By PastorBowman on
6/3/2008 9:32 PM
Are you someone who feels that you don’t know anything about the Bible at all? You come to church and you enjoy being a part of our family of faith. But you feel as if you’re carrying around a little secret that you don’t want anyone to know. In reality, you don’t know much about the Bible at all.
Let me give you a chance to get acquainted with the Bible. I will list for you key stories in the Bible from the Old Testament and New Testaments that will acquaint you with the basics of the great Biblical drama out of which our faith comes. You can set aside a few moments at the beginning or end of the day to read one of these stories and in a couple of months from now, you will have a pretty good feel for what the Bible is all about.
We are the people of The Book. There’s no way we can go forward in our faith, much less plumb the depths of what our faith is all about, without knowing the basic stories that have formed us as a people across the centuries, and out of which our faith has come. Once you begin...
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By PastorBowman on
5/1/2008 11:18 PM
One of my favorite regular devotional readings is “Living the Message – Daily Help for the God-Centered Life”, written by Eugene H. Peterson. In his July 5th writing entry he titles it, Good News About Ourselves, He says, “The personal dimension of the gospel is good news about ourselves. The reality of what is within us is every bit as important as the news from political, industrial and scientific centers of the world. Even if world peace were an accomplished fact and the domestic economy stabilized to everyone’s satisfaction, we still must deal with ourselves.”
It was refreshing to read an article in the Charlotte Observer (Tuesday, April 29, 2008) in the Health and Family section. The title of the article was “Meet the woman who shaped the star.” The Plaza Church is proud to be a host site for Athletes United for Youth whose mission is to provide youth services throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg communities resulting in positive attitudes in our children. Their goal is to assist youth ages...
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By PastorBowman on
4/5/2008 2:23 PM
It is hard to believe in less than three months, I would have served a year as your pastor. The majority of the Plaza congregation sees me only during Sunday morning worship. Since arriving an enormous amount of my time was spent in church meetings, discussing church concerns (which I see as opportunities), shortfalls of the budget, and expectations of the Plaza Church during these transitioning years ahead. These may be important, but they are not as important as our most valuable asset, which are people.
Many of you attended the meeting when we unveiled our five year vision plan. One of the most misunderstood tasks of the church today is that vision and mission are related but distinct. Mission is a general statement of ministry objectives; it is philosophic. Vision is a specific, detailed statement of direction and uniqueness; it is strategic. I have come to believe that an effective and compelling vision in the twenty-first century is probably good for about five years....
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By PastorBowman on
3/4/2008 1:07 PM
In the next weeks there are many roads we chose to travel. The road of possibly the uncertainty of America’s future, the road to the White House, and eventually the road to the Final Four of the NCAA. But! This is the season in Christianity of a road sometimes less traveled. Each of the gospel writers (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23) gives us three instructions, first to deny yourself, secondly, to take up your cross, and thirdly, to follow Me. Many find this to be a hard saying of Jesus but it is much harder to hear “depart from me…”
Why is this important? There are many that love the Jesus Kingdom in Heaven stories, Jesus has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. Jesus find many share in His feast, but few His fasting. Jesus has many share in the Breaking of Bread but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Jesus has many that enjoy his miracles but few follow His humiliation to the cross.
I truly hope we all understand during this season of Lent leading up to Palm Sunday and finally Resurrection Sunday, which is Easter that we take the road less traveled. I hope that we meet those that may see our light so shine among humanity that it will glorify our God, which is in heaven. Finally, I do believe if there was a better way, more profitable to the salvation of humanity than suffering, then Christ would have revealed it in His word and life. But He clearly urges both His own disciples and all who wish to follow Him to deny himself, take up his or her cross, and follow Him!
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