MK040 Sermons
Forward Movement (Audio)
but this is the day that we've been talking about over the last few weeks and months is the time when we are wrapping up the years that God has given to us here at Gaymen's Menonite School and the opportunity to be involved in our weekly worship services and many other activities that took place here. So as part of this, remember that part of the process of transitions, we all have these transitions that take place in our lives. Transitions from a home that we live in are a school that we attended or place it at meaning and value, and as we're in the process of making these transitions. We recognize for some of you, you've been here through this whole journey. Someone was reflecting with me this morning earlier that they've been here the whole time we have been here. And so the service this morning, we believe for some of you will bring back lots of memories of things that have happened. And for others, you're new to the journey with us. And so for you, it'll give you a glimpse and hopefully give you a taste and a sense of what God has done here in our church while we've been here at Gaymen's Menonite School. And so we've got a number of different things that are gonna help us navigate through that journey. But for those of you that don't know, we originally are one of the first places that we met for services was just down the road and five point bill at the chapel where our church meets and where our offices are, excuse me. And we were meeting in there and as we were meeting there, the building was getting a little bit full and I think it's gonna come up here. There we go, a little too fast there. The building was getting a little full and so we were trying to figure out what to do and we had filled up our spaces down below with our kids ministry. And so we weren't sure where they were gonna go. So kids met in the fire hall next door. They met down the road at a member's house. They actually spent the summer out in the field in the back and the tent. There's a little bit like the children of Israel. They were in a tent all summer, but only for the summer. That's all we left them out there for. And so we were trying to figure out what God was going to do and where were we gonna go? And at that time, we had contacted the local school districts and we had asked them about us possibly meeting in there where the schools are. And if you know anything about churches and schools around the country, there's a lot of churches that meet in schools in other parts of the country. But both of our school districts that we border, neither one would allow us to rent on a long-term basis in their facility. And so we were not sure what we were gonna do. I remembered as I was driving home one day that an individual said to me, who was attending our church several years before, he said to me, he said, "I have this prophecy about where you're gonna meet. I wasn't sure what to do with the prophecy piece." But he said, "You're gonna one day meet a gay men's men in night school." I was like, "Gay men's men in night school. I didn't know anything about school, didn't know anything about it." I just kind of dismissed it. I was driving home from church at 5.1 Sunday afternoon. I remembered that comment. Gay men's men in night school. So I drove and I just assumed it was just the school bin. I drove around the back and all the years of driving back before they did not know that the gym existed. And so I drove around the back and found and saw the gym and came inside, met Mel Weaver, who was a principal at that time and began to have conversations with him about the possibility of us meeting here. And so that's really how our connection to gay men's began. And as we were preparing for that transition 18 years ago, Mel Dob, who's here on the stage with me, she was one of the ones that was involved in that process. So I have asked her to come join me here on the stage just to talk a little bit about that experience. And so Mel, can you talk a little bit about what was it like when we first came in and we saw the gym after being in the chapel and kind of running out of space there? Well, it looked huge. And it, the idea that we would have classrooms to spread out and have our kids actually in the same facility was pretty amazing. So it was just really exciting and I could not have imagined that we would ever fill the space here. So tell us what were some of the things that we did to get ready for the transition of this space? Well, I remember when you talked to Greg and I about kind of leading or heading up that that I was thinking, how would that ever possibly work? And Greg and I went to visit a church. I don't know if you remember the name of it, but it met in a YMCA. So we went down one Sunday to watch them to see how someone would use a space like this and pack things up and unpack it. That was kind of a fun experience watching that. So then when we got back from that, I spent a lot of time looking for sales on bins and bought lots of bins and tubs, stacked them in the back of my van and carted them around. And then what we used a horse trailer. Yes, I think Paul By has found us a horse trailer in Virginia, so West Virginia. I don't know if we ever got a title for that thing. Paul, I'm thinking we didn't, but Paul tracked that down for us. And in reflecting back on that, Greg reminded me, I don't know how I forgot this, but he reminded me that while he was towing it with his Jeep, he ripped the hitch off the Jeep and was-- It's a very heavy horse trailer, as I recall. Yeah, there's a lot of damage to our Jeep and we had to go to our neighbor and have it welded and fixed. So one of the unique things about the experience here that when we first came in and started using building was the chairs. How about the chairs? Yeah, they looked like that. They were in pretty bad shape and a little scary. You didn't necessarily trust all of them. But over time, we partnered with GMS and we were able to purchase together the nice chairs that you're sitting on now. As we outgrew the horse trailer and we're trying to figure out what to do next, Mel's husband, Greg, located this vehicle for us in Reading, the infamous blue truck. And I don't know about the blue truck. This old mares bread truck is what it was that someone found. And one of our guys at that time, Gary-- one of our guys, Gary Musselman, came up with this idea of retrofitting this bread truck so that we could put all of our stuff in. And so he built this steel ramp on the back that weighed a couple hundred pounds. I don't know, that thing was really, really heavy. And he also designed the truck so that when you walked into it the first time there were metal bars that would be about this high. So I think most of the guys came out with head wounds. They're shaking their heads. They're remembering the head wounds from that experience. But the truck was quite a scary experience because you're driving a truck packed with several hundred pounds of stuff down the hill in 897 to park it at the chapel. And that was a very scary experience. But that met our needs for a number of years as well. But one of the cool things about the experience here with Gaiman's is the opportunity to partner with them and for them to allow us to add things to the facility. And so we've added things like the speakers that are above us, the ramp to the shed out back, screens, drapes around the side, lighting and cages on those and some additional drapes. And a lot of these things Gary was involved in overseeing those projects for us. And Gaiman's was very gracious in letting us partner with them to make that happen. One of the unique things about this experience that took place was this thing called setup and tear down that happens every single week. And Melody talked about having a chance to observe that. And let me just ask in this room, how many of you have ever been involved in setup and tear down here at Gaiman's? OK, look around this. So this is kind of like a church-wide experience. So go ahead and roll that video, Kevin. So what we do is we arrive every Sunday morning at around 7 o'clock. Sometimes the sound guys are there even a little bit before 7, sometimes 6, 6, 30. And they begin the process of transforming this building into a place that we can use, that can meet our needs, and we can serve, we can worship God. Our kids can be challenged and taught God's truth as well. And one of the things that is important when you go through transitions in life and something ends and something begins is to look at the things that you will miss. Now, I'm not going to take a poll and ask how many of you will miss setup, because I know the answer to that already. But there is something that is lost. You say, what is lost, John? Well, about 10 years ago, one of the missionaries that we support PV, he said to me, he said, John, how are you going to replace what happens when all these people serve side by side, weekend, and week out? And so one of the things that does get lost is the camaraderie that we experience. As especially for men, we get to serve shoulder to shoulder with one another on a period of time, as you have to set up and tear down in the rain, and in the snow, and in the sleet, and the hail. You're like the postmen. You don't know matter what the weather. But there's some other cool things that happen from this as well. When I watch our students, and they do set up, our middle school and high school students do set up. And when they get the clipboard that walks around and check it off what's being done, and then they're growing into those opportunities to lead their peers to do this as well. So as we see this season of our experience here at Gameons come to a close as you're watching the transformation take place very quickly on the screen behind me. There's something that we will not miss. I had someone say to me, so are we going to tear down the chairs at Reinholds? And I said, are you out of your mind? What are you kidding? And no, we're not planning to do that. They're going to stay up until we have the other space ready. And then we can move into that and be able to enjoy that space as well. So it's a part of our history. It's a part of what God allowed us to happen. It's a part of what took place. And we feel very grateful for the partnership with Gameons. As Glenn and I were reflecting a little bit about all the changes, and we just showed you a few of them. Unreminded us of the parking lot that we use every week. And the shed that we store, most of it we store, and they use storage as well, just so many different things that they were willing to allow us to do here and to partner with them to make the facility meet the needs that we had. One of the other things that was unique in the way that had happened was this place allowed our kids' ministry. So it looks like we're about set up there, Kevin. So we're in good shape. So it was our kids' ministry is one of the things that allowed it to happen here. And Christine, who's on the stage with me, she led our kids' ministry for the first 15 years here at CCC and has since transitioned to oversee and serve in our-- excuse me, to serve in our 56th ministry. So I've asked her to talk a little bit about the opportunities that our children's ministry had to grow and develop here at CCC. Christine? Although the children's ministry did not begin at Gameons, it definitely developed here. And one of the first changes we made after a few years of being in here was to move to a large group small group format. And I remember that first week I paced around our park that Sunday morning, revealing my lesson, because I realized now I was not just going to be talking to kids, but there would be adults in there as well. And it was highly intimidating for me. But the benefits of that change were amazing, because now we had people who could do music, and that was their strength, or work one-on-one with kids, and that was their strength. And so I'm glad to have pushed past that when we made that change. But our first large group was on those steps in the hallway, we created our own little amphitheater. And then they used the rooms for their small group breakouts. And later we transitioned back to the rooms, because it was a little bit in the way when people would try to walk down there. But it worked right at first. The other change that we made was we moved to a 56th ministry, because we were right in the middle between Garden Spot and Kocalico. Middle school started at a different place for both schools. And we tested it out here in the modular building, backed by the shed. Once we had figured out how that would work, we transitioned them to the student venue on Sunday mornings, shuttled them down. But we would come back a couple of times a year, and one of them was our serving Sunday, and where they would serve up here with the K to 4th graders. The one thing about children's ministry that has to evolve in change. If you don't have change, it will die. And so there are things that we did then that we don't do now, but they still have great memories. And one of those was kids in tune. And that was a children's musical, especially known for the Christmas program that they would put on. And being in this building with a bigger stage and a bigger room that allowed for us as a church to grow and our kids too, as our kids were growing to have more space. The camp scholarship program didn't start here, but when we came here, this involved scripture memory things we didn't have time for on a weekly basis as much, and we wanted to have some block time on it. But it also involved letting kids test-drive serving. Especially as they came 5th and 6th graders, they would soon be able to be put on a schedule in seventh grade. And so it allowed them more opportunities, because here we were in a bigger facility that we could have more opportunities for them. And then it later expanded to include the middle and high school students who would use it for mission trips on other opportunities beyond camp. The last thing we started here was summer Sundays. And we chose to do that instead of a VBS program. It started in church with the whole church. It evolved into being outside in the tent, which worked great until we flooded one year and it was not good. So it was moved back inside the sound people were a little bit nervous that year. And so then it later transitioned to three separate groups. We had a preschool summer Sundays, the K to 4th, and then the summer 56. And the fact that it happened in the summer, we were allowed to leave everything up. And that was great, because usually everything we thought through with kids ministry had to be. What can you set up and what can you tear down? And our summer program, we were able to leave up for the duration, which was great. And then finally, most recently, we moved from children's ministry, which I use these words, because that's what it was all those years, to family ministry, where we have created a unity from the children's ministry all the way through the student ministry. And we'll continue that as we move into our new building. One of the, as Christine said, everything in life has a season. And one of the things that was a season in our church was an idea that we had come up with to reach out into our community. That was a soccer clinic. And so we merged the idea of a soccer clinic with helping kids understand truth and value from God's word. And Mel Dobb led that. And so Mel, can you talk a little bit about how the movement of that event here to game and allow that event to grow? Yeah, again, it didn't start here. But our space was so limited up at the chapel that we really had very few opportunities to serve a lot of kids. So moving down here, we were able to really open it up to the community. We had over 100 kids participate. It also, the space here and being able to use it allowed us to prepare and serve a meal every night of the clinic to not only the kids participating but their families as well, which, in turn, encouraged the families to stick around and watch and participate. And it gave us, as a church, an opportunity to get to know the kids and their parents and really impact them and get to know them. And just, it really gave us a great outreach from, you know, ministering to our kids here by teaching biblical principles and the community kids and families that came. GMS has been a place where God has allowed our ministry to grow and allowed our ministry to impact lots of people. And from the events for our kids that you hear, that you heard about, to some of the programs that we've been able to see happen on Christmas even other events, it's been a space that God has allowed for people's lives to be transformed. And one of the things we did as we were preparing for this time is we asked some of our students who were no longer students but who are now on the new season of their lives to reflect back on the way that the ministry that took place here impacted their lives and their growth and their spiritual journey. So watch this video and listen to their stories. My name is Alicia Mickless. As I look back at my faith journey, there are so many people who came into my life and encouraged, taught, and molded me into the person I am today. Ted and Linda Wolfe were welcoming leaders when I was in elementary school. They took my picture with a Polaroid camera. And since that was the only time I had ever had my picture taken with such a camera, I was quite fascinated. Greg Dodd became glived as he stood on a ladder to show us all how tall the giant was during the summer we held classes in a tent set up behind the chapel. My mom made the Bible come alive as we reenacted Paul's shipwreck and built bricks like the Israelites. My aunt, Rachel Mickless, led kids in tune and gave me an opportunity to try something new. As I moved into middle school and high school, I was given more opportunities to lead and grow. Carrie Pierce, Terry Maxwell, and Cara Taylor each led my small group at various points and were key influences as I made my faith my own. Mike Pierce reminded us over and over again that we were loved, which was so important for me to hear at that stage in my life. Each step of the way, I was given the time to grow, to learn, and to be guided into who God was creating me to be. [MUSIC PLAYING] My name is Katie Wolf Martin. I have so many wonderful childhood memories from kids ministry at CCC. I can still remember some of the songs we sang at Kids in Tune, and I learned so much from Christine's night class. I remember my first time sitting in Big Church. I was so nervous. Christine took the time to make up worksheets for us that corresponded with John's message, which were very helpful and fun to fill out. I loved youth group, especially middle school. I look back at middle school as a time of great spiritual growth. I remember that everything Mike would teach us was new and exciting and helped me move to the next level in my relationship with Christ. I was also very blessed by a wonderful group of friends who were always encouraging me in my walk of Christ. I remember when we picked the name "Flipside" for our youth group. As always, Mike made it fun and allowed us all to be part of choosing the name. We submitted ideas, and then everyone voted, and "Flipside" was chosen. My name is Teddy Wolf, a childhood memory of mine happened at Kids in Tune Christmas Play rehearsal when I was about first grade. Rachel Mickles always told us to keep our eyes on her, to know what was going on, and after the rehearsal, she cried and said she was proud of me for keeping my eyes on her the entire time. Another memory that stands out to me for my 10 years did not happen inside GMS. It took place on a flipside, now called C3 Trip to Jamaica. We spent a day at an orphanage with kids who have nobody to call mom or dad. And I realized how truly blessed I was to even have parents. My name is Gabby Weber. One of my first memories of CCC was joining JFK, just for kick soccer camp, and being a part of Kids in Tune. Being shy, Kids in Tune helped me open up more to people and to God. My name is Kristen Wolf. So many of my memories through all the years of my life are tied to CCC. I grew up here, but the first memory that came to mind was Christine's night class for fourth to sixth grade. I remember feeling like such a cool big kid when I was old enough to be in it. One memory in particular from it though. I was a stubborn child, in fact, I still am quite stubborn. And when I believed something rarely would I waver from it. As a kid, I hated shoes, so whenever possible, I would go without them. I never came with shoes, and Christine was concerned about the safety of my feet. So told me I needed to bring them. The next time I came with shoes, I just didn't wear them. I brought them and dropped them in the gym. Needless to say, I'm not sure she found this as comical and witty as I did. I remember Christine faithfully teaching all of the students. I learned so much through her class and had so much fun. I still remember part of the Greek alphabet and part of the map from Paul's missionary journeys. Even if I would buck her in areas such as refusing to wear my shoes, she loved us and taught us, well, helping me in all my peers learn and grow, no matter how challenging we were. My name is Nikki Dawb-Bainer. Thinking back over all the years I spent at CCC, it is extremely difficult to try and choose just one memory. From the time I was about to all the way through my first year teaching, CCC and the people who make CCC so special played a significant role in shaping and deepening my faith, my passion and my love for Christ. One defining moment in my life took place during my first trip with the youth group to jungle jump off in North Carolina. It was on this trip that I learned about ESL from a person who worked on the wood cliff face. Before then, I know I loved languages, learning about other cultures and working with kids, but I was unsure how I wanted to combine my passions. Now, 10 years later, I am teaching ESL full time and loving it. I have learned that I have a mission field here in the United States to love the kids that often feel out of place and who need to know there is someone who will support and believe in them so that they can be successful. [MUSIC PLAYING] My name is Heather Aldrich. I have many memories of fun times growing up at CCC. I've met so many leaders and friends who've touched my life and helped me grow my faith. One of the biggest things I learned in the gym of GMS was that God can use me anywhere. No matter how small the test we see, whether it's in Lancaster County spreading mulch or across the ocean in Jamaica, painting classrooms, you can use my gifts and talents anywhere. I also learned that though we may face many trials on this earth, there is always a heavenly Father waiting for me with open arms, no matter how many times I've messed up. I am so thankful for CCC and how everyone has shown me love and helped me grow my faith. I am anxious to see how God will use this new facility to reach out to more people. [MUSIC PLAYING] As you've heard me say, so on several occasions, we feel very blessed to have had this partnership here with GMS for our ministry to be involved here during this season. And Glenn Mueller's on the stage with me. Glenn's one of our elders, and Glenn has had a unique relationship with the leadership here at GMS. So I've asked him to tell you a little bit about that relationship and some of the interactions and how they have worked together and to offer their perspective of what life has been like, having us as renters in their space. So Glenn. Thanks, John. Yeah, that was a really neat trip down memory lane there, just seeing all the things that happened in this space that we were able to use it to minister to families here in the community. What I want to do first is I wanted to have anybody that is either on staff with GMS when I school or on the board to please stand so we can acknowledge you here this morning. So please stand up. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm going to talk a little bit about the relationship. I had the unique opportunity to act as the liaison between our church here and GMS Mennonite School. And so what I did is I'd attend the board meetings and we talked about issues that we had to resolve. And to make sure that as a community, a church facility here, we could use this building and work out any sort of conflicts we might have between those uses. And I have to say that it went very easily because the board has been very accommodating and easy to work with and very flexible. And especially the teachers, we know that they have to be flexible because every Monday morning they come in and their rooms have been shuffled by the setup and tear down crews. And we try to put them back in place. And some teachers would even mark diagrams on the board about where the chairs should go and where the desks should go when they're were done. And we tried to really honor that. But we do appreciate the flexibility and patience you had with us as we did that. Over the years, we dealt with how do we make this facility work for us? And when we came here, as Mel mentioned, this is used as a gym. And a gym doesn't really have to look like a church building for it to function as a gym during the school days. So there's a lot of work we had to do to turn it into a facility that we could use for a church service on a Sunday morning. And to do that, the board and staff here at Gaiman's has been very supportive and worked with us over the years. So we really appreciate that. We worked with them over the years on the cleaning facility, putting new things in here, wiring, all the things that we did, they were accommodating and flexible. Other things that they had to do-- as you know, it seems like over the last couple of winners, we had a lot of snowstorms coming on Saturday evenings. And they wouldn't have to clear the facility for their own use. But they would still do it to make sure that we could have our church services here on Sunday mornings. And that meant sometimes being out at five or five, 30 in the morning and blowing snow and plowing the parking lot in the driveway. So a lot of things and sacrifices they made for us. So those are all about physically accommodating us as a church here. But I think one of the neatest things about our relationship is kind of our shared vision and ministry. As I attended board meetings, they would ask me how things were going with the church. And they wanted to know about the things that we were doing and how we were affecting the community here and ministering to it. So they really had a share in our ministry. And I could tell that by the questions they asked. So we talked about some of our shared challenges and successes, both as a school and as a church, during those board meetings. And that was kind of neat to see that relationship and their interest. And we know that was really based on a shared common relationship we have with Jesus and the interest in reaching our community through both a school and a church. So that was, I think, really the highlight of my view of the relationship we had with me and Ms. Manley's School. So as we posed this time, would you just lead us in a word of prayer, thanking God for the opportunity and for the partnership and just asking God's blessing on the game and for their generosity in sharing this with us? Let's pray. Well, we thank you for Gamey's Midnight School and the ministry they have here in the community, reaching out to children, teaching them, giving them an education, but also raising them up and nurturing them in their faith. And we do thank you for what they do and the sacrifices they make for the school. But we also thank you for how they've accommodated us over the years and supported us. Physically, as we've met here and allowed us to use a facility to operate as a church. Most of all, we do thank you for the support they gave us as a church body and our shared heritage in you and how they took an interest in what we were doing here. And we pray right now for them, as they move forward as a school, they continue to give them success, as they educate in this community. And as we move away into another space, we can look back fondly in the memories we have here. And we thank you for that. And we pray all these things your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Glenn. You know, in that investment in people's lives really hasn't ended. It's still continuing on. And whether it's here, whether it's in another space, our prayers that God will continue to be at work. And one of our young adults is heading on to an opportunity for ministry for the summer. Some of you know Hannah Matthews, who's here with us. She's sitting over here. Hannah put your hand over there. So Hannah and her sister Sarah has recently joined her from Ghana, who's next to her there. But Hannah is heading out for the next three months to North Dakota, right? For some linguistics training. Hannah has a desire to be a linguist, to be able to help others be able to read and understand God's word in their language. So if you think about Hannah this summer, she'll be away from us. She's usually back there trying to read my mind at the operating the projection up here and does a very good job. So we will miss her being with us. And our prayers go with you this summer. We know it's 2007 when we started the conversations with our Deacon team thinking that this is a great space for us, but there's going to be a point in time where we needed a place that was going to be our own. And we weren't sure where that was going to be or what that was going to be. But as this season of our church life comes to a close and we're about to transition next week into the new facility, it would be very easy for us to have a sense of we've arrived. Especially with the amount of work and effort and sacrifice that has gone into preparation for that space up there. Just yesterday, there was over 50 people there working outside, working inside. And not just the people there yesterday, but the people that have been there all throughout this process. And the people that at the very beginning were interacting and trying to look at properties and consider properties and all throughout this process. There's just been so much that is poured in. It would be very easy for us to get to this place and do a big, ah, we're done. But the reality, and so the good news is that that step of the process is finished. But the reality is, is that our destination is not a building. That's not the end goal. That's not the end result. It's just a step along the way. Because we as a church do not exist just to build a building or just to renovate a building. That's not why we exist. We as a church exist as an organization that has a mission. And we believe that mission is for us to invite as many people as we possibly can, that they would know God fully and love God fully and love others deeply. You see, the Bible says our destination is not here or not another place on this earth, but our destination is heaven. And that we're just so journers in this place called earth. So what does this mean for us as a church? Well, I think we all have a sense that as we move into a new space and a new community that there's gonna be lots of people checking us out. And as they check us out, and as I've thought about this, my prayer is this. I know they're gonna be amazed by the building and the work that you all have done. They will be amazed by that. I know that. We've had so many comments already. That's gonna happen. But my prayer is that they would not just be enamored by a building, that they would be drawn to Jesus because of you. That's what my prayer is. That's my prayers. And they would be drawn to Jesus because of you, because they see something in your life. They see a love for God in your life that spills out as we talked about and a love for other people. As you welcome them, as you reach out to them, as you serve them, as you care for their children, as you come alongside and are with them in their life journey. You know, just like we as a church have been on a journey, the reality is, is for all of us, life is a journey. Isn't the song, "Life is a Highway"? I think that's a song somewhere, you know? But there's a lot of truth to that. There's a lot of truth to that. That life isn't about a destination. Just trying to get to here, it's ongoing and there's movement. I'm one of those kind of individuals that like to move. I like to learn, I like new things. I like new ideas. I like things that are new. I like to be trying and experimenting with things, new things, all the time. I'm not the kind of person that goes to a restaurant and I eat the same thing every time, but how many of you like me like to try new things? Okay, there's a few of you out there. We're all preparing for something new that's going to affect us as a church. And we're not quite sure what that's going to be all being like. But the reality is, for all of us, as we move into something that's new, we've spent this time over the last six or seven weeks talking about our values, talking about the things that are true about us, the foundational concepts, our core belief and our core purpose and our core values. And just to do a little refresher course before it comes up on the screen, we're on track here, Kevin. So good job back there this morning. So can someone, and you need to put your hand up here, can someone tell me what the core purpose is that we've been talking about over the last six or seven weeks? Can someone tell me that? Let me see a hand, who's going to tell me? Come on, you've got to put your hand up again. I've got a prize up here for you. If you don't put your hand up, you can open your Bible and pull out those old notes. So all right, what is it? Okay, love God fully, love others deeply. Now this has got to go a long way back there to you, Lloyd, you're ready? You better duck if you're in front of it. You better stand up, Lloyd, so I can throw it high. So I'll throw it high up to you back there. So all right, made it all the way back there. So it's going to come up on the screen here. Love God fully, love others deeply. That's what we said our church is to be about. We want to be a place that no matter who crosses paths with us, that they would have a sense that loving God with everything that we have matters more than anything else. And that out of that comes in love for other people. And then we begin to talk over the next few week about some value. So again, if you have your nose, pull your nose out, you can cheat, I don't care how you come up with this, but we've talked about some values. So who can tell me what the first value is that we've talked about? What's the first value that we've talked about? You got to put your hand up so I can see you or recognize you. That's not fair, but if nobody's going to put her hand up, I'm going to call her, go ahead, Alicia. Oh, no, that's number two, but I'll give you something anyway. So that's number two, so here you go. That's number two, you're ready? Help her, Steve. Oh, I got it to her, but. All right, number two is healthy relationships. Anybody know the first value? OK, Linda. Gracious acceptance, and you got a son sitting back there, man. He's-- all right, here it comes. You're ready? Coming back to you. All right. All right, so the first one is gracious acceptance. The second one, Alicia got is healthy relationships. What's the third one? Can somebody give me the third one? All right, we got to hand back there in the corner. What's the third one? OK, that's the fourth one. So man, that's way bad. I don't know how I'm going to get this back there to you guys. You ready? Here it comes, duck in front of them. So all right, nice catch back there. So all right, intentional rhythms. That's the fourth one. We're missing the third one. We've been talking about-- so what's the third one? All right, I got to go up here. Sorry, I can't throw that far, Tyler. So go ahead. Purposeful serving. Here you go. This is a nice short one right there to you, Dave. So come see me afterwards, Tyler. I got a leftover for you, so. So these are the values that we've been talking about. The things that we say need to be true about our church, the values of the core of who we are. We want to be a place that graciously accepts people. We talked about the woman at the well, that Jesus walked past all these barriers to risk being ostracized by the culture in the community to love this woman. Talked about healthy relationships, that what doesn't look like to be a part of God's family, the family of Jesus. We all have this family of origin, this family we were born into, with all these family rules, but what does it look like to be part of God's family? We talked about purposeful serving, about living out our purpose, living out our unique design, doing what we are wired to do. Talked about intentional rhythms of what does that look like for us to slow down and be with God. And then this week we want to wrap up by taking a few minutes and talking about forward movement. And as we talk about forward movement this morning, I want to just tell you a little bit of what God has to say about this area of our lives. And when we talk about forward movement, I believe what God longs for us is if we have a relationship with Jesus, that relationship should always be growing, it should always be moving. In John 5 verse 17, Jesus said this, "My father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working." You know, I don't always realize that God is always doing something in my life. All the time, all the time. He's doing something when I'm sitting by myself, he's doing something when I'm with other people, he's doing something when it's just me and my thoughts, God is always at work. Philippians 1-6 says, "He who began a good work and you will carry it on until completion, until the day of Jesus Christ." If you're a follower of Jesus, God is doing something in your life till you leave this earth. But God of the heavens is active in your life. He's active in your life when life is going well. He's active in your life when life really is going badly and you don't know what in the world is going on. God is up to something in our lives, no matter what. Second Chronicles 69 says this, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." God is looking for men, he's looking for women, he's looking for students who have a heart that is desirous to know God, who have a heart that's fully committed and God is going to pour out his efforts and his heart into those individuals. One thing I think we all know to be true about relationships is they're not passive, meaning they're always moving. They're always moving either closer together or further apart. If I sat down and had a conversation with you, I'm fairly certain that you would be able to tell me maybe a couple relationships in your life where you're like, it just really feels like we're drawing together. Maybe it's a friend that you just developed a close relationship. Maybe you and your spouse are connecting in some meaningful ways. Maybe you and one of your students or one of your kids, you just feel really connected to them right now. In the same way, you probably could tell me of a couple relationships where you feel like they've drifted apart. Maybe you move to a different area and you've drifted apart. Maybe there's conflict and you've drifted apart. Maybe there's pain and suffering and struggle and you've drifted apart. And so we know that relations are always moving closer together and further apart, and it's no different in our relationship with God. You will not deepen your relationship with God if you do nothing. You will not. And there's a balance because there's a part that I have to do and a part that God has to do. This is not all about me. Paul said this in Philippians chapter two, verse 12 and 13. He says, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence continue. This is our part to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And this is God's part. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. It's a little bit like a form of brain surgery that I was reading about in which the surgeon is operating on a person's brain and they are actually still awake. And as they're awake, the surgeon is asking the patient questions and the patient is telling the doctor how certain things feel as the doctor is moving to operate on their brain. It's this amazing process of them working together. And that's what God wants to see happen in our lives. And so as I thought about this, I thought, what are the important things for us to recognize? Well, there's some basic components. You heard Christine talk about the Camp Scholarship Program. One of the things that we want not only our kids, but our students and our adults, is to have some foundational elements in their lives. And you're gonna see these come up on the screen, things like reading God's word on a regular basis, prayer and journaling and memorizing scripture and being a place where you hear God's word taught to you on a regular basis. Those are important foundational elements in our relationship with Jesus. And all of these provide a solid foundation are important parts of our journey. And these have been a part of my life for much of my life since I was a young child. But I came to discover a few years ago and someone used this analogy and it really connected to me. I came to, I just see, I had found myself over a number of years realizing that there were certain areas of my life that as much as I did all these things, as much as I prayed about it, as much as I read the Bible, memorized scripture, fasted it, whatever I could think to do, I still didn't see God changing these parts of my life. And I couldn't reconcile that in my mind because I knew that the Bible says that God is powerful and he's a creator and I knew that God's spirit lives inside me and why couldn't these things change? It's a little bit like this next picture on the screen. It's a little bit like an iceberg. You know how much of the iceberg is visible? Anybody know? About 15, 20%, something like that. It's about all that's visible. The rest of it is below the waterline. And someone used this analogy to help me understand that much of these basic foundational approaches to our faith, they really get to the stuff just above the waterline. But what helps me deal with my thoughts and my emotions and my pain and my heartache and the difficult things that have happened in my life. A lot of that, if not all of it, is below the waterline. And so I wanna give you some additional things that I have come to learn and discover are important steps in our faith journey for us to keep taking forward steps and forward movement in our relationship with God. The first one is that I face the pain of grief and loss in my life. The truth is no one avoids grief and loss since the Garden of Eden. No one has. We all live in a broken and sinful world. And we all have things that begin and things that come to an end. You know, one of the things that I spent a little bit of time doing in preparation for this transition is just to think about what would be some of the things that we would lose that I would lose from the opportunity of what we do here every single week. I mean, as much as setup is difficult, it gives me a chance to see our church serving together. Gives me a chance to connect with individuals before and after. Someone said to me just yesterday, "I'm not sure what it will be like to have the service "come to an end, turn everything off "and shut the lights off and walk out the door." And so there will be something that is lost. I mean, the opportunity being in someone else's space for us to try to come up with the creative solutions and we've had creative solutions for so many things in this building. There'll be a different kind of challenge, but we won't be doing that anymore. There's just some things that will be lost. And unless we walk into and look at the things that are lost when we face these difficult things in our lives, we can never be free to live. Sadly, people that lose a loved one, often tragically or unexpectedly, if they don't enter that loss fully, they fear death, they become over controlling. They try to manage things in life because they're afraid it'll happen again. We've all faced this in our lives. We all have. Not just the grief of loss, not just the grief of enderman experience, but the grief of sin against us as well. I heard someone say recently, the sad reality is we've all been raised by sinful parents. And that means sinners sin against other people. And we have to face that and walk into that and recognize that. If we don't do that, we do this because there's a pain over here that causes me to feel a pain that I don't want to enter. 'Cause I've been there once and I don't want to go back there again. It's all below the water line. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1, he says, "I want you to experience the comfort that God's Spirit has given you so you can offer that to someone else." I say, John, how do I know when I process grief and loss in my life when you have the freedom to talk about that pain and you can enter someone else's pain who's going to the exact same struggle? Not avoid it. You can enter it. Another part of this journey that I think is below the water line is to walk backwards to face this loss in my life differently. There's a story in the Old Testament about a guy by the name of Joseph and you may recall his story. Joseph had a number of brothers and he was the favored son of all these brothers and the brothers didn't really like that and so they took Joseph through him into a pit, told his father that he had been killed and then sold him into slavery. Joseph was then given a position of authority and a woman lied about sexual advances that he did not have towards her but that she had towards him and he was thrown in prison again. The result of that imprisonment, it was several years there and eventually he was given a position of great authority and power in the nation of Egypt. Right after he was given this position, he marries a woman and he has a son named Manasseh. Do you know what Manasseh's name means? Manasseh's name means this. God has made me forget all of my trouble and all my father's household. You know what Joseph wanted to do? He wanted to put all of his family and all of his pain and all of the ways he had been treated in a closet, shut that door and never go back there again. He says, "God has freed me from all of that." But you know what happens in the very next chapter? God wasn't done with Joseph's past yet because God in almost this comical way brings Joseph past right in front of him, has his brother show up on the door asking for food, not knowing who in the world he is. And Joseph has this sense of divine justice and now they're going to pay and I'm going to make them feel the kind of pain that I felt and feel accused and feel threatened and feel uncertain about what their future is going to be. And he kept this charade going over once and a second time until he couldn't handle the charade any longer. And it says he wept greatly in front of them. He's a man that tried to hide his past and try to avoid all of that, but God brought him to a place of brokenness. And he revealed who he was to his brothers and his brothers are like, "Oh man, we are in bad trouble now." Joseph's like, "No, no, no, move the whole family here." And so they did it and they lived a great life until their father died and they're like, "Oh no, he's coming after us again." And Joseph said this in Genesis 15, or Genesis 50 verse 20, he says this, he said, "You intended to harm me, but God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done." You see the stuff below the waterline? That's the stuff in our past. That's the stuff in the closets. That's the stuff we don't want to talk about. That's the herd and the pain and the abandoned and the abuse and the betrayal that's all a part of our lives. But the truth is, and I heard a woman say it this week, the one whose husband was responsible for the nickel mind shooting in Southern Lancaster County a few years ago, she said, "God doesn't waste a single bad thing that happens in our lives." He doesn't waste it. He doesn't waste it. He has a purpose and a plan to use these things for his good. And if you and I have never walked in the past and looked at that heart and looked at that struggle, we're going to have these things below the waterline. They're going to keep us at the ceiling of saying, "God, I want to move forward. I want to follow you. I want to love you and I want to love others." But I keep hitting the ceiling and I keep hitting it. Likely it's connected to those things in our lives that we've not been willing to face and enter. Couple more. One, we talked about a few weeks ago, the rhythms of solitude and silence. We talked about that a few weeks ago and not going to spend much time on that, but just the fact that if we do not slow our lives down to just be quiet and still before God, David said, "Be still and know that I am God." We have got to shut life off. We have got to turn it down. We've got to find a way to be quiet and still. I was just telling my wife the other day we were talking about some things and I just had recalled that the time in my schedule where I have several hours where I'm quiet and still before God had just been filled up the last couple of weeks and I can just feel kind of an anxiety and a churning inside of me. 'Cause I've not been quiet and still to say, "God, what do you have for me? What does your word have for me? 'Cause I'm just going to be quiet before you." The next one there is relationships that are authentic. Relationships are authentic. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Let the person who cannot be alone be aware of community. Let the person who is not in community be aware of being alone." The other day I was driving down the road and I happened to go by common occurrence in our community and horse and buggy and the horse had blinders on. So it doesn't get distracted by what's out here. We all live life with blinders on. We all have things that are out here that we cannot see in our lives. But other people looking at us see very, very clearly. I feel incredibly blessed that God has not only given me trusted friends and coworkers, but men and women in my life, my wife Christine, members of my small group, leadership here at CCC, that continue to alert me to binders in my life, that I don't see. Just recently I had a conversation with a woman and she said to me, she said, "You know that statement you made to me recently?" She said, "I felt very shamed by that statement." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that I did not intend that." And we began to have the conversation. As we started this conversation, she explained that some of the struggle was her struggle in the way she heard what I had to say. And it would have been very easy for me in that conversation just to wipe my hand and say, "Oh, I hope you're doing okay with that and just move on." But I felt this prompting to ask a little bit more. And so I said to her, "What could I have said or how could I have said that differently because that wasn't my intent to produce that result in you?" We talked for a few minutes about that. And then as I walked away, I thought, "You know, I need to sit and think about this a little bit more because I talk to a lot of people all the time. And if it's happened once, it's likely happened multiple times. And I don't want that to be true of my relationships with other people. But if someone would not have had the relationship of trust to be able to speak into my life at that level, I would never have been aware that it was taking place. And so what about you and your life? Are there people in your life beyond maybe a spouse where you have relationships that are authentic, that are willing to speak into your life about those things below the waterline that often get overlooked? You know, as I talk about this challenge of forward movement, this challenge of spiritual growth, this challenge of walking with God, really the goal for us in this process is what Paul said to the Galatians, Galatians 4, 19, he said, "My prayer for you," he said, or he said, "I am as if I am in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you." Paul said, "I am in deep agony until you appear like Jesus Christ." And that's really what we're talking about. We're talking about through the good times in life, through the hard times in life, through the ups and downs in life, and what is happening in my life so that Jesus Christ is seen in me by every person that I cross paths with. This is not a journey for the faint of heart, and this is not a journey that happens quickly. Often when I ask people or encourage them or invite them to take a look below the waterline, they say to me, this is the first question they always ask me, "How long will this take?" And one of the realities is, "I can't tell you." I can't tell you how long it'll take. The other reality is that this will be a difficult struggle for you. I used to not tell people that would look below the waterline in their lives. I used to not tell them that this is gonna be hard, and I realized that that really wasn't a very good thing 'cause this likely will be the most difficult challenge you've ever faced in your life, the most difficult challenge you've ever faced in your life. But what I do know is if you're a follower of Jesus, what Moses said to Joshua is true and that's to take courage and be of good cheer because your God is going to be with you. So as we wrap this service up this morning and we bring this season of the life of our church to a close, this season of ministry that God has allowed us here in partnership with Gaiman's Mennonite School where we're transitioning to a new season for us as a church. But the question is, what new steps is God inviting you to take in your journey? And maybe the first part of this journey is for you just to believe that there is part of God's design is for you to keep growing, for you to keep taking steps. I don't know where you are this morning in your journey. But are you taking steps towards God, moving towards Him? Because remember relationships are not passive and they're not static. You're either moving towards Him or you're drifting away. Number two, I want to challenge you to face your losses and face your past. If there was one thing I believe that much of what we do in our culture and even in the Christian community is we avoid these things to our own detriment to allow Christ to be transformed in us. Number three, slow down to be quiet and listen to God. Slow down to be quiet and listen to God. I know this is not easy, but I believe when God calls us to have Christ formed in us, it's to live the life of Jesus Christ. And He slowed down, He got away to just be with His Father away from all the demands of His life, to hear from Him and to be valued and treasured by Him. And lastly, invite someone else into your journey. Invite someone else into your journey. My goal is pretty clear that God's design is for us not to live this life alone. And I believe in our faith journey as well. God's design is not for us to face that journey alone. As we close this afternoon, I want to just take a moment and invite you to bow your heads and just pray with me. And as you do, just talk to God about where you're at right now in your journey. Be honest, He knows. If He's given you a nudge to take some steps, I encourage you to do that this morning. Just say, God, I'm ready and willing to take some steps towards you today. God, we feel incredibly blessed. So humbled and grateful for our relationship with you and the sacrifice of your son that makes relationship with you possible. So grateful as a church to have enjoyed this partnership and to have blessed by it over the years. So amaze with your patience as our journey is not upward into the right, but a lot of stops and starts and forwards and backwards. But you graciously and lovingly walk with us in it. So Lord, as we prepare for this change as a church, I pray that that would be true of what you want to see happen in us. Movement of us towards Christ being formed. That's our longing and that's our prayer. We need your help so we can't do this on our own, Jesus. In your name we pray. As we sing this song, if you know the words, go ahead and sing along with us. If you're not sure how it goes, just take in the meaning of this song.