Encouragement for 2024 from Brother Chip

There was a prophet in the Old Testament by the name of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was known for leading God's people to rebuild the walls and city of Jerusalem. If you take time to read the story, you find opposition and ridicule all through the process by a couple of men, Tobiah and Sanballat. At every turn, they did their best to thwart the rebuilding of the wall. In Chapter 6 of Nehemiah, we find the wall and gates are almost finished, even with all the attempts by Tobiah and Sanballot to keep it from happening. In chapter 6, Tobiah and Sanballat try one last time to keep Nehemiah and the people from finishing the wall. Tobiah and Sanballat sent Nehemiah a message to meet with them and discuss what was taking place. In reality, they were simply going to do away with Nehemiah and keep the wall from being completed. Six times, they sent the invite for Nehemiah to come meet with them, and six times, he refused; here was his reply 6:3, "…I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.."

When he sends this reply, the wall is almost done. It would have been easy for him to take a break, to knock off early, to justify some downtime, and simply let those around him finish the wall while he went to a meeting. He had to be tired and worn from all he had done. No one would have blamed him for easing up just a little for a short period, but that was not Nehemiah! Nope, Nehemiah was committed to God and the vision he was given of the restored wall, city, and people. No way was he leaving the wall at that moment when the vision was about to be fulfilled. When God calls a person or people to a project, it is absolutely imperative that they remain on the wall.

Time and time again throughout scripture, we see people called by God to do a work, and then there comes this proverbial moment to decide to stay on the wall or to take a break and come down. As followers of Christ, I believe Jesus' challenge to take up our cross and follow Him daily is the purpose we are called to do. Each day in our lives, we have to decide whether we are going to follow Jesus or ourselves. Am I going to seek fulfillment in Jesus or in the trappings of the world? Am I going to let Jesus mold me into the woman or man He has created me to be or settle on being less than? Am I going to be a follower of His at home, work, public, and private, or am I going to do what I want to do? Are we going to stay on the wall, or are we going to come down?!

I believe we here at FUMC have been given a gift of calling and opportunity. We have been and are called to follow Jesus and make a difference for the Kingdom in our homes and communities. Last February, we began this journey together as FUMC 280. We separated and basically started again as a new congregation. God has given us this fantastic opportunity to start fresh, rebuild, and fulfill the great commission of making disciples for Jesus and see lives transformed. We no longer have to be a body divided, but we have this marvelous moment to come together to make a huge difference in our community for the Kingdom of God. Now, how do we do this? How do we continue to move forward in ministry together in 2024?

First, we do not allow ourselves to be distracted by any pettiness. Examples would be gossiping about one another, demanding our way, or holding on to the hurts of the past. If you want to know if something is calling you off the wall, ask this simple question, "Does this make disciples for God's Kingdom?" That is our North Star and our guiding mission, and all else should pale in comparison to making disciples. One of the most important things we must remember is that many things fall into the temporal category of life, yet our focus should be on the eternal, Jesus. Being like Him and helping others be like Him as disciples is what MUST drive us!

Think with me about our Five Imperatives we have kept before us the last few months. All five are driven by being and making disciples.

Radical Hospitality - (Romans 12:13) Seek out opportunities to show hospitality. Make people feel welcome in the midst of God's people, helping them feel like they belong and are loved by God. Inviting people to experience the love of God by joining us for worship. When people attend our church, making sure they know they are loved and that there is a place for them. When visitors leave worship, they should leave having experienced the Living Christ in some way. They should see, hear, and experience Him through being around His people. They should experience something and someone they will not find in our secular world.

Extravagant Worship - (Psalm 100) Providing a weekly service where people can encounter the living God and experience the joy of fellowshipping with Him. Take time each week as disciples to gather and tell God we love Him! Faithfully worshipping God each week and inviting others to join us is an essential part of being a disciple! Worshipping God is the center of who we are!

Intentional Discipleship - (Matthew 16: 24 - 26) Pick up your cross and follow. Make a conscious choice to grow deeper roots of faith as a follower of Jesus. Individually spend time with Jesus daily through prayer, journaling, studying the scriptures, and other spiritual disciplines. Corporately, consistently worship God together each week, weekly being a part of a Bible Study or Small Group, and serving together those in need around us in the community.

Mission and Service - (James 2:18 - 26) Faith without works is dead. Simply put, be the hands and feet of Christ. Seeing the needs around us in our world and addressing them with love, kindness, compassion, and God's heart. This is the follow-through of being a disciple of Jesus. 

Extravagant Generosity - God gave extravagantly, and we should do the same. (John 3:16) This is giving God our time, talent, gifts, service, and witness, being generous and looking for ways to bless and not curse, operating with open hearts and open hands, and using the blessings that have come from God to help others around us in His name! Giving and blessing become part of our nature because we have the heart of God, whose nature is to give extravagantly! We love and bless because He did so unto us first!

As we enter a new year, I encourage you to continue to practice our Five Imperatives. God has begun a fantastic work here at FUMC 280, and He wants it to continue. I know there will be moments when we tire of being on the wall, but do not come down! Keep praying, keep loving, keep giving, keep reaching out, keep witnessing, and keep being a part of what God has called us to do! Make disciples! Stay on the wall and we will be amazed at what God will do!

Peace and Grace,

Brother Chip

I've Been Thinking

I am thinking about Jesus and the disciples in the gospels. What a motley bunch! They were men with different personalities, skills, and ideas, just like any group of folks who would be thrown together today. I am sure from time to time, they got weary of one another, which led to tension and disagreement; that is just community, right? Yet they all had one thing in common; they were called to follow Jesus. At times, following Jesus was more than likely the only shared purpose they had. Only Jesus and His calling could have kept such a group together. Following Jesus was their common purpose.

Now allow me to segue with that same thought to our current community. As we come together in this new FUMC community, many think we will be more homogenous in belief. Well, let me go ahead and burst the bubble; we will still disagree on the interpretation of scripture, social issues, and have personality conflicts. I have never been in a group or community of folks who did not have differences. We are not alike, we are all different, and from time to time, those differences will strain our community. Now, if we choose to focus on those differences, it will shatter our fellowship. Going forward, we must agree on our common purpose, which is one thing, and only one thing - to follow Jesus! Our hope is found in absolutely agreeing on this one thing; we are here for Jesus! We are here to worship Him, to grow in Him, to serve Him, and to share Him! We come together to be and to make disciples, period. We are not social activists, political scientists, cultural analysts, or any other kind of “ist.” We are all believers in the One who has called us to follow Him.

As we move forward, let us remember we have received the same calling as the disciples did 2000 years ago “follow Me...” Matthew 4:19. It is the imperative through which our new community must see itself, just as the disciples did 2000 years ago. It is that which binds us together. It is our identity, our core, our heart, our soul, our purpose, and our reason for existing, to follow Jesus! May those who view and experience our community encounter a people who are not only called by His name but follow Him without reservation.

Peace and Grace,
Brother Chip

It Gives Me Pause

I have been absent of late. There is no excuse for my absence other than a few life setbacks that have challenged my time management each day, and it took a little settling within and a few friends prodding me that it has been long enough to pause, take a breath, get my thoughts together, and get back to work. I thank them for using a velvet hammer to get the message across to me. I am humbled, to say the least.

I recently read that “Sin is not just the wrong stuff we do; it’s the good we do not do.” It can be interpreted this way,” “Every choice we make, and every action matters to someone. Every choice we do not make and every action we do not take matters just as much.” Amen? 

Our grandson is very interested in the creatures of the world. He loves anything that crawls, climbs, jumps, spends a web, flies, anyway, you get the drift; he likes bugs, lizards, spiders, snakes, and so forth. His four sisters loathe all these creatures and do not want anything to do with them: perfect situation for a big brother. He will spend hours in an animated state of observation when he encounters one of these creatures, especially turtles. When he finds one of these creatures, he just cannot look away; he is totally focused on its movement and actions. Then he finds some reference in a book or a documentary and learns all about the creature, and when I visit, I get an education on the life and activities of the latest find. Good stuff if you like creepy crawlies. Good stuff if you like to spend quality time with a grandson, just saying. 

The thing that most amazes me is his seamless delivery of information. He has studied these creatures and knows everything about them down to the smallest detail. As I listen, it gives me pause. 

This reminds me of something I read about PAUSE and studying our Bibles. The acronym for PAUSE:

P – Prepare your heart. Start your quiet time by reciting Psalm 131:1-2. Visualize everything competing for our attention into a box, then give the box to God to handle for us.

A – Ask God to speak to You. Before we dive into our Bible study, ask God to help us understand His Word and how to apply the scripture correctly to our life. We know He promised to give us His wisdom if we ask.

U – Unpack the passage. When was the passage written? Who was the intended audience? What was the main theme? What does the passage show you about God’s character? As we begin the study, we should read through the passage several times, each time answering a different question. Pay attention to any phrases and ideas that continue to stand out to us.

S – Summarize the scripture. What resonated with us as we were reading? Spend several minutes asking God to show us the truths in His Word, and then log the key takeaways from the passage. This will help us process and track the insights God offers us.

E – Exercise the application. If we want to grow stronger in our faith, it’s not enough to study God’s Word; we must live it!

As leaders in our homes, communities, and organizations, we must continue to make choices and take actions that matter to others. Our actions and reactions to daily events and life events tell the story of our life in Christ, which is important to others. We have only one choice to do what is right, do it right away, and do it the right way.

I encourage each of us to make a difference and add value to others by preparing our heart, asking God to speak to us, unpacking the message to simplify it for others to understand with our life’s walk and talk, summarizing the scripture to apply to real world events, and exercising the application of the Word for others to convey of the strength of faith, hope, joy, and unconditional love for others. As leaders, we should follow Solomon’s wisdom; give 70% of our time to areas of strength; give 25% of our time to areas to improve, and give 5% of our time to the areas of our weakness. 1 Kings 10:1-9.

Have a wonderful day, 

James Dodwell

Brother Barry begins our week with a word on Generosity.

FirstKidz bring us perspective on Prayer.

The Bridge

Years ago, on the first Walk to Emmaus at Camp Sumatanga in North Alabama, I had gone to sit and pray on a small bridge across the small creek that flows next to Hutto Auditorium. I was about to go into the conference room and give the talk on discipleship to the men there that weekend. I can remember working hard on the talk. I had researched, studied, practiced under critique, and fine-tuned the subject of discipleship to a point with which I thought God would be well pleased. 

No sooner had I begun to pray than a young girl, maybe ten to twelve years old, came along and plopped right down on the bridge with me. Immediately, she disrupted my time of prayer and preparation, “Hi, my name is Shannon, what’s yours?” Hoping she would leave, I told her and she immediately followed up with another question, “What are you doing here?” I began to explain to her that I was about to go give a very important talk about discipleship to a group of men on a retreat. She was not the least impressed and asked, “Where does the water in this creek come from?” I was beginning to get frustrated and was trying to decide how I could get her to leave so I could continue my praying and preparation. However, I took the time and explained to her that about a half a mile upstream in the creek, past the pool camp and above a beaver pond, there was a spring coming out of the side of the mountain that provided the water for the creek. Immediately, she wanted to know if we could go and see the spring. I explained to her again that I did not have time. I was trying to get ready to give this talk on discipleship and needed time to prepare. Her immediate response was, “Why? What’s so hard about that?”

That did it. It was time. I was ready for her to leave. However, that small voice that sometimes speaks to us and moves us to do what we do not want to do spoke to me and nudged me to ask Shannon if she knew what a disciple was. She never blinked or hesitated. She simply said, “Yes.” With more than a hint of skepticism, I said, “Well, why don’t you tell me what a disciple is?” She looked up at me and said, “Sure, a disciple is someone who talks like Jesus talked, walks like Jesus walked, and loves like Jesus loved.” 

Needless to say, my pen was busy instantly; scratching out my well planned conclusion and, only a few minutes later, the men on that retreat heard of an encounter at the bridge and learned that a disciple was someone who talks like Jesus talked, walks like Jesus walked, and loves like Jesus loved.

Thank you, Shannon, for those precious moments at the bridge. It has now been over thirty years since that day and I still use your definition of a disciple. 

Brother Mike Densmore