Friday, March 30, 2007

Programmatic Benefits of Chairs

Hello! Perhaps all of you have heard by now that we are exploring a remodel of our church sanctuary. One of the potentially contentious points in a church remodel is the discussion about removing pews in favor of more modern, padded chairs. Rather than discussing the differences in style, I want to focus for a moment on the difference in function. What possibilities are open to us if we have flexible seating? I have put together a partial list of the benefits our church would have as a result of bringing in chairs. After reading through, I'd encourage you to add some of your own at the end!

*Chairs allow for curved seating; better site lines for people towards the end of a row.

*Chairs may be placed around tables
-Discussion Groups
-Banquets
-Prayer Circles

*Chairs may be placed around longer tables, or one side of a circular table
-Conferences, seminars and workshops

*Chairs may be rearranged for worship purposes
-Worship event in center of room with chairs in circles

*Chairs may be removed from the front of the room
-Allows more room for dramas, mimes, or large wedding parties

*Chairs may be removed from the back of the room
-Providing greater space for socializing and fellowship

*Room may be completely cleared out
-Light-impact events (such as a ballet practice)
-Concerts or standing room only events
-Youth events

*Chairs will make the room more functional not only for our church family, but equally as important, it will make the room more available to our community. (Right now our sanctuary, the largest room in our building, is used around 6 to 7 hours per week.)
-Community seminars, practices, events, etc.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
*Single chairs may be removed and replaced in case of damage
*Chairs may be removed for great wheelchair accessibility
*Chairs provide greater comfort
*Chairs are more familiar seating for unchurched people. Hard-backed benches are primarily found at sporting events- where people take "bleacher seats" with them!
*Chairs are a "defined space", giving people a greater feel of personal space. This will actually allow for a greater room capacity.

What do you think?

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Heart to Heart Season Ends

This year Heart to Heart has consisted of a series of meetings and events all tied to the theme, "That Makes Sense". Each part of the series used one of the five senses as a launching point. We began back in September with meetings called "Taste and See That the Lord is Good" and there was a serious amount of chocolate involved! This series was desigend to be a good way for women to find out if Heart to Heart would be a good fit, and an easy place to invite friends.

We then did a womens' spiritual retreat called "Touching Heaven". It was in Menucha, Oregon and intentionally focused on the spiritual worlds, both dark and light. The feedback from that retreat was enthusiastic. "Best retreat ever," was noted over and over again. It was certainly a great time to get in touch with God and with each other.

In order to sharpen our listening skills we did a winter series called, "Can You Hear Me Now?" and spent time learning how God speaks to us. That was capped with a holiday seeker friendly event called "It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas". It was a blast to have several presenters, to learn a few Christmas tips, and just hang out and have fun together.

Finally we did a series called "I Can See Clearly Now" which was intended to re-energize our devotional lives. We spent a lot of each week doing personal Bible study and sharing new insights in groups discussions. There was a big enphasis on the inperative need to include God's Word in our decisions and plans.

How important is your Bible? Consider the following:

It was written over a span of 1500 years by more than 40 authors spread over three continents: kings, peasants, fishermen, criminals, poets, and statesmen. The languages they wrote in are dead or close to it but it has outlasted their limited knowledge and been translated into more than 2200 languages.

It is eternal, it begins before the creation of the universe and reaches into the far future.

It is quoted by angels and misquoted by demons. God protects and preserves it and man has manufactured more copies of it than any other book. It’s words and ideas have been incorporated into hundreds of thousands of pieces of art and literature.

It is used as a model for worldwide codes of law, serves as a shield of the preservation of liberty, guides kings, presidents, and generals, and encourages scientific thought.

Men have been martyred for believing it and waged wars to defend it. Wherever it goes women and children are elevated. It was the driving force behind the exploration of the new world and the abolition of slavery.

It's pages burn with truth,It is reliable, holy, complete, inexhaustible. It is eternal.

And it is personal. It has sustained soldiers in foxholes, nourished the starving in prison camps, been a companion to orphans and widows. It has stopped the desperate from pulling the trigger, swallowing the pills, slamming the door.

It's pages whisper, "Come near...take a closer look." A story, a verse, a word...just for me, just for you, just for today.

Seeing clearly requires us to put on our holy glasses and learn to appreciate God's holy Book.

The final event for Heart to Heart women this season will be our annual Garage Saling Extravaganza in June. This is a totally fun morning when we meet at the church, team up, get directions and garage sale lists and head out for a few hours of treasure hunting. We meet back at the church for lunch and show and tell. This year we are planning to provide childcare. Watch for date and time.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

The Rentz's past and future

C&MA International Ministries is eager to get our missionary in residence, Chuck Rentz, back into the field; he was scheduled to fly back to Berlin this August when his year with us is up. But Chuck and Jenny are now expecting their fourth child in August, so their travel plans will definitely change. They have not decided whether they will leave early, in May, or wait until November or December.

Chuck has already preached, and many of you have met him in person, but since we are restarting this blog with plenty of new content, I wanted to get a little of his background available online.

Chuck accepted Christ when he was 16 and living in Poulsbo. He felt he was "called to let my life count for the Lord;" one way he accomplished that was spending four years as an instructor at Crown College. In 1993, he heard a speaker at a C&MA missionary conference give an urgent call, inspired by the collapse of the Soviet Union: the church needed people who could begin training for overseas work immediately and enter the mission field soon. Chuck felt that God was calling him to answer, but the path to overseas ministry was a long one.

For the last 18 months of Chuck's preparation, the word was that France was his likely destination. But when he arrived for his pre-appointment interview, a step about six months away from placement, he was launched into two weeks of uncertainty. The denomination suggested Mongolia, an Indonesian island, and three African countries, but all were bad matches.

Finally, he got back on track with a placement in Berlin. In 2001, Chuck and his family went overseas and began two years of language study. His first ministry was a new church plant in the form of an initial 17-person home group, which he eventually expanded into a functioning church. He was also the field treasurer, responsible for the mission's international banking.

The C&MA wants its missionaries to spend one year in full-time U.S. ministry for every four they spend in the field. For the Rentz family, that first year back was a challenging one. Chuck and Jenny's oldest son, Erich, had been diagnosed with epilepsy their first year in Germany, and he began to have developmental issues. Meanwhile, Chuck's speaking schedule sent him around the country and often kept him away from Jenny and their children. When the year was up, they did not feel ready to return to Berlin. The family was tired, and gaining access to the proper schooling for Erich in Germany is difficult.

"We were five minutes from Jenny's church in Toledo, Ohio, and we have felt so much more care-giving and relationships and connection with people here than there," Chuck said. "Not that they're bad people, but it's another way of doing things, and [East Hills], all around, has been a blessing to us from the first week we got here."

The Pacific Northwest District put Chuck in contact with Nick Stumbo, and they and the elders felt that God was calling Chuck back to Washington. He began his year-long residence in July 2006.

"We were really unsure of what the future meant for us," he said. "Then Nick called ... we really believe that God brought us here. I think this was the year that God wants us to be refreshed."

While here, Chuck is still involved in promoting missions. He is a firm supporter of life groups, which are a main tool for connecting believers in his field work. He also emphasized that his ministry goal is to understand what God has for East Hills, to reenforce the leadership's vision rather than compete against it.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Drama in Heaven

Drama in Heaven
By Ann Hight

When God walked in to the drama room
He could hardly believe His eyes,
Half the crew was late again
and the props were all the wrong size.

Some of the actors were dozing,
Some were playing cards
And some were having an argument
About who should be the stars.

Paul was in the corner
doing rewrites on the script
“I think I’ve almost got it,”
For the fiftieth time he quipped

Moses, in the back room
was trying hard to learn his part
“I just can’t seem to say it right”
He was surely losing heart.

Spotlights leaned in the corner
And no one seemed to care
The wardrobe mistress worried
about John and that camel hair.

Peter kept on coming up
with new ideas for the set,
“Let’s build three of them”, he cried
“This is my best plan yet”

Something sure was missing
in heaven’s drama room
Without a fresh solution
God knew the play was doomed.

Suddenly a knowing smile
replaced God’s worried frown.
“Peter, drop your hammer.
Go get me Dana Brown.”