HDC | Apple Valley

Giving up.

Since we launched the Apple Valley campus this year, I’ve been running the Elementary program here, as well as at the Seven service at our Victorville campus. However, as of last Sunday I’ve officially transitioned entirely to the Apple Valley campus. All of my effort and energy will go in to ministry to A.V. families, kids, and volunteers.

I’ve been excited to make this transition, knowing how wonderful it will be to have more time to focus on Apple Valley. That being said, I was surprised at how tough it has been to leave Seven after almost 2 years serving there. I probably shouldn’t admit this over the World Wide Web, but the first week I announced to the kids I would be leaving, I had to go outside and let a few tears out before coming back in.

I read somewhere the other day that you have to figure out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about.

I care about creating an environment where every kid feels like they belong. I care about having the passion and energy to lead a team of volunteers who love God and love kids. I care about seeing kids and volunteers build relationships. I care about spending time with families, and really getting involved. I care about remembering names, and birthdays, and to buy more marbles for the marble shoot game.

Trying to balance all of these things in two locations was difficult. There wasn’t enough time to do it all. Things I loved doing, like baking a homemade birthday cake for every volunteer’s birthday, had to be cut in order to make it work. It took realizing that I could no longer do what I cared about at both campuses in order to feel good about letting go of my role at Seven.

Now that I’ve got one focus—Apple Valley—I can get back to what I really care about. I’m handing over my beloved group of kids and families at Seven to a women named Christine, who will care for that team greatly. Now we’ll both have the time to do what matters, like bring the kids popsicles, remember to celebrate important things, and have time to sit and talk to kids about God.

So think about what that would look like in your life. I encourage you to ask yourself this week: What are YOU are willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about?

Kati Smith

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Dancing in the Mine Fields

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It

I don’t have much to say today, but what I will say is this:

It’s not about You!

It’s not about Me!

It’s not about what we can get out of it.

It’s not about what it adds to our worth or self-perspective. 

It’s not about how you can prove yourself or gain applause.

It’s not about us!

So what is it?  You tell me.

And what is it about?  You tell Him.

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What do you believe?

What do you believe today?

Despite the friend that died of cancer, my uncle fighting cancer, the sick kids, and dying babies.  The friend that the doctors don’t know what to do with. The broken marriages and relationships strained by our own selfishness and lack of humility.  

Despite the friends that are out of work and losing their homes. And the fact that my house payment is due and the car payments are due and the electric, water, and gas bills are due and the fact that Dave Ramsey makes it sound so easy.

Despite the constant flood of distracting information. The computer, the emails, the phone calls, the stupid text messages and the advertisements that seek to pull me in to a thought world that is unproductive and harmful.

God is Good.  I know this!

He is wholly other, wholly loving and wholly good.

I must remember this.

I must believe this.

Do you believe?

Brian Haney

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Faith + Insight

This past weekend Pastor Tom mentioned the need for both faith and insight
if we want to live in confidence as a follower of Christ. Remember that?

Anyways, it made me think about the kinds of insight and the sort of faith
that is missing today. As I see it, the most important insight and the
most vital faith must revolve around God. Do you really believe in Him? Do you trust Him...with everything? So often we lose sleep over money, we
stress over relationships, and we freak out over struggles because we have
a crisis of faith and insight over THINGS. We want to see exactly what God
is going to do with all the stuff in our life.

Maybe we need to go back to where our faith and insight started. Maybe
our biggest lack in either faith or insight really isn't related to
something in your life, but rather Someone in your life.

Peter said to us, "His divine power has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of Him."

Access to insight and depth of faith is right in front of you...remember,
it's not just what you know but Who you know.

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Snapshot (pt. 2)

I hope you weren’t too bummed out over the last post.  I know I left you hangin’ a bit, but that’s what I felt like several years after the teaching fiasco of 1982…just hangin’ on. I couldn’t figure out how God could use someone like me.  I needed some direction from God. 

Then in 1985 it happened.  I’d like to say I heard a voice from heaven or that an angel came a visited me in my room.  But it was much less dramatic than that.   That winter morning in Newhall, California, I woke up with something I had never experienced before with God:  passion!   I would have thought I needed more talent, more skill or more effort to do something for God.  But I found out what I really lacked was passion.  I needed to have a God-ignited fire consume me.    

In literally minutes, I went from being a person who was wondering about my own shortcomings to a person compelled to serve a God without any.  I still didn’t want to be a pastor, but I surely wasn’t going to limit Him.  

And this passion still burns inside of me.   It is why I do what I do.  And it's what I hope to see more and more in the people of the HDC-AV Campus.   Talent, skill and effort are vital for the mission ahead, but what we need most are passionate people who God moves to reach out to their worlds with the message of hope.    Are you with me? 

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Snapshot (pt. 1)

1982 was the year I realized I didn’t want to be a pastor.   Well…sort of.  You see while  Eye of the Tiger, Rosanna and a little diddy about Jack and Diane were filling the airwaves, I was growing up as a pastor’s kid near Sacramento.  It wasn’t that I didn’t like being a PK, but it's just something I never thought about doing.  My ambivalence turned to avoidance that year when I was asked to teach the Sunday morning message at my Dad’s church. 

Terrified is a word that is overused, but trust me…that was me.  I studied for hours and hours in preparation for that message because I didn’t want to mess up the church or misuse God’s word.  I looked at Bible commentaries and study guides day after day.  My prayer life was dynamic that week.  When the Sunday finally arrived I got up to the podium and was a little worried I had way too much information to share.  I was hoping I didn’t go over the normal 45 minutes my Dad usually spoke.   

I don’t have a clue what I spoke about that day.  It might have been out of Romans but I’m not really sure.  However, I do remember launching into the message with leg-rattling fear.   I poured my heart out to the people for what seemed like hours.  They loved me, so they stayed awake and smiled every so often. I shared every story and memory verse I could come up with.  I sweated through my suit jacket and could feel my heart pounding in my chest.  And then finally, mercifully, it was over.  I walked off the stage and looked to see that 17 torturous minutes had ticked off the clock.          

I sat down on the front chair in the auditorium and felt like a total failure.  Little old ladies I had known for years came up and gave me a hug.  One of them gave me 10 bucks so that was kind of cool.  My friends tried to console me.  My Dad and Mom were strangely proud.  It was a strange day to say the least.  But at least I was certain of one thing:  God could never use someone like me in His church.   

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RING AROUND THE TUB

As many of you know, and witnessed, this last weekend was our first baptism at HDC’s Apple Valley Campus.  It was a great time of community and a chance to celebrate with each other the new life that many of us have found in the death and resurrection of Christ. 

Many of you also know that I (Brian Haney) deal with all the nuts and bolts of the campus, and apparently pool supplies as well.  I was reflecting on some of my experiences this weekend with the baptismal and wanted to share a few thoughts.

One thing that was important to us was to have warm water in the baptismal so that people would not be shocked when they entered the tub to be baptized; we wanted it to be comfortable for those participating.  As I was doing this I thought to myself, “Was Jesus comfortable when He died on a cross and was buried?”   Should the symbol of baptism (our death with Christ to our wrong behavior and resurrection to a life that would bring praise and glory to our creator and Savior) be comfortable?  

Also, between the services I attempted to circulate the water through a filter to clear out some of the debris that had collected in the water; I was mostly successful.  But I also thought, “ I should just leave this.  Life before Christ is a filthy murky cesspool of selfishness and sin, how fitting that the water that people symbolically die in be the same.”  I did go on to clean the water; so if you were one of the people baptized don't be afraid.  I just think we should not miss that fact that we have been given new life and the ability, through the spirit of God, to overcome the filth of this world and live a life cleansed from wrongdoing and focused on bringing glory to God.

Then, as I drained the water out of the tub after the services, I noticed that there was a ring around the tub.  I stopped.  Praise God. 

Colossians 2: 12 and 13 states:

having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins…

What a blessing to be able to reflect on the fact that we have left our wrongdoing and guilt at the foot of the cross, as if it were a ring around the tub.

As you go about your day, don’t forget to thank God for His gift of life and power to overcome your selfish desires. 

And don’t worry, if you are going to get baptized next month, the water will be warm and clean… but maybe I will leave the ring.

Have a great day and reach your OIKOS,

Brian Haney

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Baptisms

When this new campus started we weren't sure how we'd actually get people baptized. However, this past weekend we had our first baptisms at the AV Campus and it was great. 7 people shared their stories with our church family and then confidently walked into the waters to be baptized. As the band rocked, people were baptized and as they came out of the water, the sounds of family and friends cheering echoed through the auditorium. Good day to be @ HDC - AV.

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We're Moving!

Yes, that's right! After only a few months we believe God is leading us to take the next step on our journey together. We started our AV Campus on Valentine's Day and on Mother's Day we will be moving to our new location at Sitting Bull Middle School. The new location is great! If you haven't been there, don't be fooled by the idea of a middle school. This doesn't look anything like the middle school I attended. It is new, clean and strategically located. We will have lots of space to hang out with each other. There is plenty of room to grow for both kids and adults. It is hard to leave UltraStar because they have been so great to us, but the time has come for us to take this next step. Make sure you come and get connected on May 9th.

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