Where did that come from?

If you read my blog from yesterday you may be wondering 'Where did that come from?' I just had a couple of weeks off to study and I spent hours and hours writing and researching. Sunday was my first Sunday back in the pulpit, leading worship, etc. and I really struggled. I found myself 'doing church' or 'doing my job'. I knew that something was wrong but I just could not put my finger on it. As I prayed about it I began to realize that I had slipped into filling a pulpit, trying to grow a church, trying to make people happy.

• God was saying "now is the time to stretch the boundaries, the time to challenge and be challenged, the time to take tremendous steps of faith, the time for the mustard seed".

• My faith level was saying "sure, sounds good, but have you looked around at my reality? I am afraid - there is a precarious balancing act going on and I do not want to upset the apple cart, wouldn't it be better just to accept what is?"

The moment I realized what was in my heart I confessed it to God and asked Him for His picture again. I simply cannot accept just filling a place or position. There is too much at stake, too many broken lives, too much eternity . . . it does not matter what anyone else expects, it matters what God has given me to do.

Thanks for praying. God is challenging me to grow so that we can grow. I cannot lead where I have not been.

Sermons and Life

On Sunday I gave a sermon about the Garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus struggled to do the Father's will. The sermon came from Matthew 26:36-46 which clearly shows that Jesus was not always sure of the direction that God was leading him and that when he found out he was not always excited about it. I ended the sermon with these points --

What we can take away from this snapshot of Jesus' life

1. If Jesus and his disciples were figuring out God's will as they went we should not be shocked that we are too;
2. More than anything else Jesus wanted his disciples to hear him and care about what he cared about;
3. Jesus did not want to do what the Father was asking him to do, but he was willing. We will run into the same situation many, many times.

We are part of God's plan

1. His plan is larger than us, we are simply a small part of what God is doing in the lives of those around us, in our community, in our nation and in our world;
2. God's plan operates on a spiritual level and we have to constantly remind ourselves that what we see is not what matters most.

That sermon was easier to preach than it is to live. I know that I struggle with the desire to know what, when, where and how life is going to unfold. Probably my greatest struggle right now is that I do not want to accept what is acceptable as a pastor, as a father, as a husband, as a Christian. It seems so easy to be lulled into a sameness and a deadness of faith and expectation.

I want a keen sense that I am not just going through the motions, or accepting less than God's best in ministry, in my family, in me. Please pray for me in this regard. In particular -

1. I want a burning passion for people who are lost without Jesus Christ (I want to be willing to be a fool for Christ - 1 Corinthians 1:25-29);
2. I want to live a life of purpose and power (no compromises or backward thinking - 2 Timothy 2:7);
3. I want everything I do and say to draw people to God the Father through Jesus Christ (no wasted words or emotions, just what will lead others to Christ - Colossians 3:17, 23-24).

By the way, if you are interested in the sermon, or in the website for the churches, the links are below. Thanks for praying with me, for the churches, for the lost; and thanks for praying for me too.

The Way of the Cross: The Garden of Gethsemane

SeeWhatGodIsDoing.com

Christmas Eve Services

We held a Christmas Eve service at the Fort Miller church at 3:00 pm. We held it this early because some of our congregation cannot drive after dark and it starts getting dark about 4:30. There were about 15 people there with one person attending who was probably not a believer. A person in our congregation put together an audio visual presentation that involved some audience participation but also included movie clips and special music. My sermon was about light and dark and we ended the service with a candlelighting. The service went very nicely. I am not sure if it was 'worth it' in terms of maximum impact for time invested, but my gut is that it was valuable to do something well on Christmas Eve. It was another 'win' in the healing process of this church.

At Chestertown we saw the same audio visual presentation, the same sermon and the candlelighting ceremony, but it was all different. More people sang, there were kids and teens laughing and running around and we did the candlelighting in a circle. At the end of my sermon I asked for people who needed God's light to drive out their darkness to look up at me so that I could pray for them - five people indicated that they needed God's light. This is one of the first times there has been any kind of spiritual response at either church. Pastor Jon was able to deliver Christmas gifts to a needy family while the kids were at the Christmas Eve service. Both churches were involved in providing these kids with a very nice Christmas. This service was definitely 'worth it'.

It feels like I am called to do what is right and healthy for these churches whether they really respond or not. There is something to just following the correct procedures with excellence no matter what the response. My sense is that both of these churches have had times in their past where a pastor tried something like a Christmas Eve service and they became discouraged by the results so they slowly stopped trying. I think that consistently reaching to the congregation with love and truth will gradually affect them and those who they touch.

We are going to begin Bible studies at both churches in the new year. Fort Miller is not used of studies like this, they have responded very well to the one study I led. I am going to offer this next study during a daytime and an evening. My sense is that I need to be reaching to where they are right now and that in time they will reach to where others are too. At Chestertown we will be offering an evening Bible study. This church basically grew out of a Bible study five years ago, so it is part of it's DNA, but through the parade of pastors and leaders over the past years the concept of spiritual growth and evangelism through Bible studies has been lost. This might sound strange, but at this point in the development of these churches it really does not matter how many people turn out for any of these studies. It matters that we are offering an excellent opportunity for these congregations to grow in the Lord. Even if they do not attend the studies they will hear back around about how we led the studies with love and excellence and about the truth that was shared from God's word.

Merry Christmas! Pastor James

Update

Hello everyone, I'd like to update you about the two churches where Joan and I are ministering. This summer we had about 20 people per church and we had a low Sunday of 15 and 17 people (low in several different senses of the word!)

We have decided to switch our focus to developing families, teens and children in both churches. We have had events like Backpack Blessing, Friend Sunday, meals, Trunk-N-Treat, youth events, and - just yesterday - a Candy Cane Festival. It seems to be working. Both of the churches are growing.

The Fort Miller church is averaging nearly 30 people and the offerings have been very strong for that many people. I have held a couple of weekday Bible studies that were designed to help adults to grow in their understanding of God, the Bible and themselves. We are still not getting many children and teens at this church, but I can tell that God is setting the foundation for an influx of younger people. We all have to be on the same page about why we exist before God can send young familes who need God's love and need a solid, caring church family.

We have gained some wonderful people over the past months, most notably a couple who were missionaries in Brazil for several years. They just left the field a few months ago and they are re-acclimating to the US and to cold weather! They are being a wonderful help.

Please pray for a man in his mid-20s who is making some decisions about the direction of his life. He has been coming recently and there is great potential to reach to other young families through him and his family.

Chestertown - Wow! What a trip! It has seemed that this church was on the verge of closing many times. This summer we made some changes in the signage out front, in the children and infant areas, in the care and upkeep of the building, etc. It has been a long time since someone really cared for this building and the body of believers who meet there. The church is only five years old but it has been through multiple pastors and church bosses in that short time. The remaining people were skeptical about me and Pastor Jon. There was almost a palpable sense of fear and distrust. I took it personally a few times, but the Lord was leading me to understand that they had been through hurt and disappointment several times and their pain was not going to go away in a matter of weeks.

We have tried to consistently minister with compassion, firmness and honesty to each person we came in contact with. We have held the events I listed above and each time we accomplished something together you could tell that we were growing from the inside out. There was greater energy, greater trust, greater hope. This church has had 40 people three out of the past four Sundays. There are children running around all over the place and growing group of teens. It seems like God has his hand on the what is going on here.

Please pray that we will keep our eyes focused on what God has for each of these churches. Thanks for praying. James

Change in Blog Focus

This blog began as a personal journey about the changes that were happening within Joan and me as we were being led from Horseheads, NY to the Albany, NY area. Once I had settled into the churches where I now minister (Fort Miller, NY and Chestertown, NY) I noticed that the focus of the blog needed to change to be about what God is doing in these churches. I struggled with that change because it meant that I would be writing for people who are not in the churches I am currently pastoring. I would like to be able to share about what God is doing in the churches and in individual lives. But to make this change I kind of feel like the people in these churches need to not read about themselves. I am not going to share names or private info, it just seems like it would be better if people were not reading about themselves.

I have struggled with this refocusing for a couple of months and yesterday I finally decided to make the change. It frees me up to share freely from my heart. I have removed the links to this blog from the website for the churches seewhatgodisdoing.com and the only people who will really be aware of this blog are those of you who have signed up to read it.

I have been writing regularly about the churches in emails to various people so I am going to do an initial blog post that will kind of catch up to this date. I will tell you this - God has been doing some awesome things in the churches and in lives. I am excited about the opportunity to give God glory through this blog.

Learning Curve

What a tremendous experience these past months have been. I thank God for putting me in these places to hear, feel and see what has happened. Only God's perfect plan would make sense and his plan does make sense. He has led us from a thriving church in Horseheads, NY - to the dream of planting a church in a city setting - to pastoring two small, struggling rural churches. What a ride this has been. For a while I felt underwhelmed because the vision seemed to have shrunk along the way. I found myself pining for something else. Over the past weeks God has been whispering to my soul that I needed to stop looking elsewhere and I needed to be where he has sent me. I have had a divided heart much of the time I was here, because I was wondering what was next.

Over the last weeks I spent time with several people in these communities - I heard their stories, asked them spiritual questions and shepherded them. I began acting like I was here because God sent me 'for such a time as this' (Esther 4:14).
All around us

• there are lost people who need a Savior
• there are children who need to know that someone loves them
• there are couples who need to know about forgiveness and love
• there is confusion about what it means to be a Christian
• there a people who are being lied to by the evil one and they have no joy
• there is the need for a Godly church to rise up and be a light to a community
• there is an opportunity for souls to find hope here on earth and for eternity
• there is a chance for believers to step out of their comfort and into God's plan

What an opportunity! The chance of a lifetime to be useful in God's hands.

I Should Have Been More Specific When I Prayed

I have been praying for a while that we would get a drummer in the church. Well, I figured the odds of someone coming to the church who was a drummer were pretty slim. This past Sunday I mentioned this in passing from the pulpit and after the service a young man approached me and said that he was a drummer and that he would love to help out. I could tell by the kind of person he was that he would be great to work with. As we talked I found out that this was only his second time in church, but he knew that he wanted God to have his life. Then he said there was one problem, he didn't have a drum set right now.

Immediately I thought that I should have prayed for a drummer with a drum set! I should have been more specific when I prayed. Well, now my prayer has changed - I am praying that this young man will meet God through Christ and that we can find a drum set. If you are praying with me, I would prefer an electronic set with digital sound if possible.

Of course, I am kind of joking (and I am kind of not joking). I believe that God has his hand on this young man with or without drums, but I wonder what might have happened if I had had more faith and I had prayed for more. Hmmm.