Danielle Wood is Famous
/Danielle made it on the home page of the NASA Website. It is a cool video. Check it out by clicking HERE!
Danielle made it on the home page of the NASA Website. It is a cool video. Check it out by clicking HERE!
Just had lunch with David Eshleman. Former a CCF Pastor and Bishop. Now Author and Church Consultant. Always friend! He just told me his book will be released in April. Also found out that he wrote an article in the Mennonite Weekly Review (this is a Mennonite Newspaper). It's good. Click here to read it. Keep praying for he and his wife Helen. There are few dearer people you could meet!
Today is a special day for me. Actually have some butterflies in my stomach. I am leaving in a few minutes for Lancaster, PA (our headquarters if you will) to sit before a committee that will interview me this morning for ordination.
There have been many steps along the road to fulfilling my call. These steps have been moving me in the direction of responding to the call of God on my life to serve Him in full time Christian Service...a call that I have had since a boy. Today is a special day because it is another one of those steps (a final step of sorts...a step saying "I am in this for life.").
I enter this process humbly and by invitation of my Bishop. I am humbled and thankful for it. But, at the end of the day, I know that it is just man's way of symbolically sealing what God is already doing. And I am thankful that it is the sovereign Lord who calls!
I appreciate your prayers today (in case they really grill me).
Love!!
(Yes, the church will know all about this at the right time.)
Love being a Dad!
Love being a Pastor!
Love learning new things!
Not so thrilled about being a student. I think I just prefer to learn because it's desired, not required.
Well, I AM A STUDENT! I am a Masters student at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. I have thought of transferring a few times, but it has worked great so far. (Leaving the AG to Pastor a Mennonite Church cost me my license with the AG, but my money is still good enough for their seminary...oops....did that just slip out?) Anyway, great classes with just a few students, conveniently scheduled and located. I mainly take one-week intensives. They go like this:
Well, next week I am taking a class called "Missional Ministry; Growing Churches in the 21st Century."
Have more reading and more papers to finish by Sunday! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
--Noah
Okay, so this was one of those days that I came home from work and announced to my wife that I gave it all away! I told her I was on "E". It was just that kind of day. I had nothing left to give. Spent the first part of the day holding the hand of a dear sister in our church (Brigitte) whose Husband died during the night, dealt with several other heavy issues and ordeals, juggled meetings, juggled tasks, phone rang off the hook and then lead a counseling session and walked in the door of the house after 6pm. Exhausted. Low on energy. This is one of the many things that I have to protect against as a Pastor. It is easy to leave the leftovers to your family after giving the best of you away to everyone else.
Why am I sharing this?
Nights like this remind me of the rule of deposits and withdraws in relationships. I need to be making regular deposits into my marriage and into my kids. If I am, nights like tonight won't be a big deal. If I have sown in, it makes a big difference. Making regular deposits into our relational accounts gives us the relational equity to make a withdraw when we need to. Thankful that I have been doing better in this department over the last few years.
How are you doing with this? Are you spending adequate time with those you love so that you can check out when you need to without it being earth-shattering?
According to Davis, Daddy goes to work for "money in pocket" and Daddy works for "Jesus"! Too precious! Oh, one more thing. He cannot pronounce an "s" without adding an "h" behind it. And he is constantly asking us to "SIT" next to him. Sit, mommy! Sit, Daddy! Except there is an "h" involved. What are you gonna do? Oh, the joy! Thought I would give you a Monday morning smile.
Some notes from the message this morning:
The symptoms of the Disease to Please:
You might be a people pleaser if…
1. Frequently comparing yourself to others
2. Asking the wrong questions
3. Using deception and making excuses
4. Regularly boasting
5. Poor at accepting criticism
6. Often beat around the bush
7. Can’t say NO
8. Crippled by fear:
How can I heal from the Disease to Please?
1. Repent – It’s a sin. Admit it. Confess it. Ask for forgiveness. God I want to put your opinion first from now on!
2. Pray – Ask for help.
3. Don’t overcompensate with arrogance
4. Protect against YOU pleasing!
5. The main medicine to this disease: start pleasing GOD and Fearing GOD!!
Some related verses to read:
• 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
• Matthew 6:1-4
• Proverbs 29:25
• 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6
So, what did we do last night?
My wife rocks! She is great at planning special things! Last night, she booked us a nice, but inexpensive hotel room up near BWI Airport (highly recommend the Hyatt Place on weekends....way cheaper than during the week because of business travel). I wondered why we needed to bring the card table and chairs. It was because she had chosen a restaurant that she knew I loved for us to carry out dinner. It is called G & M and they have killer crab cakes and cream of crab soup! Awesome dinner in our room, watched a movie and had an all around great night together.
Well, after a great day, I need to head to bed. Need a good night sleep for tomorrow. Preaching requires rest. Really looking forward to our service tomorrow. Come, let's worship and also find out whether we've got the disease to please.
--Noah
Oh, by the way....Happy Valentines Day!
I am logging out of texts, calls, emails, twittering and blogging for the next 24 hours. My wife has planned a romantic one night getaway for the two of us to somewhere (who knows where?). All I know is...we need it, I am excited and you will NOT be hearing from me. Hopefully, I will not be hearing from you either unless it is an emergency! It's time for some relationship building! ;-)
See ya!
Had my Sister take some pictures of us as a family tonight. Need to capture these moments. If we are not careful, we can let months and months pass and not have a picture together as a family...and at this age their look changes quickly! Here are a few. Thought we'd share. The wife is hot and the son is handsome, huh?!
The weather over the last few days has given me the itch to travel! I love to travel. Why?
For the last 10 years, I have kept a running tally of where I've been. Here's the list if you care to know:
Well, I am entering into a season of travel for the next 6 months. Traveling once a month for the next 4 months (mostly church travel) and then heading into our Sabbatical June and July.
Starting to get really excited about it!
Sunday, Pastor TC made a sub-point in his message about vision and I thought was strong. To paraphrase it, it was something like this:
The hardest season for the visionary is the early stages of seeing it and sharing it. It is hard to move into and toward a vision that YOU sense and YOU see, that no one else does (or they only see slivers of it). If it is a God ordained vision, everyone else will see it soon enough. Then, they will believe it and champion it. But in the early stages, they will question it. And that can be hard!
Oh, how I can relate to this. Even through my journey here at CCF. I have learned so very much about what clear and corporate vision can do in just the last 18 months! There are many signs around us that this CCF vision is God's and that it IS working! However, in the early stages of casting it, the confidence tank would get low. But, we held on and kept believing. Now, it is easier to see. Being a visionary is more "funner" once others see it's results. It takes a lot of courage to lead into it in the early stages!
So, what do you see God wanting to do in and through your life that others may question? I encourage you to hold onto it. It will be way easier when the truth of that vision is more fully revealed and noticed!
--Noah
We have been having some problems in our recording department. Technical difficulties with the CD burner and stuff. Anyway, we are getting back up. Got word tonight that our sermons since the first week of 2009 are updates on our website. Just wanted to let you know if you wanted to check one out or send the link along to others. We are considering moving to all web, no CD's. We shall see. The work and cost of the CD's really adds up and so few people have a computer now. Will let you know where we land.
Our Youth Pastor, TC preached this past Sunday. Message was entitled "The Wait of Glory"! It was a fantastic message with excellent delivery. So blessed to have good preachers on the team each with our own gifts and styles. I love the diversity.
(This is him in the pic on the right. I know it is a poor quality pic, but you can see it on his face...his preachers face.)
Here are some takeaways from his sermon:
2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”
We never have enough time. But, God stands outside of time. From everlasting to everlasting he lives. From before the beginning to after the end, He lives. He is the Alpha and Omega, so even infinity and eternity cannot contain God.
But, time bothers us. Nobody likes the word “WAIT”! If you say it your kids will look at you crazy, people will roll their eyes, they may stop being your friend, and others will walk away and leave you. When God tells us this word, some of us cry, scream, and yell, or flat out disobey.
We don’t like to wait. If the light turns green, and the driver in front of you takes more than 2 seconds to start driving, we are checking to see if our horn still works. If the person at the ATM takes more than 60 seconds we feel like they’re doing their taxes. Fast food restaurants are too slow, the microwave takes forever, instant coffee is not instant enough, email is too slow, so I need you to text me right back!
We don’t want to wait until something is finished, until people are developed, for relationships to be revealed, for opportunities to come together, until we’ve been mentored, until we finish school, to get married, etc. We don’t want to wait! Not even for God.
But, God uses time to do 3 things in the life of the Disciple:
1. Time Shows. It shows what you are made of. It shows what relationships are made of. It shows the character that may be lacking. It shows the angles you need to approach a decision with the greatest wisdom. It shows whether the house was built on the sand or on the rock. Time lets a few storms swing into town to reveal what we’re really made of.
2. Time Seasons. Just like a good cut of meat has the most flavor when it has marinated, so will our lives. We have an absence of flavor today in our jobs, stability, romance and relationships. The seasoning of time brings about perseverance and character!
3. Time Strengthens. Endurance strength more that power strength. Delayed desire creates the intensity that strengthens your endurance! You can look at Joseph, Job, Abraham and others in scripture to see the truth of this!
Isaiah 40:30-31 says “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Ps 27:14 says “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”
...Remind you to pray for our friends Jon and Danielle Wood in Boston. Jon and Danielle are special to CCF and are in Boston as Danielle finishes her studies at MIT. This video is the view from there home during a recent snow storm. Too cool! Jon is actually having knee surgery this week. Pray for him.
Maybe it was this recent political season, but I have been noticing expressions of diversity abounding all around. People and things that you would have never seen next to each other are now becoming accepted and even common. As a Pastor of a diverse congregation, I am always looking at expressions of diversity and trying to learn from them. As I was watching the Grammy Awards, I noticed crazy amounts of diversity in people singing together that just break the norm. Examples:
It just seems that the separating lines and dividing walls are breaking down more and more. Not sure what to do with that, but I think that it needs to be leveraged for the glory of God. So, how can we? What can we do to take this shift in our culture and leverage it for God? Ideas? Please leave a comment. Seeking to shape this as a "kingdom responder" to cultural realities.
(Tim Stevens would be proud of me...author of "Pop Goes the Church" that I posted about here.)
Here are a few things about me that usually shock people:
Not necessarily proud of all of this, but it is what it is. So, where am I going with this? Every now and then I try to connect into pop culture. Something like the Grammy awards is a great place to do that. Here's why:
"...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." I Corinthians 9:22
You have to click here for the explanation behind this picture. It is not what you think. If you are easily offended, you may not like it. Me, on the other hand...not so easily offended. I laughed till my stomach hurt. Too cute! This is one of those "kid things" that is just too funny! Click here to read the story behind the picture.
Hundreds and hundreds of people read this blog. Most of which I have no idea who you are. But felt inclined to tell you that I pray for you. I do. I often pray for those that read this blog. Here's why...
So, I pray for YOU!!
--Noah
Lover & follower of Jesus, devoted to my wife Tricia & my kids, Davis, Lily & Graceson, serving & living in Africa as a man on mission for the Kingdom of God.