Thoughts from the weekend

Thoughts from the weekend:

It's was great to have my daughter, Becky with us for a couple of days. Our son, George, also came back from Paris. Great kids. I Love them a lot.

I also appreciated all of the hugs and words of appreciation from Christie, Becky and George.

I am thankful for their love.

Yesterday turned out to be a very important Sunday morning for our church, especially in the matter of our life groups.

In our vision statement, we are asking everyone to come on Sunday mornings, attend a life group and serve in a ministry.

I was thrilled as yesterday Pastor Beverly, Helen Nunez and Beatrice Pereda helped us announce:

- Seniors life group. Our seniors have been meeting for 40 years on Tuesday mornings. They are going to continue, as a life group in the home of Jose and Maria Perez, starting in August. I am excited that they have embraced the life group concept and are going to continue to meet together.

- 20 something’s life group. It has been a burden of mine that we have a life group for young people, ages 18-30. 80% of all Assemblies of God kids leave the church after they graduate from high school. Helen and Beatrice announced that God has laid it on their hearts to start a group in September! I am thrilled about this. They both just recently became members, and are in their 20’s.

Also, I had Diane Packer share. My life group went over to her house last Thursday evening and spent almost 2 ½ hours cleaning up her yard, mowing and trimming trees. We then took her out to dinner. I explained to our church family that this is true Christianity. What we do from Monday morning through Saturday evening. Sunday morning is when we come together to celebrate what God has done in our lives throughout the week. Needless to say, Diane was grateful and overwhelmed by the show of Christian love. I am encouraging all life groups to do something like this as well.

To put it in “church terms”, we are in the process of moving our church from the “meeting place” to the marketplace. Sunday morning meets are important if not vital – but ministry to people in and outside of our church family is important as well.

Did you know that:

Of Jesus' 132 public appearances in [the] New Testament, 122 were in the marketplace?

Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context?

Of 40 divine interventions recorded in Acts, 39 were in the marketplace?

Jesus spent his adult life as a carpenter, until age 30 when he went into a preaching ministry in the workplace?

Jesus called 12 workplace individuals, not clergy, to build his church?

Work is worship? The Hebrew word avodah is [the] root for the word from which we get the words work and worship.

Work in its different forms is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible, more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing combined?

54 percent of Jesus' reported teaching ministry arose out of issues posed by others in the scope of daily life?

May we all catch the vision of taking our church out into the "dailyness of life."