Blog

  It’s that time of year when stores are filled with pumpkins and ghosts, spiders and skeletons. School will have a day to dress up and bring candy. It can be challenging as a Christian to decide the right approach to take this season. Whichever side of the fence you end up on, it is always fun to find something you can celebrate. Monday, October 31^st is Reformation Day and it’s a great opportunity to look at church history and its impact on our life today.

Reformation Day celebrates the significant religious reforms of the church, started by Martin Luther. Luther was a German monk who realized that the church practices of paying for indulgences for forgiveness was un-biblical and that Christ had already paid the debt for our sins. He stirred debate by posting his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Castle Church on the eve of All Saint’s Day.  His theses and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press spurred what would become the Protestant Reformation. Despite every flawed historical person, the culmination of Luther’s 95 theses and his translation of the New Testament into German enabled the common person to read the Bible.  What a gift in church history to read the Word of God for yourself!

The Reformers would correct doctrine and teachings of the church which were not in line with the Bible. They developed what is known as the Five Solas. Sola is Latin for alone. It was paramount that the church once again stand upon the sufficiency of grace, the sufficiency of Christ, the sufficiency of Scripture, etc.  The Five Solas are:

Sola Gratia

(Saved by Grace Alone)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Sola Fide

(Faith Alone)

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. – Romans 3:28

Solus Christus

(Christ Alone)

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus – 1 Timothy 2:5

Sola Scriptura

(Scripture Alone)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness – 2 Timothy 3:16

Soli Deo Gloria

(Glory to God Alone)

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:36

  Some ideas for celebration could include more reading on Luther, and other reformers such as John Knox or John Calvin and a mini-dig into church history.  You could sit down to a candlelit meal of German Renaissance food with meat, and potato salad, cheese, vegetables, bread and fresh cider. Have children dress up in Renaissance era costumes and eat gummy worms for Luther’s “Diet of Worms” (his assembly in the German city of Worms, in which he refused to recant his beliefs and was declared a heretic.) A printing press craft would be a fun project or you can click here for a free coloring page of the Five Solas. However you choose to celebrate, I hope you find joy and reason to rejoice this autumn season.

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

As we take time to pray for our pastor we also want to give him a word of encouragement!  Sometimes Sunday mornings and other times fly by too fast and we don't always get the chance to say what is on our heart. So our congregation has gotten together to write Frank notes of appreciation for his truth-filled messages and for his love and kindness. Here are just a handful of things that have been said-

"I can think of several ways I’ve seen you model goodness, kindness, devotion, loyalty, lovingkindness, mercy, and faithfulness – a reflection (even if a dim one) of our Father’s incomparable covenant lovingkindness towards us.  I’m especially grateful for the way you faithfully minister the Word to us in your preaching, discipling, and leadership behavior."

"I appreciate your passion for God's Word. I love your humble, teachable spirit. Your corny, wry sense of humor is also lovable, and is almost as corny and wry as my own. Your compassion for others inspires me."

"I personally have benefited from our constant interactions--As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another (Pr 27:17)--I am a far better disciple of Christ because of you."

"Praise You for his humbleness and steadfastness. He nourishes, guides, and protects us through the wisdom You give him to speak Your Word in truth."

"We love and appreciate you and your pastoral excellence and leadership and Mountain Christian Church."

"We are so blessed by your faithful and steadfast love for our church body. Your Bible-centered preaching has encourages our family in several ways and it has challenged and enhanced our personal walk and time with the Lord."

"You serve our body in so many ways- it's hard to thank you for all of them!"

"Thank you, Frank, for trustworthy support through various trials over the years."

"Thank you for real leadership in our community of Believers; it is both refreshing and appreciated!"

The whole month of October is Pastor Appreciation Month and specifically, October 9th is Pastor Appreciation Day. Can we join together this month and cover our very own Pastor Frank in prayer?

1. Pray for Your Pastor’s Daily Heart-Connect with Jesus

The single most decisive factor in your pastor’s life and ministry is his personal Jesus-time. Just as the epicenter of Jesus’ ministry was His daily time with His Father.

A pastor faces two dangers here. That his time in the Word will become more head than heart, more informational than transformational. Second, Bible study can drift from being about his soul to being about his sermon. And, “devotions” can become more about being with a book than being with a person.

2. Pray for Your Pastor’s Priorities

So many demands and expectations. It's so easy for a pastor to be driven by the urgent while neglecting the important. It’s a constant battle to sort out the needs of the people, the needs of your family, the needs of your soul. Neglecting of any of these can ultimately spell disaster.

3. Pray for Your Pastor's Protection from Enemy Attack

Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat. He could say that to any shepherd of God’s people. It was in a passage Peter wrote to “elders” that he warned, “The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ). Of course. Bring down the shepherd and it’s open season on the sheep.

4. Pray for a Pastor's Marriage and Kids

If the enemy can’t get to the pastor, he’ll work on dividing, detouring, and destroying his family. There’s nothing like conflicted or collapsing family relationships to rob a pastor of his strength, his credibility, even his ministry.

5. Pray for “Fresh Manna” to feed God’s People

Not recycled sermons or passionless preaching. Pray that each time your pastor teaches or preaches, he will have something that has come from God’s heart, through your pastor’s heart—and straight to the hearts of the people. Something he can be excited about! God’s Word is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12). The preaching of it should be, too.

6. Pray for That Life-Changing Combination of Courage and Compassion

Courage to clearly proclaim what God says as the final word on any subject. With so many believers being increasingly shaped by their culture more than their Christianity, it takes pastoral courage to stand firmly on God’s Word...at a time when it’s getting more and more lonely to do so.

7. Pray for Encouragement

Pray for your pastor to get the encouragement he needs—and too often lacks. Those who deal with pastors all the time consistently report a crisis of discouragement. Constant criticism. Failure feelings. Disappointed dreams. Lack of visible results. Lack of appreciation and gratitude.

- Hutchcraft, Ron. (2022, October 04) "7 Powerful Prayers for Pastor Appreciation Month" https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/powerful-prayers-for-pastor-appreciation-month.html

We are excited that Scott and Julie Peterson are stepping in as our new Wood Ministry Leaders! 

  Scott and I are very excited about serving in the wood ministry for MCC.  We have been married for 21 years and have three kids, 17, 14, and 11 – homeschooling each of them since kindergarten (Julie is the real teacher in “we”).  Scott has worked for Sandia National Labs for 14 years – 12 years in CA and 2 years in NM.  We really enjoy living in the East Mountains, love to hike, the boys mountain bike, and the girls love playing games together.   

  Our biggest desire is to serve the Lord.  We have tried to find ways to serve together in every church we have attended - when the kids were small it was nursery, then Sunday school, and now we are excited to start this new journey together of serving the Lord as a family with the wood ministry at MCC.  What really stood out as we became involved in the wood ministry is the focus on ministry.  MCC has done a great job of establishing a ministry outreach that is much more than just a firewood service; it is an opportunity to represent Christ in our community and serve those around us through meeting physical needs.

  MCC supports four missionaries in Ethiopia who work in areas largely inhabited by unreached people groups. Please pray for them. Some of these areas also suffer with minimal food and water, with conflicts between tribes, and with persecution from muslim or Ethiopian Orthodox
groups. It is a privilege for us to support these four men, their families, and the preaching of the gospel.
  Pastor Tesfaye is our main contact in-country, and he also oversees the training of pastors and church leaders. Please pray for him as he starts a new training cohort in Bale for leaders in a very muslim dominated community. Tesfaye remains faithful despite many heavy burdens and
spiritual attack.
  Please pray for Orano, one of the training graduates, who ministers to church leaders in Konso. The area went many weeks without power because of tribal fighting, and has also been experiencing drought for 3 years now. Food is scarce.

  Finally, rejoice and pray for one believing brother (pictured above) who was left in a village while many fled to escape tribal violence.  He waited on the Lord. After many times hiding in his house, now people are coming back to that village. Much evangelism is taking place, offering the hope of Christ.