Momentum | May 2013 by Redeemer Bible Church

May2013

Highlights from the Gospel life Blog Pastor Boomer peel, Pastor Mark suchta & David Ward

Get involved Chop! Chop! Do something

May focus RED / ART DEPartment Q & A with Ministry director Chuck Forsberg

By: Philip Graham Ryken

Welcome We’re glad you’re here!

We are a church with a mission. Our mission is to proclaim, embody, and enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ so that unbelievers are convinced of the gospel, believers are built up in the gospel, and culture is transformed by the gospel to the glory of God. Because the gospel is at our heart, we want all that we say and do as a church to honor and reflect Christ. Part of that includes making sure you are able to consistently and clearly know the vision and direction of Redeemer. That’s where Momentum comes in. On the first Sunday of every month, everyone will receive a copy and be able to stay connected to the pulse of Redeemer. Inside each monthly issue, you will find a meditation from Pastor Glenn, an update on the church’s vision goals, and learn more about a different ministry. You’ll also read about where you can help serve and get involved, as well as be updated on things like church finances, new members, and church activities and programs throughout the month. Redeemer is a church on the move, and it’s the gospel that is moving it forward. The gospel is our passion, our motivation, our moving force. It’s our momentum.

Credits Design/Direction: Chuck Forsberg Content Manager: Lorie Schnell Writer: Brittney Westin Copy Editor: Anne Lynn

May

Featured Article

The Arts “There is also something redemptive about God’s artistry. In making the world, he brought order out of chaos, turning what was disordered into something harmonious and beautiful. He is not finished yet, either. God has promised that one day he will make a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13).”

-Philip Graham Ryken

Contents

Vision Update

Monthly Meditation

Redeemer’s vision for transforming the Twin Cities for the gospel by 2030.

“Loving other people means moving toward them intentionally with redemptive grace”

Blog Highlights

Event Calendar

What is a QR Code?

Here is a fun read from Andrew Watson about why we have QR Codes in our bulletin.

Financial update

This month’s update on our Expanding Our Gospel Vision Program.

In case you missed them on RBC.com, here are some great reminders about who we are in Christ.

Stay in the loop! Don’t miss out on upcoming events at RBC!

Q & A with Chuck Forsberg

Chuck talks about all things Media and the importance of how we present the gospel at Redeemer.

Get involved

Redeemer needs your help! There are many volunteer positions available.

Vision update

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Wish you were here Eight Percent by 2030

t the end of March, I took a road trip with my family to visit friends in Houston, Texas. We figured we’d take two days to make the 18-hour trek, so we decided to stop in Kansas on the way down. So after I booked our hotel rooms, I jumped onto Google Maps to get my directions. (Yes, I have GPS on my phone, but I’m so terrible with directions so I like hard copies, too). Now when you get directions from Google Maps, you not only get turn-by-turn instructions, but you can also include a picture of the segment of the U.S. map you’ll be traveling, complete with your highlighted route. To us, Topeka, Kansas, was nothing more than a little dot on a little map, a stop along the way to a bigger dot on that same map, the dot that was marked “Houston.”

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Now imagine for a moment that all our destinations were reducible to dots on maps. You weren’t really going to a threedimensional place, but a two-dimensional, inkjet, black circle on a piece of paper. Sound like a fun vacation? Can’t wait to get there? In a hurry to jump in the car? I think not. Imagine instead that your friends in Houston took pictures of the landscape, the pool you’d be sitting by, the place you’d be staying, the restaurants you’d enjoy (along with pictures of the food). Imagine they took these pictures and sent you an email that said, “Wish you were here!” How would you feel about getting to your destination then? Couldn’t you almost feel what it would be like to sit by that pool, to stand in that landscape, to taste the food in that restaurant? Well, that’s what we want you to feel about Redeemer’s destination as a church. Rather than a mere description of the concept (8% by 2030), we want to give you a depiction of our destination. “Wish you were here” is better than Google Maps! Can you picture strong marriages and families increasing? Healthy sexual relationships becoming more and more the norm? More

By: Pastor R W Glenn

men exercising loving leadership in the home that is so attractive that women embrace it as well? Corruption and greed decreasing in the public and private sectors? More people taking responsibility for the poor? Depressed neighborhoods being rebuilt through cooperative efforts of development? More and more people seeing their work as a calling from God given to them to increase the good of others? Think tanks springing up to explore how to engage in various vocations for the common good? More retirees seeing their retirement as providing new opportunities to make a difference in others’ lives? More men and women seeing character as an essential component of real beauty? Unity and cooperation between Christian churches increasing? More and more churches and individuals proclaiming clearly and powerfully the gospel of grace, replacing legalism, moralism, theological liberalism, postmodernism, and cults? Don’t you wish you were here? Wouldn’t you like to see more and more of the Twin Cities covered in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14)? This is what we are all about as a church. This is what we’re aiming for – gospel fruitfulness through gospel faithfulness. As we are faithful to preach and apply the gospel into every corner of our lives, the Lord promises fruitfulness (see John 15:16). He never guarantees a certain quantity, but he guarantees some. And this is what that fruit would look like as it appears on the tree of the Twin Cities metro. Wish you were here? Absolutely! Can’t wait to get there! So pray the Lord would make us faithful to our mission to proclaim, embody, and enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ so that unbelievers are convinced of the gospel, believers are built up in the gospel, and culture is transformed by the gospel to the glory of God. //RBC

The gospel is the good news of what God has done for us through His son, Jesus. When God created the world, he created us in his image to rule the earth under his authority. Instead, through Adam who represented us, we preferred to be the rulers ourselves and rebelled against God by breaking his command Because of that, God brought about consequences, namely death and hell, for people who are rebels, which is all of us. But because God is loving, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t choose to forget his creation, of which we are a part. Instead, he decided to remake it. He chose to remake everything through Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God who became man. Jesus was the one who lived the life we ought to have lived, and died the death we deserved to die, so that, if we put our faith and trust in him, turning from our sins and our rebellion, he remakes us new. He remakes our vision for the world and enables us to fulfill our calling in the world. Through Jesus, God is restoring everything.

Relational Depth By: Pastor r w Glenn

hat is it that keeps us in interminably shallow relationships? We can go to church with people for 5, 10, 20 years, but still not really know who they are, what challenges they’re facing, and how reliant they are on the resources of the gospel to get them though. Perhaps the number one reason is fear: fear of being discovered, fear of being unmasked, even fear of being confronted, or deathly afraid of seeing yourself as you are in the eyes of others. What can overcome this fear? What can break through the fog of interminably shallow relationships? Only faith in the gospel of grace. Here’s how it works. The gospel

teaches that you are more sinful that you ever dared believe and more loved than you ever dared hope. But it’s knowing the love of God that frees you up to take the hardest look at yourself, because it makes you confident that no matter what you (or others) discover, God will not reject you for it. The more persuaded you are of the love of the Father for you, the more willing you are to admit that you are as bad as you really are. And this confession to God, based on your confidence of his love, enables you to do the same with other people. But it doesn’t simply allow you to receive and answer probing questions from other people with grace; it allows you to ask them,

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Meditate

will keep you courageous in your love? Remembering that even if people you deeply care for rebuff your love, the Father’s love for you remains a permanent fixture of your life. Knowing you’re commended in Christ in the heavenly courtroom allows you to be condemned in the earthly court of human opinion.

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THE GOSPEL

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Redeemer is a church that values relational depth, but that depth cannot be achieved in any real sense apart from a robust and continual appropriation of the gospel of grace. // RBC

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REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Now if you’ve ever tried asking these kinds of questions, you know that you don’t always have a receptive listener. Before they even sit down to the table,

they have lingering, unspoken questions about you. “Do I trust you? Will I be honest with you? Will I engage in a real, continuous conversation with you? Will I act on what our conversation reveals?” So, you come into every redemptive conversation with a handicap. And, as their unspoken questions begin to be answered in the affirmative, as they begin to open up their lives to you, the questions that follow often are met with defensiveness, prickliness, self-pity or irritation. Their initial openness can quickly turn into resistance. “I don’t trust you any more.” That distrust can just as quickly turn into rejection. And it’s that potential rejection that often scares us off our call to know and love people well. What

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too. The gospel emboldens you because the love you’ve been receiving from the Father is love that compels you to love others as well. And loving other people means moving toward them intentionally with redemptive grace, truly caring about them and how they are holding up under their sin and suffering. To care for people, you must know them. And to know them, you must listen and ask questions – sometimes hard questions, deep questions that move beyond the superficial to the substantial.

May focus

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

RED

A r t d e pa r t m e n t

Q & A with M i n i s t r y d i r e c to r : C h u c k F o r s b e r g i n t e rv i e w e d by: B r i t t n e y W e st i n

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

What is the RED art dept. and what is its main purpose? The RED Art Dept. exists to create and facilitate all the media, branding and communication of the church. So everything that has to do with audio and visual media, print media, the website, basically any type of information that the church hands out to the congregation or the surrounding neighborhood, needs to look like us. The team exists so that we have a consistent message throughout all forms of media, whether that be through print, web, or audio. Can you explain some of the main projects the team has been working on? The two biggest projects that the RED team has worked on consistently are Momentum and the website. Constantly keeping those two forms of media up to date is our biggest priority so that we can keep the congregation informed of everything that’s going on at Redeemer: the vision of Redeemer, the events that are happening, and where we need help. We also want to be faithfully reminding people of the gospel, and we do that through blogs and sermon messages on the website. Mostly, our job is to keep the gospel message in front of the faces of the congregation. We also do smaller projects for all the ministries of Redeemer. Different ministries have events that need advertising, or they have other projects they need help creating, so we do those things too. Our hands are in anything that’s printed on a piece of paper, anything that goes on the website, anything that a ministry needs to communicate. It all goes through our team so we can make sure that the communication is consistent. Why is branding something that’s important for a church? Branding identifies who we are visually. We want our branding to look clean and crisp, new and fresh! We want to look and feel culturally relevant and we want to be presented like we’re current to the culture where we’re located. Having our branding look relevant is so important because you don’t want people to think we’re out of the loop. We don’t want to present Redeemer as if we’re a stale or dying church. We’re a

As a designer, where do you get the inspiration for the look and branding of Redeemer? If anything, I’m influenced, not necessarily by other corporations or churches, but just by art. With the feel of the website and what we’ve been doing with things like the sermon images, you’ll notice we’re very image heavy at Redeemer, but it’s more of a brand that revolves around nature, art, and design. When I think of design, I try to incorporate God into it as much as possible because God is the greatest designer ever. So I pull from things that I see in nature and culture, but I don’t want it to feel too corporate or rigid or conservative. I don’t want our brand to fall into one category. I want it to be kind of like a living and growing organism. It needs to be able to appeal to more than one group of people, so I try to incorporate lots of different design in our brand. In what ways have we as a church been creative in our use of technology to proclaim the gospel? Our website is a great example! I really want people to notice it, use it, and realize that it’s already mobile friendly. It’s so easy now to go on your phone and listen to a sermon because you

What about our use of social media? The church and R W Glenn use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as our social media outlets. We use these sites to promote special events at Redeemer as well as Sunday sermons, gospel inspiration, Q & A’s with R W Glenn, and highlights from our website, RedeemerBibleChurch.com. It’s a way for the congregation to tap into the pulse of Redeemer and be reminded of the gospel all week long. Using social media can also help to spread the gospel in a completely different and exciting way. I think it’s a key part to growing as a church because there are a lot of people now who are just used to it. People are using social media now as a major form of information and communication and we need be up to date

How have you seen the Lord working through our church’s intentional use of creative and effective communication? Far and above, the most encouraging thing I’ve heard is that when people are checking out the website for the first time, they are really impressed with it, and not just by the way it looks or how it functions, but they’re impressed even by how easy it is to navigate and to get to the messages and the gospel. I’m encouraged by how we’re presenting ourselves and by the response we’re getting. It seems like people are excited to see new things and new forms of media. Some flyers that I’ve designed for the youth group have been handed out by the kids to all of their friends at school. They’re encouraged to hand out stuff that looks cool! In today’s culture, we’re so wrapped up into how things look and things being cool and new and exciting. So when we incorporate that kind of design with our gospel message it can help people feel the excitement of the gospel even more and can help us to share the gospel more. The gospel is the gospel and will never change, but the way we present it to people makes a difference. If the media that we’re designing excites you to share the gospel with your friends, that’s the ultimate goal. We just hope that we can package it in a way that helps you to share it with somebody. What areas of need does the RED team have and how can someone get involved? We need lots of help! Redeemer is a church that’s growing

and, for one, I would really like four more video editors so they can trade off editing Bob’s sermons every week. We’re setting up an editing station behind the soundboard within the next couple of weeks so that people who want to volunteer to do that or learn how to do that, can. Another area of need we have is for more graphic designers. More hands make lighter work, so having more designers will not only spread out the work but it will also help Redeemer to have more than one flavor. Each designer has their own little twist on our brand, which I think is excellent. We have a really wide demographic of people and we want to cater to all of them, even in our design. So if I have more designers it means we’ll really be able to diversify our design in a sense. We also need copywriters and copy editors. Everything that we write, and how we write it, needs to be combed over. We also need people who can write good copy, which is so important because a design is only as good as its message. So we want to be sure that we’re clear with our message and a good writer does that. Other than that, I’d probably like one more videographer. In the upcoming months, we’re going to try to do some more creative videos like updating our 60 Second Service Sampler that’s on the website. We’d also like to do more video stuff like our Q&A sessions with R W Glenn and more videos that capture some of the events that happen at Redeemer. We really want to start using all forms of media more, not just print and social media, but also more videography to tell effectively the story of what’s going on at Redeemer in any given month. //RBC

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

don’t have to get out a magnifying glass to try to read a copy of it. Our site is a responsive web design so it responds to whatever kind of device you’re on, like a tablet or a mobile device, which is a huge improvement from what we had before. I want to encourage people to go to the website and tool around on it, to find the blogs and use the calendar. Another thing we’re doing that’s relatively new is having the QR code for attendance on the bulletin. Right now, we only have about 15 people a week using it. If we saw 50% or 60% of people in the church using it versus handwriting their attendance, it could save five hours of work a week just by making that switch. Nobody would have to go in and log the attendance manually since it would automatically be entered with the QR code.

with that. Again, it goes back to staying relevant, but it will also really help our church to grow in a new way.

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

church on the move, we’re growing, and we want to show that. We want to visually communicate that we’re moving forward and we’re in tune with the culture of Minneapolis. We’re kind of adapting to our surroundings, so to speak, because we want to preach the gospel to people, but we also want people to receive the gospel. Visually receiving the gospel might be initially easier for them, and it’s easier to do that when you adapt your visual message to the culture that you’re in.

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Featured article

By: Philip Graham Ryken

“Nor am I of the opinion that through the Gospel all art should be cast to the ground and should perish, as some misled religious people claim. But I want to see all the arts, especially music, used in the service of Him who has given and created them. I therefore pray that every pious Christian will agree with this, and if God has given him equal or greater gifts, will lend his aid.” - Martin Luther

hristians tend to be suspicious about the arts. There are some good reasons for this. One is that images easily lend themselves to idolatry. Although God’s command not to make graven images (Ex. 20:4-6) has more to do with worship than art, it is nevertheless significant that God forbids the crafting of images. Artists trade in images, and the image has a way of displacing the word.

My Father’s World; Meditations on Christianity and Culture by Phillip Ryken ISBN 978-0-87552 560-0 pages 100-101 and 113-116 used with permission of P&R Publishing Co., P O Box 817, Phillipsburg N.J. 08865

On the other side, artists have plenty of reasons to be suspicious about the church. Christians have often showed artists the door, or even shoved them out. On occasion, they have smashed their artwork for good measure. Then there is the indisputable fact that Christians have produced a great deal of bad art in the name of Christ. Just because an artist happens to be a Christian doesn’t mean his or her art is any good. All of this suspicion is not only unfortunate but also unnecessary. Christianity has something important to say to the artist because it places art in its proper context. The Christian view of art begins with the claim that God is an artist—the Artist, in fact. Our Father has revealed his artistry in everything he has made. He also makes aesthetic judgments. The first thing that God observed about the world he made was that it was very good, thus establishing a normative standard for the arts. There is also something redemptive about God’s artistry. In making the world, he brought order out of chaos, turning what was disordered into something harmonious and beautiful. He is not finished yet, either. God has promised that one day he will make a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13). It will be marvelous beyond imagination, for “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him: (1 Cor. 2:9). Artists also have something important to say to the church. Art is still a leading cultural indicator. Today’s artwork becomes tomorrow’s worldview. For this reason, it is important for Christians to study and discuss art in all its various forms. The essays that follow come from an amateur, not an expert. Their importance—if they are important—lies not in the subjects they address or in the judgments they contain but in the underlying principles they present for a Christian view of art. FACE TO FACE: VAN GOGH’S PORTRAITURE

The exhibition was of interest to Christians because it brought viewers face to face with the human condition. A gallery full of portraits cannot help but make some kind of statement about what it means to be a human being. That is especially true of the portraits of Vincent van Gogh, who wrote, That which excites me the most…is the portrait, the modern portrait…I should like to do portraits which will appear as revelations to people in a hundred years’ time…I am not trying to achieve this by photographic likeness but by rendering our impassioned expressions, by using our modern knowledge and appreciation of color as a means of rendering and exalting character. In other words, the artist’s goal was not to reproduce the outward appearance of his subjects but to communicate their inward essence. He tried to produce “portraiture with the soul of the model in it.” Most of van Gogh’s models were ordinary people: men from the old people’s home, gardeners, soldiers, peasants, and even prostitutes. Then there are the famous portraits of the Roulin family: a postman, his wife, and their three children. One reason van Gogh painted common people was because he could not afford to pay professional models. But it was also a matter of principle:

Nearly all of van Gogh’s subjects have a quiet dignity. The artist recognized that there was something Godlike about every person. He wrote, “I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize, and which we seek to convey by actual radiance and vibration of our coloring.” Yet for all their dignity, the people in van Gogh’s paintings are also smudged by sin and toil. This too was part of the painter’s purpose: “I want to make drawings that touch some people…. What I want to express…isn’t anything sentimental or melancholy, but deep anguish.”

By God’s common grace, van Gogh’s portraits show what it means to be a person made in God’s image and living in a fallen world. Like all true art, his portraits speak the truth about the human condition. They show the dignity and frailty of humanity. One might contrast van Gogh’s portraits with the landscapes of Thomas Kinkade, now available at many shopping malls. Although Kinkade is a Christian, there is a sense in which his paintings are somewhat less than fully Christian because, by the artist’s own admission, they “portray a world without the fall,” and thus they cannot point to the possibility of redemption. What is surprising about all this is that as far as anyone knows, Vincent van Gogh repudiated the Christian faith. Despite being reared in a Christian home—the home, in fact, of a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church—and despite having some kind of conversion experience, the artist abandoned the church and never returned. During early adulthood, for about four years, van Gogh was outspoken in his Christian commitment. His personal letters from this time are full of biblical quotations. He described being born again to eternal life as “a gift of God, a work of God—and of God alone.” Vincent even prepared for the gospel ministry, serving first as a Bible teacher at a church in England. After his first sermon, he wrote, “I felt like someone who had risen from a dark vault underground into the kind light of day when I stood at the pulpit, and it is a glorious thought that from now on wherever I go, I shall preach the gospel.” From there van Gogh went to seminary, before going on to become a missionary to Belgian coal miners. Yet he grew disillusioned with the church, and especially with the hypocrisy of the clergy. During the last decade of his life, van Gogh said almost nothing about his personal relationship to Christ. Instead, he turned to his artwork, finding it to be “something which I can devote myself to heart and soul, and which inspires me and gives meaning to life.” Although van Gogh sought meaning in his art, he was often anxious and sometimes despairing, probably due to manic depression. In some of his final works—such as The Pieta, The Resurrection of Lazarus, or At Eternity’s Gate—he seemed to be searching again for the God of his childhood. But the artist came to a tragic end, going out into a field and shooting himself. As he lay dying, he told his brother, “I did it for the good of everybody.” Even if van Gogh’s final spiritual condition is uncertain, his tragic tale warns us against apostasy. Some who seem to have faith ultimately renounce their allegiance to Christ (e.g., Gal. 5:4; 1 Tim. 1:19-20; 1 John 2:19). But it would be a mistake to think—based on van Gogh’s experience—that one must decide between being an artist and becoming a Christian. It is possible to be both. The real choice is between living for God’s glory and living for your own. If you decide to live for your glory, then whether you are a minister or an artist, you will serve yourself. But if you live for God, then whatever you do will be for his glory, whether you are a preacher or a painter. The question is, What has God called you to do?

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

“Face to Face” was the subtitle of an art exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the first devoted exclusively to the portraiture of the Dutch master Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The show included several self-portraits. Hence its full title: “Van Gogh: Face to Face.”

he believed that poor people were the proper focus of modern art. Since they lack the trappings of power and prosperity, what shows through in their portraits is their humanity—and nothing else.

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Another reason Christians are suspicious is because so much modern and postmodern art wallows in depravity. Anyone who doubts this should visit the senior exhibition of virtually any art school in the country. Many contemporary artists are hostile to the Christian way of looking at the world.

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When you enter your information and submit, the information goes straight to the church office via email. To you this may or may not be a more convenient method of filling out the tear off information. For me personally, this is definitely a better way to do things. I rarely have a pen on me, so I just pull up the digital version on my smartphone and fill it out right there! And it really is fast. Once you get

grid thing that is right next to the web page address. As I’ve already discussed, if you’re carrying a smart-phone around, it’s great to be able to fill out the digital tear off right there on your phone during the service. The black grid is a QR code, and it provides a quick way to get your smart-phone to the tear off web page, faster than having to manually type in the web page address. If you’re not familiar with QR codes, think of them like an advanced barcode. Simple barcodes of course have been around for a very long time, and provide a way to store a set of

If you’ve been to a Sunday service at Redeemer, you’ve likely seen the small “tear off” sheet that is attached to the service bulletin. You may have also noticed that on the tear off is an odd-looking black-dotted grid at the bottom. It may be funny looking, but it’s there to provide an easy, paperless way to fill out the tear off!

Your QR reader might immediately take you to the tear off web page, but most QR readers display the website address. All you have to do is click on the address and viola! your web browser opens right to the digital tear off page and you can go from there.

Sidebar 1: Get a QR reader for your iPhone 1. On your iPhone, open the App Store 2. Click on the search icon in the lower menu bar 3. Type in “barcode reader”

the hang of it, you can have the tear off filled out with just a few taps and swipes of the finger. In addition to providing convenience to those of us submitting our information, the digital tear off is very convenient for the church’s office staff. In fact, they would prefer it if people submitted their information via this method. The information collected is eventually aggregated into a computer so the digital submission is a fast track to its destination. If you want to offer a bit of assistance to the office staff, go the digital route. However, don’t feel bad if you use the paper tear off. The paper version isn’t going away and the digital version isn’t for everyone. You should use the method that’s best for you. Now to the odd black-dotted

numbers that can be used for item identification. QR codes are the “next generation” of the barcode. Instead of just storing numbers, they can store numbers and text. They are most commonly used to store website addresses, but they can store a small chunk of any text supplied by the QR code creator. In order to get the information out of a QR code, you need the right piece of software. If your smart-phone has a camera, there is very likely a QR code reader app available to you. See the sidebars for instructions on how to get QR readers for the two most common smart-phone platforms - iPhone and Android. Just follow these simple steps to use the QR code: 1. On your smart-phone, open

Look for “QR Reader for iPhone” by TapMedia Ltd. This by far has the best reviews and I know for a fact that Chuck Forsberg uses this app so ‘nuff said.

Sidebar 2: Get a QR reader for your Android device 1. On your Android device, open the Google Play store 2. Click the “Apps” button right on the landing page 3. Click on the search icon in the upper right hand corner 4. Type in “barcode reader” Look for “Barcode Scanner” by ZXing Team. This is the QR scanner I use; it’s very simple and easy to use. //RBC

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

The digital tear off web page provides a way to submit exactly the same information as the physical paper tear off. Also, just like the paper tear off, there are actually two different web pages to use depending on whether you are a visitor to the church or a member/regular attendee. The church wants to serve each type of attendee best, so different information needs to be collected. The respective web page addresses are as follows:

No matter which method you use to get to and fill out the tear off - QR code scanning, typing the website address manually, or even the “old fashioned” way - I hope this article has made all the options clear to you. If you have any questions about this, feel free to email me. I would love to help you. Email: drewyfive@ gmail.com

By: Andrew Watson

There is also a web page address next to our funny looking grid friend, and both of these things are meant to point you to the alternate tear off option: using your web browser. This “digital tear off” web page can be filled out later after the Sunday service on your home computer, but the real convenience comes if you have a smart-phone - you can just pull it up during the service and fill it out there.

your QR reader app 2. Once the QR reader starts (your app may require a button tap) you’ll see a live feed from your device’s camera, likely with instructions to put the QR code within a particular region of the screen. 3. Hold the QR code in front of your device’s camera, within the specified region. 4. The camera will focus on the QR code, and when it gets a good scan will pull up the website address for the digital tear off!

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

What is a QR Code?

• Visitors: www.redeemerbible church.com/tearoff/guest • Members: www.redeemer biblechurch.com/tearoff/ regular

Blog highlights

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Highlights

From the

Gospel life blog The Joy in Being a Nothing By: Pastor Mark Suchta Recently I have been reflecting on the question of, “When am I the most joyful?” I always come back to the same answer. I am most joyful when I see myself as “nothing” and Christ as “everything.” Why? Well, when I see myself as a “nothing,” I am seeing myself properly. This allows me to forget about myself, and worship Christ for who he is and everything he has done for me. Christ is real and he gives me all of my worth. It’s all about him; his perfect life put in my account. When you start to get this, the freedom is mind-blowing. It changes all of life when you embrace this freeing truth. It breaks down the walls of self-defense because you realize you have nothing worth defending. It causes you to serve others with delight because you realize you are not the center of the universe. It moves you towards others who are difficult because you have seen how “difficult” you have been, and how Christ still moved toward you to claim you as his own.

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

This is the joyful truth that I strive for, but often forget. Praise God he never stops pursuing us. //RBC

“I will never leave you nor forsake you” By: David Ward Do you ever feel alone? Though most of us are surrounded by people, whether in our neighborhoods or in our homes, I have no doubt that we all experience loneliness to some extent. Maybe you feel alone because you’ve lost someone very close to you, or maybe you feel alone in your job, alone in your involvement in the church, or alone in your secret battles against sin. If the Word of God is true, and you have been reconciled to God by believing in Jesus, then the truth is that you are not alone, ever. Though you may feel alone, God is with you in every circumstance, in every sorrow, and in every struggle – whether you are believing it or not. This precious reminder of God’s commitment to be with us comes right in the midst of a series of commands, the last of which says, “be content with what you have.” Believer, take courage in God’s promise to never leave you, even when you are at your worst, and remember the contentment that is found when you realize that you have the greatest treasure of all – God Himself! //RBC

Redeemer is Online! Check out our NEW website and find blogs like these and so much more at: RedeemerBible Church.com

What Makes Me Matter By: Pastor Boomer Peel When you walk into a crowded room of people, what makes you feel like you matter? Picture that the room is full of people you know and respect, perhaps even people that you envy or strive to emulate. I’m a pretty sociable person and don’t have too much anxiety talking to people in those sorts of settings, so on the surface, it’s a tough question to answer. Then I consider the anxiety I might feel before, during and after those times. Like when I am standing there by myself, and everyone around me is talking to someone else. Do I look like a loser or a self-centered jerk? Or, after I leave, how often do I replay conversations I had, and think of the better responses I could have given? What makes me feel like I matter? My reputation. I want people to see me as capable, entertaining and helpful. That idol permeates so many areas of my life. It’s the reason I get upset when my kids act out in public. It’s the reason I get angry when my wife doesn’t respond to my so-called love the way I expect her to. It’s the reason I seek my own glory rather than God’s when I serve in ministry. Then I consider Jesus, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) In his immeasurable love, Christ was willing to forsake his reputation in order to save me from my constant focus on mine. Although he was God, Jesus was willing to humble himself and die the death that I deserve. Oh let that cause me to run to him and repent, both with sorrow over my sin, and with joy for the undeserved gift I’ve been given! //RBC

Job title

Tech Intern

Sermon transcript Copy editors

Description: Work under the direction of the Worship Technology Director in learning tasks and skills. Responsibilities:

Description: Update sermon transcripts, copy to web site, and finalize formatting.

1. Willing to learn & try different techy tasks

Responsibilities:

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Media

Volunteer postions available

1. Must be detail-oriented 2. Must be familiar with Microsoft Word 3. HTML knowledge helpful, but not necessary

Hours per week: Varies

Hours Per Week: Flexible

Video Camera Operator Job title

Job title

Video Editors (4 PPl)

3. Responsible to find a replacement if necessary Hours per week: +/- 1

Responsibilities: 1. Must be reliable and able to arrive in a timely fashion 2. Able to record sermons during one or both Worship Services

Description: Run the computer presentation for song lyrics and videos on the projection screen.

3. Responsible to find a replacement if necessary Hours per week: +/- 3

Responsibilities: 1. Must be prompt 2. Able to do Sunday mornings (one or both services), and Wednesday night prayer meetings

Description: Creatively edit footage for use on the Redeemer website, social media and in services.

3. Work under the direction of the Media Director to establish a look and feel for the final cut.

Responsibilities:

4. Edit footage using Adobe Premier or Final Cut into production quality videos.

1. Coordinate the production of various promo videos for conferences, sermon series, events, and outreach tools. 2. Work with videographer to capture needed footage.

Hours per week: 2-5 hours

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Video Production Operator

Description: To operate and record the sermons onto our video camera during the Worship Service.

get involved

Job title

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

Volunteer postions available

Job title

Summer Organizer

Description: Organize summer social events for the Women’s Ministry

Do something Hours per week: Varies

Responsibilities: 1. Come up with summer social events for moms with young children 2. Have a designated calendar for women’s summer events 3. Communicate events to church office staff

Get involved

4. Find Women willing to host each event

Job title

Discussion Leaders

Description: 5-10 discussion leaders who can draw out a smaller group during Bible and book studies

Hours per week: Varies

Responsibilities: 1. Willing to listen to each group member 2. Pray with and encourage the group 3.Able to keep the group on topic

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Job title

Women’s Teachers

Description: Facilitates class discussions

4. Be able to draw out discussion from a group

Responsibilities:

5. Doesn’t need to be a Bible expositor

1. Can communicate clearly 2. Be able to explain main points of a study

Hours per week: Varies

3. Be a good listener

Job title

Lead Teacher/ Summer

Description: Lead Sunday school teacher prepares the lesson from MacArthur curriculum, stays in touch with shepherds on their team, and prays for the kids in class. Responsibilities: 1. From the provided curriculum, prepares lesson, decides how to teach the lesson, using ideas given, or Holy Spirit inspired ideas that work with the lesson.

2. Connect with Shepherds to encourage their participation either by email or phone. 3. Follows guidelines set out in the Sunday School Manual. 4. Attends relevant trainings 2x year. Hours per week: +/- 3

Expanding our Gospel Vision

Each month we present the progress of our Expanding Our Gospel Vision (EOGV) program on the pie chart below. But the question I always ask is this: Are we on track to reach our goal of 100% of commitments fulfilled? In other words, are people keeping up with their commitments or falling behind?

bar graph

General giving fund Mortgage forcast

Total Expenses | $ 524,184 Mortgage | $ 31,800

financial update

ye Ma ar r to ch da te

I am thrilled to report that according to contributorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; own forecast of commitment timing, we are around 100% of the predicted total at the two-year anniversary of our EOGV

program. We want to celebrate this in the month of May and give everyone a chance to participate in our Vision Program! If you have been consistently coming to Redeemer in the past two years, we want to give you an opportunity to become involved in the Expanding Our Gospel Vision program through a one or two year commitment. This will be a great way to feel like you too have a part in Redeemerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision for the future.

MOMENTUM // MAY 2013

By Paul Burr

Expenses giving

Giving | $ 495,483

Pie Chart

Expanding our gospel vision

17 %

Awaiting Commitments | $ 377,152 Commitments Received | $ 1,838,241

83 %

REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH // The gospel changes everything

Forecast | $468,510

GABE

ZEPEDA

LIVE RECORDING SESSION

REDEEMER BIBLE CHUCH

16205 HIGHWAY 7

MINNETONKA, MN 55345

SPECIAL GUEST

DAVID WARD THURSDAY, JUNE 6TH

952.935.2425 7 PM*FREE REDEEMERBIBLECHURCH.COM A::

ACCEPTING DONATIONS

TO RAISE MONEY FOR YOUTH CAMP

CONFERENCES 2013

CONFERENCE FOR ALL

A PRAYING LIFE SEMINAR

LEARNING TO PRAY IN A DISTRACTING WORLD

FEATURING

BOB ALLUMS

MAY 17 - 18, 2013 REDEEMER BIBLE CHURCH 16205 HIGHWAY 7 | MINNETONKA, MN 55345 www.redeemerconference.com

PLEASE COME & JOIN US! RBC: CHILDREN’S MINISTRY PRESENTS

May Sun

MON TUE

THU

FRI

Dates to remember WED

Event Calendar

Sat

No Wednesday worship

Redemption | “Costly Yet Free” event in Worship Center 6:45 - 8:30 PM

Morning Worship | 9 & 11 AM Redemption | Youth SS 9 AM Newcomers lunch 1:00 - 2:30 PM | Glenn Home No community groups Evening worship | 6:00 PM

The praying life seminar Friday, 7 PM & Saturday 9 AM | Worship Center

Women’s night 7:00 - 8:30 PM

Redemption | Youth Group 6:45 PM

Morning worship | 9 & 11 AM Redemption | Youth SS 9 AM

Wednesday worship 7 PM

Redemption | Youth Group 6:45 PM

The praying pastor conference Monday, 6 PM & Tuesday, 7 AM | Worship Center

Redemption | Youth Group 6:45 PM Wednesday worship 7 PM

Community groups | Various Times

19 Morning worship | 9 & 11 AM (Including the Lord’s Table) Redemption | Youth SS 9 AM Community groups | Various Times

26 Morning worship | 10 AM NO redemption | Youth SS No community groups Until Fall 2013

May

Details, details.

Sunday May 5

Newcomer’s lunch

1 PM – 2:30 PM | Glenns’ Home If you would like to attend the next Newcomer’s Lunch, please RSVP with Laurie Summers at lsummers@ redeemerbiblechurch.com or 952.935.2425.

Thursday May 16

Women’s night 7 PM - 8:30 PM | Church Building | Breakout sessions: 1. The Sovereignty of God; taught by Debbie Hansen. 2. Shepherding a Child’s Heart; taught by Kara Beck. 3. Vintage Skills & Fellowship

May 8 Wednesday Costly yet free 6:45 PM – 8:30 PM | Worship Center Attention youth! Join us for a night of fellowship, friendship and teaching. Gabe will be recapping his latest gospel series, so invite your friends who haven’t yet responded to the gospel. “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” - Hebrews 9:27-28

May 17 - 18 Friday/Saturday The praying Life seminar Learning to pray in a distracting world Friday, May 17th 7 PM & Saturday, May 18th 9 AM Meets in Church Auditorium | RBC family, you are all invited to register and attend this powerful seminar on prayer featuring Bob Allums, director of A Praying Life Ministries. The seminar will walk through the book, A Praying Life by Paul Miller, and will include several teaching sessions offering practical and helpful tools in communicating with our Heavenly Father through prayer. Register online at http://redeemerconference.com/ by May 10th to receive a discount in cost.

A:: 16205 highway 7 | Minnetonka, Minnesota 55345 P:: 952.935.2425 E:: info@redeemerbiblechurch.com :: redeemerbiblechurch.com