Merry Christmas!

Two Christmas Eve services done, and presents to wrap, so I'm going to make this short.

May the peace and love of God the Father, the amazing grace and hope of Jesus Christ, and the power and passion of the Holy Spirit be with you as you celebrate the HOPE of Christ this Christmas.

From all of us at FBC Poky, and the McCready family, Merry Christmas!!!

Who Are You Going To Invite To HOPE?

Christmas Eve is tomorrow. The last day to shop, wrap and ready yourself before Christmas Day. It's also when we as a church family are going to celebrate the Person behind all the festivities, Jesus Christ. God's gift to us is hope, and as we've been looking at Thoughtful Gifts this Christmas season, we're going to finish with a bang.

So bring someone. Somebody in your life needs hope. The economy has people scared. The war has people nervous. The problems we face in our nation and community has people on edge. Give them the gift of hope this year. Bring someone with you to one of the Christmas Eve services, 6 pm and 8 pm. You'll be glad you did. They will be glad, too.

Merry Christmas!

What Do You Talk About At Christmas Time?

I was at the gym the other day, and a guy whom I see there a lot stopped me with a question:

"So what are you talking about Sunday?"

What you need to know is that this man is what we in the church call 'de-churched,' he used to go to church, but he quit going years ago, let go of his faith and never looked back. We have conversations from time to time about spiritual subjects, and I've invited him to church a few times. He threatens to show up. I'm still hopeful.

Back to our conversation at the gym: he asked if I was doing the old stand-by stuff this Christmas. That's the interesting dilemma that we have as speakers in church - the Christmas story is pretty well played out for some folks. There's all the players - angels, Mary, shepherds, Joseph, the inn keeper, the wise men, the manger, the star... who hasn't heard all of that? Maybe a few people, but there are few over the age of 10 who haven't heard at least a majority of all that. What do you say that's fresh? How do you tell the same old story in a new way?

I told him what we were doing, the Thoughtful Gifts series. I told him about having frankincense in church and how it came from trees. He asked me what myrrh was. I told him he needed to come hear for himself on Sunday. He smiled. Pray with me that he does.

It's always an interesting process to go through, figuring out what to say at Christmas time. It's interesting all the time, but especially at Christmas. So this year, my goal has been to do two things - share the same old Christmas story in the most creative and thought provoking way I can, and then not worry if people have heard any of it before. All of us need a reminder of the hope that Christmas brings, and if there is anyone who comes who doesn't know the real reason for celebrating Christmas, they'll hear it as clearly as I can say it.

I just finished the message for this Sunday. No, I don't have any myrrh, sorry. But it's going to be the most hopeful and most challenging message I've ever given at Christmas time. Don't miss it. I can't wait to see what God does with this one.

Which leads me to Christmas Eve next week. Make plans to be there, and bring someone with you who needs some hope this year. For some, it's been a hard year on many levels. Bring someone who needs to know Hope was born in a stable in Israel 2000 years ago. And if you've heard the story, don't let that get you so jaded that you forget there are thousands of people in our community that haven't. They may know the players and the plot, but they don't know how it really ends. Bring them for the Christmas surprise of their lives! Jesus came to set us free from sin! All our guilt can be gone! All our hope restored! All our hearts made new!

Remember that this is the easiest time to get someone to come to church with you. Remember that Jesus died for your friends and neighbors as much as He died for you. Remember that Christmas is a gift that you can give. Remember Jesus this Christmas.

Website Update is LIVE!!

If you haven't seen it, the new fbcpoky.com is live! Not 100% complete, it's still in process, and your feedback to Aaron Floyd would be appreciated, but it's a great start! Be sure to check it out!

Getting Hope For Christmas

Sunday was just an amazing day, I love Christmas when God is moving and stirring in His people! Some highlights:

• The four baptisms were great, but knowing the back story on each of those folks was even cooler. God has been at work in the lives of these four individuals in four unique and custom created ways. It was a privilege to be in the tank with them all and witness their public expression of putting their hope in Jesus.
  
• The look on the faces of people when I pulled out a lump of real frankincense was fun to watch! I had never seen it in my life before that morning, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Folks were genuinely curious about the stuff that wise men gave to Jesus.
  
• I love sharing the good news of God's grace at Christmas time, it seems so natural to talk about God giving His best to us, and all of us needing to receive His gift.
• I appreciate Karl and the team working so hard to make Christmas music into something worshipful. It's harder than you might think to take what we all have sung at Christmas all of our lives and make it into something that worships the Great Gift of Christ.
  
• The blessing of being in a church family was evident all around. I know several people stepped in to help Stacy and Eric Rude with their trip to California for Stacy's father's funeral. I'm always so encouraged to see people be generous when they see a need. I know Stacy and Eric will be touched, too.
• The Student Ministry worship team was getting some work done after church, and I can't wait to hear the teens in our church family start leading in worship.
  
• The Children's Ministry had a Christmas themed thank you potluck for all their volunteers, and I got to go as Mac's escort. It's a cool thing as a parent to see your children start to serve and be givers in ministry in their teen years, and I was proud to go with him to an event where he was being encouraged for serving, along with dozens of other volunteers.
  

Just another great Sunday of ministry and grace at FBC!!

Pictures From New Orleans

My friends from Indiana sent me a ton of great photos from the trip to New Orleans, and I got to share some of them on Sunday during the message. For those who didn't get to see them, or who just can't get enough of Gene on a ladder or Brett with gumbo...


Getting things started:

Gene making the windows look brand new:

Brett getting the railing on for the deck:

A FRIEND working on the fireplace mantle:
They made sure I had supervision when using power tools:

Brett makes a friend:

From left: Gene, Brett, and me with Steve on the last day.

Thanks again to everyone who went, prayed or gave so that this trip could be a life changer. And feel free to start praying about the possibility of a trip this spring, there's still lots left to do.

Thoughtful Gifts

I'm getting the feeling that Christmas is for real this year. I spent my lunch hour helping Beth shop for a gift for her office Christmas party tonight. So that's Christmas shopping, presents and a party today already.

The message series for Christmas this year is Thoughtful Gifts, looking at the gifts that the Magi brought to honor Jesus. The old song, We Three Kings, while not exactly accurate about the number of kings, gets the gifts right, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Each gift was expensive, important and carried a special meaning about the birth of this special baby.

Don't miss this message series, and be sure to bring someone with you who needs some encouragement and hope this Christmas season. The message of the manger is hope, and this year there are lots of people who could use some hope.

Still Thankful, Even On Tuesday

The drive home from my parent's house in Oregon seems to get longer every time we're on it, which is a mystery of physics and geography, rolled into the time/space continuum. If it weren't for the many Starbucks along the way, it would only be longer. Some things I'm still thankful for, even five days after the official day of giving thanks:

• My family back home. All are healthy, gainfully employed, growing in Christ and serving in His church. It was great to see everyone, share good news and prayer requests, and be all together for the first time in years. I'm grateful for the legacy of my parent's, and the way my siblings are turning their trials into ministry. It was a good trip.
• My Linfield Wildcats are 11-0! I got the rare privilege of being at a Linfield College playoff game on Saturday (BIG props to my main man, brother-from-another-mother, 'Diamond' Dave Dillon for getting us tickets!!)(okay it was really his mother-in-law Joanne that got us the tickets, but I love saying 'Diamond' Dave...), where my purple-clad 'Cats erased a 14-3 deficit and blew out some team from Texas 53-21. Super fun to be at the scene of so many of my college memories with my kids, my wife, my folks and my friends. Gratitude abounds!
• My wife has a job! I'm about to go pick up a paycheck from Beth at her work. She has a job that pays her real money, and she's doing a great job at it! It's cool to see prayers get answered: we prayed for a job, with benefits, with reasonable hours, with good money, that uses her gifts. BINGO!! God came through!
  
• My kids are growing. Report cards came home before we left, and I'm so glad to see my kids learning to work hard and get rewarded with good grades. Add to that Lego Robotics for Mac and Basketball for Rachel, and the minds, hearts and bodies are growing and being pushed to new heights. Thank God for my kids!
• I belong to a great church! I was glad to hear the reports of a great service while I was gone, to hear that the Project House is being finished, and that ministry continues to happen all over the place. Our Community Groups are growing, our Toddler/Crawler room is ready for it's grand re-opening, and the Christmas Series - Thoughtful Gifts is about to launch! After 118 years of ministry, there's still more to come!
• And did I mention BAPTISMS?!?! We'll be having baptisms on Sunday, Dec. 13, so make plans to be there for that service, and if you're one of those people who are waiting to get baptized, wait no more! Get this thing done before the end of 2009, you'll be glad you did! I'm glad we get to celebrate that important faith step with people!

I guess we don't have to stop being thankful just because we ran out of turkey...