May God Bless American and Pastor Rick Warren

I was so excited when it was announced that Rick Warren was going to give the inaugural prayer. In 1989, Lyn Reddick of InFocus Church gave me a set of tapes by Rick Warren on the subject of church growth. Back in those days, most folks had never heard of his ministry. In fact, in those days, his new church was meeting in various school buildings in Orange County, California. The quality of the tapes were second rate, but the power of his words changed my life and my ministry. I listened to those tapes over and over and over. I memorized his thoughts on building a church for unchurched people. Stevens Creek would not be where it is today without people like Rick Warren and of course, Bill Hybels.

Several years ago, The Creek endured some challenging times when Journey Community Church was planted out of our congregation. It was Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose that helped renew our focus. We baptized 37 new believers during that series.(By the way, I recently had lunch with Journey's pastor, Bobby Smith. They are doing awesome. God is good.) This week our small groups are beginning 40 Days of Love ... another Rick Warren series. I pray that God uses this series to transform us once again.

Like I said earlier, I was moved by Rick Warren's inaugural prayer. In case you missed it, here it is.

Rick Warren's Inaugural Invocation

Let us pray.
Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of goodwill today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

Augusta ... a great place to serve and to live

Last night I had the opportunity to offer the invocation at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce Awards Ceremony. This is an annual event that celebrates the progress of local businesses and name the business of the year. Well, this year's award went to a Stevens Creeker. Congratulations Estevan and your partners at The Cleveland Group for being selected as the business of the year. We are proud of your work!

I left the banquet thinking about our community. We are very blessed to have an opportunity to serve the wonderful citizens of the CSRA (for you non-residents CSRA means Central Savannah River Area). We are blessed to have business leaders in the county that realize that faith is an integral part of our daily lives. In fact, when Karen Chrjapin introduced me last night for the invocation, she said that we want to start the evening out by honoring our Lord and savior. A comment like that would be scoffed at in many communities across our nation, but in our area it seemed very natural and sincere.

I had an opportunity to see many long time acquaintances last night. It was good to see Ron Cross. Ron is the Chairman of the Columbia County Commission which is the equivalent of our mayor. Ron and I are not buddy-buddy, but I have a deep, deep appreciation for him. In early days of Stevens Creek, Ron helped us out significantly by providing our small church staff with offices at an greatly reduced rate in his office building. Money was tight in those transitional days and his gesture to help our congregation will always be remembered.

It's interesting that the event was a Columbia County event, but it was held in Richmond County. Columbia County, even though it is one of the fastest growing counties in the state, does not have the trade show / banquet facilities that our sister county has. Maybe one day, we will.

Let's talk about Richmond County for a minute. For years, the folks with Richmond County have struggled with corruption and mis-management in the local government. Things are changing for the Garden City. Under the leadership of mayor Deke Copenhaver, Augusta-Richmond County is turning the corner.

I don't know Mayor Copenhaver. I have met him at a prayer breakfast before, but I do not know him personally. I follow the mayor on Facebook and we have a mutual friend in Phil Wahl (I was Phil's youth pastor back in the day). Here's what I know about Mayor Copenhaver ... he is a man that has a heart for the Lord and he has a vision for the community. He is a leader that is bringing change ... the change we need in our region. I am proud of what Deke is doing. Maybe one day I will have the honor to tell him face-to-face. Now, that would be an honor.

Stevens Creek's Bible Verse for 2009

Do you have a life verse ... you know ... a verse that describes your heart and your passion? There have been many verses through the years that have helped me through a season in my life. Most recently, Ephesians 3:20 has been the verse that has captured my heart. Can you quote it? "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." This verse has guided Stevens Creek for the last eighteen months. As a result, we have seen the Lord do immeasurable more than we have asked or even imagine. It has truly been incredible.

A few days ago in a staff meeting, a thought hit me: What's the verse for 2009? If God did "immeasurably more" in 2008, what about now? As soon as I had that thought, the words of John 14:12 came to me. Okay, let me be honest, the words of John 14:12 came to me, but I did not remember what section of the gospels these words came from. I had to use www.biblegateway.com to help me locate the verse. So, what are the words? "Greater works". Here's the verse. John 14:12: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

I believe that God is going to do "greater things" this year. It's time for us to open our eyes and see the harvest, expand our vision for the community, and strengthen the foundations of our church. This year you will see God do amazing things ... even greater things than you imagined.

Get ready!

-- Marty
martybaker@stevenscreek.net

PS
The words "greater works" came to me because those are the words in the King James Version of the Bible. When I was a kid, I memorized the KJV. If I am not careful today, the KJV flows out of my memory banks. Now, I typically use the New International Version. So, my first challenge of this new year is to memorize the NIV words for John 14:12.