We seek to bless the greater Carlisle area.

//Making Space at Engage….preparing for the fall.

Greetings Engage Family,

I want to invite you to join the Engage family for a special time of prayer focused on the next leg of our journey at Engage this fall.  Join us Saturday Aug 27th 3:00 PM @ Tanner and Lindsay DeBein’s 305 Tichy Drive Mt. Holly, PA.  This past year since January we have been in a Season of Growth as a Church. We purposed as a church to put down deeper roots into the gospel of Jesus committing time, money, and resources to the vision and mission God has given Engage Church.   This year has been incredibly fruitful!

This Summer the Leadership Team and Ministry Team leaders have been preparing for what many of us believe will be increased attendance at our Sunday Gathering through the course of the fall.  Last Spring, our peak attendance on Sundays was 225 people.  If Sunday Mornings is the Living Room (a place for people to explore Christ’s message and experience his family), then the living room was packed.  The Summer months saw smaller crowds.  However, based on last Spring we are anticipating larger numbers and want to make space in the Living Room for new friends and returning college students.

Tricia Cressler has joined the Staff as a volunteer at Engage. Tricia has a gift for organizing systems and structures so things run smoothly and we can all stay focused on what matters most–valuing people with God’s love. Tricia has been working with Ministry Team leaders to help us be ready for the anticipated numbers.  Here are some things they have done:
1. We are adding volunteers to all the Ministry Team areas.

2. We have a new seating configuration (thanks Chad and Desirae) to accommodate over 200 in the main room.

3. We are moving the Loft age kids (5 yrs - 5th grade) downstairs to the Pretzel Spot Cafe on Sundays so we can…

4. Add a new Sunday environment in the coffee room called the Engage Cafe.  Engage Cafe is an experiment of sorts. We will set up round tables and host a conversational atmosphere in the Engage Cafe while piping in a video feed from the main gathering.  This will give us more room for our new friends and guests to enter the Sunday Morning conversation at their own pace.  This also helps to remind us that our Engage is a Church that will always make room for people to hear and engage with the gospel of Jesus.  Adding the Engage Cafe gives us a way to multiply our Living Room without having to move to two services.

5. They added a new “detail team” of those who will come early to help us set up the special details and thoughtful touches that add to the community feel and welcoming vibe of Sundays at Engage.

6. Tim and Janelle French are overseeing and developing our Connection Team to help us get people, um, connected. :) We are excited Tim and Janelle to see you step into this role.

7. Our set up dudes are being trained as Ushers to help our guests find the right place to sit and participate in worship.

We could go on. But you get the point, which brings me back to prayer. We are praying that we would first make space in our hearts for God to use us this fall as a community of Jesus on mission.  If Christ is taking up the space in our hearts and minds the Living Room will be an imperfect yet compelling space where people far from God and skeptical of organized religion can find life-changing trust in Jesus Christ the Lord!

Join us Saturday Aug 27th 3:00 PM @ Tanner and Lindsay DeBein’s 305 Tichy Drive Mt. Holly, PA

PS. Help make space for our new friends by parking at Weis and walking over to the Ribbon Mill! Thanks.

Posted on August 22, 2011 – 10:35 am
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//Leaving the building- Info on August 14th Brunch in the Park

Engage is leaving the building. . . this Sunday!

Hey Engage Family,
Sunday is quickly approaching and we are anticipating an exciting time as we leave the building to go get to know our neighbors and the neighborhood God has called Engage Church to be a part of in some way.  We want to give you details about the day and invite you to be praying about some specifics.

Here are some cool praises and answers to prayer we have seen thus far.
1. We needed power to run things on Sunday. The Sertoma Club has a building at the park. After pulling some strings for us they said we can use their kitchen to cook food that day!  They also said we would have to pay $100 to rent their facility.  But last week they said they so love what we are doing they don’t want out money.

2. The East Side Neighborhood Association loves what we are doing and posted the Engage website and our flyer on their website.

3. On Sunday over 20 Engage peeps handed out over 250 invitations to our neighbors in the surrounding blocks.

4. We are taking donations that day and hoping to raise $500 for the Biddle Park restoration fund. Two years ago the park was crawling with drug dealers and users.  The park was trashed and not a safe or attractive place for kids to play.  Today the East Side Neighbors are trying to raise $30,000 to restore the park and make it safe and fun.  We hope to raise $500 on Sunday to contribute to the park restoration. This is a picture of the Kingdom of God when it breaks into our lives….people are places are restored and new life is breathed in.

Here are some things you need to do to help this vision turn into reality:
1. Get here early. If you normally show up at 9:55, show up at 9:40. If you are not on a team to help on Sunday and you normally show up at 9:40, please consider coming at 9:30.  You get the point.

2. We will have a brief time of prayer at Biddle Park at 9:30 a.m. that morning and invite you to come prepare yourself for God to use you to value and love our neighbors.

3. Bring a breakfast-ish dish to share.  The more food we have the more we can overwhelm our friends with a symbol of God’s generosity.

4. Park at Weis and walk over. This leaves room for community members to park at Biddle Mission Park. (walk to the Engage Church green doors. Across the street from Engage is Keystone Pools.  Turn right at Keystone Pools on to Porter Ave and the park is down one block at the end of the street.

5. We will have babysitting from 9-10 a.m. at Engage for volunteers to drop off their kids while we set up and prepare.

6. Bring a chair to sit in. This helps since we don’t know how many people will show up and we have a limited amount of seating available at the park.

7. IF IT RAINS WE WILL BE IN THE RIBBON MILL! CHECK THE WEB SITE BY 8AM IF THE WEATHER LOOKS IFFY.

Why are we doing all of this?
Jesus calls us to love our neighbors; a simple yet profound vision.  It is too easy for us as a soon to be three year old Church to drive to the Ribbon Mill on Sundays, walk through the parking lot past the row homes on E. Louther St., and not realize that the neighborhood surrounding Engage Church is full of hurting people who have deep emotional and spiritual needs and longings.   For many of our friends and neighbors the message of Jesus is what they need and what they are looking for whether they know it or not.  We need reminded of this.  We also need reminded that Church is not about us! It’s not just about getting our needs met.  Church is a community of Jesus fueled by the Holy Spirit and given a mission to love our neighbors as ourselves no strings attached, just like God loves us–no strings attached.  This is the vision of Engage Church and will continue to be the vision of Engage Church as long as we seek to be a living vibrant reflection of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this world.  Church futurist Eddie Gibbs says that, “The church needs to become infiltrational rather than invitational”.  By this he means the Church is always living on the edge with God when we care more about “going” to people rather than simply waiting for them to come to us.  Amen!

If you made it this far in this post you are a trooper!
We love you and hope to see you on Sunday.

Engage Church

Posted on August 12, 2011 – 11:12 am
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//Nip it in the bud!!!

Last year I spoke with a man in his mid-thirties. “You’re a pastor right?”, he said. “Ya, why do you ask?”, I said. “Well, this year has been the hardest year of my life. My wife and I got a divorce. I’m having trouble paying my bills. I need to sell my house. It seems like I’m cursed. Everything I touch turns to crap. Why is life such a meat grinder? In go dreams and out comes mush.”

It’s funny how life has this ability to simply grind up our hopes and dreams and plans for how we thought life would or should go for us. We start off in our twenties with a full life ahead of us. We go to college or get a job right out of high school. We have this sense that something good is about to happen at any moment. We have dreams of romance and career movement and travel and experiences of connection with others and possibilities—a life of hope is set before us. After about ten years of that our tune seems to change. For many the next ten years somehow fly by. In our late twenties to mid-thirties we start taking stock of things. Maybe we’ve been married for a few years now. Maybe we have some little ones running around. We aren’t living in a mansion but we live in a nice neighborhood. Life is pretty good but somehow it seems to fall short of what we thought it would be or at least what we were subconsciously promised it would be. We love our kids but it’s stressful and half the time you’re yelling at someone and pulling your hair out. It’s good being married but no one told you it would be such hard work to actually stay happily married. You may or may not like your job but at some point it feels like groundhog day. If we are not careful life has the ability to grind us down, slowly, subtly.

I’m not trying to be doom and gloom here. But I have to be honest and call it like I see it. The natural course of life for most of us is a lifetime of accumulated disappointed hopes and unfulfilled desires. If we are not careful we are left somewhat bitter and resentful of life itself. How often do you come across a sweet older couple in their late seventies or early eighties still very much in love and vibrant with life despite achy knees and weathered arthritic hands? I would say how uncommon is that? How do they somehow resist the poisonous root of bitterness and instead emanate rare forms of joy and playfulness in spite of a life full of disappointments and deterred dreams?

Gratefulness. Gratefulness is like night vision goggles for our souls. When everyone else can only see the stark blackness of what should have been a grateful person can see light in the darkness. Gratefulness magnifies the light. The Christian Scriptures know this about human nature. We fixate on what is wrong and miss out on what is right in front of us today. St. Paul said in 1 Thess. 5, “Give thanks always.” Gulp. Did he say always?

Yes. Why? Let’s put it this way. C.S. Lewis a Christian philosopher once said of hell:

“Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others… but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God “sending us” to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE hell unless it is nipped in the bud. ”

The question is how do we nip it in the bud? I am finding lately that I have such high hopes for my life (a good thing) that unchecked I become a miserable person—just ask my wife and kids. So I’ve begun to daily make a list of 10 things I am grateful for in my life. This does two things. One, it reminds me that the outcomes of my life are not all up to me. There is a personal God who loves me, died for me in Jesus, and resurrected to prove his goodness will trump my attempts to somehow self-determine my own happiness. Ever try to be happy? It makes you miserable.

Second, my gratefulness list acts as insurance against the natural course of bitterness and blame. I simply am forced to daily stare into the mundane and tedious aspects of life where joyful delight lies hidden and overlooked as I work so hard to achieve my dreams. Case in point, my three year old son told me about his daily poop on the potty—a smile creeps across the intensity in my face. My wife cooked a delicious meal yesterday. I miss out on these gifts, they are too quickly erased from my memory if I didn’t make the list the next morning.

Who we are becoming today will determine who we are in five years from now. Who we are in five years from now determines who we will be in fifteen years from then. Who we are or who we will be at the end of our lives is found in the accumulation of the little things today. My grateful list is a little thing that will turn into a huge thing–shaping who I will be when I’m eighty-four years old. I want to be one half of that sweet old couple, playful and compelling, vibrant with life when it’s all said and done. Don’t you? Nip it in the bud—start now.

Posted on August 10, 2011 – 1:37 pm
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//Engage is leaving the building…..

Busy? We know. Please take a few minutes to learn more about why Engage Church is leaving the building..

Click here for a 4 minute audio vision for our need to go UP, IN, and OUT into our community on August 14th…. august-14_vision_brunch-in-the-community

On August 14 Engage Church will leave the building. We will BE the Church that Sunday by hosting Brunch in the Park for our friends and neighbors in the East Side Neighborhood.  We will meet at 10:00 a.m. at Biddle Mission Park (311. E. North Street).  If you are a regular part of Engage Church please bring a brunch dish to share, park at Weis and walk over, and come ready to love our neighbors!  If you are a guest at Engage we invite you to please join us for brunch that day and just bring yourself or your family.

Posted on August 2, 2011 – 4:25 pm
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//Reading Acts This Summer

Acts covers the first 20 – 30 years after Jesus resurrected and went back to Heaven and how his mission continues.  God’s spirit is alive but now his work in this world is done through everyday people like us.  We are calling it Mission (Im)Possible because if you think about it the mission that Jesus gave his first followers was kind of impossible. It starts with 120 nobodies. They were not educated or powerful or wealthy people.  Yet, they believed they were on a mission as witnesses of the greatest event of the greatest being that’s lived in history.

Acts is the story of these 120 nobodies living everyday life proclaiming to everyone the good news. Jesus an uneducated Jewish peasant carpenter from a small town was crucified, embarrassed, and done away with really is the Creator, Sustainer, and Final Judge of all. This is a pretty impossible statement unless of course it’s true and he really did rise from the dead. These first followers—suddenly they have a mission.  Suddenly, everything is changed.

This mission starts as God begins to work through his people as it goes out to the whole world.

Here is a reading schedule you can follow this Summer. Several groups at Engage are reading this together and gather to weave their stories into this movement of God.

Date         Chapter(s)
May 1-7: 1,2

May 8-14: 3,4

May 15-21: 5,6

May 22-28: 7

May 29-June 4: 8

June 5-11: 9

June 12-18: 10

June 19-25: 11,12

June 26-July 2: 13

July 3-9: 14,15

July 10-16: 16,17

July 17-23: 18,19

July 24-30: 20,21

July 31-August 6: 22,23

August 7-13: 24,25

August 14-20: 26,27

August 21-27: 28

Posted on May 8, 2011 – 5:33 am
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//EnVision May 1: Looking back to move forward

Below are celebrations of how people have been experiencing the growth of Jesus-shaped lives at Engage since January. As you scroll down you can read people’s hopes, dreams, and prayers of how they could envision God using them to impact our community with Jesus’ revolution of love.   How awesome it is to be a part of this movement of Christ at Engage. We have much to be thankful for.

pictures of baptism and envision celebration

Vision from Envision Meeting May 1st

How have you grown spiritually in the past four months:

· I do not attend Engage regularly, only when I am in the Harrisburg area. What I am blessed by every time I attend Engage is how God helps the church to grow. It has helped me in my spiritual walk as I contemplate what it means to pioneer or initiate a God-inspired effort.

· I realized that I had stopped loving people and had taken an attitude of selfishness. Through the lego lab and tearing my mcl I’ve realized how well God actually put me together and his power in that. I’m looking forward to his help as I move into a somewhat unknown future.

· I have grown in leaps and bounds! But I know that God has so much more to do… and I look forward to that- It’s exciting!

· I learned to have peace in God’s love and faithfulness when going through a time of uncertainty. I learned that God is a master at creating beautiful things out of nothing.

· I’m learning the blessing of peace in uncertainty. I still have no idea what I’ll be doing in a month after graduation but surprisingly and thankfully, God is leaving me with a sense of “it’s ok”

· This time has allowed me to realize that God can redeem me no matter how much I fail

· I have grown by stepping up to be in charge of set-up.

· I have grown by learning a lot of the things I was taught when I was younger. Now it actually means something.

· Through the support of others and scripture, I’ve grown more confident in my faith to do the “uncomfortable” things

· Deepening of faith through walking out Christ’s love purposefully in everyday actions. Ex. Our journeys can become self-absorbed, but I am making a conscious effort to see and seize opportunities to bless/ help people in my path.

· I have been given opportunities to trust God will provide for people. I have seen Him provide for others. Also, thinking about what it means to pursue joy and how to help others in this season of life.

· I have grown through the sermons – which don’t seem like sermons- Jon’s gift of helping one to understand the Bible.

· I feel like God has brought me here. Every Sunday I walk away from the service realizing that God has met me where I am. That has meant so much because you don’t find that in every church.

· I learned how to be married. My husband found that God loves him. I learned to deal with conflict. I learned to judge myself according to God’s judgments.

· My relationships with people have become more God-centered. I’ve connected spiritually with new friends. God has opened doors to minister to my co-workers and those around me.

· Engage has helped me to dive deeper into my faith by bringing it to me in a way I can relate.

· I was someone burnt out by church and Christianity. I thought that the church mission in America failed and was a sinking ship. Engage has shown me that God is still real.

· I have grown in men’s prayer group

· Engage has given me opportunities to serve and get involved in ways I have never been able to do in church, using my gifts and abilities. The sermon’s have been in the word and are helping me look at the Bible in new ways.

· I’ve come to see that getting connected and growing in Christ’s work is a very organized process. It happens one invitation at a time, and before you know it, you’re part of the family.

What do you want to see happen at our Church next Fall?

· My friend at Banch Creek has started a ministry called, “The Image Project”. I don’t know much about it, but I know that they host community events with the intention of integrating and bridging the gap between the religious and nonreligious community. They host dialogues at Barnes and Noble, organize community block parties and town festivals. I’m going to join that and do what I can to learn enough to bring it back to Engage.

· More Potluck’s. When I first met a friend, their church has their service and then a potluck each week after service. Church is an all day affair. I always enjoyed the intimacy and connection the post-service meals brought to the people at the church.

· I want to see people be more willing to make themselves emotionally available. I pray that God will continue to work in the marriages of others.

· Maybe a women’s support group

· I have told family and friends about Engage. Some have attended and learned so much. They want to return. I want to see this church have more people attending. Reaching young families who don’t know God.

· Continuing to invest both in those within the church and outside of it. I am graduating in two weeks. My attendance and involvement at Engage will change, but I hope that I will be able to stay connected/ involved in some way.

· Activities outside of church to fellowship with believers and connect with members of the community (depending on the activity) (trivia night at the pub, or hikes)

· Neighborhood BBQ

· Childcare network for single moms, to provide babysitting for them

· Married couple date night co-op

· Paint over graffiti

· Roller derby team

· Block parties

· Build margin into our lives for non-Christians/ outsiders

· Gift card drive to give groceries and gas to families in need

· A “program” to help discern people’s calling and/or ministry fit

· Invite others to do “ordinary” things for Christ. Picnics, boating, community service, mini golf, etc.

· Discovering passions in groups

· More involvement in the community we’re in

· Free car wash

· Engage swap( free stuff)

· Mom’s group

· A coffee meet and greet

· I would like to see a regular set of youth group members

· Coat drive for the homeless

· Mitten/scarf drive

· We could have people from church have kids over for breakfast.

· Email conversations with members

· Connect school students with the Engage community. Maybe as simple as a family having them over for breakfast once a month/ week. Or something like a big brother setup.

· Have a similar “college Day” in September

· A better understanding of global community and ways in which God is working outside of the US, celebrating what God’s already done in the lives of Engage members

· Continue having Greenfest to reach out to environmental people

· Have a tutoring program for students in local middle and high schools

· Offer instrument lessons to the community

· Over the summer I would like to see a group that meets at a local coffee shop to discuss the Acts study, in a relaxed setting where I could invite unchurched friends

· Meeting with people once a week to discuss what Jesus is doing in our lives

· Have a mentoring network

· Get groups of men to do hands on work with people in the community.

Posted on May 5, 2011 – 11:38 am
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//Invisible People. . .

On February 13th we had a conversation on Sunday morning at Engage called “You believe in God but do you worry all the time?” We asked people to write on a card one or two things they worry about.  We made a list of the baggage and burdens and worries people shared with us a few weeks ago. Read this list. People at Engage worry about….

Doing a good. / Effective job as a parent. / Grades. / Relationships. / What others think of me. / My future. / That I will never fully feel God’s grace &  love because I won’t let  him in my painful past as much as I could. / My job, salary, relationships, faith . / Paying bills. /  Staying on top of everything.  /  Being the person everyone wants me to be.  /  Disappointing the ones I love.  /  My plans for the fall.  /  Am I dating the wrong person. /  Schoolwork.  / Tests.  / Money.  / Losing my job.  /  Not being perfect.  / What to get my wife for Valentine’s Day.  /  Kids, marriage, Do we have our priorities right? / My future after college.

When I am not feeling in control of the situation.  /  Being trapped or influenced by a personalized- self first society. /  I worry about the girl I like.  / I worry about three elderly relatives 95-Aunt, 92-Aunt, 90- Day.  /  Will I ever be able to afford to get my teeth fixed? / Not being able to attend the school of my dreams because of finances.  / Not trusting God and just being afraid to listen.  /  Teenagers.  /  I worry about my adult children’s salvation.  /  Pleasing my parents.  /  That others will judge me for my past sins and mistakes.  /  I worry about my kids.  /  Not being good enough.  /  I worry that I cannot hold the load of all my friends’ worries and mine at the same time.

I worry about raising my kids- being a good mom. /  Will finances or lack of them always tie me down? /  Judgment from others. / The safety of me boyfriend who is a in the military. A friends mother who has cancer. / I worry sometimes that I am too much to love. Too loud, too heavy, too complicated, and too much past for someone to love for any real length of time. / That I may never meet someone fit for me. / That I’ll never live up to what my dad expects me to be. / Getting pregnant worries me. / That I won’t finish all the work I have to do. / Loneliness.

I’m really not trying to be mr. negative. However, part of my vocation or calling in life is that I’ve dedicated myself to being honest about the world we live in. We live in a beautiful world. God’s fingerprints are everywhere! But our fingerprints are on this world too.  Culturally, we cognitively say we value all people.  We say everyone is equal under God, etc.  Everyone matters! Then there’s how we live. Most of the time we live rather subconsciously. We miss out on what is really happening around us. We miss out on the value of what’s happening or what God is doing in the present…at this moment.

The gospel of Jesus or the life and message of Jesus Christ is like a virus. Once it begins to infect you it begins to color and shape and open your eyes to what matters most right now.

Look at this list! People did not hold back!  I was not surprised but I was blown away and reminded of just how much is happening with us below the surface. There’s always more than meets the eye.   When the gospel of Jesus infects our thinking we begin really seeing people.  We see not just through them…we see into them.

Most people feel devalued by modern life. Most people feel invisible. Why do you think we are so addicted to facebook, twitter, and blogs (i guess i’m writing a blog right now, aren’t i? :). We are dying to be heard. Dying to be seen and yet we feel invisible most of the time.  Most of the time people stare right through us staring right back through them.  Or we just see people as a problem that stands in our way.  We see the annoying neighbor with the barking dog. We see the x-husband and how it seems that he just can’t help but annoy you.  We see the coworker who always comes in late and cozies up to the boss…wink wink.

But what we don’t see is what’s happening below the surface.  The gospel of Jesus gives us new eyes. We begin to see how easily we objectify people around us.  We lump people into categories, slapping labels on them and putting them in our self-constructed boxes.  Then something happens to remind us of how deep and layered people are around us. We begin to see them not as a role or title or what they do…we see deeper and fuller into who they are as people made in the image of God. Like us, they ,too, are carrying around a lot of baggage. Like us they just want someone to see not through them but into them.

What if Engage was a church that did this well? How could we keep growing as community of people in the way we see not just through people but into people. This is what Jesus does in us. Christ crawled into our skin. He invades our space and time and story. He enters our world and exposes to us a whole new way of being human.

14-15The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of (humanity) human being, a fresh start for everybody.– Ephesians 2 The Message

“Dazed by the latest offering from Apple or YouTube, we long for a connection less plastic and polished. Our hearts are restless for a real church we can see, for a world redeemed in real time. Where do we go to remember that another world—another church—is possible? “- Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

The story of God and the gospel of Christ gives us new eyes, a fresh imagination of new possibilities for a new humanity right in the midst of our daily suburban lives…

Jon Hand
Posted on March 25, 2011 – 12:35 pm
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//Tsunamis and house fires! What the heck do I say to this? Where’s God now pastor guy?!?

I got an email this afternoon from a good friend. “Jon, you’re pastor guy. So in one week, Tsunami in Japan and 7 children die in a house fire in Perry County. What am I suppose to tell my family members who already don’t buy into the God and Jesus thing?”

So bear with my quick and spontaneous response, unfiltered grammar, and typos.

Dear broken confused heart,

We don’t have a good answer for suffering if we are expecting to answer God’s detractors in a way that somehow leaves everyone wanting to know God.  But in brief. 1. Read Romans 8. God did not create this world to be like this. It says creation is groaning. Creation groaned at 3 am this morning in Japan. This world is broken  shell of what God intended it to be.  Why? In a biblical view, there is a direct correlation between Creation and Creator. When the Creation chose independence from God it didn’t just affect their own little lives, it threw all of Creation out of whack. It disrupted everything. It’s like it set off a tsunami of brokenness in this world because there was a cosmic disharmony now between God and His creation.  So it unleashes cancer, it unleashes a natural order where things atrophy and run down and wear out. So wiring in old farm houses wears out and short circuits and burns down a house with 7 sleeping kids.  Where is God? Weeping. Suffering. Hurting. How do I know? God knows what it’s like to lose a child? He lost his child in a fire. Scripture says Jesus descended into Hell in the days between his death and resurrection.  God suffers with us.

1. the world is broken and not what God created it to be.
2. God knows what it’s like to lose a child.
3. this broken world gives birth to pain and tragedy, yet God is not absent from it.

What is the alternative? No God? Nothing has any meaning. Everything in the universe is random and totally accidental and has no real point. Nothing has a point. So make money, make your kids and family your idol and put all of your hope in them. Place all your hope and find meaning in your job. Hope that you have a good life. But if you don’t have a good life and your kids don’t turn out right, and your job doesn’t turn out, and your marriage doesn’t turn out…you have nothing but bitterness and contempt for a world that randomly and accidentally gave birth to your tragic life.  Or you are born in Japan, your life is swept away, your children die, and there’s no hope. There’s no seeing them on the other side of eternity.  There’s just empty pain and loss and dealing with a seemingly cruel impersonal twisted world.

3. Romans 8 says this waiting period is when God is raising up those who are revealed as Sons and Daughters of God. Which means, instead of just an empty cruel world of meaningless suffering and pain unless you are the 1% of the world who has money and a good life with no tragedy, pain, and loss. It’s only 1% of us that have that. We just think it’s most people because that’s the fishbowl we swim in here in America. Spend time in Sub-Saharan Africa or Haiti and tell me you think life should just work out in your favor.

Romans 8 says God is not only suffering with us, he’s also raising up a force of people who so align their lives with his heart and kingdom that they rush out to help strangers who have been brutalized by nature or violence or whatever.  There is nothign in Secularism that has the power to shape human beings (long term) to de-prioritize money, tribe, comfort, ease, to embrace suffering people, and concern themselves with the hurt of the world or love and die for their enemies. Secularism doen’t have the power to do that in the human heart.  Not long term at least.

God is doing something about it. he’s binding the hurts, he’s wiping tears, he’s providing strength, and he’s doing it through his Spirit and his Church.  See Rev. 21:1-7

Hope that helps. This pastor guy doesn’t have magic answers. I have a framework of hope to give people in light of the alternative.  I have a person to point people to in Jesus in light of the mystery and unknown.  I have a community of love and grace formed by God to invite people into to be nurtured by God en-fleshed in His people in light of the loss and seeming injustice of it all.  Outside of that I have nothing to offer!

Peace,
Jon Hand

Posted on March 11, 2011 – 4:54 pm
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//bearing fruit at Engage

Hey Engage Family,

I am excited to report some really cool and fruitful things happening through your Engage community this past week or so. This past Sunday we talked about how knowing God means we will be growing in our care for the poor and disadvantaged around us. We dug into Isaiah 58 and Jeremiah 22. Both of these passages are powerful and rather challenging.

We are putting down roots in this Season of Growth. One of the roots we’ve been reading about in the Season of Community Guide is the root of Community Impact. As we grow roots we begin to experience fruit. So get this! Nate Hempel (who is an active part of Engage) works at a local business and has befriended a local homeless man named Daniel. Daniel is a hard working fellow who lives in a storage unit near Nate’s work. Nate has been opening his eyes and heart to those around him and has befriended Daniel. Daniel recently lost his temp job and fell behind in his car payment. Last week his creditors took the tags off his car. Daniel was crushed. Without a car he has no way of finding work and thus the cycle of homelessness continues unbroken.

With nowhere else to turn Daniel reached out to Nate asking for prayer. Nate called Engage last week seeking if we can help! We did! Daniel only needed $200. $200 is the difference between one man’s ability to find a job and work or stay trapped in the cycle of homelessness. We were able to send Daniel’s creditors a check to keep Daniel in the search for a job.

At the same time a girl who has visited Engage three times now had dinner with Tom and Sarah Kaden last week. At dinner Ciarra began sharing her story. Ciarra is from out of town and is doing an college internship in Harrisburg for the next few months. Ciarra is a vibrant young adult who has experienced homelessness first hand. Due to tragic circumstances beyond her control Ciarra was forced into homelessness during high school. She was all alone. On Sunday Ciarra shared with Engage her passion for helping to provide for the homeless because she experienced God’s abundant provision in her time of need through organizations like www.thejoyofsox.org.

Back to Daniel. Daniel came to Engage on Sunday! He came to personally thank this group of people who would so graciously provide for him a stranger. He said, “Engage engaged me first. I’m here to thank these people who would help someone like me.” Homeless people feel invisible! Kind of reminds me of that passage in 1 John, “We love (Christ) because he first loved us.”

On Sunday Ciarra asked Engage if we would help her provide socks for her homeless brothers and sisters. Engage has accepted the challenge. On Tuesday Aimee and I bought socks for the homeless. Would you pick up a couple packages of socks this week and bring them to Engage on Sunday? We will be collecting socks to help Ciarra provide for the homeless. You can buy socks for children and or adults of any age or size. We will be collecting socks through April 3rd, 2011. Oh, and on Sunday March 27th we will be feeding those in need by cooking and serving food at My Brother’s Table at the Carlisle Salvation Army. Can you help your church in this way? Contact Harold Travis if you can. Deeper roots = greater fruit!

Isaiah 58…
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Shalom,

Jon Hand

Posted on March 9, 2011 – 2:29 pm
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//EnVision Engage Year Three_Resources

Welcome to Season of Growth page.  Please use this page to keep up with resources and updates to our Season of Growth Year Three. Engage is a community of faith formed around Jesus Christ. Over the past two years since our first Sunday January 11, 2009 we have been living out (albeit imperfectly) the vision and mission God has given Engage Church.  On January 1, 2011 we entered our third year of existence as a community.  Year three is a make or break year for your church! Why, you ask? 2011 will be our greatest test yet as a church and will be our finest hour to date but we have some real challenges ahead of us.

1. We know your not suppose to talk about money and church. But the reality is our family of churches has generously funded Engage Church since our beginning in 2009.  This year we are losing 15K in subsidy from our BIC family of churches. We knew this day was coming. We can’t rely on mom and dad forever! However, our expenses have gone up since we started Engage. We are a growing church. If everyone who has visited Engage since we started decided to stay at Engage we would be a church of over 450 people.  We are not that size because Engage is not a church for everyone.  It takes money to fund the spiritual impact and community outreach of Engage Church. In fact, this in 2011 we need to grow our weekly giving from $2,067 per week to close to $2,800 per week. That’s an increase of close to $35,000 this year just to maintain current impact and see people loved and lives changed. I know, that’s crazy. We may even need God to meet that goal :) This year alone the core 11 families and individuals of Engage have committed to give over $58,000. What can you do to join, shape , and support the vision of Engage?

2. Currently, at Engage we have a large pool of people who come on Sundays to explore the message of Jesus and enjoy a community of love.  This is exciting for us. We started this church for those who are new or returning to church.  We welcome all.  However, we also have a small pool of people who are deeply committed in serving, using their gifts, impacting the community, and giving generously. If Engage is going to extend our reach and bear greater fruit in year three we then need to shift these two pools. We need a large pool of people deeply committed to the mission of Engage and a smaller shallow pool of those who are not yet committed.

Here are some key resources to help you put down deeper roots in Year Three!

1. Listen an inspiring brief podcast of the needs, vision, and changes we are making in year three.

2. We kicked off our Season of Growth Year Three with a gathering of close to 60 adults from Engage to learn more and speak into the vision of Year Three. Here is what they said! recap-of-envision-engage_jan-2011

Several Engagers at Envision shared powerful stories of transformation and life change. We hope to have video of these powerful stories up soon.

3. Season of Growth Overview - This is our plan of action in year three. Engage needs to put down deeper roots in order to bear greater fruit. Here is how we hope to do this. overview_seasonofgrowthplan

4. Season of Prayer Guide - This is an incredibly helpful resource to facilitate reflection and prayer for Engage and ourselves as we seek to put down deeper roots so we can see greater fruit in our lives and community. praying-together-in-this-season-of-growth

5. Season of Growth Monthly Financial Updates
sog_monthly-financial-updates

feb-28-engage-financial-notables

Posted on January 29, 2011 – 4:04 pm
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