What are you growing in your spiritual garden?

Written by Fiona Monaghan This weekend I was working in my garden planting vegetables. While I was working, a talk I had heard came to mind. In the talk, the teacher painted a picture with words that have stuck with me throughout the year and I wanted to share with you.

A gardener is planting his seeds into the soil and then attaches a picture of what that plant will look like when it comes to maturity; usually the package that the seeds came is attached to a stick at the end of the row.

Imagine the seed is in the ground and wonders what it will look like when it matures. He pokes his head out every once in awhile to look at the picture of the mature plant. “Oh yes! That is what I will look like when I am done growing!”

Even though just a tiny seed with little evidence showing of what he will become, it doesn’t have to do much more than just wait, be patient and become like that picture.

This is much like Jesus’ encouragement to us to abide in the vine making sure we stay attached and in time we shall become mature branches and produce fruit. He used gardening metaphor because he was speaking to agrarian culture where they knew planting, reaping, and harvesting terms. We are encouraged to produce Fruit of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control.

This fruit or character traits don’t come easy to us. We experience a tug of war from all the opposite traits. But, the promises are there for us -“Christ in you, the hope of Glory” “Abide in me and I will abide in you …^{” “} Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives…” We are asked to join God in the work that he is already accomplishing all around us, and how best to be of help but to exhibit the fruit we are asked to exhibit.

Jesus is our model. He is the picture on the seed packet. He lived the character we are asked to exhibit. Not only that, he promises to empower us with his Spirit, to become all that we can be.

Take a moment and write a down a couple verses of Jesus’ words (ex: “If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you?” Matthew 6:30; “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me” Mark 9:37;“I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” Luke 6:27-28). Spend a week looking at them, soaking them in, activity applying them to your life. Jesus challenges us to grow and by continually looking to him and his lessons we will keep our eyes focused on him.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFfF31Z6kg

You are never old, as long as you have a new dream!

Written by Pastor Tim White Every morning when I say “Jambo Jesus” or “Hello Jesus” – I recognize your presence, Jesus, I am struck by a new dream. Someone to call on, a ministry to launch, enthusiasm to work on a problem, excitement about spending time with someone I really care about. Every morning God makes life new.

Last week as I was speaking at our community meeting I explained how we are pouring ourselves into reaching the next generation for Jesus Christ and it is working. I explained that with Pastor Rex Hamilton as executive pastor assigned to reach young families; Pastor T.J. Meaney building praise teams to reach the young and not so young; Pastors Ben McCary and Josh Zappone reaching and engaging high schoolers and middle schoolers; Pastor Becca McCary connecting with 3^rd through 5^th graders; and Janette Backlund running her innovative programs to reach young children - that we have a great team.

Pastor Rey Diaz is accepting our call to be our global pastor and represent us around the world. We look forward to each time he returns, hearing him share his heart from the pulpit.

Then, someone asked me the question that has been asked before, “What about the not so young? What are we doing to reach those important people?” Well I am glad you asked. We have a young dynamic minister named Pastor Linda Skinner, a youthful Vietnam War vet named Pastor David Gerzsenye, an amazing pastor named Michael Fernandez, a talented and young musical genius named Rhonda Jones, a beautiful pastor named Jackie White (I can say that because she is my wife). All of them working hard to reaching this age.

The church also has little old me, who is about ready to explode with enthusiasm for life and the opportunity to dream big and beautiful dreams with Jesus Christ. That part of our team is not too shabby either. We are refreshing our ministries, launching our church anew and there is no shortage of excitement as we try and build a great caring network.

After the meeting, one of my heroes, Colonel Erskine Austin, came up to talk to me and said, “If Pastor Rex needs any advice or sounding board on being an executive pastor please let him know that I am there to help.” Erskine did that job for 10 years – and I smiled as I said, “That is a great encouragement.”

So we are off to the races and I feel like I have the butterflies of a quarterback getting ready for the greatest season of his life.

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Signing Russell Wilson

Written by Pastor Tim White

Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 1 Timothy 1:18

Every Seahawks fan is rooting for the day we sign quarterback Russell Wilson to a new contract. We can feel blessed that he is a good role model for our young people, and that he is an incredible quarterback -all 5’10 ½ of him. We look forward to Super Bowl games yet to come, if we can sign Russell Wilson.

Washington Cathedral has signed our Russell Wilson in pastor Rex Hamilton. Not only is he a graduate of Northwest University and a college basketball player but he is a disciple of pastor Fulton Buntain at Life Center who has been one of the greatest mentors in my life. The DNA of Life Center is very close to the DNA of Washington Cathedral.

Pastor Rex will be serving as an executive pastor here. We are so excited to welcome his wife Christalle and his four children Cade age 11, Mason age 9, Taylor age 6, and Brooklyn age 3.

He will be taking over Pastor Rey Diaz's job as executive pastor, coaching the staff of Washington Cathedral and working directly under Pastor Tim as the second in command. Pastor Rey is going to assume the position of global outreach pastor at Washington Cathedral as he leads our ministry around the world. He will be stationed at Dallas, Texas and working as an employee of Orphan Outreach. He will return and join us at least twice a year to preach at Washington Cathedral.

Pastor Rex will join the preaching team to help us provide a great smorgasbord of fine biblical preaching every week at this great caring network. He will be directly responsible for small groups and the conception of the contemporary service at 11 aimed at reaching young families. It is going to be a great year to reach young families at Washington Cathedral!

At the same time the parents of Middle Schoolers have moved to pay Josh Zappone part time to be our Middle School pastor. Josh just graduated from Northwest University this Spring and has been working along with pastor Ben McCary who works with High School students – together they are building an amazing cutting edge youth ministry.

Bringing on Rex Hamilton and Josh Zappone is our very own exciting addition to the championship team at Washington Cathedral team!

"Who do you say I am?"

Written by Fiona Monaghan Is the image that you have of God, through Christ, your own or has it come from other people?

I had for many years, an impression built from many other sources. After hours of quiet time, reflection, prayer, poetry and pain, a new image of God through Christ, has become more real to me at this time of my life, than at any other.

The authoritarian image of God I had has been tempered with a love-embracing "sold out" God who wants, more than anything else, to redeem as many of us as will allow Him. To reclaim His children from the misery we create for ourselves. He went to the lengths of self-sacrifice to prepare the way, paid the price and then gave us the means to claim it. We see it lived out in our favorite movies: the hero battling all evil to save a loved one, and yet we don’t appropriate the gift for ourselves from the Author of the Story...

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Take some time and examine how you would answer this question: Has your view of God been influenced by opinion polls, other people, social media or past experiences?

This question will be asked of us many times over our lifetime. Sometimes, by a child or friends who are seeking answers when life comes crashing down. Let's answer with the same enthusiasm and conviction as Peter did in Matthew. He is our Messiah, the Son of the Living God! By seeing God in this light daily we will be blessed and strengthened. By living our lives based on this truth we will live daringly and outside of the constraints of our fear and insecurities - filled with joy and grace. Just imagine!

Live now with this in the forefront of our daily lives and respond to everything from that question, “Who do you say that I am?”

I guarantee you will view your world very differently.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7yuq0Tr-UY

Building Trust (or Faith) is an Action…

Written by Fiona Monaghan When one has been seeking God’s will and direction in their life and over time He has shown Himself to be lovingly gentle and compassionate, then one finds that all plans and decisions involve Him on the basic levels. We are in His will and we can trust that if an adjustment to a plan needs to be made, He will show us how and where.

 It is the same as in our human relationships, when communication and trust are built up over time. We know without checking with a close friend or spouse, what their thoughts on a particular subject would be, because we are thinking like them more and more and we “know where they are coming from”.

God reveals Himself in much the same way when we seek Him daily - by spending time in quietness or following a devotional that challenges one to ‘get real’ and think deeper. It is amazing to find that the God of the Universe meets with us to teach, guide and encourage. It is His desire!

When our core desire is to get to know God better, He reveals Himself to us by providing what we desire, and in that we get to know Him better.

He then provides what we desire again, and we get to know Him even better, and on it goes… It is a beautiful and fruitful cycle.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desire of your heart

Somewhere in my growing up I had retained the image of God as one who would take something from me if I wanted it badly. Over time I’ve re-evaluated this and learned that through difficulty, true trust allows me to see God as one who might benevolently withhold or take something out of my life for my own good. I see how many detours might have been avoided if I had made that realization. Today, I know beyond shadow of doubt that He cares about every detail of my life, my plans, my health and especially my family. He can be trusted with it all. He loves them more than I, and will move heaven and earth to provide them the opportunity to learn to trust Him too.

Get Closer to Jesus

Written by Pastor Ben McCary

So often, faith seems like a given. Sometimes we have it, sometimes we want more of it, but we rarely consider what it is and why we should try to help it grow. The question may have never crossed your mind, but if you can answer it – "why should I grow my faith?" – you'll have the perfect answer to the other question..."how do you grow your faith?".

For me, the answer to all of these questions started when I think about who I am as a person. I've been undergoing so many changes in the last 2 years that I feel like my head is spinning, even now. I'm learning I'm not as cool as I thought I was, but also that being cool isn't really that important to me. I'm learning that being a father is the most important thing in the world to me. I'm also learning that faith in Jesus is always a miracle.

Here's what I mean: so often, we want our faith to grow. We think of it like a monetary amount, something to stock pile so that we're ready in times of trouble. But that's not how faith works. Faith is a part of a relationship.

In John 7, Jesus says “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” That means that whoever takes the step to walk with God will see whether Jesus' words are true. It's in a relationship that faith begins to unveil.

 As a youth pastor, I get to watch students start to take that step into a relationship with Jesus, and as they do, the small seed of faith is planted. Over time that seed grows. It blossoms. Now, I'm seeing students that used to be in my middle school class becoming adults, youth leaders in our church, and even youth pastors. What started out as a small miracle became a big one.

And it's not the sort of miracle that anyone can atribute to their effort. Anyone who has a strong faith is quick to step back and say, “Jesus did this in me.” It is a miracle that our faith grows when we take the step to form a relationship with God. It happens because we see that God is good and faithful. We see that God loves us no matter who we are or what we've done. As we take steps to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, our faith grows.

So often, we want to know how to grow our faith: To grow your faith, get closer to Jesus. That's the thing that revolutionizes your family, your community and your world.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGMENMKMvA

How to be ready for anything

Written by Chelsea Zappone When Pastor Tim first asked me to write the blog post this week, I was a little thrown off. I am not a writer, I often struggle over finding my words, and more often than not I have at least one pesky typo hiding in my final drafts. But under that hesitance I found that I was also excited. I have really been enjoying the “5 things…” sermon series. I have been challenged and forced to reevaluate my spiritual health.

It is so easy to fall into bad habits and keep putting off addressing saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow. Surely I’ll have more time then.” However, I find myself never finding that time unless I purposefully set it aside.

That is why I am so thankful that God doesn’t wait for us to get our act straight. He works through the circumstances in our lives. The surprising opportunities, the scary uncertainties, the tough times, even the mundane routines. He is not limited by us.

The times I have found myself most open to God’s guidance is when I am in the valleys, when there is crisis, when I am no longer in control. I turn to him because I know he loves unconditionally, his is omnipresent and omnipotent. No one and nothing can make your problems seem smaller than God can.

Crisis can be like a fire in our life, it can burn away the impurities that have slowly snuck into our daily routines. Pastor Tim has often quoted, “there are no atheist in the foxhole.” A foxholes can take the form of hospital rooms, depths of depression, isolation and loneliness, desperate hopelessness. We all have a time when there is nothing else we can do but turn to God.

God doesn’t bring us suffering but he is right beside us when we are going through it. I love the advice James, Jesus’ brother, gives us in James 1:2-4: “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance's fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

Troubles seem to be a constant presence in our lives either they’re our own, a friend’s, or a stranger’s across the world. God knows our suffering; it is part of living in a broken world. But he gives us a unique opportunity to not give up or even to just endure through it, but to find joy! To grow! To become ready for ANYTHING! That to me is amazing!

When we suffer, we can strengthen our relationship with God, we can encourage others in building community, we can be God’s light in the world. Like I said before, no one and nothing can make your problems smaller than God can. So instead of stressing and worrying, because we know neither of those will do any good (Matthew 6:28-34), turn to God. Find joy. Find the opportunity to grow.

The best is yet to be if God has his way!

Photo Credit & Photo Credit

College Spring Break

Written by Pastor Rey Diaz About fifteen years ago, I was challenged to do something I had never done before. I was about to embark on my first college spring break, so it wasn’t the best time to begin this practice. Actually, maybe it was the best time to begin this practice. Either way, someone challenged me to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual and spend time with God. As a freshman in college, that meant waking up at noon instead of 12:30 for my first class at 1pm. Basically it wasn’t a huge sacrifice. So I did it.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if God even wanted to talk with me. I didn’t know what to read in the bible.

The first day I didn’t want to look at my watch. But after what I felt at least 30 minutes had gone by, I checked and I still had 25 minutes to go. This wasn’t working.

I was given a bible reading plan, some verses to memorize, and journal to write down my prayers.

That was the beginning for me. Something changed. It didn’t happen over that spring break or even the first month. But something started that first week. It wet my appetite. It made me hungry for more. I started wanting more and more of God. I had to use an alarm to stop it.

Fifteen years later it’s part of who I am. My identity was established, secured in that devotional time. My fears and worries are addressed during that time. My character and integrity have been shaped in those mornings. Most importantly, my faith and confidence in God began to grow.

Today, I can’t imagine not connecting with God on a daily basis. Like the songs says, “This is the air I breath…this is my daily bread… I’m lost without you.”

Will you join us these next 30 days? Maybe you’ve never tried it. Maybe you used to do it but for some reason or another you quit. Either way, let’s give God the first few minutes of our days and watch what happens.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDcKZB7r2A

Serendipity or God Occurrences

Written by Fiona Monaghan One of my favorite movies is “Serendipity” starring John Cuzak and Kate Beckinsale.

“Jonathan Trager and Sara Thomas met while shopping for gloves in New York. Though buying for their respective lovers, the magic was right and a night of Christmas shopping turned into romance. Jon wanted to explore things further but Sara wasn't sure their love was meant to be. They decided to test fate by splitting up and seeing if destiny brought them back together... Many years later, having lost each other that night, both are engaged to be married. Still, neither can shake the need to give fate one last chance to reunite them. Jon enlists the help of his best man to track down the girl he can't forget starting at the store where they met... Near-misses and classic Shakespearean confusion bring the two close to meeting a number of times but fate will have the final word on whether it was meant to be.” (From imdb)

We love stories where “against all odds” love wins out, right? What if we have the greatest Script Writer in the universe working in our lives to bring about those changes and life altering meetings?

Providential Relationships have a way of entering our lives and making way for some change in one way or another. People and circumstances being God-led, happen, seemingly random and sometimes not, but a change is set in motion that will change the course of a life.

We see it all the time in the stories of the Bible where people have a life changing encounter. Some are love stories and others are the means to put someone on a completely different life path: Ruth and Boaz, David and Bathsheba, Saul and Stephen just to name a few.

For believers we have the idea that when we allow God to direct our circumstances there is no such thing as coincidence. Oswald Chambers wrote:

“The things that happen do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree of God. God is working out His purposes.”

Psalms 40:5 says: Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

So, isn’t it awesome to know that God, your own personal author, takes great care in how your life story will turn out? Give it a try. Turn it over to Him to write your story from this point on, allowing for those providential relationships that can change your life direction.

He has guaranteed that we will be in for a thrill and no matter the hair- raising encounters and jaw-dropping occurrences, we will arrive at the end of our lives with such a story to tell.

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God's M.O.

Written by Pastor Rey At the beginning of any book you read. During the acceptance speech of any award you hear it. Throughout the stories of the Old and New Testament you will see it. You will always find people thanking people. We are all aware that without the help, support, and influence of others, we probably couldn’t accomplish what we have done or become what we are today.

We don’t necessarily call them providential relationships, but that is what they are. I’m pretty confident that if we sat down over lunch, you could look back at the course of your life and identify some individuals who, in retrospect, you believe God put in your life. It wasn’t an accidental meeting it was scheduled. It wasn’t a coincidence you moved next door. It wasn’t a happenstance you sat next to each other. Something else was at work. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you know it was God’s hand.

God is very much interested in growing our faith. He uses all sorts of different ways to do just that, but for some reason God especially enjoys using people. It’s God modus operandii, his method of operation. God loves to use flawed, broken, and imperfect people. Check out the list in Hebrew 11 many call the “Hall of Faith”. It includes a murderer, adulterer, prostitute, liar, and a really bad dad. But these people have been used, in a very real way, to grow our faith and countless others.

I promise you that at this very moment, your heavenly Father is sending people into your life in an attempt to grow your faith. How open are you to God’s plan?

I also know that God has sent some of you to help grow the faith of others. How open are you to investing in these relationships?

One way of another God uses relationships to impact and grow our faith. I believe we can take advantage of this principle to work with God. By allowing God to use people in our lives, we can grow our faith. Bigger faith leads to more confidence in God. Bigger faith leads you to a place where you can’t trust God no matter what is happening around you. Bigger faith leads to deep intimacy with your Heavenly Father.

So how will you leverage this principle to grow your faith?

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God uses relationships to grow our faith in him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=172cyKd4Pfw

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