Our Risen Lord

During Ordinary Time, our church is a on a mission to care for each other, our neighbors, and our location. This mission of care is our response to the Good News that because our Lord is Risen from the dead. Because of the Resurrection, we all may receive new life for God is making all things new. But there is more Good News, the Risen Christ is Lord. He reigns over all as is made evident by the kingdom of God here and now. The old power structures that keep the world’s kingdoms alive have been defeated and no longer reign for heaven has met earth. It is our proclamation that Christ is King and Lord of all that keeps our mission of care from becoming a selfish attempt to build our own kingdom through the church.

NT Wright reminds us that this was the same mission of the early church in the book of Acts: “They are to go and tell the world that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the world’s true Lord and to summon them to believing obedience. And that is exactly what they do” (from Surpised by Hope, p. 242-430 ). The story of the early church reminds us that in preaching the Good News that in Christ there is new life when we enter His kingdom we are also submitting ourselves to His rule. The early church understood this and that is why a new way of living was the result.

As we struggle to share the Good News in our local communities, I find that it is easy to preach that God is making all things new and easy to forget that new life comes under the reign of our Lord. It seems easy to care for others and spread God’s love through service, but not so easy to submit to a new way of life as embodied in the work of Christ. The cost of discipleship in God’s kingdom is truly high.

I invite you to join me in praying that our mission during Ordinary Time will entail the fullness of the Gospel and we will truly submit ourselves to joyful obedience under our Risen Lord.

Sustained Spirituality

I am excited to share about our experience on Pentecost. Last Sunday night, we took time during our gathering of Word and Table to commission each other for our church mission during Ordinary time to take care each other, our neighbors and our location. It was a powerful night.

We began the evening, as always, with dinner. While eating we unveiled our new website to the group. As well as our bulletin board that’s been setup to define both our identity and our activity. I know these two things may seem trivial, but for us they are marks of grow. Both our website and our bulletin board are outcomes of our community working together to accomplish the mission and vision that the Lord has called us to in Pasadena.

After dinner, two of our members lead us in a time of discussion over the lectionary readings for Pentecost Sunday. The discussion was hugely significant for two reasons. First, in our discussion we had a chance to close our theme for Easter: experiencing the power of the resurrection. We’ve been taking time to highlight God’s redeeming work in our lives and in the lives of others around us. And Pentecost was the pinnacle of God’s redeeming work because that night two of our members, who had been on the edge of our community, were reconciled to the rest of the group and embraced as brothers and sisters in our church. This moment of reconciliation was a powerful way for us to transition from Easter to Ordinary time. And the second half of the discussion focused on the work of the Spirit in sustaining the power of the resurrection in our lives.

We let the Spirit work in us that night as we named the people that the Lord would have us take care of through Ordinary time. We then spent time in prayer and in the laying on of hands, praying over each person who has been called to take care of others. As we now move into Ordinary time and accomplishing the mission of care, we invited you to join us in prayer. Please pray for sustained spirituality. In other words, please pray that the movement of the Spirit, which was highlighted on Pentecost would continue in our lives from now until Advent. Please pray we will continue to depend on the Spirit’s power of reconciliation.

Post-wedding update

I’m always trying to think of new excuses for why I do not update the prayforpasadena blog regularly. For this update, I will use my wedding as an excuse. Who has time to blog when they are preparing for a wedding. Even though the wedding was over a month ago, it still takes time to settle in after the wedding. Right?(A quick thanks to everyone for joining us that special day. It truly was an honor to have you all celebrate with us!_

Excuses or no excuses, I still need to share with you all what the Lord is doing in Pasadena. Our community has grown relationally deep over the past few months. We spend time with each other regularly, taking care of the needs that we encounter. We’ve begun to be shaped by the Christian-Year Calendar, as well as our weekly rhythm of gathering for Word and Table and being sent on mission. For Ordinary Time, we will hightlight the importance of mission as we all name the people we will take care of until Advent. When we gather together on Pentecost Sunday, we will take time to pray for each other and comission one another for our mission to care for others during Ordinary Time. Please join us in prayer, wherever you are, on Pentecost Sunday for an empowering of the Holy Spirit to send us forth to share the Good News that Jesus Christ has conquered the power of sin and death. We worship the Risen Lord!

A couple of praises: 1. We have seen a lot of healing take place in the lives of our people over the past month. 2. One of our members, Bryan Miller, created and developed a new website for us. I really like the simple design of the site because it points people to be with our community. Check it out!

www.rosecitychurch.org

Feel free to connect with Bryan if you’d like some graphic work done. His website is: www.millhouseportfolio.com

Protected: Rose City Church Covenant

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

better late than never

I know, I know. It’s been over two months since I’ve posted an update on the ministry in Pasadena. But the good news is that all is well. We are experiencing growth in our relationships with God and one another. We are also growing in size as well. It’s been awesome watching the Lord bring us all together.

Over the past couple of months, our core group has continued to gather on Sunday nights for Word and Table and to discuss our core values. We have also held two (monthly) Celebration Services. And we have had a community group in our local neighbor gather weekly for Word and Table.

In addition to the outgrowth of our vision, we have partnered with a non-profit group to use the facilities on Saturdays. This partnership allows us to connect with a much wider group of people in the Pasadena area. The partnership has also allowed us to use our coffee cart for the first time in over a year.

Even with all the great things going on, we need to remain steadfast in prayer. Please pray for:

1. Continued growth in our relationships with God and one another

2. Continued growth in our connections with Pasadena residents

3. Remaning focused on our mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in Pasadena

4. Stragetic planning

5. Starting a gathering of Word and Table on Thursdays at a local coffeeshop

Thank you for the continued prayer. Blessings!

All things go

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. The Lord keeps answering them. The house is finished (well, just about; there will always be something around the house to do). I’m thankful for all of the hardwork that my friends and family have put into the renovation. The final result is spectacular. Check out these pictures:

To be honest, the pictures really don’t do justice to the transformation of the place. You’ll just have to come and check it out yourself. Speaking of which, we are throwing a housewarming party this Sunday (Sept. 27) at 5pm. If you are in the area, please stop by and hang out.

The Lord is also transforming the church body of Pasadena. We have been meeting regularly to pray for one another, hear God’s Word and to eat with one another. Out of this has developed a vision for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ through gatherings of Word and Table. Our first gathering with our neighbors begins this week and we will hold our first Sunday service on Oct. 4th. Please keep both of these gatherings in prayer.

The Lord continues to gathers people together for the opportunity to preach and hear God’s Word and to fellowship with one another our the table.

New Ground Broken!

The Lord answers prayers. We finally made forward progress on the house this week. The house has been completely primed on the inside. The walls are as white as snow. We are now ready to paint the rooms with color.

It took us over a week just to be able to prime the walls. Everything you can imagine happened that kept us from making progress. When I knew it was going to take more then just physical work to get the job done, I sent out the request for people to pray over the house on Tuesday morning at 8AM. We went in there and prayed a blessing over the home; knowing others were praying with us. And by that afternoon, we were painting. Thank you all for praying that day.

Now that new ground has been broken and something positive has happened in the house, please continue to pray for all the rest of the work that needs to be done. We still need to paint the rooms with color paint, redo the bathroom, lay tile in the bathroom and kitchen and seal the wood floors.

Also, please pray for the development of the ministry team. The Lord has a placed on my heart a vision for Pasadena that will include a way for all of us to use our gifts to share the gospel. I can’t wait to begin gathering weekly for Word and Table.

Pray for Pasadena

Greetings family and friends!

I have moved to Pasadena. After teaching 7th grade for a year in Escondido, CA, the Lord has opened the door for me to minister full-time in Pasadena. I have been sent out by Light and Life Church and School as a church planter to join Marina Christian Fellowship in restarting a Free Methodist Church in Pasadena.

To be honest, I’m not really sure what I have gotten myself into. I have been caught up in something much bigger than myself; I have been called to restart a church in a place where ministries have struggled and failed many times over. A spiritual presence (mostly negative) is strongly felt and experienced here. We have embarked on a daunting task, but with prayer, the name of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed in Pasadena.

I believe in prayer. Last year, I remember waking up one morning not feeling well. Now, this is not a good thing when you have a full day of teaching 25 energetic 7th graders. Everyone morning I had a routine that consisted of writing on the board the vocabulary assignment that was to be completed during the first 30 minutes of class. I’d write the instructions on the board and advise the student to quietly work on vocab. I would then take attendance, lunch orders, and finish prepping for the week. If I was lucky, I’d be able to get through the attendance and lunch orders before the talking would begin. And I am mean talking. These guys and gals would talk as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. They wanted to know what game their fellow classmate played last night, or who they stayed up talking to over the phone and SMS messaging. A lot goes on in the life of a preteen and they are not shamed share it with others at any opportunity given them. Well, I never gave them the opportunity to talk in the morning, but they sure tried any way. So, I’d spend those 30 minutes keeping them on task and this kind of work in the morning can drain you; real fast, especially if you are not feeling well. On that particular morning, I prayed on my way to school, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.” I prayed this prayer when the students walked through the classroom door. I prayed this prayer when they sat down at their desks to begin “morning practice.” “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.” And He did. For the next 30 minutes, I didn’t hear a word. They all SILENTLY did their work until the Lord gave me the strength to open the class up in a word of prayer.

The Lord answers prayers. All we have to do is pray. As Karl Barth reminds us in the last fragments of the Church Dogmatics, the Christian life boils down to one thing: prayer.

“We thus understand the calling upon God – in all the richness of the action included in it – as the one thing in the many that the God who reconciled the world to himself in Jesus Christ demands of man as he permits it to him…We thus understand the command, “Call upon me” (Ps. 50:15), to be the basic meaning of all human obedience” – Barth, The Christian Life

Please pray for Pasadena. I know that your prayers will sustain us; we depend on them.

Please pray:
• That Christ will be at the center of all we do. I cannot emphasize this enough. Please pray that we are about one thing: preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• That we will depend upon the Holy Spirit for strength, courage and wisdom. Please pray that we will be moved by the Spirit.
• That the name of the Father will be proclaimed. Please pray that we will glorify the Father in all that we do.
• For the completion of the renovation of the church parsonage. My housing will consist of living on the church property in a small two bedroom house. The house was previously occupied by college students who commonly abused the gift they were given by throwing parties and taking drugs there. I have begun to clean the house completely  in order to redo the floors, walls, and bathroom. With the help of some friends we plan to do the work ourselves to save the church money and speed up the process of renovation. I hope be in the house in a week or two.
• That a ministry team will form in unity. Please pray that all of us working together to restart the Pasadena church will be of one mind, spirit, and story.