Rob Ketterling

A HOUSE OF REFUGE

This weekend I'm preaching part four of "The House" series and I'm speaking on "A House of Refuge" as I teach about the church being a place of refuge to those that are Christ followers and also those in need of God that are looking for Him. Hope you join us and bring someone with you! One other thought, why not try the 12:00PM service in Apple Valley now that the Vikings are no longer playing? I guarantee a win!

GOT A SONY VAIO

After looking at my options and realizing I still like the power of a notebook, the full size keyboard and larger screen, I decided to get a Sony VAIO notebook. I was tempted to get the Mac and convert, but the VAIO got me when it had the look, the back-lit keyboard and it's running WIndows 7. So I went for it and I'm now getting used to the new computer and so far, I like it! Thanks for all of your input through Facebook and Twitter and even the blog, I appreciated your insights and went with Sony!

(For those of you computer tech type's that love info, here it is regarding the computer.)

LIFE GROUPS FOR EVERYONE!

Let me brag on all of the people at RVC that accepted the challenge and are now leading a life group starting this weekend. Well done church, you rose to the challenge and now we will have 110 groups to choose from! This is a huge win for us as a church because this is where you find friends, grow deeper in your faith and also find places to serve in the church and the community. I was hoping we could get about 75-80 groups because last year at this time we had 65 groups but to see such huge growth means you really get it as a church. Life Groups really are an important part of the River Valley DNA. Well done leaders and well done Pastor Justin for leading this ministry.

Be sure to sign-up this weekend, look through the list and pray about where you're at if you need to connect, grow or serve for this season of your life.  

BOOKS 5, 6 & 7

I'm keeping myself accountable for my 100 books this year by blogging about them so here is my blog about books 5, 6, and 7. Book 5 was Surviving Financial Meltdown by Ron Blue. (I'll use it for our series on money) It had a lot of useful charts and lists. Book 6 was Leveraging your Leadership Styleby John Jackson and Lorainne Bosse-Smith and was good but I think I was looking for something different. If you've never taken a personality test this would be more beneficial. Finally, book 7 was The Art of Leadershipby Dag Heward-Mills. It had a lot of really short chapters and some really good lists to work off of although it was a little old school style as far as leadership teachings.

If I keep reading at this pace, (7 books a month) I'll get to 84 books so I better pick it up! It's all Dave Gibson's fault! I sat next to him on the flight back from Amsterdam and we talked almost the entire flight!

KINGDOM BUILDERS AND OTHER GIVING

Just wanted to blog real quick about the goal for Kingdom Builders this year and reminding us to get the commitment cards in to the church. If you're part of RVC and you're going to give towards part of the KIngdom Builders goal this year, I want to ask that you get your card in as soon as possible. We have been collecting them at church all month and will continue to receive them as people catch the vision for Kingdom Builders. I'm praying that many new people will join our current Kingdom Builders and help us remodel our Faribault campus and build the youth center in Apple Valley!

On a separate giving note, we recently raise about $15,000 for Haiti in our weekend services! Thank you for the funds, they are being sent to Convoy of Hope as they continue to deliver food, clothing and medical supplies. I'm so glad we've been a partner of theirs for a long time now. Once again, thank you for your generosity to those in need.

JET LAG!

I'm back in the USA and spending some time with my family today. Tomorrow I'll head into the office and get caught up but right now i feel like I got run over by a truck! Serious jet lag and it has a lot to do with the Viking's! Not that they lost, but that the game ended at 4AM in Switzerland and my ride to the airport was at 5AM! Tired, must stay up till at least 9:30PM....

It was an amazing trip and i can't wait to see all the great things that will come of it. I have hope for the church in Europe if we can get Europe Advance going and get the churches over there working together and sharing resources. It's a new day for the Church and I'm glad we all get to be a part of it! A huge thank you to Pastor Sebastian and Pastor Desmond as they try and replicate ARC and modify it to fit Europe. You guys have a great thing going over there and took good care of me, blessings!

Now, where's the coffee, I'm struggling! (Here's a few pics of the trip)

COMING HOME AFTER A VIKING'S WIN!

I'm typing that by faith that the Viking's will win and that my sons will either feel the same pain of a Viking's loss like I've felt multiple times or that we will all feel the joy of victory! All we need is a win today over the Saints! I'm in Europe and I'll be trying to watch some of the game, listen on the internet or just sleep before I get my 5AM wake up call to head back. It could be a great trip back dreaming about the Super Bowl! Please Mr. Favre, bring us a Super Bowl and make all of this cheering for our arch enemy worth it!

Had a great tie in Europe and I am impressed by the fire and zeal of these guys with Europe Advance. I really believe they are going to take the ARC model for church planting and make it happen in Europe! They'll have to tweak it some but it's going to work and lives are going to be changed as they get rid of excuses and plant new churches! If you have a heart for the people of Europe and want to give to help start new churches there, I would encourage you to give some start up money to Europe Advance. I was thrilled to give them a donation today to get some investment into their work! (It's the first time I've given an offering in Franks!)

Heading home, Looking forward to seeing my family, sleeping in my own bed and getting a new laptop!

LAPTOP DOWN!

I'm writing this blog from a Mac in the hotel lobby so if my blogging is way cooler than normal, you know why! Yup, I need to use the lobby computer because my Laptop just died. It was doing great and all of a sudden a higher pitched noise came out of it and poof! No screen, and no sounds coming out of it. I'm guessing that's not a good thing....Just wondering, do Macs ever break? Or do they get recycled to poorer nations of the world.

Anyhow, I'm doing great as I train pastors and church leaders in Europe and enjoy the beauty that God created. I went and prayed for 3 hours today as I walked around Zurich and it was a blast. I had a fun moment when someone walked up to me and said, "You're Rob!" and for just a moment I thought, "another RVC person in a far remote part of the world!" But it wasn't a person from RVC, it was a pastor in town for the Church Planters Round Table and he saw me on the web. Just another one of those moments that reinforces that God knows where you are, what you're doing and the Church is much bigger than you think.

I'm looking forward to the training tomorrow and preaching here this weekend. Lindsay is preaching at the RVC Apple Valley campus and Joe at FBO so don't miss it! They will continue "The House" series and I want to encourage you to be there. Don't miss it because something I'm going to say next week builds on you being at RVC this weekend! Pray for me and I'll pray for you (Michael W Smith song ref. there....not cool... The Mac thing might not be working...) we're almost done with Awake21 and I hope you're seeking God and asking him for a break through! Let me encourage you to take some time to get away with God and pray, it will be something you won't regret, and it will make a difference!

I'M NOT GOING TO JAIL!!

I just got the e-mail that I have been partially excused from Jury Duty and I will not be going to jail! Yes! I can stop reading up on Prison Fellowship!

It's a really good thing they excused me because I'm in Switzerland doing some leadership training and also a Church Planters Round-table. Thanks for all your prayers, (You did pray right?!) I'm not going to start a prison ministry!

EYES OPENED ABOUT EUROPE

I'm over in Europe working with some church leaders here and I'm really getting an education on how things work and I wish I had more solutions but I've learned this so far. (Sorry if my thoughts offend you, they're just my thoughts.)

1- The people of Europe have no clue how powerful they are together. One of the things that keeps them from doing amazing things is their borders and the national pride that prevents them from working together. (In addition to this, not having a common language is a huge deterrent to unity as well.) 

2- Different degrees of socialism in each country has caused each each of them to lose their motivation. It appears to me that there is a huge "Grasshopper" mentality here. "We can't do it, we're Dutch. That works only in America. We can't go so fast, we're German."(Except driving fast!) A spirit of "We can take this mountain!" needs to happen here. (Incidentally, government health care, high taxes and government control of so much of the economy has taken the generosity and mission from the church. The feeling is, "The government takes so much from us, we can't give more. The government pays $ to the church leaders so we're good. No need to give because the government is on the way!" I'm really not a fan of that and I think it clearly takes away the passion of the church and the funds of the church.)

 3-The current church in Europe needs a revival of outreach. They need a deeper passion for the lost and not just "the found" in their church. I was praying today and I was reminded of my mom's tattoo on her wrist. As a Sr. citizen, she did it to reach those that don't know Christ and not just have "Grandma" conversations. That's why I was praying, God, give the old established church in Europe their first tattoo! (Hope no one heard me!)

  4-Whoever can unify the churches here will change the world. Until then, whoever can unify their church group has an unbelievable opportunity to lead the way and still make a big impact. My hope is that Europe Advance can make some headway and be the strong leader in church planting.