Ups and Downs of Ministry
I guess I could say ups and downs of life, because probably all of us experience it - but seldom have I had a weekend where the highs were so high and the lows so low and so close together.
Yesterday we came together as a church family to support one of our own: the Stephon & Rachel Parker family, in a memorial service for their 4-year old son, Ariel who was killed last week in a tragic auto accident here in Tinley Park. In a perfect world, parents should never have to bury a child, and this funeral was a difficult as any I've been a part of. Stephon & Rachel are doing as well as anyone possibly could, but they certainly need our continued love, prayers and support.
Then today we officially launched our 3rd Campus, this time in South Bend, IN - and it was simply an awesome high! As I posted yesterday, the 'launch team' from CT did an absolutely incredible job in an extreme makeover of the building there, to prepare for the dozens of brand new people who walked in this morning. You've got to see it to believe it!
Seeing and greeting those new folks today, some of them with postcards in hand, brought back memories from our Tinley Park launch in 1990 and certainly from last year's launch in Shorewood where each time we've seen people who had no other contact with us whatsoever join us in worship. That spells hunger in my book!
Altogether, we had 280 people in attendance (just shy of my personal goal of 300), with probably half of that total being new to CLC. (Speaking of which, it was such a pleasant surprise to see a few dozen CLCers from our other campuses who came today just to show their support for the launch - I love this family! I mean, driving one-and-a-half to two hours just to say 'we're part of this' is awesome!)
Best of all, I counted 7 precious men and women who prayed with me at the close of service to receive Jesus into their lives and begin a personal relationship with Him! That's why we do this, and it brought tears to my eyes to see such fruit on our very first day. There were some other great conversations after service with a number of open and hungry people, which leads me to say it again: there's no telling what God is going to do in South Bend!
Hats off to Pastors Chris & Amber Payne for the splendid job they're doing to lead the charge in Michiana. I'm excited about what God is doing at CLC, and I can't wait to see what He's up to next!
Yesterday we came together as a church family to support one of our own: the Stephon & Rachel Parker family, in a memorial service for their 4-year old son, Ariel who was killed last week in a tragic auto accident here in Tinley Park. In a perfect world, parents should never have to bury a child, and this funeral was a difficult as any I've been a part of. Stephon & Rachel are doing as well as anyone possibly could, but they certainly need our continued love, prayers and support.
Then today we officially launched our 3rd Campus, this time in South Bend, IN - and it was simply an awesome high! As I posted yesterday, the 'launch team' from CT did an absolutely incredible job in an extreme makeover of the building there, to prepare for the dozens of brand new people who walked in this morning. You've got to see it to believe it!
Seeing and greeting those new folks today, some of them with postcards in hand, brought back memories from our Tinley Park launch in 1990 and certainly from last year's launch in Shorewood where each time we've seen people who had no other contact with us whatsoever join us in worship. That spells hunger in my book!
Altogether, we had 280 people in attendance (just shy of my personal goal of 300), with probably half of that total being new to CLC. (Speaking of which, it was such a pleasant surprise to see a few dozen CLCers from our other campuses who came today just to show their support for the launch - I love this family! I mean, driving one-and-a-half to two hours just to say 'we're part of this' is awesome!)
Best of all, I counted 7 precious men and women who prayed with me at the close of service to receive Jesus into their lives and begin a personal relationship with Him! That's why we do this, and it brought tears to my eyes to see such fruit on our very first day. There were some other great conversations after service with a number of open and hungry people, which leads me to say it again: there's no telling what God is going to do in South Bend!
Hats off to Pastors Chris & Amber Payne for the splendid job they're doing to lead the charge in Michiana. I'm excited about what God is doing at CLC, and I can't wait to see what He's up to next!
posted by Pastor Jerry McQuay at 3:42 PM
7 Comments:
We visited your service this morning in South Bend and enjoyed it. However, I have searched your website for your Statement of Faith but have not been able to locate it. Could you please post it? Thank you.
Oh my goodness - I can't believe it. We recently gave the website a complete makeover, and I'm guessing that the Statement of Faith accidently was omitted. I'll ask our Webmaster to get it back online Monday, and I'll post another link to it on my blog.
Meanwhile (if you read this), I can tell you that we are a Biblically-conservative, doctrinally-orthodox Christian church, so our Statement of Faith is fairly consistent with what you'll find at any sound, Bible-believing church.
Thank you for the information. I will check soon for the Statement of Faith.
Ahhh, it was there all along - if you go under "I'm New to CLC", then "Who We Are", then "Statement of Faith". Here's the link:
http://www.clctoday.org/seekers/statement.php
If you have specific questions about any doctrinal matters, feel free to email me at pastorj@clctoday.org.
Dear Pastor Jerry,
For quite some time (years), I've wondered about a doctrinal issue. What does the Bible state that occurs upon our death in terms of the Lord's Second Coming, when Jesus will give us new bodies and takes us to be with Him. In other words, if our physical bodies decay, and our souls go to be with the Lord for all eternity, how does His Second Coming tie in with that? I've checked my concordances over the years, but haven't found any clear answers. Thanks!!
Hi Ruth, this is MY opinion: our bodies, whether buried or lost at sea or even cremated, will be resurrected and changed into a 'glorified' body such as Jesus had after His resurrection and reunited with our spirit, to enjoy everlasting fellowship with Him in heaven. (see Daniel 12:2 and Revelation 20:1-15)
Hello Pastor Jerry,
I just wanted to thank you for the Stress Management Class. It has really helped me to grow and deal with some family issues. A lot of churches don't really deal with mental illness, most people feel ashamed about it. Peace of mind is not something everyone has, and most people don't won't to talk about it.
I am so glad God said he would supply all my needs.
The beautiful young lady that teaches the class has a wonderful prayerful spirit, she is so patient with me. Pastor Jerry many times I am the only one in the class but my teacher is so faithful and loving. Gods love is so amazing! Out of all the millions and millions of children he has. My heavenly Father took time to answer my little prayer. A lot of churches don't have spiritual counseling, thank for listen and obeying God.
Our enemy is alway attacking our Minds but we take it for granted how to properly fight him back.
May the Lord bless you and the CLC family Richly.
Post a Comment
<< Home