Old Friends and New Ones

This weekend was a special time at LifePoint Church and for me personally. I got to introduce three friends to my LifePoint family. My good friend and long time partner in ministry, Paul Austin spoke this weekend, and did a fantastic job of sharing God's plan for making Jesus famous in our valley - Sow, Sleep and Reap from Mark 4. I love this message (yes, I had heard it before, but that's why I love it!) because it's so clear and timely: we as Christ followers need to be sowing the seeds of the Gospel, the love we have from Jesus, into the world around us. Then, we need to trust God for the growth, not trying to force God onto our (normally impatient) timeline. Finally, we need to be sensitive to the whisper of God to join Him in the harvest when those moments arise.

That message resonates with my heart, because so many folks have been doing just that with our 12 Ways of Christmas and the ongoing opportunities to share generously the hope that we have in Jesus through the Diaper Drive for the Community Pregnancy Center (over 10,500 diapers collected!!!), and now the blood drive this February. We as a church are sowing seeds of the Good News with each act of generosity, and with each story of lives touched by our small groups, by individuals, and by our church family as a whole. It's amazing to watch what God is doing in us as He does this work with us and through us.

The other two friends I introduced are new, and I'm excited to be getting to know them and serve with them now and into the future. Josh Uht is our new Worship Pastor, and he and his wife, Johanna are joining our LifePoint family after a year long search. As I said this weekend, we had several very good candidates come through for the position, but Josh stood out as the right choice for many important reasons. We are blessed and excited to have him on our team and he is quickly assimilating to our culture and leading with grace and vision. Johanna is a delightful person and will be a great addition to our church family as well, so please pray for both of them as they land here and become a part of helping us all to be Loving God, Loving People and Leaving a Legacy.

It is a privilege to share my friends with my church family and my church family with my friends. I'm a happy, happy pastor today!!