Discovery Classes at PAC offered Saturday, April 19

April is a time of renewal in nature. It is also a great opportunity for spiritual renewal for our church family. PAC offers three core classes that bring clarity to what PAC is all about and where we are doing in 2008.These classes are offered sequentially so you need start with d1 and then continue on through d3.

Please attend one of these core courses on Saturday morning, April 19 at PAC. Register with Alicia at 609-799-9000, ext 27.

Following are the core class descriptions:

1. d1 Discovering Community

This is the first class in a series of three in the Discovery pathway. This class (also now serves as the PAC membership class) is for everyone who attends PAC, and is designed to help us develop community. We discover the basic structure, strategy, and importance of Community Groups as we impact our community one neighborhood at a time. There will be an opportunity to officially join our church family upon completion of this class.

2. d2 Discovering Spiritual Journey

This is the second of three classes in the Discovery pathway. This class helps us to understand and practice spiritual disciplines every Christ follower should have and master as we seek to fully know God. The principles and discipline of prayer, bible study, and generosity are among the topics covered. Frequent habits and tools that every disciple should have will be emphasized.

(Prerequisite: Discovering Community d1)

3. d3 Discovering Ministry

The final class in the Discovery Pathway trilogy, Discovering Ministry is designed to initiate the discovery of how God has uniquely shaped us to bring hope to the world around us. In this class we will discover how our spiritual gifts, heart desires, abilities, unique personality and our experiences will enable us to transform the world around us. Once you’ve discovered more about yourself, you’ll be able to discover the joy of ministry. You will have the opportunity to sample ministry both inside and outside the walls of PAC.

(Prerequisite: Discovering Community d1)(Prerequisite: Discovering Spiritual Journey d2)

Please join us on Saturday, April 19!

Front Line Ministries Update

In just three weeks, PAC is adding a fourth service on Easter weekend and then will stay with these four services times going forward for each weekend. The Saturday service remains at 6:00 pm. The three services times on Sunday will become, 9:00 am, 10:30 am and noon. This means several new things to Front Line Ministry volunteers.

1. Everyone who serves on Sunday morning will be serving at a new time beginning Easter weekend.

2. We will obviously need many more volunteers to serve in Front Line for four services.

3. We aren’t sure how many people will attend each of these new Sunday services.

4. Some of the things we have done in the past will be changing.

5. Easter weekend only – We need volunteers to serve at two Good Friday services (6:00 pm and 7:30 pm) as well as Saturday night and Sunday morning services.

For now, the important thing for us is to determine which of the new Sunday service times will be your choice to continue serving in this ministry. Once we can determine when you will be serving, we will know how many new volunteers we will need for each new service time.

Please let Lori Boulware know which service is your preference to serve. Lori will also have a clip board in the back of the sanctuary this weekend for you to let us know your preferences.

Thank you for the personal stamps that each of you add to make PAC a friendlier place for people to worship and hopefully meet God in the very relevant places of their widely varying lifestyles.

Front Line Ministries Luncheon

Frontline Ministries Luncheon February 24, 1pm - 3pm, at PAC.

Please join us for lunch if you are a Frontline Volunteer or if you would like to get involved in this area of ministry.

Frontline includes Ushering, Greeting, Parking, Welcome Center and Cafe Volunteers.

Register by Feb 20 by emailing lboulware@princetonalliance.org

Easy as One, Two, Three

What PAC askes of you in 2008:

1. Attend a weekend service - 4 services starting Easter weekend.
2. Get connected - Join a group or take the first Discovery class.
3. Serve - P.E.A.C.E. in 2008.

That's it!

P.E.A.C.E. in 2008

Each year, frosty January mornings finds Chloe and I re-reading our cards and letters from the just past Christmas. We started this practice a few years back and have stuck with it. After breakfast and newspaper puzzles we grab a small handful of cards and letters out of the special card basket and read them aloud to each other, one by one. It seems that the second time around, the cards and letters are even more meaningful to us. We reflect on our relationships and memories with our friends and family and often we pray for them. We are grateful each is a part of our lives.

One card we read this morning from a relative in the Midwest caused me to write this posting this morning. The message on the front of the card was, “God’s goodness yesterday, God’s presence today, and God’s promises tomorrow”. This message captures one of my central themes in my blog. Inside, the verse at the bottom of the card proclaims, “The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ”, II Corinthians 1:20. Amen!

The back of the card reveals the publisher of the card, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. Prominent on this face is Rick Warren’s program for touching lives around the globe, P.E.A.C.E.

Plant churches
Equip servant leaders
Assist the poor
Care for the sick
Educate the next generation

P.E.A.C.E. captures the essence of Community Groups at PAC. Come along side us this year by getting involved with one or two of the opportunities contained in the letters of P.E.A.C.E. This is what we are about in 2008 and beyond.

My blog

My blog has two components: On the left side of this page are postings that I write related to things I am finding important. These generally are core beliefs of mine or at least things that are important to my life at the time when I write them. On the right side are Bible verses that I find significant during my daily devotions. I enjoy highlighting words in these verses that I believe God is speaking to me. Finally, I summarize the idea of these verses by giving them a heading. These headings are leading to themes for the postings. Since April 24, 2007, of this year, my daily devotions have been reading one chapter a day in the New Testament, first in the Gospels then Paul’s letters, and now Old Testament prophets. I enjoy reading each verse unhurriedly and then graze on its meaning. This is really opening my mind as to my role of Care Pastor as PAC. So when you read my blog, read both the left and right side. Last year when I first started blogging, I posted the A, B, C’s of small groups. It is what Community Groups are all about; the DNA of small group activity. I believe that this piece is essential enough to re-post it again.

"The A, B, C's of community in small groups are Authenticity, Belonging, and Caring. Authenticity - is our basic desire to be fully known. Belonging - is our basic need to be a part of something bigger than our selves so that, interacting with others, we can learn about our selves and receive: Caring - we need to know that we are considered precious by others. We need to be loved.The problem is that, on our own, we can get this exactly backwards. We start to think that if we are authentic - if people come to know us for who we really are - they will reject us. We will not Belong, and if we don't belong, we will not be loved. So from a human perspective, we see a conflict between being authentic and being loved.

But the good news is... Jesus fully knows us AND fully loves us - enough to die for us on the cross. And once we really accept the grace provided by the cross we can begin to be authentic with God. We can stop pretending that we can be good enough and accept the fact that through Him we truly Belong in the Kingdom of Heaven. In that security we can ask God to help us see ourselves - authentically. So with Jesus, the Love comes first, when we accept this unconditional love, Belonging and Authenticity follows.

So why do we need community? Because when we are alone, we fall back into human conventions. Like thinking that A comes before B and B before C. Even when we come here for corporate worship - we put on our best clothes and we tend to leave all the stuff that needs to be brought before God at home in closets. We're afraid to bring that stuff here because if we did, we might not Belong. And, as a result, we might not be loved. So what we need is a place that's modeled on God's A,B,C's of community - not ours. Where the Caring comes first and the sense of Belonging follows. Together, these create an environment in which it is safe for us to be Authentic. And here's the good part - at this point a feedback loop kicks in - when a more authentic version of you is loved (even while being held accountable), you really feel like you belong and this allows you to be even more authentic, and when this version of you is loved, you belong even more..When this upward spiral takes place lives are transformed as we grow in Christ, together.

Community Groups 2008 Measures

For the month of December, I have been mulling over what’s next for PAC Community Groups in 2008. To begin with, Community Groups are most clearly about the quality of our relationships with God and other people. Secondly, Community Groups offer us an opportunity to grow in maturity towards how we behave with others (including God) based on God’s principles and promises in the Bible. Finally, Community Groups provide an opportunity to bring hope to our communities and beyond by serving the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of others.

An old adage is you get results based on what goals you choose to measure as long as you are accountable to those goals and measures. So I am starting with what measures we need to construct in 2008 to ensure Community Groups meet the goals of the vision of PAC. The broad areas of measurements that encompass Community Groups are:

1. Are we growing in our relationship with God?
2. Are we growing in our relationships with other followers of Christ?
3. Are we growing in our relationship with others who haven’t yet trusted Jesus?

2008 Community Groups - Vision Ideas:

The year 2008 will become a unity of Community Groups where people are passionately studying the Bible. A team of hosts and leaders is in place that is constantly trying to connect people to the life giving community of PAC. Together, we will strive to know God deeply, develop authentic community in every neighborhood and bring hope to the world through releasing leaders.

This ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit will be the rock on which the foundation of transformed lives is built. Leaders will begin to have vivid visions of what is to come in their lives and will be called to leave this place planting churches, ministering in the inner city and reaching different people in our culture.

This ministry will impact every ministry in our community. The power of the Holy Spirit will cause our people to undergo a mighty shift in priority causing a “missional” attitude to be present in the majority of people. Our people will engage the communities they live in and will begin to influence major highways of community culture they serve.

Community groups will not be a club atmosphere, but will be endlessly multiplying as they catalyze culture. We are called to let the world see our love as we bring healing to our communities. Matt 9:35, “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.”

Three current opportunities for us to grow in our relationships in 2008:

1. Growing in our relationship with God? - Attend the January 14, 2008, core class, “Discovering Community” at PAC. Enroll today by calling Alicia at PAC. (609-799-9000 ext 27)

2. Growing in our relationships with other followers of Christ? – Consider being available for the Visitation Ministry or the Prayer Ministry at PAC. Training will be January 13 and January 27 at PAC. Contact Alicia at PAC to sign up. (609-799-9000 ext 27)

3. Growing in our relationship with others who haven’t yet trusted Jesus? Learn more about some of the projects currently available at CAMA Services, http://www.camaservices.org/.