It’s hard to believe that next weekend is Labor Day weekend already. Kids and parents will have to readjust to a schedule that involves school buses, sporting events, and everything else that comes with the school year. Wednesday nights at Dayton Center Church will become much busier and more noisy with Olympians and Teen Club starting in just one-and-a-half weeks. Before we know it, the leaves will change color and fall to the ground once again. It’s hard to imagine that Fall is coming when we have had such a cool summer. Were it not for a few hot days, we might think we had completely missed it.
How have you spent your summer? Have you done the things you wanted to do? Are there memories that you hope will last a lifetime? Perhaps, moments that you wish you could forget? Or, maybe, you’re just wondering where all the time went. One way or another, life keeps moving forward and we can’t change the past.
We can, however, change the future. Choices we make today and tomorrow will have ripple effects that we may never even see this side of Glory. The question is whether the end result will be for the better or for the worse. Let’s not be short-sighted and think only about the moment, but consider what impact we might be having on our future or on future generations.
Perhaps your mind just raced to politics or federal deficits in the trillions. However, that is not what I am talking about. I’m talking about the little things we can do today that may have life changing results: maybe it is a kind word to a stranger or to one of the many kids who will be here on Wednesday nights, maybe it’s the way you respond to a trial or temptation, or, maybe it’s something that God revealed through a moment of prayer or Bible study that you almost missed because of other things you wanted to do. In all things, let us remember the words of Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
We've Got Mail
This morning, we are beginning a new sermon series on the Book of James, entitled, “Where Faith Meets Life.” As we read through the book of James, it is important to remember that this is a letter.
For a very long time, a letter was the only way to communicate with someone that you couldn’t address in person, whether because of distance or some other barrier to communication. But, now, we live in an age of high-tech communication. Although it seems low-tech now, the ability to make a phone call changed the way we communicate. Now, many of us carry a cellular phone and can be reached just about anywhere (except those dead-zones that annoy us so). If we don’t feel like actually speaking to the person, we can now “text” them a message. It’s even possible to use an internet camera (webcam) and chat with a person on-line and see them, whether they are across the road or across the world. Facebook and Myspace help us find and communicate with “friends” throughout the world. If all of that isn’t enough, we can use Twitter to send a “Tweet” letting people know what we are doing at the present moment. Yes, communication methods have changed. Letters almost seem obsolete. Yet, there are still many of us that like to read something that isn’t on a computer or telephone screen, and are happy to receive a letter from someone we know.
In this day of high-tech communication, if we receive a letter, we quickly wonder why we are receiving a letter. What news does it bear? Surely, there must be some reason they chose to write a letter! Just seeing who it’s from can cause us to toss it aside or can build suspense as we quickly tear open the letter.
Now, back to James … Why did he write the letter? What message did it have for the original recipients (and for us)? It seems that James is addressing a group of people that were having a little trouble connecting their faith with their daily lives. Let’s face it, putting our faith into practice isn’t always easy. James has a message for us … Dayton Center Church, “We’ve got mail…”
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
For a very long time, a letter was the only way to communicate with someone that you couldn’t address in person, whether because of distance or some other barrier to communication. But, now, we live in an age of high-tech communication. Although it seems low-tech now, the ability to make a phone call changed the way we communicate. Now, many of us carry a cellular phone and can be reached just about anywhere (except those dead-zones that annoy us so). If we don’t feel like actually speaking to the person, we can now “text” them a message. It’s even possible to use an internet camera (webcam) and chat with a person on-line and see them, whether they are across the road or across the world. Facebook and Myspace help us find and communicate with “friends” throughout the world. If all of that isn’t enough, we can use Twitter to send a “Tweet” letting people know what we are doing at the present moment. Yes, communication methods have changed. Letters almost seem obsolete. Yet, there are still many of us that like to read something that isn’t on a computer or telephone screen, and are happy to receive a letter from someone we know.
In this day of high-tech communication, if we receive a letter, we quickly wonder why we are receiving a letter. What news does it bear? Surely, there must be some reason they chose to write a letter! Just seeing who it’s from can cause us to toss it aside or can build suspense as we quickly tear open the letter.
Now, back to James … Why did he write the letter? What message did it have for the original recipients (and for us)? It seems that James is addressing a group of people that were having a little trouble connecting their faith with their daily lives. Let’s face it, putting our faith into practice isn’t always easy. James has a message for us … Dayton Center Church, “We’ve got mail…”
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
Monday, August 17, 2009
Reaching the Young(er) Generations
As you’ve probably noticed, we’re back from vacation. We had a good time as a family doing a variety of activities together. Janette and I also had the opportunity for a short getaway at The Shack through Shepherd’s Care Ministries. It was a refreshing time.
We also had the opportunity to attend two different churches during our vacation. Both were fairly traditional in style but still used one or two modern worship songs along with the hymns. The thing that struck me most was how few people from my generation were there. Perhaps they attend other churches with more contemporary worship services. Perhaps they happened to be away for those particular weeks. What ever the reason(s) the younger generations were definitely a minority in those churches. Sound familiar?
This isn’t an isolated problem. If you were here when Rob and Kelley Parsons presented their ministry, you heard some statistics that should have broken your hearts. (If you were not here, you can download the presentation from our website or ask for it on CD). Or, consider the need for the following book, Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts (Rainer & Rainer, B&H Books, 2008), which came out of a study of 18- to 22-year-olds who have dropped out of the church.
On Wednesday night, I began to pose the following questions to those who came for prayer and Bible study:
1. How would you describe young(er) families and/or singles?
2. What are the needs of young(er) families and/or singles?
3. As a church, how do our mission, abilities, and resources connect with those needs and descriptions?
4. And, finally, What are we willing to do about it?
I encourage you to think deeply about how we can reach the younger generations and spend some time praying for them/us. Then, consider, “What are we going to do about it, and how can I contribute to the work?” Let’s get involved and see what God will do!
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
We also had the opportunity to attend two different churches during our vacation. Both were fairly traditional in style but still used one or two modern worship songs along with the hymns. The thing that struck me most was how few people from my generation were there. Perhaps they attend other churches with more contemporary worship services. Perhaps they happened to be away for those particular weeks. What ever the reason(s) the younger generations were definitely a minority in those churches. Sound familiar?
This isn’t an isolated problem. If you were here when Rob and Kelley Parsons presented their ministry, you heard some statistics that should have broken your hearts. (If you were not here, you can download the presentation from our website or ask for it on CD). Or, consider the need for the following book, Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts (Rainer & Rainer, B&H Books, 2008), which came out of a study of 18- to 22-year-olds who have dropped out of the church.
On Wednesday night, I began to pose the following questions to those who came for prayer and Bible study:
1. How would you describe young(er) families and/or singles?
2. What are the needs of young(er) families and/or singles?
3. As a church, how do our mission, abilities, and resources connect with those needs and descriptions?
4. And, finally, What are we willing to do about it?
I encourage you to think deeply about how we can reach the younger generations and spend some time praying for them/us. Then, consider, “What are we going to do about it, and how can I contribute to the work?” Let’s get involved and see what God will do!
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
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