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The final weekend of January was spent playing in the snow at Double K in Easton Washington. Boy did we play because there was nearly four feet of snow on the ground! Everett Family Church joined several other local churches in hosting a children’s winter camp where 2nd-6th graders deepened friendships, participated in what we called “God Meetings” and met in teams to learn the Proverbs. Our primary focus on this event was discipling children in their relationship with Jesus Christ. This happened in a context of friends, snow play, and many other special activities. I’m sure you have heard some of the wonderful reports back from the kids but I wanted to let you know it was incredible. One of the most special parts of camp was the conclusion on Sunday morning when the leaders gathered the boys and girls in their separate lodges for a time of sharing. They each took time to share something special they noticed in each of their campers and offered the child a personal challenge. One by one the children had a chance to be honored and exhorted publicly. Every child’s eyes sparkled as they listened to their leader speak – wow! It is the sort of thing I wish every parent could have witnessed. Praise the Lord for all that happened at Blizzard 2012!

Annie Hall and Jeff Warren took pictures for us at camp and we have these pictures available to see in this Dropbox gallery – see what happened at camp! In addition, Annie prepared for us a terrific video review set to the song that the kids have been singing since camp. What a joy to worship Jesus and see the Holy Spirit work in the lives of our children!

Blizzard 2013 is already scheduled and the Blizzard Admin Team met last week to begin preparations. Make sure you put the dates on your calendar, Friday-Sunday, January 25-27th.

For His Glory, Pastor Mike

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.

So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth… Genesis 10.5-8 NIV

Well I’m a driven leader with a strong Type A personality. This means that I like to be well ahead of things and am not a big fan of surprises. I suppose this has tripped me up as much as anything in my faith journey. God has been humbling me, breaking my pride, and confronting my longing to build little Babel Towers in my life for a very long time. I’m grateful for my growing ability to see when it creeps into the corners of my life so that I can tear them down. Last week God had to help me with an area of pride and open my eyes to see things from His perspective. Just like when men were gathered on the plain of Shinar (listen to last week’s sermon) God came down to my puny little attempt at stoking my own ego and humbled me. Praise the Lord for opposing my foolish plans. If you are not tracking with me right now let me say that we are moving ahead with an incredible risk for our church. Numerous families are considering spending thousands of dollars, offering up valuable vacation time, and leaving the comforts of home all for the sake of being Jesus with skin someplace else. My family has saved every free dollar that has come in and Pascale and I have been impressed to watch our children offer their spending money for the mission trip. With all of this planning and anticipation I have wanted to make the final decision on where EFC is going. I decided to figure it all out after Blizzard camp and as I shared in Saturday’s sermon I feel that God has confounded my attempts to figure this out. Ethiopia, Nepal, France, Thailand and Haiti have all been serious considerations. I will go anywhere He leads and yet God has given me nothing but unrest about this decision.

I have a couple of ideas about what is God saying to me and our church right now.

First, we cannot go until we are ready to be Jesus with skin here. Some practical ways we have sought to be Jesus with skin in recent months includes feeding homeless teens, serving low-income families, and visiting the elderly. These do not even include the countless ways that we are Jesus with skin to the family with whom we live or the people we rub shoulders with everyday. If we cannot lay down our lives to be the active presence of Jesus here and now, we are certainly not ready to do this someplace else. It may seem easier or acceptable to go someplace else and have a fresh start at ministering to a people in need but doesn’t this seem hypocritical? The EFC mission trip began weeks ago. Our team will be recognized as those who look like Jesus with skin right now.

The second idea of what God is saying is that we don’t pray like a community hungry for God. I guess we are too busy or don’t know how or just forgot that this was vitally important in our spiritual lives. No reason is good enough to excuse seeking God through prayer. Until we sustain ourselves by the bread of life and living water I am doubtful that God will send us anywhere. The Community Pastors have faithfully prayed for the requests turned into the church prayer box. We have seen many of these answered. Praying for help or healing or guidance is good but distorts prayer if that is all our prayer is. Is God in a pinch and in need of us to bail Him by getting on a plane to minister to a desperate people somewhere? God doesn’t need us but gives us the privilege of joining in His work. God wants worshippers not workers. There are countless “religious” workers doing good deeds, many in Jesus’ name, but it is the true, Spirit-filled worshipper that stirs God’s heart. We need to continue to save and finish our passport paperwork but more important is for us to recognize our spiritual hunger pains and seek to God to satisfy them.

The root of all sin is pride. God will stand opposed to pride-filled people and confound their plans. It is a mighty act of grace that He does not allow us to go places we are not ready to go – even when we think we are! I confess that I am a driven, Type A leader who is pride-filled. Will you join me as I humble myself to serve in the small, inconvenient ways now? Will you pray, really pray, with me? If so, are you ready to discover where He is sending us to be Jesus with skin?

For His Glory, Pastor Mike

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I think most of us have felt a little stranded this week. My primary office is at home and the foot of snow piled on my car and the surrounding snow drift discouraged much travel. This meant that Pascale and I worked hard to keep a couple steps ahead of our kids to preempt boredom, bickering, and household chaos. The novelty of the snow wore off after a few days and we didn’t feel the screen was an adequate babysitter as Pascale continued her school work and I tackled my own work. We had to make some choices, sacrifices, and changes to our schedule. My routine got messed up – ugh! I know that I was not alone for you were in the midst of your own snow adventure with this unexpected midwinter vacation!

What could God be saying in the midst of this record snowfall? What divine purposes can be found in this unexpected and unofficial midwinter break? If God controls the weather, why this storm and why now? I want us to consider these questions for a moment before the memory of the “Pacific Northwest Blizzard of 2012″ fades. Hmmm… Perhaps God was growing a child’s faith by specifically answering his humble prayer for lots and lot of snow; or maybe God needed to remind us that He is the Lord of creation and our only firm footing in life; or perhaps He saw the speed and busyness of our lives and chose to slow us down for the sake of our children or spouse; or it could be that God wanted to give us a vivid picture of intimate living by stranding us in our homes with our families. Whatever God’s overarching purpose I have had a fresh taste of intimate living this week. Like you, I have spent a lot of time indoors in the presence of my family watching movies, reading books, playing games, cooking, and eating.

This picture of being stranded in the presence of my family reminds me of God’s desire for us to be in His intimate presence. I think God longs to be in intimate communion with us and preempts, slows, and changes our plans in countless, unseen ways that we might simply be with Him. How blessed we are to have have twenty-four hour access to the holy of holies and do not need to travel to Jerusalem or visit the Temple to be nearer His presence. We need only to tune our hearts to His ever presence and we will realize like our predecessors that God is here! My last sermon Do we love our Father’s house? addressed this divine longing. It is interesting to consider that as I delivered this message God was preempting my plans with the greatest snowfall in my lifetime!

We share a special relationship with God and are welcome in our Father’s house. In other words, we are children of God who are invited to delight in Him! When Jesus was in His Father’s house he had consciously entered the presence of God. He was attuned to the divine intimacy that is always there and hindered only by unawareness. We have all had spiritual glimpses of being in our Father’s house. They are like those moments when we see our children playing in the snow and realizing that they truly matter unlike the chores or work waiting for us. The intimacy that Jesus knew is for us too. The inexplicable draw to be in the presence of God and the soul yearning and cry for the living God can be satisfied for us. Let us celebrate being stranded in the presence of God and pursue the intimacy that is available all God’s children!

For His Glory, Pastor Mike

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I always look forward to our Family Gatherings and Saturday was no different. Our last had been the December 17th Christmas celebration so we were all eager to be together again. As the worship unfolded I began to feel overwhelmed. It is hard to describe what was going on for me. There was something I sensed in the room as we sang that caused my hands to tremble. I had a hard time remembering the words we were singing (but I guess that is normal!). I found myself distracted from worship leading by an awareness of being in the presence of God. Goodness! It felt awesome and frightening at the same time. Things felt like they were tumbling out of my control and I couldn’t stop it. The busyness and fatigue I was feeling after a full day of church meetings were instantly forgotten in that special moment. Everyone seemed unified in our praise and focus on Almighty God. I hadn’t planned to share before the last video song and I don’t remember much of what I said . My sharing came in response to what I had experienced and I tried to address our depth of relationship and unity. Then Pastor Max got up and began to preach his sermon A Holy People. As he concluded with the illustration of what the church meant to him on the biggest day of his life I realized how perfectly the Holy Spirit wove the fabric of Saturday’s Gathering. My response, “Yeah, what Max said!”

It was a delight for me to sit with Luke and Phoebe and listen to their pastor, Max, preach God’s word. This was Max’s first sermon and the Northwest University professors and others have provided a solid foundation for him to identify and apply the timeless principles of Scripture. I was very impressed and personally challenged as he spoke. I cannot wait to hear more from him in the months ahead. He is a godly man partnering with me in the discipleship of my children and all the EFC youth. In Max I have a unique partner in pastoral ministry at EFC that I am enjoying more and more each month. What a gift Max and Julia are to us!

PRAXIS. Tonight the youth are beginning to meet on Tuesday nights. We have a terrific team of leaders who are going to undertake the responsibility of teaching, leading, and shepherding the youth. Max, Julia, Michelle, Mike Lee, Jenn, Perry and Pascale are his team. So much is new – the team, the teaching, the format, the night, and the set-up. I stopped by Hope Church today and saw what they have set-up for the launch of the new Praxis youth ministry on Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm. It is pretty cool! Tuesday nights are a top priority for my family so that Luke and Phoebe (and soon Abby) learn how to “praxis” their faith and learn to be Jesus with skin! My hope is that every parent and family will make this a priority. God is working and moving among our youth!

The all-church prayer time has also moved to Tuesday nights, 7-8pm at the Bell’s home, to coincide with Praxis. As we gather for prayer tonight my prayer is for unity in our families and in our church. There are some huge challenges ahead for our church – leading Blizzard camp, supporting missions, going/sending EFC families on missions, and more. These all will require church-wide sacrifice and support. It begins with prayer as our church seeks God’s ways this year. I invite you to join me in this time of prayer. Even if you cannot join us physically carve out time from your schedule this evening and pray alongside us from 7-8pm.

The Spirit took us to deep waters on Saturday. I wonder where He will take us tonight…

For His Glory, Pastor Mike

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