The Mission Peak Vista

Sermonaudio.com

2011-12-29T16:13:00.000-08:00

We have finally entered the 21st Century and have our own sermonaudio.com page that we will be using to regularly upload sermons preached at our church. Go ahead and click here to check out our site.

New Theme for 2012

2011-12-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Sunday, Pastor Will announced the new theme for 2012. We have been talking about pursuing Godliness in our Sunday morning sermons, and it only follows that if God's people would really humble themselves, confess sin, and seek the Lord's face as their only hope of spiritual victory and influence in the place that God has placed us to represent Him, He may send an outpouring of His Spirit's power upon us to live Christ-like and usher in souls to the kingdom of God!

If you wonder what we mean by Revival, let us make it clear what it is and what it is not. Probably the last man to experience Revival in the last century was the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones of England. In his lectures on the Puritans back in the 1970's, Lloyd-Jones said this about what Revival is:

It is an experience in the life of the church when the Holy Spirit doesan unusual work. He does that work,primarily, amongst the members of the church; it is a reviving of the believers. You cannot revive something that hasnever had life, so revival, by definition, is first of all, an enlivening andquickening of lethargic, sleeping, almost dilapidated church members. Suddenly the power of the Spirit comes uponthem and they are brought into a new and more profound awareness of the truthsthat they had previously held intellectually, and perhaps at a deeper leveltoo. They are humbled, they are convicted of sin, they are terrified atthemselves. Many of them feel that theyhave never been Christians. And then they come to see the great salvation ofGod in all its glory and to feel its power. Then, as the result of their quickening and enlivening, they begin topray. As a result, new power comes intothe preaching of the ministers, and the result of this is that large numberswho were previously outside the church are converted and brought in. So, thetwo main characteristics of revival are, first, this extraordinary enliveningof the members of the church, and second, the conversion of masses of peoplewho have been outside in indifference and in sin. Here then, in its essence isa definition of what we mean by revival.

What we don't mean by revival is a man-made, emotionally heated, manipulated, superficial hype that is worked up by psychological and sociological means of exciting music, altar calls, "camp meetings", itinerant evangelists, mood settings, and theatrical preaching. This is "revivalism" not true revival. Only God can send real revival. What we can do is prepare for Him to send it by being a people of purity and prayer! We cannot schedule revival as if it is something we can make happen this year, but we can certainly turn our hearts toward God and pray for his gracious mercy to make it happen among our church. We live in a very dark area surrounded by false religion and false Christianity. As God has been reforming us to be a church that is strictly Biblical, may he also revive us so that we would also be fruitful - not for our glory, but for His alone!

Psalm 115:1-3 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Psalm 85:6-7 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

What You May Not Like About Mission Peak

2011-12-19T17:53:00.000-08:00

If you are thinking about visiting our church, and you have stumbled across our website and this blog, we welcome you and hope that you'll come by and join us in worship some time. On the church website, there is a lot of information about what we believe, who we are and what direction we're going so that there won't be any surprises or disappointments when you come. We want to be as transparent as possible because honesty is always the best policy. At the same time, I thought I'd mention some things that you may not like about our church too. The one thing that is a problem for American Evangelical churches is that we have a consumer mentality. If the current church isn't meeting up to your expectations, you have a huge buffet of churches to choose from where you may find your "thing", whatever that "thing" may be. Our church strives to be about one thing only: worshiping and loving Jesus Christ. If anything else is your big thing, then you may not like Mission Peak. That may seem kind of obvious. I mean, who calls themselves a Christian and isn't for worshiping and loving Jesus as the most important thing in the world? So, what's your thing?

If worshiping the King James Bible is more important than worshiping King Jesus, you may not like MPBC.
If being a Calvinist is more important than being a Christian, you may not like MPBC.
If being an Arminian is more important than being a Christian, you may not like MPBC.
If being a Fundamentalist is the most important thing to you, you may not like MPBC.
If being a Home Schooler is the most important thing to you, you may not like MPBC.
If being a Christian Schooler is the most important thing to you, you may not like MPBC.
If you can only worship God using one particular style of music, you may not like MPBC.
If a particular creed is more authoritative than the gospel to you, you may not like MPBC.
If health food is more important to you than spiritual food, you may not like MPBC.
If following Bill Gothard is more important than following the Bible, you may not like MPBC.
If the kind of clothes you wear on the outside is more important than how your heart is on the inside, you may not like MPBC.
If a certain method of evangelism is your big thing and you expect everyone else to do it like you, you may not like MPBC.
If being family integrated is more important than being part of God's family, you may not like MPBC.
If you think the church needs to have lots of programs, you may not like MPBC.

See what I mean? It's not that we don't like some of those things or even respect some of those things, but if Jesus isn't your big thing, you may not like MPBC.

Tree of Hope 2011

2011-12-07T12:20:00.001-08:00

Last year we partnered with Compassion Network by supplying Christmas gifts for people in our city who could not provide gifts for their kids due to the economic Grinch! We are doubling our efforts this year to do it again! On the Christmas tree in the foyer, we had several stars hanging from the branches with a person's name and a desired gift. Thank you to all of you who took one and bought a gift for these dear people already. We have a two weeks left to finish off the stars that are on the tree and make someone's wish come true this Christmas in the name and love of Jesus. Please make sure you let Mrs. Karolina Dudding know which star you took so we can cross it off the list.

Pursue Godliness

2011-12-06T12:04:00.001-08:00

This Sunday we will change from the Book of Mark to a new series. In the evening service, we will continue the exposition through Mark, but in the AM service, we will be exhorted to pursue godliness. There is a great neglect of the subject of holiness and godliness in today's church because many do not want their ungodly ways to be exposed. Many pastors themselves live ungodly lives and avoid this subject. The "Holiness movement" that is pervasive amongst Pentecostals and Charismatics seems to be the only group talking about holiness today, yet their theology and practices are anything but holy. The masters of godly living that we desperately need to learn from today were the 17th century English Puritans. Even to this day, to be called "Puritanical" is a dirision that is meant to be an insult. However, if someone were to think of us as Puritans, it should be a badge of honor. The puritans understood the nature of God and because they lived in the fear of God, they lived out lives that reflected the holiness of God. We want to follow in their footsteps and be a people who reflect the character of our holy God because it is that mark upon us that sets us apart as His.

Hebrews 12:14 says "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."
If we are without holiness, the Bible clearly states - we will not see the Lord. No matter what our profession of faith my be, if our lives are not godly, there is little hope that we are truly born again. Let us pray for God to change us into His likeness and send real revival among His people in this wicked age in which we live.

MPBC: An International Church

2011-12-05T17:10:00.001-08:00

One of the characteristics that makes Mission Peak a unique church is that we are truly an international church where anyone from any nationality can come and be welcomed. There is nothing quite as ugly as racism, but in our church, we celebrate and embrace the diversity of cultures that are represented in our congregation. The city of Fremont is one of the most diverse cities in the Bay Area or in all of California! It is easy to go to certain parts of the city and find Chinese churches, Korean Churches, Filipino Churches, Indian Churches, African American Churches, and mostly Caucasian Churches, but rarely do you find a church that has all of these kinds of people congregating and worshiping together under same roof. A few months ago, Pastor Will attended a luncheon with the Cityserve pastors and there was a discussion about how to have our churches become more open to other nationalities and how to change our churches from being exclusively one race. There was lots of concern about this, but in our case, as God is building up our congregation, He is graciously making this happen in our smaller stage at this point. Our church was once a mostly Caucasian church, but after a great migration during the housing boom back in the early 2000's we have been forced to go back to the drawing board and start over. Thank God, we are laying a foundation of multi-ethnic people! The church growth experts teach us to look for one niche of people (the target audience) and go after them primarily. However, it seems that God is developing something in our church that breaks these man-made limitations and rules. When I look out at the congregation I see Filipino, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, El Salvadorian, Guatamalan, African American, Jewish, Afghan, Russian, Portuguese, Italian and a few Americans too! We also see people who are in racially-mixed marriages and nobody thinks twice about it! This is a great testimony to the world that makes verses like this one a reality:

Galatians 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I can't think of one church of our size in our town that is as racially diverse as we are. It is one way that we can have a piece of heaven here on earth since heaven will be populated with people of every tribe, nation and tongue. May God continue to bless us with this kind of unity in diversity.

Recommended Books for New Christians / Church Members

2011-11-28T16:58:00.001-08:00

One of our members suggested that compile a book list of the most helpful reads for someone who is new to our church or new to the faith. I think that's a good idea, so I'll give a list below that will be helpful to someone who is looking to get his theological bearings straight.

Theological Books
The Gospel According to Jesus - John MacArthur
This book will give you a very clear understanding of what saving faith is, and what a false or watered-down gospel looks like so that you recognize it and avoid it.

The Holiness of God - R.C. Sproul
This book will open your eyes to the nature of who God really is and it will give you a thirst to know God in all His fullness and glory.

Chosen By God - RC Sproul
The Christian needs to be confronted as quickly as possible with the sovereignty of God in salvation in order to eradicate all man-centered, man-glorifying vain thoughts about himself, his God and his salvation.

Not By Chance - Layton Talbert
This is a book about the Providence of God which is essential to the Christian to understand if he is going to deal with life's difficulties correctly.

Famine in the Land - Steven Lawson
Don't think that a book about expository preaching is limited to preachers. This book ought to be read by every believer because he needs to know what true preaching is and demand it from his pastor for his own spiritual good!

Desiring God - John Piper
This is a classic that is a must read. It will put the whole Christian life into perspective. We were made to enjoy God and all of life is to be an expression of our pursuit for joy in God: marriage, worship, work, prayer, etc... These don't have to be duties, they can be delights!

What is a Healthy Church? - Mark Dever
A Christian needs to know what a healthy church looks like so he can be a part of one or help that church become healthy according to God's standards.

Christian Living Books
When People are Big and God is Small - Edward Welch
This book deals with the issues surrounding the fear of man. Fear of man is a big problem that seems to be at the root of most problems people are facing in counseling situations. This is a book I have given away to so many people and I have heard that many others have done the same. So, I recommend this as standard reading to everyone.

Changed into His Image - Jim Berg
This is a book about sanctification that is perhaps the best available today! It deals with how God changes us into being Christ-like. It deals with issues about how a Christian should live and what should energize his life so that he doesn't get trapped by legalism or lawlessness.

Why Am I So Angry? - Debi Pryde
This is a book that's a little harder to get and can only be found from the Ironwood Christian Camp website. However, it's worth doing whatever you have to, to buy it. In pastoral counseling, I have found that 99% of us have an anger problem. If you don't think so, I challenge you to read it and you're heart will be exposed and helped!

The Mortification of Sin - John Owen
This book is timeless. Written in the 1600's, updated in language so it's easier to understand in modern English. This is the best book ever written about the fight against sin.

What is a Healthy Church Member? - Thabiti Anyabwile
A Christian needs to know what is expected from him as a church member. There are certain marks of a healthy church member that we should all strive to make sure we are characterized by.

Humility, True Greatness - CJ Mahaney
The lack of humility is one of the biggest problems we have and it is the root of most inter-relational problems in the family and in the church. This book is an absolute must read. You can be no more Christlike, than when you are humble.

Worldliness, Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World - CJ Mahaney
There are very few books that actually deal with this subject, but it will help you with understanding that worldliness is a matter of heart attitudes that are expressed in outward actions. This is also a good read because it steers you away from legalism as a cure for worldliness and centers on Christ.

Radical, Taking back your faith from the American Dream - David Platt
This book teaches us about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: radical obedience, radical generosity, radical love for one another! It is counter-intuitive to the self centered American dream mentality.

Music Seminar

2011-10-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

Next month, we will have a familiar friend to our church with us to lead the music for our Expositors Conference, but on the Sunday, November 13th, Tom Pryde and his family will be with us all day on Sunday to teach us about music in worship. Can we just pick any kind of music that appeals to us, add Christian words and offer it to God as worship? What is "appropriate" music for worship and who makes that decision? The world's culture? The church culture? We as a church need to make sure we are always reforming out thinking to Scripture in every area, including the area of music. If you think that the church should only sing traditional hymns, you are in for a surprise! If you think we can "rock out" to whatever is popular and label it "Christian"; you're also in for an eye opener! This will be a great learning experience for us all! Make sure you plan to attend Sunday School, the AM and PM services because all of the lessons will build on one another.
For more info about Tom's music ministry, check out Sermonsinsong.com

Anniversary Sunday Pictures

2011-10-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Anniversary Sunday last week on October 2nd. We had a very encouraging service with Pastor Dave Smith, the son of our founding pastor, Ken Smith. Bro. Smith talked to us in Sunday School about the history of the church and how his family came out here from Michigan to plant, what was originally "Calvary Baptist Church of Irvington CA."

In these two pictures, Pastor Dudding presents a portrait of Ken Smith who pastored Calvary Baptist Church from 1954-1985. We also showed video footage of the church's past and how God blessed this church with hundreds of souls saved and missionaries sent out.

The service was well attended with over 70 present. We had a BBQ after the service. We also had several former members who were here when Pastor Ken Smith was pastor to pay tribute to his memory of faithful service.

Pastors Will Dudding and Dave Smith by the church's birthday cake in the shape of a cross. A cross-shaped cake was a tradition every year for the church's anniversary.

Reformation Sunday

2011-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Every year we remember the Reformation on the last weekend of October when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the church door of Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 as a protest against certain abuses in the Roman Catholic Church. From that event, God opened the flood gates of truth which changed the world forever. In the last few years, we have taken this weekend and learned bits of history about the reformers whom God used to lay the foundations we are building upon today. Back in 2008 we looked at the life of Martin Luther, in 2009 the life of John Calvin, in 2010 the life of John Knox and this year, the life of William Tyndale who contributed to the reformation by translating the Bible into English. Much of Bible translation work to this day, still depends on the work of Tyndale for which he was martyred by the King of England. Tyndale is famous for having said:

"I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my lief, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of Scripture than he dost!"

Certainly that wish came true! The average man or woman who is born again with an English Bible in his/her hands knows more of the Scripture than the Pope himself! We will learn about his life during the Reformation Day celebration on Sunday, October 30th at the 11am service.

Tracts and Treats

2011-10-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, October 29th at the Fremont Hub, there is a haunted house that will be busy with lots of kids and parents to celebrate Halloween and have some spooky fun. As Christians, we don't really have any reason to celebrate a day of death and demons. However, instead of retreating to our homes, we need to be missional in our thinking! We need to go to where the people are and engage them with the good news of life and love in Jesus Christ! So, we will be going out to where the trick-or-treaters are and give them "Tracts and Treats"! In our community groups on Oct. 25th and 27th we will put together candy grams with this tract, and some candy to pass out to the kids on the 29th. What a great way to spread some light in the midst of the darkness! So, join us on mission and have some fun!

Leadership Summit This Saturday

2011-10-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, we will be having a leadership summit with Pastors Bob Bixby and Jeremy Scott from Morning Star Baptist Church, Rockford, Ill. who will be meeting with Pastor Will and the men of the church. Our goal is to form a working leadership team of men who aspire to leadership in the church. We need men to lead, take responsibility, give accountability and carry out the vision of the church. Our vision has been articulated many times by pastor Will to be "An Authentic Community of Disciples on the Mission of Jesus". We need men to step up and develop the qualities set out in I Timothy 3. Some may end up being called to lead in a pastoral role as an elder, others may be called to be deacons in the church and others who do not end up filling any of these offices, are still able to be leaders of community groups, leaders of volunteers and most importantly - leaders of their own families! A church will only be healthy and growing when it has vibrant leadership that learns how to pass on the faith to others who are able to teach others also:

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

So, this Saturday, we will be meeting at the church at 10:00am to begin a leadership summit with the current leaders of the church, but it will be open to other men and their wives who are interested in learning how this team is going to function. We want as many of our members to be aware of how our church will be guided by leadership so that there is a good relationship between leaders and those being led. Distrust of leadership is en vogue today due to the many scandals that religious and political leaders have been involved in over the years. However, without solid, godly, biblical leadership and a congregation that is supportive of that leadership, the church will never be effective, nor will it strive together to accomplish the mission of Jesus. Come and be a part of this important development in the life of our church this weekend!

Anniversary Sunday, October 2

2011-10-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

The first Sunday of October will mark the 57th year anniversary of our church. Originally founded in 1954 as "Calvary Baptist Church"; Pastor Ken Smith planted this church in a small barn-like building down the street on Roberts Ave. on the property of Ms. Emily Stockton. The City of Fremont had just been incorporated after having joined the towns of Irvington, Centerville and Niles into once city. It was the perfect time to plant a church in a new community that was quickly growing. Pastor Smith and his wife both went home to be with the Lord a few years ago, and we would like to take this anniversary of our church's existence by remembering the man who planted this church and thank God for the work he did for the Lord in this place so many years ago. Pastor Smith's son Dave will be our guest. In Sunday School at 10:00am, Bro. Dave Smith will tell us the story first hand of how the church was founded and give us some history of our church. Then he will preach for us in the 11:00am service. We will be showing some video footage of the church's early days and then after the service, we will enjoy a BBQ on the church lawn. We hope to see you Sunday, October 2nd for this special day!

Ministry Partnership with MSBC

2011-09-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we as a church decided to make another decision that would help us fulfill the our obligation to be led by a plurality of elders as we agreed to do a few weeks ago by amending our constitution. In order to have a real plurality, we have called upon the elders of Morning Star Baptist Church in Rockford Illinois, to come along side Pastor Will and consider being elders of Mission Peak Baptist Church simultaneously. The goal is to build a leadership team here in Fremont under the authority of a working plurality of Elders until a real plurality is established in our church. Then, we would disconnect from Morning Star Baptist Church with an autonomous Eldership in place. This is a bold move that has rarely been done between two churches. We hope that this will serve as a model of ministry partnership that can be copied later on by other congregations that are wanting to help other churches or that need help in some way. One of the reasons we have not just decided to raise up our own elders without the help of another church is because nobody on our side has ever seen a real working plurality of elders in a church before. Pastor Will came from a background where one pastor had all the power. We felt it would be wiser to have an experienced church that has successfully raised up elders and has a good working relationship between them all currently, to come along side us and guide us in establishing this new leadership dynamic. The first step that we are looking forward to will be a leadership summit with the pastors of Morning Star Baptist as well as the consultation of a couple of other third party pastors who will meet with our pastor and men in our church who can potentially comprise a leadership team. From this team, we pray that God will call one or more men to be elders. We will then raise the standards for leadership higher than ever before and establish a training process that will ensure that this team is all pulling in the same direction, functioning as a team, and growing in the same theology.

This process has not been without spiritual warfare and opposition over the past couple months leading up to this point. The Devil is not happy about the positive changes that are taking place which will lead us to become a more healthy church. The status quo is being challenged and broken and God is getting glory!

Working Toward A New Normal

2011-09-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

We have just started a new community group sereis of lessons called "The Gospel in Life" put together by Tim Keller. The first lesson was about the city of man in which we are pilgrims and exiles. God has kept us here and has asked us to go into the city of man and seek it's prosperity and peace like He did to the Jews in Babylonian exile in Jeremiah 29. The false prophets told the people to leave the city in order to keep their spiritual distinctiveness, but God said stay in the city AND keep your spiritual distinctiveness. What is our attitude toward the city in which we live? It ought to be to seek the good of the city, it's prosperity and peace by sharing and living out the gospel. However, when the city becomes expensive, dangerous or morally degenerate, we forsake the city and move to the suburbs like the false prophets told the Jews to do. We don't stick around to help make a difference in our city because the American dream is bigger than God's mission.

So, in our discussion time, one of our ladies brought up a really good observation that got us thinking about what should be normal for our church. She mentioned that over 10 years ago, our church suffered a huge outward migration of over 100 people who moved out of the Bay Area to the Central Valley within a year's time because of the economy. But it wasn't a bad economy that made people move out....it was a good one! The real estate market was booming and people could afford to move out of Fremont to places like Tracy, Manteca, Stockton and Modesto and buy houses three times as big for the same price as a one bedroom condo here. At the same time, hoards of people from India, Asia and the Middle East were moving in to Fremont and changing the demographics drastically. This almost killed our church at the time because almost all of the members pulled up their stakes and left for greener pastures.

When she made the connection between the lesson's emphasis to stay in the city and be a blessing to it for the sake of the gospel and the church's history of people leaving for the sake of the American Dream, it really impacted the small group and opened our eyes. We have been told that this kind of migration of people leaving the area and the church for financial reasons is "Normal". Maybe that was normal for those people who left, but we who remain and have been added to the church since then need to understand that we need a new normal. I know there are circumstances in individual families who absolutely have to leave the area, but in the early 2000's, many of them didn't HAVE to. Many left because there was a real estate gold rush going on and the grass was greener on the other side of the east hills. But the Gospel mission has not changed. The mission field came to Fremont during those years, and hundreds of God's people left the city, withdrew salt and light from the area not for the sake of the Gospel, but for the sake of the American Dream. Is this supposed to be normal? In a church that is not gospel centered, unfortunately, it is.

But when we realize that we have a higher calling than buying a big house in the country so we can be surrounded by good American white folks in clean neighborhoods, maybe we won't have to experience this kind of mass migration out of our church again. Maybe we can have a new normal. Maybe God's people will think "missionally" and stay in the smaller house, living in a neighborhood surrounded by foreigners for the sake of seeking their salvation! This is the new normal that we want to create as a culture in our church! How will you respond?

Decisive Victory!

2011-08-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last night, we had a business meeting that will probably go down in the church's history as one of the most important decisions that this church has ever made. We amended our constitution by changing the entire section on church government. The old constitution had almost all power in the hands of one single pastor and authority shared with the deacon board. Over the years, this church has suffered because of the abuses of power by the pastor: the office of the pastor has had no oversight, very little accountability and almost all power to do whatever he has wanted. In the past, this has led to pastors making unbiblical or unethical decisions because the pastor has had no other pastor to oversee him.

The current pastor, Will Dudding, has tried to lead in a way that would not abuse that power. But even in trying to be careful about that, there is a natural leadership vacuum. Either deacons will be empowered, or the congregation will be empowered. In the New Testament, there is no evidence of the sheep running the sheepfold and there is no evidence of deacons being authorities with power in the church. Furthermore, you will NEVER find one single pastor calling all the shots for any one church (except maybe Diotrophes in 3John 9). Pastor Dudding has determined, after much study of the Bible and study of other churches, that the 'single pastor led', deacon led' or 'congregation-led' church model is deficient at best and dysfunctional at worst. The Biblical pattern found all over the book of Acts and in the Epistles is a church that is led by elders who have authority that is shared among a plurality of equals. There will no longer be THE Pastor. There will be "Pastors". Pastor Dudding will continue to be the lead pastor who does the majority of the teaching and preaching for which he is paid full-time; but he will seek to share his authority with other God-called and qualified men who will work with him as a team to lead the church. We voted last night to move our church in this direction so that the kinds of mistakes, abuses and bad decisions that have hurt the church in the past will not be repeated by this inherently faulty system of leadership that we have lived under. In an ironic way, it was awesome to see a plurality at work in the business meeting between Pastor Will, Bob Bixby and Bro. Ashish all in lock step and in unity together leading the church to make a good decision!

This is a decisive victory against the Devil whose design has been to sow dysfunction in this church under continued vying for power between pastor, people and deacons. This power struggle that has been won by certain pastors at times or various deacon boards at other times is finally going to come to an end and the power will rest in a plurality of elders as God intended for his churches to be led! We have a long way to go because a church that has not been led this way all these years is not going to immediately understand plural elder leadership and how it works. This is why we are going to need help from other pastors who have experience in an elder-led church to help us get the experience we need and the training we need to raise up men to be elders. We will be spending the next few weeks teaching about this on Sunday nights and in our community groups in order to fully understand what Biblical Eldership is according to the Bible.

Gospel in Life Series coming this month

2011-08-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Trailer for Gospel in Life from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

In a couple of weeks, we will be done with our current series in our community groups and we will be starting a new study on Tuesday, August 32 and Thursday the 25th. This is going to be something that challenges our Christianity at a deeper level! Gospel in Life is an eight-week course on the gospel and how it is lived out in all of life— first in our hearts, then in community, and out into the world.

Week 1 opens the course with the theme of the city: our home now, the world that is. Week 8 closes the course with the theme of the eternal city: our heavenly home, the world that is to come. In between we will look at how the gospel changes our hearts (weeks 2 and 3), changes our community (weeks 4 and 5), and changes how we live in the world (weeks 6 and 7).

Session Titles:
1. City: The World That Is
2. Heart: Three Ways to Live
3. Idolatry: The Sin Beneath The Sin
4. Community: The Context for Change
5. Witness: An Alternate City
6. Work: Cultivating the Garden
7. Justice: A People For Others
8. Eternity: The World That Is To Come

Standing on the Shoulders of Pulpit Giants

2011-07-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

This November, our church has the privilege of hosting the second Expositors Conference with Dr. Steve Lawson of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church of Mobile Alabama. The theme for the conference will be called "A Call for a New Reformation: Standing on the Shoulders of Pulpit Giants". Dr. Lawson will be teaching us about expositional preaching from the ministries of some of church history's greatest preachers!

As a church, we get the opportunity to serve at least 100 of God's servants of the Word! We will need you to help us with setting up, parking control, registration table, clean up, and more. Let's start praying for this conference to make a difference in churches all over the Bay Area so that we can be part of ushering another new reformation!

Summer Preaching Re-charge

2011-06-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

During the summer, most churches experience a drop in attendance, giving and involvement due to so many people taking vacations. Since it is easy to lose a little bit of zeal in our Christian life during this season, we will have an opportunity to re-charge our batteries with some great preaching by some local pastors on August 14-16. Here's the line up:

Sunday night at 6pm we will hear from Pastor Cliff McManis from Grace Bible Fellowship in Mountain View
Monday night at 7pm, we will hear from Pastor Rod Phillips who is leading a church plant called Gateway Bible Church in Castro Valley.
Tuesday night at 7pm, we will hear from Pastor Jacob Denys of Calvary Bible Church of Milpitas.

There is no charge, but we will be taking offerings for our speakers every night. Please plan to attend every night and pray for God to use each preacher to re-charge our spirits for the glory of God!

Church Camp Out

2011-06-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, some of our members enjoyed a few days in the Redwood forest campgrounds of Big Basin State Park. There was hiking, campfires, Raccoons and helpful instruction on the subject of "Worship" around the campfire each morning and evening, plus encouraging testimonies of how God has been working in all of our lives. If you didn't make it to the camp out this year, make plans to do it next summer!

July 3rd BBQ

2011-06-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Every July 4th Weekend, we celebrate God's grace that has been shed on our great country! This year, we will be having a BBQ after the morning service. Make sure to sign up to bring a side dish! We will also have our evening service immediately after the BBQ around 3 PM. Invite a friend!

Ministry Partnership

2011-05-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, our church had a "family chat" on Thursday night about a ministry partnership opportunity that Pastor Will Dudding and Pastor Bob Bixby have been discussing since Bro. Bixby was visiting with us in April for our Missional Mandate Conference. This partnership is really about building a working relationship with Morning Star Baptist Church of Rockford Ill. for the purpose of helping us building a pastoral team of elders at Mission Peak to work alongside Pastor Dudding as we pursue our vision of becoming an "Authentic Community of Disciples on the Mission of Jesus". This summer for the whole month of July and part of August, Pastor Bixby and his family will be coming all the way out here to be with us again. Pastor Bixby will be doing some personal mentoring for our pastor and together they will demonstrate the Biblical model of plural eldership as is the Biblical pattern for church leadership. They will be exploring various ideas along with the church membership about how we as a church can best contextualize in order to reach the city of Fremont most effectively with the gospel. In preparation for this, we would like to encourage you to read a short book by Mark Dever called "By Whose Authority? Elders in Baptist Life" which you can pick up in the church bookstore for $8.00 or you can read a PDF version of the book for free by clicking here.

A more Biblical leadership structure would be best for our church's present and future health and growth. It is our heart to continually be assessing what we are doing by the Word of God and take necessary steps to ensure that we are being as faithful to the pattern set for us in Scripture so we are an authentic church, not necessarily defined by tradition or what is popular. Please start praying for these special 5 weeks with Pastor Bixby to be fruitful and encouraging for both our church and his.

New Curriculum for Community Groups

2011-05-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday and Thursday, we will be launching our first two community groups and we will be going through a set of lessons taught by Chip Ingram called "R12" True Spirituality According to Jesus. It's an exposition through Romans 12 and teaches us what an authentic Christian life looks like. Then at the same time, Chip show us how Jesus lived out these truths in real life leaving us an example to follow. Check out the video above to learn more and go to the R12 website for more info.

The Gospel of Mark

2011-05-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

In two Sundays we will be starting a new series that will keep us occupied for quite a while. We will be in the book of Mark looking at the life of Christ as the Servant King! The beauty of Jesus is not only in His kingly majesty, but also in his humility. We will what it means to be truly great in the Kingdom of God by studying the serving King.

Church Camp-Out

2011-05-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple years since we've had the joy of having a church camp out. This time we'll stay somewhat local. We will be camping out and checking out the beautiful giant redwoods in Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The dates are Thursday - Saturday, June 23-25th. Mark your calenders and make plans to join us. There will be a sign up sheet in the foyer for you to sign up. Hurry, space is limited.

Introducing: A Baptist Catechism

2011-04-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months, we have been recently introduced to a Baptist Catechism written by a local pastor named William Downing at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Morgan Hill. This book will soon serve as the basis for our Sunday School lessons next month. There are over 170 questions and answers that thoroughly and simply teach the whole counsel of God. It will take several years to teach the entire catechism, but by the time we get to the end of it, those who have gone through the entire course will have a firm and deep understanding of Christian theology and the Baptist faith. Every family should own one of these catechisms and they are for sale in the church bookstore. Perhaps you think that a Catechism isn't something that Baptists use...well, that is simply not true. Baptists have employed Catechisms since the 1600's and even Charles Spurgeon wrote one for use in his church. The reason that the use of a catechism is so unfamiliar to most of us today is because of the superficiality of modern American Christianity in regards to theology that is so pervasive. Think about it, where is theology being taught to the people in our churches? Most preaching and Sunday School materials are nothing more than lessons on moralism. Para-church organizations like Ligonier Ministries have had to rise up and fill the gap between the seminary and the Sunday School as Dr. Sproul often says, because too many in pastoral leadership are not doing it. To understand more about a catechism and why it's important to bring them back into the life of the church, read the following explanation:

I. What is a catechism?
In 1 Corinthians 14:19 Paul says, "In the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue." In Galatians 6:6 he says, "Let him who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches." Acts 18:25 says that Apollos "has been instructed in the way of the Lord."In each of these verses the Greek word for "instruct" or "teach" is katecheo. From this word we get our English word "catechize". It simply means to teach Biblical truth in an orderly way. Generally this is done with questions and answers accompanied by Biblical support and explanation.

II. What is the history of a catechism?
This is a similar version of "The Baptist Catechism" first put forth by Baptists in 1689 in Great Britain. It is patterned on the well-known reformed Westminster Catechism.

III. Is there a Biblical pattern of doctrine?
The term catechism is derived from the Greek term katecheo which means "to teach orally, instruct by mouth". It is a compound word in which you might recognize the Greek word "echeo" from where we get the English word "echo". Thus we have a pattern in the very word for a question and answer style of instruction. Several texts teach this and use this Greek word that is translated "instruction or teaching". For example, in Romans 6:17 Paul gives thanks that "you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were committed." 2 Timothy 1:13 says, "Follow the pattern of sound words which you heard from me." Acts 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us." And Acts 20:27 says, "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."So it appears that there was a body of authoritative instruction and even a way of teaching it in the early church.

IV. Why is it important?
We are required to "continue in the faith, stable and steadfast" (Col. 1:23).
We are urged to "attain to the unity of the... knowledge of the Son of God...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:13-14).
There are many deceivers (1 John 2:26).
There are difficult doctrines "which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16).Leaders must be raised up who can "give instruction in sound doctrine and also confute those who contradict it" (Titus 1:9).

Celebrating 400 Years of the KJV

2011-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

Next Sunday marks a historical landmark for the Bible in the English language. 400 years ago next week, the first copy of the King James Bible (aka The Authorized Version) was introduced hot off the printing presses in England in the year 1611. The newly crowned king of England made a political move to unite English churches and solidify the English language by commissioning a committee to revise the several English Bibles that were in print back then, like the Geneva Bible and the Bishops Bible. By bringing together the best linguistic scholars of their day, they produced a version of the Bible that has defined the English language and has been the most powerful force for the gospel in modern times. So, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the KJV, we will be dedicating our morning service to learning about the history of the English Bible and particularly the King James Bible. We will have displays and sample manuscripts to look at and everyone who attends will receive a full-color Bible History Chart to take home with them. We hope this will help people appreciate the Bible in our language and renew a respect for this mighty Book!

Easter Special- The King is Coming

2011-04-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is the biggest day in Christendom - It's the resurrection day of our Lord, Jesus. It is the one event that validates our faith above all others, and gives us hope of eternal life that we share with Jesus. This Sunday at 11am, we will be celebrating with a musical presentation called "The King is Coming" which looks at the first coming when He was crucified and resurrected, and also looks toward the second coming when He will reign as King over all the earth. Come join us April 24th at 11AM.

Community Groups - Starting Soon!

2011-04-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.

It has been our church's regular schedule to have a midweek service on Thursday nights, but with the shifting culture of people commuting long distances and working odd schedules we have been talking about transitioning from Thursday meetings to mid-week community groups where we can gather on a couple different days of the week at different locations in a member's home. The focus would be on fellowship and prayer with each centered on a small group Bible study curriculum. Beginning in mid-May we will launch this ministry for the first time.

What we see in the book of Acts over and over again is a corporate gathering (usually at the temple) and then a small group gathering in homes. In our Baptist churches, we have been so accustomed to corporate meetings, we have neglected the smaller gatherings that foster real fellowship and community among the members of the church. It is also a great opportunity to introduce someone to the Lord through a community group who might be apprehensive about visiting the church. The setting is casual, conversational and non-threatening. We'll be releasing more information about where to meet and when as we get closer to launching our first community groups!

New Members Class Starting May 15th

2011-04-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

If you're new to Mission Peak Baptist Church and you're contemplating becoming a member or you just want to know what we're all about, then we'd love to have you attend a new Sunday School Class that will begin May 15th and will run until June 26th. We will be looking at the following subjects:

Week 1 - What is a Church?
Week 2 - What is the Church's Purpose?
Week 3 - What is Required for Membership?
Week 4 - What is our Philosophy of Ministry?
Week 5 - What are the Expectations and Ideals for Membership?
Week 6 - What is our Strategy for Ministry?
Week 7 - Why are we Baptists?

Hopefully, in these seven weeks, you will get all of your questions answered and be encouraged to join us on the Mission of Jesus!

Missional Mandate Audio and Notes

2011-04-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

We just finished up our Missional Mandate Conference this weekend, and we learned so much about how to "Contextualize" as a church so we can best reach the lost for Christ.

You can go to our church website and download all the sessions and notes if you missed some of the sessions! Just go to our website here: http://www.missionpeakbaptist.com/Missional_Mandate.html

Pews Refinished

2011-03-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, we finally got our pews remodeled with new fabric and paint to match the rest of the interior. Here are some pictures of the church sanctuary with everything all done!

Then, here's a closer look at the platform....

Deal With It!

2011-03-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

Matthew 15:18-20 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man."

Starting this Sunday evening, we will be starting a new series of lessons that will be a little different than our usual sermons through books or life studies. We will be dealing with some deep seeded heart issues that all of us struggle with such as fear, anxiety, anger, lust, depression as well as marriage and child rearing issues. Whatever "it" is that you may be struggling with, we are going to deal with it Biblically. This series will take a number of months to go through since we'll be diving deep into the heart!

Missional Mandate Conference - April 1-3 Coming Soon!

2011-02-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

I want to invite you to a short conference that is coming soon to our church on April 1-3 Fri-Sun called The Missional Mandate Conference. We are inviting Pastor Bob Bixby from Morning Star Baptist Church of Rockford Ill. to be our guest speaker. The term "missional" has become one of those words that you have either come to love or hate depending on the context in which you perceive it.

What we want to accomplish with this conference is to help our church understand how to think like missionaries and live like missionaries in our community. The mission field is not all "over there" across the world - it's also across the street. We will be dealing with the subjects such as incarnational Christian living and contextualization from a thoroughly Biblical perspective. We are not interested in promoting whatever the latest fad is coming out of some mega-ministry. We want to challenge God's people to carry out the great commission faithfully and effectively. To get to know a little more about our speaker, you can visit his church website here and his personal blog here.

The conference schedule will go as follows:

April 1 Friday night at 7pm

April 2 Saturday at 10AM - 2PM with lunch provided

April 3 Sunday at 11AM for our morning worship service

We are using a weekend to do this so that more of us in our church will be enabled to attend. We can get more done in one Saturday than in four days in a row like the usual Monday - Thursday conference schedule. There is no charge, but we will be taking offerings during the services.

Spring Campaign Approaching!

2011-02-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

We are well into 2011 and our Spring campaign is quickly approaching! We will be reaching out to the community through three events between Sunday March 20-27th:

Open House Sunday ~ March 20 @ 11:00AM
We invite you to join us as we celebrate the completion of our recent building remodel. We would like to share our vision with you. There will be a helpful Bible message and then a complimentary lunch served after the service!

Spring Cleaning Day ~ March 26 @ 9AM-5PM
We know you care about keeping our city clean and we do too! So, we want to invite you to do your spring cleaning on us. Bring anything you’d like to throw away to our debris box and we’ll haul it away for you!
Note: All E-Waste can be dropped off directly at Allied Waste during business hours.

Teachers Appreciation Day ~ March 27 @ 11:00 PM
Come and honor some of our community’s unsung heroes: our local school teachers! Every teacher who attends will receive a special gift and there will be a complimentary lunch served after the service.

How a Worship Format is Destroying the Evangelical Church

2011-01-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

There is a great article on Sharperiron.com this morning about church worship that our members should read for their own personal discernment. You can go to the article with discussion and comments by clicking here, or just read below:

During my lifetime, many evangelical churches in American have moved from Bible-oriented gatherings to music-dominated meetings. Interestingly, both sets of religious gatherings typically bore the title, “Worship Service.”When the evangelical church was Bible-oriented, this “worship” paradigm was in place:

(1) Not all elements of the service were considered equally important; the exposition of Scripture was clearly the first and foremost priority. All other competitors vied for a distant second place.

(2) When the term “worship” was used, it was the equivalent of our modern casual expression, “doing church.” It is important to note that the preaching of the Word was considered part of worship, as were announcements, testimonies, communion, prayer, singing, the offering, and special music. This was the typical structure of a “worship service” before 1980.

(3) Many evangelicals viewed music as a “warm up for the sermon.” In this regard, many leaders did not seem to often respect music ministry as actual ministry but many others did.The changeBut the paradigm has changed in many churches. The most important change was what the word “worship” communicates. The word “worship” is now used by clergy and laity alike to refer to the religious feelings aroused by music.

(1) The change in paradigms began with the addition on an article: “the” worship. As trivial as this seems, this was the beginning of emphasizing music and separating preaching and announcements from worship. We now have “the worship” and “the sermon.”Here is just one possible scenario resulting from this change in definition. John Member has schedule a meeting with Pastor Jones. Let’s eavesdrop.“Pastor, I think we need to cut down the time you preach. Fifteen minutes is plenty, I think.”“I don’t agree,” replies Pastor Jones, “studying the Bible is crucial for every Christian.”“Oh, I agree that the Bible is important, Pastor,” responds John Member, “but our morning service is billed as the morning worship service, so it should be mainly about worship, not preaching.”In the above hypothetical conversation, you can see how the two meanings of the word “worship” are colliding with one another. In the pastor’s mind, Bible study is an important part of worship, but not in the mind of John Member. He views only music as “worship.”

(2) Other terminology changed. Schools that offered a major in church music (or “sacred music” for the hoi polloi) changed the major to “Worship Arts” (about the same time shades and curtains became “window treatments”). The song leader became known as the “worship leader.”

(3) Music became more emotionally intense, and a confusion between the emotional and the spiritual helped set music on an untouchable pedestal. Worship had become something one felt, not something one did. Worship was judged as good or bad based upon how it made worshippers feel. The Scriptures no longer defined good worship; the individual had become the discerner of truth based upon how he felt.

(4) In mega-churches, elitism and an attitude oriented toward musicians performing to the standards of other musicians (rather than aiming to bless the congregation) seems to be the norm. In some cases, musicians have become a special religious caste (like a priest, they lead the sacrifice of praise into the holy place).

(5) Even though Colossians 3:16 implies we should aim our hymns and songs both vertically and horizontally (we sing to one another and in our hearts to the Lord), the entire concept of worshiping God in the third person is gone, despite the fact that many Psalms speak of God as “He” rather than “You.”

(6) The goal of worship is creating a religious atmosphere and its attendant feelings. Often times worship leaders are weak in biblical and theological matters, but because more Christians value “worship” above theology, some of these leaders are carving out a pattern for church with little regard for biblical teaching about what the church is supposed to do when gathered.

(7) Here is the pattern: eventually worship (music and that religious feeling) is considered almost on a par with Scripture, then equal to Scripture, and eventually superior to it.* The Scriptures become subservient to the music and are used more as transitions between songs than holy word to be expounded. Biblical sermons have given way to self-help lectures or emotionally charged sermons with lots of illustrations—replacing the previous Psalm 1 mentality. The idea of worshiping God through deep Bible study and meditation in the Word is unknown; worship now means music and feelings.The consequences & dangers of the new “worship format”Religion is back in vogue. We used to hear “I’m not religious, I just love the Lord,” or “Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship.” Because of the new emphasis on religious feeling, it is fair to say that we have moved back into the domain of religion.Worship has become a religious experience dependent upon something else than the gathering of Christians to study the Word, pray, celebrate communion, and sing a few hymns. Based upon modern viewpoints, the early church must have done a poor job of worshipping God.If the church is about worship, and if worship is a religious feeling induced from a church gathering, then, if I get a stronger version of that feeling somewhere else, that is where I need to be. Rather than the Bible, a passionate feeling of worship becomes the canon by which I measure truth.As a result, Christians not only move from evangelical church to evangelical church, but they also dessert evangelicalism. Our heritage is based upon the centrality of Scripture; we are really novices at the religion game. But even if we competed well on a religious level, are we right to trash the primacy of Scripture? What about the convictions of the Reformation?The problem is not contemporary music, seeking to have meaningful worship through songs of praise, etc. The problem is displacement. When we displace the knowledge of the Word and solid doctrine with music (whether we call music worship or not), we are no longer under the lordship of Christ. The Christian life includes public worship, but the highest form of worship is hearing and doing the Word of God. That is why the ultimate “worship book” in the Bible, the book of Psalms, begins with emphasizing constant meditation on the Word. The longest Psalm (119) makes the point even more emphatically. God seeks those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. It is hard to worship God in truth if you don’t know the truth and if you do not make the truth a priority.
___________________________
About the Author: Ed Vasicek was raised as a Roman Catholic in Cicero, Illinois. During his senior year in high school (1974), Cicero Bible Church reached out to him, and he received Jesus Christ as his Savior by faith alone. Ed earned his BA at Moody Bible Institute then served as pastor of Victory Bible Church of Chicago. He has served as pastor of Highland Park Church since 1983. Ed and his wife, Marylu, have two adult children, Hannah and Luke. Ed has written over 500 weekly columns for the opinion page of the Kokomo Tribune, published articles in Pulpit Helps magazine, and posted many papers at his church website. You can access them at www.highlandpc.com. He has also recently published the Jewish Roots book, The Midrash Key .

New Date Set for the 2011 Expositors Conference

2011-01-11T00:29:00.000-08:00

It was our privilege to have Dr. Steve Lawson with us last year in September for our Expositors Conference which blessed over 150 delegates who came from all over California (and a few from further away) to be instructed in the area of expository preaching. We were originally going to host the 2011 conference in September, but our friends at the Cornerstone Seminary in Vallejo will be hosting the Exalting Christ Conference with Dr. Lawson the week before ours and Dr. Lawson thought it would be better if the time between their conference and ours were spread out a little more. So, we've agreed to host our conference on Monday and Tuesday, November 14-15, 2011. Go to our conference site for more details.

New Theme for 2011

2010-12-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Every year, we choose a theme to help us focus on something that we need to be strengthened in. In 2010, the theme was from Colossians 1:18 - "Jesus First!" We wanted to make sure that we affirm and focus on Jesus being the Head of the church and preeminent in all parts of our lives. This coming year, in 2011, we will be focusing on the basic mission of the church. The first thing Jesus told his disciples when He met with them in the upper room after the resurrection was: "As the Father has sent me, even so send I you." Just as Jesus was a Missionary sent to seek the lost, so we are sent by Jesus to seek the lost. Everything we do this year will be for this singular purpose, the reason we exist - the fulfill the mission of Jesus!

Must Read Book to be released soon!

2010-12-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, this book has been in the making that will transform everything you think about the Christian life. Much like the book, Radical, by David Platt; this book will transform the way you see your relationship to Christ and the way you view your life!

Slave from Grace Community Church on Vimeo.
We will get some of these in the bookstore in January!

Christmas Eve eve Service

2010-12-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

This Thursday, December 23rd we will be having our normal Thursday night meeting but it will be different than the usual format. We'll be holding a candlelight service, singing Christmas songs, and reading the prophecies that were foretold concerning the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We begin at 7:00pm. Please join us in this final corporate Christmas expression of worship. We will serve hot chocolate after the service in the foyer.

Have a Merry Christmas with your family and friends Friday and Saturday!

New Bookstore Arrivals

2010-12-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months since we had some new materials in the bookstore, so we will begin the new year with some great reads. The first one to mention is going to be the basis of our men's Sunday School class that will begin the first Sunday of the year. We will be studying the parable that is often known as "The Prodigal Son" and using John MacArthur's book "The Tale of Two Sons" as our study guide. Then the ladies will be having their own Sunday School class and they will begin a study on the holiness of God. One of the books that you'll want to get for that study will be R.C. Sproul's book by the same name:

In addition to these books that will be used in our teaching ministry, there are a few others that will be beneficial as well. One of the most difficult to understand doctrines in the Bible is the doctrine of election. It is made very plain and understandable in Dr. Sproul's book called "Chosen By God". Most people who do not understand this doctrine ask: "what difference does it really make anyway?" That's a good question because this doctrine will change the way you see the greatness of God and the way you understand the greatness of your salvation:

On the other side of the coin, there is the responsibility of believers to share the gospel with all people in the world so that the name of Jesus is made known to all nations, but it is going to take radical faith and obedience to get it done. Pastor David Platt wrote an incredible book called "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream". Be prepared to see the mission of declaring the gospel as more than just an occasional event or a passive activity of the Christian. The spread of the gospel will take radical faith:This is a book that every leader in the church should read. It's a study in the lives of Kings Saul, David and Absalom. This book is very humbling and challenging for those of us who are under authority, in authority or aspiring to be. There is a tendency to be a power monger like Saul, a disloyal power seeker like Absolom, but to be a man after God's heart, we need to be like David who trusted in God at all times when waiting for a leadership position, when his leadership position was threatened and when he was in authority with leadership.

Lastly, there is a video that we showed in Sunday School a few weeks ago called "How Great is our God" by Louie Giglio. It is a wonderful message about how big the universe is, and how fearfully and wonderfully made we are because of our great God! If the earth was a golf ball, you'll find out how big the rest of the universe is in comparison...

Tree of Hope

2010-12-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had our Christmas musical which went very well! But best of all, we were able to help the Compassion Network by supplying Christmas gifts for people in our city who could not provide gifts for their kids due to the economic Grinch! On the Christmas tree in the foyer, we had several stars hanging from the branches with a child's name and a desired gift. Thank you to all of you who took one and bought a gift for these dear people. It will be a pleasure and a great opportunity to continue meeting needs through the Compassion Network.

The Simple Fool

2010-12-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Last Sunday morning we switched our sermon for Sunday night and preached from Proverbs in our series on the fool. Here's the video that we played as an example of a simple foolish Christian who doesn't want to think hard, discern, and learn the hard stuff about the Christian life. The simple just want to be told what to do because they believe every word they hear: Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

CityServe Compassion Network

2010-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have Christine Beitsch from the Compassion Network as our guest to tell us about a wonderful opportunity to serve our community. The Compassion Network is a ministry that was birthed from a regular prayer meeting among many local pastors which is called "City Serve". These Evangelical churches in the Tri-City area have pulled together resources to help our fellow citizens who are in need in the name of Jesus. It's a great opportunity to expose ourselves to people who would most likely never come to our church so we can serve them by meeting their physical needs and open the door to witness to them about the greatest need they have: salvation. To get started we are asking our church to help provide some Christmas gifts for some of our neighbors who are struggling due to the economy. We have a Christmas Tree in the foyer with some stars that have the name and gift wish of several people. Please take a star, buy the gift and have it wrapped by December 19th. Return the star with the gift to the church so we can get it to the right person. Please also include a little note to them wishing them a Merry Christmas and include a church invitation. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive! Experience this truth for yourself!

The Offering

2010-12-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, we did a few things differently in our morning worship time. For example we, took our offering a little different than the usual way of passing the plate row by row. Instead, there was a table at the front right of the sanctuary with the plates and the verse: 1 Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him...

The method of giving to the temple in days of Jesus was much like the way we did it on Sunday. There was a giving station where worshippers personally approached it and put in their offerings. We see this mentioned in: Luke 21:1-2 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.

There is no right or wrong way to give your offering, because it is more of a matter of the heart rather than amount or the method by which the offering is given according to: 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

So, what is the purpose of giving our offerings in the manner in which we did and may continue to do? First of all, giving is an act of worship, not an act of compulsion: 1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Worship is both active and passive. It is giving and receiving. You receive grace from God (passive), and you give praise to God (active). Something is being done to you and in response, you are doing something back. For example, the reading of the Word, preaching of the Word and praying of the Word is something the worshipper passively receives. The singing of praise, giving of offerings and offering of prayers is active - something the worshipper does as a response. However, in most American, Evangelical and Fundamentalist traditions, the worship "service" has morphed into a provider of religious goods and services by making everything strictly passive. The worshipper comes to church seeking to have a worship experience rather than participating in worship to God. This plays very well into the consumer driven mentality of American culture. So, the giving of our offerings needs to be active and not passive. When the plate is passed to the worshipper, it a display of passivity. It also sends the subtle message of: "Give something to us". Rather, it is a more powerful image of God's people actively choosing to leave their seats and "Give something to God". This will take some forethought and preparation on our part as worshippers. We should never approach worship without already having been prepared to worship God in giving. When the offering is announced and we think: "Oh my, where's my checkbook??!" We show that we have not really prepared to worship God.

So, there may be questions about this and we'll discuss this subject tonight at our prayer meeting.

The Way of the Fool

2010-12-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Beginning this Sunday night, we will be starting a new series of messages on a very interesting, yet disturbing subject - The Way of the Fool: Identifying Character Deficit Disorder. The Bible says much about wisdom and foolishness that needs to be heeded with the greatest of seriousness.

Do you know someone who is impossible to deal with? Someone who you cannot reason with, someone who always thinks they are right and doesn't really care about your feelings or anyone else's, as long as they get what they want? Modern Psychiatry calls these people "Sociopaths" as if they have a mental disorder, but the Bible reveals these people to be "Fools" who have no problem with intelligence or brain function; instead, they have a severe moral disorder. Their "folly" is destructive to their own lives and damages the lives of the people around them. This study may be unlike anything you've ever heard before. You will learn how to detect foolishness in your own heart and how to rid yourself of it; and you will learn whether there is a fool or fools in your life that are bringing you down and how to deal with them in a loving and godly way.

Warning: These lessons will take a great deal of humility to listen to and apply to our lives. Pride will be exposed and made obvious to all.

Driven by the Mission

2010-11-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

2010 is almost over and we will soon begin a new year with a new church theme, new sermon series' and a new calendar. On the last Sunday of the year December 26th, we will begin a new series of sermons based on the book of Acts that will lay out a pattern for our church to be "Driven by the Mission" that Jesus has left us to fulfill. All churches would like to think they are "evangelistic" or "soul winning" because they have a weekly program that trains and engages their members in personal evangelism. However, in Scripture, you never see the early church doing an evangelism program, neither did they have a set time to go out "soul winning". They didn't compartmentalize their Christian life in such a way. Their whole lives were driven by the mission to make disciples locally and globally. They exercised their spiritual gifts for the benefit of each other and for telling the good news of Jesus to unbelievers everywhere they went. We need to take our cues from the men and women who "turned the world upside down". We do not desire to be driven by fads; driven by tradition; driven by the pastors vision to build our own little kingdom; we must truly desire to be a people who get up in the morning driven by our Lord's mission to make disciples of all people in all places - this is what it means to be a "Missional Church".

The Love of God at Christmas!

2010-11-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, December 19th, we will be celebrating the love of God in song with a Christmas musical at the 11:00AM service. The name of the musical is "The Love of God at Christmas". Please invite a friend or neighbor to come and enjoy this special Christmas presentation. Remember that the greatest gift that was ever given was the gift of God's Son for our salvation!

November 7 PM Service with the Azzarello Family

2010-11-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Next Sunday kicks off the beginning of our first semi-annual Missions Conference in collaboration with Manor Baptist Church in San Leandro and Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco. Each church is hosting a missionary or church planter to speak in their own church and then on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, those missionaries will make their rounds to the other churches so that we can all be exposed to new missionaries and that the three missionaries can be exposed to three different churches. We will have the privilege to meet Jason and Mary Azzarello who have recently planted a new church in Rocklin, CA called Blue Oaks Baptist Church. Pastor Dudding went to high school and college with Pastor Azzarello and we are happy about how God is using him to start this church.

We will also hear from Dr. Dave Sproul on Tuesday night and Missionary Mike Smith on Wednesday night. Please pray for these servants of God who are laboring in the Lord's harvest!

Celebrating John Knox

2010-10-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

Every October 31st, the whole country celebrates a day of death, the occult and Satan by dressing up our kids in costumes and sending them house to house to get candy. However, most people have no idea that on October 31, 1517 an unknown Roman Catholic monk named Martin Luther would stand up against the most powerful religion in the world. God would use his nailing of the 95 thesis on the church door of Wittenburg Germany as an occasion to open the flood gates of truth to Europe which has been called the "Protestant Reformation". For the last several years, we have taken the Sunday closest to October 31st to celebrate the Reformation by remembering certain men who were greatly used by God to shake the world for the gospel such as Luther, Calvin and this year, the Scottish reformer - John Knox. We also look back to key doctrines that were recovered during the Reformation as the theme of our service. Please join us for Reformation Sunday at 11:00AM

2010 Expositors Conference Reflections

2010-09-24T01:42:00.000-07:00

Last week our church hosted a conference on the subject of Expository Preaching where we called on preachers back to Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone as our all sufficient, totally authoritative source of truth from which we preach. Dr. Steve Lawson (pictured in the middle) was our guest speaker on September 13-14th.

We had a surprisingly large turnout with over 120 men and women who preach or teach in their local churches from all over northern Califorina. We had one pastor from India who even showed up! What was so incredible was the large mix of people who were there. We had fundamentalists and evangelicals all mixed together in one room where normally they would never be. What was preached to us that day was probably the most important event for pastors in our area this year.

One of the reasons this conference was such a success was because of the help of our local Christian radio station 1100AM KFAX for getting the word out. On Monday night, several of us got the opportunity to speak live on the air with Andy Froiland, the program manager, about the need for biblical preaching from a remote set up in our church foyer!

Finally, one of the most complimentary aspects of the conference was the music. My good friend, Tom Pryde led the worship in song by teaching us some "sermons in song" which is the name of his ministry. He taught us that music needs to also be taken as seriously as the preaching. It needs to communicate truth that admonishes and teaches so the Word will dwell richly in us. We had expository music to compliment expository preaching - just the way God intended it to be!

The response to the conference during and afterwards was worth all the effort. Pastors expressed how encouraged they were to go back to their churches and preach the word! So, we're going to do it again next year. Dr. Lawson will be returning to northern California for a 2011 Expositors Conference at Mission Peak Baptist Church on September 12-13! I pray for this conference to grow in influence and be used of God to be a catalyst for real change in our churches and for the glory of God.

New Sunday School Series

2010-09-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

Beginning Sunday September 19th, we will begin a new Sunday School series from the book "Believing God." In this book, Dr. R.C.Sproul Jr. challenges Christians to take a second glance at the promises of God in the Bible in order to see anew the grandeur of what God has committed Himself to do for His people. Sproul explores twelve of the most significant promises in Scripture, methodically unpacking each divine pledge. He shows that while Christians may express trust in God’s words, they refuse, in numerous ways, to stake their lives on what He says.

In the final analysis, the book functions as a mirror in which every reader with a teachable heart will see how he or she can more fully believe God. All Christians who appreciate careful biblical teaching and heartfelt passion for God will appreciate and benefit from this study.

Agapeology - The Forgotten Doctrine of Love

2010-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Beginning this Sunday, September 5th, we will be starting a new morning series on what we will call "Agapeology". Agape is the New Testament Greek word for love. It is the defining characteristic of a Christian and it should be the defining characteristic of a Christian church. Jesus commanded us to love one another because it is what He considers the keeping of the law (Romans 13:8) and the goal of the law (1Timothy 1:5). We will be looking week by week at the "one another" passages that teach us how Christians are to relate to each other in love. Love is what Jesus said would tell the world that we are His disciples. Come join us Sunday morning and learn about this attribute of God that could revolutionize your life.

Reclamation Project @ Northcreek

2010-08-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

I want to make our members aware about a weekend conference coming up at the end of October being hosted by our friends at Northcreek Church in Walnut Creek. It's called the Reclamation Project. This conference is designed to call believers to a thoroughly biblical world view that not only informs our decisions, lifestyle, and worship, but influences the communities around us with a Gospel-centered life. For more info, go to: http://www.the-reclamation-project.com/

Building Improvement Updates

2010-08-07T23:20:00.000-07:00

This past week, Floor Coverings International came in and installed the new carpet in the church building. It looks great. Here's some recent pictures:

Now, we have the pews and the pulpit left to be refurbished and the church building will be complete. Here's a few pictures below of what it looked like just a few months ago before we started the Josiah Project.

Thanks for your hard work and giving to make these improvements possible!

Ministry Involvement Sunday

2010-07-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, we did something a little different than our usual format. In order to help our members and new comers to understand that church is a family and we need to plug in our spiritual gifts in order to serve one another, we had what we called "Ministry Involvement Sunday". The whole service was centered on the theme of selfless service. We had some good testimonies from Brothers Alan, Thomas and Bill about the joy of serving in the music, Sunday school and maintenance ministries. Then we had a video where an unusual pastor exhorted us to think of church as family and not a business. Then the message was about the steps to grow in your relationship with the local church where God has placed you. We had the Lord's Supper afterwards where we could see the ultimate symbol of God's demonstration of service and sacrifice to us. After the service, we had lunch together and an early evening service. In the back of the auditorium, there was a table with several ministry displays where people could find out more about how they could get plugged in. So as we learned last Sunday - "See a need and take the lead!"

Here's the video that we saw, if you'd like to watch it again:

Celebrate America on July 4th

2010-07-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

This year, the 4th of July landed on Sunday! So, we thanked God for our country with a special ensemble singing some patriotic songs and a reading and distributing of the Declaration of Independence. The sermon from Colossians 3: 14-17 was about how to live a Christian lifestyle motivated by love that is ruled by peace, regulated by Christ's Lordship, filled with God's Word and characterized by gratefulness. Only when Christians live like Christians can we be salt and light to our country and bring God glory as citizens of two worlds!

Iglesia Bautista Mission Peak

2010-07-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

On June 20th, we stepped out by faith answering God's leading to begin a Spanish Ministry! In our first service, we had 7 first time visitors and a total of 11. For the last few weeks at least three of them have been returning. Pastor Dudding and Bro. Carlos Velasquez are working together to lead this new class at 10:00am as Pastor preaches in Spanish and Bro. Velasquez leads the worship. There are very few faithful gospel witnesses for Spanish speaking people in the Fremont area. The local Roman Catholic church has a spiritual strangle-hold on these people who offer a false hope of an uncertain future after death. We pray that God will bless this ministry to break through the darkness as the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is proclaimed under the authority of Scripture alone to the glory of God alone! Please pray for eyes to be opened and that God will draw these people to Christ through our church.

Update on Josiah Project Phase II

2010-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our deadline to raise the money we needed to buy new carpet as we progress in our building remodeling project. We hit the goal and exceeded it by 12%. Praise the Lord for His provision and thanks to the members of MPBC who gave toward the project. Below we have posted some pictures that show some of the progress we've made so far in the last couple of weeks:

The door frames have been beautified with some wood work. This one is the sanctuary entrance. Below is what the door frames used to look like in various doors around the building:

before...

after...

Then we have made some progress with the platform area. Here's some pictures of the progress...

before...

during...

A "modesty" wall was installed in place of the rails that encloses the pianos on both sides of the platform:

We stripped the carpet off the platform and below is the progress on the walls in stages:

The next part of the project is to paint the rest of the sanctuary, put in new carpet, refurbish the pulpit until we can buy a new one and then start some major work on the walls and windows which will be coming up in the next month. Afterwards, we'll enter into stage III of the project which is to raise money to replace the pews with some new chairs. Finally when all the phases are over, we'd like to host an Open House Sunday and invite the community to come see what's happening at MPBC.

Some of our Resources Conflicting with Each other

2010-06-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

At our church, we've made some free resources available for your Christian growth. Some of them are Tabletalk Magazines and Frontline Magazines as well as a few others. One of the subjects addressed in these two resources might seem to be at odds with each other. So, I as the pastor would like to address my take on these two publications and let you think about them.

In this month's edition of Frontline Magazine, Scott Aniol of Religious Affections Ministries, wrote an article about the New Calvinists and the concerns that separatists should have about it. What is interesting is that this month's edition of Tabletalk Magazine is dedicated exclusively to the subject of the New Calvinism. Both magazines are on the resource table in our church foyer, so this needs to be addressed. Always listen to what people say and to what they don't say. This is why we subscribe to both magazines and don't mind our church family being exposed to both sides of an issue. Frontline is a Baptist Fundamentalist publication while Tabletalk is more of a Reformed Presbyterian publication. There are aspects of both that we can both appreciate and disagree with. In the Frontline article, Scott does a quick analysis of the New Calvinism. He said:

The New Calvinists represent the most conservative circles in broader evangelicalism. They are by no means a monolithic movement...these men share a Calvinist perspective of the gospel. Specifically, they believe that God absolutely controls every aspect of His creation, including salvation which leads them to emphasize the sovereignty and glory of God....Yet these emphases are not what make the New Calvinists "new"...[they] decry the weakened theology that permeates contemporary Evangelical churches...are fervently evangelistic, yet they reject the man-centered, seeker sensitive philosophy of the church growth movement...[they] stress the importance of gospel-living, that is, a kind of living that manifests true life in Christ.

Scott praises this aspect of the New Calvinism which I whole heartedly agree with and can identify myself with. In fact, if there were to be a test of what it means to be a New Calvinist, or to be Reformed, Paul Helm of Regent College wrote in Tabletalk:

Is there a test of being "Reformed", of being "Calvinistic" in the muddled confusing Christian world of 2010? I say that if we feel the need for one, there is. It's the unqualified recognition of Paul's golden chain of Romans 8.

Well, if that's also the case, then I appears that I'm in. I must be part of the "New Calvinists". I totally believe in Romans 8 to mean what it says: Romans 8:29-30 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

However, I would have to back out of this identification according to the next article in Tabletalk that Richard Platt Jr. called "Reformed Theology IS Covenant Theology":

The terms 'Reformed' and 'covenant' are used together so widely that i behooves us to understand why they are connected. Covenant theology refers to one of the basic beliefs that Calvinists have held about the Bible.

No, we would have to get off the bus here. I believe in Biblical covenant theology not the extra-biblical Westminster Confession kind. I don't believe there is a covenant of works, covenant of grace, covenant of redemption because the Bible doesn't teach it. There are only the Abrahamic Covenant, Noaic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant.Other concerns about the New Calvinism are also brought up by Scott Aniol that will not be expressed in Tabletalk. This is why I like reading what they say and what they don't say. I have expressed some of these same concerns on my personal blog as well. Scott says:

...they do not present clear boundaries for Biblical orthodoxy. They are uncompromising as to what constitutes the gospel, but they are less explicit about what doctrines or practices preclude Christianity. This is what Ian Murray referred to as the "Unresolved Controversy"...Second, while New Calvinists stress Biblical holiness, they nevertheless promote cultural relativism. They assume that culture in and of itself cannot be unholy...Third, the New Calvinists stand strong in their defense of the sole sufficiency of Scripture, they are open to the continuation of miraculous gifts...They are concerned about the erosion of the Gospel in Evanglical churches, yet they are uncertain how to relate to other compromising Evangelicals and they remain committed to the New Evangelical mission of cultural engagement. These characteristics that make New Calvinism "new"are not in themselves new.

This is why John Piper can have Rick Warren to speak at Desiring God. This is why Mark Dever interviews Christian hip-hop artists at IX Marks and this is why Mark Driscoll can use seeker-sensitive methodology at the same time decry the seeker-sensitive gospel. If these are the chief characteristics of the New Calvinists, then I don't want to be identified as one. However, there's still one more problem to address. Scott goes on to say:

There have always been Calvinistic Fundamentalists, but Fundamentalism ceases to exist when separatism ceases....A rebuilding of bridges [between fundamentalists and new evangelicals] would involve a reclaiming of separatist convictions by Evanglicals. Therefore, it is not Calvinism that Fundamentalists leaders should set their sites on as they watch their children run to Piper, Driscoll, and Mahaney, but failure to consistently apply Biblical separatism.

I agree that's a problem for evangelical Calvinists, but it seems to be a different kind of problem for fundamentalists as well. There is no clear understanding of what separatism is anymore! When you have FBFI leaders who publish Frontline Magazine preaching with the most bizarre and extreme fundamentalists who embrace the same watered-down gospel that mainstream evangelicalism has, no wonder the young fundamentalists are leaving the ranks. This is why the Standpoint Conference that was held earlier this year was more important than most people realize or didn't even know about. If Fundamentalists don't explain biblical separatism clearly then they will continue to watch their kids run to the Pipers and Driscolls. They are more vocal and more effective than their fundamentalist leaders are who are lamenting the loss of their movement to irrelevance and yet still holding to the errors that made them irrelevant. True Biblical fellowship and separation needs to be addressed. I wrote a little bit about one of the Standpoint Conference lectures concerning this need on my blog.

So, I would just exhort my church members to use discernment when they struggle with these same kinds of tensions.

KFAX Radio Interview with Steve Lawson

2010-06-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

Monday evening at 6:15-7:00pm, Andy Froiland from 1100AM KFAX interviewed Dr. Steve Lawson who is going to be our special speaker for the Expositors Conference in September. They talked about the subject of true Biblical preaching and the conference. You can listen to that segment on our church website: http://www.missionpeakbaptist.com/. Also check out the conference website for more info: http://www.preachingforachange.com/.

Respectable Sins

2010-06-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks beginning June 20th, we'll be beginning another new Sunday School series that will be a good transition from the previous one that we are finishing up right now. It's based on the book "Respectable Sins" by Jerry Bridges. Since we've been talking about Worldliness, and how it resides in the heart, we are going to go deeper into some of the covert sins that we hide in our hearts like pride, anger, selfishness and others that are more "respectable" than sins that most of society deems as contemptible such as murder, adultery, theft and so forth. We hope you'll plan to join us as we learn to become what God has called us to be: saints, holy people of God.

Odds and Ends

2010-05-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

While we are raising funds for Phase II of the Josiah Project, a few odds and ends are being worked on. Details are important because they make the difference between good and excellent. So, here are a few details that are being worked on:

Bro. Dudding is putting a frame around the sanctuary entrance with a planter box on top.

We also put some laminate flooring in one of the nursery areas so that the kids can do their crafts on a floor that is easier to clean glue spills, play dough and paint.

We also added some wall furnishings and some coffee tables and chairs in the lobby area.

So, things are coming together nicely as we remodel the building. The next big step is to re carpet the foyer and the sanctuary! So far we're half way to our goal in terms of money and time. The deadline is June 20th to raise the remaining funds for phase II.

Mortal Combat Mini-Series

2010-05-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

As we are going through the book of Colossians verse by verse as is our custom to preach expositionally, we are coming up on Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
The word "Mortify" means to put something to death. This is our everyday battle with sin that we must violently fight against in our hearts to kill or else it will kill us! So, we are going to take some time to meditate on this idea and look at what the rest of the Bible has to say about how to kill sin and live holy. We'll pause for several weeks to learn how to wage mortal combat against sin. I hope you'll come and be equipped for battle! The lessons will begin this week as follows:
1. Your Mission: Mortify sin
2. Know Your Enemy: Understanding the Nature of Sin
3. Know Your Enemies Tactics: Dealing withTemptation
4. The Christian’s Arsenal: Truth
5. Tactical Warfare: Applying Truth
6. Always Advancing: Maintaining Victory

Pastor will be on the radio May 31-June 4

2010-05-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

Pastor Dudding will be featured on KFAX's pastor of the week spotlight every morning at 6:55am on 1100AM on May 31 through June 4. So, if you commute that early tune in right before "Insight for Living" with Chuck Swindoll to hear the interview segments with program director Andy Froiland and Pastor Will Dudding.

Friends from Arizona Coming in June

2010-05-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, June 20th we'll be having another friend from Arizona visiting with us and preaching in the evening service. Pastor Joel Tetraeu from Southeast Valley Baptist Church in Gilbert AZ will be with us. Pastor met Joel a few years ago at the Shepherd's Conference in southern California and has been friends ever since. Joel recently hosted the Standpoint Conference at his church this past spring where several different pastors gathered to discuss a Biblical theology of fellowship and separation. You will be benefited greatly by these lectures, so take some time to listen to these messages on their website.

Then On Thursday evening, June 24th the ministry team from International Baptist College in Tempe AZ will be visiting our church to sing for us and their ministry leader, Bro. Chris Ball will be preaching. They'll be an encouragement to us and we can return the favor by having a good attendance that night. See you then.

Music We Use in Worship

2010-05-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

When some people are looking for a church, unfortunately many are looking for which place delivers the best concert and very little consideration is given to the church's philosophy of ministry or preaching. So, I want to post a few thoughts about the music we use at Mission Peak in our worship to help you understand what we're about and where we're going. First of all, we're not interested in being cool, trendy, hip or happen'n. We are first and foremost interested in glorifying God, so it doesn't really matter what man thinks is acceptable. Second, we're not interested in preserving a traditional, revivalist, liturgical church culture either. We are not going to divide God's people by offering "traditional" and "contemporary" services based on what people want to hear even though that's the trend in churches that are in transition from traditional to contemporary in style.

So what are we aiming for?
We want to be about substance over style. In our services we aim to sing songs that teach and admonish us as it says in Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

We want to encompass the expressions of worship by all of God's people everywhere and at all times. Some worship services seem that they're all about singing what's popular right now while others seem to be trapped in a time warp from the 1920's. So to avoid both extremes, we will sing appropriate songs that go with the theme of the service or with the sermon that can range from Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress" to Matt Redman's "You Alone Can Rescue".

Next, it's about God being the audience not the congregation. Therefore, the form that the singing takes on is not a concert style with guys wearing designer clothes, weird haircuts, light effects, fog machines and all that other stuff. This also means that corporate singing is the emphasis and not performance.

Last, I'll mention that we want our music to communicate reverence, fear and awe of God. So, we'll sing old songs about God's majesty like 'O Worship the King', 'Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above' , Crown Him with Many Crowns' and in the same service may sing a new one like 'God of Wonders'; 'Facedown', 'Majesty (Here I Am)' to express adoration. These kinds of songs can't be sung "rocking out" and still be appropriate to what they are saying to God. So, in order to stay in keeping with the congregational singing being the focus, we won't employ drums, electric guitars and so forth to play the songs. We just need enough instrumentation to accompany the singing so that the voices of one another is the main thing we hear.

Sign to be Upgraded

2010-05-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Since the church was renamed to Mission Peak Baptist from the original Calvary Baptist, we had a new sign erected back in 2004, but whoever picked the sign back then, bless their hearts, didn't realize that it would be so difficult to see from the street. here's our current sign in front of the church property:

That is just one house away from the property. It's hardly readable and hardly noticeable. Here's the sign up close:

Since putting a whole new sign up will be a big hassle and big money, we're just going to give this one a major facelift. We'll have new aluminum covers made and build a housing around the sign with a roof on it. We'll change the color to something bright, put new lettering on it, and re-wire it so that the lights shine on it from the outside. This will enable us to post signs for the other two churches that meet here: Life Way Baptist Korean Church and the Deaf Baptist Church. So, thanks to brothers Marc and Parker Stevens who have taken this on as a project that will be sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America of which Parker is a member. Here's a rough drawing that Parker made for us:

We'll also build a flower box around the sign to make it look more attractive also. Thanks church family for being willing to make these improvements!

Josiah Project Phase 1

2010-05-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks has been busy around the church building with various volunteers helping install the wood flooring in part of the foyer and the carpet in the nursery. Thanks to all of you who have contributed your time, work and money to the progress of this project. Here's some pictures of the latest work that has been done.

Sheetrock was applied to the wall below the windows between the foyer and santuary.

The wood flooring is installed and the sheetrock was textured and painted.

Looks great, but the rest of the carpet in the foyer needs to be replaced now along with the carpet in the sanctuary. This money will be raised in phase 2.

Here's the nursery before and after:

Before....

After. And of course, the furniture needs to be put back in place.

Now, our goal is to work on raising money to start working on the sanctuary and complete the carpeting of the foyer and offices. More will be posted about that as we move on!

Video from Last Sunday

2010-04-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

In case you missed the service last Sunday, April 25th, we showed a video by Dr. Steve Lawson that speaks about the incredible committment that the Lord requires of them who would come after Him to be His Disciples:
It Will Cost You Everything from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

The Josiah Project

2010-04-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of March, we began a building remodeling campaign called "The Josiah Project" which was inspired by the story of King Josiah who took the initiative to raise funds with the people of Judah in order to restore the temple that had been neglected for so many years under his father's reign as king. We are raising money in three stages. Stage 1 consists of replacing the flooring in the nursery and foyer areas. God's people raised about $3700 in one month and exceeded the goal of $2500 to buy materials! So, last Sunday night after church we started taking up the old carpet and during the week several volunteers have helped paint the nursery and prepare the floors for installation.

Carpet in the foyer being removed for new laminate wood flooring...

One of the nurseries before new painting...

After new paint and removal of carpet...

The carpet rolls arrived today!

Installation is ready to begin!

New Adult Sunday School Lessons Starting on April 18th

2010-04-15T00:50:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, the adult Sunday School class will begin a study based on the book "Worldliness - Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World" compiled and edited by C.J. Mahaney. Probably the one most glaring defect in the American church today is the infatuation with the world. What makes a Christian "worldly"? Is it the activities you engage in, the movies you watch or don't watch, the clothes you wear or the music you listen to? Many Christians are so afraid to be thought of as 'judgmental', so they adopt a false idea of grace and allow almost any kind of behavior in their homes and churches in the name of Christian liberty. Then on the opposite extreme there are Christians who are so afraid to be thought of as worldly, that they have made up all kinds of man-made rules and regulations (like the Pharisees did) which come from convictions that are based on Biblical principles to keep them a safe distance from actually committing a sin. No matter which extreme you may find yourself leaning toward, the seduction of the world is much more subtle than you think. When we think like the unregenerate, value what they value, and enjoy the things of the world more than God Himself - we are worldly! These next two months will be a soul searching and soul cleansing opportunity to make sure we are "unspotted from the world" (James 1:27)

Welcome to The Vista

2010-04-14T00:17:00.001-07:00

Whenever you're hiking up a trail on a mountain, there are usually some "vista points" for you to look out over the landscape to see the view. This e-journal will serve as a vista point for our visitors and members alike to get a view of what God is doing at Mission Peak Baptist Church. We will be chronicling things such as events, upcoming sermon and Sunday School series', vision casting, announcements and more. We hope you will stop by from time to time and see what's happening in our church and also be inspired to get involved!