6-26-2011 Letting Go

In this series, we’ve seen how much God loves us and wants to bless us.  But where’s the proof?  In this third mini-series, join Pastor Mike as he gives some of these proofs from Scripture.  Today, let’s learn about the God who loved us enough to let us go.  Yup, gave it away right there, but there’s so much here.  We’ll look at Adam and Eve and see His plan.

Download the PowerPoint here.  Watch the illustration video here.

Valley’s Heart for Africa

A Heart for Africa

During the summer of 2007, Pastors Mike Spradlin and Frank Sawyer journeyed to Kenya with Tumaini Ministries to see what the Lord might be calling us to. Truth be told, we fell in love!
We began a pilot project of micro-finance to the village of Kinga’tuani which to date has helped dozens of families start income-generating businesses.

We then sent our first team in summer 2009 comprised of many youth to serve in various ways. The group visited the slum areas of Nairobi with Community Transformers in order to serve the poor and AIDS inflicted, and assist HIV+ women in WEEP (Women’s Empowerment Employment Project) centers that teach women life skills such as sewing that will allow them to become self-sufficient members of society.
The team then ministered with Tumaini Ministries at their VBS and visited the children sponsored by the Valley family.
The children that Valley supports in Kenya have become like our own sons and daughters. Meeting them face to face has been life-changing, as well. It is our hope that everyone who supports a child would have the opportunity to meet them, in person, at some point in their lives.
Valley sent another team in April 2010 to assist in various construction projects across the country, visit Tumaini and our sponsored children, and again assist in the Nairobi slums.

TEAM 2011
Valley is preparing now to send another team this summer to follow up on the many projects we’ve partnered with and to assist with our sister church, Masii Christian Chapel and their poultry project, helping HIV+ women earn a living.   Our trip is scheduled for July 27-Aug 10, 2011.  If you would like to help our team get to Africa, you can donate here.  (PayPal donation page)

July 27, 2011 UPDATE

Our trip has begun!  Please keep our team in your prayers.  To keep updated on their trip, follow us on twitter (@vcctweets) or on facebook (facebook.com/vcc.chino).  Click here for updates and photos.

6-19-2011 The Most Powerful Force in the Universe

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker had “The Force” to do battle – good vs. evil.  What if there were some “force” today – not just in a Star Wars fantasy – but in real life that could change evil into good?  Join Pastor Mike as we understand a key truth from John 21 about the most powerful force in the universe.

Download the PowerPoint here.  Watch the illustration video here.

God Fearing Youth – Ep 4

So sorry its been so long. BUT WE ARE BACK! This weeks new episode is with the founder of God fearing Youth (@Godfearingyouth), Stephen David. We go over how GFY started, and what it’s like being such a large voice in the christian music scene.

Our first music break is The Burial’s (@thebarialin) “that wine press”. They’re new to the GFY family, hence the plug.

Second music break is Stephen’s band, Beginnings (@Beginnings). This is a new track from their untiled Ep that will be releasing soon. we’ll keep you posted on when it’ll be out.

You can get GFY merch via www.merchconnectioninc.com

you can reach them via facebook at facebook.com/Godfearingyouth

and listen to beginnings at facebook.com/Beginningshc

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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6-12-2011 The God We Love to Fear

We all have fears…our culture is full of them.  But what about the fear of God?  Does God intend for us to be afraid of Him?  What does Jesus say about our Heavenly Father and our relationship with Him?  Join Pastor Mike as we understand what it means to fear God as we study Luke 12:22-32.

Download the PowerPoint here.

6-5-2011 Worship

Join College Director Tim Young for a personal lesson on worship!

Download the PowerPoint here.

Healing Prayer

This morning, I was challenged, in the wake of so many people we know who have been in the hospital or faced surgeries this week, to heed the following advice.  It is one of 172 questions and answers from the new book, Max on Life, by Max Lucado.

After you read this, I’d love to hear what you think.  Drop me a line!  Blessings to you!

Mike

QUESTION #67: “In my med-school class we discussed the place of prayer in the hospital. As you can imagine, we heard strong opinions on both sides. What are your thoughts? What is the purpose of healing prayer?”

We tend toward one of two extremes on this subject: fanaticism or cynicism. Fanatics see the healing of the body as the aim of God and the measure of faith. Cynics consider any connection between prayer and healing as coincidental at best and misleading at worst. A fanatic might seek prayer at the exclusion of medicine; a cynic might seek medicine at the exclusion of prayer.

A healthy balance can be found. The physician is the friend of God. Prayer is the friend of the physician.

The example of Jesus is important.

Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, those who could not speak, and many others. They put them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. The crowd was amazed when they saw that people who could not speak before were now able to speak. The crippled were made strong. The lame could walk, and the blind could see. And they praised the God of Israel for this. (Matt. 15:30–31 NCV)

What did the people do with the sick? They put them at Jesus’ feet. This is the purpose of praying for the ill. We place the sick at the feet of the Physician and request his touch.

This passage also gives us the result of healing prayer. “They praised the God of Israel for this.” The ultimate aim of healing is not just a healthy body but a greater kingdom. If God’s aim is to grant perfect health to all his children, he has failed, because no one enjoys perfect health, and everyone dies. But if God’s aim is to expand the boundaries of his kingdom, then he has succeeded. For every time he heals, a thousand sermons are preached.

Speaking of sermons, did you notice what is missing from this text? Preaching. Jesus stayed with these four thousand people for three days and, as far as we know, never preached a sermon. Not one time did he say, “May I have your attention?” But thousands of times he asked, “May I help you?” What compassion he had for them. Can you imagine the line of people? On crutches, wearing blindfolds, carried by friends, cradled by parents. For seventy-two hours Jesus stared into face after hurting face, and then he said, “I feel sorry for these people” (v. 32 NCV). The inexhaustible compassion of Jesus. Mark it down. Pain on earth causes pain in heaven. And he will stand and receive the ill as long as the ill come in faith to him.

And he will do what is right every time. “God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them” (Luke 18:7 NCV).

Healing prayer begs God to do what is right. My friend Dennis, a chaplain, offers this prayer over patients: “God, would you put on the surgical gloves first?”

I like that.

Blokey Bloke Worship

Guys are awesome.

Earth-shattering, I know.  You mean a girl likes guys?  Who would’ve thought?  Seriously, though, I love the males of the species.  Bodily-function humor cracks me up.  I love baseball games and hockey games.  I love seeing guys mess with each other.  I love when men are allowed to be men, because when men are manly, women benefit.

The beautiful differences in gender are constantly under attack.  Men are told they’re too macho and that they need to embrace their feminine side, that they need to “care more” and “listen” and “manscape”.  Women are told that our innate femininity is too much for men to handle, that the beauty we already possess isn’t enough unless we’re half-naked, super-skinny sex objects.

Enough!

Dan Pierce, the author of the site Single Dad Laughing, has two great posts on men and women and how each creates a culture of worthlessness in the other.  Please read these posts. On behalf of your sons and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, read these posts. For someone who’s not a believer (that I know of), he says some pretty Biblical things about men and women.  You’ll find the posts here and here. Be aware that these posts contain some strong language. (Hat tip to my friend Cari for the links)

But that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about men and church.

But what I have to say about men and church can’t be said without stating this: God wants men to be men and women to be women.  He created us to have identities that are independent of the other.  He created us with unique gender traits that are important to understand.  “So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.” -Gen 1:27 (NLT) He created us as male and female to uniquely portray specific aspects of His character.  It’s only when we embrace masculinity and femininity that we begin to get a clear, unadulterated picture of the nature of God.

It would be easy to put the blame for this on the secular world.  After all, they’re the ones that promote push-up bras for 7-year-old girls.  They’re the ones who broadcast all these makeover shows.  But let’s be honest, Church, we’re just as bad.  We promote a culture of femininity in our churches.  We sing songs with words like, “I’m desperate for you” or “You have my heart and I am yours forever.”  No guy I know says that, unless they’re singing in church.  As a female worship leader, I feel this disparity in the Church very strongly.  I know that, as a woman, my tendency is going to be to sing girly songs.  After all, that’s what speaks to me.  Those lyrics I quoted?  We’ve sung them both in the last month.

Matt Redman, the writer of “Blessed Be Your Name” and a bunch of other church standards, is male and British and awesome.  He talked about this several years ago:

The thought occurs to me, that if Matt Redman, who wrote the words: “I’m coming back to the heart of worship and it’s all about You, Jesus,” says we have a problem in the church with romanticizing our lyrics, then we probably do.  For me, the solution is not to do away with those songs entirely.  After all, we have women in the church who need to have their femininity embraced as much as the blokes need to have their masculinity championed.  To me, the solution seems to be that we need strongly theological songs.  Songs that speak of the Gospel.  Songs that highlight the raw power and majesty of God.  Songs that boldly proclaim the audacity of Jesus’s sheer authoritative strength.  He was not a wallflower.  He was a counter-culture, muscle-y carpenter (not a lot of power tools in 1st century Judea) with a message and a mission that turned an entire world on its head.  Jesus was macho.  He was more John Cena than John Denver.

Women, trust me on this.  When we relinquish our hold on the Church, our men will be better for it.  And when we have strong men, we will have strong families.  When we have strong families, we will have strong future generations.  When we have strong future generations, we will have a strong, vibrant, relevant Church.

And so, Church, let’s champion our men.  Let’s make our churches appealing to blokey blokes who don’t want to sit in a circle, hold hands, and sing “Kumbaya”.  Your women will thank you.

(For more on the subject, check out: How Women Help Men Find God by David Murrow.)

What do you guys think?  If you had to categorize “The Church” as either masculine or feminine, which would it be?  How can we make Valley more appealing to the male people?

2011 Valley Christian Church Directory

All the photos for our directory have been taken and now the fun work of putting our 2011 directory together begins!

To view and/or purchase your family photo, click here.  (Please note, this link will take you to a third-party website.  Valley Christian Church makes no representations as to the content of this site.)

5-29-2011 What Shall I Give?

When we realize we can’t earn God’s love – we learn the truth about the favor line – we then may try to compensate God for His love.  What can I give TO Him or give up FOR Him that will prove I’m sincere?  How much is enough?  Join Pastor Mike as we understand some key truths about our Heavenly Father as we study Micah 6:6-8.

Download the PowerPoint here.