Blessed To Be A Blessing

Ready, Waiting and Welcoming!

What a great time this past Monday, September 25.  Christ Covenant was able to provide a “Welcome Back Continental Breakfast” for the faculty and staff of both Salem Elementary School and Harrison Rd Elementary School on their first day back for the new school year.

We put on a spread for the 160 people in these two schools who work each day with the children near our church building.  I’m thankful to Principles Harold Morton and Deborah Frazier for the opportunity to serve those who serve the kids of our community.  

In particular, it was great to see the committment Mr. Morton and Mrs. Frazier have to their students and their families, to their staff and to our community.  We are blessed to have two leaders with such committment and faith in the positions that they are in.  I got to observe how they set the pace for an entire school.  You can believe I pray for them specifically as I pray for our community.

Christ Covenant has families who send their kids to public schools, private schools and who do home-schooling.  Mary Lynn and I used those three options as well as a charter school to get our three kids ready for college.  How you educate your children is a family decision based on the needs, resources and convictions of the family.

But praying and working for the wholeness of the community where God has placed us is an expression of our faith. 

Continuing The Conversation: The Worship of God at Christ Covenant – Part II: Participatory Singing

We recently had dinner together as a church followed by open discussion in small groups  about new directions for our worship of God at Christ Covenant.  I’d like to continue that a bit in light of what I learned, and to share with those not there.

Participatory Singing

We work deliberately to encourage and enable congregational singing  at Christ Covenant.  That means all of us singing together.  Even – perhaps especially? - those like me, who don’t sing naturally, comfortably or well.

Continuing The Conversation: The Worship of God at Christ Covenant – Part I: Praying Together

We recently had dinner together as a church followed by open discussion in small groups  about new directions for our worship of God at Christ Covenant.  I’d like to continue that a bit in light of what I learned, and to share with those not there.

Praying Together

If prayer is like breathing in the life of a believer, then Praying Together – Corporate Prayer – would be like breathing for the Church assembled.  It should be a part of every gathering.  It should be God-focused, biblical in content, expressive of the life and needs of those gathered and intelligible to all.

Healthy Numbers For A Sunday of Ministry

When I go to the Doctor, they always take my pulse and blood pressure.  These are two quick measures that relate to my health.  So what are the measures of church health?  What are the “metrics of ministry?”

Most people look quickly to attendance and giving because they are pretty straightforward to measure and do say something about church health.  But everyone agrees that by themselves, “noses and nickels” are ineffective and incomplete measures of what real health is for the Body of Christ.

Southern Baptists were famous for counting Sunday School attendance rather than membership or worship attendance.  This gets closer to a measure of health, because Sunday School classes typically have a stronger relationship component than the worship service.

If I could get an accurate measure of two things, I would be most interested in each person’s depth of “Interactive Relationship with God” and “Living by Gospel Grace.”  I’m not sure I can aptly measure that in my own life – beware of self-deception – much less the life of anyone else, but you get my picture.  If those two roots are healthy, I’m thinking that a number of other “fruit” – prayer, Bible reading, giving, service, evangelism – would flow from them.

So, I’m not sure I’m closer to an adequate measure of church health for Christ Covenant, but I’ll tell you three numbers that I am celebrating from yesterday, August 18: 3, 29 and 115.

Welcoming People Well - March Outreach

You will notice a major effort during the month of March to reach out to people in our community and introduce Christ Covenant to them.  I want to remind each of us that consider Christ Covenant home of why we are doing all of this as well as what we are doing:

First Day Back

Mary Lynn and I arrived in NOLA Saturday afternoon after a good drive through LOTS of rain.  We'll be staying in the TCC Mission House tonight - it was the home of Bill and Mary Lou Brown 34 years ago when we spent our first summer in NOLA with Trinity.  LOTS and LOTS of memories.

We enjoyed getting time with Dwayne and Anthonica - the husband/wife team who are residents of the house as summer mission teams come and go.  He's a student at NOLA Baptist Seminary and pastoring TCC's neighborhood church The Grove.  She teaches in the KIP Charter Academy in NOLA.

LOTS of rain.