God is moving in CR

Do you have a spirit of thankfulness? We as Americans tend to set aside one day of the year to remember things, people and ideals for which we are thankful. But we should have a spirit of being thankful all year long. Those of us who have found healing through the Celebrate Recovery program know what it's like to be thankful...thankful for healing, thankful for grace, thankful for a new life in Christ that is free from our hurts, habits and hangups. We got an idea from our friends at Vegas CR at Central that we want to invite all our fellow CR friends, their friends, their family members and the whole world to join us in doing. For the next 21 days, send out a tweet or update your Facebook status to share something for which you are thankful. We're calling this the 21 Days of Thankful event. We pray that as you share, you will not only be blessed as you realize life's many blessings, but you will also bless others. We also hope you will share this idea with others. You can ...

Ever been in a situation where you feel overwhelmed and that this is not going to end well? Where we feel like maybe God has somehow abandoned us in our situation? Several years ago I took my daughter on a roller coaster ride, her very first. She was so excited and even though I tried to talk her out of it several times she insisted to ride this gigantic roller coaster at Sea World. She was all smiles when sitting in and buckling up. She was all smiles as we awaited our climb of the high coaster. The higher we got, however, the more concerned she looked. She began to lose a little color in her face as we continued our climb. As we neared the top of the climb and began to near the decent down the steep fall she was now very nervous and quite frightened by what was to come next. I looked over into her fear stricken eyes, leaned into her, held her hand and said as calmly as I could, “Daddy has you sweetie. You don’t need to be scared. I am here.” The next couple minutes of the ri...

I have been doing some reading recently for an upcoming teaching in the book of Philippians. Specifically Chapter 4:10-19. What a cool book! I was struck by the thought and meditation of what it really means to have peace in ALL circumstances. I mean, isn’t that contrary to what the world tells us? The only way we have joy and peace in our heart is if we have everything going right for us and things are going our way in all circumstances then we really have something to be happy about….right? That is what I grew up believing and understanding. I truly believed that the only way I can have peace in my life is to have no conflicts in my life. So, I spent most of my life trying to avoid conflict as that only makes things bad and not fun to deal with. I believed that I could not possibly have peace if I was in the middle of a storm in my life. That is really a big lie that many of us grow up believing. So what do we do? We run from our problems and hide from them. We just as well i...

This month I celebrate 25 years of full-time ministry. During this time I have been honored to serve as a university chaplain, to minister in people in 36 nations and in my current role to serve as Lead Pastor of Capital Life Church in Arlington, Virginia. When I began in the ministry 25 years ago Ronald Reagan was beginning his second term as president, top entertainers were gathering together to sing, “We are the World” and "Back to the Future" was the highest-grossing film. In the last 25 years I have witnessed the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new kind of war that brought forth the worst attack on U. S. soil in our nation’s history. I now have what few could have foreseen just 25 years ago: A GPS system in my car, a cell phone in my hand and a DVR in my living room. Our world has changed. What I have learned is that the Psalmist knew what he was talking about when he said, “If the Lord delights in a man’s way he makes his steps firm.” The last 25 years have o...

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1 John 1:9-10 (NIV) I remember the day I realized I have Adam's Disease. It took me awhile to notice—in fact, most people with this debilitating condition don't ever recognize it. But the best doctor I know pointed out its symptoms, and though I hated to admit it, I've frequently displayed them. Could it possibly affect you as well? Adam's Disease is an insidious condition that interferes with the patient's ability to grow. It does this by preventing the patient from admitting and taking responsibility for their sin. Take a look at the first confirmed case: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LO...

Don’t forget to stop by our newcomer tables to welcome our guests and make them feel special. I want to share some thoughts with you after reading some Max Lucado “God came near” this week. "The financial aid office says “no”, the doctor says, “pregnant” or “it’s cancer” The boss says, “transfer” the test grade reads “F”, the auto mechanic says, “totaled” the insurance agent says, “expired” Change always brings fear before it brings faith. We always assume the worst before we look for the best. God interrupts our lives with something we’ve never seen, and rather than praise, we panic! We interpret the presence of a problem as the absence of God and scoot! Isn’t it a good thing the Shepherds lingered? “Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord was shining around them, and they became very frightened.” Had the shepherd not lingered they might have missed the next verse. “Today your Savior was born in a town of David. He is Christ, the Lord.” I am so honored...

In the last year I found out that I have hypoglycemia and had strict orders from my doctor to change my diet. In meeting with a nutritionist, I was told that I would have to reduce my portion intake in a meal setting. I would also have to change my diet to more vegetables and less sweets. Yikes! That is the last thing I wanted to hear as I so love sweets. (Nutter Butters to be precise. ) I told my nutritionist that it was going to be pretty tough for me to do this because of my sweet tooth. She then said something to me that has stuck with me since. She said, “Rodney, your body will crave what it eats.” I thought she was crazy, but would you believe as I changed my eating habits, ate more vegetables and more healthy foods, my body did just that. It wanted more healthy things to digest. I was in fact craving what I ate. I think about that with my recovery and how my mind is the exact same way. What I eat mentally and take into my brain, it in turn craves that very thing more a...

People just don’t stumble into recovery groups. They are usually there because of some kind of crisis that their addiction has created. Because of the intensity of their problem and the emotional instability involved the newcomer is always the most important person in the room. We as a group have the opportunity to intervene in this person’s life. We must not be involved in the drama of our own lives or the life of the group to the degree that we overlook the newcomers needs. There is no script to follow. The correct action is to be led by the Holy Spirit As members of Christ’s body and as group members we should always be in a "state" of carrying His message. We keep in mind that the newcomer in our group is a person with real needs. We adjust the group to meet this persons needs. It’s not about the “life” of the group. Even though the life of the group is important it’s more about the life of the person. If our newcomer is born again it’s just about us hooking this pers...

This is a great blog on this topic from ANN VOSKAMP. www.incourage.com http://www.incourage.me/2010/10/why-tell-secrets.html For information about a life changing ministry that keeps a safe place in telling your secrets "so that" you may be healed" Contact Rodney at Celebrate Recovery at 479-659-3679 or roholmstrom@fellowshipnwa.org

So I sat there last Friday night and as I listen to David do the announcement about the 7th Anniversary Event I was it full force in the face with something by the Spirit of God that was then reinforced by the worship led by Rodney that followed and then again by Angela’s testimony that followed that. Celebrate Recovery is celebrating 7 years of life change at FBC and we are asking folks to look outside our walls and invite someone to experience this great ministry thru this exciting celebration. It really caught me Friday night how much CR is a Kingdom thing. It is not a Saddleback thing, it is not a Rick Warren or John Baker thing, it is not a Fellowship thing, it IS a Kingdom thing, it IS a Jesus thing. It is not about a single church or church leader or about a denomination even. It IS about the Bridegroom and His love for His bride though, His church. That being the case, I have not been able to shake the thought that this 7th Anniversary Celebration is bigger than we think....