Team Church Collaborative

Memorial Day Poem

kevingerald — Mon, 28 May 2012 08:46:41 -0700

We Must Remember

We pause on this Memorial Day, a brief moment in time,

To bring close to our hearts those memories we hold so dear

Of the men and women before us who unselfishly put their dreams, their lives on the line.

Where danger lay as a stalker,

waiting to take away each breath, while the soldier

plowed with determination the furrows of death.

We must remember, we must, you and I,

those special heroes who chose to fly,

to fly the skies of blue that turned as dark as the midnight sky,

Their wings began to shudder as smoke choked their breath away,

And hope gave way to the resignation, “Today, I’m going to die.”

Treading the waters so deep and wide,

Men and women continued on their mission,

For God and country, their hearts would abide.

Surprised by attacks with brutal disregard for human life,

they fought to the end, knowing that life and limb would be lost,

whether of self or friend.

Yes by land, by sea, and in the skies,

they fought for our land,

they fought for freedom so that you and I might stand,

Stand for what is right, for what is good and true,

fight that we might say without fear, “God loves you.”

Yes, we must remember, for freedom is not cheap,

for lives and limbs were lost so that we might keep,

All the things that we can have and all the things we can do,

Like cars and boats and a house with a roof,

Like going to church without fear,

and reading the Bible where we find the truth,

The truth of knowing that whether we are red, yellow, black,

or white,

We are all God’s children and we need to learn to love one another as God first loved us.

For if there is to be peace on earth,

where all men and women are free,

it must begin with each and all of us,

let it begin with you and me.

By Connie Gibbs [Copyright, 2003]

Confidence in the Fire

kevingerald — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:01:23 -0700

In Daniel 3, we read a story about three Hebrews who made the decision to honor God above any other gods, even though their very lives depended on it. But they showed that they had confidence in something greater than circumstances or even other people. Their confidence was in God. We see that confidence here:

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego^(V) replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver^(W) us from it, and he will deliver^(X) us^[c] from Your Majesty’s hand.¹⁸But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” - Daniel 3:16-18

The Three Hebrews were thrown into the fiery furnace that day. In fact, the King had the normal heat increased so much that the servants throwing the men into the fire we burned from the flames. But, the three men came out of the fire unharmed causing a King and an entire nation turn the heads and hearts toward the Living God of the Hebrews.

The truth is that CONFIDENCE may not keep you from being thrown in the fire, but CONFIDENCE can keep you from being burned.

** This story was part of the Life is Better when Confidence is Bigger series, part 2. You can watch it here.

You might want to check out this video from Pastor Kevin about...

kevingerald — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:19:41 -0700

You might want to check out this video from Pastor Kevin about Team Church 12 Conference…

Video Clip from “Greater Things” message earlier...

kevingerald — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:22:01 -0700

Video Clip from “Greater Things” message earlier this year when Pastor Kevin was talking about HONOR.

“Unexpressed honor is not honor.”

Love in Translation Article

kevingerald — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:07:42 -0700

Love in Translation Article:

Here’s an article from our Oxygen Magazine 2012 about Champions Foundation showing love around the world.

Sheila was just in Johannesburg, South Africa this past week visiting our kids at Champions Forever Home. Keep her in prayer as she travels to Bulgaria now to visit the American English Academy which is an Education initiative of Champions Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Weekend RECAP: Confidence

kevingerald — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:17:43 -0700

Life is Better when Confidence is Bigger.

Confidence does more than make you ‘feel’ better… it actually makes your life better!

The first week of this series Pastor Kevin talked about the path of Confidence leading to rich rewards. And this past weekend he continued the Confidence series talking about the size of Confidence (you can watch either full message here). Here’s some of the highlights:

Hebrews 10:35 “So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded.”

Psalm 27 The LORD is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? … Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. (read the whole passage here)

1. Confidence may not change the circumstances but it changes the way you respond which eventually affects the outcome of the circumstances.

** Focus less on the circumstances and focus more on what you can change = The Level of Your Confidence.

** Charles Swindoll said, “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond.”

2. Confidence may not cause you to receive the approval you yearn for but it changes your need for that approval.

** When you stay confident it allows God to work in other ways and provide what you need in your life!

Life is Better when Confidence is Bigger.

- Jesus had Confidence in God, He had Confidence in Himself, and He had Confidence in other people.

The Confident Life is the Best Life! Strong Life! And, a Richly Rewarded Life!

If you missed out on our Oxygen Women’s Conference 2012 -...

kevingerald — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:46:24 -0700

If you missed out on our Oxygen Women’s Conference 2012 - you definitely missed out on an incredible year of life change, water shed moments, laughter, memories, and even a high fashion runway show! Check out some of the 2012 highlights. Then get registered for Oxygen Twenty’13 here.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."

kevingerald — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:47:44 -0700

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

- Hebrews 10:35 NIV, “Life is better when Confidence gets bigger” series

Weekend RECAP: Mother's Day

kevingerald — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:01:00 -0700

What if there was something you could tap into that offered both instant gratification AND longterm benefits? What if this something was available to everyone, despite age or gender or demographics or background? Sounds too good to be true, right?

What if that “something” is confidence?

This past weekend Pastor Kevin talked about “Life Gets Better When Confidence Gets Bigger.” There are a lot of people who may consider confidence as one of those motivational, feel-good, surface-only kinds of things. But, the Bible clearly tells us, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” The truth is that confidence gives you the instant gratification of feeling better about yourself and what you’re doing, and it ACTUALLY makes your life better in the long run. We can trust that confidence maintained in our mind produces rich rewards in our lives. Think about it, confidence changes the way you pray, it changes how you think, and it impacts how you make your decisions. Often right beyond our greatest discouragement is God working out our greatest victory! Instead of stopping short because of fear, disappointment, insecurity or whatever may cause us to stumble – when we find our confidence we can continue forward into the purpose and plan of God. It’s not about the circumstances we face, it’s about the confidence we have to face them.

Kevin also challenged the church that God confidence is intended to translate into self-confidence. Some Christians seem to have a problem validating self-confidence because they feel like that means if you have confidence in yourself you cannot have confidence in God or vice versa. But that is a dumb dichotomy (which we wrote briefly about here). Dumb Dichotomies exist when we try to position two truths against each other in either/or thinking when it really should be both. So, instead of self-confidence OR God confidence, why not both? Why can’t we say, I have confidence in myself BECAUSE I have confidence in God. I am made in His image, and He calls me an overcomer, more than a conqueror, the work of His hands, and the apple of His eye. God believes in me, so I believe in me. God confidence is translated into self-confidence!

When we tap into confidence in our lives it helps us in our current circumstances and it carries us along a path to rich rewards in our life.

A Spark of Love

kevingerald — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:09:01 -0700

It’s an interesting question. Can a spark of God’s love light a fire in your? In your church? In your community? nation? world?

We did this song, “Spark” by The City Harmonic a couple months ago as a First Five at Champions Centre.

As you go about your day today, or your week this week, consider if there is a fire burning inside of you. What are you passion about? And, what are you doing about it?

Here are the Lyrics:

Could a spark of Your love light a fire in me
Just a spark warm my cold heart
It’s the living that breathe
When I breathe in
Hope I breathe in
Create some meaning again
And I breathe in, peace will be there
Just a stream of love
Ohhh

This little light’s gonna shine
With just a spark to light a fire
Just a spark

Could a spark of Your love light the whole church on fire
When we care for our neighbor
More than we care for style
When we breathe in
Hope we breathe in
Create some meaning God
When we breathe out
Peace will breathe out
Just to breathe out love

This little light’s gonna shine
With just a spark light a fire
Just a spark

Just a spark could change the heart
Just a spark come change my heart
Just a spark is just a start
Light a fire in my heart

Light a fire in my heart
Light a fire in my heart
Light a fire in my heart
A fire in my heart
With just a spark

You can watch our CCTacoma First Five here, we used it in a Martin Luther King Jr Tribute.

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible."

kevingerald — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:47:14 -0700

“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.”

- ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul

Happy Mother’s Day!

Check out Oxygen Magazine 2012 brought to you by Oxygen...

kevingerald — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:30:58 -0700

Oxygen Magazine 2012

Guest Speaker: Holly Furtick

Love in translation

Human Trafficking Awareness

Check out Oxygen Magazine 2012 brought to you by Oxygen Women’s Conference at Champions Centre.

Read great articles from guest speakers and about causes you can get involved with.

You can read it here.

It's Oxygen Time! Oxygen Women's Conference is here for all the ladies!

kevingerald — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:46:24 -0700

It's Oxygen Time! Oxygen Women's Conference is here for all the ladies!:

Weekend RECAP: How What We Do on Earth Matters in Eternity

kevingerald — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:30:00 -0700

Pastor Kevin began his message last weekend with a confession: “Every week at Champions Centre things happen that we don’t know how they happen.”

He went on to explain a couple truths to further clarify his confession:

There are things we do that we know how to do.
There are things that God does that we cannot do.
There is a link between what we do and what God does… God does what we cannot do when we do what we can do.

You can watch the full message here.

John 6:1-13

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

3 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THIS STORY

1) The cost is significant.

verse 7: Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Anything significant in this life comes with a significant cost: money, time, effort, and/or energy. If we want to have a great Church we have to be willing to give greatly.

2) God will never ask you to give what you don’t have but he may ask you to give what you want to keep.

verse 8: Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

The little boy came prepared that day (apparently the only one who came prepared). And yet, Jesus asked for his food. Jesus and the disciples didn’t ask for the boy to give somethinghe didn’t have, or to give enough for everyone to have something. The boy was asked to give what he had, and once Jesus touched it, then a miracle happened and thousands of people were fed with the little boy’s lunch.

3) You’ll never know what God can do with what you have until you bring it to Him.

verse 11: Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Chances are high that this experience became the highlight of that little boy’s entire life. It was probably the story he told all his friends, his children, and even his grandchildren. We’ll never know what God can do with what we have until we first give it to Him.

A Collision for Success

kevingerald — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:04:15 -0700

Last weekend at the Kingdom Builders Advance, Pastor Kevin talked about five things that can change everything. Looking at the life of Nehemiah, one of the things he brought up was “Preparation.”

Nehemiah’s life had prepared him for his opportunity. He was uniquely prepared for his assignment.

Opportunity favors the prepared.

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good, it’s the thing you do that makes you good!” Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers

Opportunity collides with preparation and that is success.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you...."

kevingerald — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:02:31 -0700

““Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

- Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

"There are no victories at bargain prices"

kevingerald — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:18:55 -0700

“There are no victories at bargain prices”

- General Dwight Eisenhower

Weekend RECAP: Paying the Price to Reach Our Goals

kevingerald — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:57:09 -0700

It’s amazing the price some are willing to pay for trivia. It’s amazing the prize some are unwilling to pay for greater things. And, it’s amazing the judgments some make about people who pay a high price for something.

This past weekend at Champions Centre we had a great friend and special guest, Andre Olivier, who is from Johannesburg, South Africa. He brought a great message called, “Paying the Price to Reach Your Goals.” You can watch the entire message on demand here.

He shared eight truths about Paying the Price. Here are a few to consider today:

» If we fail to REACH our GOALS it is seldom an ABILITY or RESOURCE ISSUE, but it is always a PRICE ISSUE.

—- Lots of people make excuses if they haven’t reached their goals or about why their life is the way it is… however, most of the time is is not God’s favor that is lacking, what is lacking is the willingness to pay a price.

» Name any SUCCESSFUL CHURCH, BUSINESS, or INDIVIDUAL, and you can be sure they PAID A PRICE, or SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE them did.

—- Dwight Eisenhower said, “Victories cannot be bought a bargain prices.” And, in the same way, a great life or church cannot be built at a bargain price.

—- We cannot have a great church unless we are willing to pay a great price.

—- The average person is only willing to put in the minimum but they expect to get out the maximum.

» What we LOVE we will PAY A PRICE for.

—- If we take a look at our lives, we can determine what we really love by what we put value on, in our time or money or energy. This is a great opportunity to self-evaluate and see if you need to make adjustments in what you love. Do we love what God loves?

One of the things Pastor Andre encouraged us to remember is that “Givers always find a way to give, and takers always find a way to take (or avoid giving).”

This message from Pastor Andre was such a timely message because this weekend so many people will be bringing their best to invest in God’s house. We’re excited to see the generous spirit of Champions Centre rise up and to watch how God shows up in that generosity through Liberty Offering. Every year we are inundated with stories of how God is at work in the lives of our church family through their giving.

Here’s a video from our Bellevue Campus Pastor, Ryan Cameron, talking Liberty Offering and what it’s all about.

"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A..."

kevingerald — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:38:10 -0700

““One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.””

- Proverbs 11:24-25 NIV

It's Here. Champions Centre App for iPhone & Droid users.

kevingerald — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:00:56 -0700

It's Here. Champions Centre App for iPhone & Droid users.:

The Champions Centre App features relevant and life-changing messages from Kevin Gerald, lead pastor at Champions Centre in Bellevue and Tacoma, Washington. Champions Centre is all about equipping people to live successful Christian lives.

To help you in your relationship with God, this app includes inspirational video messages that impart practical Biblical principles. You will also find helpful information about events and how to get (or stay) connected into the community of Champions Centre. Then you can easily share what you find with friends through Facebook, Twitter, or email.