This Week's E-News at Life Community Church

Join us at Life Community Church this Sunday for PART 5 in our Q & A Series.  Here is this week’s line-up of questions: How long did God wait before He created anything?  How can I articulate the Gospel in a simple manner? How can God forgive a murderer?  What makes a bad word a bad word?  Is sola scriptura biblically based?  You don’t want to miss it!

On Sunday, June 5^th, we will be honoring all of our graduating seniors in the service.  This is for both high school and college graduates.  Please send me an email back to let me know your plans to participate in this.  We will have each graduate share where they are graduating from as well as their future plans.

Our Student Ministry is raising funds for their upcoming Missions trip during the last week of June.  They need your support.  Feel free to give designated donations through the offering to support them.  The 23 participants have to raise a total of over $5,000.  There are two upcoming opportunities to help:

• Saturday, May 28^th – Car Wash from 10 am – 2 pm at the 7-11 on the corner of Prince William Parkway and Telegraph Road.  Come get your car washed and tell others!
• Saturday, June 4^th – Yard Sale at the Lorton Fire Department.  If you have anything that you would like to donate, please drop it off at the Hough’s house between Tuesday and Friday. They live at 9105 Ridgely Drive, Lorton, VA. Please call them before dropping things off to make sure they are home. They can be contacted at 703-690-1738.

Weekend Recap

Well, first of all...we are all still here...no Rapture on Saturday?  Who knew!  Well, I think we all knew that wasn't going to happen.  Picking a date flies directly against what Jesus said in the Bible!  I spent Saturday morning working a big yard sale at our house and then at 6 pm I was downing a brat at a graduation party...wondering if this is what I should be doing if Jesus came back at that moment.  I did put off my final sermon prep until 8 pm, just in case.  (I'm joking...just in case you are wondering!)

It was a good day yesterday at LCC.   It was probably my least favorite of the Q & A series of messages...I realize that sounds odd to say, but compared to other parts of the Bible, it's just not incredibly enjoyable to teach on Satan, the rapture, and the coming judgments.  But God's truth in the Bible is reality...and all of it needs to be preached.  The highlight though is that God's Word never returns void...3 people accepted Jesus at the end of the message and won't have to face that terrible day at the Great White Throne Judgement!  Thank God for those victories!

I appreciate Mick Tingstrom filling in for Josh yesterday in leading worship.  Mick always does a great job when Josh is away.  Thanks to the whole crew - Mick, Britney, Tyler, Brandon, Nathan, Valerie and Rick.  Well done!

We did have a few families visiting for the first time...I love how God brings us new guests every single week!

Other miscellaneous:

• Our students made over $400 at their car wash on Saturday towards the missions trip.  They have another car wash this Saturday at the same location - the 7/11 at the corner of PW Parkway and Telegraph.  Come out and support them!
• The Next Step Fund is now over $60K.  Thanks to all the faithful givers!
• Our LCC Softball team won 2 doubleheaders to improve to 6-2 on the season.  Good job!
• I'm currently reading Craig Groeschel's new book - "WEIRD" - good stuff...I encourage you to pick it up!

This Sunday's Q & A

Our Q & A series continues this Sunday...that is if the world doesn't come to an end on Saturday as one crazy pastor is predicting :-)  Not coincidentally, I am answering a question this Sunday concerning the return of Christ to the earth.  If we are still here on Sunday...I hope to see you there - and bring a friend!

Here is the question line-up for this week:

• What does the Bible teach about angels and demons?  
• Did God create Satan…why? 
• If God is all powerful, why would he not destroy Satan?  
• When is Christ returning?  
• What is the judgment day going to look like?  
• Are Christians now exempt from any type of judgment?

Our Student Missions Trip this Summer

Please begin praying for our students and their missions trip June 27th through July 1st.  We have an awesome group of students participating this year. We are going with the World Changers organization again.  World Changers seeks to provide a dynamic, week-long missions experience for Christian youth and adults with opportunities to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others through practical learning experiences that teach servant hood and personal commitment to missions.  This year our students will be serving in the inner city of Norfolk, Virginia.

• Pray specifically for the funds needed for the trip.  Each participant needs to raise $250 before the trip.  They are doing several car washes and other fundraisers.  Feel free to give to the youth missions trip fund through egive or the church offering.
• Pray for the safety and strength of each student and adult.
• Pray for hearts of our students to be prepared to work and minister to the people they encounter.
• Pray for the receptivity of the hearts of the people they will be reaching out to.

Here's the list of who is going: Angelo Downing, Rita Downing, Jessica Downing, Jared Downing, Lazarus Downing, Morgan Ellison, Erik Ellison, Nic Gay, Rachel Giles, Jacob Gray, Andrew Hough, Anthony Johnson, Justice Jurascheck, Loyal Jurascheck, Tesia Jurascheck, Cory Logue, Mikayla Logue, Tori Markle, Joel Sanders, Britney Tingtstrom, Caleb Feehs, Jeff Keeny, Nicole Keeny, Mike Sanders, Jessica Ellison

Weekend Recap

I'm thankful for another great weekend.  It was a busy, fun-filled momentous weekend, both personally and for our church. Here are the highlights...

• We had our NEXT STEP Celebration Event after the service on Sunday.  We devoured a lot of Papa John's pizza and delicious cake and cupcakes provided by Jason & Ashley Bell.  Thanks to Tom Einwechter for coordinating the event.
• The campaign just launched a month ago and we have already received over $58K in designated offerings...this is almost 10% of our $600K goal.  Thanks to everyone for giving sacrificially!
• We had a great worship service before the luncheon.  The band sounded great...I appreciate how they deliver each and every week.  
• The auditorium was freezing...for some reason the school had the A/C cranked way down...it's better than being hot and sweaty...and for me preaching on stage, it felt great!  It's one of those things we have no control over unfortunately.
• Someone told me they like and preferred my lower voice yesterday...that would be my "sinus-infection voice"...well, I'm just thankful I made it through the message without hacking up any mucus :-)  I'm always amazed how God gives me strength and focus to preach when I'm not feeling up to it physically...it's not about me!  It's about His word being proclaimed!
• Great crowd yesterday too!  Good to see some new faces and some old ones back that I haven't seen in awhile.

Personally, we had our oldest having his Senior Prom on Friday night.  The emotions are starting to build as his time with us is winding down.  Sherri and I are feeling it!  Senior Prom, then Senior night on the baseball field this week, then Senior Awards assembly, then Graduation, then dropping his off at college in August.  It's going to be an emotional couple of months!

Q & A this Sunday

I continue the Q & A series this Sunday with PART 3.  This series of questions deals more with God's Will, the Church, and Christian living in this world.  Here's what is coming on Sunday:

• How do we know what God wants us to do in certain situations? 
• How did God call you to start a church?  
• Are Paul’s views in the New Testament about women serving in the church still applicable today?  
• Why do pastors talk about tithing (10%) to the church when that was only applied in the Old Testament to Jews?  
• What does the Bible say about Christians serving outside the church?  
• Should Christians be involved in politics

Check out the website for a series change...we extended it one week into June.  You'll get to hear from Jeff Keeny our Next Generation Pastor one Sunday.

Free Pizza this Sunday!

I feel like I am a youth pastor again promoting a big event with free pizza...but really...who can pass up a free lunch after church?  

This coming Sunday, May 15th, we are providing free pizza, drinks and cake for everyone after the service.  WHY?  We are celebrating the successful launch of our NEXT STEP campaign.  God has done amazing things and we are going to celebrate with a Pizza Party this Sunday.

Bring your family and friends and join us!

Personal Standard - Be Authentic

It always bugs me when I meet or interact with a pastor that comes across as less that authentic.  Sometimes they act too perfect, use so much over-the-top pastor-speak language, or they even sometimes tell stories that seem to be a stretch.

Well, this guy in Pennsylvania is another bad example of a pastor exaggerating his life story a wee bit - Check it out here.

One of my personal goals is to always be the real deal...what you see is what you get....and what I say is the truth.  I never want to stand in front of people and state untruths that would obviously disintegrate their trust in me.  Of course this is not just a pastoral goal, but I think a good goal for all of us.

Baby Dedication at LCC

Here's a picture from yesterday's dedication at LCC:

Weekend in Review

I  hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  I hope every mom out there was treated really well by her kids!  I wish I could have done more for my wife and my mother...they are both incredible and deserve so much!  My wife had to miss church Sunday to stay home with our sick toddler...sounds like a day of mom being mom :-)

We had a great Sunday service at LCC...

• Great turnout!    
• The Baby-Parent Dedication ceremony was great.  Congratulations to the families who participated and dedicated their little ones to God.  
• Congratulations to Gwen Adams who won the gift basket in the service.  She is a mother of 5 kids ranging from age 22-28...I am sure she deserved the basket of goodies!
• Special thanks to Sherry Feehs, our women's ministry director, for preparing the gift bags for all the moms present yesterday...what an awesome, thoughtful gift!
• Thanks to all of our kids workers yesterday.  The preschool added several new kids yesterday...it was a good day!
• I'm enjoying teaching the Q & A series.  It's definitely a different format for me, but I'm liking it and appreciating the opportunity to answer the questions people are asking from a biblical perspective.  From what I'm hearing, God is using it to speak to people.  If you miss any messages, they are available online by Tuesday in audio or video format.  (on our website or iTunes podcast)
• It was great to have 3 families that visited last Sunday back again for a 2nd straight week...very cool.
• And it was cool to meet 2 more first time families!

Busy week ahead...looking forward to what God has in store!

Join us for Mother's Day at Life Community Church

This week's Q & A Message

I just finished my first draft of this week's Q & A Message.  While the questions are a little less theologically daunting, they are still excellent questions and once again, I'll be challenged to keep within my 30-35 minutes :-)

Here are the questions the congregation submitted that I'm attempting to answer biblically this Sunday:

1. How are we supposed to deal with annoying people?  
2. How should Christians deal with public schools teaching our kids evolution? 
3. Does the Bible really consider sex before marriage sinful?  
4. How can I tell if my marriage is built on counterfeit love?  
5. What if my spouse has a different level of belief in God?

Baby-Parent Dedication this Sunday

Almost every year on Mother's Day we have a portion of our service dedicated to a special ceremony for baby dedication.  This is an opportunity for parents to dedicate their babies and young children to the Lord.  What is this all about?  What does this actually mean?


It is actually more about the parents commitment than it is about the child.  It's about the parents making a commitment to raise their children to know about Jesus, to bring them to church regularly, and to pray with them and for them.  It is an opportunity for the church family to commit to these families to support them and pray for them in this incredible journey.  It's about committing to give these children every opportunity to know Jesus personally as their Lord and Savior.


The Bible says in Psalm 127:3 “Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.  I believe that children truly are a gift from God.  God has given them to us as gifts that we must take care of and enjoy.  Because children belong to the Lord and are given by grace as gifts to parents, it is only proper and appropriate that children be dedicated back to God.  Read I Samuel chapter 1 and the story of Hannah and how she dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord.


It is always a great time of blessing to see these kids and parents in front of the church for this time of dedication.  I hope you'll be there.  And if you want to register to dedicate your children as part of our service, email me at steve@lifecc.us.


Here's the link on our website.  

Weekend Review

We had a great post-Easter weekend at Life Community Church.

Here's a quick recap (working backwards):

• The high school life group gathered here at the church office Sunday night to resume their study of the book by Frances Chan - CRAZY LOVE.  I appreciate the investment of Jeff & Nicole Keeny into our students.  It's awesome to hear about high school students talking about Jesus for an hour!
• The service concluded yesterday with 2 baptisms - John Quezada and Anthony Johnson.   John came to the Lord a few years ago in Iraq and God led he and his wife Liz and son Evan to LCC last year.  They are actively serving the Lord here now and John was excited to make his profession of faith publicly!  Anthony is one our middle school teens that Jeff is impacting for  Jesus.  It was cool for Jeff (our next generation pastor) to perform his first baptism yesterday.
• We tackled the first Q&A message yesterday...heavy stuff.  I was in teacher-mode and we covered a lot of material...thanks for paying attention and taking notes!  If you missed it,check it out on our website.
• I appreciate Josh and the band leading us in worship yesterday - great to add another new band member...Rick on the bass!
• Yesterday was Josh Einwechter's 5th anniversary of being on fulltime staff with LCC as our worship leader.  Wow...time flies!  I remember when I met him as his youth pastor in 1996 and he was in 8th grade :-)
• Great to have 4 new families visiting for the first time!  2 came via our Road sign and 2 came via internet search.  Thanks for the volunteers who stepped up to fix the road sign which was damaged in last week's storms.
• On Saturday Ed & Jane Rotchford led 2 groups of LCC people in providing meals at the SERVE homeless shelter in Manassas.  We provided lunch and dinner for about 20-30 residents at this shelter. A special thanks to all who served and provided food!
• On Friday night, our co-ed softball team kicked off the season by splitting a double-header against First Baptist of Woodbridge.  Not a bad start considering we've moved up a division from last year.  It was a lot of fun to get our there...Let's go LCC!  

I'm looking forward to a fun week of preparing another Q&A message and getting ready for our Mother's Day service.  We've got a little surprise giveaway in the service this Sunday for one special mom.  All moms in attendance will be eligible to win...so plan to bring your mom this Sunday!