One Powerful Prayer.

One of the most powerful things that we can pray is simply, "God, transform my heart."

I began the month of February with the decision that I was going to pray that prayer every day this month. I don't know that I quite lived up to that goal, but I know that I came close. I think the heart is the most important thing in the life of any Christ follower. If anything, I want God to keep molding and shaping it in the ways that He sees fit. So I prayed.

And let me tell you, I think God answered.

It wasn't pretty. It saw me go through some mini-moments of crisis along the way. But I believe that I saw God work in my heart as I prayed that prayer. And to me, that's exciting, because my heart can be one of the coldest, deadest parts of my being at times. But now, looking back on the month of February, I believe that I can really say that I saw God make my relationship with Him more authentic. More genuine. More real.

So go ahead... I dare you. Ask God to transform your heart. I believe that something special will happen.

Beyond Sunday - The Jesus Mission: Our Responsibility

...by Jeff Sanford

Blessing. We all love blessing, right? Often, when I seek God in prayer, that’s what I ask for…blessing. Bless me. Bless my marriage. Bless my kids. Bless my finances. Bless my church. Bless my travel. Bless my efforts. Bless this. Bless that. As a follower of Christ, I am good at asking for blessing.

However, I am not nearly as good at noticing the ways that God has already blessed me. I mean, I got that job because I did really well during my internship. And the promotion, well that was just because I worked really hard. My talents…I’ve spent numerous hours sharpening my skills. We may not admit it, but that’s how many of us think. But the truth is that every blessing that comes our way comes from the hand of God (James 1:17).

And often, I’m too busy complaining about all the things I haven’t been blessed with to pause, look around, and notice all that I do have. Every one of us has been blessed beyond measure. We’ve haven’t all been blessed in the ways that we tend to recognize (namely, financially), but we are all living blessed lives. Think about it this way. God, who created galaxies and sunsets and mountains and caterpillars and jellyfish and flowers, loves YOU and sent his only Son to die for YOU while YOU were still rebelling against Him (Romans 5:8). The fact that God even thought about me for a second makes me wonder why, but that the same God sacrificed His Son to make right all of the wrong that I’ll ever do while I was still running from Him makes me recognize that I am loved and blessed and that I actually owe God my entire life.

As Greg mentioned in his message, God did not bless us with life, gifts, talents, finances, etc. so that we can sit back, relax, and “get fat”. God blessed us so that we can go and share that blessing with others (Genesis 12:2-3). It only makes sense. Since the blessing is not of my own doing, then I have no right to hoard it. Hoarding the blessing is my attempt to bring glory to myself (Genesis 11:4), while giving sacrificially is a way to worship and give glory to God for what He’s already done.

So, this week I’m going to pause, recognize, and thank God for all the ways that He’s blessed me. I’m going to pray that the Holy Spirit will grant me power over my own selfishness and transform who I am so that I have a generous heart. I’m going to pray that God will supply the courage and faith to give sacrificially to the Jesus mission in view of all that God has blessed me with so that I can continue the system of blessing that God started in my life.

P.S. I’m also going to pray that I do more than just honor God with my lips and with my written words but more so with my heart and my actions.

25 Day Challenge.

So if you haven't taken the opportunity, you should get to know Brendon Foulke, our new student pastor.

Recently, I got the chance to go with Brendon and a gang of about 30 up to Wisconsin Dells, WI for the Senior High Winter Escape retreat. I got to lead worship for our high school students, and it was a blast.

As Brendon and I sat down at the beginning of February and thought about planning and themes for the retreat, we arrived at Matthew 4's story of the temptations of Jesus. We both quickly noticed that if you look through that narrative, you see that Jesus fights each of the temptations that the devil throws at Him with Scripture.

Brendon and I aren't the smartest guys, but even we can figure out that knowing your Bible is pretty important. So that led us to decide that we were going to center the whole Dells retreat around gaining a love and knowledge for Scripture through something that we are calling the "25 Day Challenge."

Here's how it works: there is one reading each day for twenty five days (when you're finished with all 25, you will have read James and 1 and 2 Peter). After you complete the assigned reading, you need to journal about it. What do you think the point of the passage you read today was? What do you think God is trying to show you? What action steps can you take to apply the truth of God's Word to your life? I'm a few days in, and I think it's going to be a really beneficial discipline for me.

Anyway, I wanted to challenge you to join in with me. I'm doing it all on my blog (you can visit it here). Click on the "25 Day Challenge" link at the top of the page (or just click here), and you can see all of the assigned readings. I have made the personal commitment to blog through each day of the challenge. I'd love to encourage you to do the same. If you don't have a blog, journal in a notebook. Make a Word document on your computer and use that as a journal! Do whatever you have to! Knowing Scripture is important, and this could be a great way for you to get started on this worthwhile discipline.

So jump in! I'm looking forward to seeing what God does in your life through the 25 Day Challenge.

Beyond Sunday - The Jesus Mission: Our Mission

...by Kevin McHugh

As I start writing, I am reflecting on the Sunday service, but I am also reflecting back to other experiences at Suncrest and how I've grown to embrace our mission statement.

"Being used by God to change lives" - I love the beautiful simplicity, I love how our church leaders are completely sincere about it, and I love how our church family executes the mission. We are doing it all the time by inviting people, serving in the community, praying for people, giving of our resources, and in many other ways. Hey, weren’t there just a few baptisms recently??? On a personal note, it was a few Suncrest families like the Barker’s and the Kimberly’s who invited my family, prayed for us, and befriended us until the time came when we finally understood the truth and became Christ Followers - I thank God for these people and consider them my greatest friends.

Do you still have Acts 1:8 committed to memory? "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth." This is our verse to keep top of mind as Suncrest lays out a bold move.

The verse from Acts compliments and builds on the mission statement of "Being used by God to change lives". I think it helps to look at these two statements together as we think about what we are embarking on.

What are we going to do? God will use us to change lives by bearing witness, praying, serving, loving others, and giving. (The 4 C's – Connect, Contribute, Cultivate, Care)
Why are we doing it? Jesus told us to, just before He ascended.
When are we doing it? Right now, silly. (1st attempt at humor)
Where are we going to do it? Weren't you paying attention people? (2nd attempt) - locally in Highland, regionally in South Bend, globally in Liberia.
How can we do it? We have received power from the Holy Spirit. We have our faith. We have each other.

Consider this everyone; God has laid out the groundwork already.
Doug Gamble is leading a thriving campus in Hobart, and St John has back filled with many great new people.
We prayed for, and sent off our Liberia mission team to go serve in many wonderful ways.
God has placed two great leaders in our church to take on campuses in Highland & South Bend.

For the Jesus mission, Greg told us that "Each one of us has a role" and that "Our response to this is huge". He's totally right and I am so glad I found this place.

See you Sunday and please keep praying for the Liberia mission team.

Sacrifice.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."

-Mark 8:34-35, ESV

Sacrifice is a key theme of being a Biblical Christ follower.

I mean, it really can't be a whole lot more clear when Jesus says stuff like that quote up above. Giving of ourselves and giving of our lives is not optional. It's a natural part of being a Christ follower.

Think about the numerous stories of people in the Bible, and what they sacrificed in their pursuit to love God. I think of a guy like Paul, who gave up the wealth, power, and prestige of being a big player on the Jewish religious scene in order to follow Christ. He'd eventually give up his life for that very cause. I think of the disciples, too. With the exception of John, tradition is that every single disciple gave up their life as a martyr for the gospel. The ultimate example of sacrifice is Jesus; He gave up the comfort of heaven so that He could come down to earth, not just to teach, but ultimately to die a painful, difficult death on our behalf.

2,000 years later, things have changed in some parts of the world. Being a Christ follower in America will probably not require you to die for what you believe in, as it did for people like Paul and the disciples. However, being a Biblical Christ follower will still require sacrifice. I think of people like our Africa team who is in Liberia right now, giving up their time, money, energy, and all sorts of stuff so that they can serve God in a foreign country. I think of amazing people who have chosen to give their livelihood in order to serve the poor and care for those in distress.

Those are just examples. The concept of "sacrifice" will be different to each person, based on what your life situation is right now. For you, it might be as simple as sacrificing time by serving on a ministry team. It might mean a sacrificing of your selfish wants, desires, or priorities so that God can help you work toward His priorities.

Sacrifice is going to be a big theme over 2010 at Suncrest. Now, in our Jesus Mission series, we're talking about sacrifice in several ways:

• A sacrifice of my service, deciding to become part of one of our new campuses or one of our future Africa teams
• A sacrifice of my resources, going above and beyond in my giving to help resource the work God is doing through Suncrest in Highland, South Bend, and Liberia.
• A sacrifice of my comfort, choosing to fast for whatever length of time about the ways in which God wants me to become a part of the Jesus Mission initiative.

I don't know what sacrifice looks like for you, but I believe that it's part of being a follower of Jesus. It's part of how we can cultivate our relationship with Him.

Hobart Campus Beyond Sunday - Not a Fan: Completely. Committed. Follower

...by Larry McManus

Before the message was delivered we were moved by the video of the multitude of baptisms for last week--WOW! The "not a fan" teaching series has turned out to be a turning point in our church's history with 80 baptisms in one weekend. God is changing lives at Suncrest and this final message in the series moves us forward into what a completely. committed. follower. looks like.

With John 15 as the textual backdrop for the whole message, we see that there are some immutable components of our faith once we are transformed by Jesus. These components must be developed but should begin as soon as we start this life of following Christ. There are certain activities and qualities that the Bible calls "fruit" and which begin to characterize the life of a Christ follower.

We see some of these in Galatians 5 and Jesus said in Matthew 7 that "every good tree bears good fruit" and "by their fruit you will recognize them". There is a qualifier in John 15:16 that we bear fruit that lasts. Lasting fruit must come from a lasting power source in order to have the eternal quality that Jesus is speaking of here. This kind of fruit is spiritual and born from time with the Eternal One, Jesus Christ.

This leads to the next component of faith in which we remain in Jesus, much like a branch remains connected to the main vine or trunk. And so the agricultural metaphor develops from "fruit" production to "branches" and "vine". Or.... we could go with tape-ology. Gorilla tape, being the alleged "stickiest tape", we should be like that tape. We should cling to Jesus as if everything depended on Him (because it actually does). This seemed to be the big idea of this message, "stick with Jesus." If we align our lives with Jesus and His words and will, then when we ask the same as Him it will be given. Joy is also part of the promise that will come when we "stick with Jesus". So have you dropped the "fan" status with Jesus? Are you giving yourself to Jesus completely, committing everything daily to Him, and following Him as close as you can?

St. John Campus Beyond Sunday - Not a Fan: Completely. Committed. Follower.

...by Ruth Ann Marino

I would like to thank God for His grace and mercy that He has so graciously poured out on Suncrest. For me and my family, it has been very personal, as I know it has for many, many others. When you think about it, 80 people were baptized into Christ on February 7th at Suncrest, but how many people beyond that were impacted? Hundreds? In time, thousands?

That is why the message we received this past Sunday is so crucial to the growth of those who committed their lives to Jesus and also to the growth of those who have already made this commitment.

I love the 4 C’s that Suncrest has identified as practices for a Christ-follower: Connect, Cultivate, Contribute and Care. Connecting can be a very different experience for each individual and I think it is important to be aware of this. As Greg said "God moves in a unique way in all of our lives at different times in our lives". I did not become a Christ follower until adulthood, and was not baptized until over a year after that decision. It was the most wonderful experience of my life, but something was missing after that, and at the time I wasn't quite aware of what it was, but now I know it was the lack of connection. I went to the baptistery all alone, with a pastor that did not know me very well, and even though I tried to connect to a church family, I kept feeling like an outsider. My family members were not Christ followers, and I had but one Christian friend who seemed to forget about me once I was saved.

After years of searching, God finally lead me to Suncrest. What a blessing. For some time I was beginning to think I would never make the kind of connection that others seemed to have. My walk felt lonely, even though I knew God was with me. Then one day I heard about a ministry within the church called Morning Grace. I decided to attend and it was the beginning of a new walk for me. Women reached out to me, fellowshipped with me and became friends, which was an answer to years of prayer.
This was also the beginning of cultivating my walk with Christ. Through this ministry, I was able to cultivate through study of God's word with other women and I loved and learned from hearing about their walk with Christ. I also learned of community groups and found a great group of people to connect with and further cultivate and grow in Christ Jesus.

Contributing is also a huge factor in connecting with other Christ followers. When I first began attending Suncrest I thought "how am I ever going to get to know anyone in a church this size?" And for some time it was a challenge, but the reason it was a challenge is because I was not contributing in any way. God was convicting me about this, so I decided it was time to commit. Through serving in various ways I have met and developed relationships with many wonderful people. That may have never happened if I had just sat in my seat every Sunday and not looked for a place to serve. God teaches us to serve. "But God doesn't want us to be shy with our gifts, but be bold and loving and sensible". Without serving our walk with Christ cannot be as fulfilling as it should be.

Caring, sadly, can be one of the most challenging, even for Christ followers. Jesus taught the message of love in such a simple way when He said "Love One Another" It is a huge responsibility when we respond to this message of love. We need to personally reach out to those new in Christ and not expect the staff, community groups and other ministries to be completely responsible for this. Our personal outreach can lead many people to these areas in a way that is much easier for them. It may require just a simple invitation to have coffee together. Jesus personally reached out to His followers in a very personal and intimate way, and He expects nothing less from us. Let us glorify our God by responding to His teaching of reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father"