Jon Stolpe
Jon Stolpe
Vacation Church Visiting
Growing up as a PK (pastor’s kid), I had countless opportunities to attend worship services at churches around the country. I’ve been to Catholic masses, Episcopal services, Jewish synagogues, Baptist churches, Lutheran…, Presbyterian…, Assemblies of God…, CMA…, and I could go on and on. In general these were great experiences for me. It permitted me to see things from other perspectives. When we were on vacation, we would often pop in at a church that was local to where we were vacationing.
Well, we just got back from a week of vacation to Pittsburgh to pick up my in-laws motor home (hence the previous post), to Aurora, IL to stop in on my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Max, to Batavia, IL to spend a few hours with my Grandma, to Pike Lake State Forest in Wisconsin to spend several days with my parents, my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my nephew and new niece. Then we returned to Pittsburgh to drop off the RV, to Vienna, VA to attend the wedding of a college friend of Leanne’s, to Darlington, MD to drop Isaac off at Indian Lake Christian Service Camp, and finally home.
During this week, we had the privilege of participating in the worship services at two churches. First, we went to my brothers church in Milwaukee. Milwaukee Mennonite Church is a fairly new church, and it is quite a bit different than the church I now attend. It was special to get a different taste of how others worship our God. Today, we attended Journey’s Crossing church in Gaithersburg, MD. This church is similar to our own church. Through visits like these it’s great to walk away with new ideas for your own church as well as a renewed appreciation for what your church does. We’re certainly looking forward to returning to our home church (Christ’s Church of the Valley) next week.
If you happen to be away on vacation, I would encourage you to look up a local church that looks interesting. Check it out, and bring back a bulletin and your thoughts to your own church.
Until the next post…
RV (Part 1)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZXAB-RdbI&hl=en]Rethinking…
Tonight, I was challenged a bit by what I wrote in my own blog post a few days ago and comments that I wrote to a post made by Brian Jones. I continue to wrestle with the issues and comments expressed in both of these places, and I now wrestle with some of the challenges laid before me this evening.
For one, I do not want my words to detract from others growth towards God. So if my words caused people to think twice in a negative way about this whole “Christ follower” thing than I apologize. That was by no means my intent. Paul in the book of Colossians 4:6 says, “6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” I’m not sure if all my words were full of grace (not by intent, but by perception), and I’m sorry for that.
On the other hand, Hebrews 10:23-25 says “23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Encouragement was the intent of my comments. I truly want people to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. I’m thankful for people in my life who have strongly encouraged me to grow.
One of the awesome things about going to our church is that there is a huge mix of people who are kicking the tires on this whole Christianity thing and people who are on fire for Christ. Understanding this and putting it into proper perspective gives some explanation into the reasons for my frustration in the first place.
I’m sure I will continue to wrestle with this for a while. I’m thankful for the grace of God and for the fact that I have people in my life who will call me on the carpet from time to time.
Until the next post, I wrestle on…
Fireproof
For those of you who have been reading for a while, you may have seen my post about the movie Facing the Giants. See the link below for Fireproof, a movie from the same producers. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the trailer is thought provoking.
Weekend Reflection
As I reflect on this past weekend, I have some mixed feelings that I need to get onto paper (okay…virtual paper):
- Gene Appel spoke at our church on Sunday, and his message was incredible. I have heard him speak before while attending small groups conferences at Willow Creek in Illinois, so I knew he would be good. But honestly, I was unprepared for what Gene brought to the table. He spoke about how we should/would want to be remembered after we’re gone. I was challenged by his direction to go after faith, hope, and love (see I Corinthians 13) as the goals for my life. In the hope of leaving a legacy that will long outlive me, I want to strive after faith, hope, and love in my relationships with my God, my family, and those around me.
- I was blown away once again by the servant volunteers that call our church home. Between making three services happen and making a church picnic happen immediately following the third serve, I was re-impressed by the dedication of some of CCV’s finest.
- I was disappointed. Why? Well, it seemed like attendance at the service that I went to as well as the picnic were low. I wonder if this is because people knew that our main pastor (Brian Jones) wasn’t speaking. Or if it was because people were away on vacation. Or if people didn’t want to bear the unbelievable 98°F weather. As I think more and more about it, I wonder if there is something different that we should be doing. After all, any regulars who missed this Sunday’s service missed one of the best services in CCV history. And while I haven’t listened to the message on CD yet, there is no way that the CD can do justice to what actually transpired during the service on Sunday morning. I’m not about pushing people towards Christ out of pure emotion; however, every once in a while we all need to experience the mountain top experiences that can happen on a retreat, on a service project, or even in a Sunday morning worship service.
- I feel somewhat like a hypocrite for stating the above disappointment, because my family will be elsewhere the next two Sundays. Are we setting a bad example?
- I resonate with the words I read today on Bob Lewis’ blog about needing to take people to a point where they can handle the meat and not just the milk. How does this all work? Our church does such an awesome job getting people in the doors and reaching out to the community. Our goal is to make people fully devoted followers of Christ, but I feel like we’re still figuring out how that looks. How do we turn people from casual attenders to people who are on fire for Christ?
- I know this starts with people like me. Not only do we need to be setting a good example, but we need to be passionate about the lives we live in Christ. After all…”therefore if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. The old is gone. The new is here.” Do we really live like this? We need to be passionate about seeing people’s lives changed permanently and profoundly for Christ. “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection…”
- People matter to God. People also matter to people. When people fail to show up for community, they are missing out. They are also leaving the rest of the community hanging out to dry. I don’t want to leave people hanging out to dry. I want to be a part of a community that does life together in a way that dramatically changes the world.
- It seems like rambling, but it feels good to express it. Does any of this make sense?
Just some of my thoughts…
I’m an Uncle (Again)…
I’ve been meaning to post this up here for a week or two, but life can get hectic.
On Friday, May 23, I became an Uncle again for the fourth time. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law welcomed Ashlyn Grace Anderson to their family. From what I understand, the family is adjusting fairly well to the new addition. I like following along with two of my nieces on their blog.
Casas por Cristo
Last month, our church took two teams to Mexico to build homes with Casas por Cristo for two families in Juarez, Mexico. Check out the highlight video below. You can see why a trip like this could be life changing.
Until the next post, I want to go where You send me…
Cletus Take the Reel
I’m not a big country music guy, so I was kind of glad to see the end of our church‘s country themed sermon series. The series provided great practical lessons from the Corinthians. I couldn’t help but laugh when the following video showed up on the big screen at this Sunday’s service.
To Be Or To Be In? That is the Question
To Be Blessed or To Be In What God is Blessing?
Friday night before going to bed, I purposefully shut off the alarm on the clock by my bed. I always get up early, so I wanted to give myself a chance to sleep in the next morning. My body woke me up at 5:00AM, so I decided that instead of tossing and turning in bed for the next two or three hours I would get up and go to the men’s breakfast at our church.
It never ceases to amaze me how invigorated I feel after attending one of these breakfasts. Besides breakfast sandwiches, fruit, and doughnuts, the morning consisted of interviews and a video highlighting a recent church sponsored trip to Juarez, Mexico to build two homes in partnership with Casas por Cristo. This was followed up by a video of Rick Warren speaking at the 2007 Catalyst leadership conference. Rick, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, shared many interesting insights using the story of Moses and his staff. I think the thing that challenged me the most was a statement he made about how we should be praying.
He said that we should not be praying that God would bless us. Instead, we should be praying that we would be a part of whatever God is blessing.
This is really a radical way to look at how we pray. I think it’s easy to pray for what we want. I know I want to be in control. I want to be blessed. When we pray the way that Rick Warren is suggesting, we give up the control, and we acknowledge that God is in charge and that He wants us to be on board with Him.
So what is it that God is blessing around your life?
A Spring Recital
If you've been reading along for several months, you may remember that I started playing the saxophone again earlier this year. This has truly been a delight so far (despite the sore bottom lip and frustration over the notes not coming out just right). In a way, it has been like riding a bicycle; although, I still have a ways to go to where I think I was before (and where I'd like to be in the future).
At any rate, as my playing continued, our family thought it would be really cool to have a neighborhood recital in our own house. So… this Saturday, we hosted our first recital. It was a blast! The recital featured seveal budding piano players – including Isaac playing A Short Story, Cindy (with Hannah), and Star Wars (with me). The recital also included a trumpet player and two violin players. Hannah played Cindy (with Isaac) and Ragtime Special. I had the opportunity to "bust it out" on Etude Op. 10, No. 3 by Chopin and Harlem Nocturne by Hagen.
At the end of the recital, there were multiple requested for scheduling the next recital – perhaps in the fall.
Until the next post, I'll be looking for the next piece to play…