Landmark: December 2007
The Sound of Silence
There are God moments that are dramatic enough to silence us.
Over a year ago the Elders felt that the time had come to embrace the challenge of developing the rest of the property God has blessed Red Mountain Community Church with. We felt that the building which would strengthen our ministry the most would be one which facilitated the things which are so critical to our mission of knowing, following, and giving to our God. Those mission critical things are worship, teaching, and fellowship. And so in January of 2007 I presented to you for the first time the proposal that we build a Life Center. At that time we had about $160,000 in our building fund, a paltry sum compared to the 5 million dollars such a building project would cost.
As the year went by, the Elders felt we needed to raise 3 million dollars if we were to realistically take on this project. In the early summer months we began to talk as a church about raising this amount of money over the next three years. Since that time there has been nothing but bad economic news! I must admit to you that I felt peace about pursuing that course of action, but uncertain about what the outcome would be. There are times after all, when God allows failure and shortfall in order for some grander objective to be met.
As the months went by, it became very obvious that God was speaking to many in little ways about sacrificing to make this all come about. There were no large sums of money that caused us to leap forward towards our goal. There was just an obvious stirring in the hearts of nearly every family that calls this their church. Still, though that was thrilling to sense, there was no way to tell how it would all add up. We targeted Sunday, November 18, as the day we would all turn in a card with the amount that God had laid on our hearts to give. As I made my way to Church that morning, I did not know what to expect. None of us did. What If none did? Would this be the time when we would see that there had been no movement of God in this matter, or would we see that there had been a deep and strong undercurrent the whole time?
Each of the services demonstrated that He had indeed been at work in all of us. Seldom in our lifetimes do we get to see such a demonstration by so many feeling the same compulsion. I was not prepared for the emotional impact of the moment, particularly in the first service. It was overwhelming. I had to get up and close each of the services, and I have no idea what I said! I know what I felt. It was a WOW! But it was a holy and hushed one, like standing beside a mighty river, not a bubbly stream. God moments should be routine in our lives. But among the God moments are those that should to some degree silence us. That one did. There were people who came back to subsequent services that day just to see it again!
There is of course the journey that we must now travel together. It will provide many more individual moments as we watch God provide for follow through. But when we are fortunate enough to watch Him move, we need to embrace the fact that He is with us and hang on to it. There will be many times on the journey we will need that memory. The Israelites didn’t do that and so doubted, and angered Him. We must!
Bob Fox
Stepping Outside the Box
The Women’s Christmas Dinner: 560 women, beautiful tables and decorations, a message from God sent to those whose hearts are open to hearing. Please read how Missy Crimmins, our Women’s Christmas Dinner Coordinator saw God in action.
Nancy Braun, Pastor of Women’s Ministry
Each year as the planning begins for this event I find myself overwhelmed by the possibilities and details. My flesh wants the entire vision in July and the more I want that, the more God seems to hesitate. Each year He makes me wait a little longer or there are pieces (such as the speaker’s content) that I have no knowledge of and can’t control. And each year, God has been so faithful to put the pieces together to bring about an evening of Glory to Him.
This year we tried a new thing and asked Sarah Hermann to direct a musical for our program. It is always hard to do something new―so much safer to do what we’ve always done―but for me, this meant that I would know the exact program content and the message that our guests would be receiving. The unknown was my part and just how was I going to "wrap up" the message and the evening.
God seems to do His best work in the middle of the night (maybe that’s when I do my best listening) and true to form I very clearly felt at 2am one morning two things: First, that there would be people with a bitter/angry spirit attending and second, that I needed to restate the Good News and challenge those who were there to reflect on where they were with respect to their relationship with Jesus. The first was easy – some prayer and a warning to the hostesses that if they encountered a crabby someone that was the person God was calling them to love that evening. The second thing, challenging others, not so easy.
God has commanded us all to witness for Him; to share with others our part in His story but an evangelist I am not and I really don’t want to step on any toes – excuses abound. But what God was asking of me was very clear and I had to choose to obey even though it was not what was comfortable or natural. In "Growing as a Christian 101", the authors explain that when sharing my faith, it is not up to me to convince, convict or convert my audience (whether it is 1 or 560) the Holy Spirit will do all that. My only responsibility is to share. So, I took a deep breath (well – lots more than one), wrote out what was on my heart and prayed that the Holy Spirit would take my words and use them for His work.
Ladies were challenged. The question was asked and the way to the Star presented. What the Holy Spirit did from there is a work in process and I may never know the impact that my part had in the lives of the women there. But, I do know that I was faithful to do what God asked of me and although I dreaded stepping outside of my cozy box the joy that came with the obedience was a landmark moment for me. And you know what? It wasn’t so scary after all.
A Family Affair
Having an outward focus at RMCC is one of our five priorities in our mission. This focus is usually directed to people outside the walls of our church. Sometimes outside the walls of our church are still within the walls of our home – like this story of a one family in our church.
Lauri has a young daughter that she and her husband see as a gift from God. They had struggled for several years to try to become pregnant, even using cutting edge medical intervention as an aid, but a baby had not been added to their life. Laurie had slowly adjusted to this when all of the sudden they discovered they were going to have a baby. Jasmine in now 18 months old and brings considerable joy to Laurie and Peter’s lives.
Lauri has recently started a journey back to God and RMCC has become her church. This journey unfortunately has not been shared by her husband. Peter was not antagonistic about Laurie’s new and vibrant faith in Christ, he just wasn’t interested in joining her. When Laurie decided that she wanted to dedicate their daughter to the Lord at the last Child Dedication, she was apprehensive. Not because she didn’t want to dedicate Jasmine to God, but because she did not want to alienate her husband from God and even from her.
When she decided to have Jasmine dedicated, she met with me to discuss what to do. Should she dedicate Jasmine? Since Peter said he would attend, should he stand up with them and just sit and watch? As we talked, it was obvious that this was an opportunity for Lauri and Peter to stand together as a family before God. How God decided to use this opportunity with Peter was up to God. So she encouraged Peter to stand up with her at the Child Dedication. And he did!
What happens next is still up to God. Laurie is still committed to her journey with God at RMCC―and she knows her husband is watching―and that God and Laurie are waiting.
