February 27, 2015
Dear Eastridge Church,
Sunday I shared a message where I issued a Discipleship
Challenge with everyone. I called it the
B. E. L. L. challenge. I first came
across the formula given by Alan Hirsch in his book The Forgotten Ways, which
impacted me greatly, which goes as:
Christology →
Missiology →
Ecclesiology. Our God/Christ is
the one who determines the mission (God’s Mission) which then determines or
shapes the church. It is to say “the
church doesn’t have a mission, but the mission has a church.” Our God is a missionary God. The Church is God’s tool in fulfilling His
mission in the world “to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10; 1
Timothy 2:4).
Our churches need to be centered around God’s mission and the
mission should shape everything we do.
At the same time we have been chosen as God’s ambassadors to the world
to fulfill the mission. Our lives should
resemble our Christ. As Christians the
Living God resides within each of us through the Holy Spirit. We reflect (or reflect poorly) the image and
character of God to those around us. If
you are a follower of Christ, do people see Jesus when they look at you?


The B.E.L.L. Challenge:
BLESSING—The Hebrew for “blessing” (barak) means “to empower
to strength”. We seek God’s blessing and
pass that blessing on to others. *Bless 3
people this week (one person in our church, and one outside our church and the
third person from either category).
EATING—Sharing food has always been central to a life of
community. We want to place worship and
communion back where it began, as a provider’s delight in the middle of the
shared table. This is why the New
Testament speaks about the need to practice hospitality. *Eat with 3 people this week (1 person in our
church, 1 person outside our church and a third person from either category).
LISTENING—We believe that God is capable of speaking to
us. We do not confine Him to any
particular medium, but we try to be attentive to His voice, wherever and
whenever it speaks. *Take time to listen
to God for 1 hour/week (listening, not talking).
LEARN—We desire to take on the image of God and to participate
in His plan. We seek out knowledge about
God to help us to do this. *Study Jesus’
life a little bit each week from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). From now until Easter you can read through
the Gospels several times, learning from Jesus.
How did he live? With whom did he
interact? What were his commands? Then “go” live like Jesus did.
Let’s be the church that God has called us to be!
Prayer
On Saturday morning at 9am Pastor Daniel leads a prayer
meeting. On Sunday morning at 8:30am
Pastor Josh will lead a prayer meeting before the morning worship service.
Movie
Night
Pastor Daniel and Gloria are having a movie night at the
church where they are showing Courageous on March 7th at 5PM
Easter
Egg Hunt/Easter Breakfast
We are planning on having our annual Easter Egg Hunt at the
church on Easter Sunday. We will need
candy donations again and this year we are going to make the plastic eggs
available for you to take home and fill the eggs with candy. This will cut down our time stuffing eggs.
The Stewards are planning on having an Easter Breakfast before
the morning service. We will have more
details in the next few weeks.
Easter is one of our big four outreach events to invite people
to attend the services who do not have a church home. I encourage you to pray about who you may
invite to join you on Easter Sunday this year.
Gaither
Vocal Band
Central Community Church is having the Gaither Vocal Band in
concert on Friday, April 10, 2015. The
Church is located at 6100 W. Maple we have more information on the information
desk in the church entryway.
MNU Night
at Worlds of Fun
MNU Night at Worlds of Fun is Friday, April 24th, 2015 from
6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. This event will
once again be one of the many fun-filled activities of our MAX event. Join in the great times of fellowship and
support for MidAmerica Nazarene University to make it a wonderful 41st
year! By attending this year’s MNU Night
at Worlds of Fun, you will not only have fun, but will help present and future
students attend MNU.
Visit www.mnu.edu/worldsoffun to order your ticket
online. Online tickets are printed
instantly from your home or office, so be sure to have a printer handy. No
refunds or credit will be issued for unused online tickets. Online tickets are $26.50 (plus tax) prior to
Wednesday, April 4, and $30.00 (plus tax) after April 4
Favorite
Quotes of the Week
"The
purpose of the Spiritual Disciplines is the total transformation of a person."
- Richard Foster
"I
claim the holy right to disappoint men in order to avoid disappointing
God." – A.W. Tozer
"God
is more eager to forgive us than we are to be forgiven." - James Bryan
Smith
I’m looking forward to worshipping with you on Sunday,
Pastor Andy
Remember if you are on Facebook be sure to check out the church page - Eastridge Nazarene Church
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