Last week Reynolda had their Vacation Bible School. I think I saw everyone from the class there at some point. I hope that your kids enjoyed it as much as Rachel.
As promised, Pastor Chris Lawson posted the closing video from the week. I think it was hard to find on the Reynolda site, so I have re-posted here for everyone to see again. Or, for the first time, if you are like Allison and could not make it.
...Video was removed... Vacation Bible School from Reynolda Church on Vimeo.
I sent an email out for the first month I did, but here is another wallpaper for the church I put together. Here are both together. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for all of you who were praying for the follow up class that Allison and were leading for the Shame Off You Conference. The class went very well. We learned so much adding in those extra classes after what we did for Parents of Preschoolers.
We combined a lot of Pastor Alan's material with Restoring the Foundations (RTF) and our personal experience. This diagram below is from RTF and was the hook that we kept coming back to.
Here are the handouts and the slides we used for the class. The two zip files are all of the notes and/or slides on one file. Both are about 1Mb a piece, but it would save downloading each PDF seperately. If you right-click on any link and select save as, you can download the files to your computer.
Shame Off You Follow-Up Class Handouts (zip)
Shame Off You Follow-Up Class Slides (zip)
One of the things we went over in class Sunday is what a shame-free church would look like. I cannot say Reynolda is perfectly shame-free, but I do know that it is a goal of the church. It kind of has to be a goal when your pastor writes a book about getting the shame off people.
This image is a diagram of how Reynolda would like to become that shame-free church. Just as Jesus lived a life full of grace and truth. The Church, as the body of Christ, represents Him by being full of grace and truth.
The curvy line represents a barrier that prevents the mingling of the two. If you have grace without truth, you tend to accept every sin in the name of acceptance and can easily be led into deception. If you have truth without grace, you tend to dogmatic, rigid, and unloving.
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." - I Peter 3: 15 - 16
There is truth that needs to be share, but we must always remember that we are talking to people that Jesus died for... people Jesus cares for... people Jesus patiently desires to know Him better.
Grace and truth is a difficult balance, but nothing is impossible with God.
