…unless you’re living in one of the few states where H1N1 isn’t rampant.

Greg Schneeberger, our youth minister, is teaching this round of our membership class (a.k.a, Knowing Christ, Knowing the Church, or KCKC). He shared a wonderfully encouraging story with our leadership today — a story about sacrificial care happening within our membership class (i.e., among new people!).

Here’s how it starts: a lady in the class wrote Greg last week, saying,

Greg,

I’m worried that my husband and I and I won’t be able to make many of the classes left. As embarrassing as it is, I feel you deserve a reason why. A month ago we lost our mini van. My husband had started teaching me to drive his truck. What a pain! But we were thankful that God had left us with an open window sorta say. This past Sunday after church we were headed to my grandmothers for lunch. The clutch in the truck went out. And we were lucky to get to her house. Now with no transportation to speak of, I worry that we won’t be able to get to the church. It pains me to miss church and KCKC, it being the only time I really got out of the apartment. I will however, pray that something changes or at least that we can retake the class in the future.  We do love DCS!

Greg then wrote our leadership today with the rest of the story:

Just wanted to encourage us all with a cool story from last night’s KCKC. In brief:

1. A young mom wrote me that their car had exploded and they would have to drop the class. She said the repairs were under 1k but for their family it might as well have been a million dollars.
2. I told her to try and make it on Wednesday and we would get a strategy going.
3. As she arrived I was talking to a young professional in my home group. He overheard me make a few comments to her about the situation.
4. He proceeded to pull out a set of keys and tossed them her way. “We have three cars and there are only two of us. So why don’t you guys go ahead and use our X-Terra for as long as you need until things get worked out.”
5. The lady just about fell off her chair. The couples talked, got to know each other, and my home group buddy took some time to explain that this is how things are supposed to work in the Kingdom. It was pretty glorious.
6. So, this mom of three left with a ride on loan and the home group couple drove home in their other car. They shared contact info and everyone was very excited about how God was moving in love and generosity.

Even though we all weren’t a part of this, let’s thank God together that this, and many other like-things, are happening at this church. I truly believe that DSC has seen significant growth in this kind of body-care in the last few years.

This Sunday, Zach Nielsen will be preaching for us, as we consider:

• our spiritual adoption in Christ
• the church’s call to care for orphans
• opportunities for adoption and orphan care in and through DSC

Zach put together this touching and encouraging video. Towards the end, it shows the families at DSC who have adopted or are making plans to do so. Praise God for his goodness in the love and care shown through so many in our body!

DSC Video For Orphan Care Sunday from Zach Nielsen on Vimeo.

Kevin DeYoung gives a six-fold answer to the oft-asked question, why does membership matter?

1. In joining a church you make visible your commitment to Christ and his people.
2. Making a commitment makes a powerful statement in a low-commitment culture.
3. We can be overly independent.
4. Church membership keeps us accountable.
5. Joining the church will help your pastor and elders be more faithful shepherds.
6. Joining the church gives you an opportunity to make promises.

Go read the whole post to see how each of these are fleshed out.

Related to this is Kevin’s new book (co-authored with Ted Kluck), Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. I’ve only had time to skim it, but what I’ve read so far I’ve heartily agreed with and enjoyed. I’m sure we’ll be carrying this in our church Resource Center soon.

As I mentioned in last Sunday’s sermon, the next week will cover the same verses in a slightly different way.

Last Sunday we looked at the general principles in the passage:

• Don’t Worry about People
• Don’t Worry about Possessions
• Don’t Wonder about His Promises
• Don’t Wonder about “Priorities”–Seek His Kingdom

This coming Sunday we will focus in on how we seek God’s kingdom, specifically

• …with our Speech (vss 4-12)
• …with our Stuff (vss 13-34)

If you didn’t hear last Sunday’s message, especially because it is the first-half of a two-parter, take some time before this Sunday to listen to it. And whether you heard the message last Sunday or not, please take the time to read through the verses again before we meet for corporate worship on Sunday AM.

Looking forward to seeing you and worshipping our great God and Savior with you on this next Lord’s Day. May God’s goodness and nearness and power and truth be evident!