Parenting Panel Unanswered Questions

On March 26th, at the end of the series "Families For Dummies" we held a "Family Panel" with several couples poised to answer questions submitted from our church family. We could not get to all the questions, so here are brief answers to the unanswered questions that were text-ed in for the panel. If you have additional questions please contact me and we can set an appointment for further information.

God bless

Pastor Dave

How do you handle it when you child constantly questions your authority?

When children challenge your authority, they are usually testing you to see how far they can go. Dr. James Dobson says, “Children are constantly trying to determine where the boundaries are.”  You are the one who sets the boundaries; therefore they will continually test the boundaries you set, making you feel that they are challenging your authority. Your job? REMAIN STEADFAST! You are the one God is using to shape their lives. Don’t give up. It may feel like a constant losing battle, but it’s not. It will pay off in the long run… hopefully shorter! J

Please, explain the importance behind eating family meals together.

Short answer: UNITY! It provides a regular opportunity to decompress life events comfortably around the dinner table. Many important subjects crop up in the context of the comfort of a relaxed dinner together. This may be one of the best opportunities to get to know your children, their friends that are invited over, and for them to have your dedicated attention. It also provides unbelievable opportunities for teaching and training.

Why is it better to spank with an object rather than a hand?

You never want your children to shy away from your touch. The problem with spanking with the hand is it’s the best instrument for a loving touch. With it you stroke their face, rib their back, and hold them close to you. It is an instrument of love, not discipline.

How do you keep kids from overtaking your marriage in a negative way?

Remember your children are not the reason you got married. You got married because you love your spouse and you want to share the rest of your life with them. Therefore, you need to develop the discipline to make sure you spend time as a married couple investing in your relationship and into each other. Your job in parenting is to provide for your children, grow them up in the disciplines of the Lord, and equip them for life, so you can send them out adequately equipped to live on their own. Too many couples devote so much time on child rearing that they lose touch with each other and they lose their focus. This is a difficult discipline! Make it a priority, if you don’t, your children will squeeze everything out of you and you will have nothing left for each other. And when the kids leave you will wake up one day and look at each other as strangers. Don’t let that happen!

How do you handle having two different ideas of discipline in between two parents?

It takes unifying compromise. It makes sense; you come from different families, different backgrounds, different styles of family and how you were treated. Your job as adults with children is to sit down and talk about your experiences and willingly work through how the two of you will discipline your children. Sometimes this requires an outside “mediator” to help you think through it unemotionally. So if needed get some help! Where? A respected mature couple whom you both agree on, a Christian Counselor, pastor, and possibly your parents. Whatever you decide on, it must be mutual and unified!

What are some practical ways that a man can keep from resigning all of the parenting responsibility to their wife?

I am assuming that this is the wife asking this question. It takes a dedicated conversation, or many conversations. Determining responsibility in parenting is always a result of communication, compromise, and consideration. Unfortunately many men think of parenting as a woman’s job, Not according to the Bible! IN Ephesians 6:4 Paul instructs “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” That seems pretty clear, God expects Dads to be radically involved in the parenting process. Sometimes, it takes some good counsel from a respected man to help a dad understand this responsibility. Don’t sit at home and try to argue your husband into parenting, find someone who he respects and ask for their input.

Do you make your kids go to church? And if so, When do you stop making your kids go to church?

As long as your children are your responsibility, meaning they live under your roof and you pay the bills, absolutely! Remember it is your job to teach your children about God and to give them every opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. How is that going to happen if church is an option? If you don’t require them to attend church, it suggests that God is an option as well. Do you want to stand before God some day and say, “God, I’m sorry; my kids didn’t want to get up and go to church. I decided to let them find You on their own, and unfortunately when they didn’t.”

How do you decide how much freedom to give your kids?

It depends on how much freedom they earn. Freedom is earned through responsibility. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30 & Luke 19:12-27) is a good example of how to give out freedom. You give them small freedoms and see how they handle it, encourage them on how to use the freedom, and you reward the good use of freedom with additional appropriate freedoms.

How do you handle the adult handoff (when your kids are ready to spread their wings?)

If you have been properly preparing them to leave your home, it will be a natural part of the process. A significant key is: when they leave home, let them experience all the benefits and consequences of their decisions. If you save them every time they fail, you’re probably getting in the way of God’s natural process of growth and maturity. Both Paul and James wrote on how God grow us up. (Romans 5:3-5 & James 1:2-4)

When do you start encouraging them to spread their wings?

As soon as they are capable and ready. The earlier the better!

How do you resign authority without resigning influence?

Authority means you determine what they can and cannot do. Influence is providing suggestions without requirement. Your authority is limited to your responsibility. If you are no longer responsible (they are not living at home anymore) your authority has ended, but your influence should never end!  You prepare your children and yourself for this by teaching them to make good decisions, by offering simple options to your children whenever the opportunity arises. It starts simply: your children need new athletic shoes; so you go to the store and let them try on two different kinds of shoes that you choose. Then you give them a choice between the two. As they get older the choices and options become bigger and more diverse. This teaches them good decision making and it teaches them to allow you to offer opinions on more difficult issues as they grow up.

No Perfect People.... Really?

Have you ever noticed how some people treat those who are different than they are?

· Those who have chosen to decorate their bodies with tattoos or piercings?
· How would you react to discover that the person sitting next to you in church was an alcoholic, a drug user, struggled with pornography, had an abortion, struggled with a sexual addiction or homosexuality, was living with someone they are not married to, or they had a prison record?
· How would you treat a Jew, a Mormon, an atheist, a Jehovah Witness, a Buddhist, a Muslim, Christian Scientist, a witch or a warlock?
· How about someone who is African American, Hispanic, Asian, Iraqi, Iranian, or Pakistani?
· What about a street person, a poor person, under privileged?
For years the church has turned away people who desperately need the love and acceptance that God offers. Instead they have condemned, criticized, and ostracized.

Or the church opened its arms to them and once they started attending or indicated that they were spiritually interested they dumped a bunch of rules and expectations on them and turned them off.

Part of the problem is the church has misunderstood part of the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Some people think that teaching them to obey means that it’s our job to make people obey, to force obedience; often times forcing them to obey God even before they know God personally.

That’s not our job; that’s the job of the Holy Spirit!

So you have to ask yourself, what would Jesus do with the kind of people I just mentioned?

I know that sounds trite, but think about how Jesus treated the outcasts, the sick, the demon possessed, and the prostitutes. What did He do? HE LOVED THEM UNCONDITIONALLY!

He said in Matthew 11:28-30 (Msg) “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Jesus said the answer to life’s problems, burdens, and issues is to come to Him, lay them on Him, and learn to live freely and lightly. You can’t do that under rules and regulations!

He said I won’t put anything heavy or ill fitting on you who are already struggling; instead He says I will show you grace, I will give to you freely what you do not deserve! Forgiveness from their past, a purpose for today, and a future home in heaven!

If that’s what Jesus would do, then so should we! The question is how? How do we show grace to others, no matter what their background, problems, or issues are?

We do it just like Jesus. We tell people; just come as you are! There are no perfect people at The River in fact there are no perfect people allowed at The River. So come as you are!

God doesn’t expect us to change anything to come to Him. He just says come as you are, and when He says that He means:
· You don’t have to dress a certain way or look a certain way
· You don’t have to Act a certain way
· You don’t have to Fit a certain lifestyle
· You don’t have to give money
· It doesn’t matter what your religious background is, your class or your socio-economic position.
Jesus says come as you are! Bring your baggage, your issues, and your problems. God loves you just as you are and we should do the same!

In fact…At The River we are working diligently to create a come as you are culture.

So... come to the River Church... and come as you are! Our prayer is that when you come you will experience total acceptance and begin the process of transformation. (Romans 12:1-2)

Come back to God!

God has given us, the church, the responsibility of telling people about His love for them, His acceptance of them and His desire for them to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 5:19 (NLT) “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

That’s our job! But how do we reach people with the good news of God’s love and acceptance when they are struggling with misconceptions of the church and their own personal struggles with acceptance, trust, brokenness, truth, and tolerance?

One word: GRACE!

Theologically grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. In other words we don’t deserve forgiveness. We don’t deserve a purpose for our lives. We don’t deserve a future home in heaven. But God loves us and He gives it to us anyhow, that’s grace.

The church has always understood receiving the grace of God, what it has struggled with is extending personal grace to an undeserving world. It’s developed rules and regulations, expectations and standards; and it’s been very judgmental of people who don’t measure up.

It’s amazing to me is that those of us who have experienced the total acceptance and forgiveness and grace of God, that we did not deserve, do not offer that same grace to others; just like Jesus did.

Jesus was absolutely non-condemning. In fact the only time Jesus ever condemned anyone was when they were self-righteous and religiously pious! And that’s exactly what many non churched people think about the people in the church! They think the church is nothing but self-righteous and religiously pious people!

So let's change that! Let's give others the grace God has given to us. Let's love the unlovely, the hurting, the outcasts, the imperfect, the "normal" people, the less than cool crowd, the Hipsters, the old folks, the student's.... Let's love everyone just like Jesus loved us! 

When we love others as Jesus loved us, then we can extend our hand and say, Come back to God!

Looking Back and Moving Forward at The River Church

If there is one thing that's true about church planting it that nothing stays the same for very long! Everything is always in a state of transition and you have to embrace being transition! That definitely been the case for our Ministry here at The River Church. Over the past year we have changed our location, our mission statement, our philosophy of ministry, and our strategy for reaching people for the Kingdom. Three key families came from sister churches to help us get started and they have since moved on. We started with three pastors all living on raised support and two have moved on as of the end of 2010. Our youth Ministry went through a change of leadership as we hired an intern in September who quit in October. We have since staffed the Youth Ministry with volunteers. Fortunately, and by the grace of God, we have fully embraced each and every transition!

We have seen small but steady growth every month for the past six months adding several new families and individuals who had previously been de-churched. Maybe the biggest change at The River is that we have embraced personal outreach by intentionally changing our world view to OIKOS: a paradigm through which a Christ-follower evaluates life, it’s purpose and events. The Greek word OIKOS translates to "extended family". God has given each of us our own little niche of humanity. Everyone has been given, on the average, anywhere from eight to fifteen people whom God has supernaturally and strategically placed in our relational world. God has placed these people in our OIKOS both for our benefit and for theirs; our benefit because we all need friends and their benefit so you can help them find their way to God. As we are in the process of understanding God's command to reach people for Christ, OIKOS has given us the intentional framework to reflect God's love to others. OIKOS help us see every relationship as a God given opportunity to reach others for the Kingdom of God.

We laid the OIKOS foundation of teaching in September and October and put it into action immediately. We initiated November as "Minute to Win It" month, taking about 3 minutes in our services to play a game for no other reason than pure fun! (Remember John 10:10; abundant life?) It was a huge hit! Also during November we started Friend Day, picking a specific day for everyone to bring a friend to church and our attendance that day grew by 50%! December we focused on Christmas. Our Chamber of Commerce sponsors "Eagle Country Christmas" in downtown Eagle where we had a booth giving away free hot chocolate and smore's. We had huge fire pit where people warmed themselves and "cooked" their smore's and we used that as an opportunity to invite them to our Community Christmas Eve service. Our attendance on Christmas Eve was up 20% from the previous year and we ended the year on a very positive note!

We excitedly looking forward to this what God will do at The River Church this year. Our focus through Easter is on spiritual growth and discipleship, while constantly keeping our eye on our OIKOS and who we can share our faith story with within our relational circle.

We appreciate your prayers for our continued growth; spiritually, numerically, and financially. Our biggest issue is finances. As a new church composed of previously de-churched and new believers giving is a sensitive subject. I will be teaching on giving once in January and once in February. I ask for your prayers in particular for these Sundays. We also face a new contract with the school district in March, which could see us looking for another meeting place; please pray for God's guidance and will to be done.

God bless you!
I love you!
Pastor Dave

Showing We Care - The River Christmas Offering, 2010

Dear River Friends and Family,

I am excited to share with you information regarding the SHOWING WE CARE! Special Christmas offering that begins now and runs through December 31st. Last year we raise $1,495.00. This year we increased our goal to $1,600.00.

As a new church in the Treasure Valley, we are committed to do everything we can to carry out the mission God has given us; “Helping people find their way to God and teaching them to become fully devoted followers of Jesus”. We are not looking for perfect people, in fact we say No Perfect People Allowed! Our community is not irreligious, it is packed with people who believe in God but have given up on the church for one reason or another. With this in mind we are a non-traditional, modern church for people who have given up on the traditional church, but not on God.

When we began The River last year, we determined to give our people the best opportunities available to discover what it means to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus. With this offering you have the opportunity to deepen your commitment to Christ, enlarge your ministry commitment and opportunities, and provide for the needs of others.

This offering is designated to: provide financial support for the hurting, hungry, and needy people in our area, our Children's Community Easter Outreach, Youth Camp Scholarship Fund, New Church Planting, and initial support for Ben and Tracy Slee - the newest Campus Crusade for Christ staff members at BSU!

I hope you will carefully look over the information about this exciting opportunity for us to give sacrificially. Will you join us and begin praying now about what God would have you give, over and above your regular giving, to our Special Christmas Offering? Allow God to stretch your faith!

Your Friend and Pastor,
Dave Griewe

The SHOWING WE CARE! Special Christmas Offering is a call to sacrificial giving with a goal of raising $1,600 for five specific ministry initiatives:

To share God’s love with our community by providing financial help to the hurting, hungry, and needy.

This year more people are suffering from unemployment and under-employment in our area than ever before. So we are partnering with the Eagle Community Food Bank to provide food, clothing, and finances to assist those families who are struggling. We will be collecting canned and non-perishable food along with good, clean, used clothing for both adults and children on December 12 and 19 at our Sunday services.

Children’s Community Easter Outreach.
Before we began The River we hosted an Easter Egg Hunt in the Lexington Hills Community. We put out over 3,000 plastic eggs filled with candy and prizes for the children. We had over 250 people attend this free event. This helped to develop a positive identity of The River and led to a successful Grand Opening Easter service. Last year we changed locations and we did not have time to plan for a successful community event. This year, with your help, we hope to develop a new Community Easter Outreach focusing on children.

To provide summer camp scholarships to help our youth go to camp.
Last summer our youth ministry took 8 students to summer camp in McCall. We provided half scholarships for almost every student making it possible for them to attend. This year our goal is to provide financial resources to send 15 students to camp.

To support New Church Planting in the Northwest and the Pacific Southwest.
Statistically the best way to reach non-churched and de-churched people is to start new churches. The River began with the financial support from individuals, churches, and organizations who are committed to new church planting. We want to be able to support and help other new church starts just as we were helped.

To provide initial financial support for Ben and Tracy Slee with Campus Crusade for Christ.
Ben and Tracy are the newest staff members serving Christ on the Boise State University Campus. Their objective is to WIN students to Christ; BUILD them up in their faith; and SEND them out to reach others for Christ. They reach students through one on one conversations, small group bible studies, and special events on the BSU campus.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why a Special Offering?
As part of God’s plan to grow the faith of the people in His church, He calls us to sacrificial giving from time to time. This Offering is an opportunity for us to grow in our faith and to prepare us for what God wants to do through our church.

What is the difference between the Regular Offering and this Special Offering?
Your regular River offering is the proportional amount (your tithe of 10%) that you give on a regular basis to our church throughout the year. This Special Christmas Offering is one of those occasions where sacrificial giving stretches you and grows your faith. The special offering should be over and above what you give regularly to The River.

How much should I Give?
Since our goal is $1,600, this Special Offering has room for everyone to be involved. Some families within our church can give a large gift. Others are only able to give a small gift. The issue is not equal giving, but equal sacrifice. The precise amount you give is between you and God. Please prayerfully consider a sacrificial gift that will stretch your faith.

When should I Give?
The best time to give will be the next two Sundays. However, you may continue to give until December 31. Please use the “Showing We Care!” offering envelopes or indicate that your gift is for the Christmas Offering. Remember, consistent gifts over time adds up – a person giving $10-$50 a week over a five-week period will give $50 to $250 to this Special Offering!

Can I Give online via bank check, debit or credit card?
You may give online at RiverChristianChurch.com. Select the “about rcc” drop-down menu and click on “support rcc”. Then select the “donate” button. That will take you to our PayPal account. To donate by check online, you must have a PayPal account, otherwise you may use your debit card or credit card. You can also use your bank online payment option to send a check directly to the church. Simply mark in the memo area that your gift is for the “Showing We Care!” offering.

Can I Give In-Kind Gifts of Stocks or Bonds?
Of course! Since The River is a 501c3 organization there can be tremendous tax benefits for you by giving in-kind gifts.

Are My Gifts Tax-Deductible?
YES! The River is recognized by the IRS as a 501c3 charitable organization. All gifts are completely tax-deductible.

Loving The Difficult People in Your World!

In our ever-changing relational world, there are 3 types of people:
1- Non believers- Some members of your oikos are non-believers, or better yet, pre-believers. Your role for them is that of evangelist, seeking to help provide them connection points with Christ.
2- Believers who are not walking with the Lord- Some will be Christians who, for whatever reason, have become distracted and aren’t presently attending church. This makes up the largest number of people in our area. Your role, with them, is to help them get back on track and pick up where they left off, with you as their biggest cheerleader.
3- Believers who are presently walking with Christ- If they are involved in church and already intentional about their walk with Christ, then your role in their lives will be to encourage them to keep moving forward in their faith.

Now there is problem: The problem is that there are some people who are in your OIKOS, who for whatever reason, you have a hard time with or they have a hard time with you. And the truth is you wish God had put them in someone else’s OIKOS! But you’re stuck with them and they’re stuck with you!

So how do you change your world when someone in your world is difficult to love?

When you think about it, everybody’s difficult, at least part of the time. And if your desire is to be effective as a worldchanger then you must learn how to love the difficult people that are in your OIKOS.

Jesus said John 13:34-35 "By this shall all men know that you're My disciples that you have love one for another." Jesus says that the number one characteristic of a believer is love. It makes sense, God is a loving God and He wants us to become like Him.

The fact is if you’re a Christian you should be a loving and caring person, if you’re a non-loving Christian that’s what’s called an oxy-moron: or maybe you’re just a moron! Jesus expects us to love everybody, even the difficult people in our lives. After all, love is what attracts most people to Christ.

If you're going to be a world changer then you'd better learn how to love the difficult people in your world. In Romans 12:9-21 Paul gives us 3 characteristics that we must develop if we are going to love others and be effective worldchangers. Check it out!

For more information listen to my podcast.

Community Christmas Eve Servce

Showing We Care! Special Christmas Offering

The River Christmas Offering
Showing We Care!
Now through December 31, 2009
GOAL: $2,000

Come As You Are, Love Jesus, Serve Others, Tell The Story

November 2009

Dear River Family,

I am excited to share with you information regarding the SHOWING WE CARE! Special Christmas Offering that begins now and runs through December 31st.

As a brand new church in the Treasure Valley, we are committed to do everything we can to carry out the mission God has given us; leading people into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ by encouraging them to: Come As You Are, Love Jesus, Serve Others, and to go out and Tell The Story! We are not looking for perfect people, in fact we say No Perfect People Allowed! One significant thing we have discovered about our community is that it is not irreligious, it is packed with people who believe in God but have given up on the church for one reason or another. With this in mind we have set out to be a non-traditional, contemporary church for people who have given up on the traditional church, but not on God.

When we began The River seven months ago, we determined to give our people the best opportunities available to discover what it means to become a fully devoted follower of Christ. With this offering you have the opportunity to deepen your commitment to Christ, enlarge your ministry commitment and opportunities, and provide for the needs of others.

This offering is designated to four purposes: providing financial support for IberoAmerican Ministries; Servant Evangelism to our city, beginning a Benevolence ministry to our own members, and support of our own youth ministry – STRIKE!

I hope you will carefully look over the enclosed information about this exciting opportunity for us to give sacrificially. Will you join us and begin praying now about what God would have you give, over and above your regular giving, to our Special Christmas Offering? Allow God to stretch your faith!

Your Friend and Pastor,

Dave Griewe
pastordg@aol.com

The SHOWING WE CARE! Special Christmas Offering is a call to sacrificial giving with a goal of raising $1,500 for four specific ministry initiatives.

THE PURPOSES OF THIS OFFERING

To support Jeff Phillips; Founder of IberoAmerican Ministries: a mission dedicated to reach Muslims in Southeast Asia.

Jeff Phillips and his wife Kathy left for Chile the day after their first wedding anniversary immediately after graduation from San Jose Bible College (now William Jessup University). They have been in living in Chile for the past 33 years. All four of their children, as well as their four grandchildren were born in Chile. They have seen 20 churches planted during that time which are now beginning to reproduce churches on their own. Each of these planted churches has national pastors and elders. Most recently, Jeff took a team to a Middle Eastern, war torn country, to live among and love Muslims. There he started a Women's Center to help the hurting people. IberoAmerican Ministries goal is to mobilize 1000 Latinos to move into and start churches around the world focusing on reaching people where there is no Christian testimony or churches. Two of Jeff’s children and their families have answered that call and are currently working among needy people. For more information: www.iamweb.org

To share God’s love to our community through Servant Evangelism.

Last year The River hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for the Lexington Hills Community, the community where our church meets. We managed to put out over 3,000 plastic eggs filled with candy and prizes for the children and their families. We had over 250 people attend this free event to the community. This helped to develop a positive identity of The River in our community and led to a very successful Grand Opening Easter service. This year we hope to open it up to even more people within the city of Eagle.

To begin a Benevolence Fund to assist members of our church.

It is our desire to begin a Benevolence Ministry to come alongside our people in distress due to difficult financial times, a death in the family or a need for Christian counseling.

To support STRIKE! our youth ministry to Junior and Senior High students.

Our youth ministry continues to grow and in its short time has seen 15 teens make decisions for Christ! Our goal is to provide financial resources to help our youth ministry send students to camp this summer. Last year’s summer camp saw four students commit their lives to Christ.

This Special Offering will be received through December 31, 2009. Please use the special envelope in your bulletin or mark your checks or online gifts with “Showing We Care!”

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why a Special Offering?
As part of God’s plan to grow the faith of the people in His church, He calls us to sacrificial giving from time to time. This Special Christmas Offering is an opportunity for us to grow in our faith and to prepare us for what God wants to do through our church in 2010. This offering is to position us to make a greater impact in our city, in our church and around the world in 2010.

What is the difference between the Regular Offering and this Special Offering?
Your regular River offering is the proportional amount (your tithe of 10%) that you set apart on a systematic basis and give to our church throughout the year. From time to time, there are opportunities to give in a sacrificial way. This Special Christmas Offering is one of those occasions where sacrificial giving that stretches us causing us to grow in our faith. The special offering should be over and above what you give regularly to The River.

How much should I Give?
Since our goal is $1,500, this Special Offering has room for everyone to be involved. Some families within our church can give a large gift. Others are only able to give a small gift. The issue is not equal giving, but equal sacrifice. The precise amount you give is between you and God. Please prayerfully consider a sacrificial gift that will stretch your faith.

When should I Give?
The best time to give will be the next two Sundays. Please pray about giving your best gift on that day. However, you may continue to give until December 31, 2009. Please use the “Showing We Care!” offering envelopes or include a note designating that your gift is for the Special Christmas Offering. Remember, consistent gifts over time adds up – a person giving $10-$50 a week over a five-week period will give $50 to $250 to this Special Offering!

Can I Give online via bank check, debit or credit card?
Yes. You may give at www.RiverChristianChurch.com via online giving, simply select the “about rcc” drop-down menu and click on “support rcc”. Then select the “donate” button. That will take you to our PayPal account. To donate by check online, you must have a PayPal account, otherwise you may use your debit card or credit card. You can also use your bank online payment option to send a check directly to the church office. Again, simply mark in the memo area that your gift is for the “Showing We Care!” special offering.

Can I Give In-Kind Gifts of Stocks or Bonds?
Of course! Since The River is a 501c3 organization there can be tremendous tax benefits for you by giving in-kind gifts. For information on this type of giving, simply contact Pastor Dave.

Are My Gifts Tax-Deductible?
All gifts to The River, whether via your regular offering or this Special Christmas Offering, are completely tax-deductible. Your gift will be deductible in the tax year given (i.e., gifts given in 2009 will be deductible on your 2009 taxes). Please be sure to include your name and address when you give so that a receipt can be sent to you for your tax preparations. You are not required to utilize a tax-deduction for your gift, but it is available for all gifts.

How Will I Know if We Reach Our Goal?
Please pray for God’s guidance as we all give sacrificially. You will be updated on our giving progress during our Sunday services. Reaching this goal will be a celebration of what we can do together as we stretch our faith under God’s leadership.

Have additional questions? Please contact Pastor Dave Griewe at pastordg@aol.com

Welcome To The River!

At The River we work hard to provide a unique environment in which anyone, and we mean anyone can be comfortable.

We seek to provide a diverse, judgment free zone where a lasting, active relationship with God can be discovered and developed at your own pace.

As we grow and develop as a church family we are seeking to continually provide a safe, energetic environment, where everyone feels accepted and respected.

We know that no one is perfect, except God, but we also know that God wants us to continually be in the process of becoming more like Him, so we are here to encourage you to be everything that God created you to be.

Therefore The River is committed to be a place where you can become and belong.

Our Mission: Come as you are, Love Jesus, Serve Others, and Tell the Story!

We are The River!

Getting into Fall at The River!

We are completely enjoying the Fall here in Idaho, the temperature has dropped, the leaves are changing, and it’s time to focus on growth! I am excited; I love the Fall and everything it brings. I am really looking forward to it bringing new people to The River! That’s why we are here: to introduce people to Jesus Christ and help them grow in Him!

· Please pray for us to grow and mature as a church.
We are just over 6 months old; running an average of 100 people and we have seen nearly 20 commitments to Christ. We are not satisfied! Our community is over 22,000 people and there are over a half of a million people in the Treasure Valley. We have discovered that the majority of people do not attend church; they are not irreligious, but they are lost and disconnected. Most non-churched people here have some form of religious background but for some reason they have disconnected from church, not God, just church. That doesn’t mean they know Jesus, they are most likely religious; making them very difficult to reach for Christ. They have been infected with enough religion to make them immune to a relationship with God. Our mission is to reach those people where they are, break down their religious barriers, and help them to fall in love with Jesus. Pray for us to accomplish this vision!

· Pray for our people, the people of The River, to reach out to their friends and invite them to church. Pray for divine appointments for them to talk to them about a relationship with Christ.
· Pray that my messages on marriage and family will reach our community with God’s practical and invaluable council on developing great families while pointing people to the life saving grace of a relationship with Jesus.
· Pray for our small groups to grow and develop as they work through applying each Sunday’s message to their life.
· Pray for the growth and development of our worship teams. Heather and Phil share the responsibilities of leading our worship on Sundays. We are struggling with having enough musicians to put together a weekly band and our goal is to have two or more complete worship teams. Pray for God to lead the right people to us and for us to recognize them and get them involved. We see playing an instrument as an opportunity to reach musicians who don’t know Jesus.

Cathy and I are both doing better physically; thank you for your prayers! We are not 100% but we feel we are getting there. Cathy joined my gym and she is going with me every day! Pray for her as this is huge lifestyle change. I love her going to the gym with me (I’ve tried to get her to do this for 30+ years)! Pray for her to develop this as a habit and to learn the right kind of exercises that will be best for her and will accelerate her healing and lead her to complete health.
Pray for our finances. Our outside support has been cut in half in the past two months. As a new church we are doing OK averaging nearly $1,000 a week in offerings, but it takes a minimum of $8,000 a month to meet our needs (that includes my support but not the rest of the staff who are on support). September brought a shortfall of nearly $900. Since our Grand Opening we have put ourselves $6,304.99 in debt. We know that statistically it takes 3 years for a church to be self supporting, but we don’t have that much time, so we are asking God for a miracle to pull us out of debt and to meet our needs every month. Maybe God is asking you to be part of the solution.

Click here to support The River!

The Mission of The River-Part 4; TELL THE STORY!

Our Mission is simple:
· Come as you are- No perfect People Allowed. We’re a church for those who have given up on the traditional church but not on God and we are a judgment free zone!
· Love Jesus – That’s why we’re here, it’s what God created us for – to have a relationship with Him by falling in love with His Son Jesus.
· Serve Others - using the gifts and abilities God has given us to serve Him by serving others.
· Today I am wrapping up this series by talking about the fourth part of our Mission – Tell the Story.
God has given every believer the responsibility of telling the story of God’s love for us and what He has done to prove His love for us and provide us with the opportunity to have a relationship with Him.

In fact Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV) “do the work of an evangelist” even though he was not an evangelist.

In fact look at what Jesus told His followers…
Luke 14:23 (LB) ‘Go into the country… and urge anyone you find to come, so that my house will be full.”
Jesus says that’s our job! Bring people to church and to Him!

Institute for American Church Growth put out these statistics about how people first come to church:
= 2% Special needs
= 3% Walked-in
= 6% Pastor
= 1% Home visitation
= 5% Sunday school
= 5% Evangelistic crusade
= 3% Programs
= 79% Friend/relative invited them to come
Jesus says that one of our main jobs as Christians is to go out and tell everyone we meet to come to church and then tell them the Good News about who He is. We are His ad campaign.

Madison Ave discovered this years ago. They discovered that the greatest advertising strategy around is word of mouth.

Jesus Advertising campaign was simple:
Go tell people about Me and bring them into My house.

What did He do to bring them in?
= Did He take out ads in the Jerusalem Times?
= Buy radio time on the popular radio stations?
= Send out postcards via camel express? No.

It was all word of mouth.
Think of TV commercials. Most commercials don’t ask or even tell you to buy their product.
Most Advertising, with the exception of infomercials, is based on word of mouth advertising.

They work tediously to portray an intimate setting where you are privileged to be a fly on the wall to watch a private conversation and hear all the great things a particular product does by "someone just like you."

= Commercials show people talking directly to me telling me of all the good things that their product could do for me.
= Or, you see people having the times of their lives, doing things that could only be enjoyed by people who used a particular product.

Every commercial is less than subtle in telling you about their product without ever yelling at you or condemning you for not using their product. They simply make very strong insinuations that your quality of life would improve if you used their product. And it is all done with the illusion of using someone we know, admire, want to be like, or relate to; personally talking to us.

But Jesus didn't have a Madison Avenue public relations team promoting him. Everything He did was passed on by word of mouth. And His message of love spread like wildfire!

People whose lives were radically changed by Christ told everybody they came into contact with what had happened. Even people, who didn't experience significant life change, saw life change in others and they told others what they had seen!

John and Peter were ordered by the rulers of their time to stop talking about Jesus; but look at what they said…
Acts 4:20 (NIV) “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

It's like that really old Faberge' ad, I told two friends and they told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on...

That’s how the good news about Jesus Christ spread around the world; word of mouth, one by one, people would tell their friends, neighbors, relatives, and coworkers about Christ.

We have a word for that strategy of word of mouth advertising when it comes to Jesus, we call it evangelism.

That’s how Jesus grew the first church, word of mouth evangelism. Eyewitness accounts, and one on one testimonies.

Now for some reason the word evangelism strikes fear in most people’s hearts. Now before I tell you three ways to talk to your friends about Jesus let’s talk about some...
I. MISCONCEPTIONS OF EVANGELISM.

A. YOU MUST BE AN OBNOXIOUS BIBLE THUMPER.

For many people the term evangelism brings up all sorts of unpleasant images:
· Hellfire and brimstone Bible Thumpers,
· pushy salesman types,
· slick, insincere celebrities,
· money grubbing televangelists,
· bizarre, cult like figures,
· hustlers, con men,
· Jim and Tammy Faye, Jimmy Swaggart, and so on.

Most of us find the hard sell approach impersonal, overbearing, and obnoxious. We tend to mistrust the sincerity of the person talking about Jesus. We feel like we are being sold something; and that doesn’t feel sincere!

If we think this is the only way to talk about Jesus, we will probably want to stay as far away from this role as possible. We fear that people will think we’re religious fanatics.

But you don't have to be a bible thumper, just be yourself.

B. YOU MUST KNOW THE WHOLE BIBLE.

That's like saying before you ever play the game of baseball you have to know all the rules and how to play every position before you even try.

Many of us are afraid that someone will ask us a question that we don’t know the answer to and we’ll look stupid. Or that there is some secret formula that we discover only after we have learned the entire bible and if done right everybody we talk to will beg us to tell them about Jesus.

We think that we must have an answer for every question.

You know what? God doesn't give us all the answers! We're just not supposed to know everything; if we did we would be God!

If you don't have the answer to a question someone asks you, don't panic! Just tell them that if there’s an answer you will get it for them.

Then study the question, or call me or someone else who can answer the question or at least the ability to find the answer if, there is one.

C. YOU MUST BE PERFECT.

You can never lose your temper. You can never do anything wrong.

Let's face it - we’re going blow it; we’re not perfect.

So don't ignore your mistakes, admit them and correct them. Don't hide them, but don't publicize them either.

When you blow it, recognize that it is not an unforgivable sin, work to correct it, ask for forgiveness, and move on.

That’s the beauty of God’s grace. God forgives us and forgets what we did. Our slate is clean before a gracious God. Remember Jesus died for our sins to forgive us.

In contrast to those misconceptions….

D.L. Moody said, “If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced that it must be done by men and women of average talent. After all, there are comparatively few people in the world who have great talents.”

It takes average people, just like you and me to spread the Good News that Jesus died to forgive us from our sins. It’s our job to go out into our communities, tell people about Jesus and bring them into His church. It takes average people like you and me; there are no superstars in the Christian Community.
Remember Jesus ad campaign? Go tell people about Me.

Look at these two commands of Jesus:
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT:
Matthew 22:36-39 (NIV) "LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself."

THE GREAT COMMISSION:
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) "GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Jesus says, be committed to love God and love our neighbors and then be committed to make disciples, devoted followers of Christ.

If that’s the command of Jesus; then how do we do that? How do we love God and our neighbors enough to tell them about Jesus? Let's look at …
II. THREE KEYS TO TALKING TO YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT JESUS.

A. LIVE WITH A GREAT COMMITMENT

The greatest impact the average Christian will ever make will be through their life and actions.

Many of us have heard about the Sermon on the Mount. It’s where Jesus taught a large crowd of his followers.

A significant part of that message is Jesus explaining to his followers the true nature of their calling. They would be His light to the world.
Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

In other words Jesus said let your life be an advertisement for me! Let them see me through you.

Don't hide your Christianity. Make sure you are doing good things, and then when those good things are noticed tell them it's Jesus who is shining through you.

Doing good deeds is a way of loving people into the family of God.
1 John 4:7-8 (LB) "Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better. But if a person isn't loving and kind, it shows that he doesn't know God - for God is love."

Let me ask you a question: If your neighbors had to depend on you to find out about Jesus, how much would they know?

You live a great commitment by loving people enough to let the light of Jesus shine through you by living in a way that people say, I want what you have.

Your Christianity should be contagious. That’s what we should be - contagious Christians.

A Christian who maintains an ongoing personal contact with a non-believer is far more effective than the polished appeal of an evangelist, because they are able to show their whole life as a witness. Our friends will almost always more easily relate to us than someone they do not know, and the trust that is built up through a relationship helps create open doors for talking to them about Jesus.

So if you want to talk to your friends about Jesus; love them by living a life worthy of imitation and let the light of Jesus shine through you!

Here’s a warning: everything you do is a reflection on Jesus. So
· If you’re loving to your neighbors it’s a good reflection
· If you’re the crab of the neighborhood, it’s a bad reflection
· If you’re happy despite the circumstances, it’s good
· If you’re the complainer…
Think of it like this, if you’re contagious, what will people catch from you?

Once we have a great commitment to live contagiously for Christ, then we need to explain why we live differently…
B. LIVE THE GREAT COMMISSION

We need to be prepared to talk to people about Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:1-2 (LB) "...I solemnly urge you before God and Christ Jesus, ...to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out..."

There are many different ways to talk about Jesus.

1. The first thing you have to do is tell YOUR story.
So you have to learn how to tell your story. It’s pretty simple really; just take a few minutes and write it out.

Here is a simple three point outline to write out your story. Just write one or two paragraphs on…
What was your life like before you became a Christian?
How did you become a Christian?
How has your life changed since becoming a Christian?
Simply take about one minute for each point and skip all the gory details. Sometimes people get hung up on talking about how bad they were… in detail. It will derail your story.

If you like I can email you a simple worksheet to help you tell your story. Just ask for it on your connection card, and make sure I have your email address.

Once you have told your story you need to be able to tell a person how to become a Christian.

2. There are all sorts of tracts that are published that allow you to simply read it to another person. They’re designed to take you all the way through to a prayer of commitment. They are simple and easy.

3. But my favorite way to talk to people about Jesus is called the Roman Road.

I have memorized several verses in Romans that present the gospel completely. I can use these verses and make a short simple presentation or a longer more complete presentation.

They are
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
That’s the Roman Road. It’s a simple way to tell the Good news of Jesus Christ. You don't need a Bible handy, you don't need to carry a tract, if you memorize it; it's always there.

David was hiding from King Saul in the desert and he said
Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you." He didn't have a scroll tucked away in his tunic; he had memorized scripture to carry it with him all the time.

1. So we live a great commitment through a lifestyle of love recognizing that we are not perfect, but striving to do all that we can to bring glory to God. Remember, People take your example far more seriously than your advice.

2. And we live the great commission as we back up our lives with words, a verbal presentation.
1 Peter 3:15-16 (LB)"Quietly trust yourself to Christ your Lord, and if anybody asks you why you believe as you do, be ready to tell him, and do it in a gentle and respectful way."

C. Live Strategically

Acts 20:24 (ICB) “The most important thing is that I complete my mission. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.”

In other words, develop a plan to tell the story and talk about Jesus with your friends...

· I’ve been talking to people about Jesus ever since I moved here. In fact the very first people I talked to were the movers who unloaded our furniture from the moving truck. Today one of them plays a key part in our church.
· I go to the gym 5 days a week and I have developed relationships with several people there. Two families have come to our church as a result of my building a relationship and talking to them about Jesus and our church.
· One guy I have met with several times and talked to him about Jesus. He has not come yet, but He will!
· I have talked to every neighbor on our block and invited them to our church.
· Cathy and I have built a casual friendship with a checker at a grocery store and we have invited her to come and check us out.
I have a plan; and that’s to talk to everyone I can about Jesus and The River. I am intentional and deliberate everywhere I go.

The point is you need to live strategically. You need to deliberately look for opportunities to invite your friends to church and talk to them about Jesus.

You say, Pastor Dave of course you talk to everyone about Jesus and the church; you’re the pastor and it’s easy when people know you’re a pastor!

Not true! I don’t tell people I’m a pastor. When they hear I’m a pastor they think I’m a hired professional!

Who do you think do you think people trust more - the hired professional or the satisfied customer? The satisfied customer!

Your friends trust you. They see changes in your life, they see a difference in your life; and they want to know why? What makes you different?

The apostle Paul said,
1 Corinthians 9:19-22 (Msg) “I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life”

Paul lived intentionally! And he related to everyone without condoning their actions or taking on their way of living. He worked to see things from their point of view just so he could talk to them about Jesus.

That’s what it means to live strategically!

One caution... the people your talking to about Jesus must not get the impression that they are your save the world project!
= You invite them as you have earned the right through your relationship.
= You love them with your actions with no strings attached.
= Even though we hope and pray for them to develop a desire to know Jesus, we love them consistently whether they accept the invitation or not.

So live strategically with a great commitment to the great commandment and you will have the great joy of introducing your friends to Jesus!

Maybe today when I talked about the Roman Road, Christianity made sense to you for the first time. Then take the first step, invite Jesus Christ into your life.

OUR MISSION AT THE RIVER – Part 2

Love Jesus – The Foundation of Our Faith

Our greatest desire at The River is to help you discover what it means to love Jesus. We will never push religion, God, Jesus or our church on anyone.

We want to celebrate what it means to be a Christ follower!

So we tell people come as you are, check us out, ask questions, take as much time as you need, but our goal is for you to fall in love with Jesus.

But what does that mean? There are so many misconceptions about what love is that if we're going to really understand how to love Jesus we have to start with understanding what real love is.

Love is a word that we use and misuse in many different ways. We say things like:
· I love my wife.
· I love pepperoni pizza. I hope I feel differently about Cathy than I do about pepperoni pizza or at least maybe more passionately
· I love America.
· I love apple pie.
· I love you.
Same word, different meanings.

What does the word mean? That's the key. If I'm going to love Jesus, I've got to understand what this word is all about.

First let’s look at some popular misconceptions that confuse our understanding of love.

1. Love is only a feeling. I get a feeling, a quiver in my liver, an ocean of emotion, or a tingle in my toes. But love is more than a feeling. It affects my feelings powerfully, but it's more than just a feeling.

2. Love is uncontrollable. A lot of people use words like I feel giddy, my head's spinning, or I'm weak in the knees. It sounds a lot more like being sea sick than love struck, but that's the words that we use to describe love.

We've all heard people say, "I fell in love." Like you're walking down the street one day, tripped, and fell in love. When you say that what you're really saying is, “it just happened, I couldn't help it; I had no control over it.”

That's a dangerous misconception. Because if you can fall into love, then you can fall out of love.

You may not realize it, but you can control love, in fact the Bible teaches that love is controllable. It is actually up to you to determine if you fall in or out of love.

In fact Jesus actually commanded us to love one another.
John 15:12 (NIV) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

If He commanded it, obviously it’s something we can control.
That means I have control over when I love and when I don't love. Who I love and who I don’t love.

God’s love, Agape love is a different kind of love than we’re used to. His love is powerful, complete, and unconditional. He loves us and He wants us to love Him back and to love others.

So if love is more than just a feeling and you have control over it, then what does God say about love?

1. God says, Love is a choice.
Colossians 3:14 (NIV) "And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together." Circle "put on love". Love is something that I choose to do. It’s an action that I take. If it were a feeling, or just an accident, then God couldn't command it. But it’s a choice so He can command it and that leads to the second thing God says about love.

2. Love is a matter of conduct. It's how I act.
1 John 3:18 "Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and truth." Actions -- that's what love is really all about. It's how I act towards another person. You can talk about love until you're blue in the face, but your actions will always determine what is real.

3. Love is what God has for us unconditionally.
Romans 5:8 (TEV) “God has shown us how much He loves us; It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.”

When you understand God’s love, it includes a forgiveness capacity that strains anyone’s imagination.

God doesn’t say, “Clean up your act first and then come to Me.” God says, “Come to Me. Receive My love and I will help you clean up your act.”

When we receive God’s unconditional love He forgives us for everything we have ever done.

Luke 24:47 (LB) “There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”

It’s like this: Imagine that God gave you the ability to remember everything wrong you’ve ever done– every bad thing, every sin, everything you’ve ever done and you had to write it down in a notebook. Some of you are thinking, “That’s a lot of notebooks!” You’re right. Now God says give Me your notebooks and He drops them into a trash can that says “FORGIVEN”. Then He walks you into a party, a celebration. There’s music going and streamers and people are hollering. And it’s a party for you.

That’s what heaven’s like. And Jesus tells us three stories to explain it. He tells us a story about…
a woman who lost a coin,
a shepherd who lost a sheep,
and father who lost a lost son.

Guess what happens when the coin, the sheep and the son are found? They celebrate! God and all the Angels in heaven party!
· He’s not rejoicing because all the problems of the world have been solved.
· He’s not rejoicing because all human pain and suffering are over.
· He’s not rejoicing because thousands have been converted and are now praising His goodness.
He rejoices because that which was lost has now been found. He rejoices because one of His creations has been found.

If you’re here today and you are just checking things out, today’s your day to be found. It’s your day to respond to God’s love and to receive it. God wants to throw a party in your name, today!

John 1:12 (NLT) “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave them the right to become children of God.”

That’s what a Christian is - a child of God. If you’ve never received God’s love, what are you waiting for?

All you have to do is say, “God, here I am. I want to be your child. I accept your Son Jesus Christ.” That’s what being a Christian is.

So let me make it simple, here are the ABC’s of loving Jesus.

What do I have to do to love Jesus?
A - ACCEPT GOD'S LOVE FOR ME.

This is what we have been talking about. But think about it like this:
Your deepest need in life is to feel totally and unconditionally loved.
· Not for something you could be or should be,
· But loved just as you are, total acceptance.
That is your deepest inner need.

And only God can love you with as much love as you really need. God loves you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year.

There's never been a time in your life when God didn't love you. Nobody else can do that. Only God can love you as deeply as you really need.

So if to be loved is your deepest need, and God loves you as much as you need, why people avoid God? Because they don't know what He's like. They don't know how much He loves them.

It's ironic to me that when you need God's love the most is when you tend to run the other way. Guilt causes us to run from God instead of running to God.

That started way back at the Garden of Eden. Adam, after eating the forbidden fruit says, "I was afraid and I hid myself." And people have been afraid and running from God ever since.

I used to have a big sign in my office that said, "If you feel far from God, guess who moved?" It’s not God, God hasn't moved. He's never stopped loving you. In fact He continues to pursue you.

But some of you say, "But you don't know what I've done! I've blown it too much. God can never love me." Wrong.
Romans 8:39 (NLT) "… indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God has never stopped loving you. That doesn't mean He approves of everything you've done, because He doesn’t, but no matter what He's never stopped loving you.

Some say, "I don't feel like I'm a bad person but I just don't think God's interested in me." You're wrong too!

Luke 12:7 (NCV) "God even knows how many hairs you have on your head. Don't be afraid, you are worth much…"

You’re worth much! In fact you ever want to know how much you're worth, just look at the cross!

What’s the starting point? Accept God's love for you.
It's one thing to know about God's love. It's another thing to accept it. You're never going to understand it until you accept it.

That means saying to God, "God I know You love me and I receive Your love. I don't want to just know about You. I want to know You."

The Bible says God created you just so He can love you. He knows everything there is to know about you. He knows everything you’ve ever done and He still loves you and wants you to know Him. He still wants to have a relationship with you.

He loves you unconditionally; don’t you think you should love Him back? That makes Him worth our acceptance of Him.

To love Jesus, first I have to accept God’s love for me, then I...
B - BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE FOR ME.

Psalm 14:1 (NIV) “The fool says in his heart there is no God.”
Let me be totally candid with you here: You have to have more faith to believe that creation happened by accident than to believe there's a creator. When you have a creation there must be some creator.

It takes more faith to not believe in God than it does to believe in God. If I took a watch all apart and put all the pieces in a bag and shook it up - do you think it could come out as a working watch? No way! Somebody had to put it together. And it's an even bigger leap of faith to think the universe happened like that.

Its one thing to believe about a person but it's another thing to believe in a person.

Romans 10:9 (NIV) “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Some people say, "I believe there's a God." So what?

There’s more to loving Jesus than just head knowledge. It's not just believing about God, it's believing in God. The Bible says even the demons believe that God is real but you're not going to find them in heaven.

I believe Lenin was real but I'm not a Communist. I believe Hitler was real but I'm not a Nazi. I believe in Jesus and I'm a Christian. Why? Because I've committed myself to Him.

The Greek word for believe in means to trust in, cling to, rely on, adhere to, sell out to, commit to.

It's like the chair you're setting on. You say, "I believe this chair will hold me up." It's one thing to say you believe it. It's another to sit down on it. The moment you sit down on it, that's real belief. You relied on the chair to hold you up.

You need Jesus in your life. You need to have a relationship with God, not because you're going to die tomorrow, but because you're going to live tomorrow BUT you’re going to die someday. And only a fool goes through life unprepared for what he knows is going to happen. That's foolish. So be prepared.

So to love Jesus I need to accept His love for me. I need to believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave for me. And finally to Love Jesus I need to take that final step and…
C - COMMIT MY LIFE TO CHRIST.

Romans 10:9 (NIV) “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’… you will be saved.”

That’s what separates Christ followers from religious people. Religious people confess their religion; whatever that is… and Christ followers confess Jesus as their Lord.

You say Jesus; I commit my life to You.

You accept His love for you, you believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for you and rose from the grave and then you commit your whole life to Christ.

I lived in Atlanta for several years. I served as a youth pastor at a church and then I went out on my own as a youth evangelist. I began speaking at camps and youth groups and I was even booked on a Christian cruise to the Bahamas. Most of the churches who booked me were Southern Baptist churches. They network, once you do a good job for one, they tell all the other Southern Baptist churches and you’re in. Then one day someone asked me, What are you? I said a Christian. They said no I mean are you a Southern Baptist. I said, no I’m a Christian. Now you have to know that most of my ministries had been at Baptist churches and I was originally ordained at a Baptist church. But the truth is I have always disliked being put into a mold; to me a religious title was never comfortable. And I saw this strong religious attitude that said, I’m a Southern Baptist so I’m saved. But I knew a lot of people who claimed to be So Baptist that didn’t know or love Jesus, they were just religious. Shortly after that, all my speaking opportunities dried up. The word was out, he’s not a Baptist! I hate religion!

1 Peter 3:14-15 (GN) "Don't be afraid of anyone and don't worry, but have reverence for Christ in your heart and honor him as Lord."

· How many of you would say "I try to follow the Ten Commandments."
· How many of you even know all Ten Commandments?
· How many of you have seen the Ten Commandments?
· Do you know what the first commandment is?

Exodus 20:6 "You shall have no other gods before Me."
That's number one on God's big ten! The Bible calls the opposite of that idolatry.

Any time you put anything, any person, any career, any job, any decision, any religion, anything in first place in your life instead of God; that's called idolatry.

It can even be a good thing, but if it's in first place in your life where God ought to be, you've made it god.

Any time you put your house, your job, your bank account, your girlfriend, boyfriend, husband of wife - before God that's called idolatry.

1 Peter 3:14-15 (TEV) “Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord."

That's not a word we use a whole lot. We don't have lords and ladies and counts in America. This is a democracy. So what does it mean to honor Christ as Lord?

It means let Christ be the manager of your life. Let Him be the boss. Let Him call the shots. He doesn't want to be resident in your life, He wants to be president in your life. You say “God, You be number one." That's what it means to commit to Christ, to make Him Lord. And that’s what it means to love Jesus.

Maybe you feel like things aren't fitting together very well in your life right now. Maybe you're feeling a sense of incompleteness.

You’re wondering why am I here? What’s my purpose?
Is this all there is to life?
If you've had those feelings, congratulations!

Where do you think those feelings are coming from? God!
God is putting a hunger for Himself in your life. He's saying "I love you and I want you to love Me.

He creates a dissatisfaction in your life that says, "There's got to be more to life than this!" Because there is!

There's a God-shaped vacuum in each of us. Nothing else can fill it. If you don't fill it with God, it will fill with something else.

Nothing else can substitute for God.
· It doesn't matter how much human affirmation you get,
· it doesn't matter how many awards you put on your shelf,
· how many achievements you get,
· how many possessions you stockpile,
Because nothing can substitute for God in your life; God says, I love you and I want you to love Me back.

Maybe you made a commitment to Christ a while back, but you got stuck in religion. It’s time to repent. Know what that means? It means to turn around and go the other way.
In other words, turn from religion and turn to Christ.
Stop being religious and start loving Jesus.

That’s why this is a key value and the second part of the Mission of The River, is to Love Jesus. We want you to fall in love with Jesus. He is the answer to all of life’s problems.

At the River we have discovered the keys to living life to the absolute fullest and it is found in a relationship with God who loves you so much he sent His Son to die on the cross for you.

That’s the foundation of our faith. It’s the foundation for life.

Prayer and Fasting

Acts 13:2-3 (GW)"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me. I want them to do the work for which I called them.' After fasting and praying, Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul, and released them from their work in Antioch."

Matthew 17:20-21 (NASB) "... for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 'But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'”

We are only a week away from beginning the next phase of launching The River (Our Preview Services begin Sunday, February 22). This is the end of phase one and the beginning of phase two... and so far God has supremely blessed! We have been experiencing God's awesome blessings and miracles. And I have been absolutely humbled by His faithfulness.

Now it is our turn to show our faithfulness. Normally God says "you first", but so far, based on what we have experienced, as God has blessed our socks off, we have simply watched Him show His grace and power as He has been establishing The River; having churches commit to helping us plant, gathering an awesome staff, and developing a committed core group of faithful believers.

So what are we to do? The Bible is clear, there is nothing we can do to make anything happen, it is only God that empowers, blesses, and grows. But there is ample teaching in the Bible that says we have a part in releasing His blessings. One significant thing we can do is pray and fast! Honestly, I don't understand in my own finite human mind (and my hungry body) how fasting works; however I do know that Jesus says, when I faithfully pray AND fast it empowers my prayers and releases God to do what He really wants to do.

What is fasting? Simply it is refraining from food. All through Scripture we see examples of fasting; fasting when seeking God's will, fasting to humble oneself before God, fasting to honor and worship God, fasting to sacrifice, etc.

As we enter phase two of launching The River I am calling on all our prayer partners to consider this Wednesday (2/18) as a day of fasting and prayer. I am not asking you to put on a monks robe and go to a Monastery in a self debasing way. Just fast, refrain from food, not water, and as you go through your normal day - pray! As you feel hungry let that be a reminder for you to pray. Pray when it comes to your mind. Pray during what would be meal times. You will be surprised at how often you will think about praying when you are fasting.

Will you commit to pray and fast with us this Wednesday? Please send me an email to let me know. I want to pray for you too!

Here are several things to bring to God in prayer for The River as we prepare to launch phase two.
-Pray that we can reach out to the non-churched people in our area; both those who have left the church for some reason and those who have never known God and lead them into a life changing relationship with Jesus.
-Pray that we can help people discover their God given shape and begin to equip them to serve Him, by serving others in and through The River.
-Pray that God would supernaturally charge all our advertising, newspaper inserts and handouts, so it is noticed and people respond by coming to The River.
-Pray that as people come onto the school property they would sense a spirit of love, caring, acceptance, and God's Spirit.
-Pray that we will fill up the school auditorium with people! Immediately forcing us to go to 2 services - even before Easter!
-Pray that we will bring Glory to God through every facet our services ; song, media, drama, teaching, announcements, communion, and the offering.
-Pray that as we plan our services we will experience the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be creative, biblical, and point people to Jesus.
-Pray that God would spiritually supercharge our services with joy, encouragement, fun, discovery, and multiple challenges to new commitments to Jesus.
-Pray that we can develop a committed set up/take down crew that will view their hard work as serving the Lord not just a job.
-Pray for safety from the evil one. That God will bind him and not allow him to interfere, influence, or destroy anyone or any thing that is a part of The River.
-Pray for our staff: Don Steinke-Pastor of Connections, Dave Rowe-Pastor of Care, Kason Wedel-Worship Leader, Phil Eastman-Youth Director. Susie Tilton-Children's Director.
-Pray for all our volunteers who serve in hospitality, greeting, worship team, set up/take down, tech crew, children's ministry, youth ministry, and media.
-Pray for the staff at Seven Oaks Elementary School - that our use of their facilities will being blessings on them and their classes, and that they would recognize God's blessing.
-Pray for our finances. That God will continue to provide for our every need, and that our people will learn the value of giving.
-Pray for Cathy. Cathy was finally able to go to the Dr this past week. She has been given medication that prayerfully will begin to help her get back on track physically. She also did several lab tests and that suggested that there may be some other more serious physical problems. She has been referred to another Dr that she will see this week. We are praying for a miracle, we are praying for her complete healing either with the Dr's or not.
-Pray for me. I went back to the Dr on the blood clots in my leg and I have been referred to a vein specialist who I will see next week who will hopefully remove the veins. I am also scheduled for a full physical this week. Pray for a healthy outcome and no surprises!

God bless you!
Thank you for your prayers. We love you and appreciate all your prayers and support.

God's Love and Protection

"A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. But I came to give life—life in all its fullness" John 10:10 (ICB)
"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. " 1 Peter 5:8

I so appreciate God's love for us and how He has kept us safe and continued to bless us. We have had very little interference from the evil one. Yes Cathy and I have struggled with a couple of health issues, but all in all, God has blessed and the enemy has been restrained. Now I think part of this is because the Devil doesn't understand faith. I think he probably sat back like so many others and thought, who would go to Idaho, with no money, no church, and no people? Why would anyone make such a scary and silly decision? Well, like I said, the Devil doesn't understand faith. I think he sat back expecting us to fail, God to fail us, or for us to give up; not a chance! God has blessed and part of His blessing has been His restraint of the Devil and his followers! Thank you Lord for Your protection!

However, I must say he has taken notice of us, I am beginning to see his attacks on our church staff and some of our people. Now, understand, I am not a "the Devil is under every rock" kind of guy. But I know he is real, and I know he is dangerous. I have seen him work to take apart churches from the ground up. He is powerful, but only as powerful as God allows! For God is still in control! He is sovereign and He loves us! Praise the Lord!

We are coming down to the home stretch, so to speak, as we start The River, beginning with 7 preview services leading up to Easter Sunday when we will have our Grand Opening. Pray for us. Pray for God's continued blessings. Pray for God's continued protection from the evil one who hates the idea of another church reaching out to the unchurched and people far from God. Pray for us to know and understand what God is doing here and to have the wisdom to follow Him.

Pray for the staff of The River:

Dave Griewe - Lead Pastor
Don Steinke- Pastor of Connections
Dave Rowe - Pastor of Care
Kason Wadel - Worship Leader
Phil Eastman - Youth Director
Susie Tilton - Children's Director

God has miraculously assembled a talented and gifted staff with a huge heart for reaching the lost and seeing them grow in Christ. They truly Love the Lord and want to see people come to Christ and grow.

Pray for us as we get ready for regular Sunday services beginning on February 22, just two weeks away! Pray for people to step in and get involved, particularly in set up and take down. We are excited about opening the church with a full ministry and staff to provide leadership for each area. Pray for creativity as we program to reach the non churched and pre-believers in our area.

Praise God for His unimaginable gracious gifts and blessings! He has really blessed us every step of the way as we have followed Him preparing to give birth to The River!

Thank you for your prayers!

God is blessing!

PLAYING IT SAFE - NOT!

You can’t please God by playing it safe. You say, I’ve got my cushy, comfortable life here and I’m going to coast the rest of my life. If you’re coasting right now, guess what? You’re headed down. You’re not improving your life, it’s deteriorating.

Why does God say you can’t please Me if you’re playing it safe? Because God wants you to learn to trust Him; Trust is faith.

One of the great lessons of life is learning to trust God. You can’t trust God if you never take any risks. In order to have faith you have to take some risks. God says if you’re not taking any risks in life, if you’re not doing anything that stretches you, then you don’t require faith. And if you don’t require faith in your life you are being unfaithful.

Romans 14:13 (KJ) “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

God says I want you to learn to trust Me. It’s one of the great lessons of life. The only way to do that is putting yourself out on a limb. Never be afraid of going out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat if God’s in it with you. He’s going to help you, He’s going to protect you.

If you want to please God, If you want to live life abundantly, if you are ready to grow in your faith, quit playing it safe and take a giant leap of faith.

God would rather have you attempt to do something great and fail than attempt to do nothing with your life and succeed.

We have taken on a huge goal of starting a new church. Most people aren’t willing to try something that’s risky. Everybody wants to success but they want it the easy way. If you talk to anyone who is successful in any area they will tell you they made it because they took a risk, maybe calculated, maybe not, but they took a risk and that led to their success.

If you have lost your joy; or you’ve lost your enthusiasm for life; There’s no spark. You just don’t feel totally alive any more. Maybe it’s because you’re playing it safe.

Step up, step out, live for God, and quit playing it safe!

Prayer mail 10-9-08

"I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations." Psalm 89:1

God is so good! I sense God's presence and power with every step I take. It is such a blessing to be doing what God wants me to do, and know and to feel His approval. That is the way I feel about the ministry here at The River right now. I know there will be difficult days, but for right now I am basking in God's unparalleled blessings!

I have been waiting, sometimes not very patiently, for our first Bible study for The River and we finally had it this Wednesday! It went great! There was good attendance with 18 people in total attendance with several people who planned to come but did not make it for one reason or another. I began a three part series called "How to Spend a Day With God". It went very well. We are struggling with meeting at Rembrandt's Coffee House. Wednesday night is a pretty good night to meet, not as big of crowd, but we are in a room right next to the counter and the blenders and counter noise is very distracting. Pray for us to come up with a great solution. I love being at Rembrandt's, everybody knows where it is, it is a very popular place in Eagle, but if God has anther option, pray that I will hear Him clearly and be willing to follow His lead.

As a church, we are in the core building stage. My focus is on building a core of committed believers who can and will carry on the bulk of the ministry. At that same time I am putting together my staff and leadership team. I am finally talking to someone with experience and availability that may take on our Children's ministry! Please pray, I have said this before, but this is a key position as Eagle is VERY family oriented and we need to have a significant ministry to Children if we are going to really reach into the community. Please continue to pray for the other staff positions I have mentioned previously. There are two very qualified pastors who are ready to make commitments to The River and begin raising support. I hope to announce their names to you soon so you may pray for them individually. I am still looking for a worship leader/team and a youth leader. Again very vital parts to reaching the non churched in our area. And having a worship leader is key to starting any preview services, without one, we will not begin.

While I am doing all that I can to build the core group, I am still reaching out to people in our community who are far from God. I have been building a relationship with a man at my gym for a couple of months and I asked him to come to our Bible study last week. He was speechless, in fact could not speak to me for at least 10 minutes. It was the first time he found out that I am a pastor and I think he was replaying everything he had said to me (not Godly stuff to say the least...) and had no idea how to respond. I don't think he has ever considered God as an option. On Tuesday I was in the middle of a set of sit ups and he sat next to me and just began to vomit out his life, bad choices, issues in his marriage, issues with his step children (18 & 20 yrs). It just poured out of him for about 10 minutes. Then all of a sudden he realized where we were and jumped up to leave. I had finished my sit ups, put my hand on his shoulder and asked if I could pray for him. Again, speechless... he looked around and said, "Th... th... this is not an appropriate place." He was very uncomfortable so I said no problem, He could go his way, but I wanted him to know that I would pray for him, and he bolted! Haven't seen him for two days, but that's not that unusual. Pray for this man, his name is Bob and he really needs the Lord! Pray for more opportunities, divine appointments, where I can gently weave in the message of God's grace, and that he would respond. This is why I am here! I love these conversations.

Praise God that Cathy continues to heal. She told me that Tuesday was the first day she had no headache and she could actually feel her finger tips! More progress! Two steps up, one step back. God is healing her, slowly but surely. Thank you Lord for Galen Danielson, owner of Rehab Authority, who volunteered to treat her physical therapy for free. We could not have done it without him. As for her job, she took in a letter to announce her leaving and looking for another job. Her manager decided she really needed her so she designed a job for her as a co-teacher in a 2-3 year old class. She was offered a regular schedule and less chaos. Cathy and I have prayed about this a lot. In fact this week I was praying and fasting asking for God to do something significant. We feel He has. It will not be perfect, far from it, unfortunately, the center is more concerned about accomplishing their goals and business than they are in loving and nurturing children. And Cathy is all about loving and nurturing. She believes the co-teaching position might work well. The biggest variables, besides their erroneous theory of child care, is if her manager can manage to let her staff do their jobs and not create additional chaos. It should be interesting to see if she can. Keep praying for Cathy, she has been the light of Christ at her place of business. I am very proud of her as she has maintained integrity and worked hard in the face of adversity and physical discomfort and pain, all the time keeping a smile on her face. She is ministering to the workers, loving the children, and looking forward to extending that loving care to the parents of the children she works with.

We had someone volunteer to give us a complete portable sound system with a built out 20' trailer to haul it with last spring. We have been trying to follow up on this offer, but there have been several snags, mostly with people being out of town . Pray that we can make the necessary connection and that the offer still stands... and that if we are going to get this equipment that we can get it by November 1 so we can learn the system and be able to use it; that is if we have our first preview service on November 23rd. Pray that either the offer for equipment comes through or that God will provide other options for a sound system and equipment transportation.

Thank you for your prayers and support!
God bless

Dave Griewe
1-208-570-3732
http://www.riverchristianchurch.com/

Prayer Mail Sept. 5, 2008

We are getting closer to things getting started for The River. I have been meeting with many people to set up the right team of people to launch The River. As you know the biggest thing I have asked you to pray about is leadership and it seems that God is assembling a great team of servants. Here are some things you can specifically pray for in this area.
WORSHIP - God has been working on the heart and mind of a very talented young man who is a deeply committed Christian. He comes from a solid Christian family and has been effectively trained in ministry as well as music and worship. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you his name yet, but He will lead our worship team in a very contemporary style of worship and he will assist in our youth ministry. Pray for him as he makes the plans to transition his ministry to The River. Pray for him to assemble a group of qualified musicians who understand worship and are committed believers.
YOUTH - I am talking to another young man who is also a deeply committed Christian and has received excellent training in youth ministry. He and his wife are praying through the opportunity to take a leap of faith and start a youth ministry for The River. He would also be a part of our worship team.
ADMINISTRATION - I am meeting with a highly qualified man who has served in full time in vocational ministry in many aspects including a senior pastorate. His gifts and skills would be an excellent match for handling the administration for The River. He is praying through the opportunity. My prayer is that God would call this man to The River and provide the needed income and resources to meet he and his wife's needs.
CONNECTIONS/SMALL GROUPS/DISCIPLESHIP - I am meeting with a man next week who might just be God's answer to a discipleship pastor for The River. Pray for God to make clear to both of us if he is to be a part of The River Leadership Team.
CHILDREN - There are currently no candidates for this area. Pray for God to lead the right person to us that can step in and develop a dynamic Children's ministry.
ADVISORY BOARD - God has put together a select group of highly qualified men to be the first board of The River. This board will work to get the River off the ground with the plan to hand it off within a year or so. The board consists of Bruce Young, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Boise; Phil, Eastman II, advisor, consultant, coach, and founder of Leadership Advisors Group; Randy McKinney, Owner of Agency Insurance - He is a qualified Crown Ministry Trainer and he will set up and run The River financial's; and of course ME! Pray for these men as they seek God's will and direction for The River.
Additional Prayer requests
We are starting a Crown Financial small group on September 18th to teach God's financial principles to set people free to serve God and fund His ministries. Pray for the leadership at The River to be able and willing to participate in this 10 week small group.
The River information meeting on is set for September 24th at Rembrandt's Coffee Shop. Pray for a great turnout of people who are interested in starting a new church.
We need to be set free from our house in Las Vegas. Pray that something happens soon!
We truly appreciate your prayers for Cathy. God is doing something with her, we are just not sure exactly what it is yet. As a incredible answer to prayer one of our prayer partners met with a local Dr. who owns several physical therapy offices in the Treasure Valley. He mentioned Cathy's problems to him along with our lack of insurance and he volunteered to evaluate and treat her for FREE! That is how God works! That's a miracle! She will go in on Monday for evaluation and begin physical therapy. Praise the Lord! Her job is another issue all together: The Childcare facility she works at is doing all they can to keep her working there. Even with her physical limitations, they really like her. Starting Monday she is going to become part time working only in the afternoons with grade school children and then at the end of October she will go back to full time and take over the infants area. But there are some huge issues with this facility. They have some very new age philosophies on childcare and raising children that we strongly disagree with. The facility is very poorly managed leading to a an average staff stay of 2 MONTHS! Needless to say it is lacking in leadership and that is very frustrating to her. We are praying that she can make it until the end of October and take over the infants area where their weird ideas of building self esteem and character will not affect her. She will be able to just love babies and care for their needs. Please pray for her, she is struggling with their philosophies of childcare and with a total lack of leadership from management. Pray for her to find her niche there or to feel free to resign and pursue other employment that would meet our financial needs, allow her to use her gifts and abilities to the fullest and be gratifying to her as well.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Serving Him,

Dave Griewe