Awesome Job Creekers!

Great job yesterday in serving our City for the Kingdom of God!

We worked about 300 man hours to express the servant heart of Jesus . . .

Here's some of what went on . . .

- At King High School 27 bags of cut limbs and pulled weeds, etc were tossed as the team fought through the rain and mud to beautify the school atrium

- Apartments painted at Mission 911 - Even though rained out of the outdoor roofing project, the team jumped in and cleaned, prepped and painted apartments that are used to house people who are living without shelter

- We collected over 4 barrels of food in 8 different neighborhoods for the Corpus Christi Food Bank who has been struggling to meet the incredible needs right now

- At Miller HS Creekers worked beside students and community volunteers and painted two classrooms; Sanded and stained stairwell rails; Painted Parent Storage Room; Painted two walls on 2nd floor; and Repainted the ISSC Carrels Pink!

A Single Act . . .

I was reminded last week of how simple acts of kindness open doors to lives.


We have new neighbors who we haven't had much contact with since they moved in over the Summer. Two retired sisters who have stayed pretty much to themselves - the only conversations I've had were my going over and initiating and a little awkward.

After the rains I was mowing last Thursday on my day off and their yard was a mess. I mowed it and cleaned it up - nothing heroic - just took a little time. The next evening they saw us outside and came over smiling and asking if they could pay us. No way, I told them, it would rob me of the gift to them.

We had a great conversation. A great start. All stemming from a simple act of love. Can't wait to see what God does.

This Sunday Morning we get to do the same thing a couple of hundred times over! At King HS, Miller HS, Mission 911, and in our neighborhoods for the Food Bank - we will give out free acts of love for the Kingdom! (For more info click here)

We have the incredible opportunity of serving people around for nothing! For no other purpose than to show them the love of Jesus!!

If you haven't signed up yet please call the office (993-4463) or email Audie (audielawley@gmail.com) ASAP! We need to know whose coming so that we can put the right amount of folks at each location.

And remember --- Be there at 9:30am --- for a brief time of Celebration together and then out of the building and into the world!

Signed Up?

I was recently reading Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted (highly recommended!) where she talked about serving hamburgers to the homeless in 105 degree heat in downtown Austin. She was stunned by the homeless man who responded to her gift with: "I hope this satisfies your white guilt for the day!"

I know that I've walked a coke addict through 6-months of therapy to have him bail and never show up again. I've had the door slammed on me by a person whose angry that I won't give them cash even though I've bought groceries and gas for several times. And on and on . . .

So, as Jen expresses in her book: Do we get to opt out of living on mission because we're not appreciated?

Only if we are in it for us.

THIS Sunday we have another opportunity to serve our community in the Name of Jesus. To bring the Kingdom to Mission 911, King High School, Miller High School, and all of those served by the CC Food Bank.

DON'T miss it! Call the office to sign up if you haven't already. Click HERE for more info.

BE at the building on Sunday morning at 9:30am!!

Loving God and Others

"My soul finds rest in God alone my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." (Ps. 62:1-2)

Don't miss Celebration tomorrow morning . . . it will rock!


And then don't forget . . . Next Sunday, October 11th, we have another Serving Sunday and another opportunity to serve our City! Sign up tomorrow or call the office next week (993.4463)!

Caller Times . . . Follow Up . . .

Just following up my blog this morning about the article in the Caller Times . . .

Jade Payne brought to my attention the online comments after the article . . . Wow, I encourage you to go and check them out . . . click here (and scroll down below the article): http://www.caller.com/news/2009/jul/05/church-serves-community-place-sunday-services/

It just affirms again how when we truly give ourselves away it has impact beyond what we can imagine! We never know how one small Spirit-led act of kindness can change someones whole perspective about God and what it means to follow Him . . .

It's ALL Part of His Plan

The Caller Times had an article yesterday about Serving Sunday!

Pretty cool . . . They even called me 'Reverend' :) They don't know me too well if they call me Rev!

What it reminds me of is that we never know who God will impact as we give ourselves away. We never know who is watching, who is hurting and seeking. Who will read the article and know that they need to seek a place of refuge.

God said this through Paul:
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (1 Cor 15:58)

It was also kind of cool that there was a couple at Celebration this weekend who were on vacation from Austin. They heard the spot on K-Love last week and just came to check it out . . .

You can check out the Caller Times article by clicking on the link below:

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/jul/05/church-serves-community-place-sunday-services/

Lessons in the Vines

When we go and give ourselves away - around the world or across the street - we not only express the Kingdom of God, but a little more of the Kingdom get's carved into our souls.

Denise Rizzo sent the following in an email and it shows again how we truly begin to understand the Kingdom as we live in it's flow and give ourselves to it. (And thanks to Jade Payne for the great pics! The first one is of Denise and her Dad, John)


My dad was awesome in finding lessons in the simpleness of pulling out vines... it was an experience that he and I will treasure of time we were able to spend together, doing something for our community and being "sent out" instead of "sitting in" and hearing what we should do...we were actually doing what we as followers of Jesus were called to do!


While we were "being the church", we felt like in some ways we were still "having church". We were finding parallels to life in what we were doing. At the Children's Advocacy Center, there was an area behind their storage building that was severely overgrown. What we didn't realize is the lesson that was behind that storage building. We started to rake and noticed that there were vines keeping us from pulling up the grass and other plants. When the single vines were pulled one by one, they were fairly easy to yank out of the ground but when the vines grew together all intertwined they were nearly impossible to remove.


We found that at every group of vines there was a huge vine that all the others stemmed from. We compared that to how Jesus is our "anchor" and that when we are rooted in Him and with others in the community we can not be defeated. By ourselves we will surely get plucked out but only when we are in a community of followers and more importantly anchored in the word of God, do we stand strong.

Way to Flow!

Wow! Awesome! Cool! What a great experience this morning (and afternoon for many of you!) getting to see people blown away by a new version of 'church.' I'm proud of the way that you served through the heat!

Here's a few shots of how you were taking the Kingdom to the streets!

In the pic below Bo Kratz is being interviewed by a Caller Times reporter . . . I also tweeted more pics this morning, you can see them at my twitter account . . . https://twitter.com/john_bradshaw

Flowing

Yesterday morning Audie forwarded me a blog post with these verses from Amos 5:

"I hate all your show and pretense--
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living." (Amos 5:21-24)

As we go out this (Sunday) morning to scatter instead of just gathering, I've been reflecting on what God wants us to learn from this Sunday Serving experience. I hope that it's so much more than just a Sunday off from the routine and an opportunity to 'do our duty' to the less fortunate around us.

I think that what God is saying in this passage, is NOT that gathering together and praising Him isn't important -- But that if we are truly being changed, if we are truly worshipping, it is reflected in our posture towards others and the stream of the Kingdom through our life.

I love that last sentence, 'an endless river of righteous living.' A river doesn't struggle to flow. A river doesn't even think about what is around the next bend, it just flows man.
That's the Kingdom! That's the life God offers, that we would flow in Him and live differently. Not because we're trying to be different but because His power makes a difference in our lives.

Let's flow this morning . . .

Tomorrow 10am!!!

One final reminder that we will meet for Celebration at the building at one time tomorrow (28th) morning -- 10am -- and go from there to serve others who are serving our community!

If you haven't signed up yet --- that's OK --- just come at 10am ready to have a blast serving our community!

Leaving the Building

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men."

This Sunday we have the privilege of partnering with four non-profit organizations in our City who are meeting needs that there is no way we could meet on our own. And at the same time we get to be the expression of the Kingdom of God everywhere we go! Wow!

I wanted to be sure that you had met the four non-profits we are serving and how they impact lives. I've shared below who they are.

Remember we meet at the building at ONE TIME on Sunday 10am. If you have not yet signed up for one of the four opportunities please click here to email Audie asap.
And we now have a 5th group that is going to stay at the building to cover our efforts with prayer while we are out (there will not be childcare during that time). Let Audie know as well if you want to be a part of that group.

Here are the incredible non-profits we are coming alongside:

Operation Paintbrush
For 25 years Operation Paintbrush has painted homes for low & fixed income elderly and disabled citizens of our community. We have committed to helping them paint 2 of the 79 homes they are painting. Operation Paintbrush provides the paint & coupons for lunch. We provide the paint brushes/rollers, paint trays, scrapers, wire brushes, ladders & most importantly the labor!

Child Advocacy Center of the Coastal Bend
The Children's Advocacy Center of the Coastal Bend is a non-profit organization that works with sexually and severely physically abused children, child witnesses to violent crime, and their non-offending family members. The Center sees children whose ages range from 2 to 17 years of age. The Center is in need of a lot of TLC. They need our help to do some heavy landscape work: trim oleanders, trim trees & trim the hedges. There are two picnic tables in need of new table tops & 9 screen vents on the roof soffit that need replacing. The Center will provide the lumber of the tables and screen vents. We need to bring the loping shears, leaf rake & hedge trimmers for trimming. Low mower & edgers for the yard work. A ladder for the soffit repair, cordless screwdrivers for the table repairs and of course trash bags to clean up after ourselves! We will also need a few trucks w/drivers to haul the clippings to the dump OR one truck with a trailer.

Corpus Christi Pregnancy Resource Center
The mission of the CCPC is to share God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ with women in crisis pregnancies by ministering to their physical, emotional and spiritual needs, and encouraging them to consider God’s purpose for their lives and that of their babies. The CCPC is in need of some organizational help and some help tidying up a bit! We will clean, organize a storage shed and install a lock on the door, paint the ceiling in the reception area and do a thorough spring cleaning of the office. The CCPC will supply the lock, we need to bring our own cleaning supplies.

Food Bank of Corpus Christi
The Food Bank of Corpus Christi is dedicated to eliminating hunger and changing lives. They have been recognized nationally for their innovative approach in educating the families of the Coastal Bend about good nutrition with their mobile kitchen. We will distribute flyers on Saturday, June 27 to a few southside subdivisions and the revisit those subdivisions on Serving Sundays to collect non-perishable food items for the Food Bank.

K-Loved

Cool. Just did a phone interview with K-Love radio as they were interested in what Serving Sunday (28th) is and why we are doing it.

She told me that the brief story will air on Thursday the 25th on the :40's (but not all of them).

It affirmed to me that what we are doing on the 28th to tangibly express the Kingdom of God to our City is a much longed for drink of fresh water.

I don't want us to just be a vague impression of God as people drive by our building, but to be the very expression of Jesus as we give our lives away!

"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2 Cor. 2:15)

And for you Creekers who haven't signed up yet, be sure and do so this Sunday. There are 4 different places that we are serving and there is a place for you to give yourself away!

Steve's Serve

Steve Garcia - our fired up, passionate new Worship Pastor! - was telling me about an Encounter he had on Sunday and I asked him to give me a blurb so I could blog it. Here it is. Thanks Steve!


Serving Sunday! I arrived to "the building" with much anticipation! I could hardly wait to get out in the community and body slam somebody with the Word of God. I had visions of how I would do that and world peace would follow:) That's not what happened though.......something completely different happened actually. We went to house #1 and no one was home, #2 the same,#3 the bag and card were still on the door, #4 no answer, #5.....I was beginning to get a little worried and then someone answered the door. Here was my opportunity, body slam #1....she stopped me mid-sentence, closed the door and returned a couple of minutes later with some food. I said thanks, and she immediately shut the door. No body slam. That's ok I thought, there are plenty more houses! Well,the rest of our journey was pretty much the same.....nobody home, bag and card on the door, no answer. I was getting kind of bummed about the situation and then I met George. What a neat guy! I explained who we were and what we were doing and he honestly said that he didn't have any food to donate at the moment, but maybe we could come back another time. We struck up a conversation about his lawn and then all of a sudden he was Mr. Jabberjaw. Here we were, locked in conversation, and the lights were all green for my first body slam of the day! The body slam turned into a handshake and a gentle pat on my shoulder from George. I put him down as my first person to visit the next time we do this. I may even visit him again before that! We had made a simple connection with him about something he had a passion for, his lawn, and as I was about to lean in and give him the body slam I realized that getting to know George was the first step in our connection. Sure, it was a tiny conversation about his lawn, but it was also a door opening to his heart. I don't know all of George's story, but I do know he wanted to talk to someone and I'm glad that God put me there at the right place and the right time. Did you notice at the beginning of my story there were a lot of "I"'s? I this, and I that..... I, stepped out of the way, and God moved into our midst. He connected me and George. Serving Sunday has shown me that what we are doing out in the community is building relationships. Living in each others lives and really being the hands and feet of Jesus. Relationship is the first step.

"Anyone who welcomes you is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me. " MATTHEW 10:40

Wow!

Praise God that the serving . . . and the food flowed yesterday! Way to go Creekers!

Check out that pile of food for the hungry and needy in Corpus! (And for some perspective those 4 barrels in the back are huge and they are flowing over and we could have filled 4 or 5 more!)

We can wash and feed - and we should give ourselves away at every point the Holy Spirit leads us - but only Jesus can truly fill. He said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

My prayer is that our acts of Radical Mercy will be pictures of heaven coming to earth --- and lead to eternally transformed lives!

Passing It On

This afternoon our kids (Sarah, Laura and Luke) helped Cindy and I put out cards and bags for the food pickup tomorrow. (And YES, remember, one gathering time tomorrow - at 10am - for Serving Sunday!)

I'm thankful they went, and it reminded me again of how I need to expose my kids to more ways to give themselves away. Just this week I was emailed a great article about practical ways to encourage our children to give themselves away that change lives. Check out the article by clicking here.

And then I was also reminded this week - and again today with my kids - of how important it is to be intentional about WHY we serve.

We give ourselves away not just because we're 'nice people' or want to do 'good things.'
But we give, because God has given freely to us.
We give because we are called to allow the Light of Jesus to live through us and to glorify God with our lives.
We give because we are all called to the single mission of seeing people embrace the forgiveness of Christ and live in the Kingdom of God.

How I desire that to become more and more my mission - and our mission - in life.

Sunday Serve !

Last Sunday there was some awesome serving going on in the Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal --- But this next Sunday there is going to be even more incredible serving happening!

That's because Oso Creek is leaving the building!

If you missed last Sunday's Celebration, you need to know that this Sunday we are meeting at one time - 10am - and instead of having church, we are going to BE the Church.

We are going to be serving - and blessing - the needy in our community in two different ways - washing the Mission of Mercy mobile medical unit, and restocking the Food Bank (if you need more info on these check out my post from last week by clicking here).

What you need to know is to be there THIS Sunday at 10am and to wear comfortable clothes to be outside in. And to pray that God will use us and teach us as we give ourselves away!

The Church Has Left the Building!

A week from Sunday - on July 13th - The Church Will Leave the Building . . .

On that Sunday instead of having church, we're going to BE the church! We're gonna fan out in 2 different directions and Serve our community. And at the same time my hope is that some of us will Discover what God has made us for, or Discover a mission that we've never seen before.

We're going to have two different projects going (and we'll have an opportunity this Sunday to sign up):

1) Washing the Mission of Mercy mobile medical clinic - We'll wash it at Walgreens on Saratoga and Staples. We get to serve Mission of Mercy (who serve the medical needs of the poor and needy) -- and also by washing it in a public place we get to introduce other people to their mission. Awesome! We are also going to hand out water and love. The one limitation here is that everyone needs to be 13 and over for your family to participate here.

2) Collection for Corpus Christi Food Bank - With rising prices, needs are growing and supplies are low. We're going door to door in different southside neighborhoods collecting food for the food bank. And at the same time we get to Connect with our neighbors! ANYONE can participate.
We also need people who will go on Friday or Saturday (11th or 12th) and hang the empty bags and notes on doors. (If you can do this please email Audie by clicking here.)


Last time we did a Serving Sunday I heard a couple of comments about folks not coming because we weren't 'doing church.' I guess what they really meant was we weren't meeting their desires. Because in reality this is probably the one Sunday that we are really 'doing church' more than any other! I can't wait!