Heart of Flesh

By Peter Sung, Conference Coach, PacNWC

Over time, I became disgusted with my family’s immigrant church. Politics, status, money, legalism, hypocrisy, judgment, emotionalism – these are the things that I witnessed week after week, and soon enough, enough was enough. In protest, I left.

In college, I openly spoke out against ethnic-specific ministries that spoke English and accused them of being social instead of demonstrating the reconciling power of the Gospel. Why can’t I bring my non-ethnic, non-Christian friends here? These so-called ministries became dead to me.

So I started starting churches, churches that were truthful, diverse, gracious – better.

When I first came upon the Covenant in 1999, I was promised fewer fleas on this dog. Over time, I found some fleas. Sometimes, it seemed like a lot of fleas.

When I was a little boy, when my Sunday school teacher put his warm hand on my bloody knee and prayed for God to comfort and heal me, I remember believing. When I was in middle school, I remember looking up into the Pennsylvanian night sky and feeling really small. When I was in high school, I remember the moment I felt the conviction of sin. When I was in college, I remember giving my life once again to God as I switched grad school plans from medicine to theology.

God’s been walking with me for 45 years and this year, God took my heart of stone and put a new spirit within me. He removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. How he did that is another story but here and now, I want to remind all of us, as we enter into Advent and wait for his coming, that Christ can be everywhere but he is nowhere if he does not enter in and give you a heart of flesh. Nothing can really change if you don’t. But, if you have a new spirit, behold, all things will be made new.

I was listening but unable to hear; sighted but unable to see. How wondrous are the works of God!

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

How to Play the Game

By Peter Sung, Conference Coach, PacNWC

Sometimes it can feel like there is only one way to play the game, and the church has to play by their rules.

They make the rules because:

  • They have more money;
  • They are connected to mainstream culture; and
  • They work towards a concrete product.

The church is, on the other hand:

  • Lacking money;
  • Working with volunteers; and
  • Working towards a less concrete product.

In other words, most entities play the short game while the church is tasked with playing the long game.

There are 3 kinds of games: the short game, which seeks to achieve immediate results, the long game, which looks to build something greater, and the infinite game, which works towards gains beyond now or later. The longer the play, the less concrete the product.

Guess which game the church is called to play?

In the work of the church, every short game is to be framed within the long game which itself is framed within the infinite game. Without the long game, the short game is meaningless. Without the short game, the long game is impossible. Both games are steps of faith towards the infinite game.

In the church, the telos, or end of all games, is ultimately Christ.

Actually, in all games, within and without the church, the end is Christ, according to scripture. No org can persist with just the short game. Even the long game runs out (just ask Bill Gates). So ultimately, there remains only Christ, anywhere, everywhere.

So maybe the church has been set up by God to play the only game that ultimately matters. The church is playing the ultimate game.

A new church tends to focus on the short game and make plans for the long game. An established church tends to be familiar with the long game but may have lost its touch in the short game. A question that emerges is: How can both categories of churches partner up to level up in the eternal game of being the church?

What I See In Church Planters

By Mark Meredith, Church Planting Coach, PacNWC

“We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” Not just an ad slogan, but don’t you think it is just true? Isn’t it part of God’s design, that we acquire wisdom as we go? I am counting on it and it’s why I get great joy out of coaching and meeting with church planters. So, what’s the thing or two I have seen?

For one thing, as a church planter, I saw how discouraging it could be. There is an old saying in church planting: “the highs are higher and the lows are lower.” And I would add, the lows last longer in the soul.  Without infusions of encouragement on a regular basis, church planting is hard on your soul. I was fortunate to have two great encouragers who were intentional about giving me an infusion on a regular basis. I don’t know where I would have been without it. As leaders, we owe it to ourselves and those following us to put ourselves in places we can be encouraged. It gives me joy to be a supplier of encouragement for church planters.

But the second thing is wisdom. Wisdom is so needed and it comes either from experience or learning from others who have experience. In general, it is much less painful to learn from others. As a church planter, my encouragers were also wise. They weren’t always right, as each context is different. But they helped me process decisions with greater wisdom, decisions which had a huge effect on the church and its mission.

So, my hope and joy is that I can bring some encouragement and wisdom to church planters. That is the thing or two I have seen in my own life. Of course, we all need encouragement and wisdom. These are wonderful gifts from God.

Headwaters Covenant Celebrates 10th Anniversary

By Don Robinson, PacNWC Associate Superintendent

Headwaters Covenant Church, Helena, MT, celebrated its 10th anniversary as a congregation this month. It was a full day of celebration. Here’s a description from Pastor Seth Dombach:

“Thanks for all your prayers and support. We had a wonderful day celebrating God’s faithfulness in all that he has done in our past while looking forward to all that lies ahead. We read notes from our planting church, Life Covenant, from the Pacific Northwest Conference and had a video from our founding pastor Matt Randles. We know that without these and many many others partners we would not have reached this historic milestone. Following the special worship service, we went out to a private water ski lake, had a BBQ and tons of fun connecting with old friends and sharing stories of all that God has done in us and through us. This is just the start and we can’t wait to see all that our Triune God has for us in the future as we continue to embody Jesus in love truth and action together!!”

Headwaters was planted out of Life Covenant Church by founding pastor Pastor Matt Randles. In July of 2011 Pastor Matt Randles, his wife Meredith and their two daughters were called back to Seattle after their faithful tenure in Helena. In October of 2011 Headwaters called Pastor Seth Dombach and his wife Rachel (with 2 sons; two others sons were born in Helena) to pastor this 2 and a half-year-old church plant.

Throughout its history, the church has been characterized by a strong commitment to the Helena community and a wonderful partnership to a shared ministry with the Pacific Nort

hwest Conference and the Evangelical Covenant Church. Headwaters Covenant Church has been and remains an inspiration through their community engagement, outreach and mission. Service projects have consisted in a variety of projects from building and maintaining a community garden for teen mom’s, cleaning up and remodeling the local women’s shelter, trail maintenance on local mountains, and helping local non profits run their fundraisers. Community outreach and engagement is a particular calling and passion of Pastor Seth. He is committed to caring for and serving the community through pastoral care, presence and active participation in service projects. The vision of Headwaters is to be a Church; that ENGAGES in worship that glorifies God; that EQUIPS one another to love like Jes

The congregation meets at 1030 Choteau Street, Helena, MTus in a broken world; that EMBODIES shalom and hope in every influence of life. Theme verses for church come from 1 John 3:16,18 “We experience and understand what love is by laying down our lives for others like Jesus did…we do this not by talking about it but in action and in truth (together)”

I walked outside. And it ruined me.

By Anna Hoesly, Church Planter Exploring Partnership with ECC.

When my toddler graduated from a crib to a toddler bed, we were terrified by what this would do to our lives. Surely, those crib rails were the only thing standing between a peaceful little girl who sleeps at night and a tyrant who does what she wants, when she wants. We took off the rails and waited with bated breath. But a fascinating thing happened. Every morning, she sat patiently in her bed for us to come get her out. Sometimes she even called to us to let her out. The crib rails were gone but she had gotten so used to them, it was like they were still there. Somewhere along the way she had constructed an invisible glass wall that was just as powerful as the actual rails. Eventually we had to train her to deconstruct the invisible wall too, so she could see past it and get her own darn water. 🙂

This reminds me of our world. We have invisible glass walls all over the place that artificially divide our world into little cultural microcosms. The walls are human constructions. Invisible, but powerful.

Invisible walls between our nuclear family and the village of people that lives outside our door. Invisible walls between socioeconomic bubbles that exist geographically in our communities. Invisible walls between the American Western Christian culture in our churches and the local culture just outside them. Invisible walls that run solidly between the political echo chambers in our current world. We’re so used to these glass walls, so soaked in our own cultural microcosm, so busy with the needs of our particular bubble, that we don’t even think about these walls very often, let alone make a point to walk through them. For most of my time in ministry, I was pretty comfortable in the cultural bubble of my church and my nuclear family. Both kept me very busy.

My journey toward church planting started when I began to walk outside. Not figuratively, I’m ashamed to say- literally. I rarely walked outside my front door except to put my head down and get into my car (sometimes to drive to an outreach meeting at my church!).

Statistically, I’m not alone. Research shows that the longer an individual is a part of a church community, the less and less relationships they have with those outside the church. This was happening in our church so clearly. The more I recruited people into good church activities, good small groups, good volunteer opportunities, the more distanced they got from their neighborhoods. This realization hit me like a rock. I was pulling people out of their neighborhoods and into a world with glass walls.

I knew if this was going to change, I had to go first. I had to walk outside. And so I went to my front door with this simple charge.

Walk outside. See where God is working. Join Him.

And then I summoned all my courage and said, “You know… it’s almost dinner. Maybe tomorrow.”

As I reflected on my reticence, I realized I was afraid. I was afraid that if I crossed over this glass wall, it would take over my life. I was afraid I’d have no time for my family because I was already spread so relationally thin in my role at the church. It was like I knew… that if I crossed the proverbial threshold, it would change things.

That night I had a dream. When I woke up I couldn’t remember exactly what happened in it. I only remembered two things. The important things. A) It featured Ryan Reynolds. Obviously. B) it was a rich emotionally salient image of the parable of the talents. And I knew clear as day what it meant. All around me, right outside my door, outside my glass wall, were relationships placed right in front of me. It was like I saw a beautiful landscape that was active and alive, ready to burst outside my door. And I was staying inside, in the dark, burying my call to invest in those relationships.

That morning I felt grief. It was a real heavy sadness at the beauty I was burying by making my world small. But I was still afraid too. And then it was as though my whole body sensed God saying to me,

“Yes. You’re right. This will change things.

And. I. will. protect you.

I will never call you to hurt your family. I will not call you somewhere that will break you.

But I will call you out.”

So finally I walked outside. I began to just “be” out in my neighborhood. I walked with open eyes and open heart. Without agenda, I began to develop acquaintances, which led to friendships. I began to really see and enjoy the lovely people right outside my door. I felt alive and a part of my neighborhood, and found that spiritual conversations emerged quite naturally as we began to care about each others’ lives.

And I wasn’t wrong. This changed things. It shifted my home base from my church to my neighborhood. It shifted my sphere of influence. It shifted my understanding of the world I was trying to reach. It ruined me for my current way of doing life and ministry.

The more I spent time “out there,” the more I realized the culture of my church would be a giant cultural leap for anyone outside those walls. We, frankly, had geared our church to our most present audience… those raised in the cultural microcosm of the Western American church. Anyone raised outside of that would feel like a complete foreigner walking inside those doors. They would trip over all kinds of cultural trappings standing between them and Jesus. Many of my friends were interested in the spiritual- in being a part of something bigger than themselves, but they weren’t interested in my cultural microcosm.

One day, one of my neighbors sat me down and told me she wanted to have a talk with me. This neighbor is someone who has all kinds of spiritual rumblings and had a beautiful sense of spiritual intuition, but had had less than positive interactions with institution of the church and no real interest in being a part of it. She sat me down and said “I don’t know if you know this, but you have the ability to foresee the future”.

Now, normally that would be a weird way to start a conversation. But I knew exactly what she meant. She had noticed that there was something bigger taking place in our interactions. I had just given her a small gift, that was tailored to her in a way I couldn’t have planned, and it brought her to access an emotional place deep within her. She went on to tell me that she has been thinking about this, and she had this vision that I am meant to create a place- a community for people right around us. She talked about how in our current culture, so many of us wouldn’t walk into a regular church, but that something in us is yearning to be grounded. To have a community where we can tap into something bigger than ourselves and grow together.

At that moment a seed was planted in me that increasingly, I could not deny. Here was my friend, who was not a church-goer and was not drawn to Christianity but was drawn to God. And she was asking me to bring the church to her.

Fast forward to present day.

We started not long ago, driven by that seed, that call, that passion, to meet people where they are. To step outside of our cultural bubble and go to them. To create a place for them to meet God right within their own cultural microcosm. And to be honest, that call was mildly to highly terrifying. This was completely unknown territory. Our team did not go into this with dazzling confidence, a giant network, or well… resources. We went into it with a call we simply couldn’t deny.

Now we are a very small little church plant, just at its beginnings, trying to hold a laser focus on that call. We are in a rustic little starter space where there’s no heat and the electricity shorts out sometimes. But what we seem to be developing is a place that feels like home to people outside the church bubble.

One couple is made up of an atheist and agnostic who are discovering God in unexpected circumstances. Another is a couple who gave up on going to church years ago, but when they heard our vision it sparked an excitement and hope for a place that might be able to come as they are, and belong.

As we grow as a church, we are committed to keep “walking outside”. Our fiercest call is to continually look for the glass walls around us, and not stop crossing the threshold. We took months just listening to our community, discerning what God is calling forth and already doing in our neighborhoods. We are finding who is doing good and partnering with them. Our home base is in the bedrock of the hopes, concerns, and good work of the people of our community.

I will be honest, I have found that this is easier to do when you are planting a church because you aren’t rowing upstream against an established cultural microcosm. You have the opportunity to embed in the community right where you are. Statistics bear this out. Research shows that a church plant gains 60-80% of its members from people new to church, whereas an existing church gains 80-90% of its new members by transfer from other congregations.

This is not a knock on the existing church by any means. We need both existing churches and new churches. This is simply a call to all you pioneers out there. The church is meant to reproduce. We are made to open our doors to every culture on earth, to see our creative God do His thing in a whole new context, among a whole new people who will light up our world in a whole new way.

Do you feel that call inside you? Do you feel like your voice yearns to speak to an audience outside your bubble?

Go outside. Start spending more of your time living outside the bubble. Say no to some things inside the bubble. Do what it takes to begin to shift your home base. See what happens.

Fair warning- it might ruin you.

 

Anna Hoesly is a church planter in Milwaukie, OR who is currently in the process of exploring a partnership with the ECC. She has worked as a Discipleship Director and as a counselor with an MFT in Marriage and Family Therapy. She also spends her time working as a certified Mediator and consultant for non-profit organizations and living life to its fullest with her husband and two little ones.

 

 

Is the Church Destined to Make a Comeback?

By Peter Sung, Conference Coach, PacNWC

Easter reports from around the church planting world have been coming in. To no one’s surprise, every single report indicates higher than normal attendance. In fact, it was not uncommon for smaller churches to see more than a doubling of their usual numbers. If you don’t care for numbers, ask your staff and volunteers what they witnessed and felt on Easter Sunday and the days that followed.

Given all the studies and observations about declining church attendance in America and the rising self-identification as “None” (as opposed to, say, Christian), an outstanding question for me is: Why do people still go to church? Why is Easter (Christmas and Mother’s Day, too) still a cultural and religious phenomenon? If SBNR (or SBNA – short for: Spiritual But Not Religious/Affiliated) is the popular label, why do people still possess a reflex to shuffle over to church? As someone “in the industry”, I wonder, Is the church destined to make a comeback, even in its current form? Are we going to make it, after all?

Part of the answer, I think, is that spirituality is simply insufficient. The soul wants what it wants – more than mere spirituality. It wants, dare we say it, religion. Though it’s fraught and often disappointing, hard realities about who we are and how we’re wired will always persist and therefore emerge. You can consider a secular view on this from pieces like this Time Magazine article, or you can ask a few pointed questions of your own soul-full self:

  • Will I ever shed my need to worship (God, god, or otherwise)?
  • Is anyone else (besides Christ) truly worthy of worship?
  • Do I really want to be my own authority?
  • Is power from within really enough, or do I need power from without?
  • Is hope possible without a savior?
  • What are the actual alternatives to Christ?
  • What would history have been without the intervention of Christ’s kingdom?
  • Do I want to be part of a future world without God, God’s people, and God’s purposes?

In no way am I trying to say that religion is perfect or even good. Only God is good – that’s what Jesus said to the rich young ruler. But religion in general and Christianity in specific, is the best that we have. The organized, religious collective known as the Church is and represents the Body of Christ, the Salt of the Earth, and the Light of the World. It somehow embodies Christ, practices love, gives hope, and carries the coming Kingdom with it wherever it goes. Sometimes I feel embarrassed or frustrated; often I feel totally done with the church. But I cannot truthfully wear the label “None”. Not truthfully. I know that SBNR is actually just another religion with me at the center, and I am not worthy of such trust or focus. For better or for worse, the church represents who I am – a child of God, what I am – a worshiper of God, and where I’m headed – Home. That is, church, for now.

Past, Present and Future of Church Planting

By Peter Sung, Conference Coach, PacNWC

First, the past. I have stepped into a stream that has been flowing long before I got here, and will continue to flow long after I am gone. Many were in the frontlines – taking risks, pushing through, and working hard. Many more supported from the front rows – giving, praying, and holding out hope. For all, and all the parts they played, I give much thanks. We all belong to a mission that is greater than us because it’s God’s mission. The Bible says as much. Some plant, others water, but God causes the growth of His mission. Indeed, He is the sole author and finisher. For God, we all give thanks.

Second, the future. As with any start up, we have seen time and again that the most important start to planting churches is to start with the “right” leader. Quite a tricky word, “right.” I have two stories that I find myself returning to for perspective and humility.

Tim Keller is my favorite church planter. He planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC in 1989, but he really wasn’t supposed to for several big reasons. He was dragged into it by a long time friend; and he failed the assessment center for preaching poorly, lacking spousal support, and having zero experience starting anything. On top of all that, NYC was a spiritual wasteland at the time. As they say, the rest is history (in this case, His Story).

The other story is about Jack Welch, the successful former CEO of GE who killed it as a turnaround leader at GE. After decades of success, he spent three years collecting 27 of the world’s best leaders, then narrowed the list down to 3, then during one fateful meeting, Jack told the 3 that by the end of the day, one of them would be the new CEO of GE, and that the other two would be CEOs of other companies. It happened just as Jack said. This incredibly thorough process was lauded by many and even went onto become curricula in the nation’s top business schools. But as it turned out, the hopeful, carefully selected CEO did not do so well – he went onto lose billions of dollars for GE. He was replaced. The next CEO did poorly, too.

What’s my takeaway? Predicting future “success” is not for the faint of heart. Of course, we want to give our start-up churches the best shot at success, but what are we to do? And how? There’s another story I turn to often for perspective and humility.

Jesus tells the story of servants who were entrusted with responsibilities and resources by a caring and counting master before going on a trip (Matthew 25). Upon his return, the master asks the question: So, how did we do? I think you know how the story ends. A key principle from the story is: If you’re faithful with little, there’s a way better chance that you’ll be faithful with more. In other words, don’t bet on potential, reward the actual – that is, reward faithfulness. The implied rebuke is: Humans are not God, and the future belongs only to God. Don’t predict the future! Don’t hold your breath for potential. Respond to what you actually see.

Oh, but I so want to believe in people! I think this person might be the exception, the diamond in the rough! Our very direct friend, the Apostle Paul, says to this Corinthian church mindset (1 Corinthians 7): How do you know, O woman? How do you know, O man? God only knows!

So, as far as the future is concerned, the Bible seems to be telling us to look to the past. Don’t play God. Don’t be the Messiah. With Spirit-filled, humble, prayerful, thoughtful, hopeful, trusting human eyes, look at the track record and the patterns. Behavior informs character, and character, hope (Romans 5).

The invitation to all in our conference is to get into the front rows of God’s mission. Let’s look to the future by way of the past. Currently, we are looking with Mikhail Tamayo at Hillsboro, OR, and with Asher Ernst at Spokane, WA. And we humbly ask for all the support that you can give!

Ministry Connections between the PacNWC and Honduras

Conexiones Ministeriales entre Honduras y el PacNWC

By Esau Del Arca, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Esperanza Viva in Kent, WA

(scroll down for English)

Honduras es un país en el que siempre quise vivir. El país que me vio nacer natural y espiritualmente. Aun cuando me case con mi esposa, Erín, una mujer de origen estadounidense, hace 15 años, ambos estábamos de acuerdo en que viviríamos en ese país. Nunca tuve la intención, ni el más mínimo deseo de vivir en otro lugar.

Llegue a los Estados Unidos cuando estaba aún estudiando para ser pastor. Teníamos en mente mi esposa y yo regresar pronto y trabajar como pastores en Honduras. Yo había crecido ayudando a mis padres en el ministerio de la plantación de iglesias donde tuve muchas buenas y duras experiencias que me marcaron y animaron a servir y vivir de esa misma manera. Era fantástico ver como Dios nos respaldaba como familia, aun pasando muchos sufrimientos, el ver como las iglesias se iban plantando y desarrollando me daban vida.

SalĂ­ de honduras y habĂ­a casi 300 iglesias plantadas, afiliadas con el ministerio de mis padres. Por eso mi mente y corazĂłn se enfocaban todo el tiempo, apasionadamente, en regresar. Sin embargo, Dios tuvo otro plan para nuestras vidas: el ministrar entre las personas de habla hispana en el estado de Washington. Sin embargo, nuestro amor por el ministerio en Honduras no se disminuyĂł.

Pastorear en un país como honduras tiene sus grandes beneficios pero también sus grandes desafíos. Es un país con un muy alto porcentaje de creyentes en Dios, pero aun así, se tiene que lidiar con grandes limitaciones económicas, pues es un lugar con mucha pobreza. Es por eso que la mayoría de los pastores en un 95% son vi-vocacionales. Algunos de ellos tienen que  acostumbrar a vivir en extrema pobreza. Hay algunos que aun viviendo en la ciudad no tienen como transportarse por sí solos. Tienen que depender de viajar en el transporte público, en bicicleta o a pie. Más triste aun es cuando se va a las áreas rurales o montañas. Hay cero o mínimo acceso a medicina, y todos expuestos a morir asesinado por los peligros al caminar horas y horas de noche para predicar.

A algunos pastores amigos, con los que tuve la oportunidad de estudiar los han matado saliendo de sus iglesias y sin ningún motivo alguno. Recuerdo a un pastor amigo mío, llamado Rommel Róbelo, quien durante una de mis visitas a la ciudad  de La Estancia, departamento de Olancho, uno de los áreas más peligrosos de Honduras. El me comentó lo difícil que era pastorear las iglesias que él tenía a su cargo; en especial una que estaba en el pueblo cerca de esa ciudad porque se regresaba en medio de la oscuridad y se encontraba a la gente asesina. Estos individuos no le dan ningún valor a la vida y por supuesto no tienen temor alguno de Dios. Él me dijo, probablemente no te vuelva a ver una próxima vez. Y así fue. Habían pasado unas dos semanas de mi regreso a casa, cuando me avisaron que lo habían matado camino a su casa saliendo de la iglesia.

Admiro el valor y amor al Señor y al ministerio de estos siervos.  Aunque el peligro siempre está en todo lugar, sé que en algunos lugares más que en otros. Aparte de orar, es muy poco lo que podemos nosotros hacer, pero nos queda el consuelo y la paz de saber que, pase lo que pase, Dios está con sus hijos y al control de todo.

En Honduras hay muchas necesidades ministeriales, pero hay una necesidad en particular que vemos como urgente en este ambiente. Estudiar para estos pastores no es nada fácil por la falta de recursos económicos. Los que lo pueden hacer, lo logran con muchas dificultades. Luego, terminan pero no continúan creciendo o superándose en esto por todas las dificultades que lo hacen muy difícil; mucho más de lo que nos imaginamos. Por ejemplo, es un reto planear una  conferencia o seminario por los grandes costos. Salir y pagar un transporte, hotel, y asistir una clase para poder convivir  con otros pastores y fortalecer sus conocimientos es muy complicado.

Por esa falta de preparación, se dificulta tener y mantener un ambiente de salud pastoral, familiar y eclesiástica, pues prácticamente los pastores están aislados, luchando solos.

Guardo un gran amor, muy buenos amigos, hermanos en Cristo y un grande deseo de poder ayudar en el futuro en Honduras, si Dios me lo permite, por medio de recursos que provean los medios para fortalecer el conocimiento y asĂ­ la salud ministerial y personal de estos pastores.

Si Dios lo permite, nuestra familia estará haciendo un viaje a Honduras, este verano, para visitar a algunas iglesias y animar a los pastores y líderes en su caminar espiritual y en su liderazgo. Damos gloria a Dios por la unidad de las iglesias a nivel mundial. Es bueno recordar que en ambas países servimos a un mismo Dios y nos podemos apoyar los unos a los otros. Pedimos oración por las personas en ministerio en Honduras, y para que Dios nos ayude a ser sensitivos a las necesidades de nuestros colegas pastores en todo el mundo.

 

English Translation:

Ministry Connections between the PacNWC and Honduras

Honduras is the country where I always wanted to live; the country where I was born physically and spiritually. When I married my wife, Erin, a U.S. citizen, 15 years ago, we planned to live in Honduras. I had no intention of living in any other place.

I arrived in the U.S. when I was still attending seminary. My wife and I were planning to be in the U.S. for a short time, before returning to pastor in Honduras. I grew up helping my parents in church planting ministry, where I had both positive and difficult experiences, which marked my life and planted in me the desire to serve in the same way. It was wonderful to see how God sustained our family, even in the midst of suffering. Watching how God raised up and developed churches was an encouragement for me, personally.

When I left Honduras, almost 300 churches, with an affiliation to my parent’s ministry, had been planted. Consequently, my heart and mind was passionately focused on returning. However, God had a different plan for our lives. We would minister to the Spanish-speaking community in the Pacific Northwest. In spite of our new found passion for reaching our neighbors in Washington, our love for the ministry and leadership in Honduras did not fade.

Pastoring in a country like Honduras has many advantages, but also great challenges. A large percentage of the Honduran population profess a faith in God, but there are economic limitations, Honduras being one of the poorest countries of Latin America. This is why approximately 95% of pastors are bi-vocational, many living in extreme poverty by Honduran standards. Those who live in large cities often depend on public transportation, bicycle, or travel by foot. Pastors in rural or mountain regions face additional obstacles. They have little to no access to healthcare, and their lives are put at risk, facing danger as they travel by foot to share the gospel.

Friends and colleagues, who I had the opportunity to attend school with, have lost their lives, traveling to or from church functions. I had the opportunity spend time with one friend, whose name was, Rommel RĂłbelo, on a visit to La Estancia, Olancho, one of the most dangerous areas of Honduras. He shared with me how hard it was to pastor the churches that he ministered in, especially one in particular, where he would walk home, late at night, after the services. He shared that he would come across assassins as he traveled; individuals who do not value life or fear God. He expressed to me that he felt this would be the last visit we had together. That is what happened. Two weeks after I returned home, I was notified that he had been murdered on his way home from a church service.

I admire the courage and love for the Lord, and His ministry, that these servants demonstrate. Danger can be found anywhere, but it is more prevalent in these places. Aside from prayer, there is little the pastors can do, but we have comfort and peace knowing that, no matter what, God is with His children and in control of everything.

In Honduras, there are many ministry related needs, but there is one need that stands out as crucial. It is not easy for these pastors to receive a quality education due to lack of resources. Those who are able to attend school are presented with more obstacles than we can imagine. If they do finish school, there is no opportunity to continue furthering their education because of various difficulties. Traveling to attend a class with other pastors to strengthen relationships and knowledge is complicated by the expense involved.

Because of the lack of pastor training and support, it is difficult to reach and maintain pastoral, family, and church health, because the pastors are isolated, battling alone. I have immense love for my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, and a desire to help in Honduras, as God allows. Going forward, we hope to connect resources that would provide stronger education, pastoral care, and, as a result, healthier ministries.

If God allows, our family will be traveling to Honduras, this summer, to visit different churches, and to encourage pastors in their spiritual walk and leadership. We give glory to God for the unity of the church, world-wide. It is wonderful to remember that the church, no matter the country, serves the same God, and we can lift up one another. We ask for prayer for those serving in ministry in Honduras. Additionally, we pray that God would help us to be sensitive to the needs of our ministry colleagues in Honduras and elsewhere.

The Bright Scholars Project

The Bright Scholars Project

By Pastor Derek Hwang, Lead Pastor, Disciple Community Church

It’s amazing the open doors God can provide when you place yourself available to God’s call in the Great Commission. My name is Derek Hwang and I’m the lead pastor of Disciple Community church. Six years ago, God called my wife and I along with 12 core members to plant a church called Disciple Community Church. That year, we partnered with the ECC and have together strived to live out God’s call for this church plant in Bellevue, Wa. Five years ago, our church was given the opportunity to see what God was doing in the lives of people in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We went on a Vision trip with a missionary who has spent almost his entire life doing God’s work in Cambodia and Vietnam. He introduced us to a ministry in Phnom Penh called Bright Scholars. Bright Scholars is a ministry led by two local Cambodian women named Kim and Sina. They are a non-government-organization that desires to serve the poor. For the last 8 years, they have been finding financial donors to support local children who have parents with HIV/Aids. Most of the children’s parents have already passed away. In Cambodia, people with HIV/Aids are shunned. They are outcasts of the society. No one will do business with them. In many cases, families will no longer associate themselves with those who have HIV/Aids. So, for these families who have HIV/Aids in their homes, they live condemned, separated lives in poverty. They live in extreme difficult conditions where a family earning a total of $1-$3 per day is not out of the ordinary. Almost every family lives in make-shift shacks built over sewage. Most if not all of these families are malnourished and do not have finances to seek medical help. The children do not have the finances to get an education. These families are the bottom 5% of the poor living in Phnom Penh. Ultimately, these children grow up without any hope of a future. For $350 per year, less than $1 a day, we can sponsor a child through Bright Scholars and send them to school. This donation will support the students with a full year of education along with some school materials.

 

Currently there are about 65 students who are sponsored through Bright Scholars. Disciple Community Church, along with three other churches, have committed to sponsor these children and give them what they are most lacking, hope. In the last 5 years, we have not only supported students financially, we have taken trips every year trying to build relationships with the students and their families. Every year, we have taken teams to share the testimony of Jesus Christ along with needed school materials. We have taken about 20 laptops teaching students how to use the computer so that they do not fall behind in school. Over the 5 years, we have done over 50 home visitations trying to understand what their families go through and to build relationships with them. We have spent time praying for them, crying with them, and rejoicing God’s work in them. What we have been so encouraged by is what Kim and Sina have been sharing with these families going through such a difficult time. “When your own people do not love you or accept you, these Christian’s half way around the world want you to know that they love you and accept you. Have hope!” The great thing about Bright Scholars is that we can meet the students and share a meal with them in their homes and build relationships with them. Our relationship goes beyond the picture we put up on our refrigerator. We can meet them face to face and give them a loving embrace.

 

Recently, we have found out that Bright Scholar’s funding has run out. Their support churches have found it difficult to continue supporting the finances of their work. Because of that, God has opened doors and given Disciple Community Church an opportunity to step in and run operations for Bright Scholars. We are excited at the possibility of continuing to support the children of Bright Scholars and further their work to meet the needs of so many more students in desperate need in Phnom Penh. We want to build Bright Scholars to be a ministry that, not only supports the financial means for hurting children to have an education and a future in this world, but build relationships and share Jesus with them so that they can see and experience the grace, hope, and love of Jesus Christ and have an eternal future in God’s Kingdom. Please pray for our partnership with Kim and Sina and Bright Scholars and the work of the whole mission of the church in Phnom Penh.  If you would like to know more about Bright Scholars and get involved in sponsoring the Bright Scholars project or sponsoring students through Bright Scholars, you can always go to links below.

https://bright-scholars-45.webself.net/home

https://www.facebook.com/Bright-Scholars-1466457283662239/

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 (ESV)

May the Peace of Jesus Christ flow through you!

Pastor Derek Hwang

Disciple Community Church

Derekhwang@disciple-cc.org

Lessons From A Church In Zombie Land

Lessons From A Church In Zombie Land

By Rob Bryceson, Lead Pastor, The Gathering House, Spokane, WA

Tonia and I came to Spokane in the summer of 2008. By November we found ourselves working in a dying, downtown church surrounded by homeless people, addicts, mentally ill, and those suffering under generational poverty. Within a year we opened our doors to the neighborhood inviting them to come in. That’s when the adventure really began.

This is our story – Lessons From A Church In Zombie Land. If you read this book, it will make you will laugh, you will get angry, you will be moved to sadness, and you might rethink your own church experiences. I’ve put the opening page below as a sample.

If you’re interested I would greatly appreciate if you would get a copy, leave a review on the site, and help spread the word.

Lessons From A Church In Zombie Land is the true story of how one pastor, transplanted from an affluent area of California through a shocking twist of events, was found serving in a downtown church among the homeless, addicted, broken and afflicted.

These accounts are his observations from the underside of civilization. This volume is the story of unlearning preconceived notions about what church should be and what working among those on the lowest rung of society is actually like, all the while learning to navigate the swamps of poverty culture.

These stories are often hilarious, sometimes poignant, frequently angering, but always thought-provoking. Rob Bryceson takes us on an intrepid ride of faith and adventure, with several miraculous twists and turns, as he shares the story of one downtown church coming alive from among the dead.

 

[Click Here] to buy the book, Lessons From a Church In Zombie Land

[Click Here] for more information on Street Wise Ministry

[Click Here] for more information on The Gathering House