By Pastor Tim White

Quelling the church rumor mill

Dear Church Family,

Now that Pastor Linda has retired, several people from the congregation have approached me, asking if I am also retiring soon. Although both Pastor David and Pastor Linda have now retired, I’m not going anywhere soon! I continue to feel God’s call on my life to be your senior pastor until I retire in the next few years. I still have a lot of messages that God wants me to share. I still love to lead the church and be your pastor. Although my right leg remains quite swollen from the results of the infections and knee surgeries, there is hope of healing. I continue to follow the instructions of the doctors regarding physical therapy, elevating my leg and movement.

However, because Jackie and I continue to feel called to the dream that God gave us many years ago, we have begun the search for a new pastor that will be able to lead Washington Cathedral into the next generation. We have a highly qualified hiring team who are helping with this process. The new pastor will work at rebuilding our family ministries, while working closely with me be trained in all areas of being the lead pastor of the church. Please pray with us as we seek the person that God has planned for this vital position.

So, if you have heard rumors of me retiring right away, now you know the real scoop! Thank you for being a part of the great caring network called Washington Cathedral. I love you all and thank the Lord for your love and dedication to your church.

Join us Sunday at 10:30am for either in-person service or our on-line service. We will be looking at the words of Jesus in Mark where he speaks on forgiveness. It will be worth it. Also, don’t forget to change your clocks Saturday night!

Pastor Tim

Be Healed!

By Pastor Tim White

It is a good day to be alive! I am so looking forward to this Sunday to discuss with you God’s plan to heal everyone. Yes, Jesus often said, “I want to heal you, now walk, or see, or be clean.” People are so discouraged in life that they think God is to blame for all the sickness or pain in this world.

If you remember, I taught a series on the Book of Job in which we explored the issue of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. I am not going to redo that series this Sunday, but I am going to look with you at the words of Jesus in Chapter 1 of Mark’s gospel, where a leper comes to him to be healed (Mark 1:40-45). He falls on his knees begging Jesus. That is the way we feel when we really need to be healed. He said to Jesus, “if you really wanted to make me clean you could.” Jesus says “I want to. Be clean.” The fact that God wants to heal us is a huge revelation for most people.

Let me share with you why people who have not yet been healed have a hard time continuing to come to church. We will discuss the design that God has for our bodies to work towards healing. And the thinking of those in the medical profession who have devoted their lives to work on healing other people. We will look at the interface of faith and disappointment and how we can move ahead in our own individualized healing process.

Please join us for worship this Sunday at 10:30am at either the on-line (You Tube, Facebook Live or Church Apps) or in-person service held at the inspirational Spirit falls Sanctuary surrounded by some of the most positive and encouraging people you will ever meet!

I look forward to seeing you there because I am your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Let’s Stop Working Against Ourselves

By Pastor Tim White

I love to study the words of Jesus Christ.  He is my Hero!  I look up to a lot of people but compared to Jesus there is no example that is even in the same ballpark.  He is my Lord and Savior, he is my friend that sticks closer than a brother, he is my Rock and my Fortress, he is my Joy, he is my Way, my Truth and my Life. I could go on and on, but my point is, what a blessing it is to read his words. 

In the first chapter of Mark, the disciples wake up to find that Jesus was already awake and off praying alone. They go to find him (and to me it kind of seems like they want to join him) but Jesus says to them, “let’s go preach the good news because this is why I have come.” Several times in the Bible, Jesus makes a focusing decision by saying “I have come that you might have life in its fullness. I have come to this world to bring a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” The list goes on and on.

Jesus knew what the purpose of his life was, and he chooses not to get sidetracked working against himself.  You see, most people are their own worst enemy.  They want to build a great marriage, but they envision getting out of it instead. They love their children, but in the heat of the moment they don’t listen to them.  They are gifted in music, but they have never really practiced very much. They want to be a good friend but can’t help but talk behind the back of another.  The examples could go on and on. I’ve been my own worst enemy and I suggest that you have been also. So, it’s not money that is the obstacle, or critics, or lack of support that prevents us from doing what we have been born to do.  It is US that prevent us from being all we are meant to be.

Join me this Sunday at 10:30am (on Facebook Live, You Tube or the Church Apps) as we break out of this trap and take a giant leap to be a little more like Jesus.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Quietness

By Pastor Tim White

Quietness – The Key to Authentic Communication

We live in a noisy, noisy world. Almost every moment something is calling for our attention. In fact, it’s usually more than one thing. It’s our phones, or television, or a musical background, or more than one person trying to talk to us at the same time.

The words of Jesus speak powerfully to us in this day and age. “Be quiet,” said Jesus. But isn’t that easier said than done? Join us this Sunday to find out how you can bring a Balance of Quiet into your lives and Christ-Like Listening Skills into your communication.

YouTube, Facebook Live or the Church Apps are the place to join us online Sunday at 10:30am or for In-Person Service we welcome you to join us in our Sanctuary at 10:30am

Your friend for the rest of my life,
Pastor Tim Whit

By Pastor Tim White

Jesus asked us to follow him.

We are learning a lot of life changing information by studying the red-letter verses of the Bible. When Jesus speaks there is so much to learn about how to best communicate. Jesus says in Mark 1:17 “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The example in how we live our lives is at least as important as what we say. When your kids, grand kids, spouse, parents, grandparents, or friends listen to you they are going to hear what you say as well as watch what you do. Jesus says, “follow me”. In other words, let’s walk, work, talk, play, cry, and believe together as we have our conversation. Everything else seems so surface or superficial by comparison. If we do this with our family and friends, it will take communication to a much deeper level.

Oh, how I wish every parent could hear this lesson this Sunday. It would change the yelling at, rules quotations, put downs, and conflicts if we could understand that we can share our lives and not just preach to someone with whom we are trying to communicate.

Join us Sunday at 10:30am for either the in-person service or online service (via You Tube, Facebook Live or the church apps) for this life changing lesson.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Believe!

By Pastor Tim White

I love the story of Norman Vincent Peale’s friend and psychiatrist Smiley Blanton. Dr. Blanton had his faith crushed when during World War II, his son became a Chaplain in the US military. On the way to Europe, the ship he was traveling on was torpedoed by a German submarine. All of the chaplains on board gave up their seat on the life rafts to others and stayed aboard the sinking ship to pray for everyone trying to escape. A picture was taken of the chaplains praying which made the world press. So, Dr. Blanton had a picture of his son praying as the ship sunk. This caused the psychiatrist to lose his faith and sink into a deep depression. His counselor asked him to battle his depression and grief by waking up at dawn and looking out the window and say out loud “I believe - I believe - I believe.” This broken man was healed of his broken faith and became one of the great encouragers in the United States.

This week in our series on the Words of Jesus we will study where Jesus told us to believe. Don’t miss it. We all need this.

Join us for either the in-person service or the online service (You Tube, Facebook Live or church Apps) on Sunday morning at 10:30am.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Words That Work

By Pastor Tim White

It may come as a bit of a surprise to everyone that Pastor Linda Skinner is retiring in March 2022. She always seems so young and has been a big part of our Church family. I know she and Rich are looking forward to more time together and more time to spend with family and friends in other parts of the world.

To quote what she told Jackie and I, “I love my job and I love this church, but Rich is really looking forward to a bit of time together while we can still enjoy the adventures of traveling with the time and good health we have been blessed with. This will always be our church family and we will be here when we are not globetrotting.”

Linda came to our church on the second Sunday after our church began. She and Rich have always been a part of the core of Washington Cathedral. In the early years they hosted the weekly choir practice in their home. After the third year of our church she, Jackie and Naomi joined the paid staff of the church. Linda’s area of focus was on building TLC’s (small groups) and she really excelled at that. That ministry grew and at one time we had 150+ TLC’s in our church, not counting international congregations. She has always been a big help on the finance team. Thinking of all the highs and lows the church went through; we always had fun and laughter at our meetings. Later in the church she took on the Women’s Ministries, which was fruitful with very deep friendships cultivated. And yes, there were hospital calls, counseling, weddings, funerals, preaching and teaching.

We are so happy that Rich and Linda will continue to be a vital part of our church ministries and she will preach from time to time. Also, she will continue to play a vital role in women’s’ ministry as a volunteer.

We want to make sure that we are a church that allows our pastors to retire and still be a part of our church family, so please give them space especially as they take the first year to do a lot more traveling. That means no late-night calls or calling and dumping negativity on she or Rich. We want a long, healthy life for both of them.

We will be having a get together after the service on February 27th, where we can celebrate her life and ministry. We will announce this in services two weeks before that date.

Thank God, for Pastor Linda and her important role in the saga of Washington Cathedral.

Pastor Tim White

PS: Looking forward to starting our new sermon series this Sunday, “Words that Work” (Breakthrough words of Jesus.) beginning with Jesus words in Mark 1:17. You can join us for a worship at 10:30 am in Spirit Falls Sanctuary or catch us online at the same time at Facebook Live, YouTube Live, the WaCathedral App or our website www.wacathedral.org

God’s Dreams - How They Work
By Pastor Tim White

It happened during an all-church prayer meeting praying for Peter while he was in prison. They were ready to pray all night. But their prayers were interrupted by Peter knocking at the door. They couldn’t believe it was him, so they kept on praying even after Rhoda told them it was Peter. They left Peter knocking at the door.

How many times are we stuck praying when the answer is knocking at the door, but we just can’t believe it.

A long time ago we had a chance given to us by the City of Redmond to put up a beautiful electric sign outside the church. When we got the bid on it, my heart just sank. It would be $40,000. That was way out of our league. I went to my bedroom and got on my knees and started to pray. I was having a great prayer time that lasted over two hours. And from the first words of prayer when I told the Lord of my problem, I felt in my heart that God spoke to me and told me very clearly. “Don’t worry about it, Tim. $40,000 is a lot to you, but it is very little to me. Don’t worry, I’ve got this”. But I did worry, and I kept praying for two hours, still hearing the same message repeatedly for two hours but never believing it. Jackie interrupted my prayer after two hours and said, “Your dear friend from the Tri-Cities, Bob Johnson is on the phone for you.” When I started to talk to him, he was excited and told me that the Lord had just spoken to him and told him to give us $40,000. You can imagine how excited I was as I went back into my bedroom to thank God. When I did, God seemed to ask me the question, “How do I know Bob has the money and will give it to the church?” I thought, “That’s a good point, I don’t know how many times someone has told me they were going to give money to the church only to inform me later they decided to keep the money or give it instead to another charity.” And then it dawned on me, why didn’t I believe God when he told me this is easy, he had it. But I believed my friend Bob Johnson when he told me over the phone.

I got up thinking I was so stupid. What a mistake. But I learned a valuable lesson. Come to church Sunday at 10:30am either on-line (You Tube, Facebook Live or the Church Apps) or to the in-person service as we discuss How Dreams Work. I think we will all learn something very profound and life changing.

Your friend for life,

Pastor Tim White

Be the Kindness the World Needs

By Pastor Linda Skinner

Pastor Marilyn Biggs was always one of my mentors in the “kindness” arena. Marilyn had a way about her that even if she was disagreeing with you her approach disarmed you, so it didn’t feel like you were having an argument. It was her demeanor, her voice inflections, and her calmness.

The last conversation I had with Marilyn was about how civility and kindness seemed to be in short supply even within the Christian community. People seemed to be more critical, quicker to get upset and less willing to practice forgiveness and grace. After a long conversation, Marilyn looked and me and said, “We all just need a lot more time with Jesus.” It was only about a week after those words that Marilyn went to be with Jesus. Since I don’t have Marilyn to talk with about this subject, I’ve been doing a lot of praying, thinking, and studying on the topic of “kindness.” What is “kindness?” Where does it come from and how do we tap into it? How can I facilitate “kindness” around me?

This Sunday, January 16, Pastor Tim asked me to share in the series “Keep on Dreaming.” Since it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, naturally my message title had to be “Courageous Dreaming.” When Marilyn and I discussed kindness, we began to dream about what our world could be like with just a little more kindness in it. One of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quotes that I love is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” His dream was a dream of reconciliation and healing. For that he took much criticism. But he stuck to it. He was warned by his closest advisor that he would probably be killed for what he was preaching, and he was. But nothing deterred him.

The “kindness” road is definitely the tougher road to walk, but it is the one that Jesus is walking and for me, that is the road I want to take.

Join me this Sunday as we explore the Courageous Dream walking with Jesus. Worship with us in person at Spirit Falls Sanctuary 10:30 am or online on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, at www.wacathedral.org, or on our WaCathedral App.

Blessings,

Pastor Linda

Why Dreams Are Important

By Pastor Michael Fernandez

Shortly after graduating from the University of Washington (dream 1) & beginning to work, I married my first wife, dream 2 came true. Life was good, so I thought. A couple of years later my wife left me. All these thoughts began to come into my mind. Michael, you are not loved, Michael you are alone, you are not worthy, you are not special, your failures define you.

Life Becomes Pointless without Dreams & Visions
Proverb 29:18, “18a Where there is no vision, the people perish. NKJV

Life had become pointless, and I ran away from it. I landed a new position at work where I traveled 3 ½ weeks a month for the next couple of years. By keeping so busy, I felt no pain. I wasn’t living life. I was just existing. Life had become pointless but I did not know it. Then in March of 1985, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was the first time I saw myself through the eyes of Jesus Christ and not in what the world said I was. Don’t let the world define you. I made a list of what I was doing when I was happiest in my life and what I was doing now. The only difference was when I was happiest, I was attending church.

Shortly after a friend invited me to a little start up church called ECCC (Now Washington Cathedral), meeting at Lake Washington High School. So, I began attending. The young Pastor there had big dreams and that attracted me. Next, I was encouraged to remember a dream God had placed on my heart years ago. It came from Dick Sanders the Singles Pastor from Cathedral of Joy. I had been attending the church for a couple of years when I went on my first Singles Retreat. There were six of us from Emerald City Community Church and we went to the Cathedral of Joy’s Singles Summer Retreat on the coast. We were waiting to have breakfast on the final day when Pastor Sanders stood up and says, “this morning we are going to have a Pastor from Emerald City Community Church say a prayer and bless the food.” Shocked I heard him saying “Pastor Michael Fernandez would you lead us in prayer?” “I’m not a pastor,” I said to myself. I had never prayed in front of strangers before. I stood up and prayed and Pastor Dick Sanders was speaking a prophetic word it would seem.

Have you ever noticed a small, nagging feeling that something was missing from your life? That is how I felt at the time.

I flash-back to 1968 when Father Manning had first asked me as a young person to think about going to Seminary and become a priest. I felt God calling me into ministry then. After all, I was the Altar Boy of the Year for all the Seattle area. But I squashed that big dream. Fast forward, I had been hurting for over a year since my first wife left me. I was down, feeling unworthy, feeling like I had no integrity etc. I had no vision or dreams, and I was a just wandering around. Desperately searching for meaning in my life I was truly dying inside. Even my small dreams were gone of being married, having children and a house I could call home. Then thanks to Pastor Sanders a little spark began to re- ignite a Dream God had placed in me while I was in 8th grade in 1968. It had been 17 years since God called me into ministry and I refused Him out of pride and that invisible wall of fear. I was in good company after all, Joseph spent years honing his leadership skills in prison before he rose to rule EGYPT. David spent years hiding in the desert caves leading 400 men who were distressed, in debt, or discontented before he was fully prepared to become King.

Ask yourself.

1. How much do you want your Dream to come true?
2. Do you believe in the Dream Giver enough to trust His Purpose and accept His plan of preparation even when you don’t understand or agree with it?

God first called me to ministry in 1968. It was re-kindled 17 years later. Then it took another 9 years of preparation for a total of 26 years. Now it’s been 28 years and I have been fulfilling that dream. Remember to listen to God. Life becomes pointless without Dreams & Visions. Two years later I married Teresa and pledged to Austin and Justin to love them and be their dad. Two years after that our daughter came into this world. All those things I dreamed about as a child have come to pass. Now I am beginning to Dream once more, looking for what plans God has for me now!

Join us on Sunday at 10:30am either In-Person in our Sanctuary or On-line (Church Apps, You Tube or Facebook Live) to hear more and discover what dreams God has for you to fulfill.

Blessings

Pastor Michael