The "Power of One"

At our Church's General Convention in Orlando this summer I had the privilege of attending a workshop led by Stan Tolar and Louis Bussel. The workshop was entitled the power of one, the subject personal evangelism. In the midst of the presentation Dr. Tolar spoke of a new personal evangelism program he and Dr. Bussel had developed that was being tested in four Churches in Oklahoma. He mentioned as an aside that he could use a few more Churches. After the meeting I went up to Dr. Tolar and chatted with him about Lost and Found. To make a long story short, Dr. Tolar selected Lost and Found to be a test Church for this exciting evangelism program. In fact just a few days after Dr. Tolar was selected a General Superintendent, he took the time to send me the material. The course is called "the power of one. "
For the past month we have been talking about selecting and then praying for five people that you would like to invite to Church. Are you one of those people? I hope so because if you have been hurt by the Church or just looking for a new Church. I would love to have you come and check out what we call the Lost and Found difference. What is that? It is a place to laugh, discuss, pray and most importantly heal. Not mention eat and drink coffee. We start every Sunday with the entire family worshiping our Lord Jesus that inculdes a children's moment before they go off to have their own lesson time.
The power of one means many things. Jesus has the power of one. You as His witness have the power of one. The world has been changed starting with one person having a dream, vision or goal. We as a body of believers have already changed the culture of Cedar Springs Camp where we worship by our bringing in golf clubs, one club at a time until they had enough putters to run a successful program. The Lord upon His return to the Father left us the greatest power of one, The Holy Spirit!
So we will see you this Sunday morning at 9:30 at Cedar Springs Camp 4820 Highway 92 in Lake Stevens as we together begin our fall journey. As we explore God's word learning about the power of one.

Kinda Makes Ya Wonder

Every once an a while, something happens that causes you to shake you head and wonder. One such event took place on August 20th in Minneapolis. The Evangelical Lutheran Church was in convention debating the issue of Gays in pulpit ministry. This issue itself could create numerous blogs. But what I want to talk about is the weather.
As the issue was being debated on the inside of the auditorium a tornado warning was in effect for the area. For many of us when we think of a tornado, we think of the Wizard of Oz and the one that picked up Dorothy causing her life to go from black and white to Technicolor. But things like that only happen in the movies, don't they? As the afternoon of the 20th wore on and the debate raged inside of the auditorium the tornado touched down. According to Christianity Today, the tornado touched down on the convention center at the exact time the ELCA were in debate the Gay clergy issue. The only damage occurred according to the Catholic Digest wire service about a block away from the convention center. Where the hosting ELCA church had their cross topple to the ground. Other than that, no other tornado damage was reported.
As Ripley would say, "Believe it, or not."