Weekly Update from the Senior Pastor
June 21, 2006 
Dear Family and Friends,
When a word moves from being letters on a page to a settled conviction in our heart, then oh my, words are potent. Words direct our thoughts and define our lives.
If Jesus is LORD, then He is Ruler of our life, Master over this week, Owner of all our resources, Leader of all our goals and we roll into all our days (Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays) seeking His Leadership, asking: “What do You want from me, today, LORD?” We are men and women under authority.
God’s heroes who have gone before us call us to “trust” and “obey” the LORD—two other potent words!
If we fully TRUST someone, we’re not anxious or fearful in their presence. And being free from anxiety and fear releases creativity and a sense of adventure.
So if you’ve settled it and Jesus is LORD, then trust Him. Lean into His leadership and trust Him for all the unknowns. Life becomes the adventure of following the trustworthy One rather than the burden of trying to build or maintain our own little kingdom. The battle of trust versus anxiety is exactly what Paul meant when he told Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). The battle of faith versus fear is within, the adventure of following the Lord is living trust out!
UPDATES:
43 IN HONDURAS: The core teens in our Senior Youth ministry and about a dozen adult leaders are in their fifth day in Honduras. They’ve built homes, taken a medical clinic to a remote village where no medical help has ever been available, assisted in the orphanage, done daily medical work and preached the Gospel in the prison of Santa Barbara. Other teams are working in constructing a soccer field for an impoverished community. Family boxes, sponsored by our small groups for the poorest of the poor families are being delivered; and our micro-businesses are expanding. Tonight all 43 will assemble at our Las Mesas mission on a mountain outside Copan to share food and faith with families from all over that mountain as a step in helping our sister church from Copan establish a satellite congregation in Las Mesas. Keep all of them in your prayers, that by the Holy Spirit in their lives, lives will be transformed.
DAMASCUS HIGH: This September we begin the interim journey between our current facilities in a now-doomed shopping center and our newly constructed “Home on a Hill” located in between Mt Airy and New Market. That interim stretch will be in the 1,000 seat Damascus High School auditorium where we will gather as a community in one service each Sunday. I wonder: who will come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior during that stretch? What miracles of reconciliation will take place in our midst? What fruits of love and joy and peace from the Holy Spirit will grow in our lives as we stay yielded to Him? How will God have formed our hearts as a community by the time we move onto our land? Life in Christ is an unfolding adventure and we begin a very tangible new stage of the adventure this September. Stay tuned.
DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Right now we are discussing two large design/build firms, Ballard Construction and Building God’s Way/Hardy Construction as potential contractors for our project. Both have built many beautiful churches using steel-frame construction with brick or stone or stucco facings and carefully designed interiors. We are discussing a facility of approximately 40,000 square feet, including a 700-seat sanctuary, a large children’s and youth ministry area, a beautiful atrium-entrance (with a food court/coffee bar area) facing toward Bartholows Road. Once one firm is selected, the design phase kicks in and we will begin sharing preliminary drawings for discussion posted on our web site and brought to congregational meetings.
Watch for a letter with a preliminary budget in it. Next Wednesday we’ll have a congregational update meeting from 7:00-9:00 to discuss our transitions, ministries, missions and building goals. Come join the discussion.
In the Lamb,
Richard
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