Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sunday Recap 11/29/09

We began Advent worship this week with this reading from Isaiah 40.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Isaiah 40:11 (NLT)

We need Advent. We need to slow down and reflect on just what God did through the Incarnation. We need to remember what Christmas is.

Our Advent Conspiracy theme for this week is [Worship Fully]. It was a great beginning for the Advent experience. Christmas began with worship. Sometimes we let the things of this world block our view of the manger. So I led with this clip from a beloved TV show.

We took a look at two people's experiences related to Christmas - Zechariah and Mary. Each began with questions and ended with praise.

Our music today was:

O Worship The King - Tomlin
Whole World In His Hands - Redman
and our first Christmas carol - O Come O Come Emmanuel
We used "Grace Flows Down" for the invitation to commitment.

So much to be thankful for.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Love Is A Decision


A little over a week ago, Bunny and I adopted two Airedales from a rescue organization here in Florida. After the crushing loss of our Great Dane Henley, it had taken us over a month to get to the point where we were ready to try to love another dog. We're still grieving to this day. But we decided to go and look at the pair - brother and sister, who were in their third "home" already at the age of two.

There were some things we knew driving up to see them.

1. They were not Henley
2. They would not replace Henley.
3. They were different than Henley.
4. They would act differently than Henley.
5. Two dogs would still not equal one giant one.

But we felt that Airedales would be a good match for us based on what we had read, and also based on Bunny's experience with a friend's dog - Bailey the Airedale.

When we reached the place where the dogs were, hope was that we would find a dog that would almost immediately love us fiercely and become an integral part of our lives. Our other expectations were more long term, as we planned to teach them to be therapy dogs that we could take to nursing homes. We learned that dogs in that setting can make a real difference, and wanted to be a part of that ministry. So we had some goals going in.

It's been a week and a half now, and we're realizing that we have to decide to love these dogs for who they are, not because they provide us with what we need. They are far more expressive and trusting than they were going in, but they still are not what we were used to and not what we hoped for - what we loved about Henley. A Great Dane is a "velcro dog". They are where you are and they sit where you sit. They are at peace when they sit or lie next to you on the couch. They would follow you into the shower if you'd let them, and if you won't let them, they'll often lie down just outside and block the door. :) They are very affectionate - "nosing", "leaning", and vocally reminding you of how joyful they are just to be with you.

These guys, the Airedales... not so much.

So we are patiently (most of the time) working with them, teaching them that they can trust us, taking them with us, and training them to follow basic commands. We will actually pick them up and put them on the couch next to us, but occasionally one will jump up on his/her own. Those bursts of love are celebrated to the max. Every occasion we have to reach out and touch them, speak to them, praise or reward them - we take it. Even when they would rather retreat from our companionship, we close the distance and let them know that we love them no matter what.

It is tiring. It can be frustrating. It is tempting to just take them back to the rescue people and find a more loving giant breed dog. That'd be easy. Not going to happen. They are ours. We are theirs. Forever friends.

It hit me last night that what we are doing with these dogs is much like what we need to do in some other communities like say - Church.

We need to love our church because it is the bride of Christ being readied for His glorious return.
We need to love our church not for what it does to meet our needs, but because through it, we can share in the work of our Savior.
We need to love our church just as it is - not as the perfect one in our mind, the fondly remembered one in our memories, or the one down the street or across town - and work alongside our brothers and sisters to advance the Kingdom of God.
We need to take every opportunity to share with both other Christians and those outside of how our church is reaching, serving, and loving in Christ's name. Such outbursts of joy might surprise the hearer, but it might even surprise us if we truly realize just how much God has blessed.

Yes, there are times when it will be frustrating, even hard.

Make the decision to love your church.

It'll grow on you. :)

Just like the Airedales we love have.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving


Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! Col 1:3 (MSG)

One of the spiritual disciplines I adopted early on as a pastor was the practice of praying for each member of the congregation by name. When I spent everyday here at the church, I'd often go into the sanctuary and pray for individuals as I sat in the pew where they most often sat on Sunday. I'd review where God had led them and blessed them, and where they found themselves at the time of my prayers. Now I work most of the time from home, but thanks to our pictorial directory I am able to look at the images and focus on those God has placed in my spiritual care. I still work through a pattern of remembering their journey with Jesus and what they were experiencing now.

Over the years, though there have been times when different individuals and I might differ over specific decisions I had made or even the direction of the church in general, I seem to find myself ending my prayers for them most often as Paul did here in his letter to Collosae. For almost every one has contributed in some way, whether great or small, to God's work here at New Hope. The vast majority of the people I've known and loved as their pastor have been such a tremendous blessing to me that I find myself telling God just what a joy it has been to serve Him alongside them.

Knowing what is going on (and what has gone on) in people's lives could diminish your ability to love them. But knowing just how much God loves them, and seeing Him at work in, around, and in most cases through them over the years is such a rich, rich gift that I typically end my prayers for them with praise for the God Who sent me to them over ten years ago as their pastor.

New Hope family, I love you and thank God everytime I think about you.

Have an awesome Thanksgiving.

Grace and peace to you and yours,

David

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Risk



Tomorrow night we'll meet and enjoy a time of fellowship and then move to the sanctuary where we'll sing some Christmas carols and then open our Advent Conspiracy store.

It's a Risk.

We're in an economy that doesn't inspire many, and heading into a season where people will come face to face with their financial limitations. The fact is that many of them will ignore those limits and spend money they don't have on stuff that people they give it to don't need.

The Advent Conspiracy aims to change that, and we want to be a part of that change. Our hope is that people at New Hope will worship more fully, spend less, give more, and love all this Christmas season. We could have just taken up an offering, but we want to DO SOMETHING. :)

So our Child 2 Child girls have spent every Wednesday night for the last few weeks preparing items for sale in the store. There's going to be some really cool gifts in there throughout the season. 100% of the proceeds will go to help children in the third world. We're also going to be selling products made by others who have the same goals as we do - to change the world.

We've never ever done it this way before.

I love it.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Sunday Recap - Nov 15, 2009


Really enjoyed the spirit among the people of New Hope today. We've accomplished a great deal for the Kingdom this year, and it looks like we are going to finish the year with a bang!

Kevin and Missy Hickman introduced us to the overall focus for the rest of the year - The Advent Conspiracy. It's an effort by a bunch of churches across denominational lines to help people take what has become an over commercialized season and turn it back to something that can change the world. At New Hope, we're going to open an "Advent Conspiracy Store" with products that will bless the person buying it and the people who made it.

Many of the items for sale will have been made by New Hope members - from 6 years of age up. Our Child2Child ministry, where little girls make and sell products and send 100% of the proceeds to help other children will lead the way, but we'll also have other products for sale by other organizations. More about this later. The main recipient of the funds we will raise will be an organization called "From HIV to Home" that helps place orphans from the third world who are positive for HIV with families here in the states. Check out what they are doing at the link. More about this later too.

Our worship through music yesterday included "Here I Am To Worship", "Our God Saves", "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)", and "Come Just As You Are."

I wasn't really pleased with the sermon so I'll just end here.



Oh and the youth had their first special worship service last night - they did great.

To Love, Again

We brought home two Airedales Friday from a rescue organization. They had been placed with a family in Florida and it didn't work out, because the family lived on a farm where wild dogs, coyotes, and snakes caused a threat to them. The female was actually bitten by a snake and that was the tipping point. They are two years old.

The contrast between them and our dear friend Henley the Great Dane is wide and it's not just the difference in size. Henley had been ours since twelve weeks of age, and was conditioned over years to be a very loving dog. He was human dependent. Came wherever you were in the house. Laid down next to you on the sofa. Rejoiced when you came home and grieved when you were gone. Towards the end of his time with us, he was even more clingy and loving.

The greatest thing Henley did for us with that kind of love was that in his giving of it, he took away our stresses and anxieties. There's just something about having a dog lying next to you and being in a state of total calm that causes the human beside them to relax too. From his beginning nuzzle to day's end sigh as he laid down next to the bed, we received a blessing that we had no idea how much we would miss. Bunny and I were at Petsmart Saturday and were both moved to tears talking about just how much we were loved.

Now we have two funny faced Airedales in our home. They are energetic. They are independent. They are self entertaining. They are NOT Henley.

We are trying to love them the way we loved Henley, and they - in particular the girl - Stevie, is beginning to respond. She'll let you put her beside you on the couch and stay there a while. The boy -Mick, can be loving when he chooses to, but still pulls away when you try to draw him near. They have improved since we brought them home Friday, but we really, really need them to love us as fiercely as Henley did. Doesn't have to be the exact same expressions of love. There are things the Airedales do that are unique and cool. But we need to bond with them as fast as we can. Otherwise we might as well not have dogs at all, and they need to be with a family that can love them as they are.

If I sound disappointed it's because I am. It's proving much harder for us to love again.

Would you pray for us?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Sighs Instead of Slobbers

One of the things that marked Henley's last few days was his change in seating arrangements. Until his leg began to bother him, 90% of the time he'd lay beside me on the love seat, and would occasionally visit Bunny on the couch. He'd lie down at the opposite end from her most of the time. In his last days, he seemed to want to be next to her more. We found out it was probably that he was already hurting. But when this was taken, three days before he left us, we thought he just wanted to be close. And he did.

Nighttime is absolutely the worst.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Sunday Recap for Nov 8, 2009

Had we had an issue with unexploded ordinance today, we would have been in great hands. We had several visitors who were enrolled in the EOD school at Eglin. The fact that they all were Army delighted one of our folks who is retired Army. We also had Sean Harrington back from Afghanistan to have some surgery done at Keisler AFB. For me, to be around so many people who have served and are serving is awesome, and I always pray that what we do at New Hope will help them grow closer to God and stronger in their faith and work.

Our music today was: "How Can I Keep From Singing", "Forever", "I Will Rise", and "Softly and Tenderly." We tried something new with the praise team and limited participation among the singers to only those who were at practice Wednesday night. My goal is to have Wednesday night be a time of both preparation and worship among the team, and have that transfer into what we do to lead others on Sunday. We're also going to limit the team to high school and up except for those kids who have shown the ability previously by singing solos or in ensembles. Doesn't mean we won't use some of the people who don't sing every week in other ways from time to time. But it does mean a much greater emphasis on preparation on Wednesday. We're raising the standards higher.

We're coming to the end of the "Chasing the Goose" series focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians and how we limit His role in our lives by the "cages" we construct in our beliefs and practices. This week's "cage" was Fear.



When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things?
When did we replace faith leading to action with phrases like "I'll pray about it."?

Our preparation is not for keeping things the way they are in our life - in this world - but for seeing the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

We cannot let our fears limit what God wants to do with our lives.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Still Missing Henley


This is the top of the Tupperware container that holds our hot dogs. Henley LOVED hot dogs. he probably considered the day he grabbed this off the counter as one of the best events in his life.

He left his mark on the top. And he grabbed a place in our hearts forever.

I'm trying to move on, talking to dog people about Airedales, Irish Wolfhounds, even Great Danes. Taking way too long to make a decision when any of them would probably bring us a wonderful dog (or two).

But there will never, ever, ever be another Henley.

I miss him so much.

Friday, November 06, 2009

We Know Enough


"If there is any meaning in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, it is this: that there is a God who created us, and who loves us so much that He would stop at nothing to bring us to Him. And I really suspect that of all the things we think we want to know, the only thing we really want to know is that we are loved. And if Jesus means anything, He means that you are loved. I hope you know that. And I hope you stop worrying about all the stuff you don't know, because I don't think it amounts to a hill of beans." -Rich Mullins

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

You Can't Hold On To Summer


November on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Sunny and 77 degrees. Earlier today I was reading on Facebook where one of my pastor friends up north was freezing because he couldn't get but one of the space heaters in his office to work. Well, it was tough down here today too. Couldn't decide whether to open the windows or run the A/C.

Folks that know my beloved and me know that we are not cold weather people. We've quipped many times that we're hoping for a transfer to Key West one day. People around here seem to think we're kidding. :) So summer is our favorite time of year, and it's over. You can't hold on to summer.

I try every year to console myself with what fall brings. No, there's not really a gorgeous change in the foliage. But there are daisies that only show their yellow beauty in October, and our butterfly friends, the Monarchs, pass through in their luminous orange and black splendor. But we're into November now, and I noticed this morning that the daisies were fading away.

Life is lived in movement. The earth is spinning around as it orbits the sun, and the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years keep moving on.

So why do so many people try so hard to make everything stay the way it is?

And why do so few run with the Wind as it blows?

Younger families are constantly in motion, rushing here and there - taking the kids to this activity and then the next. Older people with all the time in the world, instead of running to the finish line - trying to hold back time.

Solomon in his wisdom wrote:

7 Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure! 8 Dress festively every morning. Don't skimp on colors and scarves. 9 Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! 10 Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it, For there's neither work to do nor thoughts to think In the company of the dead, where you're most certainly headed.

Eccl 9:7-10 (MSG)

You only get one chance at this life on earth - don't try to hold onto yesterday - make the most of the moment for God's glory!


Monday, November 02, 2009

Mondays With Allan




Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters
1 John 4:21 (NLT)

When we lost our big friend Henley the Great Dane to cancer last month, we found ourselves with a house that seemed very empty. Then up walked our friend Allan. On every single visit to our home previously, Allan had never been able to come inside because of his fear of Henley. No matter what we told him about how the worst that could happen would have been some slime if Henley licked him, and maybe some boofing, Allan wouldn't come past the threshold and even asked us to step outside.

But on that day, he came in. It was the first night after we lost Henley and it was a quiet house. Allan fixed that right away. Then he surprised us by staying for supper. After he had eaten he looked at Bunny and asked "when can I come eat with you again?"

Bunny said "How about Monday night?"

And every Monday night since, we've had Allan as a guest at our table.

Allan's a great guest. He'll keep the conversation going, and ask to take your plate to the sink along with his if you are through. His presence and his attitude are that of a servant, and his job is to make you feel better.

He'll never know how much he has done for us in helping us past our grief and reminding us that God uses all His servants in His care for those He loves.

I thank God for His servant of love - our friend - Allan Hill.

Call us if you want to come next Monday night too. :)

Grace and peace,

David Wilson
Mondays With Allan

Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters
1 John 4:21 (NLT)

When we lost our big friend Henley the Great Dane to cancer last month, we found ourselves with a house that seemed very empty. Then up walked our friend Allan. On every single visit to our home previously, Allan had never been able to come inside because of his fear of Henley. No matter what we told him about how the worst that could happen would have been some slime if Henley licked him, and maybe some boofing, Allan wouldn't come past the threshold and even asked us to step outside.

But on that day, he came in. It was the first night after we lost Henley and it was a quiet house. Allan fixed that right away. Then he surprised us by staying for supper. After he had eaten he looked at Bunny and asked "when can I come eat with you again?"

Bunny said "How about Monday night?"

And every Monday night since, we've had Allan as a guest at our table.

Allan's a great guest. He'll keep the conversation going, and ask to take your plate to the sink along with his if you are through. His presence and his attitude are that of a servant, and his job is to make you feel better.

He'll never know how much he has done for us in helping us past our grief and reminding us that God uses all His servants in His care for those He loves.

I thank God for His servant of love - our friend - Allan Hill.

Call us if you want to come next Monday night too. :)

Grace and peace,

David Wilson

It's Been Three Weeks Today


We miss him so, so much.

We've been searching for another dog, but it will not be a replacement for this guy. It's hard.

Sunday Recap Nov 1 2009

After a great time with the Halloween outreach movie bash, we gathered to celebrate God's goodness and learn more about how to follow Jesus.

Our music reflected the message to come:

Come, Now Is the Time To Worship
God of This City
It Is Well With My Soul
Jesus Paid It All

In hindsight, it was noted that there was a mix of older and newer songs. Frankly, that was not a consideration when they were chosen - it just worked out that way. We have a list of all the songs we do, and what the song says - not what style it is in - is why we choose them. In my opinion the moment you have to satisfy a need to "blend" songs based on when they were written you can find yourself having to say no to what God would have you do in favor of satisfying people's preferences. It's great when it happens because you do have several generation's "heart music", but if we set our goal toward moving toward God in worship, that sort of thing will happen supernaturally.

Continuing in the "Chase the Goose" series based on Batterson's "Wild Goose Chase", we tackled the "Cage of Guilt." The basic idea was that we have been conditioned over a lifetime to have our past keep us from experiencing the best that God has for us in the future. We have to learn to put our past in its place and follow the life-giving Spirit forward.




The first part of the message was establishing the truth of behavioral conditioning. Then we dove into the Scripture to see just how God calls us forward.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Long Day

It is like herding cats. Even when your goal (unlike that of the dog above) is worthy, beneficial, and biblical with the best interest of your friends at the center of what you do.

Pastoral work - all of it - is tied to the relationships you have with the people God has placed you on mission with. There's no "work friends" and "real friends". You begin each week praying for them to God. While you study the Bible and listen to what the Spirit is saying they are on your mind and heart. The message is crafted (just as all the teaching is - just as the music is - just as the events are - just as... everything is) to the glory of God and the building up of the faith in your fellow believers.

You will experience resistance. (BIG GRIN - and all the pastors reading this go "duh")

You will be disappointed when people you thought were farther along trip over things they should long since picked up and moved aside.

And there will be times when you just want to run into the woods. Or to the beach. :)