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Dear Friends,

As I write this, I am with our youth group  in sunny Panama City Beach, Florida. I came down to “hang” with the kids today at their Coast Camp. Typically, they attend someone else’s summer camp, but this year we decided to strike out on our own. The staff and volunteers have put together a powerful experience for our kids.

Hundreds of Towels!

The kids are staying in an old converted motel. Each motel room has been filled with bunk-beds enough to fit about eight students, plus an adult chaperon. The rooms are horseshoed around a central pool, and the whole complex is across the street from the sugar-sand beaches of the Emerald Coast. There are about 160 kids and 40 adults in attendance.

I arrived in time for a volleyball tournament, pool party, and a great spaghetti dinner. Then, around 7 p.m., the kids started lining up to attend the evening worship program. Yes, you read this right: The kids started lining up to attend the evening worship! At 7:30, our own Josh Havens began the rock sounds of praise. He brought the whole band, The Afters, and they had the place on fire. They closed in prayer. Then our guest speaker stood to deliver a 50-minute sermon on righteousness before God.

Praise and worship at Coast Camp

Yes, you read that right, too. The kids sat still for a 50-minute sermon on righteousness! The speaker, Tom Richter, is part preacher, part showman, part comedian, and he had the kids’ total attention (mine, too). He laid out the hard truth from Romans 3 in a way that kids will never forget. Near the end of his message he began to encourage the kids to recommit to Christ…or commit to Him for the first time. Dozens of kids moved from their seats to receive prayer.

Good friends and oil-free beaches!

The kids took a 30-minute break while the band re-tuned their guitars and re-grouped. Then, at 9:30, they began the evening Christian rock concert. The Afters played most of their songs, including their newest one, Light Up the Sky, which is sitting at the top of the iTunes Christian chart in pre-release. (This is the song that Josh sang last week in church.) The kids crowded the stage with Josh leading in praise, singing magnificently, and talking about God between songs.

There was no sign of it letting up when I left about 11 p.m. I walked back to my room in the relative quiet of the muggy night and I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God. He has allowed us the honor and privilege of presenting His Gospel to new generations. I was converted at a camp like this 40 years ago in the cool Arizona mountains. I gave my life first to the Lord and then to His mission in those incredibly important teenage years of my life. Now, to see a new crop of kids hearing the Gospel, responding, and coming to know Christ as Savior, Lord, and Friend is a great honor for me.

Parents, your kids might be changed when they get home. I know they will be tanned…but something else very special is happening here along the oil-free coastline of Florida. Keep praying for your student. God is doing some serious work in their lives here.

Here are some other things you need to know this week:

Switching to the ESV Bible
Sometime within the next few weeks, you will notice new Bibles in the pew racks. The NIV (New International Version) translation, which we have used for almost 25 years, is being replaced with the new ESV (English Standard Version). This is a wonderfully readable translation of the Bible, and I am excited for you to get to know it. Click here for a full explanation of the switch.

There is still time to join the Holy Land pilgrimage this November.

Holy Land Trip
Again this year, in November, Fran and I have the privilege of leading a group on a tour of the Holy Land. If you think you may be interested in this pilgrimage, please come to an informational meeting on Tuesday, August 10. Click here for complete details about the meeting and the trip.

Spiritual Life Survey Results
Earlier this year, our congregation was asked to participate in the Reveal Spiritual Life Survey. 558 people did so, giving us a great sample from which to gauge how we are progressing in our growth as disciples of Jesus Christ. Click here to see the summary of the results.

Kids in Need Project a Success
Thanks to your generosity and service, over 500 backpacks filled with school supplies have been received and will be distributed to children in Plano, Allen, Frisco and North Dallas. After our delivery to the Assistance Center of Collin County for children in Plano schools, we received this response:

Hundreds of Backpacks!

You blew us away with the School Supplies your church delivered yesterday! What a wonderful gift and just in time, too. We began [distributing] supplies on July 20. We averaged 97 requests a day the first week. We have had to shop each day just to keep up with needed supplies. Your timely delivery was an answer to our prayers.

Thank you to everyone whose generosity made Kids in Need a huge success. If you have not turned your backpack and supplies in yet, it’s not too late. They may be left in the Fellowship Hall through this weekend. Just look for the Kids in Need poster.

Radio Show Begins This Sunday
When classical radio station WRR approached us about a Christ Church radio program, I grabbed it. The chance to reach nearly 250,000 people each week is God-given. Tune in to our first broadcast this Sunday, August 1 from 7:30 to 8 a.m. on WRR, 101.1 fm. I envision this half-hour weekly program as another “front door” to our church. Please pray with me that God will use it to bring people to Him.

‘See you this weekend.
In Christ,
David+

Dear Friends,

It is great to be back. The warmth and kindness shown to me at all services was overwhelming. Thank you for your prayers and support.

This church is a great place to preach. Very few of you have the vantage point that I have as I begin a message. I see people who are eager to hear the Word of God preached and applied; explored and explained. Heads look up. And it is only at the 27-minute mark that people start looking at their watches.

Something that you need to know is that we will change bible translations for our church pew bibles, the pulpit reading and the Bible that I use and preach from. Fr. Jason is writing a brief explanation as to why we are going to remove and donate the current NIV Bibles and replace them with the English Standard Version (ESV). I have been using the ESV for my personal devotions for over two years. It is an amazing text. It has the cadence and depth that you would want to find in God’s Word. The Bibles are on order and next week Fr. Jason will fill in some of the details about why this is a good move for us.

I am starting a new sermon series on August 8 called More than Conquerors. It is an 8-week series on the crown jewel of the highest theological and literary achievement of the apostle Paul. Many of you may want to purchase a new copy of the ESV from The Bookstore for this series. (I think we may end up memorizing a good portion of Romans 8. The ESV will make it grand!)

In the meantime, here are a few more things you need to know:

On Point for Men
Remember that On Point for Men (a Bible study that I teach with Jason Bowman) begins  August 24. Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., join us for an in-depth lecture, application of scripture and a spirited discussion of some principles found in God’s Word. No prior experience or deep Bible knowledge is needed to attend. The coffee is free…and the lesson we learn from God’s Word is priceless.

Coast Camp
Our youth group kids (many, many, many of them) are leaving Sunday, July 25 for a week at Coast Camp. They will be joined by youth groups from other Anglican churches in the southeastern portion of the United States. Their music leadership group will be none other than our own Josh Havens and his band, The Afters. It will be a great week for them. I plan to fly down to the camp on Wednesday to hang out for a day with the kids and attend The Afters concert that night.

I can remember those church camp moments when I was a young student in high school. Nothing was more profound to me that the moments I had coming to know the Lord. Camp introduced me to Christ and to His Church, and I was never the same. Many of you have a similar background. Please pray for our kids this coming week.

New Study Guides
It is a real pleasure and joy for me to preach here at Christ Church. The whole process of study, prayer, preparation, and final touches is one of my weekly habits that I truly enjoy.

But did you know that you can find a study guide for the sermon here on my blog? I began producing a study guide for this message that will be uploaded on Mondays following the sermon. Check out last week’s study guide. The purpose for this extra effort on my part is to help many people think about the message throughout the week. Small Groups can use these as their curriculum and, our radio audience can use these when we begin broadcasting with WRR on August 1. (By the way, do I need to say that lying in bed listening to a radio message on Sunday morning is NOT going to church?)

See you Sunday,

Fr. David+

Dear Friends,

I am very happy that I will be back with you this weekend at all services.  I have had a great recovery, thanks be to God.  When I came home on May 13th after a major back surgery…and tried to stand up on the 14th…I knew it would be a long haul for recovery.  Now, after two months, I am back at Christ Church and ready to rumble!

I know you know that the staff has done incredible work these past two months. Our clergy team did a great job (so I hear) leading all of our services. The music and worship was (as usual) excellent…from what I hear.  I have been in touch on and off with members of the Vestry and a few staff people.  I owe them all my thanks…and so do you!  They serve God in with incredible devotion and thus they serve you.

So many of you have written cards or emails over the past two months. Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers. I really did feel prayed for. There were days over the past two months when I felt “carried” by the power of the Holy Spirit. It has been a time of healing, walking, reading, resting, napping and a reconnection with the healing process that God designed.

Now, here are some things you need to know:

The Afters Have a #1 Single

Top of the Charts
Our own Josh Havens is tearing up the charts at iTunes. His band, The Afters, has a new single called “Light Up the Sky” that has hit #1 in sales on the Christian chart. I downloaded it a few days ago and love it.  It is faithful, lyrical and beautifully done. You will be praising the Lord with this tune that simply won’t get out of your mind. Check it out.

Also, a radio interview with Josh will air during 94.9 KLTY’s New Music Café on Saturday, July 24, 7 – 8 p.m. The approximately five-minute interview will feature Josh and the Afters’ new song.

NEW Christ Church Radio Show
After a few years of thinking, planning and praying, a timely opportunity opened up to us and we are taking advantage of it. Beginning August 1, Christ Church will have our own weekly radio show on WRR 101.1 (classical station) from 7:30 to 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings. It will be broadcast to a radio audience of potentially 250,000 people here in the metroplex and streamed on WRR’s website for many more listeners all over the country. It will be a recorded (probably one week delay) blend of sermon and musical worship designed to extend the reach of our Sunday morning worship to a much wider audience…one whose demographics I believe are very compatible with our own church family. I am very excited about this and I hope you will tune in to hear it (and then come on in to church!)

St. Timothy’s New Home
Fran and I attended the Open House night for St. Timothy Christian Academy a few weeks ago.  This school, which got its start as a ministry of Christ Church, is now on its own with its own board and doing very well.  They have found a perfect place at First Christian Church in Plano.  I walked through the space at its open house and again just a few days ago.  It is a perfect space and I wish them the very best of God’s blessing and strength.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Fran and I were able to get down to Houston a few weeks ago. My son, Jed, and his two kids went with us. We lined up all five grandchildren on a picnic table and snapped

Our Five Grandchildren

a picture. For us, it was the gift of the summer. Here they are, from right to left and in descending order of age: Haley 5, Moses 4, Evan 3, Milan 2, Finley 1, actually six months. What a blessing!

REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey
I spent an hour with some staff members yesterday going over the results of the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey that we conducted in April. First of all, thanks to the 558 people who completed the survey.  Our consultant with REVEAL told us that was a great sample size–much larger than most churches. The survey was clear about a number of things. Our members are happy at Christ Church. They love the worship life of the church. We (you and I) are a good match…the church is happy with its leadership. But there were some very interesting and insightful glimpses into the heart of Christ Church. In the next few weeks I will make large portions of the survey available online. (It is a huge file with lots and lots of PowerPoint slides that frankly need some interpretation.)  But one thing I can tell you right now is that this church is ready for a challenge. There are an extraordinary number of people who are new to their faith and are growing as a disciple, and they are looking for a challenge, a future, a way of taking the next step in their faith. Wait until you see what’s coming up this fall.  Stay tuned!

Churches Being Planted!
I have been blessed in the past two months by seeing the kind of life that is emerging from Anglican 1000. This ministry (centered here at Christ Church) has touched a nerve around the Anglican Church in North America and the AMiA.  Guess what?  Churches are being planted.  In the past few months we have seen over 100 churches emerge, start-up, form together.  We are trying to keep up with them and have documented over 40 of them on the website.  It is constantly changing…so bookmark it, enter into some of the discussion on the blog, and check out some of the resources.

I have great expectations for the remainder of the year.  It will be a joy to be with you in worship this weekend and to open up the riches of God’s Word together.

‘See you this weekend.

In Christ,
David+

Dear Friends,

I hope you had the opportunity to hear Justin Lokey be interviewed in the sanctuary Sunday. Justin, his wife, Kristen, and their five children are missionaries in Africa. Their primary work is building relationships with college students, sharing the love of Jesus with young adults who have little understanding of the gospel.

This week, Justin preached at our Tuesday Noon Eucharist service about spiritual lessons he’s learned as a missionary. One of them was learning to be available to God. I was particularly challenged by this. As we settle into the routine of life, especially our suburban life, we forget that God might throw some surprises our way. Imagine Abraham, late in life, being told by God to leave his extended family and home country – not knowing his destination when he started out! Imagine Justin and Kristen, working with students at a Texas university, hearing God call them and their young family to Africa.

Most of us won’t be called to leave our homes and families to be available to God. But all of us will find ourselves stretched by God as we seek to be available to Him. Perhaps it’s sharing the love of God with a difficult co-worker who is going through a rough time. Maybe God is calling you to be available by building a friendship with a neighbor who is lonely and unloved. You might have read the other articles in The Call today and find God asking you to help children in need or volunteer in our Children’s Ministry.

I don’t know how God might want to use you, but here’s what I do know: Once you say “yes” to God and start down the path of availability, you will know joy and fulfillment that you never thought possible.

God doesn’t call us to be available to trick us into doing something we’ll hate.
God calls us because He wants us to use every gift He has given us as He extends His love and salvation to this world. Ask God to give you a heart that is available to Him – and let the adventures begin!

Join us in worship this weekend as Fr. Jason preaches a sermon entitled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” from Luke 10.

‘See you this weekend,

Fr. Clint+
Associate Rector