More from The City Church
Posted on September 15th, 2006 by Reformed Pope into the The City Church categoryHere's an ad for an upcoming event @ The City Church. These people (not all, but apparently Pastor Wendell Smith) never cease to amaze me.
This banquet is set "to honor volunteers and leaders." They also say "it's a special occasion to honor you"…but then they charge you to go.
I'm sure they're just covering their costs.
A Year of Multiplication
On September 17th The City Church will celebrate it's 14th Anniversary, and hold our annual Vision Banquet to honor volunteers and leaders. You won't want to miss this special event.
"Don't miss your own party!" says Pastor Gini. It's true, the Vision Banquet is more than just an annual event, it's a special occasion to honor you, faithful members of The City Church. Week after week you lay down your lives for the sake of the Gospel, and co-labor with us as we reach the city and extend God's kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Additionally, this year's Vision Banquet will be monumental, as Pastors Wendell and Gini have both mentioned "big" announcements will be made. Pastor Wendell will also be sharing the next year's vision, "A Year of Multiplication."
You won't want to miss it, so you'd better hurry to register because tickets are limited and going fast! Get your tickets!
Of course the tickets are all sold out…I'm hoping they open a satellite banquet.
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September 16th, 2006 at 1:58 am
Lay down your lives for the gospel? Uh huh.. since its so risky being a Christian in Kirkland… Give me a break.
September 16th, 2006 at 6:54 am
PMD, what that really means is:
‘Polishing pews at the church instead of doing something fun, like take your family on a weekend outing’.
It darn sure doesn’t mean this:
As I see it, God has placed us apostles last in line, like people condemned to die. We have become a spectacle for people and angels to look at. We have given up our wisdom for Christ, but you have insight because of Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. To this moment, we are hungry, thirsty, poorly dressed, roughly treated, and homeless. We wear ourselves out doing physical labor. When people verbally abuse us, we bless them. When people persecute us, we endure it. When our reputations are attacked, we remain courteous. Right now we have become garbage in the eyes of the world and trash in the sight of all people … So I encourage you to imitate me.
(1 Corinthians 4:9-16 GW)
Since it’s common for people to brag, I’ll do it too … Are they Christ’s servants? It’s insane to say it, but I’m a far better one. I’ve done much more work, been in prison many more times, been beaten more severely, and have faced death more often. Five times the Jewish leaders had me beaten with 39 lashes; three times Roman officials had me beaten with clubs. Once people tried to stone me to death; three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a night and a day. Because I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve faced dangers from raging rivers, from robbers, from my own people, and from other people. I’ve faced dangers in the city, in the open country, on the sea, and from believers who turned out to be false friends. Because I’ve had to work so hard, I’ve often gone without sleep, been hungry and thirsty, and gone without food and without proper clothes during cold weather. Besides these external matters, I have the daily pressure of my anxiety about all the churches. When anyone is weak, I’m weak too. When anyone is caught in a trap, I’m also harmed. If I must brag, I will brag about the things that show how weak I am. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is praised forever, knows that I’m not lying. The governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me. So I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him. (2 Corinthians 11:18-33 GW)
September 16th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
I have to add that it’s more like you lay down your life and your dreams and your own connections to your city, not to mention jeapordize your own family life, to further the agenda of certain senior pastors who seem to move in grave disparity of that of the true Gospel. Instead of ‘whosoever will to the Lord may come’, it becomes apparent (only after you are immersed in complete servitude to church hierchy) that it’s really ‘whosoever will do our bidding without question to the lord of the particular church may come’. What’s so dangerous is the subtlety; because you don’t realize till it’s too late that they are really only trying desperately to keep their machine running by bating you with the honor of how much you are needed and this great work of God couldn’t be possible without YOU. Which turns out to be truth rather than falsehood i.e. where do you think the enablement is coming from? And then to ask you to pay money for such travesty…all I can do is shake my head and feel so dumb for being taken in for far too long.
But it will continue to take pure hearted people unawares because no one really ever DOES anything about it (except this blog site which is at least putting feet to complaint and injustice) . So the next ones in line take their turn till they figure it out. There’s always the willing-hearted-next-in- line people patiently biding their time till they are noticed and chosen, who will gladly take the place of those who leave. sigh. will it ever end? how long will the real Lord of the Kingdom allow this to happen to his people without consequence?
September 19th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Does anybody know what the big announcements were?
September 19th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Yes.
They saved a bundle of money on their car insurance.
;)
September 19th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
How’s that?
(notice my 2 word comment? I’m trying to be less long winded)
September 19th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
You haven’t seen those silly car insurance commercials?
September 19th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
What for?
September 19th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
well, there’s the little green geicho guy…
September 19th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
i’ve got so much to say that it embarrasses me.
September 20th, 2006 at 6:58 am
What we need here is a BBS! (Forums).
Hey JP - Justin! Yer main page at http://www.citybusinesschurch.org says:
Given any thought to that? Note that my music site is running on phpBB bulletin board system, which is free. Just needs a mysql server / database to run. Not terribly hard to set up - just create a database through your web host control panel (just name a database, and create a master username and password), and then install phpBB from the script, in a subdirectory (like /bbs). Mine runs in ‘private mode’ (http://bbs.vjam.net) - with a few security tweaks - like ‘visual id’ registration system, and 2 mods I installed for privacy and security, it’s spam-bot free and secure.
If you guys ever decide to install forums, and you choose phpBB, I’d be glad to help you set it up.
Jack
September 20th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I know some people who attended the banquet and some of the announcements were about a couple of the pastors leaving.
What I fail to understand is:
1. If this is a banquet of appreciation for the congregation, why should they have to pay for it?
2. Why do people have to pay $$ to hear what next year’s vision is for their own church? Aren’t they hounded enough to tithe already?
3. What about the rest of the members who were unable to attend since the tickets were sold out? Don’t they deserve to be told about it straight from the horse’s mouth?
September 24th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
‘Everything I needed to learn about church I learned in an MLM- multi level marketing –my first experience with an organization out of control! This is the second and hopefully last —I confronted an identical situation there where the Directors had banquet after banquet supposedly to honor or help the consultants -then I discovered that instead of just ‘covering our costs’ we were making money to the tune of having to set up a savings account with no plan what to do with ‘all that money.’ This same thing happened down here at the church and it continues. I believe what starts out as a good thing always ends up in the same place because of the way people are looked at –cogs in the wheel of a big machine –there to make your vision happen. You really have to ask yourself leaders –do you authentically care about them and their families or are they there as the ’sheep’ to make you and your family look good and happen. It’s hard to fool an ex pink car driver because when the Lord really showed me my own heart with my ‘unit members’ I couldn’t ignore it or look the other way. After a deep night of the soul I had to quit what I was doing which was basically using others to succeed. I found the Lord does not take kindly to ‘’hurting the poor.” Watch out before you too have your own deep night of the soul and He shows you what you are realling doing and how it hurts those He loves.
September 25th, 2006 at 8:42 am
Well said, Free at Last! We can only hope that their hearts respond to the Deep Night of the Soul when and if it happens–for their sake as well as for the sake of the people who carry alot of their work load. We know their argument would be ‘That’s why we are HAVING the volunteers banquet, to honor the volunteers’. But, number one, since the volunteers volunteer their time and energy and often resources without pay, it’s really pretty tacky to make them pay ANYTHING to attend; and number two, one banquet a year can’t really make up for the everyday attitudes that become more apparent the longer you are there.
September 27th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Gee, this sounds like another church in Portland. This place sounds like what Kip managed to build in Los Angelos before he was ‘forced to resign’ as he would say.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
It’s starting to feel like an epidemic; a fast-spreading disease…