Funkyjimmer's Blog

Friday, February 25, 2005

GOD'S WORKING WITH OUR CHURCH

As I said in the two previous posts, God is working with our church to build an addition to our building. At the same time, He is leading us to support some short-term mission trips and a long-term involvement with one of our young ladies to serve in the Ukraine.

But that’s not all.

One of the weakest areas in our church has been our financial stewardship. We are not giving to our potential. This is sort of good news because it means we have a lot of room to improve.

An additional “piece of the puzzle” that God is putting together at Countryside is the opportunity for the congregation to study Biblical principles of stewardship. We have six small groups meeting through the week. They are studying, “The Treasure Principle”, based on the book by the same title by Randy Alcorn. This study has the potential of awakening our congregation (or at least those involved in the study) to what God teaches about stewardship. It does not just emphasize giving money, but the whole concept of the stewardship of life.

I am excited about this because in other church situations I have seen God use this same combination of emphases—building project, missions support and stewardship education—to really “explode” a church in spiritual, numerical and financial growth. I am praying He will be allowed to do that at Countryside.

There are a lot of other things that God is doing in our congregation right now. It all combines to bring Him glory, blessings to His people and growth to His Kingdom. I’m glad to be a part of it.

There is still, however, one huge “missing piece” that our church needs. I’ll write about it later.

Jim

posted by jim 3:00 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 21, 2005

OPPORTUNITIES TO KEEP OUR CHURCH’S FOCUS BALANCED

To keep our church from becoming too inwardly focused God has brought some wonderful local and world mission opportunities to our church. We want to keep our commitment to be faithful to God’s call to world evangelism.

One of our college students will be going to Costa Rica on a mission endeavor through his College in May.

A couple of our young adults are going on a short-term mission trip to the Ukraine in June.

Also in June five of our high school youth and six adults are going on a short-term mission work project to the state of Pennsylvania.

One of the young adults going to the Ukraine in June will be going to the Ukraine long-term) 2-3 years) as soon as she has raised her support.

These mission trips will give our church an opportunity to become more knowledgeable in effectively supporting missions not only with our money but in other ways as well. There is more to supporting a missionary (or missionaries) than just sending money every month. We are going to use these opportunities to educate our congregation on how best to go about supporting missions—especially those of our own congregation.

I am thrilled because this balance will hopefully keep us from being selfish and interested only in doing for ourselves. Some would say this is bad timing to be adding on to our building and thinking about supporting these mission activities at the same time. But I see it as God’s timing to keep us from becoming self-centered.

And God is doing other things in our church, too. But I’ll save those things for another post.

Jim

posted by jim 9:45 AM 0 comments

Thursday, February 17, 2005

SEEING GOD AT WORK IN OUR CHURCH

We are seeing God working within our church in several specific ways. It is a very exciting and thrilling time to be a part of our church. As a congregation, we are trying to learn some lessons. In the next few journal entries I want to talk about what God is doing. To put it all into one entry would be much too long.

God is working to bring about a building addition to our present facility. The building was adequate for a smaller church family. But now we are larger and need more room. God really blessed us with the special one day offering of $40,500+ last October. That caused us to realize how much He is blessing us and that it is His will that we add on to the present building.

We have a signed contract to purchase land adjacent to our present property. The survey has been completed and when it is officially filed we’ll pay the balance of the purchase price. Then we can begin preparing the land for building. We are actually purchasing 4.4 acres of ground—a bit more than we had thought. We are grateful for the extra bit of ground.

Last week we had a great turnout of our ministry teams to meet with our building consultant and the architect. This was an opportunity for the ministry teams to examine their ministry’s mission and cast some vision for the future. This will allow the architect to design a Master Plan. We are looking at beginning the actual building Phase I by this fall. It is all pretty exciting.

A building program often produces excitement and challenges; enthusiasm and stress. But there are also opportunities for spiritual and numerical growth as it stretches our faith in vision-casting and financial stewardship. Unfortunately, it has the potential to also produce an excessive amount of inward focus. A congregation can get so focused on building or adding to the building that they lose their world-vision focus for the lost. Too often their emphasis turns excessively inward rather than outward, on reaching the lost both at “at home” and “abroad”. But God has brought several wonderful opportunities to Countryside to assure that we don’t lose our focus of why we really exist. I will have more to say about those in my next entry,

But a building program also brings a great opportunity to get off “dead center” and to get on with the work of the Lord. That is one of the many great things happening in our church.

Jim

posted by jim 1:01 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

BATTERED, BRUISED BUT RECOVERING

I suppose I should report that I have survived the automobile accident about which I wrote in my last entry. The bruises to my nose and other facial areas are about gone as is the soreness. I still have some sickly-looking greenish-yellow bruises on my upper chest. The soreness to the chest is about gone though. The only remaining physical problem is the injury to my leg. This huge hole is very much present. It is still very sore and red in a circular area around the wound. The insurance adjuster strongly suggested I have it checked by my family doctor. I suppose I should do that.

The insurance made what I consider a very reasonable settlement for the car. It was a total loss. At least I got enough to cover the deductible, pay off the loan and have a small amount left over – less than $500.

I haven’t found a car yet. Some folks are looking but nothing concrete. In the meantime I’m driving a rental (a Chrysler Pacifica). The insurance is covering the rental cost but I’m paying for the extra insurance to the car. So I need to find something to buy before the insurance allowance runs out and I have to pay more for the extra insurance than what I got from the wrecked car.

I am really grateful to all who read the previous entry, or otherwise heard about the accident, and wrote or called inquiring about my well-being. Your concern and prayers are very much appreciated. It is such a blessing to have such good friends. Thank you all very much. I am so blessed.

Jim

posted by jim 4:00 PM 0 comments

Friday, February 04, 2005

MY ACCIDENT

Last night (Thursday) I totaled my little 2002 Hyundai Elantra that I liked so much! And it was my fault! That’s the hardest part to take! I can’t legitimately blame anyone else.

So I spent last evening in the emergency room at St. Vincent’s Hospital! They did a CAT scan of chest and stomach, etc. They checked to make sure my kidneys and other organs weren’t damaged and were functioning and that I wasn’t bleeding internally and didn’t know it. I'm all right, only very sore. And they said I'll be even sorer over the next several days! (I told them, "Thanks a lot!") So today I hurt everywhere, but just at different spots on my body at different times!

They didn’t even address the big cut on my leg. I guess in today’s world of modern medicine they’re only interested in the “big things” that they can use CAT scans, and the like, to diagnose conditions.

But there is much to be thankful for. God was with me and I see so many ways
He protected.

How did it happen? I really don’t want to tell you. (Just kidding!) I had to leave work late due to meetings, etc. A good friend was coming down from Fort Wayne to spend the evening. We were going to have dinner, lots of good conversation and prayer time together.

I was less than a mile from home. (Don’t they say most accidents occur within 5 miles or less from your home?) I looked down at the speedometer when I should have been looking at the road. When I looked up I was fast approaching this stationary Van. I hit the brakes and swerved to the right but not far enough to miss the Van. The left front part of my car struck the right rear part of the Van ahead of me.

It happened so fast and seemed so violent. Both air bags in my car deployed. That’s the first time I have ever experienced that. I am thankful that the driver’s side airbag hit my chest and not my face. My seat belt was fastened, too, which kept me out of the windshield. I wasn’t ticketed by the police. They said, “Accidents happen.” The Cop said there was no sign of alcohol or drugs and I had my seat belt fastened.

So now I have to replace the car. Car shopping is time consuming and risky business. I hope I get out of the car more than I owe on it! I just bought it one year ago this month. It’s sort of funny, too, that six years ago the 18th of this month I had an even more serious accident. I hit a flatbed semi loaded with lumber. I suffered considerable injuries from that accident and had several surgeries and was off work for about 5 months that time. So this wasn’t that bad.

Another good thing, our youngest daughter was in the line of traffic stopped behind the accident. So she was there to help and to take me to the hospital. That saved an ambulance charge! It was funny how she happened to be there and heard about the accident on her cell phone from her mother!

Well, my friend did get down from Fort Wayne. (He is a first-year Medical Doctor student!) He and Karon had a dinner at my house. Then they came to the hospital. So my friend and I had our visit and our prayer time. But we had it in the emergency room with me lying on a hospital bed with an IV in my arm, rather than in my living room!

Lessons learned? Many—but especially to keep your eyes on the road and not be distracted by ANYTHING! I was looking down when I definitely should have been looking up!

Jim

posted by jim 1:10 PM 0 comments