Category: Central Church Family (Page 19 of 54)

This past Sunday at Central we unveiled our two-year plan for enhancing our Christian ministry in our immediate neighborhood, throughout our city, and into the world. “Ignite” represents an exciting new season of vision and mission at Central and our desire is for every person in our church to participate in this together.

Our goal is to contribute $.96-million over the next two years to upgrade our facilities and make needed repairs and improvements to our home base; to significantly deepen our partnerships with local groups who do great Gospel ministry in our city with more money, volunteers, and resources; and to bring our foreign missions efforts under the umbrella of the overall vision of Central.

Vision and mission. That’s the focus of “Ignite.” And we need to do this right now. We don’t need to put it off. We don’t need to wait. This opportunity for more ministry inside and through our buildings, for more mission into and throughout our city and world — by God’s grace, we need to make this happen!

Matthew Kelly gave the commencement address at Xavier University three years ago, speaking to the graduating students about generosity, patience, and living life by looking at the big picture view of things. And he concluded his remarks with this:

“In a land where there are no musicians; in a land where there are no storytellers, teachers, or poets; in a land where there are no men and women of vision and leadership; in a land where there are no legends, saints, or champions; in a land where there are no dreamers — the people of that land will most certainly perish.

But you and I, we are the music makers; we are the storytellers, teachers, and poets. We are the men and women of vision and leadership; we are the legends, saints, and champions. And we are the dreamers of the dreams.”

If we don’t do it, who will? If we don’t do it now, when will we? This is us. And this is today. This “Ignite” just feels like Central.

We can’t out-dream our God. We can’t out-give our Lord or out-vision or out-mission God. But we can strive with every fiber of our being to give ourselves fully to his beautiful vision and his glorious mission to shine light into darkness and bring his salvation to Amarillo and to the ends of the earth.

Peace,

Allan

We believe God is pushing us to make a more significant Gospel impact here locally in Amarillo. What God has blessed us to do so successfully with foreign missions, we believe he wants us to do here in this city, right here where he’s brought us all together. For the next two years, beginning February 19, we want to put some teeth in our vision and put some more meat on the bones of our mission.

First, we want to enhance the Christian ministry we’re already doing in and through our own facilities. Our church building is a mission outpost in our NEIGHBORHOOD. Our campus gets used every day by those doing Gospel work in our city and by those who do not yet know Christ. We need to upgrade our facilities, make needed repairs and improvements, and building a Neighborhood Center so those works can impact more people in our immediate area.

Second, we want to partner with local organizations who are laser-focused and highly effective at meeting the physical and spiritual needs of people in our CITY. Our goal is to intensify our ministry relationships with Martha’s Home, Bivins Elementary, Gratitude House, CareNet, and The PARC (Panhandle Adult Rebuilding Center) — more resources, more volunteers, more time and energy with the right groups who are making a big difference in Amarillo.

Third, we want to bring our foreign missions efforts under the umbrella of the overall vision of Central. Not a separate priority, not a different value, but an equal part of God’s plan to work in and through our church for the sake of the WORLD.

We believe God will work in us and through us to make this next bold step in our church vision a Gospel reality. And we’re convinced that the best way to accomplish the financial element is with what we’re calling One Fund.

For two years our current giving and all additional giving will go into a single fund from which all church expenses will be paid. This enables us to simplify our giving and reminds us that we are one church, serving one God, living out his one vision for us and the whole world.

We’re asking our church family to pledge to give $9.6-million dollars over the next two years to fund the Ignite Initiative.

For more information about Ignite, I would ask you to click here. The daily prayer guide is here and on the Central church app. To see the video we showed our whole church yesterday click here. It’s also on Facebook and YouTube.

We can’t out-dream our God. We can’t out-give our Lord or out-vision or out-mission God. But we can strive with every fiber of our being to give ourselves fully to his beautiful vision and his glorious mission to shine light into darkness and bring his salvation to Amarillo and to the ends of the earth!

Peace,

Allan

So… the last time we went to Israel all the violence and protests were in Jerusalem. This time, all the riots are in the U.S.

We landed at Rick Husband at just before 4:00 yesterday afternoon, exhausted and wearing the same clothes we had put on nearly 43 hours earlier on Wednesday morning in Israel. It was a fabulous last day in the Holy Land that started with a walk up to the top of the temple mount where the Dome of the Rock sits among the ancient buildings and pillars. The Dome of the Rock! I had never actually been up there before — I wasn’t entirely sure non-Muslims were even allowed up there. We were heavily scrutinized: armed guards and police officers made Steve tuck away his Christian bracelet, made Alesha and Kas cover up their arms, ordered Brenda to cover up her ankles and put her cross necklace in her pocket. But we spent about 45-minutes walking around this historic, controversial site. By the way, it was on the top of the temple where we had it confirmed that Hillary Clinton had just conceded the election to Donald Trump. And, yes, we couldn’t go anywhere the rest of the day or night without being asked about it by the locals. (As always, you can click on the pictures for a full size.)

After that, we spent the rest of the morning around the temple walls: we prayed at the Western Wall, we walked through the underground archaeological tunnel beneath the wall’s foundations all the way to Antonio’s fortress, we climbed the south steps up to the Huldah gates, and saw the ancient marketplaces and ritual baths.

After lunch, we toured Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter, visited the Burnt House Museum, and spent a little bit of time at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is undergoing some massive remodeling and restoration work. Then it was off to Beth Shemesh for our farewell dinner with Anton and Nazeeh where we enjoyed rack after rack of grilled chicken and lamb shish-ka-bob and French fries.

Then three hours at Ben Gurion waiting for our eleven-hour flight to Newark; two hours in Newark waiting for our three-and-a-half hour flight to Houston; straight to the Whataburger in the Houston airport for a Number One with cheese and everything on it and extra, extra onions; and then another two hour wait for the two hour flight to Amarillo. And, of course, I went through at least three bowls of chips and habanero hot sauce at Abuelo’s before I gave anybody a souvenir.

The Israel trip is special. The pictures never do it justice and my descriptions always fall short. The education, the emotion, the revelation, the conviction — it’s life-changing and faith-affirming. And we’re doing it again the first week of June 2018.

Peace,

Allan