Shaving Cream Fight

Most years, Angie Frame graciously asks me to host the annual shaving cream fight at my house. Today was the day, and we had a pile of teenagers come over, cans ready, victory in their eyes, ready for war! It was a blast, as always. I heard that the Food Lion started asking people 'what's going on??' as our folks carted out can after can, cleaning their shelves of shaving cream. My back yard smells like a fresh blast of CLEAN.

One of the best parts of the day is found in the accosting of innocent adults who have come to get their kids. We plot together, young and old alike, covering the left and right flanks. It's like a pride of lions picking off unsuspecting gazelle's. They never really have a chance.

Except this year, Susan hid in the closet on the 3rd floor of our house. When we finally found her, she ran and locked herself in the bathroom. You know what they say about payback. I can't wait.

Check out my facebook page (and some of our teenagers') for more pictures.

So, it was a successful event. Lots of fun. I really love our teenagers!

Correction...

The post about David's Mighty Men from the day before yesterday was made by Brian, not Beth. Just a little technical problem there. Sorry for the confusion.

Exciting Changes are Coming...

As you may have heard by now, we are changing the way we do small groups at PCC. While our church has a high tolerance for change, we never change something simply for the sake of change itself. We change to be more relevant, to adjust to the needs of our community and to achieve excellence.

This new Small Group paradigm is different, but it will be much more effective. The Small Group Leadership Team has researched, prayed, argued and debated, and then settled on what they believe God is calling us to do. I believe it to.

So, come with us on our next big adventure!

Below, is what I wrote that will go into the new small group catalog, which you will soon see on a Sunday morning. Consider it a 'preview' copy!

Thanks for your support and enthusiasm about connecting people at PCC in real church - because small groups are where real church happens.

Brian’s Catalog Introduction

At PCC, we recognize that not everyone is at the same place in their spiritual journey. Some are still investigating the claims of Jesus and the Bible and trying to decide if they will follow Him. Others are ready to impact our community and the world and make a difference through serving. There are Christ followers who feel a calling to invest in a concentrated spiritual development or Bible study. Finally, there are some who long to be involved in a community where they can build friendships, have a base of support, and enjoy the company of others who are on the faith journey, too.

Regardless of where you are and what you need right now, we have a group for you! This new small group paradigm promises to meet your needs where you are. Because everyone is busy, folks have often felt that they had to choose between being in a small group and serving. But our new, semester-based system allows you to serve for a semester in an impact group then study intensely for a semester in an invest group and then learn together in a community through an involve group – all in the same year and without overloading your calendar.

The Small Group Leadership Team spent months unpacking and learning about this new way of doing small groups. They took their time and did it right. They gained the support of the staff and steering team, and I am completely sold out on it! I think this new system is the answer our church has needed. Make no mistake about it: The small group is where real church happens! If you haven’t been a part of small group life at PCC, there is no greater moment than right now.

So take some time today and sign up for the inaugural semester. Yes, we’ll tweak and make adjustments over the next few months and we look forward to your feedback. Still, there is no question in my mind this change will result in great improvement for the folks of our church. I look forward to hearing about how small groups have affected you!


Brian C. Hughes
Senior Pastor

David's Mighty Men

I'm reading through 1 Chronicles and came to a cool part today. 1 Chronicles 11:9 says that David became increasingly powerful 'because the Lord Almighty was with him'. But then, the very next verse is the prologue to a long list of men. V. 10 says "These were the chiefs of David's mighty men - they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord had promised." (emphasis mine).

Now, I am not David, and I'm not a King and PCC is not Israel. But I do think there is an important correlation here. Why wouldn't v.9 stand on it's own? Isn't the Lord Almighty enough? Certainly from many perspectives, He is. But v. 10 (and the rest of chapter 11) completes the picture and illustrates an important truth: God uses key people to support the leader so that the fullness of the Movement is accomplished. God put the mighty men under David's leadership, and they were a major factor in his success. To go further, he probably wouldn't have been successful without them.

So, I started thinking about the short history of our church and the moment that exists for us right now. Whether we were facing calm waters or stormy seas, there has been a growing group of strong, steady people who have supported me. They aren't blindly following - many of them have disagreed and debated and even admonished me. But mostly they just loved me, loved our mission, and their support has never wavered - even when they disagreed with some decision.

Many of the people reading this blog are these folks. During these past few weeks, you've gone out of your way to voice your steadfast determination for the success of our church and for me. Your fervent prayers, encouraging notes, powerful stories, and gentle reminders have meant more to me than you will ever know. The visible support from last Tuesday's meeting, too, was defining.

Chronicles isn't just a history of the Israelites...it's more than that. It's a lesson on how movements succeed and how they stumble. It's a teaching on what causes leadership to succeed, and what makes it fail. David had his mighty men and for a long time, Israel soared.

We are still soaring. And God is using you to make it happen. Thank you for standing beside me and our church through thick and thin. God is working through you in ways you will never know.

Faithful in Prayer

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." (Romans 12:12, NIV)

Yesterday, while we were in hours of difficult meetings, there was a group of people gathered at the church office praying. I can tell you that I knew it, I felt it. It would be hard to describe how grateful I am to those who were there. Just knowing they were praying for us and for our church was a source of great comfort.

I know that many others were also praying at other places, and I'm so grateful for them, too.

God is not just good when we like the outcome. He is good all the time. And one of the ways His goodness is apparent is through the faithfulness of His people. Thank you to all who committed time and energy to lifting us up to the King yesterday.

Turning the corner

Well...today was a defining day. I know many of you are hoping for good news...and I have it, but it's not in the form we had hoped.

The mediation meetings today were really long and exhausting. I thought we might be there for 3 hours. I was only off by half. We started at 9 and I left at 3:40. The bottom line is that we were too far apart. Therefore, we could not reach an agreement.

Why is this good news? Well, we needed to know some sense of direction. We would have liked to have put this behind us today, reached an agreement and moved on. Instead, we are still moving on. We'll do it by digging in, turning the matter over to the attorney and a couple of in-house folks who have some skill in these sort of situations and turning our attention to our core mission.

For a few months now, I have put an inordinate amount of time and attention into solving this dispute. So has Chauncey, Dennis, the Steering Team, others on staff, and some of our leaders and others in the church. Since we are apparently going to be a while before we have a resolution*, let's just focus on church again. I'm not saying that we forget the building. We can't do that. We're in the middle of the project and we have a responsibility to construction, the county, to continuing to raise money and to the bank.

Still, today - as hard as it was - was a good day. I feel...released. And I have a great idea: Let's just do church again! How about that? Let's just focus almost all of our attention on people again for a while. When the time comes and the arbitration process has run it's course and the project is ready for are attention again, we'll focus there to wrap it up. Until then, I think there are about twelve thousand people who need help, hope and a home.

So let's go get 'em!

Thanks for standing with us during this season. I kid you not: I'm really excited about this fall! And it feels good to think about focusing all my energy on our church and our mission again.

See you Sunday.

*What I mean by this is that the arbitration process is going to take a while - probably a few months. I don't like it, but it is what it is. We've done all we can. Now we have to wait.

Thoughts about last night

Last night, about 100 people from our church gathered to hear and ask questions about the state of our building, the dispute with our former builder, and where we go from here. I got feedback from several folks last night and throughout the day today. Everyone I heard from expressed passionate support for our leadership, for our church, our mission, and specifically for me, Chauncey, and Dennis. I am so grateful. I know you are praying and am grateful for your support and care. There are a couple of highlights that were very special that I thought would be good to share for those who weren't there.

There was a point when we were well into the meeting...I was taking questions and hands were going up all over the place. It was a great, productive conversation. I started to specifically look for folks who hadn't gotten to ask a question yet and saw this one guy towards the back who I didn't recognize. He hadn't yet asked any questions, so I called on him. His name was Mark and he said something like this, 'I was at PCC for the first time last Sunday. I heard about this meeting and thought I'd come tonight and check it out. I am really amazed by the unity that you all show about your church...' That's not an exact quote, but it's as good as I can remember. He was smiling, clearly impressed. We had made a positive impression, even in the midst of a difficult situation. I honestly had to fight to hold back the tears. It was such a great moment...a God moment.

And Mark helped to remind us all again that we are a reflection on Christ - no matter what setting we're in. How we live matters. People don't care what our faith proves. They care what kind of people our faith produces. Last night, God reminded us all that unity is key to the kind of message we send to those on the outside. Jesus prayed it like this:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20-21, NIV)

The greatest risk to our future is ourselves. If we were to begin to devour each other from the inside, it's the only way our church can fall. We must maintain the spirit of unity that we displayed last night, because it will speak volumes to our community. I've often said to the Steering Team something like this: 'We can get a bunch of decisions wrong, but if we have unity our church will be strong. On the other hand, we can get make every decision right, but if we are divided our church will fall apart.' Nobody wants to be a part of a divided church. I came from an environment like that. Going through that kind of conflict as a church is no fun for anybody, and growing a church in conflict is nearly impossible. New people avoid it like the plague.

Unity does not mean that we don't have honest debate and honest disagreement. We're never going to agree on everything. Two people who have been married for half a century don't agree on everything, how can we expect a thousand to do so? That's why we structured our church the way we did, with team empowerment, the Steering Team, the staff - each with their roles and authority. It helps to ensure that we have healthy debate while limiting unhealthy conflict.

Unity is not uniformity. Unity is not consensus. Unity is rallying behind a central vision that drives us into the future together. Our mission is about reaching people who are far from God and outside of other churches. It's never been about those who are already Christ followers. Jesus calls us to give up ourselves to serve others. Somebody always gets upset when I say it, but, frankly, it always gets me jazzed up. So, I'll say it again: If you are a Christ follower, it's not about you. That's the essence of our church. Selfishness has no place here. Unity behind our mission does.

So, keep that spirit of unity the positive, driving force at PCC. When someone is complaining, gossiping, rumoring, etc., put a stop to it. Unity - the kind of Unity that Jesus prayed for for us is absolutely key to our future. It impressed Mark and it will impress the thousands in our community who don't go to church.

Thanks again for those who came last night. Your support and encouragement was overwhelming. It was an evening I will never forget.