New Series @ SLW Begins Sunday

May 28, 2014 — Leave a comment
original image: Vyacheslav Argenberg on Flickr

original image: Vyacheslav Argenberg on Flickr

 

Only be strong and courageous! (Joshua 1:18b)

What happens when we finally receive what we’ve been waiting for…when what for so long seemed impossible is now made real? How should we live when it seems we have made it to the place our journey has been preparing us for all along?

The story of the book of Joshua is one where the children of Israel are at long last taking ownership of land in fulfillment of a generations-old promise of God. Their season of living out the Promise is one of challenge: a different way of living than they had ever experienced (and maybe one they never even anticipated) is now required.A new level of strength, courage, and submission to the leadership of God and his agents will be vital.

What can we learn from their experiences? What might we uncover about our own relationship with God and his desire to lead us into deeper faith and active obedience?

Join us throughout the new church year as we step in and out of the story of the Book of Joshua and discover strength, courage, leadership, and faith for today.

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Reflections

May 25, 2014 — Leave a comment

image: “Binoculars” by Peter Miller on Flickr

 

Today was “Vison Sunday” at SLW—not that “vision” is contained just to this one day each year, but it’s the Sunday when we take some time to celebrate God’s faithfulness over the past year and get a glimpse of what’s to come. As part of that, we hosted our Local Church Conference. What follows are the personal reflections given as part of my report this year:

If 2013-2014 could be summed up in a single word as far as life at SLW is concerned, I’m pretty sure we would all agree “transition” would say it nicely: Senior leadership transition, adjustments in various ministry environments, celebrating the Alsdorfs’ move to church planting in Meadville, and identifying new interim (and searching for permanent) ministry team members are just a few of the things we’ve navigated together.
Transition is never easy, but ours has been one of the smoothest seasons of leadership and ministry transition I have ever seen. As I have shared with others, though this is a testimony of God’s grace, faithfulness, and favor to us… it is also evidence of your gracious spirit and desire to lean into “next” with one another. Additionally, it speaks volumes about the caliber of our senior leaders: Pastors Shawn & Beth finished well, but that is only half the story—Pastor Jesse started well and has led our ministry team with a focus, determination, and grace which has allowed God to use us as a church for amazing things.

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You ought to be teachers…

August 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

Image courtesy: Leo Reynolds @Flickr

In the last post, I shared how a drive past an Air Force ‘boneyard’ reminded me of how we can ‘sit-and-bake’ away our purpose when we were meant for so much more. You can read that post here.

Simply being aware of the danger of allowing ourselves to fall into disrepair is helpful, but one of the most frustrating things we can face is trying to get a handle on just what our purpose is and how to fulfill it. How do we know what it looks like to live out what God has for us? The reality is Scripture is full of explicit direction on what a follower of Jesus should do… flowing, of course, out of who we are in Him.

I like the explicit instruction–it’s relatively easy to boil those things down to legalistic, oversimplified check-list items (when they were intended to be so much more) and feel like I’m somehow earning my keep in this relationship.

But then there are aspects of this life of a follower which are so basic, so foundational to who we are meant to be, that they’re just kind of a ‘given.’ They’re reminders of the truth that what we do is rooted in who we are. In Hebrews 5, among discussion about Jesus, His obedience, and the need for us to grow in obedience, we see this:

In Discipleship ,
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Disrepair

August 5, 2013 — 1 Comment

image: Wikimedia Commons

image: Wikimedia Commons

“Do not neglect your gift…“

– 1 Timothy 4:14

Have you ever driven past an old building and felt the kind of sadness which comes when you see within the broken down shell of what-used-to-be a glimmer of the beauty which once was?

Not far from where I grew up is ‘The Boneyard.’ Driving past it, I always got the same kind of sadness: engineering masterpieces, the marvel of aviation, splayed out in the open for all to see–some as evidence of compliance with a Cold War agreement promising materiel drawdown. Shells of planes were left out in the oven of the Arizona desert to bake away the last vestiges of their purpose.

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Mooooove. (Repost)

August 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

We’re wrapping up our staycation, so this is the last repost for awhile… some great advice from an old friend:

image: skinnyde @Flickr.

image: skinnyde @Flickr.

Seat position?  Check.

Mirrors?  Check.

Hands at ten-and-two?  Check.

Pedals from left-to-right: clutch, brake, gas.  Check.

Herd of cattle in the middle of the road?  Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.  Check. (There were quite a few cows present.)

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In Encouragement , ,
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