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Restoration Announcement

This last weekend one of our Elders, Dr. John Thickins (that's him to the left) announced George's restoration to teaching starting October 2nd and 3rd.  You can click on the video below!

George will start us off by revisiting the message series "No Perfect People Allowed" with new insights.  A perfect series to get the fall off to a great start. 

Welcome back, George!

Pastor George Restoration Update #2 from Dave Proehl on Vimeo.

Dr. John Thickins, on behalf of the ALC Elderships, shares that Dr. George Powell will return to the platform the weekend of October 3rd.

Restoration Update

This weekend the Elders are announcing George's return to teaching October 2/3!  Here's a copy of the Family E-mail from Bob Bergers:

The last few months have been some of the most challenging days in the life of our church and yet they have been encouraging days as well. Since George shared his heart with us on June 19th & 20th and confessed areas of sin in his life, we put steps in place that we believed would be helpful to him, Ann and our church family. We know God is already using this season to change lives and make our church stronger.

George and Ann recently completed an intensive counseling program at Blessing Ranch, a ministry specifically designed to minister to Pastors and their spouses. George also continues to meet with a local Christian Counselor.  These efforts have helped him process events in his life and gain helpful tools equipping him to move forward and we believe you will witness him having a revitalized zeal for the Lord and His church.

As a result of the efforts George, his counselors and his accountability partners have put in over the last few months, coupled with the favorable reports we recently received from each of them,the elders have decided it’s time to reinstate George to his preaching role. We’re pleased to announce George will resume preaching duties beginning the weekend of October 2nd & 3rd and we’re looking forward to once again hearing him preach from his heart and trust you are too.

The elders can’t thank you enough for your patience during this time and more importantly for your prayers and continued support of God’s work through Abundant Life Church.

Even though these have been challenging times, we hold to His word that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

For questions or comments, feel free to contact the elders at: elders@coolchurch.com.

Don't Focus on the Missed Shot

Don't focus on the missed shot; reacquire the target. 

I attended the memorial service for an amazing woman named Alma Yoder this week and her grandson, Steve Long, spoke words that became God's words for me.

Steve was telling about the police range, the training regarding "missed shots" and how it relates to our walk with Christ.  Steve sent me his text about the missed shot and here are some excerpts:

The Missed Shot.  It cannot be retrieved; we cannot undo the choices and circumstances of our past.  We must lay it aside and not dwell upon it.

It demororalizes us and takes our confidence.

We unconsciously measure our next shot against the last one.

What happens when I measure myself against error?  I err again.  We don't improve by making adjustments to the error.  We improve by refocusing on the target again.  If I want the future to have different outcomes than those of the past, I must do these things:

I must lay aside that irretrievable shot.

I must re-acquire the target and shoot again.

Phil 3:13-14.  "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

We have the opportunity to choose to measure ourselves against all of the missed shots that we have made, or we can aim again at the upward calling that takes our feeble breath and magnifies it, makes it huge through our generations.

Are you measuring yourself against missed shots?  Focusing so much on what went wrong that you've lost track of the real target?  I know I can fall prey to that, and then I need to consciously step away, and take another run at the real target.  That doesn't mean we don't take care of any messes that were made by our failures, but rather that they don't become who we are and how we measure ourselves.

Thanks Steve, for allowing God to speak through you!

How are things stacking up?

It's been a very busy August as we've been preparing for the fall at all three campuses.  So how are things stacking up?

Well, first off, TJ and Susan Johnson have been doing a great job working with Dave Proehl to prepare for the launch of our Sandy campus October 3rd.  They'll be training the varous volunteer teams this next week, and doing practice runs at Mount Hood Athletic Club in Sandy September 19th and 26th.  Please pray for an amazing start to this new location for us!

Parkrose has been gradually gaining momentum following the Parkrose Summer Bash, and we look forward to a strong fall launch on October 3rd.

The restoration process continues on with weekly Elders meetings to review and discuss our progress.  George and Ann just returned from Blessing Ranch in Colorado, where they spent a week involved in focused counseling and reflection to emerge stronger than ever.  The Elders are meeting with George and consulting with his counselors and accountability partners over the next week to assess his readiness to return to teaching.  Continue to pray for George, the Elders, and staff through this process.  We hope to have George back teaching for the new series in October.

Today, I'm sort of sequestered in my office putting the final touches on our budget.  Just like so many other churches and businesses, our budget has taken a pounding.  So I'm looking for places to tighten things up without trying to take control and get in God's way.  Such is the tension I live in!  The good news is we saved up a special fund for launching new campuses, so Sandy is already funded, and we can continue forward with this important campus launch.

Look for more information to come in following weeks about everything we've got going on.  These are indeed exciting days!