Wedgwood’s auditorium will soon begin to feel like hell.

A play on words? Not really. We’ll have to shut off the video and just read Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” because with a room full of people, it will get into the upper 90s or higher. To address this, we must raise 40K by April 30 if we want to have Air Conditioning for the summer.

Every campus has a similar boat to float this summer. Eastside is raising funds for their new building, Shoreline will be raising funds for a long-term facility, West Seattle had their boiler break and need to raise funds to fix it, and Downtown just barely got launched and has needed upgrades. All in all, Wedgwood has got one of the smaller ticket to address. The Wedgwood Campus Pastors are dropping the first chunks into the kitty to lead the congregation in this endeavor – not to boast, but to lead by example as scripture instructs. We’re committed to this congregation and believe God has grand plans to help us template what it means to be a smaller, more familial campus which will likely be what many future campuses will operate like. By God’s grace, we are pioneers.

That said, 40 established WW Campus households could drop 1K and solve the issue. Or, if every attending adult dropped $150, we’d also have it licked. Naturally, as some are attending and uncertain of their faith and/or church home, it will all have to fall somewhere in between as those with much and those with little give sacrificially above and beyond regular giving. The goal is to have all given or pledged by the All-Member Meeting on April 21st, with a final deadline of April 30.

Please pray not just our established families dig deep, but that EVERY member prays, sacrifices, and does their part, as we pool together for the first major practical hurdle we face as a church family. Pray that people also recognize the goal is not Air Conditioning or their own comfort, but the advance of the gospel as we make the space hospitable for the guests (and fellow brothers and sisters) that witness and participate in the worship of Jesus in our space.

The good news is we don’t even need the old prop “thermometer” for the fundraising campaign. The auditorium IS the thermometer.

We’ve been blessed with a versatile space and had an easy start from a practical perspective – unlike Downtown, Eastside, Shoreline, etc. In fact, our general budget will be subsidized this year by some of the wealthier campuses with less overhead so we are loved and cared for by members who don’t even attend. My concern as a pastor is that people can easily have taken this for granted. Please pray that everyone who calls WW their congregation and enjoys the many benefits it has afforded us fully realize it is “afforded” by how we each steward our time, talents and treasure. All of it, after all, belongs to our good King.

(FYI – All checks or other forms of donation for this must be properly designated for the “Wedgwood Building Fund”.)

Flames provided courtesy of freefoto.com

Rotating through different project stations, families can build cardboard sculptures, paint, make collages and participate in a group mural. Each station will have a brief lesson that illustrates how a particular project relates to Jesus and the Bible. Children will be given the opportunity to “tithe” a piece of their work to help beautify the children’s ministry space…a great lesson in giving of our time and talents. During lunch, Children’s Ministry director Deacon Eric Stark will give a brief talk about how we are one body in Christ.

This will be a wonderful opportunity for families to create, learn and just enjoy one another’s company. We highly encourage you to invite your friends and neighbors! This event will be from 11am-1pm with lunch provided by our wonderful hospitality team. You won’t want to miss it!

Why do we need discipline when Bill and Ted, Wayne and Garth, Napoleon Dynamite all came out on top? I was raised to believe the goof-off makes good, gets the girl, and saves the world! I just have to be good at video games and I’ll be The Last Starfighter and save the earth from the Kodan Armada. Besides, this is biblical… as a Christian I’m saved by grace, not my works, right? Jesus VALIDATES being a slacker! There’s no reason to be disciplined…

Right?

As we launched the Campus this last fall, we kicked off our live preaching with “A Life Marked by Prayer” anchored in Colossians 4:2-6. I felt led to get us founded and grounded on Jesus in conversant communication with our Creator. At year’s end, we hit “Put to Death, Put to Life” in Colossians 3:1-17 with an admonition to strip away idolatry and sin and put on the things of God. This is marked by prayer and petition for God to transform us and continue to sanctify us by His Spirit, but involves both prayer and discipline – God’s discipline, self-discipline, and interactive discipline as a body and church.

Our third campus-specific sermon focused on redeeming our understanding of discipline so it is not a dirty word but a highlight of our life and relationship with Jesus as scripture dictates. Although a timeless message, as we headed into Easter and a subsequent series on our doctrine and the “discipled life” in the spring, it was a needed lead-in as a newer campus establishing mission.

Using Hebrews 12 as an anchor text, we look at running the race God has given us, the Greek and Hebrew words for “discipline”, why we misunderstand and reject discipline not only because of our individual sin, but also our western culture, and how God’s discipline impacts us directly, through our church family, and through our leaders.

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” – Hebrews 12:5b-6

A Life Marked by Discipline
preached by Pastor James Harleman

Listen right here by clicking the play button above.

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