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MONEY: How is the economy affecting Elim’s finances?

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by Martin Schlomer

The economy is on everyone’s mind these days. It seems like everyone is running for cover and trying to hang onto what they have, because they’re not sure if they will still have it next month. Jobs and discretionary income are scarcer than a deer in hunting season!

This raises the question, “How is Elim handling this financial storm?” The short answer is: better than most churches! However, we have experienced a 6.5% decrease in giving year-to-date over last year. At the end of September 2009 Elim’s income was $213,475. For the same period this year, our income was $199,353.

Have we had to reduce our ministry spending? While we are being very cautious, we have not had to deny any person or ministry the funding that is needed. While our spending is $8,000 under budget, we have spent $12,002 more than we have received so far this year. Gratefully, we have had sufficient reserves to cover these expenses.

Where do we go from here? First, as elders and staff, we will continue to proceed with financial caution. This means we will closely monitor and restrict discretionary spending. In addition, in two weeks the elders and Stewardship Team will propose a budget for 2011 that is approximately $18,000 less than the 2010 budget. This will bring it more into line with our present income reality and projections.

Second, I want to encourage all of us to a life of faith. As followers of Jesus, we are to eagerly embrace His teaching regarding handling wealth and money and use this teaching to shape our financial priorities and stewardship, rather than fear. Scripture calls us to pursue a path of responsible simplicity, not consumerism; joyful, radical generosity, not fear.

Scripture tells us of one group of churches who lived out this joyful and radical generosity in a way that stunned the apostle Paul …

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.  For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

All I can say is, Wow!” This is a joyful and radical generosity that is a result of an encounter with Jesus! They loved Jesus, trusted in His provision and pressed forward with overflowing joy even though they were enduring extreme poverty!  Nothing—including fear—was going to rob them of the joy of helping out and doing their part.  No wonder they rocked Paul’s world! This is what happens when Jesus has our hearts … and our checkbooks.

In these difficult and uncertain times, how is your joyful generosity? Is it crippled by fear and uncertainty, or is empowered by the joyful freedom that comes from confident reliance on Christ? I encourage all of us to follow the example of the Macedonians and give ourselves first to the Lord and then to living in the freedom and joy found in God’s will for us.

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Two generations

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By Larry Short

The Young Adults Ministry is launching into a study of 1 and 2 Kings, following up on our recent study of 1 and 2 Chronicles. 1 Kings starts with King David, at 70 years old, burned out on his deathbed. David, the quintessential man’s man, began his ministry as the official King of Israel at 30 years of age. His life before then was lived in the school of hard knocks. His exploits were the stuff of legend.

Sociologists talk about a variety of “generational” benchmarks in our society. You have Generation X, Baby Boomers, the Y Generation, etc. But biblically, in any given lifespan you see basically two generations, and two key functions of people living successfully within those.

Generation 1

The first generation is 0 to 30 years, and it is marked by training and preparation. Jewish men were not considered fully “adults” until age 30. That is when they were permitted to enter their fulltime ministry vocation. Even Jesus was relatively obscure for the first 90% of his life (until age 30).

In most cases the first 30 years were considered preparation and training for a life of service, leadership and ministry. Even if they were married earlier, young men were apprenticed or mentored while in their late teens and early 20s. And 30 was a significant benchmark in their life. Jesus began his public ministry at 30.

Generation 2

While Gen. 6:3 caps 120 years as the span of mortal man’s days – a number which is still pretty much considered an upper limit despite significant advances in medical technology – elsewhere Scripture assigns “three score and 10” as a normal human lifespan. Our average lifespans today are slightly longer than that, but still, most consider those few years leading up to age 70 a good time for retirement!

So if the cradle to age 30 is considered training for life, what do those of us who are somewhere between 30 and 70 supposed to consider this second generation? I think this is a question that we struggle with. We divide it up: times when we are raising children, when we become empty nest and perhaps focus on our career, and when we wind our careers down and try and enjoy retirement.

But from a biblical perspective, this “second generation” of life is much simpler. It’s about service. People who have found what God has called them to do realize the key to a happy, purposeful and fulfilled second generation is service, ministry and leadership: whether of our families, our churches, our business/career colleagues, our communities, or our Lord. And hopefully all of the above!

Too many of us live our second generation simply for ourselves, accumulating things that we think we need to keep us happy and comfortable after we retire. There is nothing wrong with preparing for the future, but in light of a God who tells us “do not worry about what you will eat or drink, or what you will wear,” we must hold such things loosely, and seek to cling instead to the true priorities of service: how we can most effectively invest and use the gifts, talents, energies, time and abilities that God has given us to serve Him, and to serve those around us.

Darlene and I tell the Young Adults that if they are not yet 30, they are still in training for service. For most if not all of them, this training involves getting a real taste of what it is like to serve others. I am thankful that Elim is investing heavily in children, in youth, and in young adults, training them for service.

And when they turn 30, they get the boot! Well, not literally, but that is the point when they are expected to turn in their training wheels for something bigger, something riskier. They need to figure out what God has created them to do – and start doing it, in service of Him and others.

How about you?

Where do you fall? If you are older than 70, perhaps you can relax a bit. We still need your wisdom and mentorship, we need to hang around you so the fragrance of your life will rub off on ours. And hopefully it will be our privilege to serve you in the midst of your retirement and to celebrate the service accomplishments of your life!

If you are 30 to 70, like me, you should be in the middle of what God has called you to do, to serve Him and others. We may change gears many times during those years (God knows I have), but hopefully those changes will be with the goal of being a more effective instrument in His hands.

If you are under 30, you are the future of service! We will invest in you, and we will expect that you will be prayerfully considering how God wants you to apply yourself to the task at hand.

Take an example from David. At 70 years of age, he was burned out and exhausted by a life full of adventure as a friend of God, as a leader, a warrior, and a servant of others. He didn’t rust out, he burned out! And you and I are the richer for it today.

Are we leaving that kind of legacy for the next generation?

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God has the LAST WORD

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by Linda McCoy

I was thinking of the title of the devotionals, that we have the privilege of reading every week in the newsletter. It’s entitled THE LAST WORD.

I am reminded that whatever happens in my life, my Sovereign God has the LAST WORD. He has the final say. He is our Advocate. No matter what, He knows our hearts and He sees all. He has the answers for every one of our struggles in life. It all comes down to the One that loves us the most. Whether we plead, argue, debate or question the whys of life, He will always speak the Truth to us. Even at the times we won’t listen. We need to know, our Loving, Faithful Father, is using whatever He can, to teach us and reach us. Daily, in the School of Life He wants to lead and guide us. Are we willing to listen? We have to learn to trust Him…..for everything….always. Letting Him have the final say allows Him to be LORD of our lives.

Take a close look at John 1:1. The One who says He is THE WORD. You are holding in your hands the powerful, living Word of God. The living WORD of GOD. (Hebrews 4:12) In a world full of lies and deception, we are holding the manual of truth. God’s love letter to us. Share Gods Word , according to Phil. 4:15-16, to our crooked world and then shine like the stars in the darkness. The daily news is flooded with doom and gloom………offer HOPE. Follow Jesus’ example as we look at Luke 4:14-20.

Picture yourself there when THE WORD read the WORD. Imagine when He unrolled the old scroll of Isaiah and spoke the fresh message of good news. Can you imagine what it will be like when we hear Him speak? When He says our name? Speak His name to others. Share His words. Take Him at His Word and let Him have the final say.

Read His final inspired, written Words in the last chapter of Revelation. He wants us to know………“I’m coming back…..I AM the Alpha and Omega…….until then….

Be full of My Grace.”

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Lessons From The Beach

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by Brian Sharpe

For me the beach is a very relaxing place.  As a family we were blessed to have someone let us stay at their beach house for a week.  We went to the beach every day.  Most days we went to the beach several times.  While at the beach I love to wade ankle high and just watch the waves come in and go out.  I learned a lot during those times over the week.

One of the things learned was discipleship happens when you live life together.  My daughters have a lot of personality.  They love life.  My oldest, Ellice loved getting in the water.  Even though the Pacific Ocean is really cold she wanted to play in the waves.  I had a choice as a dad.  I could have said, “sweetie, it is too cold to go in the water.”  She would not have been happy with me, but I would have been justified in saying that.   I gave in and let her play in the waves.  I taught her the “proper” way to take on the waves.  I taught her to jump when the wave was just about to hit her.  We would hold hands and go out as deep as she wanted to go and then we would jump over the waves together.  It is a memory I am not going to forget.  Well, my middle child, Annyah is a little less adventurous than Ellice.  She did not want to get too deep into the water, but she wanted to play by the water.  Ellice would be out a little bit jumping over waves.  Annyah would go a little bit into the water and then run away from what she perceived as a big wave.  Well, after a while I noticed that Annyah wasn’t too far from Ellice and she too was jumping over waves.   They were having a great time together laughing and jumping over waves.

If disciple-making is about taking what you know and passing it on, then Ellice made a disciple of Annyah.  How often do we in in our church try and figure out the best way to make disciples?  We plan and we sit and try to come up with the best programs, but what we aren’t doing is living life with people.  We need to invite them into our lives, into our families, so that they can learn just by being around us.  They can learn just by us walking with them and talking about spiritual things.  If we want to make a difference on South Hill, then we need to create space to share Jesus with those in our neighborhoods.  We need to do this by living life with them.  That can and should lead to spiritual conversations where we can introduce them to Jesus.  This starts with us living life together, desiring to make disciples who make disciples.

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Depravity

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by Steve Kearns

As I was reading in 2 Peter 2 today my thoughts strayed back to vs. 19 over and over again. I wanted a better understanding of the word depravity so I went to my “Random House Webster College Dictionary” for help. I was a little shocked when I found the word vitiate, I will get to that in a bit.

Here is what Mr. Webster had to say, de-prav-ity  1. The state of being depraved. 2. A depraved act or practice. Okay so what did he have to say about depraved? de-praved, morally corrupt or perverted. I understood that pretty well. (my life before Christ) So what does Webster say about the root of these two words? de-prave, 1. To make morally bad or evil, vitiate; corrupt.  2. To impair or weaken the effectiveness of.  3. To debase; corrupt; or spoil.  4. To make legally invalid; invalidate; to blemish.

Going back to vs. 19 (NIV) it says “they themselves were slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has Mastered him.”  With that in mind remember the word vitiate? (vitiate for a believer means) a Christian who is Mastered by or a slave to sin has 1. Impaired the quality of his or her Christianity,  2. Weakened the effectiveness of his or her Christianity,  3. Debased, corrupted or spoiled their faith and witness for Christ,  4. Has invalidated or blemished their witness or effectiveness as a Christian.

So my question is, as a believer can I be enslaved to, or mastered by sin and still be an effective witness for Christ? I say absolutely not!

As I read on to vs. 20 God’s word bears that out, “If they had escaped the corruption ofthe world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.”

God’s desire for believers is that we be witnesses for Christ in a corrupt and fallen world, a good witness not a bad witness!

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I will let you down.

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by Dan Amos

Saying “I will let you down” is not a statement of intent, it’s merely an acknowledgement that it happens. I often think I should warn people of this because I’ve known me for a long time and I know it’s the truth. I can get cranky and selfish. I can stick my size 11 foot in my mouth and I can make the wrong choice. What I don’t want is to have my perfect savior judged by my imperfect actions.

These thoughts are inspired by things I’ve seen on Facebook recently where I enjoy reading what is posted by our young adults. It’s not always easy because they tend to post wildly divergent thoughts in sentence-long bursts that are nearly always devoid of context. They swing from the thoughtful to the silly, to the ones that make me wince. Still, they make me think.

My niece had expressed astonishment the KKK still exists. It doesn’t surprise me because there’s so much hate in the world and sometimes it is practiced by those who claim to be Christians but who really are not. And one of our own wrote, “Everyone’s practicing the exact opposite of what they’re preaching.” I don’t know the context of what he was saying, but often it is true. If we believe in Christ and our lives are being transformed, why do we do the opposite of what we know we should?

So, outside the body of Christ there’s hate and self-centeredness. Inside the Church we follow a God who lived as a loving, selfless, serving, sinless man. When he calls us and we are made a part of his family the Bible says we are being transformed, being made new. But this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process that lasts as long as we remain in this life and isn’t completed until we are face-to-face with him.

We still make mistakes. Even Paul made mistakes and he was miraculously saved by Jesus on the road to Damascus and spent one-on-one, face-to-face time with the risen and glorified Lord. I’ve even thought if only I had this type of encounter I would have so much more faith, but that’s not how it works. Paul’s life was completely redirected and he still lamented that he would do the things he didn’t want to do and that he was the chief of sinners.

The point here is we don’t follow people; we can’t. We are instructed to live a life as an example to others and to learn from others’ examples. But, we follow Christ and must keep our eyes on him. On occasion we will let each other down but Christ never will. He never has and never will. Don’t give up on Jesus because of his people. Instead exercise the grace and mercy he has shown each of us and we’ll grow together—imperfectly and sometimes annoying each other—and we’ll be perfected when we all are in heaven with Jesus and without the scars of sin.

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