Rob Ketterling

I NEVER GET TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THIS

There are two things I never get tired of hearing about (I'm sure there's more but I'm certain of at least these two!) I never get tired of hearing about how people came to faith in Christ and I never get tired of hearing how people chose RVC as their church. The first one's pretty obvious because it's absolutely amazing to see how God reveals himself to people and calls them to give their life to Him. It's so cool to hear the variety of ways this happens and it's so humbling when people say that I had any part in it. (Preaching, teaching, asking for the decision, inviting them to faith, it's so cool to be used in that way.)

The second one is also a high lite because I love our church and know that we have a mission to fulfill as a church. I know that if we're going to reach all of the people we need to reach, we need lots of people to join us on this mission. We need thousands of people to use their gifts and talents and every single person counts! I know that some people think that in a big church they don't matter or it won't really make a difference whether or not they help, get on board or even give. It couldn't be further from the truth! You matter, every gift counts, every minute you serve makes a difference and when you don't do what you can, we all miss out! That's why I love hearing how people found RVC and joined us on the journey.

ICCM LIFE CENTER GIFT IDEAS

Here are some gift ideas for the ICCM Life Center Christmas outreach we're doing. These gifts are for teenagers (The age group that doesn't get the most gifts.) so if you're not set on what to buy, try getting one of these suggestions and bring it to the church this weekend. watches
cd players
walkmans
gift certificates
bikes
clock radio
basketballs
soccer balls'
jewelry
make up kits
baseball hats
footballs
electronic games

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

I'm getting ready for a marathon of worship in the next few days (18 services in 8 days at RVC) and I thought about our freedom to worship and how much we need to appreciate it. We live in a country that is slowly taking away our freedom of worship  but still is not anywhere near these countries that persecute religious people. Thank God for the freedom to worship this Christmas and we'll hopefully see you at some of the 18 services coming up as we celebrate Christmas!

ARC ALL-ACCESS 2010

I know it's a long way away but the ARC All Access 2010 is now open for registration! You don't want to miss this event for church planters and pastors that want to be part of a life giving network that wants to change this world. It's April 27-29th in Baton Rouge at the world famous Healing Place Church! Don't miss it, it's an all-star speaking line up for the main sessions, Hillsong United leading worship and all sorts of amazing break out sessions! Seriously, don't miss it! www.allaccess2010.com

URBAN MINISTRY

Here's something I've been thinking about and I'd love to get an answer for my question. The question is, "Who's doing urban ministry really well?" Let me explain what I'm asking, I know there are inner city missions like the Life Center we support (And need to buy Christmas gifts for!) and they do an amazing job among the urban poor, but what about the rest of the people living in our major cities? Who's reaching them?

There are several reasons I'm wondering this, the huge numbers of people and low number of churches in urban areas, the lack of facilities to use for new churches, the fact that 50% of the population lives in major urban areas and by 2050 that number is expected to be 70%. These are a few of the reasons but another really big one is that most church growth in the past 10-15 years has been in suburban areas and those areas are not growing nearly as fast as they once were. So I go back to my question, who's doing urban ministry well? And, what are they doing well? Love to hear what you know about this.

102 YEARS OLD AND A LITTLE ANGRY!

I just read this article about 102 year old Oscar Niemeyer celebrating his birthday and I thought of how different he is at 102 than I would hope I would be if I make it to 102! He said celebrating his 102nd Birthday was "crap and there's nothing to commemorate," I'd say he's not a good advertisement for living a long life! Maybe he figures that he's outlived his family his friends and even his enemies and there's not much to live for. Not sure what this guy is thinking. Maybe somebody older or angrier than me could help me out...

I just hope that all of us would live our lives in such a way that if we get 102 years, we celebrate it, make the most of it and if asked, say something inspiring and of eternal significance. Too bad this guy didn't live his life with no regrets for Christ, at least then he'd have something more inspiring to say when asked.

LIFE CENTER IN NEED!

Every year since we started RVC we have supplied the gifts for the Inner City Life Center and this year we're doing it again but somehow, it's slipped through the cracks. We have very few gifts under the trees in the auditorium and the deadline is this coming weekend. So if you haven't already done so, please go and buy some gifts for those in need. In the past, 50% of the gifts have come from RVC so let's keep up the tradition and be a blessing to this great ministry in the inner city. Just bring the gifts with you to the church and place them under the trees before or after service. Thanks for being a blessing!

GLOBAL WARMING?

OK, here's my latest entry on the Global Warming debate. (Remember I do this because my son Connor was openly mocked by his teacher and class mates for suggesting that it wasn't man made and cooling is our bigger worry.) For the record, I don't believe that man is increasing the warming on the planet. I believe it's volcanic activity, sun spots and natural cycles of the earth. I've been around for the global cooling scare and the global warming scare and now Climate Change. What!? The climate changes! That's not news to a Minnesotan, our climate changes every 5 hours! I do believe that we need to be good stewards of the earth, but not extremists about it. Many of the world's poor will suffer the worst if we do what is being proposed by those in Copenhagen.

Here are a few links: Snow in Australia - in the summer! Canada has one of the worst freezing snow stormsever. Harsh cold weather in Massachusetts kills dolphins and turtles. It's all about the moneyas poorer nations want the rich to pay more. Here's a youtube video done by Minnesotans 4 Global Warming called Hide the Decline, and lastly, here's an article about cooling problems for the future.

LOVED THE WEEKEND!

It was one of those weekends that I love! Lots of things to do, great church services and a whole lot of fun! I won't make this too long of a post but I'll give you the high lites. (I'll put some pics at the end for those that are interested.)

Friday was our Pastors quarterly night at our house (It was our first of three parties for Becca and I, one each night this weekend.) and we were blessed with some amazing food from the Petrone's. This is the third year in a row that they have cooked for us and I love it! Great food, great people and what a blessing!

Saturday was the Pine-wood Derby. There were some great victories for Team Ketterling and at the end of the race of champions, I raced the top three cars with my Turtle Car and my Heads and Tails car and let's just say that Pastor Rob has the first and second fastest cars at RVC! Thank you to Derek Blumberg for leading such a great event!

Saturday night we had a great church service, so much so that I had the tech team play the video on Sunday and wrapped up the end of the services live. It was so awesome to feel the presence of God and have the ability for all of the services to share that experience. I love it when we get the privilege of actually feeling God's presence in our lives and I also love it when people give their heart to Jesus. This weekend about 30 people did that!

OK, sorry it's a long post,  but Sunday was great and I feel refreshed not having to preach four times. The Vikings won and clinched a playoff spot, Connor had a choir concert, we went to our third party and  went to bed really happy with a weekend of busy but good! The only downer of the weekend, I lost in Fantasy Football 143.1 to 130.1 unbelievable! I would have beat the next highest scorer by 43 points or more! Oh well, there's always next year!

KIND OF DOWN BECAUSE OF TIGER

I'm kind of depressed because of the whole situation with Tiger Woods. It's not that he cheated on his wife (Which is wrong.) or that it looks like he has a sex addiction (And he really needs help) it's the way we're all handling this as a society. It's really become such a circus and the media is just feeding the latest to all of us with interviews, commentary and jokes.

I was shocked with one news show when it went to commercial and advertised an app for your iPhone by Playgirl! In addition to all of the sleaze and slime, the adds shocked me even more! (I know, why was I watching it? Honestly, I was watching CSI on my DVR and when the show was over, the entertainment show was on TV. Becca and I watched for about 3 minutes up to the commercial break.)

I'm also just saddened by comments that people have made about the ladies he's been with, the lack of shame and the overall casual approach towards what happened. Really his wife Elin needs our prayers and support and the rest of us, well, we need a dose of shame and modesty. We have a long way to go but it's times like this that the church can really stand out if we live what Jesus taught. Then we can be the salt and light we're called to be, exposing the works of darkness and covering the world with the grace of God.