Thought for the day -- June 30th

Today, even amongst Christians, there can be found much of that spirit that wants to give as little as possible to the Lord, and yet to get as much as possible from Him. The prevailing thought today is of being used, as though that were the one thing that mattered. That my little rubber band should be stretched to the very limit seems all important. But this is not the Lord's mind. The Lord wants us to be used, yes; but what He is after is that we pour all we have, ourselves, to Him, and if that be all, that is enough.

--Watchman Nee

Youth Summer Schedules

The youth are into their summer schedules; looks like a ton of great times. You can get the info from the youth blog at these links:

JR HIGH

SR HIGH

Thought for the day -- June 29th

Many Christians have what we might call a "cultural holiness". They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.

--Jerry Bridges

Thought for the day -- June 28th

Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thought for the day -- June 25th

The ultimate criterion of a person's Christian spirit is not theory but practice; not how he thinks of teachings, dogmas, interpretations, but how he acts in ordinary life.

-- Hans Kung

Thought for the day -- June 24th

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

-- C.S. Lewis

Family Camp 2007 --- July 27th-August 5th

It's time to make your plans to take part in Family Camp 2007. Many CRMC families participate in this great week of ministry, challenge, and worship each year. You can stay on the grounds or come and go as your schedule allows. There are daily activities for the family, kids, and youth. Lives are changed and the Kingdom is advanced every year! Check out the links below for more details...

PRAIRIE CAMP

FAMILY CAMP: brochure, schedule

TEEN CAMP

CHALLENGE COURSE

3DYC Quiz

Time to start making your plans Jr/ Sr High students.

Volunteer Spotlight -- Ushers

You've seen them; the guys that pass those offering plates every Sunday. The facts about them are this:

1. They do way more than just pass the plate.

2. We couldn't do an effective worship service without them.

This band of servants is led by Steve Rieffel. He makes sure that each week there are enough ushers in place. Yes, they help take the offering. But did you know that at least one of them is "on duty" the entire service. Making sure late comers have bulletins and find seats, answering the phone, assisting with miscellaneous problems so that the flow and mood of worship goes uninterrupted, taking the attendance count, directing people to various places around the church (nursery, restroom, preschool room, etc.), along with meeting just about any need that may come up. I'd like to pass along a giant THANK YOU and a thumbs up to all who help in this way. We have great volunteers at CRMC, these guys are part of that team that honors the Lord by serving others each week.

Thought for the day -- June 22nd

Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.

--- Billy Graham

Thought for the day -- June 21st

In every Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying.

--- A.W. Tozer

Thought for the day -- June 20th

The price of discipleship... is to be willing to give up everything if occasion should demand it, and, in the meanwhile, to live as men "looking for their Lord", with loins girt and lamps burning, ready for action when the word is given. Discipleship, is, or may be, a very costly thing. It may cost is all we have.

--- J.H.R. Moorman

Thought for the day -- June 19th

Meditation has no point and no reality unless it is firmly rooted in life.

-- Thomas Merton

This week at CRMC...

Scrapbooking: Friday (22nd) 6-11 PM in the fellowship hall. This monthly event has been a hit. Come on out and spend some time in fellowship and work on those projects you have had in mind. Bring your own supplies or buy some there. I've been told that they'll even let the guys join in if they want to.

SOFTBALL: Friday, 6 PM at Cedar Rd. Missionary Church. Come and cheer on out team. They have a perfect record in tact. Not in a good way. But they're having a good time doing it!

Matt Rieffel's Open House: Saturday (23rd) 2-5 PM at CRMC. Come on out to congratulate Matt on making it through high school. I hear they may have ice cream! You know you want some.

Nichole Lindhorn's Open House: Sunday (24th) 2-5 PM at CRMC. Same deal; lotsa congrats to the Grad and goodies to munch.

Thought for the day -- June 18th

For the Christian, heaven is not a goal; it is a destination. The goal is that Christ be formed in you.

-- Richard Foster

Chris Tomlin - Give Us Clean Hands

Thought for the day -- June 17th

A man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.

~ Anonymous

Thought for the Day -- June 16th

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," my dad would reply, "we're raising boys."

--Harmon Killebrew

Thought for the day -- June 15th

"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian."

--AW. Tozer

We have it so easy...

Rick Dugan had this post at his blog. It amazes me and yet it doesn't that word about these things doesn't get around. Think about it for a minute, this would be the equivalent of the Sunday School class that meets in the gym just "disappearing". We need to be in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Iraq and other places unfriendly to the gospel around the globe. Here's and excerpt from the email Rick got... take note of the fact that they still have an attitude of praise.

Being at church was wonderful as usual. I so love these people and the worship was wonderful as usual all of the children were delightful. Then it came to the point in the service where people tell me what has happened. The news today was not good, I listened to the stories of murder, beating and kidnapping. The final toll of kidnaps this week of people connected with of members of the church is 27. None have been returned. In the past week alone the attacks on Christians has seriously escalated. This was mentioned the other day at a meeting, they talked and talked and did nothing. There is so much talking here and such little action. At the moment most of the Christians have moved from Dora and are now living in Churches in Kerada. They do not even have enough food. We are the only Christian group working here and have given away every penny we have and have no more left. People always tell me they can and only want to support projects. There is no understanding of the extent of the crisis we are in. There is Chaos all around. We are in war, there is slaughter, massacre and death all around. Normality no longer exists, there are no projects, no plans just the attempt to live each day.
This is the reality of the crisis we are in. Yet as I talked to our people this morning there was a profound trust and belief in G-d our Father our protector, the One we Love. When you have lost every thing you realise all you have left is Jesus. That is all we have and it is everything

Thought for the day --- June 14th

Jesus reminds us that unless a seed first dies, it cannot produce life. He tells us that unless we lose our own lives, we will never live. It should be of no surprise to us when the church awakens an apostolic ethos, she will be committed to giving herself away that others may live.


--- Erwin McManus

Thought for the Day -- June 9th

What we practice, not (save at rare intervals) what we preach, is usually our great contribution to the conversion of others.

--- C.S. Lewis

Job 19:25 -- Truth in the face of Devastation

Job 19:25 (New International Version)
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth

I got to thinking about this verse. How powerful a statement it is that it was spoken in the Old Testament; by Job no less. The man who by human standards would have had the most reasons to tell God to go jump in the creek. Yet he never complained about the trials and destruction that surrounded him. He desired to know if there was anything he had done that had caused a breach in his relationship with God. I have to believe that it was having truth like this firmly rooted in his life that allowed him to focus on God.
Two things I want to take away from this:
1- DO we have Truth rooted firmly in our lives? How well do we know the truth? How much effort have we put into making those truths relevant to our current situations. Too many have a set of beliefs for their brain and for show and another for practical purposes. This is why the truth was revealed to us! So that we could live a victorious life.
2- Do you truly grasp the depth of that verse? The Redeemer is ALIVE! All that he said is true and can be trusted to come true. Not just select pieces and parts. Not only is he alive and well but he will rule over the earth. That is the God we serve. Following Jesus is not for wimps. The fact is that in light of the gift that has been given, anything that we might call "sacrifice" looks insignificant and meaningless. It's true that in this life we will go through some pretty awful things that we most likely will never be able to understand. (Fill in your own blank here with selected trial) Yet we serve a God who is powerful enough to do miracles in our lives but loving and practical enough to know which things we should go through in order to be more useful to him. It's time to live in practical terms as the three Hebrews did in Daniel chapter 3 (known to a whole generation of kids as Rack, Shack, and Benny). Faced with the biggest trial imaginable; this was their response:

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

There are times after reading certain passages of Scripture we can feel like we did when we left the theatre after seeing a movie like Rocky for the first time. Ready to live victoriously and take on the world!!!!!

Thought for the day -- June 8th

There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person. Hundreds of people today are devoting themselves to phases of truth, to causes. Jesus Christ never asks us to devote ourselves to a cause or creed; he asks us to devote ourselves to him.

--- Oswald Chambers

Thought for the day... June 7th

Conversion without discipleship is openly implied in much of our evangelical teaching. It has become starngely possible to be Christ's without taking up the cross.

--- C.D. Alexander

Discipleship Groups are coming

Plans are in full swing to launch our Discipleship groups in semester format this fall. By way of reminder, these will be the "semesters":

SPRING: February-April
MAY TERM: May
SUMMER: June-July
FALL: September-November

The down times that appear are for busy/ holiday periods when groups typically have a hard time meeting as well as some rest and recharge time for our leaders. The following groups are forming for our Summer period.
Leader's Discipleship: This group will meet Tuesdays in June at the church from 6:30-7:30. It will be led by Mike Kendall and is designed for those already in leadership/ teaching roles as well as those who may be joining that group sometime in the next few semesters. Especially those who are involved in several areas should be involved here. But all potential group leaders should be involved. Remember: "if your input does not equal your output, your upkeep will be your downfall".
Mississippi Task Force: Pastor Bud will be leading this group. They are currently forming and have not set day/ times for their meetings yet. This group will be made up of those making the trip to Hope City in August as a work team to minister to those still affected by Katrina. If you are interested , see Pastor Bud.

You will also soon see information about registering groups and sign ups for Fall semester groups. It is now that you should be considering these groups so plans can be made. The number and type of groups will only be limited by our involvement and imagination. I am excited to see people take those next steps of faith and growth. God is continuing to do some awesome things in our congregation.

The purpose of Discipleship Groups is to promote spiritual maturity through a nurturing environment!

Way to go Graduates

Just wanted to take the time to congratulate all of the class of 2007. This includes the college and high school graduates from CRMC. We are proud of all you have accomplished and excited to see what God has in store for each of you. WAY TO GO!!!