Tim Harlow

Point of Grace

Last night was one of the highlights of our year. We kicked off the Holiday season with a concert by Point of Grace and Scott Kirpayne. I'm sorry it sold out so quickly that many of you didn't get to come. We wished we would have been able to have them for two nights, I think we would have sold out both of them, but that was not possible. It was an amazingly worshipful concert and I can't think of any group that could more personify the beauty and grace of Christmas than Point of Grace. It was an honor and privilege to get a chance to meet them all and have them in our building.

We will upload some pictures as soon as we get them.

I think it really took Parkview to a new level. We had so many volunteers involved, including an awesome 90 piece choir that sounded amazing! How cool was it to get to sing with one of the most successful Christian groups ever. And the volunteers who helped on road crew, and security, and tech, and shuttle.

It all went so smoothly and everyone really had a blast. We are so blessed to have such a great building and such great people to make things like this happen. God was really able to use Parkview last night to bless a lot of people.

To those who volunteered - thank you. To you who make Parkview what it is, in whatever you do - thank you. It is truly going to be an amazing Christmas season here. Somethign special is going on every weekend (including more from the choir), and we have 6 Christmas eve services. Make sure you get signed up early for the one you want. We're going to sell those out too (they don't cost - you just go to our website and get an e-reservation).

It's just truly a joy to be a part of all of this. Thank you for giving me such a great place to serve!

Merry Christmas,
Tim

Let's Count Our Blessings

Psalm 107:31-32 (NIV)

31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.

Maybe this is the best way I can do that. If you will indulge me, I’d like to exalt God and tell of his wonderful deeds in the assembly of the internet.

Let me tell you what God has done for me. God has given me an amazing wife and a fantastic marriage. Denise and I are better than we’ve ever been. God has worked and we have worked (and she has been patient) and it is amazing. God has given me three fantastic daughters. I couldn’t ask for anything more. At this point – it’s just the potential son in laws that give me reason to worry. Rachel is headed to England right after Christmas to spend 6 months helping to start a campus ministry at the University of Birmingham. She is so deep and so talented and so amazing. Lauren is graduating this year. She has such a great and pure heart. She’ll be leaving the nest this year and she is ready to go change the world also. Becca has grown up before our eyes into a beautiful woman of God. She loves the Word and loves Jesus and is working so hard at everything she does. I’m not bragging on them, I’m just SO thankful for what God has done. They are so far past anything I could have given them.

I’m thankful for my family. We spent Thanksgiving with my parents and sister and brother in law. We don’t get to be together enough and I am so thankful for the heritage God has given me. I’m so blessed to have been raised the way I was. I’m thankful for Denise’ family as well. I couldn’t have picked a better place to find my second home. The anniversary with them was so much fun, and such a blessing.

Be Thankful

As you read this we will be celebrating Thanksgiving over in Ft.Wayne, Indiana with all my kids back together at my parents home. My sister and brother in law will be in from Dallas. It’s one of my favorite holidays, just to hang and remember why we are so blessed.

My friend Mark Taylor published this article on Thanksgiving, so I’m going to let you read his thoughts and keep mine to myself…

Even when economic times are tough, most readers of this this column are surrounded by enough affluence that Thanksgiving should come naturally. In a world where much of the population "worries about having enough food," our overladen tables this past weekend are just one symbol of our bounteous blessings.

So why is the American Thanksgiving celebration characterized more by indulgence than gratitude?

Just as the blind-from-birth adult doesn't miss what he's never seen, the blessed-from-birth American may not appreciate what he's always enjoyed. A full stomach? Enough clothes? A comfortable place to sleep? Most of us view such blessings as rights, not gifts. Because our incomes long ago paid for our necessities, we deplete what's left of our paychecks chasing after wants that friends and advertisers have convinced us we need. When our excesses don't fulfill, it's difficult to muster much gratitude for them.

This is quite a contrast to the mothers in the destitute West African country of Niger, lining up for nourishment to keep their infants alive. Or the new residents of a Habitat for Humanity home, overwhelmed by the joy of three bedrooms and a bathroom that works.

But maybe food and shelter or luxury versus poverty aren't the real issues. Maybe the deepest gratitude grows from a place where external circumstances are beside the point.

New Testament exhortations to thankfulness suggest spiritual, not physical, motivations. There gratitude is connected with our relationship to Christ (Colossians 3:15), our devotion to prayer (Colossians 4:2), our reverence toward God (Hebrews 12:28), and an ongoing joy that comes from staying connected to God "in all circumstances" (l Thessalonians 5:16-18).

We tend to connect gratitude with plenty of stuff or happy circumstances. But when the stuff quits satisfying, and the circumstances change - when we lose our health or our spouse or our job - we can still be grateful. The key is to lift our eyes from the surroundings of this life, and to seek God who is above and beyond this world. We can thank him for what he has accomplished in our heart and soul. And even if God seems far away, we can be encouraged by his love for us. As Ben Cachiaras says this week, God's Word reminds us he's with us, even when we don't feel him close by.

If you haven't felt particularly thankful this week--or even if you have - maybe a good exercise would be to meditate on God and his goodness, God and his provision of every "good and perfect gift" (James 1:17), God and his cure for our biggest problem, sin. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful" (Colossians 3:15).

Mark Taylor – Editor of Christian Standard Magazine

Don't Forget

It’s thanksgiving time and I just don’t want you to forget that God is Almighty. El Shaddai is his name we are talking about this weekend. Every time you see ‘God Almighty” its actually El Shaddai.

It means God is sufficient. But you’ll have to come for the full meaning. It is rich and it’s a great way to get us started for Thanksgiving.

Here is one of my devotional scriptures from this week.

Psalm 103:2-5 (NIV)
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

DON’T FORGET. God is the one who does it all.

As you may have already learned, a key component of the future vision of Parkview is the launching of Parkview Christian Church, Lockport Campus in the fall of 2008. That’s right…we are opening up another Parkview at a different location!

As I mentioned in the “State of the Church” message a couple of weeks ago, Lockport is the 41st fastest growing suburb in the nation and Plainfield is the 5th fastest growing. What a great opportunity for Parkview to have an impact for the Kingdom of God in this area! By the way, the I-355 extension off of 159th is just minutes from our new Lockport campus and will put us within 25 minutes of thousands of people who need to know that God loves them. Very cool!!

So if you are at all interested in learning more about what's going on, we will be having our first Parkview Christian Church Lockport Campus Gathering this Saturday, November 17th immediately following the worship service. The meeting will run from about 6:30 to 7:30 PM. I will fill you in on all of the details about how the idea of starting another location came about (awesome God story!!!) and what the plans and timelines are for the opening. It will also be a time for you to ask any questions you might have.

Pizza will be served, and childcare and pizza are provided for children birth through 5th grades. Please RSVP to donna.west@parkviewchurch.com and let her know the number and ages of your kids. And please RSVP to stella.beagle@parkviewchurch.com so that we have an idea of how much food to order.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Tim

P.S.

REVEAL SURVEY: For those of you who call Parkview your church home, we have a follow-up survey to the one that went out several months ago. This survey will help us to specifically focus in on the congregation’s spiritual life and development and provide us with information that will assist us in helping people move forward in their relationships with Christ. It should take about 20 minutes to complete. Take the Reveal Survey now!

In the Southtown

In case you missed it, we were featured in the DAily Southtown this past Sunday.
Download dailysouthtown_11_2007.pdf

It was a pretty big article on the front page of section C.

All in all, I'd say it was a good article. They didn't get everything right, but they got the idea. Mark Twain said of the press, "I don't care if they get all the fact right, as long as they spell my name right."

They got a lot right. They didn't understand our baby dedications and some of the stuff is a little off. And I'm not sure why my casual attire catogorizes me in the look of "just came from clubbing." But if that means comfortable and "come as you are." then we're good.

The reaction has been interesting. Most people are positive. I'm happy with it.
Some people have friends at other churches who think that we're a crazy church already, so this just confirms it for them:) But I don't care what they think. I'm really hoping that more prodigals will read it and they will think that this sounds like a good "home" for them to come to and find their relationship with the Father.

I don't care what anyone says, as long as that happens.

Enjoy,

Tim

We Are Parkview...

I did get to spend a little time in NYC this week with the Orchard Group. They are the church planting organization for the Northeast, and I’m on the board. There is so much happening for Christ and so much that is going to happen in this area that has traditionally been very unchurched. Parkview will be planting a church there. It’s very exciting. And it’s cool to hang out in Manhattan. We actually had our meeting in the Empire State Building at a Christian college that meets in the building!

If you missed "Vision Weekend" last week, we have the video online (Vision Sermon – November 4, 2007), and you can watch the awesome Card Testimonies if you missed it. (Card Testimonies)

So many amazing things have happened here at this church, it’s such a blessing. So much happened last weekend alone! We put names on cards and placed them under the stage – of people that we hope God can call into a closer relationship through this church. God moved. My friend and neighbor was in the Saturday night service and found out his brother’s wife had been coming to Parkview and neither of them had figured out that the other one was here. His brother was here for the first time. He introduced him to me and they laughed about how they didn’t know the other one was going here. Then my friend turned to his brother and said, “Dude, I put your name on the card! Then I walked out into the lobby – and you were already here!"

That’s fast!

God is at work here. But it’s not just for us and our friends. I keep thinking of the future.

In reading the Psalms this week, God showed me this verse (102:18)

¹⁸Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.

Isn’t that beautiful? “That a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” Everything we are going to do around here is for the future generations of people that will be in heaven and say “We are Parkview.”

It’s a great time to be a part of this church. Please pray for us as we reach toward the vision of a multi-site campus in Lockport, multiple venues on our campus, 130 new churches planted worldwide, and big stuff that only God can do.

Wow.

Tim

What a God Moment!

This past weekend was just amazing! I mean, I know that God is doing great things at Parkview. If you’ve been around at all, it’s really obvious…a no brainer, in fact. But when you spend a whole service looking specifically at all that He’s done here, and all that He’s leading us to do in His name, it’s nothing short of miraculous and overwhelming.

Luke 12:48 says, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” Well, Parkview has been given much. Over the years, our vision hasn’t changed…our mission is the same. We are committed to the triple Rs. We REACH people for Christ…we RAISE them up to be His disciples…and we RELEASE them to do God’s work. It’s the Great Commission, living and breathing.

But while our vision hasn’t changed, the scale clearly has. Much has been given, and much is expected.

So we will continue to look at ways we can make a difference. We are committed to outreach and compassion…locally, nationally, and internationally. We will launch “The Great Investment: In People…With Purpose…for the Future” in February to raise money to reach, raise, and release more people…at home and to the ends of the earth.

If you missed the sermon, we have the video online (Vision Sermon – November 4, 2007). Another really cool part of the weekend was the Card Testimonies that ended the service. I can’t adequately describe it…you just have to see it. (Card Testimonies)

This weekend, we're doing Names of God, Part II. You won’t want to miss it as we look at El Roi ~ the God Who is All-Knowing. And don’t forget that this weekend is “try the tithe.” Remember that God wants you to test Him in this!

In Him...

Tim

P.S. For those of you who call Parkview your church home, we have a follow-up survey to the one that went out several months ago. This survey will help us to specifically focus in on the congregation’s spiritual life and development and provide us with information that will assist us in helping people move forward in their relationships with Christ. It should take about 20 minutes to complete. Take the Reveal Survey now!

Unpacking the Vision...

Dear Parkview,

Many of you got this mass email already if you are part of Parkview’s email list. I just want to make sure everyone knows what is going on here.

I’m so excited for those hundreds of you who are going to give tithing a shot for a period of time. I know God is going to bless you – He promised He would. (If you weren’t able to get to church the last two weekends, you can hear my sermons on “Jesus and the Dead Presidents” on our website’s sermon archives.)

In my quiet time, I had this Psalm this week;

Psalm 96

¹Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. ²Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. ³Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. ⁷Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. ⁸Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. ⁹Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.

Notice it says that as we sing, declare, praise, we should bring an offering.

Don’t forget that we are all going to “try the tithe” for one weekend – next weekend – November 10th and 11th. (Heck…you could do two weekends, but just don’t forget!)

This weekend is going to rock.

DO NOT MISS THIS WEEKEND!

Invite everyone who has ever been to Parkview or ever thought about it, because I’m going to unpack the Vision for where we are headed. There are some amazing things in the works. And it will be a very inspirational service, with a couple of special elements that you won’t want to miss.

God is going to blow us away.