Meet Eli Norris

Hey guys. Welcome to the world and to our Crew Eil Norris.

Kyle and Kristin are doing well. We’re setting up meals for the week(s) ahead. Email info@crewcommunity.org to vol for that. The stats on Eli are:

Eli Daniel Norris
January 2nd, 3:04pm
9lbs, 5oz
22.5 inches long

Favorite Team: Pittsburgh Pirates

Essential Christian Books - As Mentioned in Jan. 4 Sermon

Josh made a challenge at Crew to become a church of avid readers. First and foremost we should be reading the Bible, but other books help to grow and stretch our minds and walk with Christ, so here’s the exhaustive list of books mentioned during the service (all links open in a new window):

Books About Great People:

• Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
• Jonathan Edwards: A Life by Ian Murray
• Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond
• Books like Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg or John Adams by David McCullough

Books that Stretch Your Mind:

• Knowing God by J.I Packer
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
• What’s So Amazing about Grace? by Philip Yancey
• Books by Francis Shaeffer, G.K. Chesterton, or Philip Yancey

Books that Broaden Your Scope:

• Books like Moby Dick or War and Peace - classic books make us interesting.
• Books that improve our vocabulary and allow us to join the rest of the literary world.
  
• Harry Potter and Da Vinci Code - It allows us to talk and build bridges with people in our culture. “ It kills me when I hear people start ranting on Da Vinci Code when they haven’t read it. They have n credibility. Although Da Vinci Code was a fun read it is full of heresy and bad history. And when I start talking about it with folks the first thing people ask is “Have you read it?” And I say yes and I am now legit.)" - Josh Perry, Sermon 1-4-09.
• Culturally relevant issues- It’s naive not to. This includes reading the newspaper and magazines that discuss economy, the arts, music, movies, politics, etc.

Books That Soften Your Heart:
You should read these books and keep a journal while you do, read and pray through them with other Christians, challenge each other.

• Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll
• Desiring God by John Piper
• Holy Ambition by Chip Ingram

Books That Improve Your Skills
Great books on leadership, marriage, and teaching and small groups and on and on. These are skills books.

• Instruments in the Redeemers Hands by Paul Tripp
• I Kissed Dating Goodbye and followup book Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
• Dare to Discipline by James Dobson
• Shepherding a Child Heart by Tedd Tripp - must read for every parent.
• When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey
• Books related to your field (business, ministry, parenting, computers, etc.)
  

Books that Deepen Your Soul:

• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem – Read a chapter here and there
• Read great pastor-theologians. Particularly ones who have lasted through time and have served every generation of Christian after they were written. If a book has been serving the church for hundreds or thousand of years or more, it’s probably got something to say. All of those books will take you a long time tread and will be work, but the results are as good as anything out there you and I can read.
• The Reformers: Confessions and City of God by Augustine, Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
• The Puritans: Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, Mortification of Sin, and the Death of Death by John Owen; The Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, On Charity and It’s Fruits, and Original Sin by Jonathan Edwards
  

Books that Remind You of The Cross

• The Cross Centered Life by C. J. Mahaney
• Romans
• Galatians
• John Stott commentaries
• The Cross of Christ by John Stott
• Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
• Discovering the Power of the Cross of Christ by Charles Spurgeon
  

Read Your Bible

• Get a reading plan (see previous {{real}} post)
• Google it.
  

A few practical tips:

1. Begin with a regular time in the Bible using a version you can understand. (ESV Study Bible)
2. Use a resource that will add valuable insight, structure, and guide you. (Reading Plan Through the Year)
3. Develop a plan tread a book or two a month. Alternating between the different types of books we talked about in order to stay balanced.
4. It’s ok to give up on books.
5. Don’t get overwhelmed. Have fun! Don’t worry about reading a bunch of books. Just always be reading a book, growing and being changed by the ones you read.
6. Go to www.bestbookbuys.com for price comparison on books.
   

We’d love to develop a culture in this church where we are all reading. We’re regularly being changed by great books and we’re asking each other. What are you reading? And we always have an answer.

Crew Basketball Starts Today

A new era in Crew history begins today at 2:30PM - some of our fellas are playing in the Huntington Church Athletic Association basketball league. We need to get out and support these guys as much as possible. SOO here's a map to New Life where all the games will be (ending all excuses of you don't know where it is):



View Larger Map


To tear down excuse #2 - The games are only going to be able an hour long, so you can take a break from whatever crazy event you have going on and get behind these guys.
The full schedule is listed in the Announcements section of crewcommunity.org, but you can also view it on the HCAA.us website.

If you have any other excuses, take them up with Paul Boekell at boekell@yahoo.com.


**Update: Crew played an tight game all the way to a 71-69 victory over New Life. Great job guys! Kudos to the handful of Crew fans who came to pledge their allegiance. Much love!

Resolution Time!!

Well, it's that time of year again...

time to make your New Year's resolution-something you will either break after four weeks or will honestly pursue for the year and then some.

We all have things that we would like to do better...and while it may be something that should take more than a year, the passing of an old year and the beginning of a new one has always been a great tradition for new beginnings and changes...

Post your resolutions in the comment area (and if anyone posts "My new year's resolution is to not make anymore resolutions...I will personally fight you).

Happy New Year
-Patrick

Looking For A Bible Reading Plan?

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great night last night. Loud or quiet.

I’m preaching on reading this Sunday and you might guess that I’ll commend the Bible as a book to read. But I would also commend reading the Bible through in a year. There are several plans recommended and described at Justin Taylor's blog. So click over there and select a reading plan and enjoy. Before you pick up any other book to read this year, pick up the Bible and enjoy God.

*Addition by Kim - I really think that we should do this as a church. Most of us make New Year's Resolutions, and rarely does it include anything spiritual. I challenge all of us to pick 1-2 people, or even your small group, and hold each other to reading our Bibles on a consistent basis. It helps you to stick with it and have someone to share how God is teaching you or challenging you. Reading it through in a year is great, but if it takes you longer then fine - just read it! So often do we reflect on the closing year and wish that the coming year would be better and more glorifying to Christ. I promise that if you choose to make a commitment to reading the entire Bible this coming year, God will reveal so much more and your contentment in Jesus Christ will abound. If you forget to read and get off the schedule, don't quit - pick up where you left off!

Here are some additional reading plans from heartlight.org.

The Perry’s Have a Dog Named Huck

 

What You Gave For Christmas

Hey guys. I wanted to say Merry Christmas and fill you in on what Crew’s Big Give money gave away this year:

• $1000 to a single mother of 2 who has double breast cancer and is currently undergoing chemo after 2 mastectomies.
• $1500 to host a Christmas party at Marcum Terrace for over 200 kids and their families.
• $1000 to a family whose house burnt down this month.
• $150 to fix a smashed in car window for a single gal whose care was broke into
• $400 to pay finish off a doctor bill for a single mom.

Thanks so much for being stirred in your heart to give. It is more fun to give than to receive. Jesus said that. Crew is the most fun church to pastor in the world. I said that.

Tell Me Why I Should Join Facebook

I’m thinking of joining Facebook and Twitter. Wise or unwise?

This isn’t a democracy. Every comment may say yes do it and I still may not.

I’m notoriously against such mass followings simply because they are mass followings, but I’m thinking for the sake of engaging my world I need to take this step.

Positives I’m seeing are:

• Helpful way to encourage and listen to folks.
• Announce things more effectively
• Keep in touch with folks I otherwise wouldn’t
• Redeem the negative aspects of Facebook by doing Facebook for the glory of Christ.

Negatives I’m seeing are:

• Fostering my value or success on how popular I am or I am not
• Not doing it well or to the glory of Christ
• Sucking me in and wasting my time (big fear)
• Feed my pride
• Substitute this for real friendship with folks

Let your opinions fly. I’d love to hear your take.

Interesting Excerpt

Currently, the whole music team at Crew is starting to go through Bob Kauflin's book Worship Matters. It's an incredibly insightful and helpful book covering tons of topics. Here's an interesting excerpt on handling song suggestions as a leader that gives some insight as to why we should pick songs:


You know what it's like: People approach you and exude extravagant praise for a song they heard at a conference, on the radio, or at another church, and you brace yourself for the inevitable: "Why don't we sing this song at our church?" How should you respond? Here's what I typically try to do. First, I check my heart. I know this can sound redundant, but I have too much indwelling sin still hanging around to bypass this step. I've often assumed that someone suggesting a song means they're unsatisfied with the songs we've been doing. That's sinful judgment. Whatever my response, I want to speak graciously, humbly, and clearly. After my heart-check, I thank them for their suggestion. It's great when people in the congregation actually care enough to offer an opinion. They've apparently encountered God in some way while singing that song, and they want others to have the same opportunity. Third, I ask what they liked about the song. Maybe a particular line addressed a specific situation they're going through. Or maybe they just enjoyed the sound of the band or the catchiness of the melody. I don't know unless I ask.

Once I've listened to the song closely (and maybe obtained a few other opinions), I may decide it's not right for us, and I'll need to explain why. I don't want to dismiss a song just because "I don't like it." God has used many songs I didn't like to minister to people. However, just because a song is popular doesn't mean it's good or the best song for us to use.

Let me give you an example, using the popular song "Above All." There are many things I can commend about the song, but when asked to do it, my response might run something like this:

"There are a number of things about this song I really like. The melody is beautiful and easy to remember. The lyrics wonderfully contrast God's greatness and Christ's humility at the cross. Both the poetic images and harmonic progressions are creative. But two parts concern me. The first is the line 'you took the fall.' It seems like an understated, almost colloquial way of describing what Jesus did. Plus, it's confusing.
"The greater problem for me is the line 'and thought of me above all.' I have no question that Jesus 'loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). But he didn't think of me 'above all.' Jesus went to the cross to satisfy God's righteous judgment against a sinful humanity. He thought above all of his Father's holiness, justice, and glory.
"This is no theological nuance. It's the difference between our faith being man-centered and God-centered. I don't think that's what the writers intended, but it might cause some confusion in people's minds. Other songs are clearer about the relationship between Jesus' loving me and wanting to glorify his Father." ...

...Other elements in a song that might cause me to shy away from using it include choruses that don't say much but are sung repeatedly, lack of clarity, lack of originality in music or lyrics, or scattered content that covers too many themes. At times I've changed my mind on using a particular song after thinking more about it or because it seemed to work in a specific context.

I'm sure we'll make some wrong decisions in choosing not to sing certain songs. But if our goal is always to sing songs that exalt God's glory in Christ in people's hearts and minds in the clearest and best ways, we won't have any regrets.

Crew Made the HD

I just realized that Kim had posted the article. So check that and post comments in her blog. But…

Huge thanks go out to everyone who made it happen.  Thanks to our God and Father who gave us His Son, Jesus. Without His generosity we wouldn’t give and if we did it wouldn’t be of any significance.

Thanks for Marcum Terrace residents who let us party with them. Thanks to Tim and Jennie Holmes for masterminding the bad boy. Thanks for Crew for ponying up over 4 grand and 50 or so vols to implement the party. Thanks go Jeff Black for being Santa. Set up and break down teams. Food teams. Game leaders. Craft leaders. Boekell photography for doing the pics. On and On.

We have the opportunity to follow up with every resident who had their pic taken with Santa. We’ll be delivering the pic/ornaments in the next week or so. This will be a great time to have some deeper conversations and build friendships.

Finally, we’ll have almost 2 grand or so left over from our Big Give fund to give away. If you know of folks who need it, let us know their situation and why they should get it. We’ll be deciding this next week who gets it. More info on this. Thanks again Crew. I couldn’t be more proud of you!

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

--Jesus , Lead Pastor of Crew, (Matthew 5:13-16)

Marcum Terrace Party Featured in the Herald Dispatch

The Big Give/ Marcum Terrace party was a HUGE success! If you participated, please comment and share your thoughts and/or stories of your experience. GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!

Herald Dispatch Article
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