Seven thousand tons. As wide as a six story building is tall. Moving at 67,000 miles per hour—suddenly slowed

by half, as it met the earth’s atmosphere (but then still moving at 44 times the speed of sound). Burning white hot—so white, so hot, so bright that it became, in less than three minutes, brighter than the sun, blinding everything within view with dazzling and terrifying power. Unleashing force fields of energy 20-40 times more powerful than those released by the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the meteor that fell on Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Friday, February 16. I was there.Actually, I was on my way, landing just a few hours after. Over 3,000 buildings were damaged, over 1.1 million square feet of

broken glass lacerated the city’s center, and 1,200 people sought hospital treatment. As the meteor barreled down from above, the shock waves blew windows into classrooms, bedrooms, and offices. People on the streets (it was 9:20am local time), stared at the sky and then were knocked to the ground by the blasts of energy (dubbed airbursts). No imagined set

Open House at the Lyons We will never be able to adequately thank our church family for the way it cared for us in the year following the loss of our home to a fire. But we would like to try by opening our home to you on three consecutive Sunday nights, March 10, 17, and 24, to enjoy some homemade treats and great company with Madison Park friends. Please join us for one of the Open Houses; each one will begin at 6:00pm and feature some of our favorite goodies. All are welcome, even if you are new to our church family. Reservations are required, though: just call Becky Arthur in the Church Office, letting us know what night you’d like to come and how many will be in your party. We’re looking forward to opening our new front door for you! Hope to see you then. Holy Week ObservancesPalm Sunday, March 24 and Easter, March 31, come early this year, likely edging out the daffodils and tulips as heralds of spring. But, remembering the most eventful week in history, that one week of the year we call “Holy,” is not about the weather: it’s all about Jesus. This year, Madison Park will relive the stories—the history—the events—of Holy Week in fresh ways, bookended by two weekends of celebration and service. On the Thursday between (March 28), we invite

you to Dinner with Jesus, an evening around the meal table with the Lord Himself. It will be a potluck, pitch-in supper. But, unlike an ordinary church pitch-in, this one will bring us to round tables with Jesus and the service of Communion, just as on that original Maundy Thursday so long ago. Following our Dinner with Jesus in the Commons, you will have the chance, if you’d like, to also remember Him in the ancient practice of washing feet. Good Friday night (the next day) will also be a chance for you to remember, in a very different way, our Lord’s love and sacrifice on the Cross. The Main Auditorium will be the stage, with an evening of music and worship tuned for the day the sun went dark and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Hold these days on your calendar; start inviting your family and friends now. Open a new window this Holy Week into the world of Jesus, then and now.Picture This. March 2-24Picture This. Picture yourself cradling a small child once crippled by polio now set free to walk. Picture yourself standing in the doorway of a new café, in which university students are gathering to hear about Jesus for the first time. Picture yourself helping a young mom choose a new outfit for a job interview beyond her grasp just months ago,

biweekly weavings of the community at Madison Park Church of God—February 27, 2013

Pastor’s Column: When the Sky Fellby Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor

January—March Beneficiary: HaitiMake a purchase at Holy Grounds and a portion of the proceeds will benefit MPC’s ongoing ministry in Haiti.Come early or linger after the Sunday worship services to enjoy conversation and refreshments. Visit MadisonParkChurch.org to view the full menu.

Sundays, 8:30am-11:30amMasterCard, Visa and Discover accepted.

Worship ServicesSUNDAYSAll Sunday Worship Services will be held in the Main Auditorium.9:00am - A blend of traditional and contemporary music, prayer, and teaching from God’s Word.10:45am - Features a praise band with distinctively modern edge and teaching from God’s Word.Classes are offered for all ages at 9:00am and 10:45am. Visit the Information Center for a complete listing of all electives or visit MadisonParkChurch.org, Ministries page.

SATURDAYS6:00pm in Crossroads Auditorium A casual, contemporary service with teaching from God’s Word and an opportunity to connect with friends. Children’s programs and Nursery services are provided.

News Notes from Pastor Lyon

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Back to the Future Weekend Sermon SeriesHow do the challenges that churches face today compared with those faced by the church in the first century? What can we learn from the early church that will help us influence the world for the good today? Journey with us though the sermon series, Back to the Future, as we look chapter by chapter, verse by verse at 1 Thessalonians and draw parallels between church past and present.

• March 2-3: Satan is in the Way 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20

• March 9-10: Power of Community 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

• March 16-17: Pleasing God with Holy Living 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

• March 23-24: The Day the Cross Matters Most 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

• March 30-31: Celebrate; Be Joyful 1 Thessalonians 5:1-28

Miss a weekend? Listen online at MadisonParkChurch.org, Media & Resources page.

Out Live Your Life— Sermon Series & Small Group ExperienceFour Weeks in AprilOut Live Your Life is a month-long teaching series that parallels a churchwide small group study of the same name. Drawn from biblical principles outlined in the book authored by Max Lucado, Out Live Your Life emphasizes how believers should live with an eye to the future and the footprints they leave behind.

In the Out Live Your Life small group experience, four video sessions present the real-life stories of people who are making their lives count. Each session shows not just why but how to live intentionally so that everything in your life adds up to something bigger than you.Scan the QR code to sign up for a small group. Sign-up also available online at MadisonParkChurch.org and at the Information Center.

Interest Meeting for Small Group FacilitatorsCome to an interest meeting on Saturday, March 9 at 7:15pm in The Commons. Small group facilitators and class instructors are needed for a four-week term in April. Enjoy a relaxed, no-pressure kick-off with Pastor Rolland and Ellen Daniels. Current small group leaders and those interested in becoming small group facilitators are encouraged to attend. R.S.V.P. by Wednesday, March 6 to Jackie Corn at the Church Office.

A Look Ahead:March 28 Maundy Thursday All Church Fellowship

6:00pm in The Commons. See additional details right.

March 29 Good Friday Service 6:00pm in the Main Auditorium

March 30-31 Easter Weekend Services Saturday at 6:00pm / Sunday at 9:00am and 10:45am

July 20 Ernie Haase & Signature Sound Concert at 6:00pm in the Main Auditorium. Ticket information is available at MadisonParkChurch.org.

October 20-23 Retreat to the Cove / CBH Viewpoint Asheville, North Carolina. Featured guest, Kathy Trocolli. Registration details at CBHviewpoint.org.

January 3-15 Holy Lands Tour / CBH Viewpoint Explore Jerusalem, sail the Sea of Galilee, stroll the streets of Nazareth. Details and registration information at CBHviewpoint.org.

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News You Can UseClocks Springs Forward: Sunday, March 10 at 2:00am. Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night, March 9.Maundy Thursday All-Church Fellowship: Thursday, March 28 at 6:00pm. Enjoy an all-church family pitch-in dinner followed by an evening of worship and observing communion. Bring a dish of food to place on the buffet tables. Following the meal and communion, participants will be invited to follow the Lord’s example in the ancient practice of washing feet, if they so choose. This sacred demonstration of servanthood can be one of the most spiritually powerful moments of the year. Everyone is welcome! Contact: Marti Euneman, Volunteer Coordinator.GO Choir Rehearsals: All singers are invited! Rehearsal dates: March 2, 16 and 30 at 4:00pm, Church Upon the Rock, 303 E 29th Street in Anderson. More at GoChoir.org. Contact: Kevin Majeski at kevin@gochoir.org or Jackie Raymore at (765) 609-0263.

Senior Adults MinistriesJ.O.Y. Group Hosts Quartet: Thursday, March 21 at Noon in Crossroads Auditorium. All seniors are invited! Bring a dish of food to share and enjoy the fellowship. Special guest entertainment by the South Meridian Quartet. Contact: Esther Crnkovich at (765) 649-3323.

Student MinistriesMarch Madness Event featuring Steve Fitzhugh: Wednesday, March 13 from 6:30-8:00pm in Crossroads Auditorium. Special guest speaker Steve Fitzhugh is a champion for youth, motivator, author and humorist. He will challenge you with his unique communication skills with high energy, engaging, passionate and effective message. Invite your friends to this memorable and life-changing event! Contact: Eric Reeder, Senior High Ministries Pastor. Ignite (Senior High) Student Ministries Concert/Pacers Combo: • Concert: Friday, March 1 at Bankers Life

Fieldhouse. Chris Tomlin in Concert with Louie Giglio and Kari Jobe. Meet at the church at 5:00pm.

• Indiana Pacers vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Friday, March 22 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Meet at the church at 5:00pm. Faith and Family Night Deal includes free Pacers t-shirt, food voucher, free-throw opportunity on the court. Cost for combo ticket: $40.02. Download an order form at MadisonParkChurch.org. Contact: Eric Reeder, Senior High Ministries Pastor.

Children’s MinistriesParents Night Out: Friday, March 1 from 6:00-9:00pm in the Children’s Wing. For children ages 3 through grade 5. Kids, come enjoy a western hoedown. Dress up in your western best and enjoy the party of the wild, wild west. High-energy. Line dancing and interactive games, crafts, lassoing, super food and devotions. Cost: $5 at the door. Round-up your friends and bring them along! Contact: Amber Rodecap, Elementary Coordinator.Community Outreach Missions Project: Saturday, March 9 from 9:00am-1:00pm at Suds Express Laundromat, 906 E 8th Street in Anderson. All children and families are invited to serve the community by folding laundry and serving cookies and hot chocolate to laundromat customers. Sign up to donate cookies and serve in one hour time slots. Contact: Paula Spear, Children’s Ministries Pastor.Palm Sunday Worship Participation: Sunday, March 24 at 9:00am and 10:45am Worship Services. All children will participate in the Palm Sunday worship services. Preschool children will wave palms during the processional. Children in Kindergarten through grade 5 will sing. Contact: Paula Spear, Children’s Ministries Pastor.

Opportunities to Serve

Easter Weekend Volunteers Needed: The Children’s Ministry will provide full programming for all children ages birth through 5th grade for the Saturday evening and Sunday morning worship services. Last year MPC ministered to more than 450 children. Volunteers are needed as classroom assistants, guest services and roaming greeters. Contact: Paula Spear, Children’s Ministries Pastor.Donate to the Annual Bazaar/Auction/Rummage: Donations can be dropped off Saturdays in April from 9:00am-2:00pm at the Scatterfield site. All donations (except adult clothing) are greatly appreciated. Appropriate tax forms available for tax deductible donations. Proceeds will benefit the MPC dept reduction. The event will be held Saturday, May 11 from 7:00am-1:00pm at Madison Park Church. The annual sale features a great selection of perennial plants, books, collectibles, children’s clothing, homemade baked goods, household items, tools, sports equipment, and much more. A live auction of furniture and other donated valuables will also be held. Contact: Marti Freeman-Euneman, Volunteer Coordinator.

Ministry Partner NewsParenting Seminar—Cooperation, Consequences, and Keeping Your Sanity: Saturday, March 2 from 4:00-8:00pm at Trinity Church, 6151 N Central Avenue in Indianapolis. The seminar, led by Tess Worrell, from the National Center for Biblical Parenting, will energize, excite, and equip parents to move from behavior modification to a heart-based approach to parenting. A corresponding children’s program will teach

kids things that complement what the parents are learning. Each adult participant receives a Parent Manual. Cost: $20 per adult, sign up online at biblicalparenting.org or call (609) 771-8002. Contact: Paula Spear, Children’s Ministries Pastor.Anderson Area Christian Men’s Lenten Breakfast Series: Saturdays from 8:00-9:30am at various locations. Men of all ages are invited to attend the breakfast series celebrating God’s grace through fellowship, music, and inspirational Christian speakers. A free-will offering will be taken.• March 2 at Pendleton First United

Methodist Church, 225 W. State Street in Pendleton. Featuring: Don White.

• March 9 at St. Mary RCC, 1115 Pearl Street in Anderson. Featuring: Garri George, Jr, Kathryn Carpenter and Jason Knapp.

• March 16 at Anderson First Baptist, 907 N. Raible Avenue in Anderson. Featuring: Carl Erskin and Friends.

• March 23 at Elwood First United Methodist Church, 1500 N. A Street in Elwood. Featuring; Anderson Area Youth Chorale and Rev. Robb Rolof. This is an open service. All men, women and children are invited.

For more information go to the Anderson Area Christian Men’s Lenten Breakfast Series website at aacmlbs.webs.com.Employment Opportunities: • Anderson University: Business Office,

Associate Accountant with a range of university or non-profit experiences related to internal auditing controls,

investments, processing IRS forms and real estate transactions. A

100% FTE full-time position with full university benefit

package. Contact: Kathy Young at (765) 641-4134.Concerts in 2013: Mark your calendar for these and more upcoming events:•TheIsaacsinBack Home Again with Adam’s Voice Concert:

Friday, March 1 at 7:00pm at Bundy Auditorium in

New Castle, Indiana. Tickets are available at iTickets.com, or calling

(765) 485-9615.•TimHawkinsComedy:Saturday,

November 9 at 7:30pm in the Madison Park Church, Main Auditorium. Doors open at 7:00pm. Tickets available at timhawkins.net.

Lighthouse Café

Enjoy a freshly prepared meal and mini-salad bar in The Commons: Wednesdays from 5:00pm until 6:30pm. Cost: Adults-$6, Children and college Students with ID-$4. Maximum of $22 per family. Feb 27: Italian Spaghetti

Kids’ Option: Pasta and MarinaraMarch 6: Baked Potato Soup

Kids’ Option: Mini Corn Dogs, Mac and Cheese

March 13: St. Patrick’s Celebration: Ham, Cabbage and Cornbread Kids’ Option: Grilled Cheese & Chips

Contact UsMAILING ADDRESS PO Box 2479 • Anderson, IN 46018MADISON PARK WORSHIP SITE 6607 Providence Dr. • Anderson, IN 46013CHURCH OFFICES 2200 Madison Square • Anderson, IN 46011 24-hour line: (765) 642-2000 • Fax: (765) 643-0976 Hours: M - F / 8:30am to 4:30pmwww.MadisonParkChurch.org

Max Lucado at Madison Park

Max Lucado’s best selling book Outlive Your Life: You

Were Made To Make a Difference is now available for purchase at the

Information Center.Pastor Lyon will refer to concepts

in the book in his April sermon series, by the same title.

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but now within reach. Picture yourself leading someone from the darkness of voodoo into the light of Christ. Picture yourself in India, in Russia, at Dove Harbor, or in Haiti. Picture yourself changing the world of not just one person, but thousands. Picture yourself being used as an instrument of God for the healing and blessing of a broken world. Picture yourself receiving a gift in the most unexpected way so that you can forward it to someone in desperate need. Picture yourself at Madison Park in the first four weekends of March discovering Faith Promise.Picture This. Each weekend in March, through Palm Sunday, March 24, we’ll have a snapshot of God-at-work–in-the-world through us: what has been done, what can be done. You’ll have a chance to put yourself in the picture, stepping into an experiment in trusting, receiving, and giving called Faith Promise. You’ll have the chance to see, imagine, and change not just someone else’s world, but your own.

from a science fiction movie could have been more dramatic—or horrifying.At first, the Chelyabinskis guessed they were under a nuclear attack, most likely from the United States. All telephone and other communication infrastructure was temporarily suspended—not by government decree, but by the force of nature. This theory quickly gave way to other explanations (“a weapons test by the United States,” “an industrial mishap,” and, at last, “a meteor”). Rumors flew for hours, though (for example: “it was the first in a series of meteors; others will be crashing on us within hours”); residents fled from schools and factories, and hid in their homes, bomb shelters, or basements. In a world without phones or television or radio, we would have all done the same.As the dust settled and solid information emerged, as people found their loved ones safe, as cell phones began ringing once more, and as understanding replaced fear, the city began to return to normal. The average daytime temperatures are only 10 degrees Fahrenheit, with night-time lows below zero. With many buildings exposed to frigid temps because windows had been blown out, there were still challenges to overcome. But the sense of relief everywhere was palpable.Chelyabinsk is a city trained (first by the Soviets and second by the secular age that followed) that there is no God. This is the prevailing view on the street. The Church of God came to Chelyabinsk in the mid-1990s, as the Soviet order collapsed. We now have three healthy, growing congregations spread throughout the city, led by Russian pastors who have been raised up in this

first-century church. This is why I was there; Madison Park has long played a key role in the Chelyabinsk Church’s development; I have been invited to serve as an Elder by the locals.The meteor changed Chelyabinsk. The glass is quickly being cleaned up, everybody has a story about where they were when “the sky fell and the air exploded,” and ordinary routines are back in play. But, no one who lived through it will ever be the same. People who did not believe there was a God, found themselves praying as if there was one. Young adults suddenly started asking questions about life, whether or not we are prey to random events, and whether there could be a God who protected them. Most Chelyabinskis understand that were it not for tiny adjustments in the speed and trajectory of the meteor, the whole city might have been destroyed in a Sodom and Gomorrah-like catastrophe. Was there an unseen Hand that stayed the meteor and saved the city? Didn’t we use to believe such things in Russia? Maybe there is a God, after all.The church in Chelyabinsk met on the-Sunday-after as one church in three locations, as it does every Sunday. I was invited to speak at the Lenin District Church, which meets on the top floor of a hotel with sweeping views of the city, that day overlooking thousands of boarded-up windows and flats in the tedious blocks of Soviet-era apartment buildings that stretch to the horizon in every direction. New faces appeared at the Lenin District Church, as they did also at the other two.One university student who attended ran into me the next day as I spoke to an assembly of English majors at one of the city’s major universities. She explained she

had never been to church before, that she had never even thought about it. But, she came that Sunday. Searching. Listening. Wondering.“I was overwhelmed and surprised by how much happiness there was in the room,” she said, describing the church meeting of the Northwest District congregation. It was a service filled with meteor drama, unrelated testimonies of being diagnosed with cancer, the power of prayer, and so on. Still, in all of the tough, real-life conversation and teaching she experienced, “there was happiness, like I have never seen before.” “Is it possible that people can live with such happiness? With such positive hope?” “I want to experience this again; I want to live this way.” She’s moving into the company of Jesus, deciding to discover more.In a world unpredictable, in a world we cannot control, in a world of danger and sometimes fear, there is only one anchor, one fixed star, one foundation upon which to stand, one hope in which to find life, one Lord able to watch over and care for His own. Jesus. He is the subject, He is the One, He is two steps ahead for the good, always. That was true in Chelyabinsk last week; it’s true in Madison County this week. Even rogue rocks from outer space, hurled by Hell itself, are within His grasp.And, if, by His appointment, our journey in this world comes to a close, well, our future still is bright. At peace with the world to come, we are to free to find joy and adventure in this one. That’s my story, anyway. From Chelyabinsk. It’s good to be home.

Share your thoughts on this article; visit the blog and leave

a comment at MadisonParkChurch.org.

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When the Sky Fell Continued from page 1

News Notes... Continued from page 1

Winter Ministries GuideThe Winter Ministries Guide helps newcomers and MPC-goers alike find a place to jump in. The guide presents opportunities for adults, students and children to join small groups, attend a class, or learn about ongoing volunteer and ministry opportunities.The guide is available at the Information Center and at MadisonParkChurch.org.