Two weeks ago we commissioned a team of nine people to travel to tornado-ravaged community of Madison, Alabama.  After driving 700 miles, they rolled up their sleeves and began to work. (Bill looks like he’s having a bit too much fun, doesn’t he?)  The impact of their serving was felt acutely by one single mom.

This mother of two kids had been through a recent divorce, and the financial impact left her in a very bad place.  Unable to pay all her bills, she was facing foreclosure on her home.  Then the tornados ripped through her neighborhood, destroying the home she was fighting to save.  Hope was nowhere to be seen.

But a local church sprang into action.  Their volunteers started repairing the roof, replacing the siding, and paying the cost of it.  Our team came alongside this church to help with interior and exterior painting, as well as installing a new floor.  Each night the team would share dinner, stories, and a passage from God’s Word.  At one of these dinners the single mom showed up.  And despite being painfully shy, she told her story, and poured out her heart of gratitude.

The impact on our team was amazing!  Some of the guys talked to Jim Glass, the team leader.  They wanted to call their bosses back in DC and say they were taking another week off!  They realize that by helping out with their manual labor, they were igniting HOPE in a life where hope had been washed away.  What an incredible demonstration of the power of God working through his church!

So thank you to all of you who helped support this team, with your finances and your prayers.  Together we’re igniting the HOPE of Christ in our city, nation, and world.  If you want to hear more stories of how God is changing lives, then be sure to join us this Sunday for a Baptism Celebration event!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. This week will be the last Sunday in our series, “Marriage That Works.”  We’ll discover why “Two Halves Don’t Make a Whole” and how to build an enduring and healthy marriage.

It’s amazing how often someone else’s story helps us come to grips with our own.  If you’ve ever wrestled with God over who’s going to be in control, then maybe you’ll find encouragement and inspiration and hope in Jeff’s story.

This was played at the Baptism Celebration last September when Jeff was baptized.  If you’re interested in sharing your story, or in being baptized as a follower of Jesus, please contact us at info@senecacreek.org.  We’d love to help you.

-Pastor Mark

P.S. If you’re a Participating Member at Seneca Creek keep your eye on your mailbox for important information in the next day or two.  If you don’t receive anything, please contact the office.

P.P.S. The Leadership Council is recommending two people to join the board for the coming term.  They are Kat MacKinnon, and Fred Miller.  Please contact the office if you have any questions regarding these choices.

There is no such thing as a perfect church.  Including ours.  But there is lot to like about this church.  As Lead Pastor, I frequently get to hear the positive comments about Seneca Creek.  Maybe you don’t get to hear those comments, but here’s what I really want you to hear from me.

The things you love about this church are the result of God’s powerful work, and our incredible staff.  I often feel like a conductor in an orchestra.  I’m surrounded by people who have invested their lives to play their instrument with skill and passion.  They play far better than I ever could.  And the result of these artists working together is remarkable.

One of those “artists” is our Executive Pastor, Jeannette Cochran.  What you may not know is the indispensable role she has played in helping Seneca Creek become the church that it is.  But that’s what I really want you to hear from me.  Jeannette’s leadership and passion has been the driving force in a number of massive projects over the last few years.  From getting our building project finished, to hiring and developing staff; from our organizational structure, to our Ignite HOPE vision; from our Ignite magazine, to the Chick-fil-A leadercast, and many other areas, she has led with courage, compassion, and determination.  (And prior to her role as Executive Pastor she was the Children’s Ministry Pastor, and effectively led and grew that ministry.  My children, and maybe yours, too, have benefitted from her leadership in PowerHouse.)

It’s been said that you’re only as good as your team.  We have a great staff team.  And we would not be where we are as a church without Jeannette’s leadership over the last 14 years.  Some of you may read that list above and think, “Wow, Mark, how are you going move forward without Jeannette?”  I’m still trying to figure that one out! 🙂  We do know God has even greater things in store for all of us, though.

Most of you know that Jeannette will be leaving our staff team at the end of April.  So to show our appreciation, we’re hosting a Thank You celebration this Sunday, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at our facility.  If you are able, please consider stopping by and expressing your gratitude to Jeannette.  While she will continue to be part of our Seneca Creek family, her absence on the staff team will be noticed by everyone!  We want to let her know how much we appreciate her years of courageous leadership.

-Pastor Mark

P.S. One more thing.  Jeannette will be teaching this week in our series on marriage.  You won’t want to miss this.  Hope to see you Sunday!

Have you ever realized after the fact that you put someone in a very awkward situation?  Recently we asked a Sunday morning group to fill in a short survey about marriage.  Questions like, “What is the hardest part of being married,” and “What do you wish you knew about marriage before you started yours?”  As I read through the response cards, one of them hit me like a two-by-four.  It simply said:

“Please send as survey monkey [an anonymous online survey tool]. Not enough time to fill out – not sitting next to hubby.”

I read that and thought, “Mark, what did you THINK would happen?  Obviously people may not be able to honestly share their ideas and experiences about marriage while sitting next to someone who is their spouse!”  I had unwittingly put people in a very awkward situation.  Oops.

Some of you were willing to share anyway.  I’ve been reading and learning from those surveys.  But for anyone who didn’t feel the freedom to give honest feedback, or for anyone who wasn’t there on that Sunday, I would love to get your input as we head into our new series on marriage.  Could you please take a few minutes right now to fill in the following online survey?  It’s the same questions we posed on that Sunday morning.  And it’s designed for everyone, even if you’ve never been married.

Click here to go to the anonymous online survey

Thank you in advance for your time.  I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we launch our series, “Marriage That Works.”  You’re helping shape the direction of this series by your honest input.  See you then!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. Mark your calendars for a special Thank You celebration we’re throwing for Jeannette Cochran on Sunday, April 29^th at 3:30 pm.  It’s a way to show our appreciation for her as she steps off our staff team.

Easter is almost here.  And you may be thinking, “I know the story. I know how it ends. I’ve been there, done that.”  The wonder of Easter is gone.  Like other traditions, Easter can drift from “wonder” to “whatever.”  And that’s a very dangerous place to be.

• When we lose the wonder of Easter, we’re far more likely to believe that our life doesn’t really matter that much to God.
• When we lose the wonder of Easter, we’re far more likely to believe what someone else says about our reputation, or our value.
• When we lose the wonder of Easter, we’re far more likely to succumb to the temptations, the rat race, and the habits that rob us of genuine joy.
• When we lose the wonder of Easter we’re far more likely to wind up down a dead-end street searching for our real purpose in this life.
• When we lose the wonder of Easter we’re far more likely to be dominated by fear, anxiety, stress, and depression.

So this weekend, I implore you to bring a friend, and join us as we recapture the wonder of Easter.

Our Good Friday event, “For the Joy Set Before Him,” is at 7:00 pm.

Our Easter Sunday gatherings, “Come and See,” are at 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30.

I look forward to seeing you then.  It will be wonder-full!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. This Sunday is the final day for collecting medical supplies for our Tanzania trip in July.

AND, remember our Easter Food Drive for Gaithersburg and Germantown HELP.  Watch for the collection containers on your way in this Sunday.

Prayer is hard work.  I’m not talking about the quick prayer that you blurt out when you face a sudden crisis.  I’m talking about the kind of prayer that moves mountains and changes us (and others).  I think I know why.

If you want evidence that prayer is hard work, just look at Jesus.  When he needed it most, he asked his closest friends to pray with him for one hour.  They really WANTED to!  But they couldn’t.  Not just because it was late.  But because it’s hard work.  (Matthew 26:40-45)  Here’s why it’s hard for most of us.  Prayer requires us to admit that we’re in need.  It forces us to have a conversation with an unseen God, and to acknowledge that we need him to do what we can’t.  And for anyone with a shred of “dignity” this seems like admitting failure.  Who wants to admit they can’t do something?  Bottom line: prayer is humbling.  If you wanted to think you were hot stuff, prayer will relieve you of that illusion.  You can’t approach God on your knees (literally or otherwise) without admitting that you “can’t.”

It’s interesting that God told Solomon at the dedication of the Temple that when things go badly for his people, the way back would be prayer.

…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

To pray is to humble ourselves.  That’s one of the reasons prayer is so hard.  That’s why it’s a lot easier to talk about prayer than to actually DO prayer.

This Sunday evening we’re going to pray together as a church.  We’re going to pray for those in our community who are far from God.  We’re going to pray for the personal needs of those in our own church.  And we’re going to pray that God’s power will be evident in and through this church.  We’re going to prayer that the God of hope will ignite HOPE right here in our city.  Because by ourselves we can’t do this.  But God can.  So we will pray…in humility.  I invite you to join us at 5:30 for pizza, followed by prayer at 6:00.

-Pastor Mark

A few days ago I took my daughter and her friend to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  It’s off-season there, meaning tourists may get more than they bargained for.  Which we did.

As we walked closer to the center point of the Inner Harbor, we saw a large crane floating on a barge.  We could see the bucket going into the water, then hovering over the nearby barge.  And we heard the nerve-rattling screeching noise of the heavy equipment doing its job.  They were dredging the harbor.

Over time stuff builds up from the bottom (silt, garbage, etc.) and makes the harbor too shallow for boats to navigate.  From the surface, you can’t see it.  But it’s there.  And it STINKS!  Apparently that gunk at the bottom of the harbor is related to sewage!  We hurried by, covering our noses to keep from throwing up.  It’s definitely NOT the kind of impression you want to make on visitors to the famed Inner Harbor.  But dredging has to be done.  Regularly.

Our lives are very much like the harbor.  Activity, relationships, stress, desires, disappointment and time conspire to leave gunk on the bottom of our life that needs to be cleaned up.  From the surface, others may not see it.  But it gets in the way.  It keeps us from functioning as we’re designed to.  And it needs to go.  Oh, did I mention…it’s kinda stinky!  It might be attitudes that creep in.  It might be ways of speaking to people close to us.  It might be habits that are unhealthy or destructive.  It might be the slow accumulation of ugly things that people have said to or about you.  We need to be dredged.

Thankfully, God is in the dredging business.  I’ve learned that going to the Bible with an open mind and heart is a great way to allow God to dredge up the gunk in my life, drop it on a nearby barge, and begin fresh. (God just dredged a little bit out of my harbor this week in Romans 9.)  And it’s much better to do that when it’s NOT tourist season…when you’re NOT having to explain it to lots of other people.  So why not take some time this week and invite God to do some dredging in your life?  You’ll be restored and so glad you did.  Do it now…before tourist season starts.

-Pastor Mark

Last Sunday we learned about the connection between humility and joy.  (I included the video for your enjoyment…again.)  Then early this week I got another lesson in personal humility.  I was sorting out some old files from my days in seminary.  I came across a paper I wrote titled “Small Group Training.”  The year was 1987.  Hmmm…that could be interesting.  Since I’ve trained hundreds of small group leaders of the last 25 years, I wonder what I was thinking back in grad school.

Most of it was pretty good stuff, even though there were way too many complicated words (they don’t teach simplicity at grad school).  Then I saw it: the calendar for training.  If I hadn’t been sitting on the floor I would have fallen over.  I had proposed a SIX MONTH training course for volunteer small group leaders!  SIX MONTHS!  Seriously, how many of you would sign up for that?

In the many versions of training that we’ve used at Seneca Creek, we never even got CLOSE to that.  We started with a one day event, trimmed it to a half day, then further streamlined it to about two hours.  In the process of actually serving alongside real people, my proposal got humbled.  I learned a lesson in humility.  What I thought I knew was hammered out in real life.

That’s how we grow, isn’t it?  Our ideas and aspirations get hammered out in real life.  And often it’s humbling.  And that’s a good thing.  I just hope your lessons in humility don’t take 25 years to crystallize.

Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour this Saturday before you climb into bed.

And I hope to see you bright and early on Sunday.  Bishop Eliudi Issangya from Tanzania will be our guest speaker.  You’ll be glad you got up early for that!

-Pastor Mark