The FCC Elders are preparing lunch for the FCC family on the 22^nd of September.  Rick is firing up his smoker and preparing several other wonderful delights.  The lunch will be in the Fellowship building following the services.  Invite your family and friends and plan for a wonderful time of fellowship.  It is our elder’s way of showing their appreciation for the church family and all that each of you do. 

During the Old Testament times, the elders would have been like the city council.  At other times, they were counselors to kings and many other political settings.   In another setting in scripture the elders would have been similar to the “Judge.”  The elders led the local synagogues in the New Testament times and as the church begins and develops, we find the elders leading the church.

The titles for the elders throughout scripture may be presbyter, bishops, leaders and overseer.  The Apostle Paul comments (1 Timothy 3:1) “This saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.” 

My favorite title for an elder is shepherd.  There is nothing that glitters about a shepherd.  In fact, if you get within a few feet of one, he smells like the sheep that he tends.  The job demands have no clock and they tend to stretch the shepherd beyond his comfort zone.  They love the job in order to be at peace with the demands and the job is all about the flock.  Since many shepherds work for an owner, then it really becomes about the flock and the pleasure of the owner.  The shepherd is the owner’s on-site elder.

The owner and creator of the church flock is Jesus.  The church is and always will belong to Jesus.  The men that serve as “elders” are the on-site shepherds of Jesus’ flock.  They have no clock as to the time they put into it.  They will go beyond their comfort zones.  They will pray without ceasing because the flock is threatened.  They will spend countless hours scouring the directions (reading His Bible) of the owner, Jesus.

So let me urge you like Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” 

Enjoy the “Shepherd feed”

Bill

C U Sunday,

Bill

When life hands us the uneasy what will come of it?  For most of my life I have been a runner.  It was my claim to identity.  When struggling with the pecking order of the first-grade school yard, my place was determined by running faster than everybody else.  My first trial in running was a regional track meet and coming in last.  Being able to outrun my peers in the schoolyard didn’t happen when running with other runners from the region.  My mom gave her tidbit of motherly wisdom while I cried on the way home, “Billy if you would walk to school you would be faster.”  I walked to school until my Junior year of high school even though I had a car.

When life hands us the uneasy, it is easy to curl up in a corner and call it quits.  If you are going to overcome, it becomes a matter of our focus on endurance.  Many of us have moments in life when endurance is important.  We endure the gluttonous feeling of “I ate too much.”  We endure taxes, mechanical expenses, aging and more when it comes to our right to drive and own a car.  We endure many uncomfortable, frustrating, and even embarrassing moments for our children.  But when challenged by life’s hardships with other things we surprisingly back away and curl up in our corner and show no evidence of endurance.  Why is that?

For many of us it is our Christian walk.  God calls us to obedience, but it challenges our pleasures.  Endurance disappears.  The Bible calls us to church attendance whereby we grow, but it cuts into our weekend. Endurance disappears.  Jesus speaks to loving the unlovable, but they make us so angry.  Endurance disappears.  Endurance becomes the fruit we don’t want to grow.

James (1:2-4) tells us, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  We live in the culture of the easy which is resistant to endurance.  But the nature of Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) “…who for the joy set before him endured the cross,…”calls to us endure.

Next time you consider curling up and forgetting your trials know that you are growing the spiritual fruit called endurance.  Paul says (2 Timothy 2:12-13), “If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself [God].  Now that’s endurance God continues to be faithful, no matter what.

We live in a time that it is not easy to get along.  The news is full of the “don’t get along” so there’s no need for me to illustrate that.  Social Media is swamped with the “don’t get along” so, why would I need to tell you about that.  Morning coffee groups tend to separate into those who think one way or the other.  Work becomes driven with making sure that you don’t offend the one in charge.  School is made up of cliques burdened with peer pressure this way or that.  So, our temptation becomes “this is what I think and if you are hanging with me, you will think the same way I do.”

The American culture thrives on “this is what I think.”  We tend to idolize the independent thinker and if you disagree with me, we “don’t get along.”  If you don’t think so, just check out the historical continental congress and even some of the early campaigns (1700s and early 1800s).  For instance, look at the John Adams and Thomas Jefferson bid for the presidency.

Take another step back in history, the Garden of Eden and the recently created Adam and Eve.  God’s standard was clear (Genesis 2:17), “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  The relationship that Adam and Eve shared with God was unbelievable.  God made a regular physical appearance to them in the garden.  All of them cherished this time together.  But man sought to be his own “man” and sin enters the creation.  Pretty much the first thing to vanish was the relationship with God.  Why is it that the first thing to disappear with our independent thinking are our relationships?  Furthermore, why is it that in order for a relationship to thrive we must practice humility and lay aside some of our independence?

It isn’t easy to be humble.  Our schools are educating children in teamwork and humility.  The workplace is striving to put forth a vision which draws together members of the work force in teamwork and humility.  The greatest victories of America are the ones where we come together (usually against a common foe) and humbly accept each other.  Why is it then that God’s creations are looked upon as trivial and out-of-date? 

God created man & woman who humbly lay aside their independence and are joined together in marriage.  God created family and siblings to teach us that humility in sharing is a priority for relationships.  God created church in which our priorities are humbly relating to God first and then, each other.  One instance, foot washing doesn’t happen with independent thinking.  God created government and the only way that it really works well is when “…he who is least among you all—he is the greatest. (Luke 9:48).”

It isn’t easy to relate with someone else, but the benefits are God made.

Bill

It is a rather common occurrence to lay down our phone and not be able to find it.  It is such a problem they created an app to locate your phone.  Or so they say.  Recently Susie misplaced an iPad on a flight we were on.  What you thought would have been easy instead led us to “limbo land.”  The iPad was never to be found. 

The process to find the lost iPad led us to the airline stewardess (multiple times).  Then it took us to Apple.  Then we were directed to AT&T.  Then we were told to check with lost and found at the airline.  Then we were told to fill out a form(s).  Meanwhile everybody kept referring us back to the app.  I seriously think that our iPad found its way to another dimension and a galaxy far, far away.  But trust me we searched valiantly for that iPad.

Many people approach God in prayer as if there were an “app for that.”  Every time you push the app on your phone another prayer is uttered.  Several different faiths have turned prayer into rituals of such as spinning a metal cylinder or hanging a prayer flag so that every time it waves in the wind a prayer is sent God-ward.  Many of us think that when more of us are praying it will tip the scales with God and the answers will have a positive ending.  Prayer wasn’t meant to be a mindless ritual whereby God will automatically produce our request. 

Among the first occurrences in Genesis of a new creation – man & woman had time each day sharing with God.  When sin entered our world in Genesis 3 among the first tragedies that occurred was that God had to search for man and woman who hid in shame.  Their sharing time was broken.  If we were to call this time “prayer” — which I believe it is – prayer immediately became far more complicated.  Therefore, when we seek to pray it will not come easily.

There are multiple obstacles to our prayers and our sharing time with God.  They will range from busy-ness to misunderstandings.  Sin will influence our hearts and our prayers.  If you remember, Adam & Eve hid from God.  Sometimes we are hiding from God.  Rituals can invade our desire to have sharing time with God.  However, if we persist and truly want to spend time with God, our prayer lives will become rich testimonies of what God has done and is doing. 

Remember the face of Moses glowed because of his sharing time with God.  Because of it, Moses had to wear a veil.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 

May your prayer life lead to the need to wear a veil.

C U Sunday,

Bill

It is hard to sit in a dentist chair while he drills into your teeth.  It is hard to wait in line for the ice cream treat.  It is hard to bend over and tie your shoe.  It is hard to keep focus while the driver’s license instructor rides with us.  It is hard to visit family in the hospital or the nursing home.  It is hard to process and respond in a job interview.  For me it gets harder and harder to sit in a meeting even if it is headed for a great outcome.  Did you notice that all these hardships have the hope of something good to come?

Life is full of hardship.  Easy is ever allusive for the things that count.  We have been taught that most everything that is worth anything requires hard work.  So, why would faith be any different?  Jesus comments throughout the gospels about faith.  He spurs us on to growing our faith further.  And just like the many hardships in the first portion of this blog, there is hope as to good to come.

I would invite you to a special gathering that Susie and I will host Sunday, July 7^th.  It will be this one Sunday during the Sunday School hour.  Whether you are a new face in our church family and trying to determine your next step, or a Christian of decades looking for the next step – you are invited to come.  Maybe you are interested in church membership and seeking to plug in further or you desire to join a prayer team – you are invited to come.  Or you are seeking to grow your faith and are uncertain of what to do – you are welcome to come.  It is my intent to help you with your next step.

The walk of faith is full and wonderful, but it requires effort.  At times it may even be hard.  Our desire is to create a special time to help people in their walk by helping with the “Next Step.”  It may be plugging you into a small group or sharing some material that will help.  It may be helping you with counseling for some of life’s hardship.  It may be walking you into a new relationship with Jesus, please come.  Susie and I hope to help with the next step.  You will find us across from the nursery in the conference room during the Sunday School hour (9:30 to 10:15) on July 7^th.

God Bless — C U Sunday,

Bill

There is nothing easy about being a dad.  For many a dad, fatherhood comes with no instructions.  In my library is the book by Bill Cosby called, Fatherhood.  It was a gift and a joy to read.  It was so comforting to read a number of his experiences that were similar to my own.  Then the image of Bill Cosby has fallen into shame lately and his image of fatherhood is questioned. 

Another image that we build upon is the image that we grew up with.  Many of you would tell stories of your dad and glow.  While still others would mumble your experiences with shame.  My dad was an image of a self-made college grad who had grown up a farmer’s son.  He was the only one of his family to graduate college.  He loved God and loved serving as a minister of God’s Word.  He cherished faith in Jesus at all cost and his greatest joy was a family of faith that lives his passion for Jesus.  All three of us boys are ministers still and my sister (the youngest) a teacher to teachers and very passionate about Jesus.

But in a culture where fatherhood calls out to absent fathers.  It is so easy to do the biology of fatherhood but being a father is not so easy.  Varied studies tell us that our image of God is fashioned after our image of our father.  This is unfair to God because even the best of fathers will be far less than what God deserves.  It isn’t easy to be dad.

So, how do we give God the image of fatherhood that he deserves?  Again, it isn’t easy.  It begins with spending time in the family album, the Bible.  Next would be blocking out more time with God through worship and prayer (which could be one and the same).  Then dwelling with other siblings in Jesus.  One thing for sure is that image you’ve framed of your earthly father (even though your dad was great) is unfair to God.  Pull that image out of the frame and give God the image that comes of knowing him through scripture, prayer and gathering with the family (church) time.

Meanwhile take your dads to church next Sunday,

Bill

P.S. – Thank you to so many for making this past Sunday (Leadership Sunday) so special.  Especially thank you to Martha & the kitchen crew.  You were amazing.

C U Sunday,

Bill

P.S. – Plan to be at our leadership ordinations at 10:30 on Sunday, 9^th of June.  This will be followed by a potluck.

Gather with us Sunday and lay your illusions aside.

Bill