Mar 24-25, 2007 - Connecting Promises ... by giving

The bulletin says that I am to read the text which is one verse, Acts 2:39. But if you have been in worship in any service over the past month, you know that we have recited it together. So, once again, turn to the top of your bulletin and read with me our theme verse. “For the promise is for you, for your children and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:39)

Today, we conclude our five week study of this verse in a special service of commitment for Connecting Promises. It has been a wonderful, exciting time, affirming the vision of our leaders and their belief that this is a kairos moment in the life of our congregation. Just as the Holy Spirit shaped the lives of the first followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is reshaping our history. I am grateful to the members of Third Christian Church for their vision and their belief in Geist Christian Church. In a real way, they were ahead of the leaders of this congregation when they made the faithful decision to close their ministry and pledge the income from their endowment to start a satellite of our congregation. Their generosity and vision caused us to prayerfully consider what God was calling us to do.

Last Sunday, in a special prayer walk on the site of the future north campus, Hal Watkins said this better than I can say it. Let’s listen to part of what he said.

My name is Hal Watkins, a member of Third Christian Church for nearly 25 years. There I served as board president, elder and chair of the committee to recommend distribution of Third’s financial assets at closing of Third’s 135 plus year visible ministry. The total monies, nearly $1.3 million, created an endowment program for the Christian Church in Indiana to use for newly organized or satellite congregations. The first use of the endowment’s income was to be used—preferably— in the Fishers area, for up to a maximum of 20 years.

Two thoughts I leave with you today:

First, from Genesis 11, where having built a new place, the Lord said: “They are one people; … and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.”

The second word is one from a John Hancock Insurance ad: “The promise you make can happen!”

The Promise of scripture is the gift of the salvation in Jesus Christ and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for us, for our children and for all whom God will send us.

I’ll admit that I don’t do a very good job stopping and looking back. It isn’t my disposition to be nostalgic about what we’ve accomplished. But one of the things that came to mind on the prayer walk Sunday when over 175 gathered to bless the land of the north campus and pray for success was this: God continues to be faithful to us, sending us new people to enrich our community. On that walk were people who started with us 22 years ago and there were people who have yet to join. One of our newest families is active in leadership as a part of the welcoming team. She and her daughter spoke. Listen to the story of Joyce and Anna Radziwill.

Anna and I visited GCC a couple of years ago and we felt it was a good comfortable place. A place where we both could learn and grow with God. But I wasn’t ready or willing to give my faith, such as it was, the respect it deserved until Anna pointed out to me last year that it was time to go back to church, this church, GCC. We were in the midst of a personal crisis and this is the place she felt, at nine years old, that would help us. She was right!

We both immediately felt the ‘connection’ again, a feeling of warmth, welcoming, of coming home. Not just the immediate connection with Randy or Courtney, although they seemed to speak to me directly at each service, but the whole church community was welcoming us into this safe haven, we felt loved, cared for and at home. A peace that neither one of us had truly ever felt.

That’s what I hope and know you’ll find here at the North Campus of Geist Christian Church, as we already have; the invitation of belonging in a community with God to explore, enrich and grow in our faith.

This is what God has created at Geist Christian Church. We are a community that is warm and welcoming, a safe haven, where we feel loved and cared for. One of the reasons that this happens is as we get larger, we’ve stayed small by adding worship services. The north campus allows us to continue to have a commitment to expanding the Body of Christ while staying small enough to have personal intimacy. It sustains our commitment to offer a personal relationship that can, as Joyce put it, “create a peace that you can’t find anywhere else.” What impressed me the most about Joyce’s witness wasn’t that she is a new member actively involved in making our community that special warm and caring place, it was that her daughter Anna recognized that we have something special here and that she wanted her mother to experience it with her.

Peter told us that this promise of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is not just for us, but for children. In this case, a child led her mother to find that peace. Children are hungry to find God in their lives. The community that we serve, from Fort Ben to Verizon Music Center is literally filled with children. Listen to another story told about a child leading her family to us.

Hi, I’m Dan Treaster and my family has been members of Geist Christian for about 6 years. As I think about the worship that will take place in the future on the ground where we stand today, I am reminded of the story of a little girl that was looking for something. She was about 7 or 8, and what she was looking for couldn’t be found at school or on the playground. It wasn’t with her friends. It wasn’t in her closet or in her room or even in her house… One day she asked her father….”Why don’t we go to church?” The little girl was looking for God.

Her father was a good man and tried hard to be a good parent. He was a little surprised and embarrassed by his little girl’s question. He remembered growing up going to worship service on Sunday. He remembered accepting Jesus Christ as his personal savior in high school. Somewhere between college and starting a career and family…they somehow forgot about God. He answered his little girl honestly and told her “I guess we just haven’t made the time.” The little girl turned on her heels without too much more thought and said “Well, I’d like to go to church” and she trotted off.

It was there that the little girl, and her family, found God. They found him in the music, in the poinsettias and flowers, in the nativity scene and glimmering cross. They found God in the simple words of the birth of Jesus spoken by the minister. They found God in the community of faith in that worship service, as a family, on Christmas Eve.

Oh, the man from my story…you can find him most Sundays in the choir loft. And the little girl….she’s my daughter.

We are doing an incredible ministry with children and youth and Connecting Promises will make it even better. Our youth knows this and the success of our capital campaign will encourage their spiritual walk with Christ. When we succeed, they will know how much we believe in them. A number of our youth were at the prayer walk and several of them spoke. This is what Rosemary Pritchett said.

Geist Christian Church and its people have made faith real to me. My life has been more than altered through GCC's ministry. I find myself smiling, thinking about all of the memories I've made with my church family. And I'm sure that a new campus will not only bring new memories, but open others' eyes to the great everlasting love of Jesus Christ, just as this amazing church congregation did for me. I wouldn't be where I am today, not only as a person, but also as a Christian, if it wasn't for the ministry of Geist Christian Church."

I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for the ministry of Geist Christian Church. I cannot believe that there is a person in the worship service that isn’t proud of what we are doing to shape the lives of youth. Did you catch what word she used? “My life has been altered.” The new worship center we built in advance of this campaign is named ALTARed. We are altering the lives of our youth and setting them on a different course. When we are faithful to the promise, we give it away, to others and to children.

(Melanie) We are the Fitzgeralds – my name is Melanie, my husband, Mike – and our three children – Ellie, Henry and Audrey. We have been members of GCC for 6 years - since Ellie was just a toddler. We found GCC at just the right time – time enough to shape our children as Christians, expose them to a loving, educational Christian environment, make friends in FaithQuest, join and become actively involved in a growing church, send them to Weekday Ministries for Child’s Day Out, Preschool and even Kindergarten. I can’t imagine our lives without the Christian environment this church provides our family – specifically our children. Because we found GCC, the foundation has been set for a lifetime of Christian values. We are more than thankful for that.

(Mike) Standing on the site of the future education wing causes me to reflect on something Randy said earlier today…we are working on our legacy. The Geist Christian Church community is building something that will last for generations, forty or fifty years. As a family with young children, that really connected with me. It will impact the youngest children in our congregation today and many, many more. The legacy of educating young people is something we can all take great pride in.

We are building a legacy. As I shared with you last weekend, we have the privilege to build something very special with our lives. Together, we can make a huge difference to the lives of children and to those who are lost and wandering in our community, to those without a church home. When our days are over, we can say we connected with the promise, it was for us. But once we connected with it, we gave it way. We gave it to children and to those whom God sent us. It focuses us outwardly as a community.

The promise is for us, right now. Some of you are thinking it sounds good but it also sounds like stuff that is for others, not for me. Everyone will benefit from Connecting Promises because one of the major pieces of work that will be done is right here in this place. Listen to another one of our new members talk about how important her church is and how excited she is in what Connecting Promises will bring to this sanctuary.

My name is Carol Selby. My husband Richard and I moved last summer to a house near Geist Christian Church and very near to the site of the new north campus. So of course when we heard about all of this we said “We should check this out, we should visit this church.” I’m just so glad that we did. We found here a very warm and caring congregation, a group of people who were really engaged in preaching and teaching and serving and reaching out to the community. And much to my delight, we also found a dynamic music ministry because music is so important to me. I’ve loved it all my life. It is just a huge part of who I am and it’s a huge part of the way I worship too. And yes it does get a little crowded up here in this choir loft. So everyone in the choir is so excited and so pleased that the Connecting Promises includes plans to expand the choir loft. I feel not only excited but very privileged to be a part of this exciting time in the life of Geist Christian Church.

I hope you are excited and I hope you feel how special it is to be a part of a church during a kairos moment. It is a privilege. Over the past month, I’ve asked you to not get too excited, to be patient in how you will respond. I’ve encouraged you to take time to pray and study and ask yourself questions about how God is using you in Connecting Promises. Now is the time for you to answer those questions. This is commitment weekend and for the next few minutes, we are going to pray together and then, demonstrate our commitment by making three year, over and above gifts to the ministry of Connecting Promises.

Many of you have already filled out your pledge card and brought them with you to this service. If you haven’t or if you have forgotten your pledge card, there are cards found in the pews.

Others of you may have already submitted a pledge in the advance phase of the campaign. You might be part of that group of leaders who kicked off Connecting Promises with an announcement of 1.5 million dollars in pledges. You came empty handed because you’ve already submitted a card. You may want to get a card and symbolically present it in this dedication service.

There may even be someone here who needs a new commitment card. You need to tear up the card you brought and start over. It happened last weekend. Someone came through the line and showed me his pledge card. He said, “I brought this to drop in the offering plate today. But, I’m taking this home. As I listened to the sermon this morning, I realized that I can do better.” There may be someone like that here today.

In moment I’m going to pray with you. Then, we’ll have a period of reflection while David (Greg) plays for us. We’ll take a few minutes because some are making final decisions and completing pledge cards. For those who’ve already completed your cards, I invite you to pray over your commitment one more time. Dedicate it to a ministry of connecting the promises to us, to our children and to others whom God will send us. For those who are visiting with us today, I invite you to offer a prayer for these faithful people around you, that God will use them to strengthen northeast Indianapolis for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I want to remind you of one last thing. Every gift is important. Every sacrifice is needed. Everyone has their own financial circumstances. It has always been that way. Every pledge, great or small, is blessed. Now is the time to connect with the Promise by giving.

Let me pray with you.

Loving God, we come today to connect with your promise by Giving. You have given us so much--our lives, our community, our families, and our many blessings of abundance. Through your Son Jesus, you have connected us with the promise of salvation. Through your Holy Spirit, you have promised to be an abiding presence in our lives. You call us now to connect with these promised gifts by giving. We are called to pledge our support to this great ministry you are building at Geist Christian Church. Inspire us to do our very best. Inspire us to stretch and sacrifice. Inspire us and use us to connect the promises of salvation and Spirit to everyone in this place, to our children and to all whom You will send us. Amen.