Amy Peterson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Our guest is Amy (Lepine) Peterson. Amy is my sister. She’s also the author of Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World.

Listen

Listen to the show Subscribe in iTunes

Show Notes

1:45 – The similarities between birthing a baby and birthing a book

3:40 – Who Amy Peterson is and what she does

7:00 – What the “Missionary Myth” is, and what’s unhelpful about it

9:33 – What you probably don’t know about David Brainerd’s story…

13:33 – How things often don’t mean what they seem in other countries

16:20 – Where the word “missionary” came from

17:45 – How “short-term missions trips” become a thing

19:50 – What’s problematic about short-term missions trips (flying in like little gods)

23:05 – What advice she’d give to someone considering going on a short-term missions trip

28:25 – Why she got kicked out of a country she isn’t allowed to name in southeast Asia

32:25 – How to fight for justice without casting ourselves as the heroes of the story

36:08 – How to be faithful in the mundane (when it feels like nothing you’re doing matters)

40:15 – Best movie she’s seen lately

42:15 – Best TV show she’s seen lately

44:20 – Best book she’s read lately (and how it’s helped her marriage)

47:10 – Nerdiest thing she’s into right now

48:55 – Best meal she’s had recently

52:45 – If she could put a billboard anywhere, where would she put it, and what would it say?

Links

Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World Short-Term Mission: An Ethnography of Christian Travel Narrative and Experience Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work Manchester By The Sea – an Amazon Original Movie

Search Party

The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

Enneagram

Braised Short Ribs

Goat Cheese Polenta

Blue Apron

Cultivated

Fox News Article on the book / movie Silence

in James Lepine • Park Church Podcast

January 22, 2017

This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.

This Sunday at Park, we’re in week 18 of The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Acts 9:19b–31.

As we saw with Jesus Himself, Paul the preacher of Jesus’ Gospel speaks boldly to the heart of his hearers, resulting in his persecution. We observe that this model of following Christ—preaching the Gospel and suffering persecution for its sake—is truly what discipleship entails.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm Psalm 19:1–4

Our Great God (Fernando Ortega)
Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook

God of grace,
you have given us Jesus,
the light of the world,
but we choose darkness
and cling to things that hide the brightness of your love.
Immersed in ourselves, we have not risen to new life.

Baptize us with your Spirit,
that, forgiven and renewed,
we may preach your Word to the nations
and tell of your glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and our light forever.
Amen.

His Mercy Is More (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (John Newton, Chris Tomlin)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; 17–21

GREETING

SERMON & COMMUNION

In Tenderness (Brian Eichelberger)
All The Poor And Powerless (All Sons & Daughters)

BENEDICTION & SENDING

in Preparing for Sunday

January 15, 2017

This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.

This Sunday at Park, we’re in week 17 of The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Acts 8:26–40.

An angel of the Lord instructs Philip to head south from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza. He does as told and meets an Ethiopian eunuch, sitting in his chariot on the way to Jerusalem, reading Isaiah and struggling to understand who this Suffering Servant must be. Philip tells him about Jesus, and the man immediately believes and desires to be baptized, so it happens. As they come up from the water, Philip is carried away by the Spirit and the Eunuch goes “on his way rejoicing.”

This passage teaches us that the Holy Spirit empowers us to share good news that brings great joy to people—people who need it. As you prepare this week, consider who the people are in your life that need to hear good news and receive joy. Look back through the text; how does the Holy Spirit empower you to do this work?

When Philip meets the eunuch, he’s reading from Isaiah 53. In your preparation this week, consider making use of these Isaiah 53 entries by The Verses Project. Simply put, The Verses Project provides musical and visual art to help people memorize and meditate on scripture. We think this is a great resource for personal and corporate devotion!

2. Read, pray and sing through the service.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 98:1–3

Before The Throne of God (Charitie Lees Bancroft, arr. Modern Post)
Be Thou My Vision (Author Unkown, arr. Ascend The Hill)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook

God of grace,
you have given us Jesus,
the light of the world,
but we choose darkness
and cling to things that hide the brightness of your love.

Immersed in ourselves, we have not risen to new life.
Baptize us with your Spirit,
that, forgiven and renewed,
we may preach your Word to the nations
and tell of your glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and our light forever.
Amen.

Christ Or Else I Die (William Hammond, arr. Red Mountain Church)
Jesus Paid It All (Elvina Hall, Kristian Stanfill)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 John 1:5–7

GREETING

SERMON & COMMUNION

How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) (Charles H. Gabriel)
All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)

BENEDICTION & SENDING

in Preparing for Sunday

Bread & Wine 2016 Event Recap

Around 300 of us gathered at Moss Denver on November 30 to celebrate our fourth annual Bread & Wine event.

Why do we return to this celebration year after year?

Our tagline for Bread & Wine is as follows: An evening to taste and see the glory of God through his good creation. Let’s unpack this a bit.

Think back to the last meal Jesus shared with his group of disciples before his crucifixion. There in the upper room, God incarnate grabbed two of the most basic elements of mealtime – bread and wine. And with a couple sentences he breathed new meaning into them: “Take and eat; this is my body… Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus selected common elements to represent the drastically uncommon – God’s reconciliation of His people to Himself through the labor of His Son.

But wait. Could there be another layer of import woven into Jesus’ actions that night?

It’s fascinating that Jesus chose elements that required human activity and involvement in order to create. Truth be told, he could have used barley instead of bread, grapes instead of a Grenache. His selected symbols for his sacrifice on the cross could have been items that exist within untouched creation, apart from the work of people.

But they weren’t. He chose bread and wine – elements that necessarily require the work of human minds and hands – to represent his reconciling work, work that actually created the family of God.

This demonstrates the value God places upon the activity to which he has called us. Certainly, the sovereign Lord of the cosmos is Himself working salvation for his namesake through the narrative of human history. And yet, he knits our individual and localized stories into this grand narrative, ushering us to play our part in restoring all things through our daily actions.

In short, God’s redemptive and unifying grace is communicated and established through human interaction with one another and the created order. And it is in these places that we see the very glory of God. But only if we’re looking for it.

That’s why we host Bread & Wine each year. We need regular reminders to experience our dynamic world as one that is “charged with the grandeur of God.” These reminders need be more than verbal; oftentimes we need embodied practices to teach our souls what our intellect may already grasp.

This particular evening we highlighted the role and reality of hospitality in the renewed Christian family. You see, this “bread” was broken for us, and this “wine” was poured out for our sins, that we may be brought near to our Father. Like the prodigal son from Luke 15, we have run away from the Author of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in order to glut ourselves on cheap substitutes. But through the meal of Jesus’ body and blood, we are recreated into the family of God.

Now, compelled by this infinite hospitality shown to us, may we step into our daily lives portraying this same gracious welcome, making use of the material things at our disposal to sacrificially love those around us.

What a beautiful, merciful, and creative God we serve!

Photos of the event taken by Melanie Fenwick.

in Blog • Bread & Wine • Joel Limpic • Music and Liturgy

January 8, 2017

This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.

This Sunday at Park, we return to The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. This will be our 16th week in the series. If you’d like to listen through a previous Book of Acts sermon to refresh yourself, you can do so at parkchurchdenver.org/sermons, where every past Park Church sermon is always available for streaming. Additionally, here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Acts 9:1–19.

Paul’s mission—or so he thought—was to end Christianity. His goal was to bring down the the Church and yet, as we see in this passage, God redirected his heart. His new mission is to see the gospel further saturate the entire world as the water covers the sea. Paul goes from inflicting persecution to receiving the persecution because of his desire to lift up the name of Jesus.

As you prepare for Sunday, reflect on what Paul’s conversion can tell us about our own. What does it mean that we, too, have met Jesus and been converted?

2. Read, pray and sing through the service.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 60:1–3 NIV

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (Charles Wesley)
Holy Spirit (Bryan and Katie Torwalt, arr. Jesus Culture)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook

Almighty and merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and one another
in both our actions and our inactions.
We recognize that in Jesus Christ our light has come,
yet often we choose to walk in shadows and ignore the light.

Gracious God, forgive our sins and remove from us
the veil of darkness that shrouds our lives.
Illumined by your Word and sacrament,
may we rise to the radiance of Christ’s glory.
Amen.

His Mercy Is More (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: John 1:9–12

No Longer Slaves (Jonathan & Melissa Helser)

GREETING

SERMON & COMMUNION

How Majestic (Citizens & Saints)
All The Poor And Powerless (All Sons & Daughters)

BENEDICTION & SENDING

in Preparing for Sunday

January 1, 2017

This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.

This Sunday at Park Church, it’s the second week of Christmastide and we continue in The Coming of the King, our series for the season of Advent and Christmas.

1. Read through our text, Luke 2:22–40.

In this passage, we see the Messianic longing of men and women like Simeon and Anna fulfilled in the incarnation of Christ. The Holy Spirit comes upon them and they speak of the wondrous mystery! As you prepare this week, consider starting with this prayer from The Worship Sourcebook.

O Christ, the prophets foretold your coming,
the poor longed to see you.
The heavens celebrated your birth;
the apostles, the martyrs, and the faithful down though the ages repeated the song of the angels.
Your church praises you in every human language,
for she has seen your salvation.
Son of God, you humbled yourself and became a servant,
raising us up to share in your glory.
We were in darkness and you have given us
light and strength, peace and joy.
Lead us according to your loving will;
make us a people who follow you in holiness.
Give us generous hearts to hear your Word,
and produce in us abundant fruit,
through the power of your Spirit.
Amen.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 52:7–10

Always (Kristian Stanfill, Jason Ingram)
How Firm A Foundation (Bob Kauflin, Robert Keene)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook

Almighty God who inhabits eternity
but dwells with those who are of a humble and contrite spirit:
before you and our Lord Jesus Christ
we confess our sins.
We have ignored the presence of your Spirit.
We have failed to look for the return
of our Savior and Judge.
We have been blind to your coming
in the suffering of the hungry, the exiled,
the destitute, the sick, and the imprisoned.
In your great goodness
put away our offenses
and cleanse us from our sin,
for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.

On Christ the Solid Rock (William Batchelder Bradbury and Edward Mote, arr. Austin Stone)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 2 Corinthians 6:2

Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee (Ludwig van Beethoven, Edward Hodges, Henry Van Dyke)

The Word Made Flesh by Ligonier:

We confess the mystery and wonder
of God made flesh
and rejoice in our great salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

With the Father and the Holy Spirit,
the Son created all things,
sustains all things,
and makes all things new.
Truly God,
He became truly man,
two natures in one person.

He was born of the Virgin Mary
and lived among us.
Crucified, dead, and buried,
He rose on the third day,
ascended to heaven,
and will come again
in glory and judgment.

For us,
He kept the Law,
atoned for sin,
and satisfied God’s wrath.
He took our filthy rags
and gave us
His righteous robe.

He is our Prophet, Priest, and King,
building His church,
interceding for us,
and reigning over all things.

Jesus Christ is Lord;
we praise His holy Name forever.
Amen.

GREETING

SERMON & COMMUNION

Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery (Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, Michael Bleecker)
God I Look To You (Jenn Johnson)

BENEDICTION & SENDING

in Preparing for Sunday

Bob Lepine

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Our guest is Bob Lepine. Bob is my dad. He’s also the co-host of FamilyLife today and the Chief Content Officer at FamilyLife.

Listen

Listen to the showSubscribe in iTunes

Show Notes

5:20 – How he got started with FamilyLife 7:30 – Why he and my mom spent three years looking for a church to attend 10:23 – The three vital experiences every church must have 11:43 – How he started planting churches 15:25 – Why you should plant a church (and why you shouldn’t) 21:10 – Why he wrote “The Christian Husband” 24:20 – Why marriage isn’t about keeping each other happy 26:00 – The difference between a “servant pleaser” and a “servant leader” 27:50 – What to do when you and your wife disagree 28:50 – The difference between a good boss and a bad boss 29:50 – What to do when you and your wife disagree, part two 32:55 – What he thinks of Trump 35:55 – All the thoughts on gender, sexuality, and marriage 41:10 – What he’s working on next… 46:05 – Best thing he’s read and watched lately… 48:30 – Best meals he’s had recently

Links

Redeemer Community Church The Art of Marriage The Christian Husband Weekend to Remember @FLTbob This Is Us October 1964 OJ: Made in America The People vs. OJ Simpson Words With Friends Chris Madrids Royal Rooster Denver Biscuit Company
in James Lepine • Park Church Podcast

Advent Fasting Guide—Week Four

Below are some ways to engage with God during this season of Advent, particularly through reading, praying, and singing. We pray that God meets us in these disciplines! If you want to read about why we’re in a season of fasting during Advent, read “A Call To Fasting During Advent”. Read Isaiah 58:1-12 | Micah 6:8 Pray This week we want to encourage you to do a prayer walk either in your neighborhood or by your work or school. What’s a prayer walk? It is what it sounds like: praying while walking. We’re used to associating prayer with a closet or a church sanctuary, not city streets. Some have described prayer walking as “on-site intercession” or praying “on-site with God’s sight.” It helps us pray in a new way in the neighborhood God has placed us, seeing new things we might never have seen, and immediately bring them before God in prayer. It breaks us out of our routines and gets us out of the church’s four walls. It reminds us our neighbors are real people and there are real issues to talk to God about for our neighborhood. God’s heart is to see His kingdom come and His will be done in the Highlands as it is in heaven, and prayer is one of the main ways we participate in His work! While you can always prayer walk alone, we encourage you to go in groups of two (or three max). Before heading out, pray for the leading of the Spirit as well as spiritual protection and insight as you go! Briefly plan where you are going to walk, but don’t be afraid of adjusting that as you walk. Remember that as you go, don’t be creepy & don’t make a scene. It’s also helpful to re-group once you come back to discuss what God might have spoken or done while you were out praying. Here are a few directives as you go:
  • Pray Scripture. While not necessary, some choose to pick a particular Scripture to pray as they walk. You can even read the Scripture out loud and then expand on that passage in your own words.
  • Pray out loud. Proclaim and speak out the rule and reign of Jesus over dark places. Jesus is Lord even if those in the neighborhoods don’t recognize Him as such.
  • Pray as the Spirit leads. He might give you discernment, a word of knowledge, or insight into something that you can pray about. Be responsive to whatever He might be speaking.
  • Pray aware of your surroundings. This includes people as well as your senses. Observe houses, buildings, posters, signs, graffiti, anything that might direct your prayers. If God opens the opportunity for a conversation with someone, engage with them telling them that you’re walking around praying for the neighborhood and ask them if you could pray for them.
Sing This week we’ll be singing through a song based on this idea of and longing for justice written by Sojourn Music called “Let Justice Roll Like A River”. It’s a prayer of corporate confession, a prayer of intercession asking God to bring about His justice, as well as a personal prayer for God to use us as His instruments of justice and love. Let Justice Roll Like a River? Forgive us, Lord, for passing by when children cry for bread ?Forbid it, Lord, that justice lie in tatters, cold and dead? Outside these walls run desperate streets where greed is law and life is cheap? We bar the doors, refuse to see, or hear the words You said: Let justice roll like a river, like a river let it roll (2x) Convict us, Lord, we dance and laugh ignoring those who weep? Correct us, Lord, our golden calf has lulled our hearts to sleep? The gap between the rich and poor grows ever wider, shore to shore? There’s racial hate, religious war and wolves among the sleep Indwell us, Lord, and purify our hands to work for You? Enlist us, Lord, to serve nearby and ‘cross the waters, too? Your image-bearers on the earth will never know how much they’re worth? Unless we love and help them first and show the way to You Let it roll (4x)
in Blog • Music and Liturgy