9.11

Just a reminder to pray for the families who still suffer from the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

The image to the left was taken from the space station after the planes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan. Plumes of smoke can be seen rising from the crash site.

For a better view of the photo, click here.

Let us never forget.

Hey Everyone!  I uploaded our prayer team May Newsletter today.

If you'd like to view the newsletter. CLICK HERE.

If you'd like to subscribe, you are able to do so on the newsletter website, or send me your email address.  

Thanks for being willing to pray for us!

Praying for Thailand & The MCM Team!

I just wanted to call all of you who follow this blog to pray for some great friends who have been overwhelmingly supportive of the launch of Element Church.

The MCM Ministry School is based out of Allison Park Church, and their mission and goal is to train up missionaries to serve in churches in the US and beyond.  The students of the school receive training daily at Allison Park Church, and use that training practically by reaching out to the city of Pittsburgh in ministry.  They have been so supportive of helping us to plant Element Church, and have passed out fliers, served at outreaches, and have been amazing prayer partners to us.

Now they need us!  The ministry school will be joining the Mission SOS outreach to Thailand over the next two weeks, and I would like to ask all of you to pray for them while they are on the trip.  Pray for safety as they travel, and as they are in Thailand.  Pray that many souls will be saved as a result of the crusade they will be a part of.  Pray that God heal many who come to the crusades, and that people, including the MCM team, will be forever changed!

You can read more about the trip on Pastor Jeff's blog.  Enough talking...let's pray!

Element Church Prayer Team

As of March 1, we stand only 48 days until the first monthly service of Element Church! It feels like it was just yesterday that we accepted the call to go to Pittsburgh and plant a church, but now comes the fun part!

I love the difference from the way I remember life as a home-missions pastor's kid compared to modern church planting. I remember it seeming as though our family was always in an uphill fight, and that we were all alone in that fight. For my parents, and also for us as the pastor's kids, it often felt lonely.

Before accepting the call to plant Element Church, I must admit that I feared the same thing would happen to us. Quite to the contrary, I have experienced such incredible support from so many people. Pastor Jeff & Allison Park Church, Nick Poole, and the MCM Network Churches have been awesome. More than that, I am blown away at the members of our launch team that God is bringing together to serve alongside of us. Old friends and new from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Michigan, and from as far away as Nebraska have felt called to help us make a difference for God in the lives of people in Millvale.

What about you? Interested in joining us for the adventure of planting Element Church? Maybe you would be interested in serving with us for a summer internship. I would love to talk about some of the possibilities with you! What I know is this...I can't believe I get to do this, and to do it with such a committed team of people. Are you one of them?

I know that most people who read this blog will not feel called to move to the 'Burgh and join our team in a physical sense, but there is another way you can be involved. That would be by serving on the Element Church Prayer Team. Many have volunteered to sign-up for our monthly e-mail Prayer Team newsletter (CLICK HERE for a sample of this month's newsletter), and agreeing to pray for us daily. Interested in joining our prayer team? Email me at richj@allisonparkchurch.com and I can add you to the list!

Please Pray!

Hey! Just wanted to post a prayer request for all of you who read this. As most of you already know, September 28th will be our last Sunday at First Assembly in Hermitage. After that, we are moving to Pittsburgh to begin the church planting process with Allison Park Church.

Anyway, that leads me to the prayer request. (Of course we need your prayers concerning the new church, so please make that a regular part of your prayer list.) My urgent request is that God would help our family to find housing in the area we are moving to. Jodi and I have been down to the area looking many times, including 4 times just this past week, and have found nothing that fits our budget or would seem an appropriate place to take our family. We know that God has something that will be right for us, and as a matter of fact, we are going down to view another home today, so this may even be answered before you read this. (Wouldn't that be just like God? I mean, He knows what we have need of before we even ask! - Matthew 6:8)

So, that's it. I know God's going to make it happen, but pray with us, would you?

Mythbuster Jones

FALSE ADVERTISING!!! About 2 weeks ago, Jodi and I were stranded at Walmart in Cranberry. We had traveled to a grad party in Pittsburgh via motorcycle, and had to wait there until the rain stopped. Anyway, while waiting, we became quite familiar with each of their departments.

While perusing the women's clothing area with Jodi, I came across a BIG FAT LIE!!! They had an entire rack with blouses bearing a sticker that claimed, "INSTANTLY SLIMS YOU."

In true Mythbuster fashion, I just HAD to challenge that claim! As you can see, I neither became slimmer, nor even APPEAR slimmer, as the blouse claimed. As a matter of fact, I still felt bloated from the many chips and salsa I had eaten earlier. Therefore, MYTH: BUSTED!!!

A lot of things in life don't ever live up to the hype that surrounds them. Television, the internet, and everywhere else we seem to look advertises and promotes new products that make clames to "change our lives," but never seem to satisfy. I wish getting slimmer was as simple as putting on a shirt, I wish getting in shape was as easy as ordering the Bowflex, and I wish getting the iPhone would be the last gadget/phone I would ever want! (Evidently even those who have the original iPhone loved it, but couldn't wait for the NEWER & BETTER one to come out!)

I find that my walk with God is many times the same way! I want to see growth just "happen." Sometimes, it's way easer to be content to just go to church, "doing my time," instead of really investing myself there. Just like that shirt truly lacks the power to change my girth, and leaves me with the task of discipline and eating right to lose the weight, so also my spiritual growth requires discipline and investment beyond just "showing up" at church.

In Jim Cymbala's book, "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire," he states, "The history of past revivals portray this truth (that spiritual revival is dependent on us doing the work of calling on Him to pour out His Spirit on us,) in full color. Whether you study the Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, or the Welsh Revival, the 1906 outpouring on Azusa Street in Los angeles, or any other period of revival, you always find men and women who first inwardly groan, longing to see the status quo changed --in themselves and in their churches. They begin to call on God with insistence; prayer begets revival, which begets more prayer."

God makes this promise to us in Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV), "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

What a promise! That God wants us to call on Him, and that He promises to answer us! He has such amazing things in store for us, things we have no idea of yet. What's more is that I know that when promises come from God, there is never a "myth" to bust....only truth!

I want to see God do so much in my life! I want to see him at work when we pray...not just here and there, but all of the time! I know God is calling me to grow in my prayer life, and I anticipate Him doing GREAT THINGS in the future! Whatever you have for my life God, I want it! Bring it on!