I just want to give God a little morning praise.  We have found a beautiful location for our Discipleship weekend.  Yesterday we spoke to the folks at Glorieta in N.M. and we were able to put together the space we needed for our youth group.  Glorieta is a great place for us because it is not too far away, and, it it’s scenery is a great contrast from the concrete jungle our kids live in.  

I am convinced that Had God not had His hand in this it would not have happened.  It is this type of blessing that reminds us that He is ever attentive to our needs and challenges.  It gives me the sense that We are truly in a partnership with Him.

Praise God.

On March the 18th-20th, Citychurch will be hosting our discipleship weekend for our youth ages 12-18.  For the past two years, we have traveled over the week of Spring break to Houston to help start a Citychurch type ministry in the Third Ward, in the Downtown area.  We are still planning on serving several different churches in a mission trip format later in the year.  This year, however, we are going to use Spring break to prepare the youth for service and also pull them together as a group.  

Over the past year, I have watched as our youth group has more than doubled in size.  We now have over 80 students who attend Sunday morning Bible study here every week.  We will have an equally large turnout on our Wed. night youth service.  In the past our “traveling team” would neatly fit in two of our 15 pass. vans.  Logistically, it was much easier plan and facilitate our trips.  Even though we have to provide everything from bedding to toothpaste, clothes to snacks, We were able to accommodate our group without too much trouble.

This year, the playing field has changed somewhat.  Not only are we working with a larger group many in the group are new to Christ and, as such, need to grow a bit before taking on too much responsibility.  We are excited, however, to have this opportunity to take the youth out of the neighborhood and invest some much needed time and teaching in them.  

Please pray for us.  Please pray that, as we teach, God will give us the right approach and the discernment to find the Truth.  Pray that God will soften the hearts of those who are new in the faith and are having to make some tough decisions.  I know that after we challenge and equip them, we will see God do some great things through our young people.

I think about how we come to Jesus, recognizing our sinful condition, seeking God’s rescue from it. We have lived according to our most basic instincts and are tired of our lives being out of control. We have consumed our fill of the worlds rational, wile our hunger for lasting wisdom, is so thick in the pit of our stomach, that we can no longer stand to be without it. We are in need of mercy. Our physical environment has left marks on us that need a divine and permanent eraser. We just want to feel clean. We no longer want to be objects of wrath and long to be at peace with our Creator. We want to be righteous no matter what it costs. Friends, family, reputation, even our physical well being are no longer as important as our relationship with God.

Imagine walking, with all of these thoughts going through your head. You hear the faint sound of Jesus in the distance, you hear Him begin to teach:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:3-12 (ESV)

To here a message on the beatitudes click here.

John 6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

This is one of those scriptures that convicted me as soon as I read it. I read it when I was with the youth last week and immediately thought of the young people that we are working with. We are constantly dealing with a certain group of youth that come to Citychurch who are not interested in the spiritual aspect  of God, but only what we can do for them as an agency. As usual it is easer to pin a convicting verse on someone other than myself. After reading this verse several more times I realized that it had tremendous application in the the way I, like many Christians, treat the works of God in my day to day life.

In this verse we find a group of followers tracking down Jesus the day after He had fed the multitude. Jesus pointed out that they were not seeking Him for spiritual reasons but the physical hunger that He had relieved the day before had returned. When I read this part of the verse I can hear Jesus’ frustration. Just one day earlier he had taken a very small amount of food and miraculously provided a meal for the large crowd. He was also preforming, miracle after miracle, and all that this group was focused on was the food that He had provided the day before. I feel like Jesus is saying to us “look you just don’t get it.” Each day we see Gods direction; we see His provision. Each day he shows me something miraculous and I choose to stop at the the physical aspect of the act. As Christians He has given us The Gospel Of Jesus Christ and pointed to it in Romans as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” But as soon as we accept that gift we as Christians tend to shelve what The Gospel can do for us beyond our initial salvation and start looking deeper into scripture for something with “more meat.”

At Citychurch we see God’s provision for our daily physical welfare. We can easily make lists of these acts and focus on the physical aspect of the miracle, looking again the next day for His provisions. We can see His Gospel work in the life of a child or young person and focus only on the changes in his or her lifestyle. But when I read the end of this verse I realize that focusing on those things causes our vision, of the work that Jesus is doing, to be blurred. 

The physical act, that might or might not take place, is a side effect of what we should seek to know about God. Instead of trying to figure out how to manifest more provision we should seek out the Provider. We should not marvel at what we can hold in our hands, but in the fact that we can know the ONE who it all belongs to. Like those that finally received the message that day I say “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 

Noah’s two floods 
Many people don’t realize that Noah in the Old Testament had to live through two floods rather than one. The first flood was a flood of evil and violence on the earth. God began creation by making a man named Adam and his wife Eve and placing them in the Garden of Eden. What seemed like an innocent tasting of fruit from the Tree of Knowledge soon brought tragedy to the new family. Cain the eldest son, because of jealously, killed his brother Able. 
In the coming generations, heartache upon heartache from sin plagued everyone on the earth. This was all happening after Satan told Eve concerning the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge, “In the day that you eat of it; you will surely not die.” That one lie has cost mankind every sickness that has resulted in the suffering and death of mankind. It was not just man who was corrupt but, God’s Word declares that the earth itself was corrupted. 

When God appeared to Noah it was because He was the only man who still looked to Him for grace. Noah was a museum piece in his day. He and He alone worshiped and obeyed God. The entire world was caught up in this flood of evil and violence from that day in the Garden of Eden and now it’s tidal mark was raised to flood stage. God had to do something! 

What God chose to do was ask Noah to build a boat which would be so large and obtrusive that everyone in that day would be confronted with it. God was trying to make a point. The man He called to literally build that object lesson was Noah. The 120 years it took for Noah to build the ark was the time God was giving the people to repent and turn to Him. 

It does not take much of a wise man to look around and see that God is trying to make a point today. The church has had no influence or voice in this election in America and there has been no message put forth by the preachers in the churches across the land. While we sit and watch the procession go by, our economy is destroyed, morals and truth have been abandoned and the easiest way to be elected to office is to convince everyone that you never consult God for direction on anything of consequence. No wonder God is trying get our attention. 

The question for us is, “How long will God give us to repent and return to Him this time?” 

Psalms 37:12 The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. 15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken. 16 A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever.

This article was written by Pastor Don E. Lane Sr. To listen to the sermon on this passage by Don E. Lane Sr.click here

Citychurch Youth In Our Park

[ origionally drafted Friday ]

I just noticed that the New York Stock Exchange has been open for five minutes and has dropped nearly 500 points.  I also know that, for the most part, these sell orders are coming from institutions that are trying to guard many peoples retirement savings from losing more than they already have.  It’s not easy for many people to watch the rise and fall of an economic tide that is too great for anyone to control, and yet somehow try to harness enough of it’s momentum to stay afloat.

There is, however, a promise; a cause for hope outside the grasp of any physical threat.  When I was younger, my father was ill with a liver disease that required him to have his liver transplanted.  After four years, we had little left in the way of possessions.  We had lost our house, cars, clothes and friends; all of the things by which we measure our self worth. We were suffering a poverty that was not generational.  It was caused by a situation outside of our control.  And even though it’s effects were temporary in respect to time, it’s burden seemed catastrophic. Through the whole of that experience I learned of Life’s great promise; of a hope that does not disappoint. 

In Psalms 22:9 & 10 King David is crying out to God during a time of intense personal attack.  His very life is at stake. And yet, in the midst of all his grief, he has one ray of hope; one reason to take heart.  In the midst of his cry, David says:

 ”But you [God] are He that took me out of the womb: You did make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts

 I was cast upon You from the womb: You are my God from my mother’s belly.”

click on image to download

Below are two wallpapers that will hopefully remind you to pray for the mission work that is going on in Davao City, Philippines.  There are two aspect ratios.  The top image is cinematic and the bottom is traditional.  You can download them by clicking on the image and then selecting the full size version that will appear and dragging it onto your desktop.  

Recently, Citychurch traveled to Davao to build a partnership with the Davao Christian Bible Channel; a station that broadcasts Christian content to over 5 million homes and soon to over 10 million.  Citychurch is also training and encouraging the local congregation of believers at D.C.B.C. to find, feed, and teach the thousands of children that live on one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

click on image to download

When we came downtown all we knew was our mission. We knew God wanted us to reach those who were not being reached. He provided a plan for us to move downtown and a way to tell people how they could get involved. Though the ministry has grown our heart has stayed the same. As the media director at Citychurch I am reminded of this on a daily basis.

Last week we shot an episode of our weekly television program that will air this week. The episode is a celebration of the ministry that we have been involved in for the past 12 years. This month our television show “For The Heart Of The City” is also celebrating its forth year and over a hundred and twenty episodes. After I built the sound bed for this weeks episode and I started looking for footage from some of our earliest programs I noticed something. Though we have gotten better with our lighting, sound and camera work, we were doing The same things back then that we do now. We show people the ministry. It might not be polished. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, it might not have been flattering to us. The viewer will see us work through a problem from week to week or try something that doesn’t work but in a way he or she will become a part of the process. I watched hours of footage preparing this episode, some of it was over five years old, but there we were feeding kids or sharing the gospel in a apartment complex or bringing kids to bible school. It was image after image of Citychurch focused on the ministry of reaching those who were not being reached.

I found our very first episode of “For The Heart Of The City” I have posted it below. When you watch this show hopefully you will see that over the last 120 episodes we have learned a lot about t.v. production. Also I hope you will see were our heart was then and were it is now; reaching the last the least and the lost.

Here we are again in the beginning of another school year with a great Summer season behind us and a colossal struggle ahead.  It seems that every Fall, as the youth go back to school, we have to swallow the bitter pill of peer pressure and watch our young disciples struggle to survive spiritually.  

For an example, consider M.  He’s a bright young kid that lives in the San Jacinto neighborhood of Amarillo. This year is his senior year at Palo Duro High School.  He has been active in our youth group since junior high and just recently has expressed God’s call on his life to serve in the ministry.  Of course, serving God meant sacrificing the relationships that he had grown up with; friends and family who are involved in either serious gang activity or petty destructive crime.  

Just this past year, his best friend has fathered two babies by two different girls and dropped out of school for good measure.  His cousin with whom he has grown up, has just been released from prison only to try to recruit M. to claim the local “C.R.I.P. click”.  M. had one friend to whom he was very close and who was involved in the youth group with him, but during the Summer, he ran away from home and fathered a baby with a 14 year old girl.  

These gang bangers and thugs comprise his “sphere of influence”.  Except for the occasional sexual solicitation from one of a dozen girls waiting in line to get pregnant, these are the only peers he can look to for cultural validation.  I’m left to wonder what the chances really are that M. will live a decent life.  

Can we give him enough of “whatever it takes to survive”? Or are we making beds in a burning house?

We know that God has an answer to this problem.

We needed a better way to keep you informed as to the news here @ Citychurch.  We feel that this new blog will allow us to update wherever we are and with multiple devices.  please frequent the site for news, photos, video, and opinion articles.