September 22, 2019
MCC Training Camp 2019 Sep “Paul’s Missionary Journeys”
From the overall 2019 Sep 21 theme of “Stretch”, I taught on “Journeys With Paul : Three Mission Trips to Spread God’s Blessing.” Here’s the participant takeaway document.
Ben Cachiaras opened the morning teaching about: the 2019 church-wide emphasis on Strengthen (more to core). He gave a preview of how MCC will Spread to a new campus, to be announced at weekend services Oct 19-20-21. Then he emphasized the day theme of Stretch – by asking us “how stretchable are we?” … We need to radically change, not our core message but us because in current American the Church is the “away team” — a phrase which calls back to the International Conference on Missions (ICOM) theme from 2015 in RIchmond VA.
June 7, 2015
Getting a Grip On Divorce
Nathan McDade continued the “Love Handles” series by opening his message with the self-disclosure that he is the “model” for the series logo [much congregational applause for his humble transparency] 🙂
“God hates divorce, but he loves us. God hates divorce, but loves YOU. There is hope.”@nathanmcdade @Mountain_CC #lovehandles
— Jeff Buck (@serveleadlove) June 6, 2015
“Love means sacrificing your right to be offended.” @Rob_arsenaultjr #LoveHandles #MtnCC
— Brianna Olson (@Bri_Olson) June 7, 2015
Here are the Bible.com-YouVersion Event notes and message-based study guide.
May 31, 2015
Getting a Grip on Marriage
This weekend featured another team effort with Ben Cachiaras speaking, Karla Cachiaras hosting, and the celebrating-twenty-five-years pair jointly sharing the Communion thought.
Putting God first in your marriage is the key to offsetting selfishness – @BenCachiaras @Mountain_CC #lovehandles
— John Lawhon (@johnlawhonradio) May 31, 2015
“u r nothing more than the promises u make & keep. that’s what ur life is.” @BenCachiaras @Mountain_CC #LoveHandles #fromthisdayforward
— Nathan McDade (@nathanmcdade) May 31, 2015
"Your grime is not greater than God's glory." @BenCachiaras #LoveHandles
— Brianna Olson (@Bri_Olson) May 31, 2015
Here are Bible.com-YouVersion live event notes and message-based study guide for groups or individuals.
May 24, 2015
Getting a Grip on the Next Generation
Ethan Magness led a three-person teaching team this weekend: three generations of teachers (grandfather Lee, dad Ethan, son Evan) giving a real-life demonstration of how to use memorials of our faith to tell the story of Jesus to the next generation. For groups or individuals wanting to follow through, check the Bible.com-YouVersion Event notes or message-based study guide. Here are some memorable quotes from the message:
Even if all you inherited was a pile of rubble–no legacy of faith was given you — start building your own pile of rocks now. @EthanMagness
— Ben Cachiaras (@BenCachiaras) May 24, 2015
We are gatherers of stones, ppl of faith with boulders on our shoulders, to tell the story of God’s faithfulness. Lee Magness @EthanMagness
— Ben Cachiaras (@BenCachiaras) May 24, 2015
“we are the gatherers of stones. we are the makers of memorials.” this is what we do – pass the faith to the next gen. @Mountain_CC #lovehandles
— Nathan McDade (@nathanmcdade) May 24, 2015
I freely confess. as a humbled dad, my weekend highlight wasn’t the (well-presented and effective!!) message, but the Communion meditation shared by the sensational Ely Lozada. Here’s a draft of her words 🙂
My generation needs your generation’s memorials of faith. We both need to hear the great story of the Good News over and over again. The most important memorial act is this Communion meal, this celebration every Sunday, this shared remembrance.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this, saying “for I have received from the LORD what I also passed on to you.” We take the bread and the juice, each of them an opportunity to remember, a chance to tell the story that Jesus came to die for our sins that we might be reconciled with God. We have shared, and we will share, this meal for generations – so that we never forget that God loves each one of us and that Christ was sent so we might be part of his family.
Each Sunday, all followers of Christ are invited to share this meal and all of us are invited to remember the Good New that has been passed down. Let’s share in this memorial, this feast, as we remember all that God has done for us in Christ.
May 17, 2015
Getting Grip on Singleness and Dating
Luke Erickson continued MCC’s “Love Handles” series with this weekend’s message, “Getting a Grip on Dating and Singleness.” (message-based study guide and Bible.com-YouVersion Event notes) Because this series focuses on specific types of relationships each week, people might think that certain weekend messages don’t have much value for them. Luke explains how this week’s message is useful to anyone:
I know we’re not all single or dating… I’m married. A lot of us are. But interestingly, that number is becoming less and less as, now, right about half of adults in our country are single. So this is important to be talking about. And if you were thinking that you’re in the half who are married so the message doesn’t apply to me, well, it doesn’t matter who you are, all of us will spend a significant portion of our lives being single—on the front end of life for sure, and we don’t know about the middle and the back end of life, most of us. And all of us, even if we’re not single, have influence on someone who is. Kids or grandkids navigating the dating world in a way that’s a lot different from the way it was when you were that age. Or we have friends who are single again, trying to get reoriented after a divorce or the death of a spouse. So I guess the first point is that even if it’s been awhile since we’ve sat down at a table for two across from someone we were trying to impress—or get rid of—God’s word is relevant to all of us today
May 11, 2015
Getting a Grip on Motherhood
MCC’s new weekend message series is called “Love Handles”:
Love handles — we have them, we hide them, or we try to prevent them. But those flaws in our physique are just one more reminder that we’re imperfect people. And the people we have relationships with are the same way. So how do we love the imperfect people around us? How do we get a handle on the many different relationships we have? How can we grab hold of the life God wants for us?
Ben Cachiaras opened with a topic in keeping with Mother’s Day, “Getting a Grip on Motherhood.” Here is the message-based study guide, and the Bible.com-YouVersion Event notes.
In keeping with the holiday theme, MCC’s Creative Media team showed this popular video…
May 3, 2015
Dis-Illusion: Christians are anti-gay
In this chaotic week, Ben Cachiaras closed the Dis-Illusioned series by tackling the topic “Christians are anti-gay.” The message-based study guide and BIble.com-YouVersion Event notes. Two of the most tweeted quotes from the message:
@BenCachiaras: The most important verse in the Bible about LGBTQ is Matt 19:19 – love your neighbor… @Mountain_CC
— eric stangland (@EricStangland) May 3, 2015
(Ben attributed the statement to a well-respected, [theologically] conservative Christian professor that Ben had asked about this topic)
“If loving people in the name of Jesus is scandalous, then that’s a scandal I can live with” – @BenCachiaras @Mountain_CC #disillusioned
— John Lawhon (@johnlawhonradio) May 2, 2015
April 26, 2015
Dis-Illusion: Christians are anti-science
Luke Erickson continued MCC’s Dis-Illusioned series with his message, “Illusion: Christians are anti-science”.
The point of a biblical writer praising God for setting the earth upon its foundations in a culture where everyone already imagined that the earth to be flat and sitting on a foundation is not to promote that understanding of cosmology, but to say WHO made the cosmos—namely God. That’s the important truth. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to believe you’re not accountable to anyone.
Those are the kinds of truths that the Bible is interested in teaching us, and for us to demand that its truth always be packaged in terms consistent with modern science is to expect too much from the Bible. It’s to demand more from the Bible than it’s able to give or is intended to give. In the same way that people misuse science and try to make it do more than what it was equipped to do, sometimes people try to use the tool of the Scriptures for things it isn’t equipped to do. And when we do that—no surprise—there is a rub. But again, it’s not because science is insufficient to lead us to what’s true or that Scripture is insufficient to lead us to what’s true, or that it’s impossible to use both of them to dispel illusions that we’ve believed about what’s real and use them to find truth wherever it lies
Here are the message-based study guide and Bible.com-YouVersion event notes.
April 19, 2015
Dis-Illusion: Christians are too Political
Ethan Magness took on the hot-button topic “Illusion: Christians are too Political.” He highlighted many BIble verses, which makes the Bible.com-YouVersion Event notes a a good resource for groups or individuals using the message-based study guide.
More Better Tools for the Journey 