Hey, I’m back!

Let me start off by saying thank you to so many. Thanks to the Governing Board for graciously allowing me a two-month sabbatical to work on my dissertation. Thanks to the staff for pulling off a great summer of ministry. Thanks to Josh Conn for taking the helm so well.  And thanks to all of you for understanding my need to do some dedicated writing.

Here is the good news – I finished the first draft!  It was just a few weeks into writing that I realized how necessary this sabbatical was.  With my involvement at the church, it would have been impossible to write and defend my dissertation by next May, the deadline set by Temple University.  But having the draft finished this early means that I have plenty of time for editing and for preparing my oral defense over the next few months.

You have had an exciting summer here: mission trips to Mexico and Trinidad, our always energetic Kids Klub Camp, and 16 baptisms!  God is good!

I am glad to be back, and look forward to seeing you this weekend.

$57,000 — the total offering received for sending our young people to Mexico.  I am grateful.  And I am not surprised.  I have come to expect the generosity that so epitomizes our community.  I also know that when God sets a plan in place, he resources it as well.  Thank you for participating.  If you missed the service but still want to provide for this mission, you can give online to the Ensenada Youth Fund.  Now we pray and send 60 intentional servants to Ensenada to make a difference for Jesus.

I am very grateful for the 8 weeks given me to complete my dissertation.  The clock starts this Monday, June 16, and I ask for your prayers to remain focused and to be able to complete this task.  For those of you who want to know more, I am writing a historical study on the background of the New Testament book of Jude. My specific thesis shows the connections between Jewish Apocalypticism, early Christianity and Gnosticism through what Jude writes in his short letter… alright, now wake up…

You can continue to read the blog while I am gone during the summer.  I still want you to be encouraged and updated as we journey together, so Josh Conn will writing a few entries until I return.  This weekend we kick off a new series:  “Witness - It doesn’t take a superhero.”  Good stuff.  Come and be challenged!

I know I say this often, but I am pretty pumped about this weekend’s service.  And if you like interaction, then you will definitely enjoy it.  Join us as we worship with a new band and be ready to get out of your seats for more than just the music!

I believe that all of you have been praying about your portion of the financial gift we will be raising this weekend to enable our high school and college teams to minister in Mexico. I could not be more excited about this — do you realize that if everyone who comes were to give $50, we would go well over our $60,000 goal? Please seek God’s wisdom on this before you come.

This Sunday at 1:30pm we will have the first 50+ Club meeting in the chapel (youth room). As I mentioned last weekend, we will be talking about how to embrace our best years that still lie ahead. This is so important for our community, because of all age groups, this one is best able to set the standard that helps the following generation in whatever way we can.

See you on the weekend!

I didn’t hear or see any mention of Myanmar or China in the news this last week, yet there were several stories about gas prices and energy alternatives.  At PAC, we have different priorities from American news media.  You won’t find anything on our website concerning the cost of fuel, but you will find how you can donate directly to the relief efforts following the floods in Myanmar and the earthquake in China.  Thank you for caring.  If you have not already done so, please pray and visit our website so that those suffering in these tragedies can be ministered to.

I was gone this last weekend but was thrilled to return and see the hundreds of responses written at the conclusion of the weekend services.  Most of you actually penned in someone’s name — that is fantastic!  If you had left a contact number, we will be staying in touch with you to encourage you to follow up with that person.  Some of you let us know that you want to help out with children or youth here at PAC.  If you gave us an address or number to reach you and you weren’t already called last week, you will be called this week.

So, who is next in your life?  Do you see a face?  Do you have a plan?  This weekend will be our fifth of the series and I am excited to share some of my own dreams.  If you want to get a jump on the weekend, start reading 2 Timothy… and take an extra five minutes to read the first chapter twice.

After this weekend will be our final week of the series during which we are looking to raise $60,000 to send 60 of our youth to Mexico in July.  Have you prayed about your part?  We receive your gifts with gratitude and expectancy.  Please come prepared to sacrifice for both our youth and for the people of Mexico.

See you this weekend.

We have been doing a ton of reading this week.  Some of you had much to say and there were some very cool letters written to the next generation.  I am thrilled with how you are responding to this series.  Stay tuned as we get those letters into accessible places for you.

This week I will be at a conference with twelve other churches in the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  The theme of the conference is being externally focused — being engaged in our communities as a natural part of who we are — so I will be sharing some of our own ideas, but learning loads about others experiences as well.  I am pretty pumped.

I won’t be here this week but I know you will be challenged by the weekend services as we look at some very practical experiences from those already investing heavily in the next generation.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and I will see you when I get back.

Last week 536 of you turned in “dreams.”  They ranged from finding a job to ending poverty.  The two most popular categories were ministry opportunities and family desires and there were almost an equal number of dreams in each.

Someone put in three dollars.  And two-thirds of those who attended didn’t write anything.

We are very serious about listening and intend on doing some follow-up with these.  In the next weeks we will be praying about groups to start, classes to teach, series to emphasize on the weekends, and groups to connect to one another so that these dreams don’t just stay as wishes on paper.  Several of you dreamed of being able to share your faith more effectively.  We will start the follow-up with you.  That will be our next weekend series following the present series and it will start on June 14-15.

This was all connected to our current series entitled, “Who’s Next?”  We are talking about reaching the next generation and Matt Murphy challenged us as a next-gen speaker to listen, pray and release.  Well, we gave you an opportunity to dream so that we could listen and we gave the next gen our ear for a weekend.  This weekend we will shift the stage.  What if the next generation were to listen to us?  What would we say to them?

We will stay in the Pastoral Letters of Paul to Timothy as we address that question.  And as always, we want to start with the Scripture but then get personal in our response.  Paul will lay out some principles for us but we each have to answer the question.  What would I say to them?

You will have that chance this weekend.  See you then.