As of this writing we are still waiting on the final count for the LIVE OUT LOUD offering yesterday. Thanks to those who contributed! What a great example of LOVE! We will announce the total at the Christmas Eve services.

If you've been to the Olathe campus you've seen the Canned Goods Christmas Trees growing in the atrium. Kids have gotten into the spirit of giving this season and their choices are inspiring adults! Here's one story that was sent to me:

One coworker, a single Mom of four, heard about our choice to help out needy families at Countryside Elementary over the holidays. With resources already stretched by four kids at Christmas and having just donated to the Salvation Army drive at their office, she had little left to give.

However, and here is where it gets good, she went to her children and asked if she could take $5 out of each of their Christmas to reach out to kids that are complete strangers. Her children told her, "Go for it!". Wednesday night Shelley and George were at Aldi's pricing items for the list where they ran into this caring woman and her daughters. They came as a family and were having a blast spending their $20 on food for others. Those kids were blessed by being given the opportunity to be involved with the giving. 

How many single parents would have just said, I don't have enough to give to make a difference, or I barely have enough for my own children, let alone cared enough to make a special trip to a store for the sole reason of following through on their pledge to bring that food into the office the next day? 

It was the most sincere and loving giving I've experienced this holiday season. What I would give to see the smile on the faces of these 200 children as they unzip those backpacks filled with blessings and love from people they have never met. How privileged are we to be a part of this obedience of paying it forward. God is good.

Thanks Indian Creek for Living Out!

Gary Kendall

Today is the day we live out LOUD at Indian Creek Community Church. For two months we've been talking, praying and planning to give an offering to the four causes for which we are passionate. I'm hoping and praying we have our largest single day offering ever because we are GIVING IT ALL AWAY!

Here is one families' story of their decision to tithe and give to the LIVE OUT LOUD offering dispite their difficult times financially. (I"ve changed the names). 

We would NOT miss tomorrow for anything! We've been looking forward to it since the LIVE OUT dinner/praise night. I wish we could bring food for the food tree but we cannot afford to purchase anything right now.  

We were faithful in our tithe that we had prayed together over and now we are trusting God to help us thru the rest of this month.  God really showed up and blessed us with gas money to get Alan to and from work these past two weeks, but we just received a phone call today that our light bill is past due and we are believing by faith that God can step in and help us out since we took our step of faith.  

Please pray for us regarding our light bill and gas money for the remainder of the month. We also lost the insurance on our car because we couldn't pay the bill by their last deadline, pray we can find a new insurance company and fast and have the finances to be covered again, especially with the weather about to turn bad and Anthony having an hour drive to and from work. 

We saved aside our pledge to put into our chosen live out group to continue to be a blessing and continue trusting God. I can't wait to see what the Father will be able to do thru all of the offering for our community, building fund, international and church partnerships. I believe God will do BIG things because of all the Indian Creekers giving and willing hearts to sew seeds into such fertile soil and live out HIS LOVE and purpose.

Thank you for leading such an amazing "home" at ICCC for my family and the community of families around that I know feel the same of how you, Belinda, and all of the Creeker Staff do the Lord's work. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!  

Will you pray with me that God not only meets the needs around the corner and around the world but that He also provides for the light bill, gas money and insurance from this faithful couple?  Thanks. God is going to do GOD sized things through us if we will let him.

Gary Kendall

We have a strange looking sight in the middle of our atrium at Indian Creek Olathe campus. We call it a "canned goods Christmas tree". Presently it looks more like a pile of food but we are hoping it will grow into a couple of trees. Here's why...

We are collecting food for the 250 children who attend Countryside Grade School and are on the school lunch program. They get breakfast and lunch when school is in session. But when the Christmas vacation begins, like it already has, they don't have the benefit of the food. So we asked the Principal, Amy Hercules, if we could have the kid's backpacks when school is out so we can fill them with food. We will deliver the backpacks after church on 12/27.

Will you help us stock the backpacks by bringing food with you when you come to the Olathe campus? We need to put some miracle grow on this pile of food. We are His hands and feet.

Gary Kendall

We are in a message series at Indian Creek, "I Need a Miracle." God is proving Faithful. This miracle comes through answered prayer. I'm withholding the name and I've changed some of the non-essential details because it is a story in progress. However, I've been encouraged to share it by the person living it to motivate others to pray. Belinda and I consider it a privilege to pray for others. What a joy to be used by God to accomplish His purposes.  

I don't know if you remember me, I'm the one you prayed for in April for my husband to come home from Finland.  After you prayed for me, he came home 5 days later, after being away 6 months.  Our baby is now 12 months old and although she was born 2 months early, she's caught up to other babies her age.  My husband got a good job with Sprint in the months following his arrival but has struggled settling in and accepting the new culture.  He has an 8 year old son in Finland he misses dearly.

Last week your wife prayed with me over the phone because our marriage was struggling.  The day after that my husband turned around completely and re-dedicated himself to us.  We were able to talk openly about our relationship and received healing in the process. 

I just want to express my thanks, as both of you have gone out of your way to pray with me, and I've seen obvious results from that.  I cannot ever doubt the power of prayer.  I wish you both a very Merry Christmas.

To get a little more in depth, our daughter was born 2 months prematurely, weighed 4lbs and was in NICU for a month.  I don’t know anyone here so besides the first week, I was alone with an 8 year old at home and a baby in the hospital.  I was recovering from pre-eclampsia, a c-section and infections of the abdomen.  My husband wasn’t allowed to travel here for the birth; he met her when she was 3 months old. 

It was the hardest thing I've ever been through, and the only way we got through was with prayer.  In the immigration process, my husband who was raised Catholic learned that prayer moves mountains.  I sent him a Bible for Christmas last year, and he began to read it.  Every time he would pray, within a day we would receive word that the process had moved to the next step.  Towards the end it got so taxing he wanted to give up, and that’s when I came to you. 

Every week for the six months he was gone, I came down to light a candle for him, while I was pregnant, and after her birth I brought her to service with me.  It always brought me to tears, but it was a connection I needed.  The act of lighting that candle made me feel I was believing and making an effort to bring him home.  Now we light a candle in the hopes that someday he will get to see his son again (he lives in the Finland with his mother).

I praise God with you,

Gary Kendall

I am so excited about Sunday, Dec 20, that I can't stand it. That is the day we give our whole offering away to the four causes--the Global cause, the Local cause, the Multi-site cause and the Community Center cause. I'm hoping and praying that it is our largest offering ever at Indian Creek.

At the same time that this year has been one of our most challenging ever financially we are practicing the spiritual truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We are learning that giving is good FOR us. It blesses us and sets the spiritual principal of sowing and reaping in motion. And at the same time it meets needs around the corner and around the world.

It is a privilege to be used of God. Can you tell I'm excited! Oh, I already said that didn't I!

Gary Kendall

As a pastor I receive many "words from God". I thought I would take the time to share the process I use to sort through these and attempt to find God's best. I don't offer it as the "final" word but I hope it is a place to start. My guess is that if you are serving God you get these too so I hope this helps.

Step 1, The scriptures tell us two things that are a good place to start from, don’t despise prophecy (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21) and discern the spirits because not every spirit is from God (1 Corinthians 12:10). So I don’t discount words I hear, neither do I automatically assume the words are from God.

Step 2, There are at least three parts to the “words”. The first is the message itself, the second is the delivery system the person uses which includes the timing and the third is the application of what to do with it.

I’ve experienced times where one part was on and the other two were off or any other combination. So by the way, if you deliver a message to me don’t expect a quick response because I’m trying to do Step 1 and 2 well. This takes time and prayer. I usually won’t react much at all in the moment.

Step 3, I check it against what the scripture says, if it doesn’t line up with the scripture I have the answer I need.

I also check it against what the Holy Spirit is saying. This is more subjective, of course. I consider how this matches up against what I believe I’ve heard and what others have said. In some cases it is new so I start fresh. In any case, I take time to lift it before God and invite Him to say what He wants to say to me about it. I read the scriptures, pray and I journal about it. I share it with Belinda and in some cases I invite others to consider it with me. This is especially true if it involves others or the church.

Step 4, I consider the source. I work hard not to judge anyone but I do believe the Bible encourages us to inspect (test) the fruit (Matthew 7:16). There are two parts to this. One is the fruit of message—does it line up with reality. The primary test of a prophet in the scriptures was whether what they said came true or not.

The other part of fruit inspection is the fruit of the life of the person speaking the words. Does their life give evidence of full surrender? Do they love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? Do they love people—and the people perceive it as love. Do they live out and leave those they serve with the sense that “God is here at work in this person.” I give weight to the fruit when I consider the message, the way it is delivered and the application they are suggesting. I carefully weigh whether the message, delivery and application appear to be purely motivated or if the person has an agenda. I also consider whether the person delivering the message is living in good standing with the community of Christ (an active and fruitful part of a church body) and whether they are living under authority (are they submitted and in good standing at home, at their job and in their church). Again, this is subjective, but worthy of consideration.

Step 5, I pray about the words and offer this whole process and myself to God. In the end I know I will one day stand before my Savior and Lord and give an account for my life and my leadership of others. I take this part very seriously. I must choose to live by what the scriptures say. Sometimes there are different interpretations of the scripture and I must live up to what I believe the scriptures and the Spirit say.

I realize I am accountable for the applications I make. I will submit to God and I will submit to the leadership of the governing body where I serve. If I can’t because of their decisions, I won’t serve there. I’m not in that position presently. This part isn’t a democratic process. I won’t be hurried, pressured or manipulated. If I feel that from the person giving the message it is a concern to me and I take that into account in weighing the words.

I’ve learned that the enemy of our soul wants our attention. He will attempt to manipulate and dominate us and our time. He wants us to live in fear. He wants us on His agenda instead of God’s. In listening to the words and the messenger take careful consideration of the overall effect on you of the process. You may need to draw boundaries like Nehemiah did when he refused to stop working on the wall (something God told him to do) versus stopping to go meet in the desert with those who were accusing him of being out of God’s will. You can read the story in Nehemiah 4-6. When they couldn’t stop the work on the wall they turned to distracting accusations. Don’t let anyone but God set the agenda for your life and mission. If you are serving a body like a church you will of course need to be submitted to the appropriate governing leaders.

After walking through the steps I filter what I hear and make the appropriate choice(s). I pay a lot of attention to what brings “the peace God gives and the peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7 and John 14:27). I believe if I make generous times to listen to God and I’ve surrendered everything I won’t miss what God is saying. My life is in His hands. My goal is to please Him, obey Him and glorify Him. I know I will make mistakes at times and at times will be off on the timing of what I hear. And this is true of others too so I give grace to the presenter. I believe God has grace for us when we are doing the best we know to do. Of course there are consequences to our choices and we individually and in some cases corporately own those. In the end, God has great ways of making things simple enough that even a child can understand and follow.

I hope this helps,

Gary Kendall

The crazy generosity stories just keep coming in. I love it when a truth becomes a movement. There is a man in our congregation at Indian Creek who received a gold coin from time to time from his grandmother when he was growing up. By the time he was an adult he had ten or so of these coins. When the Crazy Generosity series came along he felt led to give one of the coins to a single mom. He mentioned the idea to his wife and she said,  Are you thinking about the same person I'm thinking of.  She said the name and guess what? They had the same person in mind.

She took the coin over to the single mom and they rejoiced in God's provision. But the story doesn't end there. When this family went to see their extended family at Thanksgiving, can you guess what they received? You got it! Another gold coin! Isn't God good. They received back what they gave away. But the story doesn't end there!

Since they received another gold coin they decided to give the coin away to a young man who needed help. It will be cool to see what happens next. You can't outgive God! 

Get in on the crazy generosity at Indian Creek. On December 20 we are going to give the whole offering away to the four Causes. I hope and pray it is our biggest single day offering ever! Belinda and I are praying about what we will give. I hope you will step out in faith and join the fun.

Gary Kendall

 

Add Gardner's Angels

When I wrote about Indian Creek adopting 642 angels I didn't realize that the number didn't include Gardner's 70. That is a whopping 712 angels that were adopted by Creekers who want to pass on God's love at Christmas. Way to go!

The culture of generosity continues to grow at Indian Creek Community Church. Margaret Outler who heads up our Angel Tree adoption told me that we adopted 642 angels. At a minimum of $25 investment each that means that over $16,000 is being contributed toward blessing others at Christmas. I love it that when we think of celebrating what Jesus did for us at Christmas we think of passing the blessing on. God so loved that He gave and we've caught His giving spirit. Way to go Indian Creek!

Gary Kendall