Walk Across The Room
2023 Fall Kickoff Mini-Series
Details (11AM)
October 8, 2023 • Curt McFarland • Acts 17:16–28
Before I turned 16, I was given a car. More precisely it was a 1966 VW Squareback with a broken engine and transmission. My first task was to rebuild the engine. I was given little instruction. I pulled the engine out, tore it apart, read the repair manual, and put it back together. When I turned the key, it only popped, banged, and wheezed. After several hours of trying to get it to run, someone who knew VW’s asked me, “when you put the engine together did you put the dot on the camshaft (the internal part that operates the valves) in-between the two dots on the crankshaft (the internal part that moves the pistons up and down)? I had overlooked that detail! I took the engine out again, tore it apart again, lined up the dots, put it back together again, put it in again. It fired right up. Details are important. For the past three Sundays we’ve talked about an uncomfortable subject: Christian evangelism. I’ve stressed the importance of trusting the Holy Spirit, listening to Him, waiting until He provides an opportunity, and then taking a little risk (walking across a room literally or figuratively), entering into a conversation, and being ready to share why you’re a Christian when the person asks. When we do that evangelism is easy, natural, fun. We do not need to force the conversation. We simply listen and then follow, confident the Holy Spirit is present, already preparing them for what we will say. This Sunday is the last in our evangelism series. Today it’s about the details: 1) What should I say? 2) How should I say what I should say? and 3) What happens next? I hope what’s provided this morning is practical and helpful as we pray, listen for the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and walk across rooms as He prompts us to, walking with courage, excitement, and genuine compassion. Walking together, Curt
Details (9AM)
October 8, 2023 • Curt McFarland • Acts 17:16–28
Before I turned 16, I was given a car. More precisely it was a 1966 VW Squareback with a broken engine and transmission. My first task was to rebuild the engine. I was given little instruction. I pulled the engine out, tore it apart, read the repair manual, and put it back together. When I turned the key, it only popped, banged, and wheezed. After several hours of trying to get it to run, someone who knew VW’s asked me, “when you put the engine together did you put the dot on the camshaft (the internal part that operates the valves) in-between the two dots on the crankshaft (the internal part that moves the pistons up and down)? I had overlooked that detail! I took the engine out again, tore it apart again, lined up the dots, put it back together again, put it in again. It fired right up. Details are important. For the past three Sundays we’ve talked about an uncomfortable subject: Christian evangelism. I’ve stressed the importance of trusting the Holy Spirit, listening to Him, waiting until He provides an opportunity, and then taking a little risk (walking across a room literally or figuratively), entering into a conversation, and being ready to share why you’re a Christian when the person asks. When we do that evangelism is easy, natural, fun. We do not need to force the conversation. We simply listen and then follow, confident the Holy Spirit is present, already preparing them for what we will say. This Sunday is the last in our evangelism series. Today it’s about the details: 1) What should I say? 2) How should I say what I should say? and 3) What happens next? I hope what’s provided this morning is practical and helpful as we pray, listen for the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and walk across rooms as He prompts us to, walking with courage, excitement, and genuine compassion. Walking together, Curt
Our Role 11am
October 1, 2023 • Curt McFarland • John 9
I can be so impatient. I want quick answers, quick results, quick fixes. This isn’t just with things … it’s with challenges in my life. I look for a shortcut to fix a health issue, a financial issue, a quirk in my personality, a relationship I’m in, a spiritual need I have. And I’m not much better with others. Someone shares a problem they’re facing and I think up a fast acting three-step solution. It's become increasingly clear to me, God has patiently emphasized, that people are more complicated than cars, computers, or cats (I was searching for a third “c”). When I’m given the privilege of talking with someone about a problem, they’re struggling with I need to 1) pray, 2) trust that God is, and will be, the source of any lasting change, 3) recognize my contribution may be one piece in a much larger process. This morning is the third of four Sunday teachings on evangelism. Do we listen to the Holy Spirit, and then do what He asks us to do, even if it isn’t the biggest, or (in our eyes) the most important aspect of the work God is doing in someone’s life? More and more … I hope I do, you too. I want to grow in patience, in my trust of God, in grace. We listen to the Holy Spirit, Walk Across the Room, enter the adventure.
Our Role 9am
October 1, 2023 • Curt McFarland • John 9
I can be so impatient. I want quick answers, quick results, quick fixes. This isn’t just with things … it’s with challenges in my life. I look for a shortcut to fix a health issue, a financial issue, a quirk in my personality, a relationship I’m in, a spiritual need I have. And I’m not much better with others. Someone shares a problem they’re facing and I think up a fast acting three-step solution. It's become increasingly clear to me, God has patiently emphasized, that people are more complicated than cars, computers, or cats (I was searching for a third “c”). When I’m given the privilege of talking with someone about a problem, they’re struggling with I need to 1) pray, 2) trust that God is, and will be, the source of any lasting change, 3) recognize my contribution may be one piece in a much larger process. This morning is the third of four Sunday teachings on evangelism. Do we listen to the Holy Spirit, and then do what He asks us to do, even if it isn’t the biggest, or (in our eyes) the most important aspect of the work God is doing in someone’s life? More and more … I hope I do, you too. I want to grow in patience, in my trust of God, in grace. We listen to the Holy Spirit, Walk Across the Room, enter the adventure.
Walk 9am
September 24, 2023 • Curt McFarland • John 4:1–26, John 4:39–42
This is our second week in a four-week Fall series focused on one of the more challenging, guilt-creating, fear-inducing, subjects Christians (I speak on behalf of many Presbyterians) talk about (or don’t) … evangelism (how we share the good news of Jesus with others). When we understand that Christians do not take the evangelistic lead, the Holy Spirit does … it changes everything about how we share our faith. If the Holy Spirit guides us, prompts us, gives us the words to speak, prepares the person in advance for the conversation we’ll have, and is responsible for the result (not us) why would we be afraid? Instead, we begin to look forward to these conversations, eager for what God will do. Our responsibility: listen to the Holy Spirit and then walk across the room. We find renewed confidence, and growing excitement, as God’s kingdom grows one person at a time, each life eternally changed, and we, by God’s invitation, play a part in that. Let’s walk across rooms, streets, Garden Rooms, together
Walk 11am
September 24, 2023 • Curt McFarland • John 4:1–26, John 4:39–42
This is our second week in a four-week Fall series focused on one of the more challenging, guilt-creating, fear-inducing, subjects Christians (I speak on behalf of many Presbyterians) talk about (or don’t) … evangelism (how we share the good news of Jesus with others). When we understand that Christians do not take the evangelistic lead, the Holy Spirit does … it changes everything about how we share our faith. If the Holy Spirit guides us, prompts us, gives us the words to speak, prepares the person in advance for the conversation we’ll have, and is responsible for the result (not us) why would we be afraid? Instead, we begin to look forward to these conversations, eager for what God will do. Our responsibility: listen to the Holy Spirit and then walk across the room. We find renewed confidence, and growing excitement, as God’s kingdom grows one person at a time, each life eternally changed, and we, by God’s invitation, play a part in that. Let’s walk across rooms, streets, Garden Rooms, together.
In Tune with the Holy Spirit 11AM
September 17, 2023 • Curt McFarland • Acts 8:26–40
As we have been doing each Fall, we take a short four-week break from our year-long study and tackle a pressing need facing the Church (here at Grace but also across the Larger American Church). In 2021 we focused on prayer (the why, how, when, and ease of prayer), Last Fall we turned our attention to the question, “Why Church?” (Why did God establish the Church? How important is church?) This Sunday, and for the three Sundays following, we will be challenged (that’s our prayer) to “Walk Across the Room.” I hear the response, “I walk across rooms every day … how can that take more than two minutes to talk about?” The central question throughout these weeks will be, “Are we walking across rooms intentionally, with a Holy Spirit directed, Kingdom of God purpose?” I have never been at ease approaching someone I don’t know, or don’t know well, and initiating a conversation about faith. I stumble. I’m afraid of messing it up, ruining rather than building a relationship. This Walk Across the Room series has freed me from all of that. I first heard this approach years ago, from a pastor in the Midwest. I make no excuses for stealing his insights and stories. This is one the few times in my 30+ years of ministry that I’ve copied another’s ideas and talks so directly. But his approach was so simple, helpful, freeing. I hope you commit to attending all four Sundays in this series … and then let me know whether they lived up to what I’m promising.
In Tune with the Holy Spirit 9AM
September 17, 2023 • Curt McFarland • Acts 8:26–40
As we have been doing each Fall, we take a short four-week break from our year-long study and tackle a pressing need facing the Church (here at Grace but also across the Larger American Church). In 2021 we focused on prayer (the why, how, when, and ease of prayer), Last Fall we turned our attention to the question, “Why Church?” (Why did God establish the Church? How important is church?) This Sunday, and for the three Sundays following, we will be challenged (that’s our prayer) to “Walk Across the Room.” I hear the response, “I walk across rooms every day … how can that take more than two minutes to talk about?” The central question throughout these weeks will be, “Are we walking across rooms intentionally, with a Holy Spirit directed, Kingdom of God purpose?” I have never been at ease approaching someone I don’t know, or don’t know well, and initiating a conversation about faith. I stumble. I’m afraid of messing it up, ruining rather than building a relationship. This Walk Across the Room series has freed me from all of that. I first heard this approach years ago, from a pastor in the Midwest. I make no excuses for stealing his insights and stories. This is one the few times in my 30+ years of ministry that I’ve copied another’s ideas and talks so directly. But his approach was so simple, helpful, freeing. I hope you commit to attending all four Sundays in this series … and then let me know whether they lived up to what I’m promising.