Recently I was amazed with how worship was evident in the followers of Jesus as recorded in Acts 2:42-47. It stands out to me how they enjoyed each others company daily over meals, praising God. I began to think of ways for my journey group to worship God together. Here is something we did recently that allowed us to enter into a brief time of worship as a group.

Praising the Name of God

God is the same yesterday, today and forever more but His name changes as He reveals Himself to us in circumstances. Here is a list of God’s names that you will find in the Psalms.

God who saves me (Psalm 51:14)
My Confidence (Psalm 71:5)
God who avenges me (Psalm 18:47)
God my Rock (Psalm 42:9)
God of Truth (Psalm 31:5)
A stronghold in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9)
Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5)
God of glory (Psalm 29:3)
God of strength (Psalm 18:2)

Because of what He has done for me, today God’s name is ____________________.

Each person was able to share how God has revealed Himself to them and we concluded with a time of prayer expressing thankfulness. What ideas can you share about how your group worships together?

• I definitely have some things to learn in this area / I’m facilitating the seminar but I’m no expert or pro
• I want to focus my energy on the things that God made me for
• I want to pastor people and lead people to the power of saying “no” to “stuff”
• The church (worldwide) needs disciples who are on mission, not cluttered or distracted
• I want to live, walk, and be led in the Spirit, not the reactive flesh
• The things I’m committed to need to be “mission critical” things
• I want to rub shoulders with people who desire God more than feeling important
• I want to die on purpose, not on haphazard circumstances
• The best hours of my day need to be maximized for God’s glory and fame
• I don’t want to be known as a “good guy” but rather a guy who was sold out to his calling

JESUS SAID NO…strategically

I love the Gospel of Luke chapter 5. Lots of things are happening in this chapter: Jesus calls some of the first disciples, he heals a guy with leprosy, he heals another paralized guy, he invites another guy to join his mission, he has to deal with some religious people, etc. In my opinion, the coolest part about the cool things that Jesus did in Luke 5 is found in verse 16 – “but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

What would you do? You’re healing people, gaining followers…and then you decide to slip away and be alone. Jesus knew how to handle the “stuff” that was coming at him. He understood how to react. He didn’t ignore the work or the opportunity, rather, he slipped away because he knew that praying and being with the Father WAS the work. In essence, Jesus said “no” so that he could turn around and say “yes” more strategically.

All that to say, I’m excited about October 10th.

Details: October 10th / CCC Student Center / 10:15AM – 11:45AM

Also visit http://www.cccomaha.org/ for the big picture on ACCELERATE 2009

Saying NO,

dusty white

Below is a note drafted by Craig Walter, CCC’s newest member to the Bridge/Global team. We (Journey Groups / Adult Discipleship) are partnering with the following efforts.

As you read this note from Craig be pondering this phrase in the back of your mind: “should I be the one to OWN this for my Journey Group?”

As part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Christ Community Church has always been a very mission’s focused church. To me this means that we don’t just talk about “doing” missions so we can check it off our list. Instead, we actively participate in developing RISKS disciples who are at their very heart “missional” people.

What does that mean? “Missional living” is a Christian term that describes a missionary lifestyle; adopting the posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the gospel message. I know that’s the heart of your Journey Group Pastor Dusty White for all of the Journey Groups here at CCC.

One way we strive to do this here at CCC is to connect the hearts and minds of our people to our missionaries who are serving the Lord throughout the world. As we deepen our relationships with missionaries, understand the way they think and the way they live, it impacts the way we think and the way we live.

So we are asking each Journey Group to adopt a missionary. To begin with, that simply means the following:

1.) Someone in your group (perhaps you?) keeps up-to-date on the issues and prayer requests going on in the life of your missionary. For all the missionaries we recommend you send them an email and ask to be put on their list to receive their newsletters. For some, you can get more in depth information by reading their Blogs or connecting with them on Facebook.

2.) Each time your group spends time in prayer, you remember to pray for that missionary. Depending on which missionary you choose there may be other ways to be involved in their lives and ministry, but we will leave that up to you and your group.

NEXT STEP: Talk to your current Journey Group leader about the adopt a missionary project and lets get started!

After talking with your Journey Group leader, with his or her permission, you will then email Deb Beck at debb@cccomaha.org so we can get the ball rolling with this project. She will send you out a PDF list of CCC missionaries for you to puruse. After looking through the list, if there is a missionary that you are naturally drawn towards please communicate that to us so that we can start from there. If no preferences arise, we can help guide your Journey Group to a good fit for the adoption process.

If you have any questions or need any assistance, please contact Deb Beck, Craig Walter, or Dusty White at 330-3360.

Blessings,
Craig Walter
Global Outreach
craigw@cccomaha.org
(402) 938-1575

P.S. We have a list of missionaries and brief info on each of them for you to puruse. We won’t be putting this info on the blog post for sensitivity reasons. Please note that on a couple of our missionaries the information sensitivity is set to HIGH. This means you must be very cautious in your communication to them through email. Please contact me first before you attempt to contact them for any reason and I can help you understand the guidelines.

Dear blog readers,

Christ Community Church has a new website. Hopefully you will find www.cccomaha.org to be useful for all things up and coming at CCC. One of the necessary changes was to move this blog. To continue to receive updates, please subscribe using the following link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/cccomaha/journey-group

Thank you,

Greg Nunamaker
Web Manager
Christ Community Church

“Double Your Impact” is a phrase that has been recently flying around our church. These three words are the challenge, they are the focus, they are the future. If you wanted, you could plaster those words on the bumper of your car (no…I’m not recommending that).

So what does this mean? (Thanks for askin.)

It can really be wrapped up into one personalized question – What would it look like for you to double your impact?

Prior to answering that question, we need to answer another question – What kind of impact am I currently having? That question is answered with a series of more questions: What are you currently involved in? Is your life comfortable or stretching? Are you making a difference? If you walked away from the things you’re involved with right now, would anyone notice? Would people’s lives be at stake? Would certain things lose leadership and intentional involvement?

A quick impact inventory excercise – take one sheet of paper and write as many “things” on it as you can based on the things that you’re involved with. From the big rocks to the little rocks. For example, a few of my big rocks are: Disciple, Husband, Father, Provider, Pastor, Friend, Journey Group leader, Pre-marital counselor, etc. Some of my little rocks are (looking at the last few days): golfed 9 holes, need to finish my landscaping project around our house, aerate the lawn, likes baseball events, etc.

As I look at my sheet of paper, there are a lot of “things” that are just “things.” They don’t necessarily matter in the kingdom impact category. The question becomes, “Are any of these things stealing from my impact – my difference in this world?” Based on how I answer that I probably should slice and dice a few “things” off of my “things list.”

So, how about you? How about your impact? Lets ask God to help us double it so that He might leverege His kingdom here on earth through us, for his fame and glory. And always remember, the impact that you will have is a drop in the bucket compared to the everlasting impact that Jesus can have in you and around you. But that doesn’t get humanity off the hook. He wants to use his church and describe Himself through the Gospel message to the nations.

On the double,
Dusty

My Journey Group has been diving into the Gospel of John.

Last week we caught “the bumper video” to this amazing book, John 1:1-18. In these 18 verses we can catch an introduction to the amazing story of Jesus – his miracles, what he said, what he did, how people responded, etc. The bottom line in this intro is the fact that Jesus is God and that he is among us with grace and truth. More can be unpacked here obviously, but THIS WEEK really worked us over in a deep way…at least for me personally.

In John 1:19-51 all kinds of things are happening. John the Baptist is baptizing people and the Pharisees question the whole deal (big surprise right?). John is relieved to see Jesus, the lamb of God, arrive on the scene. Jesus is pretty intriguing right off the bat and guys start following him and Jesus keeps allowing it – and the story unfolds from there…

Jesus hits the ground runnin and extends this simple invitation – “come and see.”

a few CONTEXT bullet points here:
John the Baptist knows that this guy is the Messiah (vs 32-34).

The day after John knows this to be true, he is hanging out with two of HIS disciples and “when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “look the Lamb of God!” The two disciples were so intrigued that they began following him (v.37).

Jesus turns around and notices the obvious followers and they dialogue in a quick, but polite conversation that basically changes the next two years of everything…and the rest of the world…forever.

COME and SEE
These followers want to know where the Rabbi (or Teacher) is staying. Instead of “telling them” he invites them. This is simple but radical. He could have said, “don’t worry about it,” “it’s really none of your business,” or he could have just told them, “it’s a little hotel up here and to the right.” I mean, his response could have been anything really. But he extends the invitation, “come,” he replied, and you will see.”

Well, what would you do? They went. Not only did they go, but they spent that day with him. It was a day that turned Andrew’s world upside down. He even remembered what time it was (v.39) when this life changing visit took place. In fact, not only did he remember what time it was (about 4 o’clock in the afternoon depending what scholar you check out), he wanted to tell other people about it. He had to tell his brother Simon Peter. Upon hearing the crazy news that “the Messiah is here,” Peter joined the crew and Jesus has some serious plans for this guy.

The next day Jesus picks up a couple more followers (with an invitation approach). So, here you have it, John, Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanial. Nothing like pickin up a couple of guys for a long walk.

This entire idea of “come and see for yourself” is really amazing stuff if you think about it. This was God (John 1:1). He could have orchestrated this entire deal a lot differently, anyway he wanted really. But he chose the invitiation method. He is about to change the world and he invited a couple knuckleheads along for the ride. It wasn’t formulaic. It wasn’t a system. There were no sit down interviews. No formalities. Just “come and see.”

the COME and SEE LIFESTYLE CHALLENGE
Makes me think about my own life in a lot of different ways. Perhaps this come and see stuff is exactly where we miss the boat (if you will) in the Christian faith sometimes. One of the biggest challenges for me is simple – when I do come and see and expect Jesus, it leaves me wanting more. It isn’t duty driven, just experience. An experience of Jesus that I have to have again. In other words, when I’m really following hard after Jesus with the right heart I “have to” come and see it all again the next day.

Do we do ministry this way?
Do you have a “come and see” lifestyle?
How about this (this might dig a little deeper so buckle up), do you want people to come and see? Is the real you an intriguing Jesus follower that draws people to the cross and life of Christ?
Who are we inviting?
How are we using this Jesus approach?

May we see Christ in His fullness and so walk with an intriguing faith in who He was, who He is, and who He will be upon return. Amen.

On Sunday, March 15th, our great layman Paul Schlieker said it well: “success is succession.”

You probably need to do a lot of things. You need to pay your taxes, and pretty soon you will have to mow your grass as spring is upon us, but one thing that you HAVE TO DO is listen to this message on discipleship. Pull up a chair, a notebook, and a pen that won’t run out of ink and give it a listen.

Week 4 / Paul Schlieker / 2 Timothy 2:2
http://www.cccomaha.org/media/messageMedia.php

In this message a lot of things jump off the audio, but here are a few statements made in this sermon that I might return to the blog about if there is any interest out there (ie: nobody seems to comment):
1. Following Jesus Doesn’t Happen by default
2. There is a succession plan
3. Multiplying was never expected and always resisted, but from the beginning Jesus expected to multiply
4. Maturity requires time and practice

Wow! – now those will preach all by themselves! IF there are comments and interest the dialogue may continue here…stay tuned.

Shameless bragging here…I love it that Paul S. is a part of the discipleship team here at CCC on a volunteer and lay leadership level. He puts a lot of skin in the game for discipleship and leaves it on the field when he is done. I get to work with this guy! If you want to hear more of him and more thougths on discipleship you might have to dive deeper into the Journey Groups arena of CCC (another shameless plug).

Today I met with a Journey Group leader who has been “at it” for a good 6 months or longer. He and his wife are doing a great job at opening up there home on a weeknight to welcome in both people from CCC and friends and…well, just about anyone. Their schedules are a lot like everyone else’s, but the people keep coming back. The leaders lead, but nobody is an expert. They all have questions, but nobody has all the answers.

The last two weeks or so have been a good indicator of where this Journey Group is most likely headed. Lots of questions. Some people following Jesus, some not. Some good thinkers, some simple folks. Really, it’s going quite well. Over some decent lunch sandwiches today we talked about how “the honeymoon might be over, and now it might be time to dig in the heels.” (Anyone who has been married for awhile might be able to identify with that idea. There is a lot of beauty and bliss in marriage and then there are times that you just have to figure things out.) Certain people are opening up a little bit more about where they are at spiritually. Some are really searching for some significant purpose and answers to serious life questions. Some really want to know their Bibles better. Some people just need to be around healthy adults -and it shows.

This Journey Group gets it. They have met, gone through the introduction phase and now they are turning up the temperature on vulnerability and authenticity. People in this group are trusting other people (something pretty rare this day in age). While the leaders continue to be obedient to their responsibility as leaders, they are leading people to go through life together with Jesus at the center and it just doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me. They are diggin in their heels to love people and if they keep the reality of the Gospel at the center of everything God will use this whole idea to make disciples that have kingdom impact.

It was a highlight of my week!