Trusting the King

Contributed by:
Staci Overbeck
ministry assistant

Like many this past week, my family and I were blessed to enjoy a trip to Florida for Spring Break. I use the word “blessed” because it was evident that our getaway was a gift.

The Illegal Substitution Penalty

Contributed by:
Ron Klopfenstein
men's life director

If you are a football fan (and if you aren’t I would submit you should be!) then you are aware of a penalty that is occasionally flagged called illegal substitution. I must admit that when this penalty is called it always seems like it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. As parents, and specifically men, we can be very guilty of just such a penalty. Only the consequences of repeated substitutions can be much more severe than in a football game. What I mean is this.

Finding Victory In the Battle

Contributed by:
Alan Bugg
executive pastor

Growing up with two sisters, one a twin and the other two years older, created interesting dynamics around my home. As the lone boy, my sisters wanted to control me and I wanted nothing to do with it. I thought as the male sibling it was important for me to establish dominance, even though my twin sister matured faster and grew six inches taller than me by the seventh grade. My twin was athletic, popular, and accepted with the “in kids” and I was left only to watch, as the “shrimp” of the family and my class.

"W" #3: Surviving the Mess

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

I'm not sure if she was the first person to make this statement, but Heather Zempel told several thousand people who tuned-in to Willow Creek's Group Life conference a couple of years ago that small groups are messy. In fact, she spent a good amount of time talking about "poo" to make her point. It's true, groups are messy because people are messy. You can't throw a bunch of flawed people into a group and expect it to be anything but messy from time to time. I may have been naive enough at one point to believe that my groups would escape this reality. I'm not anymore.

Wisdom to Put Things Together

Contributed by:
Becky Johnson
women's life director

From the earliest of ages, my 17 year old son has always loved to take things apart. Any gadget or appliance in our house that no longer worked reached the same fate in EJ’s hands…it was taken apart to see what it contained. We even made trips to vacuum cleaner stores to salvage disposed vacuums so that he could take them apart piece by piece. Now, at the age of 17 and through the training he’s receiving, he’s learning how to put things back together and to make things work again. My son is no longer little but growing up…he’s maturing.

The Power of Our Words

Contributed by:
Staci Overbeck
ministry assistant

“We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” James 3:2

Ouch. Did you feel that? Probably not…but I’ll bet you have in the past…that little jab as you listened to someone who carelessly spoke without regard to the feelings of others. It may have been intentional or purely accidental, as we never know the path that someone else has travelled.

"W" #12: Return Costumers

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

I remember several years ago I heard a guy say something that I thought was pretty weird. This was an older man that I was in ministry with at the time, and he was known for being kind of a rascal. I forget the context of the comment, and even the exact wording, but somehow the subject of marriage had come up. Now, this guy was married to a sweet woman, and there were some who generally regarded her with a mild sense of pity for the way her evangelist husband would drag her around from this place to that - all in the name of ministry. As we were talking about marriage, on this particular occasion, at some point he added that if anything ever happened to his dear wife, he would just have to get married again. Keep in mind, she was standing right next to him, and was privy to all that was being said. I actually thought it was pretty insensitive, but he was trying to make a point. His intention with that comment was to say that marriage had been such a good experience, he'd readily jump right back into it again if given the chance.

"W" #14: Sharing the Shout-Outs

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

Have you ever been moved by a story? Amanda and I watched the movie Secretariat the other night, and we were inspired. I mean, I've never cared much about race horses, but now I want to be one! It was that inspiring! But seriously, there's just something about that story--in which a house wife is forced to take bold business risks in a time and industry dominated by men, placing her family's future on a horse that was passed over by the experts--that inspires us to follow our hopes and dreams. And part of what makes that story so powerful is that it's true.

"W" #1: Consistent Meetings

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

I'm passionate about groups. I seriously get jazzed about community. And jazzed isn't a word I use too often. I love to see people come together in community, strengthened by the relational ties of fellow Christ followers who care for one another practically, emotionally, and spiritually. One of the greatest disappointments for me, however, is when a group fizzles before ever having the chance to experience the "goods" that group life is supposed to offer. I honestly believe that too few groups have a chance of getting there because they lack a critical component: consistency.

"W" #5: Accountability

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

A few weeks ago I began to work through a list of what I'm calling the "wins" for our life groups at PCC. These "wins" are the things, as Reggie Joiner says, that we celebrate as we see them happening in our groups. And this series of posts is designed to clarify those "wins" for our groups. Here's this week's "W": Accountability.