You are never old, as long as you have a new dream!

Written by Pastor Tim White Every morning when I say “Jambo Jesus” or “Hello Jesus” – I recognize your presence, Jesus, I am struck by a new dream. Someone to call on, a ministry to launch, enthusiasm to work on a problem, excitement about spending time with someone I really care about. Every morning God makes life new.

Last week as I was speaking at our community meeting I explained how we are pouring ourselves into reaching the next generation for Jesus Christ and it is working. I explained that with Pastor Rex Hamilton as executive pastor assigned to reach young families; Pastor T.J. Meaney building praise teams to reach the young and not so young; Pastors Ben McCary and Josh Zappone reaching and engaging high schoolers and middle schoolers; Pastor Becca McCary connecting with 3^rd through 5^th graders; and Janette Backlund running her innovative programs to reach young children - that we have a great team.

Pastor Rey Diaz is accepting our call to be our global pastor and represent us around the world. We look forward to each time he returns, hearing him share his heart from the pulpit.

Then, someone asked me the question that has been asked before, “What about the not so young? What are we doing to reach those important people?” Well I am glad you asked. We have a young dynamic minister named Pastor Linda Skinner, a youthful Vietnam War vet named Pastor David Gerzsenye, an amazing pastor named Michael Fernandez, a talented and young musical genius named Rhonda Jones, a beautiful pastor named Jackie White (I can say that because she is my wife). All of them working hard to reaching this age.

The church also has little old me, who is about ready to explode with enthusiasm for life and the opportunity to dream big and beautiful dreams with Jesus Christ. That part of our team is not too shabby either. We are refreshing our ministries, launching our church anew and there is no shortage of excitement as we try and build a great caring network.

After the meeting, one of my heroes, Colonel Erskine Austin, came up to talk to me and said, “If Pastor Rex needs any advice or sounding board on being an executive pastor please let him know that I am there to help.” Erskine did that job for 10 years – and I smiled as I said, “That is a great encouragement.”

So we are off to the races and I feel like I have the butterflies of a quarterback getting ready for the greatest season of his life.

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Noah Never Gave Up

Noah never gave up. What about us?

Our Music Director, Rhonda Jones, wrote this short devotional on the ridiculous faith of Noah. He stood out because he lived his life to please the Lord. Because of his faith, God gave him a seemingly ridiculous mission. Yet Noah continued to stay strong in his faith even when he was mocked for his unrelenting trust in the Lord.

Thoughts on Noah...

This morning as I was driving to work I heard a pastor on the radio sharing about Noah.  Now, we’ve all heard the Bible story and within the past few years. We've maybe even watched a comedic movie about Noah and his willingness to obey God at all costs - especially after being mocked by his peers (for inordinate amounts of facial hair and his unethical biblical dress code).But did you realize Noah worked on the ark after receiving a vision from God…and that is took him 120 years to complete the building of the ark?  120 years!  A flood of questions ran through my mind:

1. What kind of training did Noah have when it came to constructing a boat?
2. What were his qualifications?
3. If he lived in the desert, where did he get the wood to construct the boat?
4. Where would you even begin to think about building a boat that took up 100,000 square feet? (I hope he owned a large chunk of property…I’d be pretty upset if one of my neighbors plunked down a boat bigger than the Titanic in his front yard…wouldn’t you?)

Noah stood out among everyone else because his life pleased the Lord…enough that God thought of a way to save the human race and keep a few copies on hand of each of the animals (anything that could breathe air) for procreation. I don’t think God wanted to have to create a whole new earth again.  It hadn’t been that long since He’d put it all together in the first place (at least it seems that way-the story of Noah takes place in the 6th chapter of the very first book of the Old Testament).

And in the beginning of Genesis it says that God saw what He had made and it was very good (Genesis 1:31)!  No wonder God's heart was sick…He longed for the fellowship of the human race and only one man and his family even acknowledged His existence!  Everyone else was too involved in their sin to see the heart of God.  Oh, my soul yearns to see the heart of God, doesn’t yours?

“Lord, give me the courage and wisdom to pick up the nails and hammer and begin to build the things in my life that need creating or rebuilding.  Remove the rusty nails that have become embedded in my heart and give me a refreshing that can only come from touching the heart of Jesus.  I love You and want to be the best me I can be for this Great Caring Network as you continue to build up this moving, living, breathing body of Christ.  Amen.”

All kidding aside, Noah was an amazing man.  God was ready to do away with the entire human race.  It says in Genesis 6:6 that the Lord’s heart was filled with pain because of man’s desire to sin.  Our God is so righteous He can’t be in the presence of sin…our sin makes Him sick in His heart.  In thinking it over, I don’t want my behavior to make the Lord’s heart sick.  I’d rather He “dance over me or sing over me” (read Zephaniah 3:17-18) because what He sees is pleasing in His sight.

“No wonder God's heart was sick…He longed for the fellowship of the human race and only one man and his family even acknowledged His existence!