LIFEsync

Celebrate Easter @ ALC with your friends, family, and neighbors!

The Gospel we "live" is more effective than the Gospel we "preach!"  We are very passionate about lifestyle evangelism at ALC.  If you’ve been investing in someone's life for the sake of the Gospel and they are ready to experience the presence of God with your church family in a powerful way, there is no better opportunity than Easter.  If you aren't investing in a soul, there is still time to make it happen before April 4, 2010! 

After consuming large amounts of chocolate eggs, dressing up in a bunny outfit for their kids, or spent hours searching for the special "$100" hidden egg, who wouldn’t ask themselves “What’s the big deal about Easter anyway?”

On Easter Sunday, we will present the Gospel in an unforgettable way. We’ll have two identical services at 9:00 and 11:00 AM CST.  Jump Student Ministries also be launching a new series in their Worship Experience that will be impact their life forever!  Also, our LifeKids Team will creatively present the Gospel in their ministry environments for our kids.  This will be a day to remember! 

Here are four ways you can start a conversation or invite someone to share Easter @ ALC with you:

1) Pick up an ALC Easter Promotional mailer from the Information Kiosk and mail to a friend, family member, and neighbor.  Follow up with a phone call and make the invitation. Make a commitment that you are bringing a guest with you to a Easter Worship Experience!  Pray for direction and then...make it happen! 

2) If someone is interested, but unable to come with you as a guest, share the link to the LIVE WEBCAST using your favorite social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. You could include a message like this: "Celebrate Easter with me on our LIVE WEBCAST. Check out the ALC Website and Webcast!"

3) Post a link to the ALC website on your social network profile, make it your status or blog about it ... That will give folks something to talk about...

4) Send a video email or regular email or make link to the ALC Website your email signature. Not everyone’s a social networker. This will be a special way for your family and friends to get a personal invitation from you!  

Easter is the most effective time of the year for you to share your "Gospel testimony" with your circle of influence.  If you were planning to simply observe Easter 2010 as a "personal religious Holiday", I would challenge you to think about the people God has put in your life for the purpose of impacting their soul! 

Please pray for God to use you in the next few weeks to reach the un-churched, de-churched, disconnected, and those far from God!  Just think about the possibilities of what Jesus will do in their life this Easter!  That...will be something to celebrate for eternity!

The Love Movement - Student Retreat this weekend!

 

ALC Jump Student Ministries is having a retreat this weekend!  I am writing to ask that every ALC Investor and Lifer cover this event in prayer!  Our Student Pastors, Donnie and Natalie Culpepper and the entire Jump Staff are doing a fantastic job leading our students toward their destiny in Christ! This ministry is growing weekly! 

We are blessed with the most amazing group of students and staff on earth!  God is doing a "new thing" among our students.  I expect 2010 to be the greatest year of ministry to the students of North Dallas in our history! 

Please pray that they would experience God in fresh and powerful ways! 

10 Reasons why churches stall

Here is an article I recently read that provoked my heart to repentance.  It is my prayer that the church community I am blessed to lead would "blow up every paradigm" of Gospel mission and harvest!  Please read with a prayerful heart.  

Here are the highlights...

1. The church forgets who we are and what we are for … When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God’s greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.

2. The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When questions like ‘What is God doing with you at the moment?’ cease to be common currency, it is a sure sign of creeping spiritual mediocrity.

3. … In my view, the single biggest cause of stalled churches in the UK is the belief that material comfort can be normative for Christians. It is the opposite of radical commitment to Christ.

4. When [Christians]  see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God’s great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.

5. … Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.

6. … When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong.

7. A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions … The danger is that people start to equate serving the church with living out the gospel. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.

8. Confusing Christian activities with discipleship …

9. Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church … There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says ‘we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met’, the other ‘we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ’. The first type is a stalled church.

10. … No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventures in faith and daring risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity … The mantra of the maintenance mindset is ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. But just like buying shoes for growing children, if structures don’t take account of future growth then fellowships end up stunted and deformed.

Marcus leads Living Leadership and the author Finding Joy   and Meltdown  .

You are the only difference between 2009 and 2010!

Luke 17 (NIV)

Ten Healed of Leprosy

 ¹¹Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a]met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

 ¹⁴When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

 ¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

 ¹⁷Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" ¹⁹Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing the scriptures from my personal devotion that are speaking to my soul as I prepare my mind for the new year.  This week, Luke 17, has been echoing in my soul.  As you read these verses, what did God speak to you?

Here are a few things that have I have "chewed on"...

• 10 were cleansed!
•  1 returned to give praise to God!
• God's will for 2010 is that all would be made well, or "whole"!
• The difference was ONE RETURNED PRAISE!
• 9 more could have had it...10 should have had it...  ONE got it!

I believe God desires for 2010 to be "whole", but the difference will be in my response to God's touch on my life.  I want everything God has for me.  I am no longer content with "clean"!  I want to be made "whole"!  It is my prayer that our ministry and church be "whole"!  

Will you be the "one" that is determined to return praise to God?  Will you be the "one" that receives all that God has?  The only thing that will make the difference between 2009 and 2010 is you!  You have to be the "one" that gives God the "one" thing He can't give himself!  Make a decision to make this a year that you return to God and give him praise for what He has done for you!  

Let's throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus in 2010!

Jeff

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Merry Christmas! 

We pray you have a blessed evening with your family.  Tonight, please make it a priority to gather together and create memories and an atmosphere of worship in your home. We are feeling extremely blessed this evening! My parents were able to make the trip from Louisiana despite many health obstacles during the week.  Miquell's family will also be joining with us for Family Devotion this evening. God is so good!

It is our desire to inspire a spiritual reformation and turn our homes into "houses of worship" during this season and into the future!  Either during Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, please gather your family together and watch the video, download the devotion guide, and celebrate the birth of our Savior together.  You can simply click this link or the Presence graphic above and go directly to the ALC Christmas Eve Family Devotion page.  

Bundle up! Stay safe and warm during the winter storm! You know you are in the DFW Metroplex, when temperatures can go from 70 degrees to 30 degrees in one day! 

We love you and look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 10:00 AM!

Jeff and Miquell Hennigan

via www.alcplano.org

The Pastoral Team working hard to to minister more effectively @ ALC!

ALC Investors and Lifers,

The Pastoral Team is always looking for better ways to minister to the wonderful Investors and Lifers at ALC. We are excited to launch a "Pastor On-Call" initiative that will provide you efficient emergency and after-hours access to our Pastoral Staff. The "On Call" Pastor will be ready to respond to your need in the best way possible.

If you have an emergency, please call (214) 663-1979. For your convenience, we have also provided the number on the Voice Messaging System when you dial the main church line at (972) 424-4846. Please add these numbers to your address book.

As our church family continues to grow, it is our desire to explore creative ways to show the compassion and care in our hearts. We love you and your family!

Have a wonderful Holiday season!

Jeff Hennigan
Senior Pastor

Haunted House Resources

In last week's message I referenced a few resources that I believe every home needs to utilize to protect our families from the dangers of the internet.  Don't wait another day!  Get your home protected now! Please don't give me the lame excuse that you can "handle temptation"!  I've never seen anyone defeat pornographic addiction alone...never! 

Here are the links...

1)  Accountability

            http://xxxchurch.com/

            http://x3watch.com/

2)  Internet Filter

            http://www.internetsafety.com

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday for week #3 of the Haunted House series.  This is really getting fun!!  Invite someone you care about! 

Jeff

   

Do you need a good laugh this weekend?

You will not want to miss this event!  This is the perfect "first ALC exposure" event for your friends to experience! 

re: think church

Only a few days until we launch this new series!  Be here this Sunday, September 6!

Did you know that most people have 2-3,000 "thoughts" every day? Here is something to "think" about...

The 2008 Religious Landscape Survey conducted and published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life discovered that the fastest-growing segment of religious affiliation in the country is the non-affiliated (16.1 percent of adults age eighteen and older).

Furthermore, those moving into the unaffiliated category outnumber those moving out by greater than a three to one margin. Throughout the previous two decades, this percentage of unaffiliated Americans had held between five and eight percent, meaning that the unaffiliated group has more than doubled in the past ten years. This is a disturbing trend!  Some researchers are predicting that if current trends continue, sixty percent of existing churches in America will disappear before the year 2050.

We must "BE" a church that the unattached, unaffiliated, unchurched, dechurched, can find JESUS. It is an ambitious quest and calling! I believe that God desires us to be a powerful, life-giving, grace-giving church where people can “inquire and then experience” the power of His Spirit working in their lives!

In this series, I will issue the challenge for us to rethink where the "church" fits into our daily lives. 

I will also challenge our city to once again “rethink church”! It is our goal to guarantee that they experience unparalleled passion, grand grace, and find that missing morsel of mercy they have been looking for!

re: think church. Sundays in September @ ALC! Be there!

Get Polarized!

In this new series, I will identify the various lenses that blur our life vision.  Clearly, we need to see the truth about the issues that affect our eternal decisions. 

We make decisions every day that have eternal consequences.  There are a few glaring questions we should ask ourselves...   Where will we spend eternity?  Heaven or Hell?  Am I saved?  Am I lost?  Has culture clouded my personal convictions and diluted my doctrine?

This two week series will be polarizing to your faith!

Join us on July 19th and 26th!  9 AM or 11 AM

Abundant Life Church
2301 Premier
Plano, Texas 75075