By: Ron Sweet

I had the privilege of reading through the feedback forms from the No Regrets conference held here at Christ The Rock on February 4, 2012. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. I was stirred by the first time decisions for Christ, men asking for help in taking next steps in their journey with Christ and men asking for help with addictions and marriage problems.

I’d like to share the story of one of the men who asked for follow up on his decision to follow Christ.

This man’s marriage was in trouble a few years ago. He and his wife decided they needed to do something so they started to go to church. After  attending Christ The Rock, their marriage subtly improved. Unfortunately, they stopped and things reversed. Eventually, they remembered that when they were going to church things were going better so a few months ago they decided to give church a go again. “Coincidently” things got better. When I talked to him Monday night, he was quick to point out the correlation between going to church and the quality of his marriage. He also indicated that the No Regrets conference unleashed a better understanding of what it is to be a godly leader as a husband and father. He accepted the responsibility to lead his family courageously and decided to dedicate his life as a Christ follower.

As you know, his journey is just beginning. The Men’s Ministry team is committed to following up with this man and the others who have asked for help.

An “In House” Mission Trip                                                                                                           By: Peter Leschke

My thanks to everyone who supported this year’s Christmas musical, A “What If” Christmas. Over 150 people volunteered as cast members, crew members or support volunteers to put the event together. What a great team!

Around 3,500 people saw the production. Over 150 people raised their hands to indicate a commitment to Christ, and 92 people of all ages took home an “I Said Yes” gift bag. On Wednesday, our Family Night was our largest ever audience for an opening night. On Thursday, 75 international students and their host families attended, representing 66 different countries!

Cast members Jennifer and Joel Johnson, along with three of their children (Grace, Luke and Nathan) shared with me how the musical was like an “in house” mission trip. Last year, their family went on the Mexico mission trip, and they said many things were similar about the two experiences:

• The focus is Christ and proclaiming the gospel.

• The CTR body supports it by attending, inviting others, praying and volunteering.

• A group of people (cast and crew) put in long hours of preparation and then for a focused week they “go” and do the work of the ministry or mission trip.

•The experience is a LOT OF FUN and A LOT OF WORK, and is challenging spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically

•You work with a group of people who you haven’t met before, but who grow to become a team. Everyone works through conflict and difficulties to do something to glorify God.

Most importantly, you see life-change occur!

                 • A 23 year old man came up after the show with tears in his eyes and expressed how good it felt to “no longer be alone in life,” and how touched he was to now have Jesus in his heart!

                 • A mom came forward with her two daughters and their friends, and all of them had given their lives to Jesus! They each took a gift bag and plan on looking at the follow- up materials together.

                 • One of the international students from the Fox Valley Tech. who attended the show asked if we had any Bibles in Spanish. Now we are sending 200 Bibles to that student’s home country!

• The people who brought in the animals for the petting zoo expressed their gratitude for the amazing volunteer help they received, and how each person here really seems to “love what they do here at the church!”

As God calls us to proclaim the gospel, we are humbled to serve Him and to “go” whether it is across the world, our nation or right here in our own church building.

OAKS VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION!

Are you are serving Jesus on a regular basis? Do you feel that serving others is an unnecessary use of your time? Well, Matthew the tax collector gives a record in Matthew 25 that might blow you away. Matthew was talking about the final judgment when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats.  Jesus says to the sheep (believers) “Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer Him saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothed you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” 

Did you just catch this truth? When you fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visit the sick and prisoners, you did it to Jesus! There is no greater motivation to serve others than knowing you are providing your services directly to Jesus. OAKS, Organized Acts of Kindness and Sacrifice, will turn your motivation into action. OAKS helps those in need in the Fox Cities by providing rides, meals, moving assistance, minor home repair, painting, yard work, house cleaning, and local disaster clean-up. 

 A woman called OAKS requesting help moving items from her house to a storage unit. Since it was a last minute move, the facilitator taking the call volunteered to help. The two of them moved about five loads and, during the moves, had an opportunity to talk. The person being served was very open about her past and the difficulties she had faced, and shared that she is dealing with a slumlord with her current rental. Our facilitator asked if she had a church “home“ and the woman said she had tried several different churches but was not comfortable with them. Of course, our facilitator suggested CTR, saying that from what the woman had told her, CTR would be a good fit for her. The woman did come to CTR services and feels at home at CTR. Just this last weekend she told our facilitator that she loves how people from CTR are all welcoming and friendly folk. In fact, she is interested in attending the Discover classes. During the move she also mentioned that she needed a job. Our facilitator knew her company was hiring, so she suggested applying there. She did and was hired. What glorious confirmation that God works through the OAKS volunteers!  He is awesome indeed!

If you’re motivated to do things for Jesus by serving those in our community, please join the OAKS team.  There are 3 easy ways to contact OAKS. 

1.  Call 920.751.8383 and leave a message that you would like  to   be a volunteer. 

2.  Visit CTR web site.  Place mouse over ‘Around the Valley’ and click ‘Outreach’. 

3.  E-mail Dan Madden (OAKS Volunteer coordinator) at dmadden@humana.com.

By: Todd Vorel

It was a little less than two years ago that some of us were at the CTR Thanksgiving meal listening to stories of hardship in our bad economy.  We heard there was some real hardship occurring in our community occurring and so many people feeling hopelessness.  As staff we heard, listened, and responded.  We started discussions with Convoy Of Hope leaders about offering a local outreach.  We as a church had already known much about the Christian based non-profit organization through various encounters with them in the past, including working with them in the Gulf Coast relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. We began sharing the idea with other churches to join together to formulate the largest one day outreach in the history of the Fox Cities!

Last year at the first Fox Cities Convoy of Hope outreach, we were blessed to serve nearly 4500 people with about 1500 volunteers.  We had free medical and dental care, free groceries (over 65,000 lbs), free haircuts, free entertainment, free kids fair, 40 different helpful community services, free family photos…or kids photos, a job fair, free diapers, a free lunch and even time for prayer. The event continued with care and follow-up such as free tickets to our Christmas Musical, rides to church and even more care as we connected.This year Convoy of Hope returns Oct 8 at Fox Valley Technical College to give an added education focus. The event goes from  10:00 AM until supplies run out. It is about giving people a hand up and not just a hand out.

It is the Church mobilizing with local businesses, foundations, non-profits, professionals, service agencies, education and government to show hope and care in Jesus’ strong name in truly extra-ordinary ways.  We aim to have an even larger event this year by serving 6,500 people with 2,000 volunteers.  We have parking and shuttles from the Timber Rattlers Stadium to the site for easy access.  We truly want and need your help.  You can sign up ahead of time by going to convoyofhope@fvcf.org.

There will be a volunteer rally at CTR on October 7 at 6:30 PM.  Nate Lenz is playing special music and the Convoy of Hope staff will energize and inspire us to serve. In James we are invited to be listeners and doers of God’s Word and told that “the religion our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: look after the orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by this world.” So, you are invited to join us for this year’s one day outreach as families and individuals of all ages. Know also that if you have any needs, please, please come and receive them as a gift from God presented by our wonderful community. Last year was truly a highlight and memory maker in my life as I witnessed thousands of lives so positively impacted by this work. Thanks for last year and thanks for praying and considering helping this year! Let’s shine God’s love together in our broken world.

God in his wisdom has let me wrestle with this question for a long time and I think it is something I will continue to wrestle with from time to time; however, a new perspective was given to me in an unexpected way. I’ve had the privilege of being able to answer the phones during different seasons of my time here at Christ The Rock. In some ways it has opened my heart and eyes more than many of the Christian education classes I have taken. EVERY DAY people either call or walk into our local church with a need. Some are from our own congregation and many come in from the community around us. Some call or come in because they are seeking counsel for relationship struggles or addictions and they can be put through to the counseling department. Some have called because they’ve heard about our auto ministry that helps with oil changes or minor repairs (free of labor charge because others have little means to do it themselves). Some have trouble making their rent or they need food and they can be put through to our Benevolence Line or referred to our Food Pantry. Others need assistance in moving or they need help with small  repairs around their house and they can be put through to our OAKS ministry with hundreds of volunteers who help facilitate the many requests that come through.

On one particularly busy day while I was answering the phones, I realized that I was witnessing God meeting people’s needs through the local church, an imperfect body of believers who want to make a difference and have impact in this world.  So, the next time I feel disillusioned (which will happen) or I want to complain about the local church, I can remember how God uses the local church. That’s you and me. Please pray for our local church and the church at large, that we will grow and be more united as the body of Christ in serving together and that He will continue to use this local church, with all her imperfections, to further his Kingdom into Coming!