Church Of The Open Door

Teaching Pastor: Taylor Bongard, Community Life Associate Pastor

Congregational Meeting with Ops Task Force and Governing Board

Tom Johnson, Pastor of Missional Life, speaks along with Amanda Svensk, Open Door’s Pastor of Next Generation. While they both acknowledge that we are indeed in a place of waiting right now, they’ve also seen how very busy God has been – in Slovakia, at AWOL, and right in our midst – and if we’re simply waiting for someone to come or something to happen, we will miss out on what God has for us in this season. The lavish goodness and beauty of God’s kingdom ways have been set loose among us!!! Teaching Pastors: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor and Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Al is a former Open Door pastor and currently serves as Executive Director of Beyond Our Door Global. Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Ruben Rivera, pastor, history professor and chief diversity officer at Bethel University, will continue the themes Drew Pederson unfolded for us this last Sunday. He recalled for us Jesus’ invitation to “be rich in the things of God” (Lk 12:21); this week, in Luke 12:32-40, Ruben takes us to Jesus’ declaration that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” These are familiar, learned-them-in-Sunday-School words – but do we really know our own heart and what it actually treasures? We like to think we know. We like to think that our treasure truly resides in the Kingdom of God, but most of us are such mixed bags. That’s why we need to pray! Lord, show us ourselves. Help us examine that gap between ideals and realities, between the old, unregenerated me and the new me in Jesus. Let’s soak our souls in the first verse of the Luke passage: “Fear not, little flock, for the Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom.” (Lk 12:32) Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ruben Rivera, Guest Speaker | www.thedoo

Drew Pederson, one of our governing elders, brings us to Luke 12:13-21, Jesus’ invitation to be “rich in the things of God,” a contrast to His warning to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” For Drew, this posture of being rich toward God is an open-handedness and generosity in every area of our lives – not just dollars and cents, but all of our decisions regarding such things as use of time and resources, and the amount of control we attempt to exert over things we think we ought to be able to influence. This is where the Kingdom of God collides with – and offers such hearty and life-giving alternatives to – the distorted, constrained, and small kingdoms of this world. Teaching Speaker: Drew Pederson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Yau Stillone, one of our governing elders, continues with our next passage in Luke. We’ve come to the question asked by Jesus’s disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1-13). Jesus’s answer gives us deep assurance that God indeed is a good God, that we can approach Him, and that He hears and answers. Whatever our experiences and understandings of prayer, we can enter in wherever we are, and the Lord will meet us there. Teaching Speaker: Yau Stillone, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Amanda Svensk, our Pastor of Next Generation, shares Mary and Martha’s story (Luke 10:38-42) from her own very-full, new-mom-and-also-a-kids-and-youth-pastor life. She declared emphatically on Tuesday that “When our yokes are heavy, God is who we are supposed to turn to – not our task list.” Mary and Martha's story is not a one-and-done, learned-about-this-in-Sunday-School lesson, but one of ongoing dependence and intimacy with Jesus. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Ronn takes us future into the story of Luke 10 with Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' uncomfortable question, "Who, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" Ronn maintains that what Jesus was asking the teacher of the law was, "Are you actually going to love the person you're uncomfortable with?" Loving God/loving others had been the Jewish scriptures for millennia; it was not a foreign concept - just very, very challenging for them then, and for us in 2019. We who struggle to love the "other", that person or class of people of whom we disapprove or dislike - we're not alone. Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Having earlier sent out His 12 disciples to preach and do miracles, then James and John wanting to call down heaven's fire to blast a village that wouldn't receive them, Jesus now sends out a much larger number of His followers to heal people and bring messages of peace and the availability of God's kingdom. When they report back in, Jesus' responses give us a breathtaking view into God's heart for His beloved creatures and what He is up to -- not only "back then" in His earthly ministry, but also right now, among us. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 | www.thedoor.org

Kati describes Luke 9:51-62 as "one of the super-aggressive teachings of Jesus." One individual offer to follow Jesus, to which Jesus replies that though foxes have holes and birds have nests, He has nowhere to lay His head. To another person who wants first to bury his father, Jesus replies that the dead should bury the dead. And to the third who wishes first to say goodbye to his family, Jesus declares that "if your hand is on the plow but your eyes are looking backward, then you're not fit for the Kingdom of God." Luke doesn't describe any kind of response from these three people. and Kati wonders whether those empty spaces in the narrative might be an invitation for us to pause, to examine what we wrap our lives around, to consider the freedom Jesus offers, and not to be fearful of following Him. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Pastor | Luke 9:51-62 | www.thedoor.org

Mark Collier speaks from Luke's account of Jesus' asking His disciples that question. Mark explains that, just as for Jesus' first disciples, this question is the turning point for us too. Our answer to that question will require further response on our part. Do we believe He's the Messiah? Will we accept His gift of grace and forgiveness?And then there's His third invitation/requirement, to take on His character and live as He does: "Whoever wants to be My disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23 This is so countercultural, so counter to our instincts of self-preservation and self-determination. Added to the mix are the spiritual realities that oppose God's Kingdom and want to hold us back from surrender and obedience. The only answer is to relinquish our power and control, by the help of the Holy Spirit, in order to enter more fully into that Abundant Life Jesus died to bring us -- for ourselves and for the whole world. This IS the Good News from our good and b

Becca Erickson takes us to Luke 7 where a "sinful woman who has been forgiven much" dares to enter a pharisee's house to pour out her grateful love and tears onto Jesus's feet. As Jesus confronts the pharisee and defends this woman from his contemptuous judgement we too find ourselves sheltered in His astonishing forgiveness. Teaching Speaker: Becca Erickson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

This Pentecost Sunday Tom Johnson doesn't want us to miss that people were in Jerusalem "from every nation under heaven". In other words when those disciples tumbled down the upper-room stairs and into the streets, God had just sent them out into the whole world, equipped with the capacity to tell that whole world of the plan God has for all people, all nations, everyone. And God's heart hasn't changed. Tom's words: "We don't have to discern that. What needs discerning is how God wants to use us, how the Holy Spirit will move us into that stream." With Tom is Paul Bradley, a member of Open Door's Missional Life board, who a year ago started a nonprofit as God moved his heart to assist destitute individuals, families and communities. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Our scripture passage this week is John 17:20-26 a small clip from Jesus' longer "high-priestly prayer", we're permitted to listen in on Jesus' talking to His Father -- about US! This short snip of a passage is only seven verses, but it is LOADED with truth, grace, glory, and mystery as Jesus lets us in on the dreams He has for us and those who will follow after us. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Scott Volltrauer, Amy, and their now-grown children have been part of Open Door since the “old days” in Robbinsdale, and they’re one of our Missional Life Supported Partners, working with TreeHouse in the metro area. TreeHouse’s mission is to help teens learn to know God’s love, in order to end the hopelessness that threatens to swamp these young people. John 14:23-27, from which Scott will be teaching, is Jesus’ promise to give us his supernatural peace in the midst of our everyday, actual lives – a gift greatly needed by kids who face engulfing hopelessness, and by all of us as we contend with the struggles of life outside Eden. Teaching Pastor: Scott Volltrauer | www.thedoor.org

This week's passage is probably quite familiar - John 13:31-35, where Jesus gives the "new commandment" that we're to love one another, and that this is the mark by which others will recognize us as Jesus-followers. As Anne-Marie was preparing for this talk, she was caught by the shocking ordinariness of how Jesus showed His friends the full extent of His love: He washed their feet. This task was so common in that culture - people were always washing their feet; but it was an utterly menial task for servants or slaves, certainly not a rabbi, who would have held a position of honor. Jesus' kind of self-emptying, of serving another, giving preference and honor to another in these ordinary, familiar places, is quite radical and upside-down. Holy Spirit, work among us. Help us learn this Love. Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

Kati Beasley takes us to Psalm 23, where she sees as an invitation to utter trust in this Shepherd who knows each of His sheep so thoroughly. In her words, “Maybe God really does know me that well, and maybe I could actually lie down and be at peace if somebody like that had my back.” Kati points out too that “what this Shepherd does for us, we’re then able to do for others, a gift to daily lives that are typically a rat-race.” Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Pastor | Psalm 23 | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Ruben Rivera takes us into Jesus' conversation with Peter on the shore: "Simon, son of John, do you love me? -- Feed my lambs. -- Tend my sheep. -- Feed my sheep. Our love of Jesus will propel us outward toward others as bearers of that shalom that Taylor spoke of last Sunday. In Ruben's words being "heavenly minded" -- loving Jesus -- will produce "worldly good" as we tend and feed, nourish and sustain others. Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ruben Rivera, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Taylor Bongard, our Associate Pastor of Community Life, takes us into the first Sunday of Eastertide, the 50-day feast of celebration from Resurrection to Pentecost that gives us space to rejoice in the life that comes to us from Easter. The gospel passage for this Sunday is John 20:19-31, Jesus’s appearing to the disciples as they’re huddled in fear behind locked doors. With a message so important that he says it three times, Jesus pronounces peace to his fearful friends, and to us Teaching Pastor: Taylor Bongard, Associate Pastor of Community Life | www.thedoor.org