AC3 VB210 Vital Church Update

Popcorn and Parables (Disney Villain edition)-Week 2

The Lion King — Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Week 2 Popcorn and Parables Blog

Genesis 4:1-23

It’s extremely difficult to find people these days that haven’t heard of the story of Cain and Abel.  The first murder recorded in Biblical history.  Considering the story’s fame I don’t think there’s a need to go deep into an exegesis of Genesis 4:1-23, but I wanted to share something that has always bothered me about the story.  To sum it up, it’s hard for me to understand how a man could kill his little brother over a rejected offering.  How could a moment of rage overrule a lifetime of relationship with your own blood? How can a temporary desire cause you to murder someone you grew up with?  The little information we have in the story leads me to conclude that Cain wasn’t really a nice guy to begin with, highlighted poignantly by his response to God when asked where his brother Abel was after killing him in the field. 

Genesis 4:9 (ESV) 

9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 

There’s a sense of annoyance in Cain’s response to God’s question, and it’s clear Cain felt no sense of responsibility towards Abel at all, not as a brother, and not as a fellow human being.  

Who Are My Brothers and Sisters?

After I was born, my older brother John would crawl into my crib with me to hold me, protect me, and when I got old enough to respond, play with me.  When I was 6 years old and I tattled on my brother and his friends for stealing candy at the local Pay N’ Pak at Thrasher’s Corner my brother is the one who protected me from his friends who all rightly wanted to beat me to death.  When I was 8 and confessed to helping vandalize a local elementary school along with my brother and his friends, once again my brother stepped in to defend me against them. Oddly, they stopped involving me in their shenanigans after that.  When I was 21 and my brother went with me to celebrate, and some idiot in the club started harassing me, it was my big brother who took me aside out of earshot and said “I know this type. If he pushes any more, whatever you decide to do I’ll have your back.”  When my wife had a miscarriage and we lost our baby, it was my big brother who said “We’ve been through this. I’m here if you want to talk.” My brother has always been my keeper, even on the days we drew each other’s blood quarrelling. The bond that siblings have from growing up together reminds me of a verse from the 21 Pilots song Stressed Out:

Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young
How come I'm never able to identify where it's coming from
I'd make a candle out of it if I ever found it
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I'd probably only sell one

It'd be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose
Same clothes homegrown a stone's throw from a creek we used to roam
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered
Out of student loans and tree-house homes we all would take the latter

Your brothers and sisters are the ones you grow up with, go through trials with, survive tragedy with.  I would also suggest that If this kind of bond can be built between complete strangers experiencing trial and tribulation together, how much more should people who grew up together have the same sense of responsibility towards one another?  So yes, Cain. The message from God here is that you are your brother’s keeper, and His message to us now is that we are also.  You are your brother’s keeper, and you are your sister’s keeper. The bond that exists between siblings extends also into God’s kingdom, and our conduct regarding our spiritual responsibility for each other has impact on everyone around us.  We’re all in the same boat when it comes to being in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12), and we will sit together, alive in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2). It should be no surprise that when we ignore our personal and private obligation to our brothers and sisters, everyone around us suffers.

In Disney’s The Lion King, driven by a desire to have a kingdom that was not his, Scar plots against and kills his brother.  The result is broken relationships within the family, lack of food supply leading to starvation, and the land laid to waste.  The story of Jacob and his brother Esau comes to mind (Genesis 25:29-34) , where Jacob in his desire to have his older brother’s birthright managed to get it, but had to flee for his life (Genesis 27:41-44) afterwards.  Broken relationship and a whole lot of work to reconcile and repair the damage. The story of Ammon, Tamar, and Absalom from 2 Samuel 13:1-22 resulted in rape and murder, and a kingdom in shambles. God expects us to be keepers of one another.  There is no room in the New Testament for a Heaven populated by individuals that aren’t connected.  

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Now that the larger point has been made, let me bring this back to siblings for a second before I wrap this up.  A very good friend of mine grew up in a wonderful household, the youngest of two children. He and his older brother had a good relationship with each other and with their parents all the way into their young adult life.  Tragedy struck one day when their parents were out on a drive and were struck and killed by a drunk driver. Each of them dealt with the tragedy in different ways that weren’t always conducive to healthy sibling relationships.  Angry, bitter, and devastated, they lost touch and parted ways. 10 years later, my friend gave his life to Jesus and the two of us were in a men’s Bible study, and when Genesis 4:9 was read aloud and Cain rhetorically asked God “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, my friend though he was the youngest of the two brothers decided then and there to re-connect and reconcile with his brother based on the conviction the Spirit placed on him.  For years he thought “I’m the youngest, so I’ll just wait until my older brother reaches out to me”, but God reminded him of his own responsibility; that it doesn’t matter who is older, what matters is the relationship. Thanks to Jesus, the two have reconciled and are leaning on each other once again as they deal with the untimely passing of their parents.  

Here’s the closing question then:  do you have a broken relationship that you need Christ’s help to fix?  Isn’t it about time for you to make the first move and seek out your brother (or sister) and be reconciled?  Are you thinking maybe that it’s just not possible? There’s too much bad blood, too much history, too much hurt.  Well, you’re not alone if you’re thinking along those lines but let me provide you some encouragement once again from Jacob and Esau’s story.  After living abroad for a few years, Jacob eventually returned home and knew that he was going to have to face an older brother that previously had wanted to kill him.  On the way home, Jacob arranged to send gifts in advance to his brother to sort of soften him up a little bit, maybe hoping that by the time Jacob got home his brother would just give him a beating instead of killing him.  Instead, this happened:

Genesis 33:8–11 (ESV) 

8Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 

9But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 

10Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 

God is so good, friends.  If by His power, grace, and mercy he can fix Jacob and Esau then He is more than worthy of helping you restore your own broken relationships whether they be flesh and blood brothers and sisters, or the ones you’ve developed along the way.  You are your brother’s keeper.

Brother, let me be your shelter

Never leave you all alone

I can be the one you call when you’re feeling low

Brother, let me be your fortress

When the night winds are driving on

Be the one to light the way

Bring you home

-NeedtoBreathe

-Written by James Boerner

AC3 VB209 10 Questions

Morph/RELIC Preview (10/8 & 10/9)

Hey Parents! 

Welcome to this weeks parent preview!

First off, thank you to everyone who filled out the vital church survey! We really appreciate it your input!

For the next step of the 20/20 Vision process, VitalChurch will be sending a team to AC3 to interview as many people as possible. We really value your input and hope that each and every one of you will participate. The information collected will be confidential and not shared directly with the AC3 leadership—this is an opportunity for you to be totally transparent and authentic in your comments.

The interviews will be 

November 22 & 23

You can sign up for your own Interview today! Just click Events inside of your Church Center App. 

A paper sign-up is also available at the Info Center.

Questions? allencreek@ac3.org 360-659-SEEK

https://ac3.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/305360

The parent preview is also posted on our facebook page and the AC3 blog! 

Find our facebook here:

Morph :  https://www.facebook.com/AC3.morph/

RELIC: https://www.facebook.com/ac3relic/

Or our blog here: https://allencreekcc.blogspot.com/2019/09/morphrelic-parent-preview-924-925.html

Here is the preview for this week:

 Come hang out early this week! -  We’ll have hang time from 5-6:15. Snacks will be out at 6!

Thank you to those of you that have donated snacks this last month! 

CREEK ESPRESSO IS OPEN THIS WEEK

It’s getting chilly out there, come warm up with a drink from Creek Espresso! The espresso stand will be open before youth group the 2nd and 4th weeks in October so send your students early (opens at 5) to hang out, do homework or play foursquare in the parking lot.

Small Groups are set - We have decided to divide students up by GRADE. So when we break up into small groups students will be with other students in their on grade. Small group leaders should be touching base with you in the next few weeks to introduce themselves.

Game time - As usual, we’ll play some games! Games are a great way for students to build relationships and just have fun!

We are finishing up in our teaching series called “What do you think?”

For this last week we’re going to look at the things students were passionate about from the first week and discuss how we can do something about those things! This is an action week, we hope students will come away feeling empowered and feeling like they can do something to impact the world around them. 

AC3 runs a class called INVESTIGATIONS and its happening on Tuesday nights during youth group!

This class is built on questions about faith, God, creation, or the bible. We highly encourage students to attend! Either to ask questions or to gain answers to questions their friends may have. 

PARENTS, this is a great class to attend with your student! Come early to pick up a coffee from Creek Espresso this week and sit in on the class. Investigations meets from 7-8:30 in the conference room for the month of October. 

Announcements for this week!

• Sunday Morning Class started last week and it was awesome! This is for Jr. High and High School during our 10:30 service. Students are dismissed from the service and meet in the conference room. Bring your bible! 

• Halloween/Harvest Party - We’ll have our Halloween/Harvest Party on October 29th! Students can wear their costumes.
• Before you go... for Juniors and Seniors - "Adulting" is hard, and not just the "getting a job and paying bills" part! It's hard to be a Christian out in the real world! This is a small group designed to provide a community where students can talk about the challenges they'll face after high school. They'll be going through the book "Before you go" by Gerald Fadayomi. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1635700817/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_cEbNDbRFPJCB3
•  They start meeting the first Saturday in November during the "extended" portion of the service. Contact Sarah Ade to connect with this group. (425)418-2141 or sarahpearlade@gmail.com

That’s it for this week! Hope to see you there early. Remember to invite a friend!

-B

Popcorn and Parables (Disney Villain edition) - Week 1

Frozen: A Bad Parenting Story

So often I have heard myself say, “that will leave a mark” or, “they will be in therapy for that someday”.  To all my fellow parents out there we have to face it, we are not perfect, far from it at times. None of us set out to mess up or be “bad parents”.  On the contrary, we are trying hard to be great parents, sadly so much so that sometimes we get it all wrong.  

As we look at our first week in the new series “Popcorn and Parables” we take a look at villains and compare them to biblical failures.  Week one is Hans from Disney's “Frozen”, he is compared to Adonijah (1 Kings 1), both of whom try to usurp thrones from the rightful heirs.  The primary cause is the bad parenting of the villains which results in the actions they take. The blame falls largely on the parents for not speaking into the lives of their children and leaving them to sink or swim.  Yes, this is a bad parenting technique.

Before I delve further into Hans and Adonijah, I want to get back to my original statement.  None of us set out to be bad parents. Nonetheless, we, like Anna and Elsa’s parents, act in a way we think is helping, but in the end can be just as damaging as ignoring our children completely.  Anna’s parents thought the trolls advice to take away her memories was good, they agreed it was best for Elsa to hide the gift she had been given rather than embrace it, and they even felt leaving their children to live isolated lives from the world and one another was good for them.  King David, was also an absent parent for his children, he seldom gave them time, avoided conflicts among them, and even sent them away from his presence (2 Samuel). Both the Disney Parents and King David made poor parenting choices, but they were not evil or villainous.  

It is easy to sit back in a chair and judge the bad choices of others, but not so easy to look at our own failures.  How many of us get sucked into a TV program or our phones and ignore the child climbing the walls? How many times have we said “no” 10 times only to cave in on the 11th request?  How many of us still run lunches or homework to the school to save our child from the pain of failure?  The very person who claims to have coined the phrase “Helicopter Parent” (John Rosemond) now cringes because our society has made it out to not necessarily be a bad thing.  He goes on to now call parents “Blender or Cuisinart Parents” whose lives are so enmeshed in their children’s lives you cannot tell where one begins and the other ends (Rosemond “Parenting by the Book”).  Prior to looking at others, we must first acknowledge the query: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers’ eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3).

Now, back to Hans and Adonijah.  Both were lost in the shuffle of where they fit in amongst their siblings.  Both seem to have had absentee parents. And both seem to have developed a ‘make my own way’ philosophy.  Hans was the 13th son of a Lord of a distant land who comes to find his purpose in marrying and then attempts to usurp the throne from Queen Elsa.  Adonijah doesn’t wait for his father, King David, to be dead before claiming the throne from David’s declared heir Solomon (1 Kings 1).  Hans and Adonijah likely had never heard their father say they “matter” let alone show them they were loved. They may have had some relationship with their mothers, but the fact is neither mother nor father had instilled in them a sense there was a right and wrong path. 

No matter if you are the good parent just making mistakes like so many of us, or if you are the parent who have lost your way and need to make things right; none of us are alone.  The Lord can show you the way to be an attentive parent and guide your parenting choices if you read His Word and listen with a soft heart.  There are resources, friends, mentors, small groups, and classes all of which are available to get better on this whole parenting thing.  We are not perfect, nor will our children be, but we are all forgiven and made righteous by His blood. Let us all do our best to leave our children a little better than ourselves and the world a better place than we have now. 

“May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children.  May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalms 115: 14 – 15).

Written by Christian Love

Orange Tour Take Aways - Make It Personal

I attended Orange tour this year with several others from the AC3 youth leader team, the Kreek Kids team, and Hillside Church leader team.

Orange believes that two combined influences make a greater impact than just two individual influences.

The Church + Home = greater impact 
Light (yellow) represents the Church + Love (red)represents the Home 
And the two of them together = Orange

Each year we go to Orange we get resourced and empowered to connect the church with the family to bring Jesus into the hearts of each kid that comes through our doors. I am so grateful our team has able to go the last couple years. 

This year's theme was "It's Personal" 

The speakers and teachers called for all of us to connect more deeply and individually with the kids and teens in our lives—to really get personal. 


How? 
Reggie Joiner and his team presented 5 Questions that you should answer to give every kid HOPE. 








Here they are (from the perspective of the child you lead):

1.) Do you know my name?
Such a small, simple piece of knowledge yet it speaks wonders to a child when you know it. Their name. When we can look a kid in the eye that came to your class for the first time last week and say "Hey Brian how are you doing this week?" Their eyes light up, just because we took the time to notice them, and remember who they are. 

2.) Do you know what matters to me?
We need to see each kid as an individual, and as an individual they have different likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies etc. "When you know what matters to kids, kids feel like they matter." 
3 tips for how to do this one:

• See kids as individuals. This is particularly applicable for those of us that work in ministry and education. We often see the group of kids but sometimes forget to see each kid individually. 
• Ask clarifying questions. Simple questions like "What do you mean by that?" or "Tell me more about that." or "Oh?" can help a kid feel like what they are saying matters and therefore they matter.
• Do things that interest them. When you know a kids interests you know what matters to them.

3.) Do you know where I live? (Understanding their story and context)
"Nobody needs to be seen by everybody. But everybody needs somebody who sees them." If you know a kid's circumstance, where they come from, what their family is like, then they will feel like someone actually sees them. This can help make a child feel loved, accepted and safe.

4.) Do you know what I've done?
So many kids can be consumed by shame over what they've done. Shame is associated with depression, grief, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction and violence. According to Brene Brown–“Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging." 
When we begin to know kids personally, we can break down the lie that what you do defines who you are. 

More from Bréne Brown on shame here:  Bréne Brown Ted Talk 

5.) Do you know what I can do?
This one speaks to a kids potential. God has created each child with amazing gifts, talents, and their own personality. He has breathed creativity and passion into each one of them. "We often speak to what we think students need instead of what they actually need." Perhaps if we take the time to make it personal, to get to know what they can do, we can help them grow into their fullest potential, embracing the person God has created them to be. 

That's it! Simple huh? It may be simple but its not always easy. 

However if we can begin to answer these 5 questions we can begin to make it personal. 
Do you know....

And when we Make It Personal with the kids in our lives, we are really loving them the way Jesus does. 

Open Prayer Nights at AC3

Praying out loud in a group can be daunting, but like most things, with a little practice you can overcome your fear. Let me begin with a funny story about my first experience praying in a group, I think it’s humorously called “baptism by fire.”

Several years ago, when I stepped into the lead role at Seeds of Grace, I was asked to attend the weekly staff meetings. Upon attending my first meeting I discovered staff has what is referred to as the “prayer pot.” Inside the prayer pot are little pieces of paper with names of people, groups, events, etc. Each person draws a piece of paper from the pot and that is what or who you are to pray for…..at the meeting……OUTLOUD! I had very limited experience praying out loud and here I sit with what I considered the “elite” prayer people at AC3. Sweat was starting to form on my forehead.  When the pot finally makes its way to me, I draw none other than Rick Thiessen. 

I was terrified. What on earth was I going to say about the Senior Pastor, out loud, in front of him without sounding like a fool?  I sat there in fear listening to each staff member pray their beautiful, articulate words for who/what they had drawn and then…. its my turn. To be honest, I really have no idea what I said but I think it was along the lines of “Lord, thank you for Rick.” And that was it. I was sure at that point everyone knew what a failure I was at prayer, at least that is what Satan was telling me in my thoughts. 

As the weeks passed praying in a group setting became easier. I always had to keep in mind that I was talking to God, not the other people around the table so it didn’t matter if my words were beautiful and articulate to their ears, it just matters that God knows what is in my heart. 

Don’t let the fear of what you think you sound like keep you from praying with others. Satan knows that prayer (especially in groups) are a Christians strongest weapon so of course he wants us to fear it. Focus instead on the fact that you are just having a conversation with God, not the other people in the room. That said, did you know there is an Open Prayer night twice a month (1st and 3rd Thursdays) at AC3 in the wedge from 6:30-8pm. Come join myself and few others – I promise, it won’t be that scary. We don’t have a prayer pot but if you want to pray for Rick, I am sure he won’t mind 😊

~Written by Michelle Daniels

More details may be found HERE