One Church

Dear Friends,

One of our leaders shared a story with me recently.  They were at a gathering where they got into a conversation with a family from East Derry.  In the course of the conversation, the topic of Rock Church came up.  The family was unchurched, but the husband shared that they had heard great things about the Rock.  When asked if they had ever visited, they said they had considered it, but just felt the distance was a little too far to go every week.  “Well, you know we have a campus in Sandown, right?”   The family had no idea.  They never made the connection between St. Matthews and the Rock.   Needless to say, they were invited to our Sandown campus. 

In my mind, this story begs the larger question of whether it is still the best thing for our mission to be known by different names.  Like many people, I am a creature of habit and things that are familiar feel comfortable to me.  But after significant thought and prayer, I’m convinced that it would benefit our ministry to be one in both mission and name.  Now is the time to make the transition from St. Matthews to Rock Church Sandown and from Rockingham Church to Rock Church Plaistow. 

Here is why I feel that is the right thing to do. 

• It’s unifying.  Words are powerful, and there is a unifying power that come from all of our campuses sharing a common name.
• We can share the ‘good will.’  The name of Rock Church has come to be known in a very positive way in our area.  We are able to better reach our communities when we capitalize on that shared good will surrounding the Rock Church name.
• There is synergy.  It has been commonplace in recent years for us to print one version of any marketing piece we do for St. Matthews and another one for the other “Rock” campuses.  The common name would save time, financial resources and eliminate duplicated effort.
• It is less confusing.  I know most of us within the church understand it.  But for the people outside the church that we desire to reach with the good news of Jesus, it is less clear that we are all one.

When people ask me about the Rock, I explain that we are one church in many locations.  Sharing a common name reinforces that message of unity.  As we move forward with this change, I think it would also be helpful to know that this is not the first time.  I know most people assume we have been St. Matthews for 180 years.  But that is not actually the case.  The name was changed to St. Matthews in the 1970s when the Sandown and West Hampstead churches merged.  At that time we took a new name to reflect our new structure and to unify the people under one new name. 

A few years ago, Zion Bible College in Haverhill changed its name to Northpoint for strategic missional reasons.  For a number of months, people who had long known the school as Zion struggled with the new name.  But today, everyone simply knows it as Northpoint.   It’s time we take this step.  I’m sure it will be challenging for a little while. But I am convinced it is what is best for our mission to reach and disciple people for Christ.

These are exciting times for all of us at Rock Church.  We are seeing many lives changed through Christ as each campus continues to grow and new locations are being added.  God is moving powerfully throughout our ministry.  We are blessed to have such a large, diverse and truly gifted group of fellow believers that we can call family. As we move forward, we will work out the logistics.  But for the moment, I would ask us to just begin thinking in these terms: we are Rock Church~one church in many locations.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Celebrate and Share

Dear Friends,

     This weekend we celebrate the most important and impactful event in the history of the world.  I know that’s a big statement.  After all, there have many other significant events in the history of the world; the discovery of fire, the printing press, the internet.  All of these changed the course of human history.  But when Jesus offered his own life as a sacrifice for ours and when he claimed victory over death through the power of the resurrection, he not only changed our world, but he changed our eternity.  Nothing else, no one else, in all of history has impacted human kind in the way Jesus did.

      So yes, this weekend we are going to CELEBRATE!  For those of us who have come to know Jesus Christ as the leader of our lives and the forgiver of our sins, Easter is the greatest celebration of all.  Because the grave is empty, because Jesus is alive, we too have life.  We have life abundant in this world.  And we have life eternal in the next.  When we gather for Easter, we will sing and shout, we will praise God, we will celebrate the amazing gift of life we have received through him.

      This weekend we are also going to SHARE.  Through Jesus we have received the greatest gift of all.  That gift is meant to be shared.  If you or I had a friend, neighbor, or loved one who was starving to death and we had discovered a limitless supply of food, wouldn’t we share?   Or if another was dying of thirst and we had discovered a bottomless well, would we keep it to ourselves? There is no bottom to the well of God’s grace.  We can draw on that well day after day.  We can give that grace away over and over again, and our supply of grace is never diminished. 

      So my prayer for you for this weekend is two-fold.  I pray everyone of us will be in worship this weekend (there will be a Saturday Easter service at 5:00 pm in Plaistow as well as our full Sunday Morning schedule) to celebrate the victory that Jesus won for us on the cross.  And I pray that each one of us will share the good news of Jesus with someone who needs to know.  The easiest way to do that is to simply invite. 

     Don’t forget there is a Good Friday service tonight in Amesbury at 7:00 pm.  Also, don’t forget to bring a school supply item if you want to be a part of blessing our schools through our Easter “For Our Community” initiative.  Follow this link for all the details.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Mi casa es tu casa

Dear Friends,

Ladies, don't forget GROW this Monday Night.

     I don’t know about you, but I love having guests to my home for dinner.  It is great to get to know someone at a deeper level, share a few stories, laugh together, just do life together.  When we do have folks over, we prepare.  We pick up the clutter, clean the house, set the table and try to prepare a nice meal.  And when guests are in our home, we try to be great hosts.  We do all we can to help them feel comfortable and welcome.

     Over the next couple of weeks we are going to have many guests in our home.  I don’t mean Nicole and me.  I mean our church.  Between now and Easter we are all working hard to invite family and friends to join us for worship.  So I have no doubt that we will have many guests in our home.  Whether it is in our home or in our church, when guests are with us, we want to do all we can to help them feel comfortable and welcomed.  We call this hospitality. 

     You may have heard the Spanish expression “mi casa es tu casa.”  My house is your house.  This saying is at the very heart of what we mean when we speak of showing hospitality.   Our hope is that guests would feel so “at home” that they would be drawn to make the Rock their spiritual home. 

     Here at Rock Church we have a hospitality ministry.  We have people who give their time to be a part of the intentional welcome as an usher, greeter, lobby host, parking attendant, coffee maker, etc.  But I want to remind us today that we are actually all a part of the Hospitality Team.  Every one of us helps to create a welcoming environment for our guests.  So this week in particular, I want to ask all of us to be intentional about our welcome. 

     Here are some important and easy ways we can do that. 

·         One of the first and most effective things we can do is to take the first 5 minutes when we arrive at church and the first 5 minutes after the service ends to seek out one or two people we don’t know to help them feel welcomed.

Don't forget our "For Our Community" School Supply collection for Easter.

·         Look for individuals or families that seem to be alone.  If you are observant, you will sometimes notice in the lobby a person or family who seem to be by themselves.  When you see this, graciously break away from your current conversation to greet them.   This is a great practice whether that person is a first time guest or not.

·         When you do greet a guest, don’t ask “are you new here?”  They may just attend a different service.  Instead, try “I’m not sure we’ve met.  I’m Steve” as you extend a hand.

·         After you have visited for a moment, introduce them to someone else.  It would be great if they could connect to several people during their time with us.

·         When you sit down before worship begins, if there is anyone within 10 feet of you who you do not yet know, take a moment before or right after worship to introduce yourself.

     So over the next couple of weeks in particular, let’s all be part of the hospitality team.  If every one of us will seize the opportunity to make others feel welcomed and cared about, we will create a loving environment where guests can not only connect to the church, but find Christ.  Remember, everyone needs Jesus.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

BTW, can can still use a few team members to assist with parking at our Plaistow location.  If you would like to help with that, please email Vic.

Easter Outreach

 Dear Friends,

   I hope all of you are safe and warm. Despite what it looks like out my window, Easter is only a few weeks away. As you may have heard, this year we are organizing our biggest Easter Outreach ever. I think we all know that Easter is one of our best opportunities of the year for invitation, so we want to make the most of it.

     For this initiative to be truly effective, we need your help in several areas:

• Additional Hospitality Team Members.   We want to be sure every guest receives the best possible welcome. To help with this, we would like to add some additional help to our hospitalities teams (ushers, greeters, coffee prep, parking help, lobby hosts, etc.)   There will be a special lunch and training session this Sunday for all campuses at our Plaistow location immediately after the 11:11 service. Even if you would just like to know more about the hospitality ministry, we invite you to attend. Please email Pastor Jon and let him know if you are interested in attending so we can plan for lunch.
• Social Media Team. Do you have Facebook account? Twitter? Instagram? Snapchat? You can help us to expand our social media reach by being a part of the social media team. Here is how it will work. When you sign up, every time we post something on the church’s FB page, we will send out a quick email to let you know. We would ask you to go out immediately to like and share the post. You can also copy it to your other social media platforms. That simple act, done by dozens of people, will dramatically increase our social media outreach. To be added to this team, please email Lynette and let her you are willing to serve in this way.
• Prayer Team. Every couple of days between now and Easter I will be sending out a brief note to all those who have signed up to be on the prayer team. In the notes I will share a prayer focus for the next day or two. If you are willing to be a prayer warrior for our Easter Outreach, please let Lynette know and she will add you to the distribution list and you will start hearing from me every couple of days.
• Personal Invitation. I hope you will all be on the personal invitation team. Stop and think what an incredible impact it would have if every one of us brought just one unchurched friend or neighbor to one of our Easter Celebrations! I believe God is desiring to see many people come to Christ this Easter through our ministry at Rock Church. Far and away the most effective way to reach people is by personal invitation. I’m praying that every one of us will bring at least one guest.

I believe God is preparing to use the combined gifts that each one of us brings to do something great at Rock Church this Easter!   I can’t wait!

 God bless,

Pastor Steve

If you had the cure . . .

Dear Friends,

Shortly after the passing of Billy Graham, Kathie Lee Gifford was being interviewed on the Today Show.  In the interview Kathie had the opportunity to reflect on her own Christian faith.  “People ask me why I am so bold about my faith.  If you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it quiet?  Would you hold it, keep it a secret?”   You and I have been the recipients of the greatest gift anyone has ever received.  Someone shared Jesus with us, and it changed our lives.  

Have you dug out your Joyful Easter sign and put it back where it can be seen? 

I wouldn’t be surprised if people are saying of me from time to time “Why is always talking about inviting? Why all the attention given to outreach?”  Here’s why. I know in my heart that Jesus Christ really is the way, the truth and the life.  Not only do we have the hope of eternal life through our faith in Jesus, but we have the promise that he will walk with us through all of this life.  I can’t even put words to what a precious gift that is.  And yet I realize that there are people all around us who do not know that hope, who do not have that gift.  When we have something so precious, how can we not share it?

So, without apology or hesitation, I want to encourage everyone one of us to be a part of our Easter Outreach.  Pray for those around us who do not know Jesus.  Extend a personal invitation.  Help out at an egg hunt.  Send or hand deliver a post card.  Get on the social media team so you can help us extend the invitation in that way.  Put up a lawn sign.  Help with hospitality. You can see more information about how to connect on these in my post from earlier this week at this link.

The good news of the resurrection of Jesus that we will celebrate on Easter morning is too precious to keep to ourselves.  One of the very effective ways that we can share that good news with others it to simply invite them to join us for our Easter Celebration.  Let’s make the most of this opportunity.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

God of Miracles

Dear Friends,

            We experienced a miracle in my family last week.  I know that many of you heard me share that my son Chris would be preparing for kidney transplant surgery.  Chris has kidney disease and a little over a month ago, his kidney function dropped to 13%.  Because he had been stable at about 23% function for a number of years, they immediately retested.  The new blood work showed a slight increase, but still well below the 20% threshold at which one is placed on the transplant list.  I shared the situation in worship and invited your prayer.   

The Texas Mission Team raises one of the big walls.

     At the appointment, during which we were informed that the number had dropped to 13%, I asked if there was any way to bring that number back up (change of medication, diet, etc.) She explained (what deep down I already knew) that Kidney Disease is degenerative and irreversible.  We began the process of preparing for transplant.  While I was in Texas last week, about a month after we learned transplant would be necessary, Chris had a follow up visit with his nephrologist.  Much to her astonishment and our joy, the most recent labs (the third set in a month) showed his kidney function has been restored to 23%.  Because he is back above the 20% mark, Chris will not be having transplant surgery at this time. Praise God!

       I am reminded anew how blessed I am to have a relationship with Jesus.  I know in my heart that even if someday Chris does have to have the surgery, God will watch over him and all will be well.  I’m blessed because I know that no matter what I face, I will never face it alone.  I have the Spirit of God within me and I have my church family beside me.  What a gift.  I can’t honestly imagine trying to live this life without Jesus.  And it is heartbreaking to me every time I meet someone who does not have a relationship with Him.

if you didn't have an opportunity to complete an Easter Outreach Help Card, it's not too late.

     Easter is coming soon.  It is one of our greatest outreach opportunities of the year.  This year we are putting a greater effort into our Easter outreach than we ever have before. Do you know why?  Because everyone needs Jesus!  To make this Easter outreach fully effective, we need you.  We need extra hospitality team members who desire to share Christ’s love through acts of service.  We need people to hand write invitation cards, because hand written invitation shows how highly we value those we invite.  We need people to pray, because without the power of the Holy Spirit we labor in vain.  There are lawn signs to be put out and social media to be shared.  Perhaps most of all, we need every person to invite their friends and neighbors, because there is no greater act of love than to invite a friend to know Jesus.  If you feel led to help in any of these ways, but didn’t get a chance to fill out a card on Sunday, just email Lynette and she will add you to the team.

       This weekend we will continue what has been an amazing series entitled “God’s Great Plan.”  I look forward to having you join us this Sunday.  You won’t want to miss it!

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

PS.  Don't forget to "Spring Forward" this weekend!

Lessons from the Life of Billy Graham

Dear Friends,

            This week, at the age of 99, Billy Graham transitioned from this life, to life eternal.  I read recently that in his 80 years of ministry, he preached the gospel to approximately 80 million people live.  When you add to that radio and television along with the ongoing impact of the Billy Graham Evangelistic association, I find it difficult to fully fathom the impact of this man’s life for the kingdom of God. 

     As I think about his life and his legacy, several applications come to mind.  First, we should never underestimate what Christ can do with a single life that is fully committed to him.   From the Apostle Paul to the likes of John Wesley, Martin Luther, DL Moody, Aimee Semple McPherson, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Joyce Meyers, Craig Groeschel or Andy Stanley, from generation to generation God has taken ordinary people and used them in extraordinary ways.  We should never doubt what God can do in our own lives if we will make ourselves fully available to him.

         Bill Graham had a team.  While it was Billy Graham at the front of the platform, he would be the first to acknowledge that the success of the ministry was built on that great team.  George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows, Art Bailey and others were as integral to the ministry as Billy Graham himself.  While we all have gifts, what makes ministry truly effective is the synergy of all those gifts working together towards the fulfillment of a unified vision and mission.  Read more about the vision I have for our church here.

     The power of perseverance.  I think most of us picture Billy Graham preaching to large stadiums filled to capacity with people.  But it wasn’t always like that.  In the early years of his ministry, Graham preached many a message to tiny crowds in small country churches and tent revivals.  But he stayed the course.  He persevered through the hard times.  As he was faithful in the small things, God continued to open greater and greater opportunities.  When ministry does not come easy, or we don’t seem to see the fruit that we hope for, stay the course.  There is a pastor in Nashville that I have great respect for.  In his first 25 years of ministry, his church barely reached 200.  But he stayed the course.  By the time Pastor Hardwick retired, that same church had grown to several thousand.  The power of perseverance.

     Mission over method.  For several decades, Billy Graham’s ministry was built entirely on crusade evangelism.  As television became a more powerful medium,  Graham was eager to embrace that technology.  As a crusade style of evangelism became less effective, the Billy Graham association began to take a more decentralize approach, using video with small gatherings in people’s homes.  From crowds of 50,000 people listening to a live preacher to tens of thousands of home hosting gatherings of 10 to 15 people for a video message.  Methods change. The mission, reaching people for Christ, is what matters and does not change.  And so too for us.  Our methods have changed and must continue to change.  But our mission remains the same: to reach and disciple people for Christ.

      Join us this Sunday as we continue “God’s Great Plan~From Creation to the Cross.”   You don’t want to miss a single week of this great series.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Be the Light

Dear Friends,

            This week the community of Parkland Florida experienced an unimaginable tragedy.  I, like all of us, am heartbroken over the pain and grief that the students, faculty, and families of this community have endured.  This morning I prayed for all those who have been impacted by this horrific act.  And I would ask that each of us continue to keep this community in prayer.

     Sometimes it feels like we live in a very dark world.  We may wonder at times what, if anything, can be done.  But I want to remind us that as followers of Christ, we are not powerless.  To the contrary, we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us.  With the power of Christ and the hope of the Gospel, we CAN change the world.  The ultimate response to hatred is love and the way to defeat darkness is to be the light.  We are the bearers of the light of Christ, and as we share Jesus, we bring that light into a dark world.

Pastor Paul shares communion at our Rock Church Newburyport campus

     As Pastor Beth reminded our Sandown Campus in her blog, this is exactly why here at Rock Church we hold as a core conviction that “Everyone Needs Jesus.”   The only way to defeat darkness in our world is to share the light of Christ with every person we possibly can.  This week marks the beginning of Lent.  Lent is a season of preparation leading us up to the celebration of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin and his victory over death.  Easter is one of our greatest opportunities of the year for outreach.  This year I believe that God is calling us to the strongest intentional Easter outreach we have ever done. 

     In the coming weeks I will be sharing more about that.  But the place it begins is in prayer.  Between now and Easter I would ask us to be in intentional prayer for those around us who are not in relationship with Jesus.  Pray by name for some that you know are not yet connected to Christ.  And pray that God would place on your heart those He would have you invite.  There are people all around us who desperately need the hope and joy that Jesus alone can bring to their life.

A couple of our students providing tech support.

     More than ever, our world needs the light of Christ.  Be the light through acts of kindness and compassion.  And share the light by extending an invitation to those who do not yet know Christ.  And by the way, you don’t have to wait until Easter to invite.  We have a great series going on right now as we continue to explore God’s Great Plan~From Creation to the Cross.  Why not invite someone this Sunday.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Who Do You Pray For?

Dear Friends,

            Do you keep a prayer list?   Are there certain people you pray for on a regular basis?  We may or may not write it out on a piece of paper, but many of us have a prayer list.  Who do you pray for?  If you are a parent, I would not be surprised if you pray for your kids (regardless of how old they are.)  If you are a little older, the same may be true for your grandchildren.  There may be people on your list who are in need of healing or provision.  If you are married, I hope you pray for your spouse.

     What about those who are far from God?  Are there people on your prayer list who do not yet know Jesus?  I would encourage every one of us to have 2 or 3 specific people we are praying will come to know the transformational love of Jesus.  If that person is nearby, pray that they might connect to Jesus right here at one of our Rock Church locations.  If they live further away, pray that God would raise up a church near them that would invite, welcome and love them in a way that would lead them to Christ. Sometimes another church will be the answer to our prayer as they lovingly engage our child, our grandchild, our friend.  And sometimes we will be the answer to someone else’s prayer.

     Every time we invite, engage and lovingly welcome someone who is living apart from Christ, it is the answer to someone’s prayer.  That young person is someone’s grandson or granddaughter.  That family we help connect consists of someone’s son, daughter, brother or sister.  That recently divorced individual, that man or woman battling addiction, that successful business person (who suddenly discovered that there is more to life than wealth and possessions) has a best friend who has been praying for their salvation. 

     When we pray for someone who does not yet know Jesus, we become a part of God's plan of salvation.  But I also want to remind us that when we invite, when we welcome, when we embrace someone who has been distant from God, we have the extraordinary privilege of being the answer to someone else’s prayer.  And when that person steps over the line of faith and opens their heart to Jesus, not only do the angels in Heaven rejoice, but somewhere there is a praying parent, grandparent, sibling or friends praising God for you!

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

An Announcement About our Texas Mission Trip!

Two spots have become available for the TEXAS Mission Trip, Feb 24- Mar 3.  If you would like to go on this mission trip, the deadline is Feb 7th (spots will be given on a first come basis). Please contact Sue Reynolds at suzannereyolds08@comcast.net.

God's Great Plan

Dear Friends,

     Did you know that the Bible is actually one great continuous story of God’s redemption?   At first glance, the Bible appears to be 66 individual books bound together under one cover.  It is true that it was written by dozens of authors over hundreds of years.  But what is amazing is how cohesive the story is.  In our current teaching series “God’s Great Plan~From Creation to the Cross” we are digging into the stories of the Bible in a way that helps us gain a big picture understanding of how God is working in our world.

     I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure at first how well people would connect to a series like this.  But I have to say, the response has been off the charts.  I think people are loving this series for several reasons:

• It is helping us understand an overview of the Bible in a way we never have before.  
• It is making the stories of the Bible both understandable and applicable to our daily lives.
• It is connecting the Old and New Testament.  Until we really see the Bible revealed as one great story, we don’t realize that the entire Old Testament leads us to the cross and the empty tomb.  Ultimately, it all points to Jesus.

     This series is a little longer than usual.  Between now and Easter we will journey from the Garden of Eden to the cross of Christ.  We are just getting started, but I have already had many people tell me that they intend (snow or no snow) to be in worship every week during this series.  They don’t want to miss a single step in this journey.

     I’ll make you a promise.  If you are with us in worship every week during this series, by the end you will understand your Bible, and God’s plan for our world, better than you ever have.  But more than that, you will be able to apply it to yourself in a way that is life changing!   As an added bonus, we will be sharing some great news this week about our Newburyport campus.  I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.  

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

The Gift of Gathering

In Hebrews 10:24-25, the author writes "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another."  That passage is meant to remind us of what a precious gift our time together is.  When we gather as the body of Christ for weekly worship, it is a time to express our love for God, to learn and grow, and to experience Christian community.  It is a place where we are loved, supported and encouraged, and where we can love, support and encourage others.

It seems like we are living in such a busy time that there are more and more things that would rob us of our time together.  Work, travel, sports, recreation, vacation and more all potentially rob us of the great blessing God has given us; the opportunity to be together as the family of Christ.   So I have a crazy idea.  At the end of 2018, I am going to have a very nice prize (still deciding what it will be) for anyone with 90% or higher attendance.  I will also have a special additional gift for anyone with perfect attendance.  

Since I didn't announce this last week, we will start tracking that this Sunday.  To be counted as in attendance, you must be at one of these experiences:  Sandown 8:45, Plaistow 9:45, 11:11 or 6:00 PM, Amesbury 10:10 or Tuesdays night CR worship, or Newburyport Thursday nights.  The other thing we really need is for you to fill out your connection card each week.  With so many locations and times, there is no way we can do this by memory.  

Now to be clear, this isn't a competition.  It is just a fun incentive to remind ourselves how important it is that we not miss out on God's gift of gathering.  So, I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.  We've just launched a new series entitled "God's Great Plan~From Creation to the Cross."  It is a little bit longer series than we sometimes do. But I promise you, if you are with us each week for this teaching series, at the end you will understand your Bible better than you ever have.  It is going to be GREAT!

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Grow

There are certain words that I believe need to be a part of the vocabulary of every Christ follower.  At the heart of who we are should be such words as love, serve, share and bless.  One other word, that I particularly think of as we begin a new year, is GROW.  In fact, one of our core convictions as a church is that "everyone is meant to grow."

There are many ways that we can grow in our faith.  We can grow through worship.   We can grow through daily prayer and Bible reading.  We can grow when we trust God to take steps of faith.  But in my experience, one of the most effective tools we have for spiritual growth is lifegroup. I love my lifegroup!   Every Tuesday evening a group of us gather for prayer, study, conversation, mutual support and encouragement.  It is definitely one of the highlights of my week.

Currently we have over 30 lifegroups running in our church, with about half of our folks participating in a lifegroup.  These groups vary in time, location, style and subject.  But they are all opportunities for growth.  Because lifegroup is such an important part of our ongoing growth, my goal is to see every active member of our church have that opportunity. 

I believe lifegroups are an essential part of our ministry for several reasons.  First, they are a place of community.  As a church with four locations and seven weekly services, it can sometimes be hard to connect.  Lifegroups give us a place to build relationships within the church.  Lifegroups are also a place of care.  Over the years that our lifegroup has been together, members of the group have gone through health issues, loss, job transitions and much more.  As a group, we have provided the support and care that was needed.  And of course, lifegroup is a place to grow in our faith.  Lifegroup is really where discipleship happens.

The start of a new year is a great time to get conncted to a lifegroup.  Almost all of our existing lifegroups still have openings for new participants.  You can get a current listing of our groups at www.rocklifegroups.org.  We also have several new groups starting this week.  We have two alpha groups starting.   Alpha is a great overall introduction to the Christian Faith.  There will be a new alpha group at our Plaistow Campus this Sundays at 2:00 PM, and on Monday at 6:00 PM at the Lucia's home in Chester.   We are also launching new Sunday Morning lifegroups at our Plaistow campus.  At 9:45 AM Doug Little will lead an in depth study of the book of Galatians.  Then at 11:11, Jim and Jody Michaels will be leading "Upon this Rock."  This class will lay the foundation to know what we believe about many of the basic teaching of scripture and to share it with others.  We invite you to join us for either of these this Sunday morning.

Lifegroups are a wonderful way to build great relationships, care for one another and to grow deeper in Christ.  If you are not already in a group, this would be a great time to jump in.  If you need help getting connected, you can talk with your campus pastor or our lifegroup ministry directors Ed and Sherry Lucia.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

One last thing:  Men, this Monday is Men's First Monday at our Plaistow Campus.  We will have as our guest speaker Ralph Ferguson.  Ralph has an amazing testimony that you will not want to miss!

Hope and Vision for 2018

Dear Friends,

     I think many of us have a love/hate relationship with “new.”  On the one hand, there’s something comfortable about that which is old and familiar.  But there is also something exciting about the “new.”  New Year‘s, in many ways, is a celebration of both.  It is a time to look back, reflect and give thanks to God for all of the good things from the year that has passed.  But it is also an opportunity to look forward with anticipation of what God will do in the future.

Join us Sunday morning as we celebrate the coming new year in worship at all Rock Church campuses.

     2017 has been an amazing year of ministry for Rock Church.  I wish I had time to recount and celebrate every success, every joyful moment, every victory for the Kingdom of God that we experienced this year.  But in the interest of keeping this blog to a reasonable length, I would like to share with you just one story.  A couple of Sundays ago a young woman worshipped with us for the first time.  She was personally invited.  When she arrived she was in warmly welcomed.  She was engaged by the worship, touched by the message and made the life changing decision to accept Jesus into her heart (which she shared with us on her connection card.)  We met this week to talk about next steps.  We talked about prayer.  We gave her a Bible and a little guidance on how to begin reading it.  She is joining a Lifegroup and her daughter is excited to begin NextGen.  As we spoke, you could see the joy of the Lord on her face.

     After our visit I thought to myself “this is why we do all we do as a church.” This past year we have seen many people come to know the hope of Christ and the gift of Christian community.  So what is my hope and dream for us for 2018?  I pray that we would see this experience replicated 100, no 1000 times over.  I pray that every week we would see people transformed by the love of God and made new in Christ.  I believe this is God’s greatest desire, that we would help people find their way back to Him.  But notice that it took a team effort.  Someone invited.  The hospitality team welcomed.  The worship team engaged.  Someone made sure there was a connection card available, and someone else noted her response and shared it.  Someone leads a Lifegroup.  And someone else paid for the Bibles that we give away.  A whole team of people provide Nextgen.  The list goes on.

     I believe 2018 is going to be an amazing year of connecting people to Jesus and helping them grow in their faith.  And every one of us can be a part of that by inviting freely, serving joyfully, giving generously and welcoming warmly.  There is no one person who is responsible for helping people come to Jesus.  Its all of us, working together, doing what God has gifted us for.  If each of us will do all that we can, this is going to be an amazing year.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Christmas by Candlelight

Dear Friends,

     What is your favorite part of Christmas?  I love getting together with family.  As a kid, my mom’s side of the family always held a big gathering at Christmas time.  The Reynolds family Yankee swaps were epic!  Of course I also enjoyed exchanging gifts around the tree.  But even more than the unwrapping of gifts, I loved exploring my stocking early Christmas morning.  I would pour it out on the floor, or on my bed, to discover the treasures within.  But far and away, my favorite part of Christmas is the Christmas Eve candlelight worship.

     There is a joy that is hard to put into words that comes from gathering with family, friends, guests and even strangers to celebrate the birth of Jesus through song and scripture.  There is a sense of warmth, peace and hope that comes as we share the light of Christ from candle to candle, person to person, as we sing Silent Night. As the sanctuary goes from darkness to the warm glow of candlelight it is a beautiful metaphor for the transformation that comes from sharing and receiving Jesus.

     I know I talk a lot about inviting guests, particularly at Christmas time.  But when we have something as wonderful and life changing as the love of Jesus, how can we not share it?  Jesus came to be a light in our world.  Christmas is an opportunity to share that light with others, who in turn can pass it on.  I think what I find so powerful and moving about the Christmas candle lighting is that it all begins with a single candle.  When we share Jesus, we not only impact the life of that person, but the lives of every person they touch.  There is a ripple effect that we will never know the full impact of in this lifetime.

       I look forward to having us all together this Christmas Eve as we receive and share the light of Christ.  We will have our full regular morning schedule, followed by candlelight services at 4:00 PM in Sandown and Amesbury, and at 4:00 and 6:00 PM in Plaistow. 

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Re-gifting

Dear Friends,

      Have you ever “re-gifted?”  You know what I mean.  Have you ever taken a gift that someone else gave to you, wrapped it back up, and then given it away to someone else?  Is that OK?  I suspect that many of us might consider it a social faux pas. I remember a story a friend shared with me several years ago about a gift his neighbor gave him.  The man and his neighbor were friendly, but not particularly close.  So my friend was touched when this older neighbor stopped by a few days before Christmas and brought him a gift.  On Christmas morning he unwrapped what was obviously a book.  Although the book looked fairly new, when he opened the cover, he found it had been inscribed by the person who had given it to his neighbor!

Remember that giving tree gifts are due back this Sunday!

      Re-gifting can be a little risky.  But there is one situation in which it is always appropriate.  Those of us who have chosen to be Christ followers have received a gift of immeasurable value.  To, in turn, give that gift to someone else is not only acceptable, it is one of the greatest expressions of love we can offer another person. 

       Someone loved us enough to offer us the gift of Jesus.  I want to encourage us to “re-gift.”  Christmas is just over a week away.  This is the perfect time to offer someone the life-changing gift of Jesus.  One great way to do that is to simply invite them to join you for Christmas Eve worship.  Because Christmas eve falls on a Sunday this year, we will have our full morning schedule at all locations.  Then we will offer candlelight services at 4:00 PM in Sandown, Plaistow and Amesbury as well as 6:00 PM in Plaistow.   Please don’t miss this opportunity to share the precious gift that you have received with someone else. 

A few of the guys enjoying time together at the "Men's Christmas Feast!"

      This Sunday we will continue to “unwrap” the true meaning of Christmas.  This has been a great series and I am particularly excited about this week’s message.  I look forward to us all being together this Sunday as we continue our journey toward the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

   God Bless,

Pastor Steve

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Dear Friends,

     It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  I keep hearing that song lyric running through my head.  And I think it is true.  There is something special about the Christmas season.  For us as a church, it is a wonderful time because it is our opportunity to celebrate the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.  This Sunday we will begin a new series where we will explore and unwrap the true meaning of Christmas. This is also a great season to invite a friend to join us for worship.  

Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year.  We will have our full morning schedule and 4 evening services. 4 p.m. in Sandown, Plaistow and Amesbury and 6 p.m. in Plaistow.

     I want to take a quick moment to remind you of some important upcoming opportunities.  Tomorrow (Saturday) will be the Christmas Parade in Amesbury.  Our church will feature a men’s choir sharing the true meaning of Christmas on a float in the Christmas parade.  The parade begins at 3:30 p.m.  I invite you to join in the fun.

   This week we have several opportunities coming up. Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. will be our Church and Community Christmas Carol sing.  This is a great fun evening held at our Sandown campus.  Bring a dessert to share and join us.  On Monday will be our last first Monday of the year.  Tuesday and Wednesday we will have Mark 209 in concert at Plaistow (Tuesday) and Sandown (Wednesday).  

      I look forward to having us all together this Sunday as we officially begin the Advent season.  We are launching a great new series that I know you will not want to miss.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Murray Home!

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food.  I love the spirit of gratitude that is evident all around us.  And I love the time spend with family and friends.  This year I was doubly blessed.  Later in the day we got to spend time together as a family; Nicole and I, our boys, my mom, my brother Bill and his family.  That was awesome!  My nieces are growing up so quickly that it is always a blessing to see them.

But this Thanksgiving was made even more special because I had the opportunity to spend the early part of the day with our church family at our first ever community Thanksgiving dinner.  What a great event!  The spirit of joy at the dinner was amazing.  The outpouring of volunteer help was incredible and many lives were touched.

We had such a great team of volunteers that I was free to just visit from table to table, meet guests and hear their stories.  One of the first people I met was a man named George.  He heard about the dinner on line.  He lives alone.  His only family is a daughter in Florida, so he doesn’t prepare a Thanksgiving dinner.  But this Thanksgiving he was not alone.  He got to enjoy a great meal and made some new friends.

At another table was a single woman whose only son is away at college.  Last Thanksgiving she was home alone and truthfully, a little bit sad.  But this years she had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by new friends in an atmosphere of joy and love.  These are just a couple of stories I experienced.  It is hard to express the depth of joy I felt at the dinner.  I was so blessed to see the many, many volunteers who gave up a part of their thanksgiving to make this event possible.  I was grateful for Laurie Duff and her leadership of our care ministry.  And I was overwhelmed by the spirit of Christ-like love that I felt throughout the whole experience.  This is what it means to be “For Our Community.”  This is what it is to love others as Christ has loved us.  I am proud of Rock Church and the heart of sacrifice and generosity that is so evident. 

Speaking of proud, before I sign off, there is one more that I want to share with you.  A few months ago, Pastor James (our campus pastor in Plaistow) completed the requirements to become a pastor in the United Methodist Church.  However, there was one final step, his District Committee on Ministry interview and evaluation.  James did great at his interview and was unanimously approved!  Part of what makes the Rock such a great church is our amazing team of pastors and leaders.  I am grateful for them all.

I look forward to having us all together in worship this weekend for the final message in our “Deeper” series.  This has been an awesome series and I know you will not want to miss this Sunday.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

A Paradoxical Thing.

As we draw near to Thanksgiving, I cannot help but be aware of all that I have.  I have a family I love, a warm home, food on my table and a wonderful church community.  And above all else, I have the gift of Jesus Christ in my life.  I am truly grateful for every gift that God has poured into my life, but most of all for the gift of Jesus.

When I consider the hope, strength, joy, forgiveness and purpose that Jesus has brought into my life, I can’t help but want to share it.   As Christ followers, we have received the most precious of gifts.  The most wonderful thing about the gift of Christ is that we can share it with others over and over again and our supply is never diminished.  No matter how much we give Jesus away, we still have him in full measure in our own lives. 

In fact, my experience has been that the more we share Jesus, the more we experience the hope, joy and love of God in our own lives.   What a paradoxical thing.  The more we give our faith away, the more we have.  The more we share the love of Jesus, the more deeply we experience his love in our own lives. 

In light of that truth, it we would seem clear that the best thing we can do with this gift is to give it away. We are coming into the Christmas season very soon.  This is a time of year when people who do not yet have a church home, or who do not yet have a relationship with Jesus, are most likely to be open to an invitation.  I would ask you to begin thinking and praying about who you can invite to join us this Christmas season. Every time we extend an invitation, we are offering the gift of Jesus. 

We are now accepting registrations for our Texas Mission Trip in February

Speaking of invitations, I want to invite you all to join us tomorrow evening at our Sandown campus for the Texas Mission fund raising dinner.  It promises to be a great time of food and fellowship and a wonderful opportunity to support this important mission work.  Dinner is Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

I also want to remind you that we are doing our first ever Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving day between 11:30 and 1:00 p.m.  Because this is our first year doing it, we really need to seize every opportunity to invite guests to join us.  Help us share the invitation by personally inviting people you think might be blessed to attend.  I would ask you also to share it on your social media in any way you can.  We are encouraging people to preregister to assist with planning.  Please sign up for the dinner at www.thanksgiving-dinner.org.  If you would like to help, please go to www.signupgenius.com and search on care@stmattumc.org. 

I look forward to having us all together in worship this weekend as we continue our “Deeper” series.  This has been an awesome series and I know you will not want to miss this Sunday.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Gratitude

This weekend we observe Veterans Day.  It is an opportunity to express our gratitude to those who have served our nation to protect and preserve our freedom.  Tomorrow, Saturday, there will be veterans observances in a number of communities.  I would encourage us to take an hour and participate in one of these.  If you live in Plaistow, or if your community does not have it’s own observance, I would invite you to join us at the Plaistow Town Hall at 9:30 AM.  This year, they will be honoring 4 Purple Heart recipients, including our own Dave Peabody.    

On Sunday, at all locations, we will take time in our services to honor our veterans.  This is a GREAT opportunity for outreach.  If you know someone who has served in the military, please extend an invitation to them to join us Sunday morning at any of our locations.  This is also a great opportunity to invite families who have a husband or wife away on active duty.  But don’t just invite them, invite them to attend WITH you.  Maybe plan to have breakfast or lunch together.  Everyone needs Jesus, and there is no more effective first step than a personal invitation.

I want to let you know about a couple of other great opportunities coming up in the next couple of weeks.  Next Saturday, Nov. 18 we will be having a special fund raising dinner for our Texas Mission Trip.  As you probably know, the Houston Texas area experienced record flooding at the end of August.  Thousands of homes were destroyed.  We will be sending a mission team to that area in February to assist in the rebuilding effort.  This dinner will help with material costs for the reconstruction.  I hope you will be able to join us at our Sandown campus between 5-7 p.m.

Another new outreach that I am very excited about is our Thanksgiving Dinner.  For the first time ever, as an extension of our Care Ministry and the "For Our Community" initiative we will offer a free full Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving day from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m.  Who might attend a community Thanksgiving Dinner?  

·         Those who are struggling financially.

·         Those who have no family near by.

·         The homeless.

·         Singles or couples who don’t want to fix a full meal for one or two people.

·         The Elderly.

·         People who just love being in community with their friends and neighbors.

If you would like to attend the dinner, it would be great if you could register at www.thanksgiving-dinner.org to give us a rough idea of the amount of food we need to prepare.  If you would like to help with the meal in any way, you can sign up at this link.

From Veterans Day to Thanksgiving, this is a great time of year to express gratitude to God and to others for all that we have been blessed to receive.  I look forward to having you join us this Sunday as we express gratitude to our veterans and as we continue this great series “Deeper.”

God Bless,

Pastor Steve

Deep and Wide

I am a little later than usual in putting out my blog because for the past few days I have been away at a pastor’s conference.  The title of the event was “Deep and Wide.”  I thought the timing of the event was interesting in light of the teaching series we have just begun entitled “Deeper.”  The underlying premise of the conference dovetailed quite well with the overarching theme of this series.  As believers we are called to be both deep and wide.  We are wide in the sense that we want to share the love of Jesus broadly, reaching as many people as we can with the good news of his love.  And we are deep in that we are called to grow continuously deeper in faith and in the likeness of Jesus.

Some of the hundreds of children that came through Sandown's Trunk or Treat

In order to truly live out the Christian life, we have to keep these two values in constant balance.  If we only focus on going deeper, we may feel as though we have a stronger individual faith but we have done nothing to advance the mission of Christ, the salvation of the world.  On the other hand, if we only go wide, sharing the good news of Jesus with many, but never maturing, we will remain spiritual infants all of our lives.  If we do not grow and mature in our faith, our lives will resemble the parable of the house built upon the sand.  When the storms of life come, our foundation is easily washed away and our faith collapses. 

Being deep AND wide is important for us as individuals and as a church.  Right now we are in the midst of a great teaching series that is helping (and challenging) us to grow deeper in our faith.  But at the same time, we have opportunities all around us to go wide.  Over the past week or so we organized three Trunk or Treat.  These were great opportunities for broad outreach as hundreds of children and families visited our various locations.  A week from Sunday we will observe our Veterans service.  This is another great opportunity to go wide as we invite veterans that we may know to join us for that special service.

I’m very excited about this teaching series that we are in.  Each week we are increasing our understanding of the many pathways by which we grow deeper in our faith.  I’m equally excited about the outreach and invitational opportunities that are coming up.  My prayer is that we will seize every opportunity to grow both deep and wide.  I look forward to having you join us this Sunday as we experience and celebrate the love, hope and joy of Jesus! 

God Bless,

 Pastor Steve