The Unvieling

I'm really excited about the latest development at www.severnriverchurch.com. First I'd like to thank Drew Harrah our webmaster for volunteering in such a dedicated way working on our site. He has put in a ton of hours designing and maintaining our site, and those are hours that are never really seen by anyone. It's kind of one of those jobs that only gets recognized when something goes wrong. So on days like this I want to make sure to give props.

At the end of last year Matt and I started discussing a tool that we wanted added to the site. As we discussed it we became more and more enthused about it. We were asking, "What if there was a place that people could share their prayer needs with one another?" And even more important, "What if we could share how God had answered that prayer?" Thus the Prayer Page was born. We're not the first to come up with this idea. I just believe that we're going to use it more than the average church.

This is a page where worlds can collide. Imagine if Missionaries around the globe felt they had a place where they could actually enjoin people to pray for them. Imagine people that you know at work who talk to you about a need in their life, and what if you could take them to a website where they could ask people to pray for them. Imagine how your prayer life and daily time with God could have greater impact because you took the time to look at real time needs and pray for them. Imagine the joy of a community like Severn River Church that not only prays for needs but sees them answered, and posts the real world responses of people who have been healed. That's what the prayer page provides us.

In addition to being able to post requests and answered prayers, we'll soon have the capability to sign up for e-mail alerts regarding news from the prayer page. In the mean time I'd ask that you consider making the prayer page a daily stop to pray for friends, family, even people you've never met in their need of Jesus' touch.

It's very simple to use. From our homepage you can click in the Prayer Request box to navigate to the Prayer Page. From there click on the appropriate button and fill in the fields. Your request will be reviewed before it is posted, but it will appear at our earliest convenience.


--Ben

Dedication Service

Hey everyone,

I got a phone call from my friend and pastor, Phil over at Pasadena A/G. He apologized that we had not received notice in the mail related to the Family Life Center dedication. But wanted to make sure that we knew about it. I had heard about it, but honestly those of you who know me, know how leaky my brain is. It didn't register. In fact, if he hadn't called I wouldn't have remembered until Sunday when someone mentioned it to me. Anyway...

Pasadena A/G is the church that really gave us life as a new church. It was their decisions that really allowed SRC to become a reality. Many people at SRC came out of that church in order to help with the launch. For years we attended and were part of making the Family Life Center a reality. I know that Corie and I had thousands of dollars invested and we only did a small part compared to others. I'm very thankful that PAG has invited us to be part of this celebration. I want to get the word out to any who haven't heard, because I think it's going to be great.

Pastor Phil has asked me to take part in the service. It starts at 3:00 p.m. and the formality will end around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, though everyone is invited to hang out and catch up with people you haven't seen in a while. Everyone is welcomed too, not just those who came out of PAG with us. New SRCers are welcome to come meet some of our churches best friends and supporters.

--Ben

I wondered if I could ask for your quick help. If you’re unable that’s ok. We’re having creative block and wondered if you could help.

Currently we’re designing artwork for a community event called “Doubt Day”. It will be held on Sunday June 3, 2007 instead of our regular morning service. It is going to be in an open air amphitheater and give people a place to express their doubts about Christianity, the Bible and the Church. I know that this may not seem like the usual kind of church event but we try to be a church that does things the average church doesn’t do to reach people the average church doesn’t reach. I will be fielding the questions, giving my best answer, and giving our guests the last word. If you need more clarification please let me know.

We’re printing up postcard-sized handbills for invitations. We’re trying to come up with the front-side cover art. But we’re having creative block and all we can come up with is “Got Doubts?” That’s horribly overused! So, we wondered if you had any ideas. I don’t want to burden you with this so we’ll set a deadline of 24 hours from now. If you get to it, you get to it. If not, no worries.

You can send your ideas back via email in any manner you want: text, mock up on Paint, pdf, whatever. We’ll produce the final version, just need some creativity infusion. To give you an idea of what we’ve done in the past, please visit http://srcart.blogspot.com

Thanks for taking the time to read and help if you can.

--Ben (ben@severnriverchurch.com)

Sniff Sniff

Well,
I got to the school only to find out that they had double booked speakers for today. So I bowed out. I think I'll be speaking next Wednesday. I'll find out later today. Oh well.

--Ben

Preaching at ACA

Today I get to do one of my favorite things. I'm preaching for a local Christian school called Arnold Christian Academy. I really enjoy it because it is just a different environment. It's first through eighth graders and about 20 minutes to share the Bible with them. I enjoy seeing the students grow each year and my favorite part is that I bring the eighth graders to the front and quiz them before I speak about the topic I'm speaking on. Everyone loves it. (I think even the 8th graders) It's just a hoot.

Today, Numbers 22 the story of Balaam. Great story of Spiritual Phenomenon, Talking Animals, Angels with swords, and Greed! What great components to a story that should teach us that just because we find a way around what we know is God specifically says is right doesn't mean that we should do it.

--Ben

Hotel

District Council is coming up the first Monday in May. District Council is the meeting of the pastors from the MD, VA, DC area where we conduct the business of our fellowship in this area. It is a great time for Pastors to worship, debate, vote and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit.

Registration ended last week, and with it the promotional rates for hotels. However, I missed the deadline. So Monday I called to ask if I could still get the event rate, and she said I could. Then she started looking for rooms only to find Smoking Rooms (yuck)..."and, ohh, a non-smoking jacuzzi suite for the same price." She asked if I would like that room, I thought, "not as much as my wife would".

So what have we learned class? We've learned that if you wait till everyone else has claimed all the regular rooms you can be blessed with a great room/deal. Procrastinators unite tomorrow! Right?

--Ben

Counseling Schedule

I have never had a regular counseling schedule. Most of you know that I'm so poor at counseling most people never come to meet with me. However there are some people now that God has me sharing my ear and his word with as they wrestle through difficult life issues. This means regular meetings throughout the weeks and is adding commitments to my schedule so I'm making some adjustments to my schedule. I thought I might share with you what my schedule is for perspective sake.


Mondays:
Meetings: Staff, Operations Team, Bookeeper,
Follow-up from Sundays with guests, troubleshooting

Tuesdays is action day and counseling day. This is the day I try to line up my counseling sessions. These meetings really break up the day so stacking them I think will make them the most effective use of a day. I also take action on things that came up in the meetings from Monday.

Wednesday and Thursday is preparation time for the teaching on Sunday.

Friday is my day off

Saturday is usually lowkey, but there's final preparations for Sunday. Powerpoints, paperwork, etc.

That's a glimpse into my schedule. My life.

--Ben

Comments

I have heard for the last couple weeks about the problem related to commenting. I want to say, I'm sorry that it is so difficult. I have contacted blogger about it, and have not really had success in getting an answer. This is what happened as best as I can tell. Blogger went through a transformation over the last 12 months. Blogger is owned by a larger company called Google. You're probably familiar with them. Anyway, they are trying to improve their service constantly and it required a change over about 6 months ago to the "beta" version (for non-techies, that means that it's a trial version testing the improvements made.) When the Beta version was complete they asked all bloggers to import their blog into a new one, and ultimately they discontinued the original side of their blog. In that transition you may remember that some of you had to re-signup in order to comment and that transition was why. I think that Google has a bug in blogger now. If you sign up for a new account you can comment. It asks for email address, a password, verify password, display name, and then a verification code. But if you log out or reset your cookies it doesn't remember you. It is a pain. I acknowlege that because I've done some testing myself. But I'm trying to contact blogger and find the fix. Please stay tuned.

--Ben

I'm Back

Last week was a down week on the blog, sorry for being away. Anyway, I was at Seminary. Regular readers know that I attend week-long intensive modules for schooling. They require pre-session as well as post-session work. I'm enrolled in a 60 credit MA. I'm currently 12 credits (4 classes) short of completing the class requirements for this degree. I'll also have a contextual project (that is a case study in my own ministry situation in which I setup a new ministry and report on it's launch and operation.) and a thesis culminating my education in this program.

So that's where I've been. But I'm back now.

Last week was actually the worst class that I've been in while part of this program. I was frustrated by the teaching. The Prof. retired last summer and I think that he was in a retirement state of mind. I'm not sure he knew it, but my classmates and I did. Oh well.

--Ben

Support Churches

It's a blessing to plant a church and hear churches that are trying to honor God as a they give. This week I found out that another church is picking us up for support monthly. It is another Eastern Section Church in Owings Mills. They are supporting us for this year and are giving retroactively to the beginning of the year. What a great blessing.

I want to thank you for praying for us. God is providing what we need. We are starting our plan for support in our second year. We need your prayers to that end. We will be petitioning churches that currently support us to re-up for a second year and are also seeking new support.

Thanks,
Ben

Away to Play

I know that I haven't kept up very well with the blog this week. I beg your pardon for that, but I've been away at school, and it's hard to keep up on it with the time pressures I face.

It's Friday, and I came home today, but only to pick up my girls and head away. These classes are very taxing. There is a segment of time before these classes when I'm unavailable to my family in order to be ready for class, then a week away is really difficult. So today when I got home the Rainey's jumped in the old jeep and headed away from the world to just be us for 24 hours or so. I'll be back tomorrow night.

I love these girls.

--Ben

Virginia Tech

It is a sad ordeal that the Hokies are going through. I think our nation grieves with them, I know I do. It's been interesting for me to be here during this, because I was at VFCC when Columbine happened. I remember walking into my dorm room, and seeing a friend watching TV in the middle of the day, an odd occurrence. He was transfixed on this national tragedy. I saw the same look on students faces on Monday as I left lunch. They were gathered around TVs outside the cafeteria.

I'm sorry for this tragedy. I hope our prayers (and yes, we really pray) bring the comfort of the Holy Spirit to these families and friends.

--Ben

Folk Religion

The Prof just through out a term that has really got me thinking. "Folk Religion" He said that Islam is largely a folk religion, that is a religion that is taught from leaders and indoctrinated apart from thinking through for themselves. Christianity can be that kind of religion too if we're not careful. Our faith should never be something that we just take by the spoonful from a pastor or leader. That's why I'm approaching our teachings the way I am. Let's look at the Bible together, I'll study to try to frame it in the understanding that the original audience would have heard it, then we make applications to our lives.

Folk Religion: Indoctrinates rather than educates and makes itself irrelevant to the believer.

It's about us coming to God's word and being changed not by me or you, but by God's word applied to the human life, that is transformation.

Think about it.

--Ben

Answered Prayer

Many know that my team pastor, Matt Boyer, has had an issue with housing for many months now. He and his wife own a house in PA, but can't buy one here, so they tried to rent their home there, but couldn't according to homeowners associations bylaws. But Praise the Lord! Last night the association voted to give them the ability to rent their place. This will open up an opporunity for them to rent a place for themselves down here in the Annapolis area.

--Ben

Another Class

Well, here we go, another week at school. So watch out, when I get back I'll be a whole week smarter. This one is the Theology of the Charismata, that is a theology of spiritual gifts/ministries. After this class I'll have only four more classes to take to finish my MA. And Lord haste the day...

I'm really itching to finish this program, and take a break for a little while. It's always good to study. I believe education is never wasted. God called us to love him with all our mind, just as much as heart, soul and strength. These weeks are worship expressions for me.

--Ben

Dear Comment Friends

It has come to my attention that some are having trouble leaving comments. I think it is mainly related to whether you have a blogger account or not. I have signed out and created a new test comment account, and I'm unable to leave comments as well. So I have contacted Google. Hopefully I'll have an answer soon.

--Ben

To Thomas

You know Thomas got a bum rap. He's classified as the doubter, but have you ever considered that he was the only disciple not present the first time Jesus appeared? Is he really any different than us?

I was speaking with someone recently who said that there's never a place in churches for people to express their doubts. Somehow we forbid people to do exactly what Jesus gave Thomas permission to do. I took it one step further and wondered where does the world get to express their doubt. Pretty much it's never in a place that is filled with Christ's love. And wasn't that the experience of Thomas? Jesus shows up and says "touch me"? That's pretty intimate, don't just talk to me but touch me.

We're currently planning an event for June that is going to push this to a place that I've never been before. We're going to actually invite people who have doubts to come to the amphitheater at AACC and express their doubts. We'll respond to their doubts but we'll give them the last word. Because it's not about crushing their doubts, it's about the touch that happens when they bump up against Jesus in the form of his followers. Jesus routinely said that love and servanthood were the key characteristics of his kingdom. It won't matter what our answers are, it'll only matter that they see our love.

--Ben

Kicking the Tires

There is a beta version of the Prayer Page being tested right now by some of the leadership team. I'm really digging it. There are a couple little things that we'll need to work out and then we'll be turning it public on www.severnriverchurch.com. The page has two functions, first you can post a prayer request. That's right, anyone in the world. You, your mother, your coworker, people from other countries, missionaries, other churches will be able to leave prayer requests that we can pray for. And my favorite part, the second function, you can leave answers to prayer. Sweet! I can't wait till we have this bad boy up and running on the free side.

Radical Alternative or Relational Hodgepodge

First let me lay a quote on you: "But their success also lay with their experienced life of the Spirit who made the work of Christ an effective reality in their lives, thus making them a radical alternative within their culture." --Gordon Fee

I've been reading another book, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. It is a study of Pauline Theology (that means the beliefs of the Apostle Paul) as it relates to the Holy Spirit. Fee would contend that the Holy Spirit is inseparable from all points of theology covered by Paul, and that to discern any theology apart from the active work of the Holy Spirit is to have no authentic view of Paul's meaning.

At the same time I've been discussing with a friend the Merits and Liabilities of relational and incarnational ministry/evangelism. For those who may not know the terms I'm throwing out let me suffice to say that these forms of ministry/evangelism are concerned with befriending and becoming the gospel in the world for the sake of the world coming to Christ.

I was discussing the role of the Holy Spirit, and what would be called the Pentecostal perspective on Ministry and while I've never made a secret of my Pentecostalism, I've also never made a secret of my discontent with the way many Pentecostals approach Christianity. And here is the rub. Whenever forms become strategies I have a problem. We should not befriend people as a strategy of winning them to Christ. (though I admit I've done this) We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. By virtue of following Christ we should be friends of "sinners". So relational evangelism shouldn't be a strategy it should be discipleship. It's doing what our master teaches.
Enter the Spirit. Fee argues that it was the work of the Spirit that presented the radical alternative for a roman citizen to become a Christ-follower. I agree with that assertion. When examining church history we find that in the expansion of the gospel, the gospel has always functioned best when it is a radical alternative to the culture. What do we offer today? The church in China is exploding as an underground movement because the culture doesn't allow them to worship publicly. We are free to worship whenever and pretty much as loud as we want, but the church in America is dieing. What are we offering that is a Radical Alternative? So people in our culture face a radical alternative to follow Christ, or have we made it an acceptable norm in the midrange between the Conservative Right and Liberal Left? A place where everyone can be comfortable, and no one stops walking on their own path and finds the way that follows Jesus. That I'm afraid is a narrow way, radically different from life as ussual, and there are few that find it.

--Ben

Follow-up on J

I called J last night and she is working Sunday, but asked if we could meet after 2:00. I agreed to meet with her. Please pray for that meeting, for J, and for God to do exceedingly abundantly more than she could ask or imagine.

--Ben

Conflict

Does anyone really look forward to conflict? Even the people that are good at it? I think for the majority of our society conflict doesn't rank high. One thing I love about our Operations team is the role of conflict. Without conflict we wouldn't move forward. So long as we deal with the conflict well, it is a catalyst to growth, not a bur under our saddle, but a spur to our sides.

Weekly we debrief about issues that come up weekly and forecast for the future. I think one of our most value assets is conflict between members when we say, this should be or shouldn't be, scrap it or redesign it. I'm glad to be on a team where we can work together in conflict. I also appreciate that conflict only drives our decisions, our action is driven by cooperation.

--Ben

Repost

This is a post I found from Nelson Searcy at Journey church in New York. It's the top ten ways to make sure someone doesn't find your church. I've added some things to my task list to change my approach to some of these. Thought you might find them interesting.

1. Don’t have a website : This is the information age, even 107 year old women have blogs, but not your church. No church website, no blog, no flickr account, and don’t podcast your sermons. Knowledge is power and providing me easy access to information about your church might empower me to learn more or even visit. So even if you must have a website, make sure it is poorly designed, lacking in information, hard to navigate, out of date and doesn’t have an rss feed to make things even remotely easy for me.
2. Be completely inactive in the community : If you’re not doing anything in the community then no one will talk about your church. That makes it a lot harder for me to accidentally find out anything useful. So don’t serve the community or partner with other churches or non-profits. In fact it’s really just best if you stay completely inward-focused and don’t do anything missional in your city.
3. Don’t answer your phone : Regardless of what time I call (weekday, weekend, morning, afternoon, evening) don’t answer the phone and don’t have an answering machine or voice mail for me to leave a message or prayer request. If you do have voice mail, don’t include your website address, service times or directions to your church on your message, and don’t ever answer the phone on Sunday mornings. That way when I’m lost en route to service, I’ll have no choice but to drive around aimlessly until I give up and go home.
4. Allow misinformation : Sometimes you just can’t prevent denominations or directories from listing information about your church. When contact information changes, don’t tell them about the update. You can save time by providing them incorrect information initially and for added confusion make sure each directory lists different information about your church, all of it wrong.
5. Lack clear signage : Even if I’m determined to visit your church, you have several on site options to discourage me. The first is to play hide and seek. Is your church in a nondescript building or on a street with several other churches? Have absolutely no signage; none, whatsoever. Except maybe on the mailbox, where you abbreviate things beyond comprehension. If you run a Christian school, put up a 10′ x 14′ sign just for it, so I’ll be led to believe the building is only a school.
6. Have insufficient parking/seating : Other discouraging on-site options are lack of adequate parking and seating. Does your church seat 200? Only have 30 parking spaces. Been running at capacity for weeks or months? Don’t start another service, so that there will be standing room only. Have visitors’ parking? Put it in the corner of the lot away from the entrance. Have adequate parking? Don’t stripe the lot or have parking attendants; chaos is best. Have adequate seating? Make it as uncomfortable as possible.
7. Ignore Visitors : Despite your best efforts I have found and attended your church. In fact, I even filled out a visitor’s card requesting more information. Don’t acknowledge my visit in any way. Don’t call me, don’t send me a thank you card, don’t answer any of my questions or give me any information about how to become involved or learn more about Jesus. Also don’t have any literature available to provide visitors and don’t train your volunteers to be courteous or helpful in anyway.
8. Respond half-heartedly to inquiries : If responding to information requests at all, do so extremely slowly and only partially. Wait 1 week or more to return emails or phone calls and if I ask several questions, don’t answer them all. Instead just tell me I should come to a service to find out more. That saves you a couple minutes of response time and makes you look very busy and important. Whatever you do, do not start a dialogue with me.
9. Be evasive about your beliefs : When I ask a direct question about the church’s beliefs, ignore the question or act like you don’t understand and then start telling me about your denomination or church programs. For “What We Believe”, only include the Nicene Creed on your website or literature. If I’m adamant about wanting positional clarity, instead tell me about the love of Jesus and how Christianity isn’t about division. For those times you do answer my questions, act offended that I would even ask, then try and make me feel stupid or sinful for questioning you.
10. Lie to me : When all else fails, simply lie to me about your church. You might just get a few weeks of attendance out of me before I learn the truth. Are you denominationally affiliated? Don’t mention it ever and talk about how independent you are when I find out. Being on mission is important to me, so make it sound like all 500 of your members are actively involved in serving the city, even though you don’t give a single cent to local missions and never talk about it from the pulpit, because you actually hate the city and it’s sinful people. Lastly, spend a lot of time telling me how you are distinctive from other churches, even though you’re not.

You do what you do, I do what I do

I walked into Corky's today in order to talk with a friend that works here. I mentioned her last week. She wasn't able to come to SRC over the weekend. She had said she'd be on the eastern shore. Corky had actually asked me to invite her to our church, indicating that she needed some help. This girl with a beautiful smile, is very welcoming here at the coffee house, but this morning she wasn't here. Instead I was greated by Corky, "finger-waving" me into his kitchen. That's how you know you're "in". He didn't even let me order his product...just the signal "I need to talk to you. (I can't believe you didn't come in yesterday.)"

I came into the back and Corky shared with me that this girl had been in a car accident on Sunday night. He opened up about some things this girl is dealing with, and I just want to ask that you'll pray for a girl that we'll call "J". J is an accomplished dancer (i.e. instructs at a top local studio, performed on Cruise ships, etc.) and in the car accident on Sunday she badly broke her leg and knee. So things seem to be in a difficult place for her.

Pray for me. I want to represent Jesus in this situation. Corky said, "I told you because this is what you do, right?" I said, "That's right, this is what I do. You do what you do, I do what I do."

--Ben

Easter!

Yesterday was Easter and I want to say that I had a blast. I hope that you all did as well. There were so many great things that happened yesterday that I wanted to jump out here on the blog and through some thank yous.

Thanks to the setup crew. We met on Saturday Night to setup and I was really proud of so many who came out and helped. In fact, so came a little late and found that the work had been done. I really enjoyed setting up and praying together.

Thanks to the Hospitality team. Man the food and beverages were awesome. It's nice to flex a bit for Big Days like Easter. I look forward to the day when that will be standard fare at SRC. We'll always be pushing towards that because 1. Jesus put a lot of emphasis on eating, 2. We are called to hospitality in scripture, and 3. It's just part of being good neighbors.

Thanks to the Large Group team. Balloons and baskets. It was awesome. It really set the day off.

Thanks to the small groups, you did a great job with the Easter Eggs. The kids had a blast. Next year I hope to have twice as many eggs at least.

Thanks to our children's workers. Yesterday was a taste of things to come as we continue to grow. We're thankful for your work and flexibility.

I had a great day, I'm sure you did too. Remember that the handbills are good all month so you can continue to invite people.

--Ben

E-mail advertising

I heard about a church in the Denver area that is mostly comprised of 20-30 year olds. They do all their advertising through e-mail. The pastor team designs great invitation artwork, then e-mails it through a service to his church. They then forward it to their friends as an E-invite. It is a pretty interesting concept. In fact, they have a place on their homepage for members to go anytime and send a e-invite to friends or potential contacts.

I just sent out an e-invite for everyone to use for the What Did Jesus Really Say series. We'll see if it works.

Doing things the average church doesn't do to reach people the average church doesn't reach.

--Ben

Church Planting

I just found out that the Potomac District (Maryland, Virginia, D.C. and Part of West Virginia) opened six churches in 2006. That includes us. But we also, as a district, closed 12 churches. That means we're losing. That's why we have a perspective on the future of becoming a multiplying church. The fact is that the USA is the third largest mission field in the world, with over 195 million unchurched people. Only China and India are ahead of us.

We need to plant more churches.

--Ben

Pastor's Growth Group

Well, I'm back at the Pastor's Growth Group. It is a local gathering in Ellicott City for pastors in our area to grow and improve ourselves as pastors and leaders.

--Ben

Revisiting the Question

I talked with someone today who revisited the question, "Why is our church not listed in the Gazette with the rest of the holy week services?" It is not the first time this question has come up and I doubt it will be the last, but I wanted to address it again. I really want to address it because I can understand the thoughts of people who don't understand. And though I'm in a different camp, I spent time in theirs. So, let me explain our position and speak to the issue.

It seems like the reasonable place for Severn River Church to advertise, after all that's where every other church advertises. Just look there are lists on the page of church activities. If it makes sense to them, then it should make sense for us, right? Well, this I would say is an illustration of conventional wisdom. However the convention isn't always correct. I believe that the church listings really only hit one kind of reader...Christian. People who look at the church listings already have a church. They look at the listings for the exciting "Christian" Entertainment. What church is having a pageant, musical or living last supper? Christians scan these ads as a means of judging if there is a better church out there for them. (of course we know that WE are the church, therefore the church "experience" is what WE make of it.) Here's another part of the convention that I part ways with, namely we don't want to target Christians to grow our church. I've had some say, "But Ben, I have Christian friends who don't enjoy going to their church, I want them to enjoy what I enjoy here at SRC." While I understand that sentiment, and I believe it's always great to worship with friends, please consider this. We did not start this church for disciples. We started it to make disciples and that mission drives us to those who have not yet begun following Christ. Admittedly, many of the people that are coming to SRC have long before asked Jesus to be their leader and forgiver. But that is not our mission. Our mission is to those who don't know Christ. If Christ followers come into SRC fine, but it will never be our target or aim to try and take sheep out of one pen and put them in ours.

We have embraced our vision which says that we are going to change Maryland by changing the greater Annapolis area. Someone asked me why we weren't in the Gazette. The Gazette is a north county publication, and while we have members who live in that area our focus is in an area that is served by the Capital. Therefore our newspaper coverage will be in the Capital when we run it for 40 Days of Compassion in September. When we advertise on Radio, we'll be looking for stations that hit our target in the Annapolis area. We are not a church of who we used to be, but of who we are going to become. Please remember that. But what's the bottom line?

The bottom line is that newspapers, radio spots, TV commercials, etc. are all just tools, and mostly ineffective at that. Yes, we have to forego the excitement of seeing our church name in black and white, we don't get to show it to our family and friends, but does any of that really bring people to Jesus?

I'm convinced and don't think it would be hard to convince anyone if we look at it objectively, that people don't come to Jesus because of any of the tools listed above. They come to Jesus because of people. They come to church because of community. They're looking for a place to belong and people they can believe with. That's what we are about at Severn River Church. Is it wrong to use those tools? Are we better than other churches because we don't join the fray of churches on the holy week list? No. It's just not who we are. If we were going to be like every other church, we might as well have just stayed at our other churches. We do things the average church doesn't do, to reach people the average church doesn't reach.

I know that church planting is transition turf. It is difficult to do things new. It's much easier as Mark Batterson says, "to lead from memory, rather than imagination." But we need to stay this course. This is the course of Severn River Church.

We'll make it. Hold on. Pray like it depends on God, and work like it depends on you. Sunday's going to be a great day.

--Ben

the 12 hour day

It has been a while since I had a 12 hour work day. They happened weekly for me at my last church, but I haven't had to do them much as a church planter yet. Yesterday was one of those days though that I tasted the long day. I actually enjoyed it. I love the stress and pressure of moving from one to appointment to the next. I eat it up. But I have learned something over the last six months. I value time with my family more. That's why though I had a great day yesterday, I was a little disappointed because I ended up with only 45 minutes of time with my daughter. So, no steady diet of long days for me.

--Ben

Easter Art

Matt did a fantastic job with this art. I wanted to show it off to my readers who don't travel through www.severnriverchurch.com . Our latest artwork is always up on the Front page there.

Thanks Matt,
Ben

The Run Around

Don't you hate the run around? We are getting ready for our first Easter at SRC. We have printed up some fantastic invitations; hundreds of them are being handed out. We are planning to expand our service ministries like Parking and Children's Ministries. And therein lies the proverbial rub.

I saw these little tike's tables at Kmart about 2 months ago. I'd like to preface this story by saying that I don't shop Kmart very often, but on occasion I need something and it is the closest option. Be that as it may...I saw these tables and thought that they would be great for our kids at SRC. So I filed it in my mind and talked to the OT about it. We agreed to do it. So I went online and searched the tables, and walmart.com had quite a selection. So, I headed to Walmart (east) in Glen Burnie. No tables. So I drove to the Target next door. None there either. So I drove to Walmart (west) Glen Burnie. There were no tables there either. Nor were there any at the Target there either. So having wasted a couple hours running to these stores walking to the back to see the toy department (clever that they make parents walk through every other inventory just to satisfy their children's wanderlust for toys), trying to dodge old ladies who are moving slowly with shopping carts, and one guy who said, "I ain't never been in a traffic jam in 'da sto'." I drove to the place where this fantasy all started. Back to Kmart where right there, where I had seen them two months ago, there was an assortment of tables to fill the back of my (dad's) pick-up. It's only sheer agitation that keeps me from mentioning that Kmart is less than two miles from my house. UGGHH.

--Ben

Gators Repeat Win of National Tourney

With Regards to Tom Rees who passed this on to me...

University of Florida's Billy Donovan just coached his team to their second NCAA Championship in a row. Before the game started on Monday night, Billy took off his jacket and knelt in prayer on the sidelines. This was an outward sign of a deeper faith. In March 2001, Joanne Korth wrote this story that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times. The heart of this champion was formed in adversity:

Billy Donovan was driving home from the hospital, tears stinging his eyes, sorrow piercing his heart, anger raging in his soul. That's when he saw it. There, in front of a church was posted a simple concept.

God is good, all the time.

A few days later, Donovan stood before a congregation of grieving friends and relatives at a funeral mass to help them make sense of a death. His words were soothing, his strength inspiring, his faith assuring.

God is good, he told them, all the time.

The funeral was for his daughter.

"It was powerful," said Tim Maloney, a longtime friend of Donovan's and a member of the Florida basketball staff. "He didn't say "part of the time.' He said "all of the time.' He's the one suffering, he and his wife, but he takes the opportunity to help anybody who is feeling bad for him to put it into perspective."

Jacqueline Patricia Donovan was stillborn Nov. 2, a week shy of the due date and four days before Florida's first exhibition game. It was a tragic beginning to the most challenging, exhausting and gratifying season of Donovan's life.

Through serious injuries to three starters, a 1-3 record in SEC play, a stubborn viral infection and a slew of naysayers, Donovan, the Gators' coach, has persevered, steadfastly clinging to bright sides few could have found.

"What kept me going was my faith," said Donovan. "God is always working for the good."

Two months after many experts wrote off injury-riddled Florida as NIT fodder, the Gators (23-6) are the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament's South Region and play Western Kentucky in the first round Friday at the Superdome in New Orleans.

"I knew we would come together," sophomore guard Brett Nelson said. "I knew in my heart we would be able to do it."

Because Donovan knew in his.

Donovan is what young people call "real." As in the opposite of phony. He says only what he believes; he believes everything he says. And his actions back it up.

"What he says, you believe," senior Brent Wright said.

So, when Donovan told the Gators that injuries to starters . . . would give young players valuable experience and ultimately make them a better team, they believed him.

When Donovan told the Gators they were "right there" after disheartening back-to-back home losses to Georgia and Vanderbilt by a combined four points, they believed him.

When Donovan told the Gators the adversity they faced was an opportunity presented by God and what they did with it was up to them, they believed him.

"If anyone ever says they have no doubts, no fears, no insecurities, that's not true. Everybody does," Donovan said. "But I think the most important thing in life is your attitude. There are a lot of things I can't control, but I can control my attitude.

"So, I'm going to choose how I think, how I act, how I feel. I'm not saying it's always easy; I have to work at that. But that's the right thing to do."

"Sometimes adversity tears teams apart or tears marriages or people apart," Donovan said. "The adversities of this year and the way we chose to approach them have brought us all closer together. I think God handed us this adversity to help make us better."

Donovan never has been one to preach, not even during Florida's run last season to the NCAA championship game. But this season, as reporters kept asking how the Gators were thriving despite seemingly devastating setbacks, Donovan had one answer.

"My faith in God and reading the Bible, with my wife's support and my assistant coaches' support, have helped me," he said. "That's been our source of strength.

"When something is really important to you and you love something as much as I love coaching, you're always struggling and looking for answers. If you read God's word, there are a lot of things that relate to what I'm going through and what our team is going through."

Two years ago, players approached Donovan about praying before and after practices. Raised Catholic by his parents on Long Island, Donovan was pleased to help his players maintain the spiritual drive their families instilled in them.

"One of our favorite passages is when things are going great, there are two sets of footsteps, you and God walking along together," said Dupay, a junior guard. "When things are going bad, there's only one set of footsteps. Sometimes people think it's because they're walking alone and God has left them, but really it's because God is carrying them. ... If you can believe when things are going bad, things will be okay."

Never was Donovan's faith more evident than when his wife, Christine, noticed days before the birth of the couple's fourth child that the baby no longer was active in her womb. Doctors told the Donovans the child was dead before Christine went into labor.

On his way home from the hospital, as Donovan struggled for words to explain the baby's death to the couple's other children -- sons William, 9, and Bryan, 4, and daughter Hasbrouck, 7 -- Donovan was stopped at a red light when he spotted the church marquee.

"For whatever reason this happened, it's all going to work out for the good somehow," Donovan said. "It may not appear good now, but it's all going to work out for the best."

Basketball took its rightful place in Donovan's life. Even as the Gators' season-opening exhibition game approached, he stayed home. Realizing he could never understand the bond between his wife and the child she carried for nine months, Donovan comforted her with his presence.

"I think my priorities are straight as far as my faith, my family and then my job," Donovan said. "There wasn't any work I had to do that I couldn't do at home. And I needed some help, too. I don't know if I was in the right frame of mind to go to the office every day, either."

Clearly distracted, Donovan was on the sideline for a 118-95 victory against the London Leopards on Nov. 6. A moment of silence was observed before the game. Though he did not return to the office for another week, he returned to practice the next day. The impact on his team was profound.

"Even though he's a little guy, he packs a lot of strength," junior center Udonis Haslem said. "Seeing him bounce back, knowing he's hurting inside, to come back with a positive attitude and push us and help us, it took our respect for him to another level."

"I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to go through some of these things," Donovan said. "Obviously, I'm not thankful that my daughter passed, but I'm thankful that my faith is stronger and my relationship with my wife is stronger. I have three healthy children at home who I get to be with all the time. I wish we had four, but God had other plans.

"I look at us as being blessed."

Cultivating Community Connection

We had an interesting experience today at Corky's Hardbean Cafe. Many of you know this is our secondary office. We host staff meeting here each week, and conduct a lot of our meetings here. Today Corky greeted us, because he hadn't seen us come in. Then later he came over took a What Did Jesus Really Say? (wdjrs) card. He asked where I church was, and told us that we should talk to one of his employees. What an affirmation. That people are getting to know us and connecting us with others. That's why we want to always be out in the community. Cultivating Community Connections.

--Ben

Voice Update

Well, a couple weeks ago I mentioned the problem that I experienced with my voice at SRC. I planned on taking two weeks off, and that I should be good to go when I came back. However, yesterday it didn't take long into rehearsal to feel that my voice was not back to normal. It is pretty frustrating. Thankfully we had Michelle with us, which was a great blessing. She sings really well, and so she carried the leadership of the melody, and I carried leadership of the music. I want to thank the SRCers for their patience, and ask for your prayers. I am going to be trying to line up a Dr. visit. I am expecting bad news, like total vocal rest for several months. Gosh I hope not. (That may be the first time I've ever typed Gosh.)

Anyway, there's the update.

--Ben