Tim Harlow

I RECALL CENTRAL PARK IN FALL

2009-11-04T16:26:38-06:00

That stupid Danke Schoen song has been in my head for two days since I made it to New York. So we finally went over to Central Park this afternoon and now it’s really stuck in there. I’m here hosting an event that is bringing in nine pastors and their wives from all over the country. The combined weekend attendance of those churches is over 50,000. We are trying to raise more support for church planting in the Northeast.

I’m the board of a church planting organization called the Orchard Group. We plant churches at a ratio of 50% in New York City, 40% in the Northeast, and 10% in major cities in the U.S. There are 22 million people in New York City, covering three states. Of those, 300,000 are professing evangelical Christians. One of our planters in Long Island reported today that they are running 800. They are probably the second largest church on Long Island, which is 120 miles by 20 miles in total area, but has a population the same as the state of Kentucky. We met with our planter in Philly who is in a new building and running over 1200. Exciting things are going on here.

And we met with a guy who is teaching school in Harlem while his wife is trying to break into theater and they are starting a church next year in upper Manhattan. Parkview is going to be in on this one. They are a very sharp couple.

We also met with a 5th generation Mormon guy whose dad is a bishop in the Mormon church and who is going to start a Christian church in the downtown area of Salt Lake City. We’re in on that too. Salt Lake City is only 3% Christian for obvious reasons. Who better to reach them than a guy who can speak their language?

I know I talk about 100 church plants by 2020 and that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot to you unless I tell you what’s happening. So that’s why I do this. And it’s why I’m trying to get other churches involved. This is tough ministry.

The president of Orchard lives in Manhattan in a 750 square foot apartment with his wife and two kids. They pay $4000 a month in rent! The people are from all over the world. 112 languages are spoken here. It’s not an easy place. But the people are already here! I believe that we need to be involved in planting churches and doing missions overseas, but we don’t have to go far to find them right here.

And in December I’m hosting an event for a bunch of pastors in Chicago to bring them into the three church plants we’re starting in our own city – as a result of partnerships we’ve made along the way. More on that later.

Just pray for this time, will you? Thousands, maybe millions of souls are at stake here in the long run. It’s very exciting.

We will see you this weekend for part three of “Are We There Yet?” as we unpack Proverbs 3 – Trust in the Lord…and he will direct your paths.

And I know what you’re thinking – no, I’m not going to the World Series tonight. But it should be an interesting evening if the Yankee’s win!

Tim

Overwhelmed – Saturday Service

2009-10-28T12:45:18-05:00

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

That’s how it usually works, doesn’t it? We were really hoping that the new Saturday service would work. But we did more than hope – we prayed. And we asked for your help. So it went great.

In a nutshell, we had about the same amount of people in the other three services that we usually have including 970 at the 4:00 pm which is what we’ve been when it was one service at 5. But we had 755 come to the 5:45 pm service! It was incredible.

We had almost 5000 this weekend and we’ve been running in the low 4s. So for me, as a preacher, it was important that we didn’t have the old British Airways commercial where the guy is running around saying, “Where is everybody?” It was a nice size service.

What it also meant is that you invited people, and that is where the real God stuff showed up. The lady that Bill and I invited whose husband didn’t go to church much, but came and liked it and is coming back. The friend, who’s been inviting his brother to church for years and gave him a cookie tin, said he came and told me he was coming back. The worship band member whose Tae Kwon Do teacher came. And story after story of people who not only came, but say they’re coming back.

It was a powerful service and a powerful weekend. And then we capped it off with Tim Hawkins absolutely cracking up a sold out audience Sunday night.

So thanks for getting us off on the right foot with this service. Thanks for making it worth it for all of us who were relying on you to make it happen. And special thanks to the many volunteers who stepped it up, some of whom served a very long weekend.

The apostle John tells us how Peter got on board with the gospel.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. John 1:40-42

I can’t wait to hear the stories of what God does through the people you have invited to this series. You are the gospel.

tim

Week Two – Are We There Yet? – Avoid Road Blocks

Don’t forget to invite or evite a friend or family member.

Orland Park Campus - New Service Times

• Saturdays @ 4:00 & 5:45 PM • Sundays @ 9:00 & 11:00 AM

Reproduction

2009-10-21T14:36:58-05:00

No, not that.

Bill, Brian, and I spent the last couple of days with other pastors and campus pastors from other large churches around the country. One from Dallas, Austin, KC, as well as Faith Church in Dyer. We were privileged to join our great friends at Community Christian Church in Naperville. PCC and these other churches are participating in a “Turbo” group with them to help plant churches and campuses around the globe. CCC and their “New Thing” network are one of the great innovators in the country when it comes to this kind of “reproduction.”

I’m pretty much the least original guy on the planet. When Solomon said “there is nothing new under the sun” in Ecclesiastes 1:9, I took him seriously. Reinventing the wheel is absolutely never on my “to-do” list.

So when it comes to our 2020 goal of 100 church plants and 5 campuses, we’ve decided to let everyone else tell us how it should be done. We were in the meeting with Troy McMahon from Restore Community Church in KC, which we helped to start. We are working with CCC to help them plant 3 campuses in the city of Chicago. I’ll be in New York in a couple of weeks helping get more churches on board with the planting we’re doing out there, especially in Manhattan. We just signed on with a 5th generation, former Mormon guy to start a Christian church in Salt Lake City. I will be in Ecuador in January to check on a church we planted there which is already running over 200. Etc, etc, etc.

We have all of these projects going on – but we’re not being original about any of it. We are just hooking up with other people who are already successful and we’re helping them. It’s very exciting to be able to be linked up with some of the best church reproducers in the country. The movement of God is incredible. I’m hearing such great stories from China, Indonesia, India, as well as the U.S. And we are in on it.

I guess what I’m saying is that you are a part of a lot more than you will ever know. People will meet you in heaven and say “thanks for being a part of Parkview.

It’s going on here too. We’re starting the 4th service this weekend! Come on Saturday.

Orland Park Campus - New Service Times

• Saturdays @ 4:00 & 5:45 PM

• Sundays @ 9:00 & 11:00 AM

Student Ministries – Underground Open House

• Junior High @ 4:00 PM

• High School @ 5:45 PM

Join them for pizza and a free concert!

I’ve been working on the message – get out and invite or e-vite a few friends. This stuff is going to be life changing.

See you there!

Tim

Saturday

2009-10-17T09:03:12-05:00

Next week begins our second Saturday service at the Orland Park Campus. Which means we’re all going to have to make some adjustments. For me, that means this will be my last Saturday blog. I’m going to cut it back to once a week, or just whenever I feel like I have something to say. This has been a good discipline for me and I will keep it up, but I need to find some way to make up for what two services is going to mean to my schedule.

I do ask that you pray for all of us as we head into this. Honestly, I don’t like having services on Saturday in the first place. I have a lot of pastor friends who just decide that they aren’t going to do it because of the toll it takes on the staff. We try to help make up for it in other ways, but the truth is if we didn’t have Saturday services it would make life a lot easier for all of us. It's especially hard when your kids are only off on the weekend and you are working the whole weekend (many of you also work weekends – you get it).

So why do we do it? Well, I suppose if money wasn’t an option, we could build a big enough auditorium so that we could accommodate everyone in one or two services. Many churches are like that. I find it to be poor stewardship to have a huge building that only gets used once a week, but that’s what a lot of churches do. We haven’t had that option in many years. If you are growing and reaching people, it’s hard to have enough building capacity for that option.

But the other reason is that it gives people options. The bottom line is that our church exists to help people find Jesus and not everyone can find him on Sunday morning. More options creates more opportunities for people to come and worship (the lady who cuts my hair closes up her shop at 5 PM on Saturday, so now she can come to the 5:45 and still help us save room for new people on Sunday).

So we are all making adjustments to make room for more people to find Jesus. Student Ministries is moving their worship to Saturday night because when they meet on Sunday they take up parking spaces and it forces their parents to come on Sunday – which means new people can’t get in. So they are moving. I’ve heard from some families who are going to be negatively affected by this because their kids aren’t going to be able to come on Saturday. I’ve heard from others who couldn’t come on Sunday and are excited to be able to come on Saturday. It's all an adjustment. (And by the way, our mid-week youth programs are the main staple of youth ministry here at Parkview, anyway. Get your kids here on Tuesday night for HS and Wednesday night for JH).

These are all the things we do because we want to be like the shepherd in Jesus' story in Luke 15 who left his 99 sheep out in the open country so that he could go and find the one lost sheep. For Jesus it was never about what is good for the “saved,” it was always about what could reach the “lost.” So we will do the same. Jesus said he didn’t come for the healthy; he came for the sick (Mark 2:17).

So we will keep adding services and keep changing things so that we can have more beds available here at Parkview Christian Hospital. And we will make up for it in other ways so that we can all be healthy, too.

I’m so very excited about this next series, and the new service and the new stories we are going to hear from people who find their way – or their way back – to God. I really am. I’m energized by it all, please don’t misunderstand this. I literally meet people every day who have been touched for God because of what God is doing in this place. I am ecstatic to be a part of it!

You can help by inviting people to join us. I know it sounds like a paradox, but I want more people here. I want both Saturday services to be full! I want to have the problem of figuring out where we put the 5th! This is what we were made for!! So invite people to “Are We There Yet?” series and please think about moving over to Saturday night at 4:00 or 5:45.

We will be spending some time in prayer for all of this on Sunday night the 18th at our “PAUSE” night of prayer and worship. Come and join us at 5:30 PM at the Orland Park Campus as we pray for the Spirit of God to fall upon us in even a new way.

And be here this weekend to hear Barry Cameron, the author of the ABC’s book we’ve been reading and using for this series. He’s a pastor of a church our size in the Dallas area and he’s got a great heart for helping people find financial freedom, and he’s done it himself. I hope you will share your weekend with us.

Grace and Peace,

Tim

The People Who Help the People Who Help

2009-10-14T11:48:39-05:00

I’m spending a couple of days in Colorado helping a ministry that means a lot to me. The Blessing Ranch (blessingranch.org) is an organization that ministers to Pastors and Missionaries. The setting is a 100 acre ranch that is 30 miles north of Ft. Collins, Colorado. It’s just a few miles from Wyoming. It’s the middle of nowhere, and it’s heaven.

I’ve been here 4 times before, twice with other guys and twice with Denise. I found out about it when one of my mentors invited me to come with him. Now I send people here regularly. I have missionary friends coming here in a couple of weeks. Dr. John Walker is a clinical psychologist who was also in ministry so he really understands the weirdness of pastoral work. There are such great challenges on one hand, and such joys at the same time. The stress on a marriage is always at a different level. John has really helped me and really helped us. He was one of the guys there for me when I hit a burn out time after our relocation. I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that I’m not sure I’d still be the Pastor at Parkview if it wasn’t for my time here at this amazing place.

I always appreciate the words of praise and thanks I get from people because God has used Denise and I in ministry to them in some way. But I doubt that any of you can appreciate the level of ministry we get from others along the way. Friend and co-workers in ministry, family who understand us so well, my guys I do ministry with, as well as professional counselors and mentors who have kept us in the game.

I don’t know really what I’m saying, except that I’d like for you to say a prayer for John and Deanna Walker and realize that if God uses me to help you – he’s also used someone else to help me – and someone else to help them. That is the way God works.

Okay, I know what I’m saying… Go help someone else. Don’t break the chain.

I hope you are inviting people to our new series "Are We There Yet?" Go to the series website to watch the video and send an e-vite to friends! It starts in a week and a half on Saturday, October 24th, when we will be launching two services on Saturdays at the Orland Park Campus...4:00 and 5:45 PM. If you come to the Orland Campus, PLEASE COME ON SATURDAY NIGHT. PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!

This weekend, we’re privileged to have Pastor Barry Cameron who is the author of the ABC’s of Financial Freedom that we’ve been reading and using for this series. I hope you will be here. He’s a guy who is living everything he wrote about.

This Sunday evening, we are having a campus-wide prayer event to ask God’s blessing on our new service, this series, and the people you are inviting. That's Sunday, October 18th at 5:30 PM in the Orland Park Campus Worship Center. We invite you to come to worship and pray with us.

Thankful for you and for the people who have helped me,

Tim

On Being A Dad

2009-10-10T08:58:27-05:00

I was at the Lincoln Way East High School choral concert on Thursday night. And I was playing Frogger on my Iphone (not while my daughter was singing – when the others were).

I texted my friend who was also in the auditorium and told him what I was doing and he said he was doing the same thing until his wife hit his hand and his frog diedJ

You might be thinking to yourself, “that’s not a very good dad.” And I would argue the opposite. I’m a great dad. I do not like choral music. Not much of it anyway, and when they start singing in Pig Latin or other languages that I don’t understand – it’s really hard for me to stay with it. I’m a great dad. I’M THERE. I’m supposed to go to Wheaton tonight for Lauren’s concert, and part of it is a choral mass. I want to watch the Cardinals try to win a game.

We all do things as parents because we love our kid’s. I’ve been going to choral events and band events for 15 years! When they are done – I’m done. I’m not going back just for nostalgia sake. I’m going to watch baseball.

I go because I love my kids. And when they sing – I love it. I don’t care if it’s in German, if my kid is singing, it is beautiful. Because I love them.

As I’ve been thinking about this Financial Freedom series we’re in, I keep coming back to this verse:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11, NIV).

What is it that we are afraid of? Are we seriously afraid that if we give a tithe back to God, as he asked us to do, that we are going to miss it? Do you not know that your heavenly father is so much better than I am a father, or anyone else is a father? And when we obey him and share our fries with him – that he will not throw open the floodgates and pour out so much blessing that we won’t be able to contain it??

Romans 8:31-32, “If God is for us, who can be against us? “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

God already gave us his most precious gift. What makes you think he won’t take care of you?

God is Good!

Tim

PS – PLEASE – consider switching over to Saturday night. We will start a new service on Oct 24. We will have TWO SATURDAY NIGHT SERVICES. 4:00 AND 5:45 PM. Please consider coming to one and serving at one. We need you.

We’re starting a new series that weekend and we encourage you to invite your friends to “Are We There Yet.” Check the ARE WE THERE YET? website for ways to invite your friends.

I Stand Amazed in the Presence

2009-10-07T14:07:17-05:00

I was just at the funeral for Diane Doornkaat, one of our great ladies here at Parkview, who battled cancer and went home to be with Jesus on Saturday night. Appropriately, I think, while most of her family was gathered at a wedding reception for one of her nephews. It was a very tight family, and I just think it is so cool that they were all in town and all gathered for a celebration, while she went on to the real celebration. As a matter of fact, I read this great verse from Revelation at the funeral.

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” Revelation 19:7-9

She slipped out, while her family was at a wedding, to go to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

I love funerals for believers. I know they are sad, we grieve, we mourn, but we are comforted. Jesus promised us that. Comforted by the knowledge that our goodbyes are temporary.

But the one thing that really caught me was the lyrics to the old hymn that we sang during the service. The first line really got me as I sang it, thinking of her living it now.

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.” It struck me that SHE REALLY WAS standing, amazed, in the presence of Jesus. It didn’t seem appropriate to feel envy at a time like that, but I did. She is there - she is home. She has finished the race.

I’m still running.

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Chorus
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be,
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

Words and Music by Charles H. Gabriel

Stay Amazed,

Tim