Vision

A few questions as we near the end of one year and get ready to begin another:

Where does vision come from? Why do some people seem to have it while others don’t? What takes vision beyond dreaming to action?

While I don’t claim to have the definitive answer these questions, I do think I have a clue. One thing, which always seems to accompany true vision, is desire…a strong desire to see things change for the better; a desire so compelling that those who possess it can’t help but do something to make a difference!

As the Pastor of River City Community Church, I have a question. What do we desire to see God do through RCCC this next year? An even bigger question might be “What are we willing to do to see God accomplish His vision through us…what are we willing to change?” That’s right. I said “change,” because vision is all about changing from what is to what can be. This is where we lose quite a few people. Many of us have learned to be comfortable where we are, and we’re afraid of change.

I hate to burst your bubble, but God is not done with River City Community Church! His vision is not for us to coast comfortably into eternity! There are hundreds of thousands of people within a 30-minute drive who desperately need the love of God in their lives, and He wants us to go after them. That’s exciting! But, one look around will illustrate that making room for hundreds, even thousands, of new, transformed lives will require serious change! Are we willing? Is our desire to see real life change in the people of our community great enough to drive us to change?

This is the question that we’ll have to wrestle with in the upcoming months. Please, join me in praying that God’s vision capture us all! May we be willing to do whatever it takes to follow Him.

Pray and vote!

Let's be sure to pray for God's will to be accomplished this coming Tuesday. Let's pray for leaders with a biblical worldview that will uphold Godly values.

Then vote your convictions!

God Bless

Sean

Monday morning

Sunday was great! I am a bit "wrung out" though. I'm off on Mondays and I usually start the day dragging but it gets better as the day goes on.

My family and I are planning on serving this Saturday in "Ike devastated" San Leon. Willy Mayfield found, what seems to be, a great church for us to partner with in this town that has very little support and is extremely poor. They were hit hard and there's a lot to do. We have groups going down for the next three Saturdays.

I've been thinking a lot about our upcoming series called, "Let's talk about sex." Honestly, I'm a little nervous about this one. I mean, I'm usually the one snickering saying, "Ha, he said sex" when the subject is brought up. Not to mention the fact that my wife looked at me kind of funny and said, "You're going to teach about sex...really?" So...pray for me.

On a different note, My fantasy football team beat Aaron's...that's always good!

Wow! What a month July was!

River City Community Church had an amazing VBS! We saw God work in the lives of hundreds of kids as well as all those who served. It is always a great opportunity to serve our community as well as meet many new friends.

Leaders from RCCC led a couple of missions teams from sister churches into Mexico as well as on an inner-city, San Antonio trip. We also sent out a team of our youth who went to the valley to serve. Short term missions is always a double blessing as both giver and recipient of ministry see God's grace and experience His presence in new ways!

Our first Royal Family Kid’s Camp was an incredible success! 36 amazing foster children were shown the love of Jesus by more than 40 servants from River City Community church. I can’t tell you how impacted we all were. I truly believe that this will serve as a springboard to all kinds of other ministries to those in need.

Jody Bayless and Tom Villa were two of our outstanding volunteers!

After Royal family, Lauri and I went to pick up our kids who were staying with my brother and his family in Santa Barbara, CA. Tough duty…but someone had to do it. Santa Barbara happens to be one of my favorite places in the country. With the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other it is a truly beautiful place. We had a great time before heading home.


We serve a truly awesome God! I look forward to what He has in store for August!

This week, my son Ryan and I, along with a small group of people, had the opportunity to meet with author and radio host Michael Medved. He was in town doing a live broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program at KLUP and he took the time to meet with a few of us at the station. He is a very bright individual who really seems to enjoy influencing people's thinking. We had a great time!

The Shack

I recently read a new book entitled "The Shack" by William P. Young. All I want to say is, "Wow!" I highly recommend this book. I think it has the potential to change the way readers relate to God. If you want to move beyond religious motions to a vibrant interactive relationship with the creator, this incredible story will give you a new vision and passion. The book is fiction but the truth it illuminates is as real as it gets. Check it out!

Go Spurs, go!

Truth

My wife, Lauri was listening to a Radio talk show a while back. They told of a survey in which people were asked, “Where do you find truth?” A good number of the people surveyed answered “from the bible”. Of people who said that they find truth from the bible, only 28% of those claimed to actually read the bible. This statistic presents an obvious question: are these simply people who don’t seek the truth? I don’t think so…I think we all seek truth. I think these people have a stated belief that is opposed with their real belief. I want to suggest these people have had the idea that the bible is the source of truth drilled into them since childhood. The problem is they have not seen that truth actually change their lives and have intuitively turned to other sources of truth. Truth that doesn’t work isn’t true.

The host went on to lament biblical illiteracy as the great problem facing the church in America. I’m not nearly as concerned about biblical illiteracy as I am about biblical irrelevancy.

Truth not applied is the most discouraging of possessions.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free - Jesus

Is the truth setting us free? Why do so many great people who have been around the church for years continue to struggle year after year with the same things. Why is there no fruit; no life change?

We want truth to help us change our circumstances or those around us. Unfortunately biblical truth focuses largely on changing me. Yes, biblical truth can help me influence my surroundings, but its true power is in how it transforms me. If I am not willing to have my pride, selfishness, ambition or greed confronted, the bible will have very little appeal to me. Too many of us want truth that will make our lives better without the painful process of it making us better.

real life

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:10

Jesus came to give life…to the fullest. Here at River City we call it Real life. If fact we call ourselves, “A Church for Real Life.”

From the beginning, we have recognized a sort of double entendre in this phrase. Real life is the eternal, abundant life that Jesus makes available by our salvation. As a church that’s what we do; we help people find the amazing gift of a new life in Christ! However, it’s also important to remember that God works “out there”…in the real world…in real life! Our faith makes a difference in real life!

To often, I’m afraid the church has painted a picture of God pulling us out of the regular world into a “church world”. You know, out of “real life” into “real life”, if that makes any sense. The problem is this leads to pretending and a sort of spiritual schizophrenia. We begin to have 2 lives, and sadly even 2 faces. That’s not what God intended! The truth is our faith works in and impacts every area of our world: our work, our family, our relationships, finances, goals, and dreams. A Church for real life is a place where we can be who we are as we become who He created us to be!

This time of year is often a time for celebration: graduations, weddings, Mother’s day, (and Father’s day is just around the corner.) These are the good gifts of real life. Let each day be a celebration and an opportunity to give thanks.

Celebrating Real Life - Sean

People pleasing

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. - 1 Cor. 4:2-5

One of the sad things about our world is our obsession with appearances. What will others think? How will it appear? It seems that Paul could care less what others think. I like that…a lot!

Don’t worry about how things appear. Concern yourself with how they really are! Really there are only 2 concerns: Have I been faithful, and what does God think? He sees the heart of the matter and one day all will be revealed and the fruit will be seen.

Don’t worry so much about what people think.

Now, isn’t that a burden lifted?

Listen

But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.1 Cor. 2:10-13

I'm reading in 1 Cor. and this passage in chapter 2 really jumped out at me. The idea that the Spirit who knows the very thoughts of God resides in you and I is really amazing. Consider what is available to us if we'll just stop and listen. What would we hear? What mistakes could be avoided? What opportunities would we see that might have been missed?

Lord, teach us to stop and listen before we act.

Money

This coming weekend, at River City Community Church, we will begin a discussion about Money. The series is called "Money Talks - hopeful conversations for stressful times." Of course, there are those who believe you should never talk about money in “polite company” or in the church. Unfortunately God didn’t get the memo when inspiring the scriptures! The bible talks a lot about money, which is really good because it’s on everyone’s mind these days.

I want to suggest that one of the best things we can do to grow in our faith is to embrace a biblical philosophy in regards to finances. Consider how much of our lives are impacted by money. No wonder it is so near and dear to our heart! It’s hard to have a conversation about our goals, dreams, security, or future without it somehow touching on the subject of money. I want to suggest that if we can trust God in the area of provision and finances, a whole lot of other things begin to fall into place.

My hope is that we would let God give us a financial overhaul during these conversations. Approach this topic expecting to have your cultural programming and practices challenged. You won’t be disappointed.

Grace and Peace,

Easter

Easter was a great day at River City Community Church! The message was a simple message of hope but it resonated with us all. Sadly, hope is a rare commodity in high demand. The good news is that Easter is all about hope! The future looks totally different when viewed in light of Christ's resurrection.

Here's my hope...that we will let a resurrection mindset change our vision of the future and in turn change the way we live.

Direction

Where are we headed?

This next Sunday, we are going to talk about the vision that God has given for RCCC. Don't miss this important time!

Happy Meal Living.

What if we decided not to waste another year? We are given a limited number, you know. Seventy some is the average, with a few getting a bit more and some not even getting that many. When you think of it in these terms, we don’t have time to squander on trivial things. Trivial things are things that don’t last long…like happy meal toys, which don’t usually even make it all the way home from McDonalds. Everything else just goes up in importance from there based on how long it lasts.

People last forever…they have eternal souls that will live on into eternity. They are really worth the investment of our time.

God is not only eternal in that He has no end, but (brace your brain) no beginning. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Communing with Him is the most important thing we can ever do.

So…somewhere between happy meal toys and the Almighty falls everything else in the world.