With great joy I return to serve Jesus by serving His bride here at New Day! My joy is especially great hearing how well you have done in my absence. Our congregation's pursuit of the mission Jesus gave us of loving God and others, learning all that He has taught, and leading others into relationship with God, has not only continued but excelled in my short absence. You have fulfilled well Paul's exhortation:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV)
Here’s the same passage in The Message version: “What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.”
My sabbatical enabled me to have time and space to disengage from the responsibilities I carried as senior pastor for the past 23 years, and previously as the assistant pastor for 12 years. Other pastors are shocked when learning the length of my tenure, as five years is the average. My ability to continue serving is a testament to the character of our congregation. New Day's ability to retain and honor long-term relationships is a true distinguishing characteristic.
Your embrace of Bill and Marilee Menser as lead pastors, continuing without skipping a beat and actually picking up the pace, is a phenomenal example of Kingdom-mindedness. Jesus is both the head and the foundation of the church. As pastors, our goal is to equip the congregation to follow Jesus as head and build their lives upon Jesus our foundation. Jesus ordained authority and a diversity of gifts and roles, as is clearly taught and demonstrated in the New Testament. But ultimately, the success of any ministry is dependent on the centrality of Jesus in all that we do and the unity of the congregation in pursuit of Jesus’ calling.
As I reintegrate into the life of our congregation, I will do all that I can to support the ministry of Jesus and His delegated authority given to Bill and Marilee and the rest of the pastoral and leadership team. I will also continue to build our international network, Harvest Alliance. My title of Missions Pastor is fitting, as my heart is to help us as a church fulfill the Great Co-Mission locally, regionally, and internationally. As Philippians declares, it “is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working” in us to accomplish His good pleasure. Let’s lean into God’s energy to “will and to do” His pleasure!