While having a chat with a woman working in a local Christian book store yesterday the conversation turned to the book called “The Shack”.  Sales have been great, but she pointed out that people either love it or hate it.  People have asked me about the value of the book and so I had read it, though I’m not much of a fan of reading fiction (I’d rather watch the movie).  It’s a good idea to be in the know about a book with such a following, anyway.

Well, I have to say . . . I loved it!  It’s my new favorite book!  People get so bent out of shape because God the “Father” is portrayed as an African-American woman through most of the story.  The explanation the author gives is brilliant: God is neither male nor female.  God is referred to as “Father” in the Bible because that’s how people needed to relate to Him.  In Genesis, when God created Adam and Eve, He created them in his image: Male and Female.  Eve wasn’t just a female version of the male-God image, but was created in God’s image reflecting the female aspect of His Personality.  I’m not saying that we should refer to God as “She”, or our heavenly mother.  There are those that have trouble relating to God as a Father figure due to disfunction in human relationships just like Mac, the main character in the story.  It’s interesting to me that, though God is a woman, She’s referred to as “Papa” in the story.  We’ll never fully understand the concept of the Trinity.  This is a great attempt at seeing the lengths God will go to to get us to be in a real relationship with Him.

Getting past the whole God-woman thing, the rest of the story is plain brilliance.  Every page seemed to have an incredible insight about God that took me a few minutes to absorb.   He lives in community with Himself and is more concerned about us than we can possibly imagine.  He’s not a ritualistic task master, but a loving God Who desperately wants us to live in relationship with Him.

I wish we had the money to give these away for free as well.  Who knows, maybe we will?  It would fit very well in with our series on Prayer during February.   It’s on the New York Times bestseller list and is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and many other locations.

Tough series, this discussion we just ended called The Treasure Principle.  The Spirit of God opened our hearts to the truth about generosity and it’s undeniable connectedness to our ability to mature on our spiritual journeys.  Those who braved the cold weather this past Sunday were given an offer by The Gate leadership that shows that we believe God when He says that He will provide for us in incredible ways if we trust Him with our money (Malachi 3:10).  God actually tells us to test His promise to reward our faith displayed in giving what He’s called us to give.

So, those who accept this challenge and take God up on His offer by committing to offering their tithe to God’s purposes at The Gate have been given a money-back guarantee.  Anybody who takes the step of faith by increasing their giving over the next three months are to evaluate their lives at the end of that time to see if God has kept His Word.  If lives aren’t changed, The Gate will reimburse the amount of the increase over that period of time, as long as we’re provided donations that are traceable such as a checks or money orders.  No questions asked.

This isn’t only for the 10% tithers.  I believe that God is willing to reward any step of faith, no matter how large or small.  But remember our passage from Sunday: we reap what we sow.  If you’re interested, just put “guarantee” on the back of the communication card on any Sunday between now and when this offer ends the last Sunday of April.  This isn’t a pledge, so there’s no need to say how much you’ll be giving.

Giving has already increased, and we’ve already discussed several ways this money can be used to tell people about Jesus in the Columbiana area.  I pray that you don’t miss out.

We’ve had some changes and challenges over the month of January as we’ve been talking about “The Treasure Principle” series on money and its significance to our spiritual journeys.  Despite living close to the edge financially, The Gate has hired an awesome Youth Pastor (Ry Torhan), committed to budgeting for $10,000 in offerings each month throughout this year (Our highest month to date saw $8,500) and we’ve talked about setting a goal for our future of being a church that gives 50% of its offering to ministry outside of our church (On average, 90% of offerings in churches go directly back into the church).

Well, tomorrow is going to be a big day at The Gate.  We’ll be having a Plugged-In lunch following worship – a great time to sign up for a LifeGroup for the Winter Semester.  Everyone is welcome!  About 20 Gaters will be sitting down with me for about three hours after the lunch for the premier (makes it sound awesome, doesn’t it?) of the “Gatership” portion of our membership process.  But, as promised last Sunday, for those who are wrestling with this series on money, which includes pretty much everybody, we’re gonna take the Word of God very seriously and put our actions behind His Words.  We’ll be making an offer you can’t refuse!  Well, it will be pretty tough anyway.  It may just be the key to many of us beginning to experience life to the fullest extent through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Yep.  Another resolution pertaining to my health is moving as planned.  Except this time my approach is different.  A very wise man who attends The Gate, Bill Goughenour, has noted that people struggling with weight issues don’t need to go on a diet, they need a permanent change in lifestyle.  When most of us think of going on a diet we think in terms of a temporary denial, so it results in temporary results.  Tell me about it.

So, this time I’m gonna practice what I preach and not call it a New Year’s resolution, but a New Year’s Revolution.

We’ll see how it goes!

You may wonder how we come up with the message series that we have for our Sunday morning gatherings.  You may not.  Either way, I’m gonna tell you.

There are a number of ways.  Sometimes I go online to get ideas from other churches or ministries (Treasure Principle, He will be called).  There’s also times where God puts a topic on my heart that I think would be neat and that may address current events (Going Purple, American Idle, New Year’s Revolution).  And yet other times it’s a good idea to really delve into one book or section of a book in the Bible so that our church can have a strong grasp on the Word of God and begin to see how different parts of the Bible work together to give us a more complete picture of God (Jonah, Ruth, Changed: Philemon).  Some of the series for this next year include discussions on how to communicate with God, The Case for Christ (based on the book), Relationships and how to make the most of them (Family, Work, friends, God), and even one on Sex called “The Sex Files”.

Another approach to finding topics came my way that is so simple that it annoys me that I haven’t done it sooner.  I’ve read that some pastors actually ask the congregation what they would like to know more about.  So, here goes: what do you want to know about your spiritual journey that we can address on Sunday mornings?  Questions about God?  Things about being a Christian that confuse you?  Anything is game!  These suggestions can be from a Christian or a non-Christian perspective since we speak to both.  You don’t have to be an attender at The Gate to contribute since many people now listen to the messages online.  Your comments are welcome too!  Let me know either by comment to this blog or by communication card on Sunday @ The Gate.

I can’t wait to here from you!

I believe that God still speaks to some people through dreams, though He’s never spoken to me that way.  Not really interested in the whole dream analysis thing, at least the kind of dreaming that takes place when we’re sleeping.  The Gate Staff met for the first time today with our new Youth Pastor – Ry Torhan.  Kim, Ry and I had a time of dreaming what The Gate could look like – what crazy things we could do that would touch people’s hearts and cause them to give Jesus another look.  Some advice about brainstorming: dream as if there are no limitations.  A great phrase to use is “What if . . .”

In what amounted to His farewell speech to the disciples, Jesus said “Until now you have not asked for anything in my Name.  Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24, NIV).  Did you catch that?  We will have complete joy when we ask Jesus for anything that is out of love for Him.  The crazier the better.  Let’s not be satisfied with where God has brought The Gate so far.  Let’s speak our dreams and let the Holy Spirit run with it.  Many of then will not be realized but in the process we will be dreaming together and Jesus will lead us to life the the fullest extent.

My favorite idea comes from something Vanda and I read.  We are considering renting a helicopter this Easter and have the Easter Bunny drop eggs onto a field for an Easter Egg hunt.  Lots of them.  Say, around 10,000.  It would take a lot of promotion and a lot of money, but imagine what Jesus could do with that!  And, of course, there’s still the dream about the property who’s owners we’ve asked to donate to us for the purposes of the vision of The Gate.  If you have any more crazy ideas let me know.  The Gate is a place where we never stop dreaming for the impossible, because that’s where God does His best work.

The Spirit of God led the church down a path that is traditionally a difficult one.   We’re a church that’s about being real, and it got very real yesterday.  People spend money on what matters most to them.  It’s a plain fact.  Last week we were challenged to look at our money trail, where it is we spend our money, to see what really matters most to us.  Yesterday Jesus threw us more insight on that front.  Where you put your money will steer the direction of your life.  If you put all your money into your home, your home will be your master.  If you put your money into the newest gadget or clothes, those things will rule you. But, if we put our money into God’s purposes our hearts will be focused on God’s desires and we’ll receive a return on that investment that far outweighs anything else.

Houses, clothes and cars aren’t bad things unless they come before God.  Jesus said that many people who claim to be looking forward to the day Jesus comes back to rid the world of evil and rule in peace and justice are telling a different story than the financial evidence they have produced.  It was a tough message yesterday, but growth comes at these times. Our church has done well by this world’s standards, but God wants to clearly be first in all of our lives.  At first I was a little concerned that The Gaters who had braved the weather yesterday may not have taken the teaching well.  My concern disappeared when I discovered that most of the books that we were giving away, called The Treasure Principle (Randy Alcorn) , were taken by those who heard the message.  There are only a few left, so be sure to catch Bethany Davis early next week before they’re gone.

Something was made evident yesterday.  We’re a church that is real.  We’re a church that truly wants to live life to the fullest extent, even if it means tackling the difficult issues along the way. Daryl has fixed the problems we were having with the Media Page of our web site.  If you want to catch up with our discussion for January, check out the new set-up he put together at the link on the left side of this page.

I’d love to take this opportunity to introduce the newest addition to The Gate Staff: Ry Torhan.  On Sunday we had the priviledge to introduce Ry as our new Youth Pastor to The Gate during worship.  Vanda, my awesome wife, has been taking care of the children’s ministry since our launch last year.  A few months ago she told me that she had taken it as far as she could and that it needed to be passed off to somebody with a passion for youth work.  We looked down several avenues for potential leadership, but none panned out so we decided to leave it up to God to just drop somebody in our lap.

A few weeks later, Ry and Heather showed up at church because they had received a pop at a stop light by a Gater during one of our Gate Gives.  The rest is history.  Ry is from Indiana and his lovely wife, Heather, is a native Columbianian.  He’s recently received his degree in youth ministry from Lincoln College in Illinois.  What an awesome couple!  They already have a great raport with the kids, and we’re very excited to have Ry join us in this part-time position that will grow with our church.

Ry’s responsibilities will be limited to the children’s ministry on Sunday morning for now.  Please pray that God will give Ry a great vision for our kids at The Gate!

We talked last week about how Jesus cried over Jerusalem during His triumphal entry because the people of the city, which had a name that means “peace”, missed out on true peace because the didn’t go about finding it the right way.  True peace was hidden from their eyes because they were looking for it in all the wrong places (sounds like an old country song, doesn’t it?).  The town of Bethsaida, which Luke mentions in his account, is a word that means “house of unripened figs” and gives us a clue into our blindness (or blandness).  These figs were edible, but never gave ultimate pleasure to their consumers because they would never reach their full potential as figs.

The Gate is a church that is still in the ripening process.  So, we’ll press on with actions that make us dependent on God for their realization so that we will continue to grow and become the community of believer He had in mind from the beginning.  Some of these changes will be revealed in the month of January, so join us to find out what they are!