Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Call to Anguish

David Wilkerson is the Founding Pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. He was called to New York in 1958 to minister to gang members and drug addicts, as told in the best-selling book, The Cross and the Switchblade.

In 1987, David Wilkerson returned to "the crossroads of the world" to establish Times Square Church. Since then, he has faithfully led this congregation, delivering powerful biblical messages that encourage righteous living and complete reliance on God.

following is a synopsis of a message he preached entitled "The Call to Anguish. listen to it, and be ready to be challenged.





If you like you can HEAR the entire message here;

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/view/sermons?filter0=anguish&filter1=**ALL**&filter2=**ALL**&filter3=**ALL**&filter4=**ALL**&filter5=**ALL**

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Start with Why

There is a new book by Simon Sinek called 'Start With Why". His thesis is that leaders who have the natural ability to “start with why” have been able to inspire those around them to achieve remarkable things.

Sinek believes that most people or organizations begin with “what” and some even move to “how.” But few really know or communicate the “why” behind their cause.

So, why do we do what we do in the kingdom of heaven? Why do we go to church? Do we know the why?

Of course, you will probably tell me that the why is Jesus Christ. And I would agree with you. He is our hope, our salvation, our reason, our why. We should be empowered by that fact. He should be all that we need to leave our safety and comfort and do the irrational.

We should be ready to pick up our cross daily and follow him. But most of the time it is about us instead of him.

Below is Sinek’s TED talk about his book. Now, I'm not sure I agree with everything he says. But, I do think we spend too much time on the what and not enough on the why. Let me know what you think?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

And the Search for a Building Goes On...

Following is a brief synopsis of where we are in the search for a more permanent location.
As I stated in my last blog, we have expanded the search to areas outside the City of Poway. We are looking in industrial area's that are more favorable to churches. Mainly focused on those right off the I-15.
Some may wonder why I feel such an urge to find a more permanent location?
Here are a few reasons

1. We are sent to minister to people. which means we must take into account the cultural mindset and attitude of the people we are trying to reach. As I look around I see that people have gone from a growth oriented, risk taking, money spending, looking to upgrade, latest and greatest lifestyle to one that is much more cautious and reserved. People are looking for safety and security. They value consistency and permanence. I see that the culture is wanting stability more than anything else. Stability in their finances, employment, housing, relationships and lifestyles. i also feel they are looking for stability in the location of their church.

2. Because there is more financial and emotional tension that we are all living with. It is important that we maximize our time together by creating more service options instead of spending our man hours with set up/tear down. We need to spend our time serving, caring for and encouraging one another. Between all the man hours and money spent to set up for church, last Friday's, youth events, Sunday school, children's events, music practices and all the other activities that go on. It's no wonder that we don't have much left over to do the caring we all want and need in our church community.

3. We have the ability and the calling to do church at a much higher level. Not that a building by itself will make this happen. But, I sense the Holy Spirit calling us to more God centered activities and to do those activities with more excellence. A building will provide the means for us to do that.

4. The word I keep hearing in my spirit is CONVERSATIONS. And so I feel compelled by God to move in a direction that creates more opportunities for conversations to occur. I feel like God wants us to have more authentic and relational interactions. I feel like God wants us to spend the time we do have together creating a stronger and more connected community of believers. A building would help us do this more naturally and consistently.
So where are we in our search?
1. We have looked at, what was the Maranatha church building that is now owned by the Pomerado Health Group. We were looking to rent it on Sunday's like we do the school with the hope that we could leave things up and store things on the premises. This would greatly reduce our set up and tear down time and would eliminate our need to rent a truck and transport equipment every week. The issues are 1. When do they plan to tear the building down and begin their rebuilding? 2. Would they allow us to leave things up and store equipment on the premises? 3. What will the monthly cost be?
2. We located a building that was used by a church that was leasing 3 separate buildings. The one we are looking at was used for their offices. It is located right off the I-15, between Miramar Rd and Carrol Canyon Rd - 9770 Carroll Centre Rd
3. We looked into the possibility of moving schools because of the parking issues brought on by the baseball usage and the upcoming building of a temple on the vacant land above the school. The school that is available is Shoal Creek Elementary.
The one option that is looking the most promising is the permanent location off the I-15 - 9770 Carroll Centre Rd. I did some mileage calculations and here's what I found.
  • From my house to the Carroll Centre property it will be 5.98 miles further than it is for me to travel to Pomerado elementary.
  • For Chris Anderson it will be 6.82 miles further.
  • For those coming North it will be 4.85 miles further.
  • For those coming south it will be 6.22 miles shorter.
  • For those coming from Ramona it is 6.47 miles further.
Just a quick synopsis of the building. It's around 6000 sq ft and will cost around $.95 per sq ft. It will take a little work to get it into the configuration we would want but the main things are already in. It has a men's and women's bathroom with 3 stalls in each. Air conditioning is already in throughout the building. We will be able to have around a 3000 sq ft auditorium with 14 ft ceilings. A nursery, kitchen, 2 offices, conf room and a 2nd large area for Sunday school of about 800 sq ft. I am presently talking with the city about updating the Conditional Use Permit.
As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.
God bless