Three Things from Administrative Council

Administrative Council held their last formal meeting of 2014 this past Sunday immediately following the worship service.

Here are "The Three Things You Need to Know" from that meeting!

1. Dedication Sunday is November 23! We will complete our "Worship, Mission & Ministry" Stewardship Campaign this coming Sunday when we bless and dedicate our Pledge Cards. Please remember that we have a $10,000 Matching Grant for increased pledges -- that is to say, if you increase your pledge for the coming year it will matched, dollar for dollar, in the coming year up to a total of $10,000! This is a wonderful opportunity for us at the church! Please prayerfully consider your pledge this week and then join us on Sunday for Dedication Sunday as we turn over our tithes and offerings for the new year. Oh, and if you forget to bring your Pledge Card on Sunday morning, have no fear, we'll have plenty in the pew racks this Sunday!
   
2. The Annual Congregational Meeting is scheduled for December 14! The Nominating Committee has been working hard on the slate of Officers, Elders, and Ministry Team Leaders for the coming year. The Finance Team has worked hard to prepare our 2015 Budget. Now, we need your buy in as well! The most important decisions in the life of our church revolve around who will lead us and how we will spend our stewardship dollars. We reserve those decisions for the most important deciding body in the life of our church: The whole congregation! We will meet in the sanctuary after worship on December 14 to formally approve our Slate of Nominees and officially adopt the 2015 Budget. Then right after the meeting DWM will be hosting a Christmas Luncheon in the Fellowship Hall complete with all sorts of wonderful food and entertainment!
   
3. Speaking of Christmas Events here in the church, I need you to remember these important dates as well:
   -- We'll be kicking off this year's Adopt-A-Family Program on November 23.
   -- The Worship Ministry Team will host The Annual Hanging of the Greens on Saturday November 29 starting at 9AM. Come out and join them in decorating the Sanctuary, Fellowship Hall, and Church Grounds for the Advent and Christmas Seasons! Lunch will be provided.
   -- We'll introduce The Christmas Bag Outreach Project on November 30.
   -- We will celebrate Global Ministries Sunday by having our Global Ministries Missionary Mark Behle as our guest preacher on Sunday December 7.
   -- The Christmas Cantata will be performed during worship on December 21.
   -- Our Christmas Eve Worship Service will be Wednesday December 24 at 7PM in the Sanctuary. 

Whiteboard: Ministry

As our Stewardship Season enters Week Three we turn our attention to Ministry!

For the purposes of this Narrative Budget, Ministry describes the ways that we extend the love of Christ by taking care of one another here in the church – nurturing our relationships with each other while deepening our faith in God. As you can see from our Pie Chart, this particular understanding of Ministry accounts for 32% of our projected church budget for 2015.

We see this in every hospital visit by an Elder, every Prayer Shawl that is lovingly knitted, every pastoral call, and every Prayer Chain email. This is every warm smile at the Visitor’s Center, every Fellowship Luncheon, every Youth Group Lock-In, and every Sunday School Class.

Ministry is walking hand in hand with a brother or sister in Christ.

Ministry is sharing your faith.

Ministry is following God’s call on your life.

Ministry is journeying together in service to God.

Ministry is you and me working together to share God’s love.

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Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Talents

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Mission

Mission is how we live out our faith to make a difference in the lives of others.

On the Second Sunday of our Stewardship Campaign (theme: Worship, Mission & Ministry) we talked all about Mission. You can click here to listen to my sermon titled, appropriately enough "Mission." 

Church members took Post-It Notes and wrote down their favorite Mission Site (or a place where they volunteer their time) and affixed them to the church doors on their way out of the sanctuary, creating Mission-focused Stained Glass widows on the doors that lead us from worship out into the world.

 We also shared this Video from Rev. Al Beasley that takes you on a tour of a few of our Mission Partners...

Here at First Christian Church Scottsdale we are defined by our dedication to Mission, and we are fortunate to work as many incredible mission partners as we have -- Vista Del Camino, Operation Fix-It, AZ Family Promise, The Ronald McDonald House, AMOR Ministries, UMOM, Church World Services, Alcoholics Anonymous, the Disciples Mission Fund, St. Vincent dePaul, Feed My Starving Children, W.H.E.A.T., Silo Clothing Closet, and Healthy Packs just to name a few!

AND, we didn't just talk about Mission, we went out into our community and walked our talk...literally. After worship the members of FCC Scottsdale participated in the East Valley CROP Hunger Walk. FCC Scottsdale raised $1000 to help CROP stop Hunger and support the life-giving work of Church World Services. In fact, you can still donate online by clicking here.

At FCC Scottsdale we are on a Mission -- to live out our faith in a way that makes a difference in the lives of others!

Whiteboard: Mission

Our Stewardship Campaign continues this Sunday! 

Our theme is Worship, Mission & Ministry and this week, using Joshua 24 as our guiding text, we'll be focusing on Mission!

Mission is how we reach out to our community and the wider world with the love of Christ.

By partnering with Operation Fix-It, Vista Del Camino, Healthy Packs, AZ Family Promise,
St. Vincent DePaul, The Ronald McDonald House, and others we’re making a real difference. 

You've certainly heard of Mission Nutrition. This is our healthy meals program here at the church that hand delivers a prepared meal to folks when they need it most. Christy and her team of volunteers prepares a meal once a month for our homebound members, folks who are sick or recovering from a hospital stay, and for members who need a little extra help. Then our team of drivers brings that meal right to your door. Well, last year Mission Nutrition  prepared and delivered over 250 healthy meals! 

What you might not know is that our church campus serves as a Mission Center for many in our local community. We presently have 8 different Alcoholics Anonymous Groups that meet weekly at our church. 

Oh, and let’s not forget that we continue to be the largest supporter of the Disciples Mission Fund of any Disciples church in Arizona – empowering ministry from our doorstep to the ends of the Earth!

As you can see from the Pie Chart on the Whiteboard, Mission activities here at FCC Scottsdale account for 28% of our total budget. 

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Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac;

‘Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake theLord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’

But Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.’And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, we will serve the Lord!’ Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’ He said, ‘Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ The people said to Joshua, ‘The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.’ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.

Worship

Our Budget tells the story of our congregation – our priorities, our intentions, and our hopes. This year, during our Stewardship Campaign we are telling the story of our church using our Mission Statement and focusing on the words Worship, Mission & Ministry.

Each Sunday we affirm that “We are a Christ-centered Community Inviting Everyone to Seek and Celebrate God’s Love through joyful Worship, Mission & Ministry"

Over the course of our Stewardship Campaign  you’ll see how First Christian Church Scottsdale is putting your stewardship dollars to use for the work of God’s Kingdom.

As you can see from the pie chart we've broken down our 2015 Proposed Budget into three specific categories: Worship, Mission & Ministry. This is who we say we are, and this is how we will put our resources to work.

On November 2nd we kicked off our Stewardship Campaign by focusing on the first word of our theme: WORSHIP. Here is (a modified version of) the Testimonial Video that played at the beginning of the service.

You can listen to Rev. Brian's sermon (including a full description of The Narrative Budget Process) on the church's website by clicking here. 

2014 East Valley CROP Hunger Walk

Wear a pair of tennis shoes this Sunday to church!

That’s right, it is time for the East Valley CROP Hunger Walk!

You can help Church World Service work to end hunger in the world one step at a time by being a part of the East Valley CROP Hunger Walk.

Here are all the different ways you can be a part of the CROP Hunger Walk.

• You can walk! There will be a big group of CROP Hunger Walkers going from FCC Scottsdale. We’ll pray over them in worship before they head out and we’d love to have you with us!
  
• You can sponsor a walker! Or multiple walkers for that matter! Catch one of our walkers in the Fellowship Hall after worship and fill up their donation envelopes!
  
• You can come out to El Dorado Park at 1:30! Even if you don’t want to walk you can come and be a part of the festivities. Our very own Rev. Al Beasley will be providing music at the Ramada! Come out and sing along!
  
• You can wear your tennis shoes to church on Sunday! Put on your Sunday best and then finish off the look with a pair of sneakers! Come to worship and pray, sing, and support your church as we work together with Church World Services to help CROP stop hunger! And if can’t be there on Sunday…

2014 Stewardship Campaign

Every Sunday I begin worship with these words: At First Christian Church Scottsdale
we are a Christ-centered Community Inviting Everyone to Seek and Celebrate God’s Love through joyful Worship, Mission, and Ministry!

That is more than just a Mission Statement. That is who we are as a people of faith!

The gospel stories are about transformation -- the work of God at work in the world and the Holy Spirit at work in the followers of Jesus. We celebrate transformation each time we gather. We come together wrestling with the complexities of life and leave with the simple assurance of God’s abiding love. The financial gifts we offer become the resources for Worship, Mission & Ministry.

So I have a special invitation for you. On November 2nd we will kick off our Stewardship Campaign as we begin a four week journey considering how we are transformed by our encounter with Jesus. We will hear stories from people in our faith community that focus on their journey at FCC Scottsdale, and why this church is so important in their lives.

Every Sunday during our Stewardship Campaign a story from the life of Jesus will focus our attention on how God is at work in us and through us. My sermons will focus on how Jesus inspires us to follow him through acts of Worship, Mission & Ministry. That’s right, our Stewardship Campaign theme comes straight from our Mission Statement this year!

In the coming days you’ll receive another letter from the church office containing your pledge card and a copy of our prospective budget that is broken down in three categories to show how your stewardship dollars will be used to support the Worship, Mission & Ministry of FCC Scottsdale.

On November 23rd we will have the opportunity as a community of faith to offer and dedicate our pledges for the investment we feel led to make for resourcing the things God is calling us to do as God’s church. I hope you will be intentional about not missing a moment of the rich things God has in store for us at FCC Scottsdale during the campaign!

God has done, and continues to do remarkable things with us. I look forward to seeing you in worship each week during our Stewardship Campaign.

Whiteboard: Narrative Budget and Worship

Wait, a pie chart?

On The Whiteboard?

What is going on here? I thought The Whiteboard always had something to do with worship.

Well, you see, this Sunday we are officially kicking off our 2015 Stewardship Campaign and we'll be doing things just a little bit different this year.

During the Stewardship Campaign we'll be presenting a Narrative Budget. Now, have no fear. In order to prepare a Narrative Budget you first have to go and do the faithful planning of a tradition line item budget. We know how much money we need ($260,834) and where those resources will be spent. But a Narrative Budget doesn't stop with the numbers. No, a Narrative Budget is a way for us to tell our story through our budgeting process!

Here is what you do. After preparing a full line-item budget (and we have copies of that available in the church office for anyone who wants to see one, just stop by!) you break down that budget even further by determining how those particular line-items fit into the specific categories of work that define what we do here at the church.

Sounds complicated, but really it isn't. Particularly when you have something that helps orient and organize our work here at the church like we do...our Mission Statement!

Every Sunday I begin the worship service by saying, "We are a Christ-centered Community Inviting Everyone to Seek and Celebrate God's Love through Joyful Worship, Mission, & Ministry!"

Did you catch those last three words (well, four if you count the ampersand)?

Worship.

Mission.

Ministry.

Those words define who we are as a church and help us categorize our work. The Finance Team and the Executive Team here at FCC Scottsdale have been working hard to take our line-item budget and break it out into those three key categories so that we can see just how we are putting your stewardship dollars to work for Worship, Mission & Ministry.

Thus the Pie Chart. It turns out that we allocate about 40% of our stewardship dollars for Worship here at FCC Scottsdale.

And I know what you are thinking: "Is the Worship Committees Budget really that large? Are we spending that much money on communion bread and grapejuice?"

No.

Remember we are reallocating our line-item budget to fit our understanding of who we are. If you want to have a weekly worship service you're gonna need lights and (particularly here in Arizona) you're gonna need air conditioning. So we did a time study and broke out the amount of electricity that we need use on a regular basis for the Sunday morning worship service and we put that percentage of the Property Budget into the "Worship" category. We did a similar thing with my salary (about 40% of my time goes to planning and leading worship, so 40% of my salary went into the "Worship" category) and Jane's salary (30%, representing her time each week printing the bulletin, creating the Song Show Presentation, sending out the liturgy, updating the Worship page on the website and more). Since the worship service wouldn't be complete with music we also included the full salaries of our Director of Music Ministries, our accompanist, and our percusionist. Once you add all those things together (and a couple of smaller categories too, like, well, communion bread and grape juice!) you end up with a total that is about 40% of our budget.

That it is what you see on the Pie Chart this week on The Whiteboard, and that is what we'll be talking about in worship this coming Sunday -- Worship. We'll be talking about what it means, why we do it, why it is important, and we need to continue to support the worship ministries at FCC Scottsdale.

Next week I'll be adding the next category to The Whiteboard (Mission) and on November 9 the service will be built around it. Then on the week after that I'll update The Whiteboard with our third category (Ministry) and on November 16 we'll be talking about that. Finally, on November 23 we'll have our Dedication Sunday as we wrap up our Stewardship Campaign and turn over pledges to the glory of God.

It is going to be a lot of fun in the next few weeks church, because here is what a Narrative Budget really lets us do: Celebrating the stories of our church. We'll be talking about the incredible things that happen here at FCC Scottsdale and the ways that your tithes, offerings, and pledges help to make all of that happen. You won't want to miss a minute of it!

Whiteboard: Dare to Love Boldly

The Whiteboard is filled with my version of the logo for this weekend's Arizona Regional Assembly!

Our congregation, along with over 20 others from all over Arizona , will be part of the Ninety-fifth Regional Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Arizona this October 24th and 25th.

It is going to be a tremendous event. In fact, I am so sure that it will be a hit that I'm planning on preaching about it on Sunday morning...even though the event hasn't happened yet and won't even finish until Saturday evening!

Our Tucson hosts, First Christian and Capilla del Sol, have been busily preparing to welcome us to this regional gathering.

The Theme – Dare to Love Boldly! – promises to deliver both inspiration and challenge through preaching and informative workshops. Speakers Rebecca Hale, NBA Vice President for Mission and Ministry and Jose Morales, former Executive Regional Minister of the Central Rocky Mountain Region, are both dynamic speakers and won’t disappoint!

We also have the very talented Andra Moran providing music and leadership throughout the Assembly. Many of us have experienced her gifts – she has been a part of many General Assemblies and Quadrennial Assemblies over the past several years and recently served as the Music Leader at the National Pastor's Conference I attended in San Diego.

"With such a Hope as this we Act with Great Boldness" from 2 Corinthians 3:12 will serve as our guiding scripture passage. Our Assembly Planning Team has carefully considered these words as they have put together a variety of Workshops and Mission and Ministry Offerings. They want
us to think beyond our usual and comfortable places and move into those areas where the need for love and compassion is so great. Where God is calling us to respond.

Disciples from around Arizona and beyond will share in worship, fellowship, celebration and learning. So keep us in your prayers on Friday and Saturday and come join us for worship here at FCC Scottsdale on Sunday morning to hear all about it!

Whiteboard: Children's Sabbath

This Sunday we will celebrate the Children's Sabbath in our worship service!

Our children will be with us for the whole worship service which this Sunday will feature a Children's Sermon from Shirley B., a special prayer for All God's Children from Sandi D., and a special gathering area for our children and young people complete with blankets and cushions.

For folks who do not know about the Children's Sabbath here is brief excerpt from the Children's Defense Funds website:

Sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, the National Observance of Children's Sabbaths Celebration is a way for faith communities to celebrate children as sacred gifts of the Divine, and provides the opportunity for houses of worship to renew and live out their moral responsibility to care, protect and advocate for all children."

Join us this Sunday for the Children's Sabbath and make sure to bring the children in your life (kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, next door neighbors...) so that they can celebrate this special worship service with us!

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Matthew 19:13-15 Jesus Blesses Little Children

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ 

And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.