Congratulations, Bryan!

Congratulations to Bryan Koch and the Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Reading, PA, which occupied their new worship space this past Sunday.

Here is the TV report.

the offensive word in my prayer

This morning our local newspaper ran this article about my refusal to take the "offensive word" Jesus out of my prayer to open the State House as a Guest Chaplain this week. In case you-all hear about this little thing and need to defend it, here it is. I hope I have honorably defended my best friend - and represented you-all well. This was not done to sir up trouble, but to respectfully stand up for Jesus in the public square. I hope it comes off that way. -Gerry

Local pastor's prayer rejected by House

Gerry Stoltzfoos, of Freedom Valley Worship Center, was told to remove the word "Jesus" from his planned prayer.

By ERIN JAMES

The Evening Sun

Gerry Stoltzfoos is a man of faith - but not the type who preaches constantly with in-your-face theology. Even the Gettysburg church where he serves as lead pastor is designed more as a gathering hall than as a shrine full of religious imagery.

But when it comes to prayer, Stoltzfoos is steadfast in his approach of speaking directly to and addressing by name the Christian God he worships.

"I think prayer is talking to God, so when I pray, I try to talk to him," said the pastor of Freedom Valley Worship Center.

However, that principle clashed recently with a new policy of Pennsylvania's Speaker of the House, Keith McCall, D-Carbon County.

And two local legislators are speaking out against the policy - which requires the Legislature's guest chaplains to first submit their prayers in writing and then, if deemed necessary, agree to change their words to meet "non-denominational" guidelines established by McCall's staff.

That, Stoltzfoos said, was simply not something he was willing to do when instructed by a member of McCall's staff to remove the word "Jesus" from the prayer he submitted and had planned to recite at Tuesday's session.

"I feel very deeply offended by them asking me to pray but not allowing me to pray in the name of my God," Stoltzfoos said. "We seem to believe in individual freedoms, but then we cut off those freedoms when they become individual."

Stoltzfoos was invited recently by state Rep. Will Tallman, R-Reading Township,

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to open Tuesday's session of the House with a prayer. The pastor said he prefers to pray without a script, so the requirement of a prior was submission was "already pushing pretty far past my comfort zone."

But he complied with that request.

Then, in an e-mail, a McCall staff member said the prayer "looks good" but that the word "Jesus" cannot be used in a non-denominational prayer.

Stoltzfoos ultimately declined the invitation rather than remove the phrase "In Jesus' name" from the prayer's conclusion - the only place Jesus' name is used.

"First of all, I don't see how Jesus is denominational. The whole Christian world is called after him," he said. "I just feel like if you want me to pray, then I have to pray to the one thing I know. I only know one God personally. I only serve one God. How do I do something that dishonors him?"

The policy, however, is not an attempt to silence religious leaders but rather an effort to prevent taxpayers from having to foot the bill of a lawsuit if someone objects to a prayer's contents and chooses to sue the state, said McCall spokesman Bob Caton.

"Unfortunately, it's because states like Indiana and Ohio have been sued," Caton said. "We've followed the example that unfortunately was set in other places. We're bringing Pennsylvania's practices in line with what other states have done."

The policy - not yet three months old - requires guest chaplains to submit their prayers in writing beforehand and to omit references to specific religious figures like Jesus, Yahweh or Allah, he said.

"We ideally want to have as varied a group as possible," Caton said. "We just have them operating under these stipulations. It does come with certain guidelines that were thrust upon us basically."

Caton added that Stoltzfoos is still welcome to serve as guest chaplain "under the guidelines."

Traditionally, the office of the Speaker of the House coordinates the prayers - held, along with the Pledge of Allegiance, at the beginning of each day the House is in session.

Legislators, like Tallman, can nominate individuals to serve as guest chaplains.

Tallman said he invited Stoltzfoos because he respects him both as a man of God and for his service as president of the New Oxford Borough Council.

"He's involved, and he's always impressed me with that," Tallman said.

As for what transpired, the representative said he believes "some of the leadership is probably not respecting diversity."

"Why is somebody from the speaker's office going to pre-approve a prayer by a man of God?" Tallman asked. "They're putting themselves in a pretty interesting position there."

He also said he does not believe concerns over potential lawsuits are legitimate, though he declined to comment further as to why.

State Rep. Dan Moul, R-Conewago Township, said he too objects to the prayer policy.

"I personally don't think it's reasonable because our country was founded on Christian-Judeo beliefs. That's who started our government," Moul said. "We should never be ashamed to speak about our Christian beliefs. That's what our prayers are for."

Moul said he supports the right of legislators of all religious backgrounds to invite clergy in as guest chaplains. Legislators have the ability to leave the floor if they find the content of prayers offensive, he said.

"I am extraordinarily tired of the vast majority changing our way of life to accommodate a few," Moul said.

In his years as a legislator, Moul said he has heard a rabbi offer prayers, "and I don't understand hardly a word he says."

"That's what they believe in. That's wonderful. That's freedom. That's what we're here for," he said.

As for the lawsuit argument, Moul said simply: "Let 'em sue us."

Tallman said he plans to organize a bi-partisan group of legislators displeased with the new policy and propose an alternative that could satisfy both sides of the issue.

"We think we need to have a more balanced look at this issue," Tallman said.

Small Groups and Stewardship Seminar

Pocono Community Church is hosting two live events on July 30 at our new facility. 

Need some practical advice on how to increase your giving and organize your finances? What about small groups? Haven't figured out how to put a successful small groups ministry together? Then the Stewardship Seminar and The Activate (Small Groups) Seminar will be incredibly beneficial to you and your church.

Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church will be teaching both seminars. He and Nelson Searcy have been a tremendous resource for our church. I would strongly recommend you and some of your staff come to this seminar. You won't regret it! 

Click here to register. Sign up today. Hope to see you there.

HIStory...

At our meeting a couple weeks ago one point seemed to be the need for ongoing discussion. I for one would love to hear some other planters stories...where you've been...where you are...how you got there...what God's done along the way...where's He taking you...

Rich?
Gerry?
Bryan?
Anyone?

tap, tap, tap, is this thing on???

First post...

At last week's meeting Rich Earl challenged us to participate more in this blog. It's always seemed a bit disingenuous for me to do so, because as a non-reader, I don't read many blogs, so what right do I have to write and expect someone to read? ...but I digress...

Seems the best thing to point to in this first post is my experience in church planting. I did not grow up in the living church (went to mainline "social" churches as a kid). Frankly I didn't know there was such a thing until I got saved in my early 20's and began attending a home missions Assemblies of God Church. The burden of my heart almost immediately was that others in the city of Pittsburgh where I grew up would hear what Jesus has done for them.

While in Bible college in Florida during the early 80's, the Lord directed me to plant a church in McKees Rocks, an urban community just outside of Pittsburgh. After completing an internship at a home missions church in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh in 1986, and discussing the matter with my Pastor, I began to meet with Presbyter Ron Baily.

On June 7, 1989, we held our first mid-week Bible study in our home with my wife's mom, grandma and a couple people from our home church. The Lord began to bring people in and on Easter 1990, we held our first Sunday morning church service in our home, continuing to do so until 1991 when we purchased the building we currently still occupy. I quit my secular job and the church became General Council Affiliated in 1993. It's been an amazing 20 years with significant ups and downs, but God continues to prove Himself faithful.

In 1999, after a couple years of discussion, a man in our church stepped out to do a mid-week study in his home with an eye toward planting. Having personally been to a Church Planters' Boot Camp and seeing the value of it, we made arrangements for him to go. In spite of several years of slogging it out, the plant effort failed. Thankfully, the man did not and is serving as a Deacon today, looking forward to another shot in due season. Since that failure the Lord has unearthed and dealt with some things in my brother which would have potentially been destructive had the plant succeeded...can anyone see God's grace?

While serving on the Sectional Committee in January of 2005, we were informed that the Pastor of Brookline Assembly of God (in Pittsburgh) was leaving. The church had been home missions for a number of years, first as an incredibly successful children's outreach ministry under Karey Schaffer, then struggling to continue as a community church after Karey left, in spite of the new Pastor's best efforts. In March of that year the Lord directed me to assume responsibility for the church as a sister church to McKees Rocks. He gave me a plan which was presented to the Sectional Committee, my own Board, as well as the membership of McKees Rocks, with unanimous approval. McKees Rocks had 40 active members and was living week to week...

God had raised up a man to be our Associate Pastor and we installed him in 2004. We couldn't pay him and based on constituency didn't need an Associate, but God knew what was coming in 2005. Mike Russell was installed as the Pastor at Brookline in 2007 where he remains in a bi-vocational role. The church continues to slowly move forward under his leadership and the oversight of our Board. We share several combined services a year, alternating preaching. We also do pulpit exchange a several times a year. We also believe God wants to use us to rescue and/or plant more in the future. Losing such a key man and his family from such a small congregation seems suicidal from a human perspective. Yet because God ordained it, McKees Rocks is moving forward as new folks come in and others are stepping up.

Next time: Pittsburgh Neighborhood Church Network (PNCN)

C3 meetings today

This afternoon at the C3 seminar in Carlisle, we had 2 hours of pure oxygen. About a dozen or more church leaders sat around tables to discuss how we can reach more of the 9 million people in PennDel who do not attend church.

As we shared what God has given us, we discovered 17 new churches on the drawing boards! 17! that still doesn't bring us up to the 20 new churches that New Jersey planted last year (I love competitiveness in a "spur one another to good works" kind of way). But if we did half that we just might have one of the best years we ever had! And who knows where we could go in the years to come!

Penndel today has something under 400 AG churches in it I believe. What could happen if we had 1000! That might represent 60,000 less people in eternal Hell...

One a smaller scale, I live in Adams County, where the total population numbers about 100,000. Probably less than 20,000 go to church today. What could our county be like if say, 50,000 attended church regularly? How would that affect the economy, crime, or divorce rates?

Recently I read where our county spends about 45% of it's budget on law enforcement, courts, prison, etc. What if crime dropped 50% because we reached a lot of drug dealers, thieves, and addicts, reducing crime so much that the county was awash in money for better things?

Last evening David Crosby read the Apostle Paul's words about finishing his work. I have no idea what it would look like to have finished my work, or our work in reaching people. But I know this; we have about 9 milllion prospects- more than enough for all of us to plant a LOT of church before we even reach the halfway point!