This past Sunday in worship, I spoke about my visit to Shreveport, Louisiana and how inspired I was when I met Donnie Brook, an incredible woman with a heroic story.
We were also reminded that according to a Gallup survey, Shreveport is the most "Christian" city in the United States. Specifically, 98% of those surveyed indicated that they were Christian. This topped every other locality in the country.
This Sunday, we are going to change gears pretty rapidly. I am going to share my experiences on the West Coast, in San Francisco and Seattle. In contrast to Shreveport, they are the most un-churched cities in the country. I am looking forward to sharing some stories of two churches who have found way to do ministry in the midst of challenges that we, at the edge of the Bible belt, may struggle to comprehend.
To understand their world, I am looking forward to discussing a passage in the book of Ezekiel. In the eleventh chapter, God promises that he "will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" How does God do this? We don't necessarily have to travel to the West Coast to deal with this. Every one of us have met folks with that heart of stone. Sometimes we meet that heart when we look in the mirror! As we will see, right here is God's greatest miracle; changing out our hard hearts and softening them into something that carries the hope and compassion of Jesus himself.
As we will see, there is a lot of "hardness" to the world of ministry on the West Coast. But we will also remember that our neighbors in the West don't have a monopoly on those hard hearts. Jesus has plenty of work to do on us. Come join us on Sunday morning and we will talk about this some more.
See you in worship!
Pastor Pete
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Traveling to Shreveport, Louisiana (and a bit of Washington State)
This Sunday in worship, we will be traveling to Shreveport Louisiana. I am excited to tell you about a woman I met there by the name of Donnie Brook. Donnie has led an amazing, indeed heroic life but you would never know it at first glance.
Donnie is a reminder that many people around us have phenomenal stories. There is always more to those around us.
Though I am getting ahead of myself, I was reminded of this when I was in Bellingham Washington in my travels. While there, I stopped in to see my wife Lynn's sister and her husband Rand. As I was visiting with him in his living room, I told him about my travels, and about listening to people's stories all around the country. He then handed me a big thick green binder, and told me that this was his story. In fact, it was his recently completed manuscript of a book he was writing. Rand is a Professor of History at Western Washington University in Washtington state and had just completed this draft of his account of what it was like to grow up in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in the thick of the battles. His father was an American Baptist Pastor and served as one of the leaders in conjunction with Dr. Martin Luther King and others. As a result, Rand had a very hard childhood. He was ostracized in schools and churches again and again because of what his father did. For the rest of the journey, I read his 500 page manuscript, understanding for the first time what it was like to grow up in the extreme racism of Birmingham Alabama in 1962. At the end of every chapter, I would simply close the book and say to myself, "I have known Rand for 30 years and I never had any idea..."
Everybody has a story and they are typically more powerful than we think. They are also not as well known to others around us.
Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As such, he reminds us that our faith is not just for our own private enjoyment. Ultimately, it is there to send us out as salt and light. This weekend, we are going to talk about how critical it is to learn to share our stories and our faith in a more public environment. To be sure, many have done that poorly before us, but that doesn't change who we are. It is important that we learn to share our stories in a way that encourages others. Let's talk more about this as we go to Shreveport Louisiana on Sunday! See you in worship,
In Christ,
Pastor Pete
I found myself thanking God for Rand and for his willingness to tell his story. I found spiritual power and encouragement.
Donnie is a reminder that many people around us have phenomenal stories. There is always more to those around us.
Though I am getting ahead of myself, I was reminded of this when I was in Bellingham Washington in my travels. While there, I stopped in to see my wife Lynn's sister and her husband Rand. As I was visiting with him in his living room, I told him about my travels, and about listening to people's stories all around the country. He then handed me a big thick green binder, and told me that this was his story. In fact, it was his recently completed manuscript of a book he was writing. Rand is a Professor of History at Western Washington University in Washtington state and had just completed this draft of his account of what it was like to grow up in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in the thick of the battles. His father was an American Baptist Pastor and served as one of the leaders in conjunction with Dr. Martin Luther King and others. As a result, Rand had a very hard childhood. He was ostracized in schools and churches again and again because of what his father did. For the rest of the journey, I read his 500 page manuscript, understanding for the first time what it was like to grow up in the extreme racism of Birmingham Alabama in 1962. At the end of every chapter, I would simply close the book and say to myself, "I have known Rand for 30 years and I never had any idea..."
Everybody has a story and they are typically more powerful than we think. They are also not as well known to others around us.
Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As such, he reminds us that our faith is not just for our own private enjoyment. Ultimately, it is there to send us out as salt and light. This weekend, we are going to talk about how critical it is to learn to share our stories and our faith in a more public environment. To be sure, many have done that poorly before us, but that doesn't change who we are. It is important that we learn to share our stories in a way that encourages others. Let's talk more about this as we go to Shreveport Louisiana on Sunday! See you in worship,
In Christ,
Pastor Pete
I found myself thanking God for Rand and for his willingness to tell his story. I found spiritual power and encouragement.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Lessons From the Road: Jacksonville Beach
This Sunday in worship, we are going to be traveling to Jacksonville Beach Florida. We are continuing with our sermon series entitled "Lessons from the Road" and I am looking forward to introducing two women to you. When I was at Beach United Methodist Church in August, I was invited to a special baptism service. After the regular Sunday morning worship, the church left the sanctuary, walked two blocks, and prepared for a baptism service at the beach for 72 people!
As we were making their way to the water, a huge thunderstorm broke loose. The beach patrol closed the beach and we all went running back to the sanctuary in pouring rain. The church had to postpone the baptism for two weeks, but that gave me the opportunity to listen to some incredible stories. As it poured outside, for three and a half hours, I met with Liz and Kelly in the church youth room. They told me of painful childhood stories, but how in their later years, their faith pulled them through. In those early years, seeds of faith were sown that came to life years later. Today, the two of them are leading an incredible and transformational ministry with children in poverty.
Time spent with them was a reminder that we need to pay attention to the children. Seeds sown now form little lives and even sprout to make fruit in the decades to come.
Sometimes we get so busy, we simply drift through our time with the children. This weekend, as we look to the Scriptures and as we listen to miraculous stories from Florida, I pray that all of us can remember that time spent on the children, is spiritual time well spent. See you in worship!
Pastor Pete
As we were making their way to the water, a huge thunderstorm broke loose. The beach patrol closed the beach and we all went running back to the sanctuary in pouring rain. The church had to postpone the baptism for two weeks, but that gave me the opportunity to listen to some incredible stories. As it poured outside, for three and a half hours, I met with Liz and Kelly in the church youth room. They told me of painful childhood stories, but how in their later years, their faith pulled them through. In those early years, seeds of faith were sown that came to life years later. Today, the two of them are leading an incredible and transformational ministry with children in poverty.
Time spent with them was a reminder that we need to pay attention to the children. Seeds sown now form little lives and even sprout to make fruit in the decades to come.
Sometimes we get so busy, we simply drift through our time with the children. This weekend, as we look to the Scriptures and as we listen to miraculous stories from Florida, I pray that all of us can remember that time spent on the children, is spiritual time well spent. See you in worship!
Pastor Pete
Friday, January 11, 2013
This week in worship, I will be beginning a new sermon series entitled "Lessons From the Road". For the next five weeks, we will be traveling around the country together, listening to stories from folks all around this nation. Together, we will journey to Conyers, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, Shreveport, Louisiana, the West Coast, Detroit, and New York City. Each location will offer what I am calling a "lesson from the road". The lesson will be based on a Scripture and will be something that I pray all of us can take home.
This weekend, we will be traveling to Conyers, a town outside Atlanta Georgia. This was a remarkable visit, and I met incredible folks. One by one, they told me their story and I was impressed by the way a consistent theme ran through all of them. Simply said, each one of these persons were loved by the folks in this church. Some were deailng with alcohol, others struggling marriages. But many instances, simple acts of love changed their lives. Those seemingly simple acts of love literally brought them into the kingdom of God.
To be sure, love is the central building block in this kingdom and we will be talking more about this. But at the same time, sometimes we make this love very complicated. Together on Sunday, we will be speaking to how sometimes, the simplest things, offered to another, can make all the difference.
I hope you will come and join us as we begin this journey. Please join me in praying that all these "Lessons From the Road" will be encouraging and inspirational for all of us as they have been for me!
See you in worship!
Pastor Pete
This weekend, we will be traveling to Conyers, a town outside Atlanta Georgia. This was a remarkable visit, and I met incredible folks. One by one, they told me their story and I was impressed by the way a consistent theme ran through all of them. Simply said, each one of these persons were loved by the folks in this church. Some were deailng with alcohol, others struggling marriages. But many instances, simple acts of love changed their lives. Those seemingly simple acts of love literally brought them into the kingdom of God.
To be sure, love is the central building block in this kingdom and we will be talking more about this. But at the same time, sometimes we make this love very complicated. Together on Sunday, we will be speaking to how sometimes, the simplest things, offered to another, can make all the difference.
I hope you will come and join us as we begin this journey. Please join me in praying that all these "Lessons From the Road" will be encouraging and inspirational for all of us as they have been for me!
See you in worship!
Pastor Pete
Monday, December 31, 2012
Go and Tell
When I was in Florida,
on my cross country excursion this summer, I had the opportunity to stop at a
church near Fort Walton Beach and interview a young woman named April
Fisher. For an hour, I sat and listened
to her story. It was nothing short of miraculous.
This weekend in worship, I am looking forward to
sharing that story with you. My prayer
is that you will walk away from it the same way I did this last August. I was excited, inspired, and reminded that
our God is alive, and he really does heal and restore broken lives. When April told her story, my faith came
alive.
A God like that is a God that you want to share with
someone else.
Most of us don’t have a story as intense as April’s
but the same God is at work with us. So
often, we forget how much it helps others when we speak of how God has moved in
our lives. Come join us this weekend in
worship, on this last worship service of 2012.
We will spend some time speaking of why it is so important that we “Go
Tell it On the Mountain.” See you there!
In Christ,
Pastor Pete
Friday, December 14, 2012
Let’s Give it Away!
Yesterday, our Children’s Director, Beth Christian and I had the chance to visit our WUMC Preschool and lead chapel for the little ones. It is one of the highlights of working at Woodlake Church. There is nothing like being around fifty children to lift your spirits (of course we get to leave when we are done….)
Beth asked all the children what they wanted for Christmas, and there was a resounding response. Nearly every child could name a specific present they were hoping for. Then, Beth asked them what their parents wanted for Christmas. As expected, there was not quite as much energy. The notable exception was a four year old boy who excitedly exclaimed “My mom wants pots!” All the female teachers laughed and rolled their eyes in the back of the room, while I was silently thinking that it is just proof that men are born with this…
All of this was of course a lesson for our children about the challenge and importance of “Giving Christmas Away”. As adults, we perhaps do a bit better but we can always use a reminder that Christmas is not about us.
And of course, this is why we are all so excited about what we will be doing tomorrow and Sunday. Over six hundred of you will be moving out into the community to do mission, giving of ourselves and our time. While our weekly worship must always lie at the center of what we do, I cannot help but imagine that our Lord is excited about the uniqueness of this weekend. There will be smiles on many faces, hope in many hearts, and a spark of new life in places that haven’t seen it because of your willingness to give this Christmas away.
Thank you in advance for your work! Paul, Erin, and I look forward to seeing you briefly back in the sanctuary after you finish your service. Until then, please join me in praying that the Spirit will multiply our efforts to create joy this weekend in the hearts that have struggled to find it.
In Christ,
Pastor Pete
Friday, December 7, 2012
This weekend in worship we are going to be speaking of hope; what it is, what it isn't, and why it is so important to us within the Christian faith.
In all the research and reading this week, I was reminded of my experiences years ago when I was in flight training for the Navy. When I finished the first segment of the training, the Navy sent our entire class out into the desert of California. There, we were to "survive" for several days. Actually, because none of us were even close to being a "Bear Grylls", it really was more of an exercise in starvation. At the end, they put us in a staged POW camp, to teach us what it was like to be hungry and exposed to such a ruthless environment. It was an experience I have never forgotten.
I learned many things during those days of "captivity", but one of the things that remains with me is the importance of hope. People can make it through just about anything when there is something to hope for. That is also why the people who run those prison camps do everything in their power to take that hope away. They know, as countless people through the centuries, that if you can remove hope from someone, their spirit and fight soon wither away.
This is why hope is so central to the Christian faith. Corrie Ten Boom used to say, "There is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still." By that she meant that there is no situation in life that is hopeless, and the believer in Christ has the vision to see that hope and hold on to it specifically. This weekend, come join us in worship as we speak more specifically to this gift of God we call hope. We simply cannot live without it. I look forward to seeing you there!
Pastor Pete
In all the research and reading this week, I was reminded of my experiences years ago when I was in flight training for the Navy. When I finished the first segment of the training, the Navy sent our entire class out into the desert of California. There, we were to "survive" for several days. Actually, because none of us were even close to being a "Bear Grylls", it really was more of an exercise in starvation. At the end, they put us in a staged POW camp, to teach us what it was like to be hungry and exposed to such a ruthless environment. It was an experience I have never forgotten.
I learned many things during those days of "captivity", but one of the things that remains with me is the importance of hope. People can make it through just about anything when there is something to hope for. That is also why the people who run those prison camps do everything in their power to take that hope away. They know, as countless people through the centuries, that if you can remove hope from someone, their spirit and fight soon wither away.
This is why hope is so central to the Christian faith. Corrie Ten Boom used to say, "There is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still." By that she meant that there is no situation in life that is hopeless, and the believer in Christ has the vision to see that hope and hold on to it specifically. This weekend, come join us in worship as we speak more specifically to this gift of God we call hope. We simply cannot live without it. I look forward to seeing you there!
Pastor Pete
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