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Pastor's Point - January 2025

“A Family for Life.” That is our church tagline. You may ask, what is a tagline? One definition that I came across states that it is a short, catchy phrase that encapsulates the core message or identity of a brand, product, or individual. The intent behind this little phrase is that we will be a group of Christians that deeply care for one another as we “do” life together. This phrase is a declaration of intent that we are bound by our love for Jesus and that love is going to enable us to love one another through all the difficulties of life. But I am convinced that our tagline must be more than a pithy little saying.

I understand that the local church is not to function just for the benefit of its members. God forbid we ever become that type of church! We exist for God’s glory, to make disciples, and to see the lost come to know Jesus as their personal savior. For some years now our mission has been to make disciples by encouraging people to dedicate their lives to, Behold God in Worship, Belong to a life group for community, Become more like Christ by growing in their faith, and going Beyond by serving others in the church and those outside the church as well. This is what we encourage our church family to declare together to how we will encourage the making of disciples in our church.

But as we are doing these things together, we need to understand that life is full of challenges at every stage of life!! And as we are worshipping, learning, and serving together we need to make sure that we are “doing” life together. As a church we are a collection of families. Some of us grew up in families marked by stability and love while others grew up in families marked by dysfunction and chaos. And God in His kindness has brought us all together to be a part of His family which gathers here on Oak Hill Road. And it is here that yes, we strive to make disciples together, but it is also here that we need to dedicate ourselves to “doing life” together as well.

We just celebrated the fact of Jesus being the “light of the world.” He came and saved us from the darkness of our sin and the dark reality that we live in daily. We hope in Him as we wait for His return when He will make all things new! But until He comes, we are still living in the darkness of this world. And while we wait, we experience hurt, pain, sickness, loss, challenge, confusion, and even death. And it is in the waiting for His return, while we are facing all that comes our way in this fallen world that we need to be willing to “do life” with our church family. We need one another. Life can be confusing. Pain can be crushing. Loneliness can be overwhelming. Old age can be scary, and sin can be debilitating. But you see it is in the middle of all this that we are to “do life” together. We are a family for life which means for all of eternity because of the Gospel, but it also means that we are family in the middle of all the temporal concerns of life as well.

It is exactly when our marriages are hard, or our children are struggling, or we are overwhelmed with sin, or our bodies are failing us that we need to be family to one another! We are to be family for life!

Emphasizing the importance of the nuclear family and our church family is going to be a big emphasis in our new church year in 2025. As you begin this new year, resolve in your heart to dedicate yourself in devotion to God and to your church family. Let’s celebrate our adoption into the family of God by dedicating ourselves to making disciples together while we are “doing life” together as well!!

Here are three easy ways that in 2025 you can strive to be a part of your church that is “a family for life”.

1. Build your life around regularly participating in corporate worship of God with your church family in the new year. Don’t fit God into your life, fit your life around the regular worship of God.
2. Connect in a meaningful way with your church family. Join a life group and/or volunteer to serve others in the church or outside of the church in one of our ministries.
3. Lead your children/students to be a part of the ministries offered for them at church. They need other children/students that love Jesus in their lives, and you as a parent will be blessed by having other godly adults in their lives to encourage them and to reinforce the godly upbringing that you are investing in them.

It is through efforts like these that the reality of being a “family for life” can become real in your life. You can experience the joys and blessings that come when you have church family encourage you when the challenges of life come your way. Believe me, those challenges come to all of us!

But God in His kindness is with us through it all, and He loves us so much that He has given us a family for life!!

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
– Galatians 6:10

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Pastor's Point - December 2024

Dear Church Family,

I have started this Christmas season more differently than ever in my life before. I am currently writing this article traveling in Nick’s van for our next ministry assignment on our mission trip in Japan.

Last night we went to Tokyo Dome to see the Illumination. This is a massive display of Christmas lights with synced lights and large LED Christmas Tree. The feeling of Christmas was everywhere, but the true meaning of Christmas was nowhere to be found. Christmas is understood in Japan as a holiday similar to Valentine’s Day in the United States. There were people bustling about everywhere. Young people, couples, older folks, and a great number of businessmen commuting from work to their next stop.

As people were bustling by all around us, we stood in the middle of the crowds passing out a nice bright red bag that said Merry Christmas on the front and contained inside a candy cane and an explanation of the Gospel in Japanese. The phrase “Merry Christmas” is very familiar here which helped us pass out a good number of bags! But the sad reality of the situation is that almost no one understands what the phrase stands for. I am so thankful for the information inside of those bags because the right understanding of Christmas was there for their consideration. I do not know how many will read the information, or would respond in faith to it, but I do know that if they do, God and His Word is powerful to save!

One group that really caught my attention as they passed by was the Japanese businessman. I felt from some a distinct coldness. From others a dazed distant stare, and still others a sense of weariness. Their lives are so busy and structured. They strive for position, money, and success. As they passed by most of them either ignored the offer of our bags or redirected their path not to engage me. It was sad. The bright lights of Christmas glistened all around them, yet they went out of their way to reject the offer of the light of the world.

There is a character in the Japanese language used to express the word “busy”. The character means “to annihilate the soul”. Sadly, I saw exactly what that looked like before my very eyes as these businessmen rushed by me. They could not be busier, but sadly their busyness is what will lead to their destruction. Nothing the world offers us brings peace or everlasting light.

Whether I am in Japan or right here in Evansville, there are people all around us that are “annihilating their souls” with something that the world is offering them. It may be work, pleasure, or some other shiny something that the world offers. The world is so “busy” with all the wrong things. Let’s make sure to offer them the light of the world that brings peace and everlasting life.

I love you and I love being your pastor!

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? -Matthew 16:26 NKJV