Spring-a-thon May 12-13… find out how to serve

***update:  there is a lot going on here so please choose where you’d like to serve.  In other words, you don’t have to do it all.  Thanks***  Go to our facebook page to let us know when you’d like to help:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Church-Lancaster-County/130550805890

Spring-a-thon is coming May 12-13.  It has become a joke that it always rains on Spring-a-thon, but there is a reason we’re always talking about rain…it’s because we’re always there.  You can count on Team Church pitching in and serving the town.    This is really what we love to do most in town…just serve the people we live around!  You can serve in at least three areas.

Fun Run 3k

Again this year we are leading the Fun Run 3 k.  Please come and enjoy yourself with this event.  Run or help direct the flow, pass out water, medals, and encouragement.

Check out the route starting at the First Citzens’ Parking lot here:  http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/88932743/

2011 Fun Run Participants

Bouncy House

Also we will be operating a bouncy castle and obstacle course (courtesy of Covenant Baptist in Lancaster :).  We could use plenty of help with putting up and down the equipment and supervising children.

Pro Tennis Exhibition

Team Church has also been asked to help out on Sunday evening at the Tennis event.  This will be such a neat experience!  We need some volunteers who can prepare brownies and have them placed in a snack baggie for the event.  This could be done ahead of time and we will need a total of 150.

Also, for the Sunday event we need folks to welcome and assist with crowd flow and parking and inflating helium balloons.  Get times and more info from the Tennis Exhibition Flyer.

Spring-a-thon Fun Run

Spring-a-thon is coming up soon and that means that Team Church will be conducting a Fun Run.

This is a 3k run that we have been asked to lead the last couple of years.  Dr. Howell, our local dentist has always supported the race with medals, trophies and t-shirts.   And the AJ Football team has always brought a team to run.

Kershaw FUN RUN for the Spring-A-Thon May 12th @ 8:00 am

Here’s an opportunity for us to provide a kind service for our community.  Let me know if you want to help with the event.

Races Coming together in Kershaw

Jamie Rogers is a pastor friend of mine.  He pastor’s Kershaw Second Baptist and volunteers at the prison with me.  We usually share with each other what’s happening in our respective churches and collaborate on sermon ideas.  Yesterday we talked about being a GRacist (see previous post).  That’s when he shared with me the following.

Right now he has a men’s fishing expo planned and a block party for the homes closest to his church building ready to go.  He is trying to reach those who fish and the families that live near their building, which so happen to be predominately African-American.

Way to go Pastor Jamie Rogers for reaching out in our Kershaw community!

A heart beat of mine is that a multicultural church rise up in Kershaw.  I pray that we become racially diverse at Team Church even more.

Whether worshipping with all races in Kershaw is your desire or not, we cannot be blind to the impact of race relations.  After the February shooting of Trayvon Martin, this white mom of adopted black children wrote an excellent post about how white our world is.  Please click on the text below and read the whole blog that Jamie recommended to me.

Jen Hatmaker writes:

But then we decided to adopt two children from Ethiopia, and in November 2010, as I was shopping for their very first care package to send over, I was standing in the middle of the Target toy aisle, and I sent out this SOS text:

Where are all the black baby dolls? 

I sat down in the middle of Target and cried my eyes out.

How did I never notice this? How was this my first sense of outrage over this discrepancy? How could I have yammered about the end of racism and “a fair system” when evidence to the contrary was staring me in the face every single day?

Elevation in Kershaw…God’s Hand on Kershaw

Last week was really exciting for me at the prison.  I am one of the chaplains at Kershaw Correctional Institution.We had a very special service that featured several pastors from Elevation Church.  Elevation has “adopted” our prison chapel as one of their Extension campuses.  That means that weekly one of the worship services we provide is the same video that other campuses use.

What made this service so special is that Pastor Steven Furtick preached on Thursday at Kershaw.  He speaks at the largest venues in the world, so it was super cool of him to say, that he really wanted to come to Kershaw to see what was happening for himself.

If you’re reading this blog from anywhere else in the world, you simply can’t know what it is like to see God work in Kershaw.  There is some kind of special anointing about this place.  For Kershaw to be out in the proverbial nowhere, a lot of really neat things go on here–even in prison.

This is just another example of the hand of God resting on us in Kershaw.  (We also have had Norman Geisler preach at Kershaw’s chapel).

For many people, they won’t see it.  They say, “you got to go thirty minutes to get to a Walmart.”  That may be true, but God’s got his hand on Kershaw, and Walmart doesn’t carry that!

Team Church is in Kershaw because Kershaw is special to God!  I’m so glad that we were called to this mission.  I guess this would be the time to insert “We are Lancaster?”   mmm…. 😉

Protege series…why?

It was Gordon Hann who originally prompted me to consider doing a series on apprenticeship/mentoring.  I have always appreciated mentoring, and have sought out mentors especially since 2000 when I moved to Kershaw.  I was young, and I had just entered a new profession in which I was extremely inexperienced. I didn’t want to make mistakes, and I knew that I needed help.  I found someone who was a great mentor for me, and he was really good at it.  Since then, I’ve always wanted to mentor others the way the Bible describes it.

So, with that suggestion, I am developing the series called, Protege.  Everyone needs help to rise to the challenges of life.  God’s wisdom says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).  My hope is that everyone will see themselves as someone who needs sharpening by a mentor.  And I also hope that this inspires some to mentor others.

Maybe you felt as I did when you entered a new profession, began a new grade, or started at a new school.  Perhaps you feel you need help in a couple areas of your life, or maybe you just want to try something new.  Maybe you feel like you’re horrible at everything you try, and you really feel alone.  There just maybe someone God is preparing to help you rise up to the challenge.

God already knows your potential…be a protege!

Serendipitous to Purposeful (and all in between)

Yesterday for Easter I explained that things are not coincidental…that God has made a world with order and design including the way of Salvation through Jesus Christ.  Yesterday started the series I’m calling “Not so Random.”

Scott Whaley and Steve Miller

On the other hand…

this picture just got emailed to me.  It was taken earlier this year at a party where by shear coincidence Scott and I dressed very similarly.  Everyone got a kick out of the “pastoral uniform.”  And this is Scott imitating me for the camera.

Therefore, I will say that some things obviously appear unguided by the Divine.  Yet, what is clearly the work of the Master Planer is that these two dudes are working side by side in church planting in Kershaw!  Starting from what seemed to be serendipitous meetings to purposeful planting indicates that God is in control of us.  So remember (me too!) that not ever detail needs stressing, and God is in control…trust Him.

Here’s a little quote I like to think about sometimes:

Good Morning, This Is God!: I will be Handling all Your Problems Today. I Will Not Need Your Help — So Have a Good Day. I Love You!

–Steve

Volunteering at Youth Serve

I had a great time with Youth Serve today in Kershaw.  I was a supervisor paired up with with a Youth Serve Staffer and his campers.  We had the job of spreading a mountain of fresh mulch over the Haile Gold Mine Park   Of course, other Youth Servers were roofing while some were repairing a deck at another home.  And that is just what they accomplished in one day (and Thursday is the short work day of the week)  I think that they took one look at me and thought I was best suited to use a shovel and wheelbarrow…I’ll take that as a complement!!

As I write this, the youth are probably playing some wacky water games or splashing in the pool to cool down after a HOT day.  Tonight they will have great food and a really wonderful time of worship.  Youth Serve is a terrific camp for teens, but I always enjoy volunteering too each year.

Today, I invited my dad to come with me, and he’ll be back tomorrow to direct some youth servers to install handicap bathroom fixtures for one Kershaw resident.  This work means so much to those who are helped, plus, the campers, staff and volunteers always feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.  It is hard work, but it makes you feel great knowing that you’re making someone’s life brighter.  This has been my father’s first experience with Youth Serve, and I hope that it has inspired him to come again in July.

The next week of Youth Serve is July 13-17, where you can volunteer too, or if you’re between the ages of 13-19 you can be a camper!  This year, I could only volunteer one day during the week, but it is so worth it.  I hope many of you can at least take a day during the next week to volunteer a little time.  Check out their website for more details.

This Sunday we’re ending the Summer Love Series with a look at the marriage of David and Bathsheba.  It wasn’t a great start, but through repentance and working together, we have some positive examples to glean.  Probably a lot of relationships have rocky starts, but God can do something when both partners are committed to God and His ways.  This week will be a very encouraging message for your marriage.  See you there!