Rob Ketterling

WASHINGTON D.C.

I just got back from Washington D.C. after being a part of the HOPE 2008 meetings with key leaders in our government. HOPE 2008 was lead by Convoy of Hope (A benevolence and relief organization we support.) as a way to reach out to the leaders in Washington in the current administration and the incoming one. We wanted to thank them for their past efforts and do everything we could to work together in the future.

While there we met with and heard from Steve Preston, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Honorable Rick Santorum, (Former Senator from Pennsylvania.) Jedd Medfield, Special Assistant to the President and Acting Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Dr. John Kim Cook, Director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Department of Homeland Security, the Honorable Allison T Young, Special Assistant to the President; Acting Director, USA Freedom Corps, Jim Wallis, President and Executive Director, Sojourners and many others. As you can see, it was some high powered people, great servants in our government and key leaders.

In addition to meeting and hearing from all of them, it was also a great time hanging out with the people in the crowd. I met several CEO's, entrepreneurs, and high profile individuals. I also reconnected with some great friends in ministry and because I said I'd list some of their names I'll do that now! Scott Wilson, Lee McFarland, Mark Batterson, Andrew Statezny, Sam Farina, and others. (If I promised a link and didn't deliver it, I'm sorry, comment and place your link!) I love the friends I have in ministry and I love partnering with them!

I'll blog more about this later, this blog is too long already!

HEART HEALTHY FOODS

I'm wondering if anyone out there has a site that can tell me all of the heart healthy foods one could eat. I'm especially interested in the foods one could eat if they were out for dinner or lunch and wanted to eat healthy. If you know of a site that you could recommend please let me know. (P.S. I'm hoping for more than salad recommendations!)

THIS WEEK'S SERMON WILL BE HELL

I typed out my blog post title and then realized, hey, that's a blooper if I ever saw one! I thought I'd leave it up there and just let it go because I really am preaching on Hell this week. I'm hoping the sermon itself will be much better than the title, but the topic will remain on Hell. If you have any questions on Hell you can post them here on the blog and I'll try and include them in the sermon.

TEACHING CHALLENGE

In the past four days I've preached three times to thousands of people, received offerings in church, asked people to give over and above to our miracle offering and had a conversation with a well known Christian author. And let me tell you, all of it was a piece of cake compared to what I did this morning!

This morning I went and taught the first hour History class at Farmington High School and it was a real challenge for me. When I left there, I kept thinking that I wished I had a do-over because I would do a much better job I'm sure! I was teaching them the history of Christianity and it was a challenge on so many levels. First of all it was weird to teach it as a history lesson and not as a sermon. In addition to that, it was also a challenge because they were tired, somewhat interested and I was a little nervous to teach in a public school about Jesus. I really hope they got something out of it.

I'm glad I did it because it stretched me, made me think about being more creative, more engaging as a speaker and it was way outside my normal comfort zone. If I ever get an opportunity to do it again I'll try for a Carpe Diem moment and less of a "Bueller, Bueller," moment!

AFTER THE ELECTION

We were in the paper again in Faribault, and it was a really good article about RVC! Take a look at the link and be sure to tease Pastor Joe about his hair!

MIRACLE OFFERING

Becca and I sat down last night and discussed our Miracle Offering as it pertains to our household and we came to the amount we feel we need to give. It wasn't a "Thus saith the Lord" moment, just a feeling of what we have to give, how faithful God has been and what's the best we can do. Just like many of you, it's a lot tighter this year than last year but God is faithful when we step out and honor him so that's what we're doing.

The church needs a strong miracle offering and I hope you're praying and doing like Becca and I did as we spent some time deciding what we could do.I don't want anyone feeling pressured to give, I just ask that those of you that call RVC their church home to take some time to pray and be obedient.

So many times people forget how faithful God is and we let the evening news decide our giving for us. I think as followers of Jesus we need to rise above that and let God settle it for us. I think He's impressed with sacrificial giving and people that trust Him to be faithful, not people that are scared away by the latest news. I think all of us should stop and thank God for all of our blessings and for the way He has provided for us in the past and the way He will take care of us in the future. Also, please pray for our Miracle Offering this weekend! Thanks a lot, I'll let you know how it turns out in the weeks ahead.

OFF SITE STUDYING

This morning I went to a Men's Ministry Seminar at Berean Baptist in Burnsville and really enjoyed it. I feel great about where our men's ministry is heading and I just learned a few things to make our ministry even better but it was still well worth my time. Now I'm off site studying for an upcoming sermon series and I'm hoping the place I picked will give me some privacy and few people that know who I am! I'll put my headphones on and hopefully that will be a loud enough "Do Not Disturb" sign!

BOWLING UPDATE

Just to let you know, we came away from the event with the 3rd place trophy and $200 for Children's Cup! Out of all the teams there, River Valley got some hardware to add to our ever expanding trophy case! Well done team, I knew you could do it.

BOWLING FOR DOLLARS

The new Brunswick Zone Xl opened in Lakeville and River Valley Church had a team in the VIP Grand Opening Fund raiser. We were bowling to raise money for Children's Cup and having a great time mingling with the leaders of Lakeville. I think we were the only team from a church and that surprised me, I think churches need to be out in the community more! Especially when you're invited to be there!

Everyone had a great time, got free bowling, free food and some amazing gifts just for showing up so it was a great event to be a part of. I'm told that Minneapolis/St.Paul Magazine took a picture of our team, who knows, you may just see these guys in print! Thanks to Steve,Chris, Jeff and Tom for representing RVC, and hopefully winning some money for Children's Cup.

FOUR LAST THINGS

We started our new series The Four Last Things and I have to say we're off to a good start! We focused on the topic of Death because we're all going to die someday and what we believe about eternity will affect how we live our lives today. At the end of the services we had over 58 people make a decision to become spiritually alive in Christ! Next week we'll be covering the topic of Judgment and it should be very convicting for all of us that follow Jesus.

In the spirit of The Four Last Things, here's four small updates!

The RVC Women's Holiday Dinner was a blast. I enjoyed being the waiter and serving the women of RVC!  

The Gopher nation is losing steam and the Vikings are running on Adrian Peterson, man is he amazing!

A point of clarification - If you are spiritually alive, you still want to live every day you can here on earth to make a difference. You don't fear death, and you want to live every day you can for God and with your family. It's very appropriate to not want to leave this earth until you've fulfilled your purpose.

Our Miracle Offering is coming up this weekend, please pray about how you can be a part of it!