Fusion has LAUNCHED!

Well, after all the build up... all the anticipation... all the preparation... and all the prayer... FUSION COMMUNITY CHURCH HAS LAUNCHED!

It is true what they say, that it takes a lot more fuel to get the rocket off the launchpad than it does to keep it moving.  We are experiencing that now and being able to enjoy the ride God has us on.  If you weren't able to be there you missed it.  But in celebration of a great Sunday morning worship gathering, let me share one of the most amazing things that took place.

WE WITNESSED 4 PEOPLE CROSS OVER FROM LIFE TO DEATH YESTERDAY AND ACCEPTED CHRIST!!  It was the most incredible thing that happened yesterday because it had transformed the life, death, and eternity of 4 people we can now call brothers & sisters in Christ.  We also saw 2 individuals recommit their lives to Christ, and that never gets old!

We believe that as we take this step of faith that God is going to surprise us with more and more people responding to His Holy Spirit's nudge of truth, grace, and conviction, and we cannot wait to watch what He does. And in order to witness more people meet Jesus, we need to bring more people into His presence, which means that it is up to all of us to INVITE, INVITE, INVITE!!

For our launch we know of:

•  over 20 first time families that visited with us 
• more than 6 families that were 2nd time guests after being with us on January 8 and/or 15 
• over 60 children in kids ministries
• and 324 in attendance for worship total

To all of those who continue to make this happen, I say, as your leader, THANK YOU... This CANNOT happens without your sacrifice, and I don't WANT to do it without you!  You are needed and you are vital to the mission Jesus has given us!

So, even though January 22 has come and gone, our task remains the same... every... week.  WHO WILL I INVITE TO COME NEXT SUNDAY TO OUR WORSHIP EXPERIENCE!  I pray that Jesus does it all over again and someone else meets Him and witnesses His Grace!

Will You Join Me Starting Tomorrow?

Beginning tomorrow I am inviting you to join me in an act of commitment and dedication.  On Wednesday December 14, the 40 day countdown begins until we move Sunday morning worship services to the High School Theatre, and in preparing my heart and in preparing your own I am inviting you to join me in a partial fast over the next 40 days. 

Throughout the Bible fasting is practiced as a part of someone’s deepening faith walk.  It is never commanded of believers, but it is always encouraged and often the book of Acts tells us the early church committing to fast often.

We normally associate fasting with food, because that is what we read about most in the Bible regarding fasting.  Intentionally restricting the body from food for a certain period of time and refocusing one's "physical" hunger towards a "spiritual" hunger for the presence of God, prayer, and His Word.  But the act of giving up anything for a period of time so that God has more of our attention is considered a fast. 

There are different kinds of fasts. Sometimes an individual will fast for just one meal, sometimes for just a day or two, or sometimes for an extended period of time.  This 40 day fast that I challenged you with on Sunday is not an entire fast of all your food for 40 days. It is a PARTIAL FAST.  This means that you do 3 things to prepare yourself:

1. Take a personal inventory of your life and identify the things that you value or the things that you enjoy and write them all down.  
2. Then begin to reflect upon the list and ask the question... "Which things on this list are a competitor with God for my attention?" 
3. Finally make the decision. "Which one or two things will I put away 'in a drawer' for the next 40 days to instead pour that time into more intentionally developing my relationship with Jesus Christ?"

There is the freedom to fast from just about anything you can think of, and here are a few examples:

• SPECIFIC FOODS: Meat, soda, coffee, sweets, dessert, etc.  A slight restriction to your cravings so that when it makes itself known you can turn that hunger towards Christ.
• HOBBIES/ENTERTAINMENT: TV, Going to Movies, Facebook, Internet, Video Games, Texting, etc.  Committing to replace some of the time you spend "relaxing" and focusing it instead on "refreshing" by spending it reading God's Word a little more.
• INACTIVITY/LAZINESS: Some people will fast from laziness and inactivity knowing that their body is God’s temple and make a point to exercise as a part of their daily devotions and commitment to God, working out their body as a part of working out their soul.
• ADDICTIONS: Alcohol, drugs, pornography, gossip, smoking, etc. Many individuals have found victory for the first time through fasting in faith that God would help them to break a terrible addiction, not content to be ruled by that hunger any longer. Fasting can be a great catalyst to finding personal victory over addictions by seriously choosing to fast from something that is destructive to your health, your family, your marriage, and your relationships.
• ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO SET ASIDE:

The struggle in fasting is that we can feel tempted to focus our attention and energy on "what it is that I love and am giving up", but the true goal of fasting is to take our eyes off of the day to day things in this world and commit to focus our attention on God.  It is a private but visible demonstration to God that we are very "serious" about our relationship with Him.

It does not require a hyper-spiritual or emotional experience to feel "led" to fast.  It is simply a commitment before God to demonstrate who is the true owner of your heart and life.  So, I invite and ask you to join me over the next 40 days to walk together down the path we are on with great intentionality and focus through the act of fasting.

Who knows the places of growth you might witness over the next 40 days if you respond to this opportunity!!

I Am So Excited About This Sunday!!

I just want to share with you a little preview of this Sunday because...

•  we are going to laugh together a lot... 
• I will be unveiling some new details about many of the transitions we are making as a church... 
• and I promise that we are just going to really enjoy ourselves!

Whatever you had planned to do this Sunday morning... CHANGE THOSE PLANS AND BE IN CHURCH... because you do not want to miss Sunday!! If you do, you will be way behind everyone else... as you engage in conversations you will feel like you really missed out, because you will!! 


And as a little preview we are beginning a new series called....

Isn't it amazing that really the most constant reality of life on planet earth is change... that the most CERTAIN truth about life is UNCERTAINTY!!


Change is inevitable in life... we know that so well because winter is pressing in on us faster and faster... and for some it is a FESTIVE CHANGE and for others this is the season they are most bitter and cold... (in both ways!)... it is a FRUSTRATING CHANGE


Change is inevitable in life... it is a guarantee... and still, we find ourselves fighting it at every turn it seems... 


So don't miss this week!  I promise that if you come with an empty cup God will fill you to overflowing... it will be one of the great and memorable worship gatherings we ever have!!  And who knows maybe even through this series on CHANGE, God might CHANGE YOU!!


p.s. Also don't forget to bring in food with you this Sunday... I saw that Wal-Mart in Cobleskill had canned vegetables, name brands on sale for $.68 a can... that is a steal!! So load up the cart and lets bless our local food pantries this Thanksgiving!


See you Sunday!!

Worship Last Sunday- part 2

So tomorrow escaped me... Tuesday flew by and now it is Wednesday night... and I want to finish some thoughts in Hebrews 6 as a close to my post on Monday...


HEBREWS 6:1-3
So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. ² You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.


The writer of Hebrews lays out for us that the most "basic teachings" about Christ involve the "fundamental importance of REPENTING from evil deeds and placing faith in God."  That is where our faith journey begins... and then rapidly we move on thinking we are BEYOND that discipline...


I love college football in the fall and it reminds me of something you often hear a head coach say after halftime when his team is getting their tails kicked... the sports reporter puts the microphone up to his mouth to ask...


"Coach, what went wrong the first half that you need to improve on to get back in the game?"


To which you almost always hear something like this... 


"WE AREN'T DOING WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO... WE TOLD OUR GUYS THAT THEY NEED TO GET BACK TO THE FUNDAMENTALS!"


Fundamentals in football are things like good tackling, angle of pursuit, protecting the ball, sustaining your blocks, going til the whistle, and so on... the kind of stuff you learn in pop warner ball... WHEN YOU ARE 8 YEARS OLD! And yet it is those same lessons learned as a child that Terry, Howie, and Jimmie talk about on Sundays 40, 50, 60, 70 years later... the same exact fundamental disciplines of football.


There are fundamentals in the Christian faith too that are so vital to our continued pursuit of Christ... things like...

• Reading the Bible on our own
• Spending time in silence, alone, with God... talking and LISTENING
• Reflection on our behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, and words
• Humility in all situations
• AND as the author of Hebrews reminds us... REPENTANCE

It's amazing to me how effective Satan is at trapping us in becoming busy and distracted so much so that we begin to neglect the FUNDAMENTALS of our walk with Christ... and we get lazy...

That's when the enemy attacks with repeated sin... once we have neglected to practice the most necessary building blocks of our faith.

We are deceiving ourselves if we think that to "move forward to further understanding" means we no longer have to practice the elementary elements of our faith... without those as our constant foundation we will only grow to become self-righteous, indignant, and proud.  God shows us through Hebrews that in order to progress forward in our faith IT REQUIRES A CONSISTENT COMMITMENT TO DISCIPLINES... such as repentance...

For those that participated this last Sunday and chose to cleanse themselves of a foothold that the world has in them... 

• RETURN TO YOUR FIRST PRACTICES when you came to know Jesus
• RETURN TO THE PASSIONS that initially caused your affection for your Savior to grow
• RETURN TO GOD'S WORD with intentionality
• RETURN TO YOUR DESIRE TO SURRENDER to Jesus
• AND WHEN YOU DO, YOU WILL DISCOVER VICTORY fueled by the Holy Spirit!!

Worship on Sundays!

Yesterday was an awesome day of worship!!

The Holy Spirit sure was tangibly present in both worship gatherings as so many came forward to usher in a fresh season of repentance... It is never easy to reflect upon the sin in our lives and it is always unsettling to do so, but without taking that long hard look we will stop changing to become more like our Savior!

It was an awe inspiring moment to see dozens of individuals WAITING IN LINE at the end of the 8:30 worship time to eliminate a stronghold that their sin has had in their life, some for a very, very long time.  If you weren't there we were closing out a series called "CORE" where we revisited the 5 core values of the church... and we ended this series with an intense 2 week look at the most fundamental foundation Christians need for a lifelong, continual, journey of transformation into the likeness of Christ... REPENTANCE!

Today I wanted to post some encouragement for the road ahead primarily for those who chose yesterday to stop allowing Satan to attack them and instead to go on the offensive against him... I believe that some of you who chose to come forward are already facing severe temptation to fall back in to that same sin all over again.

So today I want to offer up some of God's Word as encouragement for the journey ahead.

--> Anytime we CHOOSE to not sit idle in our pursuit of Jesus...
--> Anytime we CHOOSE to surrender another part of ourselves to Him...
--> Anytime we make the DECISION to take action, in faith, that there is something great God has promised that we are currently missing out on because of our allowance of sin to exist...

WE BECOME ENEMY #1 FOR SATAN!!

Because now, you are threatening to give more control to your Father and steal more away from His enemy... the one that Jesus says wants to steal, kill, and destroy all God has blessed you with.

In Hebrews 5 God tells us that a commitment to REPENT is a commitment to mature and choose to "eat meat" instead of remain like a spiritually fat baby that "drinks milk."  In fact, I am going to share a few of my notes with you on Hebrews 5 & 6, but I encourage you to read them on your own as a part of your devotions this week... (ESPECIALLY IF YOU FEEL THAT TEMPTATION IS GROWING STRONGER)


HEBREWS 5:11-14 "WARNINGS ABOUT FALLING AWAY"

• 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 
• There were a group of believers who had grown so comfortable that they no longer even "tried" to grow in their faith

• ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 
• They should have "GROWN UP" to the place where they could be teaching others the truth about God, but because of their pursuit of Jesus was nonexistent, they had regressed back to the spiritual condition associated with babe in Christ... what a warning for all of us if we choose to become lazy in our desire to FOLLOW!

• 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 
• ^{Ouch... God says anyone who tries to "lives on milk," meaning someone is trying to sustain themselves on milk alone, which is a really bad... really boring idea... think about it... no steak, no potatoes, no mountain dew, no FLAVOR to life... is ignorant to real righteousness}
• ^{This makes me wonder... What would it look like on a day to day basis for someone who says they are a Christian to intentionally live on MILK in 2011? (this is my list, what would you add)}
• ^{Rarely open their Bible on their own time}
• ^{Rarely pray with a heart of "thanks" and often pray with a heart of "God, I need..."}
• ^{Hoard the money that God has temporarily entrusted to them}
• ^{Go to church whenever they "feel" like going or whenever it is convenient}
• Not take steps of faith
• Resist when others take steps of faith that they don't get

• ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
• This reveals that the biggest distinction between those Christians eating meat and those drinking milk is DISCIPLINE... discipline in personal daily walk with Christ, discipline with finances, discipline with time, discipline with church involvement, discipline in serving... DISCIPLINE IS THE KEY
• The ability to discern between good and evil is a life committed to DISCIPLINE!! That's powerful!!

Tomorrow I will continue this post by adding some thought about Hebrews 6!  See you then!

Saved People, Serve People

http://cobleskillwesleyan.org/share

This past Sunday we dove into the parable of the Good Samaritan and allowed God to challenge us with one of the most fundamental CORE VALUES for the church of Jesus... that SAVED PEOPLE SERVE PEOPLE!

And in response to the massive amounts of damage that so many of our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers have experienced we are trying to gather information from the CWC family so that we can do our absolute best at coming along side so many that are hurting now that many agencies and organizations from outside the county will begin to return to their homes.

So for all those in the body of Christ that are connected to Cobleskill Wesleyan Church we would love to add your skills or stuff to the list...

Maybe you are good at construction...

maybe you have skills in carpentry or plumbing...

maybe you are the most amazing cook in the world and could prepare a meal for a family in need...

or maybe you have a sofa that you could give to a family who lost everything they own and didn't have the adequate insurance to cover it...

Go to our website www.cobleskillwesleyan.org and click on the "SHARE" page (or the logo "SAVED PEOPLE SERVE PEOPLE" on the homepage) for more information and to submit how you might help play a role in serving & sharing the love of Christ in a practical way!

Just One More... At Any "COST!"

Following an unbelievable week throughout Schoharie county, I have been reminded of one simple but profound truth about the world in which we live, JESUS CHRIST is the only rock solid foundation & hope! Not a bank account... not a retirement plan... not elaborate health coverage... and not a home built of wood, concrete, and steel... I am reminded that all of these "man-made" safety nets are temporary and susceptible to disappear at a moment's notice... but my SAVIOR is constant!

We are experiencing this truth in the aftermath of a violent storm that has devastated thousands of our neighbors, friends, & families.  


A severe storm that no one could have predicted or been prepared for... 


A kind of storm many believed would never affect the Northeast... 


And a costly storm that many believed they were exempt from being crippled by... 


But the outcome has been far different than anyone expected & far more heart breaking than any of us assumed it could be.

I have been incredibly encouraged by the messages I have received from many Christ followers who leapt into action even while the rain was still falling, and jumped at the opportunity to serve those in need during and after the flood waters rose.  There are so many incredible stories of love, generosity, and community that have come out of this moment in our lives, and I believe that God allows these situations that initially we call "horrible" for a number of reasons that can ultimately lead to a greater good...

=> He wants to draw people together to experience a better QUALITY of community

=> He wants to give us tangible reminders that His Son, Jesus Christ, could control the wind, the waves, and the storms

=> He seeks to remind us of His awesome power and majesty

=> He wants us to remember what really is more important that the "STUFF" we invest so much in

=> He wants to help us identify any "IDOLS" we so often allow to take over the throne of our lives

=> He wants to remind us how BLESSED we are to live in the U.S.A. because of the infrastructure that exists to come in after a crisis and offer immediate assistance with people, money, and resources... God has abundantly blessed America!!

=> He wants us to more intentionally love our neighbor as ourself

=> He wants us to look for opportunities outside of our comfort zone to serve others, and to not think more highly of ourselves than we should, but look for moments to imitate the life of our Savior.

But above all else I believe that God allows these sort of events to happen because it gives HIS BRIDE the CHURCH (the people of God, not a building) thousands of opportunities to WITNESS and TESTIFY of the SAVING LOVE of JESUS.  I have heard of more divine appointments where faith in Christ has been shared in the last week than in my entire life!

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

God's Will is that everyone would meet His Son and discover His grace through repentance... and throughout this devastation I believe seeds are being planted all over the Northeast as we, the Bride of Christ, shift into high gear, one person at a time, to reach out and tell His story through our lives.

Many who call Cobleskill Wesleyan their home church have asked what are we doing as a church to help... and here is your answer for right now... GO GET INVOLVED!!

IN THE SHORT TERM: LIKE TODAY... LIKE RIGHT NOW!!

There are cleanup projects... there are shelters... there is food to be cooked & delivered... and there is contact information that has went out from the church office over the last week to give you the means with which to connect with a way to serve.  So in the short term, we would waste time, talents, and resources by trying to reinvent the wheel of emergency responders as an "organization", just go jump in and BE the church all throughout the county!  Don't wait for someone to ask you to help... go ASK SOMEONE else how you can help... and if you don't know where to start, grab a pair of gloves, drive down to Schoharie or Middleburgh and find someone who looks exhausted and ask them what you can do to help!!

IN THE LONG TERM:

We all understand that the National Guard, FEMA, Duracell, TIDE, the NYS government, and others here temporarily serving us will not be in our communities forever.  They are doing a great job at emergency response and we can assist them right now through volunteerism... but the day will come in the near future when another disaster or another story breaks and then the cameras, news vans, reporters, corporate non-profits, and government employees will move on to another community because this is not their home.  When that day comes that they need to leave and when what has happened here fades into their distant memories, it will still be a DAILY reality for us. It will be then that the hardest hit in our communities will need us as a church body more than ever.

As a result, we are trying to put things in place so we can meet needs together when the infrastructure we currently have been blessed with has to go somewhere else.  We are making contact with other churches throughout the country that have endured natural disasters in the past to receive wisdom and council at how best to have the maximum impact for the Glory of God.  Finding out what they did, how they served, how they coordinated with county and state agencies, etc... and if you have ideas, thoughts, input, or know of specific families that have massive needs, don't hesitate to pass them along to us through the church office... if we don't know about your ideas or contacts, we can't help and we can't function at our most effective!!

As I have been reflecting on this past week, I have been reminded of Noah.  A man who obediently built a cruise ship in the middle of a desert planning on a flood to come, and when it did start to rain I began to wonder... how many individuals outside of the ark began to look to heaven and "wonder" about God?  I believe now is a time like no other where thousands are looking up to heaven and they are "wondering" about God... to this very point the Apostle Paul reminds us...

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” (Romans 10:13-15)

LORD JESUS... WOULD YOU GIVE US BEAUTIFUL FEET AT A TIME LIKE THIS, SO THAT YOUR NAME WOULD BE LIFTED HIGH!

To update many who have asked about damage sustained at the church buildings on Legion Drive as a result of the storm... 

• Last Sunday @ 4:00 pm: We had between 2-5 inches of standing water in the basement of the church building and somewhere around 12 inches in the office basement... I know these are minimal amounts of water in relation to others, but it still was an issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible.  
• Last Sunday @ 6:00 pm: Within 2 hours there were 5 electric sump pumps running because of God's grace that allowed the power to still be on in Cobleskill, and one gas powered 150 gallon per minute pump sending water out into the swamp behind the buildings.
• Last Monday @ 9:00 am: ALL of the standing water in both buildings was gone and the vacuuming began
• Last Monday @ 4:00 pm: On Sunday evening we had put the call out for anyone available to show up and assist in the "SHOP VAC" project at the church buildings either in the morning @ 10:00 am or the evening @ 5:00 pm... The turnout during the day was incredible.  Individuals brought shop vacs, carpet cleaners, one family even brought their little 1.5 gallon vacuum and were on their hands and knees sucking the carpet dry.  The incredible thing is that the evening shift wasn't even needed because the church basement carpets were completely vacuumed at least twice before 4:00 pm as a result of the turnout to accomplish the task.  All that was left was to set up fans to begin to dry up wet floors and walls.  
• There was even one couple, Arvid & Carol, that helped lead the charge at the church building on Monday, when they hadn't yet been able to cross any bridges to even make it to their own home on main street in Schoharie to see what was left... they were serving in the midst of not knowing what was left... what an example of Christ I saw in them!!

To make a long story short, by the grace of God, and the willingness of so many, no significant damage was sustained!! Just don't have your babies crawling all over the carpet just yet, its still drying out!!!