Hurry Up and Wait!

Written by Pastor Rex Hamilton When I was about 7 years old, I sang in the kids choir at my church. One year we did a concert called, The Music Machine. It was a popular musical production that sang about the Fruit of the Spirit. I can still remember every word to the song called, “Patience”...

“Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry...”. Funny how some songs just stick with you!

Such a simple (and cheesy) kids song, yet so true for all of us! Impatience with others, God, or ourselves almost always leads to worry and anxiety. If Paul’s words in Galatians 5:22 (NLT) are true that the Holy Spirit “PRODUCES” patience in us- our worry and anxiety will only stunt the Spirit’s work in us. Saying "don’t be impatient" is obviously easier said than done, but the next time you feel anxious or worried about something in your life, ask yourself if it is in any way connected with needing to be patient.

If it is, take a deep breath...whisper the name Jesus and remember the wise words of Winnie the Poo - “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

Photo Credit

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orY-QA8kuGc

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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Get Closer to Jesus

Written by Pastor Ben McCary

So often, faith seems like a given. Sometimes we have it, sometimes we want more of it, but we rarely consider what it is and why we should try to help it grow. The question may have never crossed your mind, but if you can answer it – "why should I grow my faith?" – you'll have the perfect answer to the other question..."how do you grow your faith?".

For me, the answer to all of these questions started when I think about who I am as a person. I've been undergoing so many changes in the last 2 years that I feel like my head is spinning, even now. I'm learning I'm not as cool as I thought I was, but also that being cool isn't really that important to me. I'm learning that being a father is the most important thing in the world to me. I'm also learning that faith in Jesus is always a miracle.

Here's what I mean: so often, we want our faith to grow. We think of it like a monetary amount, something to stock pile so that we're ready in times of trouble. But that's not how faith works. Faith is a part of a relationship.

In John 7, Jesus says “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” That means that whoever takes the step to walk with God will see whether Jesus' words are true. It's in a relationship that faith begins to unveil.

 As a youth pastor, I get to watch students start to take that step into a relationship with Jesus, and as they do, the small seed of faith is planted. Over time that seed grows. It blossoms. Now, I'm seeing students that used to be in my middle school class becoming adults, youth leaders in our church, and even youth pastors. What started out as a small miracle became a big one.

And it's not the sort of miracle that anyone can atribute to their effort. Anyone who has a strong faith is quick to step back and say, “Jesus did this in me.” It is a miracle that our faith grows when we take the step to form a relationship with God. It happens because we see that God is good and faithful. We see that God loves us no matter who we are or what we've done. As we take steps to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, our faith grows.

So often, we want to know how to grow our faith: To grow your faith, get closer to Jesus. That's the thing that revolutionizes your family, your community and your world.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGMENMKMvA

College Spring Break

Written by Pastor Rey Diaz About fifteen years ago, I was challenged to do something I had never done before. I was about to embark on my first college spring break, so it wasn’t the best time to begin this practice. Actually, maybe it was the best time to begin this practice. Either way, someone challenged me to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual and spend time with God. As a freshman in college, that meant waking up at noon instead of 12:30 for my first class at 1pm. Basically it wasn’t a huge sacrifice. So I did it.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if God even wanted to talk with me. I didn’t know what to read in the bible.

The first day I didn’t want to look at my watch. But after what I felt at least 30 minutes had gone by, I checked and I still had 25 minutes to go. This wasn’t working.

I was given a bible reading plan, some verses to memorize, and journal to write down my prayers.

That was the beginning for me. Something changed. It didn’t happen over that spring break or even the first month. But something started that first week. It wet my appetite. It made me hungry for more. I started wanting more and more of God. I had to use an alarm to stop it.

Fifteen years later it’s part of who I am. My identity was established, secured in that devotional time. My fears and worries are addressed during that time. My character and integrity have been shaped in those mornings. Most importantly, my faith and confidence in God began to grow.

Today, I can’t imagine not connecting with God on a daily basis. Like the songs says, “This is the air I breath…this is my daily bread… I’m lost without you.”

Will you join us these next 30 days? Maybe you’ve never tried it. Maybe you used to do it but for some reason or another you quit. Either way, let’s give God the first few minutes of our days and watch what happens.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDcKZB7r2A

God's M.O.

Written by Pastor Rey At the beginning of any book you read. During the acceptance speech of any award you hear it. Throughout the stories of the Old and New Testament you will see it. You will always find people thanking people. We are all aware that without the help, support, and influence of others, we probably couldn’t accomplish what we have done or become what we are today.

We don’t necessarily call them providential relationships, but that is what they are. I’m pretty confident that if we sat down over lunch, you could look back at the course of your life and identify some individuals who, in retrospect, you believe God put in your life. It wasn’t an accidental meeting it was scheduled. It wasn’t a coincidence you moved next door. It wasn’t a happenstance you sat next to each other. Something else was at work. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you know it was God’s hand.

God is very much interested in growing our faith. He uses all sorts of different ways to do just that, but for some reason God especially enjoys using people. It’s God modus operandii, his method of operation. God loves to use flawed, broken, and imperfect people. Check out the list in Hebrew 11 many call the “Hall of Faith”. It includes a murderer, adulterer, prostitute, liar, and a really bad dad. But these people have been used, in a very real way, to grow our faith and countless others.

I promise you that at this very moment, your heavenly Father is sending people into your life in an attempt to grow your faith. How open are you to God’s plan?

I also know that God has sent some of you to help grow the faith of others. How open are you to investing in these relationships?

One way of another God uses relationships to impact and grow our faith. I believe we can take advantage of this principle to work with God. By allowing God to use people in our lives, we can grow our faith. Bigger faith leads to more confidence in God. Bigger faith leads you to a place where you can’t trust God no matter what is happening around you. Bigger faith leads to deep intimacy with your Heavenly Father.

So how will you leverage this principle to grow your faith?

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God uses relationships to grow our faith in him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=172cyKd4Pfw

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I trust you

Written by Pastor Rey Diaz If you’re anything like me, your faith journey is a roller coaster ride. Some days are better than others. Some days I feel like I have absolute confidence God is with me, for me, and working through me. Other days, I feel that God is absent, He’s forgotten me, and I’m all alone.

I just returned from a family trip to Honduras. Day 3 of the trip, my wife had to visit the hospital because of salmonella. “It’s okay. God’s in control. Everything will be okay.”

Day 4, my son was at the hospital because of E.Coli. “Okay God, I thought you were in control. What’s going on?”

On day 5, my daughter was at the hospital in the middle of the night with a stomach bug. “Its official. God has lost control. Help!”

Then on day 6, I, the last man standing, crashed with the same stomach bug my daughter so generously shared with me. “Well, at least I will die among family and can complain to God face to face.”

I wish, pray, and honestly yearn for a deep, unwavering, steadfast faith in God no matter the circumstances. But so often the circumstances creep in and skew my view of God. I feel more that anything else God wants me to trust him. God wants to take us to a place of overwhelming faith where no matter what we face, we can say with absolute confidence “I trust you.”

• You don’t always answer my prayers, but I trust you.
• You don’t always make sense, but I trust you.
• I don’t always understand you, but I trust you.
• Life doesn’t always go my way, but I trust you.
• Wife and kids are sick and I’m dying, but I trust you.

Sermons come in all shapes and sizes. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear God saying the same thing in most sermons—“trust me.”

In all the ways that you could respond to God, the most important thing is that God is asking you to trust him. When things are going well, it doesn’t require a lot of faith to trust God. But when life turns messy, is your faith leading you to depend on God, or do you put your trust in something else?

Over the next month our church is going on a journey to grow BIG faith. We believe there are five primary things God uses to grow our faith. We discovered them by observing how God works in the lives of believers - and even unbelievers.

Why do we want to grow our faith? Because your faith in God matters to God. In fact, God is most honored through your living, active, death-defying, out-of-the-box faith. That being the case, he's committed to growing it — BIG.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2HmYD7VHLc

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Today is still Easter

Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish brought a new baby into the world.John 16:19-20-21 (NLT)

Written by Pastor Tim White

I love Easter. We had such a blessed time at Washington Cathedral this year. A turnaround church is a miracle and Easter marked the breaking of the barrier – building the core, envisioning the spiritual growth that we can all experience through the risen Lord.

Today is still Easter; not the holiday we celebrate once a year based on its relationship with Passover, but Christ the Lord is risen! He is indeed. Everyday!

As Jackie and I enjoyed our Easter family dinner and egg hunt with our precious little grandkids, who will be committed world changers, we basked in the chaos. They are all so cute! We love our extended family and in-laws so much. We could not help but dream in such a joy-filled setting.

That night I was reminded again of the gift of joy when I was watching an interview with John Travolta, one of my favorite actors, where he was defending the church of Scientology. He said, “Find me any other religion that has one of its main tenants as joy.” I yelled at the TV, “Following Jesus Christ! ‘Joy to the world’, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’, ‘Joy at the resurrection’, ‘Joy as a fruit of real spirituality’.” Of course it was a one way conversation but the sentiment rings true, especially as we celebrate Easter.

Now is the time to live with a new sense of joy and power from Easter. Joy to tackle each of our problems from the foundation of a loving grace-filled community of friends like Washington Cathedral.

I was reminded again of this community at Washington Cathedral when Jackie came and read to me from the hundreds of contact cards that had been filled out from this weekend’s services. Some said, “Where has this church been? I’ve been looking for a community like this.” Cards from many people in our church said, “I love my church family at Washington Cathedral.” As we read all the encouraging notes we both said, “It’s going to be fun to see what God has for us and those we love in the near future.” What we didn’t say aloud but felt deeply was that every day is Easter because Jesus is still risen – still alive and still being a revolution of love in this world.

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Easter Message by Pastor Tim White: Why do you look for the living among the dead?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feZ7SpOw11o

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Is it Midnight yet?

By Pastor Becca McCary Do you remember glowing with excitement over your first sleepover as a kid? Two weeks ago the excitement among the kids of Washington Cathedral was palpable. As we planned the first winter all-nighter for the elementary kids, we expected about 10-15 people. However, as check-in began on Friday night, it quickly became clear that the excitement had spread to so many friends and family members that we packed the room to the brim! Their light and excitement filled the church café. The kids were glowing.

We loaded up the church bus, packing in kids as tight as we could. There was laughing, yelling, and singing the whole way to Pump It Up in Lynwood for their glow in the dark party. The kids played hard, sweat pouring from their little brows, smiles beaming across their faces.At 8pm, as we loaded the bus to head back to the church, one of the first grade girls, giddy with the new experience of a big kid party, asked with hope and enthusiasm, "is it midnight yet?” She was thrilled to be a part of something so fun and so new.

The rest of the evening carried more new experiences: running games in the church, a magic show from Pastor Rey, and for many of the kids, clad in footy pajamas, their first sleepover.

In less than 24 hours the kids got to hear the good news about Jesus in five different 10 minute lessons. So Sunday morning at the 11am service, as the kids began their new worship program, a different excitement, a different newness, and different glowing took place. The kids sang to God from their hearts, drenched in gratitude for the love of God. Their excitement over their first sleepover became coupled with an excitement for God that would bless their friends and community.

When was the last time you were genuinely excited? Are you doing what these kids did two weeks ago, allowing God's light to touch you so deeply that you can't help but glow too? God's love is always available to us, all we have to do is open ourselves up to it.

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No matter what reasons you have to be bored, discouraged, or even burned out, take heart from these words about Jesus in John 1:5, "A Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." God's light is ready to shine in your life and there is nothing that can overcome it. All you have to do is let it in.