An Early Morning Word...continued

More about the word on my heart yesterday morning...

"If you will be here for ME, I will be here for you!!"

There are lots of reasons that people choose to affiliate with the local church. Allow me to share a few:

• The people are friendly.
  
• My family goes there.
• My friends go there.
• It's close to my house.
• I like the music.
• I like the kid's ministry and youth ministry.
• There are good looking women at that church. ...or men.
• I like the preaching.
• I like the Pastor.
• They are not money hungry.

And you can think of many other reasons... After a while of being at a particular church, many of us begin to really feel attached to the people or the leaders. Slowly, we can begin to go for reasons that won't stand forever.

I sensed that the Lord wanted me to encourage our community that we are not here for Pastor TC. We are not here for Pastor Noah. We are not here for any of the other things that I mentioned above. WE ARE FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

I thank God for the promise that JESUS will build his church and the even the gates of hell will not prevail against it. No change in a community and no Pastor leaving of arriving will ever interrupt what God is doing in His church. I have always been comforted by the fact that if the gates of hell can't prevail against the church , then we sure as hell can't either. I told the youth the other night, that they are not here for TC, they are here for God and he is never resigning!

If we will be here for HIM. HE will be here for us...regardless of the loss, regardless of the transition, regardless of the storm. He will be in the boat as he was in Mark 4:35-41 and He will get up and say to any challenge..."Be Still. Be Calm" and it will obey.

A Resignation impacts a Community

While, I am really enjoying blogging, sometimes it is really frustrating because there are things that I cannot write for the world to see. Sometimes those confidential things are the things that I need to process out and think through the most. Anyway, one of those things have unfolded over the last several weeks. For several weeks now, I have been processing a BIG change at the church. Our fantastic Youth Pastor, TC submitted his resignation to me. TC senses God's call to affect inner city un-churched people through other creative channels. We announced it to the church yesterday. (Not before lots of tears, questions, sharing it with the Pastoral Team, sharing it with the Board, and sharing it with the youth this past Wednesday.) After communicating the announcement in our services yesterday, TC and I preached a message about transition. I sensed that it really helped the community swallow more easily the news of an upcoming transition that none of us are happy about. I am going to deeply miss working with Pastor TC. Our entire church is going to miss him so much as well.

As I was preparing for the official announcement over the last week, I found myself laboring over it. How do you say it? When do you say it? When does it fit best in the service? How do I bring a sense of security to the community? What is the balance between celebrating TC and being hopeful for the next leader? Well, THEY DON'T TEACH YOU THIS IS SCHOOL! I have never had to do anything like this before. Where is the book on this one? It was so difficult, regardless of how it may have looked to those who were there. It was one of the harder things I have ever had to do.

My sense was that God was as we know Him to be...faithful, present, and speaking to us as a church. It seems as though the church did a good job of accepting the news and the encouragements that TC and I shared about the realities of transition in our message. We have a strong church, for which I am thankful. The presence of God made all the difference yesterday. The Lord has a future for TC and CCF that is as bright as the promises of God!

CCF is Hiring! If you know anyone that would be a good Youth Pastor to an urban youth Ministry, encourage them to send their resume to me at noahkaye@capitalchristian.org.

An Early Morning Word

I woke up this morning bright and early with a clear word on my heart for our community today. I sensed the Lord speaking this:

"If you will be here for ME, I will be here for you!"

I will share more later on why this is so meaningful.

Last-Minute Hospitality

Every year, Tricia's work Christmas party is at her Principal's home. This year he had planned to host it again, but just last week realized that he would not be able to. Instead of it being canceled, Tricia really wanted to do it here (we do love to entertain). Well, it's tonight. Tricia and Davis are back from NY, the house is decked out for the Holidays, the Christmas music is playing, we've prepared some games, the candles are lit and we are ready to host about 30 people in our home tonight (Teachers and their spouses). Everyone brings something, but we have prepared lots of stuff as well...you know how that goes. It should be fun. I got my list done and Tricia seems to have everything under control since she got home. Rock on!

Now, if I can just have a good time tonight and keep my mind off of tomorrow morning. We have a difficult announcement to share with the congregation, I am team teaching with Pastor TC (and don't feel as ready as I would like to feel), and a business meeting that one just never feels prepared enough for. Thanks to the Lord for a great Board Chair (Hal Smith), Treasurer (Ruth Yoder) and others who have worked so hard to get us ready for tomorrow. I know I am worrying for nothing.

Anyway, on to our "last-minute hospitality!!!"

A Weird Day

Today was weird. With Tricia and Davis being gone, I kept thinking I was forgetting or missing something. I kept thinking Davis was down for a nap and I needed to get him or pick him up or something. Fridays I am usually with him. Instead, I hung out, ran errands, chilled with my brother and parents, and just did whatever I felt like doing. My brother and I did one of our favorite past times...RV shopping...as if we could ever afford one! Oh, and here is the best part. Even with her whirlwind trip out the door this morning, Tricia managed to leave me a list...and I got it done! It was a good day, but I always feel like something is missing without my babies.

And just like that they're gone!

Tricia woke me up at midnight (after I just fell asleep at the end of the Packer/Cowboys game) because she had just spoke with her Mom in NY. Terry, my mother-in-law, was diagnosed with cancer just after losing her husband in June. When she talked to Tricia last night she sounded bad, was very weak, and quite discouraged. She said to Tricia (as she often does) "I wish you were here." Well, my wife "felt in her heart" that she needed to catch the next flight to Albany. At almost 1am she bought a ticket to leave at 7am (yes, THIS MORNING). We were up at 5 and I just returned from dropping Tricia and Davis at BWI. They will fly back tomorrow. When my wife, who is very rational and planned, tells me that she feels something "in her heart and in her spirit," we listen. I will miss them, but they will be back soon! ...just like that there gone...baby and all!

Team Teaching

I am really looking forward to Sunday's message. Pastor TC and I are team teaching. We spent the afternoon and early evening completing preparation. It is always a challenge to prepare a sermon with someone else and to be in sync with what the Lord is saying and how we will share in communicating it. It always ends up being fun and since it is different, people listen intently, because people like different.

The title of our message is "The Trouble with Transition." One of the truths that I look forward to sharing this Sunday is this...Our human nature regarding transition is such that we love and relish the old and the familiar because it is comfortable. We also usually end up loving the new because it is fresh and different and it promises impact. It's the transition...the in-between time that we aren't so comfortable with.

There's your sneak peak. This should be fun!

Divine Counsel

Here is something that you may or may not know about me. I love people. I believe that other people are on of God's top 3 ways that He speaks to us (His word, His Holy Spirit, His children). I love to be in relationship and counsel with people about my leadership and about my life. I do not know where I would be today had it not been for leaders that I have put myself around. Call them mentors, call them coaches, call them friends...God has placed some of His choice servants in my life and I praise him for that today. People like my wife, my parents, my siblings, my friends, my professors, my Bishop, The staff I work with every day, and many pastors and leaders that are both local and out of state.

One of the things that I really treasure is my relationship with a few Pastors with gray (or white) hair who have been at this for many, many years and they have already led through whatever might be staring me in the face. There is one particular influencer in my life over the last few years that has been worth a million. Every time I leave the lunch table after being with him, all I can think is "how was counsel worth so much just given for free." I reckon he probably wouldn't mind a check in the mail though, smile. Have you ever had that feeling? The feeling that you should be paying BIG bucks for counsel that fresh!

Well, yesterday, a good friend and coach handed me a napkin with 7 passages of scripture written on it. He told me that these verses needed to me my quiet time this morning. I carried that napkin in my pocket all day yesterday. When I went to bed last night, I laid it on top of my wallet and whispered "Lord, speak to me in the morning." Even as I said those words, I felt the Holy Spirit near. Well, He answered and He spoke! The passages that I dwelled in (and wept over) this morning were a series of passages from II Corinthians. Maybe you want to share in them as well. I will share with you the passages that impacted me the most this morning (click on them to link to them). I plan to sit with them a lot more in the next few days.

II Corinthians 1:12
II Corinthians 3:1-3
II Corinthians 7:1-4

You know a good friend or counselor when they point you in the direction of the divine counsel of God through His word. That voice, those words, impact me more deeply than any person ever can!

A Davis Update

If you are a parent, then maybe you can relate to this...I feel like there are some days that I just want to stare at my son and wonder how he's ours? Some days he looks so cool, so cute in his outfit, and so much like a miracle of God. Well, this evening, Tricia and Davis and I really enjoyed some well needed family time, just us! Dinner, play time, laughing, bath and bedtime routine. Here is a very cute recent bath picture that is appropriate for the Internet. Look at this kid! He can now stand on his own for about 5-10 seconds and walk very well while we hold his hand. He can also climb the entire set of steps (13 of them) in our home. Yes, I was standing behind him. No, I do not want to be responsible for another ambulance ride to Children's Hospital.

Oh, and Tricia dressed Davis in his Redskins outfit today in honor of Sean Taylor. We woke up this morning to learn that this young Redskins Safety was shot and killed. My heart and prayers have gone out several times today to his family, friends and the Redskins Club. Thanks to the Lord that the Head Coach, Joe Gibbs is a Christian and so are several of the other players. My friend Matt Gary interned with the Skins this year and met some super guys that love the Lord. I pray that God will somehow use them during this time to impact this team for Christ.

Remaining Faithful

Remain faithful! Those are the words on my heart today! REMAIN FAITHFUL, NOAH! Remaining faithful means a lot of things. For me, today, it means pressing into the Lord in prayer for wisdom, instead of leaning on my own or anyone else's understanding. It means believing God with hope instead of looking to the enemy in unbelief. Remaining faithful for me, today, means speaking the heart and mind of the Lord Jesus Christ and not my own flesh and will. It means remembering my call and who God has crafted me and commissioned me to be. I thank the Lord today that his plan ALWAYS WINS because he is ALWAYS FAITHFUL!!!

Psalm 146:6 "...The Lord remains faithful forever!"

I pray that you, my faithful God,will teach me today how to remain faithful. I love you, Lord and I thank you for your example of perfect faithfulness!

Christmas at CCF! Mark your Calendars!

With the exception of a few meetings, I have spent the majority of my morning tending to the many leadership and planning details of our various Christmas events at CCF! It's almost like we have to get through one holiday to start thinking about the next. We finalize the December Capital this Wednesday, so it is full speed planning so we can publish all the details! In the process of thinking through all of this, I got super excited about the approaching holidays together as a church. Good memories always get made. So that you can begin getting excited with me, here are the main events for this Christmas month (get your calendar out!):

• This Sunday, December 2nd- Decorate the church for Christmas at about 1:30pm (after the Business Meeting-- insert plug for business meeting here!)
  
• Saturday, December 8th- Ladies Brunch & Cookie Exchange at 9:30am.
  
• Friday, December 14th- Annual Evening Christmas Party. A group is already at work on this and it is gonna be super!
• Sunday, December 16th- REAL Teens Holiday Service Project to the Elderly in our community!
  
• Thursday, December 20th at 7:00pm-Christmas Caroling at Local Nursing Homes.
  
• Sunday Morning, December 23rd- Special Christmas Program/Service
  
• Monday, December 24th at 6pm- Christmas Eve Service
  
• AND...We are doing Angel Tree again. Get your Angel this Sunday!

I am really looking forward to a great month with you all!

Love!

The ups and the downs

I really hesitate as to whether to write this or not. I take some risk in doing it, but it is worth taking a risk for gaining your prayer support. I am human and this my blog...a place to share my heart. The top of your screen says "on my heart today", right? Well, let me tell you what is on my heart.

I feel discouraged today. I cannot go into detail, but lots of things are going on at the church, much of which is confidential (in addition we have an important Executive Board Meeting tomorrow night, a Business Meeting next Sunday and a LOT to do to be ready for them). There are those times in ministry that you feel like everything is great and other times when it is not so easy or so fun. Some of the things you have to know and stuff you have to deal with can be pretty tough and draining. I am guessing that I am not the only Pastor in the world that wishes they could evade a Sunday morning a couple times throughout their ministry. I will take the downs and thank God for the many ups.

Leaving Already

I wanted to make sure I showed you a picture of where we stayed this week. Pretty hot pad, huh? Getting ready to pack my laptop up...it has been the community laptop sitting out in the common area for all to use. After a great getaway, it's hard to believe that we are packing up to head home. I am actually going to leave at 4:30am tomorrow and drive in for church. I am thankful that Pastor Lew is preaching, because I did not have to have my mind on a sermon the last few days. We have had a great time, but with 16 people in 1 house, you are pretty ready to divide again after 5 days. This week has certainly reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for. Noise, commotion, laughter and chasing after kids all represent things that God has richly blessed me with.

Have you ever shopped all night?

We have lost our mind. One of the things that we look so forward to every year that we come up here to the beach, is to go to the Rehoboth Beach Outlets and do Christmas Shopping...getting great sales. We usually go very early in the morning for the early bird sales. Well, we found out a few days ago that this year the outlets were going to open at midnight. We went. 1:00am-9:00am! It was fascinating to stand in lines that wrapped all the way around stores at 3 in the morning. Wild experience. But, guess what? We are done our Christmas shopping in one all-nighter!

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. By the way, if you have never had fried turkey, then you have never had turkey. It takes turkey to a whole new level. My brother fried one yesterday and the men just hung out outside staring at the turkey fryer. Good Times! I am not sure what the women were doing. Perhaps they were preparing the other 20 dishes at the table yesterday. :-)

Totally Relaxed

After a 3 hour nap, I am up and here is the view out the front of our Beach House just as the sun set. We are doing it now...so relaxed!! Everyone is just doing the things they love...sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, and other less important things. Smile.

A Courageous Confession

There was an article that came out at the end of October that has been on my mind at least once a day since I read it. It is in my head and on my heart. I have received emails from more than five friends in ministry making sure I have seen it. It is really a stirring confession that was released by Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois. Here is the link...click here!

Willow Creek is a mega church that has impacted many churches and church leaders with their wealth of resources and training. This church (and they have their own association), under the leadership of Bill Hybels has been on the front edge of church growth strategies and tools for the last 15 years in America. Highly Influential. I have driven all the way out there for a conference myself.

A brief summary of the article is that Willow Creek is saying:

• They have focused too much on the size of a church, numbers and providing people with what they want.
• They are realizing that in neglecting to give people what they need, they have failed to teach people how to engage in a healthy and personal faith journey.
  
• They have confessed that they have made a mistake and sent people in the wrong direction.

OK, now, I am going to be blogging more about this, but let me share with you a few of my personal thoughts and ideas and how this article is impacting my thinking. Again, I will elaborate more later, but here goes:

• It is easy to fill a church. It's easy for the church...Just say the right things, advertise in the right places, have the right programs, appeal to people's senses, exert enough Charisma, have the right friends, be creative, have cool publications and a cool website, create buzz, so on and so on and the chances are you will grow a church! It's easy for the people. Show up for an hour and a half a week so that we grow this thing. That's easy enough. For most people, if you will give them a creative enough service, they will give you your hour and a half. We've got a deal.
  
• The difficult part is to fill lives with lordship of Jesus Christ and to create Disciples (Matt. 28:18-20)! This is the tough part for the church (organizationally) and the people (the people are the church). Discipleship is the job of the faithful, the strong, the brave. When the church commits to discipleship (over church growth), they take on a hefty task! Reason...because it is so much more difficult for the people you are reaching. An hour and a half of sitting is simple and even fun. Changing my language, my choices, the way that I treat my spouse, my trips to the club, finding time for God through the week...that is a whole different conversation. That is the conversation of discipleship...a journey for the faithful, the strong, and the brave!

At CCF, do we want to grow a church or disciple people? This is a huge question.

More about this later...Tricia is inviting me to the grocery store...for the 4th time in the last 15 minutes. Peace!

We're here!

We are here and having fun already. We just sat around singing Johnny Cash and other old country songs to the guitar. John Armstrong (My Mom's best friends husband) plays. In case you were wondering, kids change life! It looked like we had packed for a 4 week getaway. Last year, we went away and had no kids. This year we have a house full of them...and the house echoes. It will be loud, but fun!!

All Packed Up...

We are all packed and ready to go! We leave tomorrow at noon for Bethany Beach, DE where we will spend the rest of the week in a beach house with 16 people (family and friends that we love being with!). The place has 7 bedrooms, 4 levels, and an elevator, so I think we will all fit. We will eat, play games, chat, laugh, lay out and swim in the ocean (ok, maybe not those last 2). We are so excited for the break. I am going into the office in the morning and I hope to have everything pressing wrapped up and off my chest before we head out.

By the way...Our house is all decorated for Christmas, inside and outside (our home in Bowie that is, not the place we are going)! We did half Saturday and the rest yesterday. It looks pretty festive! We graduated to 2 trees this year. We have one in our family room and one in our formal living room in front of a window facing the street. It is one of our traditions that we like to decorate for Christmas before we travel for Thanksgiving so that when we get home, we plug and play! I truly do love the Holidays! Tricia absolutely loves traditions. She is our steady eddy. When it comes to the holidays we do things a certain way at a certain time...period. Oh, and since this is our first Christmas with a kid, we are starting a few new traditions this year. I can't keep up, but I don't worry, she won't let me forget them.

If I link up to WiFi, I will blog this week. If not, we'll pick up when we get back Saturday night.

Love!

What everyone thinks, but no one says...

This morning was the party for the death of Jaye's father, Stanley Shelton (click his name and it will connect you to his obituary). Jaye is our administrative assistant at the church and a dear friend. Her family wanted it to be a celebration this morning and it was just that! It was a neat day, and from the little I knew of Mr. Shelton, he would have been pleased with the spirit of the day. We hosted the funeral at the church and I shared leadership with another Pastor in their family.

Something happened during the ceremony that really made me chuckle and I wanted to share it with you. It's what everyone thinks, but no one says...

If you have been to very many funerals, then you know what it is like to sit through them and think to yourself "are they burying the same person that I knew?" "Am I at the wrong funeral?" It seems that everyone is a saint when they die. Well, today during the funeral the family wanted me to facilitate a time for people in the congregation to come forward and share personal tributes about Mr. Shelton. That is ALWAYS risky, but sometimes it can be very meaningful. Well, it turned out pretty good this time. The last person to get up and share was Jaye's older brother, Jerome. He is the eldest and only son. When he stepped to the microphone he thanked everyone for their kind words and support and then he began to share the real deal. He bragged on his Dad and then said...

"I am not sure who you all were talking about today, but my father was a mean man. He beat me regularly. He was a liar. He told me he would win me the lottery and he never did. He was a con artist....he said a few other things and then he bragged on his Daddy some more. He really loved him!"

It struck me when he did this, because so often at funerals we sit there thinking things that no one ever says. After all, we are all born human, so my guess is that we probably die human too!

A Thank Offering

Some of you that read this blog are a part of CCF. Others of you are friends and family from out of state or that don't attend the church. So, if you were there, you know that this morning was a very special morning at CCF. If you were not there, allow me to tell you.

Seeing as how it is Thanksgiving this Thursday, I preached a message that invited our congregation to identify things that they are thankful for. At the end of the message, we all wrote on an index cards 2-3 things that we were specifically wanting to thank God for. After that, we all walked to the altar and placed our cards into a basket as a "thank offering". After that, we lifted the basket to the Lord (me and about 30 people in a huddle) as an offering of Thanks to the Lord. Psalm 50:14-15 & 23 set the tone for our offering of thanks today.

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

OK, it overwhelmed me to tears this morning to witness hundreds of people walking forward and extending their personal offering of thanks to God! It was evident as tears flowed in the room, that the Holy Spirit was moving this morning. The things written on those little pieces of paper must have been as various as the stories in the room. We destroyed the papers after the service. What was written was for God, not any of us.

Lord, to you be the praise for another great morning at CCF!