Faith that changes history - Hebrews 11

In my mind, September 1 and Hebrews 11 have something in common. That may seem a little grandiose in a minute, but I don't mean it to be any kind of ego statement at all. I just think Hebrews 11 relates a lot to September 1.

First, the chapter. Hebrews 11 is one of the most well known chapters in the Bible. It contains what is commonly known as the 'hall of faith'. It's a list of people who The Writer tells us acted in faith, which he also tells us, is an essential ingredient to pleasing God. In fact, The Writer even defines what faith is in v.1, "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".

His list includes the who's who of ancient Biblical stardom - like Abraham, Noah and Moses, and some lesser known people like Barak, Jephthah and Rahab.

None of the people in The Writer's list were perfect. All were flawed and sinned. But they were, nevertheless, people of great faith. The moved boldly at critical moments in response to what God was doing. Apparently, this pleases God.

9 years ago yesterday - on September 1, 2002 - a group of people moved boldly at a critical moment in response to what God was doing, and that day we held our first PCC service. (Now before you get all fired up, I'm not putting us in the same category as Abraham or Moses, I'm just seeing the truth of the text through time and into this moment.) We took almost no time to plan (2 weeks), we had no money and almost no people. We really had no idea how many would show up. I remember Susan telling me that 50 would be good. She was concerned I was going to be disappointed.

That first day, 9 years ago, 148 people came. I have no idea how most of them found out about it. The only advertisement we had was word of mouth, and there was little time to spread the word. On that first Sunday, we had our first baptism - 1 person. She was a teenager then. We still see her (with her family now) at PCC today.

From that first act of faith, God blessed our church and has taken us to places we never dreamed of on that first day. I wonder about the places we aren't dreaming of today that we will find ourselves standing in 9 years from now.

We are people of faith. We move on faith. We act on faith. We believe on faith. We live on faith. And when we do, God takes us to incredible places through an incredible journey.

Now that I think more about it, I'm sure that Hebrews 11 and September 1 have a lot in common.

A really Great Weekend

I tend to think that pretty much every weekend is good. God always shows up and great things always happen. But some weekends are exceptional, and while I occasionally can see a great weekend coming, normally it's a surprise when it happens. This past weekend was one of those. Let me share with you some of the great things that happened this weekend.

Saturday. When we launched our Saturday evening services, there was truly unbelievable attendance. 265...245...it was shocking. Now we've settled down to something more...predictable - around 100. What's great about that? A few things, actually. In the beginning, we had some 'missionaries'. These were solid PCC'ers who wanted to come on Saturday just to support what we were doing. I can't tell you how critical this was (and still is to some extent), and how grateful I am. But now many of these folks have said, "OK, I came for a while and now I'm going back to Sundays." That means that now we have a pretty good bead on how effective Saturday evenings are. Something like 80-100 adults (plus around 25 kids) are coming fairly regularly on Saturdays who would not or could not come on Sundays. That is incredible. If we can make it through the historically low month of July, we'll be home free.

Baptism. Off the top of my head, I think we baptized 63 people in our biggest year (both baptisms combined). Next Sunday, it looks like we'll baptize OVER 70 PEOPLE in ONE baptism!!! I met several folks yesterday who want to go public with their commitment to Jesus Christ next Sunday with their baptism. It's truly incredible what is happening.

101. We had a PCC 101 yesterday (part 1) and I got to meet a dozen or so people who love our church and what we do. These folks remind me that what we do matters and is effective. For the record, almost everyone in the room was someone who was not going to church when they came to PCC. Some had very little exposure to church at all. (I was also in that category as an adult, as we didn't really ever go to church when I was growing up). We are uniquely equipped and called to make a non-threatening environment for these folks, and the conversation in 101 today reinforced that in me again.

Transformational Moments. God really touched some people this weekend.

- One person told me that there was someone she had struggled to forgive for many years. That person, she said, was on the bottom of her 'list'. God used the message to help her see that she was in the same boat - neither got 100, both needed Jesus, and she finally forgave.

- Another told me that he had prayed today for the first time to accept God's grace through Jesus Christ and offer Him his life.

- One of our staff pastors had an opportunity to pray today with someone as they also committed their life to Jesus.

- I met two people today (independent and unconnected to each other) from European countries, both of whom raved about PCC and how there is nothing like what we do in their hometown across the Atlantic.

- A couple approached me last night to excitedly ask me for the scripture reference I quoted in the message. "Philippians 3:4-11," I said. Then I noticed the lady flipping through the Bible we had given to her a few minutes before. She began in Genesis and flipped, trying to find Philippians. I helped her get there, and she pulled out a highlighter and marked the scripture. It was obvious that God was really working in them both.

- Jim Mustian, our PCC Bookstore Manager, told me today that we have given out 1690 Bibles...before yesterday's services.

The bottom line is this: God is at work at our church, people's lives are changing, and it is a great privilege to be a part of it!

Don't miss the historic baptism next Sunday. See you there!

A Few Thoughts about this Weekend...

It was a great weekend at PCC! Of course, Memorial Day Weekend is historically low attendance, and that was certainly the case this year! It was our lowest attendance since July and the first time we've seen attendance go below 1,000 since August. But it was predictable - the weather was mostly good and it's hard to resist a 3 & 1/2 day weekend! (And a good bit of folks were able to join us online from the river, beach, pool or lake.)

Those who were able to be at PCC today (either physically at one of our campuses or online) got to participate in some really great music, the pinnacle of which was an unbelievable song that closed the service, written by our own Lindsay Harris. That song is not just good...it's awesome! You'll hear it on the radio some day. Can't wait to get some great original music recorded for a PCC album!

We dealt with a difficult subject today in talking about hell. Plenty of churches take it on, but I think God has uniquely equipped PCC to handle topics like this in a way that feels less judgmental to someone who's not used to going to church. I'm not trying to make hell sound like a vacation spot. Rather, I am trying to create a forum where people are willing to approach these tough subjects with an open mind. This requires that they set aside their pre-conceived notions about the church, based on their previous observations and experiences. To get there, I usually lean into the conversation with that person by trying to ease the tension somehow. That's why I began with the Far Side cartoons and pushed the envelope a little towards the end with the...'expressions' about hell that are part of our vernacular.

I'll post most of the scripture references I used as well as some of the basic emphases of the message in my next post.

It was a good weekend at PCC. I think we may have helped some folks. Using both our best work and the work that fell short - God showed up. He always comes through!