[re]church

The first episode in a short series about a set of characteristics listed in Ephesians 4:11, often remembered using the acronym, APEST.

Pastor Mike waxes eloquent about post holes for a new deck project?

Ever since Jesus started the Church, he's been reshaping the Church. Mostly because only manage to trust and follow Him for short stretches of time. In any case, his mercies are new every morning, so all we have to do is [re]follow Him and he'll orchestrate His [re]church. Always has; Always will. What a blast to be entrusted with such purpose. Let's go, Vista!

Problems, challenges, impasses, trauma, change, etc...all create emotional, psychological stress. I'm no psychologist, so don't quote me on all that...just try to catch my point: The world we live in right now is internally stressful. And when people are stressed, we communicate poorly.  We "communicate" nearer to the ends of the continuum that stretches from "spewing" to "stuffing." We're going to err toward screaming or silence...depending on your particular brand of foolishness. Pastor mike reminds us of a very simple tool each of us can use...if we decide to...to land us nearer the center of the continuum...where healthy communication and alleviated stress happen!

In the first two episodes of the "Do you know...the Bible" mini-series Pastor Mike talked about Who the Bible is to, and What the Bible is about. In this third episode he covers What the Bible is for. Hopefully a few more Bible episodes will come about in the future so he'll have the opportunity to create a few more titles that end with prepositions!

COVID is changing the way the world [c]onnects with each other, [c]ongregates in large groups, and gathers [c]ontent; it's also exposed systemic/operational weaknesses in all sectors of society; and it's particularly exposing the inadequacies in the church's approach to reaching the post-christian communities we live in. [re]church is our attempt to [re]shape...to learn, grow, and get better at what church does.

God's telling one big beautiful story in the Bible, and we get to peek in, be steeped in it, and be changed by it all. The whole story can be captured, generally, with the acrostic G.O.S.P.E.L. (for which I borrow heavily from NT Wright's sweep: Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, Church, Eternity...or maybe he uses Re-Creation.)

To [re]church properly we've got to understand the purpose of the Bible, and that starts with three basic questions: Who was it written to? Who was it written for? And, why?

If you're having trouble finding, receiving or keeping up to speed with the Vista information flow Mike's guidance and tutorial here with respect to our website, facebook page and instagram feed might just be the thing you need. He's also very excited (maybe too excited) about a discovery he made that was a game-changer for him!

Bill throws Jesus under the bus according to analysis a middle schooler could correct.