It was exciting to be with the crowd at the opening session of the Financial Peace University seminar last Sunday.  140 of us started the journey in understanding God’s design for our financial peace and the stewardship of what He has given us.  It will be an great 12 weeks together and I am looking forward to how I come out at the end!

I am also excited about our new series, Ecclesia.  We talk a lot about what we should do and be as followers of Christ but rarely teach about the fundamentals of the Body he created that we call Church.  We will start at the top this week.  Who leads?  And why?  Come prepared to actively worship as we look at an incredible passage in Colossians 1.

We would love to have you join us for our first Ash Wednesday service this coming Wednesday, February 25 from 7-8 p.m.  Ash Wednesday was instituted by the early church to prepare for Easter.  It was to be a time of rededication and sacrifice in honor of the one who died and rose on our behalf.  In that spirit we will prepare together this Wednesday.

See you on the weekend.

I hope our series on Money was helpful.  We still have job and financial counselors available and our He Cares, We Care ministry is in full swing for critical immediate needs.  And this Sunday starts our Financial Peace University seminar on Sunday afternoons.  We are grateful for the opportunity to help you.  Lets also keep our eyes open in our communities to offer these services to those we know who may need help.

I appreciated the support in the votes cast for both the budget and the board nominees.  Both have been overwhelmingly passed.  We will be reporting back to you on a regular basis concerning the finances.  I want to make sure to keep you current on both what is coming in and going out.  I also appreciated your support, as well as the board’s, for the completion of my Ph.D.  The plaque was a generous surprise.

We have a guest speaker for our Valentine’s Day weekend.  Dr. David Schroeder will be with us from Somerset Christian College.  Somerset Christian College is a close neighbor both geographically and in their passion to raise up Christian leaders for our world.  Come and listen.

We will be starting our next series about the church next weekend.  We call it Ecclesia.  It wil be five weeks to hear what God says we should be together.  I can’t wait.

And take the chance to join me this Sunday at 2 p.m. for D1, the Discovering Community class that serves as our gateway to membership.

See you this weekend, and at D1, and at the first session of Financial Peace University.

I finally crossed the finish line.

Let me reflect a bit on the journey to my Ph.D.  It started in the Fall of 2000 and every step has been carefully measured while raising a family, working, and pursuing a degree with comrades half my age.  I can remember my first classes and thinking how out of touch I was and how much I needed to learn.  A few years later I faced comprehensive exams in four areas of study.  I thought if there was a point of failure it would be there.  But God was gracious.  And I moved on to the dissertation stage.  That was over four years ago.  Now it was the church’s turn to be gracious as I was granted this last summer off in order to work on this document full time.

So yesterday was the culmination of all the effort.  An hour and a half with five professors from three different institutions, all trying to outdo each other in the intensity and intricacy of their questions, took the last bit of starch right out of my shirt!  But I passed.  And I feel pretty good about it.

But the reason for the rambling is to say thanks.  Thanks to all of you for your patience in this pursuit.  Thanks especially to the Board for allowing me so much time off to write.  Thanks to my wife who gets a husband back and my kids who get their dad back.  And thanks to God who remains faithful even when we are not.

Now I am off to spend three days around a table with 8 other pastors of CMA churches of over 1000 attendees.  This is the third year I have done this and it has been some of the most productive and helpful time spent for me in my personal development.

But I will miss you this weekend.  This is such an important series to start 2009.  I hope you are seeing how much the Bible has to say about financial matters.  I also hope you have found our suggestings and resources concerning debt, unemployment, and budgeting very practical and helpful.  So this weekend Josh will paint you a picture of the generous church we want to be in 2009.  And next weekend when I return we will take a brief glance back at 2008 and then I will lay out our continuing vision of what that generosity will look like in the coming months.  Let’s be that church that continues to see beyond…

Have you signed up for the Financial Peace University seminar starting February 15?  I have.  I know I can benefit.  There is another informational meeting about the seminar this weekend.  Can you imagine if we all went through this together?

Something to think about.

I can’t encourage you enough to start pursuing financial responsibility and freedom!

Whether you are living paycheck to paycheck, dealing with ever-increasing debt, are unemployed, face retirement, are considering the price of college, or just aren’t on the same page as your spouse, there is something we can all learn to do better with our own finances.  We will spend this whole series learning how specific Scripture is in teaching about finances.  Please avail yourself of the practical help we will continue to arrange during these weeks, particularly the Financial Peace University seminar that starts in February.

This year will surely offer new opportunities for outreach to others – both individually and as a church community.  A year of financial struggle for many families must be the year when God wants his church to respond with even greater compassion!  At the completion of the Money series, I want to begin to share ways we can help many people experience the fullness of life that God designed. 

This weekend Josh will be sharing what God’s Word says about budgeting and financial planning.  For now, it’s back to the books for me, as I prepare to defend my dissertation this Tuesday.

See you this weekend!

Happy New Year!  (Just a few days late…)

This should be the final month in my pursuit of a PhD at Temple University.  The oral defense of my dissertation is scheduled for January 27.  As I bury myself in a re-read of my written work for the 100th time, and continue to find new areas and experts of possible dissension with my position, I am reminded of how many “scholars” exist on some of the most obscure points of theology.  My dissertation suggests that the book of Jude illustrates first century ties between Jewish Apocalypticism and Gnosticism and that the author discerned that Christianity was being used as a catalyst to move from the former to the latter and wrote a letter disputing that move.  Here’s the point: There are actually a lot of people who disagree.  And I didn’t even think anyone cared.

And here’s where this takes me.  While all the scholars and doctors and professors debate the finer points of theology, there is one undeniable existing truth.  God loves me.  He loves me enough to sacrifice his Son for me.  And if that can be our rally cry for 2009 then we can’t go wrong this year.  In a predicted year of doom and gloom we have the greatest source of hope available.  And in 2009 if we can introduce more people to this living hope than ever before, then everyone wins. Even if nobody agrees that Jude wrote a letter against early Gnosticism.

I am excited about our first weekend series of the year.  ”Money: owe nothing but the debt of love.”  These five weeks are about hope and help.  Don’t be deceived into thinking this is about giving and stewardship. This is about giving you and the community helpful resources and God’s view on how to get through tough economic times.  Let’s learn together.

And just two last-minute reminders.  First, please visit our website to nominate candidates for the Governing Board.  You only have until tomorrow and the more suggestions our Nominating Team has to interview the healthier we are as a church.  And secondly, to answer your questions about your Faith Promise contributions, just make your checks out to PAC (or Princeton Alliance Church ) with GCF (Great Commission Fund) noted on the memo line.  And feel free to write one check for all your giving and just note the funds and amounts on the memo line.

See you this weekend.

I was watching a video clip of Jeff Singfiel, one of our CMA missionaries in Bosnia.  He was watching the garbageman pick up his trash and the thought occurred to him that no one has ever prayed for that man.  Then his mind began to think through the generations preceding this man and he wondered if anyone ever, in time immemorial, had ever prayed for this man and his generations of family.  Then he prayed.  Jeff said that he felt so privileged to possibly be the first believer ever to pray for this family.

It is men and women like Jeff that I feel privileged to support.  I can’t be there but I can support them through my giving and praying.

So I can’t help myself.  I have to put out one more reminder that this weekend we will be celebrating the mission funding that God is going to raise up through PAC in 2009.  In these last two days I trust you are confirming what God has spoken to you regarding your part in this.  Come prepared to hand in the tear-off section of the Faith Promise at the service you attend.  

Rick and Tammie Romano will be with us this weekend.  They are our missionaries in Ensanada, Mexico.  Wait until you hear his heart for the people he has chosen to live among.  You might add an extra “0″ to your Faith Promise after listening.

See you this weekend.