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From Pastor Bill
Stepping up (in prayer & commitment)
"Many
of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to
success when they gave up."
This quote
rocked my world this week. Allow me to
be honest: I was really at a low this
past Monday. Don't get me wrong here, I
am so grateful for what Easter means; the whole story of what Jesus did for us
is simply AWEsome. I am thankful to Jesus for the type of grace that he gives
us even before we accept it. That grace is the fuel to live truly joyous lives.
What
bummed me out was the fact that the expectations I had for a jam packed day of
wall to wall people fell disastrously short. Our attendance for the day was 283. Ultimately, I am all about a matrix that
revolves around conversations and obedience, but a marker that is good for
measuring momentum is how we are doing with attendance. I was quite envious of the reports of some
churches in the area exceeding attendance figures that would look like
skyscrapers on a chart. Needless to say,
I was dragging bottom all day on Monday. I was second guessing myself, criticizing
myself and having an overall fit.
Thankfully,
the tag team duo of the Holy Spirit and my wife kicked the back of my lap
pretty good, so allow me share with you the lessons I learned:
1. It is up to God and not me. I must trust in Jesus fully and completely;
when I do that, my fears, inferiority and superiority go away and I can be who
I am supposed to be. Once I live that
out, I can walk with a holy (and humble) "swagger" because of the confidence I
have in Christ Jesus.
2.
It is about "calling" and not the job. We
who trust Jesus are called to do something.
For me, I am called to pastor a church in the city of Seattle. I don't look at being a pastor as
"cool" or even as "my job." Rather, I look at it as being what God has
called me to do specifically. This call
fuels my passion. When I get caught up
in the job, that is when my feelings and pride get in the way and the call gets
mucked up in the middle.
3.
Pray, pray, pray! I must confess, I have
not prayed like Seattle's life depended on it, or if All Saints' life depended
on it, or even if my life or your life depended on it, for that matter. I was at morning prayer everyday both this
week and last week and sense a new confidence that is inspired by direct
communication with Jesus. If we don't
pray, we don't have any power. I shared
this verse in our staff meeting this past week: 1 Corinthians 4:20, "For the Kingdom
of God does not consist in talk but in power." It's time to quit talking and start living in
the power that comes by seeking Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have
a big vision and it desperately needs prayer. I will look forward to seeing you all in
prayer in the future.
4.
Vision compels you to keep walking. All
this reminded me that I am God's man for this time, this place and this mission
that is called All Saints Church. There
is no quit in me. When God calls, I answer. When God speaks, I respond. When God moves, I act. Vision brings people, money and success. We are going to storm the gates of hell with
squirt guns if we have to! I know that God
will see this vision through. Remember,
it is his church and not ours!
I have a
fresh zeal, passion and commitment, I am really ready to lead and not be afraid
of what's to come. I am praying for you
all and am excited for what's in store. Jesus
is alive!
See you
Sunday,
Pastor
Bill
P.S. - by
the way, the quote is by Thomas Edison. Glad he didn't quit, I wouldn't be able
to see what I am writing sitting in my basement.
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Just so you know...
Get To Know All Saints Lunch: This Sunday we will be holding a Get To Know All Saints Lunch immediately following the 11am gathering. Lunch will be catered here at All Saints for anyone looking to meet some of the leadership of All Saints, connect with other attenders, and learn more about All Saints and opportunities to get plugged in. We'll have extra food, so if you haven't RSVPd but would like to join us or know someone who would, all are welcome!
Men's Ministries: The Men's Ministries breakfast is coming up on May 2nd. All men are invited to meet at All Saints at 9am for a hearty catered breakfast, great company, and Pastor Bill's talk about "sex". A donation of $10 is suggested to help cover the cost of food. Sign ups will be available in the Commons, or you can RSVP to life@believedoubtseek.org
Life Groups: The summer life group season will begin the week of May 31st! In preparation, we are currently creating our roster of summer groups. If you are interested in leading a life group this summer, stop by the concierge desk for an informational packet and sign-up to have our life groups coordinator to contact you. Or just email Stacy Baas at lifegroups@believedoubtseek.org
Leaders@7: On Tuesday, May 19th we will be holding a meeting for everyone who serves in any role at All Saints. We'll meet at All Saints from 7-9pm to look at our vision and where we see it taking us, and to touch bases on some leadership related topics so that we can all be on the same page as we move forward. If you serve at All Saints, please make your best effort to be here for that meeting. You won't want to miss it. *Please also mark your calendars for the evening of Friday, June 5th. We want you all to be able to join us for some food, fun awards, and surprises at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Night!
Children's Ministries: On Sunday, May 3rd Children's Ministries will continue a tradition of reaching out to our neighbors by delivering spring flowers to their doors. We want to encourage the church body to participate by contributing potting plants for the kids to deliver and/or volunteering to join the kids and the Children's Ministries Team for the deliveries. If you have questions or would like to help please contact kids@believedoubtseek.org.
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At All Saints we have made it a priority to continually work to truly understand the culture we are living and working in so that we can share the abundant life of Christ in a relevant way. Beginning on April 30th All Saints would like to host a series of forums to continue to explore our culture in partnership with other church & community leaders. We are inviting leaders from across the Pacific Northwest representing a variety of approaches to faith to dig into this together and work to understand how we can be even more effective in our communities. We invite you to join us and to extend the invitation to anyone you think should be here.
Our first forum will highlight author and UW Professor James Wellman who will be sharing about the ideas presented in his book, "Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest". Wellman's presentation will be followed by a a time of Q&A which we hope will generate some rich discussion!
The cost is $15 which will include entry and a snack. Professor Wellman will have copies of his book available for purchase. Please RSVP to 206.285.3866 or via the All Saints website: www.believedoubtseek.org
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Journey
Coming May 3rd
Journey is a series of classes designed to help equip people for their journey as Christ-followers. It also helps us all to get on the same page as to how we define our church character and culture. Journey classes being offered starting on May 3rd and runs for four weeks.
Journey: Beginnings
Believe, doubt and seek your way to Jesus
Offered Sunday mornings at 9:30 am in the loft
Explore how believing, doubting and seeking all play a part in the life of a Christ-follower, who Jesus is and what He taught, and ways to know Him more personally.
Journey: Growth
Learning to trust and follow Jesus
Offered Sunday mornings at 11am
If you have already completed Journey: Beginnings then Journey: Growth is for you! This Journey plunges into the world of growing by trusting and following Jesus. We will look at living with grace as our foundation. We will also explore the essence of Jesus' invitation to trust and follow him, and we will begin simple spiritual practices that enable us to grow.
Rather than doing this abstractly, we will focus on trusting and
following Jesus in the real contexts in which we live. To accomplish
this, we have two Journey :: Growth class options: One is for those
who are now beginning (or beginning again) to explore what it means to follow Jesus. The other is for those with more history of following Christ.
Sign up for Journey at life@believedoubtseek.org
Please indicate which Journey class you would like to sign up for and we will follow up with you.
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The All Saints Newsletter is sent out regularly to the community to engage and inform people of all that takes place through All Saints Church. This and previous issues will soon be available on the All Saints website.
If you have any ideas, submissions, or comments, please send them to life@believedoubtseek.org
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