Pathways Church Blog

This weekend you have the opportunity to make a difference in a sign’s life. We have about 13 homeless signs, looking to live out their purpose in life. Many of you found Pathways through these signs that we place out on the streets on the weekends. It’s a GIANT job for one or two people to drive around each week placing and then picking up these signs. So our thought became this…what if we asked many people to adopt one or two signs? They could choose one near their house. Perhaps you know a location where we don’t normally place a sign and want to put one there – let us know. Your sign could direct someone to Pathways.

John Eldridge, author of “Wild at Heart”, teaches in a way that has connected with men and women around the globe. He calls us away from the stuffy and safe confines of religion and into the adventure that is following Jesus. He has just released a new book entitled, “Fathered by God”. It walks you through six stages of a man’s journey, the essential path God has provided every boy and man to take in order to become a man in full.

John will be speaking at Eastside Foursquare Church on Sunday evening, May 17th. We would love to see a good sized group from Pathways attend. If you are interested, contact Perry Rea as he has a block of tickets ($15) for us already.

Some of you are new to faith and church and pursuing God. Others of you have been at this for a long time. The one thing we all have in common, no matter your
stage in the journey…questions. We all have questions. Oftentimes, those questions are not addressed in a church setting, so now is your chance to ask. For the next three weeks at Pathways, we will simply be answering your questions…about anything.

Alright…I’m going out on a limb here. I’m going to talk about LOST and EASTER in the same post. It’s not the risk of heresy that I’m worried about in doing this and it has nothing to do with John Locke rising from the dead. The risk here is that those who don’t watch the show will not care an ounce about what I’m going to say in the next two paragraphs, so whether you are a fan of the show or not, I’m asking you to stick with me. It’ll make sense in a moment.

As most of you know, LOST is my favorite television show. It is in it’s fifth season right now and in my opinion it is the best yet. I get two reactions from people when the show comes up in conversation. One, they are fans and we immediately dive into theories as to what is taking place and what will happen with different characters. The second reaction I get is a “lost” expression because they don’t understand the first thing about the show. They did not watch from the begiinning and that really is a necessity to understand the full arc of the characters and story. Consistently there have been things that have taken place in the first seasons that nobody fully understands until four seasons later. Then…the “AHA!” moment hits.

This has been a difficulty for the writers of the show. Even if, convinced you would love the show, you begin to watch, there are still four entire seasons in which to catch up before you fully grasp it. The solution? Every season, the writers put together what they call a “Clip Show”. It takes you back to the beginning and fast forwards you to a current timeline all in one episode. It’s a great way to “catch up”.

I get a similar reaction from people regarding the celebration of Easter Sunday. Most know the basics of Easter as being the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, but do not know the greater story of the Bible in which it sets. When we go back and look at the story of God’s people in the Old Testament as it leads to Easter, it adds a whole new understanding to God’s plan as it was lived out by Jesus. This Sunday we are going to look at the Exodus of the Hebrews as well as their celebration of the Passover as it points to God’s ultimate plan all along – the resurrection of His Son.

Wow! What a Sunday morning. Here are some thoughts I had while taking it all in.

1) We have some incredibly talented people here at Pathways. Thank you, Josh and Worship Team, for all the work you put into the morning of worship.

2) Are you aware of the number of people who show up at 8am on Sunday morning to make our worship experience possible. Every week. They do it with a smile because they love the mission of God and they love the relationships they have built while working side by side. Thank you to Al Kelly and your entire team for keeping your eyes on Jesus before the coffee kicks in!

3) The number of children running around Pathways is growing by leaps and bounds. Our children’s classes continue to expand. This Sunday we got to welcome Neveah Ibsen for the first time – only weeks after Amos Nussbaum showed up on the scene. It is so fun and exciting to see young parents forming lifelong bonds of friendship as well as kids forming friendships that will form their ideas about what it means to be a friend. Thank you to Josh Klocke and Leslie Kuest (my incredible wife) and all of you who work with our children at Pathways. You are investing in young ones who never lose value. Our church community is better because of you!

4) Five Baptisms! Enough said. As I have said before, that will never get old. I wish we could break out that baptistry every week. Hearts submitted to Jesus is the bottom line of what we need to be about. If you have not taken that step of obedience, what is holding you back?

5) I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!