STIR – June 30th

God has placed in us gifts that we need to stir into flame (1 Timothy 1:6). He as also called us to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)  We have gits in us and christian brothers and sisters around us that need to be stired up.

Stir is a day that we set aside once a month to pray and fast together as a church and we are asking God to stir us up.  We gather together for a corporate time of prayer at 6 – 8 pm at the connection building. If you are going to join with us please sign up at the service or e-mail us at info@lifeconnectionchurch.net.

The next Stir is June 30th.

Gospelology Series – A study of Galatians

We are taking 19 weeks to go through the book of Galatians. This teaching series is accompanied by a study guide for our gospel communities. Please reach out to your Gospel Community leader to get the study guides for each week. Additionally we will be using YouVersion Live for each sermon. This allows you to view detailed sermon notes, add your own notes as well as participate in Q&A during the sermon. Join our Life Connection Church YouVersion Group and then click on “Events” to see the live sermon events.

You can find all the podcasts for this series here.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or reach us through our contact form.

The City…coming soon to LCC

Haiti Relief: Who will help the churches in Haiti?

Who will help the churches in Haiti?

The images streaming in from Haiti is disturbing. We feel pity, sorrow and a sense of helplessness at the extent of their plight. The waves of humanitarian aid are washing ashore in Haiti and beginning to meet this massive need but little if any of this medicine will soothe the sores of the suffering church. The country will be rebuilt in time, but so little of that aid will go to the pastors and congregations who are decimated and broken.

Who is helping the Haitian churches and the pastors? While so many agencies will be focused on the immediate social needs, the local communities of faith are devastated as well. These bodies of Christ can also contribute toward meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of the local people who are burying their family members and are seeking comfort, counsel and guidance.

“Churches Helping Churches” initiated by Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald is calling on the North American church to help restore the ravaged church in Haiti. MacDonald writes, “Without question the priority of the ‘church helping the church’ is commanded by Paul in scripture and modeled by Paul in his crisis care for the Corinthians and the church in Jerusalem. If Paul were alive today there is no doubt his first concern as a church planter and leader in the body of Christ would be for the family of God in Haiti.”

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10

Mark and James are going to Haiti early next week to see first hand and assess what can be done to meet the needs of the church in the toughest areas. They will take a team to help them capture this story so they can report on the hope the North American church can bring. They hope to get some great stories on video about what God is doing in Haiti to help encourage God’s people around the world to be generous and help those in need. They are seeking to provide great photos and other video footage to give away online, to give to Christian agencies who could use it to help expose the need of the church, and to give to mainstream media outlets showing the difference the church and God’s people are making.

Acts 29 Network is asking you to consider helping the churches in Haiti so they can continue to contribute in the recovery when other agencies have moved on from the devastated land. Please ask the members of your congregation to contribute financially this week or next to unite as the Church helping churches.

A website has been formed to assist in the communication of this effort: http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.com/

We are asking Life Connection Church to show generosity and compassion for the people of Haiti through donations to this organization. If you are interested in helping in other ways please contact us. We will continue to post serving opportunities in regards to the Haiti relief effort.

Christmas Day Bike Giveaway

On Dec 12th we were busy taking pictures of local families for Help Portrait. When I say local, I mean local local, as in families that live in the surrounding blocks. We have really felt convicted that we haven’t poured into the immediately surrounding community. The community we are in is a pretty rough one, a lot of broken families, drug abuse, prostitution. We’ve always felt like we were planted here for a purpose, but recently that purpose has become more concrete and we’ve started to act on it.

So the same day Help Portrait was in full swing a local company donated 15 kids bikes to us, a total surprise and huge blessing. We started brainstorming ideas on what to do and we thought, “why not just walk through our neighborhood on Christmas day and hand these out to kids?” Wasn’t a typical church outreach plan, or typical for us either. We weren’t going to invite them to a service and make them wait to the end, or give them away to all the kids in our church. Though we love our kids too, we thought we’d demonstrate it to them differently.

We felt a greater blessing for our kids would be for them to come with us and help us give them away. So on Christmas Day a handful of families loaded the bikes into a truck and we took the caravan through the neighborhood. We met a lot of the families in the neighborhood and they greeted us with tearful thank you’s and the kids were overjoyed. About 10 minutes into it word had spread quickly and kids were running out to greet us.

It was truly one of the most amazing experiences and opportunities we’ve been apart of, we were so blessed and thankful to be able to do it and share in the lives with the families around us. We really look forward to doing this every year, but also doing a lot more on a regular basis with these families. We are actively praying about where God would lead us and where and how he’d have us serve our local community. Thank you to everyone who took part in this, it truly was special.

God’s grace will intervene in your life

This is a encouragement written to the church by Elder Shawn Lind.

“I would rather have more of God’s grace than my problems removed”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

More than ever before I think people can relate to this verse. We feel beat down, trudging though life, with no real hope on the horizon. Some of us find it hard to pay the bills, or even find a job, even though we are doing all that we can.  Nothing seems to be working, and it’s hard to find the strength to even keep going. They ask, “What’s the point in going on?”

Some try to please God, and yet despite their effort they don’t feel connected to Him at all. Discouragement, doubt, division, hopelessness, and bitterness begin to take root.  More than ever we need encouragement.  It’s wonderful to know that Jesus said we should not worry about tomorrow, for today is filled with enough troubles (Matt 6:34).

What’s so amazing about that verse is that right before it says; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”

The most important factor is to “FIX” or “SET” your attention on God, and his ways. God is good. His Kingdom is FAIR, JUST, and HOLY. He sees your problems and difficulties. When we set our attention on HIM we are renewed by hope and faith. He may choose not to “remove” the obstacle, but he can give us more grace to go through the challenge.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul prays for God to “remove this thorn from my side”. God response was that His grace is sufficient for him, and that His power is made perfect in weakness.  I would rather have more of God’s grace than my problems removed.

Imagine that you are in a canoe on a small river, as you are traveling downstream you come to a MAJOR obstacle. You see that there is a huge 4 foot boulder that is sticking up out of the river that is blocking your path. You pray “Lord remove this boulder.” Yes he is able to remove it, but what if He chooses to raise the water level 4 feet instead.  That is an example of His grace abounding more in times of trouble.

When times bring major “boulders” in my life I have never seen God remove them the way I think He should. He always works them through in ways I can’t figure out. By doing this it builds my faith in greater ways and reminds me to keep my eyes on Him more than my problems.

Imagine yourself looking through a scope or binoculars. As you put the binoculars up to your eyes, your vision shifts and you are only able to see where to binoculars are aimed. By aiming your sights on God and His Kingdom you are renewed by His love, power and purpose. You are not able to see all that is around you, all that you can see what’s in focus. His Kingdom is in order and running smooth. Set your clock to his time zone, and your thoughts to His Kingdom.  Your true citizenship is in Heaven.

Col 3:1-2 “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.”

I think of the song “Turn your eye upon Jesus” It says that as we look full in His wonderful grace the “things” of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his wonder and grace.

Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

As will give our attention to God He will protect and guard your mind from all sorts of thoughts and worries.

1 Corinthians 3:19 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” He’s kingdom operates differently than human understanding. The key word is to be in tune with God, not listening only to man’s words, and opinions. Remember that everyone has advice to give you.  But in your weakness and humility lean on God. He is you first and only option.

2 Cor 3:5 “It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God.”

Get ready and be excited about how God’s grace will intervene in your life to cause you to grow in your faith.

Gospel Community Training – Carrying the load Together

Tonight (11/03/09) at 7:30pm (AZ) we will be broadcasting our Gospel Community Training session on “Carrying the load Together” live on Ustream. You can either watch below or join us on our Ustream channel , chat is available on both locations. One of the great benefits the last time we did this was getting all the feedback from you guys throughout the training. So we’d love to have you join the chat. This training will be recorded for later viewing if you missed it live.

Gospel Communities will be meeting together in various locations to be part of this training. We’ll pass back to GC leaders to continue the discussion.

Live TV : Ustream

Post-Encounter Session 1

We are now taking our post encounter out of a live class room and making it a virtual class room. All the post encounter classes will be available online.

The purpose of post encounter is to solidify the decisions that you made during your encounter weekend by giving you tools to grow. Post encounter is a 8-session class held online at your own pace. The classes are taught by a variety of teachers and there is no cost to you.

Post encounter also must be completed by those who are planning on becoming members of Life Connection Church. As a reminder the membership steps are:

1. Attend an encounter weekend
2. Be baptized in water
3. complete post-encounter classes
4. Attend Membership 101 class

Session 1 – 1

PE Session 1-1 from Life Connection Church on Vimeo.

Your feedback

Post Encounter Session 1-1

1. Your Name(required)
2. Email(valid email required)
3. Date of your encounter
4. In your life what did you deserve for the sins you have committed?(required)
5. How has God shown you mercy?(required)

 

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Session 1 – 2

PE Session 1-2 from Life Connection Church on Vimeo.

Your feedback

Post Encounter Session 1-2

1. Your Name(required)
2. Email(valid email required)
3. Date of your encounter
4. In your life what did you deserve for the sins you have committed?(required)

 

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Colossians

This 4 month series that is examining the book of Colossians and its major themes.

1. Jesus Christ is preeminent over all creation. God has worked through Christ to secure redemption and reconciliation for all who put their faith in him.

2.Believers are in Christ and thus participate in a relationship of solidarity with Christ in his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, his new life, and his fullness.

3. Christ has defeated the powers of darkness on the cross, and Christians share in his power and authority over that realm.

4. Believers are called to grow in maturity in Christ by getting rid of sinful practices and cultivating Christian virtues.

Come join in on sunday mornings or follow along on our podcast. You can download the weekly study guides below or ask for a hard copy in service.

Study Guide

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4-5
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9 (keynote presentation)

Gospel Community Training – Family and Missionaries

Tonight (9/22/09) at 8:30pm PST we will be broadcasting our Gospel Community Training session on “Family and Missionaries” live on Ustream. You can either watch below or join us on our Ustream channel , this time chat is available on both locations. One of the great benefits the last time we did this was getting all the feedback from you guys throughout the training. So we’d love to have you join the chat. This training will be recorded for later viewing if you missed it live.

UPDATE: Live training session went great, you can watch the recorded training below.

Gospel Community Training – Session 4 (Online)

This Tuesday, 9/1 @ 8:30pm AZ we are doing our 4th gospel community training session. This session will be streamed online below or you can join us on our USTREAM channel. All you need to do is come back to this post when the session starts and you will be able to view, listen and chat questions during the training. Feel free to gather with others in Life Connection Church as well. The video will be captured and be available for viewing later if you are unable to attend.

UPDATE: Below is the captured video.

A real, old-fashioned Ho-Down Showdown

As many of you know, one of our elders, Mark Rohl and his wife, Kendra, recently adopted a beautiful baby boy, Tobias. No one was prepared for how quickly God would answer their prayers, as the process was incredibly swift. So, a real, old-fashioned Ho-Down Showdown was held this past Sunday evening at the Connection Center building as a fundraising event to help defray the adoption costs. Many thanks go out to Shawn and Suzee Lind for all their hard work and effort in putting this together and making the event so successful. A total of $650 was raised as a result. Praise Jesus!

I am incredibly blessed to be a part of a family that is knit together by the Spirit of God; a family that truly takes care of one another and edifies each other. The event was overflowing with fun and laughter, and it was for a glorious cause. This poem was written to capture the evening:

Laughter and dancin’ was all over the place.
Nary a smile was missin’ from a face.
Blacked out teeth and hair tied with twine,
It shore was a rootin-tootin’ good time!

Chicken on the grill, and corn on the cob;
Even a few apples so the kids could bob.
There was line dancin’ and two-steppin’ after a lesson or two
(Whitney and Pete had to show us what to do.)

The duds were mostly cowboy boots and hats
And Brett made sure the music never went flat.
Christy collected money and even her hubby Josh came…
We’ll never hear the Honky Tonk Pa-donky Donk song quite the same.

There’s a doggone good reason for all this fun had by us,
And that was to honor our new little Tobias.
His Ma and Pa couldn’t be prouder,
And so much cheerin’ made the music grow louder.

They had no idea how their lives would change when they woke up that morn,
Because, out of hope, the little whipper snapper was born.
“This gift,” God said, “I give to you.”
“Your faith has been proven, tried and true.”

Let’s take a moment and thank God above
For His undying mercy, His passion, His love.
Our children are gifts; we are entrusted with their lives.
So raise them up in Jesus, the one and only true prize.

-Deb Foos

Life Connection Church joins Acts 29 network

This has been a big week for Life Connection Church and we’re excited to keep the good news coming. We are announcing our recent transition from “Acts 29 Candidate” to full membership. The A29 blog just published an article introducing us to the network. We’re really excited to be joining the network, there are so many pastors, worship leaders and friends here that we respect.

A29 is a philosophically diverse but theologically united organization, translation, we all believe the same gospel but have different styles and philosophies on how to execute it. We consider ourselves a Reformed-Charismatic church. That means we are reformed in theology, non-cessationist, holy spirit believing, gift empowered body of believers that sing our guts out to loud, thumping, worship music. We are a creative bunch, that use lots of video, “concert” lighting, text messaging Q&A, twitter to organize our home groups, podcasting, vodcasting, live loops…  We’re in downtown Phoenix, in a rough neighborhood that frequently has police helicopters circling our building during night meetings. The point is we aren’t your grandparent’s reformed church.

But then again…we are complementarian, we are firm believers of sola scriptura, we love Piper, Chandler, Driscoll, Keller and many of us are 4.5 point calvanists. (Not all of us and no that isn’t a typo, 4 and a half) We practice church discipline, are introducing formal membership, preach the cross relentlessly and by that I mean the rugged cross, penal substitutionary atonement, propitiation and expiation.

We’re a crazy bunch of misfits for sure, but we have deep conviction about what we do and who we are in Christ. We’re excited to team up with the group of A29 churches here in Phoenix and share the gospel with the lost and hurting. We pray this opens new doors for our church and that we’re able to reach more people for Christ.

If you have any questions regarding this announcement don’t hesitate to contact us.

[Originally posted on Our Rising Sound]

Care Connection Counseling

As we prepare to move forward into a life of Gospel Community, we are reminded of Hebrews 13:20-21, “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

God has richly blessed this body with a variety of gifts. We are expected to use our gifts for the edification of the church body, and ultimately for His glory. However, when the church ignores the condition of the soul, it requires believers to become good actors. Christians often times experience loneliness, anger, resentment or a myriad of other unresolved issues.

For that reason, we are introducing Care Connection; a soul-care ministry to assist the sanctification/transformation process in a safe environment where the broken and struggling are given grace, truth, and time to discover, heal and grow. Heather Campos will be utilizing her gift of counsel and sharing with us her ideas and instructions for lay counseling.

Encounter : October 17th

Genesis 32:30, “And Jacob called the name of that place ‘Peniel’ because he said, ‘ I have seen God face to face and my life was preserved‘.”

Our next encounter is scheduled for October 17th, this is a weekend designed for you to encounter Jesus face to face, to receive deliverance in your souls and complete healing in your emotions. We believe you will see a radical change and you will experience real freedom.  If you are feeling the leading of the spirit to get alone and encounter Jesus and experience the Gospel then sign up and pay today.  The total cost for the encounter is $40.

Encounter Schedule

saturday.

7a – Breakfast

8:00 a – Peniel  (Josh Dailey)

9:30 a – break

9:45 a – Repentance (Dave Negron)

11:15 a – break

11:30 a -Forgiveness (Dana Dailey)

1p – Lunch

2 p -The Cross (Pastor Aaron)

3:45 p – break

4 p – Ressurection (James Jackson)

5:30p – Dinner

7:30p – Worship

8p – Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Pastor Aaron)

sunday.

7:45a – The Vision ()

8:30a – Prayer

10:15 a – Celebration Service

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