A Bribe By Any Other Name…

This is a parable about honesty and consistency.

There was a certain contractor who wanted to persuade the local county government to give him some important business that would greatly benefit him financially.  So he approached one of the members of the county’s governing body and paid for his expensive trips to New York, paid for his tailor made suits, his luxurious Rolex, and much more.

Ironically, a few months later, the businessman received a very lucrative contract from the county.  Afterward, it came to light that the county’s decision to award the contract was heavily influenced by the aforementioned elected government official who just so happened to have received perks from the businessman.  After years of investigation, months of testimony, and weeks of trials, the county governmental official was charged with accepting a bribe, convicted, and sentenced for his crime.

In another part of the country at approximately the same time, there was a well known elected official, strongly backed by the king of that country, who desired to pass a bill into law that would affect millions and millions of people, as well about 6% of that country’s economy.   There were many people in that country, including some of his own political party, who disagreed with the proposed bill and the lawmaker, but that didn’t really matter to him.

He seemed to be blinded by his insatiable ambition, and apparently not driven by the altruistic desire to help the poor, as he claimed.  Since the bill would not stand on its own merits, the elected official met privately with some of his peers who held swing votes and threatened the prospects of the bill’s passage.  He promised to give a few of them millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money that would help their re-election chances. The caveat?  That they agree to support and vote for the bill.  Though none of the other governmental officials were offered the same  millions of dollars in exchange or their votes, his bribe was not universally condemned. Ironically, the very day that the lawmaker’s last deal was cut, a press conference was held to announce that the last swing vote had been won over and the magic number needed to insure the passage of his bill was met!

Despite all of these questionable tactics, charges were not brought against the lawmaker and no trial was held.  Neither was a conviction handed down, no sentence was pronounced, and no prison time served.

To which man was justice served?

Calvin

Of Pastor and People

Twenty-five years hardly seems possible, yet it also seems like a lifetime. So many things have changed over the last quarter century. 1984 saw the landslide re-election of Ronald Reagan, the LA Olympics, the beginning of the public fight against AIDS, the bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, and the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  It also saw the arrival at Valleydale of a 31-year-old pastor, his 30-year-old wife, and their two daughters, ages 3 1/2 years and 3 months.

Our arrival at Valleydale as pastor and family was preceded by much prayer and God’s moving us from apprehension to fear to anxiety to excitement.  Search Committee members brought us food, helped paint bedrooms inside our house, and did everything they could to help us get settled as pastor and family. Three of them (Andrea Cameron, Frank Godfrey, and Bob White) survived the storms of life and church and are still members here, though the Whites will soon move to Arkansas. On a Sunday School (aka Life Connection) hayride, a lady in her thirties said to me, “I’ve never had a pastor who was younger than me!”  That’ll give you confidence!

Our early years were a whirlwind:  high attendance day with Jerry Clower as our special guest, breaking through attendance barriers, adding our first full time staff members, construction of an educational/office building, worship center, and parking lots. On September 16, 2001, we voted by a 96% majority to relocate to our present location, immediately begin our 7th capital campaign, and finalize plans for our new campus.  Construction began in the fall of 2002 and our current site was occupied in 2004.

From a personal perspective, 1987 saw Hillary beginning the first grade and my mother’s death. 1990 witnessed Alissa’s entry into the first grade and my older sister’s death.  Four years later, in 1994, my nursing home bound father went to his heavenly home, and just last December, Paula’s mother died.  We’ve had two weddings, the addition of two sons-in-law and two grandsons ages 7 and 5, along with the birth of our first granddaughter, Eden.

Through pain, sadness, joy, and victory, Valleydale has been a stable force in the life of the Kelly (and now, White and Thornell) family!  You have cheered us on, encouraged us, followed our leadership, prayed for us, and allowed us to be human.  You’ve grieved with us, celebrated with us, cared for us, and helped us to be authentic.  I could never ask for, hope for, or pray for a better church family or environment to raise our daughters.  You’ve allowed us to share or not to share our personal pain, disappointments, sins, and failures.  You’ve allowed us to be human, and not just fill a role.

Thank you, Church, for adjusting to change, being flexible, and for “hanging in there” during the thick and thin.  Our goal at Valleydale has always been to embrace our community and reach it in biblically sound, culturally relevant ways, in ways that honor Christ. We have seen God do much and expect Him to do much more.

As I reflected on this journey with our staff on retreat this week, I shared my personal re-commitment to the causes of Valleydale Church and our Lord Jesus Christ.  I committed to never again be satisfied with mediocrity and to always insist on excellence.  I humbly ask you, even as I asked these pastors and directors of our Leadership Team, to join me with renewed vigor, sleeves rolled up and souls prayed up, to do His work for His glory, bringing people in to His kingdom and maturing people into His likeness until He returns.

Your humbling recognition and generous gifts in honor of our 25^th Valleydale anniversary this past Sunday are deeply appreciated.  It is often difficult to measure one’s effectiveness, especially the intangibles of spiritual growth and life change.  Thank you for encouraging us “as you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain,” (1 Cor. 15:58, NIV).

“If you have an encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose,” (Philippians 2:1-2, NIV).

With our deep gratitude,

Calvin and Paula Kelly

Valleydale LIVE Giveaway contest

The Valleydale Live II: He Reigns CD that we recorded earlier this month has been sent for production and duplication and should be back here in 2-3 weeks – just in time for you to get some for the holidays to share with friends and family. We posted an audio sample of a few songs during the week that we were in studio doing the final mix, but I wanted to post another quick sample here for you to enjoy in anticipation of our release date in November.

Also, I wanted to do a little giveaway to those of you who are blog readers and twitter users (don’t tell those “other people”). Because this is the week of Halloween – which of course we do NOT celebrate – I wanted to have a little fun with it – which of course will NOT be fun since it is associated with Halloween. Anyway, I have a little riddle below which you must solve. Once you have solved the riddle, you must direct message me on Twitter with the solution. The first 3 who DM me with the correct answer will receive a free CD when it is released.  Enjoy the sample and the riddle!

And here’s the riddle (no I didn’t make it up):

My first letter is in spell, but never in book. My second letter is in fright and also in shook. 
My third letter is in cauldron, but never in pot. 
My fourth letter is in net and also in knot. My fifth letter is in bat, but never in vampire. 
My sixth letter is in coal, but not found in fire. 
My seventh letter is in moon, but not in night. 
Complete I will give you a spooky fright!

Remember to DM me and not @ me so no one else steals your hard work. If you don’t follow me, be ashamed. My twitter username is kdekker.

Kris

Fall Festival

2009 Fall Festival

Well Fall Festival ‘09 is history. I ate a burger and saw a kid dressed up like a burger. I saw a 6′ 8″ Joe Dirt and a diminutive Hulk. I heard great Bluegrass music and scary sounds coming from the Orbit Ride. I saw excitement in the eyes of children and boredom on the faces of the ponies. I smelled the undeniable aroma of funnel cakes and thankfully not the undeniable smell of horse …. well you know where I was going with that. All in all I think things went pretty well. I wish I could take credit for it but truthfully I can’t. This was an effort of a lot of people, too numerous to mention. With the exception of a few people who really put in some extra time and effort. I do want to publicly thank Jim Manolio & Tommy Smith and their crew for a lot of set up work and taking care of all our electrical needs,. Big Jim Holloway and his crew for taking care of all our concessions.  Denise Nola, Vicki McGee, Stephanie Latta & Margie Eubanks for  their time and effort in painting, decoration and game construction. (The Frog construction by Denise was very time-consuming). All the Life Connection groups that put together wonderful door prize baskets (some where truly amazing). All of our Valleydale family that volunteered to work games, help with clean up and jump in wherever needed, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

We had almost 1600 people come to our campus. I don’t think a child left without candy, Hopefully no adult left without a burger or hotdog. The Festival is a fun time for our Valleydale family but this is also a chance to reach out to the community. With as many people who came through the gates I have to believe that there where some who do not have a connection to any church family. I pray they left with a favorable impression of our family.  You all did a great job, take a pat on the back out of petty cash, you earned it.

Thanks

Rob (Matrix Rabbit)

Intended Consequences

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offense. — Robert Frost

Now, I’m not a poet, in case you didn’t know it. And poems that don’t rhyme feel like a waste of time.  (Did you catch that rhyme scheme — yeah). Nonetheless, I find this quote by Robert Frost to offer helpful insight.

The line above speaks directly about walls and the divisions walls create. But it also speaks indirectly about what I would call the Law of Unintended Consequences. (Quick, someone check to make sure that John Maxwell hasn’t already enacted that into law.)

Whenever we build a wall, our intent is to keep something in, keep something out or both. That would be an INTENDED consequence. But what happens when something is kept out — or trapped inside — that wasn’t part of our original plan? That’s an UNINTENDED consequence, and unintended consequences happen all the time. In fact, they’re present in almost every decision we make.

One example of this is the church’s effort in the last 2-3 generations to provide “spiritual education” to kids of all ages (from birth to college). The church’s solution was to build some walls! Over the last 30-40 years, the church began to segregate the family based on age groupings — preschoolers here, elementary kids over there, and teenagers just go over there where we can’t hear you. The intended consequence was to provide more focused teaching at appropriate age levels. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is a noble intention. In the spirit of Proverbs 3:1, (“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”) I would submit that this has a valid place in the life of the church.

But if Robert Frost were still alive, what would he say to us?  He’d say, “Hey, get me out of this box! It’s stuffy in here!” Maybe after that, he might encourage us to look at the unintended consequences of the walls we’ve created. Some of those consequences he might list include …

1. Since the family is segregated into different learning/worship environments, they are not experiencing the same lessons/teaching. How do you take what the individual family members experienced separately and build on that at home? If you’re not sure why you would need to do that, see Deuteronomy 6.

2. In some churches, kids never enter an environment where their parents are present until Middle School or later. If I’m a child or student, and I am used to a “younger” presentation, how do I feel about entering into the “adult” world if that hasn’t been at least part of my experience all along?

3. In places where the church has said, “Little people, you don’t really belong in here; this isn’t for you,” how do those “little people” gain a sense of belonging to the whole? If they cannot gain a sense of belonging, how can they learn to love that from which they’ve been removed?

4. Not all unintended consequences are negative. Adults, free from their distrac… uh, children … can learn/worship in peace. Again, if you’re not sure why that’s less than ideal, see Deuteronomy 6.

5. There are other unintended consequences with this approach; more than will be mentioned here.

Our KidStuf ministry exists to put parents and kids in the same environment so that when they go home they are on the same page. They have a common experience from which to draw that gives them a starting point for the conversations that should be taking place “when you sit at home, when you’re on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut. 6:7)

KidStuf is an opportunity for you and your family to prevent or undo some of the unintended consequences previously mentioned. Why don’t you make bringing your family to KidStuf a priority … and enjoy some INTENDED consequences?

Chuck

Valleydale Live Sample

We are in the studio this week mixing the recording project from our LIVE worship experience on October 4. We thought that we would give you – our faithful blog readers – a sneak peek into what the CD will sound like.So you can play the link below for a little look-see into the future.

The CD should be available around or before Thanksgiving – just in time for you to buy several as stocking stuffers and Christmas gifts for everyone you can think of.

I thought the worship service was a great time of refreshing for our church, and I hope the CD will be a great tool for encouraging worship in your life as well as anyone you want to bless with it as a gift.

Enjoy and let us know your thoughts.

Kris

“Buddy can you spare a Grant?”

I was  reading the other day about how some of our hard earned tax dollars are being spent. You know trivial things like national security, roads and bridges and such, when I came across an article about a grant to study  what type of fish food fish like best. I thought to myself ‘wow! Now that is something important that I want to know’. Moreover someone is getting a big ol wad of cash to study it. Well being a good American that I am, I thought why don’t I help enlighten America about important issues as well. All I need to do is to write a few Grant proposals and I can begin to  shed light on crucial issues that are baffling my fellow man. Here are a list of a few ideas I wish to persue.

Thousand Island Dressing. – Sure you take it for granted but has anyone every done a study on the viscosity differences across this land? I propose to not only study the differences but institute a viscosity scale that can be published and placed in every restaurant across the land. From that pudding like dressing you get at truck stops to the runny almost soup like version you find at some diners. It can be posted right along the ‘We take Visa & Master card’ signs on the door. ” Look Martha their Thousand Island Dressing is a level 7, remind me to order a straw with my salad”.

Dog Related Residue – No dog owner likes to walk out in the back yard and find that Rover has left a lot of land mines. Especially when they seem to stay ‘fresh’ for days. I propose to study all brands of dog food to discover which brand has the highest Hockey Puck factor.  (Hockey Puck factor is how quickly they congeal into something hard enough to simply pick up and hit with a stick over the neighbor’s fence). Once again these findings could be printed on every bag of dog food. “Check it out Martha, not only does this brand make his coat shinny but it has a Hockey Puck factor of 12″.

Bridge May Ice before Roads – We have all seen this signs on roads from Fla to Wyoming. I propose a study not to test the validity of the statement (I do believe it to be true) but rather to test the memories of American Drivers. Since we see this sign at every bridge, the highway dept must believe one of two things. One, we do not remember this crucial bit of information from one bridge to another, or two,  we simply don’t believe the laws of physics apply to every bridge we come to. “Gee Martha I don’t see a sign at this bridge, maybe this bridge is ice proof”. Either way I could do a study to find out if American drivers can read and remember road signs even if they are talking on their cell phones, eating a burger, putting on eye liner and doing the Sudoku puzzle all while driving.

So all I need do now is learn the best way to write up a Grant proposal. I will work on it as soon as I finish my salad and feed my dog.  Say, wonder if dogs like Thousand Island Dressing?

Rob

Why Everyone Should Have Back Surgery

Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration.  While I really don’t recommend back surgery unless you need it, all of us need reminding from time to time of truths that are often learned through the school of adversity. Maybe you don’t need the reminders as much as I do, but my guess is, you do.

The patient before succumbing to the happy juice

Gratitude. I’m so thankful I’m not paralyzed! I’ve been overwhelmed by a renewed sense of gratitude for my health, family, church, and our American medical system. In two weeks, I was able to have five office visits with four doctors, have one x-ray and two MRIs, and schedule back surgery! At the risk of sounding political, I’d probably still be waiting for the first x-ray in Canada.  The understanding, prayers, patience, and encouragement of our church have been heartwarming and I thank God for you.  Mostly I’m thankful for my caregiver, Paula, and for the assistance of Alissa (1 Thess. 5:18).

Humility. I am not immortal, invincible, or indispensible.  My body is wearing down, I’m in the process of dying, and one day I will (Heb. 9:27; 1 Cor. 15:42).  It’s humbling to think that literally everything (read that, everything) I physically do is rooted in and dependent upon my lower back.  The same is true with you. There’s nothing like depending on your wife and daughter to pick up that, move this, or change a bandage in a place you can’t see to keep pride in check (James 4:10).

Patience. When you have back surgery, you have to learn to re-think and re-evaluate your every move (every move). Re-learning how you turn with your body and not your waist, lift from your knees, hold objects close to your body, and bend down like a professional golfer picking up a ball after a putt requires you take your time. Due to nerve damage in my back, my left leg is weak.  But the physical therapy and walking will help strength return…in time.  In the meantime, I work…and wait.  “Patience, Lord, and give it to me now (Col. 3:12).

People. Life gets busy, projects are due, and deadlines come and go. Errands must be run, the carpet needs cleaning, and the cable must be fixed.  Back surgery means your world stops and you engage with people more than tasks. The pre-op nurse who I discovered to be my neighbor; the anesthesiologist who explained the “knock out” procedure; the recovery room nurse who fetched me lip balm; Narkita, my floor nurse, who treated me like a king; and my surgeon who repaired a second disc we didn’t know had ruptured.  People. A slowed down life helps you see people, to look into their eyes, and view them as made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27)

Perspective. At the end of the day, so much of what we worry, stew, obsess, and talk about is worthless, or at least not as important as we usually think.  Health, family, time with God, and lasting values are what counts in life. Life is a vapor, fleeting, and temporary (James 4:14).  As the Philips, Craig, and Dean song Nothing to Prove, says, “You see, life can not be measured by the place you live, the car you drive – The thing that counts the day you die Is who you are, and what’s inside,” (Prov. 4:23).

So, does it take back surgery to learn all of this? Maybe not.  But surgery of any kind and a million other inconvenient interruptions of life might be just what the Doctor ordered.

Calvin

Worship LOUD

Well, you did it!  At least most of you did.  You really worshipped on Sunday.  Not just the “reverent” way you were taught as a kid (“The Lord is in His holy te-emmmple, the Lord is in His holy te-emmmple, the Lord is in His holy te-emmmm-ple let all the earth keep silent, silent, silent beee-fooorrrrre  Him”). You engaged, you got out of your spectator seat and participated!  It was good.  God was honored, and you got to really tell Him how you feel about Him. to express your gratitude for a changed life.

The Valleydale LIVE worship event (soon to be a chart-busting CD) was incredible! Thanks to our team for hours and hours of preparation and for more hours and hours of editing yet to come.  I’m so grateful to have a worship arts pastor who takes seriously the responsibility, not just to pick out a few tunes for Sunday’s service, but, as he said in his blog last week, “to try to put tools in your hand from time to time that encourage you to develop a lifestyle of worship outside of Sunday mornings.”  In case you don’t know it, that’s a rarity among music guys, and we’re fortunate at Valleydale. Thanks, Kris!

“Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy…Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in” (Ps. 98:4, 7, NLT).

Spread the word!

Calvin

“Rules” for Valleydale LIVE

I am pretty excited about this week’s service because the Worship Arts Ministry gets the full service hour (or so) on Sunday to lead our people in a celebration of God’s greatness. Everyone has been working hard to pull together what I believe will be a powerful time of worship for our church that will include music, multimedia, and an incredible time of testimony from our own church family about God’s work in our lives. You do NOT want to miss this special time. I truly believe you will be blessed – not based on our planning or performance (which we DO hope goes well and is done with excellence), but because there is such a tremendous energy when the Body has a chance to really have a concentrated time of worship, reflection, and testimony to God’s active involvement in doing stuff in our everyday lives.

We will be recording this experience to release it as a CD later this year. We want to do this for a couple of reasons:

(1) I believe it is part of my responsibility to try to put tools in your hand from time to time that encourage you to develop a lifestyle of worship outside of Sunday mornings. Because I believe music is one of the greatest tools for “heart-speaking” to God, I think having a supply of worship music in your car or in your home helps us understand that everyday is an opportunity for worship. I know there are a bajillion worship CDs out there produced by some of the greatest musical artists in the world, but I do believe that music from an experience you have shared in with people you know has a meaning and an impact that overcomes even some production value differences.

(2) I also want to put in your hands tools to give to others to bless them and encourage worship in their lives as well. Our hope is that our product will be of a production quality that you would be happy to say represents your church, but even more so has a content that you  believe has a message for someone else as well.

Anyway, all that being said, we need YOUR help to make this whole experience a success and a powerful moment for our church. So – as your “worship pastor” – I feel like I need to lay down a few ground rules for your contribution to our Sunday service. After all, Paul says things must be done “decently and in order.” (Was Paul a Presbyterian?)

1 -Be there. Be there early. BE PREPARED. In our world, we have let so many outside things invade and even control our lives and our thoughts that we tend to come to church with hearts and minds focused on other stuff. We put the onus on the music or worship leader or song selection to “get us in the mood” to hear the message. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that misses the point. Corporate worship in song is not the time for individuals to be slowly pulled into a heart that is receptive to the word. It is a time for individual worshipers to gather ALREADY prepared through individual worship, meditation, prayer, etc. to express together the overflow of all of their hearts, making the sum total of that expression so much more than the individual parts. Prepare yourself this week. (and every week).

2 – Express yourself freely. Last week we had the opportunity to shout to the Lord, and we will do that again this week. I saw some people really letting go, and I saw some others that weren’t all that sure that people should be acting that way in church. Let me assure you that on the basis of Scripture, it’s quite okay. And NOTHING (not even the latest victory by your football team) is as exciting as the victory over death accomplished for you by God. So don’t be so afraid to express it. If having trouble working up the excitement, see rule #1.

You have permission to sing out loud, to clap your hands, to stand when everyone else is sitting, to sit when everyone else is standing, to come to the altar. Don’t wait for instructions; just respond to God and His Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

3 – See rule #1.

That’s about it. I believe we can have an incredible time worshiping together this week (and every week) if we will value the time together enough to prepare for it and engage ourselves in it collectively. It is amazing to me to see the kind of time, energy, and effort someone will put into a Saturday afternoon experience at the stadium. Plans begin on Monday and are forged all week long about what time to leave, what team apparel will be needed, where and when we will meet friends, what to take for the tailgate grill, who’s picking it up at the store, and all the other details of preparation that go into making the whole experience everything it can be. Imagine our experience in worship if our preparation for that had similar energy, time, and effort.

We prioritize what we find truly important. We prepare for what we prioritize. We are deeply invested in what we prepare for. Our hearts are with our investments. Worship, by the way, has a strong long-term return.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday. Even more, I look forward to worshiping with you. HE REIGNS!