For God's Glory: 10/8/17

10.13.2017

How are you planning to walk into church this Sunday morning?

HERE are the posts on this blog about walking into church.

Some of you may be thinking that is a dumb question.
You are planning to walk into church the same way you do all the time.
Before you stop reading, read this explanation of why that is such a deep, heart-revealing question.

We need to walk prayerfully into church.
One prayer is where you will sit this Sunday.

This doesn't mean pray that no one will be sitting in your favorite regular seat on Sunday morning
This does mean pray that you will find a seat with ministering to people around you in mind.
This does mean pray that you will realize God has you in the seat you are sitting in for a specific purpose.

Pray about how you can serve God and others.

Don't come Sunday morning as a selfish consumer. Sunday morning is not about you.
Come Sunday morning as a God-glorifying participant. Sunday morning is about God.

Here are a couple of resources to help each of us think about this question.

bookmark entitled "How to Love Your Church on Sunday"
article entitled "The Ministry of the Pew"
article entitled "Ten Commandments for Guest-Friendly Church Members"

video summary of the book How to Walk into Church.

HERE are the posts on this blog about walking into church.
I am planning to post more about this topic.

10.11.2017

A Family Without A Home - Rodgers Family Update

We are still a family without a home.
Thankfully, the picture below doesn't represent our current housing situation.
The smile of Jadyn's face shows that she is having some fun in the front yard while Jim is cutting the grass.

We were closing in on a house near the church. One of the dilemmas was a low, 6 feet, ceiling in the basement where one of the bedrooms and bathrooms were.

During the time we were checking to see if this could be changed or adapted, an offer was given on the house. So, it is back to the drawing board.

Well, last night I was talking with Josiah and I made the statement "We are a family without a home."

I realized there are at least three truths in that statement.

While we don't have a home, we have been EXTREMELY blessed by the Wilterinks, who have opened their house to us. We have also been EXTREMELY encouraged by our church family at West Cannon Baptist Church, the parents from Northpointe Christian School and friends & family from Toledo, Pennsylvania and all over the country. Many people are praying for us and looking out for us.
We are a family without a home - We are a family that doesn't have a house. So please continue praying for us as we continue our search for a house.
We are a family without a home - We are a family even if we don't have a house. So continue praying for Krista and me as we disciple our kids and try to maintain a sense of "normal" in our family. (Yes, I did put normal in quotes and if you know our family you will understand why I did that.

What made this news last night even more of a challenge/blessing was my lunch meeting at Mel Trotter Ministries (www.meltrotter.org) in Grand Rapids, MI.

One of the quotes that was shared during the Meet the Mission luncheon was
"People don't become homeless when they run out of money, at least not right away. They become homeless when they run out of relationships."

During this time in my life, our lack of a house has reminded me that God has richly blessed us with awesome relationships!

I will not say that this whole process has been easy.
I will say that God has been using this time to help us depend upon Him more and the stuff he provides less.

On the ministry front, things are going well. We had a great Paul Tripp Parenting conference this past weekend with 26 parents on Friday night and looking forward to doing it again this weekend with about 20 parents. You can check out some of the resources HERE.

I am also learning about other ministries in the area like Nort Kent Connect and Mel Trotter Ministries.

Parenting Weekend - Same Conference, Another Weekend

We had a great first weekend of Paul Tripp's Parenting Seminar

Looking to forward to going through the material again this weekend

with a new set of parents

Be sure to attend and/or invite people to the seminar .

Sign ups and more info at www.westcannon.org/tripp

The first session of the seminar along with a 12 minute clip "5 Questions Parents Must Ask" can viewed HERE

Here are the 5 questions.

What was going on?
What were you thinking and feeling as it was happening?
What did you do in response?
Why did you do it? What were you seeking to accomplish?
What was the result?

You Don't Need More Parenting Advice is an article Paul Tripp wrote about why he believe his book Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles is needed.

For other parenting posts, go to drodgersjr.blogspot.com