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We currently have electrical poles going across our back parking lot that prevent us from expansion. And while it doesn’t exactly sound like a thrilling idea to move electrical poles, it’s a very exciting answer to a problem the church has been in for the last 20 years… being landlocked. The two main things Operation Imagine does for us is: (a) saves a considerable amount of money by doing it now rather than later, and (b) provides future expansion opportunity. While we are still in the initial phase and, as yet, do not have specific plans, Operation Imagine - Phase Two will likely take shape someday as a building to provide educational and fellowship space.

We’ve got till the end of August 2008 to fund it entirely without having to dip into outside sources of funding. So we thought we’d share some helpful information about our plans and progress. Here’s the text from a letter to the congregation that was sent out June 4, 2008.

Dear Friends and Family of First Christian Church,

As you know, we have started a brief stewardship campaign called Operation Imagine with the dream of expanding our facilities in the future. As a congregation we have committed to a great opportunity to move the power lines spanning the parking lot in the back of our property at a substantial savings ($75,000 instead of at least twice that).

We understand ‘moving electrical poles’ doesn’t exactly sound like a thrilling project, but we are excited because this important work allows us to do what we’ve been attempting to do for the last 20 years… accomplish infrastructural change and capacity for growth because we gain land previously unavailable to us. It addresses our current problem of being landlocked.

In September of last year we voted as a congregation, 130-4, to move ahead with this plan, and it is time for us as a congregation to come together in a spirit of Christian unity to complete the work to which we committed as best as we can!

Work on the project will begin as soon as late August, so we have a little less than 3 months to complete our funding of the project! The Elders and Deacons have prayerfully and thoughtfully considered their leadership role in this campaign and have committed themselves to a seed gift of $10,000 of additional giving from now until the end of August. Based on this figure, this leaves about $216 per family/giving unit. This is $18 per week from June through August.

So, we are asking that you also consider how you and your family can help us complete the work to which we believe God has called us. We understand this may be a challenge for some, and you may be unable to give, but we ask that you would please prayerfully consider if you can help in any way to fund this Kingdom building work. It is extremely important that you do not use your regular giving for this project, as all church ministries will continue as they currently are and must be funded.

This Sunday, June 8, at the end of the service, we will make a presentation and then ask that you commit, together with the church leadership, to provide additional funding over the course of the next few months to complete Operation Imagine debt free. If you are unable to attend worship with us this Sunday, please don’t hesitate to call (639-0126), send, or email us (operationimagine@fccgreeneville.org) your commitment. Also please feel free to call us with any questions you may have.

We’ll be “going public” with our one-last-push campaign during worship this Sunday, June 8. Please pray with us that our congregation will humbly seek God’s wisdom for our future!

Blessed is the man​ who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
-Psalm 1:1-2 (English Standard Version)

The parallelism in this Hebrew poetry is probably a helpful clue to the Psalmist’s meaning. Notice the three sets of parallel terms in this verse: “walk, stand, sit,” “counsel, way, seat,” and “wicked, sinners, scoffers.” There seems to be a progression (or regression?) of meaning here. Boice says, “[I]t is hard to believe that the phrases are not saying that the way of the wicked is downhill and that sinners always go from bad to worse” (p. 14). Here’s what Charles Spurgeon said:

When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God-the evil is rather practical than habitual-but after that, they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who willfully violate God’s commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed” (Spurgeon, Treasury of David, 1a:1-2).

Good stuff. We don’t get enough good writing and thoughtful exposition like that much anymore, eh?!

“Unfortunately, we live in a culture in which the business world understands more about true expressions of hospitality than the Church does. ["Ouch!']… While hotels, restaurants and stores all around us serve their guests with intentional care, we often let ours wander in and out of our weekly services with no specific plan for showing them how important they are to us.”

When you add in the words “intentional care” and “specific plan,” this passage is a serious indictment of most churches’ current efforts. We do well at First Christian with some things, but are we intentional and specific enough that the various elements of what we already do are part of a larger process that actually moves people from visitor to member?

On the face of it, when you begin to talk about something like this, it feels like a sales job with all the concern about proper signage, making people feel comfortable, providing a homey environment with food, and sending small gifts of appreciation with thanks-for-visiting letters and cards, but at its heart, this process isn’t just about ‘impressing’ someone, it’s about evangelism and discipleship. It is only half-done if it’s simply about integration and acculturation into “how we do things” because then we’ve made people followers of First Christian sometimes more than we have of Christ. (Can I get an amen?!)

It seems to me that if we don’t take seriously our task to make our guests feel welcome, we don’t take seriously our mission to reach people with the gospel.

We’ll cover FCC’s history, affiliation, basic doctrinal beliefs (esp. baptism and Lord’s Supper), ministry structure, vision and values, expectations of members, spiritual gifts and their role in the church, becoming a Christian, etc. It will include plenty of opportunity for feedback and time for questions you want answered, as well as a chance to get to know some folks you may not already know. You can sign up below.

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• Thanks so much for everyone’s participation in our Carry-In Lunch this past Sunday. We’re proud of our moms, dads, and graduates! It’s important to gather as a community to congratulate and recognize such special people and moments in our lives. A special thanks to the Bond Between Us Class for food and room preparation, Roxanne Burchnell for decorating the bulletin board, and Chuck Bowlin and Jack Gardin for their leadership.

• If you are undergoing any important tests or procedures, please don’t hesitate to call or email the church office to let us know about them so the church and the elders can pray and care for you appropriately. If it’s something you’d like to keep confidential, please feel free to contact me personally by cell phone (552-3438) or email (scott@fccgreeneville.org). It’s important for us to keep regularly updated on these matters.

• If you have, umm, eyes that work, you’ve probably noticed the GIGANTIC Vacation Bible School banner on the front of the church building. It looks really great, huh?! As you can tell, we’re pushing really hard right now to invite friends, family members, neighbors’ kids, etc. to join us for VBS this year. We have a really great week planned (Sun, June 8 - Thu, June 12), a dedicated crew of volunteers, and a great theme about serving God in the community. We’re emphasizing reaching out to the community by registering kids from families who may not already have a church home where they are active. Please see Leigh Ann Arrington, VBS Registrar, or the FCC website to register. If you want to take a few yellow registration cards to hand to friends and neighbors, please pick up a few at an FCC Resource Table (outside the church offices and in the sanctuary lobby.)

• Speaking of website… Those of you who are online can visit the FCC website for frequently updated information. It’s also a really great way to spread the word about the good things going on at First Christian Church. In 2006, 3 out of every 4 visitors to churches in the United States visited their website beforehand. Those same people also reported that they wouldn’t have visited the churches if there was no website to provide information. We live in a world where people want to know what they’re getting into before they’ll visit a church, and this is a great way to introduce people to your church. It’s as easy as, “Why don’t you check out our website?!”

• “Join the Team” is a new 6-week class starting Sunday, June 4, during the Sunday School hour. It is something we will try to do a couple times a year, maybe once a quarter, depending on response to the class. This is NOT just a new membership class (only). It is for ANYONE who wants to know more about First Christian, whether you’ve recently become a member or been baptized, are interested in becoming a member or being baptized, have been a member 45 years and want a refresher course. It could even be for a friend of yours who doesn’t yet attend but might if invited. We’ll cover FCC’s history, affiliation, basic doctrinal beliefs (esp. baptism and Lord’s Supper), ministry structure, vision and values, expectations of members, spiritual gifts and their role in the church, becoming a Christian, etc. It will include plenty of opportunity for feedback and time for questions you want answered, as well as a chance to get to know some folks you may not already know. You can sign up on an FCC Resource Table (outside the church offices and in the sanctuary lobby) or online. The link is on the FCC website’s home page, found on www.fccgreeneville.org.

• Memorial Day is Monday, June 26, so this next Sunday, June 25, we’ll be acknowledging men and women from among us who have served in the armed forces. We’d like to invite you to wear any uniforms and/or headwear and bring along pictures to share with one another. Thanks to the millions who have served over the course of our nation’s history, we enjoy many freedoms and a remarkable quality of life that many in our world still do not experience and that we do not want to take for granted.

• “Glorious Grace” Sermon Series > Grace is defined, mostly simply, as “unmerited favor.” It is being counted righteous before God, even when we can’t possibly merit being treated as such! What a fantastic truth that is for us as Christians. This past week we studied Matthew 20:1-16 and how grace as a concept is so unnatural for us and so crazy in what it offers that it is practically a scandal! The idea that it costs the giver everything and the receiver nothing is a difficult truth with which to come to grip. This week we’ll study God’s “healing grace” at the pool of Bethesda, found in John 5:1-15, when Jesus healed the man who’d been suffering for 38 years! I’d like to encourage you to read ahead in preparation.
  

A brief ’social’ and time of fellowship (with desserts and finger foods) will immediately follow the hour-long concert. We’ll be shuttling folks from FCC in our vans starting at 6:30 p.m. if you’d like a ride. Otherwise, you can join us at Central Christian (downtown, right across from the Greeneville Sun building). Wednesday Night Bible Study, “When Worldviews Collide,” and the Adult Choir are both cancelled this evening so we can join together and enjoy some good music and some good eats afterwards!

Just after dinner I was reading a newspaper article about the recent cyclone in Myanmar and explaining to our 3-year-old son Alden about the “people who were hurt” and “the kids who were sick.” So I told him that we needed to pray for “the kids who were sick.”

He paused for maybe 5-6 seconds (because I forced him to look me in the eyes and listen, if only for a moment) and he gave what seemed like an understanding nod… and then ran off to continue playing at warp speed for the next 2 hours before bedtime, oblivious to the tragedy and suffering happening a world away.

Well, as soon as I walked into his bedroom to say our nightime prayers, his eyes lit up. He’d been waiting for me… “Daddy, I already prayed for the kids who are sick!” I gleamed, “Alright, buddy! Good job!” and we ended the day with a nice hug and a small reminder that God can work… even in the lives of spazzy 3-year-old boys.