Here and There

I've heard from a couple sources that I'm not blogging as much as usual lately. It isn't intentional, I've just had less to say. I suppose of late I've been more interested in listening and doing than talking about doing. Listening and doing is what turned out a great service last week (one of our best ever) , and will lead us to a future that is brighter than the brightest parts of our past. We are embracing it, and seeing real steps forward. Keep it up.

But, I will be posting as much as possible, so please tune in. And by all means, feel free to leave a comment from time to time to encourage my writing.

--Ben

Office Open House

This Friday night July 31, Severn River Church is holding an Office Open House at 6:30 p.m. This is an opportunity for you to come and visit the new office and hang out with friends. The format is very informal. Pastor Ben will be at the office to show you around and talk. Refreshments will be served. This is a come and go event, so please feel free to drop by. In order to plan refreshments please RSVP by use of this survey or call/text 410.491.4314. Thanks and I look forward to seeing you there.
--Ben

Address:
84 Ritchie Hwy
Pasadena, MD 21122

Something Else From Sunday

There is one more thing that has been sticking in my mind today related to last weekend. It was the ownership and involvement of SRCers in seeing that great event take place. I was thinking back to the volunteer changes over the last year. We've moved from a one man show with a few highly taxed individuals to a much more shared model of ministry. For instance, within the last year my voice was the only voice heard from welcome to farewell. Sunday my voice was only heard during the message. That means service host and band handled everything and really released me to focus on what God has equipped me to do.

Within the last year, on occasion, I unloaded and set up every piece of equipment for the weekend by myself. This weekend I rolled boxes to their place and more volunteers than I counted put things in place and did it right.

Within the last year we had a Friend Day that I planned by myself (poorly). Sunday happened because of a service planning team that is working hard to provide the most creative experiences possible, and are exercising responsibility and accountability to see great services happen.

In so many ways Sunday was an example of our church embracing Ephesians 4 as our model of ministry. In January I spent a month preaching the same sermon four weeks in a row. But this year we have really embraced it.

There were some things on Sunday that were examples of the way things could be, though not necessarily how they consistently are at SRC. That's ok; I'm looking forward to how the rest of the year goes in developing an even greater church of shared ministry.

--Ben

Weekend Update

Last weekend we did God In The Great Outdoors (GITGO) and had a fantastic time. This is the second time that we've done this style of service and I really enjoy it. It would be even better if we could do it in the fall, but as for now we can't hold the outdoor services when classes are in full swing.

But this summer we've had some great days. We'll see if three is pushing it in August, but we're super excited to be welcoming Pasadena A/G church to worship with us that day. PAG has been our lead supporter in these early days of our church. Their prayer, giving, and volunteerism has really helped us lay the foundation that we're standing on now. On August 23rd we'll mark the third anniversary of the commissioning service held at Pasadena where they launched us out to start the new church.

Highlights from Sunday:

• Special guest: Abbi Harrah
• Welcoming back newly-weds: The Bells and The Hartmans
• Making new friends (seven first time guests)
• Making better friends (five second and third time guests)
• Pineapple
• Giving away Brusters Ice Cream
• Bottled Water and EZ Up tents
• Ukulele music

It was a great time. Thanks to everyone that made it work. See you next month for GITGO!

--Ben

Starting Over

I am working on my computer again, and have been slowly bringing things back online. It is a hassle to have a computer crash, but I learn to deal with it a little better each time. This time hurts the worst because I had not backed up my files for quite a while. Thankfully most of my most important information is handled through some sort of cloud computing be it gmail or SRC.com's database.

I've had a really interesting past couple days so I'll be updating throughout the day. Talk to you later.

--Ben

Tomorrow

FANtastic

Ok, I saw this video of Joe Flacco (Ravens Quarterback), and I thought I put it up here. I think it's great, and it's a reminder that football season is not far away.

--Ben

Reflections On 8 Years Of Marriage

It's July 22nd again. The significance of this date is huge in my life; let me explain.

In 1994 I got up the courage to invite a girl to a sports banquet being held at my high school. It was the year I turned 16, and I had never had any kind of relationship before. She said she'd go, and then I ended up having to back out because of a death in the family. That was the spring and by July 22nd I had strategically moved my way into her heart, or at least as far as you can go as a sixteen year old. That summer was Baltimore Orioles games and trips to watch her play softball. It was her seeing me off at the airport when I went on a missions trip and thinking about her each night at sunset. July 22nd was our first date and seven years later to the day we stood at the altar and said, "You betcha". (We didn't actually say that. It was more like "I do" or "I will")

note:

• Guys this is a great numeric tool to help you remember anniversaries. Just make sure that every anniversary falls on the same day. My advice: Start dating a girl on her birthday and follow the plan.

So after seven years we got married, and kept right on with the same anniversary date. Here we are at our 8th. Corie put an interesting perspective on it the other day when she said, "At least now we've been married longer than we dated." I suppose for some people that happens in the first six months of marriage, but for us it took a whole lot longer.

I picked a good one. I have been pleased with her more days of our marriage than she's been with me. I'm excited to head out to dinner with her this evening, look across the table and be thrilled with the woman that God has blessed me with.

Anyway, just some thoughts.
--Ben

Sarah's Story

This audio clip is from the teaching at SRC two weeks ago. My sister, Sarah, shared a fantastic experience that I thought should be shared again, and recorded in the hallowed halls of the blogosphere. Thanks again to Sarah for sharing this.


--Ben

God In The Great Outdoors

This Sunday is the next God In The Great Outdoors (Gitgo). I can't wait. This week's installment of the Fruit Of The Spirit is Kindness, and we're going to be serving the international fruit of hospitality, Pineapple.

Gitgo is just a great service because it is a change of pace. You know a change of pace and change of place equals change of perspective. I think that God can meet people in different ways, when we enjoy a service outside. I hope you'll be there and bring friends.

--Ben

Tired

Man, have you ever had one of those days when your gear is stuck in low? I was up this morning early to head out to Hagerstown, and have been yawning ever since. Last night we got a special invite out with friends from SRC, so we went and enjoyed a movie together. It was a ton of fun. We're so thankful for a church that is like a family of friends. But man could I use a nap.

--Ben

Screen On The Green Canceled

Screen On The Green has been canceled for this week. Details will follow at our weekend service.

--Ben

Breathing Easier

Dear Friends,
Thanks for your prayers. Livy is feeling much better now, and when I visited her this morning she was breathing much easier. They have not yet released her from the hospital, but she was enjoying playing with her cousins. She'll need to consult a Pediatric ENT Doctor to get everything figured out. Thanks so much for your prayers.

--Ben

Urgent Prayer Need *Update*

4:56 Livy has been admitted to the hospital and will stay overnight. Thanks for your continued prayer.

-----
My niece, Livy, has gone to the ER for an Asthma attack. Please pray for her. Prayer needs are updated HERE.

Thanks,
--Ben

Ariel

I've been so thankful over the last couple months to have Ariel, my sister, as an adjunct pastor at Severn River Church. She has brought some relief to my work, and been a great help to me in several projects around the church.

The reason that she is an adjunct pastor is that while she is an ordained minister, she is between ministry assignments right now. She served for many years as a foreign missionary, and has followed the Lord out of that position for now. It takes a great amount of faith to leave a career path simply because you've dedicated yourself to serve God in whatever way he leads you. Now she finds herself looking for the open door into the new field that He will lead her to.

We thought, "Why have her just sit in the seats on Sundays. Let's put her to work until she finds something else." She has interviewed for several jobs and today in fact has an interview (please pray for God's will to emerge).

But her situation has caused me to reflect on the matter of being and doing. We all do something. But God is always, abundantly more interested in our being; who we are. I received a letter this week from Missionary Jim Bennett, the director of the Center For Ministry To Muslims. It was handwritten, and included:

Dear Bro. Rainey,
Several weeks ago Ariel Rainey sent a gift ... and asked that your church receive missions credit for it...I wanted to express that she has made a wonderful impression in the places where she has served.
I was in Lyon, France not long after she had departed, and they were saddened that they were losing her. She is highly thought of - and spoken of- in the Middle East. May the Lord raise up many like her...

When I read that letter it spoke to me about a life that is lived being what God has called her to be, not caught up in doing whatever she does. We should all look to this great example to learn how we can more deeply be for God. Doing always follows being.

--Ben

Congratulations

I want to offer congratulations to Drew and Jenn Harrah on the birth of their first baby. Abbigail Cadence Harrah was born 8 lbs. 12 oz. 21 1/2 in. long at 2:28 am on July 13.

I'm so proud of this couple and thankful for their new little one.

--Ben

First Webinar

Today I'm participating in my first webinar. A Webinar is a seminar based online. So the speaker will give the presentation in Missouri, and I'll watch and listen from my computer. I can use VOIP technology to ask questions of the presenter or type questions into an instant message type of format.

The Webinar is specifically related to preparing the church for new regulations related to 403 (b) retirment plans, similar to a 401(k) plan, so you know this will be a stacked bunch of interesting.

--Ben

The Arundel House Of Hope

This morning I had the chance to visit the Arundel House Of Hope Day Center in Glen Burnie, MD. The trip was a chance to drop off a check from the collection we received last week, and while I was there I got to meet the director.

The collection of just over $100 was received as part of our outreach to the Severna Park Festival. We hired a clown to distribute balloon animals and asked the community to make a $1 donation for the House of Hope. I was very pleased with the response that I saw by community members that embraced the project.

When I arrived at the center I was welcomed into the directors office. He shared about the many avenues that this organization utilizes to serve the homeless of Anne Arundel County. They have several homes that serve as transition centers for those in drug recovery, a day center for people to receive mail and email, take showers, and interact socially, and even a new project called The Doughy Dog, a portable hot dog stand that employees people that were just last year in the winter relief program. The work they do is really great in helping those less fortunate receive the care they need and help put them on a track back to productive, fulfilling lives.

I was certainly thankful to partner with this group.

--Ben

Twitter: The Art Of Communication

I am on the computer quite a bit, and have a generational bent toward using technology in a beneficial way. I started emailing in the 90s, blogging, myspace, and facebook in the 2000s, and here on the doorstep of 010s I've signed up with Twitter. Now, in my defense, I do not spend nearly as much time on the social networking sites as many of my peers, but what I've found with Twitter is that I can fake it. Twitter is connected to Facebook, and now my blogger account so that with relatively little effort I can stay in touch with the virtual world.

My fondness for twitter has really increased of late as we've started using it as a key form of communication at Severn River Church. Email is dead to my generation with the exception of business applications. It is very rare to send a personal email anymore. In the words of one 19 year old, "Email is for old people." The mode of communication today is the text message which is basically an email that doesn't require an email address only a phone number. Everyone carries their inbox in their pocket. Twitter allows us to send messages and then distribute them to all followers of that feed. For instance, this Thursday the set list will go out to band members following srcband of songs we're playing for Sunday. Could other people, random people, strange people choose to follow it? Sure, but I don't know why they would. The key is getting our people to follow it, and it has improved communication 80%.

So now I've connected my blog posts to twitter as well. It's the new RSS as that goes.

--Ben

One More Compass Idea

One more thing that I picked up from Frank Potter. He said, "Keep the compass in your head, and a magnet in your heart."

--Ben

Live By Your Compass

Earlier this spring I had a meeting with Frank Potter and he shared a thought that I thought was brilliant. This morning I spent some time thinking about it, and thought I'd share it with you. He said, "Live by your compass, not your clock."

I fall prone to watching the clock, and it seems to always be stuck on "Now". I want to pastor a healthy, vibrant, and growing church -- now, have a larger bank account -- now, and live in my dream house --now. It seems that living by the clock keeps me frustrated, because it keeps my eyes on my plans. My plans are destined to fall short of my greatest potential.

The compass is a tool to make sure you're going in the right direction, walking the right path. It focuses on the end goal, the destination. It's the good and faithful principle of doing the right thing for long enough. My life is dedicated to the goal that God has for my life, and when I achieve that, I will have achieved my potential.

What do you live by? The compass or the clock?

--Ben

Did You Know?

Did you know that SRC has prayer on Sundays at 9:00 a.m.? Do you want to join us? Just show up on Sunday mornings and gather in Studio 101.

--Ben

The Activity Of God

This morning I arrived early to the office and began chronicling the journey that SRC has taken this year. One of the montras of the Church Life Cohort that I'm a part of is to discern the activity of God in one's church. That is measured against the 15 vital functions of the church. So this morning I made a list of the functions and looked back over the previous six months to discern what God has been doing among us. It is really interesting that progress moves at a rate in which we quickly become accustomed to changes and readjust a view of things that still need to change without considering where we've come. We tend to look at things in the moment as static, and ignore the dynamic nature of the past.

God has been doing some great things among us; goals that we set and are acheiving with His help. There, of course, is much that lies ahead, but much progress too.

--Ben

Weekend Wrap-up

Well, served up on one of the nicest 4th of July weekends, weatherwise, was a great weekend for us at Severn River Church. Thought I'd take a moment and replay the events in my mind:

• I went to a wedding rehearsal at a church in Linthicum. Turned out to be right up the street from Tina and Mike.
• Saturday morning I loaded up the stuff and headed up the road to set up for the Severna Park Festival outreach. I got everything setup, saw our volunteers arrive, met the clown, and then I had to bolt for the wedding. I returned at the end of the day in time to help tear down. It looked like it was a good day, an improvement over our first year, and a help in teaching us how to improve even further. Kudos to Pastor Ariel for heading it up.
  
• Each week we have people that come out to help setup on Saturday night. I was so thankful for Rob, Alma, Terry Scott, and Corie that came out to help me this weekend. It was a blessing to have their help on a holiday like that.
• Sunday morning was a great service. It started at 9:00 am with prayer. I want to invite you to come and join us for prayer pre-service from 9:00-9:30 or so. I was so thankful to be joined by a couple others this week. I also got to start a weekly prayer meeting with the band.
• Our guest speakers arrived a little later than they had hoped, but not even close to the latest we've had. They were friends of my parents from college so it was nice not only to host the Watt's but also my parents at the service. I also got to meet Tommy's grandmother who was delightful.
• The service was fantastic. I only got to do the hosting part, and then sat back and enjoyed the band and Ariel's conversation with the missionaries. It was very refreshing spiritually for me.

It was a busy weekend overall, but a good one and worthwhile in light of all that we did for God's kingdom. Thanks to all that made it possible.

--Ben

God In The Great Outdoors: Photos

Photos are now available from God In The Great Outdoors. CLICK HERE to visit them.

4th Of July Outreach

For several months we've been announcing, planning, and signing up volunteers for the 4th Of July Outreach this weekend. We are participating in the Severna Park Chamber of Commerce Festival.

This year we'll be setting up a booth and conducting our CONTACT surveys. But we're also very excited to have Buttons the Clown who will be tying balloons for children. While children are waiting we'll be asking parents for their help with the Survey. We'll also be distributing literature about the church and Screen On The Green, an outdoor outreach in neighborhoods this summer.

If you would like to volunteer, we can still use the help simply email Pastor Ariel (iamarainey at aol.com) or call me at 410.491.4314.

Thanks,
Ben

Bad News

I learned today that Harms and Associates has closed and gone bankrupt. This closing affects a couple of people connected to SRC. It is very sad to hear and indicative of the state of our economy.

I'll keep you posted with relevant information.

--Ben

A Face For Maury

Today I was at WalMart, shopping for some supplies for the outreach this weekend, when a man shouted me down. You know those moments when you're not sure if someone is talking to you, and you kinda look around unsure. That's what I was going through when he said, "I saw a guy that looked just like you on Maury this morning."

"Me?" I asked?

"Yeah, he looked just like you; beard and everything. He had two kids one was his, and the other one wasn't by him."

"Uh huh. Well, that's funny. Have a nice day." I concluded and walked away.

As I walked away a couple things occurred to me. First, I'm not sure that being a look alike for a guest on Maury Povich's show is a flattering notion. Second, I guess there really are people that watch Maury. Whoda thunk?

--Ben

The End In The Middle

This morning as I was reading my daily bible reading I finished the Bible. My plan called for Revelation 21-22. That's it. The end. Here I am in the middle of the year and I just read the end of the Bible. This reading plan is over a hundred years old, and it is my first year using it. I really love it, especially since it is on my iphone. Each day I just open the app and read the passages. My Bible reading is far from over.

I've been reading the Bible this year in The Message, a modern language version. I've enjoyed it very much. As John, the revelator, is in the presence of the angel that is showing him the new heaven and new earth the angel says, "Don't put it back on the shelf"; the scroll of all that is happening. In the NIV it says, "do not seal up the words of this prophecy of this book, because the time is near."

I've been moving over here into the new office, and that has required me to bring a bookshelf from home, but only some of the books that were on it. Now there are stacks of books on my patio that need to be stored, but I haven't done it yet. The difficulty comes in picking which books to bring and which to leave. I picked books that I intend to take off the shelf, but there are a couple books that I keep off the shelf. One is my Bible. I keep that on my desk or somewhere around my desk. The other is my journal. I have journals on the shelf, but the one that contains the present record of my life stays off my shelf. The third one is always the book that I'm reading. Right now I'm reading A.W.Tozer's The Pursuit Of God. These books stay off the shelf because they have such regular and imediate application to my life. The angel after showing John all around heaven and the eternal picture of the end of time says, "don't put this one back on the shelf." God's word is meant to be with us, in us, and even working on us. Don't keep in on the shelf.

--Ben