Blessings To My Heart

As much as I try not to allow them to, sometimes the challenges of our work seem overwhelming. It is easy to allow yourself to get discouraged. I counter this by reading and re-reading God's words to a young leader named Joshua (Joshua 1:1-9). God's expectations are clear- move forward with faith in the work HE is doing. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (1:9, ESV). So, I often find myself asking God to forgive my lack of faith and fortify my heart with His perspective.

Sometimes I also ask for signs of His movement. Probably a bit foolish...because He is moving whether or not He chooses to allow me to see. But, I long to see evidence of His blessing and presence with us. Faith us defined by moving forward with trust even if you CAN'T see...but I still like to see! :) So, this past Saturday I spent much time in prayer just asking God for evidence of His work on Sunday. I just wanted to SEE something happening.

Sunday came and there was much to praise the Lord about! Again- God is good whether or not He chooses to show His work to me...but I like to see! Here is what I saw Sunday:

• A full room at ClearView...even though it is summer and many are traveling.
• A "Yes" from a couple I have been recruiting to join our team. They will be a BIG help to our effort to prepare for Grand Opening in October.
• A good response to our July series: God and Country. I challenged our people on Sunday to envision themselves...the Church...as the greatest hope for real change in America. Our people were/are energized by this challenge.
• A friend mentioned praying about a sizable donation to ClearView. This would move us forward in launch planning and maybe even be seed money for future church plants. Exciting. Pray they say "Yes!" :)
  

God is good all the time... and I'm thankful to SEE His good work when He sees fit. Praise God!

ClearView Is Gaining A Reputation...

...and I think it is a good one. I've been excited about some recent conversations I've had with community leaders. Here are two examples:

ClearView is a member of the New Albany and Gahanna Chambers of Commerce. We've learned that there is an open door into the community by serving. Community leaders and event planners are ALWAYS looking for willing volunteers. We're trying to fill that void with smiling faces. A visible sign to us that we are accomplishing this segment of our mission is when people come to ClearView to help make community functions work. We volunteer wherever we can and work hard to muster the manpower to fulfill our promises.

I was attending a New Albany Chamber task force meeting a few weeks ago. This group is working to plan for the Chamber's largest fundraising event, coming up on August 18, called the Taste Of New Albany. On that day, several thousand people will fill the Market Square area in New Albany for good food, a fun community event, and a free concert by the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. ClearView is volunteering to help set up, empty trash during the event, help host, and help clean up afterwards. It will be a long day...but fun...and with many great opportunities to serve people in our community.

I was surprised at this meeting when another task force member raised her hand, stopped the flow of conversation, and said in front of everyone (in my paraphrase), "I'm not sure if you know it or not, but this new church, ClearView Church, exists to serve. They want to bless the community." I was so thrilled- people looking in from the outside can see the first level of what we want to be about. We want to love people... that begins with service.

On another note, ClearView has been the source of much positive conversation during local Events Board meetings. Our work in helping run the parade and provide activities for children at the 4th of July festival is recognized by others. It was my joy to begin our gathering this past Sunday by reading a thank you note from the Events Board thanking our people for their help in making New Albany's July 4th celebration a success!

Praise God that people are seeing these visible acts of love and associating them with our movement! Please pray that God would use these acts of kindness to open up doors for spiritual impact.

Thanks Powell Students!

Last week we enjoyed a visit from a group of middle school students from Powell Grace. These sharp kids are studying leadership and theology and also serving at local churches this summer. We decided to get them out in our community and help us hang some door hangers in some neighborhoods where we have not done so before. In a little over two hours, this group of 10 or so was able to distribute around 700 door hangers and make new contacts for ClearView!

At the conclusion of the afternoon's work, ClearView provided a spread of ice-cream and sundae toppings as a small token of a appreciation.

Please join us in thanking God for these students and pray that the door hangers they distributed will land in the hands of spiritually receptive people. Thanks!

Important Meeting

On June 30, we hosted our first ever ClearView team leaders meeting at our house. This was a connection time for those that are championing each one of our key areas:

• Wow Factor (guest relations)
• KidView (children's ministry)
• Community Impact
• Sunday Morning (teaching, music, audio/visual)
• Set-up/Tear-down
• Administration

We have identified these 6 areas as critical components for a successful grand opening. One of the main tasks of beginning a church is finding people to drive these areas and developing simple systems to help us impact people through these components.

At this initial meeting, we enjoyed visionizing around the concept and importance of our launch or Grand Opening Celebrations. We used the illustration of a flower (plentiful with landscaping around our patio...where the meeting took place). Before it blooms and displays it's beauty- it has to be planted, take root, be watered, and grow to the point it is ready to open up and impact those who smell it and see it. A new church is like that flower-- we are in the stage of putting the people and systems in place to be ready to bloom. We also updated each other on what was happening in our respective areas, what needs had yet to be met, and prayed together about these needs. We closed with some homework. Each team leader is to:

• Find someone to partner with them as an apprentice in their area. We want to be about reproduction.
• Gather their team for a time of vision, discussion, and improvement in their area sometime in July.
• Recruit some of our newer people to join your team.

I also asked our leaders to pray about some key questions I'm asking. Namely, are we in the right location (YMCA?)? Should we adjust our service time? How do we deal with storage issues (trailer?)? If you'd like to pray about these important questions with us, we're seeking wisdom from the Lord in these areas. Thanks! Please also pray for these important people on our team- that God would use us to successfully launch ClearView Church.

Special Announcement!

YOU'RE INVITED!

ClearView is excited to host Operation Barnabas (a traveling team of high school students) on July 24 and 25. The team will be helping us tell people in the New Albany and Gahanna communities about ClearView during each day and then putting on two programs- one on Friday evening, July 24 and one on Saturday evening, July 25. Both programs are at 7 p. Friday's will be in Gahanna at the Creekside Rotary Stage. Saturday's will be at Wexner Community Park in New Albany. Each program will feature FREE sno-cones, popcorn, games, and a program featuring puppets clowns and singing. This will be a FUN NIGHT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

If you are in the Columbus area (or want to make the trip!) PLEASE JOIN US AT ONE OF THESE EVENTS. If you can't make it, please PRAY THAT OPERATION BARNABAS WILL HELP CLEARVIEW LOVE AND SERVE OUR COMMUNITY WELL.

Fun Day and Big Impact

Thanks to all blog readers that prayed for our July 4th work in New Albany. We had a great day! God provided plenty of help (see all the smiling faces in the above picture) from several churches to allow us to:

• Hand out 1,950 balsa wood fliers (wood planes for children to put together with ClearView logo and website) to children along the parade route
• Hand out over 900 invitations to ClearView's July message series: God and Country
• Assist the New Albany Events Board with organizing parade participants and carrying community banners.

It was fun to walk along the parade route and see many familiar faces. People now call our names and look forward to see what ClearView will be doing during the parade. We had positive interactions with many people throughout the parade route.

God also worked through our team and friends at the pre-fireworks festival in New Albany on Saturday evening. We had a great time interacting with people and serving with love through face-painting, balloons, colored hair-spray, 4th of July related crafts, and tattoos for children. I particularly enjoyed talking with neighbors and other contacts we have made about our work at ClearView and inviting them to come and experience a Sunday morning.

There was much positive feedback from people about our involvement in the community. One mom said, "My kids spent the whole time at your booth." There were times when the line for face-painting was 50 people deep (and we had 5 people face-painting!). God is using us to lay the foundation for ClearView... loving people to a clear view of Jesus and His mission. Since it starts with love... July 4th was a great opportunity to go where people are and serve.

Please pray with us that God will use these efforts to lead us to people that are looking for a church or that are searching spiritually. Much thanks!