A Double Portion

This a rare thing. I'm writing minutes before I leave for worship at LSCC but when you have an idea, with my mind, I have to get it down or I'll forget it. I've just been through one of the most difficult weeks as a pastor. Last weekend, I performed a wedding ceremony for a wonderful new couple. They are high school sweet hearts, faithful followers of Jesus and are in Hawaii at this moment enjoying a honeymoon. What an honor to join them in marriage! Then we had Sunday service which was another blessing. The scriptures focused us in on prayer so we spent a good 30 minutes at the end praying together as a body. THEN, things got tough as we went from church to Brian Remmel's calling. His funeral service was on Monday. He is with the Lord and has no worries at all but his loss here is felt hard by his wife and two kids.

If it seemed like God's grace was in short supply last week, you can blame me. I know I had a double portion of it, as God guided me through this last week. A long weekend of high's and low's. A long week of trying to find the emotional energy to share what I'm about to share in a few minutes. Thank you for praying for me, I know God poured out His grace to me and even is about to do it again. The reality of it, there is an ocean of His grace that we can swim around in but sometimes we don't have the strength to dive in, so we rely on others to pray us into the ocean. There's more than enough to go around, even when I take double my dose in a week. Pray for the Remmel's to experience that grace today. Their week, feeling Brian's absence, was exponentially more difficult than mine. Go swimming yourself, there's plenty of water in the ocean. We can't do a thing that matters without getting wet! Blessings, Pastor Greg

Difficult Days

Sometimes it feels like you have to swim upstream to get through a day. Life is feeling like that right now. Aside from some nagging things like car problems, wet carpet at church, and sick kids, the sorrow of saying good bye to a friend is drawing near. Brian Remmel is a 44 yr old husband and father to two sons. He is at home under the care of his wife and family, waiting to go home to be with the Lord. He has battled valiantly an enemy called non-hotchkins lymphoma. Our prayer since this enemy returned to his body last December have been for healing and strength. God is about to answer those prayers, just differently than we had hoped. Brian will get to be in the presence of Jesus soon and we'll miss him terribly. He is really teaching all of us how to live while he lays at homes and dies. He has had courageous conversations with his family, opened his home to friends to say good bye and kept his eye on the Lord and His strength and comfort in these waning moments of life. God has used Brian to teach me how to love the dying, how to give assurances to them when they struggle to believe what they believe and how to reach out to a hurting family.

It is such a difficult time right now as we watch Brian's life slip away. But Ps 116:15 says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." This verse tells me, He's paying careful attention to what's happening with Brian. He's waiting for just the right time to call him home and not one tear being shed will be wasted from this suffering. Grace, Lord, we need your grace! Blessings, Greg

Here I Am Again

It always amazes me how time flies! Is it too late to make a new years resolution? We are still in the first 1/2 of 2010! I resolve to update my blog more often....not specific enough....every week! OK, so it's out there now and I feel better. Not sure anybody reads these things but I feel God's tug to give more of my reflections about this incredible journey of pastoring a new church in McCordsville, IN and about my life. Although, my life reflections might not show up every week due to the boring nature of it.

The Stream is still flowing and God is still showing me, this is His church, it was His idea and I just need to keep asking Him for the next step. Easter was a surprise, 165 attenders and 3 services! That's 50 more people than we had a year ago. Our attendance this year has averaged above 100 folks, we held a baptism service in March for 4 Streamers and in April 4 new people stepped across the line of faith and into God's Kingdom. My God has blessed me with a wonderful job, an incredibly wonderful wife and family and a good dog too. Thank you for your prayers! I know I am indebted to God's grace and I know He has poured it out on me (us) in such abundance becasue there are so many who pray for me, my family and this new church.

Talk to you next week! Blessings, Greg

Shocked

It's February 1st and I would describe myself as shocked by what has occurred over the last 12 months of my life. LSCC has been an experience of faith, blessings and surprises. God has been so good to us in every way. People continue to come and visit us weekly. I am shocked to say we've had only 1 weekend in our brief existence where there wasn't a new face in our congregation. God continues to answer our prayers for people. I'm shocked that we are thinking about next steps for our building. (Read the story on the website about how we got there.) We just finished a remodel and have grown to the point where we need to think about another one or another space or another service. I'm shocked that in 2 days I'll be the father of an 18 year old, who's graduating in May and hoping to serve 6 months in Brazil for Jesus. I'm shocked that I let 8 months pass between blog posts but sometimes the stream has risen and I've just had time to tread water.

So glad God called us to plant the church, to follow Him by faith and see Him work. It's been a great work in our lives and as a family. We can't wait to see what's next! Blessings.

A Good Day

Sunday was a good day for LSCC. Not that the other weeks haven't been good but Sunday seemed to be a mark, a spiritual step that we took together. It has been difficult to discern what God is up to at times. He certainly continues to send people to us every week. He certainly has sent us people with wonderful gifts and talents and passions to fill key roles of ministry. God has taken care of His new church! While I see so much of His grace involved in our 9 month journey, I wonder what is going on in the hearts of people. Sunday, I didn't wonder so much. The presence of God was heavy in our little sanctuary, people met with Him! Then we finished off the day with a family night. Parents and their children learning together. To top it all off, a neighbor of the church came on Sunday for the first time. He came back to family night with his horse and gave all the kids a chance to ride. This was a good day! Ps 66:5-6, "Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people! He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and his people went across on foot. There we rejoiced in him." Yes, God is doing great things, continues to, both visible and in the hearts of the Streamers. I am rejoicing in His care, His calling and His church. The boundary lines for me have fallen in pleasant places! 

Signs of Life

The sign appeared today, ready to broadcast 24/7 that God is doing a new thing! We're still waiting on the stone columns for the ends and we'll add more dirt to the base. How exciting!

A Double Blessing

I am living this amazing life right now. God's hand has moved every week since we started this new church. Our meeting place has been a visible expression of that. On February 22, 2009, I received a double portion from Him. First, the Sunday morning attendance was a BIG surprise. 5 new families stopped in and we approached the century mark with 97 souls! Wow, there is no explanation other than God working to draw people to His church. The second blessing happened in the afternoon. Normally, I need a good nap to recover from Sunday's effort but I committed to leading a Vespers Service at Westminister village at 3pm. I confess, I wasn't looking forward to it, largely because of fatigue. The service was 30 minutes and there were roughly 30 elderly residents that came to hear from God. As I shared with them about the Lord's prayer, God touched my heart as their eyes looked on at this young guy with hardly any life under his belt compared to them. Their faces expressed love, encouragement, agreement, excitement and gratefulness. They sang some old hymns, listened intently and then prayed. After the service they shook my hand, invited me back and blessed me with there encouraging words. I even received a kiss on the cheek! I believe in Prov 16:31, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." These wonderful people spoke God's love to me and filled me to overflowing that day. I'm looking forward to when I can return and fill up again on the wisdom behind those eyes that loved me so much like Jesus. Blessings, Pastor Greg