You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

These are my highlights from chapter 1, called, Holy Frustration, by Floyd McClung.

That he invites me to be a coworker in sharing his love with others never ceases to amaze me.


[re: the church in the book of Acts] They were a dynamic movement of small communities, spontaneously breaking out all over the city. They occasionally met together in big celebrations in Solomon's Porch at the Temple. They gathered in each other's homes, crowding into living rooms and gardens and workshops, wherever they could find space to gather and worship and pray for their friends and family. They were infiltrating every part of the city.

Think about the power of what was happening: they often spent times fasting and worshipping and speaking words of encouragement to one another. They preached boldly about Jesus. Common people were discovering unknown abilities to teach, pray for the sick, serve, and organize. Everyone was involved. The whole church was actively engaged, not just a few. [unlike many churches today where 20% of the people do 80% of the ministry]


Local churches can easily become a spiritual Harmony Bay, locking people up instead of setting them free, with church leaders who mean well but, if not led by the Spirit, turn the church into a world unto itself, cut off from reality.


The church that does not carry a passion to reach the world isolates people behind walls of cultural irrelevance. When that happens, pastors and leaders serve like guards on the prison walls instead of liberators sent to pull down the walls. They stand as caretakers of dry-bone cemeteries instead of speaking life to the dry bones.


The very word for church in the New Testament is about an empowered citizenry commissioned to lead, not control. Ecclesia, or church, did not convey a Sunday meeting to go to or a boring, building-oriented place where a few people did all the ministry and everyone else was a spectator.



It was an assembly where everyone had an equal right and equal duty to take part.



He [A Bible teacher friend of the author's] challenged us to gather them in small groups and, as we were able, in celebrations. He called this process "building" in contrast to "blessing." He told me that doing ministry without a clear aim to build a healthy community, an ecclesia, was irresponsible. He said God had something better in mind. He challenged me to build a discipling community that we would lead and care for and that would in turn become part of God's mission.



Two paradigms, the Building Paradigm, and the Blessing Paradigm


Building                                                        Blessing

Focused                                                   Following spiritual fads
Strategic                                                  Lost in church culture
Intentional                                               No clear outcome
Building a movement                              Living for the moment
Pioneering spirit                                     Pleasing others
Long-term thinking                                 Short-term mentality
Fruit that remains                                  Immediate results
Fathers and mothers                              Hirelings
Building spiritual foundations               Adding to what others do
Values oriented                                      Meeting oriented
Spiritual sons and daughters                 Crowds and meetings
Reproduction                                         Production


Every apostolic leader must face this challenge: will I build what God has called me to build, or will I extend what others are doing? You want to know why potential apostolic leaders don't make this transition successfully? Lack of courage. God lifts his grace off church leaders to get them frustrated enough with the old way of doing things so they seek a new way of doing church.

He [God] cares for the old ways but injects new life into his church through those people who are courageous enough to change.

One of the things I committed to was to do nothing that did not lead to new church communities being started. The results were amazing. God blessed our efforts.


When I told the pastors of the churches we had been attending that we wanted to start new churches, they reacted. In fact, I didn't meet one leader in the city who encouraged me as a young visionary to dream about starting new churches. They were concerned with losing church members. They felt the city didn't need more churches. Some of these leaders were inside the walls of "Harmony Bay" and were doing their best to guard the prison from attack. They were good men at heart, but they were locked into a way of thinking about church that was narrow and sometimes controlling. I decided I didn't want to be the kind of leader that reacted unfavorably to young visionaries.


I believe God wanted us to reach the outsiders, not coddle the insiders.


As I have traveled the world, I have found that the ministries which lack resources and credibility are often the very ones that have the most to offer in terms of creativity and inspiration. What they lack in money and status is made up for in courage and vision.



There is a great danger in defining church according to our past experience or dry theological explanations. Describing church is not the same as defining it. God has created the church to be a dynamic, growing, powerful movement, not a static doctrine. The Holy Spirit invites every generation and every race of people to create new expressions of church. Jesus called these new expressions "wineskins."

Don't try to fix the church. God is not calling us to fix what he has created. Don't focus on changing the people and the churches they are part of. It is time for a new wave of church leaders to be released who do church in brand new ways. As you read this book, I hope you hear the Spirit speaking to you. God may be calling you to believe him for your generation and your culture. Dare to believe him for a new way of thinking and a new way of acting, based on God's Word and infused by God's Spirit.

New Ways of doing church must be born on our knees, out of desperation for God.

Boy, that was a full chapter! Holy Frustration, or as Bill Hybels calls it, Holy Discontent, is something I never heard of before until I read Bill's book. That's when all the pieces of my head and heart starting coming together and making sense. That was right before God called us to pastor. It was God's way of laying a foundation for me that spring boarded what He was bringing next. It made it so much easier to accept His calling when I understood the big picture. If you're feeling frustrated or discontented with any aspect of church, seek God about it. Ask Him to reveal the purpose behind your frustration and reveal His plan for your life. Being stuck in frustration is a terrible place to be.



Blessings on this breezy, cold Wednesday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

I'm about 1/3 way through this book and am loving it!  Here are my highlights from Chapter 1 titled Five Beliefs that Changed the way I Do Church, by Floyd McClung.

Perhaps one of the reasons we have lost our relevance is because we spend so much time and energy thinking of ways to make the sacred hour on Sunday more attractive to saved people, rather than equipping saved people to take the church to world.  Amen!

God created us to need a challenge so big it changes everything we believe and hold dear.

...church is not an institution but an army.  Believers in the rest of the world are not devoted to doing church in religious buildings but to gathering anywhere and everywhere they can to study the words of Jesus and to pray and worship.  The participants in this revolution believe they are at their best when they meet in twos and threes, not two and three thousands.  And they don't see their small gatherings as the purpose for church but as the means for them to be encouraged in their longing to see more people know Jesus.

...but I do believe the more complicated we do church, the more difficult it is to reproduce.  Complicated ways of doing church are overwhelming and difficult to feel part of.  How many people believe they can start or lead a megachurch?

They key to starting churches that reproduce spontaneously is to be Jesus to lost people.

But the fact is that the bigger and more complicated a local church becomes, the more people and the more money it takes to lead one person to Christ.

I concluded many years ago that all followers of Jesus interpret the teachings of Jesus and the impressions of the Spirit via an inner set of core beliefs that, for better or worse, guide their lives.  These five guide my life:

1.  Simple church
2.  Courageous leadership
3.  Focused obedience
4.  Apostolic passion
5.  Making disciples

I believe the effectiveness of any movement that makes a lasting impact will be measured by how effective it is in fostering a culture of discipleship that thrusts its members out among the lost.

Yes, the lost.  Those people.  The unlovely.  The dirty, the smelly, the homeless, the addicted, the middle-class upper management ladder-climbing folks who can do all things through themselves.  Your neighbor, your sister, your father, your child.  It's time we stop hoarding the greatest gift we've every been given and start giving it away.  Afterall, it was free to us, and is free to everyone else.

Blessings on this beautiful fall Monday.

End of Book, Beginning of Book

I went to blog some more on Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels and found I had no more highlights!  I remember enjoying the whole rest of the book so much I couldn't highlight all of it.  I really enjoyed it.  If you're wanting a soft launch into sharing your faith, this may be the book for you.  It's gently written with lots of real-life examples.

I've started my next book and like it very much so far.  When Greg saw what I was reading, he said, "He's a really great author!"  It's titled You See Bones, I See An Army by Floyd McClung.  The subtitle is Changing The Way We Do Church.  Part of the Foreword reads, "You See Bones unapologetically presents us with the challenge of church-planting."  Got me right there. 

The title comes from Ezekiel 37:1-10.  Here it is in The Message version:

God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and sat me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones.  He led me around and among them - a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain - dry bones, bleached by the sun.  

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Master God, only you know that."

He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'" 

God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life.  I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
  
I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone.  I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
  
He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, 'God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"
  
So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.

If you're like me, one of the first things you read when considering a book is the Table of Contents.  Here it is:
Forward
Five Beliefs that Changed the Way I Do Church
You See
God Grabbed Me

Part One:  Simple Church
1.  Holy Frustration
2.  Asking the Right Questions

Part Two:  Courageous Leadership
3.  Courage to Change
4.  The Next Bono - or Is It Billy Graham?

Part Three:  Focused Obedience
5.  Watch Out for the Camels

Part Four:  Apostolic Passion
6.  Big Cars with Very Little Engines

Part Five:  Making Disciples
7.  The Heart of Everything

Appendix A:  Five core practices to Start and Multiply Simple church Communities
Appendix B:  Suggestions for Starting Two- and Three-Person Discipleship Groups
Appendix C:  The Three Core Values of the Kingdom
Appendix D:  Recommended Books for Further Reading
Notes
About All Nations

I can't wait to finish this book, who know, it just might be the next book we have our leadership team read!

Blessings on this sunny Wednesday!

 

Just Walk Across the Room #4 by Bill Hybels

In this book, Bill tells us what it means to live in 3D in regards to sharing our faith. Here they are:


1. Develop friendships with people in your world and then take risks to
2. Discover their stories.
3. Discern appropriate next steps.

Bill talks about one way to help someone out is to be a resource provider. Sometimes you can just offer them a book or tape to check out and that starts the curiosity juices flowing. Follow up with them to discuss their impressions of what they've read or heard. That can lead to further conversations as they continue to ask questions. In order to move from initial reactions to making a significant impact in their life, use the "Be With" factor.

At a Willow Creek leadership retreat a number of years ago, I introduced something called the "be with" factor in summarizing Jesus' approach to having the most significant impact on the people in his world. Jesus most profoundly influenced his disciples by doing life with them. He invited them into his world, and he got into theirs. Undeniably, the disciples' most momentous life-change happened during their mundane, everyday times with the Lord.

Are you committed to being with the members of your various social groups - doing life with them, sharing yourself with them, rubbing shoulders with them? If not, what's holding you back? Christ modeled the life earnestly, and authentically. And friendships that are strong today can always be traced back to that first conversation when someone chose to engage, someone chose to seek out the other person's story, and someone was willing to pay attention to occasions when the right resources would meet a few needs.

Bill goes on to relate a story of someone in his church who was trying to reach out to his neighbors. He was getting nowhere inviting them to church and trying to engage them in spiritual talks. He was discouraged, feeling he was part of a 'loser' neighborhood. Soon he came up with a plan. He challenged one of his neighbors, "I bet I can put together a better kickball team than you can." "You're on!" Soon, they averaged 65 parents and kids every other Sunday night. Soon everyone was helping plan the event, they enjoyed holiday festivities together, and eventually, some decided to try their church. There's more to this story, but you'll have to read the book!

Like Bill says in his book, "Friends, this isn't rocket science."

Blessings on this cloudy, rainy, sunny, breezy Monday.

Just Walk Across the Room #3

By Bill Hybels.  Here we go with Chapter 4.

Points for Practicing Commonality:  . . . relax your agenda enough to uncover what they're involved in.  . . . watch for ways to build bridges instead of walls when you are discovering people's stories.

This is a really an important point, so I'm going to expound on it.  Case in point:  A few months ago, I was working with Greg at one of our retail store accounts and a man in his 50's drove up to our truck and trailer, walked up to me (Greg was about 75 feet away) and started asking me questions, rapid-fire.  "Have you ever read the Bible?"  I responded, "Yes, I have."  He responded, "Well, have you read it carefully?  There are things in it that aren't quite true.  Here, I'll give you this, read this.  It will explain everything.  Do you know where you'll go if you die tomorrow?  It's very easy to misunderstand the Bible."  On and on he went, barely giving me a chance to answer his questions or correct him.  I did get to spit out that we were Pastors hoping this would slow him down, but it didn't.  He responded, "Well, many Pastors have been misled by the Bible, it's hard to decipher."  I told him I wasn't interested in his booklet (J.W. WatchTower).  I was being as nice as I could, knowing I was representing Christ, but motor mouth was more interested in his agenda than building trust or a bridge with me whereby I would even be open to continue the coversation with him.  He finally left when Greg told him three or four times thank you, but we weren't interested and that we had to continue working.

Here's another experience I had.  I man in his 60's and a boy about 6 came to my door, all dressed up in slacks, dress shirt, tie and jacket.  The little boy did all the talking.  He asked if I was interested in learning how to do better in these tough financial times.  He asked if he could leave a booklet with me on how to manage my money better.  I said, sure.  I knew he was in training for something, I just didn't know what.  Then finally the man spoke and asked if they could come by the next week after I had a chance to read the book.  I said sure.  They never came back.  The back of the booklet showed they were either Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses.  Now, if I were to get all dressed up, coach a child in how to deliver a message, carry around booklets, and represent my particular faith, asking if I could come back, and getting an affirmative answer, I WOULD MAKE SURE I CAME BACK!  To me this showed a lack of integrity, not following through on a committment.  Either that or they were lying to me, never intending to come back, and just wanted to get a book in my hands to read, thinking coming back would make sure I was prepared to discuss it when they came back.  Both experiences left me very disappointed and disgusted.

Pushing agendas at people almost never leads them to Christ.  In fact, it's one of the many reasons people are leary of Christians and Christianity in the first place.  Be genuine in your relationships with people.  Ask God to prepare the soil ahead of you and to open doors for you to speak when the time is right.  Closing the deal should never be the motivator.  Loving people, showing Christ's genuine care for them, opens the doors.  Share your own experiences when they are ready to hear them.  Don't use Christian jargon.  Genuine care for people builds trust and bridges to their hearts.  That's the first step.

Blessings as this storm comes in.

Just Walk Across the Room #2

Sorry I missed a few days. After a storm, there are a lot of downed trees and debris that needs to be cleaned up. I'm pooped! Here are my highlights from chapter 3 by Bill Hybels.


[Horse Trading with God] . . . but privately they come to God and say, "I'm really not cut out to take walks across rooms, God. I'm terribly uncomfortable with risk, edge, and adventure. And frankly, this whole 'mystical' realm isomer unnerving than I can even articulate! . . . But here's my deal, God. I will get all over spiritual development. I will be a Bible knowledge hound! If you want, I'll throw myself into building Habitat for Humanity homes - every summer, if fact. I will climb all over volunteerism - I'll show up at church five nights a week if you ask me to. You let me off the evangelism hook, and I'll prove my love for you in half a dozen other ways if it kills me. That's my deal."

If Christ-followers' tactics only went this far, I would still hang my head in dismay at the selfishness and ugliness of it all. But things can get even worse than this. I've seen scores of Christ-followers get so cut off, having horse-traded away any sense of responsibility or adventure about reaching people, that they actually get annoyed with those outside the kingdom of God.

Instead of walking toward people who need God's redemptive love, they step into a mode of no longer wanting anything to do with them. Self-proclaimed followers of Jesus Christ develop an aversion to nonbelievers, going to all lengths to avoid the exact people Christ came to redeem.

The aversion can become so intense that a Christ-follower has to plumb new depths of dysfunction to deal with it. "Here's what I think I'll do," she says. "I'll set my alarm so that in the morning, I'll get up to Christian music. I'll email my Christian girlfriends all throughout the course of my workday so that I can stay pumped up with Christian thoughts. At break time, coffee time, lunchtime, I'm going to sit by myself and read my Bible. Then, I will fill up my evenings with family and church activities, and (if I watch television at all) it's only Christian shows for me. I'll go to bed, wake up tomorrow, and start all over with Step One. My life will stay exactly how I want it to be: simple and safe. Spotless and uncluttered. Protected and predictable. Just the way I like it." . . .It is the polar opposite of the way of Christ.

. . . there is unparalleled joy in knowing that God is using you to shape and mold another person's life.

Kind of hard-hitting for Chapter 3, but good stuff nonetheless. I was here once too, not even realizing it. Then I got a passion to see people grow through discipleship. Then God called us to plant a church, which means reaching the lost as well. Step by step, God leads who will follow.

Blessings on this warm, sunny Saturday.

Just Walk Across the Room

As promised, I'm sharing my highlights from this book by Bill Hybels. I thought I was a very good book with great advice on how to share our faith. Bill is full of passion for sharing the greatest gift he's ever received, as we all should be. There were mini sermons and times when I read through it faster than others, but I have enough highlights to share. I hope you are re-ignited to share your faith when you see how easy it really is.


[Jesus, paraphrased] "Be people who are willing to seize every opportunity I give you - not motivated by guilt or fear or obligation, but just with an eye on me, a pliable heart, and a passion for my people."

Knowing that the God of the universe has equipped you to bestow the greatest gift in this life on another human being, choose today to lead a life of impact - eternal impact.


But as far as I'm concerned, there is only one paradigm that will not wear thin with the passing of time. These days, I'm more convinced than ever that the absolute highest value in personal evangelism is staying attuned to and cooperative with the Holy Spirit.

If I'm serious about being transformed by God's Spirit, then I can't shy away from the discomfort and awkwardness and ambiguity that exist when I abandon my safe Circle of Comfort.


[Regarding the parable of the seed sower] Jesus went on to promise that despite where all the other seed fell, some seed fell on good earth and produced a harvest beyond the farmer's wildest dreams. We cannot forget the reality of this fourth soil, friends. Jesus pledges to us that some of the seed we sow will fall on good soil.


Leave what's comfortable for that which is eternally significant. Risk your life for this, and know that you will never regret your decision. He challenges us to do the same. "What does it profit a person," Jesus once said, "to gain the whole world but forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:36)


In short, "You cannot give up! Be seed-sowing fools, if you want to think of it this way, because someday-during one of those times when you risked taking a walk across a room-that seed is going to fall on the right soil, take root, germinate, and sprout. And you will fall to your knees in disbelief, saying, 'Thank God I did not give up! Thank God I did not flee to my little insular Circle of Comfort and stay there in hiding. Thank God this seed fell on good soil."

Those were my highlights from the first two chapters. I know you're missing a lot, but think of them as teasers. Maybe you want to buy or borrow the book. Stay tuned for more highlights!

Blessings on this warm evening.

Taking a Turn

Greg has taken a turn for the better.  He woke up this morning with an alert mind and much less phlegm coming up.  Yeah!  Good timing too, we need to move a lot of our bedroom out of the bedroom today, and he needs to get a bale of straw for the dogs.  He also needs to work on this Sunday's sermon.  I hope his energy and alertness lasts most of the day.

For me?  Thankful that I get to take rainy days off as well as days my boss is sick.  That certainly won't happen if I get another job.  But, I will get holidays and vacation days off, something I don't get now.  I think it's still better being self-employed.  Got to go to the post office, since they were closed yesterday.  Got to go to the credit union, since they were closed yesterday.  Got to get gas for the car.  Glad the laundry and shopping is done! 

It's a great day to read.  I got to read 60 pages of my Just Walk Across the Room book by Bill Hybels and finish it last night.  I'll be sharing that tomorrow.

Blessings on this dark, windy, rainy, Tuesday!

Great Service

What a great service!!!!  Seriously.  Greg wasn't able to go on the men's retreat because he came down with a virus last week, but we had 6 of the 8 or so in church and each one gave their testimony of their weekend.  Each man had a different story of what their highlight and experience of the weekend was.  Each one saw God do something different in them.  All of them made us laugh like crazy.  Some brought tears to my eyes. 

This dove-tailed great with Greg's sermon on fear, anxiety and worry.  He read Chicken Lilttle.  We had the clip of the Newsboys Houston We Are Go with the lead singer reciting Isaiah scripture on not fearing.  You can see the video below.  The scripture is at point 6:08.  We prayed for each other around our tables.  It was awesome!

Being part of a small church has advantages and disadvantages, but one thing is for sure.  When the schedule or clock is not the priority in a service, you never know where the Holy Spirit will lead.  We will stop and pray for each other for as long as we need to.  We will sing extra songs or choruses, we will have all the testimonies, not just a sampling of a few.  Even if we had 30 guys go repelling, we would have not had a sermon and had all testimonies for a couple of weeks.  Yes, it was that powerful.  God used the repelling retreat to shape the men as much as He used their testimonies to feed the rest of us.



Blessings on this beautifully perfect Lord's day.

Great Joy

I had a time of great joy yesterday, a couple of times actually.  First, during my quiet time, I pulled out my Life Journal from last year.  I started reading my entries dated from April to July.  It was fascinating seeing the journey I made from trials and faith and hope to where we are today with our church plant.  Being my first journal, I never had this experience before.  Each entry was like a mini devotional.  I thought of the two ladies who I meet with regularly and how each of them could benefit from some of the entries. 

Then I met with one of the ladies.  We had a great time of sharing and encouraging each other.  I love our times together.

Last night I read the journal entries to Greg.  I saw his wheels spinning on how to incorporate some of the entries into services or classes.  He was excited to hear the fighting words I used, when others think of me as reserved. 

Today I get to meet with my other lady.  I look forward to this meeting each week.  Pouring into each other, listening, and encouraging.  I can see how the Holy Spirit is using us in each other's lives to teach and build each other up, often without our knowledge.  Discipleship is so fun!

I encourage you today to find someone to pour into or who can pour into you.  God didn't make us to be lone rangers, but to do life together.  That's the best part!

Have a blessed, sunny, cool day.

Men's Retreat

We have at least 10 men going on a men's retreat this weekend (Friday/Saturday).  They will be going to the mountains to go repelling on a 90 foot mountain. 

Please pray for God to do incredible things in their hearts, for safety, and deepening relationships with each other. 

If you would like to go, please contact jason@jasonhicks.com, josh@equipchurch.org, or greg@equipchurch.org.  The cost is $50.00 and a licensed repelling instructor will be present.

Another Great Post from Perry Noble

Read it here.

Answered Prayer, Again!

We've been seeing God answer prayer lately.  Here's one story:

One of our members, Steve, has an Aunt Peggy, who was scheduled to have an angiogram on Friday.  We had prayed at a prayer meeting the Tuesday before that Steve would be used in a special spiritual way in the situation to minister to her and/or her family and to be sensitive to their needs. During the angiogram, she got worse and they decided she needed a quadruple bypass operation immediately.   That night, before surgery, 7 people came to her bedside and said, "You know, we don't know where you stand with God and we would feel a whole lot better with you going into this surgery knowing you had accepted Christ."  About the 4th person got to see her accept Christ.  She was overwhelmed God sent so many people to make sure she was right with Him before the surgery.

After the surgery Friday night, she didn't wake up.  She didn't wake up Saturday.  The doctors were saying that they didn't expect her to recover.  Steve's late wife Ana had often been awakened by the Lord to pray for people during the night.  On Sunday morning at 4:00 a.m., Steve was awakened to pray for Aunt Peggy.  The burden on his heart was that she was lonely.  He didn't understand since she hadn't woken up after surgery, but he prayed for her not to feel lonely for the next 2 hours, until the sun came up.  During these 2 hours, Aunt Peggy woke up just long enough to write Steve a note telling him she felt very alone.  Then she went back to sleep.  The note was delivered to Steve from Aunt Peggy by her son Sunday morning.  Steve called us Sunday morning to say he wouldn't be at church, that he was going to see Aunt Peggy instead, and asked for us to pray for her during the service. 

At 9:30, when we finished worship, Greg prayed for 3 people in our church, one of which was Aunt Peggy.  We found out later that day that Aunt Peggy woke up at 9:40, stayed awake, and by 10:00 they took her off oxygen and said she would be fine.  She went home a few days later.

We also had a little girl's back healed after praying for her as well.  God responds when we seek Him through prayer.  I'm so glad we are a praying church. 

If you have a prayer request, you can send it to me at sandy@equipchurch.org and I will make sure it is prayed for at our Tuesday night prayer meeting.

Blessings on this cool, breezy, Sunday night.

Beware

Apathy in the church is like cancer.  It starts undetected, often grows slowly, and eventually kills.

Great Post

If I didn't have such a healthy Pastor, I'd want to go to this guy's church.  Read Perry Noble's blog for today here.

New Addition to Our Family

Introducing, Kristen's new car.  It's a 1996 Honda Civic LX, power windows, power door locks, cruise control, AM/FM Cassette, A/C, 5 speed.  It's beautiful.  Congratulations Kristen!  Good job saving your money all these years!