Keep Pointing in Waterloo

Living Life with Others

 

This past Sunday, groupLINC was a picture of what God is calling us to do throughout Iowa.  There were new faces from Waverly, Reinbeck, Waterloo, Osage and Cedar Falls who committed to spend the next ten weeks to live life together and help their friends and neighbors take steps closer to God, no matter where they live.

 

Around Prairie Lakes Church we will continue to challenge people to get their butt to church, get in a group and serve, not just because it’s simple, but it’s effective. I personally want to challenge you to find ways to live life with others that bring your friends, neighbors and co-workers to Christ. What is it that you can do in the next ten weeks to point people to God? Who is on your radar? Why wait to get to Waterloo to see them step over the faith-line? Let’s be recklessly invitational now…I’m looking forward to meeting them in the next few weeks!

New Staffer...Kim Stout : Waterloo Office Coordinator

 

There is an old African proverb that has stuck with me the last few years: If you want to go fast, go alone…If you want to go far, go together.

God continues to reach deeper into the Cedar Valley because we are committed to go together. I am humbled every time God brings new and bright talent to the team here at PLC and I am especially proud to introduce one of the new staffers that will be partnering with God to make it impossible to get to hell from Waterloo!

Kim is detail-oriented and works well under pressure. She spent a year as an intern for groupLIFE learning the ropes of intense, get-it-done everyday ministry and flourished. Her ability to work in eclectic chaos is perfect to help me with the many facets of administration at the new Waterloo site. Please take a moment and welcome her to the team at kim.stout@prairielakeschurch.org

 

“I am so excited that God has allowed me to be a part of something so huge! Taking this next step in my life has been a scary one, but I have no doubt that it is the correct one. During this past year, I was an intern in groupLIFE at PLC and I learned SO much! The main thing that I took away from my groupLIFE experience was ownership. In order to fully support anything in life, you’ve got to move from renter to owner in your mind. That is a huge jump in any area of life! But an important one. The Waterloo Campus will be MY home church. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for the next few months!”    ~ Kim Stout

I Need Your Help

Check out the fruit…

I am constantly amazed at how my five year old son sees life. Maybe I am envious at how simple it is or perhaps it’s the perks of chocolate milk and nap time that are most appealing, but either way I find myself drawn into his wisdom. Where does it come from? I wish I could pat myself on the back, but I know better.

As a parent I have found that it takes plenty of support to see this kind of fruit in Jack. There are people partnering every weekend in our Children’s Ministry with Amy and me to point our son toward God. Thank you to everyone that is willing to invest in the next generation! My son is getting it because you all get it!!!

Now we need your help above and beyond. And I know that this is the group I should be asking because I know you are up for the challenge. You may already be serving, but we need one more weekend. One complete weekend out of the next three months. One weekend to serve for all three services in Children’s Ministry.

The folks that are already serving in this ministry are specialists; they know what they are doing, but they need help. We need you to help bridge the gap. There is no training needed to come alongside the regular volunteers. You may be holding a baby or reading a bible story. Anyone can do this but not enough folks are stepping up.

This is the first time as your pastor that I am asking for your help. I am sure that it will not be the last. But here is what I know: it is for the next generation, for our sons, daughters, grandchildren, neighbors, nieces, nephews... Prairie Lakes Church is one church, many locations. Right now our Cedar Falls campus is in need.

Here is what we you need to do:

1. Pick a weekend listed below.

2. Send me an email at plcwaterloo@prairielakeschurch.orgtelling me which weekend you are going to serve.

Pastor Ron

Weekends to Serve in Children’s Ministry

September 26/27

October 3/4

October 10/11

October 17/18

October 24/25

Oct/Nov 31/1

November 7/8

November 14/15

November 21/22

November 28/29

December 5/6

December 12/13

December 19/20

December 26/27

Word Spreads Fast

Ok, it hasn’t even been a week since we shared what God is doing here at PLC with multisite and it has already made its way to Wisconsin! A family from Madison had this to say…

Good Morning.
 
Last month I learned that my job was moving from Madison, WI to Waverly, IA. After much prayer and some wrestling with God, my wife and I determined that God clearly wanted us to move our family to Iowa. Since then, we've been trying to determine where we should live. We believe God moves/relocates His people for His church - not for their livelihood and career. So, we feel strongly that God has something crazy cool for our family and for His church in the Cedar Valley.
 
We've never been to Prairie Lakes Church, but we've been attracted to it as we've prayed and checked out your Website. Your beliefs, mission, and "style" appear to align very closely to our church here. Yesterday we watched the video of PLC's service this past weekend. Could God want us in Waterloo - a place we've been "warned" about compared to Cedar Falls or Waverly? We're not sure yet, but we will be actively praying for God's direction. My wife's desire is that we live in the city that I work - not 30 minutes away like we currently do. But, we collectively want to be where God is leading.
 
I checked out the PLC - Waterloo Website and learned a bit about your timeline and maybe a hint of the location being on the east side/Evansdale. Can you tell me if you will be located in that part of Waterloo? If so, how far east/south are you looking? I suspect you have no idea when PLC might be looking at branching out to Waverly?
 
We're looking forward to whatever God has in store for PLC and us. Thank you
 
Ken and Pam

Watching God Make History

This week I spent hours on the ground holding bricks. Each brick represents a families commitment to God to either pray, give or go to the Waterloo Campus. Mine, of course, is to go…and apparently I am not alone! Is your name on one of these…

 

 

 

I was in the back of the auditorium in each of the three services while droves of Christ Followers took another step with God to make history here in Iowa.  Prairie Lakes Church has quite a history for only being a few years old.  You gotta check out the video HERE

 

 

Why Waterloo?

Someone asked me recently, “Ron, why Waterloo? Why should I be a part of the Waterloo Campus?”

Personally, I have a strong sense of urgency to go to Waterloo, a desire to take the ministry of PLC into every neighborhood in the Cedar Valley. There are plenty of people reading this post who live in those neighborhoods and have wished there was a local Waterloo church to invite their friends, neighbors and coworkers. Prairie Lakes Church in Waterloo is it!

This is an opportunity to do something nobody else is doing. This is a risky step of obedience. The Waterloo Campus is pioneering ministry for PLC. We are exploring new ways to partner with God through diversity and urban ministry as well as bringing the same high quality weekend experience, children’s ministry and groups you’ve come to expect from Prairie Lakes Church. Those that call the Waterloo Campus home will be on the leading edge of what God is doing in this part of Iowa!

Have you made the same commitment with God to make the Waterloo Campus your home? Leave a note here…

 

(Click on HERE to see the Waterloo Campus Timeline.) 

DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)

Have you ever watched one of those gut wrenching ER episodes where someone has a DNR order? A beloved wife lies in the hospital bed gasping for air, finding no relief as asphyxiation brings writhing pain to her body. Monitors are frantically beeping while nurses watch the eyes of her lover well with tears. His pain seems no less than hers. He is losing something that has brought him such joy over the years. Inside he cries out to God, “whhhy?! I should have never agreed to this!”

Losing something that has been a part of your life for so long is very painful. But can we at least acknowledge we have some things that have been in our lives for too long. There are habits, actions, values, longings that we need to sign the DNR papers and allow them to die.

Somehow we have to have the courage to see the deepest character flaws in our lives suffocate, but the truth is we love them, we do not want to see them die. Today I am signing on the dotted line. I am staring one in the eyes and watching it die. I am actually weeping as I write this. Why? Because I love this one.

What areas of your life need a DNR order? Will you not weep for the things you hold so dear?

P90X

About a month ago I started a new physical discipline, P90X. If you have watched the infomercial on the weekend, it is the one where everybody is fat then skinny within 12 weeks. Ok, maybe they are all the same, but this particular one caught my eye. I wondered what might change over twelve weeks if I was fully committed to the program.

So far I have gained 12 pounds! That’s right. I thought I would lose weight, but I am gaining rapidly. You may ask why? I have. Here is what a little self reflection has revealed…although I have been committed to the new discipline I have not changed other habits that fight against my new one. Even though I am working out like a madman right now I am also consuming a ton of calories.

See, if I do not let go of the old patterns then the new ones will find it hard to become permanent in my life. Maybe this is where you are as well. A spot where real transformation can happen, but it requires new parts of us to be stretched and worked out. And at the same time will require old habits to die.

What is it in your life that needs some stretching, some working out? What keeps you from seeing transformation in those areas? What needs to die?