The Growth and Relocation of St. Peter's

Debt

This Sunday I am preaching on Breaking the Chains of debt and in my research I found some very interesting information on the history of the Church's resolute stand against usury (that is loaning money for interest). Check out this excellent paper: A Short Review of the Historical Critique of Usury

A good civilization is that in which the society is structured in such a way that makes it easy for the citizens to be good. A bad civilization is structured in such a way that it makes it easy for the citizens to be bad. Are we a good society or a bad society?

A Need for the Spirit

This morning I was brought to tears while reading the passage below from Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft.

When Paul visits the church in Ephesus (Acts 19), he notices something missing -- I think he would notice exactly the same thing in most of our churches and preach the same sermon -- and he asks them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" (Acts 19:2). Why would he ask that unless he saw a power shortage? Why did twelve fishermen convert the world, and why are half a billion Christians unable to repeat the feat? The Spirit makes the difference ...

We have received the Spirit by faith and baptism. "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom 8:9). But we need the release, the empowering, the anointing of the Spirit. Such empowerment is probably what the New Testament means by baptism in (or of or with) the Holy Spirit. It is supposed to happen at confirmation. Apparently, it usually does not. Millions of confirmed Catholics receive it afterward, usually in charismatic prayer meetings or seminars. The charismatic movement is obviously God's answer to Pope John XXIII's prayer for a new Pentecost. Popes Paul VI and John Paul II both blessed it but said that it will fulfill its purpose only when, like the early liturgical movement, it ceases to have a separate identity of its own and is absorbed into the whole Church. In other words, every Catholic should be a charismatic, baptized in the Spirit, empowered like the apostles.

The difference this baptism in the Spirit makes is not primarily in any particular charismatic gift, such as tongues. Paul clearly says not to get hung up on tongues (1 Cor 12-14). The difference is far greater: like the difference between a picture and a live person, between dead orthodoxy and living truth, between words and power. If we are not certain that Jesus Christ is present in us, working, acting, making a difference, rather than just being a teacher, an example, a lovely but remote historical figure, then we need Pentecost. And when that happens, the world will be won again.

Hanging with Elvis

Had a great time this past Thursday going to see Daniel Cardona perform as Elvis at a local Italian restaurant named Amore's. Daniel packed the place out. He's an excellent singer and worked the crowd very well. It was a lot of fun.

I met Daniel at a young adult barbecue that we hosted a few months ago and we have become good friends. He's a dedicated member at St. Peter's. I am blessed that God brought him to us.

 

Unloading Wood

Good times at camp. Here I am along with my dad and other family members unloading our campfire wood.

The Mayer Family

Here is the most up-to-date picture of my family. Everyone is here except one of my sister's and her husband: parents and six of my siblings and their spouses and children.

Camping with the Family

Here are all of the people who Melissa and I went camping with this past week. Camping for a week with forty-something members of your family is great fun.

Singing at the Ball Game

Check out the St. Peter's choir yesterday, singing for the Frisco Rough Riders, a double-a affiliate of the Texas Rangers. This was a special honor for me--being allowed to jump in at the last minute to lead the tenor part. We had a lot of fun.

The sound quality is not the best--but it will give you an idea of the talent at St. Peter's.

Encourage the Preacher

Melissa and I had ice-cream last night at Cold Stone Creamery with another young adult who recently began attending St. Peter's. She and her husband hadn't been going to any church for quite a while, but through a chance meeting I had with them at a party, God began to draw the two of them back to himself through the body of Christ at St. Peter's. It has been fun having them and getting to know them, as well as seeing them come alive to the faith.

During our conversation over ice-cream, she began to tell Melissa and me how my sermons have been helping to her to understand and dig into the Bible. She said that she is seeing the Scriptures in a new way. This was a nice encouragement.

May God continue to move and work in his Church.

My Experience with Financial Peace University

Alan Ladd led us in beginning the thirteen week Financial Peace University this past Tuesday. There are eighteen of us who are taking the course and Dave Ramsey, who teaches the class, is amazing! I couldn't stop laughing. And not only funny, but extremely helpful—I have discovered this class to be foundational in the way that I use and view money and it will forever impact my life—putting Melissa and me on solid financial footing. I wish that I would have taken this class earlier—as does everyone else who came to the first session. I strongly encourage everyone in our church to look into this opportunity the next time we host this program.

Cursillo – A Spiritual Retreat

Can you imagine it—an entire weekend away, just you and God (and a few other people too—like 35 or so :-)? That’s what I was able to experience—a mountaintop experience: refreshing, exciting and challenging.


Cursillo is a short course in Christianity designed after Jesus’ model of taking his disciples away for a time to teach them about himself. We often get so busy with our lives, that we need this time to get away to be challenged and taught and inspired.

It all began on Thursday. Karl and Laura Hartronft, a couple from our church, drove us to the camp and dropped us off. We were warmly greeted and then we went to the chapel for a somber service of the Stations of the Cross and an evening of silence (to assist us in listening to God). On Friday morning, the silent portion of the retreat ended at breakfast and the rest of the weekend was filled with talks, discussions, and services—ending on Sunday with a great big celebration. It was quite an experience.

I was very impressed by how well they took care of us even to the smallest details such as setting out an array anything you can think of from aspirin to bug spray to super glue—in case you forgot anything. All throughout the weekend they had a table of food out the entire time and they were always looking for ways to serve us at every opportunity. The team worked very hard to see that we had a great experience of the love of Jesus Christ.

The camp where the weekend was held was beautiful with great accommodations—very similar to what a hotel room would have. Melissa and I took one afternoon to walk across the river and go trail walking and say hi to the horses that are scattered throughout the camp. The people were especially fun—constantly making jokes and laughing and having a good time. Everyone was very kind and I made a lot of new friends.

The weekend was full of prayer—soaked in prayer by the team members and people at many difference churches praying for us. Lives were changed over the weekend—it was as though you could see people visibly changing right before your eyes. God was at work. I was challenged to press on and grow further in the faith.

It is my hope and prayer that many people from St. Peter’s will be able to go to Cursillo. If you would like to be refreshed and encouraged in your faith Cursillo is an excellent experience. The next Cursillo weekend is scheduled for September 17-20, 2009. For more info check out
http://www.episcopalcursillo.org/ or for the history of the Cursillo movement en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursillo

Visiting another Church

Today after our service I went and visited another church in The Colony that has easily has five times as many people as we do in attendance on a Sunday, but discovered the service to be quite boring--it dragged on and on. I was somewhat amazed that people were willing to sit through that sort of thing Sunday after Sunday.

This was actually encouraging to me--I had the realization of how much potential our little church actually has. It seems that the reason why their church is so much larger than ours is because they have an excellent crew of Sunday School teachers that help to hold things together. The challenge for us at St. Peter's is to raise up leaders who will lead our community groups.

Noteless is going well

The noteless preaching has been going excellent. I have received more positive feedback on the last few sermons that I have preached without notes than nearlly all of my sermons combined since arriving in Texas.

I feel as though noteless preaching has truly allowed me to be me with nothing held back.

Noteless Preaching

This Sunday I am planning on preaching without using any notes. I’ve tried preaching without notes before and did so successfully, but discovered that I spent so much time practicing and attempting to memorize my sermon that it was not productive. Since that time I have gone through much learning in sermon development and composition and I think that I am ready to try it again. This past week I read a little book titled Preaching without Notes by Joseph M. Webb, who gave me the confidence to give it a go again and a method that does not take nearly so long to pack the sermon into your head so that it is ready to be released with the full power of Holy Spirit. I am looking forward to the challenge.