Tim Harlow

Homecoming Hair for Girls who have bigger things to worry about (Rapha House)

Rapha House Freedom for Girls is a mission in Cambodia that helps rescue girls from the horrible sex trafficking trade.  It’s estimated that ONE MILLION kids are the victims of this industry every year.  Yes, one million.  I know it’s disgusting and unbelievable, but it is the world we live in.  If you have seen the movie “Taken” or “Slumdog Millionaire,” you have a pretty good idea of the truth of the situation. 

Rapha House is really making a difference. My cousin, who preaches in Detroit, has been there and told me firsthand how many lives are being touched.  It’s on my list of places I need to visit. Our High School youth, who went to CIY conference last year, heard all about it and got really fired up about what they could do to make a difference. But what can we do from over here? 

Obviously we can pray, but we need to do more.  I’m very proud of Molly Beil and my two daughters who came up with this creative idea.  This Saturday in the student ministry area they have recruited a bunch of people to help do hair and nails and makeup for girls going to Homecoming.  This is Homecoming for all Lincoln Way High Schools. We have a lot of people (professional and amateur) who are coming together to make this happen.  It’s all done on a donation basis, and all the money will go to Rapha House. 

Sometimes there is just no way to understand what goes on in the rest of the world.  While my daughter heads off to Homecoming looking like a Princess with her date in a matching tie that they went out and bought last night – thousands of little girls will be sold into horrible slavery by families desperate for money.  Or worse yet, they will be stolen off the street. 

They even put an excellent article in the local version of the Trib about it, and they promised to do a follow up piece. Local Trib

This is the least we should do for the least of the world.  I’m very proud of our young people. They are changing the world.

If you’d like to donate to the cause, please call the office.  

Parkview is making a difference!  

Tim

Lockport Anniversary

I was honored to be a part of the 1st Anniversary party at Lockport last Sunday night. They had over 200 people crammed into their building, and the atmosphere was electric!

I’m so grateful to all of you at Parkview for making this happen.  I can’t believe it’s been a year.  It’s been a real treat to see Brian and the whole gang grow and learn to trust God through this experience.  If you haven’t been over there, I encourage you to try it some weekend.

You will get the opportunity to witness a video sermon this weekend at Orland, too.  We have decided to show the most respected voice in finance - Dave Ramsey - as he talks about how to get out of debt and stay out.  EVERYONE NEEDS TO HEAR THIS MESSAGE. 

Don't miss it.  And don't miss my midweek blog with more stuff on debt.

I'm really looking forward to all of us getting a handle on the ABC's of Financial Freedom.

I have the "Mosaic" group, Rachel's worship group from Nashville, staying with us this weekend.  They are such a great group of kids.  She's lucky to have them.  They are in concert tonight at Trinity College as an opener for Seventh Day Slumber and Phil Stacey.  It starts at 6, and they are first, if you want to get a chance to see them.  

Tim

Crushed by Debt

This weekend, September 26 & 27, is week #2 of the ABC’s of Financial Freedom. We are going to be talking about the “D” word – DEBT. Many people are being absolutely crushed by debt – particularly in our current economy.

In order to hit this topic head-on, we are going to hear from money management expert DAVE RAMSEY via video from LifeChurch.tv at both our Orland Park and Lockport Campuses. (SEE WEEKEND SERVICES AT PARKVIEW)

Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert, an extremely popular national radio personality, and best-selling author of "The Total Money Makeover." (DAVE RAMSEY AT AMAZON.COM)

I want to encourage you to extend a personal invitation to all those people you care about. You can also send them an email invitation! (SEND E-VITE!)

I’m really looking forward to hearing this life changing message and to seeing all of you this weekend!!

Tim

FACTS ABOUT DEBT

• 67% of the wealthiest people in North America (Forbes 400 List) said that the key to becoming wealthy was getting out of debt and staying out of debt.
• Average credit card debt per household reached a record $9,312 in 2004; 116 % increase over the past 10 years.
• 60% of Americans revolve balances with the average being $3,815.
• 70% live paycheck-to-paycheck with 49% unable to cover a full month’s expenses if they lost their income.

• 36% of those who owe more than $10K have a household income under $50k.

• 40% of church members say they overspend monthly; also, 40% of church members pay more than $2,000 a year in interest in addition to their mortgage.

• 80 million U.S. families (in the richest society in world history) would say that they are in financial trouble, after 50 years of almost unparalleled prosperity.

• 33% of U.S. born-again Christians say it is impossible for them to get ahead in life because of the financial debt they have incurred.

Still Growing - 41st Fastest in the Country - Fourth Service

The listing of the Fastest Growing Churches in America came out this week.  Parkview was on the top 100 list again.  Actually we were the 41^st fastest growing church in the country this past year.  Which is mostly the result of our adding the Lockport campus and it going so well. Way to go Lockport!   We’ve never been on the fastest 50 list! 

What that means is that from the time we moved over to Orland from Tinley in 2002, we’ve been on "speed".  Literally.  We’ve been one of the fastest growing churches for 5 out of the 6 years we’ve been in this location, and the only year we didn’t make the list was the year we were doing 5 services in that gym and we just absolutely couldn’t get anyone else in here!  I don’t know how many churches have grown this much – this consistently – but it can’t be more than a handful.

Growing rapidly is never our goal.  But reaching people for Jesus is.  As I talked about “Accepting New Friends” in our “Facebook” series last week I made the statement that Parkview is always accepting new friends.  And people spontaneously applauded at every service.  It’s a value for us.

So… on Oct 24^th, we will be starting our 4^th service at the Orland Campus.  We will have two on Saturday and two on Sunday.  Saturday will be at 4 and 5:45.  IT DOESN’T START THIS WEEK – IT WILL BE OCT 24^TH!  If you come at 4 tonight you will get to see the worship run throughJ.

People are asking me if I’m excited about it.  Yes and No.  Honestly, it’s not as easy to add a service as it sounds.  It takes a ton of people and a ton of energy from those people to add a service, myself included.  Some days I’d like to build a 5,000 seat auditorium and have one service on Sunday morning.  But that doesn’t ever make practical sense, and it would take away choices for people.  But yes, I am excited about the 1500 new people we’ll have room for when we start this service.  Obviously that will mean that a bunch of you will need to move on over to Saturday. 

For whatever reason, the 11:00 services on Sunday is kind of like the small part of the funnel when it comes to our guests.  Most of them come through that service.  When it is full, we just can’t grow.  When there is room at 11, we can grow.  So I want you to consider doing your part to “accept new friends” just by getting out of their way. 

And then – ask some friends who don’t have a church home to join you.  WE ARE ACCEPTING NEW FRIENDS.  ALWAYS! 

Tim

Faith and Money

I’m actually excited every time I get a chance to help people with biblical stewardship.  Some preachers dread it or avoid it, but since Jesus talked about it so much, I love it.  I love helping people (and me) get a handle on this critical issue that tangles us up in so many ways.  As we begin the ABC’s of Financial Freedom this weekend, I hope you will plan on being here and being ready to learn from God’s word. 

I received an email already this week that is worth passing on…

“As we approach the upcoming sermon series, I sense that we will be touching on the topic of stewardship and tithing.  This has always been an awkward subject for me.  I think we all struggle trying to financially make sense of it.  As I have thought and read about this I realize that stewardship is impossible without first having faith…. Before my walk with God grew stronger, I had a difficult time with stewardship.  Especially the tithing part. It took a commitment to faith, which allowed me to truly know stewardship.” 

This is exactly the reason this is so important. It is a faith issue. Paul said,

Philippians 4:19 My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

Do we really believe that? Let me remind you of a scripture from James which we studied a few months back.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man, who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25

It’s a about Financial Freedom!  That’s what God’s word gives.  

Tim

Survivor Vs. Gilligan's Island

When the show “Survivor” first came out, I watched it pretty faithfully for a couple of seasons.  It was a strange microcosm of the real world.  The problem is it’s exactly the way the world works and exactly the opposite of the way God designed us.

God said it was “not good for man to be alone,” but Survivor is about being the last one – alone.

I guess as I see it, at some point we’re going to have to decide if we’re going to play Survivor or Gilligan’s island

If you were truly stranded on a desert island – the rules of Survivor would be out the door, wouldn’t they? I think I would rather be with Gilligan and the Skipper.

There were times when the castaways from the “three hour tour” could get competitive, but when challenged by the voodoo witchdoctor, the love crazed gorilla, or the giant spider - they had to work together!

In the show, Survivor, they have teams, but they also always know that eventually they will have to outwit, outlast, and outplay even those on their team.

That’s the exact opposite of the church.  Jesus’ prayer was  “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:11)

You were designed to need community, just like you need air and water.  No man is an island, and no man should live on one alone…

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Come on Saturday!!

Tim

Soul-Searching on Facebook

Since we are doing this series on “Facebook,” someone sent me an interesting article on “Soul-Searching on Facebook.” 

It’s about the perplexing problem many people have when they fill out their facebook status and get to the question of “Religious Views.”  

Some are serious, some are thought provoking, and some are goofy. 

One guy thought about it and put "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." It is a phrase written by linguistic philosopher Noam Chomsky to demonstrate how a sentence can be grammatically logical and yet have no meaning -- how things that seem so right at first can crumble under scrutiny. "It represents my faith," Heim said, "how it sometimes makes sense to me and sometimes doesn't."

That’s fair. 

The most popular short answers are 1) Christian 2) Muslim 3) atheist 10) Jedi (seriously).  

The best ironic answer to me is “Amish.”  (You might have to think about it) 

It’s interesting that Facebook is forcing many people (over half of them put something) to declare a faith of some kind. 

Philemon 1: 6 says - I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  

Even if it’s on Facebook…  

Tim

Treasure

I’ve been in Psalm 119 and I’m trying to take it in slowly.  It’s the longest book in the Bible, and it’s chock full of stuff about the Word.  

Listen to this: 

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.  Psalm 119:14-16

“As one rejoices in great riches?”  Seriously?  The Bible that I know I’m supposed to read every day and I know I’m supposed to follow – it’s like money? Interesting. We’re spending all this time worrying about the economy and so little time cracking open the “great riches book.”  

Can the Bible help me financially?  Well, yes, we’re going to do a series on that soon – the “ABC’s of Financial Freedom” straight out of God’s word.  But that’s not the point.  The point is not about wealth, it’s about value.  If you find something that is this valuable, that has this kind of information, that can help you know the mind of God and the way to live – you should treat it like unburied treasure! 

Jesus said it this way…

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46 

It’s incredible to me how much I know the value of God’s word and how little I do to “treasure” it.   How about you?  

Tim

P.S. – Saturday – please!  We had almost 5000 this weekend (in August!), and we only had 40 total spots of parking left on Sunday including our new giant parking lot!