Important Topic at Church Tomorrow

First, thanks for praying for me. I really hated to be out sick last Sunday. Frankly, I liked being able to say that I had never done that in a dozen years. But I suppose the odds were against me keeping a perfect record on that. Anyway, Dennis did an awesome job, didn't he? I'm about 90% now, and doing much better each day.

And I'm excited about returning tomorrow after not teaching for 2 Sundays in a row.

Tomorrow, we deal with one of the most important subjects of our lives. It absolutely affects everyone, and most people - single or married, teenager to older adults - talk about it or think about it more than we might admit. It is very important to our culture, to our lives, to our families, to the health of our marriages and dating relationships. The topic?

Sex.

There. I said it. Tomorrow, I'll say a LOT more about it. More importantly, we'll hear from the Bible about it.

If you want to stay away, that's your choice. But I can assure you of this: I'm not shying away from it. It's important. The Bible has a lot to say about it. I believe that God wants to talk to us about it. And my #1 life role - like your #1 life role - is to listen to His voice and do what He says. I feel very strongly that God wants me to teach the Biblical perspective on sex and I believe that He wants the church (OUR church) to put the subject on the table.

Whether you are single or newly married or married for decades; whether you are a teenager or an adult; regardless of your life's situation, this message is for you and will have practical application for you.

And, as is the case most Sundays, we have a very cool twist that you will not want to miss (nothing inappropriate, I promise.)

NOTE TO PARENTS: If you are a parent of a school-aged child, I completely respect your right as a parent to decide whether or not you want your kid to hear about this topic. But if I can say this as a word of advice: We're certainly not going to talk about mechanics. We're talking about what God has in mind when it comes to sex. Your teenager is talking about it and thinking about it, whether you want to admit that or not. So I encourage you to let them be a part of tomorrow's service. Younger kids (through 6th grade) are always welcome upstairs in First Steps and PowerJAM.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Brian

No Perfect People Allowed

Guest blogger Beth Brawley serves PCC as the Director of Creative Arts. Following are her thoughts about John Burke's book No Perfect People Allowed.

Recently I took a few days away to do some reading and recalibrating.  Often, the pace of work at PCC is incredibly intense.  I've built into my schedule some study break time that allows me to do some long-range planning and programming. It's become a valuable asset in my striving to be and do all that I am called to in this season of life.

On my most recent break, I read several books (and reviewed each one on my blog, which you can visit here).  Brian had handed me a copy of John Burke's No Perfect People Allowed with a few encouraging words (something along the lines of, "Hey. You need to read this book.") So I did.

It was a great read, full of grace-filled stories that made me cry more than once. Burke is the lead pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, and as he writes about the role of the church in society he shares some incredibly compelling tales about his own experiences.

I took a minimal notes because I was drawn into the book more holistically than I expected. Initially I was underlining passages with glee - until I remembered that the book belonged to someone else (my pastor). I hope he doesn't mind that I wrote all over the first chapter in his book.  Oops.

Here are a few salient points from my reading - they impacted me greatly for reasons having to do with my personal process as a Christ-follower, as well as reasons having to do with the mission of Powhatan Community Church:

• Burke quotes Barna in a profound statement about the church's role in today's world: "(...the role the church must play is) that of a loving, authoritative, healing and compelling influence on the world." Boy, I love that - loving, authoritative, healing and compelling. Sounds a lot like Jesus.
• Truth has become relational. That's why our stories matter so much. Jesus manifests His presence through His work in people's lives.
• We are dealing with a generation of chaos, often a result of a lack of trust. So many people have been damaged by families and relationships - how can they easily trust in God?
• People resist arrogance - one of the questions they will ask when they look at Christians is, "Do I want to be like you?" If the answer is no, we have a problem.
• Burke says "Nothing has been more difficult for me than to watch people react in destructive ways to brokenness." Acting out of brokenness - even as a believer - can destroy you. The church must be a lighthouse of hope.
• Burke says, "Statements like 'Christ died for your sins' and 'God so loved the world' have been leached of all meaning for today's seekers." They won't believe it until they experience it from those who claim to follow Him.
• "To create a culture of grace, a leader must first experience grace - then give it out liberally." (Excuse me for a moment while I thank God for this, which has been my experience and which has been the impetus for my present situation. For which I am thankful, and by which I am overwhelmed....)
• Give up trying to fix people. Accept and love them in order to reconnect them with God.
• In order to lead others, you have to willingly follow God.

The book's most compelling section is titled Mental Monogamy: Creating a Culture of Sexual Wholeness. It's a fascinating, honest look at the way culture interprets and internalizes sexual behavior. Burke quotes Mike Starkey, who says, "Ours is a culture crying out for intimacy, but only able to conceive of accessing it through sex." It's a great discussion of why God's wisdom and ways bring life, and how that applies to our sexuality. Burke focuses on helping people become rightly related to God and truly willing to follow Christ, then guiding them to the freedom of following his ways. He says, "If we try to force people to morally approximate the gospel before they have the source of life-giving water, we spiritually dehydrate them." It's a great examination of why and how God's plan for sexual wholeness comes with the mandate for sexual intimacy to be within the confines of the marriage bed, and how the church can create a culture for restoration and sexual wholeness so that God's spirit can change hearts and heal lives.

Good stuff; lots of inspiration here for ministry, for our church, for the future. Burke's book is incredibly moving, with powerful stories from real people who were turned off by Christians and by the church, but drawn to into relationship with Jesus once the cultural clutter was cleared away.

Brian asked me to post here in order to do to you what he did to me.  If you're passionate about PCC; if you're part of the Core group of leaders; if you want to better understand how the church can most effectively function in a post-modern world, take it from me:  YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.

Click here, order it from Amazon and enjoy.  And let us know what you think.