FCCN Worship Ministry Blog: July 26

Party by the Pond: 6:00 P.M. Sunday, August 29: 6:00 P.M.-7:30 P.M.

We’ll begin eating ice cream at 6:00, so bring the whole family!  Donations for ice cream will be accepted, but not required.  The building will provide some nice shade so no sun block will be needed!

The 541 guys group will start singing around 6:15.  We’ll also have testimonies from people who are living out the FCCN vision of “being the hands a feet of Jesus to families.”  The XP band will also be playing some great music to close out the night.

Fit to Live!

FCCN received a sizable grant from Welborn Baptist Foundation, Inc. to begin this great ministry at no cost to you! We’ll have lots of activities and motivation through the coming months.  I’m inviting you to join with me in this starting mid-late August and running through February.  Interested?  Please contact Ann Williams at awilliams@themmd.com or calling (812) 480-2812.  My goal is to loose 10 pounds, the healthy way. J

Value of the Month: Be Gracious with Criticism

James 1:19: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Everyone on staff at FCCN took an individual personality profile, and we got the results today.  They were very humbling for me.  It describes my strengths and weaknesses, and it’s right on.  There’s no hiding from it.   It’s sitting on my desk right now, looking back at me like the Geiko eyes/stack of $ bills. J  Two statements in particular that really grabbed me:

-          “When given the opportunity to initiate a project, you will strive for quality as well as timely results” (I like that one!).

-          “Try to reduce the rigidly of your thinking, along with the need to be exactly right” (ouch, that’s gonna leave a mark).

Seriously, I’m thankful for the feedback; it will make me a better worship minister if I work through it and make the needed changes.  Deep down inside, I want to lead this worship ministry better.  There are some things that I’ll need to improve on.

Sometimes criticism is valid when it’s done in love.  When you field criticism from someone you respect, and they really have your best interest in mind, then listen up!  Make the changes and grow from it.  Speaking of which, it’s time for me to read through that entire personality profile…

FCCN Worship Ministry Blog: July 20

Party by the Pond: 6:00 P.M. Sunday, August 29.

 

Ice cream, music and encouraging words!  The 541 group and the XP band will be providing the music.  We’ll be outside by the pond, the building will provide some nice shade, and hopefully it won’t rain!  More info will be coming next week.

 

Value of the Month: Be Gracious with Criticism

 

James 1:19: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

 

We’ll all face two types of criticism: one is valid criticism, one is not.  This week let’s tackle the criticism that’s not valid.  This type is often done flippantly and maliciously. 

 

The simple fix is to dismiss it and not let it ruin your day.  But in reality, it still hurts!  The fix is not that easy.  Those stinging words still linger in your memory, pestering you like poison ivy, or the dog that barked all night while you were trying to sleep.

 

My wife Jennifer brought home The Shack from the library yesterday, and I was reminded of that great story and one cool conversation at the end of the book that helped me with forgiveness about 2 years ago when I read “The Shack.”  Here’s a quick synopsis of this fictional book to get you up to speed.  According the dust jacket: “Mack Phillips’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep on the Oregon wilderness.  Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for the weekend.” 

 

In a conversation with God, Mack is asked to forgive the man who hurt his daughter.  With great emotion Mack answers that he does not want to forgive, and doesn’t feel like he could anyway.  The next quote in this fictional book is priceless.  In this imaginary story, God says “Forgiveness is first for you, the forgiver…to release you from something that will eat you alive; that will destroy your joy and your ability to love fully and openly” (225).

 

Mack later asks that if he forgives that man, does that mean that he can be trusted with his children?  No.  Forgiveness does not equal trust or a relationship.  Nor does it mean that you forget about the wrong.  According to The Shack: “Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.  But should they finally confess and repent, you will discover a miracle in your own hear that allows you to reach out and begin to build between you a bridge or reconciliation.  And sometimes—and this may by incomprehensible to you right now—that road may even take you to the miracle of fully restored trust” (226).

 

This book helped me so much 2 years ago with some forgiveness issues I had with another person that has long since been reconciled.  It worked for me, I’m praying it will help you out too.  One word of caution: The Shack is meant to be a fictional story.  It’s not the Bible, so don’t read every line as absolute truth: it’s just a story.  Read the Bible as God’s Word, the final authority.  In short, the Bible says “forgive, as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13).

 

Feel free to call me in the office with any questions you may have about all of this.  I’d love to chat with you if you want my help or just to share some stories. 

 

Random Blog Thought

 

Goin’ to Moe’s tomorrow for lunch!  Welcome to Moe’s!!!!

 

 

 

 

   

 

RE: FCCN Worship Ministry Blog: July 6

Worship Ministry Summer Party: This Sunday, July 11, from 3:00-7:30 @ 8111 Shore Drive Newburgh

 

I appreciate you all so much!  I just want to say thanks for everything you do.  Here’s a way to say thanks: we’ll swim, play volleyball, and have the swing sets for the kiddos, ladder ball and some other fun stuff.  We’ll eat at 5:00.  Swimming, volleyball, etc.  This is for everyone in the worship ministry and their families!  We’ll provide the meat and the drinks, tenors bring the dessert. 

 

Maps will be at both welcome centers this Sunday morning.  Special thanks to Bob and Brenda Walters for having us all over to their back yard!

 

Value of the Month: Be Gracious with Criticism

 

James 1:19 says, my dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  This was the basic idea in Steven Covey’s popular book “the 7 habits of highly effective people.”  One of the most important habits was “seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  Let your friend express their entire point of view and try to completely comprehend their point of view before you share your own point of view.  So listen first, and don’t jump to conclusions (James 1:19).

 

You answer: “yeah, that might work on some other planet.  But this is the real world, Phill.  It’s 2010! My 401K has taken a beating, I’m way too busy, my children are driving me crazy and I need to loose a few pounds.  And it’s hot outside…WAY too hot.  Crazy humid.  I don’t want to be quick to listen and I’m already angry.”

 

Okay.  Let’s take a step back then.  In fact, I agree with everything you said.  My 403b doesn’t look that good either right now.  And I’m back up to 184 lb, when I should really be around 175 lb.  I feel your pain.  So consider the scripture that God put into my mind Saturday while I was mowing the lawn (while it was crazy humid, btw):

 

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

When we grasp just how much God loves us.  How deep and grand His love is for us, and that there is NOTHING that will ever get in the way of His love, NOTHING that could ever stop it.  He’s crazy about YOU.  Specifically you, with all of your quirks, because you are His.  When we really understand that, it’s much easier to take criticism from others.  The opinion that matters the most is abundantly positive and will never change.

 

With that said, I’ll 175 lb by Sept. 12 (choir starts; I’ll be a lean, mean, arm waving machine by then).  Count on it.  But either way, God’s love for me won’t stop.

 

          Loving it,

 

                   Phill