On the Road with Cancer

First of all I do not have cancer. Just wanted to make that clear.

Two weeks ago I officiated a funeral for a friend of mine, Rick Drahos. I met him when I first came to Heartland as Pastor. He has been sick since before I was here. In the last couple of years I have seen him grow, and was even able to baptize him. But I have also been with him at chemo treatments, hospital visits, a birthday party. A week before he passed our church threw him and his wife Cris a 36th Wedding Anniversary Party. Within days he was checked into a hospice house, and a few days later he went to be with Jesus. I watched him suffer for 2 years. I prayed that God would heal him and take away the pain. Which God did eventually heal him by giving him eternal life in heaven in the presence of Jesus. Rick persevered until the end. He fought for life. And through it all the most heard phrase out of his mouth was "I dont want to complain."

The last few months a lady named Brittany Maynard had national attention while all eyes were on her. She was dying of terminal cancer. She knew her life was about to end, that she would suffer. She moved to Oregon so she would be able to plan her own death through suicide. She would get infront of her suffering so she would not have diminished quality of life.

This morning I was watching CBS This Morning and saw this story. Please watch. It is worth the time. Lauren Hill, not the singer, is a young woman who I respect. I will never meet her, but instead of ending her life before the suffering began she chose to follow her dreams of playing college basketball. Lauren will not have regret. She is facing everything that life brings her way and is going out like a champion.

3 People facing terminal cancer with different approaches.

Weekend Reflections

This is something I will try to do every Monday. We will see how it goes.

Family

1. Had a great day with Jenny and Tedy on Friday. We stayed in comfy clothes and did very little.
2. Went to Texas Roadhouse with Ray and Jannet (Third Day Power), Mike and Ashley. Realized Tedy can go without a nap if needed.

Church

3. 8 of us went from Heartland to Midwest Café.
1. Learned the “three Rs” of the CCDA- Relocation, Reconciliation and Redistribution.
2. Heard a story about people on a short term mission trip wanting desperately to help this village. The missionary told them to watch the children of the village. They thought it wasn’t important enough, so they kept asking for other things to do. One day the missionary told them to tear down a building. So they did and asked what important thing was going to happen at this spot. The missionary told them another team had built it a couple of years ago even though they told them they did not need the building. The missionary said what they needed was to give a break to the women by watching their children so they could focus on some other tasks. Learned we need to ask questions, but also listen to the answer.
3. Heard about some great ministries in Des Moines like Hope Ministries. The one that stood out to me though was Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church The pastor John Kline shared about the many things churches are doing. It can be summed up here. http://ziondsm.org/our-story/
4. Was able to connect with Jeremy Summers, a leader at the Wesleyan Headquarters, and had a good talk with him.
5. The Midwest Café was hosted by Jeremy Geerdes and  Debra Heights Wesleyan Church. Thank you for you leadership on this.
6. We finished up the day with a trip to Smokey D’s. Some good BBQ, good chopped pork, brisket could have been better. But they did have 7 foot trophies so who am I?

4. Third Day Power was at Heartland on Sunday.
1. We had the biggest crowd since Easter.
2. A number of people gave their hearts to Christ. 2 for sure, will be contacting more to here how God spoke to them this week.
3. Learned to release things. Sometime I am a little too analytical.
4. Learned that body builders have a lot different diet than I do.

5. Home Run life group was hosted by Steve and Diane Brown. Steve did a great job at facilitating discussion. The group did a great job of allowing everyone to speak and feel a part of the group. Diane makes a great apple crisp, and I will never look at Charlie Brown the same way again.

Sports

6. Tom Brady and the Patriots had a great game.

Why Heartland does growth groups…

We are longing for a place to belong, a place to fit, a place to call home. This is why bars and coffee shops are packed with people. These are places people go to find a community of people who are like them. Here we can share life over a game of pool, a drink or a cup of coffee. I believe that it is not about the drink or the game but it is more about the connection that happens.

We talk about weather and favorite sports teams.  We share about how work is going, the nagging boss, or the ex that will not leave us alone. I believe however it is not about the content of our conversation that matters to us. It is the idea of knowing someone is listening and willing to share their time with us.

Heartland is one of those places as I look around I see people longing for this connection of community. People will arrive early to talk with people they have not seen in a week or longer. They will grab a coffee and/or donut and stand around our café tables to talk about corn, tractors, weather, layoffs at John Deere and the weekends football games among other topics.While some in a rush leave quickly after the worship experience, the majority of Heartland will hang out for 30-45 minutes making sure each donut is gone and the world problems are solved.

People are longing for this community. This is why Heartland does growth groups. So we can “spur one another,” and “one person sharpens another.” We do this because together we are made stronger. In growth groups we may learn information that we may have never heard before. We may learn to apply it a way we never thought was possible. But the overall goal of growth groups is that we transform into the likeness of Christ through relational discipleship.

This fall Heartland has the opportunity to be in a growth group in a series called the Home Run Life. Hearing the message on Sunday mornings are a good start. But I believe this book along with scripture and encouragement and challenge of a growth group could impact your life in an amazing way.  For those of you who are normally Sunday participants I encourage you to find a growth group. It will help you take your faith to another level and connect you in community. Please see Annette Redman or myself about the times and places of the growth groups.

The Messy Church

I wrote this article for the local paper in La Porte City. Very thankful The Progress Review gives us this opportunity. You can see the online version here, or read below.

I am a Pastor. I love the Church. But I will be the first person to admit that the church is a messy place.  At its best, it can be a safe place of hope and healing. People attend church to feel connected to God and also other people. This is where it becomes messy. The church is the people, and wherever there is a group of two or more people things will never be perfect.

I continually hear stories of how people have been hurt by the church. Each story saddens me. I know a guy who is a big guy. He has to special order his clothes. My friend does not attend church that often but one day he decided to go. My friend went to church wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants because this is what he feels most comfortable in. He sat down and from behind him he heard, “Can you believe he is wearing that in church?” I am not sure what prompted this lady to say this or how the church has come to the assumption that someone has to wear specific clothes to be able to connect to God? Like a tie and jacket or skirt can enhance my love for Jesus. I am not sure if my friend has been to church since.

Churches can have the perception of being very legalistic. Some people believe that Christians shouldn’t drink, dance or chew or date others that do. It is time for us as the church to drop these preconceived notions that anyone can be saved by what they do rather than the grace of Jesus. No one can earn salvation. You cannot gain merits and when you have done enough good have a place reserved for you in heaven. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

So if you are a person that has been hurt by the church or someone in the church, I want to apologize on the churches behalf. I am sorry for how you have been treated. Please do not view the whole church from your experience. Christians are not perfect and it is time to apologize for our imperfection. I pray that you will find forgiveness and be released from this burden that you feel. I would encourage you to put on a t-shirt or whatever makes you feel comfortable and attend a church this weekend.

If you would like to share how the church has hurt you please come by Heartland or call me at 319-540-5727. I would like to hear your story and apologize for your experience.

I LOVE CAMP!

I grew up going to Riverside Camp in Blaine, Maine.  It was not much by the standard camping ministry but there was something about that place where I could recognize the presence of God unlike any other.

Since there was not much to do onsite (except an in ground pool) we would end up going roller skating, bowling, and other things during the day.  There was something about Riverside that brought out the best. From all the room cleaning competitions to capture the flag with USA vs Canada, and the "talent" shows. I am still friends today with some people that I would only see once a year at camp. There was something amazing about the bond we all experienced together.

It was at camp that I came to know Jesus. It was also at camp when I was baptized. There were many transforming things that happened in my life, from being crazy during Romans 16:19 to the more serious moments at the evening campfire, to hearing Jesus echo over the river as 100 campers would scream it at the top of our lungs and then become as quiet as possible to hear.

It was at this camp that I was introduced to Indiana Wesleyan University. At IWU, I traveled with a summer ministry team just like the team I had met at Riverside. Now I was the one traveling over 7,000 miles in a nine week period attending and counseling at camps all over the United States. I was even able to attend Riverside with this team.

After IWU, I was a youth pastor and I started taking youth to these camps. I was able to see them experience God, some for the first time. I was able to see them transform over a period of time after going to multiple camps and retreats. There is something so amazing that happens when you remove yourself from the world and all the distractions, put yourself in a place with people your same age facing some of the same things. God moves, lives are changed. It was awesome as a camper, and a counselor and is still great as a pastor. Whether you are a kid, a teen, college student, or adult there is a place for you at camp.I LOVE CAMP, and I know you would too.

Here is a link to Cedar Springs Camp website where I currently serve on the board. Check it out, not just the site, but actually go to a camp or retreat.

Tips to Using Facebook

In the past few months I have considered deleting my facebook account. I have begun to dislike scrolling through my wall and reading the different statuses of my friends. This does not point the figure  at everybody or really anybody all of the time. But I find myself reading more passive aggressive statements about their children, parents and friends. There are rants about political alliances and more memes than I am able to count. As much as I am tiring of the trends of facebook statuses, I can also be encouraged and challenged by others. Heartland (the church I pastor) has a group page. On this page there are prayer requests, people sharing Bible verses and overall a lot of encouragement. So here are some tips to consider before typing out the status. Some of these tips may look familiar, as I borrowed them from a famous quote.

1. Is it kind?
What I dont understand about facebook is that people are willing to say things they would never say in person.  I would not consider it bravery, but rather closer to cowardice. These comments are meant to hurt, divide, torment and dare I use the token word of the year, bully someone else. Ask yourself does this help my situation or does this bring more drama. Does this bring us closer to a resolution or to World War 3.  Once your status has been posted you never know what damage it could do.

2. Is it true?
Is this something that you know is correct? Who is your source? Have you verified the facts? Journalists can be sued for defamation of character if they were to write an article, but yet anyone on facebook can write unverified gossip and destroy the perception of  someone else's character in a matter of seconds. But even if it is true please refer to #1.

3. Is it necessary?
What good does it do to shame your child, neighbor or friend on facebook? It does not solve anything except show your nature to your network of friends and family members. The comment rarely does anything except for the small percentage of your friends who like the status and the even smaller percentage of those who had something similar happen to them.

Wouldn't you rather encourage and build up your friends? Dont you want to be a safe place for your child to come to you when they are hurt? Rather than feel that if they were to come to you they would end up being one of your statuses? We have a long way to go build boundaries in our culture today. I do believe if we did facebook would be a better, safer place to go.

Faith and doubt

Miracle on 34^th Street is one of the beloved Christmas classics of all time. It is a story about faith. While some people make faith as something to be easy and without struggle, most of the time in my experience faith is actually dirty, complex and mysterious. This is the type of faith that I observe in Miracle on 34^th Street.

Mother (Doris) and daughter (Susan) have experienced a past full of pain. We find our that Doris has a lot of resentment against her ex-husband and does not have a lot of trust and faith outside of what can be explained with common sense. This has been passed down to Susan as a way of learning from her experience.

Kris Kringle is a new hire at Macy’s as the store Santa Clause. He believes he is the one and only Santa Clause, and people think he is crazy. Fred takes Susan to see Santa and while in line Susan discusses the idea of Santa as silly and impossible. However, the girl in line after them does not speak English as she was just adopted from Denmark. And Santa starts to speak Dutch with the girl. This amazes Susan and gives her a little faith.

As Kris Kringle’s claim of being Santa becomes bigger he is put on trial. Fred who is also a lawyer, defends him. Kris finally has all charges dropped because the post office delivers thousands of Santa letters to him at the courthouse. And if a government organization believes it, it must be true.

Christmas finally comes and Susan experiences doubt because Santa could not deliver what she wanted, a house. This was the only way she would really believe that he is real. In life we experience doubt and dismay with what happens around us. And it is okay to doubt. But do not focus on the doubt, rather focus on even the little bit of faith that you do have.

Matthew 17:20 says “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”As Susan works through her doubt, Kris gives Fred directions somewhere. On the way Susan sees a house and jumps out of the car, saying “I do believe, Santa did get it for me.”

While faith does have obstacles there are times where we have breakthroughs like Susan did with the viewing of Santa speaking Dutch. We however do not always have the big miracle like Susan experiences here. So take faith one step at a time, and focus on what little faith you might have rather than the doubt. Pray for God to grow your faith and miracles really can happen.

Hope in A Christmas Story

This is a brief summary of yesterdays sermon at Heartland. Check out www.heartlandlpc.com for more about the church.

It is now December, which means the Christmas season has arrived. My favorite things about Christmas are egg nog, Christmas parties and Christmas movies. During the month of December in this article and at Heartland Community Church we will be looking at a different Christmas movie each week. One of my favorite Christmas movies and probably yours as well is A Christmas Story.

When I watch it I cannot help but see the story of hope. Ralphie, the main character in the story is a young blonde kid filled with hope. He has the hope that his parents are going to buy him a Red Ryder BB Gun. He brings his hopeful request to his mother. She responds, “You will shoot your eye out.” He even writes a school paper on his deepest desire for the toy. He receives a C+ on the paper and the teacher tells him, “You will shoot your eye out.”

As Ralphie lies in bed one night he is trying to figure out how he will make this dream come true. It comes to him to take the request to Santa. So Ralphie is now becoming anxious about telling Santa about the hope he has. He arrives at the mall and realizes he has a long way to wait in the line for Santa. This however does not destroy his hope. He waits… and waits… and the time arrives where Ralphie sits on Santa’s lap and he is speechless. He does not know what to say. Santa tries to get it out of him. Still nothing. Santa asks, “Would you like a football? Ralphie shakes his head yes in agreement. The elf puts Ralphie on the slide and as he starts to go down, Ralphie stops himself and starts to crawl up the slide. He yells “NO, I want a Red Ryder BB Gun.” Santa responds, “You will shoot your eye out kid.”

Ralphie’s mom, teacher and Santa are what I consider Killers of Hope. We all have them in our lives. We cannot let Killers of Hope get the best of us.

In Isaiah, the Israelites were going through a rough time, however held onto hope. They had hope that a Savior was coming into the world, that he would rescue and restore them to where they should be. God, the Father was looking to give them this longing but it was not yet the right time. But it would not be long…

Ralphie was defeated he had opened up all his gifts and his Father asked him if he had received everything he wanted. Ralphie responds, “kind of” but the disappointment was obvious. His Father tells him to go look behind the desk. Ralphie goes over, pulls out the box, unwraps it and it is the Red Ryder BB Gun. He is ecstatic and asks if he can go outside to use it.

The one person he never asks for the toy, his Father, is the one person who gives him the gift. His Father wants to give him the things to fulfill his hopes and dreams… Granted Ralphie does break his glasses and fulfills the “you will shoot your eye out.” Why is it that we can always go to God the Father with all our hopes and requests but it is usually the last place we go?

On the road with God

I am asked this question every now and then. Why does God in the Old Testament seem so differerent then in the New Testament? This was again asked this morning. This was my answer to him. Hope it helps. 

This is probably the hardest question for any person to understand but yet is one of the most asked questions. At times I even ask myself this from time to time. Both Ellen and Ben are right. 1. God chose to reveal pieces of himself at his choosing. In Genesis with the fall, he chose to give Adam and Eve grace by sacrificing an animal to give them clothes. This was in spite of his earlier comment to them saying that "they would surely die if they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil." 

I believe it was also grace and justice that came out when God kicked them out of the Garden so they could not eat of the tree of life. This was an act of protection. Since this time man/woman tried everything in their power to connect with God. Through sacrifice and worship unfortunately people decided to worship in a way that they desired. It started with Cain and Abel. Cain was jealous because his offering was not accepted. So he killed his brother and then lied about it. 

From here on humanity went down hill. Cutting themselves, murder of children, worship with prostitutes, orgies. It was obviously not a God ordained worship and sending prophets did not help. Even through his own revelation people were not following his revelation. So he decided to wipe out the earth in spite of his love for the people. He made a promise to never destroy the earth again. Even after the flood it wasnt long before people started living there own way. Selling a brother into slavery led a nation into eventual slavery. 

But God keeps fighting for his people. He sends a murderer (Moses) back to Egypt to fight for them, with eventually getting them freed. God then gives them the law. This is the first time where this comes into a written form. The 10 commandments all have to do with relationship. Love God, Love Others. When this is obeyed it is a different world that we are able to live in. However it was not long before the Jewish people disobeyed the number one command with the building a golden calf. God still continues to give grace to his people. 

He gives them a new leader in Joshua as they now enter the promised land that he promised long ago to Abraham. However there were people already living there. In getting their land back there were a lot of battles fought. This is where it gets tricky. People think this is where the wrath of God comes out and takes anyone and everyone out. But even in all these battles God offers each nation a way out. The Gibeonites in Joshua 9 trick the Jewish people into signing a treaty with them. They will now follow the God of the Jewish people. I think if every nation did this God would have allowed them to live as well. Now the Israelites are Israelites again. They make mistake after mistake. They want to worship things they can see, rather than worshiping the God who created them. Asking for a human king, instead of allowing God to govern (1 Samuel 8.) Following their own desire instead of God's desire (King David w/ Bathsheba). 

Even through all these mistakes there is grace and forgiveness, but also justice. A lot of the punishment seems to be earthly in the OT. (David losing his child from the affair) God uses prophets to keep the downward slide of his people. 

Then Jesus is born into the world. He was and always was, but now he is flesh and revealing a new Gospel. At least a new gospel to the people. It had always been there for them but they were never willing to accept the God of grace in the OT. But now grace is their incarnate in the flesh. He came to reveal it because no one else was able to get it. Because to be honest it was tough to get. People would have to listen and look for God's revelation before. 

But now He was there with them. They could witness his grace through His miracles. They could witness His love through his care for the children. They could witness his wisdom with turning questions of the spiritual leaders into these profound thoughts and questions back to them. (Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone, For a time is coming when we will worship in spirit and in truth, what is more important on Sabbath than to give mercy and truth?) 

They could not witness his willingness to be a servant in which he was willing to wash feet. They could not witness his sacrifice in which he laid down his life. They could not witness his power as he defeated death. People have to be witnesses. They want proof. 500 people witnessed Jesus after he rose again. These witnesses died and were Martyred for spreading the Gospel of Christ. They would surely not die for Christ if they were making this stuff up. Today God continues to reveal himself to his people through the Holy Spirit. We are still learning about justice, grace, love and forgiveness. We are trying to live out the example that he first showed us in the OT with the 10 Commandments of Loving God and Neighbor. God has never changed but he has always given us new revelations to show himself to his people.

Independence on the Road to Freedom

My freshman year of college I was in a freshman dorm. It was the closest thing to what my Private Christian Liberal Arts College had to a fraternity. Bowman House for many was where many “boys became men.” The chant that I remember hearing so often was “where we go one, we go all; Bowman House.”

            I grew close to a lot of the guys in our dorm. Some of my best friends today came out of my freshman year in Bowman. It was a place for many to learn what community was. Bowman House had regular meetings to build community as well as many other activities throughout the year. However as a freshman I really did not care to attend these meetings, so I skipped out. It was nearing the end of our freshman year and some of my friends who had not skipped out were selected to leadership positions in Bowman during our sophomore year.

            When one of the leadership positions opened up, I went and talked to Rob, the RD, about the possibility of the position. He told me while he saw me as a leader, because I had not joined in the community like I could have, he would not accept me for the position.

            It was during this time that I realized my independence was keeping me from actually taking part in the things that I wanted to do. Everybody has freedom, but with this freedom comes the ability for choice. When one does not choose responsibility then there are at times consequences. In my case I could not be a leader in Bowman because I had chosen to skip out on the house meetings.

            Freedom is a powerful thing. We allow the freedoms that we have to change us. We allow the freedoms to help us grow. But at the same time it could change us for the worse, it could lead us away from what we really truly desire for our lives. For this I am thankful of choice. But on this road to freedom, I wondered if needed something more.

Community on the Road in OK

This past week I was privileged enough to go to Moore, OK with a group from Heartland. We left at 6pm on Wednesday and traveled to Ottawa, KS. We checked in the hotel at 12:30am and left by 6:30am. It was a short stay, but we had a goal. We arrived at the church by 12noon and were helping with relief by 1pm. We were tired and the sun was hot. On the first day we worked about 4 hours and they let us off early to enjoy the 4^th. As a team we decided to go to downtown OKC.

There was a lot going on with live music and fireworks. Rather than listen to the music we decided to walk what was told to us as a few blocks to the Oklahoma bombing memorial. I thought I remembered a lot more about that sad day in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh decided to wreak terror. We arrived and there is still a makeshift memorial with people attaching things that were of value. There were some race numbers which a Ray, a teacher from Moore, told us they were from a memorial marathon ran the last 13 years that provides funding for the memorial museum.

Ray was for one of seven people that stood out to me during the trip. We were able to find out that Ray was one of the lucky ones who lived in Moore. His house was spared; the school he worked at was missed by the tornado. He and his 16, sixth grade students were huddled together in the bathroom. After he knew his students were safe and had someone to attend to them, he ran to Briarwood Elementary, the school that lost a gym, and the school where his son attends. He was to the point of panic when he saw the school for the first time, but it was not long before he scooped his son up in his arms and was thankful for the protection through the storm.

He then went home to find out it was ok, but lost power for five days. In the previous 7 years he really never took the time to know his neighbors but because of the power outage they started hanging out in their driveways, sharing stories and having cookouts. His neighborhood is now a community.

Ray had just returned from DC where he was at a teacher’s conference for 5 days. He said he could not wrap his mind around how different things looked and how much the volunteers had done in a few days. This was important to our team, which was involved in the cleanup process. We spent the majority of our time in Plaza Towers Elementary back yard. One of the hardest hit areas cleaning up a few houses that homes had been taken right off the slab. It was hard work and even though you could see a lot being accomplished we felt like there was still so much to do.

The second person is Jared. He works for Poured Out, the organization we worked with during the few days we were there. Jared was our project coordinator and also ran the skid loader to bring the rubble of someone’s home to the side of the street for the city to pick up. Jared is 20 years old, and we were able to talk to him about life. For someone so young he has a lot of perspective. He has a goal of eventually being able to work for Poured Out full time. He was working a good job, where he was paid well, but he was unable to have the flexibility of taking off 3 weeks here and there to work with Poured Out, so he quits his job on faith and finds a part time position at a church in town where he now has the flexibility he need to be able to go where he feels God is leading him too.

The other five people were the team from Heartland. These were people that were so flexible that took time away from work, they never complained (at least to my face), and were always willing to do the uncomfortable, even work in 95-degree weather to get the job accomplished. Angie, Jeff, Kayla, Dani, and Eric, I would take you anywhere, I would trust you with anything, and I might just follow your directions, just not all at once. I felt I knew them all well before the trip, but there is something special that happens on these trips that would take months or even years in a church setting. The forming of community is a special thing, and that is what this trip was all about for me.

On the trip home, we asked group questions, everyone had to answer, unless they were asleep. Some were funny, some were just to help us know the individual more. But as time progressed the conversation turned to more serious things. Things we would not normally share outside of family or those closest to us. And that is when I realized our community had become a family. Something everyone desires but very few receive.

Independence

My parents tell me that I was an independent child. I always wanted to try things on my own. I would fix breakfast or lunch on my own from a pretty young age. Remember steakumm sandwiches. Not sure if they still make them or not. I was awesome at fixing those.

Why ask for help when I am able to do it, or at least attempt it. I was content shooting basketball on my own in the driveway. I was content riding my bike places instead of depending on my parents for transportation. I would ride miles to go to a friend’s house. It gave me a sense of freedom.

When I went to college I went 1300 miles away from home. I did know some people at the school. But there was something about the unknown that intrigued me. Getting away from family and friends did not seem to bother me. I thought of it as an adventure. Even as a 17-year-old when I decided on Indiana I knew it would work out. Being on my own did not seem to scare me.

In college things started to change, I started to form a community around me. But the pull of being independent was still there. It is hard to be in a community and still be independent. My freshman year in spite of the great friendships I made I was still very independent. It allowed me to still do the things that I wanted to do, whether they were helpful or harmful to myself or even my friends.

God was molding me and it hurt. People confronted me about my actions. People saw dangerous behavior in my life. At times I did not like what I saw in the mirror. I started to realize I had anger, that I was very prideful. My community was a good one and they put up with a lot from me. I am surprised they still like me by the end of the year, well; most of them still liked me.

I was finding my independence did not really work very well if I wanted to be a part of a community. There was something that had to change about me. But I knew it would not be on my own that I could change. It would have to be through Christ and as a part of my community.

This will be my first post in series on independence, freedom and community. Oh and by the way, Have a Happy Independence Day this week..

The last year on the road

A year ago things seemed bleak, if you told me then where I would be today, I would have laughed at you. It was almost a year ago that we met with a prospective birth mother at Bethany Christian Services. "Baby boy" was born on March 28th and for a couple months things were up in the air. He was in interim foster care for almost 2 months. It was also almost a year ago that we started talking to IA-MN District about going to Heartland.

On May 20, after a few phone conversations and face to face interviews I candidated at Heartland. May 24th we went and picked up Tedy and brought him to his forever home. I am still amazed with the process but it seemed things were starting to go right.

We have now been at Heartland 8 months and things are starting to take off. New faces are coming weekly and people are slowly being made new. It seems that a lot of the people that are coming are dechurched. At one time they came to church but for one reason or another they walked away. Others are coming because they are being brought by their kids who attend our midweek family ministries. Our attendance in February is up 58% from last years average. God is blessing Heartland.

 When people ask what I/we are doing to see this happen, I say I do not know, but God is really blessing us right now. We are being the church, we are going outside of the walls, we are having fun, morale is high and we are Loving God and neighbor. And God is blessing that.

We are starting to plan Tedy's first birthday. He is growing even faster than Heartland. He is doing things I really did not expect for an almost 11 month old. And God is blessing us as parents. Just last week the a teen/church surprised us by organizing a monthly date night for Jenny and I. They gave a number of gift cards to restaurants. It is evident they care about us.

I have been in full time ministry as an assistant/ youth pastor off and on over the last 9 years. As much as I have enjoyed ministry in the past I love being a lead pastor. I live casting vision. I am finally figuring out what type of pastor I was meant to be. My personality is finally coming out in my ministry. I am allowed to be myself. God continue to reveal yourself to us. Show Heartland how we can love you and your community more. You are our God and we are your people. This is your church. Continue to bless it and continue to make people new.

God on the road

I am writing this blog not even sure of what I am going to say. Which is rare because I am always full of words. God is good. I have been told in the last couple months that a former youth does not believe that this is true. He struggles with the idea of evil and God allowing it to happen. I talk to him about free will. I ran into this quote by CS Lewis, "Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." He struggles with how he sees the church treating the LGBTQ community. So he has walked away from his beliefs that God is good. I talk to him about being the change in the church. If the church will ever bridge the gap they need people like him to help show them the love and grace of God. But how we cannot dismiss the truth of scripture. We cannot always consider a church and God to be on the same page. We cannot always let someone in the church let us view God in an unhealthy manner, because God is always good, even though his followers are not. God is good.

I have a number of friends who are separated and in the process of divorce. This saddens me because at some point in their lives they have let sin enter their lives and their heart has been hardened. Some of them have walked away from God and the church during this time, because of the lack of grace they felt from the church. Unfortunately they let someone else take their eyes off of God on the road. Because God is still good.

I am disheartened lately because of the burden God has given me for his people. But I know this burden is not a curse but a blessing. He has given me a Pastor's heart and helping me see things a little more clearer and a little through his own eyes. He sees a world that is hurting and longing for more grace, love, and even truth in their lives. They are longing for someone to care for them like the church has always supposed to have been doing. Obedience is a core issue of the heart. God is longing for hearts of obedience to follow him. People talk about the idea of happiness. But in a lot of the cases that I have discussed they have forsaken the obedience of God for their happiness. God is not always concerned with our happiness but our holiness. If you want fulfillment, obey Christ. If you want JOY, obey Christ. You will never have true freedom in your life until you obey. GOD IS GOOD

The Darkness

Part of my sermon from Sunday Dec 16. It was a very dark world when Mary was told by an angel that she would be with child. God had not spoken in over 400 years, he had not even sent a message through an angel or one of his prophets. It must have been pretty tough to live in this world. Israel was a part of the Roman empire. They were not there own. Darkness can be defined as the absence of light. And this is just what every Israelite was experiencing. One thing that is important to know is that light transforms darkness. Even something as small as a candle in the darkest of rooms spreads a lot of light. Have you ever walked into a dark room, one with very little light. It is hard to see, almost impossible. But the longer you are in the room your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. This is how it is with sin. When you first walk into it you might not be able to see or even recognize it. But the longer you are in the dark you are able know what it looks like, know it by name and even choose to fight the temptation. However the more accustom with it, sometimes you can become use to being a part of it and partaking it. John 1:9 says, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” When the light enters the dark space it transforms the darkness. As Jesus comes into every situation he will bring light onto each situation. Jesus can and will show you the sin in your life. The Light reveals Glory. It will show his magnificence and splendor. It will take you by storm and show you the awesome power of God. The Light reveals Grace. Romans 5:20-21 says “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Grace is an amazing thing. It does not matter how much darkness/sin we have in our lives. Jesus will come into our lives to transform the darkness to light. I love this verse because it shows that the more sin you have in your life, there is more forgiveness. But we are not to take advantage of that grace and continue to live in the dark. Most of you know I have an 8 month old named Tedy. Every now and then Tedy will make a face and his whole body will tense up. You know exactly where I am going and what I will have to do. I will have to change a dirty diaper. When Tedy does this, Daddy steps in removes the diaper and cleans his crap-covered bum. I give him grace because this is all he knows and I will continue to come into his life and give him grace by changing his diaper. Just as Christ comes into our lives and removes the darkness. But if Tedy comes to me at 8 years old and tells me he needs his diaper changed we have missed something. We have not taught him what he needs to know. He has not grown and his life has not been transformed by the grace we have shown him The Light also reveals Truth. God comes in and shows us what we need to know, how we should live, and how to follow him. He reveals this through scripture. John 3:21 says, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” We need to continue to live in the light to help us see the truth. The best thing Christians can do is to reveal the light. The light will reveal his glory, grace and truth.

small town life

Recently Jenny, Tedy and I packed our bags for a new journey in La Porte City, IA as the Pastor at Heartland Community Church. We have been here now almost 5 months. I have enjoyed transitioning to small town life again. I was born in a small town, and there is something simple about small town life. This is also my second season of ministry in a small town. Small town ministry is a little different than being in a city or suburb. 1. Small town's have a of pride. They enjoy living in a small town. Most of the people have always lived in La Porte City or another small town. Most would not want to live anywhere else. 2. Small town's have a lot of community. Since most people have lived here for years, they know everyone else. When there is an event like a high school football game or a town fair everyone comes out in support. 3. Small town's know how to serve. Small towns do not have a lot of federal or state grant's to support their town. Small town's have a volunteer fire department and when they see a need they do everything they are able to fulfill the need. Small towns have some advantages. I am able to walk anywhere in La Porte City in 10 minutes or less. I cover my town on foot every two days as I jog for exercise. La Port City has exceptional schools and it will be good to have a low teacher to student ratio. What do you notice about your town? How does it affect your ministry? How does this allow you to be a better pastor or citizen? I would love to know what you think.

Building Inroads to the Community

September 9, 2012 will hopefully go down as a day to remember in the life of Heartland Community Church. It was a brisk and cool morning as volunteers started arriving before 7am to set up some last minute things to prepare for our big celebration. The music equipment took a little over an hour to set up on the flat bed truck. As people drove by slowly peering out their windows to try and see what was going on, we were setting up chairs for the outdoor worship experience in the parking lot just outside the walls where we normally worshiped as a community. The sun was bright and as I looked over the congregation saw most holding up the bulletin to block the sun. But the smiles of joy were evident. The worship team kicked off with some of our favorites; My Redeemer lives and Days of Elijah were among them. I gave the message looking at the history of the church from Acts 3 and 4, focusing on the idea that we cannot stop the message of Jesus from being shared even tying in the history of Heartland. We concluded the experience with the 90 in attendance hand in hand, in a big united circle. Things were far from over. After this we set up all the lawn games including bags, ladder golf, and some minute to win it games. We had a table set up for crafts and face painting. The best part is the countless number of children and adults that took part. We had a bunch of tables for people to eat the gigantic amount of food from the cookout, hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, beans and an endless supply of desserts. Inside the church building we had two projectors displaying the Bears vs Colts. Many people came, many faces I did not know but were having fun with the people who invited them. I met more people in a five-hour period than in the weeks previous. There were even people stopping by from other congregations in the community to have some fun. Pastor Mike even came by from the nearby United Methodist congregation. Over the 2 months I have been Pastor at Heartland we have had an amazing presence of God with us. Uniting the congregation together, building the morale of each one. But it seemed like it was something that was building up in us to be more a part of the community that we lived in. It was already seen in our midweek ministries to families, but knew that God had bigger plans. This is just the first part of building inroads to our community, as we build their trust and share the message of the Gospel.

I AM the road

This Sunday I preached from John 14:1-14. Jesus had just told his disciples in the upper room that Judas would betray him, Peter would deny him and that he was leaving them, but not to be troubled. This was someone the disciples had left everything for, had followed for the last 3 years yet he was going to leave them. They had to be shaken up, this was turning their world upside down. Jesus had not done what they thought he had come to do. He did not take over the kingdom. The Romans still had control. Jesus then said he would come back to get them to take them to where he was going, and that they would know they way. Thomas is the disciple I relate to most. He always had a question or a statement because he quite did not understand everything going on. Remember he has the name Doubting Thomas for a reason. He wanted to see Jesus nail scarred hands in order to believe. I do not think it was just his doubt that mad him want to see Jesus hands. His world had been rocked, Jesus just died in front of him and he was pretty dismayed. I think he longed to be reunited with Christ, to see him because he missed him. Coming back to John 14, Thomas replied, "How can we know the way, we do not know where you are going?" This response led Jesus to say one of the most known/talked about scriptures ever. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one shall go to see the Father but through me." Thomas did not understand that he did not need to know where Jesus was going, because all he had to do was follow him. Exactly what he had been doing for the last three years. Jesus was trying to say it is not about going a specific direction or even an eventual destination. As long as you follow me, you will be fine. The way can be translated to "the road." Being a disciple of Jesus means to continue to follow him along the road. The road is the right direction and will get you to an eventual destination, but it is still not about the direction or destination. Anyone that has been on a road trip knows what I am talking about. The drive/journey along the road can be just as much fun as what happens at the eventual destination. Relationships are strengthened, stories are told, laughter is shared, games are played. Guards come down, trust is built, bonds are made that would have never happened otherwise. Heartland is now on the road. We are following Jesus along the way. We are building disciples. We might be like Thomas and do not know where we are going yet but we know we are following Jesus and that is the most important thing.

The Journey of Heartland Community Church

July 1st we started our ministry here with high morale and an amazing unity of the church. People were in great spirit and excited to have a new pastor. Jenny and I were happy to have a new place to minister and a blessing of a new baby and ready to start in on the journey at Heartland. I had a message that I had preached once before and turned it into a series. I was wondering how it would go over and seems to been received well. Know, Grow, Show as I have prepared each week has been encouraging, challenging and empowering to me. I think God is using this series to start Heartland on a new journey to be, not only Christians, but Disciples, to not only Love God as Savior but as Lord, To Love our neighbor as well as enemies. God is taking us on a wild adventure where we will be more visible in the community. We will serve the poor, the widowed, and the elderly. We will meet their physical and spiritual needs. We will help them with their lawn or repair a roof, while we pray with and tell them about the reason behind our serving them. We will have experiences that will build inroads to the community. We will be known as the church that enjoys having fun. We will be all inclusive that not only welcomes people to our church but also brings them into our family. We will provide a safe place for people to belong and help them find their purpose. We will also take care of our body as we love and disciple the children and youth in our church. They are vital to our ministry as they provide an amazing energy and zeal. We will help them to know God, how to grow and show Christ in a hurting world, and we will learn from them as they will help provide creative ways to bring Christ to their world. We will help build the home by pouring into the marriages, and relationships between parent and child. We will come along side of people and give hope to those who thought their marriages were over. We will provide grace, mercy and compassion to those who have been hurt or have hurt others within their own family. We will provide encouragement to those who have lost others. We will give hope to the hopeless, joy to the depressed and love to those who feel unloved. We will help people experience freedom from the bondage of sin. We will help them see true freedom is in Christ and a relationship with him. God is not a distant God who has no part of us but one who come alongside us as a friend to show us the Way. We will continue to be a house of worship and prayer. We will love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We will love our neighbor and be willing to lay aside self for our preferences. We will be sacrificial as we carry our cross daily. We will be fully committed followers of Christ, because this is what disciples do. Join us on this amazing journey, because it is not just about the destination but also the experiences along the way as we bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. We have a lot to do so we better get started. John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” -Jesus

Road of Discipleship

The last few months have been a whirlwind. Since my last post we have quit our jobs and moved to La Porte City, IA to be the Pastor of Heartland Community Church. We took a two week vacation to Indiana and Maine to introduce Tedy to family and have a breather before we started our ministry. I started officially on July 1st and it has been an amazing road. In the month of July we had a series on what I saw was the important elements of discipleship in any church. you might have seen #knowgrowshow. It was adapted a few years ago when I read Simple Church by Thom Rainer when I was writing my project for my MA at Wesley Seminary. I enjoyed the simple element of Worship +2, which explaining in short, every disciple should have a time of Worship in a local body accompanied by a time of growth with a small group, and a place of service in the church and/or community. However was not really adapted by the church that I was working at during the time. The church wanted a more structured discipleship plan that you could almost graduate from and have different degrees for all the "post-grad" work. I went along but still could not get Simple Church and know, grow, show out of my head. Now that I am in a different ministry I decided to go back to this know, grow, show model. I started it as a series but it really has in a way developed into more of a vision of discipleship that has taken on a life of it's own. So I wanted to explain this discipleship process to you. 1. Know- There is a stage where each one of us meets God. The start of any relationship can be an amazing time of wonder and exploration. You start to understand that Jesus died for you as savior. You worship him because of who he is and what he has done in your life. The know stage is a great stage of development and curiosity. Just like when I met Jenny at IWU, I wanted to spend a lot of time with her to know who she was. But just like any relationship you do not stay in the know stage forever. It starts to become uncomfortable because this in a way is a very surface level relationship. You must go deeper in order for the relationship to continue to move further and deeper. 85% of Christians never leave this stage of Christianity therefore never become disciples. 2. Grow- This stage is a place where we are growing and taking root in the faith. We become involved in small groups, youth group, Bible Studies because we enjoy taking our faith to another level. We learn about who we are and God's purpose for our life. When Jenny and I started dating we went out in groups, but we also went out on dates together. It was fun and our relationship grew in ways that would not happen if we did not intentionally take these opportunities to grow with each other. Growing is a great place to be but if we always pour into ourselves then we start to become focused on ourselves and become selfish. If I were to always eat but never exercise I would get fat and be very unhealthy. This is not a good place for an individual but also a horrible place for the church. The church needs to learn to be focused on the people outside of the church as much if not more than those inside the church. So we must learn to be selfless and sacrificial. This is when we start to recognize Jesus as more than Savior but also Lord. So this leads us to show. 3. Show- We learn to think of others before ourselves. In order to do this we must be willing to serve. Teaching a growth class for others, praying for needs in the church. This is where the rubber hits the road and our faith becomes action. Leading youth group, serving a neighbor, taking part in the meals to wheel, serving the homeless, helping a widow. But also sharing Christ as the reason behind your love for people. When Jenny and I started to become more serious in our relationship I took her home to meet the family and she reluctantly introduced me to hers. Eventually we stood in front of about 200 friends and family members and committed to this love and each other for a lifetime. I showed my love for Jenny. It is vital in our relationship with God that we show him to the world as the reason. This might be sharing your God story with a co-worker, or sharing it in the worship experience. This might involve becoming baptized or becoming a member of the church. There are a number of ways that God can use your passion and purpose in revealing him in the world we live. We are not meant to graduate from any of these group. And we never arrive at a destination. We more or less add them to each other as we continue to become disciples. We need to continue to come back to worship and get to know him in fresh ways. We must never stop growing as we will never arrive at the "perfect disciple" And we must continue to show him to our world so our world can also know, grow and show.