Where we are heading

We’ve been taking a little time out during our services to look at who we are as a church and where we are going. We looked at our history, we looked at the mission Jesus called not only this church to but the world wide church, which we are certainly a part of. We really want you to hear the story of Silver Creek, which each of you are clearly a part of. Your stories are what make our collective story possible. Our request was that you send us your stories. We still want to hear what God has been doing in your life and where Silver Creek might be a part of that. Even if you think we know it, please take a moment and send us a quick email. Your stories are essential, we will beg but we’re hoping you don’t make us.

This morning we want to begin to narrow our focus a bit around the mission that we talked about last week. The mission being to help people transform their lives to become more and more like Jesus. The Bible describes this as becoming a disciple. Becoming a learner of all that Jesus is and does and then allowing choices and actions to be transformed into the image of Jesus.

The Bible is packed full of descriptions, examples and directions for what a disciple looks like. We believe that Jesus narrowed it down into five key ideas, or major areas that guide us both as individuals and as a church. These five areas give us the clearest understanding for how we are to measure, gauge and guide all that we do as a church. We’ve labeled or identified these five ideas as our core values. Our look at the core values will be brief in these short talks. You can get a more in depth description by listening to our recent sermon series WHY, which you can find on our web site.

Here’s what is beautiful about our core values. We didn’t create them. We didn’t dream them up. They are laid out for us in scripture. What’s very convenient is that the core values give direction to transformed disciples of Jesus, and at the same time they give us direction, focus and guidance as a church. That means that what we are trying to accomplish as a church, is what also needs to be accomplished in our individual lives. There’s no awkward tension or battle to fight, there is no conflict surrounding something that is great for an individuals because it is also great for the church as a whole. We want the five core values to be lived out and evident in the lives of people at Silver Creek and in Silver Creek.

Our five core values are Invite, Worship, Connect, Serve and Train.

From our perspective and planning there is a natural progression or process that might occur in individuals as the core values impact their lives. We are going to walk you through that process as we explain these Core Values over the next couple of weeks. It all begins with Invite. An individual receives an invitation to begin a relationship with Jesus that will transform every part of their life. The invitation that an individual receives is most often from someone else that has already started to walk through life with Jesus. It’s not the job or responsibility of those that do the inviting to make a person receive or accept the invitation but rather to simply invite people to what we discovered to be true in our lives.

As a church we want to provide multiple avenues and opportunities for you to invite people you know to events and programs that will directly Invite people to know Jesus or help break down barriers that might prevent someone from receiving the invitation. When we bring in Taproot Theater, our students go to Wild Waves or we put on a Trunk or Treat combined with a Chili cook-off. Our goal is to create a non-threatening environment for you to invite people where they can discover that church isn’t a dangerous place, it’s not a boring place, it’s not a place that requires them to change, just in order to be here. We want to be about transforming the way people view church and this is a good place for them to be. We want to create a culture that will allow people to be open to what the church might have to say about life.

That in times of need or when people are spiritually questioning, they will consider Silver Creek a safe place to find answers. We also provide invite events that are exciting, fun and engaging where Jesus will be clearly presented. The best two examples of that are KidFest and our Easter Egg Hunt both are combined with FUSiON creating incredible mornings with lots of ways and reasons to invite people to attend. At FUSiON a life virtue, that was lived out and demonstrated by Jesus, is presented in multiple ways. There aren’t events or activities that we create or provide where someone new isn’t welcome. People can step into Silver Creek in really any thing we do.

We do however want to be strategic and intentional with events, activities and programs that we provide. We want to create the best chance for positive responses when you bring a friend to an Invite Event. If every time we announce an event, we say, “Don’t forget to invite a friend”, it becomes background noise and you’ll miss it and tune us out. However, because we will only encourage you to invite friends, neighbors and family when we’ve intentionally designed an Invite Event, you can know that when we offer an Invite opportunity that “it’s go time”. This is it. This is where we step up, find some courage and invite that person that we’ve been praying for.

As individuals we each should be looking for opportunities and ways to invite people to discover what we’ve found to be true in Jesus. As a church we want to be providing ways to help that process and creating natural entry and starting points for the people you invite.

Shoot For The Moon

Last week we shared with you that over the next weeks we will share with you who Silver Creek Family Church is. It will be a time that we talk about where we are going as a church, what God is calling us specifically to be in our community and characteristics that we desire to be true about Silver Creek. Last week, we gave a real quick look at the history of this church, which included the merger of two churches about two years ago to establish what we are today.

Back in 1961, on May the 25th, President John F Kennedy stood before congress with an urgent request for more money to fund a project he felt was of great importance. In that speech he made the following incredible statement and challenge to NASA and America. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."

Over the next eight years NASA took that as their primary mission. Understanding Kennedy’s instructions to mean, with every resource available, in every test that is made, with each experiment, rocket, man hour & conversation, direct them ultimately toward accomplishing that task. That mission of landing a man on the moon and bringing them safely back to earth.

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11, lunar module Eagle touched down in the Sea of Tranquility, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard. The men would exit the lunar module and walk on the surface of the moon. Four days later they would return safely to earth, completing the mission that had been so boldly laid out by President Kennedy.

The church, being every believer of Jesus Christ not just this local church, has also received a very direct mission statement from our leader Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28:19-20 this is the urgent request Jesus felt was of great importance.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

The mission of the church is to make disciples of people regardless of boundaries, encourage them to state publically what Jesus has done in their lives through the act of baptism and then teach them what it looks like to live as a disciple of Jesus. The most confusing word in those verses is disciple and it’s what clarifies for us, what our task is to be about. A disciple is by definition a learner or pupil of a specific teacher, with the aim of becoming like that teacher in every way. In this case the teacher being Jesus himself.

Essentially we are charged with task of helping people decide to and then begin to live life in such a way as to learn how Jesus would live life. That people would then as a pupil of Jesus, not only learn how He lived but strive and become more and more able to live as He would.

The way we look at that, is that Jesus has called us to be in the business of life transformation. Because when living life our own way, each of us will ultimately choose to live outside or differently than the way that Jesus lived, demonstrated and called us to live. For any person to go from living for themselves to recognizing the need to become a disciple, learner and pupil of Jesus means that their life has been transformed. They’ve been made new. What they once were is no longer. Life now has different meaning, different values, different goals, different priorities because a life is transformed when it commits to being a disciple of Jesus and striving to become like Him in every way.

We do tons of events, activities, planning meeting, programs, ministries, connect groups, service opportunities and times together just like this morning. At the root, if you pulled back everything around each of everything we do, you’d find we this mission that Jesus Christ called us to. We are sold out, 100% committed to life transformation, that comes when someone is a disciple of Jesus Christ. That and that alone is sole purpose and reason that this church and any church that we consider brothers and sisters in Christ exists. Everything else, from passing out food at the food bank, to having inflatables for kids to bounce on, to bible studies, to having board game night last Friday is all in an effort to accomplish this one task.

That was the mission our leader gave us. That’s what he called us to do. That is what every resource we have available to us will be used to accomplish. Make disciples, see lives transformed, that is what Silver Creek exists to bring about in the lives those it touches.

We hope you believe in this mission and join with us in making it happen at Silver Creek,

Brent Hudson & Elizabeth Volz

A slice of history...

As a part of our Sunday morning worship services Brent and I want to take a few minutes to make sure that you are aware of what Silver Creek is all about, why we do what we do and where we believe God is going to be taking us in the next months and years.

We will be sharing with you what we believe to be the mission of the church, revisit our core values, unveil God's vision for the church, tell you about how God is working in peoples lives and walk you through 10 characteristics we desire to be true about Silver Creek. All of this is going to broken down into a whole bunch of short 5 minute conversations, videos and interviews. We are truly excited about what these short conversations could mean in the life of our church.

We have an incredible history and story as a church. Approximately 40 years ago, two very small churches merged together and began to meet at this property. Over the next years the church saw some amazing days of growth and impact on our community. We started out with the sanctuary and then slowly added the office and lobby areas. Then in the 80’s we added the gym building. There was a tremendous heart for the community as the Food Bank was started out of one of our classrooms and coat closets, eventually becoming an organization that is serving over 60,000 individuals and 15,000 households every year.

There were certainly some rough times in those years, times where vision was lost, direction was uncertain and the passion, that initially existed, was gone. About three years ago the church was in one of those times. But through some brave choices by leadership, changes began to happen and a new attitude and desire took shape. Many of you were here during those days of change.

At the same time there was another story happening in town. A group of a committed individuals that felt they had been called to do ministry in a new way, made the daring decision to start a new church, named Seattle Family Church. With a deep passion to develop a place where people could feel welcomed and at home, in spite of bouncing around to a couple locations, they established a strongly connected community. This was a group with an incredible amount of talent and skills for a church plant. In that they developed a ministry program aimed at bringing the entire family together for one combined worship experience.

One of the things that was most wearing on the group, also established a strong sense of unity. Never really having a building or location to call their own, they would set up and tear down every week in order to have service together. Some Sundays the majority of those in the crowd consisted of the same people that set up for the service, played or sang in the band and helped to tear down. There was a strong bond with this church, that was contagious and others found inviting. This was a dedicated church, ready to do and go wherever God called them.

A little over two years ago the leadership of these two churches, Seattle Family Church and Silver Creek Community Church were introduced to each other. For a couple months we dated, then we had a short engagement, then two years ago, from last month, we made it official and merged. There was the honey moon phase, with lots of excitement and energy as we learned about each other. We’ve experienced some bumps along the way as we’ve uncovered how each other did ministry, handled conflict and developed relationships. There have been those that have determined that Silver Creek Family isn’t right for them but when you look at where we are at today, many signs point to us being as healthy as we’ve ever been.

• Our Sunday morning attendance has become steady and over the past months, has started to climb.
• We’ve developed an intern program which involves four interns who were all a part of Silver Creek, prior to this program. Our investment in their lives has led them to jump into ministry and pour their hearts in the lives of others.
• The level of volunteerism at Silver Creek is unbelievable. Over 30 people help in Children's Ministries, another 12 to Student Ministry, 30 people are a part of our band and singers, another 10 help with tech, we’ve got a crew that sets out the coffee each week, checks in kids/families and still more that greet people at the front door. When we host our huge community invite evens, it takes about 150 people to pull the whole thing off. There’s connect group leaders, board members, building maintenance team and many others we don’t have time to mention.
• We rallied to the cause of needy children around the globe by sponsoring 38 children through Compassion International. Coming very close to hitting our goal of sponsoring as many children as we see on a Sunday morning.
• A ladies connect group launched this past fall, had 30 ladies consistently attending, growing in understanding and relationships.
• Your church board is strong, united and committed to the future of Silver Creek and they believe that God is doing something special here.
• More than all of these, God is using Silver Creek to bring about life change and transformation in individuals. That is what truly matters. Numbers are great way to measure health, huge events are invigorating but ultimately we are about the individual stories of people in their relationship with God.

We are going to be sharing some of those stories with you in the weeks to come, which reveal our true health and demonstrate that our vision and mission are on target. We’ve heard some of your stories but we want to know each of them. If God has been doing something in your life, please let us know. Let us buy you a cup of coffee and you can share it there, send us an email or let’s visit on the phone. We wanted to share with you the story of Silver Creek and what’s critical to us is hearing your story. Don’t hesitate to share it with us.

Seasons of Life

Several years ago Pastor Chuck Swindol wrote a book entitled, "The Seasons Of Life". It was an outstanding book shedding light on the natural process people go through as they grow older. It deals with changes in family, career, life focus, and so on. One of the things I have found in my journey is that there are passages that one travels through as they experience the various seasons of life. These passages bring meaning and purpose to the journey. Ruthie and I are traversing one of those passages now. We have been in Pastoral ministry for 35 years. For the most part they have been very rewarding and fulfilling years.

When Silver Creek Community Church and Seattle Family Church merged two years ago I took a step back and breathed a sigh of relief. I felt the pressures of ministry being lifted off of my shoulders now that I was functioning on a team of three that were carrying the load of leading our church. I have recently come to the conclusion that I actually never fully reengaged after the merge. Brent & Elizabeth have walked with me for the past year as my job performance was slipping and I found myself dealing with some pretty severe anxiety. I have appreciated the manner in which Brent and Elizabeth have worked with me in addressing many areas of concern. We came to a point at which it was apparent that I was falling short and so our board became involved as a job description was developed where I could continue to serve as a pastor but function only in the areas where we all felt I could be successful. This new job description focused on my natural abilities and strengths and would allow me to have more time to heal, spend time with Ruthie, deal with my anxiety and reflect on where I stood in regards to moving forward in ministry. Initially I accepted the role but after some time spent with trusted friends and counselors who understand pastoral fatigue and spending much time in prayer while going through the process of weighing my options I realized that I didn't feel I could continue to function in a pastoral role. Therefore I needed to resign. My resignation will become official as of January 1st. I am going to be preaching the 19th and 26th of December and then will be in attendance on January 2nd.

I have been overwhelmed with the kindness and grace of our staff, board and leadership team during the past weeks as I have struggled with my decision. Ruthie and I love SCFC. We will always consider this home. For the next few months we are going to take a little vacation time, get rested up and decide what to do next. There are a number of options out there, none of which I want to think about right now. I am going to focus on getting healthy mentally, physically and spiritually this next year.

I want to be sure you understand two things; First, Ruthie and I love you all and will be attending SCFC when we are in town. We have no desire to go anywhere else. Secondly, We believe in Brent and Elizabeth. If you were here this past Sunday when I resigned to the congregation you heard me say I think they are two of the most gifted people I have ever worked with. Ruthie and I believe in them as "our" pastors. SCFC is in good hands.

Ruthie and I would ask that you pray for us in this season of our life as we discover what God has next for us.

If you have read any of my writings you will know I sign off with one or two sayings... "As always, I am expecting God's best!" or "Great days ahead!" Well, I believe both of those apply in this situation. Our best days are ahead of us and God is walking with us. I'll sign off saying, "I am expecting God's best for SCFC!"

Our New Tree

Fall is my favorite season! I love leaves under my feet, I love to wear sweaters, boots, crazy socks, scarves, gloves…you name it! I also love windstorms and the excitement of having our FIRST SNOW!! I am a kid at heart and I love every minute of what this season brings. We are now past Thanksgiving and headed into another Christmas season. I have been blessed with many great memories and traditions and so this time of year is also a blessing to me. I know that the overcast days can be overwhelming at times but I just pop a few extra Vitamin D pills and I am off and running! :)

Our family has the tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree! We have always enjoyed the adventure of bundling up, heading to a family owned tree farm in Arlington, meeting up with various family members and picking out the perfect tree. We have come to the point of knowing exactly what a Volz tree should look like. It has to be one that isn’t too full, the branches need to be far enough apart that our decorations have room to hang but they have to be close enough together to be able to fit a multitude of decorations and not show too much of the trunk. We like Noble firs that aren’t too wide at the bottom and we definitely like the fact that the tree is fresh because we typically have Christmas décor up from Thanksgiving until the New Year. In short…we are picky and that has worked well for us for years.

This year was different…the desire to maintain tradition was overcome with the desire to have a bit more time to just relax with the boys, avoid the rainy 42 degree tree hunting weather, save some money over the long haul, put some new traditions in place and just simplify. So…we finally made the switch. I never thought this day would come but here we are with an artificial tree in our living room. We like it but I believe we will come to love it. We don’t have to water the tree, or in many cases kick ourselves for not watering it. We don’t have pine needles everywhere, and there are no little spiders making our ceiling their home. We really do like the way it looks and we will now always have a tree that looks like the perfect Volz tree.

There are times in life when circumstances force change. Sometimes we invite that change and sometimes we have no way of predicting when it will occur. Regardless, it can take time to adjust. I don’t know what might be going on in your life right now but whatever the case may be I hope you will trust God to walk through the good times and the dark times, and to bring you to a place of contentment and trusting in HIM to supply your peace and joy regardless of the changes that may be happening around you.

Don’t forget to join us, at FUSiON, this Sunday! We are going to be talking about JOY!! It will be a great day to put new traditions in place and enjoy being with friends and our church family!

I hope to see you there! God bless you!
Elizabeth

Politically Incorrect

It's been so much more enjoyable to watch any television now that the election season is over. Even individuals and initiatives drive me crazy. Apparently to be politically correct you must overstate the truth about yourself and not even come close to being honest about your opponent. I'm happy to be involved in the political process, but could they just be straight with us and say what they stand for, what they care about and what they want to see happen. Let me take a moment a be politically incorrect and be straight forward with you about something going on at Silver Creek.

Silver Creek is a church that deeply cherishes and highly depends on it's many volunteers. There is a tremendous amount of people that give much of their time and effort to helping out in invaluable ways. Here's the politically incorrect comment where I just tell you the truth. Even with all the people already involved we continue to have areas where more people can step forward and fill a role or increase their involvement. Please know, we don't just create volunteer spots for fun, the spots are created because ministry is developing and growing. Read the next paragraphs and catch why the volunteer position are needed and then check out the new page on our website highlighting our top five volunteer needs.

Our group of kids birth through kindergartner, has grown to the point that the two rooms we currently use for these age groups is insufficient. It's exciting that God is blessing our church with families with young kids. God is blessing and we need to respond by opening a third room, designed for toddlers. This will allow us to meet the specific needs of each age group.

We encourage volunteers to find areas of ministry they are passionate about, even when that means they step away from a current volunteer spot. Some Base Camp (1st-6th grader) coaches have felt a pull to help with our Student Ministries. This means we are in need of people to replace those Base Camp coaches.

Living in the NW, we all know the value of a casual, warm and inviting place and if that place provides coffee all the better. Each Sunday, Silver Creek makes coffee and tea available to our guests and regular attenders. We can't yet afford the coffee that brews itself, so there's a team of people that get the drinks ready each Sunday. Our team of people that serve once a month has a couple of openings. Not having coffee on Sunday morning at a church this close to Seattle would be a sad, sad thing.

Use of video in our Sunday services and on our web page is engaging, fun and relevant. There are people in our church with creative video editing skills that need a place to express themselves. Monthly we have videos that need editing and preparing for viewing.

I can't imagine going through a Christmas season without hearing "The Little Drummer Boy". That would be as crazy as coming to a service on Sunday and not seeing a drummer in our band. Having multiple musicians for each instrument is critical to avoiding this situation and we are looking for additional drummers.

Our belief is that as people within Silver Creek become aware of why we need their help along with the role where help is needed, they will respond. Take a look at our top five volunteer needs and respond where you sense God might be leading you.

Thanks,
Brent

An amazing verse

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John there is a verse that maybe the most amazing verse in all the Bible. There John writes, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." It is really an incredible thought! That God would step out of eternity and take on the flesh and blood human likeness of humanity so that we could come to see Him and know Him.

On a backpacking trip several years ago I found myself for a few days at a high mountain lake in the Rockies. When I set up camp I wasn't very observant. It so happened I set my camp up right in the middle of a grey squirrel highway. All day long there were squirrels running around me and chirping at this intruder. Over the few days I was there I kept trying to when them over. I would lay out some peanuts on the log and try to get them to come closer and closer to me. The hope was they would come to a point where they would trust me enough that they would eat out of my hand. I got them to within a few feet but never closer than that. It occurred to me that the only way they would ever trust me was if I became one of them. Then I would be welcome in their world and be allowed to have influence in their life. You can see where I'm going with this. God knew for us to completely understand His love for us He would have to come into our world and demonstrate it. Can you imagine a greater example than a Father laying down his life for his son. That is exactly what God did in Jesus Christ. I hope you celebrate the fact that Jesus loves YOU and He came to show it.

Hope you have a great end to your week,

Steve