Sunday School Teacher released from Prison

I hope that you enjoy this video. Talk about commitment to Sunday School. Pastor P

Clear Blue Skies

Aahhh! What a glorious day!

This picture was taken on Monday, August 27th. That was the day after a very nice Mpact Honors Celebration at church! All went exceptionally well that night and glory is given to God for that! I didn't trip on stage and I don't know if we ran out of food or not, as I didn't even make it to the Cafe till way after everyone had eaten because I talked with several people in the foyer after the service. By the time I made it out there, the clean up was in progress!!

I am so happy about this new year for our Mpact Girls Club. I hope you all feel that same sense of excitement. I am full of great expectations for the spiritual, emotional, physical, and social growth of our girls this new year. Our Campette is around the corner, then the hayride, then something "harvesty" which will be a service project to benefit "Touch Romania," a maternity hospital that ministers to abandoned and at-risk newborns in Bucharest, Romania.

There is so much to do, but the skies are blue!

The above picture also represents the day my daughter began high school. She is loving it and is extremely busy with her Cambridge classes and daily field hockey practices. Everyday this week has gone extremely well. God has blessed her with a very close group of friends that are in several of her classes and with a big school that offers many opportunities for continued academic success. Praise the Lord!

My son is also thriving at his school. After-school sports for him begin in another week, and then I'll have double the fun figuring out whom to pick up and drop off and which games to go to every week! He's also been tinkering with an electric guitar which he purchased this summer, so we're already being blessed with nightly serenades. I'm impressed with his initiative to learn on his own and to practice every day. He's really good for a novice.

Also, my husband and I celebrated our 20-year wedding anniversary the day after this picture was taken. The actual day of our anniversary was also a beautiful blue-skied day and we celebrated by going to a nearby restaurant for supper! The actual "celebration" may not have been a big deal, but our solid marriage sure is. We look forward to the next 4 or 5 decades!

I thank God for all His blessings!
Ms. Lucie

Not just one dimensional

Splashing around in the YUK Pit at Camp!!!

There are many groups out there who focus on trips and events and there are others where everything is serious and stuffy. At PowerLine youth ministries we love having fun and we love getting serious about God and reaching our world.

This summer we have gone to the beach and Dorney Park. We have eaten tons of ice cream and laughed a lot and camp was a blast. In addition to all that and more we have made time to serve our community and spread God's love.

Our teens went on a missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico. While there we worked at an orphanage, helped a small church reach the kids of their community with a Vacation Bible School and saw several people accept God's free gift of forgiveness and salvation.

We volunteered at the Delaware Food Bank on several occasions. Our students put in over 250 man hours there helping pack lunches and sort food do whatever else needed doing.

It has definitely been a great summer, but we're not done. Tomorrow 14 of us leave for New York City. There will be some sightseeing and stuff, but we will also have the chance to minister in my home church on Sunday morning. The teens will lead worship and I will be preaching. I couldn't ask for a better team to work with. Pray that we have a safe and successful trip.

If you know a teen who likes to have fun or use their talents to help others then we would love to meet them.

PB

Where has summer gone?

I have not had much time for blogging this whole summer, but now that we are nearing the end of the summer, I am going to try to post some more items. Today, I have a few things on my mind:

1) School starts for my son on Friday!!!!! And my daughter starts high school on Monday!!! Wow, it seems like just yesterday, I picked them up at noon on the last day of school, and we had a whole summer of resting and relaxation ahead.

That wasn't exactly how my summer went. It was fantastic and exciting, but not relaxing. Right after school ended, I got to chaperone at Youth Camp for a whole week. Shortly after that, I got to work with a wonderful crew of helpers for a week of Vacation Bible School here at church. Shortly after that, I got to chaperone again, this time at Kids Camp. In between all these special summer events, I prepared and led morning Kidz Church services every Sunday, and continued to Coordinate the Wednesday night Girls Clubs.

Phew!

2) We have the annual Girls Club Celebration happening this Sunday night. That means a lot of prep work has been taking place over the past couple of weeks. But it is so exciting for me to share with everyone the impact that we are having in the lives of our club members. It will be a nice ceremony! Hope you all attend. Hope I don't run out of food! Hope I don't trip on stage!!!!!!!

3)I am planning a very nice weekend camping trip for the girls next month. I've never planned a camping trip for them. We've gone AWAY to camp, but someone else plans them and I "help" to keep everything in order and running smoothly. We've had Sleepovers here at church, that I've planned, but the girls were right here, and all has gone well. Now we are stepping things up a bit by actually going away to a camp that the District is not in charge of. I am fully expecting an amazingly fantastic experience that will turn into an annual thing for us. Hope I don't run out of food! Hope I don't trip on the path to the outhouse!!! (Just kidding--the bathrooms are inside the log cabin!!!)

Now, back to my Sunday prepping!!

Till soon, Ms. Lucie

Who needs Wild Water Kingdom!

Went to Dorney Park & Wild Water Kingdom yesterday and had a great time. We had 37 people and the rain didn't stop the fun. We arrived at the park before it opened and were the first ones in line for many of the best rides. There weren't many people there because of the forecast, so we had the run of the place. By 1PM we had gone on all the coasters at least twice and several other rides as well. The rain didn't pick up until after 1. We spent the rest of the afternoon riding all the other rides that were undercover. At 4 PM we had our fill and decided to head home.

We could have decided to cancel, and some might have preferred that, but we went and laughed and splashed, got a little sick (Too many rides with no waiting in between) and had a great time in general. There are occasions when conditions don't always cooperate, but as one of the teens put it so perfectly, "Sometimes, it's not where you go or what you do, but who you are with that counts the most."

We have a great group of teens and parents and yesterday we had fun together.

PB

P.S. We never made it to Wild Water Kingdom

While the cat's away

Well- check this out, Martian decor. This is what happens when I am out of the office for even a few days. Either my staff has way too much time on their hands-or they are just extremely creative. For now I will vote for the latter. And besides, this aluminum foil overlay is sure to keep my office furniture clean for quite some time.

Pastor P

Tough time of year

This is one of my least and most favorite times of year. It is a bittersweet month. We have great things happening with our teens. They are involved in church ministry, they are involved in community service, they are growing in in so many ways (we just baptized 25 teens in water this past Friday night) and then it comes time to say good-bye to some of them. I am sad to see our current and former ministry grads head off to college. We have had so many adventures and laughs as well as shared tears and powerful times of ministry and experiencing God work. I am excited for them, because I know that God has new and greater things in store for them, but I will still miss them.

On the flip side, it is an exciting time, because I get to see the students who are still here step into new roles. Some are seeing their leadership opportunities and influence growing and others are finding chances to discover and hone new skills. To me that is the greatest joy in ministry-watching God do His thing in a group of teens.

This year is especially fun, because for the first time one of my own children is a part of PowerLine. Now I am not just dad, but also Youth Pastor . I don't know if I should feel old or just call myself "experienced" in Youth Ministry. Either way, there is nothing else I would rather be doing than serving right here where God has called me.

PB

Being Real

Check out this very interesting link.
Witnessing for Christ is a very challenging task and one of the greatest challenges that we believers face is walking the walk, going beyond just talk. We need to let our actions speak at least as loudly as our words. And as we live our lives, being led by God's Holy Spirit, we can be sure that He will work through us. After all, we are only commanded to witness. He, the Holy Spirit will do the convicting.

We do not have to have all the theological arguments or all the right or appropriate answers. All that we have to do is tell others what God has done for us. Someone once said that Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread. We know the "Bread of Life", let's show others how to find Him.

http://www.sermonspice.com/videos/10519/an-unspoken-plea

Pastor P

Allon Parakleton

Jesus promised "another paraklete", meaning another helper just like Him who would be with the Church at all times. Jesus knew that we future disciples, like His original disciples, would need all the help we could get to have an impact on our world.

To clarify my previous blog entry- I am not getting down on the Church, in fact I think we are doing a pretty good job in our world. However, thinking back to the last revival that I can recall, the Charismatic renewal/revival of the 70s, much more happened much more quickly and effectively as the Holy Spirit took charge and we all followed obediently. We can see this by looking at the empirical data for our movement, the Assemblies of God. Our current growth is not what it used to be and we are among only a handful of groups with any growth at all. Therefore I am thinking that it is high time for us to seek the Holy Spirit as never before and offer Him free reign in our lives both individually and corporately.

After all- He has been sent to HELP US! I believe that it is time for another revival, or some kind of mighty move of God. Let's not get caught up in semantics. Instead let's just appreciate what He wants to do and do whatever we can to partner with Him. He has a purpose and an agenda and these involve us. I will begin to share more on this in future Sunday morning messages this month.

Pastor P

Purpose

I am smack dab in the middle of preaching from John's Gospel and I am finishing up on Jesus' purpose and I am now beginning to study the purpose of the Holy Spirit. Everything through the 13th chapter of John concerns the purpose of Jesus as our Savior. And then the 14th chapter has Jesus speaking about another counselor, comforter, helper whom He will ask the Father to send once He fulfills His purpose.

Just prepping for these messages on the Holy Spirit has been very convicting. I feel as though the Church has moved quite a distance from where we are supposed to be in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Especially since we are Pentecostal - at least in doctrine. It is my prayer that we become more pentecostal in practice as these messages are brought to the flock.

Pastor P