Pathways Church Blog

Just this week, at our Home Group, someone asked me about my most memorable Christmas. Picking one is tough, and I seem to gain more to pick from each year, but the one that stands out the most was the year that I was sick for Christmas. If memory serves me correctly, and I’m quite confident it does (I don’t have THAT many Christmas memories to sort through), it was the year my family got the Atari 2600. COME ON! How cool was that? And I had my head buried in a… nevermind, you don’t want that description.

We all have Christmas memories. Some good, some bad. What I am interested in each of us exploring this Christmas season is what our voice speaks of this season. When did it become real to you? How has that reality impacted your story, your life, your voice?

Voices have been ringing throughout the pages of history about this “coming” – this “child”. Have you ever stopped to listen to what the voices say? What did the writers of ancient Scripture say about this event that would reveal God’s heart? Why was it so evident to some that Jesus’ arrival was significant, while others heard no voice at all? These are ideas we’ll explore during this Christmas season as we examine the voices of the ancients, as well as the voices of Matthew, Luke and John. Amidst all of this we must ask, “What will my voice be heard to say in the cacophony our modern culture?”

Just to have a little fun, drop us a line here on the blog and tell us about a favorite Christmas memory from your past… Let your voice be heard!

Many of our teens and older elementary students will be on hand at Little Cedars Elementary School this Saturday morning to shoot “Hoops of Hope”. Each of them has raised money for the baskets that they shoot in order to raise money, with students across the country, for an AIDS clinic in Zambia, Africa. These students are catching a vision for the ability that God has given each one of us to make a difference in the world. Come and cheer them on and be a part of their learning process – in fact, make it a part of your learning process!

This weekend, we’re talking about thanksgiving. Seems kind of redundant, doesn’t it? After all, we did just dedicate a whole day to the task of being thankful. By Sunday, most of us will have started focusing on Christmas as we put up decorations and review wish lists.

The paragraph above is meant to be a bit tongue in cheek, but I also fear it is a bit reflective of some of the thoughts that do dwell deep within me. And I think I’m probably not alone in that.

While it is a beautiful thing to set aside a day to focus on gratitude, there are few phrases that can hold as much meaning as a genuine “Thank you!” More importantly, to live with the words “thank you” resonating in our heart is an ongoing affirmation of a good and gracious God.

So go ahead and put away the pumpkins, the cornucopias, and orange and brown streamers. But let’s hold on to those “thank you’s”. They are worth having around.

With no home groups happening this week, let’s put some emphasis to sharing with each other here on the blog. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, what are some things that you find you are grateful for?

We are pleased to announce the newest member of the Pathways community!

Max Thomas Chandler was born yesterday, November 14th, at 3:55pm-ish. He was 7lbs 1.5oz, and 20 inches. Both Sherri and Max are doing quite well. (And I’m sure John, Macey, and Ellie are hangin’ in there as well.)

Congratulations Chandler Family!

This week’s message comes out of my own personal study. It is not a part of a larger series. It is simply something that God has laid on my heart over the past several months in my own time of reading Scripture and I want to share it with you. It’s not an easy message because at it’s root, Ezekiel 34 is a rebuke that God lays on the people of Israel. He rebukes the shepherd and the sheep.

Why is this so important for us as a community? What do shepherds and sheep have to do with 21st Century Americans? Isn’t this a bit primative?

Shepherds and Sheep are not only an ancient way of understanding leading and following, but they translate quite well into modern day, also. That’s why I believe that this Scripture reveals God’s heart for us in many ways. When God speaks to the shepherds, He is revealing how He desires us to lead – we are all being asked to lead. When God speaks to the sheep, he is revealing how He wants us to follow – we are all being asked to follow.

Too often, people in the church sit in their seats and point fingers at who is not doing what they ought to be doing. In reality, I can only control “me” and you can only control “you”. So I’m going to ask us to take our eyes off of other people this weekend (and every weekend) and examine our own hearts as we encounter God’s word through Ezekiel. I think that you’ll find it more encouraging than you might imagine.

As we mentioned in service this past weekend, our passion and desire is to be a community that is blessing the world around us. I feel like this is already being stamped into our DNA through your giving to the Blessing Barrel, Jared O. in Kenya, Hoops of Hope, Water Aid, HopeLink, and other numerous projects that we have been a part of.

Each week at Pathways, we take 10% of our offering and immediately give it to Kingdom work outside of ourselves. During this Christmas season, we are going to take an additional 20% off of the top of our offerings and use it to bless our greater community. I’m not going to tell you exactly what is happening quite yet. I almost feel like a kid who has this awesome gift for someone and can’t stand keeping it a secret. Let’s just say that if you miss the service on December 16th, you’ll miss being a part of something really awesome!

I told everybody this past Sunday that you don’t want to miss this weekend. Why do I say that? Because this weekend, Cal Jernigan, the pastor of Central Christian Church of the East Valley, will be here to speak. Outside of my Father, there is no leader who has influenced my life and my ministry more than Cal. I consider him one of my closest friends as well as my mentor. If you want to understand my spiritual roots, most of you already know my parents and now you can meet and hear the heart of Cal.

Also, this weekend we are going to talk about creating a culture of generosity at Pathways. I think Cal brings a unique voice to this conversation because Central Christian Church is one of the most generous churches that I have ever encountered. Pathways Church would not exist (literally) without the generosity of the people of Central. My passion is to become a church with that same heart. One that looks beyond ourselves. One that is affecting not only our own community, but the world around us.

I know this weekend will challenge us to consider what it takes to become that kind of community. Join my in praying that God would use this community to impact people far beyond our own reach.

This Saturday night Daylight Savings Time kicks in. That means you set your clocks backwards an hour…pause for moment of celebration of an extra hour of sleep.

If you forget, it simply means that you can join us at Heatherwood Middle School an extra hour earlier to help the set-up crew. We’d have no problem with that.