A Challenge to Get Behind

It’s not uncommon to see my kids trying to outdo each other in something.  Whether it’s who can jump higher, who can run faster, or who can get a longer streak on Bop It, much of the competition simply ends up with someone getting upset.  I know some of this competition can be good for our kids to grow, but so often it seems like the challenge to outdo one another causes more unhealthy competition than anything else.  Mary and I still find ourselves trying to comfort one of our kids or getting upset at another kid for always having to outdo their sibling at something. 

I’ve been working to memorize new verses this year, and one of my most recent verses includes a great challenge to outdo one another.  Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.”  Now this is a challenge I can get behind!  

What would it look like if we were always trying to outdo one another in showing honor?  I know that our home would look different.  There would be more building up with our words.  There would be more joy, and less fighting.

What would it look like for us as a church to outdo one another in showing honor?  What would it look like in your Community Life Group, in your Bible Study, or at youth group?  I see a church that puts people before preferences. I see a church that is selfless and always looking to the needs of others.  I see a church that opens wide its arms to people that are different, to people that are spiritually seeking, to the people that society rejects, and to the people who are struggling to make ends meet.  I see a church that loves people sacrificially.  Let’s seek to outdo one another in showing honor!

My Rightnow Media pick of the month is for younger kids.  Think Mr. Rogers meets Rend Collective.  

See you Sunday!

For His Glory,

Pastor Kyle

Graves Into Gardens

I absolutely love being able to record video testimonies for our baptisms. I love hearing how God is changing lives, and this Easter there will be some powerful videos sharing how God is moving in our midst!

Some people find Jesus while growing up in a Christ-centered family environment. Some people come to Jesus after chasing the pleasures of the world. Sometimes people don’t hear about Jesus until they are in the deepest valley, which is often brought about by their own sin.

Regardless of the story of coming to know and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, God truly turns graves into gardens. He turns the shame of our sin into the glory of boasting in Jesus.

While we were all once spiritually dead, He has made us alive in Christ!

Our newest song—“Graves Into Gardens”—is a declaration that nothing is better than God.

No one can turn seas into highways (Exodus 14) but God.

No one can turn bones into armies (Ezekiel 37) but our God.

Our God turns mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11), gives beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3), and can satisfy our every desire (Psalm 34:10).

May we be a people that find our worth, our satisfaction, and our joy in Him! May the fading treasures of this world lose their appeal. May we never be afraid to confess our weaknesses, failures, and flaws to Jesus.

And may He continue to change our hearts for His glory!

I'm excited for some 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to share some special music this Sunday! I’m also anticipating our Good Friday Service. And I can hardly wait to celebrate our risen Savior with you on April 4!

See you Sunday!

For His Glory,

Pastor Kyle

 https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Content/Series/396209

Join a Prayer Movement

Some of you may remember a staff journal I wrote in 2020. My car radio was randomly not working and eventually quit altogether. I believed that God was prompting me to pray more.

Well, I’m stubborn and eventually my radio started working again. I started praying less and listening to music and Bott Radio again. 

Apparently, God still wanted me to pray more, and I simply didn’t get the hint the first time.

While my car radio started working again, it started randomly turning on and off, even without the key in the ignition. This was causing my battery to drain overnight and I had to jump start my car several times. Eventually, I decided to remove the fuse for my radio.

Now I don’t have any radio or clock, but my battery doesn’t drain overnight… and I’m back to praying more in my car!

To add to that, in my current seminary class—Spiritual Formation—I recently read a chapter on prayer. In that chapter, there was a very specific challenge to turn off the radio in your car and pray more.

Okay God, I get it!

So, if you pull up next to me at a stop light and I’m the only one in the car, but I’m talking… no, I don’t have a fancy car where I can use my phone through the radio, I’m simply praying out loud.

God is deepening my habit of prayer, and I’m excited about many prayer movements that God is stirring in our church body. In fact, I’d love to invite you to join us in some of these prayer movements.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve added a couple people to our Sunday morning prayer teams. We have a wonderful prayer room in our church facility and I’d love to have more and more people praying during either our 9am or 1045am service on Sunday mornings!

I’m part of a group of guys that gets together most Saturday mornings for about an hour to drive around Newton and pray over our city. We would love to eventually have 5 or 6 vehicles headed out on Saturday mornings to battle for our community in prayer!

On Thursday mornings the Elders have been praying in the fireside room at 6:45, and while we’d like to keep that just an Elder thing, I’ve been showing up at 6am to pray with a friend until about 6:40 or so. I would love to have others join me at 6am in the fireside room on Thursday mornings!

Becky Wheeler is heading up the “Keep Watch” Prayer movement for our schools. She leads a team of prayer warriors in prayer walks around Chisholm, Santa Fe, and the high school once a week. Eventually, they hope to be in these schools before or after school hours to pray. We would love to have more people join this prayer movement!

I’d personally love to connect you with any one of these prayer movements! Just let me know that you are interested and we’ll get you connected!

I believe God is stirring and preparing our church, our city, and other churches in our city for something incredible! Let’s continue developing this habit of prayer in our lives!

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

---

In Case You Missed It

Here’s a quick recap of our The Heart of Grace “state of the church” conversation with the elders from last Sunday:

• Extend is now Reach. Our missions council has been restructured toward a goal of more focused support with higher church engagement with the missionaries and ministries we support. The Reach Local team focuses on ministries and initiatives in Newton and the immediately surrounding community. The Reach Global team focuses on missionaries, ministries, and initiatives anywhere outside our immediate community.

• Touchpoint Initiative. The elders and staff are launching an effort to personally reach out and make contact with the members of our church family.

• New Young Marrieds class. We are creating a space for young married couples to connect with one another and plug into the life and ministry of our church.

• Pastor of Connection & Care. We have a couple exciting candidates to fill this role of connecting people with God, one another, and the church.

• Student Ministry Pastor. It has been a challenge to find experienced candidates, but we are hopeful that God will provide the right candidate in his good timing.

• Financial Update. By God’s grace—and your generosity!—we are beginning 2021 in a strong financial position.

• Question & Response. Do we have any plans for a singles and young adult ministry? What is our plan for discipling high school-aged youth? Could we update our church sign to a digital one? Will the Pastor of Connection & Care help with funeral arrangements? Are there any plans to update the church directory?

We encourage you to take some time to watch the video below for all the details.

Thank you for owning the mission and joining us as we love God, love people, and lead others to do the same!

Restore

Earlier this week I gave my testimony at the Elder meeting.

I don’t consider my testimony to be the most exciting thing. I can’t put a finger on a date when I became a Christian. As far back as I can remember, I remember knowing that Jesus was my Savior and that He died for me. I’ve been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and God has graciously spared me from a lot of hurt.

I don’t have some amazing story of being saved from a life of drugs, alcohol, or promiscuity, but when I share my story, I’ve come to love sharing the low point in my past when I was addicted to pornography. It reminds me of how great God’s love and grace are. It has also allowed me to receive confessions from brothers who are entangled in porn, and to walk with them in steps to recovery.

After sharing that part of my story at the Elder meeting, one of the Elders asked me how I found freedom from that battle.

For me, it was a number of things.

Memorizing Scripture was a huge part of my road to recovery. Prayer was vital! Accountability from my brothers in Christ was essential. And the road to freedom felt like it started with my confession to my brothers in Christ. For about a year it was a secret sin. No one knew that I was struggling with it. I hid it, and I was ashamed.

My experience has shown me that there are men and women all around me with hidden struggles with things like pornography, alcoholism, or depression.

Maybe that’s someone you know.

Maybe that’s you.

Shame and guilt are heavy, and the sin remains hidden. You feel alone in your struggles, and you feel hopeless and stuck.

Like me, without a community of believers holding you accountable, encouraging you, pointing you to truth, and praying for you, you will probably remain stuck. 

If this is you or someone you know, I want to share some encouragement with you.

We are starting a new small group called Restore that is focused on recovery. We’ve got a good team forming, we’ve got great curriculum lined up, we are praying hard, and we are planning to kick off on Friday night, February 5th in the Fireside Room at 6:30pm.

If you know someone that could use this group, please let them know. If this is you, I beg you to come and participate in this group. There is freedom in Christ. There are others that are struggling, and there is strength in walking together through these struggles.

If God has brought you through a struggle like this, or you have a passion for working with a recovery ministry, we’d love to have you join the Restore team.

Our prayer is that this would grow from a small group for our own church family into a ministry that opens up to our community, but we still need more volunteers before we reach that point.

I’m so excited for how this will reach and serve our community. Thank you for prayerfully considering being involved with this group!

I love you church, and I’m looking forward to Sunday!
–Pastor Kyle

This Is Jesus

Rejoice He is with us!  Rejoice Hope is here!

These are lyrics from a new Christmas song called “This Is Jesus” that we introduced this past Sunday. It’s sung to the tune of “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing,” but with Christmas lyrics.  

This is Jesus King of Glory, come to rescue from the fall.
Son of God who comes to save us, Prince of Peace and Lord of All.

Jesus left His holy throne for us. He humbled Himself and took on flesh. He came to rescue us, that we might be called His own. He brought light to our darkness and hope when we were hopeless!

What a beautiful mystery, that the God of creation would become man to save sinners like us. Who could fathom it?  

This Christmas season we rejoice because God is with us! We rejoice because Hope came to humanity some 2000 years ago!

Even in the Christmas season, our hearts are prone to wander and get caught up in the things of this world. But God is here, and His love continues to pursue us!

I pray this song will encourage you this Christmas season with its truth. May our hearts be filled with wander at the birth of our Savior! May our worship through song be pleasing to Jesus, our King of Glory!

I’m looking forward to singing with you this Sunday, and excited to continue in our “Dressed for the Season” sermon series.

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

---

My RightNow Media pick is an Advent series from J.D. Greear:

I Speak Jesus

Our nation needs Jesus.

I’m sure all of you can agree. There is so much brokenness, hatred, addiction, and darkness in the world, but in the name of Jesus there is wholeness, love, freedom, and light.

It’s not politically correct anymore to speak about Jesus. So we need boldness, and we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak His name.

In several passages in Acts, we see Christ-followers being told not to speak about Jesus. We seem them being mistreated and beaten, but continuing to speak the name of Jesus! By the name of Jesus they healed, they declared salvation, and they pushed back against the spiritual forces of evil. Their commitment to preach Jesus is inspiring and challenging to read.

Our newest song, “I Speak Jesus”, is all about speaking the name of Jesus. We want to speak the powerful name of Jesus over darkness, over strongholds, over fear and anxiety, and over depression. We want to speak the name of Jesus declaring peace, declaring hope, declaring healing, and declaring freedom.

There’s power in the name of Jesus to break strongholds and to shine through the shadows.

As we unite and sing the name of Jesus, I pray that fear would be replaced with peace and hope, that depression would be replaced with joy, that addictions would be broken, and that the spiritual forces of evil would be restrained. 

The bridge of this song says,

Shout Jesus from the mountains
Jesus from the streets
Jesus in the darkness over every enemy
Jesus for my family
I speak the holy Name
Jesus!

I pray that we wouldn’t just speak the name of Jesus when we are together, but that we truly would speak the name of Jesus in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our homes, and in our places of work.

Like the early Christians in Acts, I pray we would be unashamed to speak the name of Jesus, even in the face of increasing persecution. 

As always, I can’t wait for Sunday! We’ll declare the name of Jesus together through song, we’ll spend some time praying for our country, and Jack will share about the armor we have against the spiritual forces of evil. I can’t wait to gather with you!

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

---

My RightNow Media pick is Redeem the Screen. It’s all about our idolatry with our screens. It’s a timely challenge and biblical reminder of our dependency on screens.

Theology Before Feeling

This past Sunday, Pastor Jack talked about our first and foremost core value as a church: Upholding Biblical Integrity.

This value flavors all of our ministries, including our worship ministry. One of the ways it flavors our worship ministry is through a value that we state this way: theology before feeling.

I have seen two extremes in worship.

I’ve witnessed worship that had very little content lyrically, but the music was full of slow and steady crescendos and decrescendos that got people excited and emotional. After 15 minutes of worship we had sung a total of 4 sentences and people’s emotions were off the charts!

I’ve also witnessed worship where people were so keenly aware of possibly having their emotions manipulated by music that they resisted any inkling of emotion while they were singing! 

I’ve heard people say, “I love the way worship makes me feel.” Conversely, I served at a church for some time where we loved God with all our minds really well, but we weren’t so great at loving God with our heart, soul, and strength.

Our value of Theology Before Feeling means we don’t choose songs just because of a feeling. We scrutinize our song repertoire with diligence. We make sure that we are worshipping in Spirit and Truth as John 4:23-24 says.

We make sure our songs uphold Biblical integrity.

There are some new songs we don’t sing because they are simply too vague, there are lyrics we have changed because they were misleading, and there are some verses of old hymns we have taken out because they are not true. Many of our newer songs are also very rich in theology or taken directly out of Scripture.

Thank you to the many of you who have taken notice of our commitment to singing truth and expressed your appreciation for it!

We also recognize that truth set to beautiful music can deeply affect our emotions.

You’ve probably all witnessed me struggle to sing or pray because I’m so overwhelmed by the truth of the gospel. Our feelings are not evil; they can deceive us, but when worship through song moves us because of truth, let’s allow the affections of our hearts to be stirred!

It’s not theology as opposed to feeling, it’s theology before feeling.

This coming Sunday we’ll be diving into our second core value: Pursuing Authentic Community. Whether in person or virtually, I look forward to being with you!

- Pastor Kyle

[Editor’s note] PS: We will be celebrating communion together as we study pursuing authentic community this Sunday. So, if you are planning to join us from home, make sure to have some bread and juice handy when you sit down to watch the service!

Holding Up One Another('s Arms)

When I was working on finishing our basement, I remember holding a piece of drywall in place while my cousin attached it to the ceiling with his drill.

Oh, how I wanted him to work quickly and get the drywall secured. My arms got tired SO quickly!

It would have been great to have another person helping hold up the drywall… or even holding up my arms! 

Where am I going with this? Hang in there, you’ll see.

One of our Community Life Group Leaders reminded me this past week of a beautiful story in the Old Testament about supporting each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

In Exodus 17, we see the nation of Israel after being freed from slavery in Egypt. While in the desert, Amalek comes to fight with Israel. During the battle, Moses stands at the top of a hill and stretches his hands toward the heavens. While Moses holds up his hands the Israelites prevail over Amalek, but when Moses lowers his hands Amalek prevails over Israel.

As you can imagine, Moses gets tired of holding his hands up. Aaron and Hur enter the scene as heroes to help Moses keep his hands up. Aaron helps support one arm, and Hur helps support the other arm. In this way, Israel gains victory over Amalek. 

Our Community Life Groups are a bit like this.

We help one another out in our spiritual battles. We support one another when we are weak and come to each other’s aide. We were not meant to carry our burdens on our own.

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

Many of you who are in Community Life Groups are experiencing this! Some of you still need to connect with a group, or some other form of fellowship to experience this joy of caring for one another and encouraging one another!

This Sunday, after the 10:45am worship service, we are having Grouplink, which is the best way to connect with a Community Life Group. (We’ll feed you and take care of your kids. All you have to do is show up!)

We also have a virtual option! If you are interested in joining a group but unable or uncomfortable attending in-person, go ahead and sign up and we will be in touch about the virtual option.

We’ll share a little bit about why we do Community Life Groups and you’ll get a chance to meet the leaders of groups who are looking to add people or start a new group!

What better way is there to love people than to connect with others through a Community Life Group?

I love you church, and I’ll see you Sunday!
-Pastor Kyle

Broken Radio Prayers

About 3 months ago, the radio in my car started having issues. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn’t.

Mary literally hit the dashboard one time and got it to work!

Well, it got worse, and I haven’t actually been able to listen to it for about 2 months now. 

How can the worship pastor survive without his radio, you ask? Doesn’t he listen to worship music non-stop?

Yes, I do enjoy music. But I also enjoy listening to people like Ravi Zacharias and Alistair Begg on Bott radio. And yes, I pretty much never shut off the radio in the car.

But not being able to listen to the radio or a CD has actually been a really good thing! God stirred in my spirit to use this new time in the car to pray.

I find myself praying for specific people in our local church as I’m on my way to and from work. I find myself praying for open doors to share my faith or to point people to Jesus on my way to Dillon’s or Walmart. I find myself praying for wisdom and the Holy Spirit to speak through me when I’m on my way to meet with someone for lunch or coffee.

I’ve seen God really work through the time of prayer in my car and have been overwhelmed by how God has responded a few of those times.

On my way out to the men’s cookout I prayed that God would give me opportunities to minister to and pray for people. I prayed for divine appointment. Well, God certainly answered that prayer—there were 3 specific divine appointments that I was so thankful to be part of!

So, I want to invite you to join me.

I want to challenge you to shut off your radio and pray when you are driving. Yes, I’m a little jealous that your radio works and mine doesn’t, so it’s easy for me to tell you to turn it off and pray… but I believe you’ll see God work in powerful ways. Try it a few times, and just watch and be ready for what He does!

---

Here’s my RightNow Media pick. We’ve watched a few of these episodes about archeology and found it quite interesting! There’s even some good humor to help keep everyone engaged. 

I’m looking forward to being with you on Sunday—whether online, in the Worship Center, or in the Fireside Room! I’m seeing great things happening and I’m believing God has more in store!

I love you, Church!

- Pastor Kyle

In Christ We Are One Body

Many of you know that I’ve been taking master’s classes online. In the last few weeks of class, we’ve talked a lot about the Imago Dei. Genesis 1:26 declares that all people are made in the image of God. All humans are inherently more valuable than any other creature on earth. This has made for timely discussion and timely truth with racism being a hot topic in the media. 

The sad truth is that racism exists. We live in a fallen world where there is injustice, and we live in an ungodly world where people don’t understand the truth that all people are made in God’s image.

As Christians who hold to the unchanging truth of God’s word, we are the ones that understand and teach this truth that directly combats the evils of racism. 

Even more powerful is the truth about everyone who is in Christ. As Ephesians 2:11-22 and Galatians 3:26-29 so powerfully declare, we are one body!

Any hostility that once existed is gone.

In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ! And this truth must be seen in us as we live it out. 

In Christ we already have the strongest union through the Holy Spirit as brothers and sisters of all different colors and languages. Our job is to maintain that unity we have through the spirit as one body, in humility, gentleness, patience, and love (Ephesians 4:2-6).

While our city may not have a lot of racial diversity, I’m still praying that we would be the church, representing Christ in our neighborhoods and places of work. I’m praying that we would be known for our love and for our actions that reflect our understanding of the truth that all people have inherent value as beings created in God’s image.

It’s been so great hearing your voices again, and I love worshipping God with you through song every Sunday! May God continue to build momentum through our church for His Kingdom! I love you all!

-Pastor Kyle

PS, here’s my RightNow Media pick of the week to give us more material and teaching on racism and how scripture speaks to the issue.

For I Shall Again Praise Him

These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

-Psalm 42:4 (ESV)

This is straight out of a Psalm of lament where David asks himself several times, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?”

It’s clear that David is not in Jerusalem at this time because of an enemy. Whether that enemy is from within his own household or from Saul or from a foreign nation, David is removed from the regular worship of God Almighty with his fellow Israelites.

He is in the pits, wrestling with depression and struggling to find joy. He remembers the great joy of being with the people singing God’s praises and celebrating God’s goodness.

Like most of you, I deeply miss the gathering of the church.

I remember the booming voice of the church when we would join together in song. The instruments would stop playing and the voice of the church would be like the roar of many trains passing by right in front of me. I can’t count how many times the sound of the saints has brought me chills.

The greatest part of my job is hearing and seeing the church pour out her heart in love to her Creator and Savior in worship through song. I miss seeing the smiles, and the tears of joy as we worship together through song!

I still love Sunday mornings, but they’re just not the same right now. And there are times when it makes me sad, longing for the church to be able to physically gather again.

While I don’t know when it will be, the church will gather again in the beautiful facility that God has blessed us with. Brothers and sisters… that will be a great celebration! We will fill that building with the most glorious, thunderous praise, and it will be heavenly!

I can’t wait!

If your soul is downcast and you long to gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ, you’re not alone. David has felt that way, I’ve felt that way, and I know that many that I’ve talked to feel that way.

At the end of this Psalm of grief and sorrow, David says, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

Church, hope in God. We will again praise him under the same roof!

Until then, may God fill our homes with songs of praise, and build the anticipation and appreciation for the time when we will be able to physically gather together for worship! 

I love you church!

- Pastor Kyle

Why We Sing What We Sing

As a Worship Council, we recently decided to try something new.

On Sunday night, February 16th, we hosted a Night of Worship.

I know many of you love to worship through song, but I didn’t know what kind of turn out to expect. We didn’t talk about it very much, so we didn’t expect a lot of people. So when 150 people showed up and the engagement in singing was incredible we were thrilled! We had LOTS of people requesting that we do more of those evenings and continue to get those requests! We will definitely make it happen again!

[Editor’s note: In the meantime, you can watch the video recording right here!]

We played a wide variety of songs that night and at least a couple that we’ve never sang together on a Sunday morning. I had a few people suggest some songs we could sing for the next time.

As you might guess, from time to time I receive song suggestions from the congregation. While sometimes we end up singing the song that is suggested, other times we don’t. We’re not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, and I know that most of us have songs we love to use in our own private or family worship that mean a lot to us (I know I do).

We (the Worship Council) put a lot of time into considering new songs that we might add to our repertoire. I thought you might be interested to know how we critique songs that we are considering, as we’ve talked about this quite a bit recently as a staff and as a Worship Council. Here’s a few of the criteria we use when considering adding a new song:

1. Truth: Based on Grace’s value of Upholding Biblical Integrity, and the Worship Ministry’s value of Theology before Feeling, the most important thing about a song is truth (John 4:23-24, Colossians 3:16). Is there anything the song says that doesn’t line up with Scripture? Or are the lyrics simply too vague and could be misunderstood? What truth does this song help the church to understand and articulate about God? Notice it is Theology before Feeling, not theology as opposed to feeling. Truth deeply affects our feelings. Truth coupled with beautiful music that compliments the lyrics affects us on an even deeper level. Music should reflect the lyrics.

2. Singability: Based on the worship ministry’s value of Participation not Performance, we seek to sing songs that are “singable”. While some songs beautifully display talent that God has given musicians (which we use for special music), we pick songs with ranges that work well for the largest number of people. We choose songs with memorable melodies that are more simple and easy to catch on to.

3. Well-Rounded Theology: Does the song we are looking at help round out our theology? Does the song say the same things that many of the other songs in our repertoire say? Does the song help to articulate theology that is missing from our repertoire? We don’t want to add song after song about God’s love, and neglect to sing about his other attributes. We ask, “Why should the church sing this song?”

There are other things we think about when considering adding new songs to our repertoire, like our style of worship as established by the Elders: “blended leaning towards contemporary”. That means we still sing some of the great old hymns but we sing more contemporary songs than old ones, and often sing old songs with a more contemporary feel.

I want to remind you that you can worship at home with the songs we sing on Sunday morning through YouTube or Spotify!

I’m looking forward to Sunday when Nathan Ehresman will be preaching from Psalm 136, and we’ll lift our voices together in praise to our Creator and Redeemer!

Please be praying for the Amigo team as they leave for Reynosa on Saturday.

For His glory,
-Pastor Kyle 

What are we doing with our influence?

I’ve been reading through John’s Gospel the last couple weeks, and I wanted to share something that I absolutely love.

John the Baptist was somewhat of a celebrity. News about him spread, and people traveled to see him. He gained followers and the scripture tells us that he had disciples. But when it came down to it, John used His influence to point people to Jesus.

In John 1:35-37 we get a quick glimpse of what it’s like to use our influence to help people follow Jesus:

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

I wonder how John felt when his disciples immediately left him to follow Jesus?

If I put myself in his shoes I can feel my flesh react. “Don’t leave me! Don’t you want to follow me?!”

I wonder how long John’s disciples were with him? Did John wrestle with his emotions at how quickly his disciples left him to follow Jesus? Was there any feeling of betrayal or loss or jealousy? These are things my flesh thinks about.

However, when I read these verses my soul rejoices!

I’m inspired at John’s example of humility and His understanding of his own role! He didn’t hold onto his followers, but as soon as he had the chance he pointed his disciples to the one worth following!

I see the role of worship leader in a similar light. I don’t want people to follow me. I don’t want people to praise the worship team. I want people to behold the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, our glorious Savior Jesus Christ! I rejoice when I see the church beholding Jesus as we worship through song, it’s one of the greatest experiences in life!

All of us have our circles of influence where we can lead others to follow Jesus. So what are we doing with that influence?

Am I trying to get people to follow Kyle, or am I leading others to follow Jesus? Are you trying to get your own followers, or are you leading people to follow Jesus?

Don’t underestimate your influence and how God can use you to lead others to follow Jesus!

---

My RightNow Media pick of the month is a sermon series from Matt Chandler that can supplement what we’ve been learning on Sunday mornings about the gifts of the Spirit.

Looking forward to Sunday!

- Pastor Kyle

Walking in the Spirit

This week I’ve been praying for all the believers at Grace Community Church.

I’ve been praying that each one would be using their spiritual gift to build up the church.

I’ve led plenty of discussions about spiritual gifts over the years and I know that many people struggle to identify how God is gifting them. You are not alone.

In the weeks to come, through the preaching of God’s word, I believe we will all have more understanding of the variety of gifts. I’m praying that God would reveal to each and every one of us how He is manifesting Himself through us for building up the Church.

I think one of the reasons some of us aren’t experiencing manifestations of God’s Spirit through us is that we first need to allow the Spirit’s work in our own lives.

If we are grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) can we really expect manifestations of the Holy Spirit through us?

Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us (John 16:8) and lead us to repentance?

Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us (2 Corinthians 3:18)?

Are we being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)?

Are we walking in the Spirit as Paul describes in Galatians 5:16-26 or are we walking in the flesh?

We must live in the power of the Holy Spirit and respond to His nudging in our hearts. If the Spirit isn’t free to work in our own hearts, I don’t think we can expect Him to work through us to build up the church around us.

Maybe before we pursue understanding our giftedness and serving supernaturally in the Spirit’s power, we need to step back and ask if we have grieved the Holy Spirit, if we are allowing the Spirit’s work in our own hearts, and if we are walking in the Spirit.

To help supplement your study of the Spiritual gifts I offer up this, my RightNow Media pick of the month!

Looking forward to Sunday!

- Pastor Kyle

Represent

A couple weeks ago I shared some original songs at our night of “Stories and Songs”. For this Staff Journal I wanted to share about one of those songs.

“Represent” is a song about our need to be witnesses. It’s a reminder that as Christians we wear the name of Christ wherever we go. In the past, when Mary or I have had jobs within the secular workforce, we would tell each other to “represent” before leaving for work. It was a reminder of the powerful witness we have not just through our words but also through our actions.

The idea for this song was inspired by several scripture passages. Here are some of them:

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:12)

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

“To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (Hebrews 6:6)

Here are the my lyrics to the song “Represent”:

He chose to wear Your name, but unaware of the implications
Cause everywhere he turns, there’s a watchful eye from the unbelievers
Does he realized every move he makes is analyzed and they’re just waiting for him to fall
In this moment if they see a fake it may destroy their chances of redemption

So we need to represent. We need to live such good lives
So that the effort spent, will help the others glorify Your name

A believer all his life, but finding out it’s not cool
To wear the name of Christ, and try to fit in at school
Do we realize we’ve been called to be light in this world showing them the way
And if we are ashamed of him he will ashamed of us on judgment day 

So we need to represent. We need to live such good lives
So that the effort spent, will help the others glorify Your name

You wear the name, but you put it to shame
It’s recrucifixion and you’re stuck with the blame
Freedom you claim, but sin you can’t tame
Don’t mock his mercy, cause life ain’t a game

The idea of this song is similar to our “sending” that we use most Sundays. God is sending us out in the world to represent Him as witnesses.

As many of you head to your jobs this week, I pray that God would empower you to represent Him in your actions and your love for the people around you. May we be boldly unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we represent Him in our schools, jobs, and neighborhoods!

---

My RightNow Media pick of the month is Marriage Night 2019. This is a great one to watch with your spouse and strengthen your marriage!

 See you Sunday!
-Pastor Kyle

Our Worship Repertoire

In some circles of thinking, the purpose of worship through song (which we will simply call worship in this journal entry) is to prepare people for the preaching of God’s word. In a Sunday morning service, worship is seen as a way to soften hearts and prepare people to receive the truth coming up in the sermon.

While I know that the Spirit works in us as we sing, and our hearts are softened, I would not articulate worship this way. I think it is misleading to say worship is preparation for receiving God’s truth, because our songs are overflowing with Scripture. 

Colossians 3:16 reminds us “Let the word of Christ dwell in you… as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”.

The content of our songs is the word of Christ.

We sing scripture, we sing truth, and I would suggest that the goal of worship is to get God’s truth on the lips and heart of the church. This isn’t necessarily to prepare to listen to the preaching of God’s word, as sometimes we respond in worship, like we did this past Sunday. In worship, we sing to each other reminding each other of truth, singing songs about God. In worship we also pour out our hearts singing directly to God.

With that said, our repertoire of songs is a little different than many other churches. While you could walk into some contemporary churches and know all the songs if you listen to K-LOVE, a little less than half of the songs we sing are on Christian radio.

We are intentional about our repertoire and you’ll find that our songs are rich in God’s truth.

So many of you have expressed appreciation for the songs we sing, and many Sundays I have people asking what the names of certain songs are. Because of this, we’ve created a playlist on YouTube and Spotify with songs from our repertoire.:

If you are interested, I’ve also created a list of songs I’m currently using in private worship that we don’t sing on Sunday mornings:

It’s a beautiful thing when people worship privately and then come together on Sunday morning to worship corporately!

I hope that these playlists will help you learn the songs that aren’t as familiar to you, and I hope it will help put God’s truth on your lips and on your hearts! May the word of Christ dwell in us through our worship!

---

My Rightnowmedia pick is a series we’ve used for discussion on our worship teams on the Psalms with Pastor John Piper and worship leaders Shane and Shane.

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

Welcoming Others as Christ has Welcomed Us

The second greatest commandment in the Bible is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39), or simply “love people” as we say here at Grace.

I’m constantly praying that we would grow in our love for people! I pray that we would be known for how we love people, and I pray on Sunday mornings that we would welcome one another as Christ welcomed us (Romans 15:7).

Yesterday presented me with an opportunity to do this. I met someone who looked like a man, but was dressed like a woman. I felt an initial reaction in my flesh that I had to fight. I could sense myself becoming judgmental and I didn’t like it. My heart wrestled, wondering if I would find myself in a predicament not knowing how to address him.

How would I hide my confusion about simply starting a conversation with him? Would my expression show that I think dressing like that is wrong, and would he simply feel judged? How would I love this person? 

I’m so thankful for God’s Spirit within me.

After an initial reaction of judgment, the Holy Spirit stirred up in me a strong desire to simply love this person. I needed to treat him like a person created in God’s image. I needed to treat him as I would want to be treated.

After I got my dinner I went and sat across from him. I simply made conversation and asked him how his day was. We talked about work, and his new phone, and where he’s from.

One thing that I found out in talking to him is that I never had to think about whether he wanted to be known as male or female. When I talked to him I simply addressed him as “you”. There wasn’t any awkwardness in the conversation with him at all. It’s actually when I talked about him to someone else (my friend who was there with me) that it was awkward and I found myself wondering if I should say he or she. I want to say I was talking with my friend to figure out how to talk with this transgender, but now I’m pretty sure that conversation simply ended up being gossip.

We’ve been called to love people, and we’ve been called to show hospitality to strangers. I’m saddened that the church is “known” for hating people who are different, and I’m saddened that media is simply perpetuating that. Yes, we are committed to God’s Word. Sin is sin, and we won’t call it ok when God says it’s not. But I want the church to be known for how we love people, not for what we are against. I can love people and I want to love people because God loved me when I was his enemy. He loved me when I was unlovable.

Will you join me in praying that God would grow our love for people, and that we would welcome others just as Christ has welcomed us?

---

My Rightnowmedia pick of the month is a good one for parents in this age of cell phones and social media! Check it out here:

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

Praying During Our Services

So there I am on Sunday morning, gathered with a couple dear brothers in Christ praying for God to move in our church in mighty ways:

• We’re reading and praying through scripture, calling on God’s promises and faithfulness that His word will accomplish His work (Isaiah 55:10-11)

• We’re praying for our hearts to be like good soil, to receive God’s truth (Matthew 13:23)

• We’re praying for the living and active word of God to expose our hearts (Hebrews 4:12)

• We’re praying for the Holy Spirit to move among us, to convict us, to empower us (John 16:8; Acts 1:8)

It shouldn’t surprise me that the very first time we have a dedicated group of people praying during the service that a projector crashes on us. Thankfully we have 2 projectors!

We know God wants us to get teams of people praying for the services, and we know that Satan doesn’t want that. I’ve been expecting attacks from Satan and I expect that we’ll have more challenges as we continue to get prayer warriors together to pray during the services.

If you are interested in being on a once-a-month rotation to pray during the 9am or 10:30am service, please let me know!

For some of us, praying for an extended time is easy, for some it may be a challenge. Some of us prefer praying silently, while others prefer praying out loud. Some of us pray while kneeling, some of us pray while pacing back and forth in a room. Some of us like it really quiet, for others we like to have worship music playing while we pray. 

It really doesn’t matter how experienced you are, how comfortable you are, or how you prefer to pray, if God is stirring in your heart to do this, contact me! [Editor’s note: you can send Kyle an email at kyleschanbachergcc@gmail.com]

If you’re not sure how to pray during the services, I’ll be working with Debby Graber to have some material to help guide us in our prayers, and we’re working on a space in the church facility to provide a secluded prayerful atmosphere for our teams to gather. We also know that many of you may want to walk around the church facility while you pray and that of course is encouraged as well.

2019 has started out with a great emphasis on prayer, and we are committed to growing the ministry of prayer at GCC. We are dependent upon God, and we want to see him work in mighty ways!

Also, you may not know that every Thursday at 3pm in the Worship center a group of people gathers to pray! If you can be a part of that, we’d love for you to join us! And even though it’s really early, you can come pray with me in the worship center on Sunday mornings at 6am! I have to warn you though, I like to play worship music fairly loud while I walk through the chairs praying for people as they come to mind and praying for the service.

I’m looking forward to singing praises together on Sunday morning, and continuing in the book of James! This has been such a great challenging series so far! Hope to see you then!

For His Glory,
Pastor Kyle

"He who sings prays twice"

“He who sings prays twice”

This quote is often attributed all the way back to St. Augustine. Although it’s debatable who actually said this originally, it’s been quoted for centuries, and there’s some great truth in it.

Have you noticed that some songs could simply be read as prayers? Have you ever thought of the songs we sing as prayers to God?

So many of the lyrics of the songs we sing are words I would and do find myself praying.

“Lord I need You, oh I need You, ever hour I need You”

“Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it, seal if for thy courts above”

“Turn my eyes away from searching for lesser glory, turn my eyes. Teach my heart with all Your wisdom to live for heaven, teach my heart”,

“Build Your Kingdom here, let the darkness fear, show Your mighty hand, heal our streets and land.”

One of my favorite worship bands is “Citizens and Saints”. I use a lot of their music in my private worship. I especially love their “In Part” album.

Last Sunday we shared their song “Father You Are All We Need” which is based on the Lord’s Prayer that Jack has preached on the last 2 weeks. I’m not sure if we’ll actually add the song to our repertoire, but we are going to sing it again this Sunday. The song is worshipful, and prayerful.

This month, my mind has been in awe of our almighty Creator, who invites us to talk to Him and address Him as Father! Wow!

I’ve also been graciously reminded of my helplessness. I need God, I need Him to work in my heart. I need Him to work in my kid’s hearts. I need His strength and wisdom as I walk with brothers in Christ through hard things. I need His grace and forgiveness day after day!

Church, let’s continue to make 2019 a year of prayer.

Would you join me in some specific prayers?

Would you join me in praying for strengthened marriages and restored relationships? Would you join me in praying for increased impact from our Sunday morning services? Would you join me in praying that our love for God would grow, that our love for people would grow, and that we would take every opportunity to lead others to love God and love people?

See you Sunday! 
- Pastor Kyle

Sundays are the best!

Sundays are the best! I love singing God’s praises with the Church!

As you might imagine, worship through song is a huge part of my relationship with Jesus, but not just corporately. My worship is both corporate and private. My private worship through song looks a little different than a Sunday morning. For one thing, there are songs that I absolutely love for my time of private worship, but they are not part of our Sunday morning repertoire. For this staff journal I want to share with you some songs that I’ve been using a lot in my private worship.

There’s a couple of Shane and Shane songs that I keep listening to that are basically Psalms put to modern music:

Psalm 46

Psalm 23

There are also several songs by Citizens and Saints I’ve listening to:

How Majestic – this is a call for all people, whether healthy or sick, young or old, hurting or rejoicing, doubting or assured, to come to Jesus and receive his mercy, to know you are loved and rejoice in his majestic name!

Relent - this is a beautiful song of repentance about letting go of chasing after the things of this world, surrendering to God, and finding peace and belonging at the feet of Jesus.

His Mercy Is More – this is a modern hymn about God’s mercy. Though our sins are many, His mercy is greater than all of our failings. Our response to His mercy is praise! 

And just this week I found a new song that CityAlight released:

I hope that many of you use the songs we sing on Sunday mornings in your private worship, but here are some other songs to consider as part of your time with Jesus! They have been greatly encouraging to me.

The more we worship privately, the sweeter our corporate worship will be!

On Sunday we will be talking about Thanksgiving, and the kid’s worship team will be sharing a special song with us!

Looking forward to Sunday,

Pastor Kyle

---

My RightNow Media pick of the month is a short series from Francis Chan: