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The Mill
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Last Friday morning men gathered for the first Mill meeting. The vision for these weekly meetings for men is to have “iron sharpen iron” as we gather to hear God’s word and pray together. We believe that men are called to set the pace spiritually for our church and so we’re asking God to stir fresh zeal for him in our hearts.
We’ve been getting some encouraging feedback since last Friday’s meeting. One man wrote, “I have always enjoyed having men get together to worship and share their hearts with each other. That is real manhood!! What a blessing to see Dads standing next to their sons.”
And a wife of one of the guys wrote and said, “Just this morning, my husband David came home from the Mill and began telling me about how he was so excited about participating in this gathering of guys each week. He was running a little late and had a lot on his mind as he walked into the church this morning, but as soon as he heard the worship coming out of the Events Center (they were singing I Come by the Blood) he was reminded of what a holy God he was approaching and was so blessed just to slow down, and take time to focus on what God has done for him through Christ. He said it was short and sweet, but packed with truth.”
For those of you men who came, thank you for being there. I would encourage men of all ages not only to participate this Friday but also to bring a friend. This is for all men—not just members of the church. Coffee will be served starting at 6:15, as we’ll be starting the meeting promptly at 6:30. Men, I hope to see you there.
July 15 2008 at 12:02 pm
The Artists Behind the Murals
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QUESTION: “I love the new web site. I had a few questions. What were the names of the two artists who painted the beautiful murals for the Sunday sermons? I know the last one was done by Zak Parsons. What was the name of the first artist? Thanks for continually blessing our family with sound teaching which is relevant to our daily walk with the Lord.”—Amy Gurtshaw
ANSWER: Amy, thanks for your question. I’m really excited about the murals we’re doing on Sundays to accompany the “Don’t Waste Your…” series. When our Sunday team planned this teaching series we thought that giving artists in our church the chance to create pieces of art based on each topic would enable them to put their artistic gifts to work to serve the church and “practice” what we’re preaching about.
This past week as you mentioned, Zak Parsons did the mural for humor pictured above. Zak studied at The School of Art and Design at Montgomery College and enjoys doing grafitti and abstract art, the Dada style and collage work.
The first week’s image (pictured below) was created by Hannah Kim. Hannah is also on staff at the church as our graphic designer. She studied at Rhode Island School of Design with a concentration in Industrial Design, working as a product designer before making the switch to graphic design to work at the church. She enjoys drawing from life and nature, digital art and designing jewelry on the side. All the design you see on printed pieces like our handouts, invitations to series and ministry logos are created by Hannah. She just redesigned our weekly announcements, which I really like. She’s also coordinating all the artists who are creating murals. (Note: if you’re an artist, please drop Hannah a note so that we’re aware of you for future projects!)
I hope you’ll enjoy the upcoming murals. We’ll post them here each week. Please free to post a comment for Hannah or Zak, as well as the other artists participating in coming weeks.
July 14 2008 at 11:00 am
Applying “Don’t Waste Your Humor”
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Each Monday on the blog, our goal is to provide a few “application questions” based on the Sunday sermon that can be used to help further consider and apply the message. These could be used to spark further discussion for a family, a small group, or be used for reflection in personal devotions.
Yesterday in a message entitled “Don’t Waste Your Humor,” C.J. Mahaney helped us consider from God’s word how we can use the gift of humor to generate joy, cultivate humility, and serve others. You can listen online or download it here.
Here are questions prepared by pastor Brian Chesemore:
1. In C.J.‘s first point, “Humor Generates Joy,” he reminded us that godly humor is a means of transferring joy to a sorrowful soul. Can you recount a recent time where you experienced a burden lifted by the gift of humor?
2. In his second point, C.J. taught us that God uses humor as a means of weakening pride and cultivating humility. Considering the quirks and limitations of our humanity, opportunities abound to laugh at ourselves. How are you intentionally cultivating humility through the means of self-deprecating humor?
3. Given the relationship of humor and humility we should be able to laugh when we are the well-intended object of another’s humor. How do you respond when those who love you draw attention to you in a humorous but less-than-flattering way?
4. Using Ephesians 4:29 as our guide we see that humor, like all speech, is meant to build others up and give grace to those who hear. Are there ways that your humor enables others to experience the encouragement and care of God? Are there any ways in which your humor is an expression of corrupting speech?
And here’s a great quote C.J. shared from Terry Lindvall’s book, Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis:
Laughter is a divine gift to the human who is humble. A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego….Only the truly humble belong to this kingdom of divine laughter…Humor and humility should keep good company. Self deprecating humor can be a healthy reminder that we are not the center of the universe, that humility is our proper posture before our fellow humans as well as before almighty God…“I suppose,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “we should mind humiliation less if we were but humbler.”
If you didn’t get to hear the message, I’d encourage you to listen. And please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you how God used this message to affect the way you think about the gift of humor.
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On a side note, yesterday I prayed for and said goodbye to two families—the Caslers and the Nams—who were having their “last Sunday” at Covenant Life. These families have both been long-term, dearly loved members of our church and we’re going to miss them greatly. God has called them to other states because of jobs, and we know God is going to bless them and bless others through them in their new local churches. John and Chung-Hae and Chuck and Ashley, we are very grateful for you!
July 12 2008 at 4:55 pm
Sunday Preview: Don’t Waste Your Humor
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I’m looking forward to worshiping with you tomorrow morning.
Pastor Mike Bradshaw will be leading our time of singing and our celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Every time we take the bread and cup together in remembrance of our Savior’s death for us is a special privilege. I encourage you to prepare your heart in anticipation of that time—confessing any known sin to the Lord and being reconciled to any brother or sister you’ve sinned against.
Also, C.J. Mahaney will continue the new series we launched last week with a message entitled “Don’t Waste Your…Humor.” C.J. summarizes his message this way:
The Bible is a serious book about serious topics like God, sin, the cross, heaven and hell. But within the pages of Holy Scripture there are humorous references and illustrations. Humor is a gift from God and, when humbly and wisely used, a means of transferring truth and creating joy. Tomorrow’s message will address the appropriate use of humor for the purpose of edifying others and ultimately glorifying God.
There’s no one I know who loves to laugh more than C.J. (and who is more quick to laugh at himself). C.J. really views humor as a gift from God and an opportunity to glorify God. I’ve been talking to C.J. for a number of years about doing a message on humor, and I’m thrilled we’ll finally have the opportunity tomorrow morning to learn from him on this subject.
Have a great Saturday. See you tomorrow!
July 9 2008 at 9:00 pm
Welcome to the new site.
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It’s been a couple years in the making, and I’m excited to say, “it’s here!” 
Welcome to our church’s newly designed website and this blog. (Aaah, just what the world needs—another blog!) Please poke around the new website and let us know what you think. I think you’ll find the resource section particularly useful. And members, you’re going to love the new photo directory!
But let me tell you about the vision for this blog.
On a weekly basis, my goal here will be to share a bit of the unique perspective I have as a pastor in seeing the many ways that God is at work in our midst. So I want to highlight how he’s speaking to us through his word preached, what the pastors are thinking and praying about and where God’s grace is at work in different people and ministries. The Bible talks about the eternal and heavenly significance of what God is doing in and through his church (see Ephesians 3:10), and I hope that this blog, in a small way, will reflect this reality.
The audience I’m writing for is local—members of this local church and neighbors in our local community. So if you’re reading from Idaho, that’s great but—no offense—I won’t be writing for you. My scope is intentionally limited. I’m not trying to be “the blog for all nations.” Rather, I just want to talk about how the gospel of Jesus Christ is transforming lives in this town and this church family.
I also want this to be a place where you can add your voice to the topics and themes discussed. Now if you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet or other blogs, you know the comments section can often get a little hairy. So let me explain how we’ll handle comments here. Comments are welcome, but we will moderate them. So while all comments will be read, we won’t post every one. Thanks for understanding the need for this. Also, just like the blog itself, I’d like to keep comments primarily from locals—for people visiting the church and for members here. Finally, I ask that comments stay on the topic of the post.
All that being said, I’d love to get your feedback on the new site. The staff has been working so hard to get this ready for you. Please leave a comment telling them what you like.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to interacting with you as we celebrate God’s grace at work in our church.
July 8 2008 at 4:51 am
Ryan James: Web Designer
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Ryan James came to work at Covenant Life a little over two years ago. He and his wife Jenny, a skilled photographer, have made a wonderful contribution to this new church website and many other projects the Communications team has tackled.
Ryan has a profound passion for the Web and information architecture as well as an acute visual sense and graphic design skills. While he would say he’s not a “real” programmer, he is a great marriage of left brain and right. He really “gets” the programming/technical side, but also has a strong artistic sensibility and temperament.
I am grateful not only for Ryan’s skills, but for where he’s decided to use them and why. At age 22, newly married and with a growing desire to put Christ at the center of his vocation, Ryan reached out to New Attitude about supporting their website. The conversation led to a radical departure from the typical Web designer career path—a job where he would split his time between a church (Covenant Life) and Sovereign Grace Ministries (where he works on the New Attitude website). I am so grateful Ryan made the choice to move to Gaithersburg. In doing so, he intentionally chose to invest in God’s kingdom over immediate career advancement and financial gain.