Invites Made Easy

NEXT STEPS THIS WEEK: Invite a friend to Friends Day

We have only 6 more days left until Friends Day. I want to encourage you this week to invite all of your un-churched friends and family to Friends Day. Check out this DID YOU KNOW:

DID YOU KNOW: Building relationships in a Christian community is a strong motivator for coming to church. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed want to “be around those with similar values” and 31 percent would consider returning to church “to make friends.” Finally, a similar number would return “to make a difference/help others” (30 percent) in their community.

Recently I found some statistics about Americans and invitations to church. Take a close look at #1 and let this motivate us all to invite people to Clearview on Friends Day.

1. Over half of Americans say they would visit a church if they receive a personal invitation from a family member, friend or neighbor.

2. The latest LifeWay Research survey found that people are most willing to hear about a local congregation through a family member (63 percent) and through a friend or neighbor from the church (56 percent)

3. According to one survey, 48 percent of Americans are willing to receive information about a local congregation through an informative ad in the newspaper, 46 percent are willing through an outdoor sign or billboard, and 45 percent are willing through letters mailed to the home.

All this news should be great motivation to invite people THIS SUNDAY. The bible says “God has set eternity in the hearts of men”. God is already doing the work for us. We just have to capitalize on His leading.

One way you can invite people is by using our website and the Invite a Friend page to invite a friend by email. You can check it out here.

I will see you Sunday and I am looking forward to God doing great things.

Sincerely,
Rob

P.S. – I have included a funny video below on how NOT to invite people to church. Enjoy!

You’ve Got Style 3 – Sunday, October 25

TAKE THE YOU’VE GOT STYLE TEST HERE

Next Steps This Week:
1. Listen to God Questions Part 2 – Is the Bible True (Click Here)
2. Search www.christianbook.com for an audio or print Bible that fits your style. (Click Here)
3. Take the You’ve Got Style Test (Click Here)

Our theme verse for this series is James 4:8a – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” So how do we draw near to God? There are 3 distinct ways that I believe we draw near to God: prayer, bible reading, and Godly relationships. In this weeks message we explored Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Listen to the message here)

So how do we let the word of Christ (The Bible) dwell in us? Well, that depends on who you are! Over the past 3 weeks we have been working hard to discover our own styles of drawing near to God (See all the blog posts below). This week we explore how each person can effectively draw near to God through our own style of bible reading.

Naturalist – Get a bigger bible that has notes and a concordance. You will need it for all of your outdoor time. You can read your bible in an outdoor setting. You can also download a bible on your phone so that you will always have it with you. You should also read scriptures on nature and the glory of God revealed.

Sensate – The setting is important. Read in places like coffee shops or while you are baking something. You may also try reading out loud and lighting a candle. A good start may be to also have the Bible on video.

Traditionalist – You need to study the WHY behind the scriptures and its traditions. A good study would also be the Christian and Jewish calendars. WARNING: Don’t go to the same passages all the time and spend some time in the New Testament.

Asectics – The time of the day is important to you. You must have a quiet place and setting and turn off all phones and pagers.

Activist / Caregiver – You will need to be disciplined in your quiet time and get the Bible on CD or Ipod. You should study verses that have to do with God’s caring nature. WARNING: You tend to do works of service with or without the Bible. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly before doing acts of kindness.

Enthusiast – You should dive into psalms and songs in the Bible. WARNING: Don’t be too emotional and leave the bible study behind if you don’t have one day of great study time.

Contemplative – Mix up your routine a little and change translations. Always ask yourself, “What will be different today?”

Intellectual – You must dig deep into research of the Bible. PLEASE KNOW: It’s not all about head knowledge, it’s about the heart as well. Find a bible study software that you like. Some suggestions are: http://www.biblegateway.com/ or http://www.studylight.org/

You’ve Got Style 2 – Sunday, October 18

Take the You’ve Got Style Test Here

Next Steps This Week:
1. Read Matthew Chapters 4-7
2. Take the You’ve Got Style Test here…
3. Invite an un-churched friend to Friends Day on November 15

We are in the middle of a terrific sermon series titled You’ve Got Style. The basis of our sermon series in James 4:8a where it says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” The Bible specifically emphasizes three functions of a Christian and how we are to draw near to God. They are: prayer, Bible reading, and Godly relationships. No matter your style of prayer, Bible reading, or relationships, this we are told; “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

In this past message of You’ve Got Style we discussed how God came to destroy the mundane, ritualistic, and man-formed prayers and ask us to pray in a different way. You can listen to the message here, or the scripture is found in Matthew 6. He ask us to pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Although this seems ritualistic in itself, Jesus is really asking us to pray this prayer as a prayer of surrender. “Not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus is asking us to pray that God’s will be done and His kingdom agenda will prevail instead of our selfish, me-driven, desires. So how do we do that? We need to develop a more efficient and consistent time of prayer so that we can start to take on the mind, character, and qualities of God. THEN, we begin to get focused on His agenda and not our own.

By taking you the You’ve Got Style Test above you have determined what style of personality you have when it comes to relating to God. Below I have outlined some ways that each personality trait can draw closer to God. I encourage you to take your style, evaluate it, and use the suggestions below to draw near to God. Enjoy!

1. Naturalist – Pray outside or on the porch
2. Sensate – Pray out loud and often change your environment
3. Traditionalist – Be careful about praying all the same prayers all the time. Mix it up.
4. Ascetic – Get alone in a spot with no noise.
5. Activist – Pray to God; “Your will be done.” Focus on what God can do through you.
6. Caregiver – Pray to God: “Your will be done through me.”
7. Enthusiast – Don’t substitute public worship for private worship. Get alone so you can get loud.
8. Contemplative – Journal! Use music to motivate your prayer time.
9. Intellectual – Pray out loud. Clear your mind. Slow down.

Sunday Wrap Up for October 11 – You’ve Got Style

Next Steps This Week:

1. Take the You’ve Got Style Test HERE and print / or record the results and bring to Clearview next Sunday, October 18. We will take a poll in the Sunday service.

2. Memorize James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you”

3. Be at Clearview next Sunday for Part II of You’ve Got Style

TAKE THE YOU’VE GOT STYLE TEST HERE
(Print and / or record the results and bring them next Sunday so we can take a poll in the Sunday service)

NOTE: You can see staff results at the bottom of this article.

Sunday we talked about how through the sacrifice of Jesus, God has called all of us to draw near to him. Look what Hebrews 10:19-22 says:

Hebrews 10:19 – Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
Heb. 10:20 – by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
Hebrews 10:21 – and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Hebrews 10:22 – let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Let me paraphrase: SINCE, all the rituals of the Old Testament have been broken, out of a sincere heart, draw near to God. Once Jesus broke the ritualistic habits of the Old Testament he left it up to us on how to “draw near”. Some draw near in nature, some draw near by music, some draw near by serving, and some draw near by admiring His holiness. We all have our own style. No matter how you do it, the fact is that we are all called to “Draw near to God”. No matter our style, we have to draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith in Jesus (Verse 22).

Point to Remember: Although there is only one path to God through Jesus, there are multiple expressions on that path. JUST DRAW NEAR!

Over the next 3 weeks, we will talk about the 3 ways we draw near to God. We can draw close to him through prayer, reading His word, and relationships with others.

NOTE: God gives us the what (draw near) and leaves the how (your style) up to us.

I can’t wait to hear your results in the service next week. See you soon.

Rob

You’ve Got Style Staff Results

Rob Huffman – Contemplative
Kimberly Huffman – Caregiver
Colleen Porter – Contemplative
Ali Gilbert– Caregiver
Jennifer Zabel – Caregiver
Alex Zabel – Intellectual
William Gilbert – Contemplative
Amber Keeney – Intellectual