray, and the last two Monday night prayer times have been rich and rewarding. So let me invite you to our third and final prayer meeting this Monday night October 12 from 7:30-8:30 PM in the worship center. You will be uplifted more than you can imagine. And God will receive lots of glory.

But having said that, I invite you now to listen to God’s Word as well. There are several Scripture passages that strengthen and comfort us in times of trouble, and I want to share them with you here. Read them … meditate on them … memorize them. Today I’m drawn to Isaiah 40-55. Get ready …

God’s eternal word

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. (40:8)

God’s power

See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. (40:10)

God’s tenderness

He tends his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (40:11)

God’s wisdom

Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? (40:13)

God’s greatness

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. (40:26)

When you are weak

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
Yet those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (40:29-31)

When you are afraid

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (41:10)

When you feel alone

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (41:13)

When you are overwhelmed

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (43:2)

When you feel trapped in the past

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (43:18-19)

When you feel guilty

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (43:25)

When you feel lost

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (45:22)

When you question God’s providence

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (46:9-10)

When you feel God-forsaken

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. (49:14-16)

When you have forgotten Jesus’ sacrifice

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (53:3-6)

When you need to connect to God

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. (55:6)

I could go on all day listing God’s amazing promises and gracious words. But I think I’ll stop here. This is more than enough for God to speak to you today. I pray that he has. And I pray that you will read your Bible often so he can speak to you every day. And that’s how Christ-followers face challenges.

Grateful for God’s words to us,

Paul (aka PB)

FAQs on PTCC Budget Challenge

paulbasden — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:49:08 +0000

I haven’t blogged in several weeks, but there’s something significant I want to talk about today. Last weekend Brad Brenneman spoke at the end of our 3 worship services about the budget challenge facing PTCC right now. Given the importance of this information, let me elaborate on what Brad said, but in a FAQ format. Ready? Here goes:

Q: What budget challenge are you talking about?

A: We are facing shortfalls each week in our giving, for several reasons. As a church, we intend to live within our income. That means we need to: a) increase our income through additional giving, b) decrease our spending through budget cuts, or c) do some of both.

Q: How did this happen?

A: There are several contributing factors.

1. A church is like every non-profit organization – it doesn’t sell goods or services that can be priced per unit and sold by volume. Its income derives solely from the financial gifts of the people who call it “home.”

2. Due to strong worship growth, very cautious hiring, a heavy volunteer force serving in key staff positions, and relatively low budgeted spending growth over the past year – along with your faithful financial support – PTCC did not begin to experience meaningful financial tightness until late spring and early summer 2009.

3. When the Staff, Elders and Stewardship team formulated the operating budget for FY09-10 (July 1-June 30), we projected our income based on historical growth trends and historical giving trends per worship attendee. We then set conservative spending levels to support these growth trends.

4. Unfortunately, a weak economy, coupled with slower than anticipated attendance growth, has caused us to run regular weekly shortfalls over the past few months.

Q: How much shortfall are we talking about?

A: $4,000-5,000/week

Q: How much is our operating budget?

A: Our weekly budgeted spending/income for FY09-10 is $41,000 or $2.088 million per year.

Q: What happens if we keep running a deficit?

A: First off, we’re not going to let that happen. We believe that God’s children are supposed to live within their means, not beyond them. Ditto for God’s churches. But if we let the current trend continue for the rest of FY 09-10, we would run a deficit of +/- $200,000 by June 30, 2010. In the words of someone somewhere, “Ain’t gonna happen.”

Q: What are we going to do about it? How are we going to live within our means?

A: We have 3 options – just like you do if your family’s expenses outrun your income. You can bring in more money or spend less money. Or both.

Q: Let’s look at option 1: How can we bring in more money?

A: The only way is for the people of PTCC to increase their giving in the very near future. That would solve the problem short-term. And if all of us keep up that new standard of giving, that would solve the problem long-term.

Q: What if we have to spend less? Where will the budget cuts some from?

A: Our operating budget is composed of 3 parts: bond payments, ministry costs, and personnel costs.

1. The bond payments (to pay for our current building) are fixed, so they cannot change.

2. Ministry costs have already been cut back significantly. Our staff has trimmed their budgets to bare-bones subsistence, so any more cuts will impact the quality of those ministries that you are accustomed to seeing, hearing, and experiencing.

3. Personnel costs are all that’s left. Like every church, this is the majority of the budget. So it’s where we will have to go there first. At a minimum, this will mean a significant across-the-board salary cut for every employee. If that’s not enough, it could then mean downsizing the staff – although we’re doing all we can to save every staff position. We believe we have the right people in the right jobs, and that all the jobs are crucial to the carrying our of our mission.

Q: I didn’t have any idea we were facing a budget challenge. How can I help?

A: You’re not alone. We think 98% of the people who walk into our building on the weekends don’t know. (And frankly, we don’t talk about money a lot.)

But you can help, in 2 ways.

1. The best way to help is to pray. Ask God to show you if you’re using his money in ways that mirror his priorities. He will answer you, I promise – he has a vested interest in how you manage the money he’s entrusted to you.

2. If God tells you to give more money to his Kingdom work through PTCC, do it.

If all of us will pray, listen, and obey … this challenge will no longer exist.

Q: Is it OK to redirect money that I’ve committed to the Giant Step Building Fund?

A: No. Giant Step is a separate area of giving. We need your pledged gifts to go where you originally directed them. And by the way, our Giant Step funding is doing very well, despite a down economy. YEA!

Q: What if the current national economic crunch has put me behind the 8-ball financially? That is, what if I simply can’t give more to PTCC because I lost my job, or my salary was cut, etc.?

A: We fully appreciate that times are very difficult for many. We also fully understand that some may not be in a position to provide additional giving.

Q: What if I can give more? Is there a special offering we’re collecting?

A: If you have the means and God affirms it, we request that you prayerfully consider giving a “Special Operating Gift” over the next three weeks. This may be a unique opportunity for you to have a huge impact on our ministry and growth at PTCC!

But we have a request: these gifts need to be above and beyond your normal tithes and Giant Step commitments.

Whatever Special Operating Gifts we receive between now and October 17-18 will go directly to reduce the expense cuts necessary to reduce the deficit.

As always, you can make these gifts via the weekly offering or via online giving (http://prestontrail.org/main/giving.html).

Q: Anything else? (a convenient way to conclude a blog on FAQs …)

A: Yes. We believe that this is a spiritual challenge at heart. We believe God is using these circumstances to talk to us as a church and ask us to turn to him more completely than we ever have. Bill Hybels often says, “95% commitment to Jesus Christ still falls 5% short.” If this financial challenge causes PTCC to become 5% more faithful to Jesus Christ, it’s worth it!!!

With that in mind, I invite you to join Jim and me for corporate prayer on the next 2 Monday nights (October 5 and 12). We will meet in the worship center at 7:30 PM and pray for God to keep us focused on our mission of reaching people to change lives. We will also ask God to do a work in the lives of our people so they learn what it means to give generously, maybe even sacrificially, to God’s work through our church. If you can join us, please do! There’s no childcare, but whoever can come … we covet your prayers.

As always, we’re trusting God to reveal himself to us in this challenge.

Thanks for reading this blog, and we welcome any and all responses.

Paul

Marriage Boot Camp

paulbasden — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:21:29 +0000

Everywhere
you look, marriages are blowing up. On TV, governors, senators, and
reality-show parents are in the news with stories of infidelity and betrayal.
And in neighborhoods all over North Texas, thousands of private battles rage in
the combat zones of sex, finances, parenting and blending families. Whether
you’re battle-scarred and weary or just looking to fortify your relationship
with your spouse or help those you love in their marriage, join us on Saturday
nights or Sunday mornings for our new marriage series HUG OF WAR – Fighting
for Your Marriage.

Comedian Woody Allen once said, "I took a speed-reading course and read Ware and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia." We sometimes treat our marriages this way, giving a not to our marriage while life speeds by. It's an understatement to say that we all could use hands-on, practical tools to go to a deeper level of contentment, satisfaction and commitment in our marriages. For those of you who would like to strengthen your marriage, you might be interested in joining us for a six-week Marriage Boot Camp beginning Sunday, September 13 at 4:00 p.m. at Preston Trail. The Marriage Boot Camp will specifically focus on helping Your Time Starved Marriage. Most marital issues can be strengthened if not resolved by refocusing on the basics of better communication, maximizing mealtime, money time and leisure time, learning to manage your time together more that in manages you, and improving your ability to reclaim the moments you've been missing. Each Marriage Boot Camp will include large group teaching and small group discussion around tables.

Let’s
face it, we men sometimes get a bad rap for “not wanting to work on our
marriage.” But I want my marriage and yours to be the best it can be. Join us
in fighting for marriage!

JD Tomlin

Director of Connections & Care

Proud parents

paulbasden — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:30:00 +0000

"Proud parents."

The two words go together perfectly.

Over
the past week I've seen several parents of newborn babies at the church
building, and "proud" describes exactly how they all looked. The
parents just KNEW that no other child on the face of the earth was so
smart, so attractive, so socially skilled … although that didn't keep
some of them from turning red in the face and filling their diapers.
The kids, not the parents.

Denise
and I were so proud of our girls when they were born that we showed
them off every time we had a chance. My oldest daughter hasn't even had
her first child yet but in her seventh month of pregnancy she's showing off 4-d sonogram pictures like
crazy!

It's simply part of being a parent. You're so filled with joy that you sometimes go overboard in bragging about your child.

And for the rest of us, the best thing we can do is celebrate with them! They're on Cloud Nine … Let's fly up there with them!

I say all of that to say this. Last week someone asked Jim and me if the title of our new weekend message series, "This Place Rocks," was a backhanded slap at other churches in the area – as if we are saying, "At PTCC we rock, but every other church around here is pathetic." That is, are we guilty of bragging too much about what's happening at PTCC?

After thinking about it a little, I've concluded that we probably are guilty at times of feeling like proud parents of a new baby – and verbalizing how we're feeing. Jim and I are so excited about what God is doing at PTCC that at times we can't find the right words to express the joy we feel because God has allowed us to participate with him in building this New Testament church. On top of that, we feel a deep sense of gratitude that this is a church where hundreds of people who
"get it" and who want to reach thousands of people in north Texas with
the good news of God's love have come alongside us to help us reach the mission that God has given all of us.

So the fact that we think PTCC does rock doesn't suggest that we think other churches don't rock.We know that God is way too big for that.

As founding pastors of a new church, we are simply proud, like new parents.

In closing, and with that in mind, I hope you will indulge my exuberance when I tell you that you won't want to miss the services this weekend! Jim has been working for several weeks on a
message that he will be bringing to us, entitled "Life Change
Happens Here." It's a celebration of God's work in the lives of people who have opened up their hearts to follow Jesus. And it's a reminder that we all still need life change.

Hope to see you this weekend,

Paul

The Road to Mediocrity

paulbasden — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:53:08 +0000

I took some vacation time earlier this week to hang out with Denise and 4,000 of her closest girlfriends. We were crammed into the Dallas Convention Center for two and a half days. I was one of about 100 men in attendance. The other 3,900 were bubbly, bouncy, semi-boisterous women who were having the time of their lives (and shouting WOOHOO every 10 minutes). Me? I was just trying to avoid estrogen replacement therapy.

Let me explain: every summer 20,000 excited women descend on Big D over a 2-week period for the annual Mary Kay Seminar. Denise is a director and loves the company, so when she asked me to join her this year I said YES. I knew it would be inspiring, but I didn't know how much I would enjoy the speakers and appreciate their messages. Let me tell you about my favorite speaker and quote from the seminar.

Jan Thetford is a Mary Kay bigwig from Lubbock who just happened to grow up with Jim's wife, Robin. She is one of Denise's mentors in the company. She is also a hilarious and effective motivational speaker. At one of the sessions, when she was telling the sales force the importance of seeking to be excellent in all they do, she uncorked this line that I will never forget:

"The road to mediocrity is paved with old illustrations and old ideas."

She is 100% right! If you are peddling old ideas and recycling old stories, it shows you're not doing anything new that's worth talking about. I then thanked God that every time Jim and I prepare for a weekend message, we don't go back to old sermons from years ago, but read and research and pray for a new word from God for today. Even if it's on a topic or a passage that we've spoken on dozens of times before. The same is true for Ryan's messages for our students … Warren's music for worship … Jerod's videos … Jody's artwork … and the list goes on. At PTCC, we believe that "deliberate mediocrity is a sin." (Elton Trueblood)

Our goal is to be a church of excellence. Why? Because Jesus lived a life that impressed others with his excellence. If you don't belive me, listen to Mark's editorial comment after Jesus healed a deaf man: "People were overwhelmed with amazement. 'He has done everything well,' they said." (7:37)

Let me ask you a question: are you doing everything well?

As you live out the one and only life that God has given you, are you on the road to mediocrity or the road to excellence? Think about your marriage … your parenting … your work … your obedience to Christ …

It's your choice. God will guide you there, but he won't force you there. If you say YES to his invitation to a life of excellence for the glory of God, you will experience another profound truth that I heard at the seminar from Julia Mundy, a hotshot from the DFW area who is also a deeply committed Christ-follower. To her listeners she said, "Our blessings come from what we say YES to."

I believe that if you will say YES to living a life of excellence rather than mediocrity, you will experience more of God's blessings that you can possibly imagine.

Seeking the higher road and the better way,

Paul

Grace and Peace – it’s more than you think …

paulbasden — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:10:06 +0000

I like my first name (Paul), don't care much for my middle name (Abbott – my mother's maiden name), and wish people would correctly pronounce my last name (Basden with a long A, not a short A). When I was born, my parents named me after Paul the Apostle, the great biblical missionary and letter-writer. For all who know me well, however, especially my wife and girls, the comparison pretty much ends with the name. But I've always had a special fondness for the great apostle who is my namesake.

At one time I used to sign off on all my correspondence with the words "Grace and peace." That is how the other Paul started all 13 of his letters in the New Testament. And I love the phrase.

What do those words mean? More than you think …

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

First, I think "grace and peace" are objective gifts or blessings that God showers on us because "God is love." Objective means that they are real, whether anyone believes it or not.

By definition, grace is the opposite of condemnation – it means acceptance, but at a costly price. Peace means no warfare – enemies have been reconciled. When Jesus suffered for our sins, died in our place, and was raised again for our new life, that was grace and peace in motion. God had reduced himself to flesh and blood, then poured out both on our behalf (grace). God declared us no longer at odds with his holiness (peace). God objectively saved the world on that Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Reminds me of the time when Karl Barth, pre-eminent 20th century theologian, was supposedly asked when he was saved. He answered, "Late on a Friday afternoon in AD 30." Grace and peace are objectively real and come from God in Christ. They are true even if nobody believes it.

But believe it we do. Grace and peace are also the primary dynamic of a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. That is, they are subjective, personal, something you are meant to experience. As such, grace becomes God's YES to you, even when your life says NO to him. As Philip Yancey says, "Grace means you can't do anything so good that God will love you more, and you can't do anything so bad that God will love you less." And peace means your mind and heart can be at rest because you know the One who loves you most is trustworthy to work all things for good, if you love him back.

One last thing: peace and grace are relational. They are not just vertically directed. They are also horizontal in orientation. Showing another person grace instead of condemnation reminds them of how God thinks of them. And living in harmony with others reflects the peace that we all have with God.

So … grace and peace TO YOU, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,"

Paul

Happy Father’s Day!

jimatprestontrail — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:40:43 +0000

The more time passes the richer I discover I am.

As I write this I am in a café in my hometown of Midland, Texas. I flew out yesterday afternoon to spend some time with my mom and dad, and happily my visit coincides with Father’s Day. Thus the topic of my blog . . .

As some of you are aware, my father, at the age of 26, was in a near-fatal oil field accident when mom was five months pregnant with me. He lost his left leg as a result of his injuries and his right leg had to be fused at the hip. Needless to say he has had minimal ability to get around all these years. At first glance it would be easy to conclude that the brokenness of his body robbed us of many of the experiences that a father and son should share together and that as a result our relationship was the poorer for it. But, the wholeness of his heart has more than made up for it.

When I was twenty-six I tried to put myself in his place and feel in some small way what it must have felt like to him to lose not just a part of his body, but a year of his life spent in the hospital and rehab, and the dreams for marriage, family, and career that every man has. I could not do it. It was inconceivable to me.

And yet, through these fifty or so years that I have been conscious of my father’s life I have marveled at his determination, his patience, his perseverance, and his hope. In spite of his disabilities he would go on to a successful career as a geologist, raise two kids who will pass on his legacy of faith, become a deacon in his church, and a faithful and loving husband. On one occasion I even heard him say that going through the accident “was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.” Again, inconceivable.

Unfortunately in the early ‘80s Dad struck out on his own just two years before one of the worst recessions our country has ever faced—and it was devastating to the oil business. As a result he was never fully able to recover financially. Now he and mom live modestly on a small retirement here in Midland. We often joke about “his ship coming in” and how then I could inherit more than his bills! But frankly, Dad has given me something far more valuable than a monetary inheritance, a gift that many sons tragically never receive. He gave me his blessing.

The thought has never crossed my mind that Dad does not love me deeply. He has never given me any indication that he does not fully wish for and pray for my very best. Time and again he has spared no effort or expense to ensure my success in life. This is an indescribable gift in the vein of the one given to me by my heavenly Father in Christ his Son.

Two expressions of this blessing are etched deeply in my memory. When I was a boy, like many others, I wanted to be a big league pitcher. So, Dad bravely caught me when I wanted to practice. We would sit him down on a lawn chair and then cover his leg with two or three blankets. He had a catcher’s mitt, no face mask, or that other appliance most players wear to guard one of the more sensitive parts of the male physique. He was a sitting duck. And he caught me day after day. I skipped fastballs up there to him and threw curveballs that bounced three feet in front of the plate. I can’t count how many times we had to stop and let him recover a bit from one of those errant throws that dinged some uncovered part of his body. He did it for love. He did it because he wanted me to fulfill my dreams. He blessed me.

It became obvious to one and all when I was in high school that the big leagues would not be in my future—a 78mph fastball doesn’t take you very far! As the days passed I began to sense that God was calling me into vocational ministry. And again, Dad blessed me. As I began my first pastorate he recognized that my success would depend in no small part on the resources I had at my disposal. So what did he do? He began to send me a check every month so I could buy books that would enrich my mind and fuel my preaching.

Today I have over 2,500 volumes in my library, most of which were provided by Dad. I’ve never really thought about it like this until just now, but every day when I sit in my office at home surrounded by bookshelves on every wall, I’m not just surrounded by books, I am surrounded by my father’s blessing.

Wow, as I wrote when I began this blog—the more time passes the richer I discover I am!

Happy Father’s Day, Dad, and to all the fathers out there who are blessing their sons and daughters!

Jim

Connection Points

jimatprestontrail — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:10:09 +0000

As a part of
my summer reading I picked up a book by Tim Stevens entitled Pop Goes the Church. The more I’ve read, the more my heart has
been stirred again by one of the underlying principles that has guided the
shaping of Preston Trail. In particular,
what is going to be our approach to reaching people in this contemporary
culture in which we all live?

In the book Stevens
writes a short allegory he calls “A Tale of Five Churches.” The story concerns the small town of
Glenmoor, Nebraska and the news that the Mayor has just delivered. Paramount Pictures has chosen Glenmoor to be
the onsite location of a new Tom Cruise movie.
It will be a huge boon to the slumping little town. The national spotlight might even turn its
fortunes around for good. But, as more
news begins to leak out, some of the citizens start having second
thoughts. It’s going to be an R-rated
movie about a factory worker who loses his job and begins a string of illicit
affairs that lead him down a path of self-discovery. Obviously this is not going to be a family
film.

As the time
for shooting nears, five local churches begin to respond to this intrusion of
popular culture into their little town.
While I don’t have time to go into great detail, Stevens spins out five different
vignettes of the reactions that these churches have. I’ll summarize them for you:

Grace
Church’s pastor was increasingly upset that the mayor decided to allow the
filth of Hollywood, as he termed it, into their community. At every opportunity he spoke out against the
film and encouraged his people to do the same, even to boycott the vendors in
town who were providing any services to the film company and crew. Their response was to “condemn the culture” and its intrusion.

Across town
at Cornerstone Community the pastor began a series of messages encouraging his
people to “separate from the
culture.” As Christ’s people their
first commitment was to keep themselves pure by fleeing any hint of
immorality. It would be important for
each of them to keep a safe distance from all who would be coming to town to
shoot the movie, and by all means, for none of them to go to the local theater
to see the finished product.

Glenmoor
Central church was a bit more progressive by comparison, and their approach was
to “embrace the culture.” They made an effort to contact the
producer to see if they could line up any of the actors to speak on a Sunday while
they were. They weren’t really concerned
whether the actors would be believers or not.
They just wanted to draw a huge crowd any way they could.

First Church
took another approach, they simply “ignored
the culture.” Their pastor just
continued with the message series that had been planned on the book of Ruth.
The movie, its impact on the community, and the influx of all the attention
and people were simply never mentioned—not in a message, a prayer, or any
planning meeting about the church’s ongoing ministry.

Finally,
there was River Pointe Church. Their
pastor had been leading them to see their mission as reaching all people for
Christ no matter where they were in their journey. They started brainstorming as a church about
how they could demonstrate in tangible ways to all of the people who would be
coming to town that they mattered to God.
Then they worship team planned a message series based on other movies
starred in by Tom Cruise and used them to ask some of the deeper questions in
life. At River Pointe their response was
to “leverage the culture.”

If you know
anything about Preston Trail you probably figured out pretty quickly where we come
down on this issue. We believe that in
the expressions of our culture—music, film, books, TV—we can hear the heart cry
of people asking the deep questions of life.
When we acknowledge these sentiments and let them be heard in our
Weekend Services, we create connection points with seekers that enable us then to
speak God’s words of truth into their lives.

There are,
obviously, many more implications of this approach, but you’ll have to wait
until we get to Full Disclosure later
in the summer! In the meantime, watch
and see how we work hard every week to make the connection with real people, living
in the real world, who need to hear words of grace and hope! And, by the way, won’t you invite your
friends to come and experience God’s presence and truth as we continue the
powerful series Love Revolution!

Jim

Only Love

jimatprestontrail — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:39:41 +0000

It has been
said that man has two great needs in life—to be loved by someone and to have
someone else to love. I’m sure there are
plenty who would argue with this statement, but I’ve come to the conclusion
that this is a truth. Why? Because when you don’t have one or the other,
life pretty much sucks.

Who hasn’t
seen the emotional and relational disfigurement that comes when a baby is
deprived in its formative years of the nurturing love of a parent? Who hasn’t seen or lived to regret the hurtful
and tragic ending to the saga of looking for love in all the wrong places? Who hasn’t felt the empty longing that comes
when you experience one of life’s special moments and had no one with whom to
share it?

On the other
hand, when you have both of these things present in your life—it’s a
beach! Kids who grow up in a loving
nest, tend to leave their perch with confidence and the ability to fly! Love found in the right places and in the
right ways has a way of making us complete and whole. When life smiles on you with that bright toothy
grin, it’s so much richer when you get to share in the gleam with someone you
love deeply.

I don’t
think this is an overstatement. True love
changes everything. It transforms,
renews, fills up, restores, replenishes, revitalizes, rekindles, recharges,
refreshes, revives, renovates, and revolutionizes everything it touches!

That’s why the
Apostle Paul in a letter to Titus and his friends reminds them that it was love
that set them free from a life that could be characterized by their being “foolish,
disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures,
living in malice and envy and being hated and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). Wow, it sounds like love really had its work
cut out for it in Titusville! I love the
way Paul recounts how their transformation happened: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved
us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy”
(Titus 3:4).

That’s it. That’s all it took—just the kindness and love
of God. No arm twisting, no emotional
manipulation, no heavy handed guilt and condemnation, no fiery threats of hell
were required. Only the love of
God. It saves us. Makes us whole. Fills us up.
Revolutionizes our lives! Oh yes,
and one other thing. As Paul writes in 2
Corinthians 5:14, His love compels us.
It moves us and motivates us to love God and others as we have been indescribably
loved by Him.

With this powerful truth in mind our own Paul,
Basden not the Apostle, will begin a new message series this weekend entitled
LOVE REVOLUTION. Over the next six weeks
he is going to show us how to lead a life of love for God and others that can
change everything around us. I hope you
will be tuned in and turned on for the sake of the Gospel and those around you!

Compelled,

Jim