Faith

Zoo -vs- Safari

When I was a little kid I used to love Saturday mornings. Our typical routine was to get up watch some cartoons while mom made biscuits and chocolate gravy. After partaking of this “southern food of goodness” we would all pack up in the car and head to the local zoo. I loved going to the zoo. It was so much fun to see all the animals especially the chimpanzees. My love only deapend during one of these saturday morning adventures one of the chimpanzees flung what my sister thought was mud, it was epic. My love for the zoo has led me to many zoo adventures across the country. I still enjoy going and seeing the animals. My love for the zoo diminished a little in 1998. In 1998 I was asked to help lead a three week group tour to Africa. On this group tour I had the experience of a life time. I went on a safari. The sights were breath taking like nothing I had ever seen in a zoo before in fact if you think about I was the animal in the cage or the jeep this time. As we drove over the rugged and muddy roads and caught glimpses of some of the most majestic animals in their own habitat. We saw lions, running at full speed. Giraffes, Elephants, hippopotamus’s it was a total sensory overload. One of the most exhilarating parts of the trip is when we came around a bend in the road that was overgrown by vegetation which limited our view. As we came around the corner their standing in front of us was a full grown rhinoceros. I was not worried till our driver reached for the riffle that was by his side. Fortunately for us and the rhino decided that taking on our jeep was a bad idea and moved on. I saw things that day and experienced sights that still captivate me to this day.

This is allot like faith. As we get ready to start this capital campaign my wife and I have discussed what are going to give. My first response was well lets look at the budget and see what we can afford, “What is safe”. Essentially its like going to the zoo. You know what you are going to see and it will be safe and their is no risk or adventure. After praying with Belinda and listening to god we have decided to go on the safari. We feel god has asked us to increase our faith and give to the point where it might not be safe, it is going to be an adventure but I believe that in this adventure of faith like my safari in Africa we are going to see things like we have never seen before. We will look back years from know and have great stories to tell of the amazing things that God is going to do as a result of our obedience. I personally am just tired of living in faith only when I have to, like when the car breaks down or some other unforeseen emergency. I have asked God to teach us to live a life of faith adventure and I would challenge each of you to ask God what adventure he would want to take you on. I promise like my safari when it is over you will never be the same.

Pastor Chris

God Wants To Talk With Us

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)

If someone were to hand you a phone and say, "It's for you. It's the president of the United States!" you'd know it was a joke straight away. You wouldn't believe it for a second. You'd be like, "yeah right, why would he call me anyway?"

Have you ever stopped to think about what prayer really is? Prayer is like picking up your personal cell phone and having a conversation with the One who spoke the universe into existence! You never get His voicemail, and He's never to busy to talk as long or as short as you need. And the craziest thing about it is that God truly cares, and He wants to talk with us and to meet our greatest and our smallest needs!

I once met the most influential leader of the Church in the West African nation of Sierra Leone. When the government of that broken and war torn nation needs the assistance of the churches, he's the man they call. When the Islamic leadership needs to send a message to the only stronghold standing between them and total political dominion in all of North Africa, they call this man. He knows 2 Chronicles 7:14 to be true. He starts each morning on his knees in prayer at 4am. He prays for four hours, unless he has a really busy day ahead, in which case he gets up even earlier and prays five to six hours. That just sounds totally foreign to our western minds, but this man understands that he's desperately in need of the hand of God on his life in order to carry out the work at hand! He's runs dozens as orphanages (which he built), and has personally discipled hundreds a pastors (whom he oversees).

When I met him, I was struck with what a humble man he is, though he could have a lot to genuinely be proud of. In that moment, I was also struck with how prideful I am, though I ain't done nothin'! All that time in prayer conversing with the King of the universe has put everything in perspective for my friend, and he lives every hour in light of what matters most for eternity. I was deeply convicted to grow in the area of prayer. It doesn't have to be hours on end, but it should be quality time every day.

All of the hundreds upon hundreds of promises in the Bible are available for you and me! Prayer is the point of activation for those promises. And as we remind God of His goodness, He wants to speak a word to our hearts each day to give us encouragement, guidance, direction and conviction, if we'll only take the time to ask, listen, and be prepared to treasure His words.

The practice of reading the Bible, praying for understanding, and writing down what we sense the Lord whispering to our hearts is the practice of Life Journaling. This discipline is the essence of the Spirit filled life, and it's the only way to develop a true friendship with our awesome Creator! We will never lack the wisdom we need to meet any circumstance head-on with the power to endure and to affect change in the earth!

So let's pick up the phone; what are we waiting for!?

Aaron Herman

Not Without You - Why For Kids

The Why for Kids

We have a nice looking nursery that is visible when you walk in the front door, a sufficient preschool area, and a whole lot of room for elementary kids. So why are we talking about making changes to the children’s ministry area. Why in the world would we need to change anything to accommodate families with young kids? I am so glad you asked...

We do have sufficient space for our three age-appropriate environments, but we also have several issues that need to be resolved in each area. First off, our space for nursery is right off the main entrance, our preschool is way in the back of the building, and our elementary kids meet somewhere in-between. With so many families having kids in multiple areas, it becomes exhausting for parents at pick up and drop off times. We could all learn to live with things the way they are and deal with a little discomfort, but what about new families. We need to make it easy for new families to feel comfortable and welcome in our building. It is difficult to communicate and guide families through our maze of a building each weekend. The proposed layout would position all age-appropriate environments for children birth through fifth grade in the same area of the building. This would allow us to create a brand-new family entrance to accommodate for each and every parent with young children.

There are countless additional issues that are solved with the new proposed layout. More accessible bathrooms for both elementary and preschool, a secure registration space, and a single, centrally-located entrance to the children’s ministry area. All these are intentional changes being made to provide improved ministry for the families of Praise Fellowship. We want to make things easy for new parents with young children and safe for each and every family that walks through these doors.

Pastor Brian Dorheim