Just returned from my watch at the Bible Reading Marathon for our community. There is a portable tent set up on the top steps of City Hall, along with a lectern that's equipped with a P.A. system. You see, our church has had the Midnight to 3 am shift for years. This shift is not for the weak of heart or those prone to snoozing. This shift demands commitment to keep God's Word being read continuously from the steps of City Hall. I'm proud of our guys and for our shift captain, Mike.
Tonight I read from Luke Chapters 17 to 20. I am always amazed at the power of God's Word that is being read each minute of the day. It is like time capsules that are being released into the atmosphere of our city. Call it a fresh air machine. Cleaning out the junk and leaving the simplicity of God's Word to revive, refresh and renew. Truth that is streaming into our city, whether people are awake or not. The Bible says that God's Word will not return void!
There are about 15 to 20 churches that cooperate in this venture yearly. People from all different walks of life are involved in this campaign. It culminates with the National Day of Prayer Meeting on May 1st.
"Father God, I ask that you bless the City of Columbus. Bless our city leaders, city council members, firefighters, policemen, medical professionals, educators, churches, pastors, students, judges, lawyers, business owners, company employees, and all the citizens of this great city. May we experience the touch of heaven. Let us cry out to you for revival. Lord, revive us again. We confess our sins before you. We ask that you forgive us and cleanse us from all iniquity. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen."
After I left the "midnight shift" I passed the baton on to my youth pastor, Pastor Joel. Then Don was waiting on deck for his shift too!
Let's all do our part to bring the fresh, clean air to America....because America needs God!!
Doing my part. Love,
Pastor Andreasen
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friends!
Yesterday we sponsored a FRIEND DAY here @ CFA. It was a great day with about 25 special guests that joined us for our morning service. These friends were invited by members of our congregation. Tammy and I were thrilled to have several of our friends in church with us as well. Good to know that everybody needs a friend.
The Bible says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” - Prov. 27:17. Are you brightening the countenance of your friends? Are you joyfully giving into the relationship with your friends, rather than just drawing out? Bless your friends today.
Have you met the greatest friend of all? JESUS!! "A man of many friends will come to ruin but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." - Prov. 18:24 (Darby). That friend is Jesus Christ. Let me share my friend with you. I know that He will have room for one more on his list of "friends." In fact, the list grows every second of the day.
One more thing - you don't need a scheduled Friend Day to bring your friends to church. Why not just keep inviting your friends to one of our services until they come? I'm sure they will appreciate it!
Here's from "your friend."
Have a blessed Monday!
Love,
Pastor Andreasen
The Bible says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” - Prov. 27:17. Are you brightening the countenance of your friends? Are you joyfully giving into the relationship with your friends, rather than just drawing out? Bless your friends today.
Have you met the greatest friend of all? JESUS!! "A man of many friends will come to ruin but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." - Prov. 18:24 (Darby). That friend is Jesus Christ. Let me share my friend with you. I know that He will have room for one more on his list of "friends." In fact, the list grows every second of the day.
One more thing - you don't need a scheduled Friend Day to bring your friends to church. Why not just keep inviting your friends to one of our services until they come? I'm sure they will appreciate it!
Here's from "your friend."
Have a blessed Monday!
Love,
Pastor Andreasen
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Biking it!
Last year on Father's Day I received an awesome gift from my lovely wife - a brand new 21 speed bicycle! I love it. This bike is a beauty...plus it has a comfortable seat too. We've been all over Columbus biking as the kids and I have been on family excursions.Recently we've ventured out again on our bikes. But this time we are starting from a different location (remember we moved late last year). We are farther away from the city bike trails, which are absolutely fantastic. However, we still get around and bike for miles on city roads and sidewalks!
This past week I was out again with two of my kids when one of the pedals of my bike came off. Now, I was a couple of miles from home and I had one pedal and one empty crank shaft. Talk about a difficult ride without the left pedal. There was no way for me to screw the pedal in (later I learned it was the wrong side pedal and had worked itself out). Have you ever tried to ride your bike with only one pedal? Let me tell you it's pretty hard. I managed to get home with the help of my son pulling me along, plus trying to maneuver the shaft with my foot as well.
But now the bike is in the shop! It needs new crankshafts, new pedals and some fine tuning. It won't be long before you see us out on the streets biking it as a family again.
My experience with one pedal reminds me of the subject of faith without works. One pedal by itself just doesn't cut it. But when you put them together and work in tandem, positive progress is made. Yesterday I preached a message titled, "Producing Good Fruit." It was in my series of messages in our TAG 500 Campaign and dealt with the subject of sharing.
Listen to these verses from James 2:14-18,
"What use is it, my brothers, for a man to say that he has faith, if he does nothing? will such a faith give him salvation? If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food, And one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warm and full of food; but you do not give them the things of which their bodies have need, what profit is there in this? Even so faith without works is dead. But a man may say, You have faith and I have works; let me see your faith without your works, and I will make my faith clear to you by my works." (BBE)
Let's put them together - left pedal with the right pedal; faith plus good works! This equals a powerful and positive Campaign of Compassion. I'm tagging...how about you?
Blessings from your 2-pedal pastor.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Yes, we felt it too!
You might be wondering if the 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop and homes in Cincinnati reached us here in Columbus, Indiana. The answer is YES!
The quake hit just before 5:37 a.m. and was centered six miles from West Salem, Illinois, and 45 miles from Evansville, Indiana. It was felt in such distant cities as Milwaukee, Des Moines, and Atlanta, nearly 400 miles to the southeast.
My wife and I heard the sound...wondered what it was...went roaming through the house...and heard the china rattling too! (In fact, I initially thought the cat got caught in our master closet and was making sounds to get out : - )
I received an email from a student in Evansville, Indiana who slept through it all! Plus, my mother in Nixa, Missouri also felt the same tremors. Wow - this thing had some extensions to it!
At least there were no broken china plates - all seem to be intact!
Have a blessed day! Love,
Pastor Don Andreasen
The quake hit just before 5:37 a.m. and was centered six miles from West Salem, Illinois, and 45 miles from Evansville, Indiana. It was felt in such distant cities as Milwaukee, Des Moines, and Atlanta, nearly 400 miles to the southeast.
My wife and I heard the sound...wondered what it was...went roaming through the house...and heard the china rattling too! (In fact, I initially thought the cat got caught in our master closet and was making sounds to get out : - )
I received an email from a student in Evansville, Indiana who slept through it all! Plus, my mother in Nixa, Missouri also felt the same tremors. Wow - this thing had some extensions to it!
At least there were no broken china plates - all seem to be intact!
Have a blessed day! Love,
Pastor Don Andreasen
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
REMC
It was a first! Last night I attended the annual meeting of the Bartholomew County REMC. Since we moved to our new home last year we are on the REMC electric utility rather than the city utility. Basically, it is the rural electric membership corporation for the county in which we reside.
At the annual meeting we elected new officers and committee members, received the annual report, voted on amendments to the articles of incorporation, listened to the treasurer's report and heard about pertinent business items for the cooperative. (Yes, there was some rankering going on as well!) It was interesting to see how they conducted their annual meeting.
I was surprised that it was not too different than our church's annual business meeting. Many of the same elements were there at the REMC meeting that are in meetings that I conduct for our church. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had computuer glitches, power point presentation malfunctions and DVD issues as well! (And they had it all rehearsed too!) So much for technological advancements. Now if we can just find the right people to help us run with these tools, right??
My daughter wanted to go with me because they had a special magic show for the kids. She was being entertained while I was being a dependable member of the cooperative with my attendance and voting. In fact, she had her name pulled for one of the door prizes! Not bad Ashlyn. You did much better than your father - I didn't even get selected for one of the door prizes. I sure could have used that $250 Grand Prize too! (...but they did give me a $20 credit on my next month's electric bill just for showing up and a promised package of "green" light bulbs, if you know what I mean).
I hope you will be a trustworthy citizen that will make your upcoming presidential primary and general election vote count. I've got a great idea to get more people to the polls....give them a $250 dollar tax credit on their next tax statement just for voting. What do you think? (Don't get any ideas for our next church annual business meeting either...I'm way ahead of you! No, we don't offer tithe credits for just showing up at the annual meeting -sorry : - (
God bless!
At the annual meeting we elected new officers and committee members, received the annual report, voted on amendments to the articles of incorporation, listened to the treasurer's report and heard about pertinent business items for the cooperative. (Yes, there was some rankering going on as well!) It was interesting to see how they conducted their annual meeting.
I was surprised that it was not too different than our church's annual business meeting. Many of the same elements were there at the REMC meeting that are in meetings that I conduct for our church. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had computuer glitches, power point presentation malfunctions and DVD issues as well! (And they had it all rehearsed too!) So much for technological advancements. Now if we can just find the right people to help us run with these tools, right??
My daughter wanted to go with me because they had a special magic show for the kids. She was being entertained while I was being a dependable member of the cooperative with my attendance and voting. In fact, she had her name pulled for one of the door prizes! Not bad Ashlyn. You did much better than your father - I didn't even get selected for one of the door prizes. I sure could have used that $250 Grand Prize too! (...but they did give me a $20 credit on my next month's electric bill just for showing up and a promised package of "green" light bulbs, if you know what I mean).
I hope you will be a trustworthy citizen that will make your upcoming presidential primary and general election vote count. I've got a great idea to get more people to the polls....give them a $250 dollar tax credit on their next tax statement just for voting. What do you think? (Don't get any ideas for our next church annual business meeting either...I'm way ahead of you! No, we don't offer tithe credits for just showing up at the annual meeting -sorry : - (
God bless!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Little bird
Some of you have heard me speak about my little bird friend. I even preached a message about the spiritual application he brought to me: "Eye on the Bird" (3/30/08) http://www.columbusfirstassembly.org/RESOURCES/SermonPodcast/tabid/6533/Default.aspx
I managed to sneek a picture of him on one of his last visits. I'll attach it with this blog post. My little bird friend is not real photogenic. In fact, he comes across as pretty shy when faced with the camera. But at least you can see who "little bird" is.
Had a good weekend of services. We are still promoting the TAG 500 campaign in our church. Little by little the "tags" are creating a fresh wave of compassion in our community. Have you been "tagged?"
Little bird..."TAG - You're it!"
May you experience God's best today!
Pastor Andreasen
Friday, April 11, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Tag
Yesterday was a fantastic day! I shared a very simple but thrilling vision for our church in the month of April. It's called "Tag 500." We will endeavor to reach out to people with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ and tag them with a random act of kindness. Period...no strings attached! Our desire is to witness these acts of kindness being reciprocated all throughout our city. From one person to the next to the next to the next. You get the picture. Before you know it, every person could have experienced a tag compassion encounter within our city limits. Might take a while, but it's possible.
I ended the service by signing up our tag team members and handing out the tag cards to them. Then we closed the service with the consecration of communion! It was a powerful time of commitment!
The tag cards encourage people to tag someone else by also doing something nice for them. They are also encouraged to record their tag experience on our website: http://www.columbusfirstassembly.org/ (look for the big red circle on the home page!).
Believing for a huge wave of love and compassion to sweep over our entire city. Why wait for someone else to start the wave...let it just begin with us! You can join us too.
You've just been tagged...now you're it!
Pastor Andreasen
I ended the service by signing up our tag team members and handing out the tag cards to them. Then we closed the service with the consecration of communion! It was a powerful time of commitment!
The tag cards encourage people to tag someone else by also doing something nice for them. They are also encouraged to record their tag experience on our website: http://www.columbusfirstassembly.org/ (look for the big red circle on the home page!).
Believing for a huge wave of love and compassion to sweep over our entire city. Why wait for someone else to start the wave...let it just begin with us! You can join us too.
You've just been tagged...now you're it!
Pastor Andreasen
Friday, April 4, 2008
That Ugly Grass!
Since buying our home back in August of 2007 we have been steadily making improvements to the house. We've painted most of the first floor as well as the upstairs. Changed out some light fixtures and added mini blinds. But the most recent project has been focused on getting our lawn back in shape. You should see it. It's hideous. Ugly. Unsightly. Pitiful. Just plain awful!
There are weeds, weeds and more weeds. Weeds of every kind. You name it, we've probably got it. There are bare spots too. I remember mowing it maybe once or twice last fall and thinking, "This is so sad...mowing more weeds than there is grass!" Well, that is all about to change. We've hired a lawn fertilizer company and are getting our lawn back on the fast track to health and recovery. With a scheduled calendar of timely treatments, aeration and seeding later in the year, we should be able to find more grass than there are weeds in our lawn!
It's just like our spiritual lives too. We can let it go for a period of
There are weeds, weeds and more weeds. Weeds of every kind. You name it, we've probably got it. There are bare spots too. I remember mowing it maybe once or twice last fall and thinking, "This is so sad...mowing more weeds than there is grass!" Well, that is all about to change. We've hired a lawn fertilizer company and are getting our lawn back on the fast track to health and recovery. With a scheduled calendar of timely treatments, aeration and seeding later in the year, we should be able to find more grass than there are weeds in our lawn!
It's just like our spiritual lives too. We can let it go for a period of
time thinking that it will some how sort of operate on auto drive. You know, take care of itself. Listen, that's not going to work! GUARANTEED! You've got to be involved with the upkeep and care of your spiritual life. If you don't, somebody else will sow seeds of all kinds of weeds into your spiritual lawn. Take action right away. Get on a schedule of regular Bible reading. Confess your sins to the Lord. Go to church weekly. Get involved in ministry service. Just watch those weeds of sin shrivel up under the blood of Christ.
Ugly lawn...not any more. I'm ready to see some progress, any progress is better than what we've had. GREEN LAWN with green grass here we come.
Take care,
Pastor Andreasen
Ugly lawn...not any more. I'm ready to see some progress, any progress is better than what we've had. GREEN LAWN with green grass here we come.
Take care,
Pastor Andreasen
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