Father Power

When I was a boy fishing with my dad in Hells Canyon, I hooked a monster fish. It was so big that after fighting it for about 30 minutes we concluded that my little Zebec rod and reel could not bring in that fish.  So, my dad, seeing the desperation in my eyes, dove into the raging Snake River, swam to the middle, and dove deep under the water to bring up the monster fish. It was 36 inches.  After grabbing it, my dad swam it over to the shore. Kind of sounds like a scene from Tarzan, but my dad did not want that fish to get away from his son.  I will never forget it. My dad was my hero! I have a wonderful mom that I would do anything for but we also all need some kind of a father.  And most of all, we need a healthy relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Father Power is the title of my message this Father’s Day as we continue our series on worship. The New Testament teaches a number of astonishing life perspectives for each of us. One of them is a revolutionary idea that all of us live with a father void. We were created with a need for strong, kind, purposeful, fun, bold, patient, and masculine influences in our lives. It’s called a Father Image and yes, when Jesus prays or speaks about our Heavenly Father it is always used in the masculine gender. Now God is referred to in the Old Testament in the feminine gender when it speaks of God himself as a mother bird who would spread its wings to protect her children.  And God is referred to in a gender-neutral way once in the Old Testament.  But the majority of the time, he is referred to in the masculine gender.  Jesus always refers to him as our Heavenly Father.  Every one of us need positive father-like figures in our lives. If we had a difficult or painful father experience, processing our need for a father is important for us in order to get on with our faith and our lives. I have invited a strong Christian man who was a NFL Quarterback to be my special guest to discuss what it means to be a Godly father.  He has not confirmed yet for this Sunday and because he is a very busy man I have a back-up plan. However, I can assure you that this will be a life-changing service of encouragement for every man and for every person as we honor earthly fathers and explore our Heavenly Fathers role in worship.  

I look forward to sharing with you at 9:30 and 11:00 this weekend. Pastor Becca will be preaching at the Worship, Prayer and Healing service Saturday night at 5:30 pm and Pastor Eliot is bringing in an all-star worship band made up of worship leaders of some of the leading churches in our area.

See you this weekend!

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Cecie's Story

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

This morning, I sat in the room of Cecie Doucet, as her good friend Tom and I shared stories of our sister-in-Christ and how much she meant to us.  God so blessed Cecie with fellow Seattle Police Officer, Tom Sacco. Tom, who is Sicilian and a retired police officer, was sent to be her guardian angel.  God has blessed Cecie and she, in turn, has been a blessing to her church family.  James 1:12 proved itself to be absolutely true in the impact of her life. 

This week Dr. Rey Diaz will be preaching in all the services and sharing the dynamic story of the Good Samaritan.  It is so good to have Pastor Rey home for the Festival of Miracles Auction on Saturday night where we raise money for a place of refuge for the street kids in Honduras and in Kenya. 

Cecie cared so much for those children as we all do.  Being a child who was put up for adoption at birth, Cecie lived a life that would make a great movie.  How God reached someone who had gone through all of the hardships, and became a prominent Seattle Police Detective for 38 years and an on-fire Christian since the 1970s when she gave her life to Jesus Christ in the Jesus People Movement.  It was due to all of the difficulties and all of the ups and downs that prepared her to be the angel that she became.  So it is with you and me.  God is working a project in our lives, and be assured of this, that He who began a good work in you will see it to completion. Philippians 1:6. This is the miracle that causes us to believe in the potential of every life of every street child who is considered the least of these.  Which ones will have stories like Cecie or me or you? We don’t know, but we can be a church that believes in this miracle - that there awaits a crown of life to those who endure.  We are in the business of helping those who struggle to endure.  But we can’t do it without God’s help.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

The Grace Revolution

Terrorism is something that might come into our conversations. If not weekly, perhaps even daily. Read Psalm 46 and remember how we trust God instead of giving in to fear and faithlessness.

This weekend I am preaching on the Book of Jonah and terrorism.  I believe that we, as Christ followers, can be raised to a higher level of bold faith in this world that God has put us in to raise our families.  In addition, I am going to interview a member of our church who survived one of the worst acts of terrorism in U.S. history.  See how God was faithful in this dramatic story and how he is ready to unleash bold faith and revolutionary kindness on each of our lives.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

Risen Hope!

It been a few years, but we are going to have Pastor Dale White narrate the resurrection as we enjoy an Easter morning passion play at 11:00 am in the Randy and Rod ReCreation center.  This is a historic moment of faith you won’t want to miss.  We need you and your friends to help us pack out this splendid auditorium that was designed for theater and to accommodate a large number of people.  Join us as our church family gathers a new momentum for a new start in Easter 2017.

Happy Holy Week,

It almost sounds a bit funny to say “Happy”, but it is true.  One fruit of the Spirit is Joy, and are we ever experiencing joy! We are having fun this Easter watching God move mightily in our presence as we experience springtime in Washington Cathedral. (Or using other terminology, experiencing “revival” in our church.)   Last week Sally Jo Holmes and Marilyn Biggs had to be just overjoyed as they led our prayer wave for this Easter. Most of us signed up to pray 10 minutes a day for the last few weeks and then on the Friday night before Palm Sunday, we began our 24 hours of prayer for renewal in our church and community. I can’t express how it felt to have tears streaming down my cheeks at each of the Palm Sunday worship services, as hundreds of people came to the cross to dedicate or re-dedicate their lives to Christ.  I just wish I could have seen the face of our two prayer captains in those precious moments. I could, however, see the face of Pastor Becca after delivering a soul-filled message. This had to be have been the greatest response to a message she has ever seen in her ministry career.  After those Palm Sunday services, there was just a joy in our church as we met new friends - laughed and visited. Later, on Tuesday at our staff meeting, when Pastor Jackie shared with us the touching response of those who wanted to meet with a pastor a spontaneous cheer rose up.  And that was just the start of Holy Week.

Pastor Rex and his team have an awesome Good Friday service planned in the beautiful Spirit Falls Sanctuary in front of the waterfall and the three crosses.  The flow of the service, the moment of communion, the praise music and the message - I can’t wait to see what God has in mind for us on Good Friday.  Our youth pastor Josh and I were sharing about the cross as he prepared for the Wednesday night youth group and we both teared up discussing that holy moment.  Our prayer together after our meeting was such a joy-filled experience.

Saturday at 4 pm there will be a Easter egg hunt in the recreation center pool.  How cool is that! The kids never forget it and it is back by popular demand. After our big 11:00 Easter Service on Sunday, there will be a huge Easter egg hunt on the beautiful grassy hill with a view of the whole valley.  Mark Thompson, the famed ventriloquist, will be there. Spread the word and bring friends to either or both of these one-of-a-kind events.

And who doesn’t love Pastor Linda’s enthusiasm at the Sunrise Service in Spirit Falls at 7:00 AM?  What a way to start off the greatest Easter of our lives. The music will be beautiful, with our very own young soprano, Dani Burke, closing out the service. (I know sunrise is at 6:17 am, but in the Puget Sound area the sun is rising off and on until 7.) You’ll enjoy the birds, the wildlife, the light off the flowers and the waterfall. We have seen, ducks, geese, a bald Eagle, a red-tailed hawk and doves, who all join us for this tremendous moment.

Someone in the staff meeting was teasing Pastor David about his cooking and Pastor Josh took exception to it saying, “Hey I’ve been eating his cooking at church since I was a baby.”  Our beloved Single’s Pastor is working hard to prepare an Easter breakfast for the community. On the menu are delicious pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes and juice.  It will be served from 8:00 am to 1O:30am.  What a great event to bring your neighbors to.

The featured event of the entire Easter weekend is happening at 11:00am in the Randy & Rod ReCreation Center. We have canceled all the other regularly scheduled services in order to bring our entire church together for one amazing moment of renewal. You will experience the Easter story first hand -- from Jesus being removed from the cross, portrayed by our amazing actors in this kid-friendly presentation, to his resurrection from the Garden tomb, originally designed by a Hollywood director.  The actor playing Jesus is our own Raffael, whose Christ-like enthusiasm is spreading throughout our church. Pastor Rhonda and the choir will be at an all-time high as they sing Easter hymns. I will have a short, positive Easter message that I promise you will be the most inspirational I have ever delivered.   Our worship leader, Eliot Stone is bringing together a peak performance by our worship team.  He has even recruited his dad (a famed guitarist) to join him.  The praise itself will be so authentic it will express the cry of your heart.  They will all be joined at the end by children choirs, teen choir in a moment so wonderful that it will impact the rest of your life.

I have been going door-to-door inviting people to our church this Easter and icing my knees at night. I have had so many amazing Godly experiences.  But today I went to get my hair cut and they asked me if I had any plans for Easter. I basically told them just what I have told you.  My stylist, who is new to our country from Vietnam, told me his testimony with enthusiasm. Coming from a background of no faith, he prayed to Jesus that he could get his family and himself out of Vietnam and after being stabbed in the back he promised while in the hospital that he would find a church for his wife and children.  He said, “Pastor your inviting me to church is an answer to prayer of several years.”  Well the rest of the barber shop asked me what the meaning of Easter was and I got to do a practice run on my sermon only with questions and answers. It must have been okay because everyone there committed to come to church this Easter.

I’m thinking about just getting my hair cut all day rather than going door to door. It was a lot more fruitful and my knees don’t hurt as much.  But, unfortunately, I don’t have that much hair.

I dare you. Surprise us by your attendance this Easter. I have given my life to building this great caring network and your presence at that 11 am service means more to me than you will ever know.  I can only imagine what it will mean to your family and to God himself as we all join together in this moment of miracles.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

People of Springtime

According to the passage from Jeremiah that I will be sharing this Sunday, there are some people who are people of Spring Time.  They are the ones who hold groups together.  Without them, families would distance themselves from one another, churches, communities and nations.  These happy bridge-builders remind the old prophet Jeremiah of springtime.  

This weekend we are going to celebrate springtime come rain or come shine.  I challenge all of us to dress for spring.  The weather report says that it is going to continue to drizzle but, nevertheless, we are going to celebrate springtime with bold confidence that spring is coming. Warm Sundays, with birds singing with all their gusto, baby bunnies, squirrels, lambs, and flowers blessing us all around.  Even the crankiest person will not be able to resist the renewing power of the miracle of springtime.  

How would you like some springtime in your soul this weekend?  New creativity, New joy, New friendships, New beginnings - God making all things new right before your eyes.  I like the saying - "The day God created Hope was probably the same day that he thought up springtime."  You and I need a day of springtime in our souls, so let's not miss the celebration this weekend.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Think Spring

My wife Jackie, bought a decoration that said ‘Think Spring’ and it is the first thing we see when we walk through our front door.

 In Seattle, meteorologists tell us we have only had four days without rain since November, so yes, we are ready to think spring. On Sunday we had a spring day. Day five on the count-down for nice days this winter. The birds were singing at dawn. I had not heard them sing with so much gusto! Maybe Seasonal Affective Disorder affects song birds too. The day was just rejuvenating for all of our community. I like to think we all need renewal or springtime in our soul. Artists, authors, CEO's, grade school children, athletes, marrieds and singles. Springtime is not only a phenomena of nature, it is a state-of-mind. So let’s think newness, sunshine, realistic optimism, and enjoy the beauty that we are surrounded by. Let’s think spring.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

Hurry Up and Wait

In the military, they have a saying “hurry up and wait.” That’s because there is a lot of waiting when you serve in the military - and because the military is serious business so they hurry to the points, then they wait.  So it is with life.  We rush to the hospital to wait and wait and wait for a child to be born.  We wait for those we love to pass on to heaven because it is the right thing to do.  We rush to the doctor and we wait in the waiting room.  We rush to fill all the forms out for a new job, a new house, a new car, a loan, a refinance, a college application and we wait.

 Last week, one of my hero’s – (even though he is younger than I am, he is still my hero) – Matthew Barnett  sent me a note.  He has a spiritual gift of prophecy and from time to time I get these odd notes from him.  One time he commented on my Facebook page “you need to be the first one to the conference you are speaking at and the last one to leave and visit with as many people as possible”.  I received his word and wow! what a blessing that conference turned out to be.  This week, he left a note for me that said, “You need to preach on Psalm 37”.  I have only spent a few times with him so I cannot say I know him well.  I think I know his dad better.  But I do consider him a friend – especially after watching God work so mightily through his life at the Dream Center.  I don’t know if he sent that note to  a lot of people or just to me, but after his comments about the conference I took his note literally and I am preaching on Trust so it is Psalm 37 this week.   As many of you may already know – this is a powerful passage and it is one of the “Trust in the Lord and Wait upon the Lord” passages.

 As I drove to work for an appointment this morning there was some construction. I let someone merge into my lane and the person behind me started to make all kinds of gestures.  Some of them were clearly not favorable.  She was not cheering me on for my act of kindness, which slowed us down for maybe 3 seconds.  She kept pointing to the man sitting next to her.  I (and my 135 pound dog Gus, who takes these kind of threats more seriously than I) looked at her and the man setting next to her and he shrugged his shoulders in timidity.  She kept yelling at me – I could not hear her, but it looked like she was going to bust a blood vessel back there.

 I would like to say this is a ‘one-in-a-million’ occurrence in our world, but we have all had experiences similar to this – right? Our whole community needs to learn to Rest in the Lord, Wait on the Lord, Trust in the Lord.  Well, it turns out that Psalm 37 has some fresh, innovative, practical solutions for all the pent-up restlessness in each of us.  As we all know, trusting God and waiting on God and resting in God is much easier to say than to do.  Psalm 37 is a birds-eye view from the mountain-top of our little world and shows how we  need God’s perspective to really develop that inner peace, strength and poise in order to act rightly in following God. Won’t you join me this weekend as we are all blessed by an encouraging Biblical message right from God to each of us?

 Your friend for the rest of my life,

 Pastor Tim White

Trust: Discovering Healthy Faith and Relationships

I am very excited about the new series we begin this weekend.  I can’t think of another topic more important for our church family than developing Trust.  It is essential in building a healthy congregation and healthy families.  Real communication and collaboration is impossible without the two-way conversation that comes with Godly trust.

Last week, it was Fernando Fox’s birthday. He is one of many amazing kids growing up in our church.  He is “one-in-a-million,” so much so, that his Sunday school teachers turn into his biggest fans.  He has a great sense of humor and an amazing imagination. His parents, David and Rosanna Fox, are doing a wonderful job of raising this masterpiece of a boy.  I think you could credit his sensational big brother, Andres, with helping in this project also.  As I was praying for him and the other kids growing up in our church, I was moved to tears asking God to help us learn more about trusting in a Biblical way. 

As you know, we live in a society which tends toward being cynical and pessimistic – learning to be suspicious and to rush-to-judgement of situations and people. We learn this through a survival response to the deep hurts in our lives.  If someone goes through a divorce, they often become really good at breaking off relationships and refusing to allow them back in their life.

A more difficult way of living is the Christ-like way. That is holding no grudges, lovingly asserting our understanding of what is true, and simply loving the whole world like Christ would. Admittedly, this is the much harder way. It means leaves ourselves open to criticism, judge-mentalism, gossip and to enemies who have no interest in our welfare.

I choose to trust God.  I choose not to wallow in self-pity or exaggeration. I choose to communicate as best I can.  I also choose not to be a door mat, but to speak the truth in love and humility.

This week I am going to start our series, “Trust – Discovering Healthy Faith and Relationships” by showing us the New Testament concept of Trust as the fulfillment of the profound concept of Trust found in the Old Testament.  One of my Rabbi friends once had a long discussion with me about the differences and I learned so much.  I believe that we cannot understand the New Testament Christ-like Trust without understanding the rich meaning of our Old Testament heritage. If God can allow me to communicate how to trust the Father and the Son, then I believe each of us will be better for the time we have spent exploring this critical concept of Trust.  It is going to heal a lot of our wounds and make us a healthier church family.  Please join me as we kick off this new series.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Ask! Seek! Knock!

This next Sunday I will again be preaching on New Year – New Miracles, only now I am led to share how the Bible teaches us to step out in faith.  Next week Pastor Rex will be teaching from Matthew 11 on the passage where Jesus tells the disciples of John the Baptist to “go, and tell John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”  Matthew 11:4  He is helping us to see how to not get trapped in the ‘Name It and Claim It’ theology.  We want people to look at our lives and see Jesus working.  It will be a great conclusion to the series on miracles.  But this week, before Pastor Rex’s dramatic conclusion on Super bowl weekend, I will be preaching on a message that will set up his message;  our role is stepping out in faith if we want to see God work.  Thus the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount;  Ask – Seek – Knock.  When Jesus healed someone he would say, “do you want to get well?”  That is a miraculous question! Our act of faith plays into the formula for amazing miracles.  Can you imagine a relationship with God where we expect, through magical thinking, that God did everything and we did nothing?  We could live a life in defiance of obeying God, treating God as just a force that did what we told him to.  I would pray, “God make me lose all the weight I need to lose and to be in amazing shape”, and then I walk in front of a mirror and see a perfect body.  That would be weird wouldn’t it? Instead God says, “I will help you but you have to eat less and exercise more.  And it’s going to take a while.”

I pray that we will learn the power of Mountain moving faith.

 For example:

 Last week Washington Cathedral was packed with people who were celebrating the life of Suzette Dalpez.  I have been her pastor for over 20 years.  Just before she died she still had a smile on her face and twinkles in her eyes.  She was the love of Steve Dalpez and they led two TLCs.  For 19 years these TLCs have been feeding homeless teenagers in our community.  It all takes place above and beyond their normal tithes and offerings and it’s just the way these wonderful people lived their lives.  Steve showed me where Suzette had her quiet times in her home doing her daily devotion.  Just a short time before Suzette passed she was at a church Christmas party and after the party she was carrying chairs (which Steve and Suzette got San Michelle Winery to donate to the church).  She was twinkling and loving Steve to the moment she passed to heaven.  Her faith was mountain moving and all her family wanted to report what they had heard and seen in the way Suzette acted out her loving obedience to the way of Jesus Christ.

 Another example:

 Last Saturday night one of my best friends in the world passed on to heaven. Rod Halvorson was just a great man.  He had just read all the way through the Bible before being diagnosed with liver cancer.  Rod was always one of the biggest encouragements in my life.  We would go to the movies together or watch games together and it was always a party.  His eyes twinkled and, like his twin brother Randy, he was a handsome man.  I watched how he ran his business and worked so honestly and forthrightly with his employees.  When I got out of the hospital one time after a massive pulmonary embolism, he told me he was going to kick my butt if I ever went to the hospital again without telling him.  He and Randy are the longest surviving patients with Duchene’s Muscular Dystrophy. Rod had the most generous heart for children and for those whose life was spent in a wheel chair.  He asked me to take him to the tent city village that we are watching after –and we planned on going to a movie together but both were not to be. Like Suzette, Rod always had a twinkle in his eyes. Right up until he walked into heaven holding the hand of Jesus, he was loving everyone around him.  Go and tell about what you have seen and heard in the lives of Rod Halvorson and Suzette Dalpez.  They loved greatly, they dreamed big.  With the power of faith God worked the impossible through their lives.  The way they thought, prayed, worked, and dreamed was faith in Jesus Christ. 

 This is what we are going to learn this week.  Mountain moving faith.  Not just talk or magical thinking, but action. Ask, Seek, Knock.

 Would you join me this weekend for this life changing message?

Pastor Tim

New Year, New Miracles

There is something very exciting about a new year!  2017 almost seems like “Science Fiction” to me.  We had a staff meeting today and as so many staff were down with the influenza we asked them to call into the meeting so they were not sharing their sickness with those of us who were fortunate to avoid this illness.  So, there we were, sitting in the conference room with a table full of cell phones.  It was surreal.  The people on the cell phones could not understand one another so Pastor Josh had to be the interpreter. It was a really fun meeting and we could all, even the cell phone staff, sense the excitement because of God’s plans for Washington Cathedral this year.

To grow in your Christian life, you need a solid, rational, Biblical definition of what a miracle is and how they work in your life. So, Pastor Rex and I are excited to teach on a provocative and rewarding subject – “New Year, New Miracles.”  I am starting it off with a sermon entitled “Wrestling for a Miracle”. My message is taken from the story of Jacob and how he wrestles with God for a whole night and is changed forever.  Even his name is changed from Jacob to Israel.  His experience that night was emblematic of his whole life of seemingly fighting with God.  That is, of course, the human condition whether we recognize it or not. 

This story of Jacob wrestling with God caused my Grandpa White to become a Christian and to follow God’s call into the ministry just after World War I – so, as you can imagine, it has a special place in my heart.  Even so, as I have been studying it for the last couple of weeks, I must say I have gotten even more out of what God is saying here.  I can promise you it will be funny…because I think the passage was intended to be funny. (I also have a great joke or two to share.)  But most of all, I promise you that it will be thought-provoking and heart warming as you hear the powerful Word of God in this passage for your life in 2017. It is already changing mine.

Join us this weekend and learn to understand how to wrestle with God and come away blessed.

 Your friend for the rest of my life,

 Pastor Tim White