Left-handed Lay-ups

Left-handed Lay-ups

Two nights ago I sat at a high school basketball game and watched as a player (who happened to be my son) caught the ball, knifed between a pair of
defenders, and deftly flipped the ball off the backboard and into the basket - with his left hand. While in one sense it was just one of
several dozen
baskets scored in the contest, in another sense, it was remarkable because I happened to know that player is right handed!

How does a ball player acquire the ability to use his weaker and less coordinated hand in that way? The answer, of course, is "by practice." The only
way to develop that skill is by practicing hundreds and hundreds of left-handed lay-ups - that is, by investing time and effort in an intentional
process of growth!

In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, author Dallas Willard writes, "The place where you most need to be
conformed to the image of Christ is the place where you are least like him." That's the purpose of our current sermon series, Everything You Need: The pathway of spiritual growth! When Peter tells us,

"For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge
self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love."

I believe he is telling us that God wants us to learn to shoot left-handed lay-ups, spiritually speaking. He wants us to grow in specific ways and he
wants us to know that growth requires intentional effort on our part. In order to help you in this process we have created a "tool" on our church
website. Just click here - Personal Spiritual
Growth Tool - to begin your own process of intentional spiritual growth in 2009!

We are also in this same process of learning to shoot left-handed lay-ups as a church family! As you know, we conducted a major survey of our
congregation back in August and September and our leadership has been working with Kevin Ford (author of The
Transforming Church ) and his organization to understand what the survey tells us about our strengths and weaknesses as a church. We have a
two-day leadership retreat coming up on January 23-24 when we will be wrestling with these issues again. We
simply want to ask you to keep us in your prayers as we continue to seek God's wisdom and direction for FBCG!

Thanks in advance for your prayers and support!

 

What better time?

What Better Time?

Lose weight.

Get out of debt.

Spend more time with family.

Stop smoking.

Go to church.

Those were a few of the top New Year's resolutions reported in a recent survey of more than 300,000 Americans. Maybe you've thought about a few of
the items on that list, maybe not, but almost all of us long to be something more and better than we are right now - it's just how we are made as human beings.

The beginning of a new year is a natural time to think about change and growth. The old year with its pains, frustrations and mistakes, is gone. And a new year - with 365 blank pages in the calendar - lies ahead. What will we do with this gift? What shall we become? Who shall we become?

This past weekend Jeff and I began a new series of messages at FBCG entitled, Everything You Need: The pathway of spiritual growth.For nine weeks we are going to work our way through an astonishingly simple yet profound passage of scripture found in 2 Peter 1:1-8. We believe that in these eight verses God has laid out a pathway of spiritual growth that he invites each one of us to walk - in our own way.

Our hope is that through this series you will be able to build your own personal growth plan for the New Year. In fact, we have created a "personal growth tool" to help you in this process. Here's how it works:

• Get your Bible and a journal


• Go to www.fbcg.com


• Click on the icon for Personal Spiritual Growth Tool


• In Step 1 you will find a personal spiritual challenge that comes right out of the sermon from that week (if you miss a sermon
  or would like to listen again you can do so by downloading a message from the website)


• In Step 2 you will be introduced to ministry programs at FBCG - or other resources - that are designed to help you grow in
  that particular area of spiritual life


• In Step 3 you will be encouraged to do some further study in God's Word to deepen your personal relationship with God

Spiritual growth is God's desire for each one of us. It all begins with Christ's call on our lives and in our hearts. But, like any commitment to
personal change - it doesn't happen without intentional effort! I hope you will take this opportunity to jump into the spiritual growth challenge with both feet! What better time?

Visit my blog, Coffey Break.  I'd love to hear from you.

www.fbcg.com