Clear Play DVD

My friend John passed on a link to this new technology from Family Christian Stores. Its called Clear Play DVD. This technology allows you to watch any movie you want with all the explicit scenes, derogatory language, and excessive violent cut right out of the movie.

In short, it requires you to buy a special DVD player with a special memory stick. You go to the movie store and rent any movie you want. From your computer, you download the current movie filters onto your memory stick. You inset the stick in your DVD player and then insert the DVD. It then allows you to select "clear play" in order to watch the edited version of the movie. It's that simple.

I know Hollywood considers this a violation of artistic standards, but as a parent I do get tired of rushing through scenes with the remote when watching a movie with my kids. Especially since most objectionable content often gets caught a hair too late. I'm not sure if we'll ever get one of these, but it sure is an interesting alternative for families who want to enjoy good films without feeling as though your letting unhealthy content in your home.

Renovation Update Sept 26

The painting is close to done and carpet will be coming soon. The large main panel that feeds our electrical system is being installed today. Once this item is in place we’ll soon begin to feed electricity to our various sub panels and soon after, restore lighting. This will be very helpful in the final phases of construction.

The back and north side of the church has now been re-graded and re-seeded. Throughout the month of October we’ll be tackling the playground area.

Below are a few pictures from this morning.

This is some of the landscape work on the central island in the west parking area.



Our re-grading and re-seeding in the back of the facility.




The children's areas are starting to get some color.



A lone toilet installed on new flooring. Don't worry, privacy stalls are coming.





The lobby, shaping up.



The Worship Center is mostly painted. The face of the stage and technology booths will be getting new wood paneling.





New electrical panels are being installed.





The chapel lobby.

See You At the Pole

Today my daughter and son participated in the CCA Middle School "See You At the Pole" prayer time. It is a smaller rural district so between that, and the lack of good promotion, it wasn't a large group that prayed. Despite this, I thought I would share this photo because I love seeing young people pray. It's seldom eloquent, seldom sophisticated, and seldom long; however, it does make my heart sing seeing young people learning to depend upon the Lord by tapping into the authority of God to move mountains through the prayers and faith of his people.

Do pardon the hokey looking clothes. It's more than a "Middle School" thing... today was pajama day!

Weekend Projects

Here’s what we hope to get accomplished at Parkview this weekend. The official work time will begin on Saturday at 8:30 am. This will not be a formal Parkview work day, but we do have several outside teams coming in. Of course, if any of you locals want to come and put a few hours in, we certainly will accept the help.

• Prepare ceiling tile grid and windows for painting on the north side of the facility
• Remove painting tape/materials from the south side of the facility
• Install decking on the chapel stage and chapel sound booth
• Install MDF panel on the Worship Center booths

Here are some projects we may hit this weekend or over the next week or so.

• Install hardboard on Worship Center stage
• Install ceiling tile on the north side of the facility
• Prepare floors for carpet install
• Roll primer on MDF board
• Prep to pour sidewalk to playground
• Hit some neighborhood projects
  

Tools needed for tomorrow include.

• For those doing carpentry: circular saw, drill with Phillips head, general carpentry tools
• For those doing paint prep/clean: 4’ and 6’ ladders

For the teams coming tomorrow, be sure to bring a sack lunch. Ice water will be available on site.

Renovation Update Sept 19

Renovation is going well at Parkview! This week most of the south side of the facility was painted and the stage face was installed. We'll have one more week of painting and will hopefully be carpeting the following week. This weekend a few out of town teams will come and help with numerous projects (I'll be posting those a bit later).

In the mean time, here's a picture from the front entryway.



The grass is coming in great.





The stage in the Worship Center is almost complete and the walls have been primed and are being painted.





Room 103.



Room 100.

Church Community Builder

Since last weekend’s announcement in services, many of you have taken the opportunity to log into our Church Community Builder site (i.e. My Parkview) to update your personal information, upload a photo, check-out your group pages, adjust security settings, etc. This service is an attempt to combine the old school church database with Facebook, Plaxo, Google Calendars, message boards, etc. CCB is still a work in progress, but I am hopeful it will catch on for all of you. If you are a Parkview attender, please log on and start taking advantage of this service ASAP. If you didn’t get a hyper-linked email, you can register by going here.

See you online!

New Land On the Horizon

Since the floods of 2008, where over 4 feet of water from the Iowa River filled our facility, we’ve been investigating all options for future facility development. Recent analysis has shown that our “500 year flood” may be more accurately a “40 year flood”. In light of this, our future facility task force has been investigating every possible land parcel in the area for future facility development. The following was our criteria in the search:

• A location close to a major road and accessible from many locations
• Visibility
• Buildable in the next 1-3 years rather than 5-10 years
• The land needs to have many entrances to the parcel
• At least 30 to 40 buildable acres

The exciting news that was released in a church-wide email today, is that an offer from Parkview has now been accepted for a 32.5 acre lot 2 miles north of the Coralville Mall. This offer is contingent upon congregational approval. Here is a segment of today’s email authored by one of our elders, Mark Mynsyk.

We have a signed purchase agreement for the land we feel God wants us to build His church on! (The purchase agreement is contingent on congregation approval.) The map of the 32.5 acres (labeled site #2) is attached. It is 2 miles north of the Coral Ridge Mall and straddles the Coralville/North Liberty boundary line. To get to the land, turn west onto Forevergreen Rd off of Hwy 965, and then turn left onto Jones Blvd. When you get to the end of the pavement you will be at the middle of the west side of the property. Leaders will be at the site each of the next 3 Sundays (Sept 21, 28, and Oct 5) from 2 to 4 pm to answer any questions. (Heavy construction is going on in the area, so it is best to avoid going during the week.)

We will hold forums on Sunday morning, Oct 19, during all 3 services. The specific location of the forums at West High will be announced at upcoming services. If, after hearing from the congregation, the leadership is still convinced God wants us to build there, we will vote on purchasing the land at the Nov 17 congregation meeting.

Here’s an image of the land:



Please be sure to attend the forums and speak to the elder if you have any questions or comments. Also, keep praying that God guide us as we look at these exciting plans for the future.

Christless Christianity

This is a good video of Michael Horton interviewing R.C. Sproul. It is a bit academic, but it holds some jewels that represent a bit of a groundswell happening in many circles regarding the church. The concern not being the "fundy" stereotype that we need more hymns or altar calls or even Biblical preaching in our services. The concern is a lack of Gospel centeredness in our churches. This is more than an appeal asking people to raise their hands to a weekly invitation. It is a call to something much deeper. A call to a theological worldview that has been lost in many of today's churches. A call to resist moralism and embrace a Gospel message which is far more vast and rich than modern evangelicalism has embraced. A Gospel of the reformation. A Gospel that is completely contrary to our American worldview and thus very difficult for us to embrace or understand.

Celebration of Thanksgiving

On Monday we had the opportunity as a church to gather and celebrate God's faithfulness as he guided us through the floods of 2008. I found it interesting how rich it was to gather and commemorate such a difficult journey. I mean, in many regards it seems odd to throw a party for such a purpose... that is until we understand the Christian worldview we all embrace.

Our gathering was not a remembrance of something lost. It was not a celebration of the triumph of the human spirit. No, it was a celebration of God manifest in the unity of people, a celebration of God's provision for our every need, and a celebration of His goodness revealed in the things that matter most. Our time on Monday evening was one of the best times of fellowship and laughter and worship that we've enjoyed as a church for a long long time. Below are a few pictures that captures some of the moments.

We all enjoyed pie from Kalona catering. Very good eats!





The kids had a great time in the atrium!



Everyone brought their own lawn chair. It was very comfortable! Why can't we do this every week?



Nate, our College Pastor lead us in some sandbag games.



Below was the "evacuation" portion of the game.



Here is one of the group picture shots taken by Lloyd Bender. Thanks for the pictures Lloyd!



This is from our time of singing. It was really boomy in the room with no acoustic treatment or flooring, but it made for some very sweet community worship time.



As a joke Jon Kinzenbaw had a couple of the old metal chairs painted in Kinze blue as a gift for Jeff. Of course, the joke was that all our old metal chairs were refurbished that way.

No Pictures Today

In light of tomorrow's work day, I am going to abstain from throwing up some pictures until early next week after the "Celebration of Thanksgiving", which will take place Monday at 6:30 pm at the 15 Foster location. Read the previous post for more information on the work day and please be sure to join us on Monday. We'll have tours starting at 6 pm and some great pie to eat at 6:30 followed by a program. Also, be sure to bundle up. It might be in the 50's.

Saturday Work Day

This Saturday, September 6th at 8:30 am we are going to be having a workday to do a number of jobs at the 15 Foster church facility, as well as a few jobs in the neighborhoods affected by flooding. Things will get started at 8:30 am and will continue till mid to later afternoon. If you are going to stay all day you will need to bring your own brown-bag lunch.

The jobs we’ll be doing are listed below with a supply list of things you can bring to help with the project.

1. Paint preparation: need several 6-8’ ladders, sharp utility knives, putty knives, screw gun
2. Ceiling tile installation: need several 8’ ladders, eye protection
3. Cleaning and organizing: work gloves, brooms, dust pans, wheel barrows
4. Carpentry teams for several projects: basic tools, tool belt, circular saw, screw gun
5. Some general cleaning and misc work at a few homes

As the saying in goes, many hands make work light. It would be wonderful to have a big turnout so we can knock these jobs out completely in one day!

If you are bringing a team from out of town, be sure to let me know so we can plan on you (ssterner@parkviewchurch.org).

Tim Keller at Google

Tim Keller recently gave this talk to those at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California. Those working at Google are an example of the young "grass root" elites who are shaping today (and tomorrow's) culture. What a great opportunity. The content of his arguments come from his book, "Reason for God".



(HT: Resurgence)