My guess is that the answer is, “No.”  I’ve talked with many of you.  I know what kind of storms you’ve weathered.  Health, family, financial, and faith storms.  The ones that never make it to the headlines, but that turn your life upside down.  But whenever storms come along, we tend to get reflective.  It makes us think about the bigger picture.  It teaches us things that we won’t soon forget.  For example, I learned that:

• We don’t really have much control over some of the most important things that make modern life what it is (electricity for example).  The TV series, Revolution, provides a chilling reminder of how tenuous is our grip on civilization as we know it.
• There’s thinking you’re prepared, and then there’s actually realizing that you WEREN’T prepared enough (as the residents of New Jersey and New York are discovering).
• Even though there’s probably enough food in my pantry to feed a family for a couple weeks, but I still felt like I needed to “stock up” before the storm.
• I REALLY need to get my roof fixed.

Which brings me to my point (finally, right?).  In our current series we’re learning how to live Just Like Jesus.  Often it’s the storms in our lives that cause us to reflect, and think about the bigger picture, and what it means to live that way.  Some of you are part of Seneca Creek because you went through some kind of storm.

But let me encourage you to use this post-storm time to be reminded that living that way doesn’t just happen.  Nobody drifts into being prepared.  So if you can’t join us each week in the series, download the podcast, and take the steps in your own life that will help you live Just Like Jesus, storms or no storms. (NOTE: Remember to turn your clocks BACK one hour this Saturday before you go to bed.  Otherwise you’ll show up one hour early for our worship gathering.)

Finally, even though everyone talked about the storm all week, we DID just complete Ignite Weekend!  A huge thank you to the hundreds of you who stepped up and served in our city and beyond!  The stories are still coming in, and we’ll provide a full report in the coming weeks!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. If the storm has created hardships or problems in your life, please let us know so we can try to help.

P.P.S. If you learned some valuable things through last week’s storm, why not take a minute to share them in the comment box below.

Part of me wants to apologize for intruding into your Tuesday evening with a robo-call.  Nobody likes my recorded voice on the end of the phone.  I’m not even sure my Mom would be very thrilled about that!  But then there’s part of me that feels it was the best way to deliver an important message.  The message is that Ignite Weekend is almost upon us, and many of our Seneca Creek family haven’t decided about serving.  Somehow I’ve failed in my efforts to communicate why it’s important for all of us.  So here goes.

I stopped in local drug store yesterday, and as I paid for my purchase, I asked the cashier, “How are you doing today?”  Her response stunned me.  “I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.”  This woman works in a retail establishment, comes face-to-face with people all day, and NO ONE bothers to ask her how she’s doing?  That’s about the most basic level of caring possible, and yet she never even gets that.

How many people like that do we interact with every day?  People who may wonder if anyone cares, or if anyone knows, or if God cares or even knows about them?  Ignite Weekend is a chance to change that.  It’s a chance to say with our actions that God knows them, God loves them.  It’s our chance to ask, “How are you doing today?” and then offer to serve in some tangible way.

So if the robo-call helps encourage you to take action, then I’m not sorry for interrupting your evening.  Because somewhere in this city is a person wondering if anyone knows, or cares.  And my call to you may very well provide the answer to their question.

If you haven’t already signed up, please take five minutes today and do it.  Just click here, and select the project you’d like to serve on.  Thank you for helping us ignite the HOPE of Christ this weekend!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. We’re collecting a number of items this weekend.  Please consider clearing out your old stuff and putting it to good use:

Used Bikes – Saturday (9 am to Noon) – Any size, any condition.  Bring to 13 Firstfield

Winter Coats – Sunday (morning) – New or gently used, children’s and adults sizes.  Bring to 13 Firstfield

Baby Clothing – Sunday (morning) – New/gently used onesies & winter tops/pants for boys/girls 12 – 18 months

Ever notice how some days make you stop and reflect?  Today is one of those days for me.  You see, 21 years ago today Diane and I entered into a brand new season of life.

On this day in 1991, our older daughter, Sandra, was born.  That fact makes me reflect on the last two decades.  And yes, we’re very, very proud of the young woman she’s become.  Because she hasn’t just arrived at a certain age, she’s also matured in character.

Have you ever thought about your spiritual life like that?  Maybe you can identify your “birthday,” that moment when you understood Jesus’ invitation to follow him.  You know, the “aha!” moment when you realized that he had taken your place, and your punishment, and offered you the free gift of eternal life.  Even if you can’t identify a “birthday,” you probably know the basic time at which you became alive in Christ.  How many “spiritual birthdays” have come and gone since then?  Do you ever stop and reflect about that?  Have you just arrived at a certain age?  Or are you maturing in Christ-like character?

Last Sunday we learned some very practical ways to help us grow in that kind of character.  If you were with us, let me urge you to develop your own training tools.  If you weren’t with us, please take some time to listen to the podcast, and check out the resources on this blog.  And the next time you have a spiritual birthday, or the next time you celebrate any kind of birthday, let that be a reason to stop and reflect on who you’re becoming.

And I hope you’ll be able to join us this weekend as we continue our series, “Just Like Jesus.”

-Pastor Mark

P.S. Have you signed up for your Ignite Weekend project yet?

Last Saturday I joined a team from Seneca Creek to go door-to-door in a local trailer park.  We invited residents to our Neighbors4Neighbors program.  It was an eye-opening experience.  And yes, there actually is a trailer park in our community!

I realize that the closest many of us ever get to a trailer is at the movie theater.  But what we observed was not a movie.  It was very real.  What we observed were a lot of people who are living on the margins, and whose needs have a tendency to eclipse their resources.  We observed people working hard and trying to provide, but often without the resources, opportunities, skills, or language needed to move out of the margins.

It’s easy to drive right past the trailers, all 200 of them, and not even know they’re there.  Needs are often like that.  They don’t always stand in the middle of the road.  Often, they conceal themselves.  And we can’t see them…until we look.

As we move toward Ignite Weekend, we WILL be mobilizing teams to serve in the trailer park.  But could I ask a question?  Are there hidden needs that you drive past every day?  If you took a moment to look, would you see a “trailer park” that conceals itself just a little bit?

• Maybe it’s the shut-in neighbor who doesn’t want to bother anyone.
• Maybe it’s the single parent who has no time to maintain their home or yard.
• Maybe it’s the co-worker whose special needs child leaves her with zero time for herself.
• Maybe it’s the cancer victim who lacks the strength to clean their home.
• Maybe it’s the immigrant who cleans your office and has to choose between medical care and groceries.
• Maybe it’s the volunteer at the local shelter who needs a break.

Would you join me and hundreds of others at Seneca Creek during Ignite Weekend (Oct 26-28) and commit to serving someone in the name of Christ?  Check out our project list online.  Or lead your own project. You know, that one that God keeps nudging you about.  But join us.  Serve.  Take the light of Christ into a dark corner in this community.  And help us ignite HOPE!

-Pastor Mark

With those words, the old “Mission Impossible” TV show launched the hero into an adventure.  Presumably he could have NOT accepted the mission.  But then there would have been no action, no TV show, and no injustice set right.  Today, you have a mission, should you choose to accept it…

It’s the mission of Jesus.  He told a story in which some people accepted the mission, and others did not.  He told of people in need, people struggling with brokenness, poverty, hunger, hopelessness, and more.  And he looked at those who accepted the mission to do something about it, and said, “Whatever you did for them, you did for me!”  (read the full story in Matthew 25:31-46)

Ignite Weekend 2012 is about this mission.  It’s about accepting the mission of Jesus to do something about the brokenness, the poverty, the hunger, the sickness, the loneliness, and the despair in this world.  Together we will ignite the HOPE of Christ in a concentrated way.

Check out the project list in your program this Sunday.  Or hop online and choose from the growing number of “mission” projects.  Serve.  Lead.  Innovate.  Ignite HOPE!

My prayer is that you’ll accept the mission of Jesus.  There will be adventure.  There will be action.  (Not sure about a TV show!)  There will be pushing back against the darkness of this world.  And there will be stories of God showing up and working through us.

Should you choose to accept it…

-Pastor Mark

One famous preacher began each sermon with the prayer, “God, if these people knew what you know about me, none of them would listen.”  If I had the guts, I’d pray that same prayer.

But I know I’m not alone.  Week after week I listen to people share their stories…and too often they are stories of brokenness, pain, and shame.  I listen to people as they describe the struggle of carrying impossible loads…BY THEMSELVES!  I listen to people who avoid being around the church because they’ve messed up.  I listen to people who are afraid that if you knew what they were really going through, you wouldn’t want to be around them.  And then we all come together on a Sunday and hide our brokenness, thinking everyone else has it together.  It would be funny if it weren’t so true.

So if you are able to join us for a worship gathering this Sunday…or any Sunday, please remember this: There are no perfect people allowed* at Seneca Creek.  You may not want to spill your guts, or share your story with everyone around you.  But please, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of his church, don’t think for a moment that no one would understand.  Or care.  Because at one level, we ALL know what it’s like.  We all understand.  And we’re all learning how to care.  That’s precisely what Jesus had in mind when he created his church to be the light of the world.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2

-Pastor Mark

*Which is the title of a very good book, too.

During my recent trip to Tanzania I saw something that froze me in my tracks.  You’re thinking, “It was a lion, up close, on safari, right?”  Nope, although we did see a few of those.  Instead, what froze me in my tracks was something I never thought I’d see in Africa.

I was walking near the orphanage in Arusha (a city of 700,000) when two men approached us.  One of them was wearing something familiar.  I blinked and stared.  It couldn’t be  Yes, it was!  He was wearing a sweatshirt that our Tanzania team from 2010 had worn!  We left the sweatshirts behind to be distributed to people in need.  And now, two years later, I was face to face with a guy who was wearing the same sweatshirt our team had worn!  For all I know, it could have been the one I had worn!  Naturally, I asked him if we could take a picture, which you can see.

To me, it was undeniable evidence that we’d been there before.  Which got me thinking.  There’s evidence that I was in Africa.  But what kind of evidence am I leaving here?  What kind of evidence are you leaving here?  If you were suddenly to move to the other side of the country, would you leave any evidence behind that you’d been here?  Would you leave any evidence behind that you were involved in God’s plans and purposes here in this city?

This week, we’re going to explore this idea in depth.  We’d like to help each of us learn how to be “Partners in HOPE.”  I hope you can join us on Sunday morning at 9:15 or 11:00.

-Pastor Mark

Crowd sourcing is the practice of listening to a crowd of people and allowing their input to help drive the decisions or direction of an organization.  But crowd sourcing isn’t new, at least in the church.  Are you up for some crowd sourcing?

Each October we encourage everyone at Seneca Creek to get out and serve our community in some tangible way.  The reason is simple.  If we want to truly “love our neighbors” we have to serve them.  There’s no other way.  We’ve done this on Sunday mornings, and even over an entire week.  This year, we’re doing it for a three day weekend, from October 26^th to 28^th.  And while we have plenty of ideas from previous years, we really want to crowd source our serving.

I’d like to ask you to spend some time today or tomorrow reflecting on how a small group of people could serve somewhere in our city or county, and help meet a genuine need.  Some examples from previous years have been:

• Take free breakfast to day-laborers
• Put money in the machines at the Laundromat for those doing laundry.
• Collect food for local food pantries (door to door, or at grocery stores)
• Spend time with residents of nursing homes.
• Home repair projects for shut-ins or invalids
• Free bottled water to commuters at the Metro station
• Free babysitting for parents of special needs kids, to give them a rare night off.

Will we repeat some of these projects?  Absolutely!  But you may have some other ideas.  And that’s what we’d like to hear.  You see people that I’ll never meet.  You go places I’ll never go.  And you see needs that could be met by a handful of volunteers from Seneca Creek.  We really want to hear your ideas!

Feel free to post your ideas in the comment box below if you’d like.  Or you can bring them with you on Sunday and write them in the form provided in the program.  Suggesting an idea doesn’t mean that you’re offering to lead the project.  But don’t be surprised if we ask you to consider it.  After all, that may just be why God gave you the idea in the first place. J

Together, we’ll crowd source an incredible weekend of igniting the HOPE of Christ right here in our city!

-Pastor Mark

Do you ever look out the window of your home and wonder what your neighbors think of you? Maybe you know them well, or maybe they’re strangers on your street.  Regardless, do you suppose they would turn to you if they needed an infusion of hope in their life?

I often wonder that about the thirteen other townhomes on my little street.  What do they think of me?  To be honest, I suspect that few of them would look to me if they needed hope.  And I say that because it rarely happens.

At Seneca Creek we say that as a church we want to “ignite HOPE” in our city, nation, and world.  So how can we do that more effectively?  For a moment, set aside the programs like Burger Bash.  How can you and I, as individuals, become purveyors of hope starting in our own neighborhoods?

That’s the question we will answer in the coming weeks.  I invite you to join us for our new series, “Partners in HOPE.”  And along the way, if you have examples of how you’re living this out, or how you’re seeing others live this out, please let us know.  Together we will begin to change our city, our nation, and our world with the life-changing message of hope in Christ!  Because the big question is not really “What our neighbors think of us?”  But, “What do they think of Jesus?”

-Pastor Mark

Thank you.  To the hundreds of you who pulled together to accomplish something great for God and our community, thank you from your pastor.  And thank you from the 534 kids who started school this week with new backpacks.

We tried something new and bold.  We set an audacious goal of 500 backpacks to distribute to kids from families who struggle just to put food on the table.  We “volunteered” you to help.  And from every corner of Seneca Creek, you responded!  The big event was last Saturday, and I’m sorry I was out of town, because it sounds like it was simply amazing!  I was praying.  And even more so when I saw the weather radar.  It looked like the event would be washed out, so I prayed that God would change the weather.  In his wisdom, he prompted us to move much of the event indoors.  That gave the community a chance to see the building, and to realize that a church actually meets here.  It was an open house of sorts.  It worked better than we could have imagined.

Here are some numbers:

534 – free backpacks distributed

17,500 school supplies distributed

850 – burgers and hot dogs consumed

600 – family pictures printed and distributed

15 – local businesses who partnered with us to serve all those people

150 – dedicated Seneca Creek volunteers who made it all possible, including making last minute changes to move activities indoors

So thank you for igniting the HOPE of Christ for hundreds of people in our city.  Their lives are changed.  It wouldn’t have happened without you.  Greater things are yet to come.

-Pastor Mark