Church Council unanimously adopts plan to “unite” worship services for the summer
Beginning May 27 (Memorial Day Weekend), Hucrest worshippers will lift one voice for a summer of combined-worship Sundays. For 15 consecutive weeks the Hucrest family reunion will bring energetic multigenerational worshippers together on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. Each week’s service will be followed by Sunday school for all ages at 10:30 a.m. Kick-starting this summer of refreshing the bonds of church family will be an All-Church BBQ & Block Party on the grounds.
For several months the Church Council has entertained suggestions and a sense of spiritual leading toward an “experimental season” of holding a single or combined-worship service. After much discussion and prayer, it seemed good to the Council that this was the time to come together. Several exciting outcomes and positive motivations are cited below as the basis of this decision:
- Favorable reception of previous joint-services and their energy and enthusiasm.
- A broadly expressed desire for the opportunity to reconnect and forge relationships with other members of the congregation.
- Willingness to experiment for the short season of summer which provides an opportunity to rekindle our passion for worship and service by bringing us all together at the same time.
- A desire to more effectively serve the families, ministry leaders, group and class leaders during the summer by reducing scheduling demands while affording equal opportunity for participation in worship.
- A firmly held hope that increased engagement and effectiveness in the Christian Education of children, youth and adults could result from a full hour of class time afforded by a single service.
- The desire to reach out to families and friends who would come at a reasonably early hour for worship, while affording them the opportunity to participate in Christian Education opportunities and still enjoy a long afternoon of refreshment and recreation.
The Church Council is fully aware that this change is significant, perhaps scary to some, and requires a sacrificial adjustment on a large portion of our membership. The intent of the Council is not to permanently disrupt the worship schedule, but rather to spend a season together enjoying one another and the Lord’s presence as we eagerly anticipate a future of growing beyond the seating capacity of a single service. A return to a two-service schedule will occur on September 9.
Summer Schedule
Sunday, May 27: 11:30 BBQ & Block Party
Sunday, June 17: Father’s Day
Wednesday, July 4: Viewing Fireworks
Saturday, July 21: Tentative Children’s Outreach
March is one of my favorite times of the year, simply because it is NCAA Basketball’s March Madness. This tournament pits the top 68 teams in the country against one another in a “win or go home” scenario. The “Madness” part of the title comes in when you have small schools going up against the big Goliath’s of the NCAA basketball world and somehow… some way against all odds they pull off an upset. It is interesting to watch the crowds at these games. Each school gets a block of tickets behind their bench and the rest are up for grabs. It never fails that when these smaller schools start to challenge one of the Goliath’s, the neutral participants start to root for them. Basketball fans love to see an upset! We love seeing the small school from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania oust a big ugly powerhouse like Duke.
I started thinking: why do we dislike these powerhouses so much? My guess is it is because one of them has beaten our team, stolen recruits from our state, or never seem to lose. These schools are always in our face, always on TV, and the basketball commentators drool all over them and their blue chip athletes. Even when one of these big powerhouses erupt in scandal or appear shady, they always seem to land on top. The funny thing about underdog college basketball teams is they dream about being one of the NCAA powerhouses. However, with that comes a shift in mentality. There is a price to pay for being a NCAA “Goliath,” but also many benefits. The trick is that they have to be aware of who they are, then adjust their recruiting techniques, coaching, public relations, and accountability strategies accordingly. You see, when you become a powerhouse, life changes; you can’t operate as a Goliath with an underdog mentality, or vice-versa.
You know who also loves underdogs? God. Think about it: Moses vs. Egypt, David vs. Goliath, David vs. Saul, Jesus and His team of disciples vs. the world, Jesus vs. death, and the early Church vs. Rome. However, God also blessed the nation of Israel into a powerhouse, but what came with that was a lot of envy from other nations and desire to see them fall.
So I got to thinking about our present situation, and to me, it feels like the Church is often getting rooted against these days. Even by Christians! The Church started out as an underdog assembly of faithful believers. Over the last 50 years… in fact ever since the time of Constantine… has the Church actually been the underdog? The USA has churches that are as big as some of these powerhouse universities. It never goes away even in times of scandal, and dare I say oftentimes it is always in our face.
What we need to think about is how does the Church perceive itself? Does it match how the world around us perceives the Church? Are we a powerhouse who thinks they are an underdog? Or an underdog who thinks they are a powerhouse? I realize that the Church could be actually seen as both in different settings. However, for our context I feel like we think we are an underdog and act that way, when maybe we are actually a powerhouse. The implications of this could mean we feel like people should naturally love us and cheer for us because we are the underdog, instead of shifting our mentality and finding ways to become one of those powerhouses that everyone respects and admires because of the way they act and behave. But just remember, while it may bring more glory, it’s always a little bit tougher being the powerhouse.
I hope this makes a little bit of sense or causes you to think a little more; it’s just some reflections from me… as always, still processing.
Pastor Kyle
Faith Promise Guest Speaker
Guillermo Herrera
Pastor and Church Planter, Nicaragua
A dynamic pastor and church planter, Pastor Guillermo Herrera is an engaging man who is passionate about Jesus and His Kingdom. But it wasn’t always that way for him.
At the age of seven, Guillermo and his family were abandoned by his father, forcing the children to shine shoes to survive. Their earnings were a pittance, barely enough to buy the rice and beans needed to survive. At the same time their country struggled economically and politically. In l979, the Somoza regime was overthrown by the Sandinistas, a revolutionary group who gained control of most of the country.
Facing mounting opposition, the Sandinistas required all boys over the age of sixteen to join their army. Guillermo, still living hand-to-mouth at home, longed for something better than the never-ending struggle to survive. Although he was only thirteen years old at the time, he joined the Sandinista army. And for the first time in a long time, he ate regularly and had a decent place to sleep.
It wasn’t long before his superiors noted Guillermo’s natural leadership abilities. At the age of fourteen, he had proven his merit sufficiently to be sent to Cuba for two and a half years of military training and became part of a very special regiment of soldiers. His group included the son of Daniel Ortega, then president of Nicaragua, so they received special treatment. Fidel Castro even took notice of them and they dined with Fidel’s brothers.
When Guillermo turned fifteen, he was allowed to go home to Nicaragua for a visit. He went with pride, knowing that only soldiers who excelled were given such a privilege. While home, tragedy struck when his mother died suddenly. He couldn’t get back to Cuba fast enough. He eagerly returned to his salary, housing, and car. Military life was good, much better than the ravaging hunger and poverty he had witnessed again while visiting his homeland.
Later he was assigned to lead and train a group of soldiers in the mountains of Nicaragua in the art of guerilla warfare. He became adept at motivating them to kill. They murdered without cause. Guillermo was acutely aware that if he didn’t kill, he would be killed. The Sandinistas were not interested in a guerilla leader who didn’t kill.
But something was happening inside Guillermo’s heart, something besides hatred and death. Uneasiness nagged at him; guilt became his companion. He was only nineteen years old, yet he felt ancient.
He began to dream of leaving the military. He knew that he could, for he had already put in more than his required years. He struggled against this desire, for he truly believed that the army was his only way out of grinding poverty. Yet every day became harder. Every bullet shot made him sick to his stomach. Finally, he couldn’t go on. He just couldn’t live it anymore. So he quit and went back to civilian life and all that it represented.
Guillermo met a young woman named Juanita, and they soon married. But the void in Guillermo’s heart did not go away. If anything, it deepened. Something was missing. The marriage faltered, and Guillermo took off for Costa Rica alone. Maybe he could find a better life there.
He was twenty-three years old when he became curious about an evangelical church in his neighborhood. He had heard the music and knew some of the people who attended. He felt strangely pulled towards the church. In a land where Catholicism was the rule, Guillermo was surprised to find himself regularly attending a non-Catholic church. But he just couldn’t seem to get enough. Finally after attending nineteen times, he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ.
“It was on a Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. that God touched my heart and I accepted Jesus Christ. Then things really began to move,” Guillermo recounts, smiling. He felt a new love for the wife he had left behind. He also felt a new love for himself as Jesus washed him clean from all his sins. He sent for Juanita to join him. In six months, he was a deacon at that church; in one year, he was a pastor.
Over the next several years the Lord continued to take Guillermo on a faith journey as he was provided for supernaturally and called him to be a missionary, first in Costa Rica where they were living at the time, and later to his homeland of Nicaragua. Today he pastors and oversees three churches in Nicaragua and is assisted by his wife, Juanita, and his two grown children. Hucrest Church has partnered with Pastor Herrera on several occasions, aiding in the construction of the church facility at Grenada and also providing leadership training for church leaders in Jinotepe. We are excited to have Pastor Herrera join us for Faith Promise this year.
Read a more detailed article of Pastor Herrera’s story.
