From Pastor Jason: Two Big Congratulations and Our New Sunday Morning Schedule

What an exciting time! Two new Little Dwellers have come into the world. Congratulations to Michael and Katie Gonzalez on the birth of Emilio Michael Gonzalez and to Keith and Erin Driskell on the birth of Levi Jeremy Driskell. Please continue to pray for these awesome moms (and dads) as they recover and enjoy the arrival of their new sons.

In other (much less exciting) news we are beginning a new Sunday morning schedule. On Sunday, November 3rd our Sunday schedule will be as follows:

9:30 – 10:30 AM: Discipleship Training

10:30 – 10:45 AM: Community Time

10:45-12:15 PM: Worship Gathering

I’m thrilled about this change. You’ll notice that the overall start and finish times are the same. However we have switched the gathering and training times and introduced a fifteen minute community time in between. The leadership and I believe this refreshed schedule will introduce more life and community interaction on Sunday mornings. We trust that many of you will not only take advantage of an incredible fall line-up of classes before the gathering, but also have more relaxed time to connect with each other and visitors afterward.

Let’s remember, like any change this is not just about us. Rather it’s always about taking every opportunity to cultivate an environment where Jesus is honored and everything possible is being done to encourage visitors to participate naturally within the life of our church. I think this new Sunday schedule positions us to do this best. Thanks for being on this mission and journey together.

See you on Sunday!

And congrats again to the Gonzalezes and Driskells!

Peace …

Pastor Jason

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So Long Summer is just around the corner! Invite your friends and neighbors to this FREE concert of American Music Favorites. And don’t forget about the food trucks and bounce house!

From Pastor Jason: Sunday Schedule and Two Events

As many of you know we have been considering a change to our Sunday mornings schedule. Our primary motivation for considering an alternative approach to our worship gathering and discipleship training hour is twofold: community and mission. I believe with a slight change in our order and timing we can make more room for connecting with each other on Sunday mornings. Additionally I believe with this same shift we can make what we offer on Sunday mornings more accessible and life-giving to our friends, family members, and other guests. Taking into account various conversations and our church-wide survey, last night the elders and I arrived at a consensus. We do feel as though we need to make a change, but not until November 3rd. This later date will allow the first wave of our new discipleship courses (each is eight weeks long) to remain at the same time throughout. So now you want to know the new  schedule, right? Well we’d love to marinate on it for just another week. We want to make certain that this change is the best way forward to encourage community and mission at Dwell. I’ll let you know next Tuesday what Sundays will look like come November 3rd!

In addition to the refreshed schedule I wanted to remind you all of two great events right around the corner. In just a couple of weeks the back lawn at Dwell will be filled with delicious treats and great music. Please visit our website to get all the information you need about “So Long Summer ” on September 21st. Make sure to invite your friends! This concert has been strategically placed so that we might foster relationships with folks  as well as invite them back the following month to our annual Harvest Carnival. On Halloween night tons of people come to the Willow Glen area to enjoy one of the best trick-or-treating locales on the planet. By God’s grace we are right in the middle of the action. And we need everyone to help! Brian and Nicole Schaffer have volunteered to lead the effort this year. We’ll let you know real soon how you can jump on board.

Peace …

Pastor Jason

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Key Dates:

• This weekend there is a free marriage conference at East Valley Church
• On September 21st don’t miss “So Long Summer”
• On October 31st our annual Harvest Carnival
• Our new Sunday schedule will begin Sunday, November 3rd

Discipleship Training - What classes will we offer?

As some of you may have heard over the last few weeks.  We will now offer a rotation of classes to better equip people to follow Christ.

We will offer a variety of short term subjects (6-10 weeks) all for the purpose of enabling us all to become better disciples of Christ and to make disciples.

Sometimes it is helpful to know what the schedule will be so you can plan ahead of time.  So here is the schedule through the spring of next year.

September - October
Overview of the Major Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, 8 weeks
Everyday Church for Everyday People - How following Christ in community can be a lifestyle.  This is a preparation for Gospel Groups.  8 weeks

November - December
Overview of the Minor Prophets - Daniel through Malachi. 8 weeks
Faith and Work - We will study Tim Keller's Every Good Endeavor together (I think a lot of people are looking forward to this one). 6-8 weeks.  We will see how it goes.

January - February
Identity - Our membership class that everyone talks so much about. 10 weeks
Overview of Paul's early letters - Galatians, Corinthians, Thessalonians, and Romans. 8 weeks

March - April
Overview of Paul's later letters - Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Timothy and Titus.  6 weeks
Family Matters - Dating, Singleness, Marriage, Family, Parenting, etc.  You know, nothing too difficult.  I suspect this will be popular too.  8 weeks.

I hope this is useful for people.  We have many sharp people in our church and wonderful teachers.  We hope to serve you all well so that we can serve the Lord well in our challenging and confusing times.  Let me know if you have any requests and I will see what we can do.

Chris Tenny
Discipleship Pastor

From Pastor Jason: Six Ways to Start Reading the Bible... Better

I’ve always lacked a clear process or plan when it has come to my personal Scripture reading. Actually I’ve prided myself in this practice (or lack thereof). It seemed really spiritual to just pick up my Bible and read; wherever the Spirit might lead. However, deep down I always looked at diligent and organized Bible readers as incredibly amazing. And so I’ve craved more discipline, but haven’t found my niche within the Bible reading plan world. Until now.

Just a couple of weeks ago I discovered the app “Bible Box.” After I got over its strange title, I found the iPhone application extremely helpful. It not only charts reading plans for users to follow and syncs with the YouVersion Bible application, but it allows readers to check boxes as we go–hence the name. And it also makes automatic adjustments if you miss a day … and yes, I’ve already missed a few days. I’m currently reading through the Bible chronologically and actually keeping somewhat on pace. And in the spirit of this new found, albeit it short-term success, I’d like to offer six ways to help you start reading your bible, better.

1.) Set a time. Like anything else, if you don’t know when you’re going to read and how often, you probably won’t. I like reading early in the morning, because that’s when Jesus read his Bible (just kidding). It’s different for everyone. Find a time that works best for you.

2.) Start small. Don’t get crazy. If you’ve never consistently kept a reading schedule don’t set out to read the whole Bible twice by the end of the year. I found great success a few years back by simply starting to read one chapter every weekday.

3.) Pick a location. This may seem silly, but similar to setting a time, picking a location helps prepare you for the routine and discipline of reading. I set my Bible and journal right behind my chair at the kitchen table. That’s my favorite spot to read. Where’s yours?

4.) Choose a method. The Bible Box isn’t for everyone, I understand that. Try another app. Or find a good book that walks you through Scripture (if you don’t know one shoot Pastor Chris a text and he’ll suggest three before you know it). Or follow along in whatever book through which we’re currently preaching. Or just start reading from Matthew 1:1. Or google “Bible Reading Plan.” The possibilities are endless, but you just need one.

5.) Tell someone what you’re up to. Accountability and encouragement are key ingredients to success.

6.) Pray for persistence and a knowledge of God’s grace. One day you will forget to read. In a couple months you’ll wake up and realize you haven’t read for a week … or two. Get back in the rhythm by remembering God’s gracious nature. The whole reason we read is to know God more richly and his grace more intimately. So let’s not allow the process of reading to become a religion unto itself. Let’s not miss God and his immeasurable grace in the process of reading his Word.

Peace…

Pastor Jason

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Whether you’re married or not, want to learn more about the crazy mysterious thing called “marriage?” Mark your calendars for a FREE (yep, free) Married for Life conference at East Valley Church, coming up September 6-8! Click here for more information!

From Pastor Jason: Three Things (Keeping it Basic)

I’m out in Michigan this week enjoying some overdue family time. Thanks so very much for all of you who prayed for me and fed me during those ten arduous days I was without my wife and daughter. I made it! It is so good to reunite with them and take in some of the goodness that is Lake Michigan. We’re missing you all … I promise. Here are few things I wanted to keep on your Dwell radar while I was away: 

Discipleship Training. Be sure to check out our one of our upcoming Sunday morning classes. Starting September 8th Pastor Chris will be teaching a class focused on the themes from the book Everyday Church. Additionally, during the same hour one of our elders, John Lunsford, will be walking through the major prophets of the Bible.

What’s Down at Dwell? In the past couple of weeks Ken Tinsley and others have been sharing Dwell announcements in video form.  They have been both informative, and in typical Dwell fashion, incredibly hilarious. Please make sure you are taking advantage of these videos to keep updated on events and community life. We’ll be posting this through social media and soon on our redesigned website.

Sunday Morning Schedule. As stated on Sunday, we are still working to finalize our Sunday morning schedule. Thanks to all of you who helped with this process by filling out the recent surveys. I’ll do my best to keep you informed throughout the rest of the process. We should be implementing our new times (if change is necessary) on September 8th. 

I love being your pastor. Thanks for keeping me, Laura, and Glori in your prayers as we are away. Can’t wait to be back with you all soon!

Peace …

Pastor Jason

From Pastor Jason: Ten Interesting Facts About San Jose and Becoming What Our City Needs

The past few months our elder team has been reading through Pastor Timothy Keller’s book, “Center Church.” His emphasis is not only focused on developing healthy and gospel-centered churches, but more precisely on how church ought to be developed with respect to cities. After all, the story of Christianity begins in a garden (Genesis 2:8) but will end, in a manner of speaking, in a city (Revelation 21:10). Keller writes, “every church can and must become a church for its particular city–whether that city is a great metropolis, a university town, or a village.” Over the past few years many people have asked, what is the direction of Dwell? Or what is our mission as a church? These are really good questions. And aside from the fundamental aspects of worshiping Jesus and preaching the gospel–from the pulpit, the dinner table, and the cubicle–I think Keller has nailed our direction and mission on the head. We need to become a church for the people of San Jose. That’s what we’ve been up to. That’s what we are doing now. That’s what we will keep doing.

San Jose is diverse, innovative, creative, and beautiful … in my mind, unlike any other city on the planet. And so it seems fitting that an important step toward becoming a church for our city is actually knowing the city. Two key reports are helpful when attempting to gain a firm grasp on the demographics of this the capital of Silicon Valley. First is a 2010 presentation done by the city of San Jose. (You can view and download a pdf version of that presentation here.) And second is the Association of Religious Data Archives’ (or ARDA) latest report on religious life in Santa Clara County. (Their 2010 findings can be viewed here.) Having viewed each of these reports I thought it would be helpful to highlight ten interesting facts about our city.

1. There are 1.8 million people in Santa Clara County.
2. More than half of the folks in San Jose speak a language other than English at home.
3. 39% of San Joseans were born in another country.
4. San Jose is “a city of thirds” … roughly 30% Asian, 30% Hispanic, and 30% White.
5. Half of the housing units in San Jose cost at least half a million dollars.
6. Households without children in San Jose are the majority.
7. We are getting older, but we’re still pretty young (35.2 median age).
8. 150,000 people in Santa Clara County identify with Evangelicalism.
9. Nearly half a million people are Catholic in the county.
10. Over half the population in Santa Clara County do not claim any of the 236 religious groups in the Arda assessment.

This is my city. This is your city. This is the city God has called us to love, enjoy, dwell in, and with whom to share his good news. It can be a bit overwhelming to take this on as a whole. That’s a lot of people to think about. That’s a lot of information to consider. How can we possibly become a church for 1.8 million people from countless different countries and whose spiritual condition is incredibly tricky to calculate? The answer is simple: one person at a time. To be sure neither you nor I know all of these people. But we work with a few of them. We say hi to a couple of them when they’re walking into their apartment. That one guy exchanges a pleasantry or two with you every morning at the coffee shop. You sit together on the PTA board with that couple. All of these are good places to begin. Because after all the church is not a building, a service, an event, nor even a gospel group … it’s God’s people awake to his direction and mission in this world. Therefore everyday, individually and collectively, we have the thrilling privilege and responsibility to become the church our city needs, to the glory of God.

 

Peace …

Pastor Jason

From Pastor Jason: The Man From the Land of Uz

When change comes, we want answers. We want reasons and understanding, particularly if the change is costly–and change always costs us something. In this search our minds naturally take us to one of three places: ”God is teaching me something” or “I must have done something wrong” or ”This world is messed up.” All of these options make perfect sense. In Scripture we observe plenty of stories of change animated by God’s custom-fit plans for his people, change caused by human rebellion, and change due to the fallen nature of our existence. This morning, while wrestling with these three possibilities, I happened to read the first few chapters of Job. Talk about change. In a matter of moments the vast majority of Job’s possession were gone, his sons and daughters dead, and sores had broken out all over his body. Save for the crucifixion of Christ, this has become the story of suffering in Scripture. And yet in the face of such violent change it wasn’t what Job said, but what he didn’t say that proved his exemplary faith.

Peace …

Pastor Jason 

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